Women With Troubles - October 2012

Here is a compilation of women with troubles reported in news stories during October 2012. Each name is linked to an Interested-Participant blog entry displaying details.

For a more comprehensive listing, check the Women With Troubles category link.

(AL) Mary Ella Hixon, 91,
small town mayor - Gets probation for theft of $201,000 from town,

(AL) Heather Whitten, 38,
teacher - Gets prison for waga-waga, slurp-slurp with boy, 14,

(AR) Danielle McDonald, 32,
neighbor - Accused of rape of boy, 13,

(AR) Courtney Speer, 31,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student, 17,

(CA) Rebekah Cyr, 33,
teacher - Accused of deliberate nasty with male student, 17,

(CA) Megan Denman, 30,
teacher - Guilty of sex with boy, 17. Sentencing in January,

(CA) Nadia Diaz, 27,
teacher - Guilty of sex with student, 14. Sentencing in November,

(CT) Jennifer Wilcox, 36,
neighbor - Arrested for driving under influence of hand sanitizer,

(FL) Vida Golac, 18,
neighbor - Accused of smuggling dope into jail,

(FL) Rachel Ann Hart, 24,
neighbor - Gets 8 years prison for extended-term sex with boy, 15,

(FL) Kimberly Price, 34,
teacher - Accused of smacking the bejeesus out of a 14-year-old student,

(FL) Esraa Mohamed Soliman, 37,
teacher - Accused of child abuse,

(IA) Ashley Nicole Anderson, 24,
teacher - Accused of sex with several male students,

(IL) Margarita Hernandez, 31,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 15,

(KY) Sarah Jones, 27,
NFL cheerleader - No jail for doing nasty with boy, 17,

(KY) Tamara Mills, 38,
teacher - Accused of burglary and assault,

(ME) Katie Dube, 27,
neighbor - Accused of sex assault of 7-year-old boy,

(ME) Alexis Wright, 29,
zumba instructor - Accused of running prostitution business,

(MI) Leslie Buscher, 38,
teacher - Guilty of being "super drunk" with 16-year-old,

(MN) Nicole Lynn Denzer, 23,
neighbor - Pinched for meth in vagina,

(MN) Debra Ann McCoy 45,
neighbor - Gets prison for flashing breasts robbery,

(MO) Cheyenne Pinson, 30,
teacher - Arrested for drugs,

(ND) Cynthia Kusy, 46,
neighbor - Gets 10 years prison for sex with boy, 15,

(NV) Heather Dyer, 20,
motorist - Accused of drinking & texting before crashing into construction site,

(NY) Sue Ann Carroll, 54,
teacher - Busted for marijuana,

(NY) Kaitlin Grant, 23,
teacher - Guilty of sex with girl, 15. Sentencing in December,

(NY) Ronette Ricketts, 40,
teacher - Guilty of attempted manslaughter. Sentencing in January,

(OH) Kimberlie Gustwiller, 38,
neighbor - Arrested for give-me-money cancer scam,

(OH) Autum Johnson
neighbor - Accused of marijuana and mushroom possession and growing operation,

(OH) Kalie D. McCualsky, 25,
neighbor - Accused of aggravated trafficking in drugs,

(OH) Alexa Nasonti, 25,
teacher - Gets community control for sex with student,

(OK) Katie Megan Hightower, 26,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student, 16,

(PA) Colleen LaRose aka Jihad Jane, 48,
neighbor - Guilty of terrorism. Sentencing in December,

(PA) Christy Lee Smith, 34,
teacher - Gets 20 to 40 years prison for sex with students,

(SC) Anna Brook Mullinax, 33,
teacher - Accused of selling counterfeit goods,

(SC) Jamye Sanders, 33,
teacher - Accused of sex with boy, 14,

(TN) Christie David, 32,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student, 15,

(TX) Brittany Henderson, 19,
neighbor - Accused of terrorist threat,

(TX) Stacey Manning, 36,
teacher - Accused of sex with male student,

(TX) Lisa Marie Wagnon, 48,
teacher - Accused of sex with student, 15,

(TX) Melissa Williams, 44,
teacher - Gets 8 years prison for violating probation,

(UT) Krystal Benallie, 27,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 14,

(VA) Lisa Hess, 35,
neighbor - Accused of sex with boy, 14,

(VA) Jessica S. Snyder, 28,
teacher - Accused of public intoxication,

(WV) Amanda Jo Barker, 31,
cheerleading coach - Accused of sex with boy, 16,

(WV) Carissa Hads, 25,
neighbor - Guilty of impersonating boy to do girl.

