Hate speech is not hate speech when blacks say it

We read:

"Akron police say they aren't ready to call it a hate crime or a gang initiation. But to Marty Marshall, his wife and two kids, it seems pretty clear. It came after a family night of celebrating America and freedom with a fireworks show at Firestone Stadium. Marshall, his family and two friends were gathered outside a friend's home in South Akron. Out of nowhere, the six were attacked by dozens of teenage boys, who shouted ''This is our world'' and ''This is a black world'' as they confronted Marshall and his family.

The Marshalls, who are white, say the crowd of teens who attacked them and two friends June 27 on Girard Street numbered close to 50. The teens were all black. ''This was almost like being a terrorist act,'' Marshall said. ''And we allow this to go on in our neighborhoods?'' ...

Akron police are investigating. Right now, the case is not being classified as a racial hate crime. There were no other reports of victims assaulted by the group that night.

Source

Posted by John Ray.

A Girl Named Chicken Dung

(Fujian Province, China) A girl named Ji Shi, "Chicken Dung" in Chinese, has reached the age of 18 and changed her name to Yingzi.

"At last, she is no longer afraid to show anybody her ID card," said her father, of Lindong village, Fujian province.

"She had a serious illness when she was one, and she was sick for two to three months.

"We didn't think she would survive, but a local medical practitioner advised us to paste her with chicken dung while taking medications he prescribed," added Xiansheng.

The girl made a miraculous recovery and her parents formally named her Chicken Dung in tribute to her treatment.

I'm surprised to hear that chicken dung has a medical application. Of course, under the Chinese national health scheme, it's possible that a bureaucrat thought up the treatment as a money-saver.

In any event, the thought of being pasted with chicken manure is particularly disgusting.

"Death to the Dictator" Protests in Iran

(Tehran) Despite government crackdowns leading to the arrests of activists, journalists, bloggers and opposition leaders, thousands of protesters chanted "death to the dictator" as they "streamed down the avenues of the capital" yesterday. Official reports indicate that 1,000 to 2,500 people have been arrested since the election, including a former vice-president and former cabinet members.

Witnesses said the protesters were assaulted by security forces firing tear gas and wielding batons.

Turning garbage bins into burning barricades and darting through choking clouds of tear gas, the opposition made its first foray into the streets in nearly two weeks in an attempt to revive mass demonstrations that were crushed in Iran’s postelection turmoil.

Iranian authorities had promised tough action to prevent the marches, which supporters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi have been planning for days through the Internet. Heavy police forces deployed at key points in the city ahead of the marches, and Tehran’s governor vowed to “smash” anyone who heeded the demonstration calls.

In some places, police struck hard. Security forces chased after protesters, beating them with clubs on Valiasr Street, Tehran’s biggest north-south avenue, witnesses said.

Women in headscarves and young men dashed away, rubbing their eyes in pain as police fired tear gas, in footage aired on state-run Press TV.

Predictably, Iranian authorities blame the protest on enemy nations and "counterrevolutionary networks" attempting to thwart the Ayatollah-certified election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Florida Teacher Gets Prison in Sex Case - Updated

(Titusville, Florida) Thirty-four-year-old Janet Lea Hughes recently divorced and reverted back to her maiden name, Janet Lea Florence, and, today, she was sentenced.

Circuit Judge Jack Griesbaum sentenced Janet Lea Florence to five years in prison.

According to the plea deal, Florence will serve 10 years of probation after completion of her prison term during which she must wear a Global Positioning System monitoring bracelet.

Florence will also be classified as a sexual predator for the rest of her life. Living near parks and schools is prohibited and she will have to register her address with the police four times yearly.

After sentencing, Florence was led from the courtroom in handcuffs.

* * * * *
Florida Teacher Guilty in Sex Case - Updated
[Previous 5/5/09 post]
(Titusville, Florida) Janet Lea Hughes appeared in court today and pleaded guilty to engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy in accordance with an agreement with the prosecution.

Hughes faces one to six years in prison when sentenced and a lifetime of being labeled as a sexual predator.

The victim and his parents were present in court today, but did not speak.

The plea deal allows Hughes, now 34, to escape a possible sentence of 45 years in prison had she been convicted at trial on one count each of sexual battery and attempted sexual battery on a child.

Upon her release, she will serve 10 years of sex offender probation, during which time she must wear a GPS monitoring bracelet. She will have to register as a sex offender each year.

Sentencing is scheduled for July 9 before Circuit Judge Jack Griesbaum who cautioned Hughes as she remains free until sentencing that any infraction, even a traffic arrest, would negate the plea agreement.


* * * * *
New Charges for Teacher in Sex Case
[Previous 8/5/07 post]
(Titusville, Florida) Last April, a 32-year-old teacher at Jackson Middle School, Janet Lea Hughes, was arrested after being caught by police with a partially undressed 16-year-old male student in a van at the First Presbyterian Church parking lot in Titusville.

Hughes was booked on one count of unlawful sexual acts with a minor and one count of attempted unlawful sexual acts with a minor.

This week, the Florida state attorney's office filed charges of sexual battery on a child by a familial or custodial authority and attempted sexual battery on a child by a familial or custodial authority. The state charges replace those filed by Titusville Police and are more serious since they take into account Hughes' position as a teacher.

Hughes was fired from her teaching position in May.


[Update 05/18/08]

Janet Hughes goes to trial this week.

Georgia Mom Accused of Raping Boy

(Coweta County, Georgia) A 38-year-old local woman and mother-of-two, Stephanie Der, was arrested last night for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy who was babysitting for her.

Der faces charges of statutory rape and cruelty to a child.

The boy's father said the woman is a friend of the family and he was shocked and hurt to find out she was accused of sexually assaulting his son. He called it a blatant betrayal of trust.

Der was booked into custody at the Coweta County Jail. There's no news on bail.

Nebraska Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Fremont, Nebraska) A 42-year-old local woman, Cindy Greunke, was arrested last week for allegedly engaging in sex with a 15-year-old boy. Greunke faces charges of first-degree sexual assault and enticement by electronic device.

According to Fremont Police Lt. Jeff Elliott,

Greunke and the boy had known each other and that Greunke had sent sexually explicit text messages to the boy's cell phone.

Greunke was booked into custody at the Dodge County Jail with bail set at $150,000.

Death in Chocolate

(Camden, New Jersey) A 29-year-old factory worker, Vincent Smith II, fell into an eight-foot deep vat of chocolate yesterday and died. Smith was standing on a platform above the chocolate melting vat, lost his footing and fell in.

Co-workers tried to pull Smith out but a rotating mixing unit struck him, inflicting a fatal blow.

Preliminary indications are that the death was accidental.

India: Scores Dead from Cheap Illegal Booze

(Gujarat, India) Although alcohol is prohibited in Gujarat and other parts of India, many Indians prepare and consume home-brewed alcoholic drinks of questionable quality and safety. Sadly, the concoctions are often laced with pesticides and other deadly chemicals for extra kick.

At least 86 people are now known to have died in India's Gujarat state after drinking toxic illegal alcohol, police say.

Labourers in the city of Ahmedabad were admitted to hospital on Tuesday after drinking illegal brew on Monday night.

Authorities fear that this might not be the final death toll as more people had been admitted to hospital.

Most of the dead are slum dwellers. Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in South Asia.

Police are searching for the perpetrators.

Islamic hate speech rolls on in the USA right under the noses of the Left yet the Left stands silent

We read:

"A top aide to President Barack Obama provided a keynote address at last weekend's 46th Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) national convention, a gathering that attracted thousands of people and also featured anti-Semitic, homophobic rhetoric and defense of the terrorist group Hezbollah.

In her remarks, Senior Advisor for Public Engagement and International Affairs Valerie Jarrett noted she was the first White House official to address ISNA. She spoke in general terms about interfaith dialogue and cooperation. She praised her hosts for "the diversity of American organizations, and ideas that are represented and will be debated" at the convention....

While many panels featured criticism of U.S. policy and law enforcement, one stood out for its hate-filled rhetoric, and ISNA officials should have seen it coming a mile away. During a "meet the authors" session, Imam Warith Deen Umar, former head of the New York state prison chaplain program managed to:

* Argue that key Obama aides are "Israeli," proving Jews "have control of the world."

* Malign the motives of Jews active in the Civil Rights movement.

* Portray the Holocaust as punishment of Jews for being "serially disobedient to Allah."

