Jacksonville mom shakes baby for interrupting Farmville, pleads guilty to murder

Posted: October 27, 2010 – 11:13am

By David Hunt

A Jacksonville mother charged with shaking her baby to death has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Alexandra V. Tobias, 22, was arrested after the January death of 3-month-old Dylan Lee Edmondson. She told investigators she became angry because the baby was crying while she was playing a computer game called Farmville on the Facebook social-networking website.

Tobias entered her plea Wednesday before Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud. A second-degree murder charge is punishable by up to life in prison.

Prosecutor Richard Mantei said Tobias’ sentence could be less because of state guidelines that call for 25 to 50 years. Soud offered no promises on what he’ll order during a sentencing hearing scheduled for December.

Outside the courtroom, Mantei said Tobias’ plea will help avoid the family reliving the tragedy during a jury trial.

Tobias told investigators that she shook the baby, smoked a cigarette to compose herself and then shook him again. She said the baby may have hit his head during the shaking. Read more at jacksonville.com

Stop The Bullying In Schools

Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Asher Brown, Seth Walsh: what do they have in common? They all committed suicide, last week, to end the torment of being bullied and harassed in school.

Tyler Clementi (18): A brilliant violinist, in New Jersey, jumped off a bridge.

Billy Lucas (15): Hanged himself in Greensburg.

Asher Brown (13): Shot himself in the head in Houston.

Seth Walsh (13): Hanged himself in their own backyard at Tehachapi, CA.

Justin Aaberg (15) last July was found dead in his room; he hanged himself.

Is this what we have become as a society: intolerant and ignorant? Where kids harass and bully other weaker kids just because they are different?

Where do these kids get the sense that it is acceptable to bully others, and that it is acceptable to be prejudiced and discriminating? The answer is simple; they learn it from their parents or at school.

Bullying teenagers, especially gay teenagers or the ones that are still questioning their identity, is becoming an epidemic. Gay teenagers are called names regularly, and the worst part is that the teachers and the school don’t address these issues, or don’t know how to address these issues; sweeping them under the carpet will not make them disappear.

The poor teenagers are tormented, feel isolated, unloved, hated, not accepted, ridiculed and mostly shamed for who they are. They have no idea where to turn, how to look for help. Most school administrations don’t have any designed system in place to address the gay issue in schools, and teachers don’t know how, are scared to face these issues, or they feel documenting the bullying or harassing situations to the office is enough.

Some schools have anti-bullying programs mentioned on their curriculum, but it is just to be politically correct, and they don’t intervene to stop the bullying, as in the case of Walsh, where they were made aware of the torment he was going through. Read more at technorati.com

U.S. giving away too much, too early in Mideast peace talks, some say

The Obama administration appears desperate to keep the talks from collapsing and keep its reputation from taking a hit, allies and diplomats say.

By Paul Richter, Los Angeles Times

October 7, 2010

Only a month into a new round of peace talks, the Obama administration is drawing criticism from allies and veteran diplomats that it is giving away too much just to keep negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians from collapsing.

Administration officials have offered an assortment of inducements to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to extend a freeze on Jewish construction in the West Bank for two months. Palestinian officials have threatened to break off the talks unless Israel extends the freeze that expired Sept. 26.

The U.S. has been wooing Netanyahu for weeks with offers including a squadron of F-35 fighters, support for a long-term Israeli troop presence in a new Palestinian state, and a pledge to veto any anti-Israel resolutions passed by the United Nations Security Council. The U.S. also is offering access to its satellites that could provide early warning of attacks.

To the Palestinians, the White House is pledging support for their position on the exact location of borders for a future state in exchange for a promise to continue negotiating even if Israel refuses to extend the construction moratorium.

Although the Obama administration was expected to eventually give out incentives to keep the negotiations alive, diplomats and other observers say they are surprised that it has offered so much, so early for such a small victory: a commitment by both sides to keep talking.

“From the left to the right, people are saying that the administration is looking desperate,” said Robert Danin, a former U.S. official and an advisor to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, an envoy to the region for the United Nations, U.S., European Union and Russia.

The U.S. offers have made waves in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Some Israeli lawmakers have urged Netanyahu to hold out for even more. Others believe that the U.S. pledges are so generous that Israel can’t rely on President Obama to make good on them.

“Bizarre Bazaar — Haggling over the Price” was the headline this week in the Yediot Aharonot newspaper.

The Palestinian leadership has been shocked by the U.S. pledge to support a long-term Israeli security presence in the Jordan Valley, on the eastern edge of a future Palestinian state.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was “pale and incredulous” when he announced the offer to his team, said one person close to him. Palestinians were expecting that any agreement on an Israeli security presence would be negotiated well down the line in the horse-trading before the final deal.

The White House’s willingness to pay a steep price so early in the game reflects the huge stakes for the administration. Obama has said repeatedly that peace the Middle East is vital to U.S. national security.

U.S. officials fear that if the talks fail now, it may be months before they can coax the sides back to the table, and by then they might be dealing with a new and less cooperative Palestinian leadership. And collapse of the talks would hurt U.S. prestige in the region.

“This has become all about American credibility, and that’s why there’s such an effort to keep it going,” said one person close to the talks, who was unwilling to be identified by name because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Netanyahu, who wants to preserve good ties to the United States, appears to be leaning toward accepting the deal to extend the construction moratorium if he can garner enough support from some moderate Cabinet members.

But one Israeli official said the terms haven’t been finalized and that Netanyahu hasn’t made up his mind. “We’re not there yet,” he said. Read more at www.latimes.com

Cabs with credit card fees break bylaws

Last Updated: Thursday, September 16, 2010 | 6:54 AM ET

At least three major cab companies in Toronto charge customers a user fee if they pay with a credit card, a practice that the city says violates municipal bylaws.

Three Toronto taxi companies say they ask customers who pay with credit cards to also hand over an extra fee.

CBC News contacted a number of Toronto’s largest cab companies and three admitted applying an additional charge — known either as a “network” or “transaction” fee — to bills paid with a Visa or MasterCard credit card:

Co-op Cabs charge 25 cents per credit card transaction.

Maple Leaf Taxi charges 50 cents per transaction.

Crown Taxi charges $1 per transaction.

Management at each of those three companies did not respond to queries about why they were adding those fees to metered fares.

Bruce Robertson, the director of Toronto’s licensing and standards division, said news of the fees came as a surprise to him.

“It’s not authorized under the city’s bylaws to charge anything more than what’s on the meter,” he said. “Now that it’s been brought to my attention, I’ll have my inspectors look into it. And on an individual basis we would consider that to be an overcharge.”

The general manager of Beck Taxi said her company doesn’t ask customers to pay a credit card service charge, adding it would be bad for business.

“I’ll use the analogy of going into a restaurant. If I were to pay for my meal with my Visa card and I was told there would be an extra fee for using my Visa, I would be very upset,” said Gayle Beck-Souter.

MasterCard Canada is also taking issue with the fee.

“MasterCard is unaware of this particular additional fee, however a ‘network fee’ added to a customer’s payment would be considered a surcharge,” the company said in a written statement to CBC News.

“A merchant who accepts MasterCard and then subsequently surcharges a customer who opts to pay with their MasterCard is technically violating the rules of their agreement.”

Meanwhile, Robertson is advising anyone who is charged extra to contact Toronto’s licensing department to lodge a complaint. Cab companies who are found to be taking in more than the fare as indicated on the meter could be fined, he said. Read more at www.cbc.ca