Open Your Wallet: Madonna Joins Billionaire Club While Brother Homeless

Pop superstar Madonna has officially become a member of the exclusive "Billionaire's Club" of musical royalty, according to the New York Post. She is now estimated to be sitting on an incredible fortune worth just over $1 billion US, thanks to a long and successful career as well as her world-famous and respected business acumen.

While the undisputed Queen of Pop enjoys the fruits of her labor in her lavish New York City apartment or her chateau in the South of France, her older brother-56-year-old Anthony Ciccone, is a homeless alcoholic living on the bitter cold streets of Madonna's home state of Michigan.

Two years ago it was revealed that Anthony had been living under a bridge in Traverse City, Michigan, where the one-time close-knit Italian-American family resided during the superstar singer's youth. Madonna's father Tony, now 83, owns and operates his own winery near-by, where several of Madonna's other siblings now work. (It is said that Madonna is also feuding with her younger brother Christopher after he wrote a tell-all memoir about growing up with the singer Life with My Sister Madonna.)

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Mail,  Anthony says, "Madonna doesn’t give a s**t if I’m dead or alive.She lives in her own world. I never loved her in the first place, she never loved me. We never loved each other."

Other members have a different story to tell, claiming that all of Anthony's family have tried desperately and failed to help Anthony, who continues to drink heavily and refuses to seek treatment for his substance abuse problems. He recently spent a month in jail and off the cold streets after being arrested for public intoxication and swearing at children in front of a local church. 

He classically blames his family for all of his problems, unable to accept his own responsibility on how his life has turned out, millions of miles away from the successful life and career his sister has maintained for over thirty years. 

Rule Number One in addiction: No one can help you unless you want to help yourself... 

Perspective: Remembering the Worst School Massacre 85 Years Later

With the nightmare of last week's massacre of innocent children in Newton, Connecticut, fresh in all of our minds, it might help to look back into the past to remember a forgotten event in US history that perhaps might put things into perspective.

While most people will be able to recount the horrific images of last Friday for years to come, just as many recall the tragedy of the Columbine school massacre with clarity, the worst school massacre in US history is all but forgotten.

The small town of Bath, Michigan, was witness to the unimaginably evil deeds of one madman, who killed 45 people in a day of infamy, 38 of which were innocent children, 85 years ago.

Andrew Kehoe was quite notorious around the village of Bath, for his eccentric, often violent behavior and his dislike of taxes and any "intrusions" the federal government forced upon his life. Neighbors and family recounted how Kehoe once shot a dog for barking too much and killed his horse for being "too lazy". He was also known around town as the "dynamite farmer". Controls on dynamite were not as strict in 1927 as now, and neighbors report he was always setting off blasts on his farm, to blow up stumps of rotted trees, old barns and other dilapidated structures.

Kehoe ran for town clerk of Bath in 1926, but his eccentric, often violent reputation preceded him and he was easily defeated in the election. His hatred of federal taxation came to a head during this time. Taxation of local residents had been raised to help pay for the beautiful and more modern Bath School, which could house many more students than the old school.

This angered Kehoe considerably, so much so that he began to hatch a plan to exact a diabolical revenge on both the people of Bath and the federal government he blamed for his problems. He secretly gained access to the bright and beautiful new schoolhouse and began to place explosives around the property.

On the morning of May 18, 1927, Kehoe put his deadly plan into action. After murdering his wife and blowing up his own farm, he detonated the charges around the school at 8:45 AM, just as students and faculty were convening for the start of morning lessons. The devastating blast shattered the peace of a usual Bath morning, leveling the once-beautiful school and killing 38 children and teachers.

Kehoe then parked his explosive-laden truck close to the disaster scene. While conversing with the school superintendent who had survived the initial blast, he detonated the dynamite in his truck, killing himself, the superintendent and several other people trying to help find survivors of the school blast. The disaster could have even been far greater: Authorities later found over five hundred pounds of explosives under a portion of the school that had not detonated. If Kehoe's plan had worked, the entire village of Bath would have been leveled.

Just as in the Newton killings, there was an immediate media frenzy after the tragedy. Newspapers and radio announcers descended onto the tiny town, and memorials began poring in from around the country. The frenzy only lasted a few days, however, as a young pilot named Charles Lindburgh took off in his airplane The Spirit of St. Louis in the very first trans-Atlantic flight three days after the massacre, which quickly captured the world's attention.

It took the town decades to recover from the devastating events of that single day in history. Eventually, the event was all-but forgotten to the world at large, although there are plaques and memorials in the town to commemorate those innocent victims who lost their lives to the ravings of one mad man, intent on revenge and destruction.

You can read the definitive account of the tragedy Bath Massacre: America's First School Bombing written by Arnie Bernstein.

Constant Companion: Woman Keeps Dead Body of Friend in Home for 18 Months

A 72-year-old Michigan woman kept the dead body of her male companion in her home for over 18 months so she could have someone with whom she could watch NASCAR racing on television!

Police found the mummified remains of 65-year-old Charles Zigler seated in a barcalounger in the home belonging to Linda Chase of Jackson, Michigan. Authorities believe Zigler passed away of natural causes around December of 2010, although Chase claims he only died this past December.

Chase told police that she kept the body clean and dressed in fresh clothes, in a scene right out of the 80s B-movie classic Weekend at Bernie's. She often carried on conversations with the corpse, especially during NASCAR races being broadcast on television. "It’s not that I’m heartless... I didn’t want to be alone. He was the only guy who was ever nice to me," Chase is quoted as saying.

Chase has not been arrested for keeping the body of Zigler in her home, but she is being investigated for insurance fraud after admitting to cashing Zigler's benefit checks that were mailed to the residence. The police were alerted that something was amiss after Zigler's son tried numerous times to visit with his father, with Chase refusing to let him inside the residence each time.

"I'm probably going to prison," Chase admitted.

Conspiracy Theory: High Levels of Radiation Detected in Indiana Has Internet Buzzing

For the past several days, reports of an intense radiation spike recorded in Indiana has been buzzing around the internet. Speculation by conspiracy theorists began almost immediately that a cover-up was afoot, after a story was initially posted on the internet claiming that radiation levels between the range of 2000 and 7000 CPMs (counts per minute, referring to the clicks on a Geiger counter, which registers radiation levels) were detected in northern Indiana near the Michigan border. Normal, safe CPMs should register between 5 and 60, while anything over 100 is considered elevated.

The story was promptly removed from the web. Reports surfaced that the readings were false, and the result of a malfunction or "anomaly". Then, reports of military aircraft being spotted in the area began to surface. Others reported the presence of Department of Homeland Security HAZMAT units in the area as well.

Curiously, in the days leading up to the "rumors", residents of the area reported hearing loud booms, which sounded like deep, rolling thunder that shook entire houses. Large trees were also reported to have fallen down or have split into two due to the shaking. No severe weather was reported in the region at the time. These booms and rumbles are very similar to a recent event that troubled a small community in Wisconsin in March of this year.

Of course, it probably WAS just a false reading, but with talk of a Zombie Apocalypse currently taking place and 2012 being the End of the World, this is just one more bizarre story to give the whole, creepy, disturbingly real idea more credence...