Interested-Participant

Following Entry Posted 6/30/2005 11:38:00 PM

Life Sentence for Decapitating Her Own Children

(Brownsville, Texas) A 25-year-old Mexican woman, Angela Camacho, pleaded guilty today to three counts of capital murder and received three life prison sentences, to run concurrently.

Angela Camacho
From the Houston Chronicle:

Camacho and 24-year-old John Allen Rubio, her common-law husband, were accused of strangling and decapitating her two daughters, 3-year-old Julissa Quezada and 2-month-old Mary Jane Rubio, in 2003. The couple allegedly washed themselves afterward and had sex before decapitating their 1-year-old son, John Esthefan Rubio.

A relative called police, who found the girls stuffed in a trash bag and the boy on a bed. Rubio and Camacho told police they thought the children were possessed.

Camacho answered state District Judge Benjamin Euresti's questions in Spanish as he accepted her guilty plea.

[ ... ]

Rubio was convicted and sentenced to death in 2003 after he requested the death penalty. Rubio has since decided to fight the sentence. In February, he was found competent to choose his attorney for the appeal.

According to Cameron County District Attorney Armando R. Villalobos, Camacho's plea bargain ended the case which the Mexican government was prepared to appeal if a death sentence resulted in a jury trial. Camacho could have been the first Mexican woman executed in Texas if there were no plea.

From the Express-News:

Prosecutors argued that the real reason behind the killings was the household's troubled finances. Days before, the couple had been cut off from food stamps and had no money for the month's rent.

A relative discovered the bodies and flagged down a police officer. Officers found the naked body of the little boy at the foot of a bed, his head in a nearby trash bag. The two girls and their severed heads were stuffed into another trash bag.

Hundreds of residents, including children on their first days of Spring Break, watched outside as investigators collected evidence from an apartment littered with dirty baby bottles, deflated birthday balloons, piles of coloring books, pornographic magazines and trash.

Based upon the circumstances, it appears that a Texas jury would have found execution to be an easily justifiable punishment.

While providing for psychological evaluations, the case of Angela Camacho has been in process and in the news for two years yet, oddly, there has been scant mention of the important fact that she is an illegal alien. Under the presumption that she came to the U.S. to make a better life for herself and her family, one has to wonder what it was she left behind.

One thing is sure, though. The American taxpayer would have saved money if Camacho had been prevented from entering the U.S. to commit crimes. Mexico spawned the murderer. The Mexican taxpayer should pay to prosecute and incarcerate her.

I'd recommend that Texas Gov. Perry send Mexican President Vincente Fox a bill for the costs of the apprehension, prosecution, court proceeding, lawyers, psychologists, and incarceration of Angela Camacho. Prompt payment should be demanded with the proviso that interest will be charged on the unpaid balance.

It is just not a fair system for U.S. citizens to have their pockets picked by the government to prosecute Mexican criminals. What prevents the Mexican government from simply unloading its prisons and sending its convicts to the U.S.? Castro did it in the Mariel Boatlift in 1980. Hey, as long as America picks up the tab, why not?

Following Entry Posted 6/30/2005 01:53:00 PM

293kg Catfish Caught

From News.com.au:

FISHERMEN in northern Thailand have caught the biggest catfish on record -- a 293-kg giant the size of a grizzly bear -- and eaten it, the WWF and the National Geographic Society have said.

Record Freshwater Fish
The giant catfish, believed to be the largest freshwater fish ever found, was caught along the Mekong River, home to more species of massive fish than any river on Earth.

"We've now confirmed that this catfish is the current record holder, an astonishing find," Dr Zeb Hogan, a WWF Conservation Science Fellow, said.

Project members determined that this new catch was 11 pounds heavier than the previous record holder - another Mekong catfish.

"I expect we're still going to find bigger fish than these," said University of Wisconsin fisheries biologist Zeb Hogan, the project director.

"It's astonishing."

According to Hogan, the Mekong has heretofore been a good habitat for such monsters because it is one of the deepest rivers in the world, reaching depths of more than 200 feet.

This is all fine except for one thing. How was it caught? Did someone wrangle this bad boy into the boat with a rod and reel? How about bait? What did they use? A chicken? A box of chickens? Also, it would be nice to know what kind of hook snagged the monster. Or, should I say, what kind of harpoon?

Nevertheless, the monster was eaten and it had to have been one of the few times in history that a community fish fry was held and the word 'fish' was used in the singular.

Following Entry Posted 6/30/2005 10:11:00 AM

Juan and Carlos Sittin' in a Tree

(Madrid, Spain) By a vote of 187 to 147, the Spanish Congress of Deputies passed legislation today to legalize homosexual marriage. The country remains deeply divided on the issue.

Interestingly, over the past 500 years, the Spaniards explored and colonized the globe, spreading Roman Catholicism. Large areas of the planet and many populations became civilized and, not insignificantly, a large part of the world's one billion Catholics can thank the Spaniards for their strong faith in Christianity.

Then, in 2004, the Socialists gained power in Spain, due in part to the Madrid bombings by al-Qaeda terrorists just prior to the elections. Now, despite adamant opposition of the Roman Catholic Church, the Spanish Socialists have legalized homosexual unions, along with liberalizing abortion law and instituting no-reason divorce.

Conclusions?

Following Entry Posted 6/30/2005 07:32:00 AM

Female Counselor Accused of Raping Boy

(Bardstown, Kentucky) A 36-year-old former supervisor, Shannon Yager, at the Spectrum Care Academy in Hardin County has been charged with raping a 15-year-old boy.

Shannon Yager
Twelve charges have been filed against Yager in Nelson County where the sex with the boy is alleged to have occurred.

"There's nothing to this," Yager said off-camera. "My family has been traumatized by these accusations. This boy has been harassing my daughter at school. He's a huge boy, about 300 pounds, and I'm afraid of him. I believe these accusations are about money. I have someone with me 24 hours a day to make sure he can't accuse me of contacting him. I'm living in a nightmare. I've had 10 years in the profession without a problem."

However, court records indicate that the prosecution has a lengthy recording of a telephone conversation between Yager and the boy in which she discusses a sexual relationship.

Obviously, there's more to this case. A school counselor and a 300-pound boy sounds like a fairly unlikely match. There's also an allegation that the boy had a sexual relationship with his father's girlfriend prior to meeting Yager.

Yager is free on bond and a September trial is docketed.

Following Entry Posted 6/29/2005 03:40:00 PM

Tunnel Found in Israel for 'Large-Scale Suicide Bombings'

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has made headway with even talks of a cease-fire, however Palestinian terrorist groups are disregarding the cease-fire and launching attacks against Israelis. Palestinian leader Abbas has sent the message that he is trying to reign in terrorist groups, but in reality it only seems to be when they threaten his sovereignty.

Abbas has his hands full and the latest development of Palestinian terrorist groups tunneling into Israeli soil to launch terrorist attacks will surely test his rule.

The Israeli Defense Forces on Monday found a tunnel – the first of its kind – leading from the nearby Palestinian neighborhood of Khan Yunis into the periphery of Neve Delakim, the largest Gaza Jewish neighborhood slated for evacuation Aug. 15.

The freshly dug, 20-meter tunnel was uncovered in Dekalim's industrial section after Palestinian security officials in Khan Yunis tipped off the IDF.

IDF officials said the tunnel was constructed to bypass the Kisufim Crossing, a checkpoint that leads into Gush Katif, the area of Gaza Jewish communities. The officials said an Islamic Jihad terrorist now in Israeli custody for digging the tunnel admitted it was to be used to infiltrate Neve Dekalim and carry out a large-scale suicide bombing.

Clearly this is not the first time Palestinian terrorist groups have dug tunnels to attack and it won't likely be the last. This news comes on the heels of an attack by Hezbollah against an Israeli post while the terrorist group is trying to reform its agenda into politics.

Hey, at least Palestinians know they can't cross the borders into Israel. I wish the United States only had that problem as two Iraqis were stopped before entering the United States from Mexico today.

Posted by Chad Evans

Following Entry Posted 6/29/2005 02:45:00 PM

Drunk Zamboni Driving

Yes, sports fans. It is illegal.

Following Entry Posted 6/29/2005 02:14:00 PM

New Iranian Prez Took U.S. Hostages in 1979

The newly-elected President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has a filthy history as a thug terrorist for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and was known as "Tir Khalas Zan" (literally, the Terminator) for his habit of firing coup de grace shots at the heads of prisoners after their executions. Ahmadinejad was also head of security in the takeover of the U.S. Embassy and the taking of American hostages in 1979. It would be hard to dispute the contention that Iran is a terrorist nation when the "population" just elected a known terrorist as president. By any reasonable measure of justice, Ahmadinejad should be in prison, not the presidential palace.

Rusty Shackleford has the whole story plus old and new pictures of Ahmadinejad at The Jawa Report. Go there.

Following Entry Posted 6/29/2005 11:46:00 AM

Teacher's Aide Back in Court

(Fort Edward, New York) Updating a previous report, 31-year-old teacher's aide at Hudson Falls High School, Karlie Hall, 31, appeared in Fort Edward Court to face two new charges.

Karlie Hall
The new charges are public lewdness and endangering the welfare of a child. Hall is in custody at the Warren County Jail. No trial date has been announced.

Earlier this month, Hall was also charged with second-degree forgery and third-degree grand larceny for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars while working at The Quarters in Lake George. She forged signatures on company checks and cashed them.

It seems that Karlie Hall has a whole lot of 'splainin' to do.

[Update 05/30/06]

Karlie Hall sentenced.

Following Entry Posted 6/29/2005 08:39:00 AM

Undersea Cable Develops Fault (UPDATED)

(Islamabad, Pakistan) A fault on an undersea fiber optic telecommunications cable has dramatically affected Pakistan's data and Internet connections with the rest of the world. It's anticipated that services will be disrupted at least through this coming weekend.

From the Times of Oman:

The cable developed a fault late on Monday, cutting the country's international data links, including the Internet, and causing chaos for businesses across the country. Satellite back-up systems were brought on-stream on Wednesday, restoring some Internet access.

"Data connectivity will not be as fast as it normally is but we've provided satellite back-up," said Mashkoor Hussain, vice president of operations at Pakistan Telecommunication Co. Ltd., which operates the data link. Telephone links had not been affected, he said.

"Two satellite back-up systems have been provided from 9 a.m. (0400 GMT) to ensure that banks and other businesses like airline ticketing can be provided with Internet data facilities as normal as possible," he said.

Hussain said an attempt to repair the cable -- Pakistan's sole international cable Internet link -- early on Wednesday had failed.

A repair ship has been dispatched from Dubai and should reach the cable location by tomorrow afternoon. Repairs are estimated to take two days.

[Update 7/3/05] (Karachi, Pakistan) Yesterday afternoon, a repair ship owned by E-Marine, a submarine cable company based in the United Arab Emirates, arrived in Pakistan and began sonic testing to locate the defective portion of the undersea cable. According to Junaid Khan, president of the Pakistan Telecommunications Company (PTCL), testing to locate the fault and its repair would be cumbersome and time-consuming.

"The fibre-optic cable is lying at the bottom of the sea. Sonic testing will enable the engineers working on the ship to localize the fault. Their work is hampered by the sea, which is very rough these days. Once they have traced the fault, they will pull up the cable from the seabed. They will repair the defective portion of the cable or replace it completely according to the magnitude of the defect," he [Khan] explained.

The fault developed late on June 27 and is believed to be about 50 kilometers off the coast of Karachi. Pakistan’s Internet and other telecom links with the rest of the world were lost because of the fault in the SEAMEWE-3 Cable (South East Asia, Middle East and Western Europe-3). Mashkoor Hussain, the senior executive vice president of the PTCL, stated that:

"[A]s alternates the PTCL had acquired 100-megabyte (MB) space on satellite and further 100 MB space had been arranged to facilitate Internet use."

A few hundred megabytes of emergency capability won't put the airlines, banks, and the Karachi Stock Exchange back to normal. Notably, this current interruption of service is the fourth experienced by Pakistan in two years, occurring twice in 2003 and in April this year.

The cause of the cable failure is unknown at present. It is apparent that the loss of signal resulted from a mechanical breakdown of the cable for some reason. It could be attributed to a defect in material, shoddy workmanship or an externally applied force such as an earthquake. President Khan of PTCL has stated that the company doesn't intend to sue for damages, but he may change his mind if he discovers that the cable PTCL uses is defective. Insurance companies have a tendency to encourage such action.

All in all, it looks like it will take, as a minimum, a few more days before full service is restored.

Following Entry Posted 6/29/2005 08:37:00 AM

Judge Removed From Office

(Cambria County, Pennsylvania) The Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline removed District Magistrate Allan Berkhimer from office for misconduct. Berkhimer was found guilty of failing to be patient, courteous, and dignified with members of his staff.

Apparently, judges have to be nice guys in Pennsylvania.

Following Entry Posted 6/29/2005 07:20:00 AM

Muslims Demand Permanent Seat on UN Security Council

(Sanaa, Yemen) There are 57 countries represented in the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) which meets regularly to discuss solidarity and mutual interests. Yesterday, the organization met, opening with a statement by Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu. Salient points include:

Honourable Ministers,

In the face of the intensification of Islamophobia in the West, I have seen it as a duty to launch a campaign against this detestable phenomenon, and We have approached the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva in this connection. We succeeded to have the Committee adopt a resolution prohibiting defamation of religions, in particular Islam, as well as linking it with terrorism. We also took the campaign to the United Nations General Assembly asking it to make efforts in this regard. In the same vein, we went to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and managed to convince it to place the matter in its agenda and admitted that defamation of Islam has become a fundamental challenge in the field of human rights in Europe.

Since the enlargement of the Security Council has become a pressing issue in the agenda of the United Nations, we have made extensive efforts in concert with the Islamic Group at the United Nations in New York to ensure a permanent representation for the Muslim world in the Security Council. For the Muslim world, that is one fifth of the world's population, cannot remain excluded from the activities of the Security Council which assumes a fundamental role in keeping security and peace in the world.

In summary, the OIC has proposed to the UN and the European Organization for Security and Cooperation that measures be legislated to prohibit people from voicing a dislike for Islam coupled with a demand for permanent Muslim representation on the UN Security Council.

Interestingly, the 'Islamophobia' that the Secretary-General discussed was also addressed recently by Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar at a seminar on Islam and international politics in Kuala Lumpur. It's notable that in neither speech was there a hint that Islamophobia is the direct result of actions by the followers of Islam. All dialogue regarding Islamophobia ignores terrorism, Wahabism, Sharia law, honor killings, and the lack of freedom and democracy while pointing to a perception problem among Western nations that must be prohibited. A campaign to outlaw Islamophobia has been launched. No mention has been made about the possibility that Islamophobia is a perception with a sound basis.

At the same time, the Secretary-General demands a "permanent representation for the Islamic world on the UN Security Council." No specific countries, however, were identified as candidates for the permanent seat.

It's encouraging that the people of Islam recognize and are concerned that they are seen negatively by the West. However, my take is that no rules or laws will ever impact the level of Islamophobia as long as the Muslim world views terrorism as an integral aspect of diplomacy. It also seems illogical to award a permanent seat on the Security Council to any country that silently, without condemnation, accepts terrorism as a substitute for statesmanship.

Following Entry Posted 6/28/2005 11:55:00 PM

Sunbather Dies with 109 Degree Temperature

(Waterville, Ohio) At the Heartland of Browning Nursing Home, Patricia Matney was found unconscious after sunbathing and died at a hospital with a temperature of 109 degrees.

Death from sunbathing?

Following Entry Posted 6/28/2005 06:34:00 AM

Free Lunch for Kids All Summer

(Monroe, Washington) Let it be known that all children under 18 will be served free lunches daily, Monday through Friday throughout the summer, at the Frank Wagner Elementary School gymnasium. The free food is provided by taxpayers in accordance with the federal Summer Food Service Program.

Apparently, the free lunch program has nothing to do with educating students. It's simply a nanny-state giveaway for anyone under 18. Disturbingly, though, the program doesn't cover feeding the community children on weekends. I can't avoid getting wispy just thinking about those poor children not eating on Saturday and Sunday. This situation is too damn cruel. Free lunches should be provided seven days a week. It's for the children and the rich folks who pay taxes can afford it.

In a previous report, the same inadequacy was noted in Texas, so there appears to be a generic practice of depriving children on Saturdays and Sundays. This is unacceptable. Obviously, the current free food program needs to be revised.

The taxpayers surely have enough money to give free lunches to all children every day of the year until the age of 18. And, what about the toddlers and infants? Shouldn't they also be given free food? Certainly, baby food and formula can be provided for those that are under school age. It would also be nice if mom could get some help with the baby's diapers. Maybe, a free package of Pampers could be handed out with the daily allotment of formula. Throwing in my pet peeve, it never ceases to chap my kisser that the parents are left out of this welfare-state scheme. I'm confident that the taxpayer could fork over enough to provide mom and dad with a 12-pack and a pizza five days a week.

More cash needs to be funneled into the schools and communities to make it all happen. Promote a universal free food plan. Contact your representative.

Following Entry Posted 6/28/2005 03:44:00 AM

Tariq Aziz Blames Saddam Hussein

(Baghdad, Iraq) A transcript has been released of Tariq Aziz's interrogation last week before the Iraqi Special Tribunal created for the purpose of trying Saddam and his top henchmen.

Tariq Aziz
From the Gulf Times:

Iraq's Tariq Aziz said ousted president Saddam Hussain personally ordered the suppression of a Shia uprising in 1991 without reference to top aides, in new interrogation footage released yesterday.

Aziz, who rose to the post of deputy prime minister in Saddam's regime and was one of its best-known faces abroad, said the president had absolute power in such matters, unbridled even by the 10-member Revolutionary Command Council.

"Sometime in the 1980s - I do not remember when - an order came out that the president has the right to issue decrees that would have the force of law without having to consult or discuss these decisions with members of the Revolutionary Command Council," Aziz told the judge during the interrogation six days ago.

