Women With Troubles - December 2008

Reported in news stories during December 2008, here is a 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.

(AL) Sydney Underwood, 28,
neighbor - Gets community service for endangering her unborn child by using cocaine,

(AR) Pam Bradsher, 54,
teacher - Arrested for drug swap scheme with student, 16,

(AR) Tracie Geanie Lowman, 38,
teacher - Busted for drugs with her husband, Gregory Lowman,

(CA) Hope Jacoby, 23,
athletic trainer - Arrested for sex with male student,

(CA) Kristy Stubblefield, 36,
school custodian - Arrested for sex with male student,

(CO) Theresa Lynn Millon, 31,
neighbor - Gets probation for sex with boy, 14,

(CO) Yvette Starzyk, 27,
teacher - Sentenced to probation for sex with boy, 15,

(DE) Juli Faunce, 38,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 14,

(FL) Christina Butler, 34,
teacher - Gets probation for sex with male student, 16,

(FL) Michelle Fresno, 26,
karate teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(FL) Carla Maldonado, 40,
neighbor - Arrested for having sex with dogs and girl, 15,

(FL) Julissa S. Martinez-Artiga, 20,
neighbor - Accused of DUI manslaughter,

(FL) Jennifer M. Thieringer, 39,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 16,

(GA) Elizabeth Gaddy, 45,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 13,

(GA) Brandi McMichael, 28,
teacher's aide - Arrested for sex with student, 13,

(GA) Claire Richards, 35,
teacher - Arrested for sex with male student, 16,

(GA) Amy Syrinek-Ross, 32,
school counselor - Accused of assaulting girl, 10,

(ID) Michelle Ward Farley, 40,
teacher - Arrested for sex with male student, 17,

(ID) Janice Earline Gates, 20
neighbor - Gets probation for sex with boy under 16,

(ID) Laura Louise Hester, 33,
neighbor - Guilty in boy sex case. Sentencing in January,

(KY) Anna C. Cox, 29,
teacher - Busted with boy, 15, holding dope,

(KY) Cynthia D. Elmore, 41,
neighbor - Accused of driving drunk and crashing into school bus,

(KY) Nicole Howell,
teacher - Under investigation for alleged sex with male student, 16,

(KY) Jessica Darcy Smith, 25,
caregiver - Accused of sex with boy, 15,

(KY) Jeannie Vannerson, 38,
neighbor - Arrested for sex abuse of boy, 16,

(MA) Nga Thi Truong, 16,
neighbor - Accused of murdering one-year-old son,

(MI) Kelly A. Abdo, 27,
teacher - Accused of sex with two male students,

(MI) Lisa Kay Creger, 40,
neighbor - Accused of sex with daughter's boyfriend, 15,

(MN) Kellie Ann Lundon-Cormican, 39,
teacher - Guilty of sex with boy, 14. Sentencing in February,

(MN) Melissa Diana Koehn, 30,
teacher - Arrested for official misconduct after being caught with female student, 17,

(MO) Dena D. Riley, 41,
neighbor - Sentenced to life in prison for sadistic sex murder,

(MS) Tyshuna Cooper Ross, 38,
neighbor - Guilty at trial of sex with boy, 12. Sentencing in February,

(NH) Robin Mowery, 38,
neighbor - Gets 2 to 4 years prison for sex with boy, 15,

(NJ) Lisa Glide, 35,
teacher - Arrested for sex with male student, 17,

(NJ) Emma Painter, 46,
teacher - Found guilty of official misconduct and witness tampering. Sentencing in February,

(NV) Erika Williams, 33,
neighbor - Arrested for fraud by faking cancer for profit,

(NY) Lisa Curcie, 22,
neighbor - Gets 6 months jail for sex with boy, 14,

(NY) Joan Tuckruskye, 44,
PTA official - Arrested after being caught with half-naked boy, 13,

(OH) Lynda Quick, 49
teacher - Loses teaching license for drug use,

(OH) Robin Pickering,
teacher - Indicted for sexual battery of student, 11,

(OH) Roseda Goff,
school superintendent - Loses teaching license for failing to report child abuse,

(OH) Krystal VanHoose, 22,
neighbor - Busted for hooking at truck stop,

(OH) Angel White, 31,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boys, 13,

(OK) Laura Kathleen Cantrell, 40,
school librarian - Accused of sex with male student, 15,

(PA) Angela Honeycutt, 38,
neighbor - Guilty of corruption of minors in teen sleepover case,

(PA) Tammy Lynn Woodley, 32,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 14,

(SC) Amy Strickland,
neighbor - Arrested for operating a drug house,

(TN) Ella Marie Rose Amish, 19,
neighbor - Arrested for raping her three-year-old son,

(TN) Kathy Mai McKinney, 28,
neighbor - Indicted for rape of boy, 17,

(TN) Jessica Percifull, 26,
teacher - Arrested for alleged sex with minor,

(TX) Jennifer Elizabeth Bagley, 37,
teacher - Gets prison for violating probation in sex case,

(TX) Cynthia Kathaleen Brown, 47,
juvie counselor - Arrested for sex with boy, 17, she was counseling,

(TX) Lauren Cosgrove, 30,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 13,

(TX) Erica Monquecho Gonzales (aka Erica Morquecho Gonzales), 33,
teacher - Gets probation for sex with student,

(TX) Phylecia Humphries, 26,
foster mom - Gets 90 days jail for sex with foster son, 13,

(TX) Julianna Sauls, 38,
teacher - Arrested for improper relationship with male student, 17,

(TX) Josefa Isabel Ybarra, 32,
preschool teacher - Busted for crack cocaine,

(VA) Jodi Lee Counts, 30,
teacher - Arrested for dealing drugs,

(VA) Latasha Rexrode, 27,
neighbor - Guilty of sex with boy, 14. Sentencing in March 2009,

(VA) Rebecca Jane Shook, 27,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(WV) Mindy Faye Keesecker, 35,
church supervisor - Gets 30 days jail for sex with boy, 15.

Thanks again to the readers, commenters and tipsters. Happy New Year to you all!

Medics Decide Man Not Worth Saving

(Brighton, England) Two paramedics arrived at the house of a disabled man, Barry Baker, 59, who had collapsed. Unbeknownst to the paramedics, the phone was off the hook and they were being recorded as they discussed not resuscitating Baker because he "was not worth saving."

A police source, who asked not to be named, said that the medics were then heard discussing Baker and saying “words to the effect that he was not worth saving."

The source said that the two men were allegedly first heard commenting on the untidy state of the house and then saying that it was not worth bothering to resuscitate Baker.

They are said to have discussed what to tell ambulance control and decided to say that Baker was already dead when they got there.

The two paramedics were arrested and a full-scale investigation was launched.

Tip: slwlion

Burj Dubai - World's Tallest Building


Burj Dubai
(Dubai, United Arab Emirates) The world's tallest building, part of the Downtown Burj Dubai project, has reached a height of 780 meters (2,558 feet) and 160 stories. Final height is not known but anticipated to be between 800 and 1,000 meters.

The structure is being built by Emaar Properties.

British Plan for Kids Drinking Alcohol, Ages 5 and Up

(UK) Instead of prosecuting parents for letting their youngsters drink alcohol, as was planned by Health Secretary Alan Johnson and Children's Secretary Ed Balls, the British government is preparing official guidelines for parents to introduce their children, ages five and up, to a sensible approach to drinking.

Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson is drawing up a series of recommendations, which will include how much alcohol parents can safely give to their children.

Presumably, the scheme will be comprised of a graduated scale linked to the age of the child. For example, in the 5 to 8 years old bracket, no more than one daily shot of vodka or the equivalent will be allowed. In the 9 to 12 years old bracket, we should expect to see two daily shots of vodka or equivalent and for those 13 years old and up, three shots of vodka daily would be allowed.

Critics object to the government getting involved with child drinking regulations, saying it's just another "nanny state" initiative whereby the British government is continually trying to dictate every conceivable aspect of human behavior.

Meanwhile in related news, alcohol-related deaths among young people have risen 57 percent in the last 15 years and hospital admissions of young people with liver disease have more than doubled.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Saudi Sex Den Raided

(Madinah, Saudi Arabia) The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice arrested a male shop owner for engaging in sex with a young schoolgirl. The shop had been under surveillance by Virtue and Vice agents due to complaints by neighbors.

