Women With Troubles - July 2009

Reported in news stories during July 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.

(AZ) Elizabeth Claire Livesay, 26,
teacher - Gets 4 months jail for sex with girl, 16,

(AZ) Trisha Proud, 29,
Girl Scout troop leader - Arrested for embezzling $8,000 in cookie money,

(CA) Brookann Collier, 32,
school principal - Gets year in jail for sex with girl,

(CA) Crystal Defanti,
teacher - Mistakenly sent pornography to the homes of all her 5th-grade students,

(CA) Abigail Anne Holloway, 33,
teacher - Guilty of sex with female student. Sentencing in September,

(CA) Mary Hamilton, 49,
neighbor - Gets year in jail for sex with boy, 14,

(CA) Hope Ashley Jacoby, 24,
HS trainer - Gets community service for year-long sex with male student, 16,

(CO) Richael Michels, 45,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 16,

(CT) Kristen Blanco, 26,
neighbor - Arrested after being caught in bed by police with boy, 15,

(FL) Janet Lea Hughes, 34,
teacher - Sentenced to 5 years in prison for sex with boy, 16,

(GA) Stephanie Der, 38,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 15,

(ID) Summer Kelli Ashle Nelson, 28,
babysitter - Arrested for sex with boy, 14, she was caring for,

(ID) Emily Kay Thurber, 26,
neighbor - Accused of multiple child sex crimes,

(IL) Kasey E. Johnes, 37,
teacher - Gets probation for sex with male student, 17,

(IL) Laura Obzera, 50,
school nurse - Guilty of sex abuse of three boys. Sentencing in September,

(IN) Lana Kay Elsworth, 25,
neighbor - Guilty of several sex and drug crimes. Sentencing in August,

(IN) Tricia D. Mallernee, 32,
foreign exchange student hostess - Sentenced to no jail for sex with foreign exchange student,

(KY) Melissa Arnett, 33,
teacher - Arrested for sex with male student, 16,

(LA) Charnequa Meich Benton, 21,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 16,

(MN) Jacqueline Ann Guinn, 24,
neighbor - Gets 30 days jail for sex with boy, 15,

(MN) Heather Lee Pino, 32,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 14,

(MO) Coty Johnston, 43,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 16,

(NC) Sheena Pankey, 26,
teacher - Busted for drugs,

(NE) Pamela Flege,
neighbor - Gets six years in prison for sex crimes committed against daughter, 13,

(NE) Cindy Greunke, 42,
neighbor - Arrested for sex assault of boy, 15,

(NJ) Donna Goebel, 45,
teacher's assistant - Guilty of sex with boy, 16. Sentencing in October,

(NJ) Estella Pacheco Santos, 42,
neighbor - Arrested for sex assault of boy, 8,

(NV) Donna Washburne, 47,
school librarian - Arrested for engaging in oral sex with male student, 17,

(NY) Nicole Bobek, 31,
champion figure skater - Arrested for drug trafficking,

(NY) April Crandall, 23,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 15,

(NY) Alexandra McDouglas Ham (aka McDougal Ham), 19,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 14,

(OH) Heidi Mullinix,
teacher - Sentenced to one year in prison for sex with male student, 17,

(OH) Kendra L. Sasser, 32,
neighbor - Guilty of possessing child porn. Sentencing in October,

(OR) Arlayne Curiel, 24,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy, 13,

(PA) Rebecca Ann Harvey, 33,
teacher - Accused of engaging in sex with male student, 17,

(PA) Elizabeth Hemming, 33,
neighbor - Gets three to 23 months in prison for corrupting minors,

(PA) Amy Marie Sims, 28,
neighbor - Arrested for topless, drunken and disorderly behavior,

(PA) Tracy Vasholz, 34,
babysitter - Gets 4 to 8 years in prison for raping boy for 10 years starting at age five,

(SD) Cara Prince, 44,
neighbor - Accused of sex crimes involving daughter,

(TN) Rebecca Bargy, 26,
neighbor - Gets 18 months jail for bondage sex death of husband,

(TN) Jayna Binion, 28,
teacher - Arrested for drugs,

(TN) Aimee N. Richardson, 37,
teacher - Gets probation for liquoring up students,

(TX) Laura Lee Cole, 47,
neighbor - Sentenced to 16 years in prison for sex with boy,

(TX) Tara Allison Hodges, 27,
teacher - Gets ten 10-year terms in prison for sex with boy, 14, running concurrently,

(TX) Emily Elizabeth Housley, 29,
teacher - Arrested for sex with boy, 16,

(TX) Ellen Marie Hunt, 46,
teacher - Arrested for sex with student,

(TX) Megan Michelle Sparks, 26,
teacher - Guilty of improper relationship with student,

(UT) Linda Nef, 46,
teacher - Sentenced to three years to life in prison for sex with male student, 13,

(UT) Carol Ricker, 46,
neighbor - Arrested for raping 5-year-old boy,

(UT) Cyndi Segler, 21,
neighbor - Arrested for alleged sex with boy, 15,

(UT) Mallory Shaw, 20,
teacher's aide - Gets 30 days in jail for sex with boy,

(VA) Connie Beth Klewer, 37,
teacher - Arrested for indecent liberties with boy,

(VA) Ariel Monroe, 22,
neighbor - Accused of engaging in sex with two boys,

(VA) Shelley Wright, 30,
neighbor - Arrested for sex with boy 13 to 15 years old,

(WA) Jennifer Leigh Rice, 33,
teacher - Gets 25 years to life in prison for sex with boys,

(WI) Lacy Sommers, 20,
neighbor - Arrested for multiple sex crimes against boy, 14

(WV) Diana Lilley, 35,
neighbor - Arrested for alleged sex with boy, 15.

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

Gay Police Dads Who Had Baby with Surrogate Sister are Still Married to Other Men Doo-Dah, Doo-Dah



Constable Ponder, 28, & Constable Sigston, 43
It must be the bizarre and complicated nature of this story that makes it newsworthy. I suspect these two men are smiling because the ether of their combined intellect allows them to be easily amused even while weaving tangled webs.

Mr. Ponder is a special constable and Mr. Sigston is a dog-handler constable. Mr. Ponder is seeking a divorce from new spouse Ian Briggs, 49, a cleaner, but Briggs is not being cooperative since he believes shenanigans were going on behind his back. According to Briggs:

'The weddings must have been a sham as they became a couple within months.’

On the other hand, Mr. Sigston was granted a speedy divorce from spouse Steve Aylett, 38, a banker, who said, "I've put it behind me and want to look ahead."

Lorna Bradley, 31, Ponder's sister, was impregnated by Sigston's sperm and gave birth a few weeks ago to a bouncing boy named William. Therefore, young William has a mother who is also his aunt and an uncle who is also his stepfather -- er -- or something like that.

Tip: slwlion

Cash for Clunkers (CFCs) Suspended

The government has suspended the Cash for Clunkers program and the reason given is administrative problems -- or something.

I suggest the real reason is that a lower-level bureaucrat decided to abbreviate Cash for Clunkers, identifying the scheme as CFCs on official paperwork, and someone recalled that CFCs are banned in the U.S. by environmental regulations protecting the Earth's ozone layer.

Consequently, all authorization paperwork for CFCs was redirected to the REJECTED FILE as unworkable.

Don't laugh, that's exactly how things happen in bureaucracies.

Heh.

Utah Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Hurricane, Utah) A 21-year-old LaVerkin woman, Cyndi Segler, was arrested this week for allegedly engaging in unlawful sex with a 15-year-old boy.

According to Hurricane Police spokeswoman Nancy Perkins:

"An investigation into the allegations began about five days ago when the incident was first reported to the Hurricane Police Department," she said.

Segler was booked into custody at the Purgatory Jail.