* Insinuate that Hurricane Katrina was a result of tolerance for homosexuality.

Umar's radicalism is no secret. He previously hailed the 9/11 hijackers as martyrs who were secretly admired by Muslims. He has called for violent jihad.

Source

No mention of Ms Jarrett objecting or any response from the Obama administration at all. Muslims have free speech, you see. It's only Christians and conservatives who get howled down for things that they say.

I went to the ADL site and did a search for "ISNA". No mention of the above event. But if Christians had said any of those things about Jews the ADL would have gone ballistic. Depite its alleged aims, the ADL is clearly just Leftist and only incidentally Jewish. They are paradigmatic hypocrites.

Posted by John Ray.

Utah Teacher's Aide Gets 60 Days for Sex Crime

(Utah County, Utah) In January 2008, a teacher's aide at Oak Canyon Jr. High School, Mallory Shaw, was arrested for alleged sexual abuse of a boy and furnishing tobacco to minors.

On May 20, Shaw was found guilty of felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor selling tobacco to a minor.

Yesterday, 20-year-old Shaw was sentenced by Judge Lynn Davis to 60 days in the Utah County Jail and 36 months of probation plus fines totaling approximately $1,000. Shaw will not be required to register as a sex offender.

Despite the widely-held belief that America represents equality under the law, Judge Davis indicated that Shaw was treated leniently because she's a girl. Judge Davis remarked that "a man guilty of similar crimes would have been given time in prison."

Interestingly, Judge Davis isn't the only Utah judge who practices unequal application of the law and is bold enough to admit it. District Judge Mark Kouris has also confessed to treating female convicts leniently in comparison to male convicts.

One might contend that the state of Utah has a problem in this regard and there likely are a number of male inmates in Utah prisons with cause for individual or class action against the state.

Laboratory Sperm Created

(Newcastle, England) For the first time, human sperm has been created in a laboratory. It's being called a major scientific breakthrough.

Researchers at the Northeast England Stem Cell Institute, who made the breakthrough using cells from an embryo, said that with some minor changes, the sperm could theoretically fertilise an egg to create a child.

Frankly, I don't know what the big deal is. I've got a whole sack full of scientific breakthroughs which I've been making for virtually my entire life and none have needed "minor changes" to fertilize an egg.

Dad Booked for Murder - Son, 11, Says He Helped Dump Body

(Orlando, Florida) Authorities were tipped to a school rumor about a murder in which a fifth-grade boy helped his dad dump the body of a prostitute.

Consequently, 40-year-old Alan John Jett was arrested and charged with the first-degree murder of Lashanda Rae Brand. Jett was booked into custody at the Orange County Jail without bail.

Brand's body was found near Eatonville and later identified with help from the public.

According to the affidavit filed in Orange County court, the boy said he was with his father when Jett picked up a prostitute from the Parramore area. The trio went back to Jett's apartment in the 7100 block of Forest City Road, and the adults went into Jett's bedroom.

Awhile later, the boy heard his father and Brand argue about money. Then he heard silence, according to the affidavit.

Jett left his bedroom and took his son to dinner. As they left, the boy asked Jett about Brand and was told she was sleeping. The boy told investigators he saw her on the bed but thought then that she was dead.

The next morning, Jett told his son the woman had left. Later, however, the boy went into his father's room, opened the closet and saw Brand's body wrapped in a blanket and tape, according to the affidavit.

He didn't say anything to his father and went to his summer-school classes. After school, the boy told Jett he knew the woman was dead because he saw her body in the closet.

A day later, Jett told his son they needed "to get rid of the body" because it was starting to stink, the affidavit said.

Jett then wrapped the body in more bedding and asked his son to help him load it into the back of his Chevrolet Tahoe, the boy told investigators. They both got in the vehicle and dumped the body in a field.

The boy took investigators to the same field where Brand's body was found.

Tip: slwlion

Missouri Woman Accused of Sex with Boy

(Rogersville, Missouri) A 43-year-old Fordland woman, Coty Johnston, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy. Johnston has been charged with statutory rape.

A probable cause statement filed in the case by a Fordland police officer reports that local officials were alerted in early June by the Webster County Sheriff’s Department that Johnston had allegedly had sexual contact with the teen.

The teen reportedly told authorities he and Johnston had sexual intercourse on two occasions, once in April of this year, about a month before his 17th birthday.

But when Johnston was interviewed by authorities, she “denied having any sexual intercourse” with the teen “and stated he was lying about the alleged incident.” “Coty Johnston claimed she did not know why (the teen) would make such a claim, unless it was because he had made sexual advances toward her and she had refused,” the statement continued.

Johnston has a court appearance scheduled for August 10.

Nebraska Mom Gets Prison in Daughter-Sex Case

(Papillion, Nebraska) A local mother, Pamela Flege, was sentenced in Sarpy County District Court this week for buying her 13-year-old daughter a sex toy, taking sexually explicit photos and not protecting the girl from sexual assaults by her stepfather, Dana Flege.

Pamela Flege was given six years in prison. She must also register as a sex offender.


Stepfather Dana Flege admitted to sexually assaulting his stepdaughter since she was eight-years-old. He will be sentenced in August. Dana faces possible decades in prison.

"He wanted for Pamela Flege and her daughter to take photos of each other and send them to him," says Chief Deputy County Attorney Tricia Freeman.

Freeman is talking about a text message from the step-dad asking for naked pictures of both mom and daughter. The girl says mom stood by allegedly laughing it all off.

The girl is in the custody of her father and undergoing counseling.

Disturbing story, eh?

Pickens Scraps His Wind Project

T. Boone Pickens announced yesterday that he has 687 giant wind turbines for sale now that he has abandoned plans for a wind farm in the Texas panhandle.

It appears that T. Boone counted his chickens before they hatched.

Tip: Via Twitterer James Joyner

Honduras Outraged by Obama-Chavez Alliance



(The sign says: "Honduras is an example to the world: we do not have oil or dollars. But we have balls")

I continue to receive messages from Honduran citizens upset at the international media for their distorted coverage of the situation in the Central American country. The people support the ouster of Manuel "Mel" Zelaya, who is considered a puppet of Venezuelan Communist ruler Hugo Chavez. They are mystified that an American president would want to return this Chavez puppet to power in Honduras.

One Honduran wrote: "The recent action taken by our Congress is highly supported by several organizations in support of peace and democracy: the State General Attorney, the Supreme Court, the Armed Forces, the private organizations and especially many young people. Mr. Zelaya broke the law on several occasions even after the Supreme Court stated that it was illegal. He had no respect for our laws and our Constitution.

"It's not a new fact to the international media what are Chavez intentions over Central and South America. And we in Honduras don't want that. We don't want to go back to socialism or communism. We still believe very strongly in our democracy and very strongly in our freedom...We should be an example to Central American countries as well as South American countries who have not yet been influenced by Chavez.

"May God bless our small but courageous country. And I hope the international media investigate very deeply. Send your people here and interview people from Congress and Supreme Court. Thank you again for reading our side of the story. We want a democracy, peace, freedom, and a president who doesn't believe he is above the law.

"Many people don't know where Honduras is, but after this, they shall remember that Honduras said no to socialism and communism.

More HERE


Posted by John Ray.

Headscarf Martyr in Germany

(Dresden, Germany) This story out of Germany is creating shock waves throughout the Muslim world while the Western mainstream media is slowly catching up.

In the summer of 2008, a 32-year-old pharmacist and native Egyptian, Marwa el-Sherbini, was insulted by an unemployed worker from Russia, 28-year-old Alex W. (aka Alex A.) for wearing the hijab. He had screamed that Sherbini was a terrorist and an Islamist whore.

In November 2008, Alex W. was found guilty of insulting and abusing Sherbini and consequently assessed a fine. Alex W. appealed the verdict.

Last week, while the case was being heard on appeal, Sherbini, now pregnant, and her husband, Elvi Ali Okaz, appeared in the Dresden court along with Alex W. While Sherbini was testifying about the incident of insult and abuse in the summer of 2008, Alex W. walked across the courtroom and plunged a knife into her 18 times. As Mr. Okaz ran to save his wife, he was shot by a police officer who mistook him for the assailant. Mr. Okaz is currently under intensive care at a Dresden hospital.

Hundreds attended Sherbini's funeral in Alexandria, Egypt, her hometown, among them government officials, including Egyptian Manpower Minister Aisha Abdel Hadi and Telecommunications Minister Tariq Kamel, Egyptian media reported.