When a young schoolgirl entered, the agents followed. Soon a secret passageway was discovered and the man was found in flagrante delicto with the young girl.

The commission said it found evidence the man was recording his sex encounters and possibly using the digital images for blackmail. The commission also said the man’s mobile phone contained pornography and prurient images of him with different women.

In accordance with Interior Ministry regulations, the commission members handed over the suspect to police for further investigation.

Extramarital sex (zina) is a crime in Shariah, though premarital sex is generally treated much less severely than adultery; zina committed by a married person is a capital crime.

However, in this case it appears that the girl is being treated as a victim of sexual predation.

Although sketchy, the report does appear to explain an interesting nuance of Sharia law. If a married man has sex with a woman other than his wife, committing adultery, he's liable to be executed. If, on the other hand, a married man has sex with a child, it's considered child predation, a less severe crime.

Therefore, under Sharia law, married men prone to infidelity should consider child molestation before cheating with another woman.

Human Biodiesel Scandal

(Beverly Hills, California) A 40-year-old radiologist, Craig Alan Bittner, has fled the U.S. for South America to avoid charges that he performed surgeries without a license and he illegally used liposuctioned human fat to power his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator.

The California State Medical Board has raided Bittner's Rodeo Drive office and confiscated medical records.

Notably, Bittner's claims of using liposuctioned human fat to power his vehicles have not been verified. However, Bittner did post regular updates on his now-defunct website (lipodiesel.com), asserting he made biofuel from liposuctioned human fat from nearly 7,000 patients.

In any event, according to KevinMD.com, it's illegal to use human fat to fuel an internal combustion engine.

Frankly, acquiring sufficient liposuctioned human fat fuel to power vehicles is difficult to believe. Liposuctioned fat is accumulated in vessels graduated in milliliters. Fuel is used in vehicles by the gallon.

Carolina Woman Denied Crack, Bites Ear

(Greenwood, South Carolina) A 43-year-old local woman, Marilyn Louise Middleton, couldn't convince her acquaintance to give her money to buy crack cocaine so she bit off a piece of his ear. Middleton has been charged with criminal domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature.

Greenwood Police Officer Matthew Owen was dispatched to a residence about midnight Sunday.

Owen encountered the victim, a 55-year-old man whose left ear was bleeding profusely.

“The top part of his ear was missing and was consistent to an injury sustained from being bitten,” Owen reported.

The officer said blood was on the floor and “all over” the victim.

The victim told the officer that Middleton had been “looking for crack” and gotten into a fight with him, leading to her biting a chunk of his left ear off.

Middleton was booked into custody at the Greenwood County Detention Center.

Tip: SuidaeEmpathy

Yacht Carrying Cynthia McKinney Reportedly Attacked

(Tyre, Lebanon) Former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and a group of activists were aboard a relief yacht reportedly intercepted by the Israeli Navy on a trip from Cyprus to Gaza. The mission was intended to make a statement and deliver medical supplies.

“Our boat was rammed three times, twice in the front and one on the side,” McKinney told CNN Tuesday morning. “Our mission was a peaceful mission. Our mission was thwarted by the aggressiveness of the Israeli military.”

She called on President-elect Obama to address the Gaza crisis, saying the weapons being used by Israel were supplied by the United States.

She denied that the incident was an accident, caused when the captain of the Dignity tried to maneuver past the Israeli blockade. “What the Israelis are saying is outright disinformation,” she said. “What happened to us last night was a direct threat to our mission, but not our cause.”

In a press release, the Free Gaza movement stated, “Contrary to international maritime law, the Israelis are actively preventing the Dignity from approaching Gaza or finding safe haven in either Egypt or Lebanon. Instead, the Israeli navy is demanding that the Dignity return to Cyprus -- despite the fact that the ship does not carry enough fuel to do so.” [...]

The activists, organized by the Free Gaza Group, said their 66-foot yacht called “SS Dignity” would defy an Israeli blockade of Gaza and ferry 16 activists and three tons of Cypriot-donated supplies.

According to the reporting, it appears that McKinney believes she has an inside track on making demands of Barack Obama. It's not known how the President-elect will handle her.

Britain to censor ADULT access to porn


The do-gooders usually say that censorship of porn is "for the children" but Left-run Britain seems to feel no need for that pretence.

"To some people it is exactly the kind of protective legislation that Britain needs in a world where access to a vast array of pornography is available at the click of a mouse. To others, a new law banning "extreme" pornography gives the Government unprecedented powers to police bedrooms (and basements).

Critics, including at least two lords, say that legislation coming into force next month forbidding the possession of "an extreme pornographic image" will criminalise thousands of previously law-abiding people who have a harmless taste for unconventional sex."

Source

There was a time when Leftists were vigorous defenders of porn but when some of that lovely CONTROL is within their reach all that is forgotten

Posted by John Ray.

Some Sour to Sweet Caroline

There's a growing queasiness about whether Caroline Kennedy is ready for the public eye. She is seeking appointment to the U.S. Senate but few express confidence that she has the leadership and political skills necessary for the position. When asked what her plans are, Caroline Kennedy says she will know when she gets the job.

While presumably ambitious, Ms. Kennedy's demeanor is one of apparent reluctance. When questioned, she's uncomfortable, behaving more like a schoolgirl cornered than a confident feminine leader. This was apparent during an interview with the New York Times.

During an interview with the paper she stumbled badly, fuelling comparisons to Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, whose bid for the vice-presidency was blighted by a series of disastrous interviews with Katie Couric of CBS News.

Perhaps most damaging of all was her repeated use of the phrase "you know", which she uttered 142 times and was left in the transcript when it appeared in print.

Explaining why she would be a good Senator, she said: "So I think in many ways, you know, we want to have all kinds of different voices, you know, representing us, and I think what I bring to it is, you know, my experience as a mother, as a woman, as a lawyer, you know, I've been an education activist for the last six years here, and, you know, I've written seven books – two on the Constitution, two on American politics.

"So obviously, you know, we have different strengths and weaknesses."

Well, you know, Ms. Kennedy, it seems you lose support every time you speak. Then, add the fact that you've never held any elected office and consider voting to a sometimes thing, you know, and your suitability for appointment to the U.S. Senate has to be questioned. No offense intended, you know, it's simply a square peg, round hole type of situation.

Diversity Quota for Female Firemen

(UK) British fire departments have been put on notice regarding new diversity quotas for female firemen. At least 15 percent of firemen in operational roles must be women. In practice, the new requirement would specify that at least one woman has to be on every fire truck.

Officials at the Local Government Association, which is pressing the quotas on fire authorities, said that an increased number of women firemen is necessary 'to meet the needs of local people'.

But critics warn that they are placing their targets above the need for fitness and strength.

Susie Squire, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'Introducing this sort of quota to the fire service is a big mistake. If ever there was a job that should be awarded on merit and physical fitness, it is that of a firefighter.

'It is ludicrous that political correctness is being put above the ability to save lives.'

I don't know. If I were trapped in a burning building, I'd much prefer having a 190-pound fireman rather than a 120-pound firewoman trying to save me.

Pin-Ups for Vets


The gang from Pin-Ups for Vets is doing patriotic work for those who served. Check out the latest calendar. More info here and here.

Delaware Woman Accused of Raping Boy

(Claymont, Delaware) A 38-year-old local woman, Juli Faunce, has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with her 14-year-old daughter's 14-year-old friend. Faunce has been charged with four counts of 3rd-degree rape.

In a nutshell, Juli Faunce was allegedly having sex with the neighborhood boy and everything was fat and dandy. However, when she found out the boy allegedly was also doing the daughter, Faunce called the police and reported that the boy had forced her daughter to have sex with him. Ultimately, investigators discovered otherwise.

Police contacted the boy's mother who said she had just learned that her son had sex. However, the boy's mother said her son had sex with Juli Faunce - not her teenage daughter.

Police say Faunce had sex with the boy on at least two occasions in November while he was "staying the night" in her apartment.

Faunce was booked into custody and later released on $40,000 bail.

Russians Vote Stalin 3rd-Greatest Historical Figure

(Moscow, Russia) I can't explain this except to say, propaganda works.

A Russian state television network says Soviet dictator Josef Stalin, who sent millions to their deaths in the Great Purge of the 1930s, has been voted the country's third-greatest historical figure.

