Breaking News Thread Version 2.0

[Hefe]

Succeed or Suck Seed (that would be if you name your kid "Funyun")

[dragonz]

Gay Pilgram spelling!

and for the record, I really don't know how my buddy's boy's name is spelled

my son has a normal name though
S P E N C E R

So you named your son after a womans under-garment, nice 

[Hefe]

womans undergarment?

thats kinda cool

[funyun]

womans undergarment?

thats kinda cool

pretty cool huh bra

[Krandall]

WINONA, Minn. – Authorities are considering whether to charge a woman accused of grabbing a man by the genitals and yanking hard enough for him to need stitches. Deputy Police Chief Tom Williams told the Winona Daily News the 54-year-old woman faces possible charges of domestic assault, third-degree assault and interfering with a 911 call.

Officers were called Friday night to a domestic disturbance in Winona. Williams said the man pulled down his underwear for police and showed them a large tear on his genitals.

Williams said the woman denied grabbing the man, telling officers he had cut himself.

The man was taken to a hospital for stitches. The woman bailed herself out of jail on Saturday.

Charges had not been filed by Tuesday.

[funyun]

teabag gone wrong

[Krandall]

Minnesota for the win

[funyun]

this just in......
























I like turtles

[Krandall]

Cool story.


The boy who paints like an old master

His pictures cost upwards of £900, there are 680 people on a waiting list to buy them, and his second exhibition sold out in 14 minutes. Patrick Barkham meets the gifted artist Kieron Williamson, aged seven

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/29/boy-paints-like-old-master

Kieron Williamson kneels on the wooden bench in his small kitchen, takes a pastel from the box by his side and rubs it on to a piece of paper.

"Have you got a picture in your head of what you're going to do?" asks his mother, Michelle.

"Yep," Kieron nods. "A snow scene."

Because it is winter at the moment, I ask.

"Yep."

Do you know how you want it to come out?

"Yep."

And does it come out how you want it to?

"Sometimes it does."

Like many great artists, small boys are not often renowned for their loquaciousness. While Kieron Williamson is a very normal seven-year-old who uses his words sparingly, what slowly emerges on the small rectangle of paper in his kitchen is extraordinarily eloquent.

This month, Kieron's second exhibition in a gallery in his home town of Holt, Norfolk, sold out in 14 minutes. The sale of 16 new paintings swelled his bank account by £18,200. There are now 680 people on a waiting list for a Kieron original. Art lovers have driven from London to buy his work. Agents buzz around the town. People offer to buy his schoolbooks. The starting price for a simple pastel picture like the one Kieron is sketching? £900.

Kieron lives with his dad Keith, a former electrician, his mum, who is training to be a nutritionist, and Billie-Jo, his little sister, in a small flat overlooking a petrol station. When I arrive on a Saturday afternoon, Kieron and Keith are out. When Kieron returns in football socks and shorts, I assume he has been playing football. But no, he has been replenishing his stock of pastels in Holt, a chichi little place where even the chip shop has grainy portraits for sale on its walls.
kieron williamson artist Artist Kieron Williamson, age seven, painting at home in Holt, Norfolk. Photograph: Graham Turner

From Jan Lievens to Millais, there have been plenty of precocious geniuses in the art world. Excitable press coverage has compared Kieron to Picasso, who painted his first canvas, The Picador, aged eight.

"We don't know who Picasso is really," says Keith.

"I know who Picasso is," interrupts Kieron. "I don't want to become Picasso."

Who would he like to become? "Monet or Edward Seago," he says.

These days, however, we are often suspicious of child prodigies. We wonder if it is all their own work, or whether their pushy parents have hot-housed them. People who don't know the Williamsons might think Kieron is being cleverly marketed, particularly when they hear that Keith is now an art dealer.

The truth is far more innocent. Two years ago, a serious accident had forced Keith to stop work and turn his hobby – collecting art – into an occupation. The accident also stopped Keith racing around outside with his son. Confined to a flat with no garden, surrounded by paintings and, like any small boy, probably influenced by his dad, Kieron decided to take up drawing. Now, father and son are learning about art together.