Many shouted hostile slogans against Germany and called for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to take a firm stand on the incident. Egypt's grand mufti, Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, demanded the severest punishment to be issued against Alex A.

Berlin witnessed angry protests on Saturday, when hundreds of Arabs and Muslims demonstrated after a funeral prayer that called her killing an outrageous racist murder against Muslims.

In a phone call with Al Arabiya, Marwa's brother, Tariq Sherbini, said, "Extremism has no religion. My sister was killed simply because she wore the veil. This incident clearly shows that extremism is not limited to one religion or another and it is not exclusively carried out by Muslims."

"We are only asking for a fair punishment," he said, adding that his sister was not a radical. "She was a religious woman who prayed and wore her headscarf, but she was killed because of her belief."

Anger about Sherbini's death smoldered online, as Twitterers and bloggers pushed the cause.

It's not clear to what extent the Muslim outrage will grow but the whole episode is being compared to the situation following the publication of cartoons of Mohammad.

Muslim Arsonists Get Prison

(London, England) Three Muslim men were sentenced to prison yesterday for arson.

Ali Beheshti, Abrar Mirza and Abbas Taj planned to set fire to Gibson Square Books after discovering it was going to publish The Jewel of Medina, a book about the Prophet and his young wife.

Mirza - Taj - Beheshti

Beheshti and Mirza poured diesel through the door of the Islington-based company and set it alight. They were arrested by armed Met Police officers as they attempted to flee the scene.

Beheshti, 41, of Tavistock Gardens, Ilford, and Mirza, 23, of East Field Road, Walthamstow, admitted conspiracy to commit arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered, at an earlier hearing on April 21.

A third man, Abbas Taj, 31, a minicab chauffeur who was driving the getaway car, pleaded not guilty to the same charge, but was found guilty by a jury after a trial at Croydon Crown Court on May 15. Today each was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

Via a thorough investigation by authorities, overwhelming evidence was collected to indicate that the three Muslims had shown a "violent mindset." It hasn't been explained how a violent mindset meshes with peace and tolerance and diversity. One probably has to convert to Islam to understand.

Boy Sells Pics of Mom in Lacy Underwear

(Auckland, New Zealand) A 44-year-old local mom, Jennifer (no last name provided), instructed her 18-year-old son, Michael, to clean the garage. Michael resisted until he was told that he could sell anything he found and make some money.

Her instruction to clear out the garage and sell unwanted items on Trade Me backfired when Michael started an auction titled "5 naked photos of my mum".

Jennifer was understandably annoyed.

"He was quite naughty ... I thought 'you cheeky little git', but at least he'd been a bit creative about it."

TradeMe pulled the photos along with a second set, reportedly less revealing. TradeMe spokesman Jon Macdonald said, ""We don't really want to be the place where people list photos of their mums in their underwear."

Tip: Barry~

Skater Nicole Bobek Arrested for Drugs


(New York) Former figure skating champion Nicole Bobek, 31, was arrested last week for alleged involvement in a drug distribution ring. Bobek has been charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

Bobek, who won the women’s U.S. figure skating title in 1995, was arrested last week in Florida and brought to New Jersey to appear in Central Judicial Processing Court via videolink Monday from the Hudson County Jail in Kearny, N.Y.

The 31-year-old, who has homes in New York and Jupiter, Fla., is accused of being involved in a northern New Jersey drug ring.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio told the Jersey Journal, “She played a significant role in this operation. She was actively involved in the upper echelon of this ring."

DeFazio added that the crimes of which Bobek is accused took place in New York and that twenty other individuals were arrested in connection to the drug ring.

Bobek is being held on $200,000 bail. If convicted, she faces a possible 10 years in jail.

Tip: Jeff Taylor

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Muslim Superheroes!

DC Comics will collaborate with Kuwait-based Teshkeel Comics and produce stories where Muslim Superheroes known as "The 99" appear together with American icons like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.


A few Muslim Superheroes
The anticipated release of the new comic series is within a year.

The 99 series was started in 2006 by Naif Al-Mutawa, who wanted to portray Islam in a more tolerant light.

It features 99 different superheros based on Muslim figures and values, but they are not overtly religious so that the comics can be read by people of all faiths.

Excuse me but besides the fact that a non-religious Muslim comic superhero makes absolutely no sense, it's even harder to reconcile Superman's tagline, "Truth, justice and the American way," with the frequently-heard Muslim tagline, "Allahu akbar, Death to America."

Any stories with even a remote connection to the real world would seemingly have the Muslim superheroes as the deadly enemies of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, et al.

Tip: Kenny Solomon

PETA and Pig Excrement

(Columbus, Ohio) The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has requested permission to put 3,500 gallons of pig excrement and urine on the Ohio Statehouse steps accompanied with a fan to disseminate the smell.

The Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board denied permission. PETA responded by sending a letter to the Statehouse Executive Director asking for a review of the denial.

The reported purpose of PETA's excrement project is to support its contention that pig farms produce swine flu and other diseases.

No information has been reported on where PETA gets their 10+ tons of pig excrement but it's believed that some sort of karmic justice is being played out. Think about it. A group of PETA's more fanatical followers is forced to spend quality time being up close and neighborly to 3,500 gallons of pig excrement in the middle of summer.

[Add.] According to a PETA press release:

"You can't have a serious discussion about swine flu without understanding that the stressful and filthy conditions on factory farms are what spawn the disease," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "The best way to protect animals and our own health is to go vegetarian."

One might infer that PETA's primary focus is vegetarianism and not the ethical treatment of animals.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

British oldsters' coffee morning banned for health and safety reasons

A group of pensioners [social security dependants] have been banned from holding a coffee morning at a public library for health and safety reasons in case they spill hot drinks on children. This thin excuse to mess other people around just shows how power-hungry British bureaucrats are. They are little men desperate to find some way of making themselves significant



The seven members of the coffee morning for over 50s have met at Eye Library in Eye, near Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, every Tuesday for the last four years without incident. But council officials have now axed the meetings claiming that toddlers from a nearby nursery who use the library at the same time could be injured if hot coffee spilt on them.

Now members, who used to pay 20p each to the library to cover costs, have arranged to meet at each other's homes instead. Derek Taylor, one member of the coffee club, condemned the "laughable" move and claimed they had usually finished their drinks by the time the toddlers arrived for their half hour visit.

Mr Taylor, of Eye, said: "It is just laughable really. It is health and safety gone through the roof. Nearly four years ago we set up a coffee morning at Eye Library after the librarian at the time came up with the idea, and since then about seven of us have been going there every Tuesday.

"About three weeks ago a toddlers group started coming up on the Tuesday as well, and then this week when we went, we were told that we would not be allowed any tea or coffee because of health and safety reasons because there is a risk we could spill hot tea on the children.

"However, we understand that is not the case at all, because we have always finished our drinks before the children even arrive, and that it is the case that the librarian doesn't want to wash up extra cups. "It is very disappointing, we all thoroughly enjoy the weekly meeting, it is a chance for us all to catch up and have a chat."

Retired office worker Patricia Owen, 70, and her husband Ray, 69, from Eye Green, near Eye, have also been attending the coffee mornings since they were launched. Mrs Owen said: "We are being told we can't have a hot drink. Health and safety is a silly excuse. We have now made alternative arrangements and plan to have our coffee mornings at each other's homes."

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) called for sensible risk assessments to be made. A spokesman said: "This would seem to be a disproportionate reaction to risk. I'm sure a sensible compromise could be found that does not leave these pensioners on the streets."

A spokesman for Peterborough City Council, who run the library, said: "Eye Library is a small library and there were concerns about hot drinks being served to the group when there were small children sitting very close by. "However, we do not want to spoil anyone's fun, and will be speaking to both groups to see if we can be more flexible about the timings so that the nursery group are not in the library at the time the coffee morning is meeting."

SOURCE

Posted by John Ray.

7/7 Terror Attack Memorial



(London, England) A £1m memorial to the victims of the July 7th 2005 terror attack on London will be unveiled today in Hyde Park.

Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall will join senior MPs, survivors and family members of the victims for the ceremony which takes place on the fourth anniversary of the terror attacks.

The Prince of Wales is expected to speak at the event, before laying a wreath and meeting bereaved families.

Sir Trevor Mcdonald has been invited to the unveiling, where he will read out the names of the victims before a minute's silence.

