One year after his election, Barack Obama's approval rating is lower at this stage than for any US president since Eisenhower. So why has the optimism surrounding his victory disappeared so suddenly?One year after his election, Barack Obama's approval rating is lower at this... more
Stand-up comedian Chris Martin talks about Chinese stereotypes, Oprah and the Olympics, Bill Clinton and the Dolly Parton, Chris Brown, Steve Jobs, Roman Polanski, and Columbus Day October 5, 2009 at Cafe Diem Comedy Night in Richmond, VA.Stand-up comedian Chris Martin talks about Chinese stereotypes, Oprah and the... more
Fellini, Hitler, Donny Osmond, Adam Lambert, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Precious, Valentino, Playboy, Charles Manson, Lee Harvey Oswald, Mysterious Sea Creature, Paula Deen Hit in Face with Ham and More Amazing Fun!Fellini, Hitler, Donny Osmond, Adam Lambert, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart,... more
Matthew Roberts, now 41, was given up for adoption as a baby. Growing up in Rockford, Ill., he didn’t know he was adopted until his sister told him in fifth grade and it shocked him.
Like many adopted children, Matthew embarked on a mission to find his biological parents. He wanted to know, most especially, his father and see if there is any identity of him in what the son has become today.
Matthew Roberts, now 41, was given up for adoption as a baby. Growing up in Rockford, Ill., he didn’t know he was adopted until his sister told him in fifth grade and it shocked him.
Like many adopted children, Matthew embarked on a mission to find his biological parents. He wanted to know, most especially, his father and see if there is any identity of him in what the son has become today.
Curious and confused, he pressed his mother for more information until she finally revealed the awful truth in a series of letters. She admitted having been raped by his father in a drug-fueled orgy in 1967.
Matthew, who is the spitting image of his serial killer-father, Charles Manson, is said to have fallen into depression after discovering his identity.
It's been 40 years since actress Sharon Tate and four others were slaughtered in a posh Los Angeles canyon mansion. It's been 40 years ago that a couple's children found the bodies of their parents Leno and Rosemary LaBianca savagely slashed to ribbons.
Forty years after that carnage the man responsible for the two day murderous rampage in Southern California remains a household name synonymous with evil, hatred, even the devil.
Now 74, Charles Manson, whose reign of terror once represented the end of the swinging '60s, has been relegated to a dark place in pop culture.
Several of the "Manson women" who supported him with the devotion of acolytes are now gray haired, completing lengthy prison terms and have a chance to be released in the coming years.
Manson himself never carried out any of the killings but was convicted of murder and sentenced to death for commanding the Aug. 9, 1969, murders of Tate, who was more than eight months pregnant at the time, and houseguests Jay Sebring, a hairstylist, heiress Abigail Folger, writer Wojciech Frykowski and teenager Steven Parent. The convictions include the LaBianca killings Aug. 10, 1969.
Also attributed to Manson and his cultish Family was the death of Gary Hinman, killed July 25, 1969.
The death sentences of Manson and his lethal Family were commuted to life sentences when a California Supreme Court ruling abolished capital punishment in 1972. While some of his followers have already been paroled, with others possibly to follow, it seems certain Manson will die behind bars.
Vincent Bugliosi, the Los Angeles prosecutor in the 1970 trial, said Manson represented a special brand of evil and that's why he remains so intriguing to this day.It's been 40 years since actress Sharon Tate and four others were slaughtered in... more
Cult leader Charles Manson has asked his new Corcoran State Prison neighbour-for-life Phil Spector to collaborate with him on some pop songs. Manson allegedly passed Spector a note suggesting they get together and make music because he considers Phil "the greatest producer who ever lived."
Before the Manson clan turned into a murderous cult, they were a musical group who recorded songs with Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson.
According to Spector's wife, Rachelle, Spector isn't too keen on the collaboration and ignored the invitation.Cult leader Charles Manson has asked his new Corcoran State Prison neighbour-for-life... more
LOS ANGELES - California corrections officials have released a new photograph of convicted mass murderer Charles Manson, who is now bald with a thick gray beard.
