Women With Troubles - January 2009

Reported in news stories during January 2009, 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) Melissa B. Gray, 29,
teacher - Arrested for child porn and sex charges,

(AL) Barbara Riley-Grissom
teacher - Arrested for being drunk at school,

(AR) Debra Romero, 34,
neighbor - Caught dealing drugs outside courthouse,

(AR) Donna Lou Sanders, 47,
teacher - Gets 50 years in prison for abuse of minors,

(AZ) Glenda L. Rumsey, 43,
neighbor - Sentenced to 14 years prison for vehicular manslaughter while drunk,

(CA) Carmina Lopez, 32,
teacher - Arrested for four years of molesting boy starting at age 11,

(CO) Danelle Daunchet, 52,
neighbor - Arrested for felony abuse of daughter, 10,

(CT) Shonna Couture, 31,
teacher - Charged with sex assault of boy, 16,

(CT) Anastasia Gagnon, 20,
teacher - Arrested for sex with female student, 15,

(CT) Melinda Handlowich, 42,
teacher - Arrested for making advances toward boy, 13,

(FL) Felicia J. Bowen, 41,
teacher's aide - Arrested for possession of cocaine,

(FL) Gina Cevasco, 38,
teacher - Arrested for drug possession,

(FL) Joan Lucille Dewey, 31,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 17,

(FL) Angela Leavitt, 28,
neighbor - Gets year in prison for sex with boy, 16,

(FL) Rebecca Parsons, 22,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(FL) Kristilyn Smith, 25,
neighbor - Arrested for prostitution and incest with her father,

(FL) Wanda Smith, 58,
retired teacher - Arrested for sex with student in 1980s,

(FL) Lamika Watkins, 29,
teacher - Arrested for injuring student,

(GA) Erika Simmons, 28,
teacher - Arrested for engaging in sex with student, 15,

(IA) Erin Marie Rohwer, 27,
teacher - Accused of sex with 18-year-old male student,

(IL) Kathryn Vail-Wesley, 22,
teacher - Arrested for sex assault of male student, 17,

(KS) Nina Urban,
teacher - Arrested for engaging in sex with male student,

(KY) Nicole Howell, 25,
teacher - Arrested for sex abuse of male student, 16,

(LA) Kendra Hoffpauir, 24,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(LA) Tracie L. Ingram, 36,
neighbor - Arrested for texting sheriff with request for drugs,

(LA) Brittany Sumrall Johnson, 26,
teacher - Accused of sending inappropriate emails to student,

(LA) Susan Johnston, 40,
neighbor - Indicted for sex with boy, 11,

(LA) Maureen Lirette, 47,
neighbor - Gets probation for gang bang with several underage boys,

(LA) Angela Mayers, 45,
nurse - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(MA) Christine A. McCallum, 29,
teacher - Arrested for repeated rape of boy starting at age 13,

(MA) Donna Rao, 20,
prostitute - Arrested for prostitution after calling cops upon being robbed,

(MD) Autumn Leathers, 24,
teacher - Guilty of sex with boy, 15. Sentencing TBD,

(MD) Rene Walbeck, 42,
youth center worker - Indicted for sex with boy, 17,

(MI) Melissa S. Barry, 29,
neighbor - Arrested for sexual acts with 15-month-old boy,

(MN) Brianna Marie Broitzman and Ashton Michelle Larson, both 19,
nursing home workers - Arrested for elderly abuse,

(MO) Sarah L. Brown,
babysitter - Arrested for sex with boy, 13,

(MO) Melody Link, 47,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 16,

(NC) Dawn Perry, 45,
teacher - Arrested for kidnapping and shooting a female student,

(NH) Nicole Belonga, 27,
neighbor - Gets 15 to 30 years in prison for killing daughter,

(NH) Crystal Walden, 34,
neighbor - Arrested for child endangerment for leaving son coatless/shoeless at truck stop while servicing truckers,

(NY) Jessica R. Henry, 23,
neighbor - Arrested for directing a child in sex,

(NY) Cecil (Katie) Suwal, 24,
neighbor - Gets six months jail for promoting prostitution in Gov. Spitzer scandal,

(NY) Lynn Taliento, 42,
teacher - Gets two to six years prison for defrauding elderly woman,

(OH) Tracy Conley, 39,
neighbor - Indicted for sex with two boys,

(PA) Beth Camp, 52,
teacher - Busted for trafficking drugs,

(PA) Patricia J. Gamber, 39,
neighbor - Guilty of sex with boy, 15. Sentencing in Feb.,

(PA) Angela Honeycutt, 39,
neighbor - Gets 11 and one-half months prison for corrupting minors,

(PA) Jeanine Melissa Owens, 29,
neighbor - Arrested for engaging in sex with boy, 12,

(PA) Kathi Louise Turner, 41,
neighbor - Arrested for rape of girl, 11,

(SC) Tara Bowers, 29,
neighbor - Accused of criminal sex with boy, 15,

(SC) Sara Melissa Schneider, 29,
neighbor - Gets 70 months in prison for sex with boy, 15,

(TN) Melissa Dawn McCord, 35,
teacher - Arrested for sex with daughter's date, 14,

(TX) Eloisa Suarez Betancourt, 35,
teacher - Arrested for repeatedly stabbing her husband,

(TX) Misti Dawn Kennair (aka Misti Richards), 30,
neighbor - Arrested for sex assault of boy, 16,

(TX) Eliza Leal and Criselda Reyna, 36 and 21 respectively,
neighbors - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(TX) Angela Newport Rowland, 33,
teacher - Arrested for drug possession,

(TX) Melissa Beth Williams, 42,
teacher - Gets six months prison for sex with boy, 17,

(TX) Vanessa Zuniga, 32,
teacher - Arrested for improper relationship with student,

(VA) Kathleen Bernard,
teacher - Accused of being drunk in classroom,

(VA) Cassandra Mays Mawyer, 28,
neighbor - Arrested for carnal knowledge of boy, 13 to 15,

(WI) Angela Bancroft, 33,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(WI) Megan Gaede,
teacher - Accused of sex with student, resigned position at school.

Thanks to all the tipsters.

Stimulus Will Crush Cars for Global Warming

Pure insanity, according to Gateway Pundit and I agree.

SEMA ( Specialty Equipment Market Association) is opposing an effort by some Washington lawmakers to include a national car crushing program in the upcoming economic stimulus package.

Vehicles targeted for the scrap pile will likely include Chevy Blazers, Silverados, S-10s and Tahoes; Dodge Dakotas and Rams; Ford Explorers and F-Series; Jeep Cherokees and Wranglers; and any other SUV or truck that obtains less than 18 mpg.

The so-called “Accelerated Retirement of Inefficient Vehicles Act” is "Cash for Clunkers" with a twist. Instead of focusing exclusively on old cars as is typical with scrappage programs, this bill will target any vehicle with lower fuel-economy ratings.

Participants will receive a cash voucher to purchase a more fuel-efficient new car or used car (model year 2004 or later) or receive credit for the purchase of public transportation tickets.

Under the legislation, “fuel efficient” means at least 25% better mileage than the CAFE standard. It will be illegal to resell the scrapped vehicles. Bill sponsors want to destroy 4 million pickups and SUVs over the next four years.

America has cancer and it's called liberalism.

Obama Bro Busted for Pot

(Huruma Slum, Kenya) President Obama's half-brother, 24-year-old George Hussein Onyango, has been arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana.

Inspector Augustine Mutembei said the trainee mechanic would face charges of possession of cannabis and resisting arrest.

But the accused man protested his innocence in comments from behind bars. "They took me from my home," he told a CNN reporter after alerting the local correspondent with a telephone call. "I don't know why they are charging me."

He was later released from custody, according to a relative. It was not immediately clear whether his scheduled court appearance on Monday would go ahead.

Heh.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Border Agent Busted for Smuggling

(Brownsville, Texas) A 40-year-old Border Patrol officer, 12-year veteran Sergio Lopez Hernandez, was arrested this week for alleged involvement with an illegal alien and drug smuggling operation.