Each of the 52 victims is represented by a three metre high pillar, with the pillars arranged in four groups which represent the locations of the bombings.

A plaque with the victims' names has also been placed in the grass banks at the eastern end of the memorial.

The four bombings by Islamist terrorists occurred at Tavistock Square, Edgware Road, King's Cross and Aldgate.

Although it scarcely needs mentioning, many Americans share the pain of Britain's loss. And, for what it's worth, I'm just as sickened and outraged now as I was four years ago ago. Never forget.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Carolina Killer Shot Dead

(Dallas, North Carolina) Notorious Gaffney, SC, serial killer, Patrick Tracy Burris, 41, was shot dead by police yesterday outside the small community of Dallas, west of Charlotte. Burris was a probation violator with a long criminal record.

Burris' death brought to an end the killing spree that began with the June 27 shooting death of Cowpens peach farmer Kline Cash, 63. Items taken from Cash's home were in Burris' possession, Blanton said.

More than 200 law enforcement officers and support staffers worked day and night in search of the killer as he claimed four more victims in less than a week.

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Reggie Lloyd said he became angry when he saw that Burris' rap sheet extended about 25 pages and included crimes from Maryland to Florida.

“At some point the criminal justice system is going to need to explain why this individual was out on the street,” Lloyd said. “We owe that to the victims in this case. We owe that to the citizens who lived in terror for days.”

One might suggest that there is a problem with the parole system.

Utah Woman Accused of Child Rape

(Logan, Utah) A 46-year-old local woman, Carol Ricker, was arrested last Thursday for allegedly raping a child. Ricker faces 12 first-degree felony counts of rape, sodomy and aggravated sex abuse of a child.

Logan police say the alleged victim is now is in his 20s but was a younger boy at the time of the alleged crime.

Captain Jeff Curtis of the Logan Police Department says this is a difficult case for officers. "It's a sad fact of life that these types of things take place and happen in our society, but they do," he said.

Police learned of the alleged abuse after a tip that a 5-year-old was being abused by the suspect. Investigators are still looking into those claims.

"That did lead to some other facts that (something) had been happening to some people who are adults now," Curtis said.

Ricker was booked into custody at the Cache County Jail with bail set at $240,000.

Girl Scout Agiprop Conference

Liberal parents may want to mark their calendars to assure their daughters attend a three-day political indoctrination conference scheduled by the Girl Scouts of Northeast Ohio. The girls will be taught to develop a plan to advocate for social change.

The "Voice Lessons Advocacy Conference 2009" will be held on the campus of Hiram College from July 21 through 23.

The program is open to girls entering grades 9-12 and recently graduated high school seniors. Experts from local clubs and educational institutions will lead discussions and keynote addresses on the subjects of domestic violence, pay equity, going green, world refugees and women's health. [...]

The cost is $50 for Girl Scouts and $60 for non-Girl Scouts. The package includes two nights accommodation in the dorms at Hiram College, all meals and snacks, a scavenger hunt, a bonfire and gift bags.

It's not mentioned, but I'd speculate that the official refreshment will be Kool-Aid.

Robert S. McNamara, b.1916 - d.2009

Former Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara died this morning at his home in Washington. He was 93.

EPA Bans Pesticides in SF Bay Area

(San Francisco, California) In 2007, an environmental group filed a lawsuit to ratchet the EPA into conducting an assessment of pesticide use in Bay Area counties despite there being no evidence that the pesticides are harmful to designated Endangered Species List (ESL) flora and fauna.

The EPA settled by banning pesticides in the counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solana and Sonoma.

The Environmental Protection Agency last week announced its tentative settlement agreement to temporarily ban in eight Bay Area counties the use of 74 pesticides in habitat set aside for 11 imperiled species.

The agency also agreed to work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rigorously assess any risks posed by these pesticides to the endangered or threatened species.

That latter step will clear up uncertainty over the effects of these powerful chemicals on animal species deemed near the brink of survival, said Jeff Miller, a spokesman for the Center for Biological Diversity in San Francisco, a nonprofit that filed a 2007 lawsuit leading to the settlement.

"The end game is to get them to actually conduct the assessments of what the actual effects are," Miller said.

In a nutshell, there's no evidence that the pesticides harm the endangered and threatened species and there's no evidence that the pesticides do not harm the species. Therefore, a lawsuit was filed and the pesticides were banned despite potential adverse effects on the farming, gardening and wine-making operations in the area.

In my estimation, the lawsuit and the EPA response are nothing more than a fishing expedition by environmentalists trying to find a legitimately-strong reason to ban pesticides. Currently, there is no problem with pesticide use but there's a good chance something will be discovered after a long, hard, taxpayer-funded search.

Child Rapist Paroled Halfway Through 22-Year Sentence

(La Crosse, Wisconsin) In 1998, a 26-year-old woman, Stacey Maack, was sentenced to 22 years in prison, plus 20 years of probation, for the repeated sex assault of an 11-year-old boy.

The curious boy initiated the relationship, Maack later told a probation agent. She thought the sexual contact was legal because it was consensual, according to court documents.

“He told me things I’d never heard before. He told me he loved me. He told me I was attractive,” she said in court records. “He’s more mature than most men I’ve dated.”

Maack became pregnant in late July or early August 1996, according to the pre-sentence investigation report.

“I was like, ‘Cool. Whose kid is it?’” the victim said.

A girl born May 5, 1997, made the boy a father at age 12.

Their relationship resumed after the birth, Maack said, because she loved him.

The boy's mother, identified as Carolyn, reported Maack to the authorities after becoming suspicious. Carolyn subsequently was sentenced to a year in prison for failure to act to protect her son.

In the latest development, Stacey Maack, now 37, will be paroled after serving half of her sentence. According to a parole commission report, Maack has been a model prisoner, she has expressed remorse and recognized her selfishness, and she has learned from sex offender treatment programs.

“Continued confinement will not result in any additional changes, other than the passage of time,” the report stated.

Curiously, I was under the apparently mistaken impression that "passage of time" behind bars was the primary purpose of the penal system.

WOW! Iran clerics declare election invalid and condemn crackdown

Maybe it's just Hitler versus Stalin all over again but we can hope it is better than that

Iran’s biggest group of clerics has declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election to be illegitimate and condemned the subsequent crackdown. The statement by the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom is an act of defiance against the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has made clear he will tolerate no further challenges to Mr Ahmadinejad’s “victory” over Mir Hossein Mousavi.

“It’s a clerical mutiny,” said one Iranian analyst. “This is the first time ever you have all these big clerics openly challenging the leader’s decision.” Another, in Tehran, said: “We are seeing the birth of a new political front.” Professor Ali Ansari, head of Iranian Studies at St Andrews University, said: “It’s highly significant. It shows this is nowhere near resolved.”

The association’s statement also shows how deeply the political establishment is divided, and the extent to which the Supreme Leader now derives his power from military might, not moral authority. It makes it much harder for the regime to arrest Mr Mousavi and other opposition leaders. At the weekend a top aide to Mr Khamenei demanded that Mr Mousavi and other opponents be tried for “terrible crimes”, and the elite Revolutionary Guards accused them of “trying to overthrow the Islamic establishment”.

The association did not support a candidate in the election, but has now lined up firmly behind Mr Mousavi. In a rebuke to the regime it declared on its website: “Candidates’ complaints and strong evidence of vote-rigging were ignored . . . Peaceful protests by Iranians were violently oppressed . . . Dozens of Iranians were killed and hundreds were illegally arrested . . . The outcome is invalid.”

It called on other clerics to speak out, demanded the release of all those arrested in the past three weeks, and directly challenged the authority of the Guardian Council, a body of 12 senior clerics that has openly backed Mr Ahmadinejad and his patron, Mr Khamenei. “How can one accept the legitimacy of the election just because the Guardian Council says so?,” it asked.

On Wednesday, a day after the Guardian Council said that the election result was final, Mr Mousavi talked of forming a new political grouping to fight an illegitimate government. With the popular former president Mohammad Khatami and Medhi Karoubi, another defeated candidate, challenging the Government’s legitimacy, and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, another former president, pointedly meeting the families of those killed in street demonstrations, that coalition is beginning to take shape.

SOURCE

Posted by John Ray.

"Denialists hiding behind ideology" (?)

Green/Left "projection" at work again. The post below is from the Warmist in Chief of a major Australian newspaper. He accuses "denialists" of being governed by ideology but look at what he says. There is NOT ONE scientific fact mentioned in what he writes. It is ALL ideology!

