Mom Accused of Starving Son to Death

(Baltimore, Maryland) A 21-year-old local woman, Ria Ramkissoon, was arrested for the alleged religious cult killing by starvation of her 21-month-old son, Javon Thompson. Ramkissoon faces charges of child abuse, reckless endangerment and more.

In December 2006, Ramkissoon had taken her son and joined the religious group, 1 Mind Ministries, which operated for a time out of East Baltimore, according to relatives and police.

Court documents say cult members starved the toddler to death and kept his remains in a suitcase for more than a year, until Baltimore homicide detectives found the body in Philadelphia. [...]

The leader of 1 Mind Ministries, who identifies herself as Queen Antoinette, had a problem with Javon, who a police source in court papers said would not comply with the group's ritual of saying "amen" after meals.

Court papers say that the more Queen Antoinette pressed the toddler, the more resistant he became and that he was subsequently deprived of food and water as punishment. Javon became thinner and developed dark circles around his eyes, the source told police.

The boy eventually stopped breathing, but the group - which included Javon's mother - sought no medical assistance, court papers allege. The police source said Javon's body was placed in a back room at the group's headquarters in the 3200 block of Auchentoroly Terrace in West Baltimore. Queen Antoinette told the group that Javon would be raised from the dead, according to court papers.

After more than a week, Javon's clothing was removed and burned, along with the mattress where he lay, the police source said, according to court papers. The boy's remains were placed in a green suitcase, which the source said Queen Antoinette would occasionally open and spray the interior compartment to mask the odor, court papers allege.

The group, which also included Marcus Cobbs, Trevia Williams, Steven Bynum and two school-age children, moved to Philadelphia in February 2007, where they carried the green suitcase in the trunk of a rented vehicle, court papers say.

After living in a hotel for about a month, the two children were removed from the group by the Department of Social Services in Philadelphia, according to court papers. The group was evicted from the hotel, court papers say.

Court papers say Queen Antoinette was able to find housing for the group for about a week in March 2007 at a Philadelphia man's home. Members kept the green suitcase and other belongings in a shed behind the house long after they left, police said.

The group resettled in Brooklyn, N.Y., court papers say, and the green suitcase was found in the shed by Baltimore homicide detectives more than a year later.

Murder warrants have been issued for Queen Antoinette, 40, Trevia Williams, 20, Marcus Cobbs, 21, and Steven Bynum, 42. All but Bynum are in jail on other charges.

Ramkissoon sits in jail awaiting a bail hearing.

Russia Warns Poland and Baltic Nations

(Riga, Latvia) For openly supporting Georgia and condemning Russia's invasion of the tiny country, a warning to Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has been issued by Russia. According to Russian ambassador to Latvia, Alexander Veshnyakov,

"One must not hurry on such serious issues, as serious mistakes can be made that have to be paid for a long time afterwards."

I think that's diplo-speak for "You're next."

Tip: Sandcrawler

State Fair Hog Named Muhammad Nets $30K

(Columbus, Ohio) Former members of 4-H and the Future Farmers of America will appreciate this report. A young competitor at the Ohio State Fair, Tyla Voight, raised a pig named Muhammad Ali that sold for $30,000 during the 41st annual Sale of Champions.


The retail food chain, Kroger Co., purchased Voight's prize pig for $30,000 so it can be assumed that many of Kroger's customers will be eating Muhammad Ali.

Tipped by Patrick Poole who anticipates complaints and possibly a boycott of Kroger from the quick-to-be-offended Muslim groups. I surely wouldn't be surprised.

Attempted Robbery with Empty Box

(Charleston, West Virginia) A 43-year-old local man, Paul Parrish II, was arrested last week for allegedly attempting to rob a movie rental store called the Movie Gallery.

Police said Parrish placed an empty cheesecake box on the counter and told the clerk a bomb would be detonated remotely if she didn't hand over the cash.

The clerk refused. The suspect fled.

Parrish reportedly confessed after being shown a surveillance video of the attempted stickup. Allegedly, Parrish needed money for smokes and gas.

Charged with first-degree robbery, Parrish was booked into custody at the South Central Regional Jail.

Teacher Shot During Revolver Lesson

(Junadagh, India) In the far-western coastal region of India, a Barney Fife sighting has occurred.

A police head constable showing off a service revolver to a bunch of schoolchildren and their teacher visiting a police station here, accidentally shot the teacher, who had to be rushed to the hospital.

The incident occurred at the Mendarada police station in Junagadh district.

According to the police, Rameshbhai Chauhan (56), the supervisor of the Mendarada-based Swaminarayan Gurukul-run G P High School was on a scheduled visit to the police station along with the students.

At the Arms and Ammunition room, Head Constable K M Vala, who was interacting with the students, took out a loaded revolver to show it to the visitors. While he was unloading the weapon, the trigger was pressed accidentally, firing a bullet, which ricocheted from a wall and passed through the shoulder of the school teacher, who was standing adjacent to the head constable.

The Head Constable faces charges of negligence causing serious bodily injury. The teacher is hospitalized reportedly in stable condition.

The incorrectness of "retard"

We read:

"Last week we brought you the story of the ongoing controversy over Tropic Thunder. Shockingly, it's not Robert Downey, Jr. playing a black man that has people worried, but the use of the word "retard" in the film. Disability groups went to bat with DreamWorks to try and ruin the movie by getting the word removed from the film last week, and thankfully lost.

The news of free speech's victory over the forces of political correctness comes from the NYTimes where they reveal that disability groups are now going to plan B and organizing a boycott of the film, after meeting with DreamWorks and leaving the table unsatisfied. What's truly ludicrous is that not only are they now planning a boycott, but they're going to lobby Congress for a resolution condemning the movie for the use of hate speech. That's right, calling your buddy a "retard" is now hate speech. The next time one of your friends does something stupid, think before you verbally lynch him.

The upshot here is that if these coat the world in throw-pillows special interest groups are walking away unhappy, then moviegoers will almost certainly be walking out of Tropic Thunder happy, having laughed their asses off watching the movie as it was intended to be seen. These boycotters are people who probably weren't going to see the movie anyway

Source

Posted by John Ray.

130,000 Flee MILF Fighting in Philippines

(Cotabato, Mindanao Island, Philippines) Armed Muslim rebels of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have occupied villages and farmlands in North Cotabato Province, calling for new Muslim homeland and cancellation of democratic elections in the majority Christian region.

An estimated 130,000 people have fled as the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) have commenced military action to suppress the guerillas.

Philippine Air Force planes bombed Moro positions and ground troops pounded guerillas with artillery after the Moro rebels refused a government ultimatum to withdraw.

Security officials acknowledge that the MILFs are putting up "heavy resistance."

More than 500 guerrillas have refused to leave farmlands in 15 villages in North Cotabato province. Manila, smarting from accusations it had abandoned the majority Christians, has vowed to flush them out.

So far, one soldier and two rebels have been killed and a dozen troops wounded. A civilian was shot dead when a stray bullet hit a passenger bus on a main highway. Five civilians were also wounded in the crossfire.

Nearly 130,000 people have fled, including many from nearby Muslim areas. The Red Cross said it was sending food, water and medicine.

Although more intensive than usual, this latest flare-up between the government and the MILFs is part of continuing hostilities/diplomacy contest as the Muslims attempt to increase the size of their Filipino homeland to more than the six-province Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in the southern region (Socsksargen) of the island.

In summary, the Muslims want more land in the Philippines and have launched guerilla operations to acquire it. The government is fighting the guerillas of MILF to protect the rights of the legal owners of the land. It's a perpetual conflict.

Furthermore, although it seems like outright theft of land from the legal owners, the lexicon of the religion of peace apparently defines it as "Islamic liberation" as indicated by the name of the guerilla group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Obama's Candidacy in Jeopardy?

I remain intrigued by the investigation into Barack Obama's background and birth certificate. There appears to be a valid concern about whether he is a natural-born citizen or a naturalized citizen.

The latest assertion is that Obama's mother Stanley did not meet the legal criterion for the length of time she resided in the U.S. prior to his birth. Reportedly, Stanley had to reside for at least ten years in the U.S., five of which had to occur after the age of 16. Since Stanley was only 18 when Obama was born, she couldn't have lived in the U.S. for five years after the age of 16.

I personally don't know what to think but, if true, I expect an upheaval at the Democrat National Convention. Much more at the link.