Ohio Woman Guilty in Child Porn Case - Updated

(Dayton, Ohio) On Wednesday, 32-year-old Kendra L. Sasser appeared in U.S. District Court and pleaded guilty before Judge Thomas M. Rose to one count of possessing child pornography stemming from an Internet relationship with a 16-year-old Arizona boy.

Sasser was visibly shaken and wept as the facts of the case were read.

According to the complaint, Sasser used MySpace.com and XBox LIVE to entice the boy to produce images and videos of himself. During an online chat session Aug. 10, 2007 with him, Kendra Sasser noted she had been disappointed to learn his age.

The investigation started after Sasser’s husband, Ron, contacted the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 6, 2007. He said his wife was having sexually explicit communications with minor males via the Internet, according to the affidavit.

Sasser will be ordered to register as a sex offender when she is sentenced on October 29. She faces a possible 10 years in prison.

* * * * *
Feds Nab Ohio Woman in Sexual Exploitation Case
[Previous 9/25/07 post]
(Miamisburg, Ohio) A 30-year-old local woman, Kendra L. Sasser, was arrested today by the FBI for allegedly soliciting a 16-year-old Yuma, Arizona, boy via MySpace.com on the Internet. Kendra's husband, Ron Sasser, alerted the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office after noticing the relationship on his home computer.

The two were chatting online on Aug. 27 when Kendra Sasser sent the boy a picture of her face. The boy asked for more pictures.

"This last pic is 4 ur personal enjoyment *grinzz* you gotta make sure this last pic no one sees okay?" Kendra Sasser wrote. "You might wanna hide this one. You can't let parents see it or ur screwed srsly!"

Sasser then downloaded a picture of her genitals from her cellular phone, then sent it to the boy via email. The two then continued in sexually explicit conversation.

Records of their chats indicate that Sasser knew the boy was only 16.

Sasser faces a federal charge of sexual exploitation of a minor which carries a mandatory minimum of 15 to 30 years in prison upon conviction.

Federal government embarrassed by a sign saying "United States"

Because it could become a target for terrorism

"Four years ago, when the federal General Services Administration unveiled its plans for a new border-crossing station here in northeastern New York State, the design was presented as part of the agency’s campaign to raise the dismal standards of government architecture. Even many in the famously fractious architectural community celebrated the complex — particularly its main building, emblazoned with glossy yellow, 21-foot-high letters spelling “United States” — as a rare project the government could point to with pride.

Yet three weeks ago, less than a month after the station opened, workers began prying the big yellow letters off the building’s facade on orders from Customs and Border Protection. The plan is to dismantle the rest of the sign this week.

“At the end of the day, I think they were somewhat surprised at how bold and how bright it was,” said Les Shepherd, the chief architect of the General Services Administration, referring to the customs agency’s sudden turnaround. “There were security concerns,” said Kelly Ivahnenko, a spokeswoman for the customs agency. “The sign could be a huge target and attract undue attention.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Idaho Woman Faces Multiple Child Sex Crimes

(Burley, Idaho) A 26-year-old woman, Emily Kay Thurber, faces multiple child sex crime charges stemming from incidents allegedly occurring between 2005 and 2008.

Thurber has been charged with one count of lewd conduct with a child, one count of sexual battery of a minor child, two counts of sexual abuse of a child, three counts of statutory rape and four counts of criminal conspiracy.

Thurber's fiance, 30-year-old Joseph David Lentz of Idaho Falls, was accused of taking part in the alleged abuse. He was sentenced in May to four to 16 years in prison for statutory rape and sexual abuse of a child.

A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for later today.

Obama Charges Guests for Meals

I think it's gauche to invite people to your house for lunch and then charge them for their meals.

Four of the most powerful business leaders in America arrived at the White House one day last month for lunch with President Barack Obama, sitting down in his private dining room just steps from the Oval Office.

But even for powerful CEOs, there’s no such thing as a free lunch: White House staffers collected credit card numbers for each executive and carefully billed them for the cost of the meal with the president.

I'm fairly confident that some people are insulted by this rude practice. White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the practice is consistent with Obama's tough ethics rules.

Code Pink Protests Beauty Products

It's not clear exactly what Code Pink members are jazzed about but they have been protesting the Ahava Company, an Israeli company in Mitzpe Shalem settlement, which makes beauty products.

Code Pink contends that Ahava products violate the Geneva Convention. The protesters demand that the company stop selling beauty products.


Code Pink protesting in Israel
How all this hubbub ties into Code Pink's purported antiwar philosophy hasn't been clearly explained. However, based upon my observations of Code Pink members, they could be allergic to beauty products. In fact, I've seen pictures of some members who appear to be allergic to soap.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Dan Rather Proposes Federal News Commission

Former mainstream media (MSM) stalwart Dan Rather was quite emotional in a speech Tuesday before the Aspen Institute as he called on President Obama to save the press.

“I personally encourage the president to establish a White House commission on public media,” the legendary newsman said.

Such a commission on media reform, Rather said, ought to make recommendations on saving journalism jobs and creating new business models to keep news organizations alive.

At stake, he argued, is the very survival of American democracy.

“A truly free and independent press is the red beating heart of democracy and freedom,” Rather said in an interview yesterday afternoon. “This is not something just for journalists to be concerned about, and the loss of jobs and the loss of newspapers, and the diminution of the American press’ traditional role of being the watchdog on power."

No disrespect intended, Mr. Rather, but you should retire. Apparently, Father Time has made you delusional. The traditional role of the press as the watchdog on power is extinct. In fact, I suggest that the MSM have a greater chance of finding the Lost City of Atlantis than ever watchdogging the Obama administration.

Whether the MSM succeeds or succumbs won't likely impact their putative watchdog functions since they're arguably not doing them now.

On the other hand, if the MSM had been providing watchdog functions, would not President Obama be the last person inclined to provide help for continued success? Also, if the MSM were watchdogs, the public would likely know much more about ACORN and a lot less about Joe the Plumber.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

A Man and a Horse

(Conway, South Carolina) A 50-year-old local man, Rodell Vereen, has been arrested again for being amorous with a filly named Sugar, a 21-year-old palomino.

Vereen has been charged again with buggery and trespassing. Police were surprised that Vereen, a registered sex offender for his identical previous offense, would actually stalk the same horse.

This case should be shocking but it's not. Cases of bestiality are regularly reported in the news. News of animal pornography and bestiality is not uncommon in Europe and there's the 2005 story of a man dying from being amorous with a stallion at an animal-lovers' farm in the state of Washington. Astonishingly, a movie was even made of the death by horse sex.

Sadly, there are many sick perverts in society.

Tip: slwlion

The iron law of bureaucratic expansion

An excerpt from the recently reprinted article on "Parkinson's Law"

It would be interesting to follow the further progress by which the 8,118 Admiralty staff of 1935 came to number 33,788 by 1954. But the staff of the Colonial Office affords a better field of study during a period of Imperial decline. The relevant statistics are set down below. Before showing what the rate of increase is, we must observe that the extent of this department's responsibilities was far from constant during these twenty years. The colonial territories were not much altered in area or population between 1935 and 1939. They were considerably diminished by 1943, certain areas being in enemy hands. They were increased again in 1947, but have since then shrunk steadily from year to year as successive colonies achieve self-government.



It would be rational, prior to the discovery of Parkinson's Law, to suppose that these changes in the scope of Empire would be reflected in the size of its central administration. But a glance at the figures shows that the staff totals represent automatic stages in an inevitable increase. And this increase, while related to that observed in other departments, has nothing to do with the size—or even the existence—of the Empire. What are the percentages of increase? We must ignore, for this purpose, the rapid increase in staff which accompanied the diminution of responsibility during World War II. We should note rather the peacetime rates of increase; over 5.24 per cent between 1935 and 1939, and 6.55 per cent between 1947 and 1954. This gives an average increase of 5.89 per cent each year, a percentage markedly similar to that already found in the Admiralty staff increase between 1914 and 1928.

