Aaron Swartz (right) died in January of suicide facing federal prosecution. Tomas Young (left) plans to end his own life in April (photo taken from the documentary "Body of War")

Since sustaining his initial injury, Young, who is now 33, has been one of the most vocal members of the activist group Iraq Veterans Against the War, even starring in the award-winning documentary Body of War, which followed him as he attempted to make sense of his circumstances. Unfortunately, Young has also been forced to watch as his body and abilities have slowly withered away, a cruel counterweight to his once boundless enthusiasm. At first he was only paralyzed from the waist down, but in 2008 his condition worsened when he suffered a pulmonary embolism and anoxic brain injury, ailments that further hampered his mobility and his speech. It's been downhill from there. In November, Young had his colon removed, and his wife, Claudia Cuellar, now feeds her husband liquid food through a tube. After nine years in and out of hospitals, Young, who lives in Kansas City, told the Kansas City Star this week that he's decided to end his life, saying simply, "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired." After trying to help him live for almost a decade, doctors have told Young they can't help him with his final wish. So sometime in the next few weeks he will start to refuse food, water, and medication. He told the Star he thinks it will only take about three days for him to die after that.

Prosecutors said Herrmann, then 18, and two friends, both juveniles, were upset with Merritt's son, Joshua, then 17, because of his friendship with one of the boys' female cousins. The three put a noose around his neck and hurled racial epithets at him, but Merritt was able to run outside, authorities said. One of the boys, then 16, held a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him, according to the charges.

Meanwhile in Connecticut...

Police made deplorable mistakes by twice errantly shooting at civilians during the manhunt.

In 2006, Schefres was interviewed about the punching incident during an investigation into allegations that Dorner slapped the hand of another recruit officer, internal affairs records show. Dorner had accused that second recruit--as well as another recruit -- of using a racial slur while they were traveling in a police vehicle during their time in the academy.

News & Notes

In the city of Diabaly – some 400km north-east of the Malian capital Bamako – several people, including the deputy mayor, reported seeing children aged between 10 and 17 with the Islamist armed groups that had taken control of the area. “These children were carrying rifles. One of them was so small that his rifle was sometimes dragging on the ground,” one eyewitness said. “They trained us to shoot, aiming at the heart or feet. Before the fighting, we had to eat rice mixed with a white powder and a sauce with a red powder. We also had injections. I had three. After these injections and eating the rice mixed with powder, I would turn like a motor vehicle, I could do anything for my masters. I perceived our enemies like they were dogs and all that was in my mind was to shoot them.” Farther south, in S�gou, Amnesty International met two captured child soldiers – one of whom showed signs of mental illness. His 16-year-old companion said they were arrested and handed over to the Malian authorities after the French and Malian armies re-conquered Diabaly in late January.

A friend is someone who knows the tune in your heart - and reminds you when you forget the words.

News & Notes

It only takes 38 (of the 50) States to convene a Constitutional Convention.  If each person that receives this will forward it on to 20 people, in three days most people in The United States of America will have the message. Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States”.

But Pritzker is under consideration to serve as Commerce secretary or perhaps in another senior position involving relations between Obama and business leaders, according to officials close to the process who spoke anonymously to comment on internal deliberations.

Self-determination and self-reliance propel this nation forward, making it the ultimate turnaround story on a continent better known for broken promises and unfulfilled potential.

In order for Rwanda to continue to feed itself and improve its economy, it must continue to develop its agricultural sector, which accounts for more than a third of that economy. Agriculture must become more mechanized, and tiny individual plots of land must be joined together in cooperatives to reap economies of scale on inputs such as fertilizer and seed, as well as cultivation and harvesting. In addition to staples such as beans and sorghum, Rwandan agriculture continues to emphasize crops such as coffee and tea for export, which reap badly needed foreign exchange. The country is always investigating new export crops.