The grasshopper mentality of the political class


What McCain and Obama -- and we -- should be urgently focused on is not the budget deficit in any given year, but the crushing national debt that all those deficits cumulatively add up to: currently $9.6 trillion, and climbing rapidly. Just paying the interest on that debt will cost the government nearly $250 billion this year, making debt service the fourth-largest item in the federal budget. And since Washington not only has no plan to pay down its debt, but routinely increases it, those interest payments will keep mounting.

Yet the surging cost of interest is nothing compared with the tidal wave of entitlement spending about to crash over us. This is the year that the first of nearly 80 million baby boomers become eligible for Social Security payments; within three years, they will begin drawing Medicare benefits as well. Those two programs alone already account for one-third of the federal budget -- 42 percent if you add Medicaid, which is also focused largely on the elderly. But in the years ahead, their costs will explode. If nothing changes, the Concord Coalition warns, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and interest on the national debt will consume every penny of federal revenues in less than 20 years.

Clearly, things will change. They have to. Either taxes will be hiked to unprecedented levels, or spending - especially on entitlement programs - must be forcefully reined in. There is no other alternative short of continuing to run up the national debt, thereby loading our children with an unconscionable financial burden, and imperiling the entire economy in the process.

More here

Posted by John Ray.

Indian Navy Goes Nuclear

(New Delhi, India) The nation of India will soon be operating its own attack nuclear submarine with the addition of a Russian Akula-class boat to its fleet.

"With nuclear proliferation posing a greater threat along with Weapons of Mass Destruction, our unilateral policy of no-first-use necessitates that India possesses a credible and survivable nuclear deterrent including submarine-launched," Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta said yesterday while delivering a lecture on Navy's vision for the future.

India had in February this year tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile for the first time that would take another three years to be fully operational.

After a delay, Akula nuclear-powered submarine is likely to join service with Indian Navy next year, Mehta said, pointing out that the Navy would basically use the Russian-made submarine for training in personnel before they get to operate the indigenous nuclear-powered submarine that is under secret construction at the Mazagaon Docks in Mumbai.

So, there's secret construction of an Indian submarine being performed in Mumbai. By the way, the project is code named Advanced Technology Vehicle. Helluva secret and that's some code name, eh? Not at all like Treadstone.



Akula Class Submarine
Regarding the Russian submarine, it is an improved Akula II to be leased to the Indian Navy for ten years after delivery in late 2008. Right now, construction is being completed at Komsomolsk-on-Amur shipyard.

Reportedly, the boat is 110 meters long, dives to 600 meters, does 33 knots submerged and is capable of carrying and launching 12 cruise missiles. Russia is believed to operate at least a dozen Akula-class boats in the Pacific.

In summary, the Indian Navy will soon go nuclear with a Russian-made submarine concurrent with building an Indian-made nuclear submarine, all for the sake of providing the country with a survivable nuclear deterrent.

Stars & Stripes Dumped for Obama Symbol

Presumptive Democrat candidate Barack Obama recently remodeled his campaign airplane at a cost of $500,000. Changes included new paint and removal of the Stars and Stripes from the tail.

In place of the American flag, his personal crest/icon, the Obama symbol, is now displayed.


 
BEFORE and AFTER
I believe it would be hard to dispute the contention that Barack Obama is displaying a high, arguably outlandish, degree of arrogance. He has replaced a revered symbol of the United States of America with his personal icon while in the middle of an election campaign for the job of President of the United States of America.

Previously, Obama arrogantly refused to put his hand over his heart during the playing of the National Anthem and he also scoffed at the practice of wearing an American flag lapel pin. Now, he replaces the Stars and Stripes with his personal symbol.

I'm certain that Obama wants to be the leader of the free world, however, I'm not at all certain about whether Obama has an innate love and reverence for the United States as a nation.

In contrast to Obama, I personally could never nonchalantly disrespect the symbols of freedom and democracy and I'm not running for public office.

Tip: Rita/Gene

Also: The Jawa Report

California Court OKs Homeschooling

(Los Angeles, California) The teachers unions are not pleased about this ruling.

A state appeals court lifted the cloud it had cast on the homeschooling of 166,000 California children and ruled Friday that parents have a right to educate their children at home even if they lack a teaching credential.

After an outpouring of protest from homeschooling advocates and politicians, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles reversed its Feb. 28 ruling that could have reclassified most homeschooled children as truants.

In its earlier ruling, the court said California's compulsory education law requires parents to send their children ages 6 to 18 to a full-time public or private school or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home. After agreeing to reconsider the case in March, the same three-judge panel ruled Friday that parents - with or without teaching credentials - can comply with the law by declaring their home to be a private school.

Schwarzenegger, who had pledged to get the law changed if the earlier ruling prevailed, issued a statement saying the new decision "confirms the right every California child has to a quality education and the right parents have to decide what is best for their children."

In protest, a lawyer for the California Teachers Association said, "Parents do not have an unfettered right to dictate the terms of their children's education." Presumably, the fight is not over. The teachers unions won't give up until every child receives indoctrination approved by the public school systems.

Companion post at EdWatch.

Cartoon publisher has a win


We read:

"Ezra Levant is off the hook and he isn't happy about it. Two years ago, his now-defunct Western Standard magazine - a rare conservative voice in liberal Canada - became one of the few publications to dare reprint the notorious Danish cartoons of Mohammed.

The magazine was headquartered in the province of Alberta, leading two different local Muslim groups to file complaints against Levant with the Alberta Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Established in the 1970s to hear discrimination complaints in the areas of housing and employment, Canada's HRCs slowly morphed into a combination censor board/secret police, "investigating" so-called "hate sites" on the web, fining Christian organizations and individuals found guilty of "offending" gay activists, and charging Canada's oldest magazine, and its columnist Mark Steyn, with "flagrant Islamophobia."

Levant was interrogated by a government bureaucrat this past January - an interrogation he videotaped and posted on YouTube. Levant's mocking, impassioned performance, which challenged the HRC's very legitimacy, was viewed hundreds of thousands of times, made Levant an overnight free speech hero, and ignited a national debate about Canada's beloved policy of multiculturalism.... His legal bills topped $100,000, and he estimates the cases have cost Alberta taxpayers $500,000.

Then, for reasons that remain unclear, one Muslim group - the Supreme Islamic Council run by Imam Syed Soharwardy - suddenly dropped its complaint against Ezra Levant in February. Finally, on August 6, the Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities complaint was dismissed by the Alberta HRC. Levant had "won" what he'd taken to calling "the first blasphemy case in Canada in 80 years."

Source

Like Mark Steyn, he wanted to take the matter further so he could get a precedent-setting verdict in a higher court. There are still 17 other cases against him, however, so he may well have that chance yet.

Posted by John Ray.

American Tourist Murdered in Beijing

(Beijing, China) A 47-year-old Chinese man, Tang Yongming, attacked two American tourists and their tour guide earlier today before committing suicide.

The attack occurred about noon in downtown Beijing, leaving an American man dead and a female relative plus the female tour guide wounded.

The surviving tourist and the guide remain in hospital.

The US Olympic Committee said: "While at the Drum Tower in central Beijing, the two family members were stabbed during an attack by what local law enforcement authorities have indicated was a lone assailant. One of the family members was killed and the other seriously injured."

A spokesman for the Beijing Public Security Bureau said: "We need further investigation to find out the motive since the man has killed himself. We have no more information to provide for the moment,"

A US embassy spokeswoman would not reveal the identities of the victims or other details.

She said: "We're actively following the situation right now and US Embassy officials are already at the hospital."

The dead American is reportedly a relative of the U.S. men's volleyball coach.

The attacker, Yongming, killed himself by jumping off the second story of the Drum Tower, a tourist site.


[Update]

The slain victim is identified as Todd Bachman of Lakeville, Minnesota. Wife Barbara Bachman was wounded with life threatening injuries. She's being treated at a local hospital.

Todd Bachman was the father-in-law of U.S. Olympic Men's Indoor Volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon, who is married to Bachman's daughter.

Chinese Workout Nightmare

(Hong Kong) Wednesday night, a 42-year-old man entered the 24-hour exercise area of Lam Tin Park and commenced doing push-ups on a bench designed with holes in it to let rainwater drain off.

At some point, he unzipped his shorts and took out his penis. It's unknown why, however, the story has been burning up the Hong Kong Internet forums.

