Man Kills Woman for Making Fun of His Package

(Surrey, England) On trial for murder, a 50-year-old gardener, Peter Ling, testified that hehad just finished engaging in sex with his regular squeeze, Mrs. Linda Casey, 54, when she indicated that there was another man.

"She gave me that look that led me to believe she was."

As she got up to leave, he said, he asked 'why?' and she made a 'flippant' comment - described by his barrister Ignatius Hughes, QC, as being about his 'physical sexual adequacy'.

Ling told the jury: 'She said, "You are not big enough for me" in a gloating sort of fashion. She was getting the last word over me. I've always been conscious of my size. I just lost it completely.

'I was like a pressure cooker waiting to go off and when she said that comment it went off in my mind.'

He said he pulled the mother of three down, grabbed a piece of chalk and started hitting her with it in an 'instantaneous' way.

'I just kept doing it without realising how many times,' said Ling, of Wallington, Surrey, who denies murder.

Asked by his barrister if he was in control of himself, he replied: 'No, I wasn't.'

He said he heard 'gasping noises' and then saw his lover had stopped breathing. 'I'd just killed someone. I couldn't believe I'd done such a thing,' Ling added.

He left Mrs Casey's body partially-covered by leaves, folded her clothes and fled the scene.

Mr. Peter Ling acknowledges that he caused Mrs. Casey's death but maintains that it was manslaughter not murder. Case continues at the Old Bailey.

NC Teacher Gets No Jail in Student Sex Case - Updated

(Goldsboro, North Carolina) Thirty-three-year-old Shannon Herring of Kinston appeared in court earlier today and pleaded guilty to two counts of neglect of a minor in accordance with an agreement with the prosecution. She received probation.

Herring had originally been charged with two counts of sexual activity with a 17-year-old male student.

She will have to serve 24 months of unsupervised probation, 50 hours of community service and pay a $300 fine.

Authorities say the encounters happened off campus in October & November of 2008.

Herring resigned her teaching position in March 2009.

* * * * *
NC Teacher Arrested for Sex with Student
[Previous 3/4/09 post]
(Goldsboro, North Carolina) A 32-year-old teacher at Southern Wayne High School, Shannon Grace Herring, surrendered herself to the Wayne County Sheriff's Office yesterday to face charges of engaging in sex with a 17-year-old student.

Authorities were alerted to the alleged sex offenses by the student.

Detectives said the sexual encounters between Ms. Herring and the 17-year-old student took place twice -- between the dates of Oct. 16 and Nov. 18 -- and that Ms. Herring faces a Class G felony for the two offenses.

The Sheriff's Office also was not willing to disclose where the sexual encounters took place, describing it only as "a place within the county."

The detectives said the length of the investigation was necessary because they felt they needed to interview "quite a few people" in investigating the crime.

No news on bail.

Good Argument in Any Debate


Smith & Wesson Model 640 .357 Magnum


According to certified firearms instructor George Hill, the hammerless S&W 640 is likable and it's a keeper.

"It seems to me that a person with a strong sense of personal identity would pack one of these with no problem and no second thoughts. Five rounds of .357 magnum can make a very good argument in any debate. Being able to comfortably and easily carry those five rounds in a concealable package is a good thing. And making that package one that can be brought out quickly to deliver those five arguments so readily, is just about ideal."

Small package and large punch, for personal protection, what's to dislike?

Companion post at GunWatch.

950 Union Jobs on Chopping Block

(Flat Rock, Michigan) Management at a local automobile assembly plant making Fords and Mazdas has announced that 950 union jobs will be eliminated by July 12. An entire shift of workers will be laid off to streamline the assembly process.

Workers eligible for a retirement buyout will be offered $40,000 pre-tax for skilled trades workers or $20,000 pre-tax for non-skilled trades workers. Also, both groups will be given a $25,000 new vehicle voucher or lump sum payout.

Non-tenured workers will also be offered the option for a $50,000 pre-tax buyout, a $25,000 new vehicle voucher or lump sum payout, plus six months of basic health care.

United Auto Workers Union Local 3000 is seeking other options for the workers. I suspect it might be possible to pack them into the payroll at Government Motors.

