Smiley Face Killers

Some nine months back, the LoS reported on the Mississippi River's apparent appetite for death.

And now we learn with fear and sadness that Christopher Jenkins, supposedly a victim of accidental drowning in the Mississippi near downtown Minneapolis on Halloween of 2002, was perhaps a victim of the Smiley Face Killers:




From CNN.com:

In all, the investigators say they've connected the bizarre drowning deaths of at least 40 college-age men across the country ... connected by a creepy symbol left near the water's edge: a smiley face painted on trees and other surfaces ... The most sinister was found in Iowa ... drawn in red with a devil's horns. Next to the smiley face was a note that read, "Evil Happy Smiley Face Man." ... The detectives say the string of deaths could be the work of more than one killer because some of them took place on the same day in different states. "It's so widespread. We have so many different victims in so many different areas," Duarte said. "It would, in my view, be impossible to be one person."

Let's repeat that last statement from Detective Duarte: "It would, in my view, be impossible to be one person."

Now let's jump west to British Columbia, where four sneaker-wearing severed right feet have washed to shore in British Columbia in less than one year.







What the?!? Four severed *right* feet washed to shore!?! Four?!?

Let's repeat, again, that last statement from Detective Duarte: "It would, in my view, be impossible to be one person."

An astute blog-reader recently noted this pair of quotes from Charles Manson and David Berkowitz (Son of Sam):

What about your children? You say there are just a few? There are many, many more, coming in the same direction. They are running in the streets -- and they are coming right at you! -- CM

There are other 'Sons' out there -- God help the world. --DB

With that in mind, consider the gruesome case of the Happy Face Killer, currently incarcerated for eight murders, a string of crimes committed while the killer taunted the police with notes inscribed with a smiley face.

Again, Detective Duarte: "It would, in my view, be impossible to be one person." Say it three times and it's true.

Thank you, Detective. I will sleep soundly as I dream of the Happy Face Killer bilocated, roaming and killing while quietly incarcerated.

The face of the LORD is against them that do evil -- Psalm 34:16

God help us.

The King of America

On March 23, 2004, the Reverend Moon--George Bush's Paraguayan neighbor (see Bush & the Doomsday Compound)--was crowned by Congressional Representatives during a coronation in Washington, D.C., at the Dirksen Senate Office Building.



The Washington Post reported that some of the attending Congressional members later expressed outrage at the event, claiming they were tricked, but given Moon's history, how surprised should they have been? This was, after all, the man who founded a cult (his follower are, of course, the Moonies); was the subject of a Congressional investigation; served eighteen months in prison for conspiracy and for filing false federal income tax returns; and has ties to South American drug trafficking.

Moon's political influence is deep. In 1982 he founded the Washington Times, a right-wing newspaper. He has supported the presidential bids of Reagan, Bush 41 and Bush 43. He has enjoyed an especially cozy relationship with the Bush family: George Bush 41 has received over two million dollars from Moon and has spoken on his behalf on multiple occasions in numerous countries, and Neil Bush has spoken to the Paraguayan president Nicanor Duarteon on Moon's behalf.

All this talk of the Moon, politics and South America brings to mind the Iron Sky, an upcoming film wherein the Nazis, having established a moon base in 1945, return as conquerors in 2018.

To the curious, we recommend John Gorenfeld's fine reporting, including this film (a two-parter):

Bush & the Doomsday Compound

Are the Bush's preparing a doomsday compound at the ends of the earth?

Ken Layne scoffs at the idea:

The story goes like this: George W. Bush and/or George H.W. Bush bought hundreds of thousands of acres in Paraguay, adjoining a similar spread owned by the Unification Church's Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Both massive parcels are hidden within a remote South American wilderness atop the world's biggest freshwater aquifer adjoining a secret U.S. military airbase. Oh, and there's a special non-extradition law to protect the Bush/Moon families as they enjoy their old age and run drug/weapons smuggling rings, safe from American justice. And they'll own all the drinking water in the world, or something.

But Mr. Layne never disputes the facts.

So what exactly does it mean when the leader of the free world ppurchases 100,000 acres in a remote corner of Paraguay sitting on top of the largest freshwater aquifer in the world, conveniently adjacent to the self proclaimed Second Coming of Christ and a secret military base with full immunity from the local law?

You draw your conclusions, and we'll draw ours.

The curious may read more on the Wonkette.



___________________
Update: May, 8, 2008: See "The King of America" for more on Moon.

Nazi Space Aliens Want our Senior Citizens

In an earlier post, Laws of Silence discussed the minorly infamous swastika-shaped barracks at the Coronado naval base.

It seems now that the same guy (almost always referred to as "researcher" Avrahaum Segol in the AP stories) is kicking up a fuss about another architectural offense, this time a retirement home in Decatur, Alabama.

The Wesley Acre Methodist retirement home is considering ways to disguise the building's offensive shape, visible only from satellite images, in the most inexpensive manner possible.

According to the AP, the center, "designed in the mid-1970s and completed in 1980, underwent a $1 million alteration in 2001 with funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development following complaints by Democratic Sen. Howell Heflin."

As you can see from the AP photo, the two awkward extensions do little to hide the shape.

Most responses I've come across fall into the "good grief" category (i.e. here and here) and decry the waste of money which has and will continue to result from swastika-hunting on Google Earth. There's a rather terse response from Yisrael Medad's blog "No, not 'Heil Amerika'. Just a retirement home. In Alabama." Just in case you think everyone who finds this all a bit ridiculous is a closet anti-Semite.

It's understandable that people are offended by these shapes, but Segol loses a lot of sympathy points by proposing that this Alabama building is a "sister swastika" to the Coronado barracks and is part of a wider government plot to honor Nazis.

Again to quote the AP: "Segol claims the swastika shape of Wesley Acres in Decatur pays homage to the German scientists who came to nearby Huntsville after World War II and designed the rockets that put Americans on the moon."

Good grief indeed. Who is this Segol guy anyway? To be continued....

Links:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23633404/

http://www.abc3340.com/news/stories/0308/503800_video.html?ref=newsstory

Actually looks kind of fun....

Villagers throw babies from temple roof

(CNN) -- In a ritual that would terrify most mothers, Indian villagers have cheered as screaming babies were dropped from a 50-foot temple tower.

For 500 years, worshippers at a Muslim shrine in western India have continued the tradition -- a rite considered to bring good health and good luck to the children.

The infants land and bounce on a bed-sheet held taut by men 50 feet below, and are quickly passed through the crowd to their mothers.

Villagers say no babies have been injured during the ritual, which is practiced by Muslims and Hindus in Musti village in the district of Solapur, in the state of Maharashtra.

It also takes place elsewhere in the country, mostly in smaller villages, on special occasions.

Parents who want their infants to participate in the event first take a vow at the Baba Sheikh Umar Saheb Dargah, or temple. Villagers say the ritual is a way of giving thanks.

But critics want the practice banned, with many saying it's unsafe.

"The state has to interfere," said Sanal Edamaruku, founder and president of Rationalist International and the Indian Rationalist Association. The group supports secularism and freedom of expression.


That's the entire CNN article above, but the real gem is this raw footage on CNN Video without commentary. Interesting bit about this ritual is that it's practiced both by Hindus and Muslims. No further comment at this time.