As he did the push-ups, his penis went into a small hole about 2.5 centimeters in diameter on the bench and got stuck.

As a result, he used his mobile telephone to summon emergency help. The fire department rushed to the scene. However, the man's penis was enlarged and could not be extracted.

During this time, the man pleaded: "Please don't take photographs of me!" But of course the Hong Kong photojournalists would never let this pass. The firemen covered the man up with a blanket.

Two doctors from the United Hospital nearby were brought to the scene. The doctors gave him pain-killer shots as well as cutting a small opening on his penis to release blood to reduce the swelling, but those efforts were ineffective.

Finally, the firemen used electric saws to cut off a portion of the bench and carted him off to the hospital. One rescuer said: "There are all sorts of strange people in this world."

According to information, the man had taken some potency enhancement medication just before he began to do push-ups.

The man's name wasn't disclosed. Let's just call him Bob.

Notably, the sit-up/push-up bench is manufactured to meet American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard F1487.

Here's the video. You can hear the guy's painful moans.

Tibetans Storm Chinese Embassy in India

(New Delhi, India) Over 100 Tibetan activists, carrying Tibetan flags and shouting anti-China slogans, stormed the Chinese embassy today in New Delhi.

The protestors, who were clad in traditional Buddhist aprons and were wearing head bands in which slogans like "Free Tibet" and "Down with China" came in two buses at around 5.30 PM.

Swinging into immediate action, police detained the protesters and took them to the Chanakyapuri Police Station, Assistant Commissioner of Police Suman Nalwa, said.

Police have placed 110 Tibetans under arrest, she said.

During the clash with police, some of protesters were injured and fell unconscious.

It appears that the demonstration was timed to coincide with the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

CNN's Selective Reporting

A case of selective reporting by the mainstream media (MSM) has angered many liberals. CNN reported that a man threatened to kill Barack Obama and liberal readers got pissed off at conservatives for fomenting the racial hatred assumed to prompt the threat.

Unknown to the liberal readers and others, however, was the fact that the man making the threat against Obama also made a concurrent threat against President Bush. The suspect said he wanted to kill Obama and put a bullet in Bush's head.

Intentionally or through negligence, the MSM failed to report the threat against President Bush thereby accounting for the anger among the liberal readers. All they read was that there was a threat against Obama and assumed it was a right-wing nutjob.

Sadly, it's not out of the realm of reason to envision an enraged Obama supporter committing a violent act against a conservative because of the CNN report.

Personally, I think the omission was intentional. Arguably, the MSM long ago abandoned objectivity and, to varying degrees, they have become leftist political house organs.

Tip: Howie

Conference on Muslim Takeover of Britain

Attention, Sharia supporters! In case your personal invitation got lost in the mail, here's the official notice.



"One day the Islamic flag will fly over Downing Street!"- Sheikh Omar Bakri


Tip: Whocaresanymore

No Deportation for Lesbian

(Miami, Florida) A Jamaican woman known as Nichole (her real name hasn't been disclosed) was convicted of multiple drug charges and ordered to be deported back to her home country. An immigration judge, Irma Lopez-Defillo, ruled that she can't be deported because she's a lesbian and Jamaicans don't like homosexuals.

In an extremely rare move, a Jamaican lesbian living in Sunrise has avoided deportation -- for now -- after an immigration judge allowed the 29-year-old to stay in the United States because her sexual orientation could cause her to be tortured in her home country.

''The general atmosphere in Jamaica is a feeling of no tolerance towards homosexuals in general, and as such, . . . the respondent's life is definitely at risk,'' Immigration Judge Irma Lopez-Defillo said, according to court documents.

Lopez-Defillo initially ordered that the woman be deported because of a pair of drug convictions. In the same ruling, the judge deferred the order based on the climate of intolerance in Jamaica.

Interesting.

The basis for the torture defense against deportation is the U.N. Convention Against Torture.

Australia: Whisky ad too sexy



Sounds like a great ad:

"An alcohol advertisement with topless Swedish sunbathers being stalked by peeping toms could prompt a crackdown on the industry's advertising tactics. Outraged health groups will lodge formal complaints about the Jim Beam advertisement, describing it as one of the most offensive promotions in the industry's history. The Federal Government has slammed it.

The bourbon maker's campaign, The Neighbours, includes TV and internet ads showing two blondes in G-strings applying sunscreen, bouncing on a trampoline and finally stripping naked as they're watched through a hedge by "Stevo next door" and his mates.

A 30-second TV version, first shown on Friday on Fox Sports, features one semi-naked women stating: "We say, Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, take off your cozzie." Viewers are then directed to a website with a longer ad in which the women are spied on as they undress. The camera zooms in on their breasts and backsides before ending with a close-up of one topless woman washing dishes at the kitchen sink.

The Australian Drug Foundation and VicHealth will make complaints against the ad, claiming it trivialises the criminal act of stalking, objectifies women and links sex to alcohol - a breach of the industry's own self-regulated advertising code.

Source

I fail to see what it has got to do with health!

There are various videos of attractive women on the Jim Beam site but the one above seems to have been purged.

Posted by John Ray.

Chicago Bears Ban Tailgating

(Chicago, Illinois) OMG! Tailgating is banned at Chicago Bears' games at Soldier Field.

The Bears sent out emails to ticket holders on Wednesday stating that, in a move to enhance the fan experience, tailgating during Bears home games will be prohibited.

So, fans, feel appropriately enhanced.

What's next? No booing?

Grandma Jailed for Alleged Child Abuse

(Marathon, Florida) A 54-year-old grandmother, Brenda Bouschet, was arrested for allegedly driving around with her three-year-old granddaughter on the roof of the car.

Bouschet faces a charge of felony child abuse.

Bouschet told deputies she didn't understand why she was wrong to place the 3-year-old girl on the roof of the car and drive her white 2006 Lexus around the parking lot. Bouschet said she was just giving the child some air and letting her have fun.

Deputies had to explain to her the dangers of letting the child ride on top of the car and even had to explain that the child is required to sit in a car seat.

Bouschet said Thursday she would never let anything hurt her granddaughter. She says she was driving at "snail-speed" and holding the child's leg.

Bouschet was booked and released.

I wonder if she had a few nips from the cooking sherry.

Tip: slwlion

Guilty Plea for Life in Prison and Pizza

(Portland, Oregon) A 33-year-old man, Tremayne Durham, pleaded guilty to murder in exchange for a life prison sentence and a smorgasbord of fast food.

Durham agreed to plead guilty to murder - but only if he could get a break from jail food. The judge agreed and granted Durham a feast of KFC chicken, Popeye's chicken, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, carrot cake and ice cream.

After Wednesday's sentencing, Durham was to get the rest of the deal - calzones, lasagna, pizza and ice cream, his defense attorney confirmed. They will pay the tab.

Durham will be eligible for parole after 30 years.

Dog Cloner Linked to Mormon Sex Case

(Seoul, South Korea) With worldwide publicity, Bernann McKinney, a California woman who was overjoyed from receiving cloned puppies of her beloved pit bull Booger, has now been linked to a fugitive from the UK named Joyce McKinney, wanted for the Mormon Sex Case Kidnapping.

In the 1970s, former Miss Wyoming Joyce McKinney became obsessively infatuated with a fellow student at Brigham Young University, Kirk Anderson, who fled to England to sever ties with her and perform Mormon missionary work.

"I loved him so much that I would ski naked down Mount Everest with a carnation up my nose if he asked me to."

In 1977, she followed Anderson to England along with a friend named Keith May. Together, McKinney and May, using a fake gun, kidnapped Anderson from a church and took him, chloroformed, to a remote "honeymoon" cottage.

May chained the prisoner to a bed. For two days, McKinney tried to persuade the missionary to marry her and father her children. She even read Scriptures with him in bed.

When this failed to melt his opposition, McKinney reverted to Plan B.

This involved slipping into a 'see-through nightie', playing a cassette of 'romantic music', having Anderson 'spread- eagled' and sexually stimulating him.

She claimed this was a bondage 'game' played with his full consent.

To avoid being held prisoner for the long-term, Anderson promised to marry McKinney. She then unshackled him and Anderson immediately ran to the police. Three days later McKinney and May were arrested and charged with false imprisonment and possession of a fake gun.

Out on bail waiting for trial, McKinney and May fled to Canada disguised as deaf-mute mime artistes.

