Florida Woman Arrested for Kidnapping

(Sarasota, Florida) A 45-year-old woman, Angela Charles, has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a 9-year-old boy from a church parking lot.

Reportedly, Charles told the boy, "I'm your new mother."

Police said the boy was looking for his bicycle less than a block from his home about 2 p.m. Sunday when Angela Charles grabbed his arm and said, "You don't have a mother. You have a brother waiting for you at the store.''

Charles was booked into custody on a charge of kidnapping. Bail has been set at $50,000.

Housekeeping

It's hot and humid today in NE Ohio and my area is suffering without power. I'd guess the electrical distribution system is overloaded.

I'm forced to use a borrowed POS laptop to blog. I don't like being without my normal tools, but it's "any port in a storm."

Virginity Checks on Female Protesters



(Cairo, Egypt) A senior Egyptian general who asked not to be identified has confirmed that virginity checks were performed on female demonstrators during the protests in March.

It's alleged that the females were arrested, beaten, given electric shocks, stripped, searched, threatened with prostitution charges. Then they were splayed out and given a virginity check.

"The girls who were detained were not like your daughter or mine," the general said.

"These were girls who had camped out in tents with male protesters in Tahrir Square, and we found in the tents Molotov cocktails and (drugs)."

The general said the virginity checks were done so that the women wouldn't later claim they had been raped by Egyptian authorities.

"We didn't want them to say we had sexually assaulted or raped them, so we wanted to prove that they weren't virgins in the first place," the general said. "None of them were (virgins)."

To prove that they are not virgins, eh? And guess what? None were! Yeah, that's the ticket.

NY Woman, 38, and Boy, 11

(Macedon, New York) A 38-year-old local woman, Diana O'Lena, has been arrested for allegedly engaging in repeated sex with an 11-year-old boy.

The investigation revealed the defendant engaged in oral sexual conduct with a boy starting when he was 11 years-old on multiple occasions.

Incidents occurred between 2009 to present, in the Town of Macedon. The boy was reportedly a friend of one of O’Lena’s four children.

O’Lena, who told police she runs a unlicensed day care business out of her home, made a full confession to police.

O'Lena was booked into custody at the Wayne County Jail with bond set at $10,000.

Snakes On A Train



(Quang Ngai, Vietnam) The train from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi stopped in Quang Ngai and hundreds of passengers fled in panic. Dozens of deadly cobras had been smuggled on the train.

A guard and conductor were checking tickets as passengers got on in the central city of Quang Ngai on Thursday evening - and spotted the live king cobras and cobras under a seat.

People fled the carriage as panic broke out, and the smuggler was able to escape in the chaos.

The reptiles - which are extremely venomous and can kill a human within just 30 minutes - were being carried in four see-through cloth bags.

One passenger, Pham Van An, 20, said: "Some of the snakes were very big, and looked terrifying. Most people ran away. But some people went to look at them and the cobras rose up.

"Then police took the snakes off the train."

Officers handed the snakes over to Quang Ngai province's wildlife protection officers for release into the wild.

The Vietnamese like to eat the snakes but they are considered endangered and protected under national law.

Woman Arrested in Huffing Case

(Naples, Florida) A 38-year-old local woman, Jennifer Marie Fernandez, was arrested yesterday after being found on the floor of a Walmart bathroom allegedly intoxicated from huffing dust remover.

Fernandez faces charges of inhaling or ingesting harmful chemicals, possession of narcotic paraphernalia, and retail theft under $100.

Around 5 a.m. on Sunday, a maintenance crew at a North Naples Walmart was trying to clean the restroom where they found a woman, later identified as Fernandez, lying on the floor of a handicapped stall, according to an arrest report. They heard a spraying sound coming from inside the stall.

When a Collier County sheriff’s deputy arrived, he found the stall door locked. The deputy looked over the stall, and saw Fernandez slumped over the toilet, muttering, with three cans of dust remover within her reach. One of the cans was under her head, reports said.

Note that Fernandez has a history of being found unconscious in a puddle of her own vomit.

Biological Evidence of Attempted Rape

(Dhaka, Bangladesh) It's generally recognized that rapists leave behind biological evidence at each attack site but seldom does the evidence include a defined body part. In this case, a 40-year-old Bangladeshi woman sliced off her attempted rapist's penis and took it to the police station as evidence.

The woman, a married mother of three, was attacked while she was sleeping in her shanty in Jhalakathi district, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) south of Dhaka, on Saturday night, officers said.

"As he tried to rape her, the lady cut his penis off with a knife. She then wrapped up the penis in a piece of polythene and brought it to the Jhalakathi police station as evidence of the crime," police chief Abul Khaer told AFP.

The woman has filed a case accusing the man -- who is also 40 and a married father of five -- of attempted rape, saying that he had been harassing her for six months.

The alleged perpetrator is currently hospitalized with severe joint pain. He will face attempted rape charges when he perks up.

Tip: Charley N.

Searching for Beaver

(Highlands of Scotland) Television comedy and nature writers could possibly use this report for source material.

Three beavers have gone missing in the Highlands after ditching their identity tags and escaping from a £1.8 million Government research programme.

The trio, Marlene, Mary-Lou and Gunn Rita, have been roaming free since May 2009, when they were released in the wild as part of a reintroduction scheme.

Although each animal was tagged before being freed in the ancient Knapdale Forest in Argyll and Bute, the first annual report on the programme notes that “most tags attached to beaver tails were lost within two to three months post-release”.

Of 15 beavers involved in the Scottish Beaver Trial, researchers have tracked down nine, with three reported dead and three missing.

New tags were fitted to some specimens in December 2009, and field workers are currently assessing a bid to fix tags to the beavers’ fur using epoxy glue.

Despite the disappearance of three female test subjects, however, the report shows encouraging signs for the first part of the five-year trial.

Marlene, the youngest beaver, was seen fighting before she disappeared.

Memorial Day 2011




Remembering the cost of freedom.

Democrat Wiener Erection Story

Unconvincingly, Rep. Anthony Wiener (D-NY) has tried to explained a sexual image on his Twitter account.

Over the last few days New York Congressman Anthony Wiener, a Democrat, claimed that his Twitter account had been hacked when it was revealed that “someone” sent a sexually graphic picture to a young woman in Washington State from his account.

The photo, a picture of a briefs-clad man sporting an erection, was sent to a young college student named Gennette Nicole Cordova who is a student at Whatcom Community College, Bellingham, Washington. This young woman once Tweeted that Wiener was her “boyfriend.” No one is sure what sort of relationship Wiener has with Cordova if any. But there seems to be some links.

For his part, Rep. Wiener claims his Twitter account was hacked.

I suggest that isolated, incidental hacking is a lousy explanation. Of course, assuming that Wiener did send a sexual picture to a young female, it's understandable that he would deny it since he recently got married and his bride would likely be humiliated.

In any event, it's not clear whether anything criminal has transpired. Despite alleged vulgarity and dissembling, Wiener's only offense appears to be unforgivable public stupidity. He has arguably failed to get out in front of boner-gate.

Logically, one can expect late-night television personalities to visit this story at least once. It's got the basic ingredients for humor -- public figure, stupidity and lascivious subject matter. In media patois, the story has legs.

Tip: Charley Nestor

False racism accusation costs Irish airline money

We read:

"A former Miss World has been awarded £70,000 in damages after suing no-frills carrier Ryanair for defamation.

The case centred on a press release posted on Ryanair’s website in November 2008 in response to remarks Miss Davison, 27, made the previous day in a newspaper.

Asked what she thought of the lack of any Irish women in Ryanair’s 2009 charity calendar of bikini-clad cabin crew, she said: ‘If I was (organising) it, I would have made sure Irish women were involved because it’s an Irish charity and Irish fundraising.’

The airline’s release said the comments by Miss Davison, who was crowned Miss World in 2003, ‘bordered on racism and demonstrated an elitist attitude against Ryanair’s international cabin crew’.

Source

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Rat Lungworm Infections in Hawaii



Rat Lungworm, Angiostrongylus cantonensis
(Big Island, Hawaii) An outbreak of rat lungworm infections is being reported in Hawaii. Rat lungworms are parasitic threadlike roundworms that cause a rare form of meningitis possibly leading to permanent nerve damage and death.

