"Evangelist" Tony Alamo Convicted. Good riddance.

Article: Sex abuse testimony ends Alamo's long crime career

By DEBORAH HASTINGS (AP) – July 26, 2009

Of all the horrid accusations against evangelist Tony Alamo — and the list is long — it was the testimony of formerly loyal subjects, recounting "marriages" between their cult leader and girls as young as 8, that may end his 40-year rule and send him to prison for life.

Born Bernie Lazar Hoffman, the 74-year-old faces up to 175 years behind bars following his conviction Friday on 10 counts of transporting young girls across state lines for sexual purposes. Some jurors wept while women described being molested by and forced into sex with their decades-older pastor.

Among many who've watched Alamo's handiwork since the 1970s — which produced allegations including kidnapping, brainwashing, child abuse, tax evasion and threatening a federal judge — there was never any doubt the street-hustler-turned-pastor should be locked away for good. Their question is, what took so long?

Full aricle here.

13-Year-Old Rape Victim Stoned To Death In Somalia For Adultery

Sad story coming out of Somalia. This story speaks for itself...but my one question is this: If Islam is supposed to be a "religion of peace", why havent we heard an uproar in the Islamic world over crimes like this, which happen frequently in islamic countries worldwide?

Thank God for brave women like Ayaan Hirsi Ali (top picture) also of Somalian descent, who are brave enough to speak about the the widespread barbarism, especially barbarism against women, coming out of the Islamic world. 

November 1, 2008 11:34 AM EST | 


MOGADISHU, Somalia — A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.

Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.

Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.

Calls to Somali government officials and the local administration in Kismayo rang unanswered Saturday.

"This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo," David Copeman, Amnesty International's Somalia campaigner, said in a statement Friday.

Somalia is among the world's most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.

A quarter of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public institution has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths reported nearly every day.

Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaida have been battling the government and its Ethiopian allies since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

In recent months, the militants appear to be gaining strength. The group has taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using it.

For Every Mountain... Jennifer Hudson

The nation has been transfixed the past few days with the story of Oscar Winner Jennifer Hudson's tragedy - the killing of her mother, brother, and nephew.

Our condolences are with her and all the family.

Meanwhile, I've come across this song she sung with the Soul Children of Chicago, "For Every Mountain"... one of my all-time favorites, and a very appropriate song at this difficult time in her life.

Wife Who Killed Preacher Set Free

Amazing. This story has me so mad, I can barely express it. Preacher's wife kills him, then walks after 7 months. Part of the reason she ended up getting a light sentence is because during her defense she claimed to have been abused by her husband (although she never filed a single complaint against him during the time of her so-called abuse) . Then, after smearing his name during her trial , she gets to plead to a lesser charge, and after 7 months, now she's a free woman. Of course, she also wants to seek custody of the couples' three kids, after blowing their father away... in his sleep!

(CNN) -- After spending a total of seven months in custody, the Tennessee woman who fatally shot her preacher husband in the back was released on Tuesday, her lawyer told CNN. Mary Winkler, a 33-year-old mother of three girls, was freed from a Tennessee mental health facility where she was treated for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, lawyer Steve Farese said.

Are you kidding me? "Injustice" is the first word that comes to mind. But beyond that, there's a clear element of gender bias here. Let me ask this, have you ever seen a case where a man killed his wife, admitted it, got convicted for it, then walked away after only 7 months in jail? Then again, the "I was abused" murder defense doesn't really work as well for men now, does it?