Women With Troubles - September 2008

Reported in the news during September 2008, here is the compilation of women with troubles. Each name is linked to an Interested-Participant blog entry displaying details.

For a more comprehensive listing, check the Women With Troubles category link.

(AZ) Gay Lyn Turley, 33,
teacher - Gets probation for sex with female student,

(CA) Wendie Estrada Fernandez, 45,
teacher - Arrested for sex with male student, 17,

(CA) Roselyn Hubbell, 33,
counselor - Accused of sex with boy, 14,

(CA) Yazmin Reyes Ruiz, 33,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 13,

(CO) Stephanie Kay Bellino, 39,
school worker - Arrested for sex with boy, 13,

(CO) Christina Elizabeth Szele, 35,
neighbor - Accused of federal charges for interfering with flight crew and assault,

(CT) Julie Denno, 27,
teacher - Arrested for sex assault of boy under 16,

(FL) Marbelis Margarita Dorado, 24,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(FL) Holly Louise Gee, 33,
neighbor - Gets two years in prison for sex with boy, 16,

(FL) Wildalynn Harris, 23,
teacher - Arrested for drug possession,

(FL) Kelly Lumadue, 33,
neighbor - Gets life without parole for sexual battery of boy, 5,

(FL) Alyson Perry-Jarvis, 36,
teacher - Arrested for sex with neighborhood youth, 16,

(FL) Stacey Sheldon, 31,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 16, caught on video,

(FL) Lynne Wilson, 41,
teacher - Arrested for theft and drug possession,

(GA) Amanda Johnson,
neighbor - Arrested for attempted sale of seven-month-old baby for drugs,

(IA) Shannon Michelle Rew, 37,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(ID) Meagan Belnap, 20,
school aide - Indicted for sex abuse of children under 16,

(IL) Laura Obzera, 49,
school nurse - Arrested for sex abuse of three boys ages 13 to 17,

(IL) Valencia Sephus, 30,
neighbor - Arrested for sex abuse of friend's daughter, 15,

(LA) Christie Hemler Semeraro, 37,
neighbor - Faces trial for contributing to the delinquency of 12 and 13-year-olds,

(LA) Ariel Smith, 19,
babysitter - Arrested for allegedly putting five-month-old baby in clothes dryer and turning it on,

(MD) Renee Bowman, 43,
neighbor - Arrested for child abuse after two dead daughters found frozen,

(MI) Carrie Alice Denbow, 32,
school counselor - Charged with criminal sexual conduct with 15-year-old student,

(MI) Anna Marie Glass, 29,
neighbor - Sentenced to one year in jail for sex with boy, 15,

(MI) Ranee Sue Proper, 41,
teacher - Arrested for sex with two students,

(MO) Cathy Heminghaus, 48,
teacher - Gets six years in prison for sex with student,

(MS) Rebecca Bogard, 27,
teacher - Indicted for sex with male student, 15,

(MS) Sheral Lee Smith, 37,
teacher - Arrested for sex with male student, 14,

(MT) Summer Many White Horses, 31,
neighbor - Arrested for allegedly killing two-year-old son,

(NC) Julie Miller Culbertson, 39,
teacher - Sentenced to probation for sex with female student,

(NC) Jacqueline Gray, 32,
neighbor - Gets four years in prison for sex with boy, 11,

(NC) Jeannie Michelle Hodges, 40,
teacher - Arrested for contributing to delinquency of a minor while out on bail for sex charges involving 15-year-old student,

(NE) Kelsey Peterson, 26,
teacher - Gets six years in prison for crossing state lines to have sex with boy, 13,

(NJ) Pamela Torres, 35,
neighbor - Gets six years in prison for sex with boy, 13,

(NY) Tania Head, aka Alicia Esteve Head,
neighbor - Accused of scamming the public with a heroic story of her involvement in 9/11,

(OH) China Arnold, 28,
neighbor - Gets life without parole in baby microwave death,

(OH) Renee L. Frye, 28,
neighbor - Gets probation for three-month sex with boy, 14,

(OH) Carolynn Hatcher, 26,
group home housemother - Guilty of sex with boy. Sentencing in November,

(OH) Sarah M. Rice, 24,
neighbor - Gets three years in prison for sex with boy, 13,

(OH) Becky Jo Tatum, 42,
neighbor - Gets five years in prison for sex, drugs and weapons crimes,

(OK) Lori June Canady, 35,
teacher's aide - Gets probation for sex with male student, 15,

(OK) Stephanie Harris, 27,
teacher - Arrested for sex with student, 13,

(OR) Morgan Alicia Jodeen Larson, 18,
neighbor - Arrested for sex abuse of boy, 8, and girl, 11,

(PA) Elizabeth Hemming, 32, and Susan Churilla, 42,
neighbors - Accused of hosting child sex party,

(PA) Lynne Long, 45,
neighbor - Guilty of endangering and corruption of children. Sentencing TBD,

(SD) Marchelle West (aka Marchelle West-Boston), 28,
neighbor - Gets probation for rape of boy, 14,

(TN) Sandra Binkley, 35,
teacher - Arrested for sex at school with male student, 17,

(TX) Sandra Borrego, 42,
teacher - October trial scheduled for sex with boy, 13,

(TX) Stephanie Hays, 33,
neighbor - Arrested for offering kids for sex,

(VA) Ashley Esposito, 24,
student teacher - Gets four months jail for contributing to the delinquency of minors. Still faces felony sex charges involving former student,

(VA) Larae Denise Osborne-Hilton, 40,
neighbor - Gets two and one-half years prison for sex with three boys,

(VT) Ann Lavery, 54,
teacher - Accused of assaulting student,

(WI) Wendy Brown, 33,
neighbor - Accused of stealing daughter's identity to enter high school and become cheerleader,

(WI) Teresa Cantrall, 42,
neighbor - Pleads no contest to sex assault of child. Sentencing in October,

(WI) Jaime M. Foss, 32,
neighbor - Guilty of sex with child under 16. Sentencing in December,

(WI) Katie Luessenhop, 26,
teacher - Arrested for drug possession,

(WI) Tracy Taylor, 44,
neighbor - Gets seven months jail for attempted sex assault of child under 16.

Thanks, as always, to the tipsters.

Sex with Evil Spirits Leads to Assault

(Hamilton, Ohio) A 57-year-old Ghanian caregiver in West Chester Township, Abena Afrakomah, has been accused of hitting and pinching a 74-year-old woman she provided care for.

Reportedly, Afrakomah had to punish the old woman for having sex with evil spirits.

The victim, Josephine Crawford, is unable to speak due to illness, but testified with help of a dry-erase board a during a May preliminary hearing in Middletown Municipal Court.

"She said the evil spirits were using me," Crawford wrote about Afrakomah.

Middleown police say the caretaker twisted Crawford's arm and pinched her on the cheeks and in the groin area.

Afrakomah faces trial on one count of fourth-degree felony assault on December 8th before Judge Keith Spaeth. She is currently free on bond.

Putting my multicultural hat on, shouldn't Afrakomah's case be an opportunity for Ohioans to show tolerance? It is probably quite appropriate to punish women in Ghana for having sex with evil spirits. Why don't we do the same here?

Tip: SuidaeEmpathy

More Nanny-State from Schwarzenegger

(Sacramento, California) Gov. Schwarzenegger signed legislation (SB1420) into law today to require chain restaurants to post calorie, fat, carbohydrate and sodium content on their menus. Diners must also be reminded of recommended daily limits. The number of languages in which the information must appear is unknown.

Ostensibly, the posting of nutritional information will allow people to make better dining choices and help stop the alleged obesity crisis. However, according to President Jot Condie of the California Restaurant Association, nobody knows whether the menu labeling requirement will have any effect on eating habits.

Great! Regulations are imposed forcing businesses to spend money to comply and it's all based on a guess. Of course, now that it's on the books, the reasoning behind the law is moot.