Federal agents apprehended Hernandez while he was on duty at the Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios.

Federal agents initially received reports of a smuggling operation in October. Subsequently, investigators set up two successful undercover operations to gather evidence and court documents indicate that Lopez Hernandez received money for every illegal alien he allowed through his checkpoint, allegedly $500.

According to court documents, on Wednesday federal agents set up surveillance at the bridge and recorded Lopez Hernandez allowing the entry of four vehicles previously identified as those used for smuggling undocumented immigrants. The vehicles were intercepted and Alonso Banda, Estrada Lopez and Mejia Fajardo were arrested. The occupants of the fourth vehicle fled into Mexico.

The vehicle driven by Mejia Fajardo contained 15 kilograms of cocaine, according to the criminal complaint.

Lopez Hernandez, Javier Alonso Banda, Jose Estrada Lopez and Francisco Mejia Fajardo, were charged with smuggling illegal aliens. Lopez Hernandez and Mejia Fajardo were also charged with smuggling drugs and with intent to distribute.

I'll make a wild guess that corruption among Border Patrol agents is more common than reported. The temptation of easy money from cash-rich drug cartels is hard to resist.

To be fair, though, I'd wager that the overwhelming majority of Border Patrol agents are honest professionals working under terrible circumstances while sometimes feeling abandoned by their management. I salute them.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Pennsylvania Woman and Boy, 12

(Chambersburg, Pennsylvania) Last month, a 29-year-old area woman, Jeanine Melissa Owens, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 12-year-old boy.

Owens was charged with rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and statutory sexual assault, along with misdemeanor counts of corruption of a minor and indecent assault.

Pennsylvania State Police in Chambersburg interviewed the victim after receiving an anonymous tip.

The investigating officer said the boy told him the two became "boyfriend/girlfriend" that summer, and began texting each other.

The alleged sexual offenses reportedly occurred between the summer of 2008 and November at Owens' home.

This week, Owens pleaded not guilty at a preliminary hearing. Her trial is scheduled for May. She is currently free on bond.

Bailout hypocrisy

Everyone is talking about how much money the government is spending, but very little attention is being paid to where they are spending it or what they are buying with it. The government is putting money into banks, even when the banks don't want it, in hopes that the banks will put it into circulation. But the latest statistics shows that banks are lending even less money now than they were before the government dumped all that cash on them. Even if it had worked, putting cash into banks, in hopes that they would put it into circulation, seems a rather roundabout way of doing things, especially when the staggering sums of money involved are being justified as an "emergency" measure.

Spending money for infrastructure is another time-consuming way of dealing with what is called an immediate crisis. Infrastructure takes forever to plan, debate, and go through all sorts of hearings and adjudications, before getting approval to build from all the regulatory agencies involved. Out of $355 billion newly appropriated, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that only $26 billion will be spent this fiscal year and only $110 billion by the end of 2010. Using long, drawn-out processes to put money into circulation to meet an emergency is like mailing a letter to the fire department to tell them that your house is on fire.

If you cut taxes tomorrow, people would have more money in their next paycheck, and it would probably be spent by the time they got that paycheck, through increased credit card purchases beforehand. If all this sound and fury in Washington was about getting an economic crisis behind us, tax cuts could do that a lot faster.

None of this is rocket science. And Washington politicians are not all crazy, even if sometimes it looks that way. Often, what they say makes no sense because what they claim to be doing is not what they are actually doing. No matter how many times President Barack Obama tells us that these "extraordinary times" call for "swift action," the kind of economic policies he is promoting take effect very slowly, no matter how quickly the legislation is rushed through Congress. It is the old Army game of hurry up and wait.

If the Beltway politicians aren't really trying to solve this crisis as quickly as they could, what are they trying to do? One important clue may be a recent statement by President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emmanuel, that "A crisis is a terrible thing to waste." This is the kind of cynical revelation that sometimes slips out, despite all the political pieties and spin. Crises have long been seen as great opportunities to expand the federal government's power while the people are too scared to object and before any opposition can get organized. That is why there is such haste to do things that will take effect slowly.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Virginia Teacher Allegedly Intoxicated in Class

(Bumpass, Virginia) Earlier this month, a Louisa County Middle School special education teacher, Kathleen Bernard, was arrested for allegedly being intoxicated while teaching.

Authorities indicated that her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit.

Now the sheriff's office and the school system are working together to resolve this issue.

“I tell all of our parents right now to be very patient. We have taken the matter very seriously. It is being handled as a personnel issue therefore we can't comment much on it, but we're working very closely with the Louisa County Sheriff’s Department to take care of the matter,” said Dr. Dallas Dance, Assistant Superintendent of Instruction, Louisa Co. Public Schools.

Being hammered in the middle of the day at work likely indicates a deep-seated problem requiring some form of rehab.

Father-Daughter Incest Results in Four Births

(Harrisonville, Missouri) A married couple, both 47 years old, face charges stemming from a years-long incestuous relationship the father had with one of his daughters.

The incest started when the daughter was 13 years old, she's now 19, and went unreported by the wife although it resulted in four pregnancies.

Authorities were finally alerted by a sister of the victim who said she "got fed up" and couldn't see her older sister suffer anymore.

The tip led to a search of a rural property in Harrisonville where the family used to live. The property's new owners found two sealed coolers with the remains of two infants on Jan. 1.

Authorities said one of those infants died after not receiving medical treatment for pneumonia. The 47-year-old father has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of that baby, who was born in November 2006.

He also is accused of fathering the other infant whose body was found in the coolers, and investigators said they were looking into the circumstances of that baby's death.

Authorities believe a third baby born in 2004 has been buried in Oklahoma where the family once lived. A fourth child, now a 3-year-old boy, is in state custody.

In addition to the murder charge, the father also was charged with endangering the welfare of a child, statutory rape and two counts each of incest and abandoning a corpse. He was being held in the Cass County jail in lieu of a $500,000 bond.

The suspect's wife, also 47, has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child because authorities claimed she did little to stop her daughter's sexual abuse. She was free on bond and due in court next week for a case review.

The father has a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 5.

It doesn't get much sicker nor sadder than this story.

Tip: slwlion

Call-Girl Boss for Gov. Spitzer Gets Prison

(New York City) Twenty-four-year-old call-girl boss Cecil (Katie) Suwal has been sentenced by a federal judge to six months in prison on charges related to laundering money and promoting prostitution.

Suwal managed the prostitutes that Gov. Eliot Spitzer used and which led to his resignation.

Originally, prosecutors had asked the judge for a two-year sentence, but defense attorneys said Suwal deserved leniency. They said a boyfriend got her involved in the business when she was just 20 years old, and that he psychologically dominated her.

Suwal pleaded guilty last spring to charges involving money laundering and promoting prostitution.

A tearful Suwal apologized to the court during her sentencing.

Tip: SuidaeEmpathy

Hope-Change-Hide

President Obama has taken action to block Google and other search engines from accessing White House web pages.

I guess transparency and openness have been redefined by the Obama administration.

Driver Bitten for Non-Hybrid Bus

That's right. A woman bites the bus driver because the bus he was assigned to operate wasn't a hybrid, save-the-planet vehicle. Global-warming crazy she is.

It is disturbing that the global warming cultists think that they are entirely normal. They're not.

Wisconsin Teacher Resigns on Student Sex Allegation

(Chippewa County, Wisconsin) In December 2008, a Lake Holcombe School District music teacher, Megan Gaede, was questioned about allegations from a student who said he had sex with her at least 10 times. Gaede did not deny the allegations, however, she immediately resigned.

No criminal charges were filed since the student was 18 years old at the time of the sexual relations. Nonetheless, the state Department of Public Instruction is reviewing the case.

Belated reporting on the situation resulted because the school district kept the records confidential until an open records request was filed by the local media.

Hispanic Group Alleges Hate Speech on Cable News

We read:

"In a petition to the FCC this week, the National Hispanic Media Coalition claims that hate speech is "prevalent" on national cable news networks and wants the government to do something about it.

