NH Counselor Gets 30 Days in Child Sex Case - Updated

(Keene, New Hampshire) Thirty-year-old former youth counselor Cathleen Crowley pleaded guilty to bargained-down charges of misdemeanor sexual assault and misdemeanor providing alcohol to a minor.

As a result of a re-negotiated deal, she was sentenced by Superior Court Judge John P. Arnold to 30 days in the Cheshire County Jail.

Crowley's original plea bargain was deemed unworkable by Judge Brian T. Tucker because it included no jail time even though she admitted to liquoring up and engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy she had authority over.

Arnold sentenced Crowley to a year in jail with 11 months suspended on the conviction for endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor.

She received a consecutive, suspended one-year jail sentence on the conviction for providing alcohol to a minor, also a misdemeanor.

Both suspended sentences could be imposed if Crowley is caught breaking the law in the next five years.

Crowley was placed on probation for two years, ordered to undergo a psychosexual evaluation for sexual offenders and barred from contacting the student.

So, although Crowley will spend a month in jail, she gets no felony conviction and no registration as a sex offender. Slap on the wrist? Readers can make the call.

* * * * *
NH Counselor Faces Child Sex Charges
[Previous 11/12/08 post]
(Keene, New Hampshire) A 29-year-old former counselor for troubled youth, Cathleen Crowley, has been charged with two counts of felonious sexual assault for allegedly engaging in sex with a student. Prosecutors say Crowley had two sexual encounters with the boy.

On Monday, Crowley appeared in court to formalize a plea agreement with the prosecution which would have given her a suspended sentence. Unfortunately, the judge rejected the negotiated sentence of the plea deal. The judge wanted her to go to jail for six months.

As a result, Cathleen Crowley backed out of the deal.

It's not clear what happens next. However, if she goes to trial, she could face a possible 16 years in prison.

World Smurf Record



A world record 2,510 people dressed as Smurfs gathered in Swansea, Wales, this week, breaking the previous assembled-Smurf record of 1,253 set in Ireland. To be counted, each "Smurf" had to be checked to assure that no natural skin was showing.

Obama Appoints Gay Activist to Education Post

President Obama has appointed Kevin Jennings as the new Assistant Deputy Secretary, Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools.

Kevin Jennings is the founder and former head of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a group that advocates familiarizing young schoolchildren about homosexual practices in order to foster an environment of tolerance.

I contend that Jennings is the wrong person to be establishing education policy in American schools.

Much more about Jennings is at the link.

Tennessee Couple Face Child Sex Charges

(Murfreesboro, Tennessee) A local couple, Terry Wilson, 47, and his girlfriend Stephanie Bryan, 21, have been charged with 50+ counts of child sex crimes.

Wilson faces 41 counts of aggravated exploitation of a minor, seven counts of statutory rape, seven counts of rape and one count of drug possession. Bryan, aka Tinkerbell, faces charges of statutory rape and sexual exploitation of a minor.

The investigation began when the girl's mother reported she'd found pornography in her daughter's room in late 2008. When confronted, the woman's daughter admitted Wilson had given her the materials.

The girl later told police that Wilson had taken pictures of her and her 13-year-old cousin, also a female.

"The girls posed in lingerie and clothes that Wilson supplied," Roberts reported. "Wilson would also have them pose in sexually explicit scenes."

At the time of Wilson's arrest, police had not mentioned Bryan as a suspect.

According to a police report released by Detective Tommy Roberts on Monday, items were seized in a search of Wilson's residence that connected Bryan to the crimes, including computers, cameras, cellular phones and other items seized from Wilson's home.

Wilson and Bryan were booked into custody at the Rutherford County Jail with bond amounts set at $250,000 and $50,000, respectively.

The awareness-challenged Obama

Barack Obama, through his spokesman, claimed that he was unaware of the Tax Day Tea parties. Granted, the Mainstream Media has done a good job in suppressing any sort of coverage ahead of time (and the little coverage they did provide was derisive at best) but how out of touch is the Community Organizer in Chief, really?

He was unaware that he was attending a church (for 20 years) with a visceral racist pastor who hates America.

He was unaware that he was family friends with, and started his political career in the living room of, a domestic terrorist, William Ayers.

He was unaware that he had invested in two speculative companies (AVI, Skyterra) backed by some of his top donors right after taking office in 2005.

He was unaware that his own aunt was living in the US illegally.

He was unaware that his own step brother lives on pennies a day in a hut in Kenya.

He was unaware of the AIG bonuses that he and his administration approved of and signed into a bill.

He was unaware that the man he nominated to be his Secretary of Commerce was under investigation in a bribery scandal.

He was unaware that the man he nominated to be his Secretary of Health and Human Services was a tax cheat.

He was unaware that the man he nominated to be his Secretary of the Treasury was a tax cheat.

He was unaware that the man he nominated to be the U.S. Trade Representative was a tax cheat.

He was unaware that the woman he nominated to be his Chief Performance Officer was a tax cheat.

He was unaware that the man he nominated to be #2 at the Environmental Protection Agency was under investigation for mismanaging $25 million in EPA grants.

There are people in comas that are more aware of world affairs than this guy.

SOURCE (See the original for links)

Posted by John Ray.

Teacher Sentenced in School Cafeteria Sex Case - Updated

(Corpus Christi, Texas) Former dance teacher Sandra Borrego, now 43, pleaded guilty yesterday to 22 counts of sexual assault of a child stemming from engaging in repeated sex with a 13-year-old boy.

In accordance with a plea agreement with the prosecution, Borrego was sentenced by District Judge Jose Longoria to 10 years of deferred adjudicated probation.

Borrego also must serve 180 days in jail, pay $1,000 fine and pay $3,000 to a victims fund. The lenient sentence for 22 felony counts resulted because the victim's mother didn't want her son to testify.

The deferred adjuducated probation means that if she follows the terms of her probation, her case will be dismissed. According to her lawyer, Borrego may be deported since she is a Mexican citizen currently living legally in the U.S.

The determination of paternity for the child born to Borrego will not be revealed since the court sealed the result of the DNA tests. So, whether the 13-year-old is a father or not will not be made public.

* * * * *
Sex in the School Cafeteria
[Previous 1/26/08 post]
(Corpus Christi, Texas) In September 2007, a 41-year-old dance teacher at Most Precious Blood Catholic School, Sandra Borrego, was arrested for allegedly engaging in sex with a 13-year-old boy. Borrego is charged with aggravated sexual assault on a child.

The boy said he had sex with Ms. Borrego about 20 to 30 times in the school's cafeteria and at her home.

The alleged intimate episodes occurred in late 2006, suspiciously about the same time that Borrego became pregnant. In 2007, Borrego gave birth to a daughter and it was suspected that the 13-year-old was the father. Authorities sought a paternity test.

This week it was reported that the DNA test results have been received by the Nueces County Prosecutor, however, they haven't been made public since Borrego's case is pending.

Nonetheless, it appears that the DNA results may, in fact, be evidence of culpability since Borrego was indicted Thursday on 22 counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Borrego's daughter is now about nine months old.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.


[Update 9/10/08]

Last Friday, Sandra Borrego, now 42, pleaded not guilty to aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Her lawyer also asked that Judge Jose Longoria be recused from the case because Longoria had once represented one of the witnesses who will testify in the case.

There is no word on when a ruling on the request will be made, and an October trial date was set for Borrego's case. The results of the of the DNA test could be made public during the trial, and it would be used to determine if the boy fathered her child last year.

Borrego is in her 40s, while the boy is 13 and possibly a father. If convicted, I don't see the customary probation at sentencing but I am often wrong, usually on the high side.

Respectfully Raped by the Taliban

Dutch leftist journalist Joanie de Rijke went to Afghanistan last November where she was kidnapped and repeatedly raped by the Taliban.

She said that they did horrible things to her but they were respectful. "They are not monsters," de Rijke said.

It's regularly contended that leftism is a mental health problem and, given de Rijke's response to being savagely raped, it's hard to dispute the contention. Denying reality is not healthy.

Furthermore, I'd suggest that the message in de Rijke's words is an invitation to future rape and/or harassment. After all, if she can't get angry when sexually brutalized by a barbaric crowd of religious fanatics, she shouldn't be miffed when some guy bends her over at the office.

[Update] It's worthy of note that some have suggested that de Rijke suffered from Stockholm Syndrome and identified with her captors, instead of being blinded by an ultra-left ideological mindset. I'll entertain the notion, however, experts contend that Stockholm Syndrome doesn't usually apply to hostages who have been abused.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Obama Creates Job-Saving Administration (JSA)

Breaking news! White House memo leaked!