Further and detailed statistical analysis of departmental staffs would be inappropriate in such an article as this. It is hoped, however, to reach a tentative conclusion regarding the time likely to elapse between a given official's first appointment and the later appointment of his two or more assistants. Dealing with the problem of pure staff accumulation, all the researches so far completed point to an average increase of about 5¾ per cent per year.

Much more HERE

Posted by John Ray.

Wienermobile Crashes

A 22-year-old female driver for Oscar Meyer rammed the Wienermobile into a garage and foundation of a two-story home.

Apparently she became confused about the gears on the vehicle. Oscar Meyer spokeswoman Sydney Linder says that insurance will cover the cost of repairing all damage.

Although damage to the wiener wasn't reported, Linder said that "We expect to be back on the hot dog highways spreading miles of smiles in no time." Notably, there won't be any miles of smiles in Hawaii after an environmental group recently rousted the Wienermobile from the islands.

Hot dog highways? Heh.

HS Trainer Gets Hand Slap in Sex Case - Updated

(Newport Beach, California) Earlier this month, Tustin High School trainer Hope Ashley Jacoby, 24, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and three felony counts of oral copulation of a minor.

The offenses resulted from a year-long sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male student.

Between Jan. 1, 2008, and Dec. 19, 2008, Jacoby had an unlawful sexual relationship with a male student, whom she met while working as an athletic trainer at Tustin High School.

The defendant had unlawful sex with the victim in her car and at her San Juan Capistrano home on several occasions when the victim was between 16 and 17 years old.

Despite objections by the prosecution and, presumably, any interested observer of the case, Judge Gregory Jones reduced all of Jacoby's crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and sentenced her to 240 hours of community service.

* * * * *
High School Trainer Busted for Sex with Student
[Previous 12/24/08 post]
(Tustin, California) A 23-year-old athletic trainer working at Tustin High School, Hope Jacoby, was arrested at school last Friday for allegedly engaging in sex with a male student.

Jacoby works for firm under contract with the school to train athletes. The alleged victim is between the ages of 14 and 17.

According to Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino:

Jacoby allegedly had sex with the student at various locations around the county over the past year. Amormino said it's unknown if any sexual activity took place on the school campus.

Investigators suspect that Jacoby may have had inappropriate contact with others at the school.

Jacoby faces charges of oral copulation of a minor and unlawful sex with a minor. She was booked into custody at the Orange County Jail with bail set at $100,000.

New York Exporting Homeless

New York has "discovered" a frequently-tried method to mitigate problems with homelessness. Export homeless people to Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. I'd wager that New York officials didn't clear the idea with the homeless importation departments in each of those states.

My contention is that the only permanent solution to homeless problems in a location is to make homelessness a less attractive lifestyle than getting a job. I'll grant, however, that shipping homeless people elsewhere also works -- but only for a while. Sooner or later, the "ship-to" city starts complaining about the homeless dumping.

An example is the San Francisco Homeward Bound Program, pejoratively called Greyhound Therapy, implemented a few years ago. The idea was to get rid of homeless people by giving them a one-way ticket to Anywhere Else, U.S.A. It worked fine for a while then complaints were lodged, most notably from Humboldt County, 200 miles away in northern California.

In another instance, officers of the Los Angeles Police Department complained that police departments of surrounding communities -- El Monte, El Segundo and Pasadena -- were dumping homeless in downtown Los Angeles. Even though the LAPD officers said they observed derelict dumping, usually at night, the suburban departments were effectively Sgt. Schulz impersonators, claiming they "know nothing."

In summary, New York has joined the group of cities which erroneously believes that they can dump their problems on other folks and nobody will notice. Heh, good luck with that.

10,000 Uighurs "Disappeared" in China Unrest

(Tokyo, Japan) According to exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, 10,000 Uighurs "disappeared in one night" during civil turmoil earlier this month in Urumqi, Xinjiang Province, China.

'Close to 10,000 people in Urumqi disappeared in one night. Where did those people go?' she said in Japan, speaking in her native language through a translator. 'If they died, where did they go?'

Kadeer, 62, the US-based head of the World Uighur Congress, charged that 'the Chinese government is trying to destroy the Uighur people. I want to tell the international community about our situation.'

Citing local sources she had been in contact with, Kadeer said during the unrest from July 5, Chinese police randomly shot people after dark when the electricity went out, and that the next morning people awoke to find many Uighur men had disappeared.

The Chinese government has reported that 197 people died during the unrest.

Frankly, it's impossible to know the true numbers of dead and missing because both communists and Muslims are proficient at deceit. In any event, I don't have a horse in the race since they both hate me. I'm Christian.

Notably, charismatic Rebiya Kadeer is compared to the Dalai Lama and is known as the "Mother of All Uighurs." She lives under political asylum in the Washington, D.C., area.

Female Educator Gets Jail for Sex with Girl

(Santa Barbara County, California) Last month, 32-year-old former principal at Tunnell Elementary School in Santa Maria, Brookann Collier, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of lewd acts with a child and one count of oral copulation, all stemming from a long-term sexual relationship with a girl beginning at age 14.

Collier was originally arrested in April 2009 and her victim is now 20 years old..

Last week in Santa Barbara County Court, Collier was sentenced by Judge Bullard to one year in the Santa Barbara County Jail and five years of probation. In a statement, Collier offered apologies.

"I can see that I am not perfect and I've made mistakes," Collier said. "I am deeply saddened that former students, and parents, teachers, staff members, and colleagues, have had to suffer any amount of anguish due to this case."

She apologized to her family, her friends, and her husband.

As far as a direct apology to Jane Doe [her victim], there was none.

The absence of an apology to the victim suggests that Collier harbors strong, lingering sentiments in the case. Moving on with her life while putting the entire episode behind her may prove nettlesome.

Collier was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life and undergo sex offender treatment.

Tip: commenter Lame

Wow! The latest from Pat Condell

He has always been Mr Straight-talk but his attack on the Islam-appeasing Left below outdoes all his previous efforts



After that I almost feel that I should say no more today. He has said it all. But I WILL go on.

Posted by John Ray.

NC Teacher Arrested for Drugs

(Winston-Salem, North Carolina) A 26-year-old pre-kindergarten teacher at Diggs Elementary School, Sheena Pankey, was arrested last week for allegedly possessing and trafficking in drugs.

Investigators found between 100 and 400 ecstasy pills at her Chamberlin Place apartment in Clemmons, an apartment court papers show she shares with her boyfriend.

According to parents and the school's Web site, Pankey taught pre-kindergarten at Diggs, a magnet school for visual and performing arts. Parents and other teachers praised Pankey's teaching ability, and the 4-year teaching veteran had apparently recently completed a master's degree in education.

Pankey was booked and released on $75,000 bond.

Teacher Pleads No Contest in Girl Sex Case - Updated

(San Jose, California) Former teacher at King's Academy in Sunnyvale, Abigail Anne Holloway, 33, pleaded no contest today in Santa Clara County Superior Court to four counts of sexual contact with a female student.

[Holloway] developed a relationship with a 13-year-old student in 2001, according to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. The charges filed with the district attorney's office outline inappropriate sexual relations Holloway had with the girl between 2002, when the she was 14, and 2005.

Detectives in Sunnyvale began investigating Holloway in December 2008. She was arrested March 1 in Arapahoe County, Colo., where she was teaching at a Catholic School in Englewood, according to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety.

Sentencing is scheduled for September 1 when Holloway faces a possible five years in prison.

* * * * *
California Teacher Arrested for Sex with Student
[Previous 3/6/09 post]
(Sunnyvale, California) A 33-year-old teacher St. Mary's Academy in Englewood, Colo., Abigail Anne Holloway, was arrested last Sunday for allegedly engaging in a years-long sexual relationship with a student, starting when the student was 13 years old.