Some of Stalin's great historical works

Rights activists have blasted Stalin's inclusion in the 90-day, nationwide project run by the Rossiya channel. They say authorities are trying to gloss over Stalin's atrocities and glorify his tyranny.

This is comparable to naming Jeffrey Daumer the 3rd-greatest pioneer in brain surgery.

Nos. 1 and 2 were medieval leader Alexander Nevsky and Pyotr Stolypin, prime minister under Czar Nicholas II.

Obviously, when you control the media, you control the message. Since Putin and his seat-warmer Medvedev control the media, one must wonder what their true message is. May I suggest a return to jingoistic communism?

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Kentucky Teacher Busted for Dope

(Lexington, Kentucky) A 29-year-old art teacher at Lexington Christian Academy, Anna C. Cox, was arrested last week after police found her allegedly in possession of marijuana.

Cox was parked in Veteran's Park with a 15-year-old at the time of the arrest. She gave a police officer consent to search her Volvo, according to court documents.

The 15-year-old's parents were notified, Lexington Police spokeswoman Ann Gutierrez said.

Am I the only person wondering what she was doing in the park with a 15-year-old?

Twisted German approach to antisemitism


They have decided that it is really "Islamophobia" that is the problem and ignore the antisemitism that they are supposed to be studying

"At a time when Jew haters in the Islamic world have become more assertive than ever, Berlin's Center for Research on Anti-Semitism is concentrating on a different group: the "new enemies of Islam." Who exactly belongs to this category is not clear from the center's latest publication, the "Yearbook for Research on Anti-Semitism." But the potential danger is supposedly known: "The fury of the new enemies of Islam is similar to the older rage of anti-Semites against the Jews," writes Prof. Wolfgang Benz, the institute's director...

It is certainly necessary to oppose the demonization of Muslims and discrimination against them, which often have racist motivations. The Berlin center, whose research covers prejudices in general, is right to address this issue. The problem lies in the way it is being done. The Berlin center adopts the neologism "Islamophobia" without any reservation. This term is misleading because it mixes two different phenomena -- unjust hatred against Muslims and necessary criticism of political Islam -- and condemns both equally....

In taking up the fashionable vocabulary of Islamophobia and equating hostility to Muslims with hostility to Jews, the center also risks undermining the most important current task in dealing with anti-Semitism: studying and fighting hostility to Jews in the Islamic world, where anti-Semitism has reached an unprecedented level. For example, one of the authors in the latest Yearbook, Jochen Mueller, proposes a "revision of politics and history teaching" in German schools. Because the Holocaust has no "central meaning for migrants from the Arabic-Muslim world," one should consider whether "the colonial period and its consequences" would not be a better subject for "appropriate 'Holocaust education'" among Muslim students in Germany. This is a remarkable idea given the degree of Holocaust denial among many young Muslims.

Another article in the Yearbook, "Hostility to Islam on the World Wide Web," goes even further. Instead of criticizing anti-Semitism among Muslims, the author criticizes those who accuse Muslims of anti-Semitism.... Here, attempts to fight "hostility to Islam" threaten to turn into tolerance of anti-Semitic attitudes.

While the Berlin center concentrates on world-wide "anti-Islamic resentments," its Yearbook says not a word about the anti-Semitism of the Iranian mullahs. Thus, it hardly does justice to the demands for contemporary research on anti-Semitism. Never before has the elimination of the Jewish state been so loudly propagated. Never before has an influential power made Holocaust denial the center of its foreign policy, as Iran has today. Never before has a U.N. forum been misused for an anti-Semitic speech, as it was on Sept. 23 by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized the speech as "blatantly anti-Semitic."

Source

Germans want to stop study of the Holocaust? How surprising! (NOT). I suspect however that it takes a German mind to turn these supposed friends of Jews into friends of the enemies of the Jews.

Posted by John Ray.

Black Teenage Murders Spiking

The number of murders among black teenagers (14 to 17 years old) has risen dramatically in the last few years while no similar increase has been seen in the number of white teenage murders.

According to a report by Professor James Alan Fox and Marc L. Swatt, black teenage murders rose nationally by 34 percent between 2000 and 2007. Meanwhile, the number of white teen murders was essentially unchanged.

Cutbacks in police and social programs along with "weakening of gun laws" are being blamed. Murder rates can logically be tied to reduced police presence and cutbacks in social programs but the "weakening of gun laws" is unsupportable since it would result in more murders across the board, not just in black teenagers.

Consequently, blaming the weakening of gun laws as the reason black teens are committing more murders is illogical. However, if it can be proven that guns owned by black teenagers experience the phenomenon of spontaneous triggering while guns owned by white teenagers do not, then evidence would be available to support strengthening gun laws regarding blacks (i.e. whites can own guns, black can't). Try to get elected with that platform.

Ridiculousness aside, the availability or lack of guns has little to do with the murder rates. However, liberal academics festooning ostensibly legitimate research with irrelevant anti-gun rhetoric is common. With guns, people murder by shooting. Without guns, people murder by stabbing (see Britain's problems with knives) or poison or bombs or bats or ligatures or whatever works.

By the way, experts contend that gang activity is to blame for a large portion of the increase in black teenage murders. Gangbangers don't pay any attention to laws, gun control or otherwise.

Quote of the Year 2008

(Alexandria, Virginia) In assessing notable 2008 media quotes which represent bad reporting, the Media Research Center (MRC) selected the following gushing statement about Obama made by MSNBC's Chris Matthews in February 2008.

“I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often….And that is an objective assessment.”

Congratulations, Chris!

For what it's worth, I'd objectively assess that Mr. Matthews wouldn't know the difference between urine in his ear and rain.

Tip: slwlion

Mexican Beauty Queen Stripped of Title

Updating last week's report, 23-year-old Mexican beauty queen Laura Zuniga has been stripped of her Miss Hispanoamericana 2008 title for her involvement with suspected drug traffickers.

Pageant promoters said Zuniga failed "to comply with the regulations of the title she represents."

Zuniga was ordered jailed on Friday for a further 40 days while investigators probe possible ties to violent smuggling gangs.

Police say they suspect the dark-haired model, who won the Miss Sinaloa and Queen of Hispanic America pageants earlier this year, was the girlfriend of one of the men arrested. Investigators say he is linked to the Juarez cartel, which operates lucrative smuggling routes into the United States.

"Promociones Gloria, the company that created and is responsible for (the pageant) has dismissed Laura Zuniga as the official Hispanic America Queen 2008," the organisation said in a statement, according to La Paz daily La Razon.

With Zuniga stripped of the crown, it now goes to Brazilian babe Vivian Noronha. The Miss Sinaloa 2008 crown, however, stays with Zuniga -- for now.

Interestingly, it is now being suggested that Miss Zuniga's string of pageant victories may have been through strong-arm intervention by her drug lord boyfriend. So far, though, there's no hard evidence of impropriety.

Tip: Charley Nestor

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

UAW Golf Resort

(Onaway, Michigan) The United Auto Workers union leadership is receiving some heat because the UAW continues to own and operate a fancy-schmancy golf resort that has been losing money. Critics say that the Black Lake Golf Course simply wastes union dues for the sake of a few privileged individuals.

So far, the UAW hasn't responded to the criticism.

Tip: slwlion

America can't win with its critics


"Retail Sales Plummet," read the Christmas headline in the Wall Street Journal. "Sales plunged across most categories on shrinking consumer spending."

Hey, that's great news, isn't it? After all, everyone knows Americans consume too much. What was it that then Senator Obama said on the subject? "We can't just keep driving our SUVs, eating whatever we want, keeping our homes at 72 degrees at all times regardless of whether we live in the tundra or the desert and keep consuming 25 percent of the world's resources with just 4 percent of the world's population, and expect the rest of the world to say you just go ahead, we'll be fine."

And boy, we took the great man's words to heart. SUV sales have nosedived, and 72 is no longer your home's thermostat setting but its current value expressed as a percentage of what you paid for it. If I understand then Senator Obama's logic, in a just world Americans would be 4 percent of the population and consume a fair and reasonable 4 percent of the world's resources. And in these last few months we've made an excellent start toward that blessed utopia: Americans are driving smaller cars, buying smaller homes, giving smaller Christmas presents.

And yet, strangely, President-Elect Obama doesn't seem terribly happy about the Obamafication of the American economy. He's proposing some 5.7 bazillion dollar "stimulus" package or whatever it is now to "stimulate" it back into its bad old ways.