By now an international fugitive, McKinney reappeared staying at the Hilton hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, disguised as a nun.

Before long, the Press caught up with her and she dropped her disguise to revel in her sexual notoriety - she posed topless for a number of glamour magazines before the U.S. authorities finally caught up with her and she was arrested.

Once again, she was freed on bail (1979) and didn't surface until 1984 when:

She was arrested near Salt Lake City Airport, where Kirk Anderson - the Mormon she had kidnapped - was working.

In her car, police found a length of rope and a pair of handcuffs. The implication was clear that she was about to make a second kidnap attempt, but she failed to show up in court and the case was dropped.

By the late Nineties, McKinney was back in North Carolina, dogged by ill health and often in a wheelchair, living on benefits in a remote smallholding with only three ponies and a fiercely devoted pitbull called Hamburger for company.

It's contended that Hamburger is not much different from Booger. And then there's this.

Perhaps the most persuasive circumstantial evidence to suggest that Joyce and Bernann are the same woman, is that a Joyce Bernann McKinney is registered as living in Avery County, North Carolina - birthplace of the Mormon sex slave kidnapper.

She has been on the voters' register there since 1988.

I'm convinced.

Naughty sexist



Jocular men-talk not OK with a U.S. female audience

"Martin Bashir, famous for nodding sympathetically at both Diana, Princess of Wales and Michael Jackson, has apologised after making a series of sexist remarks to a room full of American journalists.

The British television presenter has been forced into a grovelling apology after joking that he was surrounded by a host of "Asian babes" during an after-dinner speech to the Asian American Journalists Association.

Looking around the room in Chicago during the organisation's annual gala banquet last week, Bashir said: "I'm happy to be in the midst of so many Asian babes. In fact, I'm happy that the podium covers me from the waist down."

Not content with offending the assembled professionals just once, Bashir went on to say that a speech should be "like a dress on a beautiful woman - long enough to cover the important parts and short enough to keep your interest, like my colleague Juju's". The audience began to boo and Juju Chang, who is a fellow television presenter on the ABC channel, retorted: "See what I have to put up with?"

Source

I am inclined to think that the ladies should lighten up

Posted by John Ray.

Woman Denied Bid to Leave Islam

(Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) A Sharia Court of Appeal has denied permission for a 35-year-old local Chinese woman to leave Islam and convert to Christianity. Noorashikin Lim Abdullah (previously known as Lim Yoke Khoon) had her case thrown out because the legal paperwork had the wrong name on it.

The woman acquired the name Abdullah three years ago when she married a Muslim. However, her former name, Lim Yoke Khoon, appeared on the paperwork which the court ruled was a person that no longer existed.

Interestingly, when her marriage fell apart, the woman tried to change the name and religion on her identity card but the National Registration Department said she must first get permission from the Islamic Sharia Court to renounce Islam. So, she goes to the Sharia Court where she's told she can't renounce Islam because she hasn't changed her name.

It's Catch-22.

Notably, the disputes regarding religious conversions in Malaysia are frustrating minorities since Sharia Courts almost always rule against people wanting to leave Islam.

Research: All American Adults Overweight by 2048

(New York City) Published in the journal Obesity, research results indicate that all U.S. adults will be overweight in 40 years. U.S. government survey date was analyzed to determine "that 86 percent of American adults will be overweight by 2030, with an obesity rate of 51 percent. By 2048, all U.S. adults could be at least mildly overweight."

Well, this is cause for some celebration. I've been biting my virtual nails thinking of a response to the global warming/climate change alarms telling me I'll experience famine and drought in the near future. Now, however, I can relax a little because the obesity police have officially said I'll be a waddling chunky.

Of course, I remain forever annoyed by the fact that the mainstream media doesn't call out the lefties for not coordinating their end-of-the-world alarms. It would be appropriate to ask, "How can everyone end up overweight when the Gorebots shriek of impending drought and famine?"

Tip: Charley Nestor

California Health Officials Accused of Fraud

(Los Angeles, CA) Presumably heartless and greedy, health officials for three Southern California hospitals have been accused of a conspiracy to defraud taxpayer-funded health care programs of millions of dollars by recruiting homeless patients for unnecessary medical services.

The facilities involved include the City of Angels Medical Center, Los Angeles Metropolitan Medical Center and the Tustin Hospital and Medical Center in Orange County.

Those involved in the alleged conspiracy "ranged from street-level operatives to the chief executive of a hospital," U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien said.

After raids on three hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties Wednesday, one hospital chief executive faces criminal charges and executives at two other facilities were accused of fraudulent business practices in a related civil lawsuit filed by Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo.

Some of the homeless patients involved received tests or treatments that were potentially harmful, authorities said.

The "depravity" of the alleged scheme startled authorities, said Salvador Hernandez, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles office.

"The defendants are accused of preying on the homeless and exploiting their desperate conditions for personal gain," he said.

Arrested for fraud and illegal kickbacks were the owner of the City of Angels Medical Center, Dr. Rudra Sabaratnam, and an alleged patient recruiter, Estill Mitts. Additional defendants are expected to be charged.

In addition, Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo has filed a civil lawsuit against health executives claiming fraudulent business practices.

The privately owned medical centers allegedly worked with patient recruiting operations on skid row that plucked homeless people from the streets and delivered them, with fake medical diagnoses, to the hospitals.

According to court filings, "runners" or "stringers" on skid row looked for homeless recruits. Prospects were offered small sums of money, typically $20 or $30, to be paid upon completion of a hospital stay of one to three days. The street recruiter typically received $40 for each homeless recruit with Medicare eligibility and $20 for each recruit with Medi-Cal benefits, according to the city attorney's lawsuit.

The facilities involved in the alleged conspiracy were guaranteed a set number of skid row indigents per month for reported "callous" exploitation. Agents of the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services and the IRS are investigating.

NC Woman Accused of Raping Boy, 12

(Burlington, North Carolina) An 18-year-old local woman, Cassandra Lynn Cone, has been arrested for allegedly raping a 12-year-old boy. Cone has been charged with first-degree statutory rape.

The boy reported the alleged sex to the police on Aug. 1st, the day after it occurred.

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

Woman Flies Down Under for Sex with Aussie Boy

(Victoria, Australia) A 36-year-old American woman, Barbara Renee Case, has been charged with engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy she met on an Internet gaming website.

A married mother-of-three, Case told her husband that she was going on vacation then flew to Australia to be with the boy.

Today, Barbara Case pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse and oral sex with the boy between May 16 and May 27.

Mr Case said he encouraged his wife, who had struggled to cope after recent surgery, to spend time on the role-playing website.

He admitted the pair's three children, while "doing all right", were missing their mother.

Mr Case said his wife was struggling with jail.

"She's very, very upset. She's not dealt with prison before," he said.

"She's never had any troubles like this."

Although she pleaded guilty, Case will still be required to stand trial. Apparently, that's how things work in Australia.

Interestingly, this is the third case in recent memory where an American woman has flown to Australia to engage in sex with an underage boy. It sure seems like an unnecessary expense when it's just as easy to commit a sex crime in the U.S. Think about it ladies. The money saved from airfare would be available to seduce more boys with goodies.


[Update 9/16/08]

Case convicted and sentenced to no jail.

Illinois Woman, 25, Boy, 15

(Pekin, Illinois) A 25-year-old local woman, Kayla J. Rotramel, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy and, as a consequence, was charged Monday with aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

The boy's parents alerted police after seeing their son hanging around with Rotramel. The boy confirmed that he had sex with the woman.

Rotramel was booked into custody at the Tazewell County Justice Center with bail set at $10,000.

NY Woman Gets Prison for Rape of Boy

(Buffalo, New York) In May, a 32-year-old single mother-of-five, Veronica Sanchez, pleaded guilty to second-degree rape and two counts of criminal sexual act stemming from a relationship with a 14-year-old boy which resulted in a child.

Despite pleading for mercy, Sanchez was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison by State Supreme Court Justice John L. Michalski.

Sanchez had pretended she was her daughter's teenage friend in order to entice the boy over the Internet for sex.

Sanchez was sexually intimate with the boy, whose identity has been withheld, in her house for months, according to prosecutor Marni Bogart, who said Sanchez initially pretended she was 17 and the friend of her teenage daughter in order to seduce the victim over the Internet.

