Mainstream Media Erred About the 'Mountain Men' Kidnapping (satire)

After researching the Abducted and Abducted II movies which were filmed in Vancouver and in Squamish in 1986 and 1994, I read about the manhunt that began in July 1984 that inspired this non-exploitational exploitation movie series.

What precipitated the manhunt was the shooting of a kidnapping of a Olympic biathlon champion Keri Swenson and the murder of one of the searchers, Alan Goldstein. When it ended in December 1984, the capture of the men, a father Don Nichols and his son Dan Nichols, was completed without the firing of a single shot.

According to news reports at the time of the kidnapping, Goldstein was shot dead by Don Nichols due to the deceased carrying a gun. Around the same time, Dan Nichol critically wounded Ms Swenson.

Over the intervening years, an authorized biography was filmed by NBC in 1987.

Now the son is in news again with a timeline beginning in 2011 when he was busted at an outdoor concert in the camping area. Since then he managed to get bail and was on the lam for three months before turning himself in, according to the sheriff whose officers arrested him.

However, the US Marshals who detained Nichol dispute this claim, stating that "old-fashioned police work" contributed to his arrest. While the sheriff is using dispatcher tapes to back up his claim that Nichol turned himself in, only phone records would verify his claim but would be irrelevant because of the arrest.

IMO it is likely the US Marshals want to quash the police chief's spin, which paints Nichol as cooperative and willing to turn himself in. On the other hand, the US Marshals' spin makes me suspect Nichol might have been uncooperative and willing to avoid capture. Besides, getting busted in a Walmart parking implies a third possibility, his arrest was due to a tip off by Walmart who could request their name not be associated with a known criminal.

My motive for posting in my blog about this old crime is to point out that the articles repeats the error that the mainstream media made in 1984 when the son and his father were dubbed "mountain men".

By doing so without deriding the term or at least explaining how it came about, the local paper of Bozeman in southwest Montana is perpetuating the "mountain men" meme without just cause because neither men were actually mountain men.

Instead, they are the rural Montana version of homeless men. However, homelessness in Montana doesn't sell in the mainstream media. Indeed, Ms Swenson's father stated that the two men were anything but mountain men because they left her for dead after she got shot.

It is the opinion of anonymous to another paper in nearby Livingston that Dan Nichols is a murderer by accountability, in addition to being a burglar, common thief, kidnapper, and now drug dealer for a medical marijuana dispensary that the DEA wants closed for running an illegal marijuana grow-op enterprise.

However, in the case of the enterprise, the arrest of the Flor family contributed to the early demise of the father, Richard in August 2012, a mere four months after sentencing.

Pleading for a suspended sentence for Richard Flor, his daughter Kristin stated that jail time would only damage his health. So she asked for leniency, offering to care for her father who deteriorate rapidly since being arrested the previous year.

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References:

‘Mountain men’ kidnap-murder captured world’s attention - Bozeman Daily Chronicle: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/100/newsmakers/article_b7b40ff8-c53e-11e0-b014-001cc4c03286.html

More related stories in Bozeman Daily Chronicle:

• Aug 25, 2011 - Younger “mountain man” pleads not guilty to drug and six other charges: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/crime/article_078036ca-cead-11e0-b135-001cc4c002e0.html
• Mar 22, 2012 - Younger “mountain man” on the lam again: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/crime/article_71ac3c98-743d-11e1-a336-001871e3ce6c.html
• Apr 19, 2012 - Federal warrant issued for 1980s 'mountain man': http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/crime/article_bb20c684-8a48-11e1-b504-0019bb2963f4.html
• May 23, 2012 - Marshals: 'Mountain man' didn't turn self in: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/crime/article_0a295180-a4ff-11e1-8721-001a4bcf887a.html

Infamous Dan Nichols - Montana Pioneer: http://www.mtpioneer.com/2012-April-Infamous-Dan-Nichols.html

Kari Swenson - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kari_Swenson

A Made-for-Television Movie Brings Biathlete Kari Swenson Face-to-Face with Her Past - People March 16, 1987 Vol. 27 No. 11: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20095839,00.html

Montana man sentenced to 4 years in federal prison for growing at least 1,000 marijuana plants - ICE.GOV : https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1301/130123missoula.htm

Miles City medical marijuana family sentenced: http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/miles-city-medical-marijuana-family-sentenced/article_2b668645-7cc7-531b-bd75-293ca54d5923.html

K
http://the-human-solution.org/tag/kristin-flor/
http://the-human-solution.org/tag/kristin-flor/

If I Were a Muslim, Divorce is the Only Time I Think of Fatwa

If I were a Muslim, divorce is the only time I think of fatwa:

If a woman divorces a man for justifiable cause, proven by three witnesses regardless of gender - a man's word is not enough - then a man who kills her wife for daring to divorce her ought not be let off by merely paying her family off. Even a rich kafir does so.

Likewise, a woman who divorces a man for justifiable cause should be allowed to a sum of money from the man's family, and that money be paid duly without trying to escape from the law, be it through other legal means or worse, violence.

It should be assumed that a women in the midst of divorce suddenly dies that most likely her husband or his kinsman murdered her until proven by testimony of three reliable witnesses - not from the husband's side - that such is not the case.

Bribery attempted to subvert justice in all such cases should result in the State declaring said bribe to be a "donation" to liberate women.

If I lived in a Muslim country, and word got out that I think these thoughts, my time on earth would be short.