Is the Voice of America Pro-Iran?


More Leftist infiltration of the media

An internal struggle within the Voice of America (VOA) over its news coverage of Iran is spewing outside the agency as veteran staffers claim the channel tilts coverage in favor of the Tehran regime.

The divisions erupted in late January when VOA chiefs removed a popular TV anchorman from the flagship U.S. broadcast into Iran, after he and about 30 Persian-speaking broadcasters had a confrontational meeting with VOA Director Danforth Austin, Newsmax has learned.

The broadcasters, who work for VOA’s Persian service in Washington, D.C., challenged the editorial judgment of two senior managers because they banned stories about the violent crackdown on protesters in Tehran in recent months.

“What motivates us to be here is that we have the best interest of [VOA] at heart. . . at this crucial moment in history when Iran is front and center of U.S. foreign policy and the Iranian public are looking to VOA for top-notice journalism,” one of those present at the meeting told Austin.

VOA is a taxpayer-funded multimedia network with a $194 million budget that employs 1,300 people worldwide to “broadcast accurate, balanced, and comprehensive news and information to an international audience,” according to its Web site. The Persian-language version of the VOA got special attention for its ability to do reach Iranians in the period after 9/11.

The broadcasters criticized Alex Belida, acting director of the Persian News Network (PNN), for “poor editorial judgment” and a lack of understanding of Iran and Iranian affairs. Belida does not speak or read Persian.

Much more HERE

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

Gorbachev Honored

(Dresden, Germany)

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the inaugural Dresden Prize on Sunday in recognition of his role in bringing the Cold War to a peaceful end.

The organisation Friends of Dresden handed over the award, with €25,000 prize money, to the 78-year-old former Communist Party leader at the Saxony capital’s Semperoper opera house.

According to the group, Gorbachev was given the award for “conflict and violence prevention” – in particular his role in nuclear disarmament.

Through his initiative on unilateral dismantling of intermediate-range missiles, Gorbachev signalled an end to the Cold War arms race between the Soviet Union and the United States and thereby made “one of the most important contributions to the prevention of violence in past decades,” the group said.

Through his policies of glasnost (“openness”) and perestroika (“reform”), Gorbachev helped bring the Cold War to and end. Gorbachev received the Nobel peace prize for his efforts in 1990.

One must wonder if Ronald Reagan will get recognized for his contributions in ending the Cold War.

Libya Stops Issuing Visas to Europeans

(Tripoli, Libya) The nation of Libya has escalated a diplomatic conflict with Switzerland by suspending issuance of visas to most European countries.

The visa suspension emerged a day after a Libyan newspaper reported that the North African country would take “severe measures” in response to Switzerland drawing up a visa blacklist that included Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his family.

Oil exporter Libya has been attracting growing foreign investment since it emerged from decades of international isolation and the visa move could harm its business reputation, though one analyst said the suspension would be short-lived.

A notice on France’s Foreign Ministry website said Libya had suspended visas for the Schengen area — 25 European countries, including some which, like Switzerland, are not in the European Union. EU members Britain, Ireland, Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus are not in Schengen.

A spokesman for Italy’s Foreign Ministry said Libya had suspended visas in response to the Swiss restrictions. “Contacts are under way between the countries of the zone to coordinate over this measure,” a ministry spokesman said.

“Libya’s unilateral step is regrettable,” a German foreign ministry spokesman said.

Apparently Libya is known to make abrupt rule changes and, typically, they don't last long. The actions illustrate the reactionary and capricious nature of Libya's leadership.

Golf Ball in Throat

(Dublin, Ireland) Irish gardai (law enforcers) are investigating a situation where a golf ball was found lodged in the throat of a deceased Dublin businessman.

Funeral home staff made the shocking discovery as the they prepared the man's body for burial recently.

Unusually, the object had not been discovered during the course of a post-mortem. The businessman, believed to be from south Dublin, has not been named.

The golf ball was found when the undertakers made an incision in the upper chest and neck area during the embalming.

The ball may have been forced down the man's throat but it is understood that gardai have ruled out foul play.