The case developed upon a report to the Buffalo Police Department’s Sex Offense Squad, which included information that sexual relations transpired between a 30-year-old woman and the 14-year-old victim, according to John DeFranks, first deputy district attorney.

“[Sanchez] became pregnant, and there was a baby born in January,” DeFranks said.

The following month, a friend of the victim’s family told the boy’s mother that he might have fathered Sanchez’s fifth child. Bogart interviewed the boy in March at the Child Advocacy Center when he was brought there by a parent, according to prosecutors.

DNA testing confirmed the victim was the father of Sanchez’s baby boy, who was born Jan. 15.

In addition to prison, Sanchez has been barred from communicating with her victim in any way until Aug. 5, 2018, and she was fined $1,350. She will be included on the New York Sex Offender Registry.

You Still Can't Write About Muhammad

We read:

"Starting in 2002, Spokane, Wash., journalist Sherry Jones toiled weekends on a racy historical novel about Aisha, the young wife of the prophet Muhammad. Ms. Jones learned Arabic, studied scholarly works about Aisha's life, and came to admire her protagonist as a woman of courage. When Random House bought her novel last year in a $100,000, two-book deal, she was ecstatic. This past spring, she began plans for an eight-city book tour after the Aug. 12 publication date of "The Jewel of Medina" -- a tale of lust, love and intrigue in the prophet's harem.

It's not going to happen: In May, Random House abruptly called off publication of the book. The series of events that torpedoed this novel are a window into how quickly fear stunts intelligent discourse about the Muslim world.

Random House feared the book would become a new "Satanic Verses," the Salman Rushdie novel of 1988 that led to death threats, riots and the murder of the book's Japanese translator, among other horrors. In an interview about Ms. Jones's novel, Thomas Perry, deputy publisher at Random House Publishing Group, said that it "disturbs us that we feel we cannot publish it right now." He said that after sending out advance copies of the novel, the company received "from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment."

After consulting security experts and Islam scholars, Mr. Perry said the company decided "to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel."

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Congressman Proposes Legalizing Marijuana

(Washington, D.C.) Flanked by members of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the Drug Policy Alliance, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) announced his proposed legislation for legalizing marijuana.

H.R.5843, the Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2008, would exempt possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana from federal prosecution.

Counsel for NORML, Keith Stroup, said there is hope the bill "will eventually lead to the legalization of marijuana in the United States, in any quantity."

The bill would remove the threat of arrest for possession or nonprofit transfer of marijuana. So, the law not only legalizes the possession of marijuana but also the distribution of the drug. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't drug distribution, for profit or otherwise, called dealing?

Obama's Certificate of Live Birth (COLB)

The investigation continues. And it's getting more weird.

Beijing Air Quality

(Beijing, China) According to International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission Chief Arne Ljungqvist, air quality in Beijing will pose no major problems for athletes and visitors during the Olympic Games. Factories have been shut down and cars removed from the streets.



Midday in Beijing - 8/4/08
From another source, Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, remarked,

"I believe these Olympics will change the country, and will also change the perception of the world towards this country", without providing any more explanation.

Meanwhile, today a blanket of smog covered Beijing again (in the photo), and on pollution he responded that "our medical commission has indicated that there is no health problem for every event lasting under an hour and taking place at indoor arenas", while the long distance competitions like the marathon or bicycle races could be moved.

Therefore, those Olympic competitions held indoors and lasting less than an hour are safe.

Air quality data are collected hourly and analyzed using the World Health Organization interim standard for air quality in developing nations. If air quality is determined to be bad, events lasting more than one hour will be rescheduled.

Also: The Jawa Report

Buckets of Urine and Feces Bombs Banned in Denver

(Denver, Colorado) The Denver City Council unanimously adopted a city ordinance to prohibit carrying a bucket of urine or a "feces bomb" into or around the Democrat National Convention.

Of course, police will have to prove that the bucket of urine and the feces bomb are intended for disruptive purposes.

Not everyone is happy with the new law.

"The intent of this ordinance is to try to smear protesters and make them look as if they are somehow criminal or somehow going to engage in some kind of gross conduct," said Glenn Spagnuolo, an organizer with the Re- create 68 Alliance.

According to Spagnuolo, it seems that carrying a bucket of urine or a feces bomb shouldn't automatically be considered gross. In all candor, I'm personally not progressive enough to consider it being anything other than gross.

British government bans the word 'obese' to describe overweight children


How confused can you get? They want to harass kids into losing weight but don't want to hurt their feelings. What do they think the kids feel about being told that their weight is unacceptable?

"Parents of primary schoolchildren will start getting letters next month telling them how fat their children are under Government plans to tackle childhood obesity. But however much they weigh, no child will ever be described as "obese".

The Department of Health faced criticism yesterday for a "prissy" approach to tackling obesity after it said that it did not want the term "obese" included in the letters.

The department said that research had shown that the term was a turn-off, so instead it will use the term "very overweight" for those children whose body mass index exceeds 30, in an attempt to enlist parents' support.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Sharia Judge Caught with Drugs

(Dubai, United Arab Emirates) A Saudi Arabian judge and head of a Sharia Court, Hamad Salim bin Naif, and his wife, a 42-year-old Moroccan, were arrested Friday night for allegedly possessing and using hashish.

Currently in the custody of Bur Dubai police station, Hamad Salim bin Naif, the accused was arrested from a hotel in Bur Dubai. Some hashish was allegedly found in his possession at the time of his arrest, the source added.

The police acted on a tip off that the suspect had arrived in the UAE recently on a visit had hashish in his possesion. The police CID officials tracked down the suspect and raided his room in the hotel on Friday night after seeking permission from the Dubai Public Prosecution, the source added.

The police recovered 4 grammes of hashish from his bag. Both the accused and his wife were then referred to the Bur Dubai Police Station.

During interrogation, the accused said that he had brought the hashish from Saudi Arabia.

Hamad said that he and his wife use drugs and the confiscated hashish was for personal use only. In the UAE, drug use customarily carries a four-year prison term whereas trafficking carries the death penalty.

Notably, use of hashish among Arabs should hardly surprise anyone since Middle Eastern populations have a long history of affinity for the drug. In fact, the English word "assassin" is etymologically derived from the Arabic "hashshashin," an order of drug-crazed Muslim killers who terrorized Christians during the Crusades.

Curiously, I wonder how many people are doing time for drug possession after being sentenced by Judge Hamad the Hashhead. Or, better yet, how many people are serving light sentences imposed by the judge.

Also: The Jawa Report

Man Beheads Himself in Front of Wife

(Jakubow, Poland) A 48-year-old businessman, Tadeusz Szewczek, committed suicide by tying a steel rope to a fence, wrapping it round his neck then speeding off in his car.

The car containing the decapitated body of Tadeusz Szewczek sped off down the street as his head bounced towards his home where his horrified wife was watching.

Police are baffled as to why the 48-year-old, from the village of Jakubow in eastern Poland, wanted to kill himself in such a grisly way.

They said he waited for his wife to come home before taking his own life.

Wife Malgorzata was treated for shock.

Obama's Birth Certificate

The investigation and the controversy continue. Putting it mildly, there is reason to suspect that the Obama campaign is not being forthright.

ATM Machine Goes Crazy

(Ayrshire, Scotland) An ATM machine at a gas station became very popular when it started handing out double money.

Lines formed as people withdrew every possible penny from their accounts.

Maggie Campbell, 28, who works at the petrol station where the Alliance & Leicester machine is situated in Ardrossan, Ayrshire, said she became suspicious when the same customers kept returning and a massive queue began to form in the forecourt.

The mum-of-two, from Ardrossan, said: "I have never seen anything like it. It was absolutely packed and everyone was a bit frantic.

"I thought something must be going on when these same guys kept going back to the cash machine and then making loads of calls on their mobiles.

"Within minutes, the place was packed with people and there was a huge queue at the machine.

"Loads of folk were being dropped off in cars and it was causing a traffic jam. I went outside and asked them what was going on but no one would admit to it because they thought I was going to phone the bank.

"After about half an hour, I got a call from the bank informing me that they were closing it down.

"There were a lot of disappointed people."

It's reported that an investigation is underway and customers may be contacted by their banks to return the money.

Animal Rights Extremists Firebomb Researcher's Home

(Santa Cruz, California) Apparently following up on a threat reported on 7/31/08, animal right terrorists firebombed the home of a University of California-Santa Cruz molecular biologist this weekend.

