Volkswagen's Legislators

(Wolfsburg, Germany) Volkswagen has recently been the target of questions about conflict of interest since it became known that two lawmakers were on the company's payroll. In response, the company said there are not two lawmakers on the payroll. Instead, a list was released naming six lawmakers on the payroll.

Muslim Fired, Sues For Discrimination

(Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Software analyst Syed Alam was fired by the Miller Brewing Company. The company insists the firing was for "poor performance," however, according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Milwaukee, Alam contends the firing was the result of "racial and religious discrimination." My read of the story tells me that Syed Alam is easily offended and a persistent complainer. If so, he needs to lighten up.

Of course, I could be wrong.

PETA Stray Cat Protest

(Milwaukee, Wisconsin) Mayor Tom Barrett got an angry letter from the PETA crowd this week because a stray cat stranded in a tree wasn't rescued. I'm sure the mayor had absolutely nothing more important on his schedule than to respond to a protest letter, and a press release, about a stray cat.

There are 750,000 people sending PETA money every month so it can spearhead such worthy causes.

Female Counselor Has Sex With Boy

(Umatilla, Florida) According to the Lake County Sheriff's Department, camp counselor Morgan Lee Brown, 25, was arrested Thursday on charges she had sex with a 16-year-old boy at various Central Florida locations.


Morgan Lee Brown
The Sheriff's Department has interviewed a witness who saw Brown engage in consensual sexual relations with the boy on multiple occasions. Brown is in the Lake County Jail on $14,000 bond, charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

Frankly, by her mug shot I wouldn't peg Morgan Lee Brown as an evil temptress. Of course, those prison stripes in her hair might be indicative of something. Nonetheless, Morgan Lee Brown now qualifies for inclusion on the previously discussed roster of women who molest minors. As a reminder, the entire roster now includes:

Pamela Smart,
Debra Lafave,
Mary Kay Letourneau,
Lisa Suitter,
Amber Jennings,
Sarah Suzanne Bench-Salorio,
Janay Jill Willson,
and Morgan Lee Brown.

Pretty soon, there will be enough for a softball team.

[Update] Add Tammy Lee Huggins, Rebecca Ann Boicelli, and, although not a teacher but still worthy of inclusion, Sylvia Johnson to the roster.

[Update 2] Add Sheryl Jean Graham.

[Update 3, February 7, 2005] According to this report, if convicted Morgan Lee Brown faces a possible 60 years in prison. Ouch!

Also, there's another addition to the roster, Denise Bongers.

Florida Man Arrested For Possessing Ricin

(Ocala, Florida) Florida law enforcement agents arrested and later released Steven Michael Ekberg, 22, last Friday after being tipped that he had violated the concealed weapons permit law by carrying guns while visiting clubs. A search of his home resulted in finding suspicious chemicals and several weapons, including an Uzi-type submachine gun, an AK47-type semiautomatic rifle, and a semiautomatic bipod rifle. Later analysis indicated that one of the chemicals was the lethal biological agent ricin, possession of which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Ekberg was arrested again on Wednesday. According to the FBI, Ekberg isn't believed to be linked to a terrorist organization.

He might not be linked to a terrorist group, but it's sure that he didn't accumulate sophisticated weaponry and ricin for humanitarian purposes.

Strawberry Fields Orphanage To Close

From ABC Online comes the report that the Salvation Army is closing the Strawberry Fields Orphanage immortalized by John Lennon and the Beatles in the 1967 song Strawberry Fields Forever. The facility, in the Woolton district of Liverpool, England, is where John Lennon used to play as a child. However, despite its legacy, the place currently houses only three orphans and officials have decided to close it down permanently.

The future? Urban renewal will probably erase Penny Lane someday.

Trackback: Beltway Traffic Jam

Senior Shiite Aide Murdered

(Baghdad) According to this report, Shiite Muslim Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani supports the upcoming elections but isn't running for office. Nonetheless, he and his followers have been targeted by Sunni Muslim militants eager to create civil war. Today, it's being reported that Sheikh Mahmoud al-Madahaini, a senior Sistani aide, was murdered in Salman Pak, south of Baghdad, along with his son and four guards.

Also today, another aide working on legal issues in Ayatollah Sistani's Najaf office was found dead. Iraqi officials are blaming Sunni militants for all the deaths.

Worth mentioning is the consistently irksome difficulty associated with Arab names. In various reports, Sheikh Mahmoud al-Madahaini is identified as Sheik Mahmoud Finjan, Cleric Mahmoud al-Madaen, Sheikh Mahmoud al-Madaini, among others. There is apparently no correct way to identify individuals when the names undergo translation. I still don't know how to correctly spell or pronounce the name of Libya's leader. Is it Qaddifi or Kadiffi or Quddafi or Qudaffi or Qaddaffi? Hell if I know. With regard to translating from Arabic to English, ballpark accuracy in language necessarily replaces precision. Unfortunately, the practice occasionally leads to misidentification.