However, I live in Canada, and radical Islam is akin to terrorism. For I am kafir. In English, it means "freedom from religious tyranny."

India Practices Double Standard Regarding Prostitution

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) - An Indian state on Friday rejected a proposal by prostitutes to pay tax to the government in return for stopping police raids on brothels and checks on soliciting clients.

Officials in the eastern state of West Bengal said since prostitution was illegal, the government could not tax sex workers.

"Tomorrow, criminals will say we will pay taxes so don't catch us," Raj Kanojia, a top state police officer, said.

On Thursday, the Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) -- an umbrella group of 65,000 sex workers in West Bengal -- announced that prostitutes would charge clients extra to help them pay tax.

"Even if we collect one rupee from each client it would boost the exchequer," Smarajit Jana, DMSC's chief adviser, said. "Let the government collect taxes legally, as prostitutes in any case pay the police hefty amounts to get away."

About four million clients visit red light areas under the control of DMSC every month in West Bengal.

Sex workers say they are harassed by police and picked up from brothels, hotels and nightclubs and jailed. They often have to pay bribes to officers to continue working.

Under Indian law, sex workers cannot solicit customers in public. Authorities tolerate brothels in some areas although police often raid them to rescue minors or to prevent women from being forced into the profession.

Prostitutes are already being "taxed" by crooked cops. Either accept their taxes or crack down on crooked cops, India!

The Japanese Religious Mind is Natural and Holistic, Being Both Spiritual and Material

In my mind, the material and spiritual are as one. I can no more separate them than I could keep a cup of water poured into my cupped hands.

Because the material and spiritual are as one, then God and man are not separated by sin, for sin has been cleaned away by the mercy of Oyasama (Amida Buddha). Yet Oyasama, though savior, is not God's intercessor, for he was originally a king who vowed to become Amida Buddha.

Yes, it is true that I utter Oyasama's Name, out of gratitude, not to ask for a boon or an answer to my prayers.

For prayers have a way of being answered when one least expects it. At least when I say the Name out of gratitude, I have but my gratefulness to offer to Oyasama. This is known as uttering the Nembutsu.

As for ethics, it all depends on the situation. Were I to adhere to a code of ethics that ignored the specific situation, then it's just part of a rulebook and could easily be codified into law.

For what kind of freedom is offered by rules? And how free are we when some of those rules become law?

Though limitations on our freedom may liberate us eventually, those limitations should be natural, not man-made.

That the spiritual and material are as one is the realization of what truly liberates us, because both the spiritual and material are natural, originally untouched by man.

This is why cleanliness is important to us, though it is up to each of us to determine how to keep clean, not one man's rules nor one society's laws.

I hope this explains the Japanese culture from the religious aspect to the gentle reader.

Police Claim Madam was "Making Too Much Money"

Apart from employing illegal immigrants, the only reason why a Vancouver madam was raided was she was making too much money, according to police.

My guess is, local businesses were jealous she could make so much money, while they lost business.

However, it cost anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 to make the raid, because VPD were involved.

What a waste of taxpayers' money!

I would rather police work to reduce such crime non-violently. That's what immigration is for. This was more of an Immigration Canada issue.

The cops botched this raid from the get-go.

Why Marijuana is Still Criminalized In Canada

According to Canadian mass media, it may appear that the only reason marijuana is kept illegal is so that grow-ops can pop up in suburban neighbourhoods for concerned citizens to find and report to the police, all to justify the "war on Drugs" mentality.

For the Canadian national drug policy criminalizes marijuana manufacture and limits the amount a person can possess before possession charges may be applied.

By making illegal the possession of marijuana and by criminalizing its manufacture, Canada can justify a war-on-drugs mentality with stronger laws regarding marijuana.

In essence, the law makes marijuana valuable to criminals who then can create demand.

Grow-ops flourish specifically because marijuana is illegal. If it were legal and regulated by government, illegal grow-ops would case to exist.

Consequently, if marijuana were legal, then the danger associated with manufacture would be eliminated.

Between 1999 and 2003, the decriminalization of marijuana was debated in Ottawa.

Because of strong pressure by the US, much of the recommendations made by Canadian senators were quietly ignored by Ottawa.

Additionally, the national Green Team was too lucrative for the RCMP to agree to changes in the law that would impact their public service.

Thus, criminalizing marijuana profits both the criminals and the police.

And that's what makes marijuana dangerous, not the plant itself.

Should Governments Legalize and Tax Marijuana?

The war on drugs is an expensive battle, as a great deal of resources go into catching those who buy or sell illegal drugs on the black market, prosecuting them in court, and housing them in jail. These costs seem particularly exorbitant when dealing with the drug marijuana, as it is widely used, and is likely no more harmful than currently legal drugs such as tobacco and alcohol. There's another cost to the war on drugs, however, which is the revenue lost by governments who cannot collect taxes on illegal drugs. In a recent study for the Fraser Institute, Economist Stephen T. Easton attempted to calculate how much tax revenue the Canadian government could gain by legalizing marijuana.

Legalization of marijuana would bring tax dollars of $2 billion to Canada. The only benefit of marijuana criminalization would be to the underground economy, of which Canada is contributing to.

Yes, the Canadian government is responsible for crime gangs deriving profits from illegal grow-op across Canada by keeping cannabis criminalized.

After all, the government keeps the herb illegal.

Thus, it is because of the law that marijuana is a dangerous drug, not because of the drug itself.