Holloway is expected to be transported to Santa Clara County where she is accused of developing a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student at the King's Academy, a Christian preparatory school, in the spring of 2001 and pursuing it for several years, according to the public safety department.

Investigators reported becoming aware of the alleged abuse in December and are still trying to determine if there may have been other children victimized by Holloway, either at King's Academy or other Santa Clara County schools where she worked as a teacher from 2003 to 2005.

Holloway will face child sex abuse charges.

HS Diplomas w/o Exam for Special-Ed Students

Currently, satisfactory grades on the California High School Exit Exam are required to receive a high school diploma, however, that will soon change. Pending legislation will eliminate the exam requirement for special education students. Reportedly, 16,000 special education students fail the exam every year and are denied diplomas.

Consequently, employers interviewing job applicants are in a pickle when seeing prospective new hires with high school diplomas from California. Either they know something, having passed the exit exam, or they received a diploma because they're special.

I suggest that the awarding of diplomas to students who don't pass the exit exam devalues all high school diplomas earned in California. That is unless the special education diplomas are clearly emblazoned with language indicating that they are given to students who failed to acquire a requisite amount of knowledge to pass the exit exam. That, however, isn't reported to be part of the plan.

In any event, it would seem to be easy to simply classify all students failing the exit exam as "special" and give them diplomas anyway. Graduation rates would soar and school administrators would be given awards for excellence.

Companion posts at EdWatch and The Jawa Report.

Shoppers on WebCam Fleeing High Sales Taxes

(Concord, New Hampshire) After New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch signed a bill mandating that the state not release information on customers traveling from Massachusetts to shop in his state, a flood of Bay Staters crowded highways for New Hampshire's no-sales-tax stores. And, all the bargain-hunters are now caught on a live-feed webcam.

A Massachusetts Republican gubernatorial candidate is tracking shoppers to see if New Hampshire businesses are taking Bay State sales tax dollars.

Republican Christy Mihos has set up a camera that links to his Web site a streaming video of every car crossing the state border into Salem's Route 28 retail strip where shoppers pay no sales tax. This brings attention to the Massachusetts sales tax that on Aug. 1 will increase by 25 percent, from 5 percent to 6.25 percent.

Naturally, the disparity in tax rates between adjacent states will boost the economy in New Hampshire while stunting growth in Massachusetts.

Some history the Left would like you to forget

The fraternal coming together of two socialist armies





After Stalin and Hitler had carved up Poland between them, there was a joint parade of the Soviet and Nazi armies in the city of Brest on 23 September, 1939. On the right in the picture is German Major General Heinz Guderian and Soviet Brigadier Semyon Krivoshein. The German is the better-dressed one, of course.

Posted by John Ray.

Tennessee Teacher Liquors Up Minors

(Elizabethton, Tennessee) A 37-year-old former city pool director and current teacher at Elizabethton High School, Aimee N. Richardson, pleaded guilty last Friday to contributing to the delinquency of a minor and furnishing alcohol to a minor in accordance with a plea agreement.

As a result, Richardson was fined $25 on each of the two counts and ordered to serve one year of probation.

The charges stem from an after-hours party at the city pool in early July. The Elizabethton Police investigated the party after receiving complaints that alcohol had been served. Eight of the participants at the party were between the ages of 17 and 20. None have been prosecuted following the investigation.

Capt. Mike Merritt of the police department said Richardson was interviewed July 7 and admitted to purchasing beer at Food City and providing alcoholic beverages to the eight young women and girls, knowing they were underage.

Richardson may ultimately apply for expungement of her record. She still faces possible administrative action by the Elizabethton School Board.

Librarian Accused of Sex with Male Student

(Las Vegas, Nevada) A 47-year-old librarian assistant at Cheyenne High School, Donna Washburne, was arrested Sunday after being caught by a police officer as she was engaged in oral sex with a 17-year-old male student.

Washburne faces counts of sexual misconduct with a student and commission of a sex act in public.

The incident occurred in the back seat of Washburne’s car, which was parked near portable trailers on Cheyenne’s campus at 3200 W. Alexander Road, near Simmons Street, in North Las Vegas, the police report said.

An officer with the Clark County School District spotted Washburne’s Pontiac Vibe near the trailers and approached. The officer saw Washburne performing oral sex on the teen, who is a senior at College of Southern Nevada High School, according to the report.

The boy told the officer Washburne had called him earlier that day and asked him if he wanted to hang out together, the report said. The boy said Washburne picked him up and drove him to the school, where they both got into the back seat, the report said.

The boy told the officer Washburne then asked him if he wanted her to perform oral sex on him and he agreed, the report said.

Washburne was booked into custody at the Clark County Detention Center with bail set at $6,000.

Baby Born with Two Heads


(Pekanbaru, Indonesia) Born last Thursday, weighing about seven pounds, the conjoined twin boys are being examined to see if they have two hearts.

If it turns out that they share a heart, doctors say it will be impossible for them to survive. And even if they do have separate hearts, another doctor was quoted as saying that separating them was not an option as they have a single body.

The Detik news website quoted 33-year-old father Badrun as saying that he and his 23-year-old wife had been trying to start a family for nine years.

The father said he would raise the twins as they are if necessary.

Woman Gets Lashes for Drinking Beer

(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) A 32-year-old Malaysian model, Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor, was caught by Islamic enforcement officers drinking beer with her husband in a hotel in Pahang. The offense occurred two years ago and last year Kartika pleaded guilty.

Last week, the Pahang Syariah High Court ordered that Kartika receive six lashes with rattan canes and imposed a fine of RM5,000 (about $1,400).

'I will accept this earthly punishment, let Allah decide my punishment in the hereafter...The court has yet to tell me when the sentence will be carried out, so I would like to ask them to hasten it.

'I truly respect the court's decision...I admit that it's my offence and not that of others, it's not the offence of my parents, not the offence of my other family members,' a teary Kartika told reporters in her home town in Perak yesterday.

Kartika paid her fine and is now anxiously waiting for her whipping. Interestingly, when carried out, the caning of Kartika will be the first time that a man or woman is whipped under Malaysia's Islamic law.

Some politicians and women's rights activists have criticised the religious court's sentence, calling it too harsh.

Caning is usually reserved for men in various crimes ranging from rape to bribery. But several Islamic lawyers have insisted that the penalty for Kartika is fair, saying she will be whipped with a thin rattan cane that does not cause severe pain.

Nevertheless, the punishment is prompting outrage from commenters. Here's an example of remarks by lanxiaomei:

What the fark is all these? A bunch of nerds and cranky men carrying out Islamic Laws. How about those politicians who are corrupted? Anwar's sodomy? Those committing khalwat or zina? Let women be free to choose what they like to do.

I was at the Dubai World Cup (Horse racing) in May and I shall tell you what these young Arabian women do after dark. They dressed like ninjas in the day stripped naked when they are in the disco with us. My male friends had a whale of time. Hold on for too long and I am sure these women will come out to protest in the nude.

We are living in the 21st century. I do not blame my overseas' friends brand these so called religious leaders and ulamas, imam or kadi a bunch of freaks and fanatics!

It's apparent that some Muslims are unhappy with the dictates of the Islamic courts. Heh.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Texas Teacher Gets 10 Years for Sex with Boy - Updated

(Waco, Texas) Former middle school teacher Tara Allison Hodges, 27, has been sentenced by 19th State District Court Judge Ralph Strother to ten 10-year terms in prison for 10 counts of sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy.

The prison terms are to be served concurrently.

Strother said the facts of Hodges’ actions justified an even “stronger sentence” but he went along with a plea bargain after she pleaded guilty in June.

As Hodges was being led away by a deputy, she looked back at the boy and his family and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

According to her attorney, Hodges will never teach again and she will have to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
Texas Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy, 14
[Previous 8/7/08 post]
(Waco, Texas) A 26-year-old special education teacher, Tara Allison Hodges, surrendered to police yesterday to faces charges stemming from an alleged sexual relationship with a 14-year-old student.

