Police discover hidden underground tunnels used by the homeless

Police discover hidden underground tunnels used by the homeless - During a routine crime investigation, Kansas City police discovered a series of underground dirt tunnels being used by the city’s homeless.

Local affiliate KMBC was on hand for the discovery when newscasters accompanied Kansas City Police Officer Jason Cooley, who was leading an investigation of stolen copper wiring from a nearby grain mill.

While checking on the seemingly ordinary homeless campsites, Cooley discovered a series of tunnels that went several feet under the earth and stretched nearly 25 feet.

“It was kind of in a little hill and probably four feet beneath the surface,” Cooley told the Kansas City Star.

Hope Faith Ministries, a local homeless organization, said the group had never seen anything like it. Carla Brewer was on site from the organization, offering the homeless individuals a place to shower and sleep away from the camp.

Police said they were especially concerned about a pile of dirty diapers discovered next to one of the underground tunnels.

"We're working to find out if, in fact, they've got kids down here, because this is not a safe environment for that," Cooley said.

The tunnels appear expertly crafted and obviously required a substantial amount of time and effort to create. In fact, authorities said they aren’t exactly sure how the individuals squatting at the site were able to create them.

After discovering the tunnels, a police robot was used to further investigate the underground dwellings. Once police were able to confirm no one was inside them, they brought in a tractor to fill in the tunnels. ( The Sideshow )

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Ways to know if your child can cheat

Ways to know if your child can cheat - A couple of studies have established a link between psychopathy and cheating habit in students.

It has found that students who cheat are more likely to fit the profile for subclinical psychopathy- a personality disorder defined by erratic lifestyle, and manipulation, callousness antisocial tendencies.

It also states that these students cheat because they feel entitled and disregard morality.

"Cheating has been facilitated by new technologies," said Delroy Paulhus, who led the research.

"At the same time, cheating may seem more apparent because we can more effectively detect it," said Paulhus.

College students who admitted to cheating in high school or turned in plagiarized papers ranked high on personality tests of the so-called Dark Triad: psychopathy, Machiavellianism (cynicism, amorality, manipulativeness), and narcissism (arrogance and self-centeredness, with a strong sense of entitlement).

Of the three dark personality types, psychopathy was most strongly linked to cheating.

Students were spurred to cheat by two motivations: First, they sought to get the grades to which they felt entitled; second, they either didn't think cheating was wrong or didn't care.

The first of three studies at the University of British Columbia surveyed 249 second-year college students who, without having to share their identities, filled out take-home personality tests that looked at the ''Dark Triad'' and psychology's "Big Five" core traits of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, stability and openness.

Also anonymously, students were asked whether they had cheated on high-school tests or handed in essays copied from someone else.

Each of the ''Dark Triad'' variables went hand in hand with cheating at a high level of statistical significance. The more likely students were to have cheated, the higher they ranked on the psychopathy scale, followed by Machiavellianism and narcissism.

Students who were more conscientious and agreeable were significantly less likely to have cheated.

Those low in conscientiousness were probably more likely to cheat because they were less prepared and more desperate, the authors wrote, adding that disagreeable students would by definition be less cooperative.

A second study measured actual, not self-reported, cheating by analysing two of each student's term papers-one summarizing a research topic and one summarizing a personal experience.

The students, who took the same personality tests, were warned that their papers would be scrutinized by an online service that calibrates how much of a paper directly matches sources in a database.

Plagiarism was flagged when any string of seven words or more directly matched a published source or another finished paper.

Of the 114 students studied, 16 plagiarized on at least one essay. Again, the Dark Triad and plagiarism were closely and significantly linked, with psychopathy leading the pack.

Finally, a third study examined why students cheat. A total of 223 college students went online to take personality tests and rate themselves on a Self-Report Cheating Scale that included items tapping motivation, such as "I needed to get (or keep) a scholarship," or "I'm not concerned about punishment if caught."

Analysis unearthed subgroups of students who felt that cheating was an appropriate strategy for reaching their ambitious goals, who were not afraid of punishment, or who were not morally inhibited.

Psychopathy was significantly linked with all three motivations.

"Incentives such as high grades and scholarships seem to activate dishonesty in these individuals.