Restaurants need to be prepared, though, because when the Restaurant Menu Police visits, fines of $500 for each violation may be imposed.

One must wonder what's next? Limits on calories per sandwich? Rationing of high-calorie food? The U.S. is already drowning in costly regulation and it won't stop until the last breath of individual liberty disappears and everything is rationed.

But it's possible that I'm being too critical. Maybe it is written in the Constitution that the government is responsible for the content of restaurant menus.

Human Breast Milk Ice Cream


The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have asked Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to replace cow's milk in their Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream with harvested human breast milk.

Realistically, the idea of using human breast milk in a commercial dairy (?) product is likely unworkable. To begin, there's a legal hurdle since current food and drug laws don't address the commercial production and sale of human products for consumption. Laws need to be created or existing laws need to be amended.

There also would be a problem obtaining sufficient quantities of human breast milk to justify the construction and operation of a human breast milk ice cream production facility. Literally, thousands of post-partum women would have to interrupt their routines to express milk several times daily to keep any plant operating. Of course, then there's the problem of gathering the human breast milk from a multitude of locations and transporting it to the production facility.

All the while, some assurance would also need to be provided, through sampling and testing, that women were not negligently or intentionally contaminating the milk by ingesting harmful substances.

Most important, however, it's believed that the cost of surmounting all the impediments to placing human breast milk ice cream on store shelves will be outrageously expensive. As a consequence, to make the idea a viable business venture would dictate that the product be priced somewhere above the stratosphere. Even if people could get past the ick-and-eww-factor, they probably could never afford to buy it.

Must not speak the truth about the Left-created culture of dependancy

What you can say seems to get more limited by the day:

"The spokeswoman for the Republican Party in Nevada's most populous county was removed from her post Saturday, after she said the Democratic Party made black people "dependent on the government."

"We don't want (Hispanics) to become the new African-American community," Lima told The Associated Press. "And that's what the Democratic Party is going to do to them, create more programs and give them handouts, food stamps and checks for this and checks for that. We don't want that."

"I'm very much afraid that the Democratic Party is going to do the same thing that they did with the African-American culture and make them all dependent on the government and we don't want that," she said.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

California Journalism Advisor Shield Law Signed

(Sacramento, California) Gov. Schwarzenegger signed into law Senate Bill 1370 which protects high school and college teachers and other employees from retaliation by administrators as a result of student speech.

Authored by Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), the legislation is considered necessary since school administrators customarily retaliate against journalism advisors when controversial content is published in student newspapers.

“Since administrators are unable by law to exercise prior restraint with regard to a student publication, they lean on advisers to do what they legally cannot,” said Jim Ewert, Legal Counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA).

“When advisers refuse, they are punished because administrators know they will face no legal consequences. SB 1370 was necessary to close this gaping loophole in the law.”

The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2009.

It's interesting that school administrators can easily obstruct or harm a teacher's career when there is a difference of opinion while the same administrators claim they are powerless to take action when parents seek dismissal of an incompetent teacher.

Companion post at EdWatch.

Teacher Kelsey Peterson Gets Prison (UPDATED & BUMPED)

(Omaha, Nebraska) After pleading guilty to federal charges of crossing state lines to engage in sex with a person under 18, Kelsey Peterson, 26, was sentenced to six years in prison.

Twelve when the sexual relationship with Peterson began, the boy, Fernando Rodriguez, was thrust into the national spotlight after school officials in Lexington, Neb., exposed the inappropriate relationship between the teacher and student.

Peterson hastily packed her 2006 Pontiac, withdrew $2,500 cash from her accounts and headed south with Fernando.

A week later, on Nov. 2, Peterson was pinpointed by a fugitive-chasing police officer using a GPS tracker.

Upon release, Peterson will serve five years supervised probation.


* * * * *
Teacher Kelsey Peterson Pleads Guilty
[Previous 7/2/08 post]
(Omaha, Nebraska) Teacher Kelsey Peterson, 26, pleaded guilty earlier today to a federal charge of taking a minor across state lines for sex.

The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI issued a press release. Here is an excerpt.

On July 2, 2008, Kelsey Peterson, age 26 of Lexington, Nebraska, appeared before the Honorable F.A. Gossett, III, United States Magistrate Judge, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to an information charging her with Travel with Intent to Engage in Illicit Sexual Conduct with a Person Under 18 years of Age. The guilty plea arose from Ms. Peterson's relationship with a student at the middle school where she taught.

The plea agreement entered into between the United States and Kelsey Peterson calls for the imposition of a sentence of at least 70 months but not more than 87 months. That is the sentencing range recommended by the United States Sentencing Guidelines for her conduct.

Ms. Peterson agreed, as part of the plea agreement, to sentencing enhancements arising from the fact that: (a) the victim was under her custody, care or supervisory control; (b) she unduly influenced the victim to engage in prohibited sexual conduct since she was more than ten years older than the victim; and (c) the offense involved the actual commission of a sex act.

As part of the plea agreement Kelsey Peterson agreed with the United States that certain facts would be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in the event her case proceeded to trial.

Kelsey Peterson will be sentenced on September 29, 2008. She remains in custody.


* * * * * *
Nebraska Teach Accused of Kidnapping Student
[Previous 11/03/07 entry]
(Lexington, Nebraska) A 25-year-old teacher, Kelsey Peterson, has been accused of kidnapping and engaging in "some sort" of relationship with a 13-year-old male student.

According to the Lexington Police Department, they were contact on Thursday, October 27th, by school authorities.

The school had reason to believe that 25-year-old Kelsey Peterson was having some sort of relationship with 13-year-old Fernando Rodriguez. Peterson was placed on administrative leave on Thursday.

After investigating, authorities were issued a warrant Monday, October 29th, for Peterson's arrest, but could not find her.

Lexington Police said that the boy's family reported him missing on Saturday and that they believe he was with the teacher.

A warrant has been issued for Peterson on charges of kidnapping, child abuse, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.


[Update 11/02/07]

From ABCNews:

A female teacher and a 13-year-old boy believed to be on the run may have crossed the California border into Mexico, a police investigator said Friday.

Paul Schwarz of the Lexington Police Department in Nebraska said the white Pontiac owned by 25-year-old Kelsey Peterson crossed into Mexico around 11 p.m. on Tuesday.

Peterson, a sixth-grade math teacher and basketball coach at Lexington Middle School, fled with the boy after police began investigating whether the pair had an intimate relationship, authorities said.

Authorities believed the two were traveling in Peterson's car, and police nationwide and the FBI were notified about them. Court documents said the boy was last seen Oct. 26.

Maybe Dog, the bounty hunter, should be sent to Mexico to get her. Or maybe not, the last time he was in Mexico the Federales wanted to put him in prison.

Nevertheless, a woman traveling with a boy in Mexico will undoubtedly run out of money sooner or later. Then, she'll give up.

Tip: RG


[Update 11/03/07]

Kelsey Peterson and the boy were apprehended without incident Friday night by Mexican authorities in Mexicali, a border city. The FBI took custody of Peterson and transported her back to the U.S. earlier this morning. The boy was released to relatives in Mexico.

Egyptian Journalist Gets Jail

(Cairo, Egypt) An Egyptian appeals court sentenced a journalist to two months in prison for writing stories which questioned President Mubarak's health.

Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent daily al-Dustor, was originally convicted in March and sentenced to six months on charges of reporting and publishing false information that questioned the health of 80-year-old President Hosni Mubarak.

The judges at the time ruled that a series of articles he published threatened national stability and caused foreign investors to pull their money out of the country.

Mubarak has been in office for more than a quarter of a century and has no obvious successor, making any speculation about his health a very sensitive topic.

So much for free speech in Egypt, eh?

Vermont Teacher Accused of Assaulting Student

(Richford, Vermont) A 54-year-old teacher at Richford Elementary School, Ann Lavery, has been accused of physically assaulting a 10-year-old fifth-grade student.