The parasites live in rats and are excreted in feces. Slugs, snails, fish and prawns are primary intermediate hosts which contaminate human foodstuffs with rat lungworm larvae. An important symptom of the infection is a severe headache produced when the wriggly little fellas eat their way around the brain.

Note that there has been a proliferation of the parasite in recent years due to "food consumption trends and global transportation of food products."

NJ Methodists go to water over Christian symbols

Covering up Christian symbols in a church building is carrying the delegitimization of Christianity to a new extreme. And the Methodists who agreed to it show how weak in their faith Methodists have become. They are now just another pissweak "mainstream" church. Next thing they'll be replacing their communion wine with Scotch Whisky.

It seems to me a plain case of denying Christ. Jesus said, “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 10:33).

School officials in Neptune Township, N.J., have bowed to the demands of the ACLU and will cover decades-old religious signs posted in the historic Great Auditorium to allow a 70-year tradition of high school graduations to continue.

Instead of the sign, "Holiness to the Lord," a banner will be posted over it saying, "Neptune Township School District ... A Community of Learners." In addition, a banner with the words "So Be Ye Holy" will be covered with another banner saying, “Neptune High School: A School of Excellence and No Excuses."

The new banners are meant to appease the American Civil Liberties Union, which had demanded the school district remove all religious signs and symbols from the Methodist-owned auditorium in Ocean Grove, claiming it made non-Christians attending public school graduations feel uncomfortable.

The conflict began after the grandmother of one of last year's graduates complained not only about the large white cross adorning the top of the buildings' facade, but of the religious signs inside, and what she felt was a heavily religious tone to the ceremony, which included student-led invocations and the singing of Christian hymns, most notably "Onward Christian Soldiers."

The school agreed to cut out the student-led invocations and the hymns. But the 6,500-seat Great Auditorium is run by the Camp Meeting Association. It is the iconic, center piece of the Methodist Church-based organization's property, which comprises the bulk of the land in Ocean Grove.

The historical building had become the site for both civic and community events. The association agreed to cover the cross on the inside, but not the cross on the outside or the antique lighted religious signs.

Source

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Florida Deputy Accused in Videotaped Spanking Case

(Bartow, Florida) A 45-year-old detention deputy for Polk County, Robin Leigh Pagoria, has been arrested for allegedly disrobing, restraining and whipping two girls between the ages of 10 and 18 for purposes of creating fetish videos for her out-of-state boyfriend.

Reportedly, the whippings were severe and captured on video via a cell phone. The videos were then transmitted out of state via the Internet. The boyfriend is currently under investigation.

Pagoria faces charges of aggravated child abuse, production of child pornography and promotion of child pornography. Check out the video of Pagoria in court.




Tip: slwlion

Wisconsin Woman Accused of Sex Assault of Boy, 13

(Green Bay, Wisconsin) A 26-year-old woman, Rae Mackin, has been arrested on a bench warrant for failing to appear in court to face sex assault charges. She was arrested at home reportedly in the midst of preparing to flee the state.

Prosecutors are pondering whether to charge Mackin with bail jumping in addition to sexual assault of a child under 16.

A criminal complaint said she had consensual sex with a 13-year-old boy in a Green Bay hotel room Jan. 28, while another person goaded them on.

Mackin allegedly told police she knew it was not right to have sex with the boy, "but she didn't want to disappoint anyone," the complaint says.

Mackin was booked into custody at the Brown County Jail.

Airplane Noise

(Denver, Colorado) On United Airlines Flight 340 from Spokane WA to Denver on May 19, a 25-year-old man, Kyle Pierce, was arrested for allegedly masturbating in flight.

A teenage passenger sitting next to Pierce first alerted flight attendants, after she witnessed the unsettling scene unfold before her eyes.

"I heard a noise and looked over and saw his penis," the 18-year-old woman told investigators, according to the criminal complaint.

It's not known what type of noise the penis made.

Tip: slwlion

Horror in Syria

From World Defense Review:

Kuwait’s Alseyassah newspaper is reporting – in addition to the widely reported mass graves and Syrian army’s killings of unarmed civilians – grisly incidents of torture, including “chopping off the wrists of children so they’d never carry arms against the [Syrian] regime.”

According to Alseyassah, “The World Council of the Cedars Revolution’s Human Rights Dept. chief Kamal Batal visited the border town of Wadi Khaled in northern Lebanon [near the Syrian border] where more than 5,000 Syrians have taken refuge from the death squads and Baath militias… After thorough interviews with the refugees – who are still in contact with their family members displaced to other parts in Syria – Batal gathered horrific details and stories about the massacres committed by the Baath thugs in Syrian towns.”

Batal has learned that regular Syrian army and militia forces – including members of Syrian Pres. Bashar Assad’s Alawite community supported by Iranian Basij fighters and Lebanese-based Hizballah terrorists – are moving from one Sunni village to the next, storming homes and offices, “killing at will whoever defies them and literally emptying entire towns of its civilian population.”

The accounts are not unlike other reports, according to the Kuwaiti paper, from international NGO’s and humanitarian organizations based in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon, all of which are confirming stories of civilians being machine-gunned by tanks and shot by snipers. Bodies are being mutilated. And Syrian soldiers who refuse to participate in the wanton killings are themselves summarily executed by Assad’s Alawite death squads.

Batal also tells Alseyassah, the militias are planning to establish “a pure Alawite zone along the north coast of Syria. This large carved out zone will serve as a fallback position to Assad and his apparatus if they fail to keep control over the whole country. Sunni villages around that area are looted to the bone, even kitchen tiles and electric lines are not spared.”

He adds, “Unmarked white vans are moving their belongings to newly established Alawite villages in the north coast strategically located on the outskirts of the large Sunni city of Hamah.”

If this is representative of the purported "Arab Spring," I'd suggest there will be few left for the Arab Summer. In any event, one must wonder why the elite media are not prominently reporting this story.

No "SEAL Team 6" Trademark

The Walt Disney Company has decided to withdraw its "SEAL Team 6" application for trademark "out of deference to the Navy."




* * * * *
"SEAL Team 6" Trademarked by Disney
[Previous 5/23/11 post]
Two days after a U.S. Navy special forces unit killed al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, the Walt Disney Company trademarked "SEAL Team 6."

Among other items, the trademark applies to clothing, toys, games and entertainment and education services.

Therefore, anyone desiring to use "SEAL Team 6" on merchandise or a service should anticipate sending Disney a check. Either that or expect a lawsuit.

Heh.

Lone blogger calls a bureaucracy to account

Bob McCarty is a campaigning blogger. He takes on a cause and hammers it repeatedly. And there is a lot to hammer in the good ol' goldurned US of A these days.

His latest foray is to tackle some oppression emanating from the USDA. Like all bureaucracies, its first priority is to hurt people rather than help them and their latest caper is to fine a couple $90,000 for the heinous offence of selling more than $500 worth of rabbits in one year. After a lot of effort, the USDA seem to be caving. See here.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Driving While Woman

(Khobar, Saudi Arabia) Last Sunday, female activist Manal Al Sharef, 32, was arrested for driving in Saudi Arabia, stoking debate about the ban on women being allowed to drive.

The nation is sharply divided on the issue of women driving.

The ultra-conservatives have come out in full force against Manal.

Sheikh Nasser Al Omer gave a sermon on the matter of women driving. At the beginning of the video he claims that he read in an American newspaper about an American expert who says that the USA is drawing up plans to occupy Saudi oil fields, and that the Iranian TV channels are also making threats. So that raising the issue of women driving is not about rights or whether or not it’s prohibited by Islam; it is a conspiracy against the country, started by Shia who are supported by liberals, secularists, Jews and the West. His argument is that the women driving issue always gets heated when the country is under threat, referring back to the 1990 women driving protest during the Gulf war and now.[…]

On the other hand, you have sheikhs who have come out in support of Manal and lifting the driving ban.

Shiekh Dr. Eissa Al Ghaith, a judge, posted an article on his Facebook page in support of women driving. Sheikh Dr. Mohammed Al Ahmari was very outspoken in his support for Manal and lifting the ban on driving. And in the recent past you had several sheikhs including the highly respected Albani who laughed at the suggestion that women driving should be prohibited in Islam. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Baz also supports women driving and says that his father’s original decree banning it is no longer relevant.