"The achievement goals shared by most college students trigger cheating in psychopaths alone," the authors said. ( indiatimes.com )

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Catch the absentee dad

Catch the absentee dad - What is it like for children whose fathers don't actively participate in either their joys or sorrows, and are somewhere on the periphery of their lives?

Anjali and Rahul separated before the birth of their daughter Ria. There were many reasons for them to split up, but still the couple chose not to have a formal divorce. For Ria, her world centered around her mom, with the dad being somewhere on the periphery. She asked questions like 'why doesn't Dad stay with us like everyone else's does'...and after receiving suitable answers, she would fall silent.

Time flew and soon Ria was 6 years old and already in school. She was also at an age where kids exchanged notes on each other's parents and homes, albeit innocently.

Anjali had many sleepless nights wondering how Ria would answer her peers about her single-parent life. But thank god for small mercies - when Ria mentioned to her friends that her father did not live with them, Sambhav, another child in her class revealed 'Oh, my mom doesn't live with us'. And so Ria felt comfortable, after all she wasn't the only one to have a single parent. And her calmness in turn comforted Anjali a great deal.

Ria is now 11 and surprisingly has a great relationship with her father. A mature child, she excels in school and doesn't have any noticeable chinks in her personality.

Reveals Dr Kamal Khurana, relationship expert, "Such kids work on their inferiority by polishing some art, developing some skill so that appear superior. They appear mature, confident by projecting their superiority. These kids are able to do all the tasks on their own which other children might find difficult. At the same time in some situations of crisis these kids loose control and need more support as compared to other kids. Also when they receive a lot of emotional warmth they are not able to believe it."

Apart from divorce and separations, there are other reasons too why a dad maybe absent in a child's life. Over-ambition and the desire to scale heights in their chosen careers keep many dads away. In this case, though the kids maybe living under the same roof, they meet their father at all odd times.

Says Kunal, 14, "My dad is a well-known advocate. He is so busy that we meet rarely, maybe one weekend in a month over breakfast or dinner. He has so little time to listen to our travails and joys - whether it is my form morning in school or my winning a gold medal for football. My mom means the world to me and my Karan, my brother, but how I wish our dad too would take out some time for us!"

Ruchi, Kunal's mom is a qualified Chartered Account who had to give up her lucrative career to be a housewife. From enrolling the kids in school, listening to their growing up problems, to taking them out for movies and football classes she has left no stone unturned to always be there for her boys. Her husband has been very generous with money, but sometimes, one needs emotional support more than anything else.

Fortunately, the boys have a good relationship with their maternal uncle, Kirat Madan. "I spend a lot of time with them having man-to-man conversations. We talk about football, friends, studies, movies, girls, the works. But sadly enough, the kids have a zero relationship with their father. They hardly see him so to expect they will ever have much to share with the man is too much. As he is guilty for not being there, he spoils the boys by being free with money, which isn't good I feel," he says tritely.

Elaborating further Dr Khurana feels that the kids in such scenario are likely to feel unloved and abandoned by their fathers. It adds fuel to fire when the mother too complains about the father's absence. Therefore, the mother has a double duty to give the kids their father's love as well, and also not complain about her missing husband.

"This on and off relationship between the father and the child deprives the child from learning the challenges of life. But when the child doesn't find the father there, he feels lonely and may end up comparing himself with other kids, which in turn, makes him even more insecure, angry, vulnerable and confused."

Rohini, 16, is an only child and both her parents are doctors - her mother, a paediatrician runs a clinic on the ground floor of the house, while her father is an orthopaedic surgeon with the Army and is posted to Mau in Madhya Pradesh. She has been living out of suitcases ever since she can remember. The first few years were spent in Lucknow with her paternal grandparents, then Delhi where her mom was pursuing her doctorate, then Bhopal for a few years where her dad was given a family station, and then back to Delhi where Rohini herself has decided to study. Her mother and grandparents make sure she is never left alone, but is it the same as having a loving home with attentive parents around you?

"If you ask me, it's a very dysfunctional family. We all are hardly ever together. My mom has done everything she can possibly for me, but what has my dad done? He has rarely ever been to any parent-teacher meeting, he is so married to his job!"