Lavery, a 32-year teaching veteran, faces two counts of simple assault.

Police said the parent of a fifth grade student alleges her daughter's neck was grabbed by Lavery on Sept. 11 because the student did not have permission to be in an area of the school where other students were. The parent provided a photograph of the student's alleged neck injury, police said.

A second complaint by the same parent alleges that Lavery, who was teaching a math class, emptied a small plastic bucket of learning aides, then placed the bucket on the 10-year-old's head and struck the bucket, injuring the student and damaging her glasses.

Lavery is scheduled for a court appearance in Vermont District Court on October 6th.

Obama Wants NRA Ads Banned




We read:

"The Obama camp has been threatening television and radio stations to keep them from airing anti-Obama ads. The latest target is the NRA and stations in Pennsylvania.

Earlier this week, the National Rifle Association's Political Victory Fund released a series of radio and television spots to educate gun owners and sportsmen about Barack Obama's longstanding anti-gun record. In response to the NRA-PVF ads, a clearly panicked Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) are doing everything they can to hide Obama's real record by mounting a coordinated assault on the First Amendment.

They have gone to desperate and outrageous lengths to try to silence your NRA by bullying media outlets with threats of lawsuits if they run NRA-PVF's ads. The Obama camp is particularly angry with an NRA ad entitled "Hunter" which lays out Obama's record on gun control.

The NRA charged that "Obama and the DNC have been using strong-arm tactics reminiscent of Chicago machine politics to try and cover up the truth and silence NRA by forcing the stations to assist them in hiding Obama's radical anti-gun record." ... The NRA has set up a web site detailing its position on Obama at www.gunbanobama.com.

Source

Political censorship is stock in trade for Leftists and their media allies. They can't afford for people to know the full facts about them and their policies. See below what Obama does not want you to see:






Posted by John Ray.

Suicide Terrorists Arrested on KLM Flight

(The Hague, Netherlands) Fortunately, the authorities were able to capture these terrorists before harm was done.

Two Somali terrorist suspects were arrested Friday on board a KLM aircraft underway to the Netherlands. German police found a farewell letter in the home of the suspects indicating they had a suicide bombing in mind.

The two were arrested at around 7.00 a.m. at the Cologne-Bonn airport in Germany. They were already on board a flight to Amsterdam. The two were booked on a transfer flight to Entebbe in Uganda.

The suspects wanted to commit attacks, said German authorities, but they did not want to say how and where. They did say they had no suspicions that the 23 year old Somali and 24 year old German born in Somalia wanted to hijack the plane.

Flight number KL1804 was preparing to take off from Cologne-Bonn Airport with 48 passengers onboard when the two were arrested.

Hugo Chavez Ready for Nukes

(Caracas, Venezuela) Yesterday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Russia has offered to assist in nuclear plant development in his nation and he's ready to accept.

"We certainly are interested in developing nuclear energy, for peaceful ends of course -- for medical purposes and to generate electricity," he said.

"Brazil has various nuclear reactors, as does Argentina," he added. "We will have ours as well," he said upon his return from a tour in China and Russia.

It's a thrill a minute with "peaceful ends" Hugo.

Publisher's Home Firebombed by Islamists

In August 2008, Random House announced it would not publish The Jewel of Medina by American author Sherry Jones (pic) due to expected repercussions from Islamists.

In mid-September, Gibson Square, a British publishing house headed by Martin Rynja, announced that it would release The Jewel of Medina.

Over this past weekend, Marin Rynja's home was firebombed.

Yesterday the right-hand man of preacher of hate Omar Bakri said the fire-bombing was the 'thin end of the wedge'.

Anjem Choudary, a former member of radical Islamist group al-Mujaharoun, said: 'This book is an attack on the honour of Mohammed. It is clearly stipulated in Muslim law that any kind of attack on his honour carries the death penalty.

'People should be aware of the consequences they might face when producing material like this. They should know the depth of feeling it might provoke.

'If the publication goes ahead then I think, inevitably, there will be more attacks like this. The repercussions will be very severe for everyone associated with it. It is not me that is doing petrol bombing, but I understand their feelings.'

In accordance with the terrorism act, Scotland Yard arrested three men aged 22, 30 and 40 for the firebombing. Martin Rynja is under guard at a secret location.

The Jewel of Medina tells the story of nine-year-old Aisha, Mohammad's favorite wife, and how she asserts herself through life among 12 other wives plus concubines.

Also: Jawa Report

Sleepless in Mexico

What's it say about the effectiveness of law enforcement when the head of the state police needs to reside in a safe house in a foreign country? I would suggest it means that law enforcement is merely a mirage in his own jurisdiction?

Saul Hernandez, director of the [Mexican] Chihuahua state police, now resides in El Paso, Texas, since the last several weeks and crosses the border on a daily basis to carry out his duties. All this for “reasons of security.”

Across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Ciudad Juarez last week recorded its 1,000th homicide for 2008.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Toronto Integrity Commissioner

(Toronto, Ontario) The city of Toronto is experiencing difficulty hiring a politically-savvy individual to fill the position of Integrity Commissioner responsible for verifying the integrity of the City Council members.

Strange. One might be led to believe that there is a scarcity of integrity in Toronto.

Imagine that.

Politically Correct Toilets

(Manchester, England) Due to complaints by transgender students, signs on toilets in the students' union of Manchester University have been changed. According to a students' union official, Jennie Killip, the new signs will make the transgender students feel more comfortable.

The traditional sign on the door of the Gents has been temporarily replaced with one that says 'toilets with urinals'.

And the sign on the Ladies now simply says 'toilets' in a move to make the lavatories more inclusive for trans-gender students.

Apparently, when a user now goes to the bathroom, there are no rules. All toilets are gender-neutral. They are simply identified as to which have urinals and which don't. Reportedly, the current temporary signs will be replaced with permanent placards soon.

Companion post at EdWatch.

THREE POST ON THE BAILOUT

Newt gets it: Let the financiers sort themselves out

Republican Newt Gingrich: "You have an administration which, in my judgment, has lost its mind." And I agree wholeheartedly.

President Bush is so worried about his legacy - he is so afraid of being looked at as Herbert Hoover - that he is doing the very things that Hoover did: Intervene, intervene, intervene. He should do what Ronald Reagan did in 1981 and 1982 and 1987: Let the market play it out.

From the Atlantic Journal-Constitution, Gingrich wants Hank Paulson canned and Gingrich said, "They may have to, in the end, tolerate some of this. Because in the end, you have the Democrats desperate for socialism now. You have an administration which, in my judgment, has lost its mind. That gives you two big elements. And you have Senate Republicans desperate to go along. I'm just being truly candid. Because I think the country ought to know what the pressures really are like.

"And you've got the House Republicans and John McCain prepared to stand on as much principle [as possible] - but in the end, I don't think they're going to be prepared to do nothing. Because they understand that next week, as long as the current situation. stays the way it is, you're going to have a genuine credit crisis."

Either Republicans start behaving like conservatives or they can kiss it all off. Look for the return oif the '70s and it ain't very pretty.

Source

*****************************

Replenishing ACORN's Account: Keeping the Housing Mess Going

Like me the WSJ thinks it's outrageous that the Democrats are trying to find money in the bailout to keep their friends in ACORN well nourished:

Acorn has promoted laws like the Community Reinvestment Act, which laid the foundation for the house of cards built out of subprime loans. Thus, we'd be funneling more cash to the groups that helped create the lending mess in the first place.

This isn't the first time this year that Democrats have tried to route money for fixing the housing crisis into the bank accounts of these community activist groups. The housing bill passed by Congress in July also included a tax on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to raise an estimated $600 million annually in grants for these lobbying groups. When Fannie and Freddie went under, the Democrats had to find a new way to fill the pipeline flowing tax dollars into the groups' coffers.