White House Memorandum
Internal Use Only - Confidential

To: White House Senior Staff
From: Chief of Staff
Date: 6/9/09
Subject: Job-Saving Administration

The President directs the entire staff to place immediate priority on the creation of a Job-Saving Administration (JSA) encompassing the following elements:

1) Formation of a Cabinet position to head the JSA, reporting directly to the President,

2) Outline of JSA organization to include a minimum of 54 satellite offices (50 states plus Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands and American Samoa) directed by the JSA headquarters in Washington

(Note: each satellite office may need to create additional satellite-satellite offices for larger geographical regions),

3) Plans for immediate staffing of the JSA satellite offices will be prepared, requiring a minimum of seven workers plus management in each,

4) A description of the general responsibilities of the JSA team, including:

- Canvassing designated areas for jobs saved derived through interviews with cognizant individuals,

- Compiling a list displaying total numbers of jobs saved in designated areas,

- Preparing reports of numbers of jobs saved for weekly transmittal to the White House Chief of Staff for forwarding to JSA headquarters.

5) Submittal of the draft JSA creation plan to the White House Chief of Staff is required by Friday.

Parallel submittals shall also be provided to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Vice President and the Senate Majority Leader for information and heads-up early notification for the earmark program.

CAUTION: DO NOT DISSEMINATE THIS INFORMATION OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION!


For the President,
WH Chief of Staff

cc: GSoros

Christian Raped, Murdered for Refusing Islam

(Adda, Pakistan) In this small community about 70 miles northwest of Lahore, a young Christian man, Litto Ghauri, was found dead after allegedly refusing to convert to Islam.

Results of an autopsy indicated that "Litto had been sodomized, flogged, clubbed, and stabbed five times in the stomach and genitals."

Litto's father, Amjad Masih Ghauri, told ICC [International Christian Concern], "On May 10th, while my son and that Muslim girl, Shazia Cheema, were making love in a lonely part of the fields, her two elder Muslim brothers found them in an objectionable posture and this enraged them." Litto managed to escape the scene and ran home, telling his father everything.

The next day Shazia's three brothers arrived at Litto's house, where they demanded that Litto convert to Islam and marry their sister. Litto said he would marry her, but that he would not convert to Islam. This infuriated the brothers, who kidnapped him at gunpoint and threw him into their car.

Ghauri immediately reported to the police what had happened. In response, the officer on duty said, "How dare you Choohra (derogatory term for Christian) cast malicious eyes on a Muslim girl."

The three brothers, Muhammad Aslam Cheema, Muhammad Usman Cheema and Muhammad Akber Cheema, walk free in the community, claiming they "taught a good lesson to the Choohras."

Disturbingly, it's contended that the girl likely befriended Litto with the sole purpose of converting him to Islam and that sisters and daughters are commonly used to entice Christians to convert. It's believed that Litto's refusal was his death sentence.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Remarks on Abortion Doctor Killing

Remarking on the death of Dr. George Tiller, fellow late-term abortion provider, Dr. LeRoy Carhart, said:

"This is the equivalent of Martin Luther King being assassinated," Dr. Carhart said of the May 31 slaying of one of America's best-known late-term abortion providers.

"This is the equivalent of Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the Lusitania and any other major historic event where we've tolerated the intolerable for too long."

I would strongly disagree. Characterizing Dr. Tiller, an abortionist, as the equivalent of Dr. Martin Luther King, an iconic civil rights leader, is offensive. Comparing Dr. Tiller's murder to events that drew the U.S. into two World Wars is nonsensical. Dr. Carhart needs to get a grip.

Several Aussie cities on world's most-liveable list

I am pretty dubious about all this. I think Tokyo should have been first. It is infinitely safer than any Western city and has everything generally. Its only problem is very expensive accommodation as far as I know

AUSTRALIAN cities occupy five of the top 20 places in a British survey ranking the liveability of 140 of the world's major centres. Melbourne ranked third in the world, behind Vancouver in Canada and the Austrian city of Vienna in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2009 Liveability survey.

It assessed 140 cities based on stability, health care, education, infrastructure and culture and environment, giving each one a rating out of 100.

Perth was equal fifth with Calgary in Canada, with Sydney sharing ninth place with Zurich in Switzerland, Adelaide in 11th place and Brisbane 16th on the list. As well as Vancouver and Calgary, Canadian cities also featured strongly in the top 20, with Toronto (4th) and Montreal (17th). The New Zealand cities of Auckland and Wellington finished 12th and 23rd respectively.

US centres were well down the list. Pittsburgh ranked highest, in 29th place. The highest-ranked Asian city was Osaka in Japan (13th). The next highest was Hong Kong (equal 39th with Madrid, Spain) followed by Singapore (54th) and Seoul, South Korea (58th).

SOURCE



Posted by John Ray.

Ohio Teacher Guilty of Sex with Girl, 11 - Updated

(Wilmington, Ohio) Suspended East Clinton Middle School teacher Robin Pickering, 44, pleaded guilty yesterday before Clinton County Common Pleas Judge John W. Rudduck to second-degree felony sexual battery.

The charge was second degree because her victim was 11 years old during the time period of the sex offense, between December 2006 and April 2007.

Pickering was soft-spoken during the hearing Monday, and toward its conclusion wiped her eye with tissue.

In a plea document she signed Monday, Pickering admitted engaging in sexual conduct with the female victim. In particular, she admitted digitally penetrating the victim’s vagina and engaging in oral sex.

Pickering faces between two and eight years in prison when sentenced. Sentencing has been scheduled for July 20, allowing time for a pre-sentence investigation.


* * * * *
Ohio Teacher Accused of Sexual Battery
[Previous 12/11/08 post]
(Wilmington, Ohio) A sixth-grade language arts teacher with the East Clinton School District, Robin Pickering, was indicted this week for sexual battery of an 11-year-old student.

On Wednesday morning by video from the county jail, Pickering pleaded not guilty in her arraignment hearing. She posted bond Wednesday afternoon and was released from custody. One condition of her bond, as ordered by Clinton County Common Pleas Court Magistrate Helen Rowlands, is to have no contact with the alleged victim or any minor outside of Pickering’s immediate family.

On Monday, a Clinton County grand jury handed up an indictment charging Pickering with sexual battery, a felony of the second degree. The charge is a second-degree felony because of the age of the alleged victim at the time, said Clinton County Sheriff’s Office Chief Detective Brian Edwards.

The allegations point back to two school years ago, for the time period from Christmas Day 2006 through April 8, 2007, according to indictment paperwork filed with the clerk of courts.

According to Detective Edwards, there is no evidence that the alleged behavior took place on school property, however, it's alleged that the sexual conduct occurred more than once. Pickering was placed on unpaid suspension from her teaching position.

New Orleans Mayor Nagin Stuck in China

(Shanghai, China) On an economic development trip to China, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin, his wife and a bodyguard were detained because a fellow passenger on their flight is suspected of having swine flu, the H1N1 influenza-type.

As a precaution, Nagin, his wife and one member of the mayor's executive protection unit have been placed in a designated quarantine location in Shanghai. The mayor's agenda is on indefinite hold, though he and the others are symptom-free.

"Right now, everything is stopped and we will follow the lead of Shanghai medical officials," spokeswoman Ceeon Quiett said at a City Hall news conference Sunday afternoon. "He seemed fine. Just following the procedure."

Quarantined people are usually monitored for seven to 10 days. Sadly, the delay may cause Nagin to miss presenting a scheduled speech on global warming at the 2009 National Summit of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney in Australia.

On the up side, the quarantine period will allow Mayor Nagin and his wife the opportunity to enjoy the internationally renowned Chinese Magic Chicken.

Tip: Charley Fish Head

3 Dead -- Kids Throats Slashed, Woman Shot

(Canton, Ohio) A 35-year-old local pizza-delivery man, James Mammone III, was arrested this morning for allegedly killing his daughter, his son and his mother-in-law.

The children, 5-year-old Macy Mammone and 3-year-old James Mammone, were found with their throats slashed. Mother-in-law Margaret Eakin, 57, died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Police were alerted just before 6 AM by a neighbor reporting gunshots heard. Officers were dispatched and Mammone was quickly taken into custody. Marcia Mammone, the children's mother, was reportedly at work.

Mammone was booked into custody with bond set at $15 million.

