Women With Troubles - March 2009

Reported in news stories during March 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) Verna Bennett,
teacher - Charged with harassment for grabbing 15-year-old female student's butt,

(AR) Deborah N. Ludlow, 58,
teacher - Arrested for shoplifting twice,

(AZ) Susan Jayne Anderson, 29,
coach - Pleaded guilty to sex with female student. Sentencing on April 3,

(AZ) Michelle Coniff, 47,
teacher - Arrested with husband, John Coniff, for growing and distributing marijuana,

(AZ) Emili Kay Daniels,
teacher - Arrested for sex with male student, 17,

(AZ) Denise Philpott, 34,
neighbor - Gets five years in prison for kidnapping boy, 15,

(CA) Rita Brum, 24,
teacher - Accused of sex with female student, 17,

(CA) Adrienne Elizabeth Feistel, 35,
teacher - Accused of lewd acts on a child aged 14 or 15,

(CA) Stacey Goodloe, 35,
teacher - Arrested for sex with male student, 14 or 15,

(CA) Abigail Anne Holloway, 33,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 13,

(CA) Yvonne Pampellone, 30,
neighbor - Accused of using forged credit to buy fake breasts,

(CA) Megan Sansbury aka Sainsbury, 31,
teacher - Arrested for inappropriate relationship with female student, 17,

(CA) Lisa Louise Winchester,
school worker - Sentenced to 120 days in county jail for sex with boy, 15,

(DE) Jennifer D. Bollinger, 25,
preschool teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 14,

(DE) Angela Groesbeck, 27,
neighbor - Accused of raping three teen boys,

(FL) Christy Lynn Martin, 32,
teacher - Accused of sending porn to boy, 14,

(FL) Renee T. Vanalsburg, 42,
neighbor - Arrested for breastfeeding child while drugged and drunk,

(IA) Erin Marie Rohwer, 27,
teacher - Guilty of sex with student. Sentencing on May 6,

(IL) Loren Leoni, 25,
teacher - Guilty of aggravated sex abuse of boy, 15. Sentencing on May 8,

(IL) Sarah L. Tolzien, 24,
teacher - Accused of sex assault of boy, 16,

(IN) Sheila K. Granger, 33,
neighbor - Accused of sex with two 12-year-old boys,

(IN) Samantha Light, 25, and partner Stephen E. Quick, 31,
neighbors - Arrested for molesting several young children,

(KY) Frances Nelson, 35,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 14,

(LA) Cindy Marlene Wyatt Cobbs, 30,
teacher - Accused of drug possession and contributing to delinquency of minors,

(LA) Jada Hendrix, 23,
teacher - Accused of soliciting student, 16,

(LA) Michelle Martorana, 21,
neighbor - Gets 48 years prison for attempted murder of baby,

(LA) Sonya (aka Sonia) Williamson Norman, 37,
teacher - Arrested for multiple drug offenses,

(LA) Tiffany Nicole Steedman, 27,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 16,

(MA) Stephanie K. Lighten, 26,
neighbor - Arrested for domestic assault of of lesbian spouse,

(MI) Kelly Abdo, 27,
teacher - Gets probation for indecent exposure,

(MI) Melissa Lavender, 32,
teacher - Guilty of attempted aggravated stalking. Sentencing on April 29,

(MN) Kellie Ann Lundon-Cormican, 39,
teacher - Gets 10 years in prison for sex with boy, 14,

(MN) Dawne Lejeune Schwartz, 35,
teacher's aide - Accused of sex with male student, 17,

(MO) Jana E. Carter, 45,
teen center worker - Accused of sex with two teen boys,

(MO) Katherine D. Hicks, 39,
teacher - Arrested for sexual contact with male student, 17,

(MS) Katryna (aka Catryna) Martin, 28,
teacher - Accused of sex with girl, 14, and boy, 15,

(NC) Shannon Grace Herring, 32,
teacher - Arrested for sex with student, 17,

(NH) Theresa Bergeron, 37,
neighbor - Sentenced to 2 to 10 years prison for child abuse,

(NY) Cara Dickey, 30,
teacher - Pleads guilty to rape of boy, 14,

(NY) Heather Kennedy, 27,
teacher - Sentenced to six months in jail for sex with boy, 16,

(NY) Lisa Marshall, 37,
teacher - Arrested for sex abuse of student, 15,

(NY) Maria C. Muniz, 23,
neighbor - Arrested for rape of boy, 14,

(NY) Jennifer Ortman, 32,
teacher - Guilty of felony DWI. Sentencing on May 5,

(OH) Amber Carter, 35,
teacher - Gets probation for prostitution,

(OK) Vicky Lynn Lewallen, 45,
teacher - Gets two years in prison for sex with female student, 16,

(PA) Melissa Burr, 31,
neighbor - Accused of raping four boys between five and 10 years old,

(PA) Janie Courson, 27,
neighbor - Accused of raping four boys between five and 10 years old,

(PA) Christina Marie Korbe, 40,
neighbor - Accused of murdering FBI agent,

(SC) Angela "Angel" Simmons Lindle, 37,
teacher - Commits suicide after accusation of sex with student,

(TN) Tammy Graves, 42,
juvie court worker - Arrested for raping boy, 17,

(TX) Tera Caldwell, 23,
neighbor - Sentenced to 16+ years in prison for meth production,

(TX) Yolanda Horace-Crockett, 41,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student, 17,

(TX) Megan Kastner, 25,
teacher - Arrested for improper relationship with student,

(UT) Valynne Bowers, 39,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 13,

(UT) Catherine Cates, 30,
neighbor - Accused of sex with 12-year-old neighborhood boy,

(UT) Linda Nef,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 13,

(VA) Cassandra Mays Mawyer, 28,
neighbor - Gets 12 months jail for carnal knowledge of boys and credit card fraud,

(VA) Deirdre Rae Noggle, 35,
social worker - Indicted for sex crimes against teen boy,

(WI) Katie M. Luessenhop, 26,
teacher - Arrested for possession of heroin,

(WV) Jenee Lynn Afzal, 34,
neighbor - Accused of sex with stepson, 16,

(WV) Autumn Faulkner, 26,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 15.

As always, thanks to the tipsters, commenters and the readers.

Hot British Teacher Shows Her Thong

(Cambridge, England) In 2002, a 23-year-old British beauty, Natasha Gray, was named Britain's sexiest teacher after winning a phone-in competition promoted by a television program.

As a result, Miss Gray qualified to compete in a competition with six other professionals to determine "Britain's Sexiest" overall. Unfortunately, Miss Gray lost the top prize for Britain's Sexiest to a fitness instructor.

Speaking after the competition she said: ''It was absolutely fantastic. I had such a brilliant day. The audience was great and helped me get into it.''

Moving on with her life, Miss Gray started work as a PE and dance teacher at Manor Community College in Cambridge a mere two weeks after the beauty competition. Sometime within the ensuing seven years, Miss Gray started modeling and her provocative photos in thongs and other revealing underwear became available on the Internet at the website iModel.com.



Teacher Natasha Gray
Naturally, it wasn't a secret very long within the student body of Manor Community College with 355 pupils between the ages of 11 and 16. In fact, Miss Gray's saucy images became "common knowledge" and resulted in one disgusted parent sending the school an anonymous letter of complaint.

It said: ''I am a parent of a pupil at Manor Community College in Cambridge and was surprised when my child came home from school informing me that one of their teachers had some what I would call provocative pictures on a website.

''From doing a bit of digging, it is apparently common knowledge about these photos, and has been for some time.

''Any teacher is in a position of trust and surely this is inappropriate for not only the school, but also pupils. I am disgusted that, even if these were taken before she became a teacher, Miss Gray has not even attempted to remove them. I assume the pupils have a good giggle about it but I find it rather crass."

Consequently, the school's principal, Ben Slade, said Miss Gray would be punished. Slade said he would ask Miss Gray to take the pictures down even though he doesn't consider them to be pornographic. All in all, it looks like Miss Gray will only receive a letter of strong reprimand.