Hat tip: In The Bullpen, The Jawa Report

Terrorists Rob Ramadi Bank

(Ramadi, al-Anbar Province, Iraq) According to a Courier-Mail report, armed men broke into the Rashid bank, locked up all the employees, took $13.5 million worth of Iraqi dinars, and escaped. The robbery occurred about 11am local time (3am EST).

Could there be a problem with their usual funding avenues?

Taiwan To Mainland Highway

(Beijing) China has proposed long-term plans for the construction of a highway from the mainland to Taiwan. It would be about 120 miles of bridge or tunnel or a combination of the two spanning open water in an earthquake zone which sees many typhoons. As an indication of the level of thought already devoted to the idea, Communications Minister Zhang Chunxian said, "Taipei could be linked by building a tunnel or something else."

Doable? You make the call.

Verdict In Playmate Trial

(Cleveland, Ohio) Late yesterday, Playboy Playmate of the Year, Carmella DeCesare, was found not guilty of assault and guilty of violating a protective order. For violating a protective order to stay away from her accuser, Kristen Hine, Judge Anita Laster Mays sentenced DeCesare to community service, $150 fine, and gave her a suspended jail term.

Any synopsis of the trial over the past couple days would have to conclude that it was merely a catfight between two women over Cleveland Browns QB Jeff Garcia. Only because it involved an NFL QB and a Playboy Playmate of the Year did it become newsworthy. Otherwise, the story is about a guy and two girls who can't get along.

Interestingly, the story does illustrate that Jeff Garcia's leadership skills on the gridiron, and the Browns dismal record this past season, seem to parallel his skills in his personal life. In neither circumstance has he been able to get his receivers to work together.

Companion post at Backcountry Conservative.

WWII Allied POW Deaths in Japan

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army took over 35,000 prisoners of war to Japan to perform backbreaking work as forced laborers in coal mines, factories, and other locations. Out of the total, a Japanese organization called the POW Research Network Japan has compiled a listing of 3,526 who died, many from malnutrition and pneumonia. According to the network's website,

How and where these casualties met their death has never been clarified. Prior to the surrender the Imperial Japanese Army issued instructions to destroy all documents relating to these camps. Japan's Government has never told the full story of the treatment of POWs either in Japan or overseas.

Our group has endeavoured to unveil this hidden history, and this list is nearing completion. The roll of Commonwealth soldiers has already appeared on our web site. We are now adding the names of American and Dutch casualties to each individual camp site.

We wish to express our deep sympathy to those who lost their lives in this conflict. We trust that this list will prove helpful to families and friends, especially those who up to now did not know the fate of their loved ones.

Data from the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers, along with lists of names retrieved from cemeteries and war memorials, were used to compile the listing.

The effort to compile a listing of the dead Allied POWs should be heralded. No doubt, there are generations of families who are eager to know what happened to their loved ones.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Chicago Shopping Mall Explosion Injures 10

(Chicago, Illinois) Ten injuries have been reported from a gas explosion last night in the parking lot at Ford City Shopping Mall on Chicago's Southwest Side. According to Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford, the cause is unknown.

I'll make a wild guess. A gas leak?!

Student Gives Wine Coolers to Classmates

(Heath, Ohio) For extra credit in Social Studies, a student at Heath Middle School served wine coolers to his classmates as part of a presentation on food and drink of the ancient Greeks. The student's parent allegedly prepared the wine coolers for the class.

According to police, no charges were filed, however, the student was suspended for 10 days.

Okay, what am I missing here? The student gets punished for the parent's actions! Where's the logic? Usually the parent is responsible for the student. In this instance, the parent is apparently not responsible for anything.

Three Shot Dead In Tennessee Garage

(Jackson, Tennessee) David Jordan opened fire yesterday at a state Transportation Department garage, killing three people and wounding two. The dead include Jordan's wife, Donna, a Forestry Department employee, and a delivery man. Police arrested Jordan a short time after the shootings. He was captured with an assault rifle, a shotgun, and two pistols.

Police identified no motive for the killings.

Tsunami Victims Mostly Fishermen and Their Families

According to a Jakarta Post report, fishermen and their families comprised more than 90,000 of the 105,000 people who perished in Indonesia during the December 26 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Survivors have been left without boats, nets, nor other equipment to continue their livelihood.

In a related report, it's believed that two-thirds of all fatalities in the disaster were women and children at home along the affected coastline. Without women in the central role of maintaining families and communities, reconstruction and relief efforts will be much more difficult.

As more information on the scope of the disaster is known, it becomes clearer that recovery is going to take a very long time.