And how does the rest of the world, of whose tender sensibilities then Senator Obama was so mindful, feel about the collapse of American consumer excess? They're aghast, they're terrified, they're on a one-way express elevator down to Sub-Basement Level 37 of the abyss with no hope of putting on the brakes unless the global economy can restore aggregate demand. What does all that mumbo-jumbo about "aggregate demand" mean? Well, that's a fancy term for you - yes, you, Joe Lardbutt, the bloated disgusting embodiment of American excess, driving around in your Chevy Behemoth, getting two blocks to the gallon as you shear the roof off the drive-thru lane to pick up your $7.93 decaf gingersnap-mocha-pepperoni-zebra mussel frappuccino, which makes for a wonderful cool refreshing thirst-quencher after you've been working up a sweat watching the plasma TV in your rec room all morning with the thermostat set to 87. The message from the European political class couldn't be more straightforward: If you crass, vulgar Americans don't ramp up the demand, we're kaput. Unless you get back to previous levels of planet-devastating consumption, the planet is screwed.

"Much of the load will fall on the US," wrote Martin Wolf in the Financial Times, "largely because the Europeans, Japanese and even the Chinese are too inert, too complacent, or too weak." The European Union has 500 million people, compared with America's 300 million. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain are advanced economies whose combined population adds up to that of the United States. Many EU members have enjoyed for decades the enlightened progressive policies Americans won't be getting until January 20th. Why then are they so "inert" that their economic fortunes depend on the despised moronic Yanks?

More here

Posted by John Ray.

Sarah Palin Linked to Alleged Weapons Theft

Breaking News!

(Wasilla, Alaska) Republican Gov. Sarah Palin is being named as a possible conspirator in a weapons theft case reportedly occurring several years ago. It's believed the weapons could have been used in a variety of crimes and sources say the disappearance of potentially lethal weapons has been linked directly to Republican Sarah Palin.

The missing weapons are two 29-inch baseball bats allegedly stolen by the adopted stepson of a substitute teacher of Republican Sarah Palin's daughter's math class at Wasilla High School. Evidence indicates that Sarah Palin's daughter regularly attended the math classes with the adopted stepson and Sarah Palin was involved with their classwork.

Commercial flights to Wasilla are booked and private air traffic has surged as investigators and the media race to discover Sarah Palin's full culpability in the scandal. Sources indicate that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may call for an investigation by Congress and responsible Alaskan legislators are perusing possible censure or impeachment of Republican Sarah Palin.

Notably, these new allegations against Sarah Palin follow right on the heels of her disreputable involvement in a drunken driving case. Republican Sarah Palin's daughter's baby's father's mother's blood alcohol level while driving illegally exceeded 0.08. Legal and legislative action against Republican Sarah Palin awaits final resolution of her daughter's baby's father's mother's case.

Regarding Republican Sarah Palin's involvement in her daughter's substitute teacher's stepson's alleged theft of potentially lethal weapons, the investigation continues.

Two Daddies on Birth Certificate

(New Orleans, Louisiana) U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey has issued a ruling that the names of both same-sex adoptive fathers must appear on a boy's birth certificate.

"What a great Christmas present for these guys!" said Kenneth D. Upton Jr. who represented Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith of San Diego.

In his ruling Monday, Zainey said Louisiana's Office of Vital Records must give full faith and credit to the New York State court in which Adar and Smith adopted the boy, he ruled Monday. The office had refused to issue a birth certificate listing both as the boy's legal parents.

Excuse me for being naive but I've always thought that a birth certificate is the official record of a live birth as opposed to a simple piece of paper relegated for use in arbitrary PC cutting and pasting. Apparently, I've always been wrong.

Of course, given that it's so easy to manipulate parentage on a birth certificate, it would seem to be a piece of cake to revise dates, sex, ethnicity and place of birth. Just think, anyone could be 10 years younger (or older), you could pick-your-sex and ethnicity, and you could be born in Windsor Castle (or Kansas). All that's needed is some politically correct judicial grease in the bureaucracy and history becomes silly putty.

Understandably, the practice of revising birth certificates because somebody boo-hooed a good case to a judge would render the documents worthless with regard to biological and demographic information.

Marijuana-Brownies Taken to Grade School

(Chico, California) Earlier this month, a teary-eyed local mother and presumably a regular doper, Jennifer White, pleaded for the return of her son after she lost custody because of an incident involving marijuana-laced brownies.

Her sixth-grade boy took some of mom's pot brownies to school, shared them with classmates, yada--yada--yada, police got involved and she lost custody of her boy.

"I can't believe it's come to this extreme," said White. "There's other parents out there that do bad drugs and they get their kids back for less than a brownie. I'm not justifying my actions. I swear."

Swear all you want, Ms. White. However, it seems you believe your behavior is justified by other people's worse behavior.

"It was wrong that I made these brownies and it's wrong that he got a hold of it, and it's wrong that the other children got a hold of it, but I'm not a bad mom."

So, the self-proclaimed "not a bad mom" of Jade White rationalizes that introducing sixth-grade children to the world of illegal drugs isn't a big deal when compared to what she could have done. I strongly disagree. Not only is Jennifer White a bad mom, she's also swimmingly clueless, an expected side effect of regular marijuana usage.

Beguile yourself, ma'am, if you must but don't forget to also blame yourself when your son drops out of school in the 10th-grade because he gets high every schoolday.

Based upon the most recent reporting, prosecutors are considering possible endangerment charges against White and it's not known if her son was returned. Jade White won't be charged because he shared.

Tip: SuidaeEmpathy

A Fish Story You'll Only Find On Broadway

For those of you who haven't been following "Sushigate," let's review: News broke last week that television star Jeremy Piven (of "Entourage" fame) had pulled out of his role in the Broadway production of David Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow." According to Piven and celebrity doctor/diet pill enthusiast Carlon Colker, a nasty case of mercury poisoning rendered the actor " paralytic" and unable to perform until February or March (when, conveniently, Piven will begin filming the new season of his TV show). Rumors are now swirling around the New York theatre scene that Piven was complaining about being " bored out of his mind" on Broadway, and that he'd been shopping around for a replacement actor. Sound fishy? You bet it does.

Given his reputation as an avid sushi fan, Piven's creative excuse may seem plausible -- if you don't know the facts about mercury and other naturally occurring toxins. But David Mamet is in the know. When reached for comment by Variety last week, the legendary playwright said:

"I talked to Jeremy on the phone, and he told me that he discovered that he had a very high level of mercury. So my understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer."

Mamet was definitely on to something: If Piven's story were true, he would go down in American history as the first documented sufferer of sushi-induced mercury poisoning. Ever.

But will he? That depends: Exactly, how big a sushi fan is Jeremy Piven? As readers of the Philadelphia Daily News, Washington Post, and Chicago-Sun Times are learning today, Piven would have to eat 108 pieces of tuna sushi roll every week, for his entire lifetime, to introduce any new health risks from the traces of mercury that have always been in ocean fish.

And Piven's reckless claims are playing games with public health. Our latest report on mercury and seafood, "Tuna Meltdown," showed that seafood scare stories come at a shocking price to the health of America's poorest children. Anyone steering Americans away from the fish counter, whether it's an attention-starved actor or the usual gaggle of green group activists, is depriving them of proven health benefits from omega-3 fatty acids in fish.

As we've been telling the media, someone should send Piven the memo if he hasn't gotten it already: The next time he's bored at a job, he ought to try renegotiating his contract instead of making outlandish health claims. Like other (less whiny) actors do all the time.

Source (See the original for links etc.)


Posted by John Ray.

The Lengthening Bailout Train

(The Bronx, New York) Federal bailout fever has reached down to the local level.

The deteriorating Hunts Point Produce Market, being wooed to move to New Jersey, deserves its own federal bailout, state Controller Thomas DiNapoli argued Monday.

Joined by local officials, he called on President-elect Barack Obama to help keep the market, a major Bronx economic engine, in the borough by helping to fund a major fix-up there.

The overall Hunts Point Market, which also includes meat and fish markets, is the wholesale food basket for the East Coast, with the produce market alone accounting for 8,500 blue-collar workers and $2 billion in sales.

DiNapoli, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión all called on President-elect Obama to help keep the produce market afloat by contributing funding to help build a new center.

The Bronx biggies are asking Obama for help in getting a bailout of $450 million.