The photo of the 74-year-old Manson was taken Wednesday as part of a routine update of files on inmates at Corcoran State Prison, where he is serving a life sentence for conspiring to murder seven people, said Seth Unger, spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.LOS ANGELES - California corrections officials have released a new photograph of... more
As many people, including readers of The Lede, tried to understand how Mr. Fritzl could have committed such terrible crimes against his family, Mr. Manson’s image appeared, as if to remind us that no country has a corner on the market for evil.
A spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation explained that the photograph of the 74-year-old cult leader was taken at the California State Prison in Corcoran, where he is serving a life sentence, and is part of periodic updates of inmate images by prison officials.
As The Los Angeles Times reports:
The 40th anniversary of the Manson killings is in August. Manson and other members of his so-called family were convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate and six other people during a bloody rampage in the Los Angeles area during two August nights in 1969. Prosecutors said that Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war that he believed was prophesied in the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter.”
As Douglas Martin explained in The New York Times’s obituary of the judge who presided over the trial of Charles Manson and his followers, the swastika on Mr. Manson’s face was his own doing:
The trial spun from dramatic to ridiculous to frightening, with Mr. Manson carving an “X” on his forehead and altering it over time until it became a swastika. Other defendants, all young women, copied him. At times, they chanted rhythmically, occasionally in Latin.As many people, including readers of The Lede, tried to understand how Mr. Fritzl... more
Music video craziness for Zoon van snooK's ep track ''That Just About Does It'
Filmed and edited by Paul Stevenson
visual-hybrid.co.uk
Filmed on HD video using a miniature 'set' about the size of a shoe box.
EP out now via:
iTunes:
itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewArtist?id=288484135Music video craziness for Zoon van snooK's ep track ''That Just About... more
For far too long, the media has made a sick sort of celebrity out of Charles Manson and his followers. I think it's time somebody remembered their victims.For far too long, the media has made a sick sort of celebrity out of Charles Manson... more
A follower of Charles Manson who stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death nearly 40 years ago but is dying of brain cancer in a California prison has been denied compassionate release.
The California Board of Parole issued its unanimous decision on the release of Susan Atkins hours after a 90-minute hearing, during which it heard impassioned pleas from both sides. A follower of Charles Manson who stabbed pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death nearly... more
Investigators and scientists went to Charles Manson's last hideout to hunt for clandestine graves that could contain other possible victims. The closest thing they found were animal bones.
The dig for human remains ended Wednesday after four sites yielded no bodies, leaving scientists puzzled over the clues that enticed them to go this far.
The excavation had been scheduled to last three days, ending Thursday. But the work went faster than scheduled, with the crew of 20 digging until dusk and then camping out at night beside the ranch house Manson and his followers had used.
Manson and his followers hid out at Barker Ranch after their 1969 killing spree in Los Angeles. For years, rumors have swirled about other possible Manson victims, including hitchhikers and runaways who visited the site and were never heard from again.
The clan was ultimately prosecuted for nine murders; Manson is serving a life prison sentence.Investigators and scientists went to Charles Manson's last hideout to hunt for... more
A dig for clandestine graves at Charles Manson's last hideout was called to an end Wednesday after yielding no bodies and leaving scientists puzzled over the clues that had enticed them to come this far.
The dig had been scheduled to last three days, ending Thursday. But the work went faster than scheduled, with the crew of 20 digging until dusk, then camping out at night beside the ranch house Manson and his followers had used.
"So far there have been no human remains found," Inyo County Sheriff Bill Lutze said after the four sites with the greatest probability of holding human remains were dug up. "We're finishing up this site and that'll be it for the day - nothing."
Manson and his followers hid out at the ranch following their killing spree in Los Angeles. For years, rumours have swirled about other possible Manson victims, including hitchhikers and runaways who visited the site and were never heard from again.
Scientists who conducted a preliminary probe of the rugged, remote site in February said they identified several spots that could be graves, leading Lutze to conduct the exploratory excavation.
A dig for clandestine graves at Charles Manson's last hideout was called to an... more