Trying to understand Rohini's plight is Ratna, a teacher with Central School, who says, "In my class, a majority of the children have their father in the Army. Constant transfers and movements, some are no-family stations so they are left behind with another relative, changes in school and surroundings are regular features and may add to the kid's woes. However, there are some kids who enjoy the adventure of seeing new places, meeting new people, and understand the limitations of their parent, but there are also a few who find it an insurmountable mountain of problems."

"Despite it all, it would be too extreme to assume that children who have an absentee dad are maladjusted. There maybe varying levels of perception and understanding and that's so very normal," concludes Brara. ( indiatimes.com )

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Another Rajaratnam Named in Ring

Another Rajaratnam Named in Ring - Younger Brother of Galleon Founder Was Co-Conspirator, Prosecutors Allege; Pressure on Raj Builds

Prosecutors have alleged that a younger brother of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam was a co-conspirator in a criminal insider-trading ring, according to people familiar with the matter.

The latest development—which hasn't previously been made public—comes as the pressure builds on Raj Rajaratnam to plead guilty. The former hedge-fund titan is facing a criminal trial this month on 14 counts tied to insider-trading charges.

Prosecutors haven't disclosed any charges of wrongdoing against Ragakanthan Rajaratnam, 49, in the insider-trading investigation. Above, his borther, Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam, leaves federal court last year.

In several other high-profile federal cases in the past decade, prosecutors have investigated relatives of major Wall Street defendants as they decided whether to plead guilty.

Raj Rajaratnam has denied the charges and said he will fight them in court. So far, 19 of 26 defendants in the Galleon case have pleaded guilty; several are cooperating with the U.S.

A representative for Raj Rajaratnam, 53 years old, declined to comment Tuesday, as did representatives for the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The government's move emerged in recent days in court filings related to charges against former Galleon trader Michael Cardillo, who pleaded guilty last week in a New York federal court to securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

In filing charges against Mr. Cardillo, prosecutors cite a co-conspirator, or "CC-1," whom they allege participated in an insider-trading scheme with Messrs. Cardillo, Rajaratnam and others.

"CC-1" is Raj's brother, Ragakanthan Rajaratnam, a Clorox Co. vice president, according to people familiar with the matter; he worked at Galleon between 2006 and 2009 as a portfolio manager.

Prosecutors haven't disclosed any charges of wrongdoing against Ragakanthan Rajaratnam, 49, in the insider-trading investigation.

At Clorox, Ragakanthan Rajaratnam works in the marketing division, analyzing consumer trends to develop marketing programs and products, a Clorox spokeswoman said. She declined to comment further. Ragakanthan Rajaratnam didn't return calls for comment.

Known as "R.K." when he worked at Galleon, Ragakanthan Rajaratnam managed a portfolio of stocks, and his orders to buy and sell stocks were executed by Mr. Cardillo, 33, people familiar with the matter say. A lawyer for Mr. Cardillo declined to comment.

The charging document in the case against Mr. Cardillo alleges that Mr. Cardillo, Raj Rajaratnam and CC-1 executed transactions based on inside information in shares of J.M. Smucker Co. in advance of its acquisition of Folgers in June 2008 from Procter & Gamble Co. Prosecutors also alleged that Mr. Cardillo, CC-1 and Raj Rajaratnam traded on inside information in advance of earnings by P&G.

Representatives for Smucker couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

A P&G spokesman said the company is cooperating with the government's investigation and had been told it isn't a target or subject of the probe.

R.K., the middle of three brothers, graduated from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management in 1984 and worked at General Mills Inc., Kraft Foods Inc. and ConAgra Foods Inc. before moving to Galleon in 2006, according to public records.

There is a history of such tactics by the government. For instance, prosecutors investigated the daughter and the 80-year-old father of Samuel Waksal, the former chief executive of ImClone Systems Inc., after they sold ImClone stock based on information he gave them.

Mr. Waksal pleaded guilty in an insider-trading case in 2002, agreeing to cooperate but not against his relatives. His daughter Aliza and father, Jack, never were charged.

"The fate of a family member is a huge consideration for people who are confronting a criminal investigation—and the government knows that and takes advantage of it," said Mark Pomerantz, a lawyer who represented Mr. Waksal.

When former New York State comptroller Alan Hevesi pleaded guilty last year in a pension-fund investigation by then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, he negotiated an agreement in which prosecutors stipulated there was no evidence to charge his sons with any crimes.