Kieron is rubbing yellows and greys together for his sky. "There's some trees going straight across and then there's a lake through the centre," he explains. Is this picture something you have seen or is it in your imagination? "I saw it on the computer and every time I do the picture it changes." he says, handling his pastels expertly.

Keith ducks into the kitchen and explains that Kieron finds pictures he likes on the internet. Rather than an exact copy, however, he creates his own version. This winter scene is imagined from an image of the Norfolk Broads in summer.
Figures at Holkham by Kieron Williamson Figures at Holkham by Kieron Williamson

At first, Kieron's art was pretty much like any other five-year-old's. But he quickly progressed and was soon asking questions that his parents couldn't answer. "Kieron wanted to know the technicalities of art and how to put a painting together," says Michelle. Hearing of Kieron's promise, one local artist, Carol Ann Pennington, offered him some tips. Since then, he has had lessons with other Norfolk-based painters, including Brian Ryder and his favourite, Tony Garner.

Garner, a professional artist, has taught more than 1,000 adults over the last few decades and Kieron, he says, is head and shoulders above everyone. "He doesn't say very much, he doesn't ask very much, he just looks. He's a very visual learner. If I did a picture with most students, they will copy it but Kieron is different. He will copy it and then he will Kieronise it," he says. "It might be a bit naive at the moment but there's a lovely freshness about what he does. The confidence that this little chap has got – he just doesn't see any danger."

Garner says his parents have been brilliant at shielding Kieron from the business side and the pressure this invariably brings. Keith and Michelle are extremely proud, and protective, and perhaps slightly in awe of their son. They insist that Kieron only paints when he wants to.

"We judge ourselves every day, wondering whether we are making the right choices," says Michelle. "Kieron is such a strong character you wouldn't get him to do anything he didn't want to do anyway. It's a hobby. Some could argue he's got such a talent, why aren't we doing more for him in terms of touring galleries every weekend. We are a family and we've got Billie-Jo to consider; you've got to strike a balance."
Boat at half way house by Kieron Williamson Boat at half way house by Kieron Williamson

With all the people wanting paintings, I ask Kieron if he feels he has to do them. He says no.

So you only paint when you want to? "Yep."

Do you have days when you feel you don't want to paint?

"Yep."

So you only do it when you're in the mood?

"Yep."

How many paintings or drawings do you do each week? One or two? "About six."

Is he a perfectionist? "You've got a bit of an artist's temperament, haven't you?" says Michelle, softly, as Kieron continues wielding his pastels. "You get really frustrated if it doesn't work out. You punched a hole in the canvas once, didn't you?"

That was rare. Sometimes, however, Kieron will produce "what we classify as a bag of trosh," says Michelle. "He's just got to go through the motions. It's almost as if it's a release. It's difficult to explain – it's the process that he enjoys, because there are days when he is not really focused on his work but he just enjoys doing it."

Sometimes, when they have taken Kieron out on painting trips in the countryside, the little boy has had other ideas: he has gone off and played in the mud or a stream. He is still allowed to be seven years old.

What do his school friends think? Are they impressed? "Yep." A few ­ moments later, Kieron pauses. "I am also top of the class in maths, English, geography and science," he says carefully, rubbing the sky in his picture.

Kieron explains he is sticking to landscapes for now but plans to paint a portrait of his 98-year-old nan when she turns 100. What does he think about people spending so much money on his paintings? "Really good." Would he like to be a professional painter? "Yep." So he doesn't want to be a footballer when he is older? "I want to be a footballer and a painter."

Kieron enjoys playing football and, like his dad, supports Leeds United ("I haven't ever pushed him into it," says Keith quickly). What other things does Kieron like doing? "You played on the Xbox but then you got bored of it didn't you?" says Keith.

"You said I could have it out when Christmas comes," says Kieron.

"You can have it out in the holidays," promises Michelle. "He's a bit all-or-nothing with whatever he does, like the artwork. You have to pull the reins in a bit because otherwise he'd be up all night."