Just before 6 a.m. Saturday, molecular biologist David Feldheim's home was firebombed, forcing him, his wife and their two young children to flee down a fire escape.

About the same time, a car belonging to a different, unidentified researcher was destroyed by another firebomb.

Santa Cruz police described the explosives as a "Molotov cocktail on steroids," and said the attack on the Feldheims' house was being investigated as an attempted homicide because the family was at home.

A spokesman for the Animal Liberation Front, Dr. Jerry Vlasak, said, "If their father is willing to continue risking his livelihood in order to continue chopping up animals in a laboratory, then his children are old enough to recognize the consequences." Although he expressed an attitude of apparent approval, Vlasak said he didn't know who did the firebombings.

Feldheim performs research on mice to determine how brain connections form during development and, as such, animal rights extremists believe he deserves to have his own and his family's lives placed in danger. Sick.

Hopefully, law enforcers will gather up the perpetrators of the firebombings before they kill someone.

Also: The Jawa Report


[Update 2/23/09]

Alleged perpetrators of the firebombs have been arrested.

Chinese Drug Company Dopes Greek Olympic Team

(Beijing, China) Either intentionally or negligently, a Shanghai-based drug company, Auspure Biotechnology Co., provided vitamins to the Greek Olympic weight-lifting team that were laced with banned doping ingredients.

Consequently, 11 members of the Greek team tested positive for banned substances.

Greek weight-lifting coach Christos Iakovou was suspended after the results of the tests, carried out by the World Anti-Doping Agency, were released.

Five men and six women from the Greek team returned positive results for banned substances following the random tests. The entire team could now be disqualified from the Beijing Olympics because of the large number of positive results.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in April that overseas media reports on the case were "not compatible with the true situation" but added that "China would continue investigations and was willing to cooperate with Greece to get to the truth."

Auspure sent a letter to the Greek team to apologize for "mistakenly" adding an illegal component, according to China News Service.

The Chinese government now acknowledges that the Greek team was doped.

"Investigations have since found that the Auspure Biotechnology Co did illegally smuggle and sell doping formulas," the Shanghai Daily quotes Gao Feng, an official of the Supervision Department of the State Food and Drug Administration, as saying at a press conference yesterday.

It's unknown whether the Greek weightlifting team will be exonerated and allowed to compete.

Tip: Shanghaiist

Also: The Jawa Report

Man Beheads Girlfriend and Her Dog

(Santorini, Greece) A 20-something female teacher on the island of Santorini apparently angered her boyfriend. He not only killed her but also her dog using a meat cleaver.

A woman was killed on the island of Santorini by her boyfriend, who then beheaded her and tried to escape in a patrol car. The man, who roamed the village of Vourvoulos displaying her head, then ran over two women doctors who were riding on a motorcycle before he was caught by police.

The unnamed suspect was shot by police five times and is undergoing surgery at an island hospital, said Chrysanthos Roussos, head of the Santorini district on the island.

When a policeman tried to handcuff him, the suspect knifed the officer and flung the victim's head into a patrol car, Roussos said.

The suspect then made off in a second patrol car and ran over the motorcycle before he was caught, Roussos said. The two doctors suffered multiple fractures, Roussos said.

The 31-year-old boyfriend wasn't named. He's in an Athens hospital recovering from bullet wounds. The two female doctors and a female tourist hit by a bullet ricochet are also being treated in Athens. The police officer was treated for a knife wound to the face.


[Update 8/5/08]

According to this report, the name of the boyfriend is Athanassios Arvanitis, a cook at a local restaurant. The beheaded girlfriend is identified as 25-year-old Adamantia Karkali.

Time Warp Tribute to Jerry Garcia

(San Francisco, California) Yesterday, in case you missed it, the sixth annual Jerry Day celebration was held in McLaren Park in San Francisco to commemorate the life of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia.

Video here. Relive the joy of the 1960s watching the tie-dyed celebrants, many in their 60s, groove to the music.

Tip: Charley Nestor

John McCain considers Jewish running mate


Those racist Republicans again!

"A young Jewish congressman from the battleground state of Virginia has joined the shortlist to be John McCain's vice-presidential running mate. Eric Cantor, 45, would be a dramatic choice for Mr McCain, who is running almost level with Barack Obama in national polls but whose aides believe he needs to shake-up the White House race if he is to prevail in November's general election.

Aides to Mr McCain revealed that Mr Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives, had been asked to submit documents as part of a rigorous vetting process to hunt out any closet skeletons.

Mr Cantor would be by far the most exciting - though potentially risky - choice. A prodigious fundraiser with a young, photogenic family, support from evangelical Christians and strong backing from hard-line conservatives, he would shore up many of Mr McCain's weaknesses.

Mr Cantor would be the first Jewish vice-president, an historic milestone that Senator Joe Lieberman just missed in 2000 when Al Gore lost to George W Bush by 567 votes.

Source

This would be an amusing choice in a few ways. It would of course drive the Jewish conspiracy theorists out of their tiny brains but the real fun would be seeing how the Left would make this into a "racist" choice. Calling black white (Whoops! Am I allowed to say that?) has never been a problem for the Left.

Posted by John Ray.

China Barring German Newspapers from Olympic Village

(Beijing, China) It's not clear what kind of threat is posed by German newspapers or by Germans reading German newspapers in the Olympic Village.

As part of their attempt to keep a stranglehold on information during the Summer Games in Beijing, the Chinese authorities are reportedly planning to ban German newspapers from the Deutsches Haus in the Olympic Village.

The German Olympic Association (DOSB) said on Friday that it was negotiating with Chinese officials over the matter. “The talks are continuing,” DOSB spokesman Gerd Graus told German news agency DDP in Beijing.

The only reason I can think of is that the Chinese communists want to suppress or restrict the free flow of information to the maximum extent achievable while trying to maintain an image of openness.

Terror Attack in China

(Xinjiang Province, China) Early this morning, at least 16 police officers were killed and 16 others were injured in a terrorist attack at a Chinese border patrol station.

Two trucks smashed through fences into a camp compound as terrorists tossed grenades among troops and then hacked policemen with knives.

Fourteen troops died immediately and two were fatally wounded. Five attackers were killed and two were captured.

The detained men said they wanted to unleash a jihad against ethnic Han Chinese.

The regional public security department said a terror group styled "East Turkistan Islamic Movement" which planned subversive attacks ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games starting August 8 could be behind the attack.

Officially, the Chinese government has only said that an investigation is underway while calling the terrorists "rioters."

The violence follows last month's Internet video posting warning the Chinese that Islamist militants would "target the most critical points related to the Olympics." Although the attack took place 2,500 miles from Beijing, the news is center-stage in the media, arguably a critical point for those concerned about public opinion.

Also: The Jawa Report

Bomb Threat at DMV

(Norco, California) A 57-year-old woman, Crystal Kay McPhee, was arrested Friday afternoon after allegedly telling people in line that she had a bomb in her car at the Department of Motor Vehicles office in Norco.

The DMV office building and parking lot were evacuated while deputies waited for a hazardous device team to arrive, sheriff's officials said.

Hazardous device deputies examined the vehicle in question and found no bomb or explosive materials. McPhee, who allegedly told DMV employees she had a bomb in the vehicle and not to touch it, was arrested on suspicion of making a criminal threat. [...]

The alleged threat and arrest came on the same day DMV customers endured long lines at some locations across the state due to layoffs ordered by Schwarzenegger.

McPhee was booked into custody at Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside with bail set at $207,500. A court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday (8/5) in Riverside Superior Court.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn b.1918 - d.2008

(Moscow, Russia) Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn died earlier today at his home in the Moscow area. The Nobel Prize recipient died of either a stroke or a heart attack according to differing reports.

He was 89 and had suffered from high blood pressure.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent condolences to Solzhenitsyn's family.

Motorcycle Hits Cow, One Dead

(Fredericktown, Ohio) A 26-year-old Cardington woman, Andrea Gladman, died after being thrown from a motorcycle that collided with a a Black Angus heifer.

The State Highway Patrol said the black cow had apparently escaped from a nearby farm when the motorcycle came along in the darkness around 10 p.m. Wednesday in western Knox County.

The driver of the motorcycle, Kevin Schirtzinger, 47, was treated for minor injuries and released. The cow appeared unhurt.

