How’d he do that?

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Last night, I was watching The Apprentice. My husband has become more addicted to the show than I am.

At the end of the show, after Stephanie was fired, Donald Trump said to Chris, a 21-year-old real estate guy from Las Vegas as he was leaving the room, that he is always having problems…”and that he better get going…FAST…or he’ll miss his potential.”

Chris was standing in the doorway about to exit the room when he stopped and listened to Mr. Trump. His upper lip lifted up for a hair of a second but he didn’t show any teeth. It kind of quivered. I immediately sensed a very threatening feeling. My heart started to pound and I felt a real sense of danger. Chris then responded in a tense voice by saying thank you to Mr. Trump. It all happened in an instant.

I immediately asked my husband if he saw it. He said no. Thankfully, we had recorded it so I played it back in slow motion and pointed it out to my husband. He still struggled to see it but after a couple of playbacks he finally caught it with my guidance. The beauty of slow motion!

I knew this expression by Chris was an expression of deep anger at Mr. Trump. It was a rageful response. Chris was boiling inside as he has done on the show many times. Except this time, he was trying to be polite and hide it because he had just narrowly escaping being fired himself. Chris knew if he didn’t hold it in – he’d be let go on the spot. Even still, he couldn’t entirely contain his true emotions. They flickered for an instant.

Expressions are a wealth of information! I suspect this what experts would call a microexpression.

Ironically, too, after Chris left the boardroom, I think Mr. Trump had a sense of this as well because he responded to George and Carolyn that this Chris guy is really volatile and needed to be closely monitored. I wonder if he subconsciously registered what I did.

I believe he did.

When I went to bed, I was thinking about this expression. I wanted to see if I could make it myself — and I couldn’t. I was flat puzzled as I continually tried to find the right muscles to move my upper lip. He moved his upper lip upwards, yet didn’t show any teeth.

It was more like a twitch — a twitch of rage!

How did I know it was even anger, I asked myself. I was puzzled. I didn’t know this expression. I don’t ever remember seeing it before. Chris didn’t act angry at all with his verbal response or his body posture.

I asked my husband if he knew what that expression meant now that he saw it, and he was clueless. He didn’t get any feelings from it at all.

I just knew — instinctively– that it was a rage of some sort: a very serious rage. Perhaps innately I knew. Perhaps I registered it subconsciously. As Malcolm Gladwell would say, it was a rapid form of cognition — a form we don’t know too much about consciously.

After trying to make the facial expressions, I realized I couldn’t. More than likely because facial experts say we can’t mimic real feelings. The muscles we use to act out fake emotions are voluntary and totally different than the ones we use in a genuine expression of emotion. Genuine expressions involve using muscles that are activated involuntary.

The closest I came to making Chris’ expression was to flare my nostrils.

Try it. Flare your nostrils.

Does it make you feel a bit angry? Negative? Perhaps mad? Do you feel your heart race a bit?

Fascinating stuff!!

Murder or Suicide?

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48 Hours detailed a very interesting story this past weekend about a police officer from Wisconsin whose wife was found dead during the final stages of their divorce.

John Maloney’s wife, Sandy, was found charred to death on her living room sofa. She had what appeared strangulation marks on her neck and blunt trauma injury to her head. The case clearly pointed to murder.

The police didn’t have enough evidence however to convict Maloney so they convinced his then girlfriend at the time to try to get Maloney to confess. They wired a room and recorded Maloney interact with his girlfriend.

On the video tape you see a tense stand off between Maloney and his girlfriend. She starts questioning him — asking out right — if he killed his wife. Maloney’s adamantly denies it and his words become abusive. You feel an undeniable anger that is raging inside him. Maloney gets in his girlfriend’s face — too close for comfort — on multiple occasions. He makes you feel like he could tip over-the-brink-of-sanity several times though he never lays on finger on his girlfriend. In the last bit of tape shown on 48 hours, Maloney says that he was at his wife’s house the night of the crime. He says nothing else nor does he admit he killed his wife.

It was this tape that was the biggest blow for Maloney’s case. This is what the Special Prosecutor used to arrest and convict him.

Yet when Maloney is interviewed on 48 hours, and speaks of the crime — he stands firmly by his innocence. He swears he had nothing to do with the crime, and I truly believe him. His facial expressions are genuine and real. He shows emotions appropriately. I think this is an innocent man who has a raging temper.

The case goes to court and Maloney is found guilty of strangulation and setting his wife’s body on fire. Six years go by and then Special Prosecutor Joe Paulus, the prosecutor who tried Maloney’s case was charged and convicted of bribery and income tax evasion. That’s right, Paulus was taking money to fix cases. Cases that were fixed when Maloney was charged and convicted.