What would his parents say if Kieron turned around and told them he was not going to paint any more? "Leave him to it. As long as he's happy. At the end of the day, he's at his happiest painting," says Keith. "It's entirely his choice," says Michelle. "We don't know what's around the corner. Kieron might decide to put his boxes away and football might take over and that would be entirely his choice. We're feeling slightly under pressure at the moment because there is such a waiting list of people wanting Kieron's work, but I'm inclined to tell them to wait, really."

I doubt many artists could paint or draw while answering questions and being photographed but Kieron carries on. When he finishes, we lean over to look. "Not bad. That's nice," says Keith, who can't watch Kieron at work; I wonder if it is because he is worried about his son making a mistake but Keith says he just prefers to see the finished article.

"Is it as good as the one I did this morning or better?" asks Kieron.

"What do you think?" replies Keith. "It's got a nice glow on it, hasn't it?"

Kieron nods.

I would love one of his pictures but, I tell Kieron, he is already too expensive for me. "I can price one down for you," he says, as quick as a flash.

No, no, I couldn't, I say, worried I would be exploiting a little boy who is eager to please. I thank him for his time and hand him my business card. And Kieron trots into his bedroom, comes out with his business card and says thank you back

[Krandall]

Rustlers ride wideopen range of Great Basin

FRENCHGLEN, Ore. – Cruising down a two-lane blacktop where the Catlow Rim drops down into a broad valley of sagebrush and bunchgrass, ranch manager Stacy Davies pulls his pickup over to let pass a herd of young bulls being trailed along the road by a couple of his buckaroos, as ranch hands are called here.

Arriving at the corrals at Three Mile Creek, Davies opens the tailgate on the gooseneck trailer hitched to his pickup, leads his horse into the cold hard sunshine, and swings up into the saddle to cut out cattle destined for shipment to market.

Two springs ago, Davies pulled up to these same corrals to find that dozens of weaned calves were gone, rustled, with truck tracks half-stomped by the remaining cattle the only clue to what had happened.

Out of pride and a reluctance to point a finger at neighbors, ranchers in the vast Great Basin outback where Oregon, Idaho and Nevada come together have been slow to admit that someone in their midst, perhaps even someone they know from barbecues and brandings, has been stealing cattle. Just who is doing it, and how they have gotten away with it for at least three years, remains a mystery.

"There's a lot of men who have worked these various ranches, moved from ranch to ranch and know this country well, who would be capable of such activity," said Davies, manager of Roaring Springs Ranch, which covers 1.1 million acres of private and federal range. "They know when we are at ballgames, they know when we're at church. They know where the animals are at."

Last summer, pushed by Jordan Valley rancher Bob Skinner, a past president of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association, ranchers overcame their reluctance to talk and started sharing information with law enforcement and each other. It quickly became clear that more than 1,200 cattle worth about $1 million had disappeared, far more than could be accounted for by the bones that dot this harsh country, or strays joining a neighbor's herd.

That would make this the rustling hotspot of the nation, said Rick Wahlert, Colorado state brand commissioner and secretary of the International Livestock Identification Association. The group's members in 20 states and three Canadian provinces have reported about 500 cattle thefts a year the past two years, up from 150 a year.

The association believes the jump in rustling is apparently spurred by the hard economic times, he said.

Rancher Skinner urged an aggressive new attitude among his far-flung neighbors, and he organized regular meetings to raise the profile on rustling. Once the cattlemen began admitting their losses, the numbers snowballed. The county sheriffs realized for the first time they had a major problem.

"Cattle theft — rustling — is not just something you read about in old Western magazines or watch in the Western movies you see," said Ed Kilgore, sheriff of Nevada's Humboldt County. "I really believe it's going on with people riding horses like in the old days, gathering cattle and taking them to a place they can load them up on transport."

With cows worth as much as $1,200 apiece, and calves $650, the losses mounted quickly, Skinner said. Despite struggling with their losses and the recession, ranchers have kicked in close to $60,000 in reward money to back a wanted poster circulating with the brands of stolen cattle.

Ranchers are keeping closer watch on their cattle, even with hidden cameras, and taking counts every time a herd moves through a gate, so they can report a theft sooner.