Hodges has been charged with sexual assault of a child and improper relationship between educator and student.

Hodges’ arrest warrant affidavit states that she “had sexual contact with (the 14-year-old boy) on at least 10 seperate occasions, and that during several of these encounters Tara Allison Hodges also smoked marijuana with (the boy).”

She was not charged with any drug-related offenses, officials said.

The affidavit says the sexual relationship lasted for about two months and specifically cites one occasion, on June 6, when Hodges picked the boy up in her car and took him to her apartment at Pecan Ridge Apartments, 2736 Lake Shore Drive, to have sex and smoke marijuana.

Hodges also gave the boy money and bought him shoes on at least two occasions, according to the affidavit.

Hodges was employed at the Brazos Middle School when the alleged relationship began. She recently resigned to take a position with the Katy Independent School District, filling a teaching slot at Mayde Creek Junior High School.

Interestingly, Hodges' Facebook page says she likes TV shows with "prison, gang and drug documentaries for some reason!!!” How ironic. She may get to experience those things first-hand.

Hodges was booked into custody at the McLennan County Jail with bond set at $300,000.


[Update 6/1/09]

Tara Hodges pleaded guilty earlier today to 10 counts of sexual assault of a child. Sentencing is planned for later in the month.

Gay Boy George Rejected by Hare Krishnas

Entertainer Boy George cannot be a Hare Krishna because he's a practicing homosexual.

The troubled star, who has battled drug and alcohol problems and recently spent time in prison for falsely imprisoning a rent boy, was said to be "pretty upset".

Hare Krishna member Marianne Elliot-Said, better known as Poly Styrene of punk band X-Ray Spex, told ANI: "George never became a practising Hare Krishna. He was interested but they told him he couldn’t also be a practising homosexual."

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness says it accepts gay people, but they have to be celibate or get married to a woman and have Krishna-following children.

Heh.

Chinese Cat Market

(Guangzhou, China) For adventures in gastronomy, southern China should be included on tourists' itinerary with a caution to leave your pets at home. Cooked cat is a staple among the citizenry with about 10,000 consumed every day throughout Guangdong.

An old expression here in the province of Guangdong holds that any animal "whose back faces the heavens" is fair game for eating

Elsewhere, people jokingly say the people of Guangdong will eat, "anything on four legs except a table."

One evening last week, however, a waitress at Jia Hua explained that cat wasn't on the menu, and wouldn't be for months.

"We don't serve it in summer time," she explained. "It's really a winter dish."

The neighbourhood knows: in winter months the restaurant displays its live cats in cages on the street, in full view of passersby.

Prices for restaurant-prepared cat range from $1.30 for a bowl of "Old Cat Soup" to more than $24 for "Braised Cat." Wholesalers called "cat fishermen" sell live pussies for about $1.40 each. At the market, home cooks can buy top quality cat meat for about $1.25 per pound.

In opposition to cat consumption by humans, animal rights advocates occasionally raid cat dealers and suppliers and liberate the felines. Other cat lovers are attempting to educate the public about cute kitties while blaming oldsters born before 1980 for eating them. The younger generation is expressing a preference to have cats walking on the dinner table as opposed to languishing roasted in a sweet and sour sauce.

A small reflection on science education

As I mentioned on my personal blog, my son was recently awarded the degree of Bachelor of Science with first-class honours in mathematics. I of course attended the graduation ceremony, which was for science graduates only. Such ceremonies are in general rather tedious, though we did have one good speech and some excellent music. So I amused myself while I was sitting there by speculating on the ethnicity of each graduand as he or she came forward. I was considerably assisted in that by my interest in onomastics. Names tell you a lot. The University of Queensland has a good international standing so the one undisputable fact was that the graduands came from all corners of the globe, Africa excepted. Though there was, I think, one African there. So what was the dominant ethnicity of those graduating with bachelor's degrees? Were they white Anglo/Celts like my son and myself? Far from it. The days of WASP domination of anything are now long gone and white Anglo/Celts were far from a majority among those graduating. The most prominent ethnicity was far and away Han Chinese -- comprising about 50% of the graduands, at a rough estimate.

So the 21st century will definitely be the century of China. That the sort of people who invented modern science are no longer much interested in it does bespeak decadence to me. Fortunately the population of Australia is at the present about 10% East Asian so they will help keep us afloat long after we would otherwise have sunken into drug and alcohol fueled decay. My son won't be "The last of the Mohicans" but he will be one of the few. (The Mohicans didn't die out anyway pace James Fenimore Cooper)

Posted by John Ray.

India Joins Nuke Sub Builders Club

(Visakhapatnam, India) With the launch of INS Arihant (meaning destroyer of enemies) today, India has joined five other nations in the nuclear-powered submarine builders club.

The Arihant was built by Indians with Russian help as a secret project codenamed advanced technology vessel (ATV). The Indians are also developing their own home-made ballistic and cruise missiles to put aboard their home-made nuke boat.

It's estimated that three to five years of preoperational checks and sea trials will be needed before the Arihant is fully operating.

Other nations capable of building their own nuclear submarines are Russia, China, France, the U.K. and the U.S.

Shocking Teen Sleep Study

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Researchers at Drexel College of Nursing, led by Dr. Christina Calamaro, have discovered that teens who stay up late at night drinking coffee while surfing the Internet tend to fall asleep during the day.

Of the 100 students ages 12 to 18 studied, 66 percent had a television in their bedroom, 30 percent a computer, 90 percent a cell phone and 79 percent an MP3 digital audio player, Calamaro's team wrote in the journal Pediatrics.

Eighty percent of the teens reported getting less than 8 hours of sleep on a school night, while at least 30 percent reported falling asleep at school. Those who fell asleep at school on average had a caffeine consumption 76-percent higher than those who reported staying awake, she said.

Information on research cost and funding was not reported.

Contraband Night-Vision Equipment in Mexico

(Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico) In a brief story from Sinaloa, it's reported that Mexican soldiers have discovered caches of contraband arms, including night vision binoculars. Weapons found, including ammunition, were AK-47s, AR-15s, .22-caliber and 12 gauge shotguns.

The Mexican Justice Department (PGR) is investigating.

No information is provided regarding who possessed the equipment but it's probably a safe assumption that a drug cartel had hidden the contraband.

CLOUDS

There has been much debate over how clouds would affect global warming. Would they slow it down or amplify it? Warmists are at the moment in a state of frabjous joy over a study which appears to show that cloud changes amplify global warming. Rather than note any of the Warmist comments, I simply reproduce below the summary from "Science" magazine which describes the study concerned:

Clouds Appear to Be Big, Bad Player in Global Warming

Richard A. Kerr

The first reliable analysis of cloud behavior over past decades suggests —but falls short of proving —that clouds are strongly amplifying global warming. If that's true, then almost all climate models have got it wrong. On page 460, climate researchers consider the two best, long-term records of cloud behavior over a rectangle of ocean that nearly spans the subtropics between Hawaii and Mexico. In a warming episode that started around 1976, ship-based data showed that cloud cover—especially low-altitude cloud layers—decreased in the study area as ocean temperatures rose and atmospheric pressure fell. One interpretation, the researchers say, is that the warming ocean was transferring heat to the overlying atmosphere, thinning out the low-lying clouds to let in more sunlight that further warmed the ocean. That's a positive or amplifying feedback. During a cooling event in the late 1990s, both data sets recorded just the opposite changes—exactly what would happen if the same amplifying process were operating in reverse.

Science 24 July 2009: Vol. 325. no. 5939, p. 376

The caution I have highlighted in red seems generally to have been ignored. Note also that for the last 10 years there has been no warming for clouds to amplify (or not) so the question is probably moot anyway. There is considerable cloud expertise among climate skeptics so I expect that we will hear more about this in the next few days

Posted by John Ray.