In any event, Manal was supposed to be released from jail today but an inside information source asserts that her detention will be extended for ten days.

How to Go to Congress and Become a Millionaire


Ever wonder how people go to Congress and become millionaires? A new academic report clears it up for us.

A report from four scholars, Alan J Ziobrowski; James W Boyd, Ping Cheng; and Brigitte J. Ziobrowski, titled Abnormal Returns From the Common Stock Investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives, shows that between 1985 and 2001 members of Congress enjoyed a considerable advantage over members of the public in their investment returns.

The article was published by Berkeley Electronic Press and is a follow up to a similar study done on investments by US Senators.

“A previous study suggests that U.S. Senators trade common stock with a substantial informational advantage compared to ordinary investors and even corporate insiders,” says the introduction to the report. “We apply precisely the same methods to test for abnormal returns from the common stock investments of Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. We measure abnormal returns for more than 16,000 common stock transactions made by approximately 300 House delegates from 1985 to 2001. Consistent with the study of Senatorial trading activity, we find stocks purchased by Representatives also earn significant positive abnormal returns (albeit considerably smaller returns). A portfolio that mimics the purchases of House Members beats the market by 55 basis points per month (approximately 6% annually).”

Actually 12 times .55 percent comes out to 6.6 percent annually. That .6 percent return accounts for an additional $130,000 over a 17 year period.

So how lucrative can the 6.6 percent advantage be for Senators and Representatives? A portfolio of $100,000 getting average stock market returns of 11 percent over a 17 year period would have grown to $589,000. If you were a member of the United States House of Representatives, though, enjoying the advantage that inside government information can bring you, your portfolio would have reached $1,573,000, according to an investment calculation I did using the finding from the study.

Assuming only average market returns for the next 20 years, a Representative would grow their portfolio to close to $13 million. Under the same circumstances US Senator would have grown the portfolio to $18 million.

The conclusion of the study favors some sort of reporting mechanism similar to those imposed upon corporate insiders. “We find strong evidence that Members of the House have some type of nonpublic information which they use for personal gain. That having been said, abnormal returns earned by Members of the House are substantially smaller than those earned by Senators during approximately the same time period. These smaller returns are due presumably to less influence and power held by the individual Members.”

While the sky wouldn’t fall if reporting requirements were imposed on members of Congress, the report misses the most obvious point.

Why do we have a federal government that can so substantially ensure winners and losers in investments and our economy? Isn't a system like that prone to corruption? Don't we witness the effects of that corruption in legislation like Obamacare, or the cadillac benefits offered public employees?

The report points out the even corporate insiders don’t enjoy the return advantages that members of Congress enjoy. It’s one of the most damning indications yet that the scope of government has gotten wildly out of control. It’s also another example of laws that Congress passes for the rest of us but won’t consider following. That’s a practice that must end if we want to restore confidence in government.

We can only do that by making sure that government can no longer pick winners and losers in the stock market.

SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Teen Commits Suicide for Doomsday




(Volga Republic, Russia) On May 21, a 14-year-old girl hanged herself in anticipation of the end of the world, trumpeted by a preacher.

May 21 was the day that American preacher Harold Camping said Christians would be taken into heaven ahead of the apocalypse.

Investigator Alexander Kosharin said the girl’s behavior changed dramatically when she learned about Camping’s predictions.

“Whales are trying to beach themselves and birds are dying - it is just the beginning of the end,” the girl wrote in a “death diary.”

“We are not righteous people, only they will go to heaven, the others will stay here on Earth to go through terrible sufferings,” she wrote.

“I don’t want to die like the others. That’s why I’ll die now,” the girl said in her last message.

One might contend that Harold Camping has blood on his hands.

Virginity for Sale

(Salt Lake City, Utah) A 32-year-old mom has been arrested for allegedly offering her 13-year-old daughter's virginity for sale.




The mother was booked into custody with bond set at $250,000.

Mississippi Teacher Gets Jail in Sex Case

(Tupelo, Mississippi) A 32-year-old English teacher formerly at Saltillo High School, Elizabeth Hope Johns-Pittman, has pleaded guilty to three counts of felony sexual battery stemming from a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male student.

As a result, Johns-Pittman was sentenced by Judge John Roberts to four months in the county jail and five years of probation.

On Wednesday, she told the court she had sex with the 16-year old at her house during what were supposed to be tutoring sessions.

The victim's family asked the court to give Johns-Pittman probation because they wanted to bring closure to the matter.

Johns-Pittman was also ordered to perform 200 hours of public service and write an essay.

Gang Babe Guilty in Sex Case

(Caldwell, Idaho) A 32-year-old local mother-of-five, Simona Manzanares, has pleaded guilty to molesting a 14-year-old girl in 2006. Several other sex charges were dropped for her guilty plea.

Manzanares had been scheduled for parole on a felony gang-recruiting charge this past December, but when Canyon County prosecutors filed three charges of lewd conduct, sexual battery of a minor and sexual abuse of a minor the parole board postponed her release pending resolution of the new charges.

Sentencing on a felony injury to a child charge is scheduled for June 27.

Note that Manzanares was convicted in July 2008 on a charge of recruiting a criminal gang member. She was sentenced to a term of up to 10 years in prison.

At the time, Manzanares allegedly was the leader of the female branch of the Caldwell gang responsible for recruiting and obtaining weapons for the gang.

The Left are still bashing GWB

Their "principles" are always changing but their hate is permanent

Last week I was called by Peter Stone of iWatch, the online ezine of the generally far left Center for Public Integrity. Mr. Stone asked for my opinion on the refusal of George W. Bush to attend the Obama festivities at Ground Zero after the killing of bin Laden. Mr. Stone suggested that Bush's excuse, 'other commitments,' was somehow dishonest given that he was in New York City a few days later giving several speeches at more $100,000.00 per. Stone did note as an aside that Clinton had also declined the Obama invitation citing the same excuse, and that he too was in the City shortly after giving equally lucrative speeches.

I responded that I thought it was inappropriate for Obama to be at Ground Zero considering that he had tried to get the Guantanamo prisoners, who have already admitted guilt, removed to civilian trials in Lower Manhattan. Also that Obama's self glorification was hypocritical since harsh interrogation had led to bin Ladin and Obama was still pursuing prosecutions against the very same CIA agents whose methods obtained that information.

I also emphasized to Stone that I would not want my comments to be part of a one sided denunciation of Bush, since, as he himself pointed out, Clinton was exploiting his ex-presidency in exactly the same way as Bush. Mr. Stone assured me that his piece was to be unbiased, critical of both.

Knowing the generally far left bias of Center of Public Integrity I of course had very low expectations, and I was not disappointed on reading Stone's column. His May 20 column was entitled: After Skipping Ground Zero Event With Obama, Bush Made Three Paid Speeches .

Microsoft Word informs me that Stone's article is 1051 words in length. All but three sentences of it are devoted to attacking G.W. Bush. As an additional example of 'lack of bias,' next to the column is a sidebar called "Top 10 Failures of the Bush Administration" with a live link to an article on that subject.

More HERE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

US-Taliban Talks?

Does this headline from Spiegel Online make any sense?

Germany Mediates Secret US-Taliban Talks

There's a lengthy article at the link but don't tell anyone. It's a secret.

Students Forced to Clean Toilets

(Hartford, Connecticut) For two years, Kennelly School art teacher Catherine Saur has required students to clean the toilet in a portable classroom.

Saur has been placed on administrative leave and an investigation has been launched.

Saur's practice of requiring any student who uses the bathroom to clean the toilet with paper towels and a household cleaner containing bleach came to light last week after an 8th-grade student suffered an allergic reaction to the chemical.

School officials claim they were unaware of the practice.

A small thought on automobiles

It's slightly mad but people generally seem to be saying something about themselves when they buy a partcular car. I drive a very humble 2004 Toyota Echo and I believe that says something about me -- or my Presbyterian upbringing: "Waste not, want not". I actually feel proud of my good sense in making my journeys at minimal cost in quite acceptable comfort. And the Echo is very zippy and I like zipping.