Thanks to the tipsters.

Americans in Benghazi could have been saved  -- except that Obama said No 

The news is breaking today but there is a small bit that is being overlooked.  According to the statements from Fox News:

"The security officer had a laser on the target that was firing and repeatedly requested back-up support from a Specter gunship, which is commonly used by U.S. Special Operations forces to provide support to Special Operations teams on the ground involved in intense firefights. The fighting at the CIA annex went on for more than four hours — enough time for any planes based in Sigonella Air base, just 480 miles away, to arrive. Fox News has also learned that two separate Tier One Special operations forces were told to wait, among them Delta Force operators."

Everyone is reporting this but they are missing a key point.  From the retired Delta operator:

"Having spent a good bit of time nursing a GLD (ground Laser Designator) in several garden spots around the world, something from the report jumped out at me.

One of the former SEALs was actively painting the target.  That means that Specter WAS ON STATION!  Probably an AC130U.  A ground laser designator is not a briefing pointer laser.  You do not "paint" a target until the weapons system/designator is synched; which means that the AC130 was on station."

Only two places could have called off the attack at that point; the WH situation command (based on POTUS direction) or AFRICOM commander based on information directly from the target area.

If the AC130 never left Sigonella (as Penetta says) that means that the Predator that was filming the whole thing was armed.

If that SEAL was actively "painting" a target; something was on station to engage!  And the decision to stand down goes directly to POTUS!  This is far bigger than Watergate.

The second worst feeling in the world has to be the platform crew being desperately asked for help, given a clear target and then having to stand down and watch your fellow Americans die.

The worst has to be the team on the ground knowing that the President just left you to die.

Update:  Even with two Predators on station, one unarmed and filming and one armed, the call to stand down comes from the same sources.  Earlier today, Bob Owens at PJ Media posts about the responsibility of the order to call off the mission as well as some good info about the AC130s on station.

More HERE


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

Ohio Teacher Gets No Jail for Sex with Student - Update



Alexa Nasonti
(Norwalk, Ohio) Former art teacher at Norwalk High School, Alexa Nasonti, gets no jail. Instead Nasonti was sentenced to three years of community control and ordered to register as a Tier 3 sex offender every 90 days for the rest of her life.

* * * * *
(Norwalk, Ohio) In accordance with a plea deal, former art teacher at Norwalk High School, Alexa Nasonti, pleaded guilty yesterday to sexual battery of a 17-year-old male student.

According to the plea agreement, if a prison sentence is recommended following Nasonti’s pre-sentencing investigation, the state will ask that Nasonti’s term does not exceed 18-months.

In April of 2012 police caught Nasonti and the teenage boy in the front seat of her vehicle while parked in Margaretta Township. The incident sparked an investigation into the relationship between the teacher and student.

Nasonti resigned from Norwalk City School a month after police began their investigation.

A sentencing date is TBD.

* * * * *
Ohio Teacher Accused of Sexual Conduct
[Previous 6/17/12 post]
(Norwalk, Ohio) A 25-year-old teacher at Norwalk High School, Alexa Nasonti, has been accused of engaging in sexual conduct with a 17-year-old student.

A Castalia police officer happened upon Nasonti and a 17-year-old student on April 2 when the two were sitting in the boy’s parked car.

The two claimed there was nothing going on, but the officer secured a search warrant to obtain cell phone records from Nasonti and the boy.

That turned up text messages that indicate there was sexual conduct between the two on March 31, at a private residence in Sandusky County, according to deputies.