Frankly, I don't see what the big deal is and I suspect that the reason this story is reported throughout the British media is because it involves one universal element of salaciousness -- hot female teacher in a thong.

Tip: Rusty

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

[Update] For comparison sake, art teacher Tamara Hoover was forced to resign from her position at Austin High School in Texas for having topless photos on the Internet. Natasha Gray appears as though she will at least keep her job.

Life Follows Art?

Remember the classic Paul Newman movie Slap Shot where Newman played a hockey coach for a professional minor league team?

If you saw it, you'll also remember the scene-stealing, wacked-out Hanson brothers, members of the raucous team.

Well, in an instance where reality arguably follows art, the son of one of the Hanson brothers, Christian Hanson, is expected to sign a contract to play hockey for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

There are advantages to being one of the NHL's also-rans.

One of them is that traditionally it positions teams perfectly for the annual crop of U.S. college free agents and the Maple Leafs are expected to capitalize on that today by signing 23-year-old centre Christian Hanson of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Details were murky last night and the Leafs weren't talking, but tongues were certainly wagging across the industry suggesting that if Hanson hasn't officially signed a three-year, entry-level contract already, he will today.

Dave Hanson, Christian's father, has been friends with the Leaf's General Manager Brian Burke for 30 years.

Councilman Proposes Sex Toy Purchase

(Sydney, Australia) In an ongoing spat between two Aussie politicians, Strathfield Councilor Danny Lim proposed a motion for the City Council to buy a vibrator for New South Wales Trading Minister Virginia Judge so that she could go "screw herself."

In response, Ms. Judge (pic) lodged a complaint with the council against Mr. Lim alleging harassment, abuse and intimidation.

I chuckled.

Lesbian Sex Scandal at Oprah School

(Vereeniging, South Africa) An alleged lesbian sex scandal involving seven girls has been exposed at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy School for Girls.

Seven girls have, in the past week, been expelled for allegedly sexually harassing their schoolmates and encouraging them to have relationships with fellow girl pupils. The girls also allegedly touched each other's private parts according to a report published in Afrikaans Sunday paper Rapport.

This was confirmed today (Monday) by Lisa Halliday, senior vice president of communications for the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation in Chicago, who said the girls had violated the school's code of conduct.

"We consider this to be a confidential school matter. Therefore, we will not confirm any personal information or disclose any details related to these expulsions," Halliday said.

Given that the girls are specially-selected under-privileged over-achievers who are granted free tuition, room and board, one might think they would be well-behaved. Apparently not.

Federal judge blocks charges in Pa. ’sexting’ case


We read:

"A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked a prosecutor from filing child pornography charges against three northeastern Pennsylvania teenagers who appeared in racy photos that turned up on classmates’ cell phones. U.S. District Judge James Munley ruled against Wyoming County District Attorney George Skumanick Jr., who has threatened to pursue felony charges against the girls unless they agree to participate in a five-week after-school program.”

Source

This Skumanick guy seems to be a sick puppy. All that the photos showed was a bit of tit. Maybe one sight of a teenage tit is all it takes to get Skumanick off.

Posted by John Ray.

NY Teacher Guilty of Felony DWI

(Rochester, New York) A 32-year-old teacher formerly at Victor Primary School, Jennifer Ortman, was convicted by a jury last Friday of felony driving while impaired.

Ortman was found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident and criminal mischief along with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

Ortman was charged the morning of June 5 last year. She resigned from the district, where she taught music, immediately following her arrest. [...]

At the trial, a parent testified to seeing Ortman hit two cars as she tried to park at the school and stagger into the building with extremely poor balance, Ontario County District Attorney R. Michael Tantillo said.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 5 before Ontario County Court Judge Craig Doran.

Times Are Tough - Prostitute Works for Chicken Nuggets

(Brisbane, Australia) This episode illustrates one reason why minors are protected by laws. Young people cannot adequately protect themselves from exploitation.

A Brisbane pimp who paid his child prostitute in chicken nuggets will serve just nine months behind bars.

Ronald Vikash Gander, 27, was described by a District Court judge yesterday as a ''sleaze merchant'' who treated the 16-year-old girl as a ''piece of meat'' after it was revealed he had forced her to have sex with older men and take part in a lesbian sex romp in order to pay rent on his Spring Hill apartment.

The $4500 she made as a first-time prostitute went on living expenses, car hire and buckets of chicken nuggets for the girl, prosecutors said. [...]

The court was told Gander was living with his 16-year-old girlfriend in Brisbane in June last year when his teen lover's school friend moved in after running away from home.

In order to pay the $1045 per week rent on their apartment at Republic Apartments, Spring Hill, Gander and his girlfriend told the girl she would have to work as a prostitute.

Using his credit card, Gander placed two ads in a Brisbane newspaper offering the girl's services and drove her to five sex appointments in the space of a week.

The girl, who cannot be named, had sex with men aged between 40 and 60 and also took part in a lesbian romp with a 25-year-old woman who responded to the advertisements.

Authorities were alerted when the 16-year-old told a guidance counselor at school.

Tip: Charlie Nestor

Former Colony Votes to Become French

Interesting.

MAMOUDZOU, Mayotte (AFP) — The Indian Ocean island of Mayotte voted Sunday to become a full part of France in a referendum that will end local traditions like polygamy and curb powers of Islamic courts.

More than 95 percent of those who voted supported Mayotte becoming France's 101st department, the French government announced. Mayotte is currently an overseas "collectivity" with specific autonomy powers.

The vote means that by 2011 the Muslim-majority island will complete an integration with France begun in 1974, when Mayotte split from three other islands in its archipelago which chose independence and became the Comoros.

The African Union and the Comoros administration -- which sees Mayotte as a territory "occupied" by France -- have denounced the referendum.

So the voters among the 200,000 population decided, overwhelmingly mind you, that they would rather be French than live in an Islamic republic. Heh.

Government Takes Over Auto Maintenance & Repair

You had to know this was coming.

If you take over making cars, it's logical that you will be responsible at some point for fixing them.

Obama Mimics Carter

During the Jimmy Carter years as President, he was seen occasionally on news footage carrying a briefcase, typically going to or coming out of helicopter Marine One. When staffers were asked what was in the briefcase, they said it was empty.

The unofficial story about the briefcase was that Carter wanted the American people to think he was busy, working hard on economic and global political problems, and carrying the briefcase would assure the public that he was constantly working.

Now anybody familiar with the office of the President of the United States knows that the President doesn't have to carry anything with him since an army of assistants beckon to his every breath. As a result, Carter's briefcase ploy garnered only ridicule. Had Jimmy Carter put something, anything, in the briefcase, he might have been able to squelch some of the jokes.

In any event, I just saw a video clip of President Obama exiting Marine One with an armful of papers and folders. Why? He doesn't have to carry anything. In fact, he doesn't even need to put anything in his pockets. Obama has an army of helpers who will do anything for him.

The only thing I can figure is that he wants the public to see him looking like he's actually doing something other than talking while the economy is turning into a crap sandwich. Obama appears to be doing the same thing Jimmy Carter did.

In all candor, I wouldn't be surprised if he had been carrying the maintenance instructions for Marine One, just a stack of papers and folders he found in a sleeve at the back of the helicopter.

Arctic Team Navigates with Lacy Panties, Plans Swim to Pole

Okay, now this report is comical.

Funded by the World Wildlife Fund and Prince Charles, the Catlin Arctic Expedition is trekking 700 miles to the North Pole to measure ice thickness.

Since the cold temperatures have disabled GPS instruments and proximity to magnetic North has confounded compasses, the researchers navigate using the position of the Sun, when it can be seen, and wind direction as indicated by a pair of lacy panties attached to a ski pole.

According to explorer Pen Hadow, speaking on satellite phone:

"It an (sic) entirely genuine situation. If you can get gossamer thin material and attach it your (sic) ski pole it is particularly useful for this project because we can cannot (sic) use the compass as we are so close to magnetic north and it is too cold to use the GPS.

