Here's an odd tale of a man who was relentlessly bullied by a burly next-door neighbor until he fought back—with a hidden videocamera. Mario Flores, 40 years old and suffering a "mild mental disability," was subject to an increasing level of harrassment from a goon across the hall, Fred Brandstadter (hint: in the picture below, he's the bigger guy). Flores tried the cops, but they said they'd need evidence. So, showing resourceful pluck, Flores drilled a hole above his doorway and installed a hidden camera.

The tapes depicted a slew of incidents. In one, Brandstadter uses an anti-gay epithet while pushing Flores against the wall. In others he is shown hitting Flores in the head and knocking him into the wall; hitting him through an open door; and shoving him while holding a pizza box in the other hand.

Fred Brandstadter:  (in a mocking voice) I'm so scared. I'm so scared.
Mario Flores:  Why are you always picking on me?
Brandstadter:  'Cause I can.
Flores:  I know you can get away with it. I know you can get away with it.
Brandstadter:  I can get away with it. I can do anything I want. You know why? 'Cause you're a faggot.
Flores:  You know I'm not a fag. I'm just a delicate white boy.
Brandstadter:  Yes you are. You're a fag. Look at you. Look at this s--- you wear.
Flores:  That hurts right there.
Brandstadter:  I don't give a f---. I don't care. I don't care. I don't care Mario.

Once Flores got all this on tape, the police came down on Brandstadter like a ton of bricks. They're even contemplating a hate-crime charge, due to the epithets involved. Brandstadter is unquestionably a baboon, and he's in a world of hurt now—the legal fees alone are going to wipe him out. But someone needs to explain to Flores that "I'm just a delicate white boy" isn't the best line to use in an apartment hall fracas.

The Right Stuff

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors' race is always a fun one to track. Unfailingly, at least one of the candidates will turn out to be running on a platform from another planet, promising to give the penninsula back to the animals, that sort of thing. This year, the nut job is Malinka Moye, who's running for District 6. Here's the rapsheet on Moye, who hopes to serve the public trust:

Police have arrested the candidate—who identified himself as a "scientist" in the official voters handbook—nearly a dozen times in the last three years in connection with soliciting a prostitute, assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and various other deeds.

• Picked up several times on suspicion of possession of crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia.
  
• Arrested on a felony warrant and for animal cruelty after allegedly braining and skinning a goat.
  
• Has a rap sheet in Oakland (police aren't releasing the specifics).
• Is under a court order to avoid Desiree Ruskin following a domestic violence hearing.

The Axe Man

Here's a heartwarming story about France's last surviving guillotine operator. Fernand Meyssonnier claims to have decapitated around 200 men in his tenure at the French colony of Algeria in north Africa. In this interview he explains the mechanics of his profession and shows a warm and gentle side that few who knew him professionally would have imagined he possessed.

"You must never give the guy time to think. Because if you do, he starts moving his head around, and that's when you have the mess-ups. The blade comes through his jaw, and you have to use a butcher's knife to finish it off.

The surreal atmosphere is only enhanced by a pair of gray parrots in a cage that he has trained to squawk in French, "All those condemned to death will have their heads chopped off—Vive Meyssonnier!"
"I am fond of a laugh," he says.

4:09:52 PM       

Remember when "self-esteem" was the big buzzword in psychology and academe? The idea was that children who behaved like little monsters were simply suffering from image issues. Bump up the self-esteem and reduce anti-social activity. Personally, when I was in junior high, I didn't think much of those programs that were telling the sadistic freaks who beat the crap out of people for giggles that they were "precious 'n' special." Well, turns out the whole thing was bogus from the start. In a story this morning, psychologists are examining research showing that failing students "think as highly of themselves as valedictorians, and serial rapists are no more likely to ooze with insecurities than doctors or bank managers."

"I think we had a great deal of optimism that high self-esteem would cause all sorts of positive consequences, and that if we raised self-esteem people would do better in life," Dr. Baumeister said. "Mostly, the data have not borne that out."

They're Getting Desperate

According to MSNBC, things are starting to look up for stock analysts who rely on astrology to make those winning picks on Wall Street. Here's French financial astrologer Jean-Francois Richard:

"People used to think I was a charlatan, but gradually everyone is getting fed up with the traditional world of finance, which has failed to predict all the major swings of recent times, and they are more open to my ideas."

10:09:32 AM