Clinton Campaign Hostage Taker

Earlier today in Rochester, New Hampshire a man identified as Leeland Eisenberg walked into a campaign office for Hillary Clinton and took hostages around 1 p.m.; his motive- to talk to the democratic candidate for president. Eisenberg, 46, released a woman with an infant about two hours later. The woman then ran to a nearby business where she asked for help and called 911, reporting that the man walking into the office opened his jacket showing off a bomb strapped to his chest.

Police evacuated and sealed off the block, setting up communication lines within the area. Barack Obama and John Edwards’ nearby campaign offices also evacuated their workers for safety. It was later reported that the bomb was believed to instead be made up of road flares.

During the course of the event, hostages were released one-by-one. It was after 6 p.m. when the last hostage of a possible four person group, ran from the campaign office to behind the police roadblock. Seconds later Eisenberg surrendered outside where he pulled off the device duct taped to his chest. Officers arrested Eisenberg who was wearing gray dress-pants a white dress shirt and a red tie.

It’s said the suspect has a history of mental illness and according to his son had been drinking earlier in the day. Back in March of this year, Eisenberg made headlines when he complained about a police policy of placing fliers in unlocked cars warning motorists to lock their car doors to prevent theft. Eisenberg believed it was merely an excuse to search citizens’ cars.

Eisenberg never received his demand to speak to Clinton, for it was for the safety of others that Hillary not give in to the possible terrorist’s requests. A wrong response from her could have led to disastrous results for her campaign volunteers. It isn’t known or has it been released just what hostage taker wanted of the presidential candidate, if anything it would give indication that he questioned something in her campaign.

With no reports of the hostages being injured, the last day of November ends on a positive note, of an event that could have gone wrong. This leaves the question as to what was going through the mind of the Clinton campaign hostage taker (sounds like an episode for Criminal Minds).

Dec. 1 - Update: Eisenberg wanted to speak to Clinton about helping him get mental health care.

Remembering Evel Knievel

Truth or dare? Well if your name was Robert Craig Knievel, Jr. you would probably accept the dare. Today, the world’s most famous American motorcycle daredevil passed away at the age of 69. In case you were wondering how the risk-taking cyclist died, I can assure you it was not due to some stunt gone wrong. For many years now Evel Knievel had been a victim to diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs. “It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?" said longtime friend Billy Rundel.

If anything it’s a shock Knievel didn’t die a long time ago having suffered a number of bone breaking injuries. It was failures at Snake River Canyon and Caesar’s Palace that made him big. Incidents like crashing after jumping 13 buses, and falling with a rocket engine over a canyon after his parachute failed.

Most recently the daredevil made headlines for filing a lawsuit against Kanye West. Knievel took action against West who made a music video where he mimics the famous daredevil. A video that contains Pamela Anderson and well...goes in a direction that differs that of risking one's life for sport.

They say a little scare is good for the body and if this is true than Knievel was one healthy man. Having been able to walk, limp, ride, etc. from every stunt, this one man shows…that it’s possible to survive doing the most stupid things. And with this in mind, daredevils and fans everywhere are remembering Evel Knievel.

Cyclone Sidr

In this post I write for all of Americans who offer their prayers and condolences to the people of Bangladesh. Yesterday the country that lies in the southern part of Asia was struck by a vicious tropical cyclone. Cyclone Sidr tore through with winds rising as high as 130 mph. Destroying towns, leaving millions without power, and claiming at least 1,100 lives.

But of course there is still devastation following the aftermath. People flee in search of shelter, many without homes. Others search for missing loved ones, with numbers in the thousands of those who have not been found. And so, we can only pray that from this tragedy, God brings his hands of comfort to all the victims of Cyclone Sidr.

Update Nov. 18: Death toll about 10,000

Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Innocent until proven guilty…it’s a pretty interesting phrase, mostly because we don’t really believe in it. You could call it more of a suggestion than a legal right permitted to someone who has been accused of wrong. These days we’re quick to point fingers and appoint blame to the suspicious. We’re so sure that they’re guilty, that we believe any evidence would prove our assumptions.

Drew Peterson has been making headlines this week due to the fact that he is the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife Stacy. Stacy, Peterson’s fourth wife, went missing in late October. Peterson, a police sergeant in Bolingbrook, Illinois, also lost his third wife when she was mysteriously found dead in their bathtub. Her death is believed to be, by some, a homicide made to look like an accident. His second wife is reported to have said that Peterson used to hit her and said he could kill her and make it look like an accident. All cases point blame at Peterson.

