Virginia Teacher Guilty - Updated

(Lebanon, Virginia) The trial of former Lebanon Middle School teacher Connie Beth Klewer concluded this week with guilty verdicts on all five charges.

Klewer was convicted by a jury after 45 minutes of deliberations.

Brian Patton, Russell County Commonwealth’s Attorney, was the prosecutor on the case. During his opening statement, Patton summarized the case, which was largely based on graphic images, and sexually explicit emails and text messages sent by Klewer to the victim’s cell phone and email account.[…]

Patton told the jury that the victim trusted Klewer and even warned her that his mother had found his phone, however, she still continued to send explicit text messages to him and made arrangements to meet him at a local park. On July 9, 2009, Klewer was arrested while waiting on the 14 year old boy, sitting in her car with her phone in her hand.

The jury recommended 32 and one-half years in prison for Klewer. Official sentencing is scheduled for March 13.

* * * * *
Virginia Teacher Booked for Indecent Liberties with Boy
[Previous 7/16/09 post]
(Lebanon, Virginia) A 37-year-old science teacher at Lebanon Middle School, Connie Beth Klewer, was arrested last week for allegedly taking indecent liberties with a boy younger than 15 years old.

Klewer has been charged with using a communications device to solicit a minor, buying alcohol for a minor, indecent liberties with a child while in a supervisory relationship, indecent liberties with a child, abuse and neglect of a child while being responsible for the care of a child, and possession of child pornography.

It's not known whether the alleged victim was a student in Klewer's class.

Klewer was booked into custody at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail without bond.

Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh respond to Arizona shooting


Excerpt:

"Conservative media figures like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are raising fears that liberals could use the Tucson, Ariz., shootings as an excuse to clamp down on their voices, even as two prominent liberals made public statements urging that the Federal Communications Commission and Fox News do just that.

Limbaugh and Beck, along with other conservative voices like Sarah Palin and Bill O’Reilly, had come under fire in the hours after the shooting from liberals such as Keith Olbermann and Paul Krugman, who accused them of using violent rhetoric that could push an unhinged person over the edge. But no link has been found between suspected shooter Jared Lee Loughner and any of these media figures or Palin.

Limbaugh railed against the left’s attempts to “massage” the shooting “for their political benefit,” saying Democrats were just waiting for an excuse to “regulate out of business their political opponents.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody in the Obama administration or some FCC bureaucrat or some Democrat congressman has it already written up, such legislation, sitting in a desk drawer somewhere just waiting for the right event for a clampdown,” Limbaugh said. “They have been trying this ever since the Oklahoma City bombing.”

In fact, Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the third-ranking Democrat in Congress and one of the more outspoken voices in the wake of the shooting, blamed vitriol in the public discourse for the events and told the Charleston Post and Courier on Monday he wants to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, a defunct policy requiring media to cover both sides of controversial issues that many in the industry expect would mean the death of conservative talk radio.

Source

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

Hooker Plants Hammer in Customer's Head

Jeez! If you follow the news, it's hard to dispute that this has been a odd week for some guys.

We have one guy whose family jewels were shot up, one guy getting a hatchet in his head, another guy accused of sex with a dead woman, and now a prostitute's customer gets a hammer to his head.

(Miami, Florida) Police said a man who had just been released from prison was the victim of a violent attack with a hammer by a hooker Wednesday. The bloody crime scene happened on the corner of NW 5th Court and 67th Street.

The 39-year old Katrina Major hasn't been charged with a crime, but she is currently being questioned at the police station. She suffered minor injuries in the fight, in which police said she went from victim to attacker.

At around 1 p.m., a dispute over payment between the prostitute and potential client, 48-year-old Douglas Curtis Mann, escalated into violence.

So, the hooker takes the hammer away from the non-paying customer, Mr. Mann, who seemingly wasn't all that manly. She then pops Mann in the head and police find him bloody and unconscious. Mann is currently stable at the hospital.

Tip: slwlion

Woman Buries Hatchet in Husband's Head

(Bozeman, Montana) A 52-year-old local woman, Kimberly Parac-Kesler, was arrested Wednesday for allegedly planting a hatchet into the skull of her physically disabled husband.

Reportedly, Kimberly and her husband returned from a local bar, each with a snoot full, and commenced arguing. During the argument, she grabbed the hatchet and buried it in her husband's head. The husband has survived although he has a large laceration in his head.

Parac-Kesler has been charged with assault with a weapon. She was booked into custody at the Gallatin Detention Center with bail set at $10,000.

USS John P. Murtha



United States Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, the official responsible for naming naval warships, has decided to name a new U.S. Navy ship after late Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha. Mabus stated Murtha's military and congressional record and "unwavering support of our sailors and Marines" as the basis for the selection.

The naming of the USS Murtha occurred last April and opposition to the selection has been growing, largely because of Murtha's loud pronouncement that U.S. Marines involved in Iraq are murderers. Ostensibly, Secretary Mabus believes that calling American Marines murderers is a demonstration of Murtha's "unwavering support." I would suggest "unequivocal betrayal" is more accurate.

In any event, there's no confirmation that Secretary Mabus ponders naming another ship after Jane Fonda for her "unwavering support" of sailors and Marines. It's arguably unclear whether it makes a difference which nation's sailors and Marines are being supported.

Man Unknowingly Has Sex with Corpse

(Washington, Indiana) Last weekend, a 55-year-old Geneva, Ohio, man, Richard Elwood Sanden, was arrested for abuse of a corpse and possession of marijuana.

Reportedly, Mr. Sanden was engaged in hot Saturday night sex with a 48-year-old female acquaintance when he realized he wasn't punching her ticket. Presumably, attempts to step up the jiggy-jiggy also produced no response so Mr. Sanden checked the woman's breathing. She wasn't.

Sanden called an ambulance and police were alerted. The woman's death continues to be investigated.

Cleaning Up After Illegals



What a great country! Instead of preventing people from illegally entering the United States, state officials are launching an effort to clean up the tons of garbage discarded by illegals.

Attempting to draw attention to the amount of trash left by those crossing the U.S.-Mexico border of Arizona, state officials have launched a new website called azbordertrash.gov.

Currently, the site has posted that they are looking for volunteers to clean up the 370 mile borderland along Arizona’s border with Mexico.

Funding is provided by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.

Vandalism at Catholic Church




(Anaheim, California) Sometime between 9PM Monday night and 6AM Tuesday morning, vandals defaced the exterior wall of St. Boniface Catholic Church with graffiti.

Parishioners at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Anaheim discovered hateful -- and misspelled -- graffiti scrawled onto their house of worship this week.

"Kill THE CATHLICS!" was spray-painted on the church.

Investigators have preliminarily classified the vandalism as a hate crime.

Long-time Green/Leftist Mike Roddy dehumanizes leading skeptic and compares him to Hitler

I guess that it is really pointless to argue with exploding rage but I will nonetheless do Roddy the courtesy of looking at his "argument" as if it were rational:

First note: His article on Morano that he refers back to is headed "Marc Morano, Professional Douchebag" and Roddy retains that level of profundity in what follows thereafter.

Second: A third of Americans don't matter? That is a fair summary of far-Leftist thinking as embodied in Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and all that merry gang.

Third: Comparing Morano to Hitler is to compare a conservative journalist to a successful socialist political campaigner and powerful politician. It's hard to see any relevance in such a comparison.

Fourth: The second sentence of the second paragraph below has now been deleted from the site. Even Warmists can suffer shame, it appears

It still amazes me that people can quote Mark Morano with a straight face, and that he shows up as a guest on TV shows. One would think that even Fox would draw the line at stone cold lunatics. I wrote something about him and others a year ago for Buffalo Beast that ended up being pretty popular.

The scary thing is the size of his audience, even if it only reflects the views of about a third of Americans. Unfortunately, that popularity rating turned out to be enough for Hitler. After all, these kinds of people have lots of guns.

Relentless and funny ridicule of people like Morano and Watts may be the best weapon. They are, after all, more like badly wired toys than actual humans. It worked when McCarthy was exposed as an idiot on TV in 1954. And if Charlie Chaplin’s Hitler parody had been shown throughout Germany in the 1930’s, he would have been laughed out of office.