"The knickers have taken up a whole new value operationally."

Interesting enough, but there's more.

Mr Hadow said he is having to spend up to three hours in temperatures of -40 degrees Celsius and below to drill down and measure the ice after hard days trekking (sic).

So far the team have (sic) covered almost 62 miles (100 km) and expect to have to swim through open water to make it the Pole by May or June.

Swim to the North Pole? Heh, sure they will.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Massachusetts Man Massacres Sisters

(Milton, Massachusetts) A 23-year-old man recently released from prison, Kerby Revelus, went on a rampage Saturday, stabbing two of his sisters to death and seriously wounding another.

Five-year-old Bianca Revelus was decapitated, 17-year-old Samantha Revelus died of stab wounds and 9-year-old Saraphina Revelus was rescued and hospitalized.

Described as moody and introverted, Revelus apparently became enraged after an altercation with a neighbor.

"We don't know what the fight was about," Milton Police Chief Richard G. Wells said yesterday. But "this all came as a result of [that] incident."

Police officers were not called to the scene of the fight, said Wells, who declined to disclose the identity of the neighbor, citing the ongoing investigation.

Police were called to 7 Belvoir St. shortly before 5 p.m. Saturday by 9-year-old Saraphina Revelus. Wells said police arrived at the home and broke down the door to a room on the second floor in time to see Kerby Revelus grab 5-year-old Bianca and slash her neck. Wells said Revelus had already fatally stabbed his 17-year-old sister Samantha "Princesse" Revelus. The officers shot and killed Revelus as he was stabbing Saraphina Revelus and saved her life.

Bianca Revelus, who was supposed to start kindergarten this fall, had turned 5 years old the day before the attack.

Friends, family and the community are trying to make sense of the shocking episode. It has been mentioned that Kerby Revelus displayed erratic behavior after his release from prison and that he has frequently been seen drinking alcohol. However, nothing seems to explain why he killed his sisters.

Earth hour roundup


Comments from various sources:

1). Al Gore certainly didn't shut the lights off

2). I could not help but chuckle at the irony of earth hour's method of getting their message across. By turning off lights around the world they showed people exactly what they want. They want to turn the light out on human civilization. The wish to stop progress, to pull back humans' desire to better our world. Instead of light that allows us to see truth clearly they choose darkness, to hide their true intentions.

3). I will be thinking about the 1.8 billion people on Earth who have no access to electricity, and how insane they must think we are.

4). Earth Hour is a good demonstration of what will happen very soon if energy policy continues to be strangled by futile attempts to control the weather/climate using the harmless, essential, naturally occurring, aerial plant food gas CO2.

5). With reference to the absurd Dearth Hour, JunkScience.com is wondering how many stories we can collect of people injured falling over the cat/furniture in the enviro-induced darkness. Candle fires from unsafe lighting? Anything you or your readers may have heard about can be returned to this email address or preferably posted under this topic on the forum. (It's a self-register arrangement & you can post immediately following registration).

6). An email from Greenland with illustrative picture below: Does it sometimes seem like everything you read, see or do has the word “Green” attached to it? When you are living in Greenland you can't ignore it! But the Earth Hour made a difference here. See www.glar.gl. No more global warming.



7). Comment by Australian cartoonist ZEG:



Posted by John Ray.

Government Wants Access to Your Laptop

This is not good news.

The Obama Administration is currently negotiating the ACTA Agreement with several international partners.

The proposed agreement would empower security officials at airports and other international borders to conduct random ex officio searches of laptops, MP3 players, and cellular phones for illegally downloaded or "ripped" music and movies.

The ACTA Agreement is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which is an attempt to enforce intellectual property rights worldwide. The legal framework to emerge is currently unknown.

Twitter Experimenting with Money Making Ideas

Twitter has decided to try some angles to make money.

Under the initiative, Federated Media, a San Francisco online ad firm, will create Web sites that showcase Twitter messages about a particular topic. Companies can sponsor the pages, with Federated Media sharing some of the proceeds with Twitter.

The first such page, ExecTweets, sponsored by Microsoft, went live Monday featuring tweets by various business leaders. A second page, MarchTweetness, focused on the NCAA basketball tournament, premiered Thursday under a sponsorship with AT&T.

A separate plan by Twitter to sell premium accounts to corporate users is under development. The idea is to give companies that use the service, of which there are many, including JetBlue, Comcast and Whole Foods, extras beyond what is available using Twitter's free version.

It's not clear when the innovations will become effective.

Hottest Female Celebrity Lips

(Lincoln, Nebraska) According to a lip attractiveness study conducted by Dr. Kendra Smith, a biometrics specialist at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, an analysis of the lips of 40 celebrities produced surprising results.

Angelina Jolie's full lips may be one of her most striking features but with a score of 7.89, they were outranked by the likes of Scarlett Johansson (9.66), Halle Berry (9.61) and Beyonce Knowles (8.65).

Monica Belluci - perfect 10

   
The Losing Lips, Nos. 2 through 5
(Johansson, Berry, Knowles, Jolie)
Reportedly, Dr. Smith developed software which analyzes lips, a clinical approach. In my experience evaluating women's lips, I shut my eyes for at least a portion of the time. I don't know how software can measure the sensual intangibles. I mean, wouldn't you have to kiss the person at least once?

Top 15 sets of lips can be viewed here.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

April Fool's Day Computer Worm

Called Conficker or DownAdUP, a new computer worm is infecting Microsoft systems.

The worm, a self-replicating program, takes advantage of networks or computers that haven't kept up to date with security patches for Windows RPC Server Service.

It can infect machines from the Internet or by hiding on USB memory sticks carrying data from one computer to another. Once in a computer it digs deep, setting up defenses that make it hard to extract.

I'm convinced that were the death penalty strictly an emotion-based decision, the people who create computer malware would likely be in line for the gallows with serial killers.

Joe Romm: Chief Warmist censor -- attacks Freeman Dyson

As usual with the Green/Left, Romm substitutes abuse for rational argument. He has to. It would in fact be amusing to see him debate the facts with Freeman Dyson. He wouldn't last 5 minutes. Dyson has forgotten more science than Romm ever knew -- making the whole attack rather amusing, on the whole: The midget attacks the mountain. Many critics of Warmism are in fact eminent scientists -- against whom mere propagandists like Romm and Al Gore make a sorry contrast. As far as I can see, Romm has NO scientific achievements to his credit. His life after graduating has been wholly political

A profile of Freeman Dyson has attracted the wrath of Joe Romm. Follow the bolded words below to see what passes for intelligent discourse on Climate Progress, Joe Romm’s allegedly “indispensable blog” (as Tom Friedman inexplicably put it several weeks back):

“Shame on the New York Times Magazine for publishing an extended, largely favorable profile of Freeman Dyson, a true climate crackpot …”

“Shame on them for printing his scientifically unjustifiable slanders of the country’s leading climate scientist, James Hansen …”

“And shame on the NYT’s top climate science reporter, Andy Revkin for promoting this piece on his blog with not a single criticism of Dyson’s numerous anti-scientific statements and smears . . . I call on Revkin to retract his absurdly indefensible assertion that, ‘On climate, Mr. Dyson may be right . . . (see full quote at end)’”

Romm betrays himself with the editing of Revkin’s sentence; more about that in a minute. But first… Romm aims his wrath at the New York Times for publishing a profile of Freeman Dyson in this coming Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, and, of course, at one of his favorite whipping boys, Andy Revkin, for writing about the profile dispassionately in his DotEarth blog.


More here

Posted by John Ray.

Competing Ideologies

And God said, "Let there be light" and there was light. (Genesis 1:3)

The environmentalists said, "Let there be darkness" and there was darkness. (Source)

The Dumbest Armed Robber

(Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) If one is to plan a robbery, don't do what this character did.

