IWA For Sunday 081907

Hey folks,

It’s Sunday! Time for the IWA.

This weeks winner shows how worrying about material things and money, can destroy lives. I have often said, and will again now, I loath money. If it were not for those around me that seem to love it, and love taking it from me, I would have no use for it.

I have seen too many good people go bad. I have seen too many families torn apart. All for the love of money. In some areas of society, Banks and the Stock Market have replaces Churches. Money has replaced God. This is not a good thing. Look at all the panic whenever the Stock Market goes through a correction.

So this type of thing is not so far fetched. According to Reuters -Professor found guilty of staging own shooting By Scott Malone Fri Aug 17, 3:08 PM ET

A judge on Friday found a former professor at the elite Massachusetts Institute of Technology guilty of shooting himself and trying to shift blame to his son as part of a long-running family feud.

The case revolved around a night in December 2005 when John J. Donovan, who taught business for three decades at the famed U.S. science and technology university, called police to allege that two men with Russian accents had shot him as he sat in his minivan.

Have to give him an A for effort, and dedication.

As police investigated the case, they found some evidence that seemed to contradict that claim.

Donovan, who had a bullet wound in his side when police found him, said he survived the attack because a large metal belt buckle had deflected some of the shots. The belt bore bullet marks but a doctor who examined him did not find injuries that would have been expected if Donovan been wearing it while it was hit, prosecutors said.

We take these allegations and go where the facts lead us, state Attorney General Martha Coakley said.

Donovan, now 65, was found guilty of filing a false police report. He had pleaded innocent and denied shooting himself.

Prosecutors said he shot himself and planned to pin the attack on his oldest son, James Donovan. The Donovan family has been entangled in a dispute over real estate for years.

All over money folks.

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Kenneth Fishman ordered the elder Donovan to serve two years' probation, stay away from his children and pay a $500 fine.

Through a spokesman, Donovan said he was disappointed and surprised and he planned to appeal.

What is he arguing? “I went through all this trouble and pain of shooting myself, and you want me to pay $500.00?” He should be lucky he is not serving jail time.

Donovan retired from MIT in 1997 to found a consulting firm. He is a well known expert on business and technology.

Apparently not an expert in forensics.

When Donovan called police to report the shooting, he begged them to send someone to his home in the wealthy Boston suburb of Hamilton, saying he feared his wife was in danger.

Mr. Donovan's behaviour was bizarre and premeditated, Coakley told reporters. For the family members and the very small Hamilton police department, the episode was upsetting, it was unnerving and ... it was expensive and time consuming.

She estimated that state authorities spent $50,000 (25,000 pounds) to $100,000 investigating the case.

Of which he should also be forced to pay back. Sorry Mr. Donovan, but for putting money before family, and thinking that you could get away with the elaborate hoax, you ARE the Idiot of the week.
Peter