So why do people buy cars more expensive than mine that certainly get them there no faster than mine? I think ONE motive is to seek praise and admiration. An expensive car shows how rich the person is and he thinks that should be admired.

Problem. That doesn't seem to work:

Car envy is causing bad behaviour on Queensland roads, researchers have found. A University of Queensland study revealed that nothing gets drivers' blood boiling more than the sight of someone in a fancy car trying to push into the queue.

PhD student Redzo Mujcic and economics professor Paul Frijters analysed the behaviour of 1000 Brisbane commuters at selected intersections and roundabouts. Commuters had the option to let someone from a side road enter the main road.

"People compare themselves to others and the perception of status has an impact on how commuters behave," Mr Mujcic said. "The study showed that drivers in cheaper cars were quite unlikely to stop for drivers of luxury cars."

The study found drivers of the cheapest cars were least likely to let another driver merge ahead of them, with the drivers of prestige cars only slightly more courteous. The most thoughtful drivers were those who owned vehicles of average value.

More HERE

So what should an admiration-seeker do? I discovered the answer to that quite by accident. As a conservative I rather like old things so some years ago I bought myself a 1963 Humber Super Snipe -- a grand old English car. It is a bit unreliable so I take it out only once a week for a longish drive but whenever I do I get heaps of praise and admiration! I get what the Ferrari driver wants! And the Humber cost way less than a Ferrari does. It just goes to show what all conservatives know: Life is complicated.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Alleged Grease Thieves Caught

(Lincoln, Nebraska) A man and woman from Missouri have been arrested by Lincoln Police for allegedly stealing used grease from restaurants. Christy Harris, 34, and Jesse Moore, 36, face charges of misdemeanor larceny.


 
Christy Harris -- Jesse Moore
According to Lincoln Police Officer Katie Flood, there has been a string of grease thefts in locations throughout Iowa and Nebraska. Harris and Moore are suspected as the perpetrators. Of course, it is possible that other grease thieves are responsible.

Flood said that Lincoln police had been briefed on the recent thefts and were told to be on the lookout for a truck, likely hauling a large tank and hoses.

Lincoln officers near 56th and O Streets spotted such a vehicle, which also lacked a rear license plate. They questioned the occupants, who, Flood said, admitted stopping at four places. They said they took grease from only one restaurant, the Shogun at 3700 S. Ninth St., because the others didn't have enough.

Flood said it was too early to tell what the pair planned to do with the Shogun loot. She was uncertain how much was stolen.

A rough calculation pegs used restaurant grease at a price of about 20 to 25 cents per pound. With seven pounds per gallon, a gallon of grease is worth, on average, about $1.50.

Drug Cartel Leader Barragan Balderas Captured

(Reynosa, Mexico) One of the top leaders of the Gulf Cartel, Gilberto Barragan Balderas, 41, was arrested last Friday at a ranch near Reynosa during his birthday party.

Two associates were arrested with Barragan Balderas and weapons were confiscated.

Barragan Balderas is wanted by the Drug Enforcement Agency and has a $5 million bounty bounty on his head.

A DEA statement says he was "responsible for obtaining advanced notice regarding the movement and locations of military and state police patrols and mobile checkpoints, thus protecting shipments of cocaine and marijuana for the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas" before the two gangs split in 2010.

Heh.

Illegal Immigrant Hunting Permit Protest Cancelled




(Sturtevant, Wisconsin) A Milwaukee-based immigrant rights group expressed displeasure after learning that illegal immigrant hunting permits, a novelty item, were being sold at a Citgo Auto Truck Stop owned by Robert F. Basil.

Reportedly, the group, Voces de la Frontera, construed the permits as being racist and promoting hate and violence.

As a result, Voces de la Frontera planned to protest the sale of the permits at a rally Saturday afternoon. However, when truck stop owner Basil learned of the group's intentions, he immediately removed all the illegal immigrant hunting permits from his business.

Consequently, Voces de la Frontera cancelled the protest nature of the rally and re-designated it as an award ceremony. Robert F. Basil will be presented with a Civic Business Award for removing the "KKK type sticker deemed racist."

Heh.

Florida Mom, 36, and Boy, 15

(Osceola County, Florida) A 36-year-old local woman, Dorothy Rodriguez, has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy, a friend of her son.

Rodriquez faces a charge of lewd and lascivious battery.

The boy told authorities he went to a party with Rodriguez and her son before spending the night, they said. He slept in the same room as Rodriguez, he told investigators.

Rodriquez was booked into custody at the Osceola County Jail. A bond amount hasn't been reported.

Ohio Woman, 50, and Boy, 15

(Montville Township, Ohio) A 50-year-old local woman, Melissa Jones, has been accused of engaging in sex with and providing marijuana to a 15-year-old boy.

Jones faces charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, corrupting another with drugs and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

“This case involves a juvenile having sex with the defendant when he was under the age of 16 … then it continued beyond his 16th birthday and that accounts for most of the contributing to the delinquency of a minor charge,” county Prosecutor Dean Holman has said.

Jones was booked and released on $50,000 bond. Judge Christopher J. Collier scheduled September 6 for trial.

Supreme Court Screws the Public

(Washington, D.C.) The U.S. Supreme Court ordered the state of California to release 46,000 convicted felons, claiming the prisons are too crowded. Writing for the majority in a 5-4 decision, Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy indicated,

"For years, the medical and mental health care provided by California's prisons has fallen short of minimum constitutional requirements and has failed to meet prisoners' basic health needs."

Looking for the constitutional requirements for mental health and medical care of inmates, I was unsuccessful. Maybe a reader or Justice Kennedy, on the offhand chance he reads my blog, could enlighten me.

Nevertheless, one must presume that the public will be endangered by the massive release of tens of thousands of convicted felons into cities and towns of California. No compensatory measures for protection of the public have been mentioned.

Additionally, it would be difficult to dispute the contention that the motivation of law enforcers and prosecutors is negatively affected by the decision to release convicts before their sentences are completed. If an ugly court-mandated swath of keystrokes will put criminals back on the streets, one must suspect that police and prosecutors will be less inclined to pursue tough cases.

Danish Director Explains Cannes Boot



Lars von Trier
(Cannes, France) Early last week, Danish film director Lars on Trier was booted from the Cannes Film Festival for his public statements regarding Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. In fact, during an interview he blurted out, "Okay, I am a Nazi."

In a followup interview appearing in Spiegel Online, Von Trier explained himself, sorta. Here's an excerpt.

First of all, I have a very famous Danish Jewish name. All my children have Jewish names. I have spent half of my life investigating my Jewish past, which turned out not to be my past because my father was not my father.

I found out that I was not Jewish but a German. In the slang we use in Denmark -- which is not funny, but stupid -- a German is called a Nazi. So I was not a Jew but a Nazi, not meaning I was a Nazi, but meaning I was a German.[…]

I have been to all these concentration camps and I think that the Holocaust is the worst crime in humanity. And I was naïve. Coming from Denmark, I thought this was some time ago and we should open up a little. This was wrong. It was stupid of me and I apologize for the pain I have inflicted on some people.

If anyone would like to hit me, they are perfectly welcome. I must warn you, though, that I might enjoy it. So maybe it's not the right kind of punishment.

Von Trier went on to say that the subject of Nazis is particularly "delicate" in Cannes because the French have a history of being "especially cruel" to Jews. So, he blames the French and regional narrow-mindedness. Hey, pal, you need to get out more.

Frankly, it appears that Von Trier is blockaded with self-destructive egocentrism. Presumably, hopefully, other Danes don't share Von Trier's a distorted viewpoint. There's more at the link.

A rapid revision of reality

The speech of an Hispanic pastor was accurately reported at the beginning of the paragraph (homosexuals “are worthy of death") but that has become transformed into “Kill the gays" by the end of the paragraph. That Christians follow the Bible and that Romans chapter 1 says that God will do the punishing, not man, is obviously too complicated for the tiny brain of the writer below.

Specifically, Reverend Ortega said, gays “are worthy of death.” The translator did not pause or miss a beat, and neither did Reverend Díaz -- who spoke just minutes later -- nor did Díaz, the elected representative of hundreds of thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender constituents, bother to walk back or disavow that hate speech. It gives one pause to ask, if it’s illegal to yell, “Fire!” in a crowded theater, why isn’t it illegal to yell, “Kill the gays!” in front of a few thousand religious bigots?