"The worst thing we can do is just to not say anything and hope they show up, then four or five or who knows how many months later go, 'Oh my gosh, I'm missing a bunch,' and by then there's no more smoking trail," Skinner said.

Once the stolen cattle are loaded on a truck, there is no telling where they might end up. They could be driven in a matter of hours to be sold in a state like Kansas with no brand laws, said Wahlert.

Or they could be hidden out in a remote pasture to produce their calves year after year, which could easily be branded and sold, said Idaho brand inspector Larry Hayhurst.

"There are a lot of ways to beat the system," he said.

This high desert country has fed cows since the early 1870s, when California cattle barons who struck it rich feeding gold miners first trailed their herds here. Even today, cattle outnumber people 1,000 to one, and it can take 40 acres to feed one cow and its calf for a month.

Buckaroos, a corruption of the Spanish word vaquero, follow many of the Old California traditions, braiding their own bridles and hackamores, and throwing long ropes that give them more room to slow a calf without hurting their horse.

Bred cows are turned loose on rangeland far from home and left on their own for months at a time. The only good count of what the weather, predators, disease, poisonous weeds and now rustlers have left comes at the fall gather.

Kilgore said they have established the rustling is real, but have little hard evidence to target any suspects.

The Roaring Springs theft from corrals next to a paved highway was the exception. Most cattle have disappeared from remote valleys where no one lays eyes on them for months at a time.

Jordan Valley ranchers Rand and Jane Collins swim their cows across the Owyhee River to get them to their federal allotment in February, and don't see them again until June or July, when they brand the new calves.

Rand Collins figures about 90 mother cows were stolen in the spring of 2007, though it was fall before he could be sure they weren't just lost. All carried the box-slash brand — a square with a diagonal line inside. The fact the cows had yet to drop their calves made them easier to handle on the long drive _three to five days — to a gravel road where they could be loaded on trucks. And it gave the rustlers 90 calves with no brands.

"It's not the kind of thing you like to admit," Rand Collins said. "There's always the chance as the season goes along that the cattle will turn up, and then you look like a fool for crying wolf."

Malheur County Sheriff Andrew Bentz figures the rustlers are a small group, more like a family than a gang, with the horseback skills to drive a herd hundreds of miles in rough country to read a road good enough to handle a cattle truck.

Chances of catching them in the act are slim in this wide-open country, he said.

"It's a long and methodical process of following money and the animals themselves," he said. "When the rustlers are named the people who are arrested will be no surprise to anybody. Nobody falls in out of Mars and takes care of this business."

When the fall gather came in this year, the losses appeared to be down, leading several ranchers to figure the rustlers are feeling the heat and laying low.

"We catch guys stealing stuff all the time. Those are onesy-twosy guys," said Idaho Brand Inspector Larry Hayhurst. "This is something different.

"They have a system down to beat this system. They have it figured out. We've just got to figure out what they're doing. Sooner or later we'll find out."

[Krandall]

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Dubai opened the world's tallest skyscraper Monday, and in a surprise move renamed the gleaming glass-and-metal tower Burj Khalifa in a nod to the leader of neighboring Abu Dhabi — the oil-rich sheikdom which came to its rescue during the financial meltdown.

A lavish presentation witnessed by Dubai's ruler and thousands of onlookers at the base of the tower said the building was 828 meters, or 2717 feet, tall.

Dubai is opening the tower in the midst of a deep financial crisis. Its oil rich neighbor Abu Dhabi has pumped billions of dollars in bailout funds into the emirate as it struggles to pay its debts.

Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is the ruler of Abu Dhabi and serves as the president of the United Arab Emirates, the federation of seven small emirates, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Analysts have questioned what Dubai might need to offer in exchange for the financial support it has received from Abu Dhabi, which controls nearly all of the UAE's oil wealth. Abu Dhabi provided direct and indirect injections totaling $25 billion last year as Dubai's debt problems deepened.

Dubai's hereditary ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in recent months has increasingly underscored the close relationship between the two emirates. Sheik Mohammed serves as vice president and prime minister of the UAE federation.

The developer of the newly opened tower said it cost about $1.5 billion to build the tapering metal-and-glass spire billed as a "vertical city" of luxury apartments and offices. It boasts four swimming pools, a private library and a hotel designed by Giorgio Armani.