In ExxonMobil’s 2008 corporate citizenship report, the fossil fuel giant said this: "In recent years, we have discontinued contributions to several public policy research groups whose position on climate change diverted attention from the important discussion on how the world will secure the energy required for economic growth in an environmentally responsible manner."

If only it were true. This from the Sydney Morning Herald, via The Guardian: "Company records show ExxonMobil gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to such lobby groups last year. These include the National Centre for Policy Analysis in Dallas, which received $75,000, and the Heritage Foundation in Washington, which received $50,000."

Heritage was one of the groups which helped to fund the conference - mutual denialist back-slapping - which Senator Steve Fielding attended a few weeks ago before returning to Australia having swallowed their nonsense. From it’s title, you might think the NCPA was a genuine centre of repute. Not so. This from their website: "NCPA scholars believe that while the causes and consequences of the earth’s current warming trend is still unknown.."

Wow. These guys are scholars. Aren’t they supposed to read stuff? At least have a stab at a theory. Back in May, Professor Geoffrey Heal, professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, told an audience at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the following"

"It is mainly politicians on the right, who champion the efficiency of free markets, that have tended to dispute both the science and economics of climate change. They have a problem because they believe that governments should not intervene in markets. But environmental problems, such as climate change, cannot be tackled without governments acting. In addition, there are many on the right in the United States who are hostile to science because of their beliefs, whether it is evolution or climate change."

And who’d have thunk it? So it’s not down to science after all - just a bunch of free-market ideologists and Christians desperately trying to justify their beliefs.

SOURCE

He also greatly misrepresents both what Exxon Mobil did and what it reported. They did in fact cease funding some "denialist" organizations and their contributions to "denialist" groups in total came to only 4% of what they gave to groups interested in the environment. See my third post down here. Warmists just wallow in deception. It's all they've got

Posted by John Ray.

Ohio Teacher Gets Prison in Sex Case - Updated

(Mt. Orab, Ohio) Former special education teacher Heidi Mullinix has been sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Scott Gusweiler to one year in prison for a conviction of sexual battery of a male student.

As a part of the plea deal, Brown County Prosecutor Jessica Little recommended that Mullinix be sentenced to five years of community control instead of the maximum sentence of five years in prison.

At the sentencing on July 1, Gusweiler sentenced Mullinix to one year in prison, as well as five years of community control.

Additionally, Mullinix must register as a tier three sex offender for the rest of her life, and update the court on her whereabouts every three months.

After sentencing, Mullinix reported to the Brown County Detention Center to begin her term.

* * * * *
Ohio Teacher Admits Sex with Male Student
[Previous 6/3/09 post]
(Brown County, Ohio) A special education teacher and girl's basketball coach at Brown County High School, Heidi Mullinix, was accused of engaging in sex with a 17-year-old male student after rumors surfaced at school.

On the verge of a grand jury inquiry, Mullinix pleaded guilty today to one count of sexual battery.

Mullinix admitted to having sex with the boy but it did not occur at the school. The sex reportedly occurred between February and March of 2004.

Mullinix is expected to resign her teaching position tomorrow.

Sentencing has been scheduled for July 1.

Scotland: Police warn Orange Marchers

The Orange marches are a traditional celebration of the triumph of Protestantism over Catholicism. Specifically, they commemorate the Battle Of The Boyne in Ireland in 1690, hence the famous Orange refrain: 'King Billy slew the Papish crew at the battle o'Boyne Water.' I wonder are they allowed to sing that these days? The marches are held in both Northern Ireland and in Scotland but rarely elsewhere



Strathclyde Police have warned that they will not tolerate "sectarian behaviour" at the annual Orange Order parade in Glasgow this weekend. About 8,000 marchers from 182 lodges across the city are expected to take part in Saturday's parade.

Police said their warning over possible sectarian behaviour had the backing of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland. Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson said: "Whilst the parade will have a major impact on traffic in the city centre, the main issue for the force and members of the public is the excessive drinking and public nuisance caused by those who follow the parade.

"We want to make sure people can come into the city centre without too much disruption or feeling intimidated by excessive drunkenness and sectarian or disorderly behaviour. "By all means follow the march, but note that drinking in public places is not allowed and officers will make full use of anti-social behaviour fixed penalty tickets to tackle the consumption of alcohol and urinating in public places."

Ian Wilson, Grand Master of the Orange Order, said he wanted spectators to "enjoy the music and the pageantry in a carnival atmosphere". "We do not wish anyone's enjoyment spoiled by the antics of boozed-up foul-mouthed followers," he said. "There is no place in our celebration for public drinking, abusive behaviour or offensive chants."

SOURCE


Posted by John Ray.

Laughing in Public Illegal in Gaza

(Gaza Strip) Out of fear of being tagged as fundamentalist, the Hamas government doesn't acknowledge the existence of the virtue and vice security force but the citizens know it exists.

A Palestinian female journalist complained over the weekend that Hamas policemen attempted to arrest her under the pretext that she came to a Gaza beach dressed immodestly and was seen laughing in public.

The journalist, Asma al-Ghul, said that the policemen instead confiscated her passport. Since the incident, she added, she has been afraid to leave her home, especially after receiving death threats from anonymous callers.

"They accused me of laughing loudly while swimming with my friend and failing to wear a hijab," Ghul told a human rights organization in the Gaza Strip. "They also wanted to know the identity of the people who were with me at the beach and whether they were relatives of mine."

In a phone interview with the Dubai-based Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya news Web site, the journalist said that the policemen who stopped her belonged to the Hamas government's Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice security force.

Reportedly in addition to banning laughing while swimming, the Hamas security force has also banned men from swimming topless. A Hamas spokesman said the security force operates "to prevent men from harassing women."

Most interesting to me in this report is that Hamas wants to hide the fact that Gaza is governed by radicals. Imagine that, extremists in government pretending to be rational.

"Run Hadji Run" Fireworks Draw Protest

(Baldwin, Wisconsin) The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) expressed outrage regarding the sale of "Run Hadji Run" fireworks at a local Baldwin retail store. CAIR claimed the fireworks display "derogatory imagery" and asked that the product be pulled from the shelves.


The retailer complied.

On one side of the packaging for 'Run Hadji Run' fireworks, men of Middle Eastern decent are riding on camels with a bomber plane flying above them. On the other side is an angry-looking Uncle Same yanking the beard of what looks like a Muslim man.

CAIR sent a letter to the manufacturer asking for an apology.

Oddly, it's reportedly illegal to sell fireworks with "questionable names" in Minnesota -- whatever the hell that means.

God Bless the U.S.A.

Why the Left hate Sarah Palin

Worth asking now that she seems to have started her run for 2012

By Jim Geraghty

Tuesday night on Hugh's program, we discussed the Vanity Fair article about Sarah Palin and why, eight months after the election, Palin still arouses such fury amongst liberals and so many rank-and-file Democrats.

My first thought was that it tied heavily to her appearance. In liberals' minds, conservatives are supposed to look like the couple from the painting American Gothic: Dour and joyless, aged, spartan and frail. Political leaders aren't supposed to be young, really good-looking women, full of energy, smiles, and winks.

Hugh suggested it tied to the contrast between her lifestyle and her critics: "She is the embodiment of the anti-choice, the opposite of every choice that lefty elites have ever made — as to going back home instead of moving to the west coast, having children, having a child with Down's, staying married to one man the whole time, choosing rural or suburban over urban and living a generally conservative lifestyle, working with her hands . . . That everything she is is the antithesis of everything that liberal urban elites are, so it's not just enough to say, 'I disagree with you,'; she has to be repudiated and crushed."

And now, I would submit a slight refining of that idea, that the seeming happiness of Palin's life is a 24-7 irritant because it challenges the way some liberals see the world.

Liberals believe that their ideas, philosophy, worldview, and policies liberate believers, and that the conservative equivalents limit people. Liberals see themselves as rejecting outdated beliefs and obsolete ideas, overturning established orders, and discarding traditions established by superstitious and ignorant forebears who weren't as enlightened as we are. Conservatives, in their minds, are runaway cultural superegos, always wagging their fingers about individual responsibility, dismissing excuses, reminding people that they can't always do what they want because of the consequences to themselves and to others.

