I The Behrend Beacon Man acquitted after charges of bombing Sears Tower MIAMI, Florida Lyglenson Lemorin was acquitted of charges of planning to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower on Thursday. Lemorin and six others were arrested in June 2006 for conspiring to destroy the Sears Tower, the FBl's Miami headquarters and other sites. A federal jury was unable to reach a verdict of the other six potential conspirators, but the U.S. Attorney'S office announced their cases would be retried starting January 7. Out of the seven men accused of the crime, five were American citizens, one was an illegal alien and the last was a resident alien. The group has been nick named the "Liberty City 7" because they operate out of a warehouse in Miami's Liberty City area. The men were caught after they encountered a government informant posing as an Al Qaeda informant. Federal sources claim the men weren't actually members of Al Qaeda but were possible Al Qaeda wannabes. Five of the group members are part of an organization called "Seas of David." The group claims to he a peaceful organization with no ties to any terrorist group. Seas of David claims to be a religious organization that blends the teachings of Christianity and Islam. Students cry foul over deceptive recruitment of Vector Marketing By Connor Sattely entertainment editor cisso6oo psu edu With a Google search for "Winter Break Work," students can find a myriad of opportunities presented for short-term jobs. Often, the results of this search will lead to a company called Vector Marketing, which advertises rates of $l4/hour to $ 18/hour, notes its flexible hours, and assures applicants that no experience is nec essary. It truly does sound like the perfect job to hold over winter break, or even for a few months over the summer. College freshman Shane Conrad discovered Vector Marketing through posters that were displayed all over the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he attends college. "There were really bright posters everywhere advertising 18 dollars an hour for a flexible job. all majors accepted," Conrad recalls. "I was really, really excited about it at first. and I went online and filled out an application." After Conrad filled out an application, he was called back within 15 minutes of hitting submit. "That kind of struck me as odd at the time, but 1 set up an inter view anyway. - Conrad recalls. His "interview" consisted of being asked a few questions such as "On a scale of one to 10. rate your own ability to communicate." Conrad and the other five people in the Vector Marketing office were then told what their job would he - selling CutCo knives. Those who would sell these knives for Vector Marketing would set up appointments with family and friends, and he paid on an appointment basis. "The knives looked really sweet," Conrad says. "The lady that showed them to us cut a penny with them, and showed how other knives weren't as good." He was handed a pre-made acceptance letter, and notified of a starting date for "I was really excited, and felt pretty proud, since I got this great job for winter break." Conrad says. He then contacted a friend to let him know about the opportunity. His friend immediately warned him to do some more research before he took the job. What Student grows during classroom continued from page 1 sensitivity, or they were being treated differently when wearing the triangles. However. there were a number of interesting stories. Corty recalls reading one young woman's story who went to church, and the priest asked her why she was wearing the triangle. She told him it was for a class, and the priest said "good, I was worried about you for a while!" Corty says, "Someone also told her the seat next to them was taken when she tried to sit down for mass. There is supposed to be a Christian envi ronment in church, and people were not very kind." The student claimed the assign ment was eye opening. Some students didn't notice anything when wearing the triangles and some also decided not to wear them. Andrew Moszculski did not wear his triangle, but wrote an essay which Corty said was powerful. Corty says the essay struck him because "the student grappled with his own feelings about homosexuality. He was sad— not both ered by homosexuality. It was a personal, but very difficult experience for him." Moczulski explains, "One of my best friends in high school was homosexual. It wasn't until we had been good friends for six years that he came out of the closet, and when he did it, he couldn't even tell me in person. He had to write me a letter." He says it wasn't until he put on the homosexual symbol that he realized why his friend was afraid to tell him. "I used to think this was a neat assignment, and that I could finally begin to see the world through my friend's eyes. The more I thought about it, however, the more I realized how he felt when he came out of the closet." Mozculski adds that he wishes society were more accepting, "We are still pretty intolerant society. We hide it well, but I know people would want to hurt me if I wore that triangle deep down. It is definitely something that we need to work on as a soci ety." Moczulski adds that he feels ashamed for not wearing the sticker, but he does not regret it. "I'm glad I didn't get hurt by anyone," he says. Cony has been giving the assignment for several years. "I absolutely plan to use it again. It is a Source: CNN NE W. Conrad found was thousands of stories, warnings, and signatures on petitions to stop Vector Marketing. "My friend told me it was a scam, and after doing some research, I found that very few people were actually able to make money with the company. - Conrad says. What he stumbled upon was PetitionOnline.com, a site dedicated to hosting user-made petitions which viewers can sign. A petition called "Stop the Scamful ways of Vector Marketing" now has over 7,100 signatures. Like thousands of other college students, Conrad found that he would end up paying money for his newly found job. A charge of $l2O is assessed for appli cant's demo knives, and employees are directed to attend conferences which often include an entrance fee. Some students have found success with Vector Marketing. Overall. what the job amounts to for many students is telemarketing. After setting up appointments with family and friends, employees are directed to ask for other contacts that they can set up appointments with. Scattered amongst the warnings on PetitionOnline are several success stories of students who have worked with Vector. Most, though, have found that the hidden costs of the job were too merlin han dle. Gas for trips to appointments is not paid for, and time setting up appointments is also not paid for. What many employees of Vector find is that within a few weeks, they have actually lost money. A study of 940 Wisconsin Vector Marketing recruits found that nearly half of all recruits either lost money or earned nothing while working for Vector. Vector has a history of deceiving recruits as well: the company admitted to fraud in settlements with the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission in 1999, the Wisconsin Consumer Protection Department in 1994, and the Arizona Attorney General in 1992, reports