That was one of the assertions made by the group in a formal request that the commission open a notice of inquiry into "the extent, the effect, and possible remedies" to what it said was a pervasive problem, and not just on conservative talk radio.

NHMC, a nonprofit LA based media advocacy group, cited a 2007 Media Matters study that concluded that "the alleged connection between illegal immigration and crime" was discussed on 94 episodes of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, 66 times on Fox's Bill O'Reilly, and 29 times on Glenn Beck's Headline News show.

Source

Media Matters is just a Leftist propaganda outfit but they are right that there is some airing in the media of the fact that immigrants have a high rate of crime. The Hispanic crime rate lies in between the black and white crime rates. See here. I think truth is still a defence in the USA.

Posted by John Ray.

Tennessee Teacher Accused of Doing Daughter's Date

(Milan, Tennessee) A 35-year-old special education teacher at West Carroll Elementary School, Melissa Dawn McCord, was arrested yesterday for allegedly engaging in sex acts with a 14-year-old boy.

McCord is accused of committing oral sex and exchanging sexually explicit text messages. McCord faces several charges including statutory rape by an authority figure.

According to the report, McCord told police that the two exchanged text messages and at one time went to the park together, but would not admit to having oral sex with the boy.

McCord also is charged with providing obscene materials to a minor, solicitation of a minor and solicitation of a minor to observe sexual conduct. [...]

The police report said the teenager's parents had several text conversations between McCord and the boy in their possession.

The two met through McCord's daughter, who was dating him, according to the report.

A court appearance is scheduled for February 6. Meanwhile, McCord has been suspended from her teaching position.

Government by Interpretation

When illustrated, President Obama's interpretation of "shameful" fiscal irresponsibility versus "restrained" financial stimulus is so much more understandable.

Frankly, it reminds me of another Democrat who said oral sex is not sex while creatively interpreting what "is" is.

I'm inclined toward traditional definitions and common sense rather than sailing the ship of hypocrites to Bizarro Land.

North Carolina Teacher Allegedly Shoots Student

(Raleigh, North Carolina) A 45-year-old teacher at the Longview School, Dawn Perry, has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and shooting an 18-year-old female student, Jessica Perry. Dawn Perry is not believed to be related to Jessica.

According to Nash County Sheriff's Lt. Pat Joyner, Dawn Perry has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon causing serious injury and kidnapping.

Joyner said the incident began Jan. 18 at N.C. Wesleyan College in Rocky Mount. Perry waited there for 18-year-old Jessica Perry, a basketball player she had previously coached. [...]

He said Dawn Perry waited for Jessica Perry in a parking lot, where the two women had an argument. Authorities don't know what the dispute was about.

Dawn Perry asked Jessica to take her to Louisburg, Joyner said. The younger woman refused and got in her car, but she was then persuaded to let Dawn in, he said.

"Dawn pulled a firearm and pointed it at Jessica and told her to drive," he said.

Eventually, Dawn Perry fired a shot into Jessica Perry's leg and then drove her to the hospital. Joyner said the gunshot wound turned out to be minor so Jessica Perry was treated and released.

Dawn Perry was booked into custody and later released on $40,000 bond. She has been suspended by the Wake County School system.

Lingerie Bowl Canceled

Something about too much nudity.

Tip: CN

Arkansas Teacher Gets 50 Years in Child Sex Case - Updated

(Magnolia, Arkansas) Forty-seven-year-old former teacher Donna Lou Sanders pleaded guilty earlier today to five counts of permitting abuse of a minor, charges filed in two different Arkansas counties, Union and Columbia.

As a result, Sanders was sentenced by Circuit Judge Larry Chandler to 50 years in prison, 10 years for each count.

Sanders resigned April 23 from her teaching job, the same day she was arrested after a parent had earlier notified the school superintendent of the allegations.

Prosecutors say she set the girls up to have sex in a motel room and in the back seat of her car.

Reporting has been somewhat sketchy on the Sanders case so we really don't know what she was thinking. Never before have I heard of a teacher taking young girls out of class for purposes of prostituting them. Sanders must have known that she would never get away with it.

Not only that but her husband, as assistant principal, was in charge of school discipline. What in the world was she thinking?

Something is very strange about the case. I tend to believe she committed the offenses with a desire to get caught.


* * * * *
Teacher Accused of Taking Girls to Motel for Sex
[Previous 4/28/08 post]
(Magnolia, Arkansas) A 46-year-old special education teacher at Magnolia Junior High School, Donna Lou Sanders, was arrested this past week for allegedly taking 12- and 13-year-old students to motels to engage in sex.

Police allege that Sanders rented motel rooms in El Dorado for the girls, left them overnight, and returned the next day and picked them up.

She also provided alcoholic beverages to the juveniles, Gorum said. The incidents took place over seven months, beginning in September, all in Union County. Magnolia is in Columbia County.

Sanders was charged with 12 counts of permitting abuse of a minor and 12 counts of accomplice to rape. She was booked into custody at the Columbia County Jail with bond set at $100,000.

Sanders resigned from her position with the school system on Wednesday. Her husband, Magnolia High School asst. principal Terry Sanders has not been accused in the case.

Single-Element Compound

Huh? Not when I was going to school.

Florida International University researchers have helped discover a new single-element compound, a breakthrough that could rewrite chemistry books.

An international group of scientists, led by FIU's Center for the Study of Matters at Extreme Condition, synthesized and characterized a single-element compound, Boron Boride (B28). [...]

Until now, the classic definition of a chemical compound is a substance consisting of two or more different elements chemically bonded together in a fixed proportion by mass.

But the new compound differs from that definition in that it is made up of just one element, formed by pure boron under high pressure and temperature.

In all candor, I thought chemistry books needed rewriting when I was a student. Mine was in Greek.

The research was funded by the government.

Florida Teacher Allegedly Injures Student

(Fort Lauderdale, Florida) A 29-year-old substitute teacher with Broward County Schools, Lamika Watkins, has been arrested for allegedly pushing a student in the chest, sending him backwards into a television set and opening a small laceration.

Watkins has been charged with felony battery.

Police and school officials have not identified the student. The report states that he lives in Pompano Beach, which means he likely attends the school as part of its Montessori magnet program.

Andrew Feirstein, a district spokesman, said Watkins was temporarily removed from the active substitute teachers list after the incident.

Watkins reportedly admitted to the offense.

If I'm not mistaken, the child involved is very young if he is attending a Montessori program. Maybe teaching is too stressful of a career choice for Watkins.

Michigan Woman Accused of Sex with Toddler

(Caro, Michigan) A 29-year-old area woman, Melissa S. Barry, was arrested for engaging in sexual activity with a 15-month-old boy.

Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark E. Reene authorized a six-count warrant charging Barry with first-, second- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

''The defendant is not a relative of the victim but was residing with the victim and his family during the time the incidents occurred in January,'' Reene said.

Barry was booked into custody at the Tuscola County jail with bond set at $150,000. A court appearance is scheduled for February 6.

I hesitate to even think of what's going on here.

Hamas Tagged for Torture Killing

(Gaza Strip) It's hard to disbelieve instances where Islamist militants are accused of heinous acts. They are so good at it.

Osama Atallah, a teacher, was a supporter of the Fatah movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the sworn enemy of Hamas, whose gunmen drove Fatah militia out of Gaza in 2007 and fought Israel's army in a three-week war this month.

His brother Bassam said on Thursday masked gunmen in two jeeps had arrived at the family home in the city of Gaza on Tuesday. They identified themselves as members of Hamas internal security and they arrested his brother Osama.

Bassam said the Hamas security service told the Atallah family Osama would be released in a matter of hours. But a Hamas government official, who is also a member of the Atallah family, later denied the teacher was in custody.

Osama Atallah died of wounds inflicted during detention by Hamas.

Russian Gas/Oil Drilling in Mediterranean

(Davos, Switzerland) At the World Economic Forum in Davos, a place that is absolutely infested with greenies, a surprising disclosure came from Leonid Mikhelson, CEO of the Russian energy producer, Novatek.