At the same time, “Sheila Berry, who had never even met Maloney, took up his cause. Berry is a part-time novelist, part-time investigator, and part-time head of Truth in Justice, a non-profit group that tries to help people it feels are wrongly imprisoned. ” (48 hours)

She uncovered a lot of evidence that Special Prosecutor Paulus never brought up in court. Not only does Berry believe that Sandy Maloney wasn’t murdered, she believed she killed herself.

“She says the evidence was in the basement of the Maloney house, where police
recorded a bizarre scene: two VCRs on top of a coffee table. And from the ceiling, there appeared to be a ligature hanging from a conduit pipe, right down in front of the coffee table.

The autopsy showed that Sandy was very drunk the night she died. Berry thinks Sandy tried to hang herself with the electrical cord: “She made a suicide attempt, at least a gesture, but enough of a gesture to jump off that coffee table and hit her — back of her head.”

Then, as Berry’s theory goes, Sandy tried to clean up in the basement shower. But ultimately, she ended up on the first floor, where she collapsed into unconsciousness on the couch while smoking. It was that lit cigarette, Berry believes, that caused the fire. “There certainly was a big death wish going on,” says Berry. “She did want to die.” (48 hours)

In support of this theory, Berry finds that police discovered multiple suicide notes written by Sandy in the garbage. Suicide notes that were never brought up at Maloney’s trial. The jury never even heard the theory that Maloney’s wife tried to commit suicide.

Berry goes on to find blood evidence to support her story. She also notes that the police were unable to find any blood evidence that linked Maloney to this crime scene. Berry believes that Sandy Maloney drank herself to death and died of alcohol poisoning. It was well known that Sandy had serious alcohol and drug problems.

Sandy Maloney had lost custody of her kids, had lost her marriage and had nothing left to live for. The following day her divorce was to be made final.

The twists and turns in this case are astonishing.

Even worse is what the defense attorney for Maloney did in this case. It was another tragedy for Maloney. He didn’t defend Maloney’s innocence with Sandy’s suicide notes. Oh no. He instead argued Maloney’s girlfriend killed Sandy. Absolute absurdity. Absurdity that helped convict Maloney if you ask me. It makes you wonder where his allegiances were at the time of this trial.

There are so many facts to this case, you can only wonder what the truth is. But when I watch John Maloney speak about this case, I believe he is telling the truth. His facial expressions are consistent with what he is saying. I get a deep sense he didn’t kill his wife.

I believe John Maloney truly deserves another trial but the current Special Prosecutor doesn’t believe John Maloney. He still believes Maloney killed his wife regardless of the new facts– and Maloney continues live out his life-sentence.

I think this a big injustice. A tragedy.

Gang Rape Conviction

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Back in November, I discussed a rape case that went to trial in Orange County, California and ended up as a mistrial. You can read about it here.

Today, Court TV is reporting that the re-trial ended up with a conviction for all three teens. You may recall the story as one of the boys was the son of a senior law enforcement officer. They were convicted of gang rape — and each is facing 16 to 18 years in prison.

I am relieved.

When I watched the boys and the rape victim tell their stories, it was clear to me who was lying, and it wasn’t the rape victim though she had a shady past.

Justice was served in this case. Thankfully.

“A Sack of Lies,” he says

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Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, archbishop of northern Genoa, Italy, spoke out to the world last week calling best-selling novel, The DiVinci Code, “…a sack full of lies against the Church, against the real history of Christianity and against Christ himself.”

I was intrigued by this.

Isn’t The DiVinci Code a novel? A piece of fiction?

Where am I going wrong here?

Author of The DiVinci Code, Dan Brown, answers some questions here, if you have interest.

According to Dictionary.com:

Novel means: A fictional prose narrative of considerable length, typically having a plot that is unfolded by the actions, speech, and thoughts of the characters.

Fiction means: 1). A literary work whose content is produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact. 2).An imaginative creation or a pretense that does not represent actuality but has been invented.

So where does Cardinal Bertone come from calling a piece of imagination that is not necessarily based on fact a lie?????

Is anyone else scratching their head on this one?

No one ever represented this book as the truth. People have wondered if it could be true — which is a totally different thing.

I personally have not read the book, but I will say that I think is a sign of the desperate times in the catholic church. Since so many priests have been accused and convicted of sexual abuse in the past few years, I suspect the support for the catholic church has dried up dramatically, and hence money is not flowing like it used to — to support these men of the church.

Perhaps this is why Cardinal Bertone spoke out with such nonsense? Perhaps that is why he asks catholics and all christians to not buy this book? Because he fears he will loose more money?

I can only speculate.

Knowledge is power — regardless of whether the knowledge is good or bad. I have to completely disagree with Cardinal Bertone.

We were all given a mind, and he should support using it!!