Nasonti was placed on paid leave from her teaching position pending the outcome of a grand jury review.

Bloggus Interuptus

A stormy lady named Sandy visited my area and caused localized flooding, power outages and interruption of Internet access.

 Scientists reject Sandy/Climate Link -- Round Up of Hurricane Sandy Reactions


'The 'new normal' for climate activists is their ever shifting claims as they morph the entire AGW argument to focus on extreme weather. They are exploiting any weather event to promote their religion-like cause

NOAA's Martin Hoerling rejects 'Frankenstorm' climate link: 'This is not some spell conjured upon us by great external forces....unless you believe in the monster flicks of Universal Studios fame!' -- Meteorologist Hoerling of NOAA: 'The immediate cause is most likely little more than the coincidental alignment of a tropical storm with an extratropical storm. Both frequent W. Atlantic in Oct....nothing unusual with that'

Frankenscience: 'Sandy doesn't tell us anything about climate change' -- Prof. Pielke Jr.: 'We've done long-term trends with respect to hurricane damage in the United States, and it's very safe to say that regardless of how [Sandy] plays out, there's a century-long time series with no trend in it — and that's in damage, the number of landfalls, or the intensity of storms at landfall. So, if you are looking for signals of long-term climate change, focusing in on any one storm is the wrong way to go about it to begin with'

Sandy caused by global warming? 'The science of climate change & hurricanes does not support this conclusion' -- It's 'just not supported by science at this time' -- Houston Chronicle's Science guy Eric Berger: '...it is a big stretch to go from there to blaming Sandy on climate change. It's a stretch that is just not supported by science at this time'

Climatologist Dr. Patrick Michaels on Sandy: 'It's also consistent with a planet with colder temperatures as well as one with warmer ones' -- Michaels: 'More important, events like this are inevitable on a planet that has an ocean with the geography of the Atlantic (meaning a Gulf Stream-like feature), a large north-south continent on its western margin without a transverse mountain range to inhibit the merger of tropical warmth with polar cold, and four seasons in the temperate latitudes'

German Meteorological Expert Says: 'No Evidence Showing Link Between Storms And Global Warming' -- Meteorologist Dr. Karsten Brandt: 'Brandt said that by looking back at the global data available over the last decades, there's 'no indication or evidence showing there's been an increase in storm activity. The data don't show it.' He added: 'Luckily we don't need to worry much about increasing storms in the future'

Prof. Roger Pielke Jr.: 'Remarkably, the U.S. is currently experiencing the longest-ever recorded period with no strikes of a Category 3 or stronger hurricane'

Hurricane Expert Chris Landsea: Any connection between AGW & hurricanes is 'almost certainly undetectable' -- '...and that this view is not particularly controversial among tropical cyclone climatologists. He concluded that hurricanes should not be the 'poster' representing a human influence on climate...Chris responded that asserting such a connection can be easily shown to be incorrect and thus risks some of the trust that the public has in scientists to play things straight'

Prof. Judith Curry on Sandy: 'Kevin Trenberth frequently says that global warming is affecting all of weather' -- Curry: 'Trenberth s probably right, but apart from the relative magnitude of the effect, this begs the question as to whether the effect is good or bad; arguably in terms of Atlantic hurricanes, the warming is resulting in FEWER U.S. landfalls'

More HERE  (See the original for links)


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

Hindsight bias 

The economy, “super PAC” money, debate performances, the candidates’ personalities. Roll it all together, and it’s obvious who’s going to win.

Or, uh, it will be.  Amid the many uncertainties of next Tuesday’s presidential election lies one sure thing: Many people will feel in their gut that they knew the result all along. Not only felt it coming, but swear they predicted it beforehand — remember? — and probably more than once.

These analysts won’t be hard to find. They will most likely include (in addition to news media pundits) neighbors, friends, co-workers and relatives, as well as the person whose reflection appears in the glare of the laptop screen. Most will also have a ready-made argument for why it was inevitable that Mitt Romney, or Barack Obama, won — displaying the sort of false, after-the-fact “foresight” that psychologists call hindsight bias.

