Father knows best and you don't know until you walk in your father's footsteps are cliches, but ones that can take a sad twist depending on the news. For example, Iraqi father Najim al-Anbaky claims he killed his daughter to keep her from becoming a suicide bomber. And then there are the Turnidge boys, father Bruce and son Johsua, who worked together on plan to blow up Oregon banks ... and who were sentenced together to death for the one murderous bomb that exploded.
Losing his father in life has sent Springfield's (Ill.) Steve Giddings in search of his father in death. Father Floyd was injured by your fairly typical maniac — he brought an axe to rather than from a hardware store — and was never right after that, dying when Steve was 19.
Since then, the son has wondered and worried. However, thanks to the Springfield Ghost Society, the son was encouraged to visit his father's grave. In a bonus, not only did he receive comfort from hearing from his dad, but his grandfather chimed in as well.
The candy isn't important: Happy Halloween SG.
Is the pen mightier than the revolver?
Well, actually, it depends on the circumstances. For an Indian and two British dads, the circumstances are that they will be equally ineffective.
Jnaneswar Mudiraj took gun in hand and marched through Kanakamamidi's K. S. Raju Institute of Engineering and Technology determined to teach a lesson to the mean boys bullying his son. (They had asked him question on a bus; he replied rudely; they pushed him around on campus; he told his dad; ... dad brought a gun to the college campus.)
A bit more passively, Essex's Ian McNicol and Redding, Falkirk's Michael Hamilton are sending nasty notes to the man who murdered their teen daughters. They are targeting serial killer Peter Tobin and being really, really, really, really mean. As McNicol told the BBC
"I really want to aggravate him into him losing his temper yet again, and again, and again - I will keep going just to grind under his skin. ...I'm going to say things that are wrong to him intentionally in the hope that he will correct me by saying to the police 'that's wrong', which he probably will."Yeah, gents all, that'll work.
Today's lesson for fathers comes courtesy of Hemlington's Adam Kirby and NYC's Juan J. Rodriguez. Note to selves: if you are going to do something really, really stupid for your kids, do it in the service of a billionaire, not scumsucking drug dealers.
Brit father Adam Kirby claims that he borrowed money from heroinistas in order to give his kid the most wonderful Christmas ever. He couldn't pay it back and soon began warehousing drugs in his apartment (the same one in which that kid lived) to make things right, or else, with the drug thugs. Police and probably the court are not particularly sympathetic. Unfortunately, they also weren't amused when he carried the stun gun in his pants while on parole: his barrister claimed it was for self-protection (we can only imagine).
Much happier is Rodriguez who took up billionaire Alki David's million dollar challenge to streak President Obama. Trying to drum up some biz and buzz for his website, battlecame.com, of stupid people doing stupid stunts, David promised the money to anyone running naked except for the site's name where POTUS could possibly see them. Rodriguez did, was arrested, claimed he was only doing it for his kids' education, and has been released on $10,000 bail. David first said he would renege, but now says that stupidity will pay off.
Money wins. The End.
Every son finds the place to his father's heart in a different way. John Gotti Jr. found his way through a willingness to whack. Junior is son of the iconic Dapper Don, who thugged his way to the top of the Gambino crime family and rotted from cancer in a jail cell for the last years of his life.
However, almost as important as finding a way to the heart is finding a way to the head and Jr. seems to have gotten there — and "there" being the place where you decide that if there is action available, you want a piece — as evidenced by his announcement that he will be selling the story of him and pops. His view: people have been making millions off his dad for years (now that they don't fear retribution) and it's about time he got his share. So,come sometime next year, expect to see a very fictionalized father-son love story set in mafialand suggestive of the Gotti's stories.
In order of life there is Rule No. 1 (No matter the temptation or desperation, treat your father like you will want to be treated) and Rule No. 2 (Duct tape solves almost — almost, ALMOST — any problem).
So, Mr. John T. Hallinan, 68, of Hanover, Mass., there was/is/will be no excuse to ignore Rule No. 1, just because it seems even momentarily convenient to duct tape your 93-year-old diapered dad while you went to work. Should we wish "the chair" upon him or just to have his own children carry out a similar sentence on him?
Today's good, bad, ugly files include stars, a superstar and a startler.