Public Fornicator Sentenced

(Richland County, North Dakota) A 23-year-old man, Joshua Fenske, pleaded guilty to public fornication with a local woman, Adriane Diede, in the Spare Time Bar in the town of Hankinson.

According to prosecutors, the two were fornicating for more than 30 minutes as bar patrons watched and captured images on their cell phone cameras.

Diede was also charged for the sexual display but has not yet been to court.

Fenske was sentenced to probation and community service. The owner of the Spare Time Bar was punished by forced closure for a week.

Tip: slwlion

Tennessee Woman Indicted for Rape of Boy

(Lewisburg, Tennessee) A 28-year-old local restaurant worker and mother-of-two, Kathy Mai McKinney, was indicted by a grand jury last week on two counts of aggravated statutory rape stemming from a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old boy. McKinney was also indicted for identity theft.

According to Lewisburg Police Detective Santiago McKlean, McKinney confessed and indicated that she made a mistake.

Per the indictment, McKinney met the juvenile on two occasions in October at a local trailer park. She surrendered to police on December 1st.


[Update 12/29/08]

Good map skills are important. Correction made to state. Thanks Rob.

Iran Swings Nine

On December 19th, the United Nations General Assembly condemned the nation of Iran for human rights violations.

On December 24th, the nation of Iran responded to the UN condemnation by hanging nine people, one a woman. The nine had been convicted in Sharia court of murder.

Tree Falls, Kills Two on Christmas

Sad story.

(Garden State Parkway, New Jersey) A 42-year-old Massachusetts man, Joel Baudouin, and his mother, 72-year-old Marie Vernet, were killed early yesterday morning when a tree fell on the car they were traveling in on the Garden State Parkway.

Baudouin's two daughters, riding in the back seat, were injured and hospitalized. Both are reported to be in satisfactory condition.

Authorities say the car had just left the Brookdale Service Area en route to a family Christmas celebration in Belleville. Driving in the center lane moments afterward, the tree fell.

The cause of the tree falling has not been officially established. However, the ground was saturated with water and it was windy.

Woman Dead in Bed for a Year

Divorced guys reading this report may initially think it's about their ex-wives. But no, despite how applicable the title may be to one's ex-wife, the story is actually about the unreported death of an octogenarian in Manchester, England.

Eighty-four-year-old Doreen Hulme died last year in her bed and was just left there by her daughter.

Hulme's daughter Vivien, 57, was arrested and later released on bail. It's not clear what she is being charged with.

Neighbors had noticed a strong smell coming from the house but chalked it up as a dead animal buried in the garden. Sadly, it was actually a dead animal in the house. No offense intended.

Although stories of people continuing to live with the corpse of a loved one are infrequent, they are not unusual. Every now and then we hear of them.

What's interesting is that someone is even capable of living in the same house with a decomposing human body. The overpowering stench would indicate that the person has a very strong stomach and possibly suffers from a degraded sense of smell. Typically, the ability to smell degenerates with age so this type of story usually involves older people.

Nevertheless, divorced guys might mention (tongue in cheek) to their ex-wives that there's a story about them at Interested-Participant. I welcome new readers.

Arkansas Teacher Caught in Drug Scheme

(Harrisburg, Arkansas) In October 2008, a 54-year-old teacher at Trumann Alternative School, Pam Bradsher, was arrested for allegedly engaging in a drug swap scheme with a 16-year-old student. Reportedly, Bradsher wanted to trade one narcotic pill for another, Hydrocodone for Xanax.

Authorities were alerted by the student's mother. Bradsher was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and solicitation to contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was released on bond.

Earlier this month, Bradsher was arrested again in a separate case for alleged solicitation to commit delivery of a controlled substance. Again, she was released on bond.

Circuit Judge Graham Partlow has set a trial date of March 9th before Circuit Judge David Laser. Bradsher maintains that she is innocent of the charges.

Trumann is a small community in northeast Arkansas between Memphis, TN, and Jonesboro, AR.

Just When You Think You've Heard Everything

There is a California law which prohibits the use of human medical waste to power a motor vehicle. Reportedly, at least one Beverly Hills doctor turned human fat removed during surgery and liposuction into biofuel to power his SUV.

Frankly, this story, if credible, is taking the Save-the-Earth campaign a little too far. Believe it at your own risk.

Palin a racist?

We read:

"Evidence that Democrats consider Sarah Palin a potent political force for the future continues to mount. A Huffington Post blogger went rooting around the comments at the Team Sarah website over the weekend and emerged to announce that he had discovered "something very ugly happening out there in the hinterlands these days -- a brewing cauldron of racist anger being directed at President-elect Barack Obama."

This accusation of "mean-spirited bigotry" was based on a relative handful of comments, far less dramatic than the huffy HuffPoster's hyperbolic introduction suggested. The Christian ladies who run Team Sarah -- Marjorie Dannenfelser, Jane Abraham and Emily Buchanan of the pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List -- responded immediately with sanctions against commenters who cross the lines of political decorum. (Of course, decorum is not even an afterthought at Huffington Post, DailyKos or any number of liberal blogs where the comment fields routinely boil with vitriol, but conservatives have long since become accustomed to this sort of double standard.)

Source

Leftist fakery in connection with hate speech has been proven time and time again so I would not be at all surprised if the comments objected to above were in fact put there by Leftists.

Posted by John Ray.

Tennessee Woman Fired for Xmas Pin

(Cocke County, Tennessee) A cashier at a local Lowe's Home Improvement Center, Kristie Sutton, was fired for wearing a Christmas pin to work.

The pin says "It's called Christmas, for Christ's sake".

When Sutton admired the pin being worn by a customer, the stranger gave it to her. Neither knew its message would mean trouble for the cashier.

When a customer complained, the employee was asked to remove the pin due to store policy that no employee should wear a pin supporting a religion.

Returning from lunch the same day, Sutton was fired.

Lowe's issued a statement indicating that the store doesn't comment on personnel matters. The complaining customer wasn't identified.

Merry Christmas!




Seasons greetings and thanks to all the readers, commenters and tipsters.

Communist Leaders Play Santa in Vietnam

(Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) Vietnamese from the coast to the highlands are celebrating Christmas this week with communist government leadership notably supporting and participating in the gift-giving and well-wishing.

The reported extent of the celebration of the birth of Christ is somewhat surprising given that the latest census identifies the population of Vietnam as less than 10 percent Christian, mostly Catholic.

Government leaders with the Christmas spirit include:

Vietnam Communist Party Central Committee member Ha Thi Khiet, who is also the section head of Central Commission for Mass Mobilization, visited Catholic families in the northern Province of Ha Nam. She distributed presents and wished them a healthy and happy Christmas.

On the afternoon of the same day, Pham Quang Nghi, a member of the Politburo and Ha Noi Party Committee Secretary, visited and gave gifts to 80-year-old Vietnamese heroic mother and Catholic Dang Thi Nhung, who lives in a “house of gratitude” in Dong Da District. Nhung’s only son passed away in the war against the US.

Nhung shares her house with 90-year-old Dao Thi Hoi, the widow of a revolutionary martyr.

The same day, Ha Noi People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen The Thao visited and gave gifts to two typical Catholic families in Quang Trung Ward of Ha Dong District.

Ha Noi People’s Council Chairman Ngo Thi Doan also visited and gave presents to Catholic organizations in Ha Noi.

In Can Tho City, a delegation from the Ministry of Public Security, including Can Tho police force representative Colonel Huynh Ngoc Phuong, visited and presented flowers and a letter of congratulations from the Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh to people in Vinh Thanh District. [...]

In Kon Tum Province, authorities created advantageous conditions for Catholic and Protestant followers to celebrate Christmas.

Local officials went to churches to give gifts and wish Christians a happy Christmas.

Santa Clauses at Kon Tum Province’s house of culture for children helped children draw pictures and prepare for Christmas night.

A Ben, a 48 year-old Catholic parishioner in Kon Ktu village in Dak Ro Wa Commune, said that his villages had decorated two 20 meter Christmas trees in front of their church.

In all candor, I never thought I would ever see communist government leaders playing Santa. Bravo!

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Christmas in Bethlehem - 2008

Security coordination between Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian forces under President Mahmoud Abbas has allowed crowds of visitors and tourists into Bethlehem for the first time in years.