Boy, I'm stumped. How in the world could a golf ball shoved down someone's throat not be foul play? I think we can rule out that he was eating it.

Florida Woman Accused of Cyber Stalking

(Brevard County, Florida) A 32-year-old Melbourne woman, Sylvia Jennifer Hernandez, has been accused of making threats via Facebook against a former female associate. Hernandez has been charged with cyber stalking and violation of a protective order.

The victim in the case was granted an court injunction in December against Hernandez.

The woman told police Sunday that she feared Hernandez and that Hernandez recently contacted her and said she was in jail but was now back out.

A number of unspecified threats were left on the woman’s Facebook page, police said.

Police also said Hernandez turned up at the woman’s job despite the injunction order.

Hernandez was booked into custody at the Brevard County Detention Center with bond set at $1,500.

School Board Passes Gay Support Program

(San Francisco, California) Last week, the San Francisco School Board unanimously approved substantial increases in funding for gay and lesbian instructional services, despite massive revenue shortfalls.

The resolution calls for adding a district position to manage "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning" youth issues. It also requires the district to keep tabs on harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation and distribute educational packets every year to parents encouraging them to discuss sexuality, gender identity and safety with their children.

The measure, sponsored by the city's Youth Commission and Human Rights Commission and the district's Student Advisory Council, requires district staff to seek outside funding to cover the costs, but guarantees at least a half-time position and other services regardless.

About 13 percent of San Francisco's middle school students and 11 percent of high school students self-identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, according to a district survey.

Despite San Francisco's reputation as a gay-friendly city, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students more frequently experience harassment and are more likely to consider suicide, district officials said during the meeting.

In addition, 43 percent of those middle schools students - 430 children - said they didn't go to school because they didn't feel safe compared with 11 percent of heterosexual students.

"It's the data that's driving my decision," said board member Norman Yee, his voice filling with emotion as he wiped away tears.

Heh. Tax dollars tearfully working.

Companion post at EdWatch.

Russian Leaders Order the Privatization of Industry – Will Punish Bureaucrats Who Hamper Investment

This is a very encouraging sign. As Obama moves to to take control of large slices of the U.S. economy (health insurance; banks; automobiles), Russia is going in the opposite direction. Clearly, however, the Russian selloff is designed to shore up their budget at a time of financial difficulty -- rather than any new ideology. Many governments worldwide are doing the same

President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday ordered the Cabinet to sell off more government stakes in successful companies to private investors over the next two years. The Cabinet must submit proposals for increasing the number of “major … strategic companies that are attractive for investment” in its privatization plan by March 15, the Kremlin said on its web site.

The current plan, which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed in November, already seeks the sale of stakes in several strategic companies, such as shipper Sovkomflot. Medvedev has the responsibility of striking these companies off the list of strategic assets for the stakes to change hands. He hasn’t approved their exclusion as yet.

Medvedev’s order for a greater sale of key assets comes after he conferred with officials last week about ways to encourage investment — and as the government is facing a budget deficit for a second straight year.

Medvedev also instructed the Cabinet to come up with a proposal to punish more severely those bureaucrats that hamper investment, probably targeting those engaged in corruption. The Kremlin didn’t elaborate on the measure.

SOURCE

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

Goldie Hawn Buddhist Educational Charity

(UK) This report caught my attention.

Goldie Hawn, the Hollywood actress who runs an educational charity with Buddhist values, is in talks with the Conservative party about its plans for independent state-funded schools.

The 64-year-old Private Benjamin star, who describes herself as a Jewish Buddhist, met Dominic Cummings, the chief of staff for Michael Gove, the Shadow schools secretary.

They discussed the possibility of her charity, which runs schools in America and Canada, opening a state-funded facility in the UK.

The Hawn Foundation teaches the Buddhist technique of "mindfulness training", which emphasises social and emotional progress over academic testing and the use of simple breathing exercises to boost learning power.

It seems that Goldie Hawn's primary philosophy on education is to teach children to understand their emotions. Reading, writing and arithmetic are secondary considerations, apparently.

I question Hawn's philosophy. Understanding one's emotions sounds good but I contend the quality hardly makes one employable. In fact, I'd suggest most employers aren't in the least bit interested in whether a worker understands his/her emotions.