Peter Sinclair does a great job with the deniers in his Climate Crock videos. If they were expanded and shown nationally, Morano, Monckton, and the rest of them would be laughed out of the country, ending up, like McCarthy, as hopeless and forgotten alcoholics.

SOURCE

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

Being anti-government does not make you a conservative

Just about the only thing in the ravings of the Arizona assassin that the Left have been able to seize on as being conservative is that he was "anti-government".

But, in their confused way, Leftists (particularly the more extreme ones) are often anti-government too. Most of the support for Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame, for instance, has come from the Left. And the far Left is certainly disgusted with the Obama administration.

And conservatives are not anti-government anyway. Unlike libertarians, they are strongly supportive of some government activities (defense etc.). They want limited government, not no government.

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

PA Woman Gets No Jail for Corrupting Boys

(Allegheny County, Pennsylvania) A 43-year-old Sewickley woman, Cassandra Sproch, pleaded guilty yesterday to multiple misdemeanor sex and alcohol offenses involving male teen friends of her 14-year-old son.

Sproch's then-14-year-old son told county police detectives he was at his mother's Beaver Road home Nov. 15, 2009, when she arrived with three students, ages 13, 15 and 16, according to a police affidavit.

Sproch eventually began making dinner, poured each child a glass of wine and "encouraged them to drink," the affidavit stated.

The boys told police Sproch got drunk and began "acting crazy." When the teens went into another room to play video games, she called the 15-year-old boy upstairs, touched him and offered to have sex with him, police said.

The boy refused and went back downstairs. After "continued requests" by Sproch, the 16-year-old boy went upstairs. The other two boys followed and found Sproch and the boy in her bedroom, where Sproch was kissing him and had him "pinned against the bedroom wall," police reported.

Sproch's son and the other boy dragged the 16-year-old from the room and the teens left the home, the affidavit stated.

Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge David R. Cashman sentenced Sproch to 18 months of probation.

Chicago Teacher Gets No Jail in Sex Case - Updated

(Chicago, Illinois) Earlier today, a 24-year-old world religion teacher formerly at Chicago Hope Academy, Kathryn Vail-Wesley, pleaded guilty to engaging in sex in her apartment and at the school with a 17-year-old student in 2008.

Vail-Wesley was initially charged with "multiple counts of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse for allegedly having sex twice with the then-17-year-old student."

As a result of the guilty plea, Vail-Wesley was sentenced to probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.

* * * * *
Chicago Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy
[Previous 1/15/09 post]
(Chicago, Illinois) In October 2008, a 22-year-old math teacher at Chicago Hope Academy, Kathryn Vail-Wesley, was arrested and charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old student in her home and the classroom. Vail-Wesley faces five counts of criminal sexual assault.

According to the boy's mother, the student was in Vail-Wesley's class. The mother said Shane Wesley -- Vail-Wesley's husband and also a teacher at the private high school -- discovered his wife and the student together and punched the student. No charges were filed against the husband.

School officials said they notified law enforcement as required by law, but they would not confirm whether the teachers still taught at the school. The student's mother said Shane Wesley still teaches there. But she was told if she didn't withdraw her son from the school, the student faced expulsion. She said parents were told of the incident when they arrived to pick up report cards in October.

School officials have refused to discuss specifics of the case as Vail-Wesley awaits trial. Meanwhile, a victims' rights group has asked for an explanation of why the victim, a star football player, was forced to leave school.

The student's mother said she was given an ultimatum a few days after the sexual assault allegations came to light.

School officials told her, "That this was the last straw. He wasn't welcome back, that I could either take him out in good standing or they would expel him," the mother said Wednesday. She asked not to have her name used.

The mother said her son can be "mouthy," but she didn't know of any serious discipline problems at school. She said he now attends a public school in the western suburbs.

Reportedly, Vail-Wesley no longer works at the school. Regarding the Vail-Wesley marriage, the status hasn't been reported but it's speculated that the Mr. is keeping a much closer eye on the Mrs.

Wisconsin Open-Carry Case

(Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Last July, a local woman, Krysta Sutterfield, attended services at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Brookfield carrying a holstered sidearm. Despite no disturbance being reported, someone called police who responded with guns drawn.

Sutterfield was taken into custody although no charges were ever filed. It's legal for citizens to open-carry in Wisconsin.

As a consequence of the aggressive involvement of the police, Sutterfield and the gun-rights group Wisconsin Carry, Inc., filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Wisconsin against the city and the police officers.

Resolution came with the defendants offering a settlement of $7,500 to the plaintiffs without admitting liability.

Nik Clark, president of Wisconsin Carry, said he was pleased to announce the judgment on behalf of his group's thousands of members and on behalf of "law-abiding citizens" who legally exercise their right to carry in the state.

"As open-carry is perfectly legal in Wisconsin and the officers were aware she had threatened no one and caused no disturbance, the officers had no reasonable articulable suspicion, which the law requires, to stop and detain our member against her will," Clark said. "In addition, by drawing their guns on a law-abiding citizen who had done nothing wrong, the officers used an unlawful threat of deadly force during their detainment of our member."

Case closed.

Notably, other Wisconsin cities have pending lawsuits in similar gun-related cases.

Companion post at GunWatch.

Missouri Man Shot in Junk

(Kansas City, Missouri) A 42-year-old local woman was arrested Monday night for allegedly shooting her husband in the genitals with his own handgun. The wife faces a charge of aggravated assault.

Reportedly, the husband, 50, said something like, 'Here, Honey. Let me show you how to use the safety on my gun so you can practice.' Boom! Right in the junk!

Alternatively, police report that a witness heard the couple arguing before the gunshot. The wife allegedly said, "If you don't give me my card, I will shoot you."

Heh.

David Nelson Dies

David Nelson, a member of the Nelson family cast of "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet," died yesterday in California from colon cancer. He was 74.

Nelson was the last surviving member of the Nelsons TV family: actor-bandleader Ozzie; his singing wife, Harriet Hilliard; and his teen-idol younger brother, Rick.

The show, which originated on radio in 1952 as "Here Come the Nelsons," ran for 320 episodes from 1952 to 1966 as "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" on ABC. On the radio show, the boys were portrayed by pros, but they persuaded their parents to allow them to play themselves for the smallscreen.

The Nelson show was one of the first sitcoms on television and I remember it well. It was entertaining, a bit hokey but always cute. Condolences to the family.

BRRR!!!

It's some type of achievement, snow is on the ground in 49 states.

Another excuse to attack free speech

We read:

"Pennsylvania Rep. Robert Brady, a Democrat from Philadelphia, is proposing new limits on free speech. On Sunday, Brady told CNN that he plans to introduce a bill that would make it a crime for anyone to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or violent against a federal official.

Brady told CNN Sunday that federal lawmakers and other government officials to have the same protections against rhetorical threats as the president, whose threats are monitored by the U.S. Secret Service. “The president is a federal official,” Brady said. “You can’t do it to him; you should not be able to do it to a congressman, senator or federal judge.”

In particular, Brady says he takes specific offense to the electoral map produced by Sarah Palin’s political action committee during the 2010 midterm election which “targeted” a number of key swing districts. “You can’t put bulls eyes or crosshairs on a United States congressman or a federal official,” Brady said.

Source

The recently defeated Labour party government in Britain was obsessed with targets for everything: How long a person has to wait before they are treated in a public hospital, for instance. And the police had targets for all sorts of things, such as how long it took them to respond to a crime report. Obviously a government that was inciting mass murder.

Perhaps one of the few amusing things in this matter is the fact that Democrats have also used maps with targets on them in political campaigns. Only they used bullseyes instead of crosshairs on their map. Only a Leftist would think that was a significant difference. Both maps here.

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

This is rich

The New York Times has given liberal Congressman Paul Kanjorski, who called for the death of Republican Governor Rick Scott, a soapbox to preach about the need for “civility” in the aftermath of the Tucson shootings, and an end to “violent confrontation” and the negative “political climate”. Excerpt below:

... even in this post-9/11 world, the shooting of Ms. Giffords was especially shocking, because it was so personal. She was hunted down far from the symbolic halls of power while performing the most fundamental responsibility of her job, listening to her constituents.

We all lose an element of freedom when security considerations distance public officials from the people. Therefore, it is incumbent on all Americans to create an atmosphere of civility and respect in which political discourse can flow freely, without fear of violent confrontation.