Texas Woman Slashes Daughters' Throats

(Hillsboro, Texas) A 32-year-old local woman, Debra Jeter, was arrested for allegedly slitting her daughters' throats, killing one.

Kelsey Jeter, 12, died of her wounds. Kirsten Jeter, 13, is stable under intensive care at a Dallas hospital.

Debra Jeter is charged with murder and attempted murder. She has been booked into custody at the Hill County Jail with bond set at $1.5 million.

Homosexuals as hatemongers

We read:

"Now that the California Supreme Court, in a 6-1 ruling, validated Proposition 8, last fall's voter-approved constitutional amendment forbidding same-sex marriage, it is interesting to examine the tactics and public conduct of the gay activist community.

Ironically, this powerful and well-funded gay lobby continues to use rhetoric to promote hate speech, encourage social protest and incite harassment of individuals or groups who oppose their agenda. The Californians Against Hate Web site, an archetype for gay activism continues to utilize false implication and exaggeration to impugn anyone who dares oppose them as hatemongers.

An example of this rhetoric is its "dishonor roll," a comprehensive listing of donors who supported Proposition 8. It includes a specific charge to "Boycott A-1 Self Storage Company" and maliciously targets well over 300 other individuals and organizations who made generous donations supporting Prop 8.

An orchestrated attack against those who support a ban on same-sex marriage has included protest, vandalism and aggressive defamation. This attempted demonization may elicit public attention, but is transparent and disingenuous.

Can you imagine the firestorm of outrage that would erupt if sincere individuals in the gay community were targeted and assailed in an analogous manner?

Source

Posted by John Ray.

Al-Shabaab Linked to Somali-American's Death

(Minneapolis, Minnesota) Burhan Hassan, a 17-year-old Somali-American teen recruited by al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab to fight in Somalia, was allegedly assassinated in Mogadishu Friday by members of al-Shabaab. Hassan was a student at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis before going to Somalia.

According to Burhan Hassan's uncle, Osman Ahmed,

"Someone who claimed (to be) a member of al-Shabaab called Burhan's mom Friday (afternoon) and said Burhan died Friday morning," Ahmed said. "Burhan's mom got shocked and (threw) the phone when she heard the story." [...]

Ahmed said Hassan was killed by members of al-Shabaab. A leader in the Minneapolis Somali community said later that al-Shabaab members originally from the Minneapolis area were likely responsible for Hassan's death.

"Al-Shabaab assassinated Burhan and shot (him in) the head," Ahmed said. In fact, Hassan was shot "point blank," according to Omar Jamal, the executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, Minn.

Reportedly, Hassan had been sick from malaria and had made plans to return to the U.S. Al-Shabaab leaders felt threatened that he was leaving and decided to kill him, according to Jamal.

Jamal's contention, however, appears to be inconsistent with the fact that other men have traveled to Somalia and returned without incident.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Journalists Ling and Lee Get 12 Years Hard Labor

(Seoul, South Korea) Journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp for illegally crossing the border into North Korea.

The "trial confirmed the grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing," the Korean Central News Agency said.

It said the court, after a five-day trial, "sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labour."

The sentences come on the heels of candlelight vigils held in Washington and seven other U.S. cities by friends and family asking for clemency. Ling and Lee are both in their thirties and married. Euna Lee has a four-year-old daughter.

The sentences "are tougher than expected," said Yoo Ho-Yeol, a professor and North Korea expert at Korea University.

"They aim to send a strong message to the United States that the North is taking the case very seriously and gravely."

North Korea's status with Washington is already strained due to its recent nuke tests and missile shots. This latest incident will likely just add to the tension.

It's been suggested that Kim Jong-il won't consider releasing Ling and Lee without personal intervention by a high-profile individual and a payoff.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Hijab and Niqab Removal at Security Checkpoints

A professor of Islamic history at Georgetown University, John Voll, has stated that requiring a Muslim woman to remove her hijab or niqab at a security checkpoint in a courthouse, as the Maryland Attorney General has ruled, is the equivalent of a public strip search.

"The parallel would be for a deputy sheriff to require a woman going through security to take off her brassiere right there in the inspection section," he said.

At issue are customary security measures employed to properly identify people and assure they are not carrying contraband.

Frankly, I suggest that if a person can't be identified properly, there is no security. Therefore, if a woman attempts to enter the courthouse wearing a bra over her face, it's quite reasonable to tell her to remove it.

Nevertheless, Professor John Voll and the ACLU are in strong opposition to having Muslim women take off their hijabs and niqabs at security checkpoints. The issue will probably stew for a while.

Lawsuit From Death Row

(Tampa, Florida) Here's an odd case. A Florida death row inmate, 57-year-old William Deparvine, was condemned by a jury in 2006 for the murders of Richard and Karla Van Dusen, 58 and 49 respectively.

After the killings, Deparvine dummied up a bill of sale for a 1971 Chevrolet Cheyenne truck owned by the Van Dusens. The truck was subsequently sold by a Van Dusen family member.

Nonetheless, Deparvine claims he owns the truck and the bill of sale proves it. He wants the truck and has filed suit to get it. Obviously, Deparvine has plenty of time on his hands. While awaiting his execution, he's become a recognized jailhouse lawyer and the lawsuit is a result.

In all candor, this is simply another frivolous lawsuit filed by a convict. It happens regularly. Unfortunately, taxpayers pay for the cost of frivolous lawsuit proceedings.

Tip: slwlion

17 Bodies Recovered from Air France Crash

(Recife, Brazil) Regarding last week's Air France disaster, two bodies were recovered Saturday and 15 more today. No details are being released about the bodies. The search and investigation continue.

The Pentagon has said there are no signs of terrorism. Brazil's defense minister said the possibility was never considered. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner agreed that there is no evidence supporting a "terrorism theory," but said "we cannot discard that for now."

The U.S. Navy is sending two high-tech devices to French ships that will help them locate the black boxes, a senior U.S. defense official said Saturday.

The Towed Pinger Locators, which can detect emergency beacons to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), are being flown to Brazil on Monday with a U.S. Navy team, said the official, who requested anonymity because the decision has not been announced.

There's a lot of interest in this crash and speculation is imaginative. Although there is "no more doubt" that wreckage found is from Flight 447, few facts are confirmed.

Condoms for Kids Program

(UK) For all the money and effort expended over many years on safe-sex schemes, one would think that by now society would be seeing dramatic reductions in unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Uh --- apparently not. Here's another scheme.

Boys as young as 12 will be handed 'condom cards' that allow them to collect free contraceptives without their parents knowing.

The tax-payer funded scheme let them pick up packets of condoms from football grounds, barber's shops and health centres simply by showing the plastic card.

The cards are only given to boys who have attended a safe-sex lesson.

The Government says condom cards reduce teenage pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. It also claims the scheme persuades boys to take more responsibility for contraception.

Frankly, I'm quite skeptical of the government's claims. In particular, the part about getting 12-year-olds to be responsible. Good luck with that.

Nevertheless, there is a small upside to the scheme. Since they are too young for passports and driver's licenses, pubescent boys in the UK can now be expected to show government condom cards as official identification.

Tacking lighter, if the condom card scheme doesn't work, maybe the government will require condom awareness certification along with standard school immunizations for 5-year-old boys starting kindergarten.

Heh.

Sunday Quiz: Where Are You?

If you are really, really knowledgeable about progressive across-the-pond venues, you'll know by this fragmented scrap of evidence.




Answer: here and, by the way, someone may ask what you are doing there.

The Giant Salvinia

The Giant Salvinia plant (Salvinia molesta) is an invasive floating, rootless aquatic fern from South America that clogs the surfaces of freshwater lakes, canals, ditches and slow-flowing streams.

First discovered in Texas waters in 2007, giant salvinia has spread to 14 lakes, primarily in the eastern portion of the state where the acidic water suits its needs. It is most prevalent on Toledo Bend, where it covers at least 5,000 acres and on Caddo, where it was contained to about 100 acres last fall on the Texas side.

Untreated, salvinia can double the area covered in less than a week.

Giant salvinia has the potential to alter aquatic ecosystems in several ways. Rapidly expanding populations can overgrow and replace native plants. Resulting dense surface cover prevents light and atmospheric oxygen from entering the water.

Meanwhile, decomposing material drops to the bottom, greatly consuming dissolved oxygen needed by fish and other aquatic life.

Logically, the plant will continue to expand its reach in the U.S.


