Two students in danger of terrorists and bridemongers
In the first news report (via Clarity and Resolve), a Jewish student was held hostage by terrorists in Shechem:
In the second news report, a 16-year-old girl proved just how dangerous the influence of the MySpace network is, when she ran away from her home in Michigan to meet a 25-year-old lover she met over the crappy internet site, and it's quite possible that, in less fortunate circumstances, she would've ended up a prisoner and child bride:
Michigan seems to have some very awkward laws, as this report indicates, and it's going to have to be changed. There's also a lot of questions that need answering here, such as, why would the girl need a passport, let alone an ID card, for travelling to Canada? Between those borders, it's not that restrictive (though it may soon have to be). Didn't the mother realize that? I hope she counsels her daughter good now about what's wrong with all this.
And here we have now one of the most standout examples of why MySpace may have to be put out of business unless they clamp down seriously on abusers of their systems: they attract pedophiles of the worst degree.
Also available at 7 Deadly Sins, Bloggin' Out Loud, bRight & Early, Cao's Blog, Free Constitution, Jo's Cafe, Outside the Beltway, Stop the ACLU, Third World County. Others on the subjects include Israelly Cool, Debbie Schlussel, Israel Reporter, Westbankblog, Israel Matzav, Western Resistance, Rose DesRochers, Shiloh Musings, Thoughts of a Technocrat, The Muqata (plus, another one), Wiretapped, Mad Canuck, Vital Perspective, Scared Monkeys, PA Pundits, Sobriety for Society, Yeshiva World, Judenstadt, Idea Grove, Mumbling Gerb, The Diner [at] Penda's Realm, And So it Goes On and On, Chatguard, KICIsrael, Gadling, The Lost Activist, Eclectic Chapbook, Coisas Judaicas (in Portuguese?).
"I had the feeling they were in over their heads," Benjamin Bright-Fishbein told Israeli security officials after he was released the Palestinians who abducted him in Nablus overnight Saturday.He's very lucky, since it's quite likely that they would've murdered him, but released him due to political pressure.
The student, who was kidnapped by gunmen while having coffee at a Nablus coffee shop, was transferred to the IDF at Huwara checkpoint. He was described as being in good condition.
Earlier on Saturday night, IDF officials said a tape had reached some news outlets showing the 20-year-old student of Jerusalem's Hebrew University holding his identification and saying that he was kidnapped in the West Bank city. On the tape, the student said that he would be killed by his captors if Israel did not release Palestinian prisoners, Army Radio reported.
Al-Jazeera news network reported that Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed it was behind the kidnapping.
It appears the terrorists agreed to quickly release Fishbein because he was an American who did not hold Israeli citizenship.
Fishbein remained in police custody early Sunday, where he was being questioned about the incident.
In the second news report, a 16-year-old girl proved just how dangerous the influence of the MySpace network is, when she ran away from her home in Michigan to meet a 25-year-old lover she met over the crappy internet site, and it's quite possible that, in less fortunate circumstances, she would've ended up a prisoner and child bride:
DETROIT - A 16-year-old girl who tricked her parents into getting her a passport and then flew to the Mideast to be with a man she met on MySpace.com has returned to Michigan.Well as a matter of fact, one has: the Muslim man she'd been contacting to begin with did something illegal by leading even an online relation with her. That aside, look at how they attempt to whitewash the whole scenario in Jericho. There are terrorists there, and it would be ill advised to think that it's safe there.
U.S. officials in Jordan persuaded Katherine R. Lester to turn around and go home before she reached the West Bank. Lester arrived at Bishop International Airport in Flint late Friday and was taken to a private area to be reunited with her family.
She disappeared Monday after talking her parents into getting her a passport by saying she was going to Canada with friends, sheriff's officials said.
She apparently planned to visit a man whose MySpace account describes him as a 25-year-old from Jericho, Undersheriff James Jashinske said.
MySpace.com is a social networking Web site with more than 72 million members that lets users post photos, blogs and journals. There have been scattered accounts of sexual predators targeting minors they met through the site.
Lester apparently contacted the man from Jericho about three months ago, Jashinske said. Jericho, a city of 17,000, is a relatively calm area of the volatile West Bank.
The FBI traced the teenager to a Wednesday flight from New York's Kennedy Airport to Tel Aviv, Israel. At a scheduled stop in Amman, Jordan, U.S. officials persuaded her to return home, FBI agent Robert Beeckman said.
"Thank God she was returned safely," Lester's father said Friday afternoon while awaiting her arrival.
Terry Lester said his daughter is a straight-A student and student council member. "She's a good girl. Never had a problem with her," he said.
MySpace forbids youngsters 13 and under from joining and provides special protections for those 14 and 15 — only people on their list of friends can view their profiles. Older users also have the option of restricting certain personal data so it can be seen only by people they have identified as friends.
Shawn Lester told The Saginaw News that her daughter has "never given me a day's trouble. ... I just don't understand with all these new laws protecting America how a 16-year-old kid could get out of the country." She said her daughter never had a boyfriend and seemed to be content with that.
Katherine and her mother live in Gilford, a village about 80 miles north of Detroit in Michigan's agricultural Thumb region. Her father lives in Grand Blanc Township.
Jashinske said deputies confiscated the family's home computer and were taking it to the FBI's Bay City office for analysis. He said it remained unclear whether any laws had been violated because of Lester's age. The age of sexual consent in Michigan is 16; Katherine turns 17 on June 21.
"I'll be honest with you, we don't know if a crime's been committed," Jashinske said.
Michigan seems to have some very awkward laws, as this report indicates, and it's going to have to be changed. There's also a lot of questions that need answering here, such as, why would the girl need a passport, let alone an ID card, for travelling to Canada? Between those borders, it's not that restrictive (though it may soon have to be). Didn't the mother realize that? I hope she counsels her daughter good now about what's wrong with all this.
And here we have now one of the most standout examples of why MySpace may have to be put out of business unless they clamp down seriously on abusers of their systems: they attract pedophiles of the worst degree.
Also available at 7 Deadly Sins, Bloggin' Out Loud, bRight & Early, Cao's Blog, Free Constitution, Jo's Cafe, Outside the Beltway, Stop the ACLU, Third World County. Others on the subjects include Israelly Cool, Debbie Schlussel, Israel Reporter, Westbankblog, Israel Matzav, Western Resistance, Rose DesRochers, Shiloh Musings, Thoughts of a Technocrat, The Muqata (plus, another one), Wiretapped, Mad Canuck, Vital Perspective, Scared Monkeys, PA Pundits, Sobriety for Society, Yeshiva World, Judenstadt, Idea Grove, Mumbling Gerb, The Diner [at] Penda's Realm, And So it Goes On and On, Chatguard, KICIsrael, Gadling, The Lost Activist, Eclectic Chapbook, Coisas Judaicas (in Portuguese?).