More HERE

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

The sick priorities of Warmist governments


Money needed to keep people safe and well is being spent on fairytales

The Carbon Sense Coalition today accused Western Governments of massive waste of community savings on frivolous climate "research" and alternative energy toys while neglecting the infrastructure needed to maintain sustainable societies in the face of an unknown climate future.

The Chairman of Carbon Sense, Mr Viv Forbes, said that none of the massive government climate spending has produced anything of long term use to the people paying their bills.

"The US government spends over two thousand million dollars on "climate research" but the recipients were completely unable to forecast the frigid winter they are now suffering. That money would be better spent on snow ploughs and highway improvements.

"Australian governments are spending at least eight hundred million dollars on "climate research", but were unable to forecast the massive floods now affecting much of Australia. That money would have been better spent on water storage and flood-proofing roads, bridges and airports.

"The UK Government plans to spend one thousand million pounds on carbon capture and burial schemes and untold billions on wind power subsidies, but wind provided almost zero power when needed in the recent freeze. In places, the wind towers actually consumed electricity to protect them from frost damage. UK residents would have been better off had all of that money been spent on reliable power sources and snow-proof infrastructure.

"It is time for all western politicians to recognise climate reality. Changing climate and weather extremes are enduring features of earth's history. This reality exists even if not one elected member recognises it.

"Change is what climate does – floods or droughts, stinking hot or snow storms, stilly nights or violent hurricanes.

"The cycles of ice age extinctions and verdant warm eras are well recorded in earth history. Only 17,000 years ago, much of the northern hemisphere was covered in ice and sea levels were 130m lower. Then followed a long warm period with several peaks hotter than today. This time of warm abundance was terminated by a sudden return of the cold.

"But good times returned with the Roman Warming. It was not Roman use of coal which caused the warming and no carbon tax triggered the lethal Dark Ages cooling which followed.

"Then, with no help from man's carbon dioxide, earth recovered into the Medieval Warming Period but soon slipped back into the bitter Little Ice Age that helped defeat Napoleon's Grand Army in Russia.

"Finally, well before man's engines and smelters became numerous, the Modern Warming started.

"Unfortunately, this warming too will end when the earth, moon, sun and stars command. Taxing carbon to subsidise green playthings will not stop the floods, prevent the snow or change future climate.

"Man must do what every one of our ancestors did – adapt to climate change or suffer the consequences."

SOURCE

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

British tour company criticised for offering Hitler tour

Must not learn about the history of Nazism:

"British tour leaders faced criticism over plans to take 30 tourists on a luxury $3100 trip through Germany to visit sites associated with the Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. The eight-day trip in June - titled "Face of Evil: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" - has been sanctioned by German authorities.

The itinerary includes visits to sites such as the spot where Hitler committed suicide, the lakeside villa where the Holocaust was planned and the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

But critics claimed that the trip risked becoming a "perverse pilgrimage" in honour of Hitler. "German historians have confronted the Nazi past with seriousness," said David Cesarani, a British expert on the Nazi period. "But there is a danger of sensationalism when it is incorporated in what I'd call a holiday tour."

Source

Leftists treating adults like children again. I suppose they live in horror of people finding out how Leftist Nazism was.

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

Housekeeping

Big plumbing problem at home. Unable to blog. I'll be back soon.

Was it immigration policy that got Rep. Giffords shot?

Based on zero evidence, there have been many attempts to link the Giffords shooting to Arizona's policies towards illegal immigration. Some such attempts are reported in the excerpts below

The final paragraph is true in a way that its speaker probably did not intend. He is right that America is currently "practicing the politics of division and subtraction, not multiplication and addition", but who is to blame for that?

It wouldn't be a Democratic party that pushed through a vast healthcare bill that was clearly unwanted by the majority of Americans (something confirmed on Nov. 2 last year) and a party that has not shown one sign of that "reaching across the aisle" which Obama promised in his election campaign, would it? It took the defeats of last November to wring the first compromise out of them.

And which party tried its damnedest to push through the DREAM act when at least two thirds of Americans are opposed to any form of amnesty for illegals?

Another blogger makes similar points but at greater length. And, as noted here Giffords was in fact closer to the GOP policy on illegal immigration than she was to mainstream Democrats. It was a "secure the borders" politician who was shot -- JR

Even before the shooting of a U.S. congresswoman Saturday, the state of Arizona was in the throes of a convulsive political year that had come to symbolize a bitter partisan divide across much of America.

The motives of the alleged shooter, who wounded Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six people in Tucson, are not known and they may not be political.

But after an acrimonious election in November that followed months of bitter exchanges, politics looms large in the wake of the shooting and a local sheriff pointedly blamed hateful political rhetoric for inciting violence.

"When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government," Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik told a news conference.

"The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

The spark in Arizona's political firestorm was the border state's move to crack down on illegal immigration last summer, a bill proposed by conservative lawmakers and signed by Republican Gov. Jan Brewer.

The law known as SB 1070 "superheated the political divide more than I've ever seen it in Arizona," said Bruce Merrill, a longtime political analyst and pollster at Arizona State University.

A majority of Arizonans supported it, but opponents and many in the large Hispanic population felt it was unconstitutional and would lead to discrimination.

As the law went into effect, U.S. Congressman Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat and opponent of SB 1070, closed a district office in Yuma after staff found a shattered window and a bullet inside.

Giffords favored a softer approach to illegal immigrants and was expected to push for comprehensive immigration reform in the Congress that was sworn in this week in Washington....

Art Hamilton, who served 26 years in the state House and 18 years as its Democratic leader, said there is "no question" that Arizona is at a low point in its governance. "I do believe we see a point in the history of this state that we're practicing the politics of division and subtraction, not multiplication and addition," Hamilton said.

SOURCE

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

Virginia Woman Indicted in Child Abuse Case - Updated

(Front Royal, Virginia) Last week, 27-year-old local woman, Kristal Renee Henry, was indicted on two counts of sodomy on a child under 13.

The crimes allegedly took place sometime between June 11 and 13, according to court documents.

A criminal complaint filed in court says that Henry admitted during an interview with investigators to having oral sex with the boy. The charge is punishable by a prison term ranging from five years to life.

A court appearance for Henry has been scheduled for next month. Meanwhile, she is being held without bond.

* * * * *
Virginia Babysitter, 26, and Boy, 11
[Previous 7/12/10 post]
(Front Royal, Virginia) A 26-year-old local woman, Kristal Renee Henry, was arrested last week for allegedly engaging in sexual activity with an 11-year-old boy.

Henry is charged with two counts of forcible sodomy stemming from incidents allegedly occurring on June 11 and June 13.

According to investigator Steven Goldizen of the Warren County Sheriff's Office, Henry admitted to performing oral sex on the boy.

In an affidavit for a search warrant of the victim's residence on file in Circuit Court, Goldizen says authorities were contacted by the victim's father regarding a letter the father found indicating his son was "kissing and sleeping with their 26 years old babysitter."[…]

Goldizen says that the arrangement that Henry had with the victim's parents was that she could live in a basement bedroom in exchange for baby-sitting their children three days a week.

In an initial interview with Henry, Goldizen says that she denied sexually abusing the victim and told him that she had lived at the victim's residence for two months as the children's babysitter in exchange for room and board.

Goldizen says that when investigator Nelson-Haas interviewed the victim on Tuesday, the boy "stated that Kristal Henry and him had oral sex and touching of their private parts on each other with the last date on 24th and 25th of June at the [victim's] residence."

Henry was booked into custody. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 19.

Just Numbers

(New York City) In 2009, there were 87,273 abortions in the city according to the health department.

One city, one year.

Secret Marijuana Sites Exposed

(Boulder, Colorado) City officials have inadvertently published a map on the Internet which shows the locations of the 60 marijuana cultivation centers, 45 dispensaries and 12 product manufacturing sites.



It was an accident. State law prohibits revealing the locations of marijuana operations.

In any event, 60 grow operations in one city is a lot of medicine.

