Father-in-law of U.S. coach stabbed to death in Beijing

i can't believe this. some crazy man attacked two americans and killed one and wounded the other and then jumped off a building and killed himself on the first day of the competition.




BEIJING - A 47-year-old Chinese man stabbed an American tourist to death, wounded his wife, then jumped to his death from an ancient downtown landmark, marring the first full day of competition at the Summer Olympic Games, U.S. sports and government officials confirmed Saturday.

The American couple are relatives of a U.S. men's indoor volleyball coach,

Todd Bachman, 62, a prominent horticulturalist from Lakeville, Minn., was killed, U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Darryl Seibel said. He owned Bachman, Inc., a family business that dates to the early 1900s.

Bachman's wife, Barbara, was in serious condition Saturday night at a Beijing hospital.

Todd Bachman is the father-in-law of U.S. men's indoor volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon.


The Bachmans had come to Beijing to deepen their ties with the Olympic Games. Daughter Elisabeth "Wiz" Bachman competed as a member of the U.S. women's volleyball team at the 2004 Athens Games. She was with her parents during the attack but was not injured.

McCutcheon was scheduled to take the floor Sunday as coach of the U.S. team when it played Venezuela.

Chinese authorities identified the attacker as Tang Yongming of China's Zhejiang Province. Chinese and U.S. authorities said the couple was at a site known as the Drum Tower around noon local time when Tang stabbed the couple and wounded a Chinese tour guide on the second floor of the structure.

Built in the 13th century, the Drum Tower is one of the few ancient structures still in Beijing. It is located on an important central axis of the city to the north of the Forbidden City, the former home of the emperor, and is five miles from the Olympic site.


Shortly after the attack, Tang leapt to his death on a stone path in the busy central Beijing district.

It was not immediately clear what triggered the fatal assault, but the USOC said investigators believe Tang was acting alone. Seibel also said the victims were not wearing clothing that might identify them as Americans or supporters of the U.S. team.

"The U.S. delegation is deeply saddened," Seibel said. "Everyone is suffering with this. It's too early to say what might have motivated this; we're just a few hours from learning the worst possible news."

"It is impossible to describe the depth of our sadness and shock in this tragic hour," said U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman Peter Ueberroth. "Our delegation comes to the Games as a family, and when one member of our family suffers a loss, we all grieve with them. Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences are with the Bachman and McCutcheon families."

Seibel said the volleyball team was informed of the tragedy Saturday afternoon, a day before its opening match. Seibel said it was too soon to know whether the 12:30 a.m. ET match would go on as scheduled.

"Our priority in this hour is to attend to the needs of the family members, the U.S. Olympic men's indoor volleyball team and staff, and the entire U.S. Olympic delegation," the USOC said in an early statement. "The USOC is working closely with the United States embassy, United States law enforcement authorities and local (Chinese) law enforcement authorities."

Shortly after the incident, the U.S. embassy dispatched the FBI's chief legal attache in Beijing to the crime scene to monitor the inquiry.

"We've heard the reports, we've got people on the scene,"' said U.S. embassy spokesman Don Washington. "We are not at liberty to say any more out of respect to the presumed victims."

President Bush, who is attending the first days of the games, was alerted to the incident shortly after it occurred.

The rare act of violence in Beijing, where serious crime does not approach levels in the United States, came just hours into the first day of competition at the Olympics. Chinese officials have dispatched more than 100,000 security officials to guard against violence and possible acts of terrorism.

In March, a screaming, bomb-strapped hostage-taker who commandeered a bus with 10 Australians aboard in the popular tourist city of Xi'an was shot to death by a police sniper.

Still, Shanghai and Beijing are safer than most foreign cities of their size. Punishments of crime against foreigners are heavier than for locals, and police-linked neighborhood watch groups are highly vigilant. Chinese are not allowed to own guns.

In recent days, security has been hardened throughout the city with hundreds of Chinese soldiers standing watch at Olympic venues and at popular tourist destinations throughout the city to maintain order and guard against anticipated protests.