S. molesta range (2005)

A "Progressive" forgets that his hate must be camouflaged

He calls for "global warming deniers" to be killed. The full text of the post on Talking Points Memo is reproduced below. The entry was posted under the anonymous but appropriate byline "The Insolent Braggart". Talking Points Memo is often cited as a website that helps set the agenda for the political Left in the U.S.

At what point do we jail or execute global warming deniers?

What is so frustrating about these fools is that they are the politicians and greedy bastards who don't want a cut in their profits who use bogus science or the lowest scientists in the gene pool who will distort data for a few bucks. The vast majority of the scientific minds in the World agree and understand it's a very serious problem that can do an untold amount of damage to life on Earth.

So when the right wing f*cktards have caused it to be too late to fix the problem, and we start seeing the devastating consequences and we start seeing end of the World type events - how will we punish those responsible. It will be too late. So shouldn't we start punishing them now?

There was a big outcry about this naked Stalinism so TPM have now taken the entry down but many conservative bloggers copied it before that. The author concerned has now apologized and retracted, perhaps realizing that incitement to violence is a prosecutable offence. So he did eventually get around to putting his camouflage on.

Posted by John Ray.

Woman Arrested Without Pants

(Wood County, Wisconsin) A 29-year-old area woman, Jessica Jackson, was arrested last week for alleged drunk driving. Reportedly, Jackson drunkenly caused an accident while talking on a cell phone and not wearing any pants.

Jessica Jackson, who was driving her pickup truck east on Highway 54 just before 8:50 a.m. Sunday, had her pants hanging out the window to dry when the vehicle hit the highway shoulder, and Jackson overcorrected, according to the Wood County Sheriff's Department Accident Report. The pickup crossed the centerline, entered the ditch and rolled.

Jackson was taken to the hospital, treated and released. Her blood-alcohol content was reported at 0.18.

It's not known why she was drying her pants while driving nor whether Jackson was wearing underwear. It does appear, however, that she was looking for trouble.

Prison Workers Accused of Sex with Inmates

(Canton, New York) Three suspended female workers at the Gouverneur Correctional Facility, a medium-security state prison, were charged last fall with engaging in sex with inmates.

(1) Forty-one-year-old prison laundry supervisor Lisa Vaughn pleaded guilty in St. Lawrence County Court to felony third-degree rape and sentenced to 60 days in jail --- to be served on weekends. She also received 10 years of probation.

She was accused of sexual intercourse and oral sex with four inmates repeatedly since 2006. She was also accused of sneaking food, cigarettes and postage stamps to inmates.

Vaughn's lawyer said she was a victim of coercion by the inmates.

(2) A clerk at the prison, 39-year-old Laura E. Douglass, was indicted last month on charges of third-degree rape, third-degree criminal sexual act, first-degree promoting prison contraband and two counts of official misconduct.

She is accused of having sex with a 31-year-old male inmate in December. She also allegedly provided a knife to an inmate in 2008.

Douglass pleaded innocent to the charges this past Monday.

(3) The third worker, 33-year-old Rachael S. Patterson, also faces charges of engaging in sex with inmates. Her case is pending and scant details have been reported.

Stars and Stripes at Ste. Mère-Église

To the Allied fighters on D-Day, we will always remember.



Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial
0400, June 6, 1944

In Ste. Mère-Église, as the stunned townspeople watched from behind their shuttered windows, paratroopers of the 82nd's 505th Regiment slipped cautiously through the empty streets. The church bell was silent now. On the steeple Private John Steele's empty parachute hung limp, and every now and then the glowing embers of M. Hairon's villa erupted, briefly outlining the trees in the square. Occasionally a sniper's bullet whined angrily into the night, but that was the only sound; everywhere there was an uneasy silence.

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Krause, leading the attack, had expected to fight hard for Ste. Mère-Église, but apart from a few snipers it appeared that the German garrison had pulled out. Krause's men swiftly took advantage of the situation: They occupied buildings, set up roadblocks and machine-gun posts, cut telephone cables and wires. Other squads continued the slow sweeps through the town, moving like shadows from hedge to hedge and doorway to doorway, all converging on the town's center, the Place de l'Église.

Passing around the back of the church, Private First Class William Tucker reached the square and set up his machine gun behind a tree. Then as he looked out on the moonlit square he saw a parachute and, lying next to him, a dead German. On the far side were the crumpled, sprawled shapes of other bodies. As Tucker sat there in the semi-darkness trying to figure out what had happened, he began to feel that he was not alone --- that somebody was standing behind him. Grabbing the cumbersome machine gun, he whirled around. His eyes came level with a pair of boots slowly swaying back and forth. Tucker hastily stepped back. A dead paratrooper was hanging in the tree looking down at him.

Now other paratroopers came into the square and suddenly they, too, saw the bodies hanging in the trees. Lieutenant Gus Sanders remembers that "men just stood there staring, filled with a terrible anger." Lieutenant Colonel Krause reached the square. As he stood looking at the dead troops, he said just three words: "Oh, my God."

Then Krause pulled an American flag from his pocket. It was old and worn --- the same flag that the 505th had raised over Naples. Krause had promised his men that "before dawn on D Day this flag will fly over Ste. Mère-Église." He walked to the town hall and, on the flagpole by the side of the door, ran up the colors. There was no ceremony. In the square of the dead paratroopers the fighting was over. The Stars and Stripes flew over the first town to be liberated by the Americans in France.

At the German Seventh Army headquarters in Le Mans a message was received from General Marcks's 84th Corps. It read "Communications with Ste. Mère-Église cut off . . ." The time was 4:30 A.M.

[pgs. 160-162, "The Longest Day," by Cornelius Ryan]

The unheralded, unceremonious placing of the American flag on French soil on D-Day is symbolically comparable to the raising of the Stars and Stripes by U.S. Marines on Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi, I think.

Companion post

Al Gore Going to North Korea for Journos- Update

It's now reported that former Vice President Al Gore is going to North Korea to negotiate for the release of two journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were taken into custody for illegally crossing the border.


Ling and Lee
The way I see it is that Kim Jong-il is selling and Al Gore is buying.

Kim: "10 million dollars"
Gore: "No. Just 2 million."
Kim: "OK. But you must make public apology."
Gore: "No, no public apology."
Kim: "OK. Then 4 million dollars. And I make nice when you run for President again."
Gore: "Deal."

Afterward, the former Vice President will state that his superior negotiating skills coupled with his gravitas forced Kim Jong-il to back off.

On the other hand, I could be wrong. (h/t CNestor)


* * * * *
American Journalists Detained by North Korea
[Previous 3/19/09 post]
(Seoul, South Korea) A source reported that two female journalists who were videotaping scenes along the Tumen River have been detained by North Korean border guards.

"It's known that two U.S. reporters have been in the custody of the North Korean army since about two days ago after working near the North Korea-China border,'' a diplomatic source confirmed Thursday.

One of them is identified only as Ming, a Korean-American journalist. Other details have yet to be confirmed.

Both North Korea and the United States remained silent over the detention, leaving observers to speculate that the two sides might be negotiating behind the scenes.

A senior government official said on condition of anonymity that Seoul recognized the detention but is not in a position to do anything about the issue because it involved U.S. citizens.

Foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said, "Seoul has nothing to say about the reports and has found it unnecessary to confirm the situation.''

Another Seoul official said he believes the detention is an isolated case that would neither improve nor worsen relations between Pyongyang and Washington.

Inexplicably, the mainstream media is either unaware or intentionally ignoring the story.

[Update] MSM now has the story. One source indicates that the journalists work for Al Gore's Current TV and are named Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

South Korean media first reported the detentions early Thursday, with YTN television saying two Americans were arrested near the Tumen River. The Yonhap news agency, citing unidentified diplomatic sources, said North Korean soldiers took them into custody after they ignored orders to stop filming.

Ling and Lee were warned not to go to the border areas. They ignored the warning.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Wyoming Teacher Gets Jail for Sex with Minor - Updated

(Afton, Wyoming) On Thursday, former choir teacher at Star Valley High School, Jamie Nicole Hale, pleaded no contest to felony sexual abuse of a minor and to misdemeanor sexual battery in accordance with an agreement with the prosecution.

As a result, Hale was sentenced to one year in jail with six months suspended.

Hale was also placed on probation for three years and ordered to undergo a sex offender evaluation. She was ordered to report to the Lincoln County Jail on July 1st to begin her term.

* * * * *
Wyoming Teacher Accused of Sex with Minor
[Previous 5/20/09 post]
(Afton, Wyoming) A 32-year-old choir teacher at Star Valley High School, Jamie Nicole Hale, has been accused of engaging in sex with a minor. She faces charges of third-degree sexual abuse of a minor and fourth-degree sexual abuse of a minor.

