Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ram Bahadur Bomjan told officials that the villagers were smoking cigarettes and disrupting his meditation.

Bara District police superintendent Manoj Neupane said in a phone interview, “Seventeen people have come to us claiming that they were beaten by Bomjan and we are investigating the issue.”

Bomjam, who claims to be in penance (or, meditating), has advocated non-violence and campaigned against the mass sacrifice of animals. Last year, he even addressed the public highlighting non-violence and peace.

Bomjam has claimed that he can mediate for months without eating food. But the 17 villagers, who say they were in the jungle to collect firewood, told police that Bomjam beat them and detained them. Police have sent the injured for medical checks in the nearby Bara Hospital.

The “Buddha Boy” told journalists and police that he slapped the villagers “as a punshiment” for smoking and mimicking him.

–Rajneesh Bhandari

According to a new study by Michigan State University, prospective U.S. elementary and middle-school math teachers are not as prepared as those from other countries. That, and there’s already a weak U.S. math curriculum, all of which means that the U.S. is not laying the groundwork to compete internationally.

The Teacher Education Study in Mathematics surveyed over 3,300 future teachers in the United States (in over 80 public and private universities in 39 states) and 23,244 future teachers across 16 countries. Researchers found that “some of the U.S. teacher preparation institutions on average produced future teachers at a level commensurate with the level of performance of developing countries such as Botswana.”

Among the nations with a better performance than the U.S.: Thailand.

On the other hand, there are some groups working to boost core knowledge in other ways. Today, the American Chemical Society revealed a new mobile app for its “Molecule of the Week.”

Brenda Cullerton, who has worked with the big guys like Little, Brown, self-published her new novel “The Craigslist Murders,” and in two weeks it sold 700 copies – a good start, no matter who is publishing it.

Below, hear about Brenda’s adventures in self-publishing in the latest episode of “Little Green Shoots.” Also, check out her blog “Brenda and the F Word” here.

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Bernard Ros, owner of Manhattan’s Meli Melo, has weathered the storm so far. In our latest episode of “Little Green Shoots”, we recently caught up with Bernard to learn what he did to keep his business afloat.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

When we interviewed Charlie Stenholm about the deficit for our 2008 election coverage, we asked him about losing his U.S. congressional seat after 13 terms. A deficit hawk who focused much of his career on fiscal discipline, Stenholm found himself in the crosshairs of then-majority leader Tom DeLay in the pursuit of party dominance.

“He got me,” Stenholm said with a grim smile.

DeLay famously engineered a dismantling of Stenholm’s district in 2003, and the fellow who unseated him was Lubbock city councilman and real estate developer Randy Neugebauer, who is in the news today for shouting “baby killer” at Rep. Bart Stupak during yesterday’s congressional debate on health care reform.

Neugebauer told reporters that he meant the bill was a “baby killer,” not Stupak. Regardless of views, pro or con, on the bill itself or on babies, shouting inflammatory statements on the House floor is a questionable use of congressional time.

Consider that: Stenholm introduced the 1997 Balanced Budget Act, which led to a national fiscal surplus; Neugebauer co-sponsored a bill in 2009 which would require future presidential candidates to provide a copy of their original birth certificate in reaction to claims that President Obama is not a natural-born citizen.

Stenholm worries now, to us and in congressional hearings, that the banking crisis of 2009 is leading to a security issue. “Our banker,” he says, “is the People’s Republic of China. And at some point, we’ve got to pay our banker.”

Neuegebauer’s contribution to the 2009 banking crisis: during a congressional hearing, with the CEOs of Citigroup, Bank of America and others before him, Neugebauer asked, “Why don’t we let the markets work these things out?”

DeLay has yet to weigh in on the change he wrought, but perhaps Neugebauer should re-read Stenholm’s farewell note to his colleagues, which read, in part: ““To my fellow Democrats: Think about adopting a Republican. You don’t have to take them home. Just try being kind to one and see what happens. To my Republican friends: You may prefer a dog, but maybe, just maybe, working with a Democrat every now and then might help solve some serious problems like Social Security and health care.”

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After all, small business owners are lauded by Congress as the “backbone of America,” and they’re also the ones bearing the brunt of the recession.

First up is Dennis Hof, owner of the Bunny Ranch brothel in Carson City, Nevada.