This is a crude power grab in a time of economic crisis. Congress should insist that every penny recaptured from the sale of distressed assets be dedicated to retiring the hundreds of billions of dollars in public debt that will be incurred, or passed back to taxpayers who will ultimately underwrite the cost of the bailout.

Update from Clarice Feldman: Tom Maguire catches how outrageous the Dodd payoff plan to ACORN is:

Jim Lindgren points out multiple problems with Chris Dodd's original draft. My only reassurance - the current plan has moved beyond that. I had derided the Dodd approach to equity stakes last week but Lindgren has more trashing from a different direction.

And his insight on the housing slush fund is an eye-opener -- the original Dodd language called for 20% of the profit on each sale to be diverted to the Dem slush fund; this is far different from 20% of *net* profits. In a net profit scenario, losses on some sales would offset gains on others. Under Dodd, any profit is immediately subject to diversion, regardless of whether there are other, greater losses. That is not taxpayer protection. What it is is absurd

Source. More on ACORN here

***************************

They've Reached a Deal on Bailout

House and Senate negotiators have reached tentative agreement on a financial rescue plan after a marathon Capitol negotiating session that started Saturday afternoon and stretched into early Sunday morning. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said their "breakthrough" still had to be "committed to paper," a process that was expected to continue through the night. "We have something verbal," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.).

Republican Whip Roy Blunt, the chief negotiator for House Republicans, said he was "looking forward to what we're going to see on paper" and was optimistic that it would be something House Republicans could support.

Said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson: "We've been working very hard on this and we've made great progress toward a deal which will work and will be effective in the marketplace and effective for all Americans . . . .We've still got a lot to do to finalize it, but I think we're there." The plan would likely give Paulson a relatively free hand accessing the first $350 billion of the $700 billion he sought. It was not clear when the remaining $350 billion would become available, but Treasury apparently agreed that a future Congress could block its release though a joint resolution signed by the president.

The agreement would also include much greater oversight than the Bush administration had initially proposed; an opportunity for the government to take an equity share in the companies it helps, either through warrants or options to buy stock; and a provision limiting the compensation paid to executives of those companies.

To help win the support of House Republicans, the agreement also would likely include an option under which Paulson and future Treasury secretaries could choose to sell companies government-backed insurance to cover securities - thereby improving their value - rather than buy the assets as initially proposed.

A vote in the House could come as early as Monday seemed, Emanuel said.

Source. Much more here. It is rumored that ACORN misses out!



Posted by John Ray.

MSNBC Poll: Obama Wins Debate

Arguably, the last honest bone has been removed from MSNBC and ignominiously buried. The cable channel's bias is so blatant and exclusive that a reasonable person could contend, through a strict reading of election laws, that MSNBC is failing to end each programming day with an announcement from Obama saying he approves these messages.

That assertion is based on my own amateur observations, however, it's anecdotally supported by a report from Deaf Republicans regarding viewers' opinions of last night's McCain-Obama debate.

MSNBC reported a win by Obama 52% to 34% over McCain. What wasn't reported was that approximately 80% of the voters were foreigners.

In comparison, an online poll by the Drudge Report, where 94% of the voters were from the U.S., reported a McCain win 68% to 30% over Obama.

I think the MSNBC poll tells more about MSNBC than the purported subject matter. Readers can decide for themselves on the validity of my amateur observations regarding MSNBC.

Tip: Stable Hand

Palin and wolf hunting

A wildlife group's ad attacks Palin for supporting the shooting of wolves from airplanes. She does, but there's more to it than that. Killing a few wolves stops lots a caribou calves from being killed. What have the animal lovers got against caribou calves? No mercy for calves? Are some animals more equal than others? Maybe the animal lovers concerned think caribou are a type of vegetable. They seem dumb enough. Real animal lovers would SUPPORT Palin



A new ad from Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund shows the pursuit and shooting of a wolf from a small plane and tells viewers that Sarah Palin "actively promotes" such killings. It's true that she does, and in 2007 she offered $150 payments for anyone who brought the left forepaw of a wolf to state officials. The ad calls the practice "brutal and unethical" but doesn't tell the whole story.

* Alaskan officials call it "predator control," not aerial hunting, and use it to keep the populations of moose and caribou high for subsistence hunters.

* The program is limited to just 9 percent of the state's land mass, or five of 26 Department of Fish and Game districts.

* Far from being endangered, as they are in the Lower 48 states, gray wolves number between 7,000 and 11,000 in Alaska.

This TV spot isn't for the squeamish, especially not squeamish animal-lovers. Its visuals include sinister-looking photos of Gov. Sarah Palin juxtaposed with footage of a wolf trying to outrun an airplane, then being shot and writhing in pain. Finally we see a small plane taking off, a wolf carcass tied to one of its wing struts.

There's a lot of emotional huffing and puffing in the ad. It says "Sarah Palin actively promotes the brutal and unethical aerial hunting of wolves and other wildlife" and says she encourages "cruelty" and "champions ... savagery." But strip away the emotional characterization and we're left with a description of Palin's position that is essentially factually correct, though incomplete....

If you think the explanation above implies a more complicated landscape than the ad shows us, you're correct. In the first place, while gray wolves are listed as an endangered species in the Lower 48, and great efforts have been made to reintroduce them in some Western states, they are abundant in Alaska. Ron Clarke, assistant director of the Division of Wildlife Conservation at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, says the state is home to between 7,000 and 11,000 of them. Wolf populations in Alaska have bounced back since the 1950s, when federal agents conducted an extensive poisoning and aerial shooting campaign; moose and caribou proliferated as a result, in some cases leading to severe degradation of their own habitats.

Second, it's not for nothing that wolves have acquired their big, bad reputations. Studies indicate that predators (wolves and bears) often take 70 percent to 80 percent of the moose and caribou that die each year in Alaska. Research by the state Department of Fish and Game shows that "a single wolf eats 12-13 moose in a typical year and/or 30-40 caribou, mostly calves."

More here



Posted by John Ray.

NC Woman Gets Prison for Child Sex Crimes

(Winston-Salem, North Carolina) A 32-year-old local woman, Jacqueline Gray, was sentenced yesterday by Judge John Craig to four years in prison for sex crimes committed against an 11-year-old boy. The sentence resulted after Gray entered an Alford plea to reduced charges in accordance with a plea agreement.

According to prosecutor Pansy Glanton:

Gray entered an Alford plea, a type of plea in which a defendant does not admit guilt but agrees it is in her interest not to contest the charge.

She had been charged initially with first-degree child rape and first-degree sex offenses.

Glanton indicted Gray on lesser charges -- two counts felony child abuse by sex act and four counts of indecent liberties with a child -- after Gray agreed she would enter a plea.

Glanton said she did so to spare the victim from having to testify.

The boy had told investigators that Gray would come to his bedroom and touch him and that she had tried to have sex with him. The boy's grandmother indicated that the now-13-year-old continues to struggle with the trauma of abuse.

Apparently, Gray experiences mental-health issues. She suffers from severe depression and twice has attempted suicide. Gray's attorney, Mike Grace, argued that her mental problems indicate that she wasn't motivated to commit the crimes by lust and, therefore, she should be treated leniently. Personally, that logic escapes me.

In any event, maybe Gray will receive counseling for her non-lustful child sex proclivities while in prison.

Ohio Mom Gets Prison for Sex, Drugs, Weapons

(Bexley, Ohio) In August 2008, Becky Jo Tatum, 42, pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, drug possession and illegal gun possession.

Consequently, she was sentenced yesterday by Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Timothy S. Horton to five years in prison.

The Bexley house "cultivated an environment for perverse activity," the judge said.

It was a characterization that homeowner Becky Jo Tatum didn't deny.

The 42-year-old mother of two apologized for the environment and the crimes that ensued: having sex with her daughter's 14-year-old friend, having cocaine in the home and keeping a gun, which was illegal for someone previously convicted of drug and prostitution charges.