Hale allegedly engaged in inappropriate contact with an unidentified 17-year-old victim.

Her trial has been scheduled for September.


[Update 5/21/09]

As noted in comments, Afton is a Wyoming community close to the state line with Idaho. Post corrected accordingly. Thanks to the commenter.

Recently up on influential climate journal: Cooling admitted

But "within a long-term warming trend", of course. Actually that is pretty right. Temperatures have been rising in a zigzag way ever since the Little Ice Age. But that rise began long before SUVs!

Is the climate warming or cooling?

Abstract

Numerous websites, blogs and articles in the media have claimed that the climate is no longer warming, and is now cooling. Here we show that periods of no trend or even cooling of the globally averaged surface air temperature are found in the last 34 years of the observed record, and in climate model simulations of the 20th and 21st century forced with increasing greenhouse gases. We show that the climate over the 21st century can and likely will produce periods of a decade or two where the globally averaged surface air temperature shows no trend or even slight cooling in the presence of longer‐term warming.

Easterling, D. R., and M. F. Wehner (2009), Is the climate warming or cooling?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L08706


Posted by John Ray.

New Hampshire Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Nashua, New Hampshire) A 20-year-old local woman, Michelle Martin, was arrested yesterday for the alleged statutory rape of a 15-year-old boy. Martin faces charges of felony sexual assault and misdemeanor sexual assault.

Martin is acquainted with the boy’s family, and the assault is alleged to have occurred at his house in May, Youth Service Division Lt. Jeff Bukunt said.

The boy’s parents called police after he disclosed to them what had happened, Bukunt said. By state law, persons younger than 16 can not legally consent to sex.

Martin was booked and released on bail. Her arraignment is scheduled for June 16.

Cuban Spies Arrested in Washington

(Washington) A retired State Department worker and his wife have been arrested for allegedly spying on the United States for 30 years and providing classified information to the government of Cuba.

An indictment and criminal complaint unsealed today in the District of Columbia charge Walter Kendall Myers, 72, a.k.a. "Agent 202," and his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, 71, a.k.a. "Agent 123," and "Agent E-634," with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government and to communicate classified information to the Cuban government. Each of the defendants is also charged with acting as an illegal agent of the Cuban government and with wire fraud.

The Myers, both residents of Washington, D.C., were arrested yesterday afternoon by FBI agents. They made their initial appearances today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while serving as an illegal agent of a foreign government carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and conspiracy carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Walter and Gwendolyn Myyers were caught by FBI agents in an undercover operation. An FBI source posed as a Cuban Intelligence Service (CuIS) officer and approached the Myers.

The couple agreed to meet the source again and to provide information on U.S. government personnel with responsibility for Latin America. According to the affidavit, the couple also made a series of statements about their past activities on behalf of the CuIS, including acknowledging having received coded messages from the CuIS via shortwave radio, meeting CuIS officials in Mexico, and being alert to surveillance. "We have been very cautious, careful with our moves and, uh, trying to be alert to any surveillance," Kendall Myers allegedly told the FBI source.

In subsequent meetings with the FBI source, the Myers allegedly agreed to provide information on the April 17-19, 2009 Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as to use specified code words, signals and encryption programs to transmit information via email during future interactions with the source. They also asked the source to "send special greetings…and hugs" to certain CuIS officials.

In addition, the couple allegedly made further statements to the source about their past activities for the CuIS. According to the affidavit, the defendants discussed how they were first recruited by the CuIS and how codes had been used for each of them in messages, including "123" for Gwendolyn Myers and "202" for Kendall Myers. The Myers also stated that they had traveled to meet Cuban agents in Mexico, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Jamaica, New York City and other locations.

The Myers also discussed how they had passed information to CuIS agents, with both agreeing that the most secure way was "hand-to-hand." According to the affidavit, Gwendolyn Myers said her favorite way of passing information to CuIS agents involved the changing of shopping carts in a grocery store because it was "easy enough to do."

According to the affidavit, Kendall Myers told the source that he typically removed information from the State Department by memory or by taking notes, although he did occasionally take some documents home. "I was always pretty careful. I, I didn’t usually take documents out," he said. According to the affidavit, he also acknowledged delivering information to the CuIS that was classified beyond the "Secret" level. He further stated that he had received "lots of medals" from the Cuban government and that he and his wife had met and spent an evening with Fidel Castro in 1995.

Willing to betray their country for 30 years for "lots of medals," eh?

Tip: CNestor

Child Molester Gets 485 Years in Prison

(King George County, Virginia) In March 2009, a jury convicted 40-year-old Billy Burch of multiple child sex crimes against a girl starting at the age of 5 and continuing until she was 10.

The girl testified that Burch performed countless sex acts on her and often took her to motels when she rode with him in his tow truck.

The girl said she never told her mother what was going on because Burch threatened to hurt her whole family if she did.

The abuse continued after the girl's family and Burch moved back to Maryland. It finally stopped when the child was about 12 and her family moved away from Burch.

The girl finally told her mother and the authorities were alerted. Investigators then set up a telephone sting in which Burch acknowledged his molestation of the girl. Later, he confessed to detectives.

Yesterday, Judge Horace A. Revercomb III sentenced Burch to 485 years in prison.

Burch also must complete a 40-year-sentence in Maryland where he was convicted of sex crimes against the same girl, giving him a total of 525 years to complete his rehabilitation.

Modern-Day Slavery in the U.S.

(Kansas City, Missouri) A federal grand jury has indicted 12 people and three companies on RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) charges for allegedly operating a 14-state slave network populated with illegal aliens from Uzbekistan.

The slaves were employed at hotels and other businesses in Missouri, Kansas, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, South Carolina and Wyoming.

“The indictment alleges that this criminal enterprise lured victims to the United States under the guise of legitimate jobs and a better life, only to treat them as modern-day slaves under the threat of deportation,” said James Gibbons, acting special agent-in-charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“The alleged conspiracy not only victimized foreign workers, but also defrauded U.S. businesses and displaced legal workers in the name of profit."

Interestingly, since Uzbekistan is a Muslim nation, it's not a stretch to presume that the forced labor trafficking of Uzbeks in the U.S. is being done by followers of the religion of peace. However, that thought has not been officially corroborated.

Nonetheless, knowledge of an extensive slavery network in the U.S. apparently linked to Muslims should be an eye-opener worthy of much more journalistic curiosity.

"White Light" Seen Where Air France Flight Lost

(Madrid, Spain) The Air France flight 447 disaster on Monday may have been viewed by the pilot, co-pilot and a passenger on a Spanish airliner.

The captain of a Spanish airliner flying in the same area as the Air France plane when it disappeared claims to have seen "an intense flash of white light", the company's director general said Thursday.

Flight 974 between Lima and Madrid was flying "slightly further north" than the ill-fated Airbus when the captain "saw something which seemed potentially interesting" for crash investigators, Jose Maria Llodra told AFP.

"Suddenly, we saw in the distance a strong and intense flash of white light, which followed a descending and vertical trajectory and which broke up in six seconds," the captain wrote in the report, Llodra said.

Obviously, this report lends credence to the theory that Flight 447 experienced a possible explosion from a bomb, a familiar terrorist tactic.

I'm unconvinced on the terrorism angle simply because terrorists typically rely upon wide media exposure of their attacks and frequently take immediate credit for each incident. To my knowledge, that hasn't happened.

Of course, there's always the possibility that a bomb could have been used as a method of assassination where the number of collateral victims was of no concern to the perpetrator. A Colombian drug lord used the tactic a number of years ago.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.


[Update 6/6/09]

For some unknown reason, the original source of the information on this story has been spiked. Consequently, the Google cache link is replacing the former Expatica link. Thanks to a commenter.

Penske Offers to Buy Saturn

Breaking news! Roger Penske has made overtures to buy Saturn from GM. A memorandum of understanding has been signed.

Penske told reporters that he expects to offer all the dealers new franchise agreements and will retain all 13,000 Saturn employees for the immediate term.

Price of the deal wasn't reported.

Somehow, this news has me fantasizing about a Saturn with an Indy-car engine. VROOM!



Companion post at The Jawa Report.

European Union Parliamentary Election

(Brussels, Belgium) All 27 nations of the European Union are holding elections Thursday through Sunday for 736 seats in the EU Parliament. The member nations hold their individual elections on different days due to varying national practices and all are supposed to hold the results until all votes have been cast.