The Burj's developers say they are confident in the safety of the tower, which is more than twice the height of New York's Empire State Building's roof.

Greg Sang, Emaar's director of projects, said the Burj has "refuge floors" at 25 to 30 story intervals that are more fire resistant and have separate air supplies in case of emergency. And its reinforced concrete structure, he said, makes it stronger than steel-frame skyscrapers.

"It's a lot more robust," he said. "A plane won't be able to slice through the Burj like it did through the steel columns of the World Trade Center."

Dubai was little more than a sleepy fishing village a generation ago but it boomed into the Middle East's commercial hub over the past two decades on the back of business-friendly trading policies, relative security, and vast amounts of overseas investment.

Then property prices in parts of sheikdom collapsed by nearly half over the past year. Now Dubai is mired in debt and many buildings sit largely empty — the result of overbuilding during a property bubble that has since burst.

Despite the past year of hardships, the tower's developer and other officials were in a festive mood, trying to bring the world's focus on Dubai's future potential rather than past mistakes.

"Crises come and go. And cities move on," Mohammed Alabbar, chairman of the tower's developer Emaar Properties, told reporters before the inauguration. "You have to move on. Because if you stop taking decisions, you stop growing."

Dubai, which has little oil of its own, relied on cheap loans to pump up its international clout during the frenzied boom years.

But like many overextended homeowners, the emirate and its state-backed companies borrowed too heavily and then struggled to keep up with payments as the financial crisis intensified and credit markets froze up.

Meanwhile, speculators who had fueled Dubai's property bubble disappeared along with the easy money, revealing a glut of brand-new but empty homes and crippling many of the emirate's property developers

The sheikdom shocked global markets late last year when it unexpectedly announced plans to reorganize its main state-run conglomerate Dubai World and sought new terms in repaying some $26 billion in debt.

It got some succor from a $10 billion bailout provided by its richer neighbor and UAE capital Abu Dhabi last month. That was on top of $15 billion in emergency funds provided by Abu Dhabi-based financiers earlier in the year.

Burj developer Emaar is itself partly owned by the Dubai government, but is not part of struggling Dubai World, which has investments ranging from Dubai's manmade islands and seaports to luxury retailer Barneys New York and the oceanliner Queen Elizabeth 2.

Emaar's Alabbar said the landmark Burj is 90 percent sold in a mix of residential units, offices and other space, offering a counterpoint to Dubai's financial woes.

The developer has only said the spire stands more than 2625 feet (800 meters) tall. Alabbar said Dubai's ruler will announce the height at the inauguration ceremony.

At a reported height of 2,684 feet (818 meters), the Burj Dubai long ago vanquished its nearest rival, the Taipei 101 in Taiwan.

But the tower's record-seeking developers didn't stop there.

The building boasts the most stories and highest occupied floor of any building in the world, and ranks as the world's tallest structure, beating out a television mast in North Dakota.

"We weren't sure how high we could go," said Bill Baker, the building's structural engineer, who is in Dubai for the inauguration. "It was kind of an exploration ... A learning experience"

Baker, of Chicago-based architecture and engineering firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, said early designs for the Burj had it edging out the world's previous record-holder, the Taipei 101, by about 33 feet (10 meters). The Taiwan tower rises 1,667 feet (508 meters).

Work on Burj Dubai began in 2004 and moved ahead rapidly. At times, new floors were being added almost every three days, reflecting Dubai's raging push to reshape itself into a cosmopolitan urban giant packed with skyscrapers.

During the busiest construction periods, some 12,000 workers labored at the tower each day, according to Emaar. Low-wage migrant workers from the Indian subcontinent provided much of the muscle for the Burj and many of Dubai's other building projects.

The tower is more than 50 stories higher than Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest building in the U.S. formerly known as the Sears Tower.

At their peak, some apartments in the Burj were selling for more than $1,900 per square foot, though they now can go for less than half that, said Heather Wipperman Amiji, chief executive of Dubai real estate consultancy Investment Boutique.