Source

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Drug Mule Caught Impersonating Missionary

(Zurich, Switzerland) A 37-year-old Romanian dressed as a missionary was arrested at the Zurich airport after screeners asked him for his Bible. What a doofus. He didn't have one.

On further investigation, the man was found to be smuggling one-half a kilo of cocaine wrapped in plastic containers in his stomach.

Women Die After Waiting in Ambulances at Hospital



(Manchester, England) Two critically-ill elderly women were left waiting in ambulances outside the Royal Oldham Hospital emergency room and subsequently died.

They were assessed by ambulance crews as ‘very sick’ and were both suspected of having suffered heart attacks.

The A&E department was so busy that all but the most urgent cases were being sent to other hospitals at the time. All five resuscitation beds at Oldham were full.

The two patients were assessed and treated by a casualty doctor and senior nurse in the ambulances.

It is understood neither actually had suffered a heart attack by the time they were admitted – although both later died at the hospital.[…]

Union official Craig Wilde, north west ambulance spokesman for Unison, said: "It is completely unacceptable to leave critically ill patients in ambulances outside A&E departments. It puts our members in a terrible position."

Patients groups said they had reports of significant overcrowding at the hospital.

David Cartwright, from the Patients Council, said: "We have been receiving numerous calls over the past few months regarding Oldham A&E being fit to burst, and on some occasions some patients taking over six hours to be treated.

"A colleague advised that ambulances were eight deep on Monday evening queuing to get access with sick patients on-board."

It seems that the medical and hospital staffers are doing their very best but are simply overloaded.

One of those "only 10 years to act" false prophecies

1979 NCAR Forecast : Sea Level May Rise 15-25 Feet Before The Year 2000




SOURCE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Icelandic Volcano Erupts



Grimsvoetn volcano
Grimsvoetn, Iceland's most active volcano, began erupting yesterday, sending a plume 12 miles into the atmosphere. It's probably prudent for European travelers to expect some disruption of their plans in the coming days.

Gang Rape Case

(New Smyrna Beach, Florida) An alleged gang rape led to Thursday's arrests of 25-year-old Jeremy Tingler, a U.S. Navy chaplain's assistant, and 24-year-old Eddie Selph, a local man with a lengthy arrest record.

The name of a third man, a drug dealer, has not been released by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.


 
Jeremy Tingler -- Eddie Selph

Reportedly, the female victim approached the dealer about 3am on May 9th to buy some methamphetamine.

When she told him she only wanted drugs, not sex, the dealer hit her in the head, investigators said. Then Tingler and Selph moved in and began struggling with her, pulling off her clothes.

The men choked her, punched her and eventually held her on the floor by her arms and legs. They took turns raping her while she struggled, she told investigators.

Afterward, the men let her gather her clothes and leave, although they kept her ID card and told her she'd have to come back later to get it.

The meth dealer grabbed her as she left and warned if she told anyone about the rape, he'd burn down her house, according to the report.

Tingler and Selph face charges of sexual battery, aggravated battery and false imprisonment. They were booked into custody Volusia County Jail without bail.

Tip: slwlion

Accused Teacher Found Dead

(Middlefield, Connecticut) This week, a 6th/7th grade teacher at the Interdistrict School for Arts and Communication in New London, Jeffrey M. Francis, 23, was arrested for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a child he met in an online chat room.

At his arraignment on Wednesday, Francis was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and two counts of risk of injury to a minor.

On Thursday, Francis was reported missing by his family.

Yesterday around 1pm, Francis was found dead in Lake Beseck in Middlefield.

The state police determined that there appears to be no criminal aspect to his death. Police said an autopsy will be conducted to determine the manner and cause of death.

Suspect it was suicide, prompted by his conscience.

Leftists are now the establishment

All of our ruling-class institutions - academia, courts, government, media and entertainment industries - are teeming with closed-minded, hard-left ideologues who seek to “fundamentally transform America.”

Consider that, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, self-identified liberals outweigh their conservative counterparts in the mainstream media by a 5-1 margin.

Likewise, a 1999 North American Academic Study Survey (NAASS) of students, faculty and administrators in colleges and universities throughout the United States determined that five times as many college faculty members vote Democratic as Republican. In fact, 72 percent described themselves as “to the left of center,” while a mere 15 percent identified themselves as “right of center.”

One can only imagine that in the ensuing decade, the ideological disparity has increased. Ask any kid in the halls of academia, and he’ll tell you, with few exceptions, that professor so-and-so is a liberal so-and-so.

Still, liberals - or “progressives,” as they prefer to be called - persist in laboring under an embarrassing misconception: They honestly believe they remain the nonconformists. It’s precious.

In fact, today’s liberals are nothing of the sort. They compliantly conform - like little windup, patchouli-daubed lemmings - to a carnival-prize caricature of what they imagine nonconformity to look like. You know, the usual stuff: neo-Marxism, environmentalist activism, sexual relativism, big-government nanny statism, an actions-without-consequences rendering of reproductive rights, and other such populist nonsense. Simply put, today’s progressive nonconformist conforms.

Indeed, the “Stepford Wives” have become the “Stepford Lesbians.” The prudish, judgmental church lady has swapped spots with the easy - yet somehow self-righteous - birth-bashing feminist.

So what is a young person - brimming over with that instinctive, defiant impulse to rebel against “the man” - to do?

Well, in this up-is-down, spend-money-to-save-money world, conservatives have become the contemporary nonconformists. Today’s rebellious youth are telling the progressive establishment to put its moral-relativist, redistributionist party-line pig swill in its well-used chamber pipe and smoke it.

Kids: Really want to get under your obnoxiously “tolerant,” Volvo-driving, MSNBC-watching folks’ skin? Try this: Go to church, abstain from premarital sex, join the Young America’s Foundation, attend a Tea Party rally, enroll at Liberty University, listen to Rush Limbaugh and vote Republican. You’ll have them writhing in their Birkenstocks.

I’ve often said that President Obama could either be the best thing to happen to America or the worst. The best insofar as this man’s policies are so radical, so extreme that, in keeping with Newton’s third law of motion, the “opposite reaction” might well trigger Republican rule in perpetuity.

First, the bad news: So far, Mr. Obama is the worst. Now, the good news: I believe he has awakened a sleeping giant in the millennial generation (ages 18 to 29). Today’s counterculture is rejecting the tired progressive policies pushed by this president and his secular-socialist sycophants.

For instance, a 2010 Marist Institute for Public Opinion poll determined that nearly 60 percent of millennials believe abortion is “morally wrong,” a nearly 10-point increase over the more progressive baby-boomer generation. The tide is turning.

Similarly, a recent survey from Harvard University’s Institute of Politics found that millennials are worried sick about their futures. Yet President Hopey Changey and Democrats in Congress continue to play back-alley dice with their lives via incomprehensible deficit spending and a national debt that swells annually by the trillions.

Do you think these kids won’t rebel as the clouds quickly darken?

Winston Churchill [actually Clemenceau] once observed, “If you’re not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you’re not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.” Liberalism is emotion-based and rooted in soaring, knee-jerk notions of “social justice.” Conservatism is logic-based and rooted in reality.

Today’s rebellious youth have the heart part down. I’m glad to see they’re developing some brains.

More HERE

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Sex Case Dismissed - Updated

(Yuba City, California) The felony rape charge against 38-year-old Michelle Goldsmith has been dismissed.

Visiting Judge Carl Bryan made the ruling after a witness at the preliminary hearing testified Thursday that he saw Goldsmith unconscious in a closet at the apartment in the 1300 block of Dustin Drive and the teenage boy on top of her with his pants down.

"He was working on trying to get her clothes off," testified Chris Walters, a resident of the apartment who knows Goldsmith's daughter.

Walters said he pulled the teen boy off of Goldsmith, who was visiting the apartment May 18, 2010.

The prosecution must show probable cause at a preliminary hearing to hold a defendant to answer for a felony charge.

So, move along. There's nothing to see here.