Companion post at EdWatch.

Hugh Hefner Sued

For almost 60 years, Playboy Enterprises founder Hugh Hefner has surrounded himself with pulchritudinous delights and although he was hedonistically "taking care of business," one man has filed suit alleging that Hefner has not been taking care of business.

David Brown, an investor from Los Angeles, alleges that “Hef” sabotaged potential deals for the sale of Playboy Enterprises late last year because he wanted to cling to his hedonistic existence.

His lawsuit claims that despite Playboy’s huge losses in recent years “Hefner has continued to live the good life and make sure everyone knows it”.

It continues: “Hefner remains in the limelight, showing up at media events and at the Playboy mansion —which is owned by Playboy and leased to Hefner — with his girlfriends by his side.”

Hefner owns 70 percent of the voting stock in Playboy which effectively allows him to do anything he wants. And he does. And Mr. Brown doesn't like it, claiming Hefner has breached his "fiduciary duties" to minority investors.

The lawsuit seeks punitive damages because Hefner has "busty models, luxury home and celebrity profile." Frankly, in my largely uninformed opinion, Brown's whole effort seems to be based on envy and sour grapes.

Flawed Coins

(Santiago, Chile) The General Manager of the Chile Mint, Gregorio Iniguez, has been fired after it was discovered that he had minted 50-peso coins with an embarrassing flaw.

The 50-peso coins - worth about 10 cents (6p) - were issued in 2008, but no-one noticed the mistake until late last year.

Instead of C-H-I-L-E, the coins had C-H-I-I-E stamped on them.

The coins have since become collectors' items and the mint says it has no plans to take them out of circulation.

I think the most embarrassing aspect of the story is that it took a year for anybody to notice the flaw.

Teacher Arrested for Harming Student

(Beaumont, California) A 34-year-old substitute teacher at San Gorgonio Middle School, Kimberly Lavon Fleming-McBeth, was arrested Thursday for allegedly harming one of her students. According to Beaumont Police spokeswoman Darci Carranza.

"The incident took place at approximately 8:15 a.m. during a morning class period," Carranza said. "There were no visible injuries to the student involved in the incident."

The details of what transpired were not disclosed.

According to Carranza, Principal Brian Wood summoned police officers, who spoke with the alleged victim and witnesses, leading to Fleming-McBeth's arrest on suspicion of misdemeanor willful cruelty to a child.

Fleming-McBeth was immediately terminated by the school system. After booking at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility, she was released on $2,500.

Infidelaphobia

Mixed in a novelette-long complaint to the Anti-Discrimination Commission, a Muslim man, Omar Hassan, reveals:

He expressed his disgust at being "forced to look at the backside of a woman who bends over in front of me in supermarket to pick an item off a bottom shelf". It is a health hazard, he says.

"Non-Muslim women do not use water to clean themselves when they go to the toilet." Thus, bending over in a supermarket could cause serious health risks.

Frankly, I've occasionally been an accidental observer of female bottom-shelf events and it's never resulted in thoughts of infidel hygiene and public health risks. In fact, I usually think of something entirely different.

Therefore, I'd suggest that Mr. Hassan's contention is unsupportable. Possibly, it's exclusively a religion of peace and tolerance perspective.

[Add.] The complaint filed by Mr. Hassan was against a 4BC Queensland radio broadcaster named Michael Smith who had made the remark that burkas in public places represent a danger since they could be used to disguise criminals. Hassan alleged that Smith violated the Australian Communications code by "vilifying, inciting hatred and discriminating against Muslims."

Never mind that countries such as France and Denmark are having robust debates about banning the burka for all sorts of reasons. Here in Australia, Smith cannot raise his objections - not without his employer, Fairfax Radio, having to spend time and money defending his right to express his opinions. And the purveyors of acceptable thoughts at the ADC now require Smith to attend a three-hour "mediation" session with Hassan. Call it a hunch, but I'm guessing mediation won't satisfy Hassan.