At the Drum Tower, once used to keep time in ancient China, police pushed through a crowd of tourists at mid-day to enter the tower courtyard. A number of shopkeepers, whose stores ring the site, declined to speak with a small army of journalists who descended on the area in the hours after the attack. Seemingly oblivious to the crowd, two elderly men continued their game of chess, shooing reporters away.

The state-run Chinese news agency, Xianhua, said security officers were examining the scene on the tower and below, inspecting and taking samples from the balcony railing.

Associated Press photos taken at the scene about 3 1/2 hours after the attack showed a white sheet spotted with what appeared to be blood in the courtyard on the west side of the Drum Tower. It appeared that the body had already had been removed.

Seibel said Chinese officials had offered their condolences and offered to provide any assistance they could.

The International Olympic Committee, the games' governing body, also said it was "deeply saddened to learn of a tragic incident."

"It is understood at this time that a lone assailant was responsible, who shortly afterwards committed suicide," the IOC said in a statement.

the opening ceremonies for the beijing olympics were the most spectacular thing i have ever seen. i have never seen something so amazing. i could not have even imagined anything close to what they did. my entire family watched for 4 1/2 hours and we will never forget this night.

china spent 300 million dollars on the opening ceremony presentation. overall it spent 40 billion for the olympic preparations. again, it was utterly breath taking. if you didn't see it, you missed a moment in history that will be remembered for a long time to come.

i took this picture apprx two years ago. it was counting down to the olympics. as of 8:08:08 today it stands at zero.

omg, i am obsessed with this whole casey anthony case. listen to the 911 calls and then to the released jail calls and then read the charging affidavit. this chick is sooo guilty. i can not wait to see what develops in the investigation. i also scoured myspace and found a bunch of photos of her on people's pages. she was partying the entire time her kid was supposedly missing and didn't tell anyone until her mother confronted her a month later.

seriously you guys have to hear this and read the afidavit.

we're going to the drive in tonight. we have a pick up and will line the bed with blankets and pillows and bring a picnic basket with snacks and drinks and will drench ourselves in cancer causing deet to protect ourselves from the mosquitoes. but i think it would be much more fun if we have a group of stippers come along and parked our cars next to each other and all chill together. who's game?

Come on, i don't want to hear any excuses. we still haven't done anything together as a group this summer and it's about high time we did. we still have Shakespeare to do this year and we don't have much time left for that one. is the fist show over? if so, we will definitely do the second show, but if not, we will do both.

call me or send me a post-it or an email and let me know if you're willing to go. if you don't have a car, i'm sure we can get someone to pick you up and drop you off. although i probably wont be able to do it with my pick up because there are three of us going and we're not small by any means, and it only fits 4 small people MAX, since it doesn't have an extended cab, just a tiny space in the back that can fit two children, a few grocery bags or two very skinny people, with no room to spare. but like i said, if more people go, i'm sure one of them will be able to pick you up. i mean, seriously, i don't see why someone who lives on the west side, can't pick up and drop off someone else who lives only a few blocks away. gas is NOT THAT expensive, and i'm sure most of us can afford the extra few cents required to drive the extra few blocks if they can afford the sweet car they're driving or if they can afford the suped up computer, laptop, iphone or smarphone that they're using to read this post in the first place.

ok, i know i sound bitter, but i've seen some pretty unkind behavior lately that made me sad and embarrassed.

the drive-in is on harlem road (called the buffalo dive in, i think) and the show begins at sundown, (around 9:30?) and continues though 2am or so. which is the coolest part....you get to see two show's for the price of one.

let me know!!!

posting from darien lake

Has anyone else posted about this? sorry if they did.


Edwards, Rove to face off in UB debate
By Robert J. McCarthy
Updated: 07/04/08 7:51 AM



Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain might not burn up the campaign trail around Western New York this election year, but the University at Buffalo may have scheduled the next best thing.

GOP strategist Karl Rove and former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards will debate the issues of the presidential campaign Sept. 26 as part of the university's Distinguished Speakers Series, The Buffalo News has learned.