* * * * *
California Woman Accused of Lewd Act with Boy
[Previous 5/20/10 post]
(Yuba City, California) A 37-year-old blackjack dealer at Feather Falls Casino, Michelle Lorraine Goldsmith, was arrested this week for allegedly committing a lewd act with a boy no older than 15.

About 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, officers were called to 1300 block of Dustin Drive, where Goldsmith was arguing with other adults about the alleged lewd act, said police spokeswoman Shawna Pavey.

"We had enough evidence at that point" to arrest Goldsmith, said Pavey.

Pavey said she could not release information about the alleged act because of the victim's age.

Goldsmith was booked into custody at the Sutter County Jail with bail set at $50,000.

Ohio Mom Gets Life in Baby Murder - Updated

(Dayton, Ohio) A 12-member jury made the recommendation and Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Mary Wiseman sentenced China Arnold to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

An appeal is anticipated.

* * * * *
Ohio Mom Guilty in Baby Microwave Murder
[Previous 5/13/11 post]
(Dayton, Ohio) In November 2006, local mom China Arnold was arrested for aggravated murder of her three and one-half week-old daughter, Paris Talley.

Arnold reportedly had placed the baby in a microwave oven and the girl died from thermal injury.

Since her initial arrest, China Arnold has gone to trial three times.

The first trial ended in a mistrial because of the introduction of new evidence. The second trial resulted in a conviction and life sentence which were reversed by an appeals court on grounds of prosecutorial misconduct and the recantation of a star witness.

Earlier today (5/13/11), jurors in the third trial convicted China Arnold, 31, of aggravated murder.

The jury of 11 women and one man received the case about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, then deliberated until 8 p.m. before breaking for the night.

The jury resumed deliberations about 8:30 a.m. Friday and arrived at the verdict just after 11 a.m.

The sentencing proceedings will commence on Monday. The death penalty is an option.

Previous: Verdict Overturned in Baby Microwave Death, 11/5/10

Softball Umpire Accused of Fondling Girl, 14

(Plantation, Florida) A 25-year-old softball umpire, Brigid Lesovsky, was arrested yesterday for allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

Lesovsky faces charges of lewd or lascivious molestation and lewd or lascivious battery.

The teen plays softball, and Lesovsky met her through her umpire position, officials said. The relationship began as a friendship, but turned sexual about a month ago, when the girl said Lesovsky fondled her, officials said.

Lesovsky's alleged acts came to light after the teen got in trouble in school, and a teacher notified her parents.

When the teen's parents questioned her, she described the lewd acts, the Sheriff's Office said. The parents contacted authorities.

Lesovsky was booked into custody at the Broward County Jail with bail set at $40,000.

Tinkle Reports

Something weird.

A substitute teacher at Riverdale Elementary School in Georgia, Coleman Eaton Jr., 60, was arrested for urinating in a trash can while in a classroom full of fourth-graders.

Meanwhile in Fairfield, Connecticut, a 43-year-old woman, Amy Ficke, was arrested for driving drunk and pulling into a school fundraising carwash and urinating in full view of children.

Tip: slwlion

Texas Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy

(Irving, Texas) A 26-year-old biology teacher formerly at MacArthur High School, April St. John Alexander, was arrested this week for allegedly engaging in sex with a 16-year-old male student.

Alexander faces a charge of improper relationship between a teacher and a student.

The student, now 18, told police the encounters took place at MacArthur High School, where she was a biology teacher, and in her car.

The Irving Independent School District said Alexander resigned with no reason give on Nov. 17, 2010. She started working with the district on Oct. 14, 2008.

Alexander was booked into custody on Wednesday and released on bail Thursday morning.

NH Woman Accused of Sex Assault

(Nashua, New Hampshire) A 27-year-old local woman, Tyler Tufts, has been accused of repeatedly engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Tufts faces eight counts of felonious sexual assault and four counts of sexual assault.

Nashua police started an investigation in January after they were contacted by the Division for Children, Youth and Families about the alleged assaults.

Tufts was arrested and booked into custody with bail set at $7,500. Reportedly, Tufts faces a possible seven years in prison on each charge.

Al Gore Lashes Out

From a report yesterday, it appears that Al Gore's hiring of Keith Olbermann has consequences.

Former US vice-president Al Gore has hit out at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, accusing it of "an abuse of power" by forcing his liberal TV station off air in Italy because it did not fit in with the media giant's "ideological agenda".

In an interview with the Guardian, Gore said the Current TV news and documentary channel was told unexpectedly three weeks ago that it could no longer be carried by Sky Italia because of its decision to hire a US left-leaning commentator often critical of Murdoch's company.

He added that the decision reflected how News Corporation operated worldwide. "News Corporation is an international conglomerate with an ideological agenda. It seeks political power in every nation they operate. They wield that power to shut down voices that disagree with the agenda of Rupert Murdoch," Gore said.

The decision, he added, was "a complete shock" but Current TV executives were told "off the record that the decision was taken on News Corp instructions from New York". The primary reason, he said, was "because Current is launching Keith Olbermann next month".

Ironic, eh? Mr. Global Warming accuses NewsCorp of having an ideological agenda.

Vostok Ice Cores Show Zero Climate Sensitivity (Temperature is not affected by CO2)

Vostok is a Russian base in the centre of the Antarctic -- so ice cores from there should be least affected by external influences. Warmists make a lot of use of ice-cores in their fairy tales but ignore any history that does not suit them, of course


Vostok ice core data

Over the last sixty years, atmospheric CO2 has risen almost 50% higher than at any other time during the last 400,000 years. Temperatures at Vostok during that time have been flat to down.

The implication is that climate sensitivity is zero, and that past (lagging) changes in CO2 are are due to outgassing and absorption of CO2 by the oceans.

Why is this obvious fact being ignored by climate scientists?

SOURCE (See the original for links)

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Murder in Alabama

(Florence, Alabama) A 20-year-old local female, Tiffany Marie Nunley, has been accused of murdering a 50-year-old, wheelchair-bound man.

Reportedly, Nunley stabbed David Lynn Pennington more than 70 times.

Sheriff’s Chief Investigator Travis Clemmons said a knife authorities believe was used to kill Pennington was found inside the house. The knife, which is described as resembling a filet knife, was 8-10 inches long.

Clemmons said Monday that investigators believe Pennington was stabbed while sitting in a recliner and then fell onto the floor where he was stabbed more times. Investigators said the man’s wheelchair was found in front of the recliner.

“At this point, we have no reason to believe that anyone was with Tiffany inside the house when the stabbing took place,” Clemmons said.

Investigators say robbery appears to be the motive in the stabbing. Family members said his wallet, money, prescription drugs and home telephone were taken from the residence at the time of his death.

Nunley was booked in to custody with bail set at $100,000.

Texas Teacher and Student

(Union Grove, Texas) A 38-year-old English teacher at Union Grove High School, Angela Sue New, was arrested earlier today for allegedly engaging in an improper relationship with an 18-year-old student.

New resigned her teaching position after her arrest.

The student involved was an 18-year-old Union Grove High School student.

According to New's jail record, the offense happened April 22 -- less than two months before Union Grove's June 3 graduation.

New was booked into custody at the Gregg County Jail with bond set at $20,000.

US Secret Service Disses Fox News in Tweet




Secret Service agent reveals secret?

The tweet was deleted within moments but not fast enough. It was reposted by other Twitter users.

Meanwhile, a Secret Service spokesman apologized for the tweet, saying it was "mistaken," "unapproved" and "inappropriate."

No mention was made as to whether the "mistaken" tweet reflected agency bias or that of a single individual. Frankly, I would like to know.

Carrie McCandless Jailed for Probation Violation - Updated

(Fort Collins, Colorado) Former Brighton Charter High School teacher, cheerleading coach and principal's wife, Carrie McCandless, 34, had her probation revoked today and was sentenced to 60 days in jail.

In a firm, quiet voice, McCandless today admitted in a Fort Collins courtroom the probation violation — officials said she tested positive for morphine — and accepted the 60-day sentence from Judge Devin Odell.

When asked by Odell if she was admitting to the violation, she responded: "That's my intent, yes sir."

In addition to the 60-day jail sentence, McCandless will spend 60 days on unsupervised probation. But the violation means she also lost the benefit of her deferred sentence.