Conservatism, they suspect, will leave you in a marriage that doesn't satisfy you, burden you with children you don't want, repress your passions, and trap you in a empty, boring, and unfulfilled life, with no hand of government able to help.

Today almost everyone faces some sort of challenge in balancing work and family; I don't know too many people who believe there are sufficient hours in a day. And then along comes this woman who's made all of these "conservative" choices and now has an amazing career, a supportive husband, a beautiful family, and great health and appearance, and she bears it all, including the inevitable hard times, with pluck and a smile, as far as we can tell. (For all we know, perhaps behind closed doors, Sarah Palin screams into a pillow when it all gets to be too much. But what we know about her suggests she relieves her stress by shooting moose.)

A short while back, Los Angeles Times columnist Meghan Daum suggested, only half-jokingly, that actress Angelina Jolie's "entire Oscar-winning, serial-adopting, Brad Pitt-snagging, plane-piloting, unattainably hot-looking existence makes women around the world feel hopelessly inadequate and therefore unhappy." Perhaps Sarah Palin is the Angelina Jolie of the political world.

In her opponents' minds, Palin's made all the wrong choices, and cannot, they insist, be very bright. Yet she's happy and successful. She is an anomaly that invalidates their worldview, and for that, they attempt to immiserate her — regardless of whether she wishes to run for national office again.

SOURCE

Carol Platt Liebau adds:

Governor Palin has been attacked with the kind of ferocity that few people in the public eye have ever experienced -- except, perhaps, for Justice Thomas and (to a lesser extent) Joe the Plumber. Why does the left reserve their most vicious derision for these three, and those like them? As I wrote last fall in a Townhall column:

Justice Thomas, Governor Palin and Joe the Plumber have one thing in common: Their lives make a mockery of the Democrat Party’s raison d’etre – its foundational assertion that minorities, women and “regular guys” can get a “fair shake” in America only through government action. What’s more, all three of them have made it clear that they don’t want the government’s “help.” For that apostasy, and for their sheer ingratitude – after all, aren’t the Democrats the ones who “care” about blacks, women and “working men”? – the left has tried to destroy them.

SOURCE


Posted by John Ray.

Teacher Reprimanded for UNCF Stance

(Louisville, Kentucky) A former teacher at Stopher Elementary School, Gary Owens, was reprimanded for refusing to serve as a fund-raising director for a United Negro College Fund campaign. As a consequence, he filed a lawsuit.

According to a suit filed by Gary Sanders, he was reprimanded by Stopher Elementary principal Brigitte Owens over questioning public support for a "racially based organization."

The suit also says Mr. Sanders refused a request to serve as a leader in a Fund for the Arts money-raising drive.

The official reprimand says Mr. Owens was punished for failing to respond appropriately to questions regarding whether he would serve as a Fund for the Arts fund drive official. Apparently he replied that he (1) wouldn't answer in public and (2) felt uncomfortable answering with other folks around. Instead, he sent the principal an e-mail.

Assistant Superintendent Carolyn Meredith said he could have answered yes or no, and was being disciplined for "disrespectful behavior."

More than anything else, it appears that the reprimand stems from Owens' belief that the United Negro College Fund is a racially-based organization. It also appears that others within the school system do not believe the United Negro College Fund is racially-based and therein lies the conflict leading to the disciplinary action.

Given the complexities of the legal system, who knows how this case will turn out? Personally, I contend that any organization associated exclusively with one particular race is racially-based and, agreeing with Owens, it shouldn't be promoted on taxpayers dollars.

Swine Flu Parties

Reported as a new trend, swine flu parties are being organized by parents to intentionally infect their children, hoping the youngsters will acquire immunity to H1N1. The practice worries the public health community.

According to infection expert, Dr. Michael Gardam, it's a bad idea for several reasons.

"First off, not all people have mild disease from H1N1. A small percentage develop serious disease. Can you imagine being the parent who intentionally gets their kid infected only to have child end up in the ICU later?" he said Friday.

Second of all, he said, even if parents think they can control when their child gets sick with these parties, as some parents did with "chicken pox parties" in previous generations, parents can't control how far the infection will spread.

"Unlike chicken pox parties, where typically, the adults have had the infection already, in this case, your kid could get infected and then come home and give it to everybody else in the family," said Gardam.

Gardam added there is no reason to believe that everybody needs to develop immunity to this virus. "Even in a pandemic, the majority of the population isn't going to get sick," he noted.

Research and development is ongoing for an H1N1 vaccine and until one is produced and widely distributed, people should avoid contact with the virus as much as possible.

Note that the referenced article doesn't provide details about the swine flu parties. No information is provided as to where they are occurring and which specific groups of people are holding them. Therefore, I tend to question the extent of the swine flu party trend.

Recruiting Commandos


Yes, guys, these women are available to join your "special forces." However, if you want to recruit them, you need to know how it's done.

You're welcome.

Dutch Prostitutes Want Stimulus

(Amsterdam) The Amsterdam City Council has been asked to provide access to banking and credit for the bordello and prostitution businesses in the notorious sex district.

The council is expected to come to some sort of conclusion within the next two months on what it might do to help the industry.

It will not, however, establish or sponsor a "sex bank" as reported by a local paper.

"It's more that we're going to investigate and talk with bankers and try to set up a system in which they can get a loan or credit," the spokesman said.

He added the city wants to ensure that prostitution is a "bona fide" industry, and that the "entrepreneurs" who ply the local trade need access to regular bank credit for legitimacy.

The effort to stimulate the sex industry is part of a city-wide campaign called Project 1012.

Tip: slwlion

Israeli Sub Transits Suez Canal

(Jerusalem) In an uncommon move, an Israeli Dolphin-class diesel submarine sailed the Suez Canal last month. Typically, Israeli submarines, assumed to carry nuclear weapons, avoid the canal and the scrutiny of Egyptian and other Arab observers.

A defense source said the Israeli navy held an exercise off Eilat last month and that a Dolphin took part, having traveled to the Red Sea port though Suez. Israel has a naval base at Eilat, a 10-km (6-mile) strip of coast between Egypt and Jordan, but officials say it has no submarine dock there.

"This was definitely a departure from policy," said the source, who declined to give further details on the drill or say whether the Dolphin had undergone Egyptian inspections in the canal, through which the submarine sailed unsubmerged.

A military spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the voyage, first reported on Friday by the Jerusalem Post.

Egyptian officials at Suez said they would neither confirm nor deny reports regarding military movements. One official said that if there was such a passage by Israelis in the canal, it would not be problematic as Egypt and Israel are not at war.

Apparently, Egypt and Israel have sort of an unwritten mutual tolerance agreement due to a shared anxiety about non-Arab Iran.

Domestic Squabbles

(Jensen Beach, Florida) Last Saturday, a 51-year-old local man, John Jeffrey Murray, was arrested for drenching his wife with a garden hose. Apparently, Mr. Murray's wife lit up a cigarette in their home and he began yelling at her and then drenched her with the hose. Mr. Murray also elbowed his wife in the mouth during a struggle for the telephone. Murray has been charged with domestic battery.

This report coupled with others, most notably the report on 6/27 when two people were charged with domestic assault because they threw Cheetos at each other, indicate that the threshold for criminal offenses in domestic squabbles has been set very low.

The reasonableness of the extremely low threshold for domestic battery is arguable. Frankly, I would suggest that law enforcers could apply some common sense when involved in picayune squabbles and avoid having to tag people with criminal records for throwing Cheetos or spraying someone with a garden hose. Not only that, but it's usually he-said, she-said in these cases.

Of course, I understand that domestic conflicts can easily escalate and the failure to stop a Cheeto-thrower in the beginning might lead to investigating a murder at a later time.

In any event, domestic squabbles are no-win situations for the police. If they arrest the Cheeto-thrower, they're criticized for wasting time on insignificant squabbles. However, if they don't arrest the Cheeto-thrower and the conflict escalates to a serious crime, they get criticized for not stopping it at the Cheeto-throwing stage. Police officers get fingers pointed at them either way.

Tip: Charlie Nestor

Host "Mom" Gets No Jail for Sex with Exchange Student - Updated

(Anderson, Indiana) On June 3rd, 32-year-old foreign exchange student host Tricia D. Mallernee pleaded guilty to child solicitation and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Mallernee's conviction stemmed from jumping the bones of a 17-year-old foreign student within two weeks of his arrival in the U.S.

Yesterday, Mallernee was sentenced by Judge Fredrick Spencer to no jail.