As surrogates for the parties' standard bearers, the two also could square off more than once at other locations around the nation.

"We're working on something like that for our Distinguished Speakers Series," said Bill Regan, UB's director of special events. "We're not really sure of the format yet. But we do think they are scheduled to do it at least once together before they come to UB."

Though McCain, a Republican, is scheduled to visit Buffalo briefly for a major fundraiser July 21 in the Albright- Knox Art Gallery, most analysts already are ceding New York to the Democrats. Still, Joshua Dyck, assistant professor of political science at UB, calls such an event genuine "political theater" that could have an effect.

"It's actually good for the Democratic process," he said. "People vote because politics is a lot like sports. Rooting for your team probably doesn't affect the outcome much, but people can say 'I was there.' "

Dyck said such events heighten emotions and can encourage voters to become involved even if the race at the top of the ballot appears lopsided. The spin-off effect, he said, could spur interest in competitive races, such as selecting a successor to retiring Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence.

Matching up such well-known political figures as Edwards and Rove will make the event all the more interesting, he added. Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, is a household name because of his bids for the presidency in 2004 and this year's contest, as well as his role as Sen. John F. Kerry's vice presidential running mate in 2004.

Rove, often dubbed "Bush's brain" from his days as President Bush's chief political adviser, has become even more visible since leaving the White House as an analyst for Fox News and a frequent contributor to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal.

Neither Rove nor Edwards was available Thursday for comment.

The 8 p. m. debate would lead off the lecture series, which has featured such major figures as former Vice President Al Gore and the late Tim Russert of NBC News.

Regan said the full schedule for the series will be announced later this month, when series subscriptions will become available. Tickets for individual programs, including the Edwards- Rove event, are expected to go on sale a short time later.

www.buffalonews.com

has anyone else heard about this?

a mother from the czech republic who belonged to some cult kept her son who was like 8 chained in the basement and was skinning him and eating him alive and feeding him to her sister and other cult members. he was rescued when a neighbor who bought a baby video monitor picked up images of the kid next door. (apparently the mother got off on seeing her kid being tortured and kept a monitor on him as well)

this one really tops the cake. i don't think it can get any worse.

has anyone else seen this video of alanis morissette doing an acoustic version of black eye peas, "my humps"? it's fucking hilarious! it's amazing how good that song sounds when she sings it.

second post of the day, check out the other one below.


i'm taking a road trip to madison, WI the week after 4th of July. i have off 4-13, and want to take my mom and daughter to see the city. i went there last year and loved it, and since my flight privileges are now gone (10 beautiful years of free flying; i'll remember them fondly) i can now only afford to drive. i could maybe afford to buy plane tickets to europe at summer prices for myself, but buying tickets for two people is a little more than i'm able to shell out at the moment. for now, european vacations are limited to the off season, when prices are a fraction of what they cost now.

i'm taking a vacation at the beginning of the summer, and one at the end. so, for the first one, i figured madison would make for a good road trip. i'd also like to stop by chicago for a couple of days. for the second trip, later in the summer, i'm going to montreal and/or quebec (since they speak french so it's almost as if you were in france, minus the architecture and food).

we can rent a minivan or large SUV, and split the cost of the rental and gas. that way we could fit at least 6 or 7 people. we'd get there in no time, since we all could take turns driving, and wouldn't need to stop to sleep at all. (i probably could do it straight through alone, but i'm a terrible night driver, because my bedtime is like, 9pm, and i tend to fall asleep at the wheel ;)

the nice thing about doing a group trip, is that you don't necessarily need to spend the entire vacation together. as long as we arrive and depart together, we're free to part and do whatever we like at times. so if you go with someone else, and i want to be in bed by 11pm, you can go out with them, and then just do the sight seeing stuff as a group the next day.


so what do you think people ((e:paul)?????). this would be an awesome adventure.....(ok, fine, maybe not awesome, but certainly uber cool)

ps.... check out my post below for a free cd.