More HERE

OK:  I'll make MY prediction beforehand, at the risk of being a "Nimrod". Romney will win as a beneficiary of the Bradley effect -- JR.

Posted by John J. Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). 

 The ugly face of Leftist Jew-haters



Yes, this cartoon is of a Jewish banker – as tired as it is poisonous. The caricatured features remind one of Nazi newspapers or any number of modern Arab publications. But, actually, this one wasn’t found in any of the obvious places. It was posted to a Facebook page set up to support Occupy Wall Street.

Remember those idiots? Naive, grubby, pathetic – but anti-Semitic as well? The answer is that, no, most of the Occupy activists were raging smelly bores rather than racists; but a minority did have a thing about Jews, and still do. In fact, if you search YouTube, you can find videos of protesters saying things like: “Those Zionist Jews that run our big banks? They need to be run out of this country.” Funnily enough, though, the Occupy-friendly mainstream media soft-pedalled this one.

SOURCE

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

Texas Woman Accused of Terrorist Bomb Threat

(Hays County, Texas)

Brittany Henderson, 19, the former Texas State student who sent a bomb threat last week that paralyzed part of campus, used an email address that clearly identified her using her full, real name, an investigator said in court filings.

“I will blow Texas State up to small little pieces starting with the admissions office today at three central time,” Henderson allegedly wrote an university admissions counselor using the email address brittany.henderson63@yahoo.com at about 8:30 a.m. Oct. 18.

And then Henderson sent two more emails which also were easily traced to her home IP address.

One of them reads, “You called the police now I will really blow it up first thing in the morning dumb bitch i am glad i am not a student anymore and you will not find me i am deleting my account.”

The other states, “I will not be arrested because they have no proof i did anything because i never brought the bomb on campus but i will tomorrow and they will not be able to find me because im at my house i hate texas state for life the police better not come back here to my house either my family will not tell where i am at or whose desktop im on.”

Henderson was arrested and charged with making a terroristic threat, a third-degree felony; and making a false alarm, a Class A misdemeanor.

I'll speculate that there's little mystery as to why Henderson withdrew from Texas State University. Obviously she didn't complete sufficient remedial instruction.

 American exceptionalism

To me it is glaringly obvious that the USA is exceptional.  It is overwhelmingly the world's predominant military power and also the source of most of the world's innovations.

So the interesting question is not "if" but "why".  WHY is America so dominant?  In a recent article Podhoretz sets out most of the usual reasons, starting from the foundation of the USA in an independence revolution.  He sees the principles set out by the revolutionaries at that time as having had an enduring influence. 

I imagine that they did have an influence for a long time but only conservative intellectuals and activists seem to know of them now.  Thanks to the Leftist takeover of the schools, the average American these days knows nothing substantial about the American founding, if anything at all.  How much does the average black or Hispanic know?  Yet they all have votes  -- and there's a lot of them.

And America is now very socialist.  As Romney rightly if imprudently pointed out, around half of the population now depend on government handouts.  Not much rugged individualism there!   Given the huge and unfunded Federal spending now happening, it could in fact be argued that America is in the midst of a socialist meltdown right now.  Nothing Romney has proposed is capable of reining in the overspend.

But if none of the usual explanations of America's exceptionalism now work, what can it be that makes America so powerful in every sense?  I think it is both extraordinarily simple and much more enduring than all of the other influences that have come and gone:  The fact that there is a national election every two years.  If the ruling party goes off the rails you only have to wait two years to give them a boot up the backside  -- as we vividly saw in the 2010 mid-terms.  There is only so much damage you can do in two years so the damage done by political folly is much less in America.  Most governments are still getting into their stride at the two-year mark and they have to take into account the forthcoming election long before that.

Other countries have three or four year terms before a national government has to face a new election and Britain has horrific five-year terms.  And huge messes can be created, and have been created, in five years. Just look at the problem created by the last British Labour Party government's "open door" immigration policy.  Britain is now lumbered with millions of welfare-dependent parasites who have to be supported by the staggering British taxpayer. At least most of America's "illegals" come to work.

