I just wondered of we have had a thread about this or not? 4 men are sentenced to hang in Iran from the Town of Choram. Apparently nothing can be done,which sounds so wrong.

It was not that long ago that Alphonse Fletcher Jr.%E2%80%99s fifth-floor apartment at the Dakota on the Upper West Side was a salon for wealthy and famous guests who traded ideas and chatter at his popular parties. Mr. Fletcher, an accomplished financier, opened his home to fellow Harvard alumni for fund-raising events, and to fellow black notables like Anna Deavere Smith and Anita Hill, two of more than three dozen people who have been given the honor of being Fletcher Fellows, each one receiving a $50,000 stipend from him. Alphonse Fletcher Jr. sees discrimination in a Dakota co-op board ruling against him; the co-op board questions his financial resources. In this dynamic mix, Mr. Fletcher included his neighbors and members of the Dakota co-op board, who enjoyed cocktails, nibbles and an occasional performance by Mr. Fletcher leading guests in sing-alongs as he played %E2%80%9CPurple Rain%E2%80%9D on his piano. But in recent months, Mr. Fletcher%E2%80%99s 2,600-square-foot, three-bedroom apartment has largely been silent. And Mr. Fletcher is engaging in one of the ugliest co-op battles in the world of Manhattan real estate. This month, Mr. Fletcher, 45, sued the co-op board, which he once led, charging it with racial discrimination because he was not allowed to buy a neighboring apartment, and accusing it of discriminating against other residents and applicants, too, including the singer Roberta Flack. In a building whose name brings to mind Lennon, Bacall and Bernstein, Mr. Fletcher may not be the most famous resident, but he was already one of its most intriguing, even before he took on its board. In college, he was a member of R.O.T.C., which convened at M.I.T., as well as the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus; the reason he says he needs more space is because he is now married, and he and his wife have a young daughter. He was a quick success on Wall Street, accused a major financial institution of racial discrimination, and later was sued himself for sexual harassment. He has given away millions to New York and Ivy League institutions, and has pledged to give away tens of millions more, elevating a few eyebrows in the building. Just four years ago, he was the consensus choice to be president of the co-op board after a rift among board members. Now he is at war with the board, and in a life full of calculated risks, he may have taken his biggest yet. The Dakota has fired back, and its response was not so much an opening salvo as a full-scale barrage. The board said it was not credible that a man who already owns four units in the Dakota %E2%80%94 the apartment he lives in, one he bought for his mother and two small ones for storage and for his employees to use %E2%80%94 could claim that he was being treated unfairly. But most of all, the board said, the financial records Mr. Fletcher submitted made them doubt whether he had the resources to afford yet another home. His investment firm%E2%80%99s %E2%80%9Capparent lack of profitability,%E2%80%9D as well as other evidence, the board wrote, %E2%80%9Csuggested that it may be seriously troubled and a source of potential future costs or liabilities.%E2%80%9D Mr. Fletcher, whose livelihood depends as much on perception as performance, said he was not cowed. %E2%80%9CThey can%E2%80%99t defame me, a 20-year shareholder who is such a good neighbor, who makes peace, who pays his bills,%E2%80%9D he said in a three-hour interview this week. %E2%80%9CYou can%E2%80%99t tell people in and out of the building that I am a financial mess.%E2%80%9D Mr. Fletcher, known as Buddy, grew up in Waterford, Conn., the first of three sons of Bettye Fletcher, a teacher, and Alphonse Fletcher Sr., a General Dynamics technician who had grown up in New Orleans and who schooled Buddy in math by taking him to the racetrack. Mr. Fletcher%E2%80%99s brother Todd is a noted composer, and the youngest, Geoffrey, won an Academy Award last year for his screenplay for %E2%80%9CPrecious%E2%80%9D and in his acceptance speech, called Buddy and Todd %E2%80%9Cmy role models, my heroes.%E2%80%9D All three boys attended Harvard, where Buddy immersed himself in a range of social circles that mirror the diversity of his Dakota gatherings. He was elected first marshal of his senior class. %E2%80%9CHe was a thoughtful and serious person,%E2%80%9D said John Tomlinson, a classmate. %E2%80%9CHe always had a military bearing. His hair was always just right. He sat with good posture. His clothes were always perfect.%E2%80%9D Mr. Fletcher began his career at Bear Stearns and then moved to Kidder Peabody. In 1991, at 25, he accused Kidder of racial discrimination, saying it had reneged on pay that he said he had been promised. New York Stock Exchange arbitration panels awarded him $1.3 million but ruled that Kidder had not discriminated against him. He hung out his own shingle, Fletcher Asset Management, and among his successful strategies was to invest in cash-starved companies with otherwise sound businesses, including Zenith, whose recovery brought the firm huge profits. He moved his firm into luxurious headquarters on the 48th floor of the General Motors building on Fifth Avenue with breath-stealing views of Central Park and the world beyond. In 1992, after having offers rejected on three other apartments at the Dakota, Mr. Fletcher bought a first-floor unit for $465,000, becoming the second black buyer in the building%E2%80%99s history, after Ms. Flack. Other than Ms. Fletcher%E2%80%99s mother, who now sits on the board, there have been no others. (His father died in 1990.) He was starting his charitable giving , with a $1 million pledge in 1994 to the N.A.A.C.P. But he was also experiencing some of the battles that come with success. A college friend and business partner, Michael Meade, left his firm in 1995 and then sued over his compensation, in a dispute that Mr. Meade now describes as %E2%80%9Ctwo young kids fighting over money.%E2%80%9D They settled in 1997 and didn%E2%80%99t speak for five years, but now do business together.