Mr. Cuomo had examined whether one of Mr. Hevesi's sons had received assistance in running for a seat in the state Assembly and whether the other won business in connection with a kickback scheme at New York's pension fund.

Messrs. Hevesi and Cuomo declined to comment.

Mr. Rajaratnam's other brother, Rengan, 40, also drew the interest of investigators before the criminal probe of Galleon began. The case against Raj Rajaratnam and Galleon traces back to a 2007 civil insider-trading investigation involving Rengan Rajaratnam's hedge fund, Sedna Capital Management, by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC declined to comment; Rengan Rajaratnam couldn't be reached.

Sedna closed in 2007, and Rengan Rajaratnam went to work at Galleon.

The SEC hasn't filed charges in the Sedna investigation, but the probe is continuing.

In recent weeks, a technology researcher under scrutiny in a large, unrelated insider-trading case, John Kinnucan, received an SEC subpoena related to the Sedna probe, requesting three years' worth of documents and records from him, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr. Kinnucan, who was visited by the FBI and has also received a criminal subpoena in connection to the unrelated case, hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing.

A lawyer for Mr. Kinnucan declined to comment. ( online.wsj.com )

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Oprah's Shocking New Secret Mirrors One of My Family's Darkest Secrets

Oprah's Shocking New Secret Mirrors One of My Family's Darkest Secrets - Talk show host Oprah Winfrey admitted she's been hiding a secret since 2007 in an effort to avoid a media frenzy. The secret? Her mother, Vernita Lee, gave up one of her half-sisters for adoption when Oprah was 9. Living with her father, Oprah never learned of her mother's pregnancy with that half-sister. She learned for the first time that that half-sister existed in 2007.

Oprah's half-sister has been identified as a woman named Patricia from Milwaukee. Oprah and Patricia met in October for the first time. Patricia has not publicly disclosed her last name, preferring to keep family business private. She acknowledged trying to track her birth mother after spending much of her childhood in foster care, only to learn that her birth mother did not want to meet her.

But when Patricia saw Vernita Lee give an interview, she recognized some of the scant information she knew about her background in Lee's recounting.

Patricia's desire to keep family matters private is understandable, though why she would appear on "Oprah" if she wanted privacy is a bit perplexing.

For years, I wondered about the mystery child in my own family; not my sibling but my mother's. My grandmother and mother were suspiciously mum on the subject of my mother's older sister, telling us my grandmother was ill for a full two years after the baby's birth and let a neighbor raise her. The story was the neighbor ultimately decided to move away, and my grandparents allowed them to take the baby since they had bonded with her.

This story smelled of cover-up, and for years I tried to pry out more details to no avail. I did genealogical research, convinced that this sister of my mother -- my aunt, though it never felt that way to me since I never met her -- must have been born out of wedlock.

Birth and marriage certificates proved my suspicions wrong. My mother's sister was born three years into my grandparents' marriage. The best information I have, and it's not all that I'd like, is that my grandparents gave the baby to my great grandfather and he placed the baby in foster care.

One thing I do know about family secrets like mystery children whose existence or birth circumstances are obscured is that they cause unnecessary concern and confusion. My mother's sister showed up on her birth family's doorstep at the age of 15. I asked my mother, who would have been 12 or 13 at the time when her sister suddenly appeared, "Wasn't it exciting to find out you had a sister?"

Her answer was reflective and very, very cautious. What she said was, it wasn't what I might expect. She and her sister had grown up in different circumstances with different opportunities and different values. It was unfortunate, but though they tried to be friends, they were very different people. It was obvious to me as a preteen at the time that she felt guilty about being the chosen child who remained with her parents while her sister was "given away."

Ultimately, my grandmother and mother refused to associate with the long lost daughter/sister, which is why I never met her.

Reading about Oprah and her sister, I can't help but think that some of the same observations might apply in her family as applied in mine. Oprah, the child the parents kept, struggled but not only survived, she triumphed. Patricia, the child sacrificed, had a difficult childhood and began having children herself at age 17, outside of marriage. That has a familiar ring as my mother married and had children after a troubling childhood, while her sister placed in foster care as a baby started drinking heavily and got pregnant out of wedlock at 15, another fact I learned through genealogical research.