If ever the American socialists (so-called "liberals") wake up to the fact that two-year terms are their enemy, America might have a problem but until then there is hope.  And even liberals might have difficulty in arguing that frequent elections are "unfair".

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

NYPD Cannibal Case

Gilberto Valle
(New York City) The feds received a tip about a police officer's plot to rape, kill and eat women.

The officer was identified as Gilberto Valle, 28, of Queens. He had been assigned to a Manhattan precinct before his suspension on Wednesday.

Valle is accused of planning to abduct up to 100 women. The criminal complaint claims Valle started his plot around January 2012.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said, "Gilberto Valle's alleged plans to kidnap women so that they could be raped, tortured, killed, cooked, and cannibalized shock the conscience. This case is all the more disturbing when you consider Valle's position as a New York City Police officer and his sworn duty to serve and protect."

Around July 22, the complaint claims that Valle communicated with a co-conspirator using an instant messaging program to talk about kidnapping, cooking and eating body parts of one woman.

They also allegedly discussed where to find a recipe for chloroform. During this time period, Valle also created a document entitled "Abducting and Cooking [Victim]: a Blueprint." The document contains pedigree information about the woman—including her name, date of birth, height, weight, and bra size.

Tip: slwlion

New York Teacher Stabs Fellow Teacher - Updated

(Poughkeepsie, New York)

Ronette Ricketts, a Poughkeepsie High School teacher accused of attacking another Poughkeepsie High School English teacher, pled guilty today [10/26] to first-degree attempted manslaughter, a felony.

Ricketts faces three-and-a-half years in prison plus up to five years of post-release supervision when she's sentenced Jan. 3 at 9:30 a.m.

Ricketts, 40, an English teacher, is accused of stabbing Cynthia Glozier at least 16 times in the back, neck and chest with a Phillips screwdriver on Dec. 15.

Ricketts faces reduced charges because her behavior has been attributed to an "emotional disturbance."

* * * * *
New York Teacher Stabs Fellow Teacher
[Previous 12/18/11 post]
(Poughkeepsie, New York) A 40-year-old English teacher at Poughkeepsie High School, Ronette Ricketts, has been accused of viciously attacking fellow English teacher Cynthia Glozier, 52.

According to investigators, a dispute erupted in the school hallway on Thursday after Glozier asked Ricketts why she had missed the morning staff meeting. Ricketts then allegedly produced a Phillips screwdriver and stabbed Glozier 16 times in the head, chest and neck.

Glozier was taken to St. Francis Hospital where she was treated and released. Ricketts was arrested on charges of first-degree attempted assault, second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Ricketts was booked into custody at the Dutchess County Jail and released after 'someone' posted $100,000 bond.

Weaponized Book

(Valparaiso, Indiana) A book donated to the public library was found to contain a gun.

"Somebody just opened it up and said, 'Oh my,' " said Assistant Library Director Phyllis Nelson.

The weapon was described by police as a gold, wooden handle, A.S.M. brand, .31-caliber, single shot, black powder gun.

Nelson said she contacted police and told them the book had been donated to the library. Thousands of books are donated each month, she said, and records are not kept, so there is no way of knowing who dropped off the book or when, she said.

Police have the gun as evidence. Exactly for what hasn't been disclosed.

The name of the book is "Outerbridge Reach."

Supersize This! 

As everybody knows by now, it was announced earlier this month that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded to none other than the European Union.

This can only further burnish the luster added to the Prize when it was presented to Barack Hussein Obama back in 2009.

Both these momentous occasions were simply the latest in a long series of distinguished recipients, who include Al Gore (2007), Mohamed El-Baradei (2005), Jimmy Carter (2002), Amnesty International (1977), the United Nations and Kofi Annan (2001), Yasser Arafat (1994), Desmond Tutu (1984), and International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985).

“But Baron,” you say, “none of this is news! Everyone knows the Nobel Peace Prize jumped the shark decades ago. Why, it’s become a dumping ground for progressive political hacks — as designated by progressive political hacks in Norway!”