"Who issued this order?" asked the judge of the Iraqi Special Tribunal created to try Saddam and senior aides.

"The president himself," answered Aziz.

So, in this latest session, it appears that Aziz is prepared to lay all blame on Saddam Hussein. Of course, we can't trust that his current statements will be anything like his next. Last December, for example, it was reported that Aziz was "ready to name names," however, another report a week later indicated that he "is unwilling to testify against Saddam Hussein at a future war crimes trial."

It's probably prudent not to believe Tariq Aziz.

Following Entry Posted 6/28/2005 02:03:00 AM

Egyptian Islamists Protest Prison

(Cairo, Egypt) With the way the media has hammered the United States about conditions at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, it surely isn't surprising that prisoners around the world want their plight exposed in the same manner.

From the Gulf Daily News:

Eighteen Islamists have started a hunger strike in a prison south of Cairo to protest their conditions of detention. The 18, whom police nabbed in 2002 on charges they wanted to launch jihad, are protesting "the transfer of five comrades to another jail," the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights said.

I think it's safe to assume that the elite media will probably not be complaining about the conditions in Egyptian prisons. The MSM seem not interested in prison stories that can't be tied directly to an agenda that embarrasses and weakens the U.S.

Following Entry Posted 6/27/2005 11:59:00 PM

Hitler Ordered Creation of Sex Doll

(via In The Bullpen) According to Ynetnews.com, Adolph Hitler directed Dr. Olen Hannussen of Denmark to develop the world's first inflatable sex doll. Hitler specified that the doll be blonde, blue-eyed with large lips and breasts. Placed in charge of the project was S.S. commander Heinrich Himmler.

A psychiatrist appointed by Himmler to assist, Dr. Rudolph Chargeheimer, wrote that:

"the purpose and goal of the dolls is to relieve our soldiers. They have to fight and not to mingle with 'foreign women.'"

"However," wrote Chargeheimer, "no real men will prefer a doll to a real woman until our technicians meet the following quality standards: The synthetic flesh has to feel the same like real flesh. The doll's body should be as agile and moveable as the real body. The doll's organ should feel absolutely realistic."

Based upon the description and except the part about playing the organ, it would be easy to confuse the Hitler doll with some of the celebrity babes in the media. Nevertheless, the plan died because the Allies bombed the factory.

Following Entry Posted 6/27/2005 11:52:00 PM

Wal-Mart Heir Killed in Plane Crash

(Jackson Hole, Wyoming) John Walton, son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton, was killed when a small, ultra-light home-made aircraft he was piloting crashed shortly after take-off earlier today. The exact cause of the crash has not been determined.

Following Entry Posted 6/27/2005 10:18:00 PM

Teacher's Aide Accused of Sex with Student

(Athens, Texas) A 38-year-old teacher's aide at Athens High School, Charlya Hill, was indicted last Wednesday of having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male student. The Henderson County grand jury produced three indictments consisting of two charges each, improper educator-student relationship and sexual assault of a child.

According to District Attorney Donna Bennett, warrants have been issued for Hill's arrest, however, it's assumed that she will turn herself in. As of Friday afternoon, she had not. Each of the charges Hill faces is punishable by 2 to 20 years in prison and a maximum $10,000 fine.

Following Entry Posted 6/27/2005 02:05:00 PM

School Employee Charged with Sexual Assault of Student

(Stamford, Connecticut) A 31-year-old athletics coach, Beth Raymond, at Eagle Hill School has been charged with risk of injury to a minor and second-degree sexual assault of a juvenile male. Last Friday, Raymond pleaded not guilty to the charges in state Superior Court before Judge James Bingham. Raymond's case was continued until July 14.

According to Raymond's attorney, Michael Meehan of the Bridgeport firm of Meehan, Meehan, & Gavin, Raymond coached the boys lacrosse and cross country running teams and worked as a dorm monitor at Eagle Hill School. The school is a private institution for students with learning disabilities.

Following Entry Posted 6/27/2005 11:59:00 AM

Canadian Bogus Drugs

(Hamilton, Ontario) So far, the regional coroner, Dr. David Eden, has six dead bodies under investigation for possible linkage to the dispensing of counterfeit medication. Hamilton's King West Pharmacy is alleged to have supplied bogus heart medicine disguised as Norvasc, a Pfizer drug, to each of the six older citizens that died. Shut down last Thursday pending replacement of inventory and appointment of new management, King West Pharmacy resumed business Saturday.

The counterfeit Norvasc was confirmed to contain only talcum which is useless for unstable angina and high blood pressure, conditions for which the Pfizer drug is prescribed. However, there's no confirmation yet on how the pharmacy acquired the bogus drugs, on whether other pharmacies are involved, nor whether other patients are at risk. The investigation appears to be at the starting gate. There's no reported knowledge of the scope nor overall culpability for the alleged bogus drug operation.

All that said, one might think this is the start of a major scandal. The Canadian media has reported on the deaths and the possible tie-in with bogus drugs, but none are using the word 'scandal.' But I'm using it.

Let's review some aspects of the scandal that have come to the forefront because of the deaths and the bogus pills. First of all, no arrests have been made. That means the pharmacists are not currently held accountable for anything. However, it's known that they dispensed counterfeit pills. The argument that they may not have known doesn't fly since a patient, I repeat, a patient was able to tell the difference between the genuine and the fake. Now, either the pharmacy knew it was handing out bogus medicine or it's staffed with completely incompetent pharmacists. If the pharmacy knew, somebody should be in jail. If the staffers are incompetent, then the media should be busting down the door of whoever licensed them. Neither of these two actions appears to have taken place.

Secondly, it's now been reported that drugs dispensed by Canadian pharmacies are not regularly tested for content by any governmental or professional agency.

According to the Toronto Star:

Drug quality is under the purview of Health Canada, while the college [Ontario College of Pharmacists] inspects how well pharmacies are run and the conduct of pharmacists.

The college's protocol for inspection includes such measures as checking whether dispensing practices are sanitary and whether medications are properly labelled and locked up.

"We don't go in and inspect the drugs," said Della Croteau, the college's deputy registrar.

On the other hand, according to spokesperson Christopher Williams, Health Canada only inspects pharmaceutical distributors, not pharmacies, on a once-every-36-month cycle. Consequently, it appears that neither the College of Pharmacists nor Health Canada have instituted adequate measures to assure that the actual content of prescribed drugs meets specified requirements.

Suffice it to say that there is a recognized level of risk associated with prescription drugs in Canada. Notably, the risk is not mitigated by exporting Canadian drugs to the United States. Are you listening, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and other states?

From CFIF.org:

Both the FDA and Health Canada (the FDA's northern counterpart) have repeatedly warned that there are no guarantees when it comes to taking medications imported from Canadian pharmacies, and federal sting operations prove the reality and seriousness of these concerns.

The FDA conducted a perfunctory import blitz in November [2003], finding 1,729 "unapproved drugs" in the 1,982 packages examined. These illegally imported medications included "recalled drugs, drugs requiring special storage conditions, drugs requiring close physician monitoring and drugs containing addictive controlled substances," and the FDA underscored their serious risks, stating that "[u]napproved drugs lack assurances of safety, effectiveness, quality and purity." Quite simply, when Americans buy drugs from foreign pharmacies - even in Canada - those medications are often mislabeled, unapproved, counterfeit or worse, they could be contaminated, the wrong dosage or even another drug altogether.

What's more, while 80 percent of the intercepted packages came from Canada, those prescriptions "revealed that products were manufactured in countries other than Canada." The FDA found medications produced in such medically-advanced and safety-conscious countries as Mexico, Costa Rica, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand, and a host of others. In other words, imported drugs are often only in Canada long enough to get a new postmark.

In summary, officials in Ontario are investigating whether six recent deaths can be blamed on inadequate control of prescription drugs while readily admitting that there are inadequate controls. One wonders how many people have to die before the safety of prescription drugs is assured to a level above rolling the dice.

[Update 2230 EDT] In a related report, Canadian Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh recently announced that measures will be implemented to restrict Internet pharmacies from selling prescription drugs to U.S. consumers. Possible measures could include barring Canadian doctors from co-signing prescriptions without examining patients and prohibiting prescriptions for foreigners not physically present in Canada. A proposal will soon be forwarded to Prime Minister Paul Martin.

In another report, consumers are being warned of fraudulent Canadian drug web sites. Consequently, not only do consumers have to accept the risk of questionably controlled Canadian drugs, but there's also the risk that the drugs may be supplied by a disreputable Internet distributor.

Following Entry Posted 6/27/2005 08:55:00 AM

Isabel Jurado Needs Help

Sanfilippo Syndrome, also known as MPS III, is a genetic Mucopolysaccharide (MPS) disorder and was named for Dr. Sylvester Sanfilippo who helped identify the condition in 1963. There are four different enzyme deficiencies that cause Sanfilippo. Children with Sanfilippo lack an enzyme that breaks down the body sugar called heparin sulfate which slowly builds in the brain, stopping normal development.

Isabel Jurado has Sanfilippo Syndrome. She is the 3-year-old daughter of Jimmy Jurado, head of Latin American sales for a chemical company. Jurado is reaching out to friends, acquaintances, family, and the public for help to have young Isabel treated for the condition.

If you can help, Jeff Quinton has more information.

Following Entry Posted 6/27/2005 08:16:00 AM

Fewer Meth Labs Due to Restrictions on Cold Tablets

Based on initial data, it appears that the Meth-Free legislation enacted in Tennessee has produced results, a 39 percent decrease in meth lab busts. The law requires that over-the-counter cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine, a necessary ingredient for making methamphetamine, be placed behind pharmacy counters. Consequently, any purchases, whether intended for use in meth production or medicinal care, could be limited and noticed.

Following Entry Posted 6/27/2005 07:35:00 AM

Ohio Farmhouse Shooter Known to be Violent

(Bellefontaine, Ohio) Updating previous reports (here and here), the full investigative report on last month's farmhouse massacre indicates that the shooter, Scott Moody, was known to have a violent nature. Moody's mother, Sheri Shafer, had approached a domestic violence counselor and discussed her abusive son. Apparently, her intention was to have him removed from the home.

Still, no clear motive for the killings has been determined.

Following Entry Posted 6/26/2005 03:03:00 PM

Madison Should Secede From Wisconsin

(Madison, Wisconsin) Doug Moe, a columnist for The Capital Times, has analyzed the historic disputes between the leftist city of Madison and the state of Wisconsin and concluded that the city should secede from the state. Moe believes that Madison would be a nice fit as part of the state of California.

I think what Moe isn't considering is the fact that Madison is in perennial conflict with the rest of the state because of the influence of the University of Wisconsin. If the university were shut down and moved -- lock, stock, and library -- to California, then Madison would be in harmony with the rest of the state. The buildings could be turned into cheese factories and another university for the state could be started in a different city, say Green Bay or Appleton. Then all problems would be solved and no legal maneuvering, such as succession, would be necessary.

Of course, a move like I've suggested wouldn't be easy. Machine designers would find it inconceivable to create a shovel large enough to move such a leftist pile of academia in one scoop.

Following Entry Posted 6/26/2005 02:08:00 PM

Honda Exports to Europe from China

(Guangzhou, China) As of Friday, Honda Motor Co. started exporting cars made in China to Europe. The Honda Automobile (China) Co. plant in Guangzhou is exclusively manufacturing cars for export.

It's conceivable now to see a Honda for sale in Japan as an import. Arguably, this would be an extreme in outsourcing.

Following Entry Posted 6/26/2005 01:07:00 PM

Most Popular Topics

The following list is defined by APSMA.com as the current top ten most popular topics in the blogosphere.

1. last night
2. benedict xvi
3. quote of the day
4. star wars
5. kentucky derby
6. part ii
7. good news
8. happy birthday
9. paul ii
10. john paul ii

I guess I'm not very trendy since I don't recall covering these popular topics recently. It's rather interesting that "last night" is the most popular subject. Obviously, there are a lot of folks that had such a wonderful or terrible or unique experience "last night" that they chose to write about it.

Following Entry Posted 6/25/2005 12:44:00 PM

Iraq Prez Says No Kurdish Independence

From the Hindustan Times:

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani dismissed as "unrealistic" aspirations by Iraqi Kurds for independence in their northern enclave and urged Turkey to set aside its doubts and give backing to Kurds in the war-torn country.

"I never thought or championed that Kurdistan should break off from Iraq ... because these dreams are unrealistic and impracticable," Talabani, the leader of a Kurdish faction who has long been at odds with Turkey, said in an interview with the Turkish Aksam daily.

"Let us say a Kurdish state were set up. How could a state opposed by Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq live? These countries could suffocate the Kurdish state even if they did not attack it," he added.

Although there surely are many Kurds that desire their own homeland, the cold, hard logic that Talabani uses is hard to dispute. As a separate state, Kurdistan would be landlocked and surrounded by hostile countries. Unfortunately, warring factions in the Middle East sometimes do not use logic.

Following Entry Posted 6/25/2005 12:05:00 PM

Bollywood Actress Katrina Kaif Poses

If there is any wonder why the Indian films coming out of Bollywood are so popular, check out the talented actress Katrina Kaif.

Katrina Kaif
Bollywood Actress
She kind of has that girl-next-door look about her. I bet even Mr. Rogers would like to have her as a neighbor.

Trackback to COTT.

Following Entry Posted 6/25/2005 11:06:00 AM

Paroled Sex Offender Kills Pregnant Woman

(Riverside, California) This story demonstrates that some criminals are so dangerous that they should never be paroled.

From Inland Southern California:

A parolee with a history of violence and mental illness was indicted Friday in the slayings of a pregnant Riverside woman and her unborn child, and prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty in the case.

Tony Lee Reynolds, 23, was indicted on 14 felonies, including the killings of Estela Perez and her unborn daughter, Michelle. Perez was sexually assaulted and stabbed to death March 31 in her home near the city's Fairmount Park. [ed. note - Perez was stabbed at least 33 times, including in the eye.]

[ ... ]

At a morning news conference, police and prosecutors described the Perez slaying as heinous. Perez, 29, had her throat slashed, and she had been stabbed numerous times in the stomach, legs, and chest, court records show.

District Attorney Grover Trask called Reynolds the "poster boy" for the death penalty. Trask said the case illustrates "the laws concerning parolees and sex offenders are what I'd call too liberal."

Ya think?

Following Entry Posted 6/25/2005 06:02:00 AM

Irish Prison Reform

With worldwide attention being directed toward the prison at Guantanamo Bay, the hardships endured by prisoners in other countries are ignored. Take for example the reforms currently underway in Ireland which are destined to increase prisoner punishment.

From News.com.au:

PRISONERS in Irish jails will no longer be permitted to hire servants or order in private supplies of food and alcohol under new draft rules published today by the justice ministry.

Irish Prison Maid
(Photo: Agence France-Presse)
The new rules will remove outdated references to penal servitude and imprisonment with hard labour.

On the flip-side, for those on the inside at least, a provision that prisoners can use private furniture and bedding and employ an assistant to perform housekeeping tasks is also going.

They will also no longer be permitted to order in private food or alcoholic drinks.

Regulations governing prison life, such as accommodation, visiting rights, discipline, health and education, have been revamped. In addition, compulsory drug tests will be allowed.

Think about it. No pizza, no beer, and no chambermaid -- it's inhumane! It's barbaric! Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, where are you?

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Following Entry Posted 6/25/2005 05:02:00 AM

Intruders to Iran Arrested

(Pakistan) From the Quetta News section of The Frontier Post comes this intriguing report, reproduced verbatim.

Iranian law enforcing agencies have arrested 15 Pakistani and 8 Bengali on Friday when they entered Iran with out legal documents. According to details Iranian border security forces arrested 15 Pakistanis and 8 Bengalis while they were trespassing into Iranian territory with out any travelling documents. The Iranian security forces pushed them back into Pakistani territory where Pakistan Levies arrested them. The Levies handed over them to FIA for further investigation.

And from the PakTribune, here's a similar report.

QUETTA, June 23 (Online): Iranian security forces have arrested 106 Pakistani on Thursday when they entered Iran with out legal documents.

In each case, the intruders were turned over to Pakistani law enforcers. In total, 129 people tried to enter Iran without proper documents and were refused.

These two instances involve easily a couple of packed busloads of people and, as such, one has to wonder where they were going and for what purpose. The reports are lacking much information, such as the ages of the travelers and whether they were families or single men or pilgrims. The only thing we know is that the Iranian border police wouldn't let them into the country.

Since the Pakistani press thought these two stories were worthy of reporting, I think they are worthy of asking a question. So, what's going on? I suspect there's a simple explanation and I'll look like a fool for asking.

Companion post at In The Bullpen.

Following Entry Posted 6/25/2005 03:05:00 AM

First Afghan National at West Point

(West Point, New York) With the Taliban no longer in power, Afghan citizens are now able to make decisions for themselves. Consequently, one 20-year-old Pashto speaker was able to complete an arduous application process to become the first Afghan national to attend the U.S. Military Academy. He reports for duty June 27.

From the Army News Service:

Shoaib Yosoufzai, one of 21 international cadets accepted as a member of the Class of 2009, comes from Laghman providence in Eastern Afghanistan.

Yosoufzai spent two years at Kabul University learning civil engineering. Continuing in the engineering field and gaining a strong military background are two of the reasons he wanted to come to West Point.

"I wanted a military career and the U.S. Military Academy has a very good educational system that helps with your leadership skills," Yosoufzai said. "They have a good engineering program and I would like to help my people in every field that I major in here."

He started the process about a year-and-a-half ago as one of more than 60 people applying from universities and high schools throughout Afghanistan.

The academic dean at the nascent National Military Academy of Afghanistan is Shoaib's father, Hamdullah Yosoufzai, who provided encouragement.

Yosoufzai's attendance at West Point is part of a long-running international program designed to spread American goodwill and knowledge to all parts of the globe. Previous graduates of West Point include former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza ('46), former Philippine President Fidel Ramos ('50), former Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres ('79), and a son of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Hun Manet ('99). Obviously, the lessons on democracy and freedom produce mixed results for some international students.