Spamlaws.com. Conrad is grateful that he had a friend who was able to warn him away from a situation in which he could have actually lost money. He urges those who are con templating a job from Vector marketing to do Internet research before attending training or accepting a job. "If it sounds too good to be true," Conrad says, "it probably is." great assignment," he says. "From my perspective, it was meaningful and thought provoking. it makes students learn things that are hard to learn" This is Moczulski's essay: "I tried. I really did. I mean, probably my best friend from high-school was homosexual, and I figured this was kind of a neat opportunity to see how he saw the world. But then I remembered something else about him: He didn't go around announcing he was gay to the whole world. Whenever I looked at that triangle and pictured it on my arm, all I could picture was some jackass following me out to the parking lot at the mall and smashing my head in with a baseball bat. I realize that the odds of something like that happening in Erie are pretty slim... we are, at least in my experience, a fairly tolerant community. But dammit, people like that ARE out there. That's the reason that actual gay people only walk around wearing gay pride items when they're in large groups! Because out there in the world, there are people who will beat the crap out of a person just for being gay. And sometimes, they'll do worse. It didn't help when I described the assignment to my parents, just to see what they thought I should d 0... and my dad looked me right in the eyes and told me, "Don't be an idiot. You've never even been in a fight, and if some jerk decides to kick your ass, he's probably going to be able to do it. Homework isn't worth going to the hospital over." So that's why I didn't go out wearing the sticker. Fear, plain and sim ple. I completely chickened out. I wanted to do it... I feel bad that I DIDN'T. But I'll admit that I gained some insight into the gay mindset, even though I didn't wear the sticker. I was afraid to go out in public wearing a sticker that proclaimed, really, only my SUPPORT for homo sexuals. People who are actually gay... they must live with fear like that all the time. Fear that someday, they'll be out and they'll walk by the wrong cluster of people, and that's all she wrote. And then there's the `lesser' consequences... being ostracized by the community, being aban-' doned by their friends, even being looked down on by their own fami lies sometimes. And I was afraid to put on a sticker for a couple of hours. I feel really pathetic." Powerful typhoon hits the Philippine coast MANILA, Philippines 12 people were killed in the Philippines on Tuesday after a powerful Typhoon hit the coast. The typhoon eventually weakened into a tropical storm named Mitag and changed course. Most of the fatalities were due to drowning, and four people remain missing. Two villagers went missing the day before the Typhoon hit when extreme river currents swept their home away. After the storm hit land it moved into nearby mountain provinces, where thousands were evacuated from fear of landslides. 50 villages were flooded in the province of Isabella which has over a million residents. In the provinces capital city, Ilagan, 10 houses were destroyed from the increased size of the village's river due to the typhoon. In Cagayan, a nearby province, two villagers were drowned and strong winds knocked over trees and power lines, causing the entire province to he powerless. Governor Alvaro Antonio claims the province's rice industry was affected. He told the Associated Press "We were just one or two weeks away from harvest time. I'm afraid we've lost everything to the flood and strong winds." In Pagudpud, a nearby resort town, a landslide rendered a nearby road unusable. No traffic was able to pass through and the military was deployed to clear the road. The Agriculture Department estimate losses at $2.5 million so far, which pales in comparison to the $246 million worth of damage incurred during last year's typhoons. Friday,December 14, 2007 Gamer 's Club offers fun for all By Erik Holman staff writer eth50290 psu.edu Freshman Jessica Fleger is straining as she fights and struggles to get to her destination. First she screams of agony w henever she feels defeated and then roars in victory at her winning moment. Aber viewing a projector brightly shining on the classroom walls, one can easily realize Heger is playing bowling on the fiuuous Nintendo Wii. :I liked it. I nrver played a Vsli before. " states Fleger, who's taking a well deserved break after going for 10 rounds on the virtual lane. Ladies and gentleman. what had occurred w as the evening event of Garners Night last Friday. Happening once each semester, people are gath ered around in the upper floor of the Reed Building to live up to their digital fantasy by having an all-night console hash. Each of the rooms on the Reed Building contained different consoles varying from current-gen to last-gen. One room contained the Wii and a PS2 reserved for Guitar Hero competitions. Another room contained the Nintendo 64 where die-hards could play classic multi-players games such as Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye. and Super Smash Bros. The third and final room is darkened for the light-up controllers used for the original Xbox. Many Halo/Time Splitters 2 tournaments happen there as one would compete to become the ultimate gaming master. While the place seemed full of people, Garners Night founder Kyle Zaffino said. "Well. there's normally more people here than a hand ful." Many people wouldn't be able to show up with their busy schedules or working at Bruno's. Junior Derek also agrees as he says. "It was a tot bigger [at the last event] than this one. But this one is still fun, nonetheless." Many state those reasons were because of comedian Jim Gaffigan's appearance on the Behrend campus as he gave his comedy show at the Junker Center. As the hours went by, however, each of the rooms was becoming full as people started to come after Gaffigan's performance. Although the rooms were full, most were coming in the first room to get their chance to play with the Nintendo Wii. Many brought their own board games to kill time as well. Dungeons and Dragons, Risk, chess, checkers, and Monopoly were all brought by those who would rather play strategic games than video games to challenge their arsenal of cerebral control. Gamers Night had it all for anyone who is curious to how certain games are played or worked and also a cool place to create new friends. Gainers Nights will be held next semester on Jan. 18, Feb. 8, Feb. 29, March 21, and April 11. They're all on Fridays and Garners Night is welcoming those who want to exceed their video game obsessions, challenge any gamer to their superior level, or just want to have fun. For those who want to know further informa tion, Zaffino announced on his Gamer's Night board there is a board game tournament at Phoenix Games on Friday Night to benefit for Toys for Tots. Entry fee is a one brand-new unwrapped toy. This event occurs from 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. and Zaffino welcomes anyone inter ested in coming.
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