Starting with the good takes us to the Tour de France, where father (who happened to be the final rider in 1987 to wear the yellow jersey of the leader) Stephen Roche is commenting for the telly on son Nicolas, a rider who has at least a couple stage wins in his sights. Their mutual admiration is, well, admirable.
Moving to the bad, brings to the fore the apparent get-rich-quick scheme of of Leicester Bryce Stovel who is suing LeBron "unmarried father of two" James and mom Gloria for millions because they won't accept him as the DNA provider of the Cleveland superstar (at the time of this typing as he is making an over the top to-do over an announcement of where he'll bounce and dunk beginning in fall 2010).
And now the ugly. A 43-year-old Florida gent, Christopher Hugh Woodward, decided to spend a few days away from the son he lived with. So he stole his car and ran up his credit card balance, which he stole as well.
Probably should have closed the file drawer after just pulling out the good one ...
The evil triangle of relationships, memorably analyzed in Jean-Paul Sartre's play No Exit
Today's evidence comes from the case of the Yonkers (N.Y.) Ibrahims. Father Salah took at shot at his daughter's boyfriend, but only after son Michael whacked his sister's suitor over the head (before losing his cudgel and getting whacked himself). Police intervened after said boyfriend spent two hours locked in Ms. Salah's apartment, surely not the end result father and son were looking for.
DNA is enough to connect a family, but apparently not everyone thinks so. Among them, Sequim, Wa., pop Mark Seamands, who decided it would be a great idea if his three kids had the initials "SK" (for Seamands Kids) burned into their flesh..
Yes, Seamands was going through a divorce. And, yes, the kids did think it would be a good idea. And Seamands did sizzle his own derma so he could match them. BUT it was a poor choice, even if a judge did decide he did nothing criminal.
It should be (and only on the father's flesh) "SF" — stupid father.
This week's objet d'eBay is actually an important lesson from a different site of sales. You probably already know that it is a very bad idea to sell kids (on eBay or elsewhere). NOW BE WARNED: Do not even joke about selling your kids. Some people have very different sense of humor.
Joshua Stagnitto, 24 of Rochester, N.Y., thought it would be at least mildly amusing to add to throw up a Craigslist offer to sell him one- and two-year-old boys, for "child slaves and footstools," with the accessories of a 12-pack of diapers, and one dirty t-shirt. "Special pricing" was $40 dollars for one, $200 for both.
Police and child service agencies were not amused and he was arrested with a "falsely reporting an incident" charge. That doesn't seem to make any sense, but remember, not everyone has the same sense of humor.
One of the great and romantic visions is of a father carefully disciplining his son, teaching a lesson that will last a life time and forever curb the child of his misbehavior.
So who wouldn't believe Nasser al-Awlaqi's promise that he'll make sure his son behaves?
Unfortunately for father and son it turns out most people, particularly those in the U.S. government who are trying to toss his preacher son, Anwar, into jail.
Apparently, the g-men aren't fans of the younger al-Awlaqi's reading of religious texts — particularly the part that inspires vehement loathing and physical violence against his fellow American countrymen. Now, maybe if father al-Awlaqi was willing to duct-tape his son and then whip, pinch, and kick the beejezus out of his son (like the Texas dad who said he was only doing what his Bible told him was right) then maybe he could seal the deal. Until then, the son remains in the crosshairs.
In one of the more unlikely love stories, we find a father, daughter and boxing. It was explored in detail a few years ago as A Surprise in the Ring in the Los Angeles Times by Kurt Streeter. A former gang banging, heroin shooting, ex-felon Joe has a bond with his third-child baby girl that blooms into an extraordinary partnership in the ring. Now, potential 2012 Olympian Seniesa Estrada, on the verge of turning pro, has joined her father in telling their story, "My Daughter the Boxer," for Story Corps. At eight she wanted to box; at 17 she's on her way to being a media star in so many ways because of the natural love between father and daughter.
There's a new father/son high- (or low-) light in Chicago. Ike is following daddy William Carrothers foosteps.
It's not just that they were powerful city alderman. A father-son alderman grouping is nothing new, nothing groundbreaking as the Chicago mayor, Richard M. has long been pursuing papa Richard J. Daley's political legacy. No, the Carrothers are joined together in history with their own numbers, courtesy of a penal system letting them both in as visitors (26 years apart) on charges stemming from just a tad too much construction corruption even by the Windy City's historic lenient standards.
That father-son thing, yeah, it can be taken too far.