Jerome Blanchett took a loaded handgun into the Holiday Inn-Harrisburg East on Friday, passing dozens of unmarked police cars in the parking lot and a sign at the hotel's entrance welcoming 300 officers to the Pennsylvania Narcotic Officers' Association conference, police said.

Nevertheless, the 19-year-old Harrisburg man went into the men's room and waited to rob the next person who walked through the door, police said.

Unfortunately for Blanchett, that person was John Comparetto, a retired New York City Police Department lieutenant.

Just think. He only had to worry about the other 299 armed law enforcement officers. Naturall, he was arrested for making terroristic threats, reckless endangerment, simple assault, carrying a firearm without a license and illegally possessing a firearm. Plus, he faces four previous robbery charges.

Sadly, at a mere 19 years of age, Blanchett has the resume of a career criminal.

ShamWow Guy Pummels Hooker

TSG has the story plus pics of Vince Schlomi, 44, being arrested for beating the hell out of a thousand dollar hooker he hired for a 4AM room service session. Occurring in February at a South Beach hotel in Miami, the beating of Sasha Harris, 26, resulted when she bit Schlomi's tongue -- or so it says on the police report.

Both Schlomi and Harris were arrested for aggravated battery.

One must wonder whether this episode will have any effect on Schlomi's ShamWow and Slap Chop contracts.

"Earth Hour"

There are various days celebrated as "Earth Day" by Greenies but Australia has an "Earth Hour", which seems to be catching on internationally. You are supposed to turn off all your electric lights during it. The hour occurs Saturday, March 28, 8:30-9:30pm. -- which has just passed in Australia. During it I, of course, made sure to turn on every light in my house. Because Australia is in a time zone almost a day ahead of America, however, my American readers will have to wait a little while for the pleasure of doing the same if the idea has caught on in their locality. Some rather jocular Australian skeptics argue that we should have a "Blackout Night" in mid-winter instead. See here about that.


Posted by John Ray.

Ghost Twitterers and Related Stuff

Since as long as I can remember, it's been common practice for celebrities to hire help, ghost writers, in penning their autobiographies. Therefore, it's hardly surprising that "ghost Twitterers" are now being employed.

In fact, in this age of broadband communications, celebrities hire help to create content for Facebook, MySpace and personal blogs in addition to Twitter. It's viewed as a marketing tool in keeping the celebrity's name before the public.

But there is one aspect of celebrity Twittering that I think is worth mentioning. By my analysis, if a celebrity is following tens or hundreds of thousands of people on Twitter in return for having tens or hundreds of thousands of people following the celebrity, chances are that nobody is actually reading the followers' Tweets.

On the other hand, if the celebrity follows only a few people (i.e. maybe a couple hundred) while tens of thousands of people are following the celebrity, there's a good chance that the followers' Tweets are actually being read by the celebrity or a designee.

My take is that Twitter is like a box of chocolates. Every time I open my page (I follow a few dozen people), it is an entirely new experience and I can't predict what will show up. There is so much real-time topical subject matter and the traffic is so rapid that I can only sample the activity. I try to check Twitter several times each day but, even so, I miss most of the Tweets. Once Tweets flow off the front page, I likely won't see them.

In my estimation, the real value of Twitter is its real-time content and the limit of 140 characters. Real-time information from an important event gives readers a heads-up on emerging stories. The limit on the number of characters forces people to be concise. Since it allows the reader to cover more material in a given amount of time, I like it. Brevity is the soul of Twitter.

I suspect that Twitter will mature in its applicability. In particular, I don't see any reason why Twitter couldn't function as an ersatz ticker-tape for important political and cultural events. I foresee something akin to eyes-of-the-reporter on the scene news feeds for designated happenings. Breaking news, up close and personal.

As an example, the upcoming G20 summit in London is expected to be accompanied with massive protest demonstrations by a variety of angry groups threatening violence. On the scene Twitterers could easily scoop all other media on important and not-so-important stories. It would be like live-blogging but with a much faster stream of information. And, of course, it's unvetted and it should be read with an critical eye.

Kucinich Sues Publisher

Regarding Congressman Kucinich's autobiography, "The Courage to Survive," it's alleged that the publisher didn't pay Kucinich for books sold, didn't tell him how many books were sold and didn't have the book available for sale when Kucinich was making public promotional appearances.

A lawsuit was filed on behalf of Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D,OH) against Phoenix Books and Audio, Inc. in Los Angeles Superior Court earlier today.

The lawsuit seeks an undisclosed amount in damages.

60-Foot Phallus

Kid paints the phallus on his parents' roof.

Ha-ha. I would call it vandalism. Pic at link.

Tip: slwlion

Dead People Talking Department

I suggest that this report indicates some government staffers and maybe leaders are consulting with psychics prior to making decisions about Britain's budget, regulations and national security.

(Wales, UK) British taxpayers are now funding psychics to help unemployed citizens talk to the dead to find a job.

Two psychics from Wales have been awarded £4,500 of government funding to teach people how to 'communicate with the dead'. [...]

Paul and Deborah Rees, who are both self-styled mediums, have been awarded the cash under the Government's Want2Work job creation scheme.

Apparently, one must believe or be convinced to believe that the dead have inside information on how to find a job.

Interestingly, Paul Rees lost his job as an upholsterer even though he's a supposed psychic who can teach people how to talk to the dead to get a job. You'd imagine he would have used his talents to get himself a job.

In any event, there has been outrage expressed by some members of the Welsh Assembly.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

The big news

The Fed has just "printed" one trillion dollars of new U.S. Greenbacks. It has created a huge amount of new money out of thin air. Governments have that prerogative. It doesn't actually run the printing presses faster. It does it in a more complicated way than that but the result is the same. Its main effect is to put fresh cash in the pockets of the banks and other financial institutions. The good news is that it is not debt. The taxpayer is not going to be required to pay more tax to fund it. The bad news is that it will devalue whatever greenbacks you at present own. They will buy less in the future -- "inflation" in other words. So it IS a tax in the long run.

Will it work? Will it get the banks lending again? Will it create jobs? Nobody seems terribly optimistic. The real problem is to restore business confidence so that businesses start hiring again but most of the O-man's agenda is anti-business and intent on jacking up business taxes so it will do nothing for that. Abolishing regulatory burdens on business (e.g. Sarbox) and halving company tax is what is needed to perk up business. Like FDR before him, Obama thinks business is the enemy -- when it is in fact the only way out of the present problems. Kicking business when it is down so stupid that only a Leftist could do it. But that is the FDR/Obama thinking.

Lots of commentary here

Posted by John Ray.

SF Mayor Under Fire by Dems

(San Francisco, California) Mayor Gavin Newsom is feeling some heat for changing the sanctuary city policy in San Francisco. Now criminally-charged illegal youths are turned over to immigration authorities sparking protest from some city leaders.

The San Francisco Democratic Party has thrust the city's controversial sanctuary city policy back into the spotlight, overwhelmingly passing a resolution blasting the mayor for turning over undocumented youths arrested for felonies to federal authorities.

The resolution passed by the influential Democratic County Central Committee late Wednesday night also accuses police of racial profiling in making traffic stops in neighborhoods with big immigrant populations.

I can understand the controversy regarding sanctuary city status but the accusations of racial profiling don't make sense. If law enforcers go into an immigrant neighborhood, I doubt if racial profiling is required to arrest an immigrant.

Corpus Detonati

(Kabul, Afghanistan) Like comedy, suicide bombing is all about timing.

A would-be suicide bomber accidentally blew himself up on Thursday, killing six other militants as he was bidding them farewell to leave for his intended target, the Interior Ministry said.

"The terrorist was on his way to his destination and saying good-bye to his associates and then his suicide vest exploded," a statement from the ministry said.

Heh.

Tip: William Teach

Bats with White Noses

Classify this as an environmental mystery. A fungus from somewhere appears to be killing the bats in Connecticut.

State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) officials said 80% to 90% of bats in two major places where they hibernate have died after contracting white nose syndrome (WNS).