The shooting of Rep. Giffords

Rep. Giffords appears to be one of the more decent people in the Democratic party and I join with many others in deploring what happened to her. I made my comments on the issues raised by the shooting earlier today (below)

****************

The gunman was a paranoid schizophrenic

That's a diagnosis that anyone with a knowledge of psychoses would make with ease from the following details about him. The "mind control" mention is particularly diagnostic. There is already some attempt to portray him as a Tea Party sympathizer but how many Tea Party supporters are flag-burning atheists? Any attempt to draw any political conclusions from the actions of a madman is truly desperate

Gunman Jared Loughner posted a picture of a handgun on his MySpace page before the attack. The 22-year-old, who claims he was recently recruited by the US Army, positioned a photo of the White House behind the weapon. The words ‘United States History’ also appear.

In a series of ramblings, Loughner bragged that he could create a ‘new currency’ and ‘new language’ and accused the American government of ‘mind-control’ and ‘brainwashing.’

Depicting himself as an angry and sleep-deprived anti-government activist, he added that ‘terrorism’ could bring about these reforms. ‘A terrorist is a person who employs terror or terrorism, especially as a political weapon . . . You don’t have to accept the federalist laws,’ he wrote on the MySpace page.

‘The government is employing mind-control and brainwashing on the people by controlling grammar . . . I can’t trust the current government. No! I won’t pay debt with a currency that’s not backed by gold and silver. No! I won’t trust in God.’

Loughner, who attended Pima Community College in Arizona, added: ‘My favourite interest was reading, and I studied grammar. Conscience dreams were a great study in college!’ He suffered from insomnia, according to the MySpace page, and was a sleepwalker: ‘Jared is in need of sleep,’ he wrote. He listed his favourite books as Mein Kampf, Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard Of Oz and Aesop’s Fables. He also says he studied the Communist Manifesto.

On MySpace, Loughner complained that when he joined the military, he was given a ‘mini-Bible’ despite telling a recruiter that he was an atheist.

On YouTube, Loughner apparently posted a video on October 2 last year which was shot in the desert. The seven-minute long film shows a US flag planted in the ground. A hooded figure wearing a long plastic skirt walks towards the flag before turning around. The face of the figure is obscured by a home-made mask. The figure then holds the flag aloft for a short period before setting it alight.

Last night police surrounded Loughner’s house in North Soledad Avenue in Tucson, a few miles from the scene of the shooting.

One former classmate said Loughner was expelled from a maths course after frequent outbursts. Lynda Sorenson said: ‘He was obviously disturbed.'

SOURCE

*************************

Bob McCarty on the Giffords shooting:

If the shooter turns out to be a right-wing conservative, I fully expect members of the liberal media to attempt to portray the shooter as a typical member of the Constitution-loving side of the political fence. In addition, they will use the event as another reason to clamp down on gun rights.

If the shooter turns out to be an illegal immigrant, those same media outlets will paint the person as a victim of his circumstances and gloss over the “elephant in the room” that is the lack of real security at our nation’s borders.

If the shooter turns out to be an Islamic extremist, they will downplay his religious affiliations and spin the Muslim shooter’s actions as criminal but not an act of terrorism.

More HERE

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

Obama on the Sudan Elections

In today's New York Times, President Obama encourages the electoral process and then opines:

Finally, there can be no lasting peace in Sudan without lasting peace in the western Sudan region of Darfur.

The deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Darfuris — and the plight of refugees like those I met in a camp in neighboring Chad five years ago — must never be forgotten.

Here, too, the world is watching.

Okay but I'd suggest that watching is not a solution. In fact, it's hard to distinguish between watching and ignoring.

More Murders in Mexico

(Acapulco, Mexico) Fifteen bodies were found earlier today in this resort city, fourteen had been decapitated.

The victims, all male, were discovered at dawn near a shopping mall along with several, threatening hand-written messages that are typically left as a calling card by drug cartels.

Four other murders were recorded in separate incidents around the city.

Beyond evil, the level of violence in Mexico is inhuman. Law and order are ghosts.

Facebook Impersonator Gets Jail

(Redwood City, California) In November 2010, 19-year-old Jeanette Aragona pleaded no contest in accordance with a plea deal to two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment.

Yesterday, Aragona, now 20, was sentenced to nine months in jail.

According to prosecutors, Aragona created three fictitious personas named “A.J.,” “B.J.” and “Matthew” which she used on Facebook to contact girls at Westborough Middle School in South San Francisco.

Aragona reportedly had sexually explicit chats with eight known victims using Facebook and eventually all the girls met her. At the meetings, Aragona said she was the Aunt Jeanette of A.J. and B.J., according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Aragona is not accused of touching or trying to touch any of the girls inappropriately.

Aragona also received five years of probation and was ordered to register as a sex offender. She reports to jail on February 26.

Tip: Lame

Historic British charity drops the word "Christian" from its name

And is the new name dumb!

"One of the country’s best-known charities has changed its name, losing the clearest link to its Christian roots. The Young Women’s Christian Association has dropped its historic title after 156 years because ‘it no longer stands for who we are’.

Instead the organisation – which is mainly funded by legacies left by Christian supporters over 15 decades – will be known as ‘Platform 51’.

Bosses say the name was chosen to reflect the fact that 51 per cent of people are female and that they can use the charity as a platform ‘to have their say’ and ‘to move to the next stage of their lives’.

The decision to drop all mention of Christianity from the charity’s name and purposes drew criticism from religious groups yesterday. It also appeared to open a rift between the renamed grouping in England and Wales and the worldwide YWCA that grew after the charity was founded by two Englishwomen in 1855.

Officials at the World YWCA headquarters in Geneva said none of the 124 branches in other countries are changing their names. Spokesman Sylvie Jacquat said: ‘The name has been there for more than 150 years and we are not even discussing a change. ‘We see our name as an opportunity for promoting Christian values and principles.’

Although it remains listed in the Church of England’s year book as an organisation ‘of importance for the Church of England’, none of its trustees or senior managers are church representatives. Its chairman is gay rights activist and former equality quango manager Helen Wollaston.

Source

Another Leftist takeover

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

Ballet Teacher Gets No Jail in Abduction Case - Updated

(Preston, England) Yesterday, 27-year-old ballet teacher Sarah Pirie was given a suspended 35-week jail sentence for her conviction on a charge of child abduction.

The 15-year-old victim, Reece Washington, who waived anonymity, said he and Pirie had sex in her car. Pirie denies it.

Judge Michael Byrne told Pirie: ‘Shortly after starting this job you met a student who was gifted but emotionally vulnerable.

‘You knew he was in foster care. He was clearly vulnerable and you should have noticed this.

‘You used your professional status for some kind of attention which went beyond the proper boundaries of your relationship.’

Pirie's conviction carries with it a permanent ban on working with children. (h/t JR)

* * * * *
Ballet Teacher Abducts Boy
[Previous 11/29/10 post]
(Preston, England) A 27-year-old ballet teacher, Sarah Pirie, pleaded guilty today in Preston Crown Court to the abduction of a 15-year-old boy.

Pirie, whose current address is Marner, Luxembourg, had originally also been charged with five counts of sexual activity with the same boy between March and June of last year.

Pirie had pleaded not guilty to all charges and was due to undergo a three week trial starting today.

But after discussions between prosecution and defence barristers, only the single charge of child abduction was put to the defendant, to which she pleaded guilty.

The five charges of sexual activity with the youngster were not put to the defendant and she will not now face prosecution on those counts.

Pirie is free on bail until sentencing on January 7.

Tennessee Teacher Gets No Jail in Sex Case - Updated

Although she was initially charged with and pleaded guilty to multiple counts of statutory rape in two different Tennessee counties, former teacher Holly Hatcher, 28, received no jail, just probation for six years.

In Sumner County, Hatcher was granted judicial diversion after pleading guilty to three counts of statutory rape. If probation requirements are met, Hatcher's criminal record will be expunged.

In Davidson County, six counts of statutory rape by an authority figure were "retired."

The past delays and the looming likelihood of further delays derailed the prosecution, with the victim in the case – 17 at the time of the incident – likely to be well into his 20s and ready to move on with his life by the time the case went to trial, according to Ray Whitley, District Attorney for the 18th Judicial District.

“The courts just wore us out,” Whitley said. “We finally got it to the point that prosecution on this case was not feasible.”

In conclusion, the case was apparently too hard to prosecute.