As per the terms of a plea agreement with prosecutors, Judge Fredrick Spencer gave Mallernee a three-year suspended sentence on each of four counts of child solicitation. The judge gave Mallernee a one-year suspended sentence for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor.

Thankfully, at least one substantive measure resulted in this case. Mallernee was ordered to register as a sex offender.

This case is troubling on several levels. First, there's a mere hand slap for having sex with a minor. Second, the perpetrator, Mallernee, was in a position of authority over the exchange student. Third, the whole episode and the lack of meaningful punishment sends a message to foreign student exchange partners that their youths are at risk of being molested by American adults enjoying impunity. Fourth, the Mallernee situation casts doubt on the entire vetting process for foreign exchange student host families.

In summary, a foreign exchange student is molested by an American host adult. And, nobody cared.


* * * * *
Host "Mom" Accused of Sex with Exchange Student
[Previous 5/7/09 post]
(Anderson, Indiana) A 32-year-old foreign exchange student host mother/guardian, Tricia D. Mallernee, has been accused of engaging in sex with the 17-year-old student she was hosting.

Since Mallernee was acting in the capacity as the boy's guardian, she faces charges of child seduction. She was arrested Tuesday.

According to court documents, Mallernee began having sex with the 17-year-old male foreign exchange student about two weeks after his arrival in early July 2008.

The sexual relationship continued through April. Mallernee and the teen had sex in her home and while on a spring vacation in Florida. On one occasion in April, Mallernee had the boy dismissed from school early and the pair had sex at Mounds State Park, according to court documents.

The teen told investigators he initially wanted to be in the relationship. But later he tried to end it, fearing Mallernee was becoming “emotionally attached and he did not feel the same way.”

Mallernee allegedly threatened to have the boy removed from the home if he ended the relationship, law enforcement officials said.

Mallernee was booked and released on $500 bond.

Duke's homosexual rape case elicits silence


A professor of criminology at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington says the outrage over a homosexual statutory rape case at Duke University is a deafening sound of silence.

Frank Lombard, associate director of Duke University's Center for Health Policy, has been accused of molesting his adopted five-year-old African-American son and offering him up for sex with strangers on the Internet. Lombard's homosexual partner, who resides in the same house with Lombard, was allegedly unaware of the activities.

Mike Adams is a professor at UNC-Wilmington and has written several pieces on the case. "The conduct that he was accused of engaging in, in front of a webcam with his five-year-old son, includes molestation," Adams explains. "There was oral sex that was involved, and other very unhealthy practices that are too grotesque for me to describe...."

In a 2006 rape case involving white lacrosse players from Duke who were accused of raping a black stripper, more than 80 university officials and professors signed a statement accusing the players of racism. The players were eventually found innocent of all charges.

Adams wonders where those professors are now in this new rape case at the university. "I expect to see a continued silence on this," he relates. "I don't expect them to ever speak out on the issue -- and I expect, as a result of that, Duke University to take a severe, severe hit in the court of public opinion."

If convicted, Lombard faces up to 20 years in prison.

SOURCE

Posted by John Ray.

Teacher Gives Porn to 5th Graders (Video)

(Sacramento, California) A fifth-grade teacher at Isabelle Jackson Elementary School, Crystal Defanti, mistakenly sent a DVD containing homemade pornography to the residences of all her students. The DVD was supposed to contain only scenes of the students from the past school year.

The offending DVD starts with a menu screen that displays various school trips and functions, and when you click on one of them, you see kids in a classroom sharing stories. They start clapping, then the video suddenly cuts to sex.

"It goes from my son, straight to her on the couch," said 'Joe,' who saw the video along with his son and did not wish to be identified. "My son's reaction was, 'Dad, is that Ms. Defanti?'"

"We were up till midnight doing the 'birds and the bees,'" he added.

The person in the video turned out to be Isabelle Jackson Elementary fifth grade teacher Crystal Defanti.

"All she could say was that it was a horrible mix up," Joe said.

The teacher called his home the day after his child got the DVD, crying hysterically, profusely apologizing and asking the man and his wife to call every parent they knew to stop their kids from seeing the DVD too.

The Elk Grove School District is investigating and plans to send a replacement DVD.

Video Courtesy of CBS 13 Sacramento (NSFW)

Unnecessarily Rescued

(Hartford, Connecticut) A girl misinterpreted her mother's screams as calls for help so the daughter gathered some teen friends to rescue her. The mother, Melanie Arnold, 34, was actually making noises while in the intimate embraces of a male friend, Roger Swanson, and she didn't need to be rescued.

The teens knocked on the bedroom door and Arnold opened it, according to the couple, who recently broke up.

The teens rushed into the room and the man, Roger Swanson, said he didn't have a chance to explain himself. He said he tried to get away, but the teens chased him down and started beating him in the house.

He said he knelt down over a chair and tried to protect his face, but got hit in the eye and in the back. He said Arnold covered his back to try to protect him, but the teen with the bat started hitting him in the legs. Then the youths left.

The girl and three teen males were arrested and charged with assault. File under "No good deed goes unpunished."

Tip: slwlion

Topless Babes Stall Construction Work

(Darwin, Australia) Called Watergape, a controversy has emerged regarding construction on the Darwin Waterfront Project.

It is being noticeably slowed by female European backpackers sunbathing topless and distracting the workers. Trade workers say the scantily-clad babes are purposefully distracting the men.

"They ask for it," one tradie told the Northern Territory News.

"They come and sit right in front of where the tradies are.

"They do it topless too - how do they get away with that?"

Darwin Waterfront development chief Pat Coleman was more critical and suggested that topless sunbathing should be banned. However, a national topless women's group, Gotopless.org, immediately came to the defense of bare-chested ladies.

Gotopless.org said women had the same right as men to walk around with no shirt on.

"Both men and women have nipples and both are natural, beautiful parts of the human anatomy," Gotopless spokeswoman Veronique Chachay said. [...]

Ms Chachay said Gotopless was committed to helping men differentiate between nudity and sexuality.

"If the presence of a topless woman in public triggers a sexual impulse, it can easily be controlled in the same way men control themselves when they see a woman wearing a mini skirt or revealing ample cleavage," she said.

Obviously, Ms. Chachay possesses the requisite degree of feminist arrogance to know how men "easily" control themselves.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Endangered Giant Sweet-Smelling, Spitting Worm

(Spokane, Washington) Biology activists have petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service requesting that the giant Palouse earthworm be given protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).


Giant Palouse Earthworm (Driloleirus americanus)
The three-foot-long, sweet-smelling, spitting, albino worm has only been seen four times since its discovery in 1897.

"The giant Palouse earthworm is critically endangered and needs the protection of the Endangered Species Act to have any chance of survival," said Noah Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The center filed the lawsuit along with Friends of the Clearwater, Palouse Prairie Foundation, Palouse Audubon and Palouse Group of Sierra Club.

Excuse me for taking a contrary view but if the worm has only been seen four times in over a century, I suggest that insufficient data have been collected to determine whether the species is threatened or thriving.

Wild, Topless Woman Arrested

(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania) A 28-year-old area woman, Amy Marie Sims, was arrested yesterday for topless, drunken and disorderly behavior. Sims faces a bunch of charges.

Police responded to the residence for a 911 hang-up call at about 1:20 a.m. Attempts to contact anyone inside were unsuccessful. As police were leaving, a second 911call was placed from a different apartment reporting that a topless woman was on the roof at the residence.

Police looked up and saw a topless woman, identified as Sims, lying on her stomach. She then got up and opened a window to enter the residence.

Police climbed onto the roof and followed Sims inside, where she was found hiding behind a mattress. She yelled and cursed at police, claiming she had been drinking.

Police detained Sims and removed her from the residence. She continued to yell and curse at police and attempted to kick out a window in a cruiser. Police allege Sims spat saliva that struck an officer.

Donald Morningstar, the tenant of the residence, told police that he didn’t know Sims and didn’t know why she was in his residence.

I wonder what she was drinking. Tequila maybe?

Government Bottling of Health Care

(Columbus, Ohio) One might liken government-run health care to bottled health care where lower-level bureaucrats, I'll call Smiths, control the cork. Smiths will decide when to cork the health care bottle, when to remove the cork and when to use the cork to throttle the flow of health care.

As an example, the government Smiths decided to cork the health care bottle in Columbus for a full work-week.