Nevertheless, the fact that a student from Afghanistan is due to join the cadet corps is uplifting.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Following Entry Posted 6/24/2005 07:39:00 PM

Sharon Reed Milks Her Nakedness Again

(Cleveland, Ohio) Remember Sharon Reed? She's the local broadcast channel 19 Action News personality that stripped naked last year for an "art" photograph. Well, it's time to milk the sensationalism once more. Tonight at 11pm EDT on the news, she'll be reprising last year's Body of Art segment. Set your TIVO if you missed it before. The local station has already broadcast a warning about the adult nature of the program.

Following Entry Posted 6/24/2005 06:25:00 PM

NE Ohio: Aryan Brotherhood Raided

(Painesville, Ohio) It all started with an investigation into threats made on the lives of two Eastlake police officers.

From The News-Herald:

Members of the Aryan Brotherhood jailhouse gang and Pagans Motorcycle Club were among the dozens arrested Thursday during a six-county, multi-jurisdictional raid on organized crime activity.

After almost two years of investigation by federal, state and Northeast Ohio law enforcement agencies, 44 arrest warrants were executed in Lake, Cuyahoga, Ashtabula, Trumbull, Summit and Mahoning counties, said Patrick J. Berarducci, a senior special agent and Ohio spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

As of late Thursday afternoon, authorities had taken 33 of the 44 suspects into custody, he said. The 44 warrants were comprised of 12 federal warrants and 32 state warrants, the special agent said.

Exact charges and names of those arrested were expected to be released this morning by the ATF, Lake County Sheriff's Department, Eastlake police and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Ohio.

Potential federal and state charges could include firearms violations, narcotics trafficking and possession of stolen property, Berarducci said.

According to Berarducci, a 20-month undercover operation resulted in the raids and arrests by 14 teams of law enforcers totaling about 125 officers. Undercover agents purchased more than a dozen machine guns. A raid at a Mentor amphetamine lab last week was also the result of the undercover operation.

The Aryan Brotherhood is comprised primarily of white supremacists who advocate violence against minorities in U.S. prisons. The members continue to encourage violence on release from prison. In Ohio, there are about 550 Aryan members incarcerated who can be easily identified by double lightning bolts and the numbers "666" tattooed on their chests and the initials "AB" on their left collarbones.

The coordinated effort involved the U.S. Attorney's Office, Cleveland Police, Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office, U.S. Marshal's Office, Lake County Sheriff's Office, Painesville and Eastlake Police, Ashtabula County Sheriff's Office, Mahoning County Sheriff's Office, Youngstown Police, and the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Following Entry Posted 6/24/2005 07:06:00 AM

School Secretary Arrested for Rape of Boy

(San Bernardino, California) Secretary Christel Puentes Ochoa, 23, at San Bernardino High School was arrested Wednesday and charged with four counts of statutory rape of one boy, a misdemeanor charge of annoying or molesting a second boy, and influencing a witness by force or threat. On Thursday, Ochoa appeared in San Bernardino Superior Court and pleaded not guilty.

Ochoa is currently at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga with bail set at $150,000. She could be sentenced to six years in prison, if convicted.

[Update 12/16/05]

Ochoa agrees to a plea bargain and pleads guilty to one count of statutory rape.

Following Entry Posted 6/24/2005 04:40:00 AM

Is the German Army Becoming Soft?

Throughout history, one of the proudest traditions of the German Army has been to instill and project the image of the noble Teutonic warrior - strong, courageous, and disciplined. Well, according to this report, that tradition has been abandoned. A German military court has ruled that a male soldier has the right to wear a ponytail.

Understandably, I can't shake the nagging thought of Hanz and Franz doing each other's hair while situated in a muddy foxhole. Also, attempting to display an intimidating presence on the battlefield would seem to be impossible if the adversary forces think they are fighting girly men.

In another report concerning discipline in the German Army, a Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig has ruled that soldiers do not have to obey lawful orders if they don't want to. The court decided that a soldier's "freedom of conscience" allows him to disobey the commands of his superiors.

The net result of the ruling likely will be to kick all dereliction of duty cases into the civilian judicial system for a determination of the acceptability of orders given to soldiers. In other words, civilian judges will oversee the military command structure and decisions may ultimately require their prior approval.

Lastly and on the same general subject is this report concerning the the training methods used in German Army boot camp. A total of 18 military boot camp trainers and instructors were charged for "violent training practices" by the civil prosecutor's office in Muenster. Twenty other soldiers are being investigated.

The charges stem from training activities that included simulation of hostage-taking situations and interrogations. According to military officials, combat preparation for intervention in Muslim regions was not part of basic training. Some of the trainers, however, had served in the Balkans or Afghanistan and wanted to prepare the recruits by giving them the benefit of their experience.

If convicted, each of the 18 soldiers face a possible five years in prison. No trial date has been scheduled yet.

In conclusion, it appears that the country of Germany has not only forgotten its centuries-old military history, but it's also forgotten the purpose of the military, which is to break things and kill people.

Following Entry Posted 6/23/2005 10:38:00 PM

SCOTUS Screws Property Owners

By a 5 to 4 majority, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that local officials can seize private property, homes and businesses, from any American citizen whenever they decide to. Presumably, the seizures will occur for economic development.

I predict that this ruling will lead to an exponential increase in bribery of local officials. A man's home is no longer his castle if he has to rely on the government to decide whether he can keep it.

I also predict that this ruling will be revisited by the Supreme Court due to unintended negative consequences. As an example, what prevents local officials from maliciously bulldozing a church or entire community (i.e. a fringe religious sect) for the sake of nefarious "economic development?" Also, I don't see any mechanism to prevent a majority party from selectively targeting the businesses and homes of their opponents for seizure.

The five justices in the majority should have their property seized, not for economic development (although I'm sure that could be factored in), but for being complete dumbasses. In my estimation, heretofore unimagined avenues for corruption have been created.

Following Entry Posted 6/23/2005 09:20:00 PM

Ithaca Gun Co. Folds

Back in the 1960s, my father could not have been more proud of his Ithaca shotgun. Even when we didn't go hunting, he would find a way to bring it up in conversation. He would be saddened, as I am, by the news that the Ithaca Gun Co. has folded.

From The Ithaca Journal:

Mired in debt and struggling to compete, the Ithaca Gun Co. has ended production after more than a century in business.

"We're just tapped out, we can't do it any longer," Andrew Sciarabba, one of seven investors who own Ithaca Gun Co., told The Post-Standard of Syracuse.

Closure of the company, which had 26 employees, comes less than a year after it received $150,000 from Cayuga County for operating expenses. Ithaca Gun had missed its May and June payments on the loan, for which it had put up its equipment as collateral.

[ ... ]

Ithaca Gun began production in 1880, and soon became known for making affordable and durable shotguns such as the Deerslayer and Deerslayer II.

"The closing of Ithaca Gun is another sad, but not unexpected, chapter in the life of one of America's oldest gun companies," said Dave Henderson, a lifelong sportsman who writes a twice weekly outdoors column for The Journal and other area newspapers.

"This marks the third financial failure under the 124-year-old Ithaca Gun name in the last 20 years and, frankly, wasn't unexpected given the shaky status of both the company and the firearms business in recent years."

There is hope that someone will appear to rescue the Ithaca name and continue the tradition, but there's no confidence that it will occur. The company has been unable to meet its financial obligations for quite some time.

Besides burdensome debts of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has been hounding the company for back excise taxes. So, sadly, one of America's oldest gun companies, with no cash and no credit, ran out of options.

Retail gun dealers can now expect difficulty in selling their inventory of Ithaca products since there can be no guarantees. At the same time, those gun owners who sent their firearms to the factory for repair or refurbishment may not even be able to get their guns back. Everything is closed down.

It would be difficult and likely unfair to try and point to one specific failure that led to the downfall of the business. Obviously, it was a compilation of factors over many decades that led to lights out and locked doors. It's just as well to say that times and circumstances changed and the company wasn't able to adapt.

Following Entry Posted 6/23/2005 06:18:00 PM

Tax Credit for Volunteer Firefighters

(Syracuse, New York) Democratic State Assembly members Joan Christensen and William Magnarelli have sponsored a bill that gives a 10 percent property tax exemption to volunteer firefighters and ambulance crews. It's passed the Assembly and has been sent to the state Senate.

Woo-hoo! Although I'd like to see tax cuts across the board, I am in favor of tax cuts for anybody, anytime.

It should be mentioned that a percentage cut in taxes would favor the people with more property (i.e. the rich) and, oddly, Democrats are sponsoring the legislation. It's kind of out of character for the Dems to give a larger tax exemption to the rich folks.

Following Entry Posted 6/23/2005 08:38:00 AM

Tax on Internet Downloads

(Trenton, New Jersey) Tax-happy politicians in New Jersey are pushing an expansion of the state's 6 percent sales tax to include Internet downloads and subscriptions.

From The Express-Times

According to the bill, New Jerseyans would shell out more for currently untaxed goods and services not found online.

It would also create the new category of "digital goods," or any subscription to a Web site, or downloaded or digitally transferred product.

Targeted would be music-download services such as iTunes, which charges users 99 cents per song. That fee would go up to $1.05 under the legislation. Internet users who subscribe to Web outlets such as online journals and pornographic sites would also pay a 6 percent tax on any fees.

Supporters contend it is designed to modernize the state's tax laws in the Internet age.

So, the politicians aren't raising taxes, they're "modernizing" the taxpaying process. Of course, this means I'll have to update my list of euphemisms. "Modernizing" now means the government found a new way to stick it to the public. Consequently, if your elected official starts talking about making things more modern, hold on to your wallet.

Trackback to Basil's Blog.

Following Entry Posted 6/23/2005 05:05:00 AM

Nuevo Laredo Police Force Gutted (UPDATED)

(Nuevo Laredo, Mexico) According to Nuevo Laredo Mayor Daniel Pena, nearly 80 police officers have been fired after failing a screening process that considered factors such as absenteeism and testing for drugs. The internal review follows a contentious June 11 takeover of the city's police department by Mexican soldiers and federal agents due to alleged corruption and the murder of a newly-appointed police chief only hours after taking office. An actual shootout occurred on city streets between Nuevo Laredo Police and federal agents.

City spokesman Alberto Rodriguez stated that an additional 70 police officers may be dismissed by week's end. The total number of police fired is expected to be about 20 percent of entire force of 700. In addition to the firings, officers have been pulled off of street patrol since last week, leaving law enforcement to the Mexican Army and federal police officers. There's a sense of lawlessness and chaos on the city streets.

As a result of decreased city police presence, there's been an upswing in wanton broad-daylight violence by some criminal elements. On Friday, 22-year-old Filiberto Pena Berlanga was gunned down while driving a vehicle with Texas plates in front of city hall and just a block away from police headquarters. Three others were wounded in the gunfire which left Berlanga with several shots to the head.

On the Texas side of the Rio Grande River, Gov. Rick Perry responded to a request from Laredo Mayor Betty Flores and sent additional Texas Department of Public Safety Troopers to the Laredo area to combat the threat of Mexican violence spilling over the border. Also, federal grant money is expected to be made available for an emergency communications system soon. U.S. Customs and the Border Patrol are monitoring the escalating violence closely and will deploy additional resources if necessary.

Although the shakeup of the Nuevo Laredo Police Department is a step in the right direction, the power and influence of the Mexican drug gangs have not been directly challenged. It's expected that there will be continued violence until an uncorrupted law enforcement effort is mobilized to weaken the authority of the drug kingpins.

[Update 6/28/05] The crackdown on crime and corruption in Nuevo Laredo by Mexican soldiers and federal agents continues with a series of raids rescuing dozens of kidnap victims on Sunday.

From KRISTV.com:

The 44 people freed Sunday - including many found with their eyes covered with tape - told authorities they were kidnapped by police officers in Nuevo Laredo, a city of 350,000 across from Laredo, Texas, or by members of the Zetas, a gang led by former soldiers who became drug hit men and are blamed for a rash of killings and violence along the Mexico-U.S. border, said Deputy Public Safety Secretary Rafael Rios.

Some of the victims had been held up to three months, at least one had been tortured and was taken to a hospital. None of those rescued had been reported missing or was the subject of a ransom demand, Rios told a news conference in Mexico City.

Deputy Attorney General Gilberto Higuera said those rescued were apparently "involved in criminal activities and were not victims of kidnappings" for ransom. [emphasis mine]

The raids encompassed three safe houses and were prompted by a tip from a suspect taken into custody. It's believed that some of the kidnapped victims worked for a rival drug gang.

Following Entry Posted 6/22/2005 03:49:00 PM

All Iraqi Suicide Unit

Buried in this report is the claim by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi that a unit of suicide bombers has been created that is comprised entirely of Iraqis.

"A unit of martyrs named Al-Ansar, belonging to the martyr Brigades of Al-Baraa bin Malek, has been formed. All its members are Iraqis," said an internet statement, the authenticity of which could not be confirmed.

The fact that there exist Iraqi suicidal fanatics in Iraq is hardly news, however, it appears that Zarqawi considers it to be significant enough to make special mention. Maybe the new unit will be heralded for purposes of recruiting.

Following Entry Posted 6/22/2005 11:53:00 AM

Spanish Pedophile Sting

Breaking news from The Australian:

IN Spain's largest crackdown on paedophile circles to date, police have detained 186 people suspected of exchanging child sex pictures and videos over the internet, the interior ministry said ovenight.

Police detained the suspects - people from all walks of life, including minors and students - in a coordinated nationwide sweep that began yesterday, the ministry said. The operation followed a nine-month investigation.

The Spanish appear to be going after pedophiles quite vigorously. I don't know what kind of punishment the Spanish courts impose for pedophiles but, if it were up to me, I'd seriously consider eunuchizing them.

Companion post at Conservative Thinking.

Following Entry Posted 6/22/2005 10:39:00 AM

Pakistani Wife Tortured by Husband

(Peshawar, Pakistan) Postal worker Abdul Shakoor, 49, married 16-year-old Nazakat last November and then commenced abusing her. He beat her, repeatedly tortured her with knives, and threatened to kill her.

In May, Shakoor administered several blows to Nazakat's womb, causing her to lose a baby. Nazakat and her father went to the police in Kharian (between Lahore and Rawalpindi) to register a complaint against Shakoor. The Kharian Police refused to accept a complaint.

Not long afterward, Shakoor tied Nazakat to the bed and shaved her head, considered the worst torture a girl could experience. Nazakat's father, 75-year-old Raza Khan, rescued her from the bindings and they went to the Kharian Police who again refused to register a complaint.

Subsequently, Nazakat and her father went to Voice of Prisoners, a free legal aid organization.

"The accused used to target sensitive parts of her body for torture as well as keeping her locked for weeks. The accused also shot at her twice but (miraculously) she survived," Noor Alam Khan, chairman Voice of Prisoners, disclosed.

With the aid of Voice of Prisoners, Nazakat is attempting to get help from President Musharraf. Her family is also seeking an explanation from the Kharian Police and will petition the Lahore High Court and the Family Court.

Coupled with a previous post, this story is another example of how women are mistreated in Pakistan with scant help available from law enforcement authorities.

Following Entry Posted 6/22/2005 09:51:00 AM

U-2 Plane Crashes in SW Asia

A U-2 spy plane crashed about 7:30pm EDT yesterday. Other than southwest Asia, the location of the crash site hasn't been pin-pointed. It's believed that the pilot did not survive.

[Update 1155am EDT] According to Major Kelley Thibodeau, U.S. Central Command,

"The pilot completed flying a mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (in Afghanistan) and was returning to base when the crash occurred (late Tuesday)."

Due to "host nation sensitivities," the Air Force is not disclosing the crash site, however, it has been secured "to ensure the safety of local citizens and the integrity of the site for investigation team members."

Following Entry Posted 6/22/2005 09:01:00 AM

Filipino Hostage Released

Last November, Filipino accountant Robert Tarongoy was abducted in Iraq and held captive. Today, he was released under circumstances that haven't been explained.

From The Manila Times:

Robert Tarongoy, the Filipino accountant held captive in Iraq since November, has been released by his captors, President Arroyo announced Wednesday.

"Tarongoy is in the hands of the Philippine Iraq Crisis Team headed by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis," Mrs. Arroyo said during a press conference in Cebu City.

"They are now finalizing plans of how to bring back Tarongoy to Manila," the President said.

Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Jose Brillantes said Tarongoy might be with Seguis at the Philippine Embassy in Baghdad as of posting time.

Brillantes did not give details on Tarongoy's release. He said arrangements are being made for the immediate return of Tarongoy to the Philippines.

Obviously, this is good news. I'm anxious to hear the details of his captivity and release. After all, he was held hostage for more than six months with the constant threat of death. Surely, he has some important information to reveal.

Call me suspicious or skeptical, but every time there's an unexplained hostage release, I tend to think a ransom was paid.

[Update 1630 EDT] (via The Jawa Report) According to this report, Tarongoy was released after the Filipino government met certain unspecified demands of the terrorist group, Jaysh al-Mujahedeen (the army of holy warriors). There's no official word from Manila yet.

The current leadership in Manila may have paid a ransom (as I suspect) to prompt the release of Tarongoy and, unless it's announced, we may never know. One thing is certain, though, the Arroyo administration's policy of appeasement toward fanatics is doomed to failure. The only predictable result is that the kidnappers are emboldened to continue their terrorist activities. The Philippines need new leadership.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Following Entry Posted 6/22/2005 07:50:00 AM

Female Rapist Sentenced to 8 Years

(Bowling Green, Ohio) Updating a previous story, 35-year-old Leslie Thrasher was sentenced yesterday for raping a 12-year-old boy. She received eight years for each of two counts of rape, to run concurrently.

Leslie Thrasher
Convicted Rapist
Wood County Common Pleas Court Judge Reeve Kelsey also determined that Thrasher was a sexually oriented offender and, therefore, will be required to register as a sex offender when she is released from prison. Also, under Ohio's truth in sentencing laws, Thrasher won't be eligible for parole.