She said some buyers may struggle to find tenants at going rates once the tower's expected high service charges are factored in.

"The investment community is quite divided," she said. "They're not sure how it's going to play out."

The Burj is the centerpiece of a 500-acre development that officials hope will become a new central residential and commercial district in this sprawling and often disconnected city. It is flanked by dozens of smaller but brand-new skyscrapers and the Middle East's largest shopping mall.

That layout — as the core of a lower-rise skyline — lets the Burj stand out prominently against the horizon. It is visible across dozens of miles of rolling sand dunes outside Dubai. From the air, the spire appears as an almost solitary, slender needle reaching high into the sky.

An observation deck on the 124th floor opens to the public Tuesday, with adult tickets starting at 100 dirhams, or just over $27 apiece. The ride to the top took just over a minute during a visit for journalists early Monday morning.

Dubai landmarks like the sail-shaped Burj al-Arab hotel and the manmade Palm Jumeirah island were visible through the haze.

The Burj itself cast a sundial-like shadow over low-rise houses and empty sand-covered lots stretching toward the azure Persian Gulf waters. And yes, Dubai is still open for business: there are gift shops at the base and the top.

[disco]

Dec. 14 so not quite Breaking.

I think at his trial, they should call him Recruit and stick him on a bus to Paris Island or 29 Palms.  Tell him it's time to earn those medals or die trying.



http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/military-impostors-are-neither-few-nor-proud/19280604?icid=main|main|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sphere.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Fmilitary-impostors-are-neither-few-nor-proud%2F19280604

(Dec. 14) -- Steven Douglas Burton wore the Marine Corps uniform proudly. He had rows of medals, including a prestigious Navy Cross, a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

He posted a photo of himself in uniform and blogged about serving one tour of duty in Afghanistan and four in Iraq. He was at the Battle of Fallujah, he said, and praised the doctors who "patched us up."

But Burton wasn't a hero. He was a fraud who purchased medals online.


U.S. Attorney's Office Steven Douglas Burton's web site contained photos of him wearing the Marine Corps uniform proudly. He had rows of medals, including a prestigious Navy Cross, a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

A scam that began two years ago when Burton wore a Marine Corps uniform as a Halloween party costume ended Monday with a guilty plea in federal court in Riverside, Calif.

Burton, a 39-year-old bank employee from Palm Springs, was unmasked after he wore the uniform of a Marine lieutenant colonel to his 20-year high school reunion. A classmate who was a Navy commander became suspicious of his story, got him to pose for a photo and handed it over to the FBI.

Burton pleaded guilty to a single count of the unauthorized wearing of a military medal. He faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine for violating the Stolen Valor Act, which prohibits wearing an unearned medal or falsely claiming to have earned one.

"The defendant was wearing some of the highest military honors given in this country for valor," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Akrotirianakis, who prosecuted the case. "He never served in the military."

Burton is one of five men -- and the second in two weeks -- successfully prosecuted in California since the 2006 law toughened penalties against fraudulent claims of heroism. That is the largest number of phony heroes prosecuted in any state, said independent watchdog Doug Sterner, who operates the Home of Heroes Web site in Pueblo, Colo.

Sterner and others who track impostors say there are thousands more like Burton who falsely claim military honors or lie about their supposed wartime bravery but have never been prosecuted.

Mary Schantag, co-founder and researcher for the POW Network, said her group's Web site lists 3,500 "phonies and wannabes" who claim to be former prisoners of war, medal recipients, members of elite forces or heroic combat veterans. She said she receives new allegations daily.

"This is an epidemic," said Schantag, who is based in Skidmore, Mo. "It's almost a mass identity theft of people who earned their status as heroes."

Some, like Burton, are apparently motivated to make false claims by a desire to pump up their self-esteem. But more often, a false claim of bravery is part of a con to steal money, get a better job, illegally claim veteran's benefits or entice a woman into a romantic relationship.

"It pretty much boils down to ego, women or money," Schantag said.

Many impostors get away with their claims for years because the military does not keep a list of most medal recipients. Sterner, who pushed for adoption of the Stolen Valor Act, is now campaigning for legislation that would require the Pentagon to maintain a list of all the men and women it has honored.