In his 15-page letter to 4BC, he described Australia as a "racist country . . . No. 1 on the world list for the violation of human rights". He said Fairfax radio is a "human zoo owned by . . . pigs and monkeys". He said of Smith - a former policeman - that "being a cop would write you off as a decent human being for life as you can never recover from that disease of being a cop, as once a cop, the dirt and filth stick to you forever and could never be removed".

And he had plenty to say about women in short skirts. He expressed his disgust at being "forced to look at the backside of a woman who bends over in front of me in supermarket to pick an item off a bottom shelf". It is a health hazard, he says. "Non-Muslim women do not use water to clean themselves when they go to the toilet." Thus, bending over in a supermarket could cause serious health risks, Hassan wrote, especially for little children who "because of their height, may have such [a] scene right in their face".

Instead of dismissing this barrage of invective from Hassan, the ADC (Anti-Discrimination Commission) has decided that Smith has a case to answer.

As to which person is inciting hatred, vilifying and discriminating, I would suggest that Hassan's words come closer. It's a mystery as to why the Queensland Anti-Discrimination Commission would even entertain his complaint.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Geert Wilders Trial

(The Netherlands) Freedom of speech is on trial. From Robert Spencer:

The Geert Wilders trial ought to be an international media event; seldom has any court case anywhere had such enormous implications for the future of the free world. The case against him, which has all the legitimacy of a Stalinist-era Moscow show trial, is a manifestation of the global assault on free speech sponsored chiefly at the U.N. by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). If Wilders loses, the freedom of speech will be threatened everywhere in the West.

Even if he wins, a dangerous precedent has been set by the fact of the trial itself: It is a sad day for the freedom of speech when a man can be put on trial for causing another man offense. If offending someone were really a crime warranting prosecution by the civil authorities, the legal system would be opened up to absurdities even greater than the Wilders trial.

But of course what Dutch authorities, Muslim groups in the Netherlands, and the OIC really want to accomplish is to silence Wilders’s truth-telling about jihad and Islamic supremacism. The court’s railroading of Wilders was clear from that fact that 15 of his 18 requested witnesses were disallowed, including Mohammed Bouyeri, the Koran-inspired murderer of Theo Van Gogh who would have proven Wilders’s point immediately. As Wilders himself put it Wednesday: “This court is not interested in the truth. This court doesn’t want me to have a fair trial.” The darkness descending over Europe, as indicated by this trial, may ensure that there is no fair trial there again for a long, long time.

I agree. And while the elite media are largely ignoring the Geert Wilders trial and the consequences, bloggers should make an effort to pass the word.

It's also worth emphasizing that the global assault of free speech is being shepherded by the United Nations.

Mathematical ability in females

For around 100 years, IQ testing has consistently found that females have better verbal ability and males have better mathematical ability. But that is of course politically incorrect so Leftist researchers have been scratching around for an explanation of differences in mathematical achievement that does not involve innate ability. The latest such is below and it will no doubt be much quoted in future.

One glance at it shows that it disproves nothing. No one has ever claimed that ability is the only influence on achievement. Remember that funny old concept of "hard work"? All that the study below does is confirm that the power of example has an influence on achievement too -- which is hardly news either.

Female teachers' math anxiety affects girls' math achievement

By Sian L. Beilock et al.

Abstract

People's fear and anxiety about doing math-over and above actual math ability-can be an impediment to their math achievement. We show that when the math-anxious individuals are female elementary school teachers, their math anxiety carries negative consequences for the math achievement of their female students. Early elementary school teachers in the United States are almost exclusively female (>90%), and we provide evidence that these female teachers' anxieties relate to girls' math achievement via girls' beliefs about who is good at math. First- and secondgrade female teachers completed measures of math anxiety. The math achievement of the students in these teachers' classrooms was also assessed. There was no relation between a teacher's math anxiety and her students' math achievement at the beginning of the school year. By the school year's end, however, the more anxious teachers were about math, the more likely girls (but not boys) were to endorse the commonly held stereotype that "boys are good at math, and girls are good at reading" and the lower these girls' math achievement. Indeed, by the end of the school year, girls who endorsed this stereotype had significantly worse math achievement than girls who did not and than boys overall. In early elementary school, where the teachers are almost all female, teachers' math anxiety carries consequences for girls' math achievement by influencing girls' beliefs about who is good at math.