Tatum was also ordered to register as a sex offender, requiring her to check in with the sheriff's office twice a tear for 25 years.


* * * * *
Ohio Mom Sought by Police for Sex Crime
[Previous 3/26/08 post]
(Bexley, Ohio) A 41-year-old local mother, Becky Jo Tatum, is being sought by police on a charge of unlawful sex with a minor. Be on the lookout for Tatum, described as a white female, six feet tall, 145 lbs.

Reportedly, during one of the regular parties Tatum threw for teenagers, she led a 14-year-old girl into the bedroom and engaged in oral sex.

The girl told police that Becky Jo Tatum "was acting very flirtatious with everyone" during a party at the woman's house in early March.

Tatum took her hand and led her to the master bedroom, where they had oral sex, court documents say. The girl was not forced to have sex and returned to the party afterward, she told police.

Warrants issued Friday charge Tatum, 41, with having unlawful sex with a minor. Her case will be presented to a grand jury and could lead to more charges.

Police have not been able to find Tatum.

It is also alleged that Tatum engaged in sex with one of her daughter's friends, a 17-year-old boy. No charges have been filed as yet.

Tatum is known to the police with a criminal history dating back to 1998. She has been convicted of various prostitution, drug and property crimes.

Also: Jawa Report


[Update 03/29/08]

Tatum apprehended.

Police said a phone call from an anonymous source led them to the southeast Columbus complex.

Detectives spotted the car that Tatum was said to have been driving and waited for her, [10TV's] Ludlow reported.

"We observed her coming out of the apartment and into her car," said Bexley police Det. Bob Cuschleg. "We kind of took her by surprise. She didn't see us approach, so she was a little dazed."

A reward of $2,000 from Crimestoppers was offered for information leading to her arrest. (Thanks SE)


[Update 04/10/08]

Tatum was indicted yesterday on charges of having sex with a 14-year-old girl, insurance fraud, cocaine possession and having a gun as a convicted felon.

Toronto "Youth" Guilty of Terrorism

(Brampton, Ontario) A 20-year-old homegrown Toronto terrorist, part of the infamous "Toronto 18" terror cell, has been found guilty of plotting to kill civilians with guns and explosives.

In the first verdict under Canada's new anti-terrorism laws, Ontario Superior Court Justice John Sproat rejected defence assertions the Toronto-area plot was nothing more than "musings and fantasies."

"It might well have been said prior to Sept. 11, 2001 that a plan to kill thousands and destroy landmark buildings in lower Manhattan and Washington had no possibility of implementation," Sproat said.

Sproat dismissed defence assertions that the group's co-leader - the youth's friend and mentor - was a self-aggrandizing liar who simply talked an ugly extremist game.

"I also reject the argument that (the alleged ringleader) was a hapless fanatic who posed no risk."

The 20-year-old accused, who cannot be named because he was 17 at the time of his offences, showed little emotion as the verdict was read.

The unidentified youth faces a possible ten years in prison at sentencing. No sentencing date was reported.

There's been no indication as to when we might be told the name of the 20-year-old convicted terrorist. Maybe after he gets sentenced -- or -- maybe never.

Frankly, I think it's dangerous to hide the identities of terrorists. After all, al-Qaeda's greatest challenge is to keep its members names a secret until they act. What kind of distorted Canadian logic is being used to keep terrorists names secret once they are caught and convicted? It's nuts.

Tip: CN

School for Deaf Teacher Pinched for Sex with Boy

(Bristol, Connecticut) A 27-year-old former teacher at the American School for The Deaf, Julie Denno, was arrested today for the alleged sexual assault of a male student under the age of 16.

Denno faces charges of second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor.

A Ballston Lake, NY, resident, Denno is accused of sexual assault of the boy at her former home in Bristol, CT, between December '07 and January '08. Police started investigating after receiving a complaint in February 2008. Denno was terminated from school employment after the initial allegations were made.

Denno was booked into custody with bond set at $75,000.

Reportedly, both Denno and the boy are deaf.

Ohio Woman Gets No Jail in Boy Sex Case - Updated

(Fremont, Ohio) Sandusky County Common Pleas Court Judge Roger Hafford sentenced Renee L. Frye to probation for two counts of felony unlawful sexual conduct in a relationship with a 14-year-old boy for a period of more than three months.

Electronic monitoring for 180 days was also ordered and Frye will be classified as a sex offender.

Lenient? I'll say. Can you imagine a 28-year-old man slipping the smooth one to a 14-year-old girl for three months and walking away with zero slammer time? I can't.


* * * * *
Ohio Woman Guilty of Sex with Boy
[Previous 6/24/08 post]
(Fremont, Ohio) A 28-year-old local woman, Renee L. Frye, pleaded guilty in Sandusky County Common Pleas Court last week to engaging in a three-month sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy. Police were initially alerted to the relationship by the boy's mother.

Frye admitted to two counts of third-degree felony unlawful sexual conduct with a minor while 10 other counts were dropped in accordance with a plea agreement.

At sentencing, Frye faces a possible five years in prison and a $10,000 fine on each count. She will be required to register as a sex offender. No information on a sentencing date has been provided.

Interestingly, according to this report, Frye received a divorce from Todd Frost on March 3. This means that she was mixing it up with the boy while still married or began the relationship while the divorce papers were still hot.

Heh.

Hezbollah Terrorist Loses at Trial

Kudos to Debbie Schlussel who just won a criminal court case where her client was falsely accused of felony possession and assault with a firearm.

The accuser, Ali Taleb, is a Hezbollah terrorist who is wanted in Lebanon for kidnapping and murder. The accused, identified as Haidar, is a resident alien from Lebanon who has a fatwa issued for his death because he helped the U.S. government investigate Hezbollah.

Working pro bono, Schlussel had to deal with a hostile prosecutor, Raj Prasad, and a hostile judge, Thomas Jackson, while confronted with dissembling from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who worked with Haidar.

In the end and despite the obstacles, the jury saw through the attempted kangarooization of the trial and acquitted Haidar.

Check out Debbie's post. While outlining the victory at trial, it additionally gives common sense substance to the contention that America is becoming Islamized.

New British ID Card

(United Kingdom) Starting in November, Britain's newest identity card will be issued to foreign citizens. The new card is pink and blue and covered with European Union symbols while displaying no British symbols.




To get a job and welfare state services, foreigners will need the card. It contains a biometric symbol, a digitized photo, personal data, security features and a microchip storing personal data and fingerprints. As many as 60,000 cards will be issued by March.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith believes the cards will protect against illegal aliens and identity fraud. Critics say that the current card scheme is a pilot project intended to acclimate all British citizens to the idea of having a national ID card crammed down their throats from 2011 on.

In any event, since the card displays a unicorn and a powder-blue and boudoir-pink color scheme, I could easily believe it was designed in a lingerie shop.

Bill Clinton Defends John McCain's Debate Decision-- Blames Dems For Meltdown!

ABC News' Nitya Venkataraman Reports: Former President Bill Clinton defended Sen. John McCain's request to delay the first presidential debate, saying McCain did it in "good faith" and pushed organizers to reserve time for economy talk during the debate if the Friday plans move forward.

Appearing on Good Morning America Thursday, Clinton told ABC News' Chris Cuomo that McCain's push to postpone the debate would only be a good political move if both candidates agreed. McCain announced on Wednesday that he would "suspend" his presidential campaign to come to Washington to help negotiate a financial bailout bill.

"We know he didn't do it because he's afraid because Sen. McCain wanted more debates," Clinton said, adding that he was "encouraged" by the joint statement from McCain and Sen. Barack Obama. "You can put it off a few days the problem is it's hard to reschedule those things," Clinton said, "I presume he did that in good faith since I know he wanted -- I remember he asked for more debates to go all around the country and so I don't think we ought to overly parse that."