According to Wood County Prosecutor Gary Bishop, there is a related aspect to the case which hasn't been answered.

[P]rosecutors still do not know whether a baby born to Thrasher earlier this year was fathered by a minor. He said the child has been adopted, and prosecutors have not obtained permission from the adoptive parents to have DNA testing done to determine paternity.

Consequently, there's a distinct possibility that Thrasher's rape victim fathered her child. It's not clear how this aspect of the case is to be addressed.

Following Entry Posted 6/22/2005 06:24:00 AM

Jack Kilby 1923 -2005

(Dallas, Texas) Born in Great Bend, Kansas, in 1923, Jack St. Clair Kilby was an engineer, scientist, and inventor. For many years, he worked for Texas Instruments and, in 1959, he patented an integrated circuit device made with germanium. His legacy is the explosion in Information Technology we now enjoy. Yesterday, Texas Instruments CEO Tom Engibous said,

"In my opinion, there are only a handful of people whose works have truly transformed the world and the way we live in it - Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers and Jack Kilby."

"If there was ever a seminal invention that transformed not only our industry but our world, it was Jack's invention of the first integrated circuit."

For his creation, Kilby was deservedly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000.

Jack Kilby died Monday at his home in Dallas. He was 81.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Following Entry Posted 6/22/2005 05:59:00 AM

Border Checks Questioned by Maine Civil Liberties Union

(Old Town, Maine) U.S. Customs and the Border Patrol conduct periodic law enforcement checks on Interstate 95 to look for terrorists. Not surprising, the Maine Civil Liberties Union (MCLU) believes that the checks constitute unreasonable searches and seizures and are contrary to the Bill of Rights.

I'm pretty much on the side of those that believe searching for terrorists is not only reasonable, but necessary.

Following Entry Posted 6/22/2005 05:23:00 AM

Runaway Bride Discusses Her Ordeal

(Lawrenceville, Georgia) Last night, Jennifer Wilbanks was interviewed on NBC and stated that she wanted to vanish because she feared she couldn't be the perfect wife.

From the AP:

An FBI report says Wilbanks "was scared to marry (fiance) John Mason because she is afraid... she could not be the wife that her fiance John Mason needed. Wilbanks wanted to disappear without a trace."

Jennifer, Jennifer, don't give up. There's still time to live your dream. By all means, disappear. Remember, Paul Simon listed 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover and you've only tried one. Try it again, Jenn.

Following Entry Posted 6/21/2005 07:29:00 PM

Senator Dick Apologizes

Jeff Quinton is all over the story. My only comment would be to ask the question of what are all the people who defended Senator Dick (D-Illinois) and justified his ignorant statements going to do? In the least, they should say, "Never mind."

This should be a lesson for the other Democratic (and Republican) Senators -- don't be a Dick.

Following Entry Posted 6/21/2005 06:12:00 PM

Put Me In Charge of Gitmo

I can't recall exactly when I first heard of "prisoner abuse at Gitmo" but I assure you it wasn't unexpected. Seldom do leftist Tinkerbelles ignore the opportunity to create the perception of a crisis to embarrass and weaken the Bush administration and the American military. My own visceral reaction to alleged mistreatment of terrorist prisoners was and is, "Yeah!"

You see, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the solemn graveyard of Flight 93 in rural Pennsylvania. And, a day doesn't go by that I don't trust the American military to make the right decisions with regard to the Gitmo prisoners. So, whatever the prisoners are subjected to at Gitmo, it's probably less severe treatment than if I were in charge.

All along, I've thought that my opinion with regard to the prisoners probably was not unique nor isolated. In fact, although it had no effect on my opinion one way or another, I've felt that most Americans would agree with me. Well, apparently I was right.

With a tip of the hat to Michelle Malkin, Gerry Daly, and Ankle Biting Pundits, a poll resulted in the finding that most Americans approve of the way the prisoners are treated and also approve the continued operation of the base for housing enemy combatants.

Of course, the leftist Tinkerbelles will continue to believe that wars are won with ball point pens, so I don't expect any diminution in their rhetoric. In the meantime, it would please me immensely if the prisoners were made less comfortable. Hell, freak them out and tell them their beans are flavored with bacon.

Following Entry Posted 6/21/2005 12:56:00 PM

Woman Permits Sex by Minors

(Melbourne, Arkansas) A 28-year-old Melbourne woman, Amelia Peek, was arrested last week for permitting an 11-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy to engage in sexual intercourse while under her purview. Izard County Sheriff Tate Lawrence stated that the 11-year-old provided a statement to investigators. Also, alcohol is alleged to have been consumed by Peek and the children.

Peek was released from jail after posting bond. By the way, Melbourne is a small town off the beaten path in the Ozark Mountains of north central Arkansas.

Following Entry Posted 6/21/2005 11:23:00 AM

When The Mind Goes Blank

From SouthCoastToday:

New research indicates parts of the brain that govern fear and anxiety are switched off when a woman is having an orgasm but remain active if she is faking.

In the first study to map brain function during orgasm, scientists from the Netherlands also found that as a woman climaxes, an area of the brain governing emotional control is largely deactivated.

This explains the bumping-into-walls behavior that I've repeatedly seen over the years. I always thought it was just something quirky and unexplainable.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Following Entry Posted 6/21/2005 08:33:00 AM

Malaysian Official Urges Ending 'Islamophobia'

(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar spoke at a seminar on Islam and international politics and stated that the image of Islam has been hurt by association with terrorists. Consequently, he wants the West to try harder to "curb misconceptions" and learn more about Islam.

"It is imperative that the phenomenon now widely known as 'Islamophobia' is stopped dead in its tracks," Syed Hamid said. "In this regard, more inter-civilisational dialogues should be organised to foster deeper understanding and bridge the gap."

[ ... ]

"The negative profiling of Islam needs to be changed," he said. "Islam and Muslims must not be viewed with suspicion or as an enemy of the West. It is a religion of peace and justice."

Unfortunately, probably at the very same time that the Foreign Minister was spewing political pearls of heart-felt Kumbaya-ism, his "peace and justice" buddies in al-Qaeda detonated eight car bombs in Iraq, killing dozens.

Nevertheless, it's not that the West needs to learn about Islam because it wouldn't make a difference. Learning about Islam won't stop the explosions nor the corpses. Muslims need to start pointing the finger at themselves and recognize that their religion of peace and justice has been hijacked by extremists. Islam has become the religion of murder and suicide. That's not a perception problem, that's a fact.

On a different note, the Foreign Minister mentioned that the Muslim world has many fatwas, religious edicts, being issued by many sources and that there is no regulation nor consistency in interpretation. His concern is that a fatwa-palooza situation of differing interpretations makes Muslims vulnerable to outside propaganda. As a remedy, Hamid recommends the adoption of a "common fatwa." In my opinion, the problem is that anyone within the hierarchy of Islam can issue a fatwa and, with so many people dictating policy, there is no unique and singular message. The result is confusion.

One final note - the Foreign Minister cites the need for "more inter-civilisational dialogues." In this regard, he apparently believes that Muslims are much more than culturally different from the rest of the world. Forget culture, Islam is a different civilization.

Following Entry Posted 6/21/2005 06:05:00 AM

Pakistani Family Honor Preserved by Murder

Despite the fact that President Pervez Musharraf recently enacted a law making honor killing a capital offense, it continues at a rate of about 1,000 deaths each year. That equates to a rate of just about three a day, every day throughout the year, and it's mostly women that are killed. Here's a recent example.

Arab News:

MULTAN, Pakistan, 21 June 2005 -- A Pakistani poured kerosene over his sleeping wife and daughter and burned them to death in the country's latest example of so-called honor killings, police said yesterday.

The 45-year-old man, named as Jalil Ahmed, snapped after his brother caught his daughter having sex with a neighbor in the remote town of Samasatta, about 105 km south of the central city of Multan, police said.

He rushed back from his workplace in the southern city of Karachi and with the help of his brother tied the 20-year-old girl Shomaila, and her mother to wooden beds as they slept, police officer Arif Nawaz said.

They then set light to the two women - the girl for having an affair and the 40-year-old mother Azeem Mai for "not discouraging her daughter," the police officer said.

The father and uncle were arrested by police and a fugitive third person, a neighbor, is being sought.

Sadly, however, there is no guarantee that those responsible for the murders will be punished. On a local level, Pakistan is governed primarily by tribal councils which often are complicit in the honor killings. In many cases, murderers are allowed to walk by the tribal elders because they ordered the honor killing.

The national government has been attempting to stop the honor killings, mainly due to pressure from the U.S., but it's trying to change a system that has been in place for centuries. There's strong resistance to any change and, as a consequence, progress is slow.

If that wasn't enough, there's also the Islamic court system where cases of honor killings are also tried. Typically, the Islamic courts are at odds with the national judicial system and are generally supportive of the tribal elders.

All in all, the Pakistani judicial mix makes the outcome of any case unpredictable. Often, the perpetrators of honor killings are sentenced to short prison terms or they get a complete walk. And, as a result, women continue to be regularly murdered in the name of honor.

Following Entry Posted 6/21/2005 02:30:00 AM

Woman Indicted for Sex with Boy

(Seabrook, New Hampshire) A grand jury indicted 18-year-old Rachael True of Seabrook for felonious sexual assault of a 13-year-old boy. True is scheduled to be arraigned in Rockingham County Superior Court on July 7.

Following Entry Posted 6/20/2005 06:48:00 AM

Smirk-Worthy Surveys

I've become jaded to surveys. Besides the ludicrous Sweatiest Cities rankings (ed. note: cities don't sweat, people sweat) that came out the other day, now we've got the following report saying those born in winter suffer sleep disorders.

From the People's Daily Online:

Fan Dongsheng, director of a just-founded "sleeping center" under the Chinese Medical Association (CMA) in Beijing, has sampled over 700 clinical cases collected in his personal medical practice to reach the conclusion.

According to Fan's survey, around 40 percent of the sampled patients were born in November, December and January, the coldest period in China, while those born in spring, summer and autumn only account for around 20 percent respectively.

The expert held that fetuses were probably more vulnerable to external disturbances before being delivered in winter and their pre-natal experiences tended to exert certain negative impact on their future sleeping habits.

It is estimated that sleeping disorders are tormenting some 100 million Chinese, but only one million of the sufferers have resorted to professional treatment, which is still a fledging service in the country.

So, Fan Dongsheng samples 700 people out of a population in excess of one billion to come up with his conclusions. That equates to one person for every 1.4 million in the population. Consequently, I could poll one person in Phoenix, Arizona, (est. pop. 2003 - 1,388,416) and extrapolate his/her answers to make conclusions about the entire citizenry of the city. And, I guarantee that I could find at least one person in Phoenix who believes that Elvis is alive.

In summary, Dongsheng's survey, the sweatiest cities dumbness, and many others that are reported unquestioned by the media produce only one predictable result. My smirks.

Following Entry Posted 6/20/2005 03:55:00 AM

Van Full of Illegals Overturns, Five Dead

(Columbia, Missouri) Early yesterday morning, a van carrying 20 people, some identified as Central American citizens from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, overturned on Interstate 70, killing five and hospitalizing the others. The driver was west of Columbia heading east on I-70 at about 7am when he lost control. Killed were three men, one woman, and a fifth victim whose sex has not been determined. Only one has been identified thus far, Julio Lopez-Luna, age and hometown unknown.

I'm assuming that the van was ferrying illegal aliens. The reporting of the story doesn't state they were illegals but, by all indications, that's all they could be. Twenty people packed in a van (I don't know how they would even do that), unable to speak English, without identification, and some claiming to be from Central America? What would you think?

The injured were taken to University Hospital in Columbia and Columbia Regional Hospital. Two survivors are listed in critical condition, one is serious, and the others' conditions are indeterminate. Their 20-passenger van had California license plates. None of the travelers were wearing seat belts.

Following Entry Posted 6/20/2005 02:17:00 AM

Stolen Goods Sold on eBay

(Bellefontaine, Ohio) Two local people were arrested Thursday for operating an elaborate criminal scheme in which shoplifted goods were auctioned on eBay. Todd and Laura Morris, both 35, directed their children, ages 5, 13, 15, and 17, to shoplift at various stores throughout the state and then they sold the stolen merchandise on eBay. Approximately $25,000 worth of goods, mostly clothing with anti-theft devices still attached, were found at their home.

Charges against the husband and wife include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft, child endangerment, and receiving stolen property. Prosecutors are considering whether to charge the children with delinquency since they were integral to the scheme. Nonetheless, they have been described as reluctant participants.

Following Entry Posted 6/19/2005 11:55:00 PM

Fun Fathers' Day Fact

(via Medgadget) Here's a little-known fact about fatherhood.

FatherWorld, published by Fathers Direct, the UK national information centre on fatherhood, details a worldwide increase in active fathering. It names as "Best Dads in the World" the Aka Pygmies, a hunter-gatherer tribe from northern Congo, in central Africa. When the mother is not available, the father calms his baby by giving him a nipple to suck.

I understand that 37 states have enacted laws related to breastfeeding, but none seem to address breast sucking. If the idea catches on, there might be a need for additional legislation.

Following Entry Posted 6/19/2005 08:53:00 AM

Woman Indicted for Sex with Boy

(Kingston, New York) Arrested last month, 28-year-old Peggy Goble of the Hamlet of Wallkill was indicted this week by an Ulster County grand jury on charges of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. According to Assistant District Attorney Kevin Harp, Goble seduced the boy over a period of three to four weeks, offering cigarettes and alcohol, before performing oral sex on him the first week in May.

Also according to Harp, Goble has a seven-year-old son.

Following Entry Posted 6/19/2005 06:53:00 AM

Survey: No Students Could Name A Living Scientist

Asked to name a contemporary scientist, not one of 950 students aged 13 to 16 could do so. They did, however, mention Madonna and Chemical Ali, Saddam Hussein's murdering cousin. The survey was performed by the educational requirements group, OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations).

Following Entry Posted 6/19/2005 05:45:00 AM

Germans Arrest Three Terrorist Suspects

(Karlsruhe, Germany) Sometime between 1996 and 2001, three Iraqi national citizens identified as Dieman A.I., 39, Kawa H., 33, and Najat O., 43, entered Germany seeking asylum. They were denied asylum, however, according to prosecution spokeswoman Frauke-Katrin Scheuten, they were allowed to stay in Germany. As an aside, this doesn't make a lick of sense to me.

Nevertheless, during their stay in Germany, they were recruited as members of the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam which is identified as the parent group of Ansar al-Sunna operating in Iraq. And, this past Tuesday, the three were arrested by police per the direction of Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm on criminal charges of raising money and serving as couriers for the terrorist group. Their arrests are part of a continuing series of raids involving hundreds of police and dating back to January. According to this report:

These raids were launched as a result of information that U.S. interrogators obtained from a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, the New York Times reported afterward.

Also on Tuesday, police conducted raids at 24 locations in cities across Germany and, with Swiss help, a location in Basel was searched.

In summary, the three terrorist suspects are in custody because a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay provided information.

Following Entry Posted 6/19/2005 03:53:00 AM

Google Going After PayPal

(Mountain View, California) According to this report, Google Inc. will be introducing an electronic payment system later this year that is perceived as a threat to the popular PayPal service which was bought by eBay in 2002. By receiving commissions from online transactions, Google can become less reliant on advertising for its revenue. The Wall Street Journal initially reported the story on its web site. Thus far, there has been no official comment from Google.

Ultimately, with competition maybe PayPal will think twice before giving its customers a hard time.

(via Wizbang)

Following Entry Posted 6/18/2005 10:51:00 PM

Naked Zorro

(Doylestown, Pennsylvania) Local police have released a composite sketch of a man that has been terrorizing women in Montgomery and Bucks Counties. He's been dubbed the "Naked Zorro" because he sports only shoes and a Zorro-style mask.

Naked Zorro
The composite sketch will be useful if two or more naked men with masks are walking around the area. Contact the Doylestown Police if you see the pictured suspect.

Following Entry Posted 6/18/2005 07:43:00 AM

Billionaire Soros Pays Government Salaries

There has been considerable publicity about billionaire George Soros using his massive wealth in trying to influence the American political system but, so far, he hasn't actually put government officials on his payroll like he does with other countries.

MOSNEWS.COM:

U.S. billionaire George Soros supports the idea of creating a special fund that would pay salaries to Kyrgyz governmental officials, RIA Novosti reported Wednesday.

"I support the idea of creating a fund which would provide support for qualified state-employed personnel," Soros said at an international business conference of Asian states in Alma-Aty.

Through his Soros Development Foundation, Soros has already been accused of paying for the government of Georgia and precipitating changes in the governments of Serbia and the Ukraine. He admits that he distributes the money, but denies that he's paying anyone.

Okay, George, whatever you say. In my opinion, though, you've set yourself up as a de facto political power broker in those countries that are flooded with your cash. However, I am fairly flexible and quite willing to buy your spew if you similarly deny that you're paying me, too.

Following Entry Posted 6/18/2005 02:33:00 AM

Muslim Sheik in Custody for Immigration Violation

(El Paso, Texas) Sheik Yaser Hasan Mustafa Issa of the Islamic Center of El Paso was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities Thursday for "an administrative immigration violation." Issa has been the center's religious leader for five years.

According to Leticia Zamarripa, spokesperson for ICE, the imam will be able to contest the charges against him before an immigration judge. Sheik Issa is expected to see a judge in two weeks.

I suspect there's more than a "paperwork glitch" involved in the imam's case.

Following Entry Posted 6/17/2005 06:29:00 PM

Cocaine Network Attacked

(Sao Paulo, Brazil) Approximately 200 Brazilian police, assisted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and German police, conducted raids in several locations to smash a organized cocaine trafficking ring.

ABC News Online:

Brazilian federal police broke up a drug-trafficking network run by Lebanese immigrants on Friday that had been shipping about 60 kg of cocaine every two weeks to the Middle East and Europe, authorities said.

Leaders of the network, most of them of Arab origin, were arrested in raids in Sao Paulo, western Mato Grosso state and southern Parana state, a police statement said.