Christians celebrated Bethlehem's merriest Christmas in eight years Wednesday, with hotels booked solid, Manger Square bustling with families and Israeli and Palestinian forces cooperating to make things run smoothly.

Outside the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, good-natured crowds of pilgrims and townspeople gathered for the midnight Catholic mass that is the holiday's highlight.

Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal said in an address during the late-night service that true security comes from God.

"War does not produce peace, prisons do not guarantee stability. The highest of walls do not assure security," said Twal, the Catholic Church's top cleric in the Holy Land. "Peace is a gift of God, and only God can give that peace."

Pope Benedict XVI also spoke of peace between Israelis and Palestinians during Midnight Mass at the Vatican.

With enhanced security, the Palestinians have seen more than a million visitors to Bethlehem this year, a fifty-fold increase over 2007.

Three sides of Bethlehem have fences and concrete slabs built by the Israelis as a barrier to prevent suicide attacks. The Palestinians complain but they will benefit from the increased security. An influx of tourists will surely boost the economy.

Maybe Obama really is a centrist

CAN YOU HEAR the grumbling over in what Howard Dean used to call "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party?" The tolerance-and-diversity crowd is upset with Barack Obama; it seems the president-elect has been bringing people into his circle who don't agree with them on every single issue.

President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team on Dec. 1. Nominees L to R: Eric Holder (Attorney General), Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (Secretary of Homeland Security), US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates who is to continue in his position, Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, Sen. Hillary Clinton (Secretary of State), retired US Marine Gen. James Jones (National Security Adviser), and Susan Rice (ambassador to the UN).

The consternation on the left began with the naming of Obama's national security team -- Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Robert Gates to continue as secretary of defense, and retired four-star General James Jones as national security adviser. "Barack Obama's Kettle of Hawks," they were promptly dubbed in the Guardian by the left-wing journalist Jeremy Scahill, "with a proven track record of support for the Iraq war [and] militaristic interventionism." How could Obama possibly keep his campaign promise "to end the mindset that got us into war," asked The Nation, when none of his top foreign policy/national security picks had opposed the war?

There was even more distress in progressive precincts after Obama's economic team was announced. Lawrence Summers, who will chair the National Economic Council, "opposed regulating the newfangled financial instruments that greased the way to the subprime meltdown," wrote David Corn, the Washington bureau chief of Mother Jones magazine, in a column for the Washington Post. Obama's choice for Treasury secretary, New York Fed president Timothy Geithner, "helped oversee the financial system as it collapsed." Both of them, lamented Corn, are close to Robert Rubin, "a director of bailed-out Citigroup and a poster boy for . . . Big Finance." In the plaintive title of Corn's essay, "This Wasn't Quite the Change We Pictured."

Add to those the passel of former Clinton operatives who have returned to play key roles in the Obama transition, including Rahm Emanuel, John Podesta, and Greg Craig, and Obama Girl herself could be forgiven for feeling disillusioned. Whatever happened to the fresh, progressive candidate who promised an escape from Clinton-era Democratic politics?

As if all that weren't enough to give a fervent liberal agita, Obama has asked the Rev. Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor of Saddleback Church, to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. From many on the left, where Warren's staunch opposition to same-sex marriage is reason enough to loathe him, responses have ranged from dismay to fury. Barney Frank labeled the pastor's views "very offensive" and pronounced himself "very disappointed" that Obama would invite him. The blog Liberal Rapture was more pungent: "Obama throws another middle finger to liberals." ...

Still, Obama is hardly in danger of turning into anything resembling a right-winger. With his trillion-dollar "stimulus" proposal, he is inviting comparisons to FDR. And with committed liberals like Tom Daschle as Health and Human Services secretary, Carol Browner as energy czar, and Eric Holder as attorney general, the Obama administration is never going to be accused of harboring Republican tendencies.

More here

Whichever way you look at it, Obama sure is a champion con-man. Amusing that it seems to be mainly the Leftist big-shots that he has conned, however. Like other psychopaths -- such as Bill Clinton -- Obama believes in nothing other than what will benefit him personally. And he rightly perceives that if he wants a second term, he has to be a centrist. There is an article here which argues that centrism is the rule of politics. I can remember only as far back as Ike but as far as I can see, with one exception, all American presidents have been centrists -- the exception being, of course, Ronald Reagan. But as Nancy once said: "When they made Ronnie, they broke the mould". Ronnie actually moved the centre for a while but it has drifted back



Posted by John Ray.

Chained to Hope

(San Francisco, California) A 25-year-old social worker and student, Aaron Buchbinder, chained himself to the massive Christmas tree at the top of the staircase in the San Francisco City Hall to protest proposed budget cuts.

Apparently, Buchbinder doesn't adhere to the belief that Christmas is a time of giving. He's obviously more attuned to demanding that other people give while he makes a pain in the ass of himself. Merry Christmas, Aaron.

Incidentally, the Christmas tree in city hall has been named the holiday "Tree of Hope" by Mayor Gavin Newsom. What a pantload. Newsom has no problem hijacking Christmas for the meaningless lefty mantra of "hope." Up yours, Mr. Mayor, and have a Merry Christmas.

Carbon Offset Purchase Scheme for Airports

(San Francisco, California) Some enterprising guilt-mongers have convinced the San Francisco Airport Commission to invest $163,000 on certified carbon offset kiosks for the airport.

[T]he general idea, officials said, is that a traveler would approach a kiosk resembling the self-service check-in stations used by airlines, then punch in his or her destination.

The computer would calculate the carbon footprint and the cost of an investment to offset the damage.

The traveler could then swipe a credit card to help save the planet.

As a result, jello-brained travelers can board their flights free from guilt. Al Gore and his ilk have convinced the weak-minded that they are, collectively and individually, responsible for everything that goes bad and the only way they can minimize their guilt is to pay, pay, pay.

Incidentally, certified carbon offset program donations are NOT tax deductible. Note that they are, however, called "investments" which is the same term used in every other leftist money grab.

Of course, one positive result of the plan is that an empirical measure of the gullibility of northern California travelers will be obtained. Arguably, the haul from the global warming money drops will be an indicator of just how stupid people can be.

Tip: Charley Nestor

Restoring Purity

Here's a product for the woman who wishes to convince someone of her unsoiled flower. The artificial hymen replicates all noticeable evidence of virginity.

Artificial hymens are packed two in a nice wooden box for a cost of $14.90. Volume discounts available. Made from natural albumin with a water-soluble medicinal preparation for safe use. Japanese-made, the product is shipped from China.

New brides in old cultures should feel comfort by knowing that evidence of wedding night purity is assured by her nice box of spare hymens.

Mormon hatred

Another gusher of Leftist hate below. He attacks Mormons, a tiny minority in California, for their support of a California constitutional amendment that blocks homosexual marriage. Most analysts say that blacks and Hispanics were the real muscle behind the "Anti" vote so I guess that some of us have wondered why the Mormons were singled out by lots of Leftists on this occasion.

As you read below however, you see that he has always despised Mormons ("money-soaked", "smug self-containment" etc.). Leftists are just full of hatred for anybody who is happily getting on with their lives and any excuse will do to let some of the hatred out:

"It has to do with the passage of Proposition 8, that California trash that befouled an otherwise heavenly election. Specifically, it has to do with the Mormon Church, which swung its considerable clout to the travesty of denying gays the respectability and dignity that Mormons have spent well over a century trying to get for themselves. And which now, they themselves should be denied.

That's right, you heard me. The Mormon Church has become a hateful bully and should be treated as such. Other people voted for Proposition 8, true, and much has been made of how black voters probably ensured its passage. But black voters aren't a money-soaked, monolithic, corporatized, sanctimonious monstrosity that poured $20 million into the effort, are they?

It's frustrating that there's not much we can do. We could refuse to spend our money in Mormon-owned businesses. We could refuse to vote for Mormon politicians. We could challenge their religious tax exemptions and I would love it if someone asked some serious questions as to why there's always a damn Mormon seminary within a stone's throw of nearly every high school from here to Salt Lake City.

But frankly, those of us who grew up around the smug self-containment of our Mormon neighbors will realize none of that would work and, in fact, would probably only make them more smugly self-contained. The Mormon Church has always luxuriated in their history of being picked on.