Submarine Mishap Worse Than First Reported

According to email messages written by Rear Adm. Paul F. Sullivan, Commander of Submarine Forces Pacific, the USS San Francisco hit an uncharted undersea mountain "incredibly hard" and, contrary to a previously reported 23, about 60 crew members were injured. The submarine was traveling at high speed when it hit, sustaining significant bow damage which caused flooding in the sonar dome and ballast tanks.

Navy officials said the San Francisco was traveling at 30 knots when it careened off some part of the undersea mountain range. In one of the e-mail messages, Admiral Sullivan wrote that on impact, the vessel made a "nearly instantaneous deacceleration" [sic] to about 4 knots.

Buoyancy was subsequently maintained by continuously pushing air into the ballast tanks. The engineering spaces, including the reactor and propulsion plants, were unaffected.

Somebody has to ask the question of how the chart makers could neglect to find an entire undersea mountain range.

Companion post at Backcountry Conservative.

Despite Sudan Peace Pact, Darfur Violence Grows

ABC Online reports:

Fighting is spreading in Sudan's Darfur region and may intensify in the short term despite a landmark peace agreement between the Sudanese Government and rebels in the south.

The special United Nations envoy for Sudan, Jan Pronk, told the UN Security Council, arms were flooding into the region, violence was spreading beyond camps for the homeless, banditry was increasing and rebel groups were launching attacks in the area of oil facilities.

"We may move into a period of intense violence unless swift action is taken," Mr Pronk said.

Mr. Pronk is not telling the UN Security Council members anything they don't already know since they recently issued a report indicating as much. Last week, Kofi Annan was quoted saying that the situation is deteriorating and swift international action is required. The Security Council report also stated that the conflict in Darfur has "cost 70,000 lives, displaced 1.7 million people, and left 2.2 million dependent on aid." Even so, we'll have to wait until January 25 to find out if there is genocide occurring in Darfur. Inexplicably, that's when the UN will finally rule on the issue.

In summary, the situation in Darfur is normal. The UN is in charge. By every indication, essentially nothing is being done.

Israel's Chinese Deal

Here's a dilemma. Back in the 1990s, Israel dealt Harpy drone aircraft to China despite U.S. pressure not to do so. However, the radar and anti-aircraft targeting drones lacked sophisticated upgrades which Israel promised to provide. Last year, China returned the aircraft for the upgrades to enhance equipment performance.

The United States fears the Harpy military technology could be used to threaten Taiwan and endanger US forces in case of war with China. The US position has put Israel in the difficult position of having either to defy its main ally, or violate a trust with China, a market with considerable growth potential for Israeli high-tech and military exports.

In 2000 Washington pressured Israel to scrap a different Israeli arms deal with China worth $2 billion. China blamed the United States for interfering in the sale of PHALCON reconnaissance planes. Israel said the botched deal caused lingering ill will with China that was resolved only after Israel paid China reparations.

Presently, it's not clear how Israel will resolve its dilemma. Nevertheless, as a stereotypical amateur geopolitical wizard, my take is for Israel to be extra careful when supplying any military technology to a communist government. Either that or don't be surprised when Harpy drones start taking off from Iranian or Syrian airfields. When it comes to fortifying military arsenals, it's probably advisable to conduct business only with those countries on the same side of the ideological scrimmage line.

Financial Journalist Fined For Pumping Own Stocks

Formerly of CBS MarketWatch.com, Thom Calandra has been fined more than $540,000 by the Securities and Exchange Commission for using an investment newsletter to promote certain stocks he owned.

Michael S. Dicke, a deputy assistant district administrator in the S.E.C.'s enforcement division, said: "It's not every day that you find a respected financial journalist, who has a large readership, and then find them selling stocks. It was a serious betrayal of Mr. Calandra's readership."

Mr. Calandra, without admitting or denying any wrongdoing, agreed to return more than $416,000 in trading profits and interest. He will also pay a civil penalty of $125,000.

"It has been a challenging year, to put it mildly, and I do not wish to expose my family to a protracted public dispute with the commission on this matter," Mr. Calandra said in a statement. "Now that we have a resolution, I am eager to move on with my life and pursue my first love, writing."

This type of stock manipulation scheme just fries my chicken and I don't think that the punishment is adequate. Calandra obviously is not being impacted financially when he easily agrees to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars. Obviously, the punishment is viewed more like a traffic ticket than a deterrent. A eye-opening stretch in the slammer would change that perception.

I wonder how many of the investors he defrauded will get their money back.

Library Book 78 Years Overdue

(Akron, Ohio) While rummaging through his late parents' estate, Billy Hawse found a library book checked out of the Akron-Summit County Public Library that had a return due date of April 14, 1927, making it 78 years overdue. At a fine of 2 cents a day, the return of The Book of the National Parks by Robert Sterling Yard should have cost Hawse over $500, but the library waived the fine.