"The cocaine came from Paraguay and Bolivia and entered Brazil through the Triple Frontier area. The main destination was Frankfurt, Lisbon and the Middle East," it said.

The investigation began after the arrest in June last year of three Americans in Istanbul, Turkey, when they got off a flight from Sao Paulo with about 25 kg of cocaine.

Seven more "mules" have since been arrested with drugs carried either in suitcases or concealed in their bodies.

The carriers were mostly Brazilian, Dutch, Canadian, Nigerian or South African and left through Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian airports.

Three crime families with 15 major figures are believed to head the smuggling network.

With Brazil's diverse ethnic mix of Arabs, Italians, Japanese, and Africans, circumstances exist for easy penetration by foreign criminal organizations. As an example, on Tuesday a 68-year-old Japanese man, Tadao Okayasu, was arrested at the Sao Paulo International Airport with a false-bottom suitcase carrying over six kilograms of cocaine. Okayasu had boarded a plane destined for Barcelona, Spain, with a stop in Amsterdam. There's more at the links.

Following Entry Posted 6/17/2005 08:14:00 AM

Alien NYC Girl, 16, Forced to Leave U.S.

(Queens, New York) Updating a story from April when two 16-year-old illegal alien girls were arrested for terrorism and immigration concerns and held for several weeks. One of the girls, Tashnuba Hayder, was forced to return to her native country of Bangladesh after the FBI discovered she visited "an Internet chat room where she took notes on sermons by a charismatic Islamic cleric in London, a sheik who has long been accused of encouraging suicide bombings."

Apparently, the other 16-year-old girl, name withheld, was not considered to be a potential threat and, although she is also an illegal alien, she was released from custody and allowed to go home to Queens. Go figure.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Following Entry Posted 6/17/2005 07:18:00 AM

About 40 Illegal Cubans with Tuberculosis

(Brownsville, Texas) About 40 illegal aliens from Cuba showed up at the Gateway International Bridge and told U.S. Customs agents that they had tuberculosis, but changed their story several times. They were detained and are being tested at two different hospitals in Brownsville.

As an afterthought, it really seems imprudent to automatically provide medical treatment to citizens of foreign countries just because they show up at the U.S. border with a deadly disease. Holy moly! What prevents the entire world from marching up to a border crossing and saying, "Here, take these people. They're all sick."

Maybe I'm missing something because it doesn't seem to make much sense. The United States shouldn't be responsible for the health of citizens of foreign countries.

[Update 6/19/05] According to this report, none of the Cubans tested positive for tuberculosis. It's not clear what happens to them next.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Following Entry Posted 6/17/2005 01:34:00 AM

Sex Offenders Banned from Hurricane Shelters

(Tampa, Florida) Hillsborough County Commissioners unanimously adopted a policy prohibiting sex offenders and predators from entering county-operated hurricane shelters. According to Sheriff David Gee, the 1,200 registered sex offenders and predators living in Hillsborough County will have to make other arrangements.

County Commissioner Ronda Storms asked Gee this week about the possibility of creating a separate shelter for sex offenders and predators.

"She asked, would I entertain the idea of having a special shelter for them, and I think my answer was no, they can take care of themselves," Gee said Wednesday.

"As far as spending resources to have some school or jail special for them, I think there are other people more needy of our resources," he said.

Deputies will be sent to each public shelter and any sex offender found on the premises near children will be arrested for violating the conditions for release from jail.

With recent highly-publicized abductions and murders by sex offenders in Florida, the entire state is sensitized to the need to keep track of the perverts at all times to make sure they don't come into contact with children.

Companion post at Conservative Thinking.

Following Entry Posted 6/16/2005 07:04:00 PM

Florida Official Wants Sex Offenders Sent to Mexico

(Marion County, Florida) County Commissioner Randy Harris has proposed sending the worst sex offenders out of the U.S. to Mexico stating that "The American prison system is not a deterrent to these serious crimes." Harris believes a deal could be struck with Mexico for sex offenders to be housed in much harsher prisons and it would be cheaper for the taxpayers.

Hmm ...

In my opinion, however, the idea probably won't fly, but I think there is something here to ponder. For crying out loud, we're outsourcing everything from school tutoring to phone sex already, so outsourcing penal system functions would seem to be possible. It might even be feasible to develop a program where the prisoners were offered the option of serving their sentences in the U.S. or another country.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Following Entry Posted 6/16/2005 05:52:00 PM

Debra Lafave Offered Plea Deal

(Tampa, Florida) According to attorney John Fitzgibbons, former teacher and sex kitten Debra Lafave, 24, has been offered a plea deal by the prosecution that would resolve the court cases in both Hillsborough and Marion Counties.

Debra Lafave
Lafave appeared in court this morning to discuss the possible plea agreement. The state's psychological evaluation of Lafave was given to Fitzgibbons and will be reviewed prior to deciding on whether to accept the offer. It's believed that Lafave may be facing some serious jail time even though she claimed to be insane when she committed the sex crimes with the 14-year-old boy.

Last November, Lafave pleaded not guilty to four counts of lewd and lascivious battery and one count of lewd and lascivious exhibition. Each carries a possible 15-year prison term. Ouch!

Another hearing has been scheduled for July 18.

Companion post at The Jawa Report. Trackback to Wizbang.

[Update 11/22/05]

Debra Lafave pleads guilty and gets no jail.

Following Entry Posted 6/16/2005 02:45:00 PM

TTLB Has New Digs

Tricked out, spruced up, and newly accessorized is The Truth Laid Bear. Go visit.

Following Entry Posted 6/16/2005 12:25:00 PM

'Illegitimate Children' To Be Taken Out of Illinois

(Springfield, Illinois) A proposal was approved by lawmakers last month to remove the words "illegitimate children" from Illinois laws concerning adoptions, divorces and inheritance, replacing the words with "child born out of wedlock." The measure awaits Gov. Blagojevich's signature.

The issue was raised by Adrienne Kahn of Wilmette who believes that calling an illegitimate child something besides illegitimate will benefit society. The lawmaking comes at a time when approximately 35% of Illinois newborns are bastards, a percentage that has steadily increased over the last five decades. Of course, this means that, given enough time, everyone in Illinois will be a bastard.

Following Entry Posted 6/16/2005 09:46:00 AM

Tonya Harding Fights Saturday Night

Update your weekend plans, sports fans. Tonya Harding is carded to fight Hillary Wise in a three-round exhibition Saturday night at the Victoria Casino and Resort in Rising Sun, Indiana. Unfortunately, I can't go. I had already planned to fluff my garfield.

[Update 6/21/05] (via a commenter) Hillary Wise won the fight... It was her first fight of any kind... She is curently training UFC style fighting.

Following Entry Posted 6/16/2005 08:54:00 AM

Canada Sending Pregnant Women to U.S. for Care

(Toronto) Almost continuously, advocates of socialized medicine in the U.S. point to the success of the Canadian health care system and, all the while, example after example of failures of the Canadian system are in the news. Here's something recent:

Toronto Star:

Another pregnant woman in Ontario was sent to the United States last week because there weren't enough intensive care beds for babies in the province, the Toronto Star has learned.

She is the third pregnant woman to be sent south of the border for care since April 1.

"She was only there two days, she didn't deliver and she was discharged home," said Wendi MacKay, communications specialist for the CritiCall Program, the emergency medical service that helps manage patient flow in Ontario. MacKay would not confirm the woman was sent to the U.S., citing privacy concerns, but a source familiar with the case said the woman was transferred stateside.

The woman was moved because she needed to be cared for in a hospital that also had a neo-natal intensive care bed, known as level 3 care, in case she delivered early. There was no room for her last week in hospitals in Toronto, London, Hamilton and Kingston offering that level of care. When medically necessary, CritiCall is authorized to access care outside the province.

The woman's transfer is a sign that a shortage of neo-natal intensive care beds in the province may be getting worse. From April 2004 to March this year, only two expectant women were sent to the U.S.

The phrase "no room for her last week in hospitals in Toronto, London, Hamilton and Kingston" is disturbing and probably an indication that the current system is already functioning at maximum capacity, i.e. no room for another baby. It's not exactly clear why there isn't public outrage. Sending patients to another facility is common and understandable. Sending patients to another country because there's "no room at the inn" means that the entire health care system is deficient.

I wonder if the Canadian taxpayers know that they are paying the bills for treating Canadians in the U.S. Nevertheless, when viewed in conjunction with a doctor shortage, a nurse shortage, and exorbitant waiting times, the fact that patients are now routinely sent out of the country for necessary treatment has to tarnish the brilliance of the utopian socialized medical care system in Canada.

Just as a reminder, the waiting times are so long that notifications for appointments are accompanied with computer-generated condolences to the family in the event the patient died while waiting.

In conclusion, people keep pointing to Canada and heralding the socialized health care system while failing to adequately expose its deficiencies. In total, it's not a utopian dream come true, it's a state-run bureaucracy constantly bandaging broken promises to a population that's less than the size of California's.

See also Socialized Medicine.

Following Entry Posted 6/16/2005 07:25:00 AM

NFL Reinstates Ricky Williams

(Miami, Florida) Having walked away from professional football to pursue a life of smoking dope, Miami Dolphins running back changed his mind and decided to return to the game. The NFL obliged and granted early reinstatement, so he's heading to the Dolphins training camp. His teammates seem quite willing to welcome Williams back.

The terms of the reinstatement include 10 random drug tests per month for as long as he plays with the stipulation that he'll be suspended for a year for a failed or missed test. Nonetheless, he must still serve a four-game suspension stemming from a failed drug test last year.

This is all well and good but I don't believe Williams will be able to resist backsliding. The call of the pipe will likely overrule his presumed will and principles.

Following Entry Posted 6/15/2005 07:23:00 PM

Mr. Goofy's 9/11 Conspiracy

So far, I've heard most of the 9/11 conspiracy theories, even the one about a magnetic anomaly attracting the planes to the WTC, but this one from Mr. Goofy, aka former Department of Labor economist Morgan Reynolds, is certifiably the epitome of tinfoilery.

Mr. Goofy, currently a professor emeritus at Texas A & M University, believes the WTC buildings collapsed due to controlled "inside job" demolition. In my opinion, Mr. Goofy is doing an "inside job" demolishing Texas A & M's reputation. As an economist, he's a lousy engineer.

Following Entry Posted 6/15/2005 06:07:00 PM

Sixteen al-Qaeda Arrested in Spain

(Madrid) In an ongoing operation involving 500 police, Spain's Ministry of the Interior announced the arrests of 16 terrorists linked to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Five of the terrorists are also suspects in the Madrid train bombings of March 2004. (via In The Bullpen)

According to another source, some of those apprehended are believed to be part of a Zarqawi network in Europe which works primarily to capture and enroll mujahadeen for final missions in Iraq.

Following Entry Posted 6/15/2005 12:50:00 PM

Makeover for Mascot

(Las Cruces, New Mexico) New Mexico State University is doing a makeover on its mascot. Apparently, the wild frontier spirit characterized by gun-toting Pistol Pete is "too scary for little kids."

Pistol Pete - Too Scary
"Whatya gonna do? Eh, varmint? Put a dress on me? Or ya gonna take my gun?"

Following Entry Posted 6/15/2005 09:28:00 AM

Woman Pimped Teens for Crack

(Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania) A 40-year-old woman, Lisa Marie Cope of Brockton, appeared before Tamaqua District Judge Andrew Zelonis and was arraigned on multiple felonies for orchestrating a sex-for-drugs scheme involving two ninth-grade girls, ages 14 and 15. Judge Zelonis heard the girls testify that Lisa Cope prostituted them on more than twenty sex-for-drugs exchanges with at least six drug dealers between June 2004 and April 2005. The testimony was graphic and riveting.

"Never in all of my 17 years [as district judge] have I listened to testimony that was so disturbing," Zelonis said at the end of the hearing. "I'm not saying you are guilty, but you definitely need to go to trial."

According to investigators, Cope would arrange for the girls to have sex with the dealers for $20 to $50 worth of crack cocaine, then drive them to meet the dealers and wait as they had sex. At least six drug dealers were involved and the girls had sex with some of them on ten occasions.

The specific charges against Lisa Cope include sexual exploitation of children, prostitution, solicitation of minors to traffic drugs, unlawful contact with minors, endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors, and reckless endangerment. She is in custody under $75,000 cash bail. No trial date was announced.

Following Entry Posted 6/14/2005 11:53:00 PM

Earthquake Off California Coast

Scott Boone has the details of the seismic event along with the tsunami warning.

Following Entry Posted 6/14/2005 11:27:00 PM

Teacher Pleads Guilty to Sex With Child

(San Antonio) Former volleyball coach and teacher at Floresville High School, Stephanie Burleson, 35, pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of molesting a 16-year-old female student, Stephanie Moss, six years ago.

Stephanie Burleson
Burleson no longer is certified to teach and, in exchange for her guilty plea, was sentenced to ten years probation and will be required to register as a sex offender.

Following Entry Posted 6/14/2005 06:51:00 AM

ID Cards for the Homeless

(San Antonio) The San Antonio City Council has approved a distribution of $5,000 in taxpayer funds to the Salvation Army to issue identification cards to the homeless. According to Maj. Robert Stutts, area commander for the Salvation Army, the cards are intended for vagrants but they will be available to other residents also. Even though the ID "could not be used to obtain a state-issued ID, holders could use it to enter shelters and receive other social services," he added.

Stutts said his agency already has issued more than 150 cards and expects to issue up to 700 more after the word gets out.

In addition to the usual information such as name, date of birth, height and weight, the card will include a person's nickname, Social Security number, birthplace, two next-of-kin contacts and a thumbprint.

If an applicant cannot provide proof of identity, the card will be issued with whatever information he or she can give.

There is some benefit to be derived by tracking the indigent community if a fairly accurate count is obtained. Actual numbers of homeless seem to be regularly exaggerated by advocacy groups. However, unintended consequences may arise since there is no requirement for the ID cards to contain verified information. For example, if a homeless person obtains a San Antonio ID card and then goes to another city, it's not clear that the authorities will recognize that the cards may contain bogus information.

Following Entry Posted 6/14/2005 04:03:00 AM

Mexico Sends Soldiers to Border States

KRISTV.COM:

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico (AP) - Mexican soldiers and federal agents began patrolling this embattled border city Monday while dozens of Nuevo Laredo police officers were investigated for possible links with organized crime, officials said Monday.

The Mexican government deployed federal forces to three states to contain surging violence linked to organized crime over the weekend.

The new deployment comes amid evidence that organized crime has penetrated some local police departments, presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar told a news conference in Mexico City.

"There are very clear clues of the relationship between the police of Nuevo Laredo with drug trafficking; thus the decided action," Aguilar said.

President Vicente Fox already had sent hundreds of soldiers and federal agents to the border cities in March to restore order. But concerns about lawlessness were reignited last week with the killing of Nuevo Laredo's police chief just hours after he took office.

Times are obviously troubled when Mexican soldiers and federal agents take over the entire Nuevo Laredo Police Department. And, immediately after the takeover on Saturday, 41 city police officers were flown to Mexico City for interrogation regarding corruption and the influence of organized drug traffickers.

The federal offensive, called "Operation Mexico Secure," is primarily aimed at reducing border violence and neutralizing the smuggling operations of drug kingpin Juan Guzman. Soldiers and agents have been deployed in the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Baja California, and Sinaloa.

Following Entry Posted 6/13/2005 11:57:00 PM

Winnie Cooper Goes Half-Nude

Reruns of the Wonder Years just won't be the same now that Winnie Cooper has grown up and decided to take her clothes off for photos.

Danica McKellar (aka Winnie Cooper)
In a magazine called Stuff, Winnie poses in a see-through bra, bikini, and other revealing outfits in a seven-page photo feature. Apparently, she wants to change her overall public image so that she'll be considered for more substantive acting jobs.

Following Entry Posted 6/13/2005 10:07:00 AM

Chew On This

It's a curiosity. If you look up "Islam" in the 15th Edition of The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, Macropaedia Volume 9, copyright 1980, you will find it on page 911.

Following Entry Posted 6/13/2005 08:28:00 AM

Tee Time in Alaska

(Anchorage, Alaska) Some aspects of this story don't make much sense.

From the Anchorage Daily News:

A man speeding to a golf game triggered a wild wreck Saturday on Fifth Avenue that banged up four vehicles and injured five people, and then he fled the scene on foot, police said.

Tee Time in Alaska
(Photo - Daron Dean/Anchorage Daily News)
Juan M. Puliddo-Castaneda, 24, was arrested a short time later, six miles away, standing out front of Anchorage Golf Course on O'Malley Road and preparing for a round of golf, authorities said.

"He was at the golf course getting his tee time," said Patrol Sgt. Dave Koch, one of the officers who handled the call.

Apparently, Puliddo-Castaneda was speeding to the golf course with two visiting Mexican college students when the car "sailed across the median, flipped upside down while in flight, then plowed into another vehicle going in the opposite direction." Five people sustained serious injuries including the two visiting Mexican college student passengers.

So, am I to believe that Puliddo-Castaneda ran six miles with his golf clubs? Or, am I to believe that an obsessive golfer would leave the scene of a devastating accident to go golfing with rented clubs? Of course, much could be explained by the fact that Puliddo-Castaneda was drunk, for which he was charged along with reckless driving, assault and leaving the scene of an accident.

In conclusion, it seems that Mr. Puliddo-Castaneda has set a benchmark for obsessiveness toward the game of golf. Anything less than being drunk, causing a motor vehicle accident which sends five people to the hospital, and running six miles (with or without golf clubs) to play a round of golf would have to be considered a mere proclivity, not an obsession.

Following Entry Posted 6/12/2005 05:43:00 PM

What's That?

From today's Page Six comes the news that "Penn Jillette, the talkative partner in the Penn & Teller magic act, and his wife, Emily have named their baby daughter Moxie CrimeFighter Jillette."

Interesting.