DEP Commissioner Gina McCarthy said while no one yet knows for sure what is causing WNS, “we will see the ramifications of this in just a few months. Far fewer bats will be out there working to consume mosquitoes and other flying insects that attack people, as well as our forests and farmlands.”

Problems with WNS is highest among brown bats and northern long-eared bats, the state’s most common, but has spread to other species.

Very interesting.

Teacher Kelly Abdo Gets Probation in Sex Case - Updated

(Monroe, Michigan) Twenty-seven-year-old teacher Kelly Anne Abdo appeared in court yesterday for sentencing. For conviction of the misdemeanor offense of indecent exposure, Judge Terrence Bronson sentenced Abdo to two years of probation.

Abdo took the opportunity to address the court.

"This past year has been a nightmare," she told the judge in a shaky voice. "This has affected my family even worse than it affected me. The rumors and media are not correct."

After her sentencing, Ms. Abdo's attorney, Mark S. Bilkovic of Southfield, denied that his client ever had any sexual contact or relations with any student.

"It didn't happen," Mr. Bilkovic said. "I'm not happy she was charged or convicted of anything."

He said his client did have phone conversations with students and sent them text messages, but that was all.

Asked why she would plead guilty to a criminal charge, Mr. Bilkovic said Ms. Abdo pleaded to the misdemeanor offense to avoid having her family endure a painful trial. Besides, he added, if she did not accept a plea to the indecent exposure charge, the prosecutor's office threatened to file a 15-year felony charge against her.

As an additional part of the sentence, Abdo was prohibited from teaching anywhere for two years.


* * * * *
Teacher Kelly Abdo Takes Plea in Student Sex Case - Updated
[Precious 2/11/09 post]
(Monroe, Michigan) Today in First District Court, Kelly Anne Abdo pleaded no contest to indecent exposure in accordance with a plea deal that requires her to immediately resign her teaching position.

Ms. Abdo and her attorney were in First District Court this afternoon, and Judge Terrence Bronson accepted her no contest plea to a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure.

In addition to losing her job and being placed on probation for two years, Ms. Abdo could face jail time. Indecent exposure carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

In exchange for the plea, the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office has agreed not to authorize any additional charges in the case. Ms. Abdo also agreed to revoke her teaching certificate and she can not teach anywhere for a minimum of two years.

Sentencing is scheduled for March 25. Abdo resigned her teaching position with Monroe Public Schools effective today.


* * * * *
Trial Set for Michigan Teacher in Student Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 12/10/08 post]
(Monroe, Michigan) Twenty-seven-year-old math teacher Kelly A. Abdo has been scheduled to be tried for allegedly engaging in sex with two male students.

Ms. Abdo was charged with indecent exposure, a misdemeanor that carries a penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The charge stems from allegations that Ms. Abdo had sexual intercourse with an 18-year-old student in a car parked on Riverview Ave.

Two other students saw them in the car, according to Monroe County sheriff's deputies. The Monroe County Prosecutor's Office charged Ms. Abdo with indecent exposure because under Michigan law a teacher and a student can have sexual relations legally if the student is 18 or over.

So, in Michigan it appears that any student who attains the age of 18 in high school is automatically fair game for a teacher-student relationship provided that no one sees it happening. Uh ... I don't believe this situation is desirable. It hints that the sex angle could become a bargaining chip in a negotiated settlement over a grade controversy.

First District Court Judge Terrence Bronson scheduled the trial for February 19th. It is expected to last one day.

Contrary to a previous report, Abdo was not terminated by the school system. She is on paid leave.


* * * * *
Michigan Teacher Accused in Student Sex Case
[Previous 11/18/08 post]
(Monroe, Michigan) A 27-year-old high school math teacher formerly with Monroe County Schools, Kelly Abdo, was charged last week with misdemeanor indecent exposure for allegedly engaging in sex with an 18-year-old male student.

According to prosecutor William Nichols, Abdo allegedly had sexual intercourse with the 18-year-old male in a parked vehicle in view of witnesses.

Yesterday in Monroe County District Court, Abdo pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge. Michigan law allows consensual sexual relations between teachers and students when the student is at least 18 years old.

Abdo was terminated by the school system for "ethical misconduct and inappropriate behavior" with male students. Judge Mark Braunlich ordered a pretrial hearing for December 1.

7th-Graders "Come Out" to Bisexual Teacher

(New York) A 32-year-old self-proclaimed bisexual seventh-grade teacher at Columbia Secondary School, Chance Nalley, will be united to a man in a same-sex civil commitment ceremony on April 4.

Nalley invited all his students and their parents to witness his commitment to another man.

Remarking on the situation, Frank Russo of the American Family Association said,

"For a teacher to invite his students -- seventh graders, typically 12-years-old, possibly 13 -- to attend a gay marriage is mind-boggling to me that he would do that." [...]

When asked if they were surprised he was "gay," a handful of students noted he was bisexual, not gay. One student added that his coming out to them "showed he trusts us."

Interestingly enough, Nalley says six of his students have "come out" to him this year.

Reportedly, Nalley teaches math, science and engineering to seventh-graders and the subject of sexual orientation is apparently part of or happens into the curricula. Oddly, my recollections of seventh-grade include absolutely nothing about human sexuality. Obviously, I was deprived of the opportunity to "come out" at the age of 12.

NBC News Feeling Pain?

From a verified unofficial rumor source:

NBC News has instituted an across-the-board freeze on raises for its executives and talent, even those with contracts guaranteeing them salary bumps.

A tipster tells us that NBC News--and probably all of NBC Universal, though we're not sure--is discreetly calling around and asking its on-air and off-air employees to take one for the team and voluntarily delay any contractually obligated salary increases for six months.

Anyone who has a contract that spells out a raise, of course, is free to say, "No, give me my money." But word is that the network will remember any untoward responses and take them into account when they work out the next budget.

So, it's either take one for the team or take up the exhaust at some later time. How nice?

Canada Doesn't Raise Taxes

Instead, the Canadians do a magic trick with taxes. Taxpayers pay more but their taxes are not increased. Instead, they are blended and harmonized.

Only idiots would buy this line of crap. Hey, but that's the government for you. Politicians think everyone is an idiot.

Face it. Politicians are like ex-wives. The only things they do well are lying and spending money.

Illinois Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy

(Chicago, Illinois) A 24-year-old language arts teacher and boys cross-country coach at Rich South High School, Sarah L. Tolzien, was charged this week, after a five-month investigation, with felony sexual assault of a 16-year-old male student.

The sexual activity between Tolzien and the boy, a member of the cross country team, occurred in Matteson while she gave him rides home on Nov. 14 and Nov. 17, according to police.

They said the boy's mother found text messages on his cell phone between him and Tolzien that were sexual in nature, and she notified police in late November.

The boy initially denied having sex with Tolzien but later admitted that it had occurred on two occasions when she drove him home, police said. He also told police Tolzien gave him a bottle of cologne and a card for his birthday.

When questioned by police, Tolzien admitted exchanging the sexual messages with the teen but denied that any sexual activity occurred.

Tolzien was booked into custody with bail set at $10,000. A court appearance is scheduled for April 15.

California to reduce carbon emissions by... banning black cars?!?

Henry Ford would be horrified!

In a move that will likely get California's consumers in a huff, impending legislation may soon restrict the paint color options for Golden State residents looking for their next new vehicle. The specific colors that are currently on the chopping block are all dark hues, with the worst offender seemingly the most innocuous color you could think of: Black. What could California possibly have against these colors, you ask? Apparently, the California Air Resources Board figures that the climate control systems of dark colored cars need to work harder than their lighter siblings - especially after sitting in the sun for a few hours. Anyone living in a hot, sunny climate will tell you that this assumption is accurate, of course. In fact, legislation already exists for buildings that has proven successful at reducing the energy consumption of skyscrapers.