* * * * *
Tennessee Teacher Arrested for Sex with Male Student
[Previous 10/27/07 post]
(Nashville, Tennessee) A 25-year-old history teacher at Gallatin High School, Holly Hatcher, was arrested this week for allegedly engaging in sex with a 17-year-old male student.

Hatcher has been charged in adjacent counties (Davidson and Sumner) with multiple counts of statutory rape.

Court documents indicate that Hatcher, who lives in the Donelson area, and the teenager had sex in Gallatin and in Nashville. Police said the pair had sex on six occasions.

Police began investigating her after receiving information from Gallatin police.

On Thursday, Hatcher was released from the Sumner County Jail after posting a $15,000 bond for three counts of statutory rape. Her bond in Nashville was set at $6,000.

Reportedly, Hatcher admitted to engaging in sex with the boy at a Gallatin boat ramp and at her home. She resigned her teaching position on Thursday.


[Update 01/19/08]

A Sumner County grand jury indicts Hatcher on three counts of statutory rape by an authority figure.

Bomber Arrested in Ghana

(Dormma District, Ghana) A local female farmer, Comfort Henewaa, has been accused of the excrement bombing of the residence and shop of a teacher in the East Dormma District.

Henewaa was detained and released on bail.

Prosecutor Inspector A.A. Duodu told the court that between September and November last year, the compainant suffered six different shit bombings, but could not trace the acts to any one.

According to Inspector Duodu, the suspect in a conversation with someone, allegedly boasted that she was responsible for the babaric acts and that more of such shit bombing would follow.

The person subsequently informed the complainant that Henewaa had confessed that she was the brain behind his predicament.

Henewaa has a court appearance scheduled for January 19.

New York Teacher Gets Jail - Updated

(Canandaigua, New York) Former special education teacher Marla Gurecki-Haskins was sentenced earlier today to 45 days in the Ontario County Jail. She was also ordered to serve three years of probation.

* * * * *
New York Teacher Guilty of Misconduct - Updated
[Previous 9/21/10 post]
(Canandaigua, New York) Former special education teacher at Canandaigua Academy, Marla Gurecki-Haskins, pleaded guilty yesterday to endangering the welfare of a child and official misconduct, both misdemeanors.

In accordance with a plea deal, Gurecki-Haskins is expected to be sentenced to 45 days in jail and three years of probation. She won't be ordered to register as a sex offender.

Gurecki-Haskins had been accused of communicating with 16-year-old boys electronically — via cell phone, texts and e-mails — to encourage them to have a sexual relationship with her, police said. The original charges against her included one count of disseminating indecent material to a minor, a felony, and another count of endangering the welfare of a child.[...]

After the brief court session, her lawyer, Matt Parrinello, said she pleaded guilty to avoid the stress of a trial would cause her and her family, which includes a child with special needs.

Judge Stephen Aronson scheduled sentencing for January 5, 2011.

* * * * *
New York Teacher Accused of Sexual Misconduct
[Previous 5/24/10 post]
(Canandaigua, New York) A 37-year-old special education teacher at Canandaigua Academy, Marla Gurecki-Haskins, surrendered to police this morning to face charges of sexual misconduct with students.

She faces counts of official misconduct, sending indecent materials to a minor and endangering the welfare of a child.

Police revealed some details about the charges in a press conference Monday.

They say Gurecki-Haskins used a cell phone to invite a 16-year-old male student to engage in sexual conduct and that she used other electronic communication to get in touch with another 16-year-old male student.

“Parents need to be very vigilant with e-mail communication, what websites their children are going to, and their phones. I don’t know how far-reaching this incident was. Hopefully no other students were affected, but certainly as a parent I would sit down with my child and have a candid conversation,” says Canandaigua Police Chief Jon Welch.

Police say despite the sexual contact with the 17-year-old male, they could not charge Gurecki-Haskins with rape or serious sex crimes because the age of legal consent is 17 years old in New York State.

Gurecki-Haskins was arraigned and pleaded not guilty. She was released on her own recognizance.

Tip: Chuck Simmins

Kucinich Makes Plans



Representative Dennis Kucinich is making plans for redistricting possibly eliminating his congressional seat. He plans on taking someone else's. Heh.

White TV reporter fired for using the ‘n-word’ accuses station of racial discrimination

About time this happened:

"The question of whether it is acceptable for an African-American person to use the 'n' word in a workplace but not a white person is to be decided by a federal jury. U.S. District Judge Barclay Surrick has ruled that former Fox29 reporter-anchor Tom Burlington's claims against the station of double standards and racial discrimination will go to trial on January 18.

Burlington, who is white, was dismissed after using the 'n' word during a staff meeting in June 2007. He made the comment while discussing a story about about the symbolic burial of the word by the Philadelphia Youth Council of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Burlington, who is now working as a real estate agent, was suspended within days and then fired after the incident was published in the Philadelphia Daily News.

He claims he 'was discriminated against because of his race', and states in his lawsuit that at least two African American employees at Fox29 had used the word in the workplace but had not been disciplined.

Judge Surrick, in denying Fox29's request to have the suit dismissed, said that federal courts had not determined whether a double standard, if true in this case, would violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which deals with equal opportunity in employment.

Source

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

Charles Krauthammer Needs a Vacation

Within the past two weeks, politics in Washington has changed dramatically. As usual, observing and opining on the changes has been Charles Krauthammer, a recognized and respected expert in the political realm.

Krauthammer is not always right but, for those who keep score, he sluices the ideas and thoughts of a variety of conservative faces. The guy is quick, seeing the underside of paint jobs before the colors are decided.

Being in the opinion-maker position, it seems out of the logic zone for Mr. Krauthammer to start excluding candidates for the 2012 Presidential election. And that he did. With Sarah Palin.

I don’t even hear her saying it. Her chances of being are smaller than half a dozen other people. If you talk to Republicans, I don’t think there are what, more than one in three who would tell you she has a chance of winning the presidency or even the nomination.”

And there's more. Krauthammer relied on the words of his journalistic colleague Keith Olbermann by saying,

“A half-term governor? I’m not sure Republicans think of her as qualified.” Krauthammer said.

As a fan of Krauthammer, I'm most dismayed by his certainty.

Somewhere in the annals of over-confidence among media elites is a newspaper announcing "Dewey Wins."

Frankly, I'd suggest that Mr. Krauthammer spend a couple weeks in mid-America with normal American folks, the type that launched the Tea Party effort. Counting Sarah Palin out of the running is a liberal media invention and you, Mr. Krauthammer, have joined. This is disturbing.

There are many people who believe that Sarah Palin is a normal hard-working wife and mother who has been thrust into the limelight and isn't bowing to vicious attacks. She shouldn't be besmirched by a beltway denizen who has decided that she's not worthy.

Come on, Krauthammer, you're better than these latest pronouncements. And by the way, since when did you want to be a king maker?

One last thing, if you find yourself emulating Keith Olbermann, it's time for a vacation.

Brits Converting to Islam

A report indicates that a noticeable number of British citizens are converting to Islam because, converts assert, of their adversity to UK alcohol consumption, sexual permissiveness and unrestrained consumerism. Frankly, their reasoning sounds rehearsed.

A study conducted by Swansea University for the British group Faith Matters has found that UK citizens are increasingly interested in Islam, with the number of converts to Islam nearly doubling in 10 years.

An estimated total of 100,000 have converted to Islam, 5,200 of them in 2010.

In 2001, it was estimated that 60,000 British citizens had converted to Islam.

Of the most recent converts, two-thirds are women. Most are white and native to Britain. The average age of new converts is 27.

One in four believe there is a “natural conflict” between being devoutly Muslim and being a British citizen. More than half said they had met with a negative response from family regarding their conversion.

Given that the population of the United Kingdom exceeds 62 million, 100,000 is not a comparably large number of converts.

Nevertheless, we must remember that time changes everything and today's mighty scenic view inhibitor, cultist hugging station and solar panel blocker was once a simple nut. Therefore, it's a good idea to keep an eye on the simple nuts.

Granting A Wish




Heh.

Aflockalypse

The recent discoveries of mass bird deaths in Arkansas and in Sweden have prompted Ireland's largest bookmaker, Paddy Power, to take bets on which country will next experience mass bird deaths.

Currently, the United Kingdom is favored with odds of 2 to 1 with Ireland (4/1) and Finland (6/1) favored next. Spain and Italy are longshots at 20 to 1.