"How many people do you see out there claiming they won an Academy Award and didn't?" he asked. "None, since there is a list of Academy Award recipients. How many phonies are claiming Silver Stars? They are all over the country because there is no list of Silver Star recipients."

Sterner has compiled his own list of more than 26,000 medal winners and posted it on the Hall of Valor Web site, sponsored by the Military Times. Members of the public can search the database to verify the names of true medal winners. Earlier this month, AMVETS launched ReportStolenValor.org, where people can report suspected impostors.

Burton began attracting attention in February 2008, when he wrote to a veterans' Web site and sent a photo of himself in uniform taken on Coronado Island, near San Diego.

The letter discussed his supposed wartime experiences and a moving encounter with ex-Marines on Coronado. He signed the letter, "MGySgt Burton, 1st Division, USMC," indicating his rank as master gunnery sergeant.

Some vets who saw his post questioned his terminology and the abbreviation. When asked in an e-mail why his name did not turn up on a list of Navy Cross winners, he replied that Burton was his first name and that he does not provide his full name online.

The exchange prompted Schantag to post Burton's photo and letter on her site of "phonies and wannabes." She also posted Burton's e-mail reply, which says, "If people are hunting around for information on me or trying to match my name to medals I'm wearing, they are not looking in the right place."

Even though he knew he was under suspicion, Burton wore the lieutenant colonel's uniform to his October 2008 reunion. Classmates at Alhambra High School in Martinez remember him as an unlikely candidate to become a highly decorated Marine. His regalia aroused the suspicion of Navy Cmdr. Colleen Salonga, who obtained Burton's photo by asking if they could pose together.

Burton was arrested a year later on Veterans Day and initially pleaded not guilty. But on Dec. 3, he signed a plea agreement admitting in detail to the crime.

He chose the Marine Corps uniform because he liked it best of all the services, the plea agreement said. He purchased uniforms and equipment online and at military stores, acquiring at least 15 medals. His attorney, Michael DeFrank, did not return phone calls from Sphere.

"Defendant wore the USMC uniform to the reunion because he wanted to impress his high school classmates," the plea agreement says.

Last week, another high-profile impostor pleaded guilty in Sacramento. Kenneth Jerome Nelson, the unofficial caretaker of the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Sacramento, had become something of a local celebrity. His accounts of his bravery during the war had been featured in newspaper and television stories.

Nelson, 60, said he was a Marine in Vietnam and was wounded three times, once while carrying an injured buddy on his back for 26 miles. He sometimes wore a Silver Star and said he had received three Purple Hearts.

In fact, Nelson never served in combat in Vietnam or anywhere else.

Last week -- on Pearl Harbor Day -- he pleaded guilty in federal court to wearing a Silver Star he did not earn. As part of the plea agreement, Nelson surrendered his medals.

Despite the successful prosecutions in California, Sterner and Schantag say authorities often don't take phony heroes as seriously as they should.

"In the vast majority of these cases, there is additional fraud going on," Sterner said.

Women are particular targets, and dating Web sites are a common place to encounter phony heroes, Schantag said. Some women who were tricked have lost their homes, contracted AIDS or gotten pregnant and then been abandoned.

"It's not a victimless crime," she said. "They are looking for women with money, secure jobs or inheritances. Prosecution isn't fast enough sometimes to prevent further victims. We hear from woman after woman after woman, and nothing is being done."

Schantag also said that punishment is often too light. Worst of all, she said, is ordering an impostor to perform community service for a veterans' organization.

"Don't put them with the real heroes, where they can learn more stories," she said. "Have them dig graves in Arlington National Cemetery."

Filed under: Nation, Crime
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[Magz]

what kind of quad is you ridin in this pic 

I have a friend that had a grizly, that is one bad as work quad.

[disco]

04 Big Bear 400 with 27" Mudzillas.  Pretty impressed with it for having an open front and non-independant rear.  I really want a Grizzly but this will have to hold me over till I can swing it.

[disco]

Score!  The clutch I ordered before the Little Sahara 09 Rally came in today.  Lol, I forgot all about it.