Schiavo Shivers

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Since this is such a hot topic, I decided to weigh in with my opinion. This opinion is not based on watching video of the Michael Schiavo or the Schindlers to determine who is lying. While I did see one clip of Michael Schiavo, I was only able to detect that he is angry — which could support the truth or a lie.

I doubt there is anyone in this country who hasn’t heard of the Schiavo case. Over the last few days, I have tried to turn away from the media reports because the pain of this story is so difficult to palate.

I am a firm believer that if I were seriously disabled to the point I couldn’t do anything but lay in bed, helpless, I would want to be put out of my misery. I say that strongly now, yet I don’t have the fervor to put this in legal paperwork. I just can’t do it because I am NOT that confident. This is my absolute truth.

On the other hand, if I were lying in bed in a vegetative state, and my parents saw life in me and they wanted me to live — and my husband fought to have me die by removing a feeding tube — I KNOW I’d turn over in my grave. And I tell you, I trust my husband with all my heart and soul. I love him dearly.

However, as much as one man can love me, no one will EVER love me more purely than my parents. EVER. Maybe as much, but NEVER MORE. Parents are the most likely people to do right by their child – even in the harshest of circumstances. Husbands and wives can be motivated for other reasons. It’s a harsh statement to make, but a true one — one that no woman or man can ever deny.

Of course, in contradiction, parents can have motives but the most likely of motive is they are unable to pull the plug because it will cause too much pain…because they care too much.

So with that thinking, I set out to read the case facts. I wanted to find out the history of Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers. I wanted to see their motives: Are they based on love and compassion? Are they purely out for Terri or are there other circumstances? I have not followed this case closely so I needed to do some research.

I want to find that Michael Schiavo is a kind-hearted and compassionate soul. I want to know that he passionately loves Terri and that he is acting with compassion in doing what is best for her. I want to see Terri on video to see if there are any responses from her. Is she conscious? If she is unconscious in a bed and totally unresponsive, I will have to wonder if the parents can’t let go. I also want to see the Schindler family.

Sadly, after what I have read and watched on the web, the case clearly presents itself if you look closely.

It appears to me, as an outside observer who is ironically pro-choice, that this is a battle of wills in which Michael Schiavo will not back down. This isn’t about what is best for Terri.

It took Michael Schiavo seven years to even mention that his wife supposedly told him that she did not want to be kept alive if she required life-support.

Seven years!!!

It wasn’t until after he filed a medical malpractice suit — and won over a million dollars on behalf of him and Terri — that he REMEMBERED. It was at this point, and conveniently at this point where he stood to inherit a large sum of money set aside for her care in a trust fund — that he wanted the feeding tube removed!!

You can only guess he wanted her gone to get his hands on the money. Why the sudden change of heart??

My skin is crawling.

How could he live with her on a feeding tube for seven years and never remember her wishes then?

This speaks loudly that Michael Schiavo cares for himself first — and then for others — only when it is convenient. Worse, it makes Michael Schiavo suspicious and not trustworthy. His motives are tainted. Money is involved.

Terri Schiavo isn’t on “life support” as I would consider life support. She is on a feeding tube, but she can breath on her own. She doesn’t need help. She just isn’t able to eat by herself though her parents state with training (which they say Michael Schiavo has never allowed) they believe it is possible she could eat on her own.

Michael Schiavo has also at multiple times denied Terri visitation from her parents even when they were deemed to be no danger to her. How has this ever been to Terri’s benefit? I see it as a move that hurts Terri and her parents. This outrages me. It shows serious anger towards the Schindlers and a lack of care on behalf of Michael Schiavo for Terri.

I then look at Terri Schiavo myself in videos– and while I see a person who is severely disabled — I do believe she is there in some way. She does seem to respond to her mother in the smallest of ways. Of course, you can argue these are just reflective responses. It certainly isn’t clear. To me, it appears that it is a major struggle for Terri to respond, but with will, she is able to do so with looks, moans and slight movements. If Terri were my daughter, I could not give up hope seeing her as she in these videos.

It is important to note that neurologists differ on their opinions of Terri’s ability to respond. The brain is not well enough understood for anyone to be accurate in what Terri actually perceives.

The Schindlers have asked Michael Schiavo if they can be appointed as her guardians. They have told him they don’t want any money — that he can keep it all — to just let them care for their daughter — and he refuses time and time again.

Watch some video of Terry here. Click on Multimedia and then on the right side of the screen, you will see links.

You can read more facts here from Dartmouth College/University of Miami.

Time and time again, I see cold, cruel and mean behavior on behalf of Michael Schiavo. I don’t see him caring for Terri by doing what is best for her. I see him doing what is best for him. Over and over again. If anything, the Schindlers may have too much love in their hearts.

http://www.miami.edu/ethics2/schiavo/timeline.htm
http://reports.tbo.com/reports/Schiavo/
http://www.terrisfight.net/