Odds and rules for birds falling in various countries have been posted at the Paddy Power website.

- Applies to the country that next experiences a mass death of birds,
- Must be unexplained,
- Must have an individual news feature on Sky News website,
- Others on request,
- PP decision final in settlement.

For those who seek even more gaming fun, Paddy Power also takes bets on mass deaths of other marine life. Current odds are 6 to 4 for jellyfish, 3 to 1 for starfish, and 8 to 1 for turtles. Check the link for other betting opportunities.

Zero tolerance in the 21st century: Justice sans reason

In America, it used to be that a kid caught with something he wasn’t supposed to have at school had it confiscated by his teacher to be returned to him at the end of the day with a stern warning not to bring it again. Kids used to bring their dad’s WWII swords and pistol souvenirs to class for show and tell while no one so much as batted an eye.

But times have changed drastically from only a decade ago when the “War on Terror” and “zero tolerance” found their way into the American lexicon.

Zero tolerance policy is uncooked justice without the pinch of reasoning. Draconian punishment, un-tempered by the essential elements of fairness, logic, perspective, and common sense, is the usual result.

The latest victim is an exemplary student athlete at a North Carolina high school, suspended for the remainder of her senior year, and charged with a misdemeanor for having a small paring knife in her lunchbox. She accidentally took her father's lunchbox to school; school officials searched it; found her Dad’s apple peeling utensil; banned her from campus; and then charged her criminally with misdemeanor possession of a weapon on school grounds. The incident is likely to ruin her entire academic career.

She might have brought a baseball bat to gym class without such unpleasant consequences, though that instrument could easily be employed to bash in the heads of fellow students and teachers alike. She might have used her athletic shoelaces as a garrote to strangle one of her classmates. Her school apparently isn’t afraid of shoelaces. A pencil or ballpoint pen might be used to gouge out a few eyes, but those aren’t considered weapons either.

Indeed, she might have brought a hundred assorted “weapons,” from bobby pins to paper shears, plastic bags to nail files, without arousing the mighty omnipotent high school Authority!

She could have left the little knife at home and gone to the school kitchen for a big knife were it her intent to stab someone. Of course, we all know that it was not her intent to bring a weapon to school in the first place, and certainly not for the purpose of harming anyone. The school officials know that. The police know that. The prosecutor knows that. Anyone with half a brain knows that.

So why didn’t the education thugs just confiscate the “weapon” and return it to her at the end of the school day with a warning, as any reasonable teacher has done for centuries? Why were they even searching through her lunch box?

Zero tolerance! Absolute and unequivocal zero tolerance – that’s why. The deception in consciousness in this case is the delusional necessity for zero tolerance. To Hell with circumstances; reason doesn’t count; she broke the rule which makes us safe from terrorists in our War on Terror. She’s a potential terrorist. She must pay the price for zero tolerance. Even if we all know she isn’t a terrorist, we’re going to treat her like one anyway because terrorism is serious business since 9/11 and requires zero tolerance.

By far, the most common terrorist of them all is this mindless governmental Authority!

SOURCE

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

Nebraska High School Shooting

(Omaha, Nebraska) A 17-year-old student at Millard South High School, Robert Butler, inexplicably opened fire today at the school, injuring Principal Curtis Case and Vice Principal Vicki Kasper and allegedly killing himself.

Snake Sex Assault

(Eau Claire, Wisconsin) Two twenty-something men have been accused of sexually assaulting a 32-year-old woman with a live snake.

John D. Bullock, 24, and Damonta D. Jones, 25, entered not guilty pleas Monday in Eau Claire County Court.

Each man is charged with first-degree sexual assault.

A criminal complaint says the woman told police she was knocked out in the bedroom of Jones' home on Nov. 11. And, when she regained consciousness, Jones was holding her while Bullock assaulted her.

She says Jones then got his snake and used it to assault her. Bullock says the sexual contact was consensual.

It's unclear how the snake consented. Nevertheless, the men were booked into custody with bond set at $30,000.

Tip: slwlion

$1 Fee for Plastic Bags



(Brownsville, Texas) The city of Brownsville has instituted a mandatory ban on plastic bags and is now assessing a $1 fine or, if you prefer, tax on those shoppers who opt for plastic at checkout.

To make the assessment more palatable to the public, it's being referred to as an "environmental fee."

No surprise here. Other locations throughout the nation are also attempting to restrict the use of plastic bags since they don't decompose.

What's interesting is that 30 years ago the same environmentalists, who are telling everyone to stop using plastic now, told everyone to use plastic instead of paper to save trees. The treehuggers were successful in getting plastic bags in every store in the U.S.

It's another liberal Oops!

Obama's Film Mother Arrested for Drugs

(Jakarta, Indonesia) A 27-year-old South African model, Cara Lachelle, has been arrested by Jakarta Police for possession of methamphetamine.

According to Sr. Comr. Anjan Pramuka Putra, Lachelle is a South African national who usually resides in Bali and has a place in Jakarta.

The arrest is newsworthy because Lachelle is also an actress who played the part of Barack Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, in a film released last year.


 
Actress Cara Lachelle --- Stanley Ann Dunham
An undercover operation led to a raid of Lachelle's apartment, the discovery of 1.19 grams methamphetamine and her resultant arrest. If convicted, Lachelle faces a long prison term.

The film in which Lachelle played Dunham is called Obama The Menteng Kid. It depicts Obama's early life in Indonesia.

AL: All religions “scams,” says atheist group advertisement

A bit rude:

"A new advertisement in Alabama by a national atheist group is reportedly declaring religions to be "scams."

The Huntsville ad -- produced by the American Atheists -- displays the message "You know they're all scams" alongside pictures of religious symbols, such as Islam's crescent moon and star, the cross and the Jewish star, according to the Christian Post.
The billboard also claims that the national group has been "telling the truth since 1963."

The American Atheists define "scam" as a fraudulent business scheme or ploy to intentionally mislead a person, usually with the goal of financial gains, the Post reports.

According to the group, "all religions make lots of promises about an afterlife that doesn't exist."

Source

The politics of insult again. Or the politics of arrogance. And lumping all religions together is pretty thick. Are Quakers and Muslims the same?

They sound pretty evangelical. I suspect that they are mainly trying to convince themselves. I am the most utter atheist you would ever find (I don't even believe that the word "God" is meaningful) but I don't need to prop up my views by attacking the beliefs of others.

I do seriously wonder about how militant atheists get that way. There must be some unhappiness in their lives to make them like that. My own religious background is as a Bible-bashing Protestant fundamentalist but, far from repudiating or attacking that, I have the warmest memories of that time in my life (in my teens) and an abiding instinctive sympathy for others who are still of that persuasion. I suspect that militant atheists just have some deficit of feeling.

Anyway, I am the winner. The great Protestant hymns ("How great thou art", "To be a pilgrim" etc.) still bring tears to my eyes. I suspect that militant atheists can never share that.

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

Mossad Spy Vultures

(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) Saudi Arabia's Al-Weeam newspaper reports that Zionists are sending trained techno-vultures into Saudi Arabian airspace to commit espionage.

A vulture tagged by scientists at Tel Aviv University has strayed into Saudi Arabian territory, where it was promptly arrested on suspicion of being a Mossad spy, Israeli and Saudi media reported Tuesday.

The bird wore a transmitter and leg bracelet displaying the words "Tel Aviv University," a known nest of Zionists.

Interestingly, this vulture espionage effort follows closely on the heels of the alleged Zionist release of sharks into the Red Sea to sabotage Egypt's tourist industry.

'What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark in the sea to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question. But it needs time to confirm,' Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha said.

Boy, it's a big deal when you can control the birds and the fish. I'm impressed.

Tip: Charley Nestor

Women Allegedly Dies from Massager

(Parkland, Florida) A 37-year-old radiology resident at Jackson Memorial Hospital, Dr. Michelle Ferrari-Gegerson, was found lying unconscious Christmas Eve on her bedroom floor.

Her husband, Kenneth Gegerson, found her and called 911.

An electronic massager was found lying on the floor near Ferrari-Gegerson, investigators said. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

BSO detectives and the Broward Medical Examiner's Office suspect that the massager became tangled with a necklace Ferrari-Gegerson was wearing and quickly tightened around her neck.