Had she remained law abiding for the length of that initial five-year sentence, the conviction would have been wiped from her record. Instead, she now has a felony conviction for contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Judge Odell gave McCandless credit for nine days served since her arrest earlier this month.

* * * * *
Teacher McCandless Gets Jail for Student Sex
UPDATE: McCandless Violates Probation
[Previous 4/1/08 post bumped]
(Fort Collins, Colorado) The convicted sex offender, former Brighton Charter High School teacher, cheerleading coach and principal's wife, Carrie McCandless, 31, is back in jail.

She surrendered to officers at the Larimer County Detention Center last Friday and admitted to violating her probation by drinking and having unauthorized sexual contact with some guy, another parolee.

According to court records, a Weld County probation officer found McCandless in bed at the apartment of another parolee March 6. The other offender's name was not released, but Cooper said it was not McCandless' husband or a juvenile.

"Because of the underlying offense, part of the treatment is working through these kinds of things and being open about relationships," Cooper said.

McCandless signed a statement March 13 admitting the violations, which also include missing alcohol screenings and violating her curfew.

Sex offenders are widely considered most at risk for reoffending, which is why they are often placed on intensive supervision even when freed from prison or jail.

McCandless is living at home in Erie, and Weld County probation officers are monitoring her on Larimer County's behalf, Cooper said.

As part of the original plea agreement, McCandless pleaded guilty to misdemeanor unlawful sexual contact with a minor for fondling Tommy Clay while chaperoning a school-sponsored trip to Estes Park in October 2006.

McCandless appears to be quite McClueless when it comes to observing the rules of society, possibly a result of excessive randiness DNA. She will do 30 days in county lockup for this latest iteration with the justice system. What happens next is anyone's guess.

* * * * * *
Teacher McCandless Gets Jail for Student Sex
[Previous 06/08/07 post bumped]
(Fort Collins, Colorado) The case of former Brighton Charter High School teacher, cheerleading coach and principal's wife, Carrie McCandless, has finally reached a conclusion.

To refresh memories, McCandless was originally accused in November 2006 of engaging in sex with a 17-year-old student. In December, she was charged with felony unlawful sexual conduct and released on bond. In January 2007, McCandless was rearrested for violating bond conditions. In April, McCandless pleaded guilty in accordance with a deal which downgraded the sex charges against her to misdemeanors.

Today, Larimer County Judge James Hiatt sentenced McCandless to 45 days in jail.

McCandless got the maximum sentence under an April deal with prosecutors in which she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of having unlawful sexual contact, a second misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a felony count of tampering with physical evidence. She will serve five years probation and be required to register as a sex offender.

In summary, McCandless was fired from her teaching position, must spend time in jail and must register as a sex offender. The status of her teaching credentials is unknown. Interestingly, her marriage to Chris McCandless, principal of Brighton Charter High School, has apparently endured.

Hypnosis and Suicide

(North Port, Florida) Curiously, North Port High School principal, Dr. George Kenney, hypnotized 16-year-old Wesley McKinley on April 7 and, on April 8, the boy committed suicide.

In a written statement, Sarasota School superintendent Lori White says Kenney's techniques "are outside the scope of normally accepted student counseling practices and is cause for serious concern."

Some students say Principal Kenney has been hypnotizing students for a couple of years, either in a classroom group setting or individually one-on-one. But school district officials say, while they were aware of Kenney's technique, his permission had limited use."

I suggest it's virtually impossible to contend that the hypnosis and the suicide are not related. On one day, the principal intervenes in the psychological makeup of the boy through hypnosis and, the very next day, the psychological makeup of the boy prompts him to commit suicide.

Ford's Commitment to China

(Dearborn, Michigan) Ford Motor Co. is moving to catch up with General Motors, which sells more cars in China than in the United States.

Consequently, construction will soon start on a $350 million transmission plant.

The company said Thursday that the factory in Chongqing in southwest China will be able to build 400,000 six-speed automatic transmissions. It will make them for Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Limited, the Chinese joint venture.

Ford is also constructing a $500 million engine plant in the same location. The number of union jobs being created hasn't been reported.

California Teacher Gets Prison in Sex Case - Updated

(Humboldt County, California) Former school teacher and soccer coach Meghan Allison Stewart, 28, was sentenced yesterday by Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Bruce Watson to six years, eight months in prison.

Stewart wept uncontrollably as her victim addressed the court.

Stewart's attorney, Glenn Brown, spoke to her as she sobbed, her shackled hands shaking uncontrollably in front of her. When the victim in the case, identified only as Jane Doe, addressed the court, Stewart choked back tears, doubled over and, at one point, sat deflated in her seat.

”For a third of my life, I have tried to bury the fact that I was molested, taken advantage of, psychologically tormented and manipulated,” said Jane Doe, who was 12 when the abuse started and is now 18. She added, “I struggle with anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress. My adolescence was stripped away from me.”

Stewart was also ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.

* * * * *
California Teacher Guilty of Molesting Girl - Updated
[Previous 4/22/11 post]
(Humboldt County, California) In cuffs and sobbing, middle school teacher Meghan Stewart pleaded guilty Wednesday to continuous sexual abuse of a child and oral copulation of a person under 16.

”Are you pleading guilty freely and voluntarily because you are, in fact, guilty?” asked Judge Bruce Watson.

”Yes, sir,” Stewart answered quietly, clad in a blue jumpsuit with her hands cuffed in front of her.

If Watson upholds the agreement, Stewart will have to serve 85 percent of the six-year, eight-month prison sentence. When released, Stewart will be placed on parole for five years, and she will have to register as a sex offender for life under the terms of the agreement.

Formal sentencing is scheduled for May 18.

* * * * *
California Female Teacher and Young Girl - Updated
[Previous 2/4/11 post]
(Humboldt County, California) Evidence against teacher Meghan Alison Stewart, 28, now apparently includes a pre-arrest tape-recorded conversation with her victim, called Jane Doe.

According to a partial transcript of the phone call included in a declaration in an arrest warrant for Stewart, she admitted to kissing and participating in various specific sexual acts with Jane Doe during the conversation. She also expressed remorse.

”How could you not see it was wrong? You were 21. I was 12,” Jane Doe said, according to the transcript.

”I did see it as wrong,” Stewart reportedly replied.[…]

In her conversation with Jane Doe, Stewart insists she has never molested other children, according to the transcript of the phone call, which was made and recorded at the Arcata Police Station.

”I've always wondered if you thought -- with me coaching and me teaching -- if I have done the same thing, and I really need you to believe me that you are the only one and I never, ever, ever intend on doing it again,” Stewart reportedly told Jane Doe.

Stewart continues in custody at the Humboldt County Jail with bail set at $100,000. A February 16th court appearance is scheduled.

* * * * *
California Female Teacher and Young Girl
[Previous 1/7/11 post]
(Humboldt County, California) A 28-year-old physical education teacher at Willit's Baechtel Grove Middle School, Meghan Alison Stewart, was arrested this week at the school for alleged child sex crimes.

Stewart faces one count of the continuous sexual abuse of a child under the age of 14 and one count of oral copulation of a person under the age of 16. According to Arcata Police Chief Tom Chapman,

The alleged victim -- now an adult -- came forward to the police department on Dec. 30, saying she'd been molested by Stewart as a child.

Chapman said detectives are still working to determine how many separate instances of alleged molestation happened, but he said he felt it was safe to say between 50 and 100.

The alleged molestations are believed to have occurred in Stewart's Arcata residence between September 2004 and August 2007.

Chapman said detectives believe the alleged molestations occurred while Stewart was an assistant coach with the Mad River Youth Soccer League's Humboldt Storm team.

Notably, other than allegations of the reported victim, evidence of the abuse appears scant.

Tip: Guest

Pictures

A couple of times a year I gather together what I think are the most amusing or most interesting pictures off my various blogs and put them together as a "gallery". I have just put up the gallery for the second half of last year. You can access it here or here

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

Warmists are amusing

I suppose someone else will have a more extensive comment on this soon but I was amused by Joe Romm's heading:

"Wegman scandal rocks cornerstone of climate denial"

Climate skepticism was of course around long before the Wegman report and Wegman et al. concerned themselves with just one issue: Was Michael Mann's "hockeystick" diagram an accurate depiction of climate history? Wegman concluded that it was NOT an accurate temperature reconstruction.