It is in the spirit of so-much-of-fatherhood-is-being-optimistic-despite-experience-with-your-kids that we wish every, every possible iota of success for the defense in the retrial of Douglas Victor Jensen. A bit over five years ago the Australian was convicted of offing his 75-year-old beekeeping pop, who died one morning of a bullet while breakfasting.
A key piece of evidence was Jensen's book on committing crimes, well-cracked at the spine to page 145, which happened to detail how to shoot someone at the kitchen table and make it look like they committed suicide. "Young" Jensen was his own lawyer,although he also claimed his mental capacity did not allow him fitness to stand trial.
We are absolutely not rooting for father suicides, however that still seems greatly preferable to the reality and verdict of patricide. Good luck Jensen.
Let's face it, when a father and child struggle there is often blame that can fall on both sides. For that reason, we applaud the Halifax County (North Carolina) police for getting it right. To them, both Willies Moore, Sr., 78, and Jr., 62, were in the wrong. The father should not have used a deadly weapon; the son should not have used his fists. It's just a shame nobody could have headed off this struggle with common sense a few (or maybe 50, 60) years ago.
Protect your kids, dads, but stay on the right side of the cameras. That's the lesson to be learned from the experience of William Siner — who smacked around cameramen covering convicted hoaxster and his daughter, Bonnie Sweeten — and an anonymous California dad who ambushed to capture pictures of the 28-year-old sleaze who tried to sleep with his 13-year-old daughter. Siner got 18 months probation while the anonymous dad while the California dad seems to be on his way to getting satisfaction.
Let's try looking on the bright side. A dad may make a stupid (stupid, stupid, stupid) decision. However, that doesn't mean he can only make bad choices.
Yes, it is true that the guy who put his growth-stunted daughter in a dryer and turned it on (and not for the first time) probably is not someone to listen to about taking care of household duties. And no matter how much balloon-boy dad, Richard Heene, claims he had no idea what stupid act was going on in his house, we can't believe him.
HOWEVER, Michigan's Armando Kasto should be spared a jot of credit. Yes, he probably went driving drunk. And, there's no denying that he compounded that stupidity by taking his kids with him. Truly idiotic also, neither the 2- or 4-year-old were in carseats. But in his defense — and this is what gives up some hope for his and his kids' future — after he crashed his car into a ditch, he did not leave his kids in the car in freezing weather while he went for help. For this walk with his kids with him he has been arrested! Of all the choices he made, surely keeping his kids with him was the best; the one he should have made ... but that's the one he is in trouble for: it seems likely he's not going to learn the proper lesson here folks.
Everyone knows that included in a father's responsibilities is teaching important life lessons to his children. Still, there is a certain art to teaching and not every dad has mastered it. Sometimes, even when the lesson is a good one, the delivery keeps it from being learned.
For instance, the Widness (UK) wonderer David Flynn was seemingly trying to explain how much pain the problems presented by his daughter and ex- were causing him. However, it was really not a well-thought plan to snatch up a sword and swing it about in a room with an 18-month-old baby and two other young children while threatening to literally demonstrate the stabbing pain they were giving him. Surely, with thought — and probably a bit less alcohol imbibing — Mr. Flynn could have made his point in a more readily grasped manner.
Similarly, kids should be careful with guns. Obviously, they have no idea of the pain that can be caused or the potential consequences of something fired ... even a bit of metal as tiny as a pellet. So we must take a moment to praise Palm Beach's Christopher Cady for disciplining his son after the latter shot his autistic cousin in the backside with his Christmas present. However, with that moment passed, it is important to point out that shooting his son in the chest to demonstrate the pain has proven an unsuccessful teaching moment unless dad was focused on teaching how one can get hauled off to the slammer for shooting someone, even with an air rifle.
Both instance do bring to mind one of the most important things fathers can teach. "It seemed like a good idea at the time" doesn't make it the right thing to do ....
The Yin. The Yang.
Singaporean Bima, a Komodo dragon, is father of a newborn of so far undetermined sex after being caged up with Yoko for the last year. Apparently this gives hope to imprisoned Komodo dragons worldwide as it is the first time a dad in captivity has been able to sire.
Unfortunately, there is balance to the good from Eastern Kentucky, where a 44-year-old human dad led his 18-year-old on a crime spree that saw them pickpocket a 2-year-old bearded dragon named Big and then try trading him for hooch.