When "bad" is a bad word

In Britain, of course:

"A teacher faces the sack after complaining about the behaviour of her class on Facebook. Sonya McNally, 35, has been suspended on full pay since calling the 13-year-olds ‘bad’ in a private conversation on the social networking site. In a post on March 20, the supply teacher wrote: ‘By the way, (class) 8G1 are just as bad as 8G2.’

Another teacher involved in the discussion, Kirsten Allenby-Moore, took offence. She complained to the council’s human resources department, writing: ‘I found the comments personally insulting as the 2 classes mentioned where [sic] both mine.’ It is understood she teaches both classes information technology once a week.

Education officials at North East Lincolnshire Council suspended Mrs McNally from Humberston Comprehensive School in Grimsby in April and launched an investigation. In a report to the headteacher, Mrs McNally is accused of ‘bringing the school into disrepute’. The previous headteacher resigned in December after Ofsted inspectors rated the school ‘inadequate’ in 13 key areas. [So it really is bad]

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Criminal Illegal from Iran Arrested

(Baton Rouge, Louisiana) This week, Border Patrol agents arrested an illegal alien from Iran with a long criminal history during a routine check at the bus station.

During routine transportation check Tuesday at the Baton Rouge Greyhound bus station, agents apprehended Jimmy Nassrian, a citizen and national of Iran.

Record checks revealed that Nassrian had an active warrant out of Carson City, Nev. as well as prior arrest for burglary and larceny in Las Vegas. The subject was detained in Department of Homeland Security custody pending removal proceedings. No bond has been set.

“Public transportation such as buses and trains is commonly utilized by fugitives to move throughout the country, said William P. Hitchcock, assistant chief patrol agent.

“Transportation check is one of many duties performed in the New Orleans sector to support the national strategy of Customs and Border Protection and to protect the people of the United States.”

With Ahmadinejad in power in Iran, hopefully we don't have a lot of his buddies roaming illegally in the U.S.

New York Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Springwater, New York) A 23-year-old local woman, April Crandall, was arrested this morning for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy.

Crandall has been charged with two counts of third-degree rape and one charge of engaging in a criminal sexual act in the third-degree.

According to the Livingston County Sheriff's office, Crandall allegedly engaged in sex with the boy three times in between June and July 2009.

WILL GLOBAL WARMING SOLVE OBESITY?

There seems to be nothing it cannot do. The following email is from Dennis Bray [dennis.bray@gkss.de] via Benny Peiser

First there was shrinking sheep. Now there are shrinking fish. (And the economy has been shrinking for some time ...).

According to Martin Daufresne, Kathrin Lengfellner and Ulrich Sommer: "Our study provides evidence that reduced body size is the third universal ecological response to global warming ...' in short - shrinking."

See also Science News for Kids: Snapshot: Shrinking Fish

The world will become an ugly place if it is discovered that exposure to global warming shrinks haemorrhoids. But on the upside, will global warming be the panacea for the plague of obesity: 'make your body adoring, suck up some global warming'.

Posted by John Ray.

Muslim Mob Storms Newspaper Offices

(Gulbarga, India) Yesterday, a mob of angry Muslims attacked and ransacked the offices of Samyukta Karnataka daily newspaper, injuring three employees. The circulation manager, Vilas Deshpande (right), suffered a significant head wound and is hospitalized in serious condition.

The Muslims reportedly were protesting because the newspaper "had published indecent allegations and used vulgar words" against a local Islamic leader known as Shaik-e-Deccan. The allegations published concerned some "undesirable activities" identified in a memo to the police.

Executive Editor of the newspaper Srikantacharya Mannur, who was an eyewitness to the incident, said that about 15 persons shouting slogans against the newspapers started assaulting the staff in the front office where the circulation and advertisement departments functioned.

The mob tried to storm into the editorial and the computer room before the other staff pushed them out of the main door.

“We were taken by surprise at the attack and initially we were not aware of the reason for the attack and nobody in the crowd was in a position to hear us. Nobody told us why they were protesting,” Mr. Mannur said.

The mob damaged a four-wheeler that belonged to the daily and damaged the vehicles parked in front of the newspaper office before being chased away by the police. The police picked up seven persons in connection with the attack from a building in front of the newspaper office.

Muslims also demonstrated at the Deputy Commissioner's office and submitted a letter demanding the newspaper be closed down since their religious sentiments had been hurt. In opposition, the journalists' union demonstrated with a demand that newspapers and journalists be protected.

Gulbarga is a city in southern India between Hyderabad and Mumbai with a population of approximately 500,000.

NY Woman Accused of Rape of Boy

(Washington County, New York) A 19-year-old Warrensburg woman, Alexandra McDouglas Ham (aka McDougal Ham), has been accused of engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy. State Police were alerted by Child Protective Services.

Ham has been charged with second-degree rape. She was booked and released on her own recognizance.

NJ Woman Accused of Sex Assault of Boy

(Lakewood, New Jersey) A 42-year-old local woman, Estella Pacheco Santos, has been arrested for the alleged sexual assault of an 8-year-old boy. The boy's parents reportedly alerted police.

Estella Pacheco Santos fondled the boy and forced him to fondle her, according to the investigation by Detective Thomas D'Elia of the township police.

Santos was booked into custody at the Ocean County Jail with bail set at $200,000. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ordered a hold.

Teacher Jennifer Leigh Rice Gets 25 Years - Updated

(Tacoma, Washington) Earlier today, former elementary school teacher Jennifer Leigh Rice was sentenced by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Gary Steiner to 25 years to life in prison.

"This was a terrible violation of trust," Steiner told Rice before imposing her sentence. "I think the acts themselves speak to the significance of the crime."

Rice made no excuses for her behavior and recognized the hurt she's caused to many people.

"I am desperately sorry for what I have done," Rice said. "My behavior was careless, impulsive and selfish.

"I am here today as a result of my poor decisions."

The victims' family has filed suit against three school systems claiming negligent hiring practices and inadequate supervision.

* * * * *
Teacher Jennifer Leigh Rice Guilty of Child Sex - Updated
[Previous 4/21/09 post]
(Tacoma, Washington) Yesterday, 33-year-old former grade school teacher Jennifer Leigh Rice was convicted of kidnapping and raping a 10-year-old boy and raping his 15-year-old brother.

Both sides stipulated the facts in Pierce County Superior Court, and Judge D. Gary Steiner convicted 33-year-old Jennifer Leigh Rice of first-degree kidnapping with sexual motivation, first-degree child molesting and two counts of third-degree child rape.

Rice faces 25 years or more in prison when sentenced on June 5.

* * * * *
Teacher Jennifer Leigh Rice Child-Sex Case
[Previous 9/13/07 post]
(Tacoma, Washington) In August 2007, a 31-year-old fourth-grade teacher at McKinley Elementary School, Jennifer Leigh Rice, was arrested for allegedly kidnapping a 10-year-old boy for sex.

Rice's arrest came about four months after the Tacoma School District investigated her for socializing with students outside the school setting. Rice remains in custody at the Pierce County Jail with bail set at $500,000.

Yesterday, the Pierce County prosecutor filed new charges against Rice. She now faces six counts of first-degree child rape, four counts of first-degree child molestation and two counts of third-degree child rape involving two youths.

The first-degree child rape and child molestation charges pertain to the boy she kidnapped. The third-degree child rape charge involve another boy, between 14 and 16 years of age, who Rice allegedly molested between July 10th and August 20th.

Rice pleaded not guilty to the new charges.

Gays and Lesbians Smoke More

According to a study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, homosexuals smoke more than the general population.

The exact reason for the difference is not clear. I'd suggest it has to do with friction.

R.I.P. Common Household Light Bulb, b.1879 - d.2010

General Electric, founded by Thomas Edison, has announced plans to cease manufacturing of common household incandescent light bulbs.