Yet after this orchestrated disdain for the happiness and emotional well-being of their fellow citizens, my fear of saying what I really think of them (that variety of cowardice I spoke of earlier) is a thing of the past. I am now free to be as unaccepting of them as they are of gays. There is an old tradition among rigid religions-I believe the Mormons still practice it on occasion-called "shunning." Now that they have placed themselves on the wrong side of both morality and freedom, I shun them. Better yet, I excommunicate them. They don't exist to me. Their marriages don't matter. Their happiness and emotional well-being don't matter. Let us move on, around them, as though they weren't there. Let us excise them from our thoughts and our hearts.

But listen, we would never want to be quite as intolerant as them, would we? And in that spirit, should they ever renounce the evil in their hierarchy and escape the sin of their dogma, we must let them know they are always welcome back, here in the fold of America.

Source

"Sin of their dogma"? I thought that there was no such thing as right and wrong to a Leftist? I wonder where he gets his notion of sin from? Romans chapter 1 tells us that homosexuality is a sin. I guess he just pulls his notion of sin out of his butt.

Posted by John Ray.

Judge Lets Stand Marriage of Girl, 8

(Saudi Arabia) Last Saturday, a Saudi judge reviewed a case filed by the mother of an eight-year-old girl seeking to annul the girl's arranged marriage to a 47-year-old man.

[T]he judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed a petition brought by the girl's mother because she "is not the legal guardian of the girl," the woman's lawyer Abdullah al-Jutaili said.

"Therefore, she cannot represent her daughter in these proceedings," al-Jutaili said.

Her parents are separated, he said.

According to the lawyer, the girl's father arranged the marriage in order to settle his debts with the man, who is "a close friend" of his.

The judge did ask for a pledge from the husband, who was in court, not to consummate the marriage until the girl reaches puberty, according to al-Jutaili.

The judge ruled that when the girl reaches puberty, she will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court, the lawyer said.

Therefore, it appears that the case was dismissed because the girl's mother doesn't have standing. Apparently, since the eight-year-old is now married, the mother no longer has a right to intervene in her life.

Hey, but there's nothing to worry about since the 47-year-old pledged to hold off on sex with the girl until she reaches puberty. It seems that pledges by middle-aged child molesters are relied upon in Saudi Arabia. Of course, since the girl was traded for the payment of debts, the issue of treating a person as chattel was apparently ignored by the court.

Germany Challenges Italian Court Ruling in WWII Massacre Award

(Berlin, Germany) On June 29, 1944, German Nazi troops massacred 203 Italian men, women and children of Arezzo in the province of Tuscany. Families of the victims filed suit against Germany seeking compensation.

In September, Italy's highest appeal court ordered Germany to pay a total of €800,000 ($1.05 million) in damages to the families of nine Arezzo victims.

Claiming that the Italian court ruling is contrary to previous agreements between the two countries, Germany has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to overturn the Italian court's ruling.

This is a curious case. It's the first time that an Italian high court has ordered Germany to pay compensation and, therefore, it's the first time that a challenge to this type of ruling has been filed. Frankly, I'm somewhat confused as to which court has jurisdiction over what.

Mexican Beauty Queen Arrested

(Mexico City) Twenty-three-year-old Mexican beauty queen, Laura Elena Zuniga Huizar (aka Laura Zuniga), was arrested Monday night along with seven men at a police checkpoint in a Guadalajara suburb. Traveling in two SUVs, the group was found to be carrying cell phones, cash, pistols, rifles and ammunition.


Beauty Queen Laura Zuniga and drug traffickers
The checkpoint was established after a tipster told the police that drug traffickers would be moving through the area outside Mexico's second-largest city.

One of the arrested men is linked to the leadership of the Juarez cartel, which operates lucrative smuggling routes into the United States, police said.

"This young woman was the gentleman's girlfriend," Jalisco state Security Minister Luis Carlos Najera said in a radio interview.

The model is the latest well-known figure to be linked to drug traffickers this year in Mexico, where President Felipe Calderon is battling powerful cartels with soldiers and federal police.

Zuniga, a native of the Sinaloa state capital of Cuiliacan, was named Miss Sinaloa in July 2008 and Miss Hispanoamericana last month. Zuniga has reportedly expressed a desire to work for world peace and save the planet by giving kids books and maps and stuff.


[Update 12/29/08]

Zuniga stripped of Miss Hispanoamericana crown.

North Carolina Man Accused of Raping Girl, 7

(Statesville, North Carolina) A 25-year-old local man, Luke Ernst, was arrested today for allegedly raping a seven-year-old girl. Ernst has been charged with rape, first-degree sexual offense and taking indecent liberties with a minor. According to Iredell Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Bill Hamby, the alleged victim is the daughter of Ernst's former girlfriend.

When the girl's mother moved them out of Ernst's house, the girl confided about what had allegedly taken place.

The mother called the Sheriff's Department.

Detectives took the victim to the Dove House Children's Advocacy Center, where she was medically examined and interviewed by a counselor.

Armed with warrants, Hamby and another detective in the special victims unit began looking for Ernst earlier this month. They went by his home several times, but were told he'd left the state. They found him today in Iredell County, Hamby said.

Ernst was booked into custody at the Iredell County Jail with bond set at $250,000.

No Jail for Colorado Teacher in Student Sex Case

(Aurora, Colorado) In March 2008, a former teacher and girls athletic trainer at Hinkley High School, Yvette Starzyk, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old male student.

Starzyk originally faced felony charges of sexual abuse of a child and sexual assault of a child by one in a position of trust stemming from offenses which occurred in 2004. Starzyk was ultimately convicted of attempted sexual assault by a person in a position of trust.

Yesterday, Yvette Starzyk, 27, was sentenced by Adams County Judge Michael A. Cox to probation after suspending a three-year prison term.

Defense lawyer Steven R. Barnes said Starzyk already has paid considerably for her crime, saying she has lost her teaching job and lost friends.

However, Sharon Holbrook, senior trial deputy district attorney, took exception to some statements made by Starzyk and her supporters that they didn't think the incident was serious.

In her probation report, Holbrook noted, Starzyk had called the incident a "rite of passage" for the victim.

The prosecutor said had the offender been a male teacher who was convicted of sexual assault on a child the "community would be outraged."

Judge Cox also ordered Starzyk to register as a sex offender.

In all candor, it seems useless to even comment anymore on the non-punishment of female sex offenders.

Pope Attacks Homosexuality

(Vatican City) Yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI gave his end of the year address to Vatican staff and said that saving the world from homosexual behavior is as important as protecting the rain forests.

Homosexual leaders and activists expressed outrage, saying the world needs to be saved from the Pope's comments.

An outpouring of hate from the Left


Just listen to it:

"As the list of Madoff's "victims" grows, their common characteristic is not philanthropy, but rather political Zionism. Virtually all have worked to build a Jewish state with little regard, and often downright hatred, for the non-Jewish population living there.

The money from this type of mogul or "ganzer macher" has been used to dehumanize and depopulate non-Jews in Palestine for over 120 years. But in spite of creating a strong Israeli economy based on guns, diamonds, and security services and in spite of walling Arabs in Bantustans in the West Bank and in the KZ lager known as Gaza, they have failed. Non-Jews outnumber Jews within the borders controlled by Israel, which makes a mockery out of calling it a Jewish state.

Schadenfreude is defined to be largely unanticipated delight in the suffering of another which is recognized as well deserved. Political Zionism deserves scorn and derision; it is racist and antithetical to what Americans profess to hold self-evident: that all men and women are created equal and that we should share equal rights of citizenship. When rich Zionists lose a piece of their portfolios, especially to the guile of one of their own, it is a delight.

The press was first to report Madoff's pilfering of the Robert Lappin "Charitable" Foundation, an organization whose "mission is helping to keep our children Jewish, thus reversing the trend of assimilation and intermarriage." If the reader has trouble seeing the blatant racism here, substitute "White" for "Jewish" and imagine it was the stated goal of the David Duke Charitable Foundation.

While Mr. Burston found Madoff's bilking of "fellow Jews, even Holocaust survivors" particularly outrageous, there are those who find divine justice in seeing one fraud defraud another. Elie Wiesel and his Foundation for Humanity would certainly qualify. Here is a man who has made millions peddling his narrative on the deaths of Jews in World War II; his novel, Night, is mandatory reading for most high school students; questioning it in any way invites charges of "anti-Semitism" and "Holocaust Denial." He has been feted by Presidents and holds dozens of honorary degrees. If there were a CEO of the Holocaust Industry (a term coined by Norman Finkelstein), surely it would be The Great Weasel.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Iran Closes Human Rights Office

(Tehran, Iran) Iranian authorities have closed the offices of a human rights watchdog group led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi. Condemnation of the action has come from the U.S., the EU, human rights groups plus others.