So, what's the crux of the problem... can't paint suppliers just come up with new, less heat-absorbent dark paints? According to Ward's, suppliers have reportedly been testing their pigments and processes to see if it's possible to meet CARB's proposed mandate of 20% solar reflectivity by 2016 with a phase-in period starting in 2012, and things aren't looking good. Apparently, when the proper pigments and chemicals are added to black paint, the resulting color is currently being referred to as "mud-puddle brown." That doesn't sound very attractive, now does it? Windshields, backlights and sunroofs are also slated to get reflective coatings starting in 2012.

When we first heard of this issue, an internal debate immediately began as to whether this might be an elaborate early April Fool's joke, but it isn't. Read through CARB's complete Cool Cars Standards and Test Procedures here (PDF link) for more

SOURCE


Posted by John Ray.

Consumer-Service Marketing by KFC

In America under capitalism, anything is possible.

Don't be surprised if you see Col. Sanders out filling potholes.

In an unusual cause-marketing push, KFC is tackling the pothole problem in Louisville, Ky. in exchange for stamping the fresh pavement with "Re-freshed by KFC," a chalky stencil likely to fade away in the next downpour.

Heck of an idea, I think.

Taliban Take Pakistan's Emerald Mines

After giving up the Swat Valley to the Taliban, the Pakistan government just watched as the Taliban took over operation of the emerald mines in the region. The mines are known to be part of the largest emerald deposits in South Asia.

So far the Pakistan government has made no move to contest the Taliban's control of the mines. This is despite the fact that the funds from the emerald operations are likely to be a huge boost to Taliban coffers.

Interesting. Given that a stigma was placed on diamonds used to fund wars, called blood diamonds, maybe now we'll see murdering-bastard emeralds. Or, maybe not.

However, the fact that the Taliban is officially taking over land and industry along with governmental authority in Pakistan is ominous. It's not a leap of logic to imagine that the Taliban will someday take control of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

Sadly, all the king's horses and all the king's men haven't been able to stop North Korean nor Iran's nuclear ambitions, so there's no reason to be confident that the Taliban won't someday be a nuclear power.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Virginia Woman Indicted for Sex with Boy

(Winchester, Virginia) A 35-year-old former social worker, Deirdre Rae Noggle, has been indicted by a Frederick County grand jury for sex crimes against a teenage boy. Noggle faces six felony counts of taking indecent liberties with a boy under 18 with whom she had a custodial or supervisory relationship.

Noggle allegedly exposed herself to the boy, proposed that he expose himself to her and proposed the boy commit an act of sexual intercourse. The alleged episodes occurred between August 2008 and January 2009.

Noggle was a social worker with the Winchester Department of Social Services at the time of the alleged offenses, according to Frederick County Commonwealth's Attorney Glenn Williamson. The boy, who was 17 at the time, was under the custodial care of the city agency, he said. The incidents did not happen at Noggle's home, Williamson said.

Sharen Gromling, the city's director for administration, confirmed Monday that Noggle worked for the Department of Social Services within the past year, but is no longer employed by the agency.

Judge John Prosser set bond at $10,000 and scheduled a court appearance for April 17.

Virginia Woman Jailed for Sex with Boys - Updated

(Waynesboro, Virginia) Twenty-eight-year-old Cassandra Mays Mawyer pleaded guilty today in Waynesboro Circuit Court to two counts of carnal knowledge of boys and one count of credit card fraud in accordance with a plea deal.

Judge Humes J. Franklin followed a plea deal Wednesday, sentencing Mawyer to one year in prison for credit card fraud and 12 months in jail on each misdemeanor child sex charge.

Run concurrently, Mawyer’s sentence is one year. She was placed on four years probation and ordered to pay restitution.

No mention has been made of registration as a sex offender even though Mawyer mixed it up with two boys, 13 and 14. The sentence is arguably lenient. Maybe it's because child sex offenses are misdemeanors, eh? What's with that?


* * * * *
Virginia Woman Accused of Sex with Boys
[Previous 1/22/09 post]
(Waynesboro, Virginia) A 28-year-old woman, Cassandra Mays Mawyer, was arrested Monday for allegedly having carnal knowledge of a boy between 13 and 15 years old and for alleged credit card fraud.

Waynesboro police arrested her Monday, nearly one month after searching her former Woodrow Avenue home, seizing undergarments and looking for letters between her and two boys, ages 13 and 14.

Detectives were investigating Mawyer for credit card fraud when the sex acts came to their attention, said Waynesboro police Sgt. Kelly Walker.

Maywer allegedly bought $292 in clothing items with a credit card owned by a man with whom she lived for about six months. The man reported suspicious purchases Dec. 16. According to a search warrant, police then learned of alleged consensual sex acts with the teens, who are friends. [...]

Walker said Mawyer’s contact began with the 14-year-old in October. The 13-year-old admitted to police that he had sex with Mawyer one time, authorities said.

Each Class 4 felony carnal knowledge charge carries a possible 10-year prison sentence.

Police continue to investigate.

Arkansas Rejects Guns in Churches

(Little Rock, Arkansas) A proposed bill which would allow concealed weapons to be carried in churches has been rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Current law bans concealed weapons in bars and churches.

Companion post at GunWatch.

$4,500 to Marry Illegal Alien

(Lake County, Florida) Showing a marriage license, a man who wants to remain anonymous claims that he was paid $4,500 by Mark Hammerschmidt, owner of American Business Inc. in Winter Garden, to marry an illegal alien woman so she could become a citizen.

... claims he met the bride for the first time that same day.

"We would take pictures like we were at a wedding. Then they would pull a cake out of the freezer and we would take pictures cutting the cake."

The pretend groom says the wedding pictures would be shown to U.S. officials during government immigration interviews.

Consequently, federal authorities arrested and charged Hammerschmidt with felony marriage fraud. The U.S. Attorney's office says the Hammerschmidt case is ongoing.

I suspect that marriage fraud occurs considerably more often than is reported.

Female Coach Guilty of Sex with Female Player - Updated

(Goodyear, Arizona) Former girls' athletics coach at Desert Edge High School, Susan Jayne Anderson, now 29, has pleaded guilty to one count of sexual conduct with a minor for engaging in sex with a female student.

Sentencing in Maricopa County Superior Court is scheduled for April 3.

* * * * *
Female Coach, 28, and Female Player, 15
[Previous 2/6/08 post]
(Goodyear, Arizona) A 28-year-old volleyball and basketball coach at Desert Edge High School, Susan Jayne Anderson, was arrested Monday for allegedly engaging in sexual relationship with one of her female basketball players starting when the girl was 15.

Anderson has been charged with sexual abuse and sexual conduct with a minor. According to the police, Anderson admitted that she "preyed on victims due to their vulnerability."

Police said their investigation into the alleged, one-year-long relationship led them to intercept and retrieve messages on myspace.com that contained information that indicated that a sexual relationship may have taken place.

Investigators said they also obtained phone records belonging to the coach and victim that revealed the pair had been engaging in multiple, hour-long conversations daily since December 2007. Officers also foound thousands of text messages between the two during the same time period.

The victim said there were three to four incidents where Anderson had given her a ride home and that they had engaged in sexual contact, according to court documents.

Anderson is reported to also be a fitness teacher at Centerra Mirage Elementary School. Notably, none of the alleged inappropriate behavior is believed to have occurred on school grounds.

Anderson was booked into custody and released on $18,000 bond.

Tip: SuidaeEmpathy

College Hides Child Porn Sculpture

(Huron, Ohio) The National Coalition Against Censorship has condemned the removal of a sculpture from a college's art gallery based on free speech concerns. College administrators called the sculpture "inappropriate."

The sculpture by Edinboro, Pa., artist James Parlin was taken last week from an exhibit at Bowling Green State University's Firelands campus.

It was placed in a closet at the school in Huron in northern Ohio because officials said it showed a female middle school student on her knees performing oral sex on a male teacher. [my bold]

Okay, readers, this is an example of the moral and cultural degradation of society. The best that the BGSU administration could say is that a sculpture of a girl giving a male teacher a knobber is that it's "inappropriate."

