Monday, May 29, 2006
Pope asks: 'Where was God at Auschwitz?'
German-born Pope Benedict, head of the world's largest church, asked on Sunday where God was when 1.5 million people, mostly Jews, died at the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
Speaking at the Birkenau section of the camp, near where Jews were led from trains to be gassed and cremated, the head of the Roman Catholic Church said it was almost impossible to speak in "this place of horror," especially as a German Pope.
"In a place like this, words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread silence - a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?" he said in a speech delivered in Italian.
Smoking and sex go hand-in-hand, Aussie brothels say
Australian brothel owners want an exemption to anti-smoking laws for sex workers and their clients because, they say, one thing leads to another.
Newspapers reported on Sunday that the Australian Adult Entertainment Industry had written to Victoria state officials seeking an exemption to laws which ban smoking in workplaces for fear they will drive prostitutes back onto the street.
"People smoke when they drink, and people smoke when they fornicate," the industry group's William Albon was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press.
Smoking is banned in most public buildings across Australia and will be outlawed in hotels and other licensed premises in Victoria in July.
Sex shop pulls plug on World Cup vibrators
A German sex shop chain has bowed to threats of legal action and withdrawn from sale vibrators named after two of the country's leading football stars.
The offending merchandise with "Ollie K" and "Michael B" stamped on them were taken off the market after the players concerned - keeper Oliver Kahn and captain Michael Ballack - said they were considering taking the company to court.
"It's a clear breach of the personal rights of Oliver Kahn," said the Bayern Munich star's agent Peter Ruppert.
The sex shop, Beate Uhse, denied any coinnection between the items and the players.
Man throws two sons off hotel balcony, then jumps to own death
A vacationing doctor tossed his 4- and 8-year-old sons off a 15th-floor balcony of their Miami Beach hotel Saturday morning and then leapt to his own death as his wife looked on.
Qinuo Van Dyk was startled by her son's scream about 8:30 a.m. Saturday and looked over to see Edward Van Dyk plunge to a 3rd-floor mezzanine, said Officer Bobby Hernandez, spokesman for the Miami Beach Police Department. She looked over the balcony and saw all three died in the fall.
"It's so horrific; it's almost unbelievable," Hernandez said.
Meter Maid Arrested for Ticketing Cop
Meter maid Jackie Fegan, 40, was arrested for refusing to void a ticket issued to Chicago, Illinois police officer Robert Reid on May 18. Reid had illegally parked his personal white minivan at 700 N. Michigan, claiming he was on "police business."
After seeing the ticket, Reid flagged down Fegan and insisted she tear up the ticket. Fegan refused. When she walked away across the street, she was arrested for jaywalking. She was handcuffed and taken into custody at the Near North District police station.
"They were hurting me. They wouldn't stop," Fegan told the Chicago Sun-Times. "It's unreal. One minute I'm working, and the next minute I'm being hauled off and hurt and thrown into a paddy wagon. He was very, very violent."
I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings.
A 19-year-old woman was in intensive care Wednesday after she suffered major head injuries in a Tuesday night collision on Harris Street. Her brother was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.
Accident victim Jaime Lee was one of four people hospitalized after the crash. She remained in intensive care as of Wednesday evening.
Her brother, Jeremy Daniel Lee, 22, of Eureka, was driving when the car collided with one coming in the opposite direction, Eureka Police Officer Wayne Cox said. The collision was caused because of “Lee's intoxication,” Cox said Wednesday.
The car Jeremy Lee was driving had a bumper sticker that read: “I'm not an alcoholic, I'm a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings.”
Man Finds Python In Rental Car
The next time Dan McBride rents a car, he may want to inspect it not just for dings and dents but also for snakes.
The assistant athletic director at Eastern Kentucky University found a two-foot-long ball python in his rental car this week as he left the Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament in Paducah.
McBride got into his car Wednesday night with a colleague and saw the snake draped across the console.
McBride said he thought it was a rubber snake someone put there as a joke. He even gave the snake a pat and put the car into drive.