Iranian police raided and closed the Human Rights Defenders Centre on Sunday, shortly before the group was due to hold a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which fell on Dec. 10.

"The presidency of the European Union Council condemns most firmly and vigorously the closing by Iranian police of the offices of the Human Rights Defenders Centre," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in a statement.

"The presidency of the European Union Council calls on the Iranian authorities to honour their international commitments in terms of human rights."

White House spokesman Tony Fratto expressed concern, indicating that the administration is closely watching the situation. Meanwhile, Iran denies that it violates human rights.

As hard as I try, I can't figure out how the media are going to blame this latest Iranian move on George W. Bush and the Republicans. I'm sure it will happen but, so far, I haven't found any reasonable connection.

China Wants Aircraft Carrier

(Beijing, China) The Chinese government is indicating that it wants to build an aircraft carrier to protect its interests.

"Aircraft carriers are a symbol of a country's overall national strength as well as the competitiveness of the country's naval force," Chinese Ministry of National Defence spokesman Senior Colonel Huang Xueping told reporters.

"China has a large sea territory. It is the sacred responsibility of our armed forces to protect our sea territory and to maintain our maritime sovereignty and rights and interests. China, taking into account all relevant factors, will earnestly research and consider (building aircraft carriers)."

For what it's worth, Hong Kong media have indicated that China could build its first carrier by 2010. The Chinese military have been urging the central government for years for a carrier.

Understandably, Taiwan and Japan have expressed concern fearing possible belligerent intentions on China's part.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Missouri Woman Gets Life for Videotaped Murder

(Independence, Missouri) A 41-year-old local woman, Dena D. Riley, pleaded guilty today, in accordance with an agreement, to murder, kidnapping, sodomy and sex abuse of two women which she committed with her boyfriend, Richard Davis, 44.

For their own perverse enjoyment, Riley and Davis videotaped the violence against the two women.

Riley also pleaded guilty to kidnapping, sodomy and sex abuse in the videotaped attack on Marsha Spicer, 41, of Independence, and to kidnapping, sodomy, sex abuse and assault in a separate videotaped attack on Michelle Huff-Ricci, 36, of Kansas City.

Riley sobbed throughout the hearing as she answered each question from the judge, prosecutor and defense attorney with a simple "yes" or "no."

Huff-Ricci's remains were found in nearby Clay County, where Riley and her boyfriend, Richard Davis, are charged with capital murder.

As part of the deal, Riley was sentenced to life without parole for the murder charge and to eight additional life sentences and 239 years in prison for 25 other counts.

She also agreed to plead guilty in Kansas on a federal charge of kidnapping a 5-year-old girl related to Davis after fleeing the Kansas City area in May 2006. Court documents said the girl had injuries consistent with sexual abuse.

Earlier this year, Davis was convicted and sentenced to death for Spicer's slaying. He also is charged in the federal case.

It's a good thing that these two are off the street.

Tip: SuidaeEmpathy

Cops Lure 61 Fugitives in Sting

(Chicago, Illinois) Reports such as this one just tickle me to no end.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said he used the fictional marketing outfit, "Shoptastic Solutions," to lure 61 fugitives to an Illinois hotel and arrested them.

The crooks were lured by an offer of a $1,000 gift card and a chance for a big-screen television.

Obviously a bunch of dopes, eh?

Tip: Charley Nestor

Pregnant Coke-Head Sentenced

(Huntsville, Alabama) A 28-year-old Lauderdale County woman, Sydney Underwood, pleaded guilty to using cocaine before her baby was born.

As a consequence of endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, Underwood was sentenced to a supervised community corrections program and ordered to complete a drug rehabilitation program.

Therefore, according to the court the fetus in the womb is a child. The ruling is contrary to the widely-held contention that a fetus is an unviable tissue mass.

KY Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Paducah, Kentucky) A 38-year-old woman, Jeannie Vannerson, was arrested yesterday for allegedly engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy.

According to the sheriff's department, 38-year-old Jeannie Vannerson of Kevil was found in a locked room with the 16 year old.

After interviewing both, investigators say Vannerson and the teen had sexual encounters at least twice before and that she saw herself as a mother-figure for the boy.

Vannerson faces three counts of first-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

The Demise of a Pro-Hezbollah Facebook Group

The Jewish Internet Defense Force (JIDF) details the takedown of a massive pro-Hezbollah Facebook group, once capable of reaching millions of radical Muslims daily.

Per JIDF reporting, the Facebook group had over 100,000 members, each with large numbers of friends, in September 2008. Today, it has less than 100 members.

Take a look.

RIAA Ends Lawsuits of Internet Song Swappers

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has announced that it will no longer sue Internet song swappers for copyright infringement. Outstanding cases will be litigated until the books are clear but no new cases are currently anticipated.

With about 35,000 lawsuits behind it, the RIAA realized that the total return was less than its legal costs to file suit. Heh, so high-priced lawyers are blamed.

Instead of lawsuits, the RIAA intends to collude with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to identify illegal file-sharers and cut off service if violations continue after warnings.

Under the new strategy, the RIAA is working with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and ISPs on a number of voluntary online anti-piracy initiatives that would include service providers passing along RIAA copyright infringement notices to subscribers. Those people who ignore repeated notices would face the possibility of having their service reduced and possibly suspended before a lawsuit is considered.

In return for ISP cooperation, the RIAA would no longer file lawsuits to force the service providers to turn over identifying information of suspected illegal file sharers.

Besides the negative publicity from past lawsuits, the RIAA has recently come under fire from the legal front. Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson last month filed a brief in federal court in Boston challenging the RIAA's use of the Digital Theft Deterrence and Copyright Damages Improvement Act of 1999 in suing online music sharers. Nesson claimed the act is "an unconstitutional delegation by Congress of executive prosecutorial powers to private hands."

Therefore, it's not only that individual lawsuits are a money loser, it also appears that Congress is delegating powers it doesn't have.

Heh.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Swiss Doggie Cuisine

(Appenzell, Switzerland) If readers haven't seen this well-seasoned post, it's kind of interesting. Animal rights extremists may want to skip it.

On the slopes of the Swiss Alps, there exists a long tradition of taking dogs and turning them into preserved foods such as jerky and sausages. It’s a rare custom hard to see in the wider Western world outside of Swiss mountain regions.

The Swiss tradition of consuming dog and cat meat has recently run into a strong opposition movement from European animal protection activists.

Occurring right smack in the middle of Europe, one would logically expect to find that "the hills are alive with the sound" of PETA. In any event, check the link for a glimpse at a traditional culture that has been largely ignored by the politically correct mainstream of Western society.

[Apologies for the "Sound of Music" pun. I couldn't help myself.]

Aide Calls Anglican Bishop an A***hole

(UK) A senior staffer for the Archbishop of Canterbury was fired for calling the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, Bishop of Rochester and the most senior Asian Anglican bishop in the Church of England, an a***hole.

Rev. Nazir-Ali has apparently caused much consternation within the Anglican Church hierarchy by his strong, outspoken positions supporting Christianity against radical Islam and opposing gay bishops.

The Bishop of Rochester is one of the ten most powerful positions in the Church of England and Rev Nazir-Ali has often attracted controversy with his outspoken views since his appointment in 1994.

Earlier this year he was given police protection after receiving death threats following a newspaper interview which saw him call for an end to 'no-go' areas for non-Muslims. His detractors said his comments served to whip up racial hatred against Muslims.

In May, the 59-year-old launched an attack on the decline of Christianity, stating that the collapse of the religion had 'destroyed family life' and 'left the country defenceless against the rise of radical Islam in a moral and spiritual vacuum.'

His attack appeared to put him in the opposite corner to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and many of his fellow bishops.

His outspokenness has put him in the vanguard of opposition to hardline Islamism and made him one of the highest-placed enemies of the gay rights movement.

It is his stance against gay bishops that church insiders believe may have prompted the insult.

This episode is another example of the rift within the Anglican Church regarding the leadership's accommodation to homosexuals and appeasement to aggressive Muslims. Many people believe that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, is taking the church in the wrong direction.