Contrary to the BGSU assertion, I'll contend that the sculpture is pornographic. Not only that but it pornographically displays the image of a child which, it could be argued, is criminal. Calling it inappropriate is wrong. It's much more than inappropriate.

Nevertheless, one group thinks that an image of a child performing a sex act is protected speech. I suggest that the Supreme Court would rule against them in this case.

Louisiana Teacher Busted on Drug Charges

(Ouachita Parish, Louisiana) A 37-year-old phys ed teacher at East Side Elementary School in Bastrop, Sonya (aka Sonia) Williamson Norman, was arrested last week by the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office’s Metro Narcotics Department for multiple alleged drug offenses.

Norman has been charged with 30 counts of obtaining a controlled dangerous substance, or CDS, by fraud. Interestingly, she was arrested for a similar offense in 2006.

Norman was booked into the Ouachita Parish Correctional Center with bond set at $75,000. Reportedly, she has yet to bond out.

Defining conservatism

The claims below seem rather stupid and narrow-minded to me. They amount to saying that religious unbelievers cannot be conservative. Yet Australia is one of the world's most conservative countries but it is also a place where very few people are religious. The proportion of the Australian population present at church on a typical weekend is well under 10% and even a lot of them are there for mainly social reasons. And the churches are almost all Left-leaning in fact. So conservatism in Australia has nothing to do with religion. Australian conservatives generally respect religion but there are heaps of them who are not themselves religious. I think my definition of conservatism works a lot better: That conservatives just want to be left alone to get on with their own lives in their own way with as little government interference as possible -- which is why they tend to be strong advocates of individual liberty


If you want to learn to recognize the mark of a true conservative, read Mark Levin's new book, "Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto." Levin is the real thing -- a longtime intellectual and activist leader of the conservative movement -- who writes with unmatched authority and clarity about the conservative vision and how it ought to be pursued today by you and your children and anybody else you know who wants to preserve American liberty....

Like our Founding Fathers and like other first-rate conservative thinkers, Levin recognizes that America's rise to greatness was not rooted in ideology but in a worldview defined by basic -- and true -- assumptions about the nature of the world and the nature of man. Fundamentally, Levin explains, conservatives recognize that there is an immutable natural law ordained by God that all men and nations must obey. He also makes clear that while human beings have a God-given right to individual liberty, they are also imperfect by nature and, thus, if given too much power, are likely to abuse the God-given rights of others.

"Some resist the idea of a Natural Law's relationship to Divine Providence, for fear it leads to intolerance or even theocracy," writes Levin. "They have it backwards. If man is 'endowed by (the) Creator with certain inalienable rights,' he is endowed with these rights no matter his religion or whether he has allegiance to any religion. It is Natural Law, divined by God and discoverable by reason, that prescribes the inalienability of the most fundamental and eternal human rights -- rights that are not conferred on man by man. It is the Divine nature of Natural Law that makes permanent man's right to 'Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.'"

Levin deftly isolates why modern liberal class warriors -- those of President Obama's ilk -- must reject this understanding of the world. "The Statist cannot abide the existence of Natural Law and man's discovery of 'inalienable rights' bestowed on all individuals by 'their Creator,'" writes Levin. "In ideology and practice, the Statist believes rights are not a condition of man's existence but only exist to the extent the Statist ratifies them. Furthermore, rights do not belong to all individuals. They are rationed by the state -- conferred on those whom the Statist believes deserving of them, and denied to those whom the Statist believes undeserving of them."

As on his radio show, so in this book, Levin is unapologetic in his indictment of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and successive generations of FDR acolytes -- including LBJ and BHO -- for perpetrating a "counterrevolution" against the limited government prescribed by our Constitution and for creating and expanding a welfare state that breeds dependency in the people and that -- if not soon dismantled -- will bankrupt our nation.

"The significance of the New Deal is not in any one program, but in its sweeping break from our founding principles and constitutional limitations," he says. "Roosevelt himself broke with the two-presidential-term tradition started by George Washington by running for four terms. His legacy includes a federal government that has become a massive, unaccountable conglomerate: It is the nation's largest creditor, debtor, lender, employer, consumer, contractor, grantor, property owner, tenant, insurer, health-care provider and pension guarantor."

This is the truth about what liberals have done over the last 80 years of American history. American freedom cannot survive another 80 years of expanding government and diminishing individual autonomy.

More HERE


Posted by John Ray.

CIA Hiring Spies

From AdAge:

The Central Intelligence Agency is running radio recruitment spots for its National Clandestine Service unit ....

If you are stirred to be shaken from your complacency and anxious to experience excitement in a life punctuated by adventure and patriotism, by all means, apply for a position.

MSM Newspapers Bailed by Washington?

Just freaking great! We're going to make the mainstream media newspapers into public-benefit, quasi-governmental house organs. Jeez, you'd think the MSM weren't already kissing the asset-guarantors in Washington.

Under this arrangement, newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements.

Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax exempt, and contributions to support news coverage or operations could be tax deductible.

It appears that newspapers would be restricted in expressing political opinions while providing Washington with the means to censor anything deemed to be a political endorsement.

Reporter: "Hey, Chief! Here's that puff piece on Senator Wagatongue."

Editor: "Okay, take it to the political officer for approval. It should be good since Wagatongue is one of us."

Since the MSM already leans politically-left and Washington is politically-left, it's logical to expect that the only complaints about newspaper "endorsements" would arise when they are conservative. Endorsements is in quotes because it realistically could mean just about anything.

However, the real danger of such legislation is it assumes that Washington overseers will act in an unbiased and objective manner when evaluating political endorsements in newspapers. The assumption is astonishing since there exists scant evidence that Washington overseers have ever acted unbiased and objective.

To illustrate, would the powers in Washington view a recommendation to see Al Gore's global-warming dangers film the same way as a recommendation to see Geert Wilder's film on the dangers of radical Islam? I suggest not. Al Gore's film would be acceptable and Geert Wilder's film would be considered a prohibited political endorsement.

I contend that the proposed legislation is a very bad idea.

Tip: CNestor

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Baby Born and Abandoned on International Flight

(Auckland, New Zealand) A 29-year-old Samoan woman has been charged with assault after allegedly giving birth on an international flight and then leaving the newborn infant in a toilet rubbish bin.

The episode occurred last week on a Pacific Blue Airlines flight from Samoa to New Zealand. Airplane cleaners discovered the baby in the trash.

The mother allegedly abandoned the baby on landing, but returned later. Mother and child were taken to hospital and were both reported to be doing well.

Detective Inspector Mark Gutry said police would investigate whether the baby was born in Samoan or New Zealand airspace.

"There are a whole lot of issues around that - the aircraft and were that is from, where they have come from, where exactly she was born. So there are a whole lot of issues around that to be addressed," he said.

In summary, a noticeably full-term pregnant woman leaves her assigned seat and waddles to the airplane bathroom. There, she stays for 20, maybe 30 or more minutes, and makes no sounds heard outside the bathroom. No screams of pain nor baby's cries.

She then returns to her seat. She's sweating profusely and looks like she just ran the Boston Marathon while shedding a couple bowling balls-worth of weight. Nobody notices.

Hey, but she returned to the airplane and now everything is hunky-dory. Mom and offspring are doing just fine in the hospital.

Odd story, eh? It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense.

Honor Killing of Girl, 16

(Ghaziabad, India) Four men have been accused of setting a 16-year-old girl, Imrana Hakim, on fire for allegedly befriending a young man named Irfan.

Finding her smoldering, neighbors took Imrana to the hospital where she died. Although her death clearly appears to be an honor killing, police are calling the homicide an act of "moral vigilantism."

Apparently, Imrana's father, Abdul Hakim, set circumstances in motion by asking the four men to straighten his daughter out and then leaving for the day. According to Afsana, Imrana's sister,

"Arif banged hard on the rear door of our house. I thought he would break the door, so I unlatched it. While he was accusing my sister of befriending Irfan, three others, including Zalis and Asim, barged in. They threw me out and locked the door from inside. I heard my sister’s screams for 20 minutes."