She had reportedly spent the night wrapping Christmas gifts and used the massager to relieve neck pain.

Autopsy details are being withheld.

NY Woman Gets Jail for Raping Boy - Updated

(Lockport, New York) Earlier today, 31-year-old Lockport woman, Debra M. Wise, was sentenced to one year in the Niagara County Jail.

County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III said, "It seems to me that if the genders were reversed, there's no question there would be a jail sentence, and I think a jail sentence is deserved here."

Assistant District Attorney Charles F. Pitarresi said the boy's family wanted Wise incarcerated. The most she could have received was 1 1/3 to four years in state prison.

She also will have to register as a sex offender; the level of classification will be determined shortly before she is released from jail.

In Wise's defense, Assistant Public Defender Michael E. Benedict stated that she had a drinking problem and no criminal record, therefore, Wise should get probation.

* * * * *
NY Woman Guilty of Raping Boy - Updated
[Previous 10/27/10 post]
(Lockport, New York) Yesterday, 30-year-old local woman, Debra M. Wise, pleaded guilty before Niagara County Judge Matthew J. Murphy III to having sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Recommendations on sentencing for convictions on one count of third-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child were not reported.

Judge Murphy III scheduled sentencing for January 4, 2011.

* * * * *
Woman Caught Having Sex with Boy
[Previous 6/9/10 post]
(Lockport, New York) A 30-year-old local woman, Debra M. Wise, was caught last Friday engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy, while a 15-year-old friend played lookout.

Wise faces charges of second-degree rape and endangering the welfare of a child.

An officer questioned the lookout, who strongly smelled of alcohol.

During the interview, the juvenile reportedly said no one else was with him, but Officer Mike Jorgensen said he heard movement in the woods.

Jorgensen said he detained the teen and proceeded to where the noise was.

“When approaching the area, I saw two individuals having sexual intercourse,” Jorgensen said. “I ordered them to put on their clothes and for the male to come with me.” […]

Jorgensen said Wise told him she was “drunk and having sex.”

Heh.

Iowa Librarians Perturbed by New Gun Law

Frankly, when I go to the library, I usually don't pay a lot of attention to other folks.

A new gun law championed by the National Rifle Association (NRA) that took effect January 1 in Iowa has some librarians concerned that it will allow patrons to openly carry firearms in the library.[…]

"The new law does not allow any restrictions to be placed on permit holders," Duane Hildebrandt, the president of the Iowa State Sheriffs and Deputies Association and a board member of the Sumner Public Library, told Library Journal. "Allowing open carry with no ability to require concealment is a concern that many sheriffs, including myself, have," he added.

Susan Craig, director of the Iowa City Public Library, told LJ that the new gun law came up as part of that library's recent Conduct Policy review and that after consulting with the city attorney the library is going to amend its policy to prohibit firearms in the library (concealed or otherwise). The policy will exempt police officers.

"Our reasoning is that a public library is similar to a school, and schools are exempt from the new law.... [W]e believe that many of our patrons would be concerned if they saw people carrying guns in the library," she said.

It seems to me that anal-retentive librarians are making a big deal out of a non-problem. I don't recall any instances of someone going postal in a library.

Companion post at GunWatch.

A Muslim Batman?

More tedious political correctness:

"In case you’ve been out of the loop (and it’s a pretty tiny loop, so you could easily be excused) there’s more than one Batman now. Also, one of those Batmans (the original flavor) has been travelling around the world recruiting more Batmans to be his Little Helpers.

I’ll let that sink in.

There has been some controversy over the French-Batman’s-Little-Helper Nightrunner, who is a young French-born Muslim from Clichy-Sous-Bois, the neighborhood rocked by riots in 2005, who was motivated by the death of a radical friend at the hands of the police to fight AGAINST Islamic nationals and terrorists in the French state.

And by controversy, I mean internet controversy. Which is to say, some random people who have nothing to do with the comics industry and, in fact, nothing to do with France, said some racist and religiously intolerant stuff about the choice; and no one in the comics industry or, in fact, France, has yet responded.

There are some internet people who think is its quite the travesty that DC Comics decided to make Batman welcome a Muslim guy into his organization.

Source

Since Batman was originally a NYC character, this is a big stretch. But if you don't like it, don't buy it. DC Comics might learn something from that.

At least the new helper is still on the side of the good guys, I guess.

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

Ohio Teacher Gets Prison in Sex Case - Updated

(Zanesville, Ohio) Today, teacher Bridget Todd received two years in prison.

32-year-old Bridget Todd of Cambridge appeared before Muskingum County Common Pleas Judge Mark Fleegle where she was sentenced to two years in prison on felony charges of sexual battery and pandering obscenity involving a minor.

Interestingly, it was revealed in the case that Todd brazenly had sex with the boy right in her classroom.

In addition to prison time, Todd was ordered to register as a Tier III sexual offender.

* * * * *
Ohio Teacher Guilty in Sex Case
[Previous 11/11/10 post]
(Zanesville, Ohio) In August 2010, a 32-year-old history teacher at Mid-East Career and Technology Center, Bridget E. Todd, was accused of sexual contact with a 17-year-old male student.

Yesterday, Todd pleaded guilty in Muskingum County Common Pleas Court to sexual battery and pandering obscenity involving a minor.

Prosecutors said the contact went on for months on school grounds and outside of school. Todd and the student also exchanged nude images of each other.

Mid-East Career Center said Todd was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 24 after an investigation revealed evidence of "teacher professional misconduct."

Information on sentencing is unavailable.

Bush Aide Murdered, Dumped in Landfill

(Newark, Delaware) On New Year's Eve, the body of 66-year-old John P. Wheeler III was found at the Cherry Island landfill.

Mr. Wheeler was a defense consultant and worked in the administrations of Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush.

The medical examiner has ruled the death a homicide.

An employee at the landfill spotted Wheeler’s body falling from a dump truck into a trash pile. Police were able to identify Wheeler based on identification found on his body, [Newark Police Lt.] Farrall said.

Police determined the body was dumped somewhere near College Square and East Main Street in Newark.

Wheeler was a decorated military veteran and served as chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

Boy, 4, Dies in Manure Pit

(Lancaster, Pennsylvania) A 4-year-old boy, Josiah Martin, was found dead Saturday morning, face down in a manure pit.

Police say Josiah Martin was playing with two siblings and a neighbor child Saturday morning on the farm just outside New Holland when he wandered off.

Reportedly, the manure pit has a chain-link fence surrounding it. Excuse me for being inquisitive but, what good is a fence if it can't keep a 4-year-old boy out?

Also, why is a 4-year-old ever allowed to "wander off" from adult supervision?

Suicide Jump Foiled by Garbage Pile

(New York City) A 26-year-old Manhattan man suffering from psychiatric problems, Vangelis (Angelo) Kapatos, jumped out of a ninth-story apartment yesterday hoping to splatter his carcass on 45 St.

Fortunately, the NYC Sanitation Department was tardy in garbage collection and Kapatos landed on top of a mountain of refuse and lived.

Kapatos landed on his back, causing some of the black plastic garbage bags to burst, spewing out their rotten contents.

The Sanitation Department suspended trash collection after the Dec. 26 snowstorm paralyzed the city. Pickups were expected to resume today.

Residents of the building said the garbage had been kept in the basement since the storm hit.

Workers at the building put the rotten haul - some 100 bags in all - on the curb Sunday morning, residents said.

According to relatives, Karpatos was recognized as suicidal and had recently received psychiatric treatment. Plus, he was on the verge of being evicted from his apartment.

Abuse is all that Leftists have got

There's a brief posting on Wizbang in which the author ("Rick") notes the attacks on Christians recently reported in Egypt and Iraq and opines that "the Islamist attacks being perpetrated against Christians in foreign countries will one day soon be seen here in the U.S."

One could argue about the likelihood of that prediction but a Leftist commentator doesn't bother with that. He just lays on the abuse with a trowel. He says:

You're one sick puppy, Rick. You really do need help. Your hate is out of control, and putting it on daily display so that you can find fellow sick f*cks isn't really "therapy" - you're just digging your hole to hell deeper and deeper.

Bottom line, get help. You're mentally ill: "We will see those sorts of attacks here in the U.S. It's just a matter of time..."