Sitemeter problem over

Some readers who kept getting crashing pages yesterday may be interested to know that the culprit was Sitemeter. Here is the Sitemeter apology. It's only barely an apology.

Some people are excusing them by saying that it is Microsoft's fault for having a limitation in IE but it was a known limitation and putting up new code without testing it was thoroughly negligent.

And why did Sitemeter take about 24 hours to fix it? They could have reloaded the older version of their code within minutes! I doubt that I will use sitemeter again. It put people to a lot of trouble trying to fix the error. Some bloggers changed their templates (as I did) and some readers reinstalled their browser. A big waste of everybody's time.


Blogger.com apologizes too. Apparently the rash of blocked blogspot blogs was a data processing error too. First blogger.com and then sitemeter. Why can't these galoots check their code before they thrust it upon their unwitting users?

Posted by John Ray.

Illegal Arrested 5 Times for Drugs

(San Francisco, California) The city is out of control.

If Mayor Gavin Newsom is serious about tightening up San Francisco's sanctuary laws, he might want to take a look at the case of Marco Martinez - a 26-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador who has been arrested by police five times in the past year and a half for allegedly selling crack cocaine but has never wound up in the feds' hands.

According to police records, Martinez first appeared on the radar here Oct. 6, 2006, when he sold crack to an undercover officer in United Nations Plaza. He was booked into jail, but quickly posted $35,000 bail and was released - long before the Sheriff's Department said it could conduct a background check to determine if the federal immigration officials should be notified.

Ten days later, Martinez was picked up again for selling crack to an undercover officer - this time at the corner of Hyde Street and Golden Gate Avenue.

Again, Martinez went to jail, posted $35,000 bail and left without the feds ever being notified.

On Dec. 31, Martinez was arrested a third time at the same corner. He quickly made the $35,000 bail and was released, again without the feds getting a heads up.

Fast forward to April 19, 2007 - when once again, Martinez was busted for allegedly selling crack to an undercover cop at Hyde and Golden Gate. This time he was also charged with carrying a knife.
And again, Martinez made bail and walked.

Then this past July 1, Martinez pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his first three arrests in exchange for prosecutors dismissing the fourth case. Records show that the judge sentenced Martinez to drug court, an alternative treatment program that originally was intended to rehabilitate drug addicts.

The rehab effort was short-lived. Within two weeks, Martinez was arrested a fifth time - once again for allegedly selling crack, at Hyde and Ellis streets, three blocks from his usual haunt.

After the fifth arrest, the feds were informed.

There's a lot of finger-pointing and excuse-making regarding this case but no one seems to care that the citizens of San Francisco are being denied effective law enforcement.

Fugitive Woman Arrested After 33 Years

(Detroit, Michigan) A 57-year-old escapee from the Scott Correctional Facility, Rebecca Hatcher, was arrested Friday in Camden, Tenn. Hatcher had been a fugitive for 33 years following her escape in 1975. She had been serving a one to 15 stretch for assault with intent to rob.

Authorities say Hatcher settled in Camden, got married, had a child and opened a beauty salon in the western Tennessee town located about 100 miles west of Nashville. She has a 29-year-old daughter.

It wasn't immediately known whether her family knew of her past.

After her escape, she married Larry Ross and was living under the name Rebecca Ross.

U.S. Marshals, in conjunction with the Detroit Fugitive Apprehension Team, tracked Hatcher down. She was booked into the Madison County Jail in Jackson, Tenn., to await extradition to Michigan.

Utah Teacher Accused of Sex with Student

(Garland, Utah) A 27-year-old former teacher at Bear River High School, Jami Lish, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 17-year-old male student.

Lish has been charged with first-degree felony rape.

Lish is in the middle of a divorce with her husband. His relatives tell us he went to authorities after finding text messages between Lish and the student on her cell phone. They say that's when Lish quit her teaching job.

Lish has not been arrested. Instead, Box Elder County prosecutors say Lish is to receive a summons to appear in court on September 15.

Leftist hate is OK


An interesting report from NYC:

"What I don't tolerate, and what I believe the Constitution doesn't protect, is speech designed to provoke hate or violence against groups of people. Period. So, when I saw bright-green posters declaring, "DIE YUPPIE SCUM DIE," I recognized the hate speech.

Substitute "Yuppie" with "Jew," and you see what I mean. About 70 years ago, Hitler rallied his National Socialists against the Jews - mainly because the Jews could be easily singled out, but also because they were successful, and it was easy to convince the Germans that the reason for all of their feelings of loss or oppression were caused by the "rich Jews." It's nice to sneak hate in through the back door, isn't it?

So, in protest of these signs - calling for the death of total strangers, for no other reason than that they're perceived to be richer than us, and therefore the cause of all of our misery - I began taking them down.

After about 12 posters, I was approached by Jerry The Peddler, an East Village fixture, political activist, organizer and general hustler for the antiwar movement. He asked what I thought I was doing, and I showed him the poster and explained that it was hate speech and shouldn't be tolerated. He acknowledged that I was right - it was hate speech, and, he added, "I hate Yuppies." I told him he had no right to call for their death, as I reached to take down another of his hate-filled posters. He grabbed my left hand - technically an assault - and bent my finger back. "I'll break your fingers, so that you'll never play guitar again, and if I see anymore of these posters down.I'll kill you," he said. You know the look of hate, and he had it in his eyes.

This is the true antiwar movement. These are the peace activists that you see when you turn on your TV and see a report about a protest or riot in New York City: "Support the antiwar movement - or we'll kill you."

It doesn't matter to them that I've defended their right to express their views for the last 30 years; because I "question" their motives, they've decided that I have no right to exist.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Woman Avoids Prison for Sex with Boy

(Gillette, Wyoming) A 22-year-old case worker at a state mental hospital, Monique Joy Crain, was arrested after being caught having sex with a teenage boy in her car.

Yesterday, Crain was sentenced to 10 years probation. A three to 10 stretch in prison was suspended by District Judge Dan R. Price II. Crain was also fined $1,500 and ordered to enroll in sex offender therapy. End of media reporting.

The linked news source arguably provides the sketchiest coverage of criminal proceedings ever. It's not known what crime Crain was specifically charged with nor whether she took a plea or was convicted by a jury. It's unknown when the offense occurred. The age of the teen boy isn't specified nor is it known whether or not he was a ward at the unidentified state hospital.

Lastly, it's unclear whether Crain will be required to register as a sex offender. As written, it appears she only has to enroll in therapy with no requirement to complete it.

If a reader has more information on the case, please leave a comment.


[Update 8/4/08]

An updated report indicates that Crain was appropriately tearful during sentencing while her lawyer, Robert Jackson, asserted that she wasn't a sexual predator. Rather, she was in a vulnerable state because of marital difficulties and suffering the stress of just having lost a child to sudden infant death syndrome.

Before issuing the sentence, Price quizzed Crain about the findings in her pre-sentence investigation, a report that helps a judge determine what sentence is appropriate. The report showed that Crain is pregnant.

Price became visibly upset when she told him the due date is in February or March. He asked her whether she deliberately got pregnant to try to sway his decision, perhaps thinking that he would be less inclined to sentence an expectant mother to prison time.

“I have to assume it was deliberate,” Price said.

He was adamant that her pregnancy didn’t influence his decision.

It wasn’t clear who the father is. Price didn’t ask.

The judge seemed torn over how harsh of a punishment he should mete out.

“I’m not sure we have a sexual predator,” Price said. But he noted that Crain obviously had difficulty “making responsible, adult decisions.”

After suspending the sentence, Price voiced his concern.

“It’s one of those that does make the court extremely nervous,” he said of his ruling.

When Crain was arrested in March, she told police she and the teen had been having sex for several months. She had been his case worker when he was a patient at the Wyoming Behavioral Institute in Casper. According to court documents, Crain told police she had sex with the boy twice at the hospital, but disputed that claim during her sentencing.

After the boy was released from the mental hospital, she made five trips to Gillette to see him. During each trip, they had sex several times, according to court documents.

The boy told police that when he and Crain had sex, he didn’t wear a condom because she was on birth control. Most of the time, they had sex on remote, country roads. But on two occasions, Crain rented a room at the Days Inn, according to court documents.

In summary, Crain avoids jail for a conviction for second-degree sexual abuse of a minor and gets probation. Furthermore, Judge Price expressed nervousness about suspending Crain's sentence and allowing her to walk out of court.