Wednesday, on NBC’s Today show, Matt Lauer interviewed Drew Peterson about his current wife’s disappearance, and the accusations made against him. Peterson stated how he believes his wife has run off with another man and is in hiding. He also mentioned that FOX News’s Geraldo Rivera told him how to phrase certain things- all leading to the belief that he was indeed guilty. Believing in the possibility that Stacy is alive, Lauer asked Peterson if there was anything he wanted to say to his wife. Turning to face the camera and with a chuckle, Peterson asked for his wife to come home.

The following morning on Today, there was a segment on the study of Peterson’s body language during the previous day’s interview. Peterson remained quite calm throughout the entire interview, even slouching back in his chair. It was pointed out however, how Peterson’s foot becomes quite active when asked about his third wife’s death- hinting that he was uncomfortable. There has been mention that Drew Peterson was very watchful of what Stacy did or who she met with. This raised the question that if Stacy did meet another man, Peterson is likely to have known about it.

This story seems to mimic in some ways that of Scott Peterson’s, the man found guilty for the death of his wife Laci and their unborn son. But it also carries out that same traits all cases do when a husband’s wife goes missing.

Not all accusations made against a person(s) are true. A few examples would be that of the Dukes Lacrosse team or the man whose wife went missing for several days. Turns out she was trapped in her car after having driven into a ravine.

I want to make it clear that I’m not defending Peterson or anyone believed to be guilty of some crime. The purpose of this post is to get everyone to think before they lay blame on a person, while reporting on the story at the same time. Another example of laying blacme would be of the parent’s of the still missing Madeleine McCann. Parents accused of doing away with their own child. It would certainly seem that in today’s world a person is never innocent until proven guilty but rather guilty until proven innocent.

Go Green

This week NBC Universal went green, and by this I don’t mean they gave in to the writers strike. Using the slogan “Green is Universal”, NBC promoted the concept of helping to make the environment cleaner. To advertise their promotion, NBC, MSNBC, SciFi, USA, etc. all donned a green look, along with providing eco-friendly tips in their programming. The promotions included tips on recycling, saving electricity, not keeping your car engine running, buying organic foods, etc.

The Today show kicked off the week with broadcasts from different parts of the earth, sending Matt Lauer to the Artic Circle, Al Roker to Ecuador (the Equator), and Ann Curry to Antarctica. “Today Goes to the Ends of the Earth” was designed to highlight the causes and effects of global warming.

So will this campaign have an affect on the people of the world? Well if we all worked together we could help to make our world a cleaner place to live. Wouldn’t it be nice? It’s certainly a great idea, and who knows, maybe there would be some sort of Nobel Prize dedicated to the people who made an effort to improving the environment. I mean if Al Gore can get a prize for having a bright idea anything is possible- not that he was the first to think of protecting our environment.

We only have one planet to call home, so perhaps it’s time that we all try our best to go green.

The Right Thing to Do?

You may not be familiar with who Paul Tibbets is but you may familiar with his work. The then Col. Tibbets piloted the first aircraft to drop the atomic bomb. On August 6, 1945, Tibbets flew the Enola Gay from Tinian Island in the Marianas at 2:45 a.m. for Hiroshima, Japan. Codenamed Little Boy, the atomic bomb was dropped over Hiroshima at 8:15 a.m., killing about 140,000 Japanese, with many more dying later.

Tibbets died earlier today at the age of 92. For the past few years he had been suffering from small strokes and heart failure. In his will, Tibbets stated that he did not want a funeral nor did he want a headstone- for he feared that his grave would attract protesters against the dropping of the atomic bomb.

In 1976, Tibbets re-enacted the bombing at an air show in Texas. After criticism from the Japanese, Tibbets stated how it was not meant to be an insult, but the U.S. government went on to formally apologize to Japan. On the 50th anniversary of the bombing in 1995, Tibbets called an anniversary exhibition of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian Institution a "damn big insult", due to the suffering the bombing caused.

Tibbets never regretted his actions on the decision to drop the bomb. He stated that it was his patriotic duty and that he never lost sleep over it. Tibbets retired from the Air Force a Brigadier General in 1966. In March 2005, he stated “If you give me the same circumstances, hell yeah, I'd do it again.” Paul Tibbets went on to claim that he was never proud about taking so many lives, but he stated that the country was at war and it was the right thing to do.

War is such a complicated thing. So many are for it and so many are against it. We can ask ourselves what we would do and analyze our thoughts for hours. But in the sinful world we live in, it’s sometimes hard to figure out the right thing to do.