Later this year, Novatek will start drilling off of Egyptian coastal waters.

In September 2007, Novatek bought a 50% stake in a concession agreement for the exploration and development of the El-Arish offshore deposit in Egypt from Tharwa Petroleum S.A.E.

The offshore block covering approximately 2,300 sq km (888 sq miles) is located along the Mediterranean coast to the north of the Sinai. Half of the block lies at depths of up to 50 meters (164 ft) with the rest located as deep as 500 meters (1,640 ft).

Drill, baby, drill! is obviously understood by the Russians.

Defining the Followers of Obama

Just change she to he and girl to guy. Arguably, it's an apropo musical representation of the hopey-changey followers.


Catchy too.

"One singular sensation
Every little step (he) takes
One thrilling combination
Every move that (he) makes
One smile and suddenly no one else will do
You know you'll never be lonely with you know who ..."

Heh.

Driving Drunk While Pregnant at 14

(Whangarei, New Zealand) A 14-year-old girl, four months pregnant and drunk at a level almost six times over the legal limit, was caught driving erratically.

Whangarei police Acting Sergeant Kevin Crawford said the girl was stopped after her driving caught police attention on Tuesday evening.

She gave a false name and had difficulty spelling it. She was forbidden to drive and taken to Whangarei police station, where she recorded a breath-alcohol level of 828mcg. The legal limit for drivers under 20 is 150mcg and driving licences are not issued to people under 15.

The girl will be referred to Youth Aid, Mr Crawford said.

Some concern was reported regarding the health of her fetus, however, no concerns surfaced regarding how the 14-year-old got pregnant in the first place. There must be laws that protect young girls.

If anyone can translate 828mcg into percent blood alcohol level, by all means, leave a comment.

Russia Wants Sunken Treasure

From RIA Novosti:

Experts in Russia say the country could have the right to file a claim for part of treasure worth billions of dollars on board a British cargo ship sunk by a German submarine during World War II.

The British cargo ship, torpedoed in June 1942 while carrying precious metals to the United States to help pay for the Allied war effort under the Lend-Lease Act, was recently discovered by the Sub Sea Research company off Guyana.

The sunken ship, possibly called the Blue Baron, is believed to contain gold, platinum and diamonds worth some $3.7 billion. A large part of the cargo is thought to have belonged to the Soviet Union.

The Russian thinking appears to be that they can claim ownership despite the fact it was intended for a Lend-Lease payment to the U.S. They believe that the sunken loot is no longer owed for Lend-Lease since other repayment arrangements were made after the loss of the ship. Kinda makes sense.

Teeth incorrect??




Are models not supposed to have teeth?? The contant use of bony models is a big attack on the natural looks of most people and now this. Will a gummy skeleton become the ideal to which women are supposed to conform? There is a very heavy involvement of male homosexuals in fashion and the abnormal-looking women that they promote certainly are consistent with them not liking women generally. The "teeth" flap, however, is the work of a female editor.

"Notorious US Vogue editor Anna Wintour and her team superimposed a picture of Sienna Miller's face onto another one of her body after complaining she was too "toothy" for their front cover, a new film reveals. The decision is documented in The September Issue, an 89-minute fly-on-the-wall exploration of life behind the scenes at Vogue, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last week.

In it, director and producer RJ Cutler tracks the compilation of the magazine's biggest ever issue, which ended up weighing nearly two kilograms and selling 13 million copies.

According to British newspaper The Telegraph, editor-in-chief Wintour is shown complaining that actress Miller - their chosen cover girl - is too "toothy", while other magazine staff comment on the number of fillings she has.

Renowned Peruvian photographer Mario Testino took the shots but the magazine ending up using one shot of Miller's face and superimposing it on another taken of her body.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Dems Own Porkzilla

The Democrat so-called "stimulus" appropriations bill was passed by the House of Representatives without a single Republican vote. The pork-laden give-away package, or Porkzilla, is now completely a Democrat initiative.

Success or failure, it's their legacy.

Good.

Two Texas Women Accused of Sex with Boy

(Robstown, Texas) Two local women, 36-year-old Eliza Leal and 21-year-old Criselda Reyna, were arrested yesterday for the alleged sex with a 15-year-old boy.

The alleged offenses reportedly occurred in May 2008 and came to light only recently when the victim told his father.

Leal and Reyna were booked into custody and await a bond hearing.

Poor kid.

Convicted Terrorist Claims Human Rights Violated

(Wakefield Prison, England) Kamel Bourgass is a 33-year-old Al-Qaeda terrorist serving life in prison for the 2004 stabbing death of Special Branch Detective Constable Stephen Oake.

In prison, Bourgass has become an annoying pain in the gluteals by preaching Islamist hate and demanding that female wardens wear veils. He's threatening legal action on the veil issue, claiming women without veils violate his human rights.

The Algerian had been preparing a deadly ricin poison attack on Britain when father-of-three Detective Constable Oake, 40, arrested him.

Bourgass, the first Muslim fanatic to murder a British police officer, has been in Wakefield jail for just a few weeks.

But insiders claim he has already begun preaching Islamist hate against the West to inmates. [...]

A prison insider revealed: “He is very abusive and confrontational with staff and says female officers in prayer meetings are a breach of his human rights.

Bourgass was sentenced to a minimum 22 years for murder and 17 years for the ricin poison plot. Now, under the British Human Rights Act, courts will have to waste their time adjudicating this butthole's whining.

Frankly, I need to be reminded why the death penalty is a bad thing.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Taliban Surging Toward Islamabad

As Taliban forces move toward the capital, a parallel government is being instituted. They are setting up courts and collecting taxes while establishing patrols and checkpoints. Currently, there is no indication that the Pakistani government will be able to stop the advance of the Taliban.

Pakistani lawmakers have even warned that the Taliban insurgency "was spilling over to the rest of the country and would reach Islamabad sooner than Lahore."

To remind readers, Pakistan has nuclear weapons and it's a frightening thought that the Taliban may ultimately take possession of them.

Louisiana Woman Requests Drugs from Sheriff

(Jena, Louisiana) A 36-year-old local woman, Tracie L. Ingram, was arrested Monday for allegedly texting the LaSalle Parish Sheriff's Office to make a drug deal. Through texts, Ingram indicated that she wanted to buy $500 worth of cocaine.

The Sheriff's Office, with assistance from Louisiana State Police, had patrol cars hidden when Ingram pulled up to make the buy, officials said.

"I wish all of our arrests would fall into our laps like this one," [Sheriff] Franklin joked. "They say that our business is one of the only ones you don't have to advertise for, it just comes to us. But in this case, well, that's stretching that concept a little far. It's never this easy."

The arrest of Ingram came about because she was texting her drug request to a person she thought was a drug dealer. Unbeknownst to her, though, was that the cell phone number of her dealer had been reassigned to a new cell phone line in the Sheriff's Office. Consequently, instead of a drug dealer receiving her texts, it was a detective.

Ingram has been charged with criminal conspiracy to commit possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute and possession of drug paraphernalia found in her car. She was booked into custody at the Richland Parish Women's Detention Facility. Bond has yet to be set.

Overdue Library Book Results in Theft Charge

(Jesup, Iowa) A 39-year-old area woman, Shelly Koontz, was arrested last Thursday by Jesup Police for theft because she failed to return an overdue library book.

Koontz checked out the book in April 2008. Library staff called Koontz four times asking for the book to be returned. Officials sent three letters to Koontz's home and a fourth, certified letter, which Koontz refused to sign for, police said.

A police officer visited Koontz at home in September and told Koontz's teenage daughter that the book needed to be returned or paid for.

After another month passed, [Jesup Police Sgt.] Boos advised Jesup library director Cindy Lellig and the library board that Koontz could be arrested on a theft charge.

Koontz was booked into custody at the Buchanan County Jail and subsequently released on $250 bond.

Can You Hear Me Now?

(Middletown, Connecticut) A 54-year-old local woman, Emily Arsenault, was arrested Monday for allegedly standing on her porch for an hour and yelling the "f-word" for no apparent reason.