Chinese Prostitution Sweep

(Beijing, China) Prostitutes looking for a big payday during the Olympics will apparently have a difficult time. A major police offensive has been launched against the sex industry to prevent the image of the Beijing Olympic Games from being tarnished.


  
On the street, bar and prostitution center

The crackdown has closed up many of the most notorious bars and other prostitution centres.

Kelly, who hails from nearby Hebei province and declined to give her Chinese name, said many of her fellow sex workers had recently been thrown in jail before being sent back to their home provinces.

"We have to be careful. If I get thrown out of Beijing, I won't be able to get back in because police are putting up roadblocks into Beijing," said Kelly, who formerly prowled hotel lobbies but was chased out by management.

Business owners catering to the late-night crowd are on constant alert for police on foot and in cars, checking to see if the daily-changing rules are being followed. There's to be no excess partying, no drugs, no displays of affection and no service to foreigners with prostitutes.

"How am I supposed to know if someone is a prostitute?" lamented Phoebe Storm Gluyas, an Australian who manages the Saddle, a Mexican bar and restaurant that just opened at a new mall on the main bar strip. "Am I supposed to ask?"

Dozens of police patrol the area on foot and in cars, frequently raiding bars to check patrons' visas. Dozens more in plain clothes mingle with guests in the clubs, owners say. Their numbers are augmented by private security guards hired by local businesses.

The Chinese are essentially forced to be suspicious of foreigners and it's all part of the effort to sweep the blue side of China under the carpet. And, interestingly, the blue side is rather formidable with an estimated 10 million prostitutes in China.

Court Says Boy Has Two Fathers

(UK) Yeah, this makes a whole lot of sense.

In the case, the country's most senior family court judge, Sir Mark Potter, decided that a man who brought up the boy believing him to be his own child was entitled to parental rights - even though he has turned out not be the father.

The ruling means that the child now effectively has two fathers and that the person who raised him, referred to only as Mr A, has the same rights as the boy's biological parent.

The court ruled in the man's favour, despite the mother's plea that he will use his role as a father "in an officious and controlling manner, productive of strife rather than harmony".

So, not only are courts diminishing the sanctity of marriage as a union between man and woman, they are also diminishing the legal importance of conception.

The country's most senior family court judge should go on leave and take a course in biology. Either that or retire.

Teacher Gets 3 Years for Sex with Female Student

(Franklin, Tennessee) After pleading guilty to four counts of statutory rape by an authority figure and two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure, 35-year-old Heather Thorsby was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay $12,574 in court costs.

Thorsby's sentence starts August 20th. She will be eligible for parole after serving 11 months.

Thorsby and the student formed a friendship as the girl was looking at colleges, according to a written statement the girl gave to police.

Thorsby and the girl went to Memphis in November 2006 and stayed in a two-bedroom hotel room, where their sexual relationship began.

"I was giving her a back massage and one thing led to another," the girl wrote. "It was mutual contact between both of us."

The girl repeatedly told police that Thorsby never forced her to have sexual contact.

Heh, it started with a back rub. Nevertheless, forced or consensual, it's a crime. As a result, Thorsby gets prison and a listing on the state sexual offender registry.


* * * * *
Teacher Indicted for Sex with Female Student
[Previous 11/13/07 post bumped]
(Franklin, Tennessee) In May 2007, a 34-year-old art teacher at Franklin High School, Heather Thorsby, was arrested for allegedly engaging in a sex with a female student.

The student's parents discovered the relationship and notified the school.

Thorsby was charged with sexual battery by an authority figure. The school system has suspended her without pay. Thorsby was booked into the Williamson County Jail.

Prosecutors presented the Thorsby case to a grand jury on November 5th and, subsequently, she was indicted on three counts of statutory rape by an authority figure, two counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and two counts of exploitation of a minor by electronic means.

Thorsby is free on $10,000 bail.

Teacher Gets Prison for Carnal Knowledge of Boy - Updated

From TheTownTalk.com:

A former Hornbeck schoolteacher who pleaded guilty to felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile was sentenced Thursday to 10 years at hard labor and fined $2,500 plus court costs, Vernon Parish officials said.

Maurna Cay Thornton, 41, of Hornbeck had been employed as a teacher at the Hornbeck school when she developed a relationship with a 14-year-old she had taught, Assistant District Attorney Mark Kramar said.

Kramar said 30th Judicial District Court Judge John C. Ford suspended five years of the sentence and placed Thornton on five years supervised probation to begin when she gets out of prison.

Thornton was also ordered to register as a sex offender. Her incarceration begins today.


* * * * *
Teacher Guilty of Carnal Knowledge of Boy
[Previous 5/21/08 post bumped]
(Hornbeck, Louisiana) In May 2007, a 39-year-old eighth-grade teacher at Hornbeck Junior High School, Maurna Thornton, was arrested for alleged inappropriate behavior with a 14-year-old male student.

The Vernon Parish Sheriff's Office was alerted to the alleged offense by the victim's parents.

In August 2007, Thornton resigned her position with Hornbeck Junior High School.

Last Thursday, Thornton, now 40, pleaded guilty to one count of felony carnal knowledge of a juvenile before Honorable John Ford in a Vernon Parish proceeding. Ford ordered a pre-sentencing investigation for July 3.

Thornton is scheduled to be sentenced on July 31, 2008.

ZEG

Conservative Australian cartoonist ZEG has just offered his take on the Chinese Olympic censorship issue.

Posted by John Ray.

Leftism is powered by hate, not facts or ideas


An email from a reader:

I was recently in a small "debate" with a leftist college professor in some forum. And generally, I find that when they are challenged they only respond with a stream of invective and insults, or try to shame you over something silly. For example, he triumphantly expressed: "The US always supported Saddam when it was in our interests!"

I noted, "Well, of course! Should we have opposed him if what he was doing was in our interests?" He had no answer for this.

And then I did what I've found to be the ultimate provocation of a leftist. I suggested that Leftism isn't really a political ideology that it is really just a collection of personality pathologies, that multiculturalism is a sham that even they don't believe in, and that the entire American left had absolutely no positive vision for where they wanted to take the US. I should note that I delivered this in a much less direct way and as politely as possible.

He called me a bunch of very colorful things, such as "f*ckface" in response.

I then asked him to name one US leftist intellectual who had articulated a positive vision for the US and wrote a serious book about our future, our liabilities and assets, strengths and weaknesses.

He called me f*ckface again. I kept asking. He refused to name any, but insisted that I was "full of sh*t."

Posted by John Ray.

Travel Restrictions on Chinese Muslims

(Urumqi, China) Chinese ethnic Uighur Muslims in the Xinjiang Province are being discouraged, even denied, from traveling by air for the sake of Olympic security.

According to Dilxat Raxit, spokesman for the Uyghur World Congress, "They cannot buy the tickets. They are being told they are sold out."

Hasmat, a Uighur produce trader, said, “The security is really intense now. They went through everything I have." Hasmat thinks it's unfair because the Uighurs support the Olympics also.

On a different note, "a Muslim named Hasmat goes to the airport" doesn't sound like the start of a children's story.

Environmentalists Puckered By Oil Change

(London, England) Consistent with candidate Obama's guidance on conserving fuel by assuring motor vehicles are properly maintained, an Arab Sheikh flew his Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 from Qatar to England for an oil change and tune-up.

The £190,000 ($380,000) car cost £23,552 (about $47,000) for service and freight.


Oh, are the environmentalists horrified?

Jenny Evans, of pressure group Plane Stupid, said: “This horrifies me. It is another example of how rich people exploit and pollute the planet because of their money.”

She said the role of the super-wealthy in climate change was not properly recognised -- while poor people were rapped for going on holiday.

Friends of the Earth’s transport campaigner Richard Dyer said: “Flying a car thousands of miles for a service is ludicrous when planes are one of the most polluting ways to transport goods. We urge the individual to get their car serviced closer to home.”

Unfortunately, a prudent owner doesn't take his Lamborghini to the local JiffyLube and, in this case, the Middle Eastern owner opted to have his car serviced by an authorized LambyLube in Britain.

Think about it. It's reasonable if you're a car guy and you've got the bucks. And, I suspect that LambyLubes in the Middle East don't customarily service automobiles.

Tip: Charley Nestor