Arif and Asim were taken into custody on Monday.


[Update 3/26/09]

All four suspects in the death of Imrana have now been arrested.

According to the police, Zalis and Munshaad were arrested from a hideout near the village. "They have confirmed the claims of other accused Asim and Arif that Imrana's father had asked them to straighten his daughter as one Irfan used to visit her frequently. The four accused had also scuffled with Irfan and some others on the day of incident. We will book them under the Gangster Act, the National Security Act, murder and other charges," said Akhil Kumar, Ghaziabad police chief.

As reported earlier, four men on Monday afternoon forced their way into Imrana's house and beat her up. They then set her on fire. Imrana had made a dying statement before a magistrate and named the four accused.

Horribly sad.

Fake Breasts Bought with Fake ID

(Huntington Beach, California) Police are searching for a 30-year-old woman, Yvonne Pampellone, for allegedly using a false identity to purchase breast implants and liposuction before skipping town.

According to police, Pampellone opened a line of credit in someone else's name and then scammed the Pacific Center For Plastic Surgery out of $12,000 in medical procedures.

Pampellone faces charges of commercial burglary, grand theft and identity theft.

Heh.

The Nano

(Mumbai, India) Introducing the Nano car made by Tata Motors of India.




The Nano was designed to be a cheap car, keeping superior quality and performance parameters in mind.

Tata Nano’s print campaign was unveiled today. Unlike most car launches, this one will not be supported by a TV campaign. The company booked all web search engines to serve pop-up ads on Monday evening (at the time of the official launch) encouraging internet users to book the car.

Other initiatives include online games, merchandise and accessories like Nano branded T-shirts, key chains, teddy bears and watches. “We have launched Tata Nano-related merchandise for people awaiting the car,” said Ravi Kant, managing director, Tata Motors. The car is expected to hit the roads by July. And going by the success of the accessories line in Geneva, where Nano-related accessories were unveiled, “it will be a big hit,” said experts.

The unconventional advertising strategy has also resulted in huge savings for the company, as the Nano has become a household name much before its launch.

Interest in the world's cheapest car is substantial with the Tata Motors website receiving an unprecedented 40 million hits today, causing it to crash.

The Nano is priced around 125,000 rupees (about US$2,500) in India. It comes with options which can elevate the price to the 175,000 to 180,000 rupee range (US$3,500 - $3,600). A European model is slated for future sale and it will be priced around 6,000 euros (US$8,100).

Student Booted from School Bus

(Lakeland, Florida) A 15-year-old eighth-grade student in the Polk County Schools system has been suspended from riding the school bus for three days for allegedly passing gas.

Reportedly, the foul stench created was so strong that the passengers and the driver were gasping for life-giving breath.

The teen said he didn't do it.

Some VERY "incorrect" speech

This is much-quoted on the net but Snopes.com appears to have no mention of it so it seems to be authentic.

"T. B. Bechtel, a part-time City Councilman from Midland , TX , was asked on a local live radio talk show, just what he thought of the allegations of torture of the Iraqi prisoners. His reply prompted his ejection from the studio, but to thunderous applause from the audience.

HIS STATEMENT:

'If hooking up an Iraqi prisoner's nuts to a car's battery cables will save just one Texas GI's life, then I have just three things to say,'

'Red is positive,
Black is negative, and
Make sure his nuts are wet.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Arizona Desert Divas Prostitution Ring

(Phoenix, Arizona) Last month, authorities released the 649-page list of clients serviced by the infamous Desert Divas call-girl ring which was shut down in August 2008 after operating for at least three years.

It's estimated that 6,500 clients paid the buxom rate of $350 to $400 per hour for the attentions of a Desert Diva.

To date, Phoenix Police have arrested scores of people who were actually involved in the prostitution ring. As many as 100 organization members may eventually face arrest and prosecution. Regarding the client list, the Phoenix prosecutor will review and decide if probable cause exists for charges to be filed.

Up close and personal, booking photos of the accused Desert Divas are here. You'll note that there are a lot of them and, from my perspective, they don't appear to be individuals who could command a $350-400 per hour rate. In fact, I'm fairly confident that many red-light districts in America are abundant in $20 hookers who are arguably just as attractive as the Desert Divas.

Tip: SuidaeEmpathy

Louisiana Teacher Allegedly Parties with Students

(Mansfield, Louisiana) A 30-year-old 11th-grade teacher at Central School in Grand Cane, Cindy Marlene Wyatt Cobbs, was arrested yesterday for allegedly hosting weekend parties for juveniles who engaged in illegal drug and alcohol use.

Authorities had received complaints about the weekend parties for several months and finally decided to conduct a search.

Cobbs was arrested late this morning after Tri-Parish Drug Task Force agents and DeSoto investigators searched her home in the 200 block of Buckskin Drive in the Ranchland Acres Subdivision.

She remains in jail without bond on charges of possession of Ecstasy, possession of marijuana, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, unlawful purchase of alcohol under 21 and keeping a disorderly place.

Investigators seized not only drugs from the residence but also DVDs and photographs displaying individuals involved in the partying. Police confirmed that minors attended.

According to Lt. Horace Womack, Cobbs house looked like a bar.

Romanian Girl Auctions Virginity

(Caracal, Romania) An 18-year-old Romanian student, Alina Percea, has posted an ad on a German-language dating website to auction her virginity.

Alina contends that her sweet maidenhood is being sold to pay her way through a university education.

In her ad, she says: "I am a 108lbs, 5.67 ft tall, brown-eyed Romanian girl. I don't smoke and own a certificate from a gynaecologist which says I am a virgin. I want my first time to be special and not very abrupt.

"The winning bidder can spend a whole weekend with me provided he will cover all the expenses in case I need to travel or stay at a hotel."

Miss Percea has expressed hopes of receiving 50,000 euros for her unexplored region with the added bonus of maybe finding a husband. Unfortunately, with three days remaining in the auction, the going bid for her precious flower is 5,033 euros.

Prospective bidders for Miss Percea should follow this link. She is identified as Jungfrau18.

Interestingly, this is the second story I've written about Romania this week. The other dealt with legislators planning on decriminalizing incest. I don't think the stories are related. Nonetheless, who would have thought that Romania would be a hotspot for interesting news.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

The Trouble with Embryonic Stem Cells

President Obama's reversal of President Bush's executive order banning federal funding of embryonic stem cell (ESC) research ultimately could cost American lives.

What most people are unaware of is that there are three types of stem cell research: there is embryonic stem cell research (ESC), there is induced pluripotent (IPSC) research, and adult stem cell research (ASC).

When Barack Obama rescinded George Bush’s ban on federal funding on certain types of embryonic stem cell research he also rescinded Bush’s Executive Order 13435 which had provided federal funding for induced pluripotent stem cell research using harmless adult stem cells manipulated into mimicking embryonic stem cells without the risk ESC cells entail.

This is where 72 different diseases are now being remedied or cured.

There are no embryonic stem cells being used anywhere in the world on humans, with one tragic exception. A boy treated with embryonic stem cells for a rare genetic disease developed benign tumors, casting doubt on claims of the therapy's safety and effectiveness.

According to media reports, the boy, now 17, received the ESC stem cells in 2001 at a Moscow hospital and four years later scans showed brain and spinal tumors. Israeli doctors removed the abnormal growth from his spine and their tests show it most probably was caused by the stem cells.

The Moscow doctors should have known better. It is well known that lab animals given embryonic stem cells routinely develop tumors and other malignant growths that eventually kill them. There is a 100 percent mortality rate among lab animals that develop these tumors.

That's why President Bush didn't want the federal government paying for the research. Likewise, major drug companies are not funding ESC research because they can foresee massive class action lawsuits. That's telling. If major drug companies are steering clear of a supposed gold mine in medicine, they must suspect danger.

All the while, Obama's reversal has de-funded induced pluripotent stem cell research (IPSC), an area that has shown considerable promise.