And indeed it has. But let’s not give up on the much-maligned Prize just yet.

An unidentified entrepreneur has come up with an idea to merge Commerce with the Pursuit of World Peace ’n’ Justice:



If he’s willing to throw in a free 20-ounce Diet Pepsi, I just might take him up on the deal…

SOURCE


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

Hotel Yesterday

I see dead people.




Veteran media consumers might appreciated this video. Icons of comedy, John Belushi and Richard Pryor, at their improvisational best. May both rest in peace with the angels of loving memories.

Siemens Scrapping Solar Program

(Germany) Global engineering giant Siemens is abandoning its solar business.

The move was necessary, the firm said, because, "changed framework conditions, lower growth and strong price pressure in the solar markets,” meant the business sector was not meeting its expected goals.[…]

Siemens CEO Peter Löscher just announced a two-year savings programme, because of weak economic growth, during which all unprofitable enterprises will go under the microscope.

The company is in the midst of talks with interested parties about selling its solar businesses, which will continue operating until a sale is final.

Solar is unprofitable, eh? What a shock!

WV Cheer Coach Accused of Sex with Boy

(Charleston, West Virginia) A 31-year-old cheerleading coach at North Marion High School, Amanda Jo Barker, has been accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy.

Barker faces three counts of sexual abuse by a person of trust. According to Sgt. Adam Scott, of the State Police Crimes Against Children Unit,

"The victim said for a long time he would go to the Barkers' house every weekend," Scott wrote. "He said he would eat dinner there, play video games and shoot basketball."

He told investigators he and Amanda Jo Barker "began to flirt around together" and "she apparently thought he liked her," according to the complaint.

The teen said before he went to bed at their house, she would sit next to him on a couch in the living room and perform oral sex on him.

"He said after the third time it occurred, they talked about it and said it shouldn't have happened and they could not tell anyone," Scott wrote in the complaint.

Barker was arrested, booked into custody and released on $15,000 bond.

Carolina Teacher Accused of Sex with Boy, 14

(Williamston, South Carolina) A 33-year-old parent-teacher organization president and former substitute teacher with Anderson County Schools, Jamye Sanders, has been accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy.

Sanders faces a charge of criminal sexual conduct with a minor.

Investigators said 33-year-old Jamye Sanders had sex with the boy over about six months this year, with some of the encounters taking place at Palmetto Middle School.

Police say the boy was friends with Sanders' teenage daughter.

Details on arrest and booking are unavailable.

Business Dies Under Obama




Clearly anecdotal but the story is largely being replicated throughout the United States. It's inconceivable that rational Americans would want more from the current administration.

Tip: Rita and Eugene

Ann Coulter's use of the 'r-word' criticized 



She's not bad looking for a lady in her 50s

Parents of children with special needs are demanding an apology from conservative political pundit Ann Coulter for tweeting after Tuesday's foreign policy debate that she approved of "Romney's decision to be kind and gentle to the retard [Obama]."

It appeared to be a response to critiques of Mitt Romney's debate performance, but it wasn't the first time Coulter used the "the r-word" during this election season. And, it's not the first time blogger Ellen Seidman has called her out on it.

"At this point, I'm thinking the woman must surely be aware that the word is offensive, and she chooses not to care. That's pretty vile and heartless," said Seidman, the mother of a special needs child who shares her world on the blog "Love that Max."

Still, the comment was favorited 1,215 times and earned 2,993 retweets as of this writing, presumably by a number of people who didn't find it offensive.

Source

Obama's views are VERY retarded from a conservative viewpoint.  He is still fighting the old Marxist class wars.  The Soviet experiment showed where that leads.

My comment above attached to the pic was of course designed to arouse ire from the boiler-suited brigade.  The fact that it true probably makes it even more "offensive"


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

Green Party Not Welcomed

(Hempstead, New York) In a report from last week, the Green Party was shooed away from the second presidential debate.