Also... During the interview Bill Clinton blamed the Democrats for blocking reform of the mortgage giants, via Patriot Room:

Going very much against the media meme that the current financial crisis is all George W. Bush and the Republicans' fault, Bill Clinton on Thursday told ABC's Chris Cuomo that Democrats for years have been "resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac"

True. President Bush warned about reforming Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae 17 times this year alone. John McCain's reform bill was blocked by dems in 2005. Thank you, Bill Clinton!

Source



Posted by John Ray.

MRSA in Northeast Ohio

Four cases of infection from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (MRSA) have emerged in the northeast Ohio area.

In Mentor, the school system reported three cases of MRSA. School officials said each case appears to be isolated.

In Bay Village, a Heinen's grocery store employee was confirmed to be infected. The Cuyahoga County Board of Health said it was not a public health concern.

I wonder what the upper limit is for isolated cases before MRSA can be classified as a public health concern. We've got at least four now. And, regarding all the "isolated" cases, I believe the authorities should determine where the patients came into contact with the bacteria before nonchalantly announcing that there is no public health concern.

Being part of the public, I can say I'm concerned.

California Woman Busted for Boy Sex

(Watsonville, California) A 23-year-old local woman, Yazmin Reyes Ruiz, was arrested this week for allegedly engaging in sex with a 13-year-old boy when she was a guest in his house.

According to Watsonville Police Sgt. Terry Traub, Ruiz faces charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor more than 10 years her junior.

The boy’s mother confronted her son when she noticed “suspicious issues” concerning the boy, said Traub. When she talked to him, he admitted the encounter. The mother contacted police and Ruiz was removed from the home.

Ruiz was booked into custody at the Santa Cruz County Jail.

Pedophile Clergyman Gets Prison for Child Porn

(Wales, UK) A 59-year-old vicar at the Beguildy Church in Wales, Richard Hart, pleaded guilty to 21 charges of child pornography stemming from the discovery of 57,000 filthy images of children in his home. Hart even enlarged one image and posted it on the wall in the vicarage bathroom.

As a result, pedophile Hart was sentenced in Cardiff Crown Court to three and one-half years in prison.

Many of the pictures were of children who enrolled in Sunday School during his 17 years in the village of Beguildy, near Knighton, Mid Wales. Others, described as 'stomach-churning', came from the internet.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that Hart's wife Julia, 41, a teaching assistant, knew he had pictures of children as young as five.

Prosecutor Ieuan Morris, who called her attitude 'bizarre', said that when police arrived at the vicarage she said she was not surprised to see them.

After her husband was arrested she told police: 'We occasionally looked at images of teenage girls, sometimes leading to sexual intercourse.'

She added: 'If parents were happy to have their children on the internet in this manner it wasn't anyone else's business.

Hart was also added to the sexual offenders register and banned from working with children. Wife Julia Hart was also punished. She has been disqualified from working with children for two years. In summary, Hart gets less than a handful of years in prison and his wife gets nothing.

It's noteworthy to mention that if Hart had been prosecuted in the U.S. for possessing 57,000 child porn images, he would likely be facing 50 years in prison. Apparently, British law is rather blasé regarding child pornography.

Tip: slwlion

The Obamazebo

(Chicago, Illinois) Investigative work by the Sun-Times is underway in the Chicago area to find what happened to a $100,000 in Illinois taxpayer funds given by State Senator Obama in 2001 to a campaign volunteer.

The money was supposed to be spent on improvements to an economically-blighted area in Chicago's South Side.

Other than a gazebo, dubbed the Obamazebo, on a vacant, littered lot along with weeds, garbage and broken pavement, there's no evidence that the state money was properly handled.

When questioned about the grant money, Obama stated that somebody should have been monitoring the disbursement, showing no sense of responsibility for the results even though he picked the person to receive the money.

In a nutshell, as a state senator, Obama couldn't keep track of $100,000 dedicated for urban beautification. Instead, the money appears to have simply vanished while leaving only a gazebo, the Obamazebo.

Notably, the story of the mishandled $100,000 is percolating while the Democrat Party is seeking to have Obama elected to the presidency so he can control trillions of dollars.

BizzyBlog has all the details.

Harry Reid Puts Oil Shale Ban in Continuing Resolution

(Via Tom Blumer)

We've just been alerted that despite House Democrats relenting on extending bans on offshore drilling and oil shale in the continuing resolution (CR) appropriations bill, Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid has decided to sneak an extension of the oil shale ban through as Congress fights over the financial bailout.

Oil shale in America's West is estimated to hold be between 800 billion and 2 trillion barrels of oil -- that is more than three times the proven oil reserves in Saudi Arabia alone.

It's our oil. Let's go get it.

Florida Teacher Pinched for Cocaine and Theft

(Palm Beach Gardens, Florida) A 41-year-old teacher at Treasure Coast High School, Lynne Wilson, has been accused of stealing items from a Wal-Mart Supercenter and possession of cocaine.

When investigators stopped her, she said, "I have a problem, I have a problem."

Asked if she had anything illegal on her, Wilson pulled a small amount of cocaine from her right front pocket. Investigators also turned up a clear straw with cocaine residue on it in her back pocket.

Police listed the value of the goods she took at $40.28, including a Tim McGraw CD, a DVD, two dozen highlighters and a pair of sunglasses.

Wilson faces counts of possession of cocaine, possession of drug paraphernalia and theft.

Colorado Teacher's Aide Sex Case Closed - Updated

(Lakewood, Colorado) According to this report, the criminal case against April T. Robertson, now 33, was dismissed last June. Robertson's lawyer convinced the prosecution that the teenage boy involved was actually obsessed with her. I removed her pic from the post.

* * * * *
Colorado Teach Accused of Sex with Boy
[Previous 4/21/07 post]
(Lakewood, Colorado) A 32-year-old teacher's aide at Sobesky Academy, April T. Robertson, was arrested Thursday for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old male student in December 2006.

The boy told his family about the sexual conduct and they alerted the authorities. According to Steve L. Davis of the Lakewood Police Department, "There were at least two reported incidents," and they occurred off of school property.

Robertson faces charges of sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust, sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust with a pattern and enticement of a child.

The Media Were Shocked

Regarding John McCain suspending his campaign to work on the financial crisis, one result is remarkable. It dramatically shook up the media.

Politically it’s the equivalent of turning the game of risk over and scattering all the pieces.

I agree. Pundits and reporters were caught totally by surprise. I was entertained.

Presumably, the Obama campaign is diligently producing and planning its own shocker to counter McCain's. I wonder what it could possibly be.

Dem Woes and Volcanoes

The Democrats are dividing and infighting.

This week, my "best friend" living a great distance away dumped me when I disclosed my support for McCain-Palin.

I laid out my reasons for rejecting our party's nominee; offered facts, links, and analysis from major sources; and explained that my decision was based on a fervent conviction that Obama is not ready to become president and, more importantly, may not have America's best interests at heart. I reassured her that I was still a Democrat, and planned to vote for as many down-ticket Dems as possible...

The Democrat "best friend" then, being as civil and tolerant as possible, erupted like a volcano, swift and violent.

That's a shame.

Ohio Woman Gets Prison for Unlawful Sex with Boy, 13

(Canton, Ohio) Last month, a 24-year-old Nimishillen Township woman, Sarah M. Rice, pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor for engaging in a three-month sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy. The sex occurred at the victim's home.

Yesterday in Stark County Common Pleas Court, Sarah Rice was sentenced by Judge John G. Haas to three years in prison, however, he agreed to consider early release. Tearfully, Rice told the judge that she was sorry.

Rice was also ordered to register as a sex offender twice a year for 25 years.

Early release to be considered, eh? Any takers on a bet that she doesn't do six months?

Facing Mecca During Defecation

I guess there is a rule written somewhere that says Muslims must turn their heads away from the holy city of Mecca when they defecate.