If you're looking to the city for a tuberculosis test, a shot for your baby or information on licensing that restaurant you've always wanted to open, today is not your day. Neither is Sept. 4, Oct. 9, Nov. 27 or Dec. 24.

Columbus Public Health will close up shop for five days this year to comply with a city mandate that employees take five unpaid days off to save money.

It made the most sense to shut down the services provided to the public for five days rather than to stagger employees' days off and leave clinics and other areas short-staffed on multiple days, said spokesman Jose Rodriguez.

Of course, there will be times when the Smiths throttle health care services due to limited resources. Typically, this is done by suspending certain medical functions and procedures for a defined period. Meanwhile, the public waits -- and waits.

Sadly, restricting health services and causing the public to wait has a significant downside. In Canada, while telling the patients to wait, the health care system also apologizes for their deaths - in the same computer-generated letter. At least the Canadian health care bureaucrats are efficient -- covering two equally-likely sets of circumstances with one piece of paper.

Fortunately, the Canadians have an alternative other than wait or die. They can travel to the United States for treatment. For now, that is.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

School forbids anti-abortion t-shirt




The McSwain junior public high school in Merced, California, has forbidden one of its students from wearing an anti-abortion t-shirt -- citing a violation of its school dress code banning any "suggestion of tobacco, drug or alcohol use, sexual promiscuity, profanity, vulgarity, or other inappropriate subject matter." The "inappropriate subject matter" phrase is enormously vague and arbitrary but that seems to be what they think catches the t-shirt. It is too vague to be constitutional. What if criticism of Obama is seen by the school as "inappropriate" (which it probably is)? The young lady, Anna Amador, who wore the shirt is now suing the school. Eugene Volokh has the legal arguments:

"That strikes me as a clear First Amendment violation under the Supreme Court's decision Tinker v. Des Moines School Dist. (1969). If junior high school students have a constitutional right to wear a black armband to protest the Vietnam War, at least until there's some serious evidence that the armband is likely to cause substantial disruption, they must have an equal right to wear a T-shirt to protest abortions.

And nothing in the school district's motion suggests that the student was ordered to change shirts because of a risk of disruption; the school district apparently thinks that it can just categorically ban any T-shirts that deal with this "inappropriate" "subject matter." One might argue, as Justice Thomas has (and as Justice Black before him had), that Tinker should be overruled; but it's the law, and school districts should comply with it.

Source

Note: The picture above illustrates the shirt, not the plaintiff.


Posted by John Ray.

Do-It-Yourself Plastic Surgery

(Durbin, California) Apparently to save money, a 54-year-old local woman performed at-home plastic surgery on her face.

The woman, who asked that her name not be used, is 54, a mother of three, with a career in the public eye. She said that after a visit to a plastic surgeon, she went online and bought a vial of liquid silicone for $10 then injected it into her lips and cheek four weeks ago.

"Insane. I can't believe I did what I did," she said. "I thought I was going to be happy with the results, then the next day, my face became very inflamed, very red, swollen."

Plastic surgeon Dr. Steven Williams said the economy and the notion that plastic surgery is somehow foolproof has contributed to a recent rise in self-performed plastic surgeries.

The woman has undergone corrective surgery which is reportedly quite complicated since the foreign material has to be cut out. Ouch! Even then, more surgeries may be required.

Norks Launch Two Missiles

A news agency reports that North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles off its eastern coast today. They were ground-to-ship missiles.

Girl Scout Funds Theft

(Scottsdale, Arizona) A 29-year-old Girl Scout troop leader, Trisha Proud, was arrested for embezzling $8,000 in cookie funds being saved for a trip to Disneyland. Proud faces one count of theft.

Police say the money went missing last spring and several parents reported the theft to police last month.

"She had access to the account and had utilized ATM cards and also written checks off the account," said officer Dave Pubins of the Scottsdale Police Department.

Proud was booked into custody.

Karl Malden, b.1912 - d.2009

Academy Award-winning actor Karl Malden died today at his home in Los Angeles. He was 97.

Mr. Malden was born Mladen Sekulovich on March 22, 1912, in Chicago and grew up in Gary, Ind. His father was a Serb who worked in the steel mills and as a milkman, and his Czech mother was a seamstress.

A high school basketball star, Mr. Malden yearned for an athletic college scholarship, but was turned down for refusing to play anything except basketball. He worked at the mills, finding time for amateur theater. Envisioning his name in lights, he shortened it by switching around the letters of his first name and making it his last and co-opting his uncle's given name. Later on, when he played the priest in "On the Waterfront," he insisted that Fred Gwynne's character be named Sekulovich to honor his original name.

Mr. Malden studied at the Goodman Theater in Chicago. He made his Broadway debut in 1937 and joined the Group Theatre where he met Elia Kazan, who would eventually direct him in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "On the Waterfront."

Mr. Malden put his career on hold to serve in the 8th Air Force during World War II.

Rest in peace.

Planned Parenthood Leaves El Paso

(El Paso, Texas) Presumably due to decreased demand for abortions, Planned Parenthood departs El Paso.

Citing financial strains as the main issue, Diane Quest, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood, had this to say about the El Paso closures:

"Planned Parenthood Center of El Paso's closure is unfortunate and understandably a surprise to the community. Since 2003, the Planned Parenthood El Paso affiliate has had some difficulty in meeting certain financial indicators for accreditation. Like many non-profits there have been ups and downs.

"Ultimately the financial strain became too much and the organization was not sustainable. Planned Parenthood's national office is dedicated to seeking out new opportunities to once again enable Planned Parenthood health care services to be provided in El Paso and hopes to serve the community in the future."

Disputing the official statement, several sources indicate that finances have never been a problem at Planned Parenthood clinics.

Alec Baldwin for Ohio Governor?

Alec Baldwin is being encouraged to run. Baldwin says he's tempted to follow the path paved by Schwarzenegger and Ventura.

So, effectively, the idea has been run up the flagpole to see how many people will salute. Hey, Alec, don't count on me.

Tip: Patrick Poole

The Obama doctrine



North Korea launches a missile and it takes Barack Obama and the UN five days to respond. Iran holds fraudulent elections, kills protesters and it takes weeks before Barack Obama can stand up and say that he is "concerned" about the situation.

Then the people of Honduras try to uphold their constitution and laws of the land from being trampled by a Chavez-wanna be ... and it takes Barack Obama one day to proclaim that this was not a legal coup.

Why the sudden decisiveness? Where were these strong opinions on foreign matters when Iranian authorities were trampling protestors and cutting off media access to the outside world? Where was this decisiveness when Kim Jong Ill decided that he was going to launch missiles toward Hawaii on the Fourth of July? Why ... NOW ... is Obama suddenly speaking out loudly

How about a little background. Are you really sure you know what has been going on in Honduras? Do you think that this was simply a coup? Let me give you a rough outline here, and then you can sit back and wonder just why PrezBO is in the weeds with Chavez and Castro on this one.

More HERE

Posted by John Ray.

Connecticut Mom Accused of Sex with Boy

(Stratford, Connecticut) A 26-year-old mother-of-two, Kristen Blanco, has been charged with sex assault and risk of injury to a minor after being caught by police in bed with a 15-year-old boy.

Police said they had recently received a complaint that Blanco has been having sexual relations with the boy for some time at her home.

Officers went to her home and were let inside by a relative. When they entered Blanco's bedroom, they allegedly found the defendant and boy in bed together naked.

Police said Blanco ordered the officers out of her bedroom so that she and the boy could get dressed. She later told officers she and the boy are in love and had been having sex for several weeks.

Blanco was booked and released on $2,500 bond.

Prehistoric "Happy Meal"

(Atapuerca, Spain) Prehistoric sites indicate that pre-Neanderthal cave-dwellers ate children.

THE remains of the 'first Europeans' discovered at an archaeological site in northern Spain have revealed that these prehistoric men were cannibals who particularly liked the flesh of children.

'We know that they practiced cannibalism,' said Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, one of the co-directors of the Atapuerca project, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A study of the remains revealed that they turned to cannibalism to feed themselves and not as part of a ritual, that they ate their rivals after killing them, mostly children and adolescents.

The remains discovered in the caves 'appeared scattered, broken, fragmented, mixed with other animals such as horses, deer, rhinoceroses, all kinds of animals caught in hunting' and eaten by humans, he said.

Those remains probably correspond to the first humans who reached Europe, known as Homo antecessor, after the Latin word for pioneer or explorer.

Bon appetit!