SOURCE

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

Saudi Court Upholds Sex Braggart's Verdict - Updated

(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) Unfortunately, a Saudi appeals court has ruled that the conviction and punishment of Mazen Abdul Jawad will stand. So Jawad must endure five years in prison and 1,000 lashes.

Poor sap. He apparently wasn't taught that a gentleman should never kiss and tell. Now he's going to pay.

Regarding the potential lethality of 1,000 lashes, it's assumed that they are not all administered at once. Prisoners probably get a daily ration of lashes which keeps them in pain but alive.

* * * * *
Woman Gets Lashes for Working at Wrong Place - Updated
[Previous 10/26/09 post]
(Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) Here's a development related directly to the case of the Saudi man sentenced to prison for bragging about his sexual exploits.

A Saudi court sentenced a female journalist to 60 lashes in a case brought after a Lebanese television channel she worked for aired the sex confession of a Saudi man, the reporter and a lawyer said.

Rosana, 22, who did not want her full name disclosed, said a court in Jeddah convicted her on Saturday on grounds that the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) she worked for did not have proper authorization to operate in the Islamic kingdom.

The ruling follows the sentencing by the same court of Mazen Abdul-Awad to five years in jail and 1,000 lashes earlier in October after he appeared on an LBC show and talked about his sexual exploits. [...]

"I had nothing to do with Mazen Abdul-Jawad's show. The verdict was just because I cooperated with LBC," the female journalist told Reuters.

Pretty harsh, eh? Sixty lashes just because she worked at the wrong place. It's probably a good thing she wasn't caught stealing office supplies. In any event, I wonder if being a woman had anything to do with her prosecution.

[Update 10/26/09]
The woman sentenced to flogging, Rosana Al-Yami, has been pardoned by Saudi King Abdallah bin Abd al-Aziz Al Saud.

"In this case, the flogging has been dropped," Abdul-Rahman al-Hazzaa, an information ministry spokesman, said.

He said that the case of al-Yami and another journalist would be transfered to a ministry committee for possible disciplinary action.

With King Abdallah immediately negating the decision of the Saudi Sharia court, one must wonder if there isn't a bit of tension between the royal family and the hardline Muslim clerics.

* * * * *
Saudi Gets Prison, Lashes for Bragging About Sex
[Previous 10/8/09 post]
(Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) In August, a 32-year-old divorced father-of-four, Abdul-Jawad, was arrested after appearing on a Lebanese television program and shooting his mouth off about his sexual exploits. In addition to boasting of his premarital sexual episodes, he also discussed his pick-up techniques and even displayed some sex toys and lubricants to the viewers.

This week, a Saudi court sentenced Abdul-Jawad to five years in prison and 1,000 lashes (not a typo) plus he will have his car and his phone confiscated. When released from prison, he will be barred from traveling, presumably forever.

Lawyers say Abdul-Jawad could have been given the death penalty. Judges, who are clerics of Saudi Arabia's strict Wahhabi school of Islam, have wide powers of discretion.

Abdul-Jawad's brother said it would be difficult for him to be accepted back into society.

In other news, late-night entertainer David Letterman admitted this week to having engaged in extra-marital sex with female members of his staff. As a result, Letterman's program saw an increase in viewership.

Selling the Minnesota Metrodome

Minnesota State Representative Paul Kohls has proposed selling the government-owned Metrodome to the Minnesota Vikings Football Club for $1. Apparently there is some apprehension about the possibility that the Vikings will move to another city and selling them the Metrodome will somehow make the team's ownership want to stay.

Typically, when professional sports teams threaten to move, they are trolling for a private or public financial windfall. Whether that's the case in Minnesota, I don't know but I am aware of the current state of the economy and virtually every municipality is suffering revenue pains to some degree. Right off, there doesn't seem to be a list of candidates anxious to throw millions of dollars at the Vikings. Therefore, I believe the fear of the team moving is unfounded, for the time being anyway.

In any event, I'd like to put in a bid. Two bucks. Email me.