By the way, it's also being reported that Martha Stewart is going to be featured in the August issue of Vanity Fair. Stewart will be "sharing her prison diaries" which, although unconfirmed, rumor has it will be published under the title Caged Heat: Gangster Molls at Camp Cupcake.

Following Entry Posted 6/12/2005 08:14:00 AM

Queen Elizabeth Knights Muslim

(London) Yes, it happened. Queen Elizabeth bestowed knighthood on a Muslim. I don't know if there have been others, but I'd surely like to see a photo of the new British Muslim Knight, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, standing between his brothers of the realm, Sir Elton John and Sir Mick Jagger, arguably two people who warped past infidel status decades ago.

The freshly-minted Muslim Knight is said to be in favor of a law "to create an offence (sic) of incitement to religious hatred." I'm not sure if that means he's for or against religious hatred. The Religion of Peace hasn't been all that clear on the subject in recent years.

Note that when a Muslim places a sword next to the neck of an infidel, it's a beheading, but when an infidel places a sword next to the neck of a Muslim, it's a bestowing. The difference between Islam and anything else is not strictly philosophical.

What are the chances that the King of Islam will make the Queen a mullah? Or a mufti?

Following Entry Posted 6/12/2005 07:33:00 AM

Name the New Scotch Whisky

(Rawalpindi, Pakistan) The Murree Brewing and Distillery Co. Ltd., Pakistan's oldest company, is searching for a name for its new 18-year-old single malt Scotch whisky. Send your recommendations to murbr@isb.compol.com.

Isn't it strange that a country with a population that is virtually all Muslim would be making alcoholic beverages for infidels who they criticize for being decadent? Scotch, made in Pakistan, exclusively by Muslims, for infidels, is odd. Maybe next we'll see a Muslim publishing company printing and selling Bibles.

Nah! That's too much of a stretch.

Following Entry Posted 6/12/2005 06:55:00 AM

Found: Submarine - Inquire at Dock

(Scotland) When fisherman John Baker found a remote-controlled mini submarine worth more than a million dollars, he hauled it into his boat, took it ashore, and noticed it belonged to the Royal Navy. Consequently, he tried to give it back. The Royal Navy denied any knowledge of the sub until it was pointed out that it had their label. Of course, Baker and other fishermen were miffed and told the Royal Navy that if they wanted their submarine back, they should pay for its retrieval.

The Royal Navy said that they are not going to hand out taxpayers' money until there's an investigation and they refuse to comply with a ransom demand.

You know, this type of situation used to happen to me a lot when I was a kid. If a baseball was hit into this one kid's yard, he wouldn't give it back unless we let him pitch.

Following Entry Posted 6/12/2005 03:05:00 AM

Teacher Wants Trial on Sex Charges

(Greenville, North Carolina) Last February, South Central High School English teacher Katherine B. "Katy" Tew, 30, was arrested and charged with taking indecent liberties and having sex with a 17-year-old student. An investigation found that Tew had apparently been in a long-term relationship with the boy. However, regardless of age, state law prohibits sexual contact between a teacher and student at the same school.

Katherine B. "Katy" Tew
Last Thursday, Tew's attorney stated that she was pleading not guilty to the charges and she had rejected a plea offer from Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Robb. Katy Tew has opted to go to trial. She's scheduled to face the charges against her on August 15.

Tew may be taking a big risk by going to trial because juries tend to be unpredictable. Not only that, but her 17-year-old student lover will be testifying against her.

[Update 01/24/06]

Tew convicted, gets probation.

Following Entry Posted 6/12/2005 03:03:00 AM

Student Passes Without Attending Class

(Wake Forest, North Carolina) Having students promoted without meeting specified requirements is, sadly, not new nor isolated. The following is a recent example.

From WRAL.com:

Last fall, 15-year-old Joseph Veltrie was suspended from Wake Forest-Rolesville Middle School for allegedly having marijuana. The charge was later thrown out in court, but the suspension continued.

According to a plan the school set up, Joseph was supposed to get four hours of tutoring a week for the remainder of the school year -- a total of nearly 100 hours.

Joseph's mother, Susan Veltrie, says he barely received a fraction of that -- two months of math tutoring and a handful of sessions in social studies and English. On more than a dozen occasions, Veltrie says the tutor never came.

"I felt a little bit disappointed that she didn't show up," Veltrie said. "I said Joseph is not getting any schooling at all. Nothing. I said I want something done about this."

This week, Veltrie received a letter saying the tutoring was complete. She also received a report card with passing grades for classes her son never completed, as well as a written note to promote him to the next grade.

There are many questions that need to be answered, however, as would be expected, school system officials are not talking. In any event, a determination needs to be made as to whether there are others in Wake Forest schools that are not being taught and then promoted. And, as a minimum, disciplinary action should be directed toward Joseph Veltrie's tutor and the cognizant supervisor.

Following Entry Posted 6/12/2005 02:07:00 AM

Teacher's Aide Has Sex with Special Ed Students

(Hebron, Indiana) A teacher's aide in a special education class at Hebron High School, Amber K. Marshall, 23, has been charged with multiple felonies for having sexual intercourse and performing oral sex with two male students, ages 14 and 15. Marshall turned herself in to the police on Friday.

According to Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Polarek, investigators believe the sexual abuse only involved the two boys. If convicted of the charges, Marshall faces a possible 20 years in prison. She is currently in the Porter County Jail on $75,000 bond.

[Update 05/15/07]

Marshall pleads guilty to sexual misconduct in Porter County.

[Update 07/10/07]

Marshall sentenced.

Following Entry Posted 6/11/2005 04:57:00 PM

Teacher Sentenced for Doing Nasty with Boys

(Toms River, New Jersey) A former Silver Bay Elementary School math teacher, Robin Gialanella, 26, was sentenced to 364 days in the Ocean County Jail after pleading guilty to two counts of child endangerment. Gialanella will also be required to surrender her New Jersey teaching certificate and register as a sex offender in accordance with Megan's Law. The sentenced was handed down by Superior Court Judge Edward J. Turnbach who stated that Gialanella was at risk of committing a similar crime.

Gialanella apparently maintained a kissing and touching relationship with the sixth-graders, ages 11 and 12, for a period of eight months.

Trackback to Wizbang.

Following Entry Posted 6/11/2005 07:44:00 AM

Female Inmates Trade Sex for Chocolate

(Seattle, Washington) Based on allegations of sexual misconduct involving male guards and female inmates at the King County Jail, eight corrections officers have been suspended in an expanding investigation of criminal malfeasance. The probe of misconduct started with one 27-year-old female inmate alleging sexual abuse by two officers and it grew when a search of guards' lockers found "numerous photos of nude women and stacks of sexually explicit letters written by female inmates." As a result, five additional corrections officers were implicated and, since it was clear that criminal allegations were involved, the investigation was turned over to the King County Sheriff's Office.

In court records and from media sources, it's claimed that the jail guards engaged in sexual contact, including forced oral sex, with female inmates along with participating in a widespread practice of bartering items such as chocolate, marijuana, and tequila for sex. No names have been released and no charges have been filed as yet in the ongoing investigation. Charges likely will be pursued since there is at least some tangible physical evidence of malfeasance by the corrections officers, i.e. photos and the inmates' letters.

Interestingly, although this story has been in the local news for at least two weeks, it hasn't received much attention by the national media. With jailed females subjected to alleged widespread sexual abuse by the guard staff, you would imagine that the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and others would be expressing outrage and calling for the firing of the chief of corrections and the closure of the King County Jail. After all, isn't that exactly what is being demanded in response to allegations of wrongdoing by the guard staff at Guantanamo Bay?

The only difference between Gitmo and the King County Jail is that there is actual physical evidence in existence which seems to support the allegations of criminal behavior by the guards in the King County Jail. At Guantanamo Bay, the alleged wrongdoing is the mishandling of a book, which I don't believe is criminal. And, as I've heard, there's no physical evidence that it actually occurred, just testimony.

Nevertheless, when it comes to getting help from the leftist do-gooder outfits like the ACLU, AI, and HRW, it's much better to be a murdering terrorist fanatic in Gitmo than an American female in the King County Jail.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Following Entry Posted 6/10/2005 07:58:00 PM

Legislation to Regulate Indoor Air

(Sacramento, California) If anyone is naive enough to think that nanny-state liberals have reached the limit for intruding in people's lives, think again. In addition to regulating the air we breathe outdoors, some legislators believe that indoor air also needs to be governed by law.

Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, a member of the California Assembly Select Committee on Air and Water Quality has promised to introduce legislation to aggressively address indoor air pollution from sources such as cigarette smoke, candles, gas appliances, radon, cleaning fluid, solvents, paints, hair spray, deoderant spray, perfume, mold, and other substances that may readily become airborne. The justification for the lawmaking is to reduce the amount of money expended due to lost worker productivity, health care, and premature death. The hazards of poor indoor air quality have been documented in "hundreds of scientific studies," which have concluded that there is no conceivable explanation as to why anyone is alive.

Currently, there are no agencies with the authority to regulate air quality inside such structures as buildings, houses, garages, tool sheds, porta-toilets, ranger stations, aircraft hangers, and bedrooms. However, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber hopes to change the law to give the state the regulatory authority to determine the acceptability of the air inside buildings and structures. It's not clear what the long-term implications of the legislation would be, but it is clear that the state would dump a plethora of expensive design and habitability regulations on industry and the public while empowering some sort of sniffer police to enforce the provisions of the law.

In my opinion, this area of government intrusion into people's lives should be limited to issuing guidelines or good practices. I don't think there should be any law that gives the government the authority to monitor, issue reports, and mandate enforcement action to assure my bathroom meets established pungency criteria in the state Code of Indoor Air Quality. Holy moly! Pretty soon you won't be able to light a fart without first completing a state-certified course of training, then buying a license, and, lastly, obtaining a California Indoor Methane Burn Permit.

Intrusive? You make the call.

Following Entry Posted 6/10/2005 01:44:00 PM

Leonard Nimoy (Mr. Spock) Shoots Fat, Naked Women

Almost unbelievable is my reaction. Nimoy, 74, says, "I have discovered my artistic enthusiasm for photographing voluptuous naked women. I am snapping them now with great abandon."

Take a look for yourself. Nimoy's website is here. The UK Sun Online has a story with pic.

Tipped by Editors in Pajamas via The Jawa Report.

[Update] Some people may consider the links not safe for work. I'd agree, but only because the pics are disgusting. In my opinion, there's no prurient appeal.

Following Entry Posted 6/10/2005 12:17:00 PM

Germans Let Terrorist Walk, Blame U.S.

While the U.S. detains terrorists until they are no longer considered a threat, Germany gives them lawyers, subject them to trials, and releases them based upon insufficient evidence. And when all is said and done, the German courts blame the U.S. for not providing the information necessary to convict them.

The presiding judge of the German Federal Court of Justice, Klaus Tolksdorf, announced that the verdict in the acquittal of Abdelghani Mzoudi would stand and he was now a free man. Mzoudi was accused of training at an Al-Qaeda camp in Afghanistan and paying bills of the terrorist cell in Hamburg that was responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Mohammed Atta, the mastermind behind 9/11, was Mzoudi's roommate in Hamburg.

The decision by the German high court is likely a harbinger for the outcome of the appellate proceedings against Mounir El Motassadeq, a terrorist buddy of Mzoudi, who was convicted and had his verdict overturned on appeal because judges decided he didn't get a fair trial because a witness in U.S. jurisdiction was not allowed to testify.

Evidently, the German judicial system is ineffective because the U.S. is unresponsive. Of course, blaming the U.S. for every conceivable problem anywhere has become sport.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

[Update 01/08/07]

Mounir el Motassadeq sentenced again.

Following Entry Posted 6/10/2005 02:25:00 AM

Jesus Died From Blood Clot

Jerusalem Post:

Jesus died "suddenly" on the cross in Jerusalem only three to four hours after being crucified by the Romans, apparently due to a pulmonary embolism caused by the lack of movement of his limbs and not from hemorrhaging ....

This is the theory of Professor Benjamin Brenner who is an expert on thrombosis. Brenner reports in the latest issue of the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis that 34-year-old Jesus of Nazareth may have had additional risk factors because he was Jewish.

"Born in Israel to a Jewish family, [it] is not unlikely that he had inherited a hypercoagulable state, since thrombophilia is linked to a mutation common in Israel and especially in people residing in the Galilee area," Brenner writes.

So Professor Brenner believes that Jesus actually died from a hypercoagulable-thrombophilia-mutation something or other. The argument probably won't convince very many people if Brenner keeps using those $50-dollar words. It's recommended that more conventional scientific terminology be employed, such as the easily understandable "bloodus clottus."

Facetiousness aside, Brenner studied the circumstances Jesus endured in the 12 hours before his death and created a profile of his physical condition. He then coupled the presumed physical condition with the Jewish genetic anomaly to establish the likelihood that Jesus' blood clotted and flow stopped before he bled out. Hence, Brenner concluded that the likelihood was high and it provides the basis for his theory.

Interesting.

Following Entry Posted 6/09/2005 11:56:00 PM

Your Tax Dollars at Work

(Jefferson City, Missouri) Earlier today, Gov. Matt Blunt signed legislation making the North American bullfrog the "official amphibian" of the state of Missouri. No news has been released yet about legislation to make the Great Plains truckstop cockroach the "official crawling insect" for the state.

Following Entry Posted 6/09/2005 06:12:00 PM

Poisoning the American Conscience

Here are brief bios of the individuals with the International Freedom Center (IFC) that are creating the World Trade Center Memorial Cultural Center. Despite how they characterize themselves, each is a viscerally anti-American leftist.

Tom Bernstein, who made a fortune financing Hollywood movies, but whose true calling is as an activist lawyer in the human rights movement. He is a proud founding member of Human Rights First and has served as its president for the last 12 years.

Michael Posner, executive director at Human Rights First, is leading the worldwide "Stop Torture Now" campaign focused entirely on the U.S. military. He stated that Defense Secretary Rumsfeld's refusal to resign due to the Abu Ghraib scandal is "irresponsible and dishonorable."

Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, who wants the World Trade Center Memorial to show how civil liberties in the U.S. have been curtailed since September 11.

Eric Foner, radical-left history professor at Columbia University who, even as the bodies were being pulled out of a smoldering Ground Zero, wrote, "I'm not sure which is more frightening: the horror that engulfed New York City or the apocalyptic rhetoric emanating daily from the White House." This is the same man who participated in a "teach-in" at Columbia to protest the Iraq war, during which a colleague exhorted students with, "The only true heroes are those who find ways to defeat the U.S. military," and called for "a million Mogadishus."

George Soros, billionaire force of the Open Society Institute, the foundation that helps fund Human Rights First and contributes to the IFC, believes that the pictures of Abu Ghraib "hit us the same way as the terrorist attack itself."

Their intentions are for the Ground Zero Memorial to give the public a lesson on man's (primarily American) inhumanity to man. Visitors will learn about Native American genocide, Ku Klux Klan cross-burnings, racial lynching and riots, and, presumably, every other blemish, mistake, and failure of the United States that can conceivably be plungered up and represented or misrepresented. The IFC has been allocated 300,000 square feet of space to present its anti-American propaganda. People who arrive to remember the victims and to pay their respects will find themselves subjected to a force-feeding of anti-American rhetoric.

Debra Burlingame gave voice to the issue in her recent WSJ column and, as a result, the president of the IFC, Richard Tofel, responded by stating that the victims will be respected. However, seemingly in the same breath, Tofel assures me that I will disagree with the points of view expressed by the IFC. My God! The way the project is going, it hints that we should expect someone of the likes of Michael Moore as the keynote speaker at the dedication ceremony.

Nonetheless, Tofel's intention is to respect the victims and he's going to do it by intentionally pissing off the visitors. If I arrive to pay tribute to the lost lives of the innocent victims of murderous fanatics and I leave incensed, how are the victims being honored?

This pending travesty needs exposure. I encourage everyone to write a post and bring it up in conversation to spread the word. Others weighing in thus far include:

Wizbang - Stealing Ground Zero
Michelle Malkin - Battle At Ground Zero
Jeff Jarvis - Using the Innocents

For compilations of interested participants in the blogosphere, see Technorati here and here.

Following Entry Posted 6/09/2005 03:20:00 PM

Larry King Gets Relief Soft-Baller

CNN has hired Bob Costas to substitute for Larry King. There is speculation that King and CNN (or vice-versa) may be looking for a replacement. However, Jon Klein, CNN bigwig, denies that they would even think about replacing a 71-year-old media fixture with a 53-year-old punslinger.

Well, maybe, but I doubt we'll ever see a program permanently hosted by Bob Costas where somebody else's name is in the show's title.

Following Entry Posted 6/09/2005 07:34:00 AM

U.S. Sailors Arrested for Smuggling

The Australian:

TWO American sailors and a Canadian national have been arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs into Australia aboard a US Navy ship.

The three men were arrested in northern Queensland north overnight after the discovery of 11kg of amphetamines disguised as gift-wrapped packages, an Australian Federal Police (AFP) spokeswoman said.

Police arrested an American, 36, and the Canadian, 34, who lives on the Gold Coast, at a highway service station about 20km south of Townsville last night, the spokeswoman said.

The pair were allegedly in possession of the drugs.

The other American, 39, was arrested at a Townsville hotel after an AFP search of his room allegedly yielded $US10,000 ($13,070) in cash.

The American sailors are attached to the USS Boxer (LHD-4), an amphibious assault ship. The U.S. Navy is scheduled to participate in exercises with the Australian Navy next week.

USS Boxer (LHD-4)
The U.S. sailors appeared in Townsville Magistrates Court earlier today and were charged with attempting to import contraband. They were remanded to custody. There have been reports that the U.S. Navy will conduct an internal review and have pledged to discharge the two sailors.

The Canadian will appear in court tomorrow.

Following Entry Posted 6/09/2005 05:16:00 AM

School Secretary Embezzles $483,000 (UPDATED)

(San Jose, California) A school secretary will be charged with embezzlement as soon as the police catch her. Barbara Jo Price, 41, has been accused by San Jose Unified School District officials of embezzling $483,000 over a period of years.