NYTimes profile of controversial gay Dakota resident Buddy Fletcher

Everyone knows that Stephen Austin and Sam Houston were gay, but the oil millionaire were all pervs (or worse) too. "The parties usually kicked off on Friday evenings when a dusty maroon Chrysler pulled up the long gravel drive, heralding Sid Richardson's arrival from West Texas. The gambling and drinking lasted late into the night, when the guests would wobble into the bunkhouse Murchison had erected just for his friends, a dozen beds arrayed in one large room, cowboy style. "He (Murchison) adored the boys (his sons) and paid tuition for them to attend public schools in University Park; most days they arrived at school in a chauffeur driven Pierce Arrow. Weeknights they all piled into one bed together with their father. Murchison swore he wouldn't marry until they were grown." from Burrough's "Big Rich" "The master suite alone had eight full sized beds for Murchison, his two sons, and whatever pals were staying over - 'so we can stay up all night talkin' oil,' he explained to his decorator." "It was a man's world, the days spent hunting and fishing, the nights playing cards. Richardson never married, and no one can remember a single woman who anyone considered his companion, leading to rumors about his sexual proclivities." Followed by the obligatory anonymous rumor of (female) prostitutes flown in.

I don''t believe it. I don''t think there is one ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD as long as all the parts work.%0D

What about with the added challenge of doing it as a Diabetic? Mario Battali is doing the NY Food Stamp challenge this week and Chef Karl Wilder is joining him and doing is as a diabetic. I suggested we go to the Harlem benefit next week as a meet up, but I think we should be doing it also to collect food for the food bank. If the gays show up the event becomes golden. More links inside.

1.48 a meal, how many of you could live on that?

BANGOR, Maine -- A US Airways jet from Paris was diverted to Bangor, Maine, on Tuesday after a passenger showed "suspicious behavior" on the flight, federal authorities said. US Airways spokesman Andrew Christie said the Charlotte, North Carolina-bound Boeing 767 landed in Bangor about noon because of an unspecified "security issue." The flight carried 179 passengers and a crew of nine, airline spokeswoman Liz Landau told CNN. The North American Aerospace Defense Command said two F-15 fighter jets were scrambled to escort the jet to Bangor. The aircraft landed after a passenger "exhibited suspicious behavior" during the flight, the Transportation Security Administration said. "Out of an abundance of caution, the flight was diverted to BGR, where it was met by law enforcement," the TSA said. No further details were available.

'Security Issue' Forces US Airways Flight Diversion

On an iTunes buying spree. I like very lush, evocative orchestral scores. My latest purchases are Elmer Bernstein's Age of Innocence, Bernard Hermann's Vertigo and Ryuichi Sakamoto's The Last Emperor.

Lana Del Rey 2 Bears Sleigh Bells What new releases are looking forward to hearing?

The Associated Press MEXICO CITY - Two decapitated bodies were found inside a burning SUV early Wednesday at the entrance to one of Mexico's most luxurious malls, feeding fears drug violence is infiltrating privileged realms previously thought safe. Police recovered the mutilated bodies before dawn off a toll highway at a shopping mall entrance in the heart of the Santa Fe district that's a haven for international corporations, diplomats and the wealthy. The heads and a threatening message were dumped a few yards (meters) away, Mexico City prosecutors said in a statement. Hours later, the government released a drug war body count recording more than 47,500 victims in five years, echoing independent death tolls tabulated by Mexican media. Local media published images of the charred car and reported that a note written on hot pink paper was signed by the drug gang Mano con Ojos, or Hand with Eyes. Mexican police had said the gang was weakened by the arrest of its leader, Oscar Osvaldo Garcia, in August. The victims, a man and a woman in their 30s, had not been identified, prosecutors said. They said the SUV with license plates from neighbouring Mexico state had been stolen. The Centro Santa Fe mall where the charred car was found is one of the country's largest and most glamorous, housing high-end retailers like Coach, Prada, Hugo Boss, Saks Fifth Avenue and Mexican department store Palacio de Hierro. The dump scene was cleaned up so quickly that shoppers weren't even aware anything had happened. The car was left only hours before Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard guided a tour of a bridge construction site 300 yards (meters) away. Ebrard spokesman Diego Gutierrez said there was nothing to indicate the bodies were a message to the mayor. Mexico's sprawling capital has been something of a haven from the brutal cartel violence that has claimed thousands of lives along the U.S. border and in outlying states. But gangs have been fighting over an increasingly lucrative local drug market for more than a year, mainly in the capital's working class outer neighbourhoods and suburbs. The Santa Fe district has been spared much of that violence and managed to maintain its reputation as a manicured bubble built atop a former landfill on the western edge of Mexico City. The financial district houses the Mexican headquarters of major corporations, Hewlett Packard and IBM among them, and Iberoamerican University, one of Mexico's top private schools. Modern, heavily guarded high-rises where wealthy Mexicans and foreigners live dot the hilly landscape. But as the fight among splintering drug cartels intensifies, brazen attackers have reached even into the country's most guarded districts. "If they don't put an end to this, it could become more frightening here," said Christian Falbi, a 24-year-old college student who lives in an apartment building within walking distance of the mall.

The future Queen of Sweden, Princess Victoria, suffers from extreme chipmunk face and her personal trainer social climbing husband is plain ol' butt ugly.

I Thought The Swedish Were Supposed to be Hot

I nominate Good Christian Bitches, this would allow the use of the full title and the blond pastor could have a full nude scene. Also, The Finder...you just know the finder really has a filthy mouth, let him express himself. The season ender had him in cuffs on the floor...we have to find out what happened. Come on HBO. Pan Am, the 60 were swinging. Get those pilots to swing their schwanks.

Every bit of minutiae of your life tracked. Being constantly photographed and followed. Could you handle it?