A total of 375 million people throughout Europe are eligible to vote, however, a low turnout is expected. Thus far, Great Britain and the Netherlands have voted with the Dutch releasing provisional results received from municipalities and exit polls.

The early release of results is troubling to the European Commission which is considering sanctions against the Dutch. The Czech Republic and Ireland vote today.

Dutch results indicate that Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV) will gather four parliamentary seats, disturbing to many European politicians since Wilders is tagged as an anti-Islamic, right-wing extremist. Wilders opponents in the Netherlands have tagged the PVV successes as "shameful" and "disappointing." According to the DailyKos, the Freedom Party, "led by the odious Geert Wilders," looks to receive almost 20 percent of the vote.

Obviously, Geert Wilders is a rising star in European politics and leftists are not pleased.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

CAUSES OF ARCTIC AIR TEMPERATURE CHANGE

An email from Petr Chylek [chylek@lanl.gov] advises that the paper abstracted below has just been accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters (2009GL038777R). PDF copy available from Chylek. The paper shows that Arctic temperatures tell us little of general interest as they do not vary in accordance with temperatures elsewhere but do vary in accordance with changes in ocean currents


Arctic air temperature change amplification and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation

By Petr Chylek, C.K. Folland, G. Lesins, M. Dubey and M. Wang

Abstract

Understanding Arctic temperature variability is essential for assessing possible future melting of the Greenland ice sheet, Arctic sea ice and Arctic permafrost. Temperature trend reversals in 1940 and 1970 separate two Arctic warming periods (1910-1940 and 1970-2008) by a significant 1940-1970 cooling period. Analyzing temperature records of the Arctic meteorological stations we find that (a) the Arctic amplification (ratio of the Arctic to global temperature trends) is not a constant but varies in time on a multi- decadal time scale, (b) the Arctic warming from 1910-1940 proceeded at a significantly faster rate than the current 1970-2008 warming, and (c) the Arctic temperature changes are highly correlated with the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO) suggesting the Atlantic Ocean thermohaline circulation is linked to the Arctic temperature variability on a multi-decadal time scale.

Posted by John Ray. Note that despite its rather humble name, GRL is a prestigious scientific journal

Guns in Tennessee Bars

Tennessee House Bill 962 authorized firearms to be carried into businesses that serve liquor. Gov. Bredesen vetoed it.

The bill was returned to the legislature where both the House and the Senate voted to override Gov. Bredesen's veto. Starting in mid-July, customers can carry their firearms in Tennessee bars.

Naturally, the guns-kill-people crowd is crestfallen.

Major Slam! Rogue ISP Shut Down

Based upon a complaint by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a federal district judge has issued a restraining order against Pricewert LLC, an Internet Service Provider (ISP) doing business under the names 3FN, APS Telecom and others.

The court issued a temporary restraining order to prohibit Pricewert’s illegal activities and require its upstream Internet providers and data centers to cease providing services to Pricewert. The order also freezes Pricewert’s assets. The court will hold a preliminary injunction hearing on June 15, 2009.

Pricewert is accused of recruiting, hosting and participating in the distribution of spam, child pornography, and other harmful electronic content.

It's further alleged that Pricewert lurks in the "darkest corners" of the Internet, conspiring with criminals to distribute child porn, spyware, viruses, trojan horses, phishing, botnet command and control servers, and pornography featuring violence, bestiality, and incest.

Frankly, after conviction, I'd like to see the perpetrators end up in the "darkest corners" of a federal prison.

Georgia Tech Student Syed Haris Ahmed Terror Trial

(Atlanta, Georgia) College student Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, has admitted that he wanted to be a terrorist.

The former Georgia Tech student contemplated an attack on Dobbins Air Reserve Base, but didn’t carry it out. He traveled to Pakistan hoping to die a martyr fighting alongside brother jihadists -- but changed his mind and returned home.

He took almost laughably bad “casing videos” of Washington landmarks, taping surreptitiously through his pickup truck window in a city where tourists overtly take pictures of everything.

Was he all talk? Or was he, as federal prosecutors suspect, a time bomb that simply hadn’t gone off yet?

We'll know the answers soon. Ahmed's trial is in progress this week. No jury is present since Ahmed waived his right to a jury trial largely because he wants to give a public statement at the close.

Ahmed is charged with Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, of Roswell, of trying to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani-based terrorist group. They also are accused of taking videos for “potential terrorist attacks” during a 2005 trip to Washington. Sadequee is to be tried separately in August. Both men have pleaded not guilty.

The trial of Ahmed started Monday and thus far the defense has attempted to portray him as immature, confused and gullible to propaganda. On the other hand, federal prosecutors have introduced evidence of video tapes, phone taps and the testimony of a former jihadi friend, 30-year-old Zubair Ahmed, who was convicted of terrorism charges previously. According to testimony:

Syed Haris Ahmed first talked about waging violent jihad against Muslim oppressors as far back as 2002. “We shared the same opinion,” Zubair Ahmed said.

Over the years, the two men continued to chat online about taking the “three steps” toward jihad —- ideological preparation, logistical preparation and actual fighting, Zubair Ahmed said.

In 2004, Zubair Ahmed testified, he went to Egypt with the purpose of going to Afghanistan to fight. But his concerned father came to Egypt and made him return home.

In one e-mail, Zubair Ahmed told Syed Haris Ahmed that “the biggest problem everyone will face for the 3rd [the final step] is our stupid parents.” But during a subsequent chat-room conversation, Zubair Ahmed testified, Syed Haris Ahmed told him he had received his mother’s permission to return to Pakistan and engage in jihad.

It must be acceptable if his mother approved, eh? The trial continues. (h/t Blackflag via Sandcrawler)

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Texas Mom Gets 30 Years for Sex Assault of Daughter, 9

(Henderson, Texas) A 38-year-old Overton (TX) mom, Christine Mack, pleaded guilty yesterday to aggravated sexual assault of her 9-year-old daughter.

According to Rusk County ADA Richard W. Kennedy, Mack encouraged her boyfriend, 49-year-old Tony Traylor, to engage in sex with the 9-year-old while Mack watched.

The crime reportedly occurred last summer.

After making an outcry to a friend or relative (Kennedy declined to say which), the police were notified and the child gave an interview at the Rusk County Child Advocacy Center. The meeting was also attended and monitored by law enforcement and the DA’s office.

Based on the results of that interview, they immediately obtained a search warrant that resulted in evidence implicating both Mack and Traylor in the aggravated sexual assault of the child.

When faced with the evidence, Kennedy said both suspects eventually confessed to their roles in the crime.

Christine Mack was sentenced to 30 years in prison. Tony Traylor was also sentenced to 30 years in a separate proceeding. Each must serve at least half of the sentence prior to being eligible for parole.

Kentucky Woman Arrested for Rape of Boy

(Jessamine County, Kentucky) A 36-year-old Richmond (KY) woman, Barbara Sue Waters, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly raping and sodomizing a 14-year-old boy. Yesterday, Waters pleaded not guilty in Jessamine District Court to charges of felony sexual abuse, rape and sodomy.

The warrant was issued for Waters after e-mail correspondence between the suspect and the victim were reported, according to documents from the sheriff’s office.

The victim told police the acts occurred “over the course of the Memorial Day weekend,” the arrest warrant reads.

Waters was booked into custody at the Jessamine County Detention Center with bond set at $25,000. Her next court appearance is scheduled for June 8.

Tacking non-science on to the end of good science

Below are the last 3 paragraphs of a perfectly good BBC scientific report on the topography of part of the Antarctic continent.


"There's been a lot of climate change over the last 14 million years," Dr Siegert said. "And what we can say about this place in the middle of the Antarctic is that nothing has changed."

But, he warned, if levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide continued to rise, in around 1,000 years they will approach the same levels that existed "before there was persistent ice sheet in Antarctica".

"This puts the ice sheet into the context of global climate and what conditions are needed to grow an ice sheet," explained Dr Siegert. "The worrying thing is that we seem to be going back to carbon dioxide concentrations consistent with there being a lot less ice around."

More HERE

The author must have known that he was speaking nonsense but no doubt felt obliged to toe the official line or lose his funding. He simply assumes a linear relationship between CO2 and temperature, quite ignoring at least two facts: 1) CO2 levels have been rising sharply in the last 10 years when temperatures have in fact been trending downwards; 2). On some occasions in the geological past, CO2 levels have been 10 times higher than now, and those times were ICE ages! It is sad to see scientists compelled into dishonesty by politics. We condemn how that happened under socialists like Stalin and Hitler but it happens under modern-day Leftist pressure too. We are not far off a Fascist State -- JR


Posted by John Ray.

