I am dumb

On Tuesdays at work, we have a group of old ladies who volunteer, making lunches, packing produce bags, and so on. A few of them call each other "sister." I always assumed that they were some kind of old school 1950s-era feminists or possibly Suffragettes or even Suffragists. Today, after reading a nametag that said "Sr Jude," I realized that they're nuns. It makes much more sense than my earlier assumption, but it's not as fun.

I don't care too much for money, cuz money can't buy me love

Tycoon 'paid £3 bn for stay of execution'
By Richard Spencer
(Filed: 12/11/2005)

China's use of the death penalty has come under renewed scrutiny after it was accused of deferring the execution of one of its wealthiest billionaires in return for money.

Yuan Baojing is one of many Chinese businessmen who benefited from a startlingly rapid rags-to-riches rise in the past 15 years.

	Yuan Baojing: Reprieve

But then he paid his brothers and cousins to assassinate a former employee who was blackmailing him.

He was due to die by firing squad on Oct 14. But after the date passed and the sentence was not carried out, it emerged that the day before the execution date his wife transferred ownership of shares worth 49.5 billion yuan (£3.5 billion) to the government.

An order to suspend the sentence was rushed to his prison just as he was about to be taken to the execution ground. As news of the curious coincidence seeped out, and was even reported in state-run business magazines, a storm of protest erupted on internet discussion forums, the only place for public debate in China.

The timing of Mr Yuan's stay of execution, which may yet be only temporary, could not be more unfortunate for China's legal system. The country is still reeling after a succession of cases of wrongful convictions, mostly involving the use of police brutality to extract confessions.

In two cases, women who had allegedly been killed by poor peasants, one of whom was executed, turned up safe and well.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/12/wchina12.xml

what's new

this blog oh ho ho ho ho ho ho ho hi