Barbara Jo Price
Oddly, after Price fled, she wrote a letter to the police stating she is not going to surrender because she does not want to go to jail. Instead, she wanted to work out a repayment scheme with the school district without police involvement. I assume Price's logic is that, if the stolen money is returned, no crime was committed.

It's worth noting that she took the money over a period of about seven years. This means that the average amount embezzled yearly was just under $70,000. This made for one handsome adder to her $37,000 yearly salary.

Strange? I would say so. Nonetheless, if you know where she is, contact the San Jose Police Department.

[Update 06/13/05] MercuryNews.com is reporting that Barbara Jo Price surrendered to the San Jose Police on Saturday night. According to her daughter Brandi Price, "She looked like she hadn't slept or bathed in three days."

Following Entry Posted 6/09/2005 04:33:00 AM

HIV Infected Man Arrested for Raping Boy

(Centralia, Illinois) A 38-year-old admitted HIV-positive man, Larry R. "Robbie" Foster, was arrested last weekend for having sex with an 8-year-old boy.

Larry R. Foster
According to the police, the 8-year-old boy said that "Foster performed an act of sexual penetration on him and had offered methamphetamine to him and to another boy, age 13."

Foster was taken to the Marion County Jail and charged with aggravated sexual assault, criminal transmission of AIDS, possession of child pornography, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug equipment.

Although it's not mentioned in the report, I would guess that this is not the first time that 38-year-old Foster has engaged in this type of perverted behavior with children. Chances are that he's victimized others.

Following Entry Posted 6/08/2005 08:55:00 PM

Woman Accused of Criminal Sex with Boy

(Clear Lake, Minnesota) A 33-year-old divorced mother, Tammy Lynn Schleeter, has been charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct with a boy. It's also believed that the boy has fathered a child by Schleeter based on preliminary tests by the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Her ex-husband has been eliminated as the father of the child which was born in February.

The Sherburne County District Court ordered Schleeter to be held on $30,000 unconditional bond or $5,000 bond with conditions.

Following Entry Posted 6/08/2005 04:10:00 PM

Aliens Bring Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

From the almost exclusively left-of-Center for Disease Control and Prevention comes the disturbing news that aliens are flocking to California emergency rooms with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The lead investigator, Dr. Reuben Granich, said that those infected are twice as likely to transmit MDR-TB to others than other tuberculosis patients. Besides the cost in human health and lives, the doctor also notes the exorbitant cost of treatment having to be paid by taxpayers.

To correct the problem, Dr. Granich advises to eradicate tuberculosis worldwide while keeping the U.S. borders open to disease-carrying aliens. In other words, compound our problem while fixing everyone else's. Based upon Dr. Granich's logic, the U.S. shouldn't stop the Mediterranean fruit fly from being imported to the U.S. Instead, we should go overseas and eradicate the pest in Mediterrania.

Those leftists are real problem solvers, aren't they?

Following Entry Posted 6/08/2005 02:58:00 PM

NFL Player Suspended for Whizzinator

(Eden Prairie, Minnesota) Minnesota Vikings running back Onterrio Smith has been suspended from the National Football League for the entire 2005 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. He was discovered at the airport to be in possession of a device used to beat drug tests, "The Original Whizzinator."

The device consists of a prosthetic penis attached to an undergarment resembling a jock strap and connects to a pouch containing 'clean' urine. The Whizzinator has been on the market for several years and is popular with parolees and probationers. Also, the contention that The Whizzinator was invented by Kevin Aylward of Wizbang is false.

With regard to Onterrio Smith, it should come as no surprise that he missed four games last year because of drug infractions.

Following Entry Posted 6/08/2005 01:52:00 PM

Wisconsin Spree Killer in Court

(Hayward, Wisconsin) Remember Chai Vang? He is charged with shooting eight hunters in northwestern Wisconsin, killing six, because of a dispute regarding a tree stand.

Chai Soua Vang
Today, Vang appeared in court before Sawyer County Judge Norman Yackel to argue a motion to throw out his confession to the police. Apparently, after having his Miranda rights read to him three times and signing a seven-page statement, he now contends that he was denied a lawyer.

Good grief!

Following Entry Posted 6/08/2005 04:11:00 AM

Fugitive Pervert Caught in California

(Venice Beach, California) Woo-hoo! Monday afternoon, U.S. Marshals and Akron Police Department detectives apprehended fugitive pervert, John Dallas Lockhart, at his home in Venice Beach. The 36-year-old attorney from Akron, Ohio, was a fugitive from charges involving a series of sex crimes, including the rape of a 4-month-old baby girl.

John Dallas Lockhart
Captured Pervert
The accused sexual predator was on the U.S. Marshals' "15 Most Wanted" list and had been profiled on the America's Most Wanted television program. Tips received from the public after the television program led to Lockhart's arrest. He was living under the alias Dallas Locke and working as a web page designer.

Lockhart will be returned to Ohio to face federal and local charges including three counts of rape of a victim under 13, three counts of gross sexual imposition, three counts of pandering obscenity of a minor, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

Interestingly, as an attorney, Lockhart is not very bright. Evidence against him was retrieved from his own computer where he was stupid enough to store about 100 perverted sex photos which were seen by a software maintenance company during a routine service call. The company called the Akron Police and Lockhart fled the jurisdiction. He's been a fugitive since August of 2004. It was only through the combined efforts of law enforcers, the media, and the public that he was captured.

Following Entry Posted 6/08/2005 01:54:00 AM

Life Sentence for Helping Girl Miscarry

(Lufkin, Texas) Teenaged Geraldo Flores was automatically sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in the Angelina County Courthouse of helping his girlfriend terminate two fetuses by stepping on her stomach. Flores, 19, was convicted under the Texas fetus protection law. His girlfriend, Erica Basoria, 17, could not be prosecuted because of her legal right to abortion.

Would it be too presumptuous to suggest that this case resulted from a general disregard for the lives of the unborn brought on by a culture that views abortion as just another birth control method?

Following Entry Posted 6/07/2005 06:05:00 PM

Nightmare at Border Crossing

Associated Press:

BOSTON -- On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres.

Then they let him into the United States.

The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton's kitchen floor. The man's head was in a pillow case under a kitchen table. His common-law wife was discovered stabbed to death in a bedroom.

News of the murders immediately targeted Despres as a suspect. He was hunted down in Massachusetts and, on April 27, he was arrested and jailed on murder charges. Despres now awaits extradition.

I've traveled through the U.S.-Canadian border many times and have been asked if I carried tobacco or liquor or any expensive gifts, but I've never been asked if I had any bloody chain saws in my possession. Why? Apparently, it's just not illegal to be in possession of recently-used murder weapons.

On the surface, it appears that the border agents did everything within their power to delay and investigate Despres, but they had to let him go when they couldn't find him being illegal in any manner. Procedurally, it seems the border agents acted appropriately. It's unfortunate that they couldn't or didn't deny entry into the U.S. based only on suspicion because I'm sure they were very suspicious of Despres. All of the agents' internal alarms had to be activated.

Maybe the Border Patrol's procedures should be revised to allow the denial of entry to individuals based solely on the fact that something just doesn't look right.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Also:
Michelle Malkin,
WunderKraut,
Ramblings' Journal,
Overtaken by Events,
The Narrow,
Dust My Broom,
California Conservative,
Outside The Beltway,
On The Third Hand,
The Buzz Blog.

Following Entry Posted 6/07/2005 03:49:00 PM

Body Found Hanging From Plane on Arrival

(JFK Airport, New York) Unfortunately, this type of casualty happens with regularity.

From 7Online.com:

South African Airways Flight 203, from Dakar to JFK, landed at the airport just after 7:00 a.m. after descending slowly over Nassau County.

When the plane taxied on Runway 22R, airport workers noticed a portion of a body hanging out of the landing gear wheel well.

They believe the victim was a stowaway whose body decomposed on the trip to JFK Airport, and the victim has not been identified.

Additionally, when the landing gear was lowered on descent, body parts fell from the sky onto a roof in a neighboring community. No information is provided concerning the degree of decomposition which would help in determining how long the person had been dead.

It's understandable that a person would die in the wheel well from lack of oxygen when the plane climbs to cruising altitude, but it seems odd that the body would decompose so rapidly. Typically, the flight couldn't have been much longer than a half day and most of the time the wheel well would be at the extremely low temperatures associated with high altitudes. A body doesn't decompose rapidly at low temperatures.

Consequently, it appears that the body had been in the wheel well of the plane long before today's flight to JFK. The body most likely was molderin' on the tarmac at several stops of the plane before arriving at JFK. To determine who the person was and where he first crawled into the wheel well, the authorities are going to have to review the flights of the plane for at least the last three days.

Companion post at Conservative Thinking.

Following Entry Posted 6/07/2005 07:27:00 AM

Didn't Learn Anything? Sue Your School!

When students graduate from school, it's logical for the students to expect that they have acquired at least a minimum amount of knowledge. If an inadequate amount of knowledge is gained, it seems the students would have a legitimate complaint.

From The WGALChannel.com:

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A learning-disabled man is suing a York County school district, alleging that it inadequately prepared him to enter college or the work force after he graduated from high school two years ago.

The federal complaint alleges that the Southern York County School District made few changes to the special-education services it was providing to the student -- even though annual standardized tests showed that he lacked basic reading and writing skills.

It's not currently known what the plaintiff is seeking in damages, however, the school is surely not doing its job if a person can graduate without being able to read and write.

Following Entry Posted 6/07/2005 03:14:00 AM

Seeking the Adrenalin-Junkie Tourist

Sidney Morning Herald:

It was once called the Venice of the East and with imagination you can still see why: boats skim across lagoons, golden domes glint in sunshine, coffee shops abound in the old quarter.

Stroll down the corniche at sunset and you can stop for a kebab and ice-cream, smoke a hubble-bubble, play chess and listen to the water lapping below. And then, if you are a westerner, you can check you have not been followed, adjust your disguise, and signal to your bodyguard that you want to return to the hotel.

Iraqi Soldiers - Basra
(Photo - AFP)
Basra declared itself open to foreign visitors this week but instructed them to be vigilant, dress like locals and hire armed escorts. "Then there is a 70 to 80 per cent chance you will be OK," beamed Abdul Razuqi, the head of the tourism office in Iraq's second city.

Those odds are set to be tested if Iraqi Airways succeeds in running regular commercial flights between Basra and Heathrow, the first direct civilian air link between Iraq and the west. The airline plans to seek a slot at Heathrow within two months.

To accommodate the adrenalin-tourist, repairs to the gutted five-star Basra Sheraton are scheduled to commence this month. Tour planners suggest that visitors dye their hair and wear traditional robes to look like mid-Easterners.

With the ever-present threats of kidnapping and assassination, Basra is surely a thrilling destination, however, tourists are cautioned that they will find the city's "museums gutted, theatres shut, streets reeking with rubbish and sewage and waterways littered with capsized vessels, including Saddam Hussein's yacht."

I think I'll pass. It sounds too much like Detroit.

Tipped by: Ozguru

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Following Entry Posted 6/07/2005 01:35:00 AM

Pagan Lesbian Teacher Sentenced for Sexual Assault

(Grand Rapids, Michigan) Updating a previous report, Baseline Middle School teacher and self-described pagan lesbian witch, Elizabeth Miklosovic, 36, was sentenced yesterday in Kent County Court for sexual assault on a 14-year-old female student. Judge Dennis Kolenda sentenced the former seventh-grade language-arts teacher to a term of 5 to 25 years in prison.

Elizabeth Miklosovic
Miklosovic addressed the court before her sentenced was announced, stating that her actions were blown out of proportion and what she did with the girl was "innocent, kind and nurturing in nature." Judge Kolenda regretted having to hear Miklosovic try to justify her behavior and sentenced her a term which cannot be appealed according to the provisions of her plea agreement.

Following Entry Posted 6/06/2005 08:16:00 PM

Mexican Woman Deported for Sexual Assault on Boy

(Brownsville, Texas) From The Brownsville Herald:

A Mexican woman was deported after she pleaded guilty to having sex with the 15-year-old son of a friend.

According to police, Rosa Amelia Lara, 27, and her children came from Mexico to live with a friend in Brownsville last year.

Lara began a consensual sexual relationship with her friend's 15-year-son shortly after moving in.

Although the boy's mother approved, another family member did not and reported the illegal sexual contact to authorities.

Brownsville police arrested Lara in January and charged her with sexual assault of a child.

The crime is a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

State District Judge Abel Limas sentenced Lara to 10 years deferred adjudication on May 20 as a result of her guilty plea. Subsequently, Lara was deported with the stipulation that she would face 20 years in prison if she returns to the United States illegally.

It appears that illegal aliens convicted of crimes in the U.S. can avoid going to prison by simply being deported. Someone will have to convince me that this is a good idea.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Following Entry Posted 6/06/2005 04:05:00 PM

Jessica Alba Revealed

For those people who haven't seen the recent photos of Jessica Alba at the MTV Movie Awards, take a look (NSFW). They reveal a side of her that's seldom seen. From strictly a scientific standpoint, "Whoa! Mama!"

Other photos (NSFW): LA Lovin, Wizbang

Following Entry Posted 6/06/2005 03:24:00 PM

Free Summer Lunches for School Kids

(Harlingen, Texas) From Team4News.com:

School may be out for the summer but that's not stopping some Valley school districts from making sure students are well fed.

Many of them are offering summer luncheon programs where students can stop by and pick up a warm meal.

For more information and times of meals you must call you [sic] child's school district for that information.

It's rather nice and convenient that they provide pick-up service. It's probably a drive-thru. Uh ... there's no mention of free concert tickets or free clothing .. yet. Oddly, it's not stated who is paying for the "free" lunches either. Imagine that.

Boo Boo and I are waiting for the free Saturday afternoon picnic baskets.

Following Entry Posted 6/06/2005 11:14:00 AM

Brits Release Cheesy Leukemia Study

All too frequently, an organization publishes the results of a study which authoritatively concludes nothing but, to justify the group's existence and the expenditure of considerable funds, they fudge the wording in the final report to make it appear that something was determined. Read the following news article, paying particular attention to the title.

ABC News Online:

Childhood leukaemia linked to power lines

A child living near a high-voltage power line may run a higher risk of contracting leukaemia - the most common childhood cancer, a study says.

While the study showed an increased incidence of leukaemia in children whose home address at birth was within 200 metres of a power line, the authors admit they have not proved that proximity to the power lines was the cause.

"There is an association between childhood leukaemia and proximity of home address at birth to high-voltage power lines," the study concluded.

The team, which included John Swanson the scientific adviser to National Grid Transco, said it had no satisfactory explanation for the results in terms of the power lines' magnetic fields directly causing the cancer.

"The findings are not supported by convincing laboratory data ... We emphasise again the uncertainty about whether this statistical association represents a causal relation," the study said.

So, the first paragraph says there MAY be a chance of higher risk. The second paragraph says the researchers HAVE NOT PROVED that the childhood leukemia is caused by high voltage lines. The third paragraph says there is AN ASSOCIATION between the lines and the leukemia. The fourth paragraph says the researchers HAVE NO SATISFACTORY EXPLANATION, and the fifth paragraph states that the FINDINGS ARE NOT SUPPORTED by lab data and that the researchers emphasize their UNCERTAINTY about the findings.

Encapsulated, the study found nothing but "an association" between leukemia and power lines. When one realizes that it's possible to find "an association" between leukemia and eating carrots, one has to conclude that the study's findings are less than weak.

But wait, there's more. According to Gerald Draper of the University of Oxford Childhood Cancer Research Group,

"We say the results could be down to chance but they're statistically really strong. It looks as though they are real, we just don't know," he told reporters.

To interpret, a credentialed researcher says, "Flipping coins could give us the same results and we wouldn't be able to explain them either."

Now, let's go back to the title of the news article which states that childhood leukemia is linked to power lines. That characterization is misleading and it's not isolated. Unfortunately, it's reflected in the reporting of a number of news outlets. The results of the study, reported in the British Medical Journal, indicated that an "association" exists between the two, not a link. And, even the "association" could be a function of chance (their word) and they emphasize that they are not certain of that. In a nutshell, the study found a slight statistical anomaly and the researchers haven't been able to explain it.

What is sad about this situation is the simple fact that most people will only remember that high voltage transmission lines are linked to childhood leukemia. And, anybody who has an anti-civilization agenda or a personal complaint will be heralding the study as proof that the electric company shouldn't be allowed to build or that damages should be awarded in a lawsuit.

In reality, the study didn't find a link between high voltage and leukemia and, buried in the researchers' report, it's so stated. However, through cheesy reporting by the researchers and the media, the public has been fed a myth.

Following Entry Posted 6/05/2005 09:25:00 PM

School Lunch Lady Arrested

(Waconia, Minnesota) A cafeteria cook at Waconia Middle School, Shannon Rae Voeller, 34, was arrested and charged with eight felony counts of making terrorist threats. Each count carries a five year prison sentence and a $10,000 fine.

Shannon Rae Voeller
When interviewed by the police, Voeller said she "believed she was responsible" for leaving threatening notes in the bathroom and mailing threats to school officials. As a result of the threats, the school district closed all of its schools for three days.

Following Entry Posted 6/05/2005 04:07:00 PM

Rosewood File Reveals E. German Spy Network

About two years ago, the German government finally reached agreement with the CIA on returning a list of hundreds of former (Stasi) East German secret agents known as the "Rosewood Files." Since that time, the files containing 381 CD-ROM's worth of encrypted data have underwent analysis and are revealing that universities, national sports, and civil service agencies had many more East German spies on their payrolls than previously believed. German authorities now want to publicize the names of those former spies who continued to work in their jobs after the fall of East Germany.

From The Scotsman:

The file was acquired by CIA spies in the heady days after the Berlin Wall fell as the Stasi's paper shredders worked overtime to destroy 90% of the records detailing its activities over four decades.

The file was kept by Washington until 2003. Now being decrypted, it is highlighting the security gaps which enabled the communists to spy with ease on the capitalist enemy on a scale hitherto unimagined.