Arsenault was charged with breach of the peace.

Arkansas Woman Busted for Dealing Drugs Outside Courthouse

(Lonoke, Arkansas) A 34-year-old local woman, Debra Romero, was arrested yesterday by Lonoke County Sheriff's deputies for selling drugs outside the courthouse while visiting as a spectator in a friend's proceedings.

Romero has been charged with possession and delivery of methamphetamine.

Romero exited the courthouse, completed a drug deal with undercover officers, then returned inside.

Investigators retrieved Romero from the courtroom and transported her to the Lonoke County Sheriff's office.

Further investigation resulted in the locating and seizing of methamphetamine and prescription pills from Romero's vehicle, which was in the parking lot.

Romero was booked into the Lonoke County Jail with bond set at $20,000.

Now, if someone is conducting illegal business outside the courthouse in the middle of the day, it's reasonable to suspect that the person has a few neurons misfiring.

Now Greenies don't like tidal power, either

It might upset the fish, you know. So: Coal, nuclear and hydroelectic are positively EVIL; windmills are no good; tidal power is no good. There's just no such thing as a happy Greenie. Report from Britain:

Whichever, if any, tidal scheme is built on the Severn, it is sure to anger some environmentalists. Being a renewable source of electricity, tidal generators might be assumed to be popular with the green lobby. Yet there are serious reservations over the environmental costs of a barrage or lagoon in the estuary - and they have split the environmentalist movement.

On the one hand there is the appeal of doing something positive about climate change by turning to a renewable, rather than burnable, source of energy. Environmental activists have been urging governments, power companies and the public to embrace renewable energy because it is cleaner than fossil fuels and nuclear power. On the other hand, thousands of hectares of shoreline will be destroyed as a feeding ground for birds - an internationally important feeding ground, no less. There are also deep concerns about the impact on the fish and invertebrates in the Severn. Barrages and, to a lesser extent, lagoons form a physical barrier to species such as salmon and eels as they migrate. The dilemma is balancing the potential damage to habitat against the gains made in combating climate change.

If measures such as the Cardiff-Weston barrage are not taken, how much of the river will be claimed anyway by sea-level rises from melting ice caps and how many creatures will be forced to find somewhere else to live because temperatures have become unbearable?

Some of the projects that missed the shortlist are regarded as having less of an impact on the environment but they are the most unproven schemes and, however attractive their merits, their effectiveness is questionable. When coming to their decision on tidal schemes for the Severn - and perhaps one day the Mersey, the Wyre and the Thames - ministers will have plenty of factors to weigh up. There will be the jobs created - the bigger the scheme the bigger the job creation prospects - and there will be the economic damage caused by limiting navigation of the Severn and access to upstream ports. There will be the attraction of plumping for a huge barrage that will be a monument to their tenure in office, to be set against the affordability of constructing such an edifice.

But most of all they will have to judge whether the wider environment will best be served by sacrifice or preservation.

SOURCE


Posted by John Ray.

Woman Gets 70 Months Prison for Sex with Boy - Updated

(Pickens County, South Carolina) Twenty-nine-year-old Sara Schneider pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct with a minor in accordance with a plea agreement and was sentenced to 70 months in prison.

The victim, who was 15 years old in the summer of 2007, met Schneider through a poker Web site, and they started communicating via instant message, letters and phone calls, according to Susanna Ringler of the S.C. Attorney General’s Office.

The relationship escalated to a sexual nature that fall via phone and webcam, she said.

After her release from prison, Schneider must serve four years probation.


* * * * *
Woman Jailed for Solicitation of Boy
[Previous 5/2/08 post]
(Pickens County, South Carolina) A 28-year-old woman, Sara Melissa Schneider, has been indicted by a Pickens County grand jury on charges resulting from her traveling from Wisconsin to South Carolina to have sex with a 15-year-old boy she met over the Internet.

Schneider faces one count of criminal solicitation of a minor.

The 15-year-old boy's parents alerted authorities of the plan and deputies arrested Schneider when she arrived at the boy's home.

Schneider was booked into custody at the Pickens County Detention Center.

This is interesting. Earlier this week, a woman from New York traveled to Wisconsin to have sex with a 15-year-old boy she met over the Internet. And now we have a woman from Wisconsin traveling to South Carolina to have sex with a 15-year-old boy. Jeez, you'd think the child molesters would be more coordinated.

The Wisconsin woman, Schneider, could have simply stayed and molested the home state boy while the New York woman, Tracy Taylor, could have traveled to South Carolina for child sex. Saves energy and fights global warming.

Schools Issue Marijuana Handbook

(North Tyneside, England) The British National Drugs Education Programme is providing 20-page "Know Cannabis" handbooks to students giving guidance on smoking marijuana in bongs and on proper joint rolling.

Two-thirds of the way through the handbook, students are informed that marijuana is illegal.

Parents in the North East have demanded the booklets be removed from schools after claiming they are advertising the drug.

Aimed at youngsters, it includes advice on how best to take the drug.

It carries the cost of 'vaporisers' which are a 'less risky' way to take the drug and warn not to roll a cannabis cigarette with too many cigarette papers as 'three skinners will do'.

The booklets begin by telling youngsters to 'Know the effects, how it is used, the risks, and how to avoid them'. [...]

One 45-year-old mum from North Tyneside said she was outraged when her 15-year-old asthmatic son came home and told her he had been given 'a lesson on how to smoke cannabis safely'.

Just great, eh?

It's difficult to dispute the contention that British schools are raising a generation of dope-numbed idiots. Why the parents are allowing advocacy of marijuana is unknown. Could it be that one generation of mind-numbed robots has already reached adulthood?

Also, should we now expect to see a handbook on pills, crack cocaine, meth and Ecstasy and the proper use of syringes? Of course, there should also be guidance on glue-sniffing, frog-licking and mushrooms.

More greatness from Great Britain? I don't think so. Realistically, though, I shouldn't be too critical without mentioning that marijuana promotion is also occurring in parts of the U.S.

Brit NHS: Diagnoses by Phone, No Meat on Hospital Menus

(UK) The National Health Service (NHS) in Britain is instituting policy changes to reduce carbon emissions and, as the largest public sector employer in the country, to lead the nation in the fight against global warming.

Ministers want family doctors to hold more 'phone-in' surgeries to help the environment by cutting carbon emissions from cars.

They also want hospitals to achieve their green targets by reducing the amount of meat they serve to patients in wards.

With Dial-A-Doctor diagnostics and meat erased from the menu, the NHS hopes to see a 10 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2015. According to NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson, "I want to encourage NHS staff to really get involved and do their bit to create a greener NHS."

Critics claim that telephone diagnoses are dangerous and could lead to incorrect treatment or death. Taxpayers' Alliance spokesman Mark Wallace indicated that the environment is again being used to trim health care services.

Logically, the give-everything-to-everybody socialized medical scheme is flawed in theory because it assumes infinite resources. Resources are not infinite and, as a consequence, Brits should expect health care services to be further pared back to reduce costs.

It's predictable that future reductions in health services will be needed and they will be justified as saving the planet or "for the children" or maybe something new and innovative will come out of the political correctness toy box.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

"Some of my best friends are Jews"


There are some politically active people in the Melbourne Jewish community and I do what I can to circulate their material when I can. One of their movers and shakers, Ralph Zwier, has recently written a small article on the old, old controversy about people saying "Some of my best friends are Jews". That remark is, rather paradoxically, usually interpreted as indicating that the person uttering it is antisemitic. So although Ralph and I have had an amicable and frequent correspondence for some time, you can understand why I would never dare to call him one of my best friends!