The bulb-assembly factory in Winchester, Virginia, the only remaining GE plant in the U.S. to make the bulbs, will close by July 2010.

This is what Obamacare can do for YOU!

Mother gives high-risk birth at home after being refused admittance by Australian public hospital

A MOTHER has claimed she was forced to give birth on her bedroom floor after being turned away from a Sydney hospital because there were not enough beds. Natasha Ramirez, 27, was bleeding and in labour when she first arrived at Liverpool Hospital last Thursday but said she was told by a nurse, "We don't have enough room tonight". "She told me to go back home because I wouldn't be in labour for another 24 to 48 hours," Ms Ramirez said yesterday.

Five hours later baby Anjelita was born on the bedroom floor at the Ramirez home, The Daily Telegraph reports. The hospital last night refused to comment on the specific allegations.

Ms Ramirez was at her Liverpool unit with her partner Ricardo Hermosilla when she went into labour about 3am. With her mother Diane Burns in Dubbo, Ms Ramirez decided to call a taxi to take her to the hospital. When she arrived she was taken to the birthing unit but claimed she was not seen by a doctor, only a nurse.

At four days overdue, Ms Ramirez was concerned that there might be complications similar to those she suffered in her previous birth when she needed anti-D injections because of her O-negative blood type. "A nurse assessed me and told me to go back home because they were full that night," she said. "I was told all along during my pregnancy that as soon as I went into labour I needed to be assessed and given the injections straight away. "When I got back home I had to lie on the floor I was in so much pain."

She called the hospital again and was told by staff to return. Mr Hermosilla called an ambulance but Anjelita was born before it arrived. "I am angry because something could have happened," she said. Her mother said she was furious her daughter had been put through such an ordeal. "When she got home she rang the hospital and told them she was having contractions and then they said they would make arrangements for a bed," Ms Burns said. "It just makes you wonder why they couldn't do that in the first place."

In a statement last night, a hospital spokeswoman said patients' complaints were taken "very seriously". "Patients who have not yet begun labour, and who are assessed by a doctor and found to have no other clinical needs, are usually sent home to await the full onset of labour," the spokeswoman said.

SOURCE


Posted by John Ray.

British Sex Offender Registration Erasure

(London, England) The British High Court has ruled that convicted sex offenders required to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life are being denied their basic human rights defined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court ruled the 2003 Sexual Offenders Act was incompatible with a criminal's right to a private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

It's not clear why criminals are given rights to a "private and family life" nor what that even means, but the ruling will allow pedophiles and rapists to have their names removed from the Sex Offender Register.

It appears that the justices on the High Court have bought into the generally false belief that sex offenders can be rehabilitated. I contend that the justices are dead nuts wrong.

In any event, look for future reports of people being victimized by sex offenders whose names were removed from the register. Also expect some sex criminals, no longer monitored by law enforcers, to surreptitiously show up as employees of schools, daycare centers and summer camps.

Tip: slwlion

Despite New Law, Topless Women Conspicuously Absent

(Malmö, Sweden) Readers may recall that last month a group of feminists ratcheted the Malmö city council into allowing topless bathing at public swimming pools. The feminists claimed that they were being denied equality since men can go topless.

The Malmö council committee had been forced into taking a stand on the issue after a spate of visits by the feminist direct action group Bara Bröst ( which means both 'Just Breasts' and 'Bare Breasts') had opened political gulfs over the issue.

Consequently, the city council acquiesced and made it legal for women to go topless at public swimming pools.

Well, it's a month later in the heat of summer and people are wondering where the topless women are. It appears that all the women complaining about unequal treatment at public swimming pools have disappeared. On the other hand, it could be that the feminists were raising hell about something that most women don't see as a problem.

Feds Investigate Kent State Faculty Member

(Kent, Ohio) Native of Cuba, a Muslim, tenured faculty member at Kent State University, Julio Pino, 48, is being investigated by the Secret Service. Notably, Pino's name has been bandied about the blogosphere for at least a couple years (see here) for his alleged jihadist leanings.

The U.S. Secret Service acknowledged Wednesday it is investigating a Kent State faculty member who has been tied to a jihadist news service and who has called President George W. Bush a ''cocaine cowboy.''

David Lee, resident agent in charge of the Akron office of the Secret Service, said Julio Pino was ''an individual who came to our attention who needed to be interviewed.''

He said someone from his agency went to Pino's home on Morris Road in Kent in the ''ongoing'' investigation. He declined to comment further.

The Secret Service is a federal law-enforcement agency that protects and investigates threats to national leaders, including the president.

Pino claims that he does not support jihad but his writings would appear to indicate otherwise.

Tip: Patrick Poole

Thrice-Hammered Romanian

(Orlea, Romania) A 48-year-old local man, Viorel Firoiu, arrived drunk at the hospital complaining of constipation and excruciating stomach pains. Worried doctors took X-rays.

They were knocked sideways to find he had not one but two hammerheads stuck in his rear end.

“He was a bit drunk and said he had been eating cherries that had left him badly constipated,” the Sun quoted hospital spokeswoman Dr Cristina Bontescu as saying.

“He said he had a few drinks to dull the pain and then came up with the idea of poking a hammerhead up his backside in the hope of sorting out the constipation.

“But the hammerhead got stuck and then he came up with the idea of using a second hammerhead in order to try and get out the first - but then he lost the second one as well,” she added.

Surgery followed.

Inside 1,000 Pages of ObamaCare

Check out this listing of some of the despotic-state mandates included in ObamaCare.

Gaze on such nuggets as 1) a legal requirement that a tax will not be considered a tax, 2) all legal and illegal aliens are covered, 3) government has access to all citizens financial and personal records and 4) government bureaucrats (not doctors) will determine what treatments individual patients receive.

The listing contains just some of the disturbing provisions of ObamaCare. In total, I'm convinced that the Obama plan will transfer control of virtually all aspects of the lives of Americans to the federal government. Anything a person is doing, has done or plans to do will be under the direct purview and authority of a government committee.

"Virtually all aspects of the lives of Americans" includes death. Yes, ObamaCare assures the heavy hand of the government will be lurking as people age.

My recommendation? Check out the listing then call or write your representatives in Washington and tell them to vote "NO" on ObamaCare.

Amazon attacked for deleting George Orwell

Two books bad ... Amazon deleted 1984 and Animal Farm from its electronic book reader, the Kindle. Outraged customers lose texts they bought. Is this a warning of what our future holds? I am now feeling rather glad that, like most academics, I have a substantial library of REAL books. There are many books printed hundreds of years ago that are still readable. How long will material stored on today's magnetic and optical media remain available and readable? Will we one day need to go to a government-run museum just to read a CD? I have a little story to tell in that connection which I will put at the foot of the news item below:

Online retailer Amazon has been forced to fend off accusations of Big Brother-like behaviour after it erased two George Orwell books from customers' electronic book readers. In an Orwellian move, copies of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four were mysteriously wiped from customer's Kindle devices.

The Kindle is an electronic book reader that lets users download and read texts from Amazon's online catalogue. Online complaints compared Amazon's move to a book shop breaking in to a customer's house to steal back purchased books. One student lost all of the notes he had made while reading one of the books.

The texts were uploaded by a publisher who did not have reproduction rights, Amazon told technology news website CNet, and so they were deleted. "We removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers' devices, and refunded customers," a spokesman said. "We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers' devices in these circumstances." [But will anybody ever trust them again?]

SOURCE

My story: I recently decided to convert my old Windows computer into a DOS machine -- as a sort of museum for all the old DOS software we used to use a dozen or more years ago. In particular I wanted to create a collection of all the old DOS games that the kids used to play and which they enjoyed so much.

But as soon as I tried, I failed. I had set up DOS machines often in the past so I expected no trouble but this time I failed. I just could not get DOS to boot from the hard drive. Fortunately, my stepson is both himself a computer retailer and also the son of a computer retailer so he remembered a rare switch (/mbr) to the old FDISK command that solved the problem.