LONDON -- Olympic organizers issued detailed design rules for the 2012 London games Wednesday, including a mandate that at least some toilets in the Olympic park do not face the holy Islamic city of Mecca.

Just from one person's perspective, it would seem prudent to label those toilets that don't face Mecca. Think about it. Someone walks around all day and enters an arbitrary facility to relieve the urge and, whoa, how does he know which toilets face which way? I won't believe that all Muslims have the inherent ability to automatically know the direction of Mecca at all times.

To take it one step further, when a toilet is picked to be identified as not facing Mecca, it might be simpler just to indicate what it does face. Examples might include: China, Iran, North Korea, Barbra Striesand's Malibu mansion, Angelina Jolie's swimming pool, etc. Of course, labeling all toilets with directions faced would be a decidedly frivolous expenditure of taxpayer dollars.

Silliness aside, the whole subject of Mecca-facing toilets is moot if one considers that the Earth is a globe. Furthermore, Mecca sits at approximately 40 degrees E. longitude and 20 degrees N. latitude and on the other side of the Earth, straight through the core, sits Tahiti (approximate enough for discussion purposes). Now, for a Tahitian toilet to face Mecca, it would have to be mounted on the wall, facing downward toward the center of the Earth. Obviously, a wall-mounted toilet would not be functional.

However, it is also obvious that any functional Tahitian toilet could not possibly face Mecca. When the curvature of the Earth is taken into account, any toilet out of the region surrounding Mecca can't possibly face Mecca.

I would suggest that the only toilets actually able to face Mecca are within 100 miles of the city or they are mounted at an angle to the floor. In Britain, at 0 degrees longitude, a toilet would have to be tilted 40 degrees from the plane of the floor to face Mecca. Chances are that a user would find it difficult to defecate at a 40 degree down angle.

So, if a respected Islamic scholar could rule that the Earth is not flat and it's impossible to face Mecca at most points on the planet, the dumb defecation requirement can be repealed.

Companion post at The Jawa Report

Typical Democrat elitist behavior: Someone else will pay

Barack Obama's Wisconsin Campaign for Change left no change in Waupun last week. The presidential candidate's campaign staff arrived at the Chit Chat Cafe at 324 E. Main St., last Tuesday to hold a round table discussion about Obama and his positions. More than 40 people crowded the family restaurant.

But when it came time to leave, the campaign staff got up and left, refusing to pay the tab for coffee. "When they came the place was full and they started talking," said the waitress Amanda, who didn't want to use her last name. "Then some people said they couldn't hear, and so they stood up and started giving a speech, talking loud enough for everyone to hear. "We didn't even know they were having a meeting here."

Amanda said it started last week when two men came in to eat. "After they ate they asked if we could reserve a table for 10 people for next week. We said sure. We didn't know it was for a meeting. "We didn't know what was going on Tuesday. I didn't know anything about this. They never told us, but they had press releases, and were on the radio, and called people to come."

As the campaign staff started walking out, a startled Amanda stopped them at the door and asked who was going to pay for the coffee. "One man said he only had $10, and another said they had to hurry on to the next meeting in Watertown," Amanda said. About 20 cups of coffee weren't paid for but that small amount didn't concern Chit Chat owner Debbie Vanden Boom.

"It's the principle of the matter. Had they said they were having a meeting and many people would be coming and could the coffee be complimentary, it wouldn't have been a problem," she said. "On top of that, Amanda never even got a tip."

Source



Posted by John Ray.

Teacher Naughty for Cracks to Girls About Panties

(Jacksonville, Florida) A seventh-grade science teacher at Twin Lakes Middle School, Patrick Foster, is under investigation for telling a girl student the color of her panties after he had warned that he would do so.

"Girls, if you wear short skirts and I can see your panties, I am going to tell you what color they are."

Reportedly, Foster also directed inappropriate comments to boys about their underwear, saying that when one wears his pants low, it means, in prison terms, that "you are open for business."

None of Foster's cracks sit well with the administration which is going to ask the school board to suspend him for 10 days without pay.

"Following his suspension, if that is what's passed at the board meeting in October, then he'd be moved to a different school," said Jill Johnson, spokeswoman for the Duval County School Board.

I think Foster suffers from being distructively candid. He needs to learn tact and diplomacy.

South Dakota Woman Gets Probation for Rape

Honestly, the prosecution and punishment of female sex offenders borders on being a joke. Yesterday, Marchelle West (aka Marchelle West-Boston) was sentenced by Circuit Judge Brad Zell to probation for raping a 14-year-old boy. Judge Zell said West doesn't have the characteristics of a child predator.

Apparently, Judge Zell failed to give adequate consideration to the fact that she committed a crime. The crime seems to have been relegated to secondary importance to Marchelle West's "characteristics."

Nevertheless, despite the prosecution asking for a three-year prison term, Judge Zell gave West a suspended sentence with five years of probation. West will be required to register as a sex offender. Regarding the alleged pregnancy previously reported, no news has been forthcoming.

In closing, it's notable that the ages-old cliche of "do the crime, do the time" has largely become not applicable to female sex offenders.


* * * * *
South Dakota Woman, 28, Indicted for Rape of Boy, 14
[Previous 5/3/08 post]
(Sioux Falls, South Dakota) A 28-year-old local woman, Marchelle Dawan West-Boston, was indicted this week by a Minnehaha County grand jury on two counts of rape of a boy who was 14 and 15 at the time.

According to court documents, the mother of the 15-year-old reported to DSS that 28-year-old Marchelle Dawan West-Boston had sex with her son during the summer of 2007. The defendant had been staying at the teen's friend's house in Humboldt South Dakota, when she allegedly "came on to" the victim.

The victim also allegedly received letters from West-Boston. In those letters, she said that she loved him and that she was pregnant with his baby.

A court appearance is scheduled for next week.


[Update 7/8/08]

From Argus Leader:

A 28-year-old Sioux Falls woman has pleaded guilty to the rape of a teenage boy.

Marchelle West-Boston faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty last week to fourth-degree rape, according to court records.

Sentencing is scheduled for August 28.

Florida Teacher and Neighborhood Youth

(Largo, Florida) A 36-year-old third-grade teacher at Southern Oak Elementary School, Alyson Perry-Jarvis, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly engaging in a two-year sexual relationship with a neighborhood male youth.

The sexual relations allegedly started when the teen was 16 in July 2006. Now 18, the young man reported Perry-Jarvis to authorities on September 19.

Married with a son, Perry-Jarvis faces one count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. She was booked into custody.

Obscene Language Class

(Fresno, California) Check out the latest behavior course content being loafed out by the progressive public school system in Fresno.

During the first week of school, the kids got a lesson on words they shouldn't use, including terms for oral sex and prostitution. The teachers and kids were focused on behavioral expectations instead of the normal subjects, but some parents say the way the school taught kids not to swear was obscene.

The first week of school included a vocabulary lesson for Phoenix Hawkins and the words he learned won't help him on the SAT. He says his history teacher wrote out 15 dirty words for the whole class to see and then asked them not to use those words.

Phoenix says he only knew a few of the words, but he and some of the other kids tried to figure out the ones they didn't know. "After school, I asked my mom what some of the words were," he said. "And she said, 'where did you hear those words?'"

His mother says it was quite a shock to her ears and that he wasn't using "standard swear words." She called the words the most vulgar and disgusting words she's ever heard. "I couldn't believe what he was saying to me," said Erin Hawkins. "I felt so violated."

Phoenix says he's heard a lot more bad words at school since the cursing class, including that same day, when he says kids were using the 'C' word.

The obscene language curricula apparently is a system-wide project to improve behavior. Unfortunately, there are significant unintended consequences, a customary attribute of progressive ideas.

First of all, the kids only learned many of the words when they were told not to use them.