But isn't that a bit paradoxical? What are genuinely philosemitic people supposed to say? Are they supposed to say: "None of my best friends are Jews"? There is actually an answer to that in the Bible. I find it in three of the Proverbs of Solomon the Wise: "He who flatters a man spreads a net for his feet" (Proverbs 29:5 R.S.V.); "Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy" (Proverbs 27: 6. R.S.V.); "He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favour than he who flatters with his tongue" (Proverbs 28: 23 R.S.V.). In short, a true friend is CRITICAL, but constructively so. So by that standard I think I stand up rather well, in that I have on several occasions (e.g. here) remarked that Jews as a whole tend to be politically stupid and have endeavoured to point to wiser paths that they might follow.

But that does that wash? I perfectly understand that many Jews might see me as being simply impertinent and ignorant. So is it the case that Gentiles are damned whether they speak either good or ill of Jews? Nearly but not quite. Ralph Zwier's point is that antisemites say things which indicate that they have BENEFITED from Jews. the obvious corollary is that a real philosemite would actually do things the other way around: He would do things that benefit Jews rather than seeking benefits FROM Jews. And I think that is a completely commonsense observation. My way of supporting the Jewish community is to defend Israel in any way I can and to donate to Israeli charities. And, Yes, I do have some Jewish friends whom I value greatly.

Posted by John Ray.

Connecticut Teacher Accused of Inappropriateness with Boy

(North Canaan, Connecticut) A 42-year-old teacher at North Canaan Elementary School, Melinda Handlowich, was arrested on January 15 for allegedly making advances toward a 13-year-old male student.

Handlowich has been charged with risk of injury to a minor and disorderly conduct with a minor between September 2007 and May 2008.

[T]he boy told police that his paraprofessional, Melinda Handlowich, repeatedly asked him to come live with her, and that he remembered approximately nine instances when she tried to hug and kiss him in the special education room at school. He told police he would push her, duck out of the way or run to try to escape. [...]

The boy told police he reported the problem to his parents after Handlowich had tried to hug and kiss him all day, according to the warrant. That same day, he told police he saw her driving back and forth in her car watching him play in a baseball game after school.

In addition to police, DCF also investigated Handlowich. The agency found no evidence of sexual abuse, according to the warrant.

Handlowich was booked and released on $2,500 bond.

Louisiana Nurse Arrested for Sex with Boy

(Gonzales, Louisiana) A 45-year-old nurse, Angela Mayers, was arrested after being caught playing doctor with a 15-year-old boy.

Mayers has been charged with obscenity, carnal knowledge of a juvenile, and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.

An officer says he caught Angela Mayers and the teenage boy inside a car at the city baseball park along Burnside Avenue.

Mayers was booked into custody and subsequently released on bond.

Tip: FSD

Woman Naughty at Truck Stop

(Portsmouth, New Hampshire) A 34-year-old woman, Crystal Walden, was arrested Saturday night for child endangerment after her 10-year-old son was found wandering coatless and shoeless in a truck stop parking lot.

Reportedly, Walden was drunk and engaging in sex with truck drivers at the time.

According to an affidavit by Greenland police Sgt. Dawn Sawyer, Walden was arrested Jan. 24 at 10:30 p.m. after two officers found the boy at the truck stop and asked him where his mother was.

“She’s in a truck having sex with the driver,” the boy told police, according to court records. [...]

The trucker is alleged to have confirmed the boy’s story, after police found Walden in his truck, “visibly intoxicated” and with her pants inside out, according to police.

“It’s only because I was drinking tequila,” Walden said during her Monday arraignment. “I promise I will never take another drink again. I made a mistake.”

Yesterday, Walden was arraigned on two counts of class A misdemeanor child endangerment.

Nicole Belonga Gets 15 to 30 Years for Killing Daughter - Updated

(Nashua, New Hampshire) Earlier today, 27-year-old Nicole Belonga was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in prison for shaking her 21-month-old daughter, Rylea, to death.

"A lot of your family and friends describe your good character and caring demeanor," Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge William Groff said in handing down the maximum sentence.

"But sometimes a crime is so heinous that previous character matters little. Good people sometimes commit horrible crimes. A person who testified for you -- I don’t remember who it was -- said the state was trying to make you out to be a monster. Well, you were a monster that day." [...]

But several of Belonga’s friends and relatives described her as a loving mother who spent her time caring for others and working with disabled and troubled teens. They also pointed out that even while grieving for her daughter, she managed to become president of an honor society at Hesser College.

She is a role model," said Kate Thibeault, of Hooksett, a friend of Belonga. "And a person that other people should aspire to be. I know I do."

Belonga’s sister Monique Belonga, of Hudson, made a statement on behalf of the family after the sentence was read.

"She is still innocent to us and the person who really did this is still out there," she said. "We are here for her today, and will be there for her when she gets out. We love her. I love her."

As to whether justice was served, it depends on who you talk to. Lots of controversy remains in the case.


* * * * *
Nicole Belonga Guilty of Killing Her Daughter - Updated
[Previous 11/15/08]
(Nashua, New Hampshire) This week in Hillsborough County Superior Court, 27-year-old Nicole Belonga was convicted of manslaughter in the death of her 21-month-old daughter, Rylea. Free on bail during the trial, Belonga was jailed immediately after the conviction. The jury took five days to reach a verdict.

The jury deliberated painstakingly over whether to convict on second-degree murder or the lesser, included crime of manslaughter. The difference depended on whether Belonga "knowingly" or "recklessly" killed her daughter. The jury found that she recklessly committed the killing, thereby resulting in the manslaughter conviction.

Manslaughter carries a maximum of 15 to 30 years in prison. There is no mandatory minimum sentence which means she could be sentenced to virtually anything less than 15 years.

Sentencing has been scheduled for January 26th.


* * * * *
Woman Accused of Killing Her Toddler
[Previous 10/13/08 post - bumped from 06/07]
(Nashua, New Hampshire) A 26-year-old local woman, Nicole Belonga, faces murder charges in the death of her two-year-old daughter, Rylea Belonga.

Rylea was allegedly killed by "strangling . . . and striking her head against a hard surface," causing fatal arterial and brain injuries.

Rylea Belonga was hospitalized Jan. 6, 2006, and died later of what doctors concluded was a brain injury caused by choking and blunt force to her head, police reported.

Belonga's lawyers have pointed out that Belonga never told police she choked or strangled Rylea or hit Rylea's head. She did admit to handling Rylea roughly while changing a diaper and while sending her into a "time out."

Belonga was due to stand trial this month in Hillsborough County Superior Court, but the case has been delayed to clarify the charges against her.


[Update 10/13/08]

(Nashua, New Hampshire) Jury selection in the second-degree murder trial of Nicole Belonga, now 27, is scheduled to begin October 20. Belonga faces possible life in prison, if convicted. According to the lead prosecutor, the trial should take three weeks.

"Rehabilitated" Islamists Arrested in Saudi Arabia

(Saudi Arabia) It appears that the Saudi Terrorist Rehab Program is not entirely effective.

Nine Saudi Islamic militants, including former Guantanamo inmates, have been rearrested in the Kingdom despite completing a controversial rehabilitation programme.

The arrests follow the embarrassing revelation last week that another Saudi Guantanamo Bay detainee who was released to the authorities in 2007 has emerged as the deputy leader of al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch of the terrorist organisation.

Both incidents are a serious setback for the experimental regime in which Saudi terror suspects are "weaned off" Islamic militancy at the so-called "Betty Ford clinic" for jihadists.

Nevertheless, one Saudi source says that the program is still an overall success.

It has weaned 218 people off terrorism, off twisted and un-Islamic ideas. It has brought them back into the mainstream. There are 218 terror suspects who are no longer dangerous to society. That must not be forgotten. It would, therefore, be wrong to rush and make changes because rehabilitation did not work with only two former [Gitmo] detainees.

Not everyone shares the optimism.

Thai Military Cast Burmese Refugees Adrift

After fleeing oppression in Burma, refugees were rounded up by the Thai military in a crackdown on illegal immigration.

Mainly Rohingya Muslims from western Burma, about 1,000 refugees were detained on the island of Koh Sai Baed before being towed into international waters and allegedly abandoned at sea.

Pictures have now surfaced allegedly showing the creative and harsh Thai resolution to the refugee problem.