But I then found that a lot of my old floppy disks had become corrupt over time so it was important to get the CD drive accessible from DOS as soon as possible. And that was easier said than done. After a couple of hours of hunting around and head-scratching, I finally found a driver file that worked and also figured out the syntax of how to set it up (with driver in CONFIG.SYS and CD command in AUTOEXEC.BAT).

But then there was the problem of getting the sound to work. Modern motherboards have the sound onboard and DOS cannot access that. Fortunately, however, I had an old Soundblaster card left over from a project of a few years ago and we found a slot on the motherboard that would take it. But we have no DOS drivers for it so, at the time of writing, the sound is not yet working. My stepson is however fairly confident that he will be able to find the files we need. But would he be able to find them in (say) 10 years' time?

So the moral of the story is obvious. Stuff that is stored on the routine technology of today can become almost inaccessible in as little as 10 years' time. It makes you think. Technological change does create some risk of wiping out our past.


Posted by John Ray.

Biden: Gitmo Closed by January

In an interview with the BBC, Vice President Joe Biden said that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp will close by next January and decisions on individual inmates will be completed well before January.

Unfortunately, Biden's remarks are somewhat inconsistent with a statement made Monday by senior administration officials which indicated that a task force "would need another six months to complete a report" on closing Guantanamo.

Take your pick.

The Cemetery - Dating's Last Frontier

(Lancaster, Wisconsin) A 23-year-old man, Nicholas Grunke, has been accused of attempting to dig up a dead woman in a cemetery to have sex with her remains.

However, according to defense attorney Suzanne Edwards, Grunke is a shy virgin who longed for a girlfriend and he really only wanted to pose her in a "non-sexual" manner.

Grunke originally faced charges of attempted third-degree sexual assault, attempted criminal damage to a cemetery and attempted misdemeanor theft. A court, however, dismissed the sexual assault charge since the state of Wisconsin doesn't recognize necrophilia as a crime.

It's alleged that Grunke's twin brother, Alexander, and a friend, Dustin Radke, were also involved in the scheme. However, charges against the twin and Radke have not been reported.

The three reportedly arrived at the cemetery in a van with shovels, a tarp, duct tape, a wrecking bar and a box of condoms. They then allegedly commenced digging up the remains of a 20-year-old woman who died in a 2006 motorcycle accident. It's not known how the authorities were initially alerted to the alleged scheme.

Despite how the case is resolved, it's recommended that somebody keep a close eye on the alleged perpetrators in the future.

--------
[Update] On Tuesday (7/21), Nicholas Grunke was convicted by a jury of theft, damage to property and attempted third degree sexual assault. The sexual assault charge was resurrected after a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that sex crime charges can be applied when the victim is dead.

Nick Grunke admitted he planned to take the young woman's body home with him, but says sex was not on his mind. Nick Grunke said, "I was going to take it to a clearing in the woods and just kind of spend time with it....(ok, but not have sex with it?) No."

Grunke described a scene from the movie, "I'll Bury You Tomorrow" in which the main character slow danced with a corpse. He said he only planned to emulate what he saw in that movie.

But Radke tells a different story. Radke said, "Nick said numerous times over the years how he'd love to have sex with a dead body because he wouldn't want to have a woman to come home to holler at, or complain or nag at him. And he said that more than once."

Radke says when Grunke showed him the young woman's obituary he knew right away that Grunke intended to have sex with her body.

Consequently, Nicholas Grunke was sentenced to two years in prison. The judge also ordered Grunke to register as a sex offender and spend the next five to seven years in intense psychotherapy. Notably, the judge said Grunke was the victim of a horrific crime when he was a small child.

On Wednesday (7/22), Dustin Radke was sentenced to one year in prison and 2.5 years of probation.

Alex Grunke was convicted of attempted theft and vandalism only. It's not known what punishment he received.

Oregon Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Albany, Oregon) A 24-year-old local woman, Arlayne Curiel, was arrested after complaining to police that she was being harassed by her neighbors.

A police investigation alleges that the harassment started when neighbors discovered she had spent early Saturday morning having sexual contact with a 13-year-old boy. According to police, Curiel reportedly met a 13-year-old boy while walking in downtown Albany Friday night. At about 1 a.m. on Saturday the 13-year-old boy reportedly went to Curiel's home at 2337 S.E. Salem Ave.

Police said Curiel then gave the 13 year old alcohol before entering an unoccupied home next door with him at 2335 S.E. Salem Ave., where they had sexual contact.

Curiel has been charged with sex abuse, sodomy, rape, burglary and furnishing alcohol to a minor. She was booked into custody at the Linn County Jail.

Chad - Sudan Clash

From afrol News:

The Joint African Union-United Nations Special Representative has warned that the continuing tensions between Sudan and neighbouring Chad remains one of the major obstacles to the peace and security of the troubled Darfur region.

Mr Rodolphe Adada has urged the two neighbours to end hostilities along their border amid fresh accusations by Sudan of air strikes carried out in Umm Dukhum, a West Darfur village on its border with Chad.

The conflict between these two nations helps explain why Sudan has been acquiring military arms from China.

Iran Nuke On Line by Year's End

(Tehran, Iran) According to the Iranian Ambassador to Russia, Seyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi, the Bushehr Nuclear Plant will commence operation by the end of 2009.

Russian involvement with the Bushehr facility is significant, appearing to be a total turnkey operation where the Iranians have simply waited for it to be handed over, fully operational. It seems that Moscow didn't get the UN memo about a nuclear technology embargo on Iran.

Illinois Teacher Gets Probation for Sex with Student - Updated

(Edwardsville, Illinois) Yesterday, 37-year-old former Edwardsville High School teacher Kasey E. Johnes pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse stemming from her relationship with a male student.

As a result, Johnes was sentenced by Circuit Judge Richard Tognarelli to probation for two years.

A second, more serious charge of aggravated criminal sexual assault was dismissed Tuesday in exchange for Johnes' plea to the lesser offense but aggravated criminal sexual abuse is a felony and Johnes' conviction will require her to register as a sexual offender.

Johnes is also prohibited from contacting her victim and she must attend counseling.

The school district initially suspended Johnes from her teaching position and later terminated her.

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Illinois Teacher Accused of Sex with Male Student
[Previous 4/15/09 post]
(Edwardsville, Illinois) A 37-year-old health teacher at Edwardsville High School, Kasey E. Johnes, was arrested earlier today for allegedly engaging in five-month sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male student.

Johnes faces charges of sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Police allege Johnes had a sexual relationship with the male student that started in the fall and ended in February.

The student, a senior at Edwardsville High School, was 17 at the time of the alleged relationship but has since turned 18.

The school district has placed Johnes on unpaid leave.

Johnes was booked into custody at the Madison County Jail with bond set at $100,000.

Young Men Living with Mommy and Daddy

(London, England) In a study of 8,000 men and women, researchers at the University of London have found that 20-something men who still live with their parents are prone to persistent violent behavior. It seems that delayed independence is at the core of irresponsibility. Having known a few individuals in this category, I tend to agree.

These young men, who are not paying rent or a mortgage or supporting dependants, have more leisure time and disposable income – which may spell trouble. They were more likely to get into bar fights with strangers than their more independent peers.

A key element is the fact that men aged 20 to 24 are no longer influenced by parents to conform to reasonable standards of behavior.

Violence outside the home, mainly involving strangers, is the most common scenario and just one of a series of hedonistic and negative social behaviours such as hazardous drinking, drug misuse, sexual risk taking and non-violent anti-social behaviour.

The study was authored by Jeremy Coid and Min Yang of the Institute of Preventive Medicine and is published in the professional journal, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

By the way, it's easy to speculate that Islamists rely upon the delayed-independence 20-something crowd as a source of jihad recruits.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.