Disgruntled XBox gamers murder 6 people in Florida

Clearly several young men in Florida never heard the phrase it is just a game.

Because in 2004, the trio allegedly killed 6 people in premeditated attacks in retaliation for something that happened to one an Xbox owned by one of the defendants.

The accused killers are:

• Troy Victorino, 29
• Michael Salas, 20
• Jerone Hunter, 20

Most of the victims, ages 17-34, worked together at a Burger King.

My brothers worked a stint at Burger King in their teens. If someone had killed them over a video game - a toy - I would have been stunned.

Troy Victorino, led the violence in revenge because one of the victims had cleared Victorino's Xbox video game system and some clothing out of her grandparents' vacant home, where he had been temporarily living.

Of all the things the accused could have done as an aggrieved Xbox owner, murder should have been off the bottom of a very long list of possible responses.

Now, in real life, if the jury comes back and says YOU LOSE they could face the death penalty. If that is their sentence, then it really is GAME OVER for them.

It really is just a game. In five years, that particular Xbox will be just another obsolete electronic toy.

Witness won't testify at Xbox murder trial - Yahoo! News:

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - The key prosecution witness in the deaths of six people in what prosecutors say was a dispute over a video game system claimed innocence Thursday and refused to testify.

Technorati tags: murder, crime, gaming, xbox

Excommunication Is Sought for Stem Cell Researchers - New York Times

Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, a senior Vatican official, has proposed new politices for the Catholic church.

1. ex-communicate women who receive abortions
2. ex-communicate physicians who perform abortions
3. ex-communicate medical researchers who use stem cells from fetuses in their work

He really sounds like he is on a roll.

Excommunication Is Sought for Stem Cell Researchers - New York Times:

Scientists who engage in stem cell research using human embryos should be subject to excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, according to a senior Vatican official.

Since the Catholic church is tackling the issue of morality with ex-communication, they have lots of other targets they can go after with that tool - many very close at hand:

1. Vatican Bank officials implicated in corruption scandal
2. priests who rob the collection plate to gamble and buy expensive antique guns
3. priests who are drinking-and-driving hit-and-run drivers
4. priests convicted of molesting children, frequently little boys

The Vatican Bank is a good place to start with some scrutiny. Since it is located in Vatican City, Cardinal Alfonso would have no trouble reaching it from his office.

Facist dictator Musilini, who fought against the US and its allies in World War II, gave the bank $80 million once the Vatican City was established as an independent country, and the church rewrote its by-laws to allow profiting from money-lending.

The bank has been linked to a number of scandals in the past several decades. Bank officials involved in corruption would be prime candidates for ex-communication.

Just think how many kids are killed, orphaned, or die indirectly from the actions of mafias who abuse banking services.

Speaking of the mafia - there is a prime candidate for ex-communication. Instead of handling their money for them, ex-communication would seem a far better pennance.

Maybe the Vatican would like to ex-communicate whoever killed Roberto Calvi (God's Banker) in July, 1982. Maybe Licio Gelli would be a better candidate for ex-communication than some doctor.

Charity organizations' wallets bulge bigger than ever in the 21st century. So perhaps now would be a good time for the Vatican Bank to open itself to the sort of financial transparency that other financial organizations - and even charities - do.

Being more open could clear up The Great Vatican Bank Mystery alluded to in the September 13, 1982 issue of Time magazine.

For that matter, while excommunicating the mothers and doctors involved in abortions - why not excommunicate the fathers as well? Surely they are involved since they are the ones who created the situation in the first place. Obviously, it is not one the mothers enjoy.

An abortion is a serious medical procedure for a woman. However, it poses no risks at all to the father. By excommunicating the males responsible, the church would be offering them a moral penalty that the courts and the the justice system do not.

Since it is their behavior the Catholic church seeks to regulate - perhaps they should.

Tis a bit strange if they do not.