The Rosewood file is something of a holy grail in the world of international espionage. Under the aegis of the Stasi archive, named the Birthler Behoerde after its director Marianne Birthler, a research group is concluding work on what experts believe is the definitive source on East Germany's infamous secret police.

Helmut Mueller-Enbergs, in charge of decoding the nicknames of spies and details of their work contained on Rosewood, revealed that in the late 1980s up to 18 agents with the Stasi's centre for foreign espionage were active in the West German Foreign Ministry.

West German universities were also infiltrated with informers more densely than previously believed, with 43 spies operating at Berlin's Free University, and another 12 at the Technical University. As well as containing names of West Germans working for the Stasi, the report also lists some 20,000 to 30,000 East Germans working unofficially as Stasi informers in the 40 years until the fall of the Berlin Wall.

It needs to be mentioned that the Stasi was a murderous and treacherous state police agency that managed spy networks both inside and outside of East Germany. They wielded absolute power over the citizens of East Germany no different than was exhibited by the state police in the Soviet Union. Through threat of harm, the Stasi forced citizens to spy on their families, their friends, and their neighbors.

There will be attempts to suppress the release of the Rosewood information since it will be embarrassing and potentially devastating to at least a few prominent individuals. One high-profile name that surfaced in 2002 as a collaborator with the Stasi was Olympic gold medalist Katarina Witt.

It needs to be emphasized that the Stasi was a communist state police agency that committed a multitude of crimes. The key people and leadership of the organization should be held accountable. Unfortunately, neither the Rosewood Files nor the fact that many of the Stasi criminal network are still walking around have been given much exposure by the media.

There's more at the link.

Following Entry Posted 6/04/2005 06:28:00 AM

Swampland Sold on eBay

(Daytona Beach, Florida) A company that sold swampland to buyers on eBay has been ordered by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation to track down everybody who bought swamp and give all their money back. The company, Davlar Inc., sold 91 parcels of swamp but didn't follow Florida laws requiring sellers of two or more parcels of undeveloped, subdivided lands to register with the state and obtain approval for any advertisements used to market the land.

Interestingly, it seems that many people are selling Florida swampland on the Internet. The state has 15 other investigations of illegal land sales in progress.

Caveat emptor.

Following Entry Posted 6/04/2005 05:26:00 AM

Separate Hurricane Shelter for Sex Offenders

(Sanford, Florida) On the heels of two high-profile kidnappings and subsequent murders of girls by registered sex offenders, Floridians are justifiably concerned about tracking the offenders during hurricane emergencies. Nobody wants them to go to public shelters, which are typically in schools, where families and many children congregate.

Consequently, Seminole County Sheriff Don Eslinger has proposed using a work release center attached to the county jail as a designated shelter for sex offenders. The Sheriff would send out his deputies during emergencies to check on any sex offenders who didn't report to the designated shelter.

The idea sounds fine but it may be unreasonable to try and track down individual people during the chaos of a hurricane emergency. In any event, the hurricane scenario just adds to the existing administrative burden that law enforcement carries in keeping track of sex offenders. One might be beguiled into believing that the police didn't have enough to do.

Following Entry Posted 6/04/2005 04:28:00 AM

"Dimebag" Shooting Video Released

(Columbus, Ohio) The amateur video of the shootings at the Alrosa Villa nightclub last December has be released. Five people died, including popular "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott, and three were injured. Video link is here. Complete coverage and more links are here.

Trackback to Wizbang.

Following Entry Posted 6/03/2005 06:04:00 PM

Female Teacher Plays Strip Poker with Student

(Steelton, Pennsylvania) The Dauphin County Grand Jury accused Steelton-Highspire High School math teacher, Elizabeth Berthoud, of having inappropriate sexual relationships with students and recommended she be charged with corruption of a minor. Berthoud, who is in her 20s, played strip poker with a 15-year-old student and regularly had sex with another after he had turned 18.

Understandably, Berthoud was fired and escorted from the school building last week. Earlier today, she was arraigned and released on $25,000 bail.

[Update] According to this report, 23-year-old Berthoud was charged with two counts of corruption of minors and ordered not to have contact with any of the victims or any witness to the grand jury.

Companion post at Conservative Thinking.

Following Entry Posted 6/03/2005 02:02:00 PM

What The Kids Are Learning

(Clarion, Pennsylvania) From The Clarion News:

Students in Beth Ochs' third-grade class at North Clarion Elementary School studied endangered species of Pennsylvania and North America as part of a unit on endangered species and habitats. Students learned human encroachment and how it affects the food chain and food webs, the draining of wetlands and how they should be protected because half of them have been lost. Species endangered in Pennsylvania include the red bellied turtle, the ruffed green snake, the mud salamander, the Canadian lynx and the Bald Eagle.

Okay, we can check off "Save the Wetlands" and "Protect Endangered Species." Next, children, we'll discuss the "Save the Whales" and the "Preserve the Rain Forest" modules.

Following Entry Posted 6/03/2005 04:11:00 AM

E-Commerce

Whether it's eBay, Paypal, Yahoo! Shopping, or another method, Les Jones outlines the basics on How to Host an E-Commerce Site. Take a look if you want to sell on the Internet.

Following Entry Posted 6/03/2005 02:32:00 AM

Dan Rather on the Larry King Show

Dan Rather gave an exclusive interview on the Larry King Show last night on CNN where, unsurprisingly, he emphasized that a "prudent individual" would know that the Bush Air National Guard documents are true. With that nugget skimmed over, the rest of the show was a typical Larry King softball interview, without much to grab onto. However, a few things are worthy of mention.

With adulation, Rather paid tribute to Mark Felt for his courage and his commitment to do what was right and be the leaker, Deep Throat. Rather also took the opportunity to dump heaps of praise on Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, Ben Bradlee, and the ownership of the Washington Post for their coverage of the Watergate scandal. Honestly, if Rather had heaped much more praise out, it would have been nakedly disingenuous.

Lots of video clips from Rather's long broadcasting career salted the program along with short discussions of his departure from the news anchor chair and the cancellation of his mid-week 60 Minutes show.

Rather concluded by stating he's enthused about being on 60 Minutes [Sunday] and he firmly believes that he has a chance for his best work to be ahead of him. Although I'm minimally paraphrasing, those are mostly Rather's words and they sure seemed odd.

Personally, the most interesting portion of the interview came in a series of back-and-forth statements between King and Rather where the former CBS anchor revealed two intriguing personal beliefs. One is that Rather defines news as 'information that somebody wants to keep secret or hidden.' All the rest is 'advertising' (his word). And, two is that, despite whether something is true, if you believe it hard and long enough, it will be true.

Hmm...

Since CBS News was gasping while Rather was in charge (even before Rathergate), and since the mid-week 60 Minutes program was cancelled while he was featured, one has to wonder if Rather is carrying bad mojo or if it's all a coincidence. I suspect that there is a link. In any event, we'll just have to wait and see what Rather's presence on 60 Minutes [Sunday] does to the show's ratings.

Following Entry Posted 6/02/2005 11:54:00 PM

School Bus Driver Arrested for Selling Kilo of Cocaine

(Dayton, Ohio) Greene County law enforcement officials arrested Paul Harrington, Jr., a bus driver for Dayton Public Schools, for selling one kilogram of cocaine. Harrington is on paid administrative leave from his job until a hearing is held by the school district.

A kilo of cocaine is a considerable amount, indicating that Harrington is fairly close to a major distributor of drugs. He will be looking at a long prison term unless he negotiates a plea by naming names. Another man, Erick Peagler, was arrested at the scene with Harrington. It's currently unknown what charges he'll face.

Following Entry Posted 6/02/2005 11:51:00 PM

Man Kills Self, Dead Aunt Found

(Quincy, Ohio) At a rural farmhouse only 16 miles from Bellefontaine where six people died last weekend, police went to check on the welfare of elderly Flora McMorran.

From NBC4i.com:

An 88-year-old woman was dead for several months before her body was found Wednesday in a farmhouse when deputies came to check on her and her nephew answered the door, went back inside and killed himself, NBC 4 reported.

Investigators said that the nephew, Neil McMorran, 47, answered the door and said he would check to see if his aunt was decent. Police waited for a few minutes before hearing a single gunshot. Inside the farmhouse, they found his body and the decomposed body of his aunt. Officials estimate that she had been dead for several months.

Strange.

Following Entry Posted 6/02/2005 06:59:00 PM

Kerry Keeps Campaigning

Somebody needs to tell Sen. John Kerry that the election is done, complete, over, finished. Otherwise , he'll keep saying the exact same things that he said on the run up to last year's losing effort. Yesterday, at a townhall-style meeting with a few dozen seniors in Massachusetts, Sen. Kerry said,

"The next time one of those conservative senators or congressmen comes to you and starts talking to you about American values, I want you to look him in the eye and say, what is the value that is represented in providing the wealthiest people in America with a great big tax cut at the expense of the poorest people in the country?"

"I went back and reread the New Testament the other day, and I've got news for you. Nowhere in the three-year ministry of Jesus Christ is there any suggestion at all that you ought to take from the poor and give to the rich and leave children at risk," he said to a loud round of applause.

The applause is understandable. It's Massachusetts.

What's not understandable, though, is that Kerry has no new ideas to promote. He spent the better part of a couple years before the election espousing the same mantra. It didn't work then, so why does he think it will work now?

Maybe he's trying to shore up his base.

Following Entry Posted 6/02/2005 03:22:00 PM

Too Much Irony

Surely many people remember the Long Island Lolita, Amy Fisher, the teenager who mixed it up with the self-styled Italian stallion, Joey Buttafuoco. She went on to shoot Joey's wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco, in the face, get nabbed for attempted murder, and spend about seven years in the joint.

Probably just as memorable is the Seattle child rapist, Mary Kay Letourneau, who mixed it up with her 12-year-old elementary school student, Vili Faulaau. She went on to give birth to Faulaau's baby, get nabbed for child molestation, and spend about seven years in the joint.

Now Fisher writes a column for the Long Island Press with her latest being a general condemnation of adult-child sexual relationships with specific criticism of the media hype over the marriage of child rapist Letourneau to her former victim Faulaau.

As an aside, it's not clear what will happen next with Mr. and Mrs. Faulaau, but one thing seems certain. Studly, mid-20s Vili Faulaau will not find a nubile and receptive young bride at home offering years of intimate treasures. Rather, he'll be dueling with a tired and leathered complaint machine going through menopause.

Nonetheless, since Fisher was able to parlay her notoriety into a career in the mainstream media, is it possible that the public will some day be titillated by the Mary Kay Letourneau television show? Of course, Letourneau wouldn't condemn adult-child sex since she thinks it's just ducky, but she might enlighten everyone on how perverts cope.

Notably, as the victim in an adult-child sex relationship, Amy Fisher has apparently grown to become a rational adult who condemns predation on the young. On the other hand, Letourneau was the predator in the adult-child sex relationship which tore apart her family and put her in prison and, still, she thinks everything is okay. I predict that it's only a matter of time before young Vili grows up and realizes that his sixth-grade teacher was nuts and still is. Then, all the kings horses and all the kings men won't be able to put the duckiness back in the Letourneau-Faulaau love nest.

Following Entry Posted 6/02/2005 01:30:00 AM

Federal Law Says Everyone Can Get Free Credit Report

The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) of December 4, 2003 allows all to receive credit reports once a year for free. The law was written to be phased in over several years throughout the nation, first with the Western States on 12/01/04, second with the Midwest States on 3/01/05, and most recently the Southern States on 6/01/05. The Eastern States will see implementation of the law on 9/01/05.

To obtain a free credit report online, go to AnnualCreditReport.com.

Thanks to Digger for all this information. There's more at Diggers Realm, including his own experience with the system, specifics on the credit reports available, and how to handle disputed data.

Frankly, I was in the dark about this whole subject.

Following Entry Posted 6/01/2005 11:52:00 PM

Macau Grows as Gambling Resort

About 40 miles from Hong Kong, the former Portuguese colony of Macau is now part of China and soon it may be the world's most popular gambling destination. An American leader in the gambling business, the MGM Mirage, announced that it has broken ground for a gaming resort estimated to cost upwards of a billion dollars.

From KRNV Reno:

The 28-floor, 600-room MGM Mirage Macau resort is going to be jointly owned and operated by the Las Vegas-based company and Chinese businesswoman Pansy Ho Chiu-king. She's the daughter of Hong Kong tycoon Stanley Ho, who had held a four-decade gambling monopoly in Macau. It's expected to open in the second half of 2007.

I probably won't have an opportunity to visit the place, but I would surely like to. The chance of meeting someone named Pansy Ho has a certain esoteric appeal.

Following Entry Posted 6/01/2005 09:57:00 PM

Neil Armstrong Threatens Barber, Wants Hair Back

(Lebanon, Ohio) Retired astronaut Neil Armstrong stopped getting his hair cut at Marx's Barber Shop when he learned that his barber, Marx Sizemore, was sweeping up the clippings and selling them to a celebrity hair collector for $3,000.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Sizemore was approached in May 2004 by an agent for John Reznikoff, who has the largest collection of hair from historical figures, according to the Guinness Book of Records. The collection from more than 100 people includes locks from Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Albert Einstein, Napoleon, Elvis Presley and Charles Dickens.

"First I told (the agent) I wasn't interested, but he kept at it," said Sizemore, who said he spent the money long ago on bills. "It's just picking up the trash on my floor after a haircut, anyway."

According to Armstrong's lawyer, there will be legal action unless Sizemore returns the hair or contributes $3,000 to the charity of Armstrong's choice and pays the lawyer's bill. Sizemore says John Reznikoff refuses to return the hair. Also, he's not paying any lawyer he didn't hire and he doesn't have $3,000 to donate.

Personally, I don't understand what the big deal is but, nevertheless, it raises the question of who owns the hair on the barber's floor.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Following Entry Posted 6/01/2005 06:10:00 PM

Voyeur Charged for Upskirt Snapshots

(Naples, Florida) Pedro Sandoval Avendano has been charged with voyeurism for taking photographs under a woman's dress at the Coastland Center Mall last Saturday.

From the Naples Daily News:

Reports say the woman, whose name was not released because it is a sex crime, was shopping at Old Navy in the mall when she saw Avendano come up behind her and take a photo from underneath her dress. He did this two more times before the woman reported it to the store manager.

The woman told police that she saw him take another shot from underneath another woman's skirt outside of the store. The woman was able to identify herself in the photos for police.

Okay, as I understand the story, the suspect was arrested by Naples police who confiscated his photos and, subsequently, the female victim was able to identify herself in the photos. Since the only photos taken were snapshots up women's dresses, one has to wonder what features the woman has when viewed from underneath that she could so easily identify herself.

To take the thought a step further, just what does a police officer say to the woman when asking her to identify the evidence. "Uh, Ma'am, if I look up your skirt, would I see something like this?"

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Following Entry Posted 6/01/2005 04:02:00 PM

Mother Arranges Rape of 13-Year-Old Daughter

(White Plains, New York) For setting up the rapes of her 13-year-old daughter and her daughter's 14-year-old friend, a 41-year-old mother [name withheld to protect children] was indicted in Westchester County and charged with two counts of rape and several counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Apparently, the mother got the girls liquored up along with two guys she recruited, an 18 and a 19-year-old, in a hotel room she paid for.

From The Journal News:

"This all started in the bedroom, on the bed, in front of the mother," Westchester District Attorney Jeanine Pirro said of the alleged crime at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on April 19. "There were comments by the mother that 'It's about time she had sex,' and 'What happens in White Plains, stays in White Plains.' The girls (were) saying to the mother that they're having sex. She didn't think anything of it. I'm sure now she does."

The 41-year-old Long Island mother, whom Pirro would not identify in order to protect the victims' identities, was an accessory to the rape and was therefore charged with the same crime as the two other suspects -- Pleasantville Cottage School resident Gilberto Gonzalez, 19, and Michael Berger, 18, then a bus boy at the Crowne Plaza. Gonzalez and Berger were charged with second-degree rape, a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Astonishingly, the mother watched as the sex was occurring and did nothing.

The mother is in jail on $100,000 bail, Gonzalez is also in jail with $25,000 bail. Berger was released after forking up $7,500 bail.

Interestingly, it's a safe bet that this is probably an inopportune time to be prosecuted for a sensational crime in Westchester County since District Attorney Jeanine Pirro recently announced her candidacy for a still-to-be-determined high-profile political office. Some say that she may oppose Hillary Clinton for the U.S. Senate. Consequently, Pirro's publicity machine will be running full speed and taking every advantage to express her views before the public. The unnamed mother had better fasten her seatbelt. I suspect, Pirro is going to give her a rough ride.

Or, maybe not if the girls' privacy becomes a paramount ethical issue. Of course, ethical considerations have a tendency to become blurred in political campaigns.

Following Entry Posted 6/01/2005 03:44:00 AM

Fugitive Found Duct-Taped to Porch

(Columbus, Ohio) Here's an odd story. On Friday, Carolyn White, 36, was in court facing charges of kidnapping, burglary, and weapons violations from an April home invasion. At lunch time, she left and never returned. Well, she wasn't a fugitive for very long.

From NBC4i.com:

The Franklin County Sheriff's Office said White's ex-boyfriend called 911 after finding her on the front porch of his farmhouse.

"It's kind of far-fetched, but Carolyn White, you've heard of her," said the caller.

White was found duct-taped on the porch, and even had her mouth duct-taped so she was hard to understand, Bowersock [NBC4i Reporter Mike Bowersock] reported.

"She's laying on your front porch with duct tape?" asked the 911 dispatcher. "Does it look like she could have done this to herself?"

"She had to have," the caller said.

"Does she have any kind of mental history?" the dispatcher asked.

"Yeah, she's wanted by the law," said the caller.

So, in summary, Carolyn White skipped out on her court appearance, went to her ex-boyfriend's house, and duct-taped herself to the porch for easy apprehension by Franklin County Sheriff's Deputies.

None of this makes a lick of sense.

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