But many before him had come to that conclusion too. The conclusion is in no way dependent on Wegman. The "hockeystick" contradicted known history for a start, not to mention its naive use of factor analysis. So pervasive were the criticisms of it that even the IPCC no longer features it. So Wegman was just one voice among many and the fact that he apparently used other people's words at times is probably some testimony to that.

It is notable that Romm makes no attempt to answer the statistical points raised by Wegman. His only focus was on whether Wegman was original in what he said! Pretty desperate!

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

White Teachers File Race-Bias Lawsuits

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Racial tension is seemingly evident at predominantly-black Thomas Mifflin Elementary School.

Four white teachers, Colleen Yarnell, Nicole Boyd, Debra Marenbach and Marta Ciccimaro, have filed federal race-bias lawsuits accusing a black principal of creating a hostile work environment.

Their lawsuits say that a former principal had them read an article that said “white teachers do not have the ability to teach African-American students.”

The teachers also allege that the principal, Charles Ray III, and others undermined their work by reprimanding them, randomly changing their room assignments and letting black teachers ignore rules that their white counterparts had to follow. Ray also retaliated when they filed union grievances, they said.

“Charles Ray III consistently stated that he had a relationship with top school officials indicating that his conduct was part of an approved policy or was part of a pattern of practices sanctioned and supported by ‘higher authority,”’ the suits allege.

The teachers are seeking an apparent punitive award of more than $150,000 each.

Tip: slwlion

Companion post at EdWatch.

Court Creates Worker's Right to Masturbate

(Vila Velha, Brazil) A 36-year-old divorced mother-of-three, Ana Catarina Bezerra Silvares, suffers from a rare condition which requires her to masturbate frequently. "There was a day I had to masturbate 47 times,” she said. Thinking her condition wasn't normal, Silvares decided to seek help.

Now, Bezerra Silvares is being treated with strong sedatives which have reduced the frequency of masturbation to only 18 times daily.

All the while, however, her accounting firm employer has apparently expressed disapproval of Bezerra Silvares' work performance during the time she attends to her condition.

Under this circumstance, Bezerra started legal proceedings with the company where she works that eventually won and that enables to masturbate for 15 minutes every two hours, besides using the computer to see erotic images that stimulate her desire.

One must wonder where Bezerra Silvares takes her breaks.

Liver-Eating Cannibal

(Moscow, Russia) After finding various human body parts scattered around Moscow, investigators identified Nikolai Shadrin as the perpetrator and subsequently searched his apartment. Found inside were dismembering tools and a pot of human liver stew.

Note that Shadrin has a history of mental problems.

The victim was identified as 40-year-old Ilya Yegorov.

Shadrin confessed to the crime and to having eaten part of his friend's liver," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Yegorov was killed on May 2, and police found human body parts, including feet, a hand, and part of a shoulder, in the Moscow river and various basements in western Moscow, said Aleksei Saveliev of Moscow's western district police.

At the time of his arrest, Shadrin was eating a stew of human liver, Saveliev said, according to RIA Novosti agency.

It's assumed that Shadrin accompanied his stew with a nice chianti.

Illegal Alien Driver's License Fraud

(Albuquerque, New Mexico) The state of New Mexico allows foreign nationals illegally in the United States to obtain driver's licenses and it's not surprising that the system is wide open to fraud. According to fraud investigator Alvan Romero, "This problem is only growing bigger by the day."




Since 2003, more than 80,000 foreign nationals have received New Mexico driver's licenses. Interestingly, it seems that those 80,000 will also be able to register to vote in accordance with the Motor Voter Law.

Svensmark's cloud hypothesis confirmed again

To quote Joe Biden: "This is a big f*** deal!"

The first laboratory test of the Svensmark hypothesis was the SKY experiment in Copenhagen, the outcome of which was published by the Royal Society of London in 2007. The positive results were of course politically incorrect, because Henrik Svensmark’s discovery of the effect of cosmic rays on clouds gave the Sun a much larger role in climate change than supporters of the man-made global warming hypothesis would like to admit.

The warmists were offered a delaying tactic by physicists who said, “Ah, but the SKY people used only natural cosmic rays and radioactive sources. Don’t believe them unless the CLOUD experiment in Geneva, simulating the cosmic rays with a fully controllable beam of accelerated particles, gets similar results.”

Conveniently for the warmists, CLOUD was very slow to get going. Meanwhile the Danes continued with their own experiments, including the one using an accelerator at Aarhus, as reported in Geophysical Research Letters a few days ago. The most important points are:

* The effect of cosmic rays in helping to seed cloud formation is verified with a particle accelerator, just as critics of SKY were demanding four years ago.

* A simple radioactive gamma-ray source gave just the same results in the Aarhus set-up so the earlier insistence, that only an accelerator experiment would do, was unwarranted.

Nevertheless, let’s say good luck to the CLOUD team. Their big chamber should be able to trace the growth of aerosol seeds much farther than in the small chamber used at Aarhus. And they have a large programme of future work, simulating atmospheric conditions at different altitudes.

SOURCE (See the original for links)

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

NC Woman Accused of Raping Boy, 15

(Wake County, North Carolina) A 41-year-old local married mother, Sandra Louise Christensen, was arrested earlier today for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy.

Christensen faces three counts of statutory rape.

According to Wake County authorities, the sexual episodes occurred in the summer and during Christmas of 2010 in Wake County and Martin County.

Christensen was booked into custody at the Wake County Jail with bond set at $750,000.

Attention!

Three women were told by the staff of Southwest Airlines that they were "too fat to fly." The women were not allowed to board their flight.

Blah … blah … blah ….

Southwest later apologized and offered them free vouchers and Cokes.

Heh.

Florida Man, 70, Admits to Sex with Girl, 9

(Volusia County, Florida) A 70-year-old local man, Samuel "Sam" Charles Broxton, has confessed to engaging in sex multiple times with a 9-year-old girl.

Broxton faces charges of sexual battery and unlawful sexual activity with a child.

He told police he performed about 12 sex acts on the girl during a six-month period at his home in the 1600 block of Flomich Street.

However, Broxton also told authorities about similar attacks in Orange County. Daytona Beach officials contacted the Orange County Sheriff's Office about the allegations.

Inexplicably, Broxton reportedly flagged down a Volusia County Deputy on Sunday to tell him of the offenses he committed. His action has not been explained. I'd suggest that Broxton's conscience was bothering him.

Tip: slwlion

The Exaggerated Hopes of Wind Energy




Here's an excerpt of an informative piece on wind power by Tony Lodge, a British energy and political analyst.

The wind industry has traditionally claimed that turbines have an average capacity of around 30 per cent, but the research shows this is much closer to 20 per cent. In comparison, a coal or nuclear plant will enjoy capacity of almost 100 per cent.

Even more disturbing, National Grid data shows that between November 2008 and December 2010 turbines operated below 20 per cent of their capacity more than half of the time and below 10 per cent for more than a third of the time.

Add to this the news that several energy companies were paid almost £1m between April 5 and 6 to switch off wind turbines because the National Grid did not need the energy they were generating as this input did not meet their demand requirements at that time.

This problem will only increase as more turbines are built. Their weather-dependent nature means that their energy is unpredictable and unscheduled – note how turbines in Yorkshire hardly moved during the prolonged freeze when electricity demand was at its greatest. Critics point out that storing renewable energy is an option but will further add to the overall cost.

These payments were made to “halt” the turbines for several hours; it cost up to 20 times the value of the electricity that would have been generated if the turbines had been kept running and the electricity taken. In short, the Government is now authorising subsidies for wasted energy.

In a nutshell, any prudent analysis of wind power performance data versus environmentalists' and agenda-driven scientists' promises will find a disconnect.

Advocates of wind energy appear to rely more on exaggerated hopes than honest estimations. I'm inclined to call the national wind energy scheme a fraud perpetrated on the public.

Currently, wind energy is unreliable and expensive. Any honest prediction of the future would glean that wind energy will continue to be unreliable and grow in cost.