Quit making excuses for your sick, twisted hatred of your fellow man. Get help.

The writer of course offers no reasoning to support his "diagnosis" and his inference that fear of Muslim aggression is "hatred of your fellow man" doesn't withstand a moment's scrutiny.

Mass murderers are part of "our fellow man" but that does not mean that we are wrong to disapprove of them and fear their evil deeds. Not all of "our fellow men" are the same, though Leftists often pretend that they are.

Such a pathetic effort at reasoning by the Leftist writer concerned seems evidence that HE is the one with a "sick, twisted" mind to me.

The amusing thing about the episode, though, is that "Rick" in his post quoted something that quite exactly predicted what the Leftist commenter would do: "Critics are called bigots, neo-Nazis, Islamophobes, or some other cruel name. In essence, having negative comments or judgments about Islam is labeled evil".

So by his comment, the Leftist proved the accuracy of the post that he was condemning. He just had nothing but hate to offer.

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

1000 Blackbirds Fall from Sky


(Beebe, Arkansas) Last weekend, residents in this small Arkansas town woke up to see an estimated 1,000 red-winged blackbirds dead in yards, roofs and trees. Public workers were called to do clean-up.

It's speculated that lightning or possibly hail caused the deaths. I suggest a sorcerer made it happen as an omen.

Engaged Debra Lafave Report Erroneous - Updated



(Apollo Beach, Florida) Correction! Debra Beasley, formerly Lafave, is NOT engaged.

Shawn Haverfield shot down a report on RadarOnline.com that he was engaged to Lafave, who now goes by her maiden name of Debra Beasley.

"No, not at this time," Haverfield said in a Facebook message, responding to a question about whether he and Beasley are engaged.

"I don't know where it started."

On New Year's Eve, RadarOnline.com – citing an unnamed source "close to the couple" -- reported that Haverfield, 34, and Beasley, 30, are engaged.

"EXCLUSIVE: Sex Crime Teacher Debra Lafave Set to Wed," read the headline on Radar's story, which the celebrity gossip site posted at 4:30 a.m. Friday.

While Haverfield and Beasley might not be engaged, they appear to be living together.

Presumably, an official Oops! will be forthcoming.

* * * * *
Debra Lafave Gets Engaged - Updated
[Previous 12/31/10 post]
Former teacher and convicted sex offender Debra Lafave is back in the news with the announcement that she is engaged. Florida restaurant-owner Shawn Haverfield, 34, is the lucky guy.

There is no confirmation of the previous report regarding Lafave running for Congress.

* * * * *
Debra Lafave for Congress?
[Previous 5/18/10 post]
It's being mentioned.

Frankly, I don't see why not. Sure, she's a convicted felon but it's not a deal breaker for getting elected to Congress. Rep. Alcee Hastings comes to mind.

In any event, Lafave couldn't do worse than many others in the current crop of spineless representatives. Profiles in courage my glutes.

More here, here and here.

Rather Be a Hooker in Africa Than a Citizen in China

(Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo) Human traffickers took Chinese women to work in Africa as prostitutes who now don't want to go home.

Police from China flew to the Democratic Republic of Congo in November in the country's first operation to rescue women trafficked to Africa, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

They found 11 Chinese women who had been promised decent jobs in Paris by traffickers but ended up working in a Chinese-owned karaoke bar in the country's capital Kinshasa, the newspaper said.

After a joint raid by Chinese and Congolese police on the karaoke bar, however, the women decided to stay in the country, saying it was easier to make good money there than in China.

Even though this report is anecdotal, it shines light on life under the Chinese communist regime. It also helps explain why boatloads of Chinese are regularly intercepted trying to get into the U.S.

Another possible reason that Chinese women would rather be prostitutes outside of China than return to their homeland is alcoholism. Chinese hookers have been found to be overly fond of liquor which could be clouding their judgment about returning to China.


Fortunately, American tax dollars are currently being directed toward the problem. The $2.6 million drunk Chinese hookers project, authorized by the National Institutes of Health, was launched at Wayne State University School of Medicine in 2009. The effort has been funded under the umbrella of HIV/AIDS prevention.

Companion post at TJR.

Texas Woman Accused of Killing Boy, 12

(Houston, Texas) A 44-year-old local woman with a storied criminal history, Mona Nelson, has been arrested for the alleged brutal murder of a 12-year-old boy named Jonathan Foster.

Nelson also allegedly burned Foster's corpse before dumping it in a ditch.

"I was one of the detectives to interview Mona Nelson, and I can tell you that she is a cold, soulless murderer who showed an absolute lack of remorse in taking the life of Jonathan Foster," HPD Homicide Det. Michael Miller said. "There are few cases that impact homicide detectives in this manner, but this is one of them."

Since her arrest Wednesday, Miller said Nelson has admitted to dumping Foster’s burned body in a ditch near East Hardy and Schilder, but insists that she did not kill the boy.

Evidence found in Nelson's home reportedly indicates that the burning occurred there. Surveillance video allegedly depicts a woman disposing of the body from the bed of a pickup truck into a ditch.

British police banned from saying 'eggs is eggs' in case it offended infertile women

We read:

"Police have been banned from using the phrase “sure as eggs is eggs” in case it offends women with fertility problems, a senior officer has claimed.

Writing on a popular online blog, the anonymous whistelblower, said that colleagues in his force had been ordered not to use the expression on “diversity” grounds.

The blogger, who writes under the pseudonym Inspector Gadget, after the cartoon character, is understood to be a serving inspector in a county force in southern England, which he refers to only as “Ruralshire” – “a county in England, not too far from Metrocity”.

In his latest posting, he dismissed the alleged ban on the phrase as “another nonsensical, empire-building, silly, frothy, pathetic and downright insulting example of political correctness gone mad”.

Source

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

OH Supreme Court Rules for Gun Owners

(Columbus, Ohio) The city of Cleveland has been challenging a state law which specifies that its local laws on gun control are invalid and replaced by the Ohio preemption law, HB347.

The Ohio Supreme Court has now ruled 5-2 that the preemption law is valid.

The legislature recognized that, like motor vehicle laws, it makes sense for firearms laws to be uniform throughout the state. Because local laws can only carry misdemeanor penalties, and almost every crime committed with a gun is a felony under state or federal law, the local laws were almost never used to charge criminals and instead served to disarm the crime victims.

Cleveland's argument against the state law was simple: they felt the state and federal government had not gone far enough to regulate self-defense rights, so the city should still be free to further regulate everyone who happens to be inside city limits.[…]

In Cleveland, gun ordinances have been used for political or philosophical reasons and had the effect of harassing law-abiding citizens.

Gun rights advocates will now seek to have a variety of local ordinances declared unconstitutional. Gun control advocates are presumably puckered by the Supreme Court ruling.

Happy New Year



A traditional New Year's dinner is being prepared as I write. The smells of roast pork, hoppin' john and collard greens fill the house. Good eats.

Now I need to recharge my blogging mojo for another year. Happy New Year and Thanks to all the readers, commenters and tipsters.

Another Warmist false prophet

Dr Michael Oppenheimer of the Environmental Defense Fund was interviewed by the New York times in January 2000 as part of an article on the recent run of mild winters. As the article about the ‘absence of snow’ in New York reported:

Dr. Oppenheimer, among other ecologists, points to global warming as perhaps the most significant long-term factor.

Oppenheimer even had a tear-jerking personal angle on the ‘absence of snow’ in modern winters. The New York Times writer mournfully announced that snow-balls fights are now as outdated as hoop-rolling, and quoted Oppenheimer on the pathetic spectacle of the unused sled in his stairwell, symbol of a warming world:

But it does not take a scientist to size up the effects of snowless winters on the children too young to remember the record-setting blizzards of 1996. For them, the pleasures of sledding and snowball fights are as out-of-date as hoop-rolling, and the delight of a snow day off from school is unknown.

‘I bought a sled in ’96 for my daughter,” said Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, a scientist at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund. ”It’s been sitting in the stairwell, and hasn’t been used. I used to go sledding all the time. It’s one of my most vivid and pleasant memories as a kid, hauling the sled out to Cunningham Park in Queens.”

If you see Dr Oppenheimer out sledding this winter, lend a hand, and give him a push.

SOURCE

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