Second, once the kids knew the words, they searched for explanations regarding their meaning.

Third, vigorous discussion about the words and their meanings ensued among the kids.

Fourth, the parents found out what the school is doing and they are angry.

Fifth, valuable classroom time is being wasted on the obscene language program and the kids are not learning anything that will help them score good grades.

A Fresno Unified School Board meeting is scheduled for this afternoon. I expect it will be lively as parents seek answers to their complaints.

Companion post at EdWatch

Fart Leads to Battery Charge

(Charleston, West Virginia) A 34-year-old local man, Jose Antonio Cruz, was arrested Monday night in South Charleston for allegedly driving under the influence and battery on a police officer.

Cruz was initially stopped for driving with his headlights off. After failing a sobriety test, Cruz was arrested.

As Cruz was being booked and fingerprinted, he leaned toward the booking officer, aimed his exhaust pipe and, likely grinning drunkenly, let loose with a regal rectal ripper that blasted the officer right in the face. As a consequence, Cruz was additionally charged with battery on a police officer.

According to the criminal complaint, investigation determined that the gaseous effluent from Cruz had a "very strong" odor.

Cruz was booked into custody at the South Central Regional Jail.

Tip: slwlion

Man Dies Waiting 34 Hrs at Emergency Room

(Winnipeg, Manitoba) It's unexcusable! A man waits 34 hours at a Winnipeg hospital emergency room and dies before he is seen. Not only that but he was dead for several hours before it was noticed that he had become a corpse progressing toward rigor mortis.

Although the 45-year-old man -- who CTV Winnipeg identified as a double amputee named Brian Sinclair -- was "a regular" at the emergency room, regional health officials say he was never registered or seen by triage nurses over the weekend until it was too late.

"The bottom line is we are not making an excuse for this," [Manitoba Premier] Doer said yesterday following a grilling over the incident in the legislature. "This is a tragic incident and it shouldn't have happened."

Sinclair was dropped off at the hospital by a taxi Friday afternoon after visiting a downtown health clinic, which is part of the regional health authority.

Some hospital staff did speak with the man at some point, but it was not until shortly after midnight on Sunday that he was examined and pronounced dead. The cause of death has not been released.

Although it's arguably unethical, immoral and illegal to deny emergency treatment to people out in society, denying treatment to someone at the emergency room, even by neglect or incompetence, must border on being a prosecutable offense.

Also: SocGlory

Must not diss Obama in a Colorado school




We read:

"An 11-year-old in Aurora says his first amendment rights are being trampled after he was suspended for wearing a homemade shirt that reads "Obama is a terrorist's best friend." The fifth grader at Aurora Frontier K-8 School wore it on a day when students were asked to wear red, white and blue to show their patriotism.

The boy's father Dann Dalton describes himself as a "proud conservative" who has taken part in some controversial anti-abortion protests. Dalton says the school made a major mistake by suspending his son for wearing the shirt. "It's the public school system," Dalton says. "Let's be honest, it's full of liberal loons."

According the the boy's father, the school district told the student, Daxx Dalton, that he had the choice of changing his shirt, turning his shirt inside out or being suspended. Daxx chose suspension.

"They're taking away my right of freedom of speech," he says. "If I have the right to wear this shirt I'm going to use it. And if the only way to use it is get suspended, then I'm going to get suspended." .... The boy's father says he intends to pursue a lawsuit against the district.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

McCain Will Push Amnesty on First Day of Presidency

John McCain told an interviewer on Univision that he would present a plan for comprehensive immigration reform (read: amnesty) on the first day of his presidency.

Just freaking beautiful.

College Credit Offered for Obama Campaigners

(Amherst, Massachusetts) Frankly, at least one person should be fired for merely trying to pull this stunt.

University of Massachusetts officials yesterday quashed efforts by an Amherst campus chaplain to offer two college credits to any student willing to campaign in New Hampshire this fall for Democrat Barack Obama.

Chaplain Ken Higgins told students in a Sept. 18 e-mail, “If you’re scared about the prospects for this election, you’re not alone. The most important way to make a difference in the outcome is to activate yourself. It would be just fine with McCain if Obama supporters just think about helping, then sleep in and stay home between now and Election Day.”

Higgins added that an unnamed “sponsor” in the university’s History Department would offer a two-credit independent study for students willing to canvass or volunteer on behalf of the Democratic nominee.

“It is relatively (easy) to do late add-ons,” Higgins wrote.

University spokesman Ed Blaguszewski said the scheme wasn't approved by the administration. Higgins isn't commenting.

Tip: Charley Nestor

Idaho Cheerleaders Show Too Much

(Boise, Idaho) Due to complaints from unidentified fans, the University of Idaho cheerleaders are being forced to change their uniforms.

Apparently, the uniforms, consisting of halter tops and short black shorts, were considered too skimpy.

New uniforms with a less-revealing halter tops and skirts six inches longer have been ordered.

Despite reported complaints, however, the adviser to the Spirit Squad, Shelly Robson, hinted that some of the girls might be on the beefier side and actually needed more material.

Personally, I'd recommend that the cheerleaders be decked out in the same uniforms worn by the women's Olympic beach volleyball teams. Over a billion people watched the beach volleyball competition and, as I recall, not one official complaint made the news.

Also: Jawa Report

Oregon Woman Indicted for Sex Abuse of Children

(Salem, Oregon) An 18-year-old woman, Morgan Alicia Jodeen Larson, has been indicted by a Marion County grand jury on sex abuse charges involving an 8-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl, both young relatives.

She faces charges of rape, sodomy, sex abuse, unlawful sexual penetration and use of a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct.

The acts became known when the female victim told an older relative about the abuse. When questioned by police, Larson said she was innocent and couldn't understand why the children would make such accusations.

Larson was booked into custody at the Marion County Jail without bail.

Florida Teacher Caught in Drug Bust

(Tampa, Florida) A 23-year-old teacher at Turner Elementary School, Wildalynn Harris, has been arrested by Hillsborough County officers and charged with possession of marijuana.

Harris was caught during a bust of a marijuana grow and sell operation at the home of Shawn Crane, 24.

Detectives say they found 16 marijuana plants, along with approximately 200 grams of marijuana packaged to sell inside the home.

Crane was charged with cultivation of marijuana, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Deserter Jeremy Hinzman Granted Reprieve

(Toronto, Ontario) The first U.S. Army deserter to seek refugee status in Canada, Jeremy Hinzman, was scheduled for deportation today, however, Crown Justice Richard Mosley granted a stay on the deportation order.

Hinzman's lawyer, Alyssa Manning, had argued that "evidence suggests U.S. soldiers who have spoken out against the 2003 U.S.-led Iraq invasion have been facing more punishment than other deserters." Furthermore, Manning stated that the immigration officer had not properly assessed the hardship Jeremy and his family would endure.

Hinzman, who has worked in the past as a bike courier in Toronto, says he and his wife, Nga Nguyen, and children, Liam, 6, and 2-month-old Meghan, have been living off their savings in recent months. "When our compassionate and humanitarian application was turned down, my work permit was revoked (in August) ... We have a little bit (of money) so we've been okay," he said.

At the Toronto hearing yesterday "the judge said if our family was to be separated, that would be irreparable harm," said Hinzman, as he held his baby at Friends House, a Quaker centre on Lowther Ave. in Toronto.

He said he volunteered to go to war: "I wanted to make a better life for myself and my family."

The Rapid City, S.D., native joined the 82nd Airborne in January 2001. Three years later, he went AWOL and fled to Toronto just before his unit was scheduled to leave for Iraq.

Hinzman now gets a chance for an additional appeal before a federal court, expected within a couple months.

Maybe it's just me, but if someone deserts the U.S. military in a time of war, I think it's naive to expect there will be no consequential hardship. I also think the Canadians might want to consider scrubbing some of the liberalism from the judiciary.

Also: Jawa Report