Michigan Teacher Gets Jail in Sex Case - Updated

(Holly, Michigan) Former music teacher Ranee Proper was sentenced yesterday by Circuit Court Judge Edward Sosnick for her conviction on one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Sosnick followed the recommended sentencing of prosecution, giving Proper five years of probation with nine months to be spent in the Oakland County Jail.

Additionally, Proper's name will be added to the Michigan Sex Offender Registry, she will be expected to take part in a sex offender mental health program while serving her time, and will be allowed no unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 18 with the exception of her own children.

Proper's lawyer said that his client has significant remorse.


* * * * *
Michigan Teacher Guilty of Sex with Two Students - Updated
[Previous 5/6/09 post]
(Holly, Michigan) Last Friday, former Holly High School music teacher, Ranee S. Proper, pleaded guilty before Oakland County Circuit Judge Edward Sosnick to criminal sexual conduct stemming from engaging in sex with two students at school and at her home.

Under a plea agreement, five counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct -- which carries a mandatory prison term -- were dismissed.

Proper, 42, could still face prison time, but Sosnick will have the option of giving her a lesser sentence under this plea.

In addition to her duties at Holly High School, the married mother-of-three was very active teaching music at a number of schools in the area.

Going unreported are the penalties Proper faces when she is sentenced on June 3.


* * * * *
Michigan Teacher Accused of Relations with Two Students
[Previous 9/24/08 post]
(Holly, Michigan) A 41-year-old former music teacher at Holly High School, Ranee Sue Proper, has been accused of engaging in sex with two students at her home and at the high school.

A married, mother-of-three, Proper is charged with five counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Before the end of the school year, rumors started about Proper having alleged intimate relations with students. In June, Proper resigned her position. Yesterday, she was arraigned in District Court in Clarkston.

Proper was booked into custody with bond set at $50,000. A court appearance is scheduled for October 24.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Young Con Anthem

Not bad.

Men Live Longer Mated to Younger Women

Research was performed by scientists at Germany's Max Planck Institute to determine the effect of age disparity on the mortality of married men and women. The entire population of Denmark was the subject of the research with Danish deaths from 1990 to 2005 examined.

Results indicate that men live longer when they marry young babes.

A man's chances of dying early are cut by a fifth if their bride is between 15 and 17 years their junior.

The risk of premature death is reduced by 11 per cent if they marry a woman seven to nine years younger.

Strangely, the exact opposite is true for women, according to the study.

I'm undecided about whether to approach the missus with the news that she is hazardous to my longevity. She might become more hazardous when the words "too old" or "not young enough" escape from my voicebox.

Will Obama's Health Plan Expose AIDS/HIV Data?

Due to political sensitivity, AIDS is treated differently by health professionals from other communicable diseases.

The recent outbreak of swine flu, for example, has been diagrammed by health professionals with the names and locations of people infected worldwide. Vectors of transmission of the disease have been plotted. All the while, the data have been made available to the medical community and the public. AIDS is exempted from a similar procedure.

To avoid stigma and possible discrimination, medical records of AIDS patients are tightly guarded as are the medical records of patients found to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Unless a person reveals his/her status, it's virtually impossible to learn who is infected and how the infection was acquired.

My question: Will Obama's national electronic medical records system allow AIDS and HIV patient lists to be easily accessed?

Agreed, I'm no expert on health records but I'm familiar with databases. Once compiled, keyword and field searches for everything imaginable are possible. Furthermore, it's logically assumed that a national database will be available to many people. And, to quote Carlos Marcello (1910 - 1993), former New Orleans mob boss,

"Three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead."

If my assumptions are valid, the efforts of those groups that have worked tirelessly to keep AIDS and HIV data secret will be irrelevant.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Yelling, Tossing Coins and Ranch Dressing, Babe Arrested

(Boise, Idaho) A local woman, Tiffany M. Wallace, 18, was arrested Monday afternoon by Boise Police after she allegedly was the perpetrator in an incident of road rage.

Wallace allegedly drove her pickup aggressively while yelling at and throwing coins and ranch dressing at another driver in a foreign sedan (Kia).

The driver of the Kia called 911 and police were dispatched to Saint Al's parking lot.

That's when the driver of the Kia said the driver of the pickup ran into the back of his car at least three or four times.

When police arrived, they found the sedan had a severely damaged back end, with the rear bumper falling off and taillights broken. The car's sides and trunk were also covered by spots of ranch dressing and there appeared to be dents from the coins, police say.

According to police, Wallace said she was angry when she started driving. She was booked into custody at the Ada County Jail. Wallace faces a charge of felony aggravated battery.

Maryland Woman Accused of Child Sex Abuse

(Joppa, Maryland) A 40-year-old local woman, Valerie Lianne Carlton, was indicted by a Harford County grand jury yesterday on multiple child sex crimes involving two girls, ages 5 and 6. Carlton allegedly abused the girls sexually from January 2008 through April 2009.

Carlton faces 28 counts ranging from child sexual abuse to attempted kidnapping and extortion. She was booked into custody. No news has been reported on a bail amount.

At first glance, the alleged offenses in this case appear to be particularly black-hearted.

U.S. to Respond to North Korea with ‘Strongest Possible Adjectives' ....

Obama: We are Prepared to Consult Thesaurus ....


One day after North Korea launched a successful test of a nuclear weapon, President Obama said that the United States was prepared to respond to the threat with "the strongest possible adjectives."

In remarks to reporters at the White House, Mr. Obama said that North Korea should fear the "full force and might of the United States' arsenal of adjectives" and called the missile test "reckless, reprehensible, objectionable, senseless, egregious and condemnable."

Standing at the President's side, Vice President Joseph Biden weighed in with some tough adjectives of his own, branding North Korean President Kim Jong-Il "totally wack and illin'."

Later in the day, Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the North Korean nuclear test "supercilious and jejune," leading some in diplomatic circles to worry that the U.S. might be running out of appropriate adjectives with which to craft its response.

But President Obama attempted to calm those fears, saying that the United States was prepared to "scour the thesaurus" to come up with additional adjectives and was "prepared to use adverbs" if necessary.

"Let's be clear: we are not taking adverbs off the table," Mr. Obama said. "If the need arises, we will use them forcefully, aggressively, swiftly, overwhelmingly and commandingly."

Posted by John Ray.

Michigan Commissioner Guilty of Sex on Sidewalk

(Novi, Michigan) In April 2009, a 55-year-old Oakland County commissioner, Kim Capello, was accused of engaging in sex on a city sidewalk with 37-year-old Sheila Grogan.

As a result, the Republican commissioner pleaded guilty to indecent exposure. Capello claimed that his judgment was clouded by alcohol.

According to a legal analyst,

"This case, it looks like he had sex on the sidewalk. Well, that's stupid, it's also a crime, but it's probably more stupid than it is a crime. And given the fact that he's got no other record, I would think that the court will take that into consideration, and if he can stop having sex on the sidewalk for a year and do some community service and pay some fines, I think this will all go away for him."

Sentencing is scheduled for this afternoon. In a statement, Capello said he was embarrassed and ashamed.

Capello faces a possible 93 days in jail. A lenient sentence is expected if "he can stop having sex on the sidewalk for a year."

Some Stories Are More Equal

Two stories of two shootings reported in leftist blogs.

One victim was a doctor, the other was a soldier.

As of midnight PST, between Americablog, CrooksAndLiars blog, the FireDogLake blog and HorsesAss blog there were 35 posts on the doctor’s murder.

Anyone want to venture a guess on how many posts those four high profile blogs had up about the soldier’s murder?

Answer here.

Illegal Accused of Molesting 12-Year-Old

(Avon, Colorado) A 24-year-old illegal alien from Mexico, Adolpho Guardado, has been arrested for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old child. Guardado faces charges of sexual assault on a child, kidnapping, and enticement of a child.

According to the Eagle County Sheriff's Office, Guardado had been chatting online and exchanging phone calls with the child, who then asked Guardado for a ride to school in Edwards on the morning of May 18th.

Guardado, according to police, picked up the child and drove to a remote cabin on National Forest land 10 miles from Wolcott where the alleged assault occurred. The child was then dropped off at school.

It's unknown whether the victim is male or female.

Guardado was booked into custody at the Eagle County Detention Facility with bond set at $15,000. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been notified.

Smoochie, Smoochie, Smooch, Smooch!