About 500 men are now missing and feared drowned, and Thailand faces the possibility of bodies washing up on popular tourist beaches in Phang Nga and Phuket.

Since media reports began circulating about the mistreatment of the refugees, Thailand has faced international condemnation, and the Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has promised an investigation.

At the center of the scandal, Thai Army Colonel Manat Kongpat has reportedly denied the allegations.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

UK: Former Soldiers Guarding Jewish Schools

(London, England) In the wake of the Gaza skirmish, Jewish schools throughout Britain have hired former elite soldiers to guard against Islamic extremists.

Classrooms are being swept for bombs and visitors searched for weapons after Hamas said Jewish children are legitimate targets.

A staff member at North West London Jewish Day School said the premises now resembles a military barracks. He added: "Many of the security staff served in armies in specialist units."

Phaivish Pink, head at Manchester Jewish Grammar School, said: "Like most other schools we've taken steps to ensure pupils, staff and visitors are safe."

Although I haven't seen any reports, it's logical to assume that Islamic schools have hired additional security to guard against Jewish extremists -- uh, or maybe not.

Companion post at EdWatch.

African Taliban Website Finally Shut Down

It's a damn shame that jihad websites are hosted in the U.S. and it's outrageous that the site providers are reluctant to take action against them, even when repeatedly notified. It's taken almost a year to get the Al-Shabaab website, noted for recruiting terrorists, shut down.

Congratulations are in order.

[Update] To illustrate the problem with jihad-recruiting websites, yesterday 15 Somali-Americans were arrested as terrorists in Somaliland, an autonomous part of Somalia. Yes, they are Americans recruited through the Al-Shabaab website.

Chinese Human Pipeline Goes Through Ecuador

(Lima, Peru) Fourteen Chinese nationals with phony Japanese passports were arrested during raids by Peruvian Police last week at two Lima-area locations. According to police, the Chinese intended to travel to the U.S. on Japanese passports.

A “great quantity” of documents was seized at the first locale: Chinese and Japanese passports, immigration seals from other countries, computers, a modern printer, photographs of oriental persons and Peruvian I.D. cards issued to aliens who reside permanently in that country.

The whole operation was being run by a Chinese, now a naturalized Peruvian, called variously Cheng Ying Wi and also Jen Gui Zheng.

The phony documents reportedly cost each person $10,000.

To assess potential threats, it surely would be helpful if there were some information provided about the Chinese individuals. Right now, it's not known whether they are spies, criminals, computer experts or dry cleaners.

Nonetheless, the smuggling operation indicates substantial funding and sophistication. A reasonable assumption is that there are other similar operations.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.

Youths Sleep in Cardboard Boxes to Raise Awareness

(Lakewood, Ohio) Between 6PM Saturday and noon Sunday, a group of youths spent the night outside St. Peter's Episcopal Church in cardboard boxes to raise their awareness of the plight of the homeless. The temperatures were icily below freezing.

Although it would be just as reasonable, having the youths trek dozens of miles across the searing desert to raise awareness of the plight of illegal aliens is apparently not scheduled. Raising awareness of the plight of ex-con parolees in halfway houses is also not on the agenda. No also to raising awareness of kids in foster homes and the victims of child abuse. And, most troubling, the kids are seldom taught awareness of the many people who have served, been wounded and died to protect the United States from foreign and domestic enemies.

However, it's probably a good idea to teach the children alternative lifestyles. Since the high school graduation rate hovers dismally around 50 percent in Cleveland, homelessness skills are arguably desirable. After all, without an education, where else can they turn?

As a suggestion for the organizers of the vagrancy-r-us project, the curricula should definitely include some on-the-job experience at begging and panhandling. The youths then would be fully prepared to support and be included in the homeless demographic and help increase the size of the non-productive segment of society.

Sarcasm aside, the sleeping in cardboard boxes is nothing more than political indoctrination. Kids are being taught to have sympathy for the homeless. They should already know, without the experience, that cardboard boxes make terrible shelters and that it's cold in the middle of winter.

Instead of teaching kids sympathy for the homeless, teaching sympathy for the small business owner would be more appropriate. Let them realize the challenge of trying to succeed with high taxes, massive government regulation and rampant crime. Teaching kids how to achieve is far more important than teaching them sympathy for the losers.

Silvio does it again


Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is one of my favorite people. He is constantly being accused of incorrectness but carries on regardless.

"Premier Silvio Berlusconi is being criticized for suggesting that Italy's women are so beautiful they need military escorts to avoid rape. Berlusconi made the comments Sunday, responding to questions about a proposal to deploy 300,000 soldiers in the streets to fight crime. A series of violent crimes, including a rape in Rome on New Year's Eve and another outside the capital this week, prompted the proposal.

But Berlusconi said even with added police, such crimes can happen, and that "We would need so many soldiers because our women are so beautiful."

Opposition lawmaker Giovanna Melandri said Berlusconi's comments were "profoundly offensive."

Berlusconi says he was complimenting women.

Source

Italian men are great pursuers of women and Silvio is one of them. It escapes me what was offensive about his remarks. They sound complimentary to me too. But I guess it is the feminist cr*p about women's attractiveness being unimportant.

Posted by John Ray.

Hamas and Civilian Ambulances in Gaza

(Gaza Strip) Frankly, although this story is quite believable, I'm surprised it was allowed to be reported. It's more typical for the media to protect Hamas from negative news.

Reportedly, it's second-hand information from a 30-year-old Palestinian ambulance driver, Mohammed Shriteh.

"We would co-ordinate with the Israelis before we pick up patients, because they have all our names, and our IDs, so they would not shoot at us."

Mr Shriteh said the more immediate threat was from Hamas, who would lure the ambulances into the heart of a battle to transport fighters to safety.

"After the first week, at night time, there was a call for a house in Jabaliya. I got to the house and there was lots of shooting and explosions all around," he said.

Because of the urgency of the call, Mr Shriteh said there was no time to arrange his movements with the IDF.

"I knew the Israelis were watching me because I could see the red laser beam in the ambulance and on me, on my body," he said.

Getting out of the ambulance and entering the house, he saw there were three Hamas fighters taking cover inside. One half of the building had already been destroyed.

"They were very scared, and very nervous … They dropped their weapons and ordered me to get them out, to put them in the ambulance and take them away. I refused, because if the IDF sees me doing this I am finished, I cannot pick up any more wounded people.

"And then one of the fighters picked up a gun and held it to my head, to force me. I still refused, and then they allowed me to leave."

According to Mr. Shriteh, Hamas made several attempts to hijack ambulances.

Mexican Man Dissolved Bodies

(Tijuana, Mexico) A 45-year-old Mexican man known as the "Stew Maker," Santiago Meza Lopez, was arrested last Thursday for allegedly disposing of 300 bodies in vats of caustic soda in the last ten years.

Drug boss Eduardo Garcia Simental paid Lopez $600 per week to dispose of bodies.

"El Teo" Simental is one of the most-wanted members of the Tijuana drug cartel.

Lopez, known as Posolero del Teo (Teo's Stew Maker), said he got rid of the bodies, "the products of the drug war, enemies or debtors of Simental", by dissolving them in industrial drums on the outskirts of Tijuana, using caustic soda, a highly corrosive substance.

It's not known whether the bodies dissolved in acid were counted among the Mexican murder totals.

Snow in the UAE

(Ras al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates) For only the second time in recorded history, it snowed in the Jebel Jais area, about 60 miles northeast of Dubai. Presumably, the rare event was caused by global warming.

So rare was the event that one lifelong resident said the local dialect had no word for it.

According to the RAK Government, temperatures on Jebel Jais dropped to -3°C on Friday night. On Saturday, the area had reached 1°C.

Major Saeed Rashid al Yamahi, a helicopter pilot and the manager of the Air Wing of RAK Police, said the snow covered an area of five kilometres and was 10cm deep.

“The sight up there this morning was totally unbelievable, with the snow-capped mountain and the entire area covered with fresh, dazzling white snow,” Major al Yamahi said.