Vernita Lee said it was shame at giving up her baby that motivated her to keep Patricia's existence a secret. But hiding the truth seems to eventually cause other pain: for siblings that includes longing for the relationship that wasn't, guilt at being the chosen child, and anger at the parent who secretly gave a sibling away. ( news.yahoo.com )

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How do you tell someone with cancer that all hope has gone?

How do you tell someone with cancer that all hope has gone? -Doctors can be far too brutal in their approach to dying patients, as Olga Maitland discovered when her younger sister became terminally ill.

How should doctors break the news to a patient that there is no hope? This painful question was brought home to me recently when my younger sister, Militza, was diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer at the age of 63. She was told of the poor outlook by several doctors, always in such a brutal manner that it left her terrified.

Militza was referred to hospital last April after complaining to her GP of sharp pains in the abdomen. It was after three days of tests that a registrar, in his late thirties, said to her brightly: “And what do you think you might have?”

My sister, who had never known a day’s illness in her life, did not have a clue. Appendicitis?

Diagnosis: Militza Maitland, who was killed by ovarian cancer.

He told her sharply: “You have cancer, and it has spread.” She was alone when the news came. No request had been made for family to be present. She had to stagger back alone to her ward, collect her belongings, and arrange to go home. My brother, who dropped what he was doing to collect her, found her shocked and shaking.

Some weeks later, at another hospital, she was diagnosed as having stage 4 ovarian cancer. It was a tough summer, with Militza undergoing further tests and chemotherapy. Her morale did not improve when a bright, young gynaecologist told her straight out: “You have only a few months at best.”

Again, she was left reeling and started having regular nightmares, also uncontrollable feelings of terror. When I tackled this doctor, she stood her ground. “I was asked the question,” she told me. “That is my obligation according to GMC [General Medical Council] guidance.” Yet I believe that whatever my sister had asked, she was not looking for a final departure date.

As next of kin I had been privately warned that, at best, treatment offered only a 25 per cent chance of any improvement. I pleaded with her consultant that, while it was important to be open, Militza should not be frightened out of her wits. Despite the poor outlook, she needed something to work towards, even if it was a small chance that chemotherapy would help.

After several sessions of chemotherapy, she was alone in her room in July when another registrar, again in his late 30s, came in and said: “I have to tell you that the chemo has not worked. You now have three weeks to three months at the very best. We are sending you to a hospice right away.”

She was moved within two hours. All hope was now gone: she was hit by the utter finality. Her nightmares increased in ferocity. She experienced a sense of rushing into a large, white wall and crashing into it.

I called the consultant: he was polite and concerned. When I called the registrar, he told me that “we have to be realistic”.

The nightmares never went completely, but in the final two weeks she was calmer, comforted by the constant presence of family and friends. She met her end with courage and dignity. The hospice controlled her pain very well, and one junior house doctor was careful to describe what her final days would be like, when I was present.

I accept that by the time my sister’s cancer was diagnosed it was too late for her. Perhaps because it all happened so quickly, it was also difficult for doctors to take account of her ability to handle the news, or to break it gradually. Still, whenever she was told bad news, she was alone, with no support or counselling provided.

Having spoken to other patients and families, I realise that my sister’s experience was not unusual – and I wonder if accusations that doctors lacked openness in the past have resulted in the brutal directness used today.

A GP friend told me that training on how to talk to patients with terminal illness is very poor. “Many young registrars are very clever, ambitious and arrogant,” he added. “Death to them is a remote event, many years off. And the lack of continuity of care means they rarely see a patient more than a few times.

“There is also pressure on hospital beds. If a patient is not going to recover, the attitude tends to be – tell the patient, tick the box that they are going, and move on.”

Niall Dickson, chief executive at the GMC, said that towards the end of life, while patients’ questions need to be answered honestly, doctors should always approach these conversations sensitively.

“It is hard to exaggerate how important it is to have good communication between doctors, patients and their families – it is at the heart of good care of dying patients.”

Militza died last August – a brief 14 weeks from her first symptoms. ( telegraph.co.uk )

Cancer Research UK - one of the Telegraph’s Christmas appeal charities - runs an advice line on all aspects of the disease: call Freephone 0808 800 4040.

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