The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) announced that its 2009 Magazine Cover Contest will have a new category. For the first time, a winner will be selected in the category of Best Obama Cover along with a variety of other categories such as sports, business, news, nature, etc.

The best in each category will compete for Cover of the Year as determined by voters on Amazon.

It seems to me that including a separate category for Obama goes beyond even the loosest definition of journalism and enters the realm of hero worship or, maybe even, butt-kissing. Readers can make the call.

NCR Corp. Flees Ohio

(Dayton, Ohio) Despite a $31.1 million goodie package offered by Gov. Ted Strickland, NCR Corporation is reportedly moving its headquarters and 1,250 jobs to Duluth, Georgia. Apparently the tax-regulate-repeat business environment in Ohio is too oppressive to continue operations in Dayton.

According to one financial services analyst, the move is considered extreme. Frankly, I'm not surprised and would put the blame on Democrat politicians who have slowly made Ohio into a visage that a growing number of people believe is best seen in the rear-view mirror.

Targeted by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)

Dan Amato of Diggers Realm is being called an anti-immigration xenophobe in a full-page spread by the Anti-Defamation League (which, ironically, makes the ADL quite oxymoronic). Obviously, defamation is okey-dokey when the ADL does it.

Nevertheless, Digger (Dan Amato) sums up the ADL piece succinctly.

They seem to have quite the knowledge on me, yet twist it. Anyone who thought that the ADL was some sort of legitimate organization can think this no more. Anyone who knows me, knows that I vehemently oppose any racial groups trying to split this country and fight for an equal playing field for all peoples legally in the US - both citizens and residents.

As a contributor to Diggers Realm with occasional cross-posting of Interested-Participant entries, I too have been targeted (albeit not by name) as a xenophobic anti-immigrant activist. And, as is typical with leftist rants, flawed assertions start the discussion. The ADL piece uses the term anti-immigrant to describe Digger and others who oppose illegal aliens in the U.S.

Contrary to the ADL's assertions, I fully support legal immigration and I contend that Digger does also. The focus of my writings and Digger's has been reports and commentary on the detrimental impacts of a porous border on truth, justice and national security.

The ADL jettisoned the truth from the start by labeling Diggers Realm as anti-immigrant. The truth is ignored and intentionally redefined when the ADL tags illegal aliens as undocumented workers. Foreign nationals sneaking into the United States are illegal aliens first and foremost, despite whether they work and what documents they carry.

People who follow the law and work to become U.S. citizens are immigrants, eagerly welcome to contribute to the richness of America. To conflate illegal aliens with immigrants doesn't make foreign nationals into legal U.S. citizens but it does tattoo immigrant American citizens with a negative stigma.

The ADL doesn't understand justice consistent with my beliefs nor Digger's. I contend that justice means equal treatment under the law for all people. Foreign nationals illegally entering the U.S. should be deported or granted permission to stay as determined by a court of law.

Advocates for open borders demand that the certain provisions of the law not be followed. Therefore, the ADL's position is that illegal aliens are immune from selected America laws. Note that there are a number of provisions under U.S. law to which illegal aliens and their advocates demand exemption.

Regarding U.S. national security, it is automatically breached by a porous international border allowing (not tens or hundreds or even thousands, but millions of) foreign nationals unrestricted access into America. The ADL apparently doesn't recognize the seriousness of the breach in national security represented by illegal aliens. A disturbing number of cases have been reported where criminal gangs, drug traffickers and, most troubling, individuals from America's enemies have illegally entered the U.S., unimpeded by the international border.

Summing up, contrary to the ADL's assertion, neither Dan Amato nor Mike Pechar is anti-immigrant. In fact, I contend that lumping legal U.S. immigrants into the group of people who illegally enter the U.S. is besmirching immigrants, actual American citizens. Therefore, it is more truthful to say that the ADL is being anti-immigrant. Were the ADL pro-immigrant, illegal aliens would be encouraged to go back to their home country and follow the legal processes to immigrate to the U.S.

Lastly, the accusations of xenophobia are entirely without merit and hardly worth addressing. However, it is arguably an effective buzz word used by open border bullies who avoid even a fleeting familiarity with truth, justice and national security.

Note that I've exercised the privilege of making assumptions about Digger's opinions. Those assumptions are based upon several years of familiarity with Digger's writings and actions which, I believe, supports their accuracy. Be advised that any error will be conveyed to me expeditiously by Digger.

PA: Judge bans Bible from kindergarten Show & Tell


We read:

"A U.S. court says a kindergartner’s mother cannot read Scripture during show and tell, even if the Bible is the boy’s favorite book. Monday’s ruling is a victory for the Marple Newtown School District in suburban Philadelphia.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the school’s decision does not violate First Amendment rights given the nonpublic nature of the classroom and the tender age of the children. The mother, Donna Kay Busch, argues the students heard stories related to Passover, Christmas and other religious holidays. The appeals court says there is a ’significant difference’ between identifying those holidays and reading from Scripture.”

Source

Where does the 1st Amendment mention something being "nonpublic" or the age of the citizen?

Posted by John Ray.

Prominent English cricketer speaks out


We read:

"Andrew Flintoff may have to apologise for his anti-immigrant outburst to GQ magazine.

The England all-rounder, 31, told GQ magazine: “I have no problems with a multicultural society, I think that is to the benefit of the country. But you have to be careful what levels you take it to. “It annoys me when I phone a hotel receptionist in my own country and they don’t understand what I am saying because they don’t speak English. “I think that’s wrong, it’s nothing to do with being politically correct or incorrect, it’s just not right.”

Flintoff, who is married to Rachael, 30, and has a daughter Holly, four, and sons Corey, three, and Rocky, one, also put the blame on rising violence on rap music. “I see Manchester on a Friday night and I would be horrified seeing my daughter going to the bars," Flintoff added. “There are places I wouldn’t go to now. You see these reports of stabbings, bottlings, shootings, and you think: ‘What is happening to this country?’ “I think rap music has a lot to do with it. It makes it sound cool not to conform, and to be violent.

SOURCE

There have been plenty of criticisms of the antisocial content of rap music and it irritates many Americans that they have to press "1" for English so it is difficult to see what Flintoff said that is so egregious. But he was of course speaking in authoritarian Britain, where speech about many topics is heavily restricted

Posted by John Ray.

Texas Woman Gets No Jail in Child Sex Case

(Waco, Texas) In April 2009, a 25-year-old local woman, Rhiannon Smith, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault of a minor stemming from her arrest in March on multiple charges involving a 16-year-old boy.

According to arrest affidavits, Smith had sexual intercourse and sexual contact with the victim in her apartment Dec. 27 and Jan. 20.

She told police that she just finished a three-year relationship and “just wasn’t thinking right” when she had sexual intercourse with the teenager, whom she described as a family friend.

Earlier today, 19th State District Court Judge Ralph Strother sentenced Smith to eight years of deferred probation and ordered her to register as a sex offender. Judge Strother also imposed a $1,000 fine and 300 hours of community service.

Air France Plane Missing Over Atlantic

An Air France Airbus 330-200 with 228 people onboard took off last night from Rio de Janeiro on an expected 11-hour flight to Paris. It is missing. A lightning strike has been suggested.

The Brazilian military has commenced search and rescue operations at the point of reported disappearance in the vicinity of the island of Fernando de Noronha off the northeast coast of Brazil.

Flight AF 447 had 216 passengers and 12 crew, including three pilots. Thus far, no Americans are reportedly involved.

The French Air Force has sent two planes from an African base to aid in the search. Oddly, French Transportation Minister Jean-Louis Borloo has ruled out hijacking as the cause and said it probably was an accident. I suggest the minister is being presumptuous since the plane is still missing and an investigation has barely commenced.

Air France has set up telephone hotlines and a crisis center in Paris.

San Diego backs down on Bible study "permit"


Publicity shames the Christian-haters

"A code enforcement officer warned the couple in April for holding a “religious assembly” without a permit. The action became an international incident when it was reported last week on the Web site worldnetdaily.com.

The Joneses assert that the county's action violates their rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion. Their story was picked up by conservative Web sites for days, then made it to CNN yesterday.

Barraged by hundreds of complaints, San Diego County officials backed down yesterday from their enforcement. “No one respects the right to free religious expression more than I do, and no one would find the infringement of such rights more abhorrent,” county Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard said in a statement.

Chandra Wallar, the county's general manager of land use and environment, said the county has re-examined the situation and decided that the Joneses don't need a permit after all.

Source

Posted by John Ray.