“The snowfall started at 3pm Friday, and heavy snowing began at 8pm and continued till midnight, covering the entire area in a thick blanket of snow. Much of the snow was still there even when we flew back from the mountain this afternoon. It is still freezing cold up there and there are chances that it might snow again tonight.”

Aisha al Hebsy, a woman in her 50s who has lived in the mountains near Jebel Jais all her life, said snowfall in the area was so unheard of the local dialect does not even have a word for it. Hail is known as bared, which literally translates as cold. “Twenty years ago we had lots of hail,” said Ms al Hebsy. “Last night was like this. At four in the morning we came out and the ground was white.”

Jebel Jais was dusted in snow on Dec 28, 2004, the first snowfall in living memory for Ras al Khaimah residents.

Jebel Jais is a 5,700-foot tall mountain which the government hopes to turn into a ski resort with snow-making equipment.

Tip: CN

California Out of Money

(Sacramento, California) According to California State Controller John Chiang, it's tin cup time in the golden state.

The controller says California is down to Plan D on its checklist of paying bills. Its cash reserves are piddling; the special funds it borrows from are tapped out, and no one in the private sector is going to lend it any cash at a reasonable interest rate.

That leaves what in state government circles are called "payment deferrals" and what in real life is called "stiffing your creditors."

In this case the creditors include income taxpayers expecting refunds, college students waiting on state aid, counties that operate public assistance programs, and companies that sell goods and services to state agencies.

Fortunately, just as the state of California goes into an official begging mode, President Obama and Congressional Democrats are finalizing a gargantuan giveaway program. How fortuitous, eh?

Interestingly, Arnold Schwarzenegger defeated every conceivable enemy during his acting career only to have The Terminator turn into Spineless Jellyman when confronted with the challenges of governing. It shows the disconnect between fiction and reality. All too often, the hero in the movies is no more than an ordinary schlub in real life.

Tennessee "English only" requirement racist?


Even though people of many races speak English? The amendment says that all city business must be conducted in English.

"Too many have been quick to label anyone who supports the amendment as racist and xenophobic. At best, proponents are called ignorant and insensitive. To be sure, Nashville has its share of people who are hateful and cruel, judging by the ugly online comments to news stories related to immigration. But with their dismissive attitude toward anyone who has a different point of view, many opponents of English-Only can hardly claim the high road.

Yet, as an ESL teacher who promotes assimilation, I believe in encouraging a common language and culture. I have problems with driver's license tests being offered in other languages, and I want to know why students can take the GED in Spanish or French when they're required to know English to be eligible to take the test. I would welcome better thought out and more narrowly focused English policies that are more likely to have a practical impact and limit the number of unintended consequences.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Mom Loses Custody for Alienating Kids Against Dad

I suspect that a divorced mother losing custody of her children for incessantly badgering them about their father being a bad guy rarely happens. In my opinion, this is a landmark case.

At the same time, I'm fairly confident that a significant percentage of divorced mothers regularly badger their children about how bad their fathers are.

$15 Mil Lawsuit in Honor Killing Case

(Lodi, California) In April 2008, a 56-year-old Sikh man, Gurparkash Khalsa, was indicted for the murder of a 23-year-old Lodi man, Ajmer Singh Hothi, in an alleged honor killing.

Hothi had dated Khalsa's daughter but the family strongly disapproved due to class differences recognized among the Sikhs. Khalsa was the prosperous owner of a trucking firm while Hothi was a lowly trucker.

Khalsa later learned that his daughter had aborted Hothi's child.

The father then demanded the couple marry. But in the meantime Hothi's parents had sent their son to India for an arranged marriage, according to court papers.

Prosecutors accuse Khalsa of tracking down Hothi and ambushing him in the cab of his big rig.

Hothi was shot nine times with a Beretta handgun similar to one Khalsa had registered years before, according to a police report.

San Joaquin County Prosecutors will seek life in prison for Khalsa.

Meanwhile, the family of Ajmer Hothi has filed a $15 million civil lawsuit against Gurparkash Khalsa claiming wrongful death inflicting emotional suffering. The Hothi's family members want compensation for their loss and to send a message that honor killings will empty the perpetrator's wallet.

Russian Vodka Ministry Proposes Tax Cut

Apparently, the taxes on legal vodka are so high that many people are buying fake vodka products made with dangerous ingredients.

An increasing number of cash-strapped Russians are turning to cheap fake vodka. An estimated one in three bottles of vodka sold is contraband; many people die each year from drinking adulterated alcohol.

The tax cut was proposed by the new state alcohol agency which is otherwise known as the 'ministry of vodka'.

I suspect that the ministry of hooch is less interested in the health of vodka drinkers and more interested in sales of legal vodka.

Note that this is an example of the disconnect between the thinking of those who levy taxes and those who attempt to operate a business selling products that are taxed. Government tax-mongers seldom comprehend that a high level of taxation actually diminishes sales of legal products while spurring the creation of black market products.

Instances abound here in the U.S. where we see examples of state governments increasing taxes on particular products and then, with jaw-dropping dumbfoundedness, cry foul as customers resort to black market items or drive to the next state to buy the products.

Old Dutch tradition comes under fire in Britain




It's a Dutch version of the "blackface" controversy except that the character in the Dutch tradition did not "black up" as an imitation of an African. It is part of a traditional Dutch Christmas. "Black Pete" is the companion of the Dutch Santa Claus (Sinterklaas), as you see above.

"A celebration held by Dutch students at University College has been condemned as "racially insensitive, and arguably racist" by prominent members of the MCR. Both the Vice-President and Treasurer of University College's MCR have condemned the celebration and attacked the "endemic apathy towards racism in the Oxford community."

Micaela Owusu, the MCR treasurer, wrote an open letter to the college, condemning the "Zwarte Piet" celebration which was held in the college at the end of last November. Owusu has stated that she saw two students in black face make-up sitting within a crowd of students to mark the Dutch holiday celebration.

Traditionally, the "Zwarte Piet" feast is held on the 5th of December in Holland and celebrates "Black Peter" as the companion of St. Nicholas. It has frequently involved "blacking up" in imitation of the character. Owusu stated that as "one of a literal handful of black students at University College" she felt "extremely isolated and targeted in such a scenario."

Source

I believe Piet is black because he does the climbing down chimneys in Holland

Posted by John Ray.

Mom Accused of Child Abuse, Zip Ties Daughter

(Denver, Colorado) A 52-year-old local mother, Danelle Daunchet, faces charges of child abuse for allegedly restraining her 10-year-old daughter with plastic zip ties to keep her from eating.

Daunchet faces counts of felony child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury and two misdemeanor counts of child abuse.

The charges, filed by the Denver District Attorney's office, allege Daunchet used the plastic ties to tie her daughter's hands behind her back before bed time to keep her from "stealing" food.

The girl hands were bound while she slept on her side.

A doctor said the girl may suffer from permanent disfigurement.

Daunchet was booked and released on $50,000 bond.

Tip: SuidaeEmpathy

Texas Teacher Busted for Drugs

(Baytown, Texas) A 33-year-old teacher with Goose Creek Schools, Angela Newport Rowland, was arrested this week for allegedly possessing drugs.

Rowland has been charged with three counts of drug possession after Montgomery County Sheriff's deputies found marijuana, cocaine and Ecstasy inside a motor home in which she was riding.

Authorities stopped the motor home on Interstate 45 near Texas 242 because it had an expired registration, sheriff’s officials said.

After smelling the odor of marijuana, deputies asked to search the vehicle, investigators said. Rowland and three others riding in the motor home consented to the search, they said.

The deputies reported finding small quantities of marijuana, cocaine and the designer drug Ecstasy.

Also arrested were Catherine Elizabeth Labure, 45, of Highlands; Matthew Edward Rowland, 40, of Baytown; and John Douglas Rowland, 43, also of Baytown.

All four were booked into the Montgomery County Jail and later released on bail. Rowland was placed on administrative leave by the school system.

Heh. Riding around with illegal drugs in a vehicle with an expired registration is absolutely dumb. I bet the dope made them stupid.