Nassau County, N.Y. police say Jill Stein, the Green presidential nominee, and Cheri Honkala, the vice-presidential nominee, were charged with disorderly conduct as they tried to enter the debate site at Hofstra University.

The Green Party says in a statement that Stein and Honkala were walking with supporters toward the Hofstra campus Tuesday afternoon when they were met by uniformed police officers.

Stein and Honkala then held an impromptu press conference in which Stein called the debate a "mockery of democracy."

The Green Party lacks traction and popularity. It's suggested the Green Party's philosophy is flawed.

Tufts University Bans Christian Student Group for Requiring Leaders to Embrace ‘Basic Biblical Truths of Christianity’‏ 

Tufts is a great church of Leftism so this sort of anti-Christian Fascism is to be expected.  I rather wonder why Christian students go there.

If the local churches put up on their billboards something like:  "Tufts is anti-Christian.  Don't go there", it would probably have a salutory effect.  I think the time has come for churches to come to the aid of Christian students.  The Leftist oppressors should not have it all their own way

Ironical that Tufts was originally founded by Christians devoted to religious tolerance.

There’s a troubling pattern developing on college campuses across America, as universities are increasingly preventing Christian campus groups from requiring that their leaders be practicing believers. If these clubs fail to comply with so-called “non-discrimination policies,” they are often de-legitimized and banned from official-recognition.

Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, is the latest higher education facility to crack down on student-led religious groups. In a recent move, the school’s student government banned the Tufts Christian Fellowship (TCF), an evangelical organization. The decision was made because TCF, which is the campus’ chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, requires that those serving in leadership positions must embrace “basic biblical truths of Christianity.”

The group’s demand that leaders be Bible-believing Christians was found to be in violation of Tuft’s non-discrimination policy. Last month, the Judiciary recommended that the belief requirement be moved from the constitution’s bylaws to its mission statement; while the bylaws are legally-binding, the mission statement is not. TCF didn’t comply and, now, the group is officially unrecognized by the university.

The ban, which was put in place by the Tufts Community Union Judiciary, means that TCF can no longer use the Tufts name for official campus activities. Additionally, its members are forbidden from scheduling events or reserving space through the school’s Office for Campus Life. As is generally the case when these bans go into effect, the group will also be unable, as other student groups do, to receive money from the school.

While TCF plans to appeal the decision, it could be an uphill battle — especially considering the similar trend that other schools seem to be following. TCF has 10 days to appeal and must file paper work with the Committee on Student Life (CSL), a panel comprised of students and faculty, The Tufts Daily reports.

In 2000, the group faced a similar situation when a student complained that she was denied a leadership role due to her sexual orientation. After being re-recognized, the organization appealed to the CSL and was re-instated.

“We’re deciding to appeal this decision because we feel like just the purpose of our organization is to…encourage understanding and celebration of each belief [in the Basis of Faith], and the best way to fulfill that purpose is to have leaders that are centered on and unified by these beliefs,” one of the student leaders of the InterVarsity chapter told the Daily. ”We feel like we have the right to be selective on the basis of belief for our leaders since we’re a student group that is trying to encourage understanding about a faith-based set of beliefs.”

Tufts isn’t the only campus community battling over Christian student groups’ rights to require faithful leadership. As TheBlaze reported earlier this month, Yale is facing a similar issue after the Beta Upsilon Chi (BYX) fraternity has come under fire for requiring its members to embrace Christianity. And the non-discrimination policy issues at Vanderbilt University have been widely-reported as well.

While non-discrimination policies are well-intentioned, the notion that a Christian group would be forced to allow leaders who don’t embrace the faith is relatively silly. Similarly, a gay rights group being forced to allow someone opposed to same-sex marriage to lead would also be problematic.

SOURCE


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

Beetle vs. Pipeline

American burying beetle
The 'endangered' American burying beetle is delaying progress on a $2.3 billion pipeline in Oklahoma.

The insect has been listed as an endangered species since 1989. To ensure the bug’s safety, environmental regulations require companies to hire biologists and survey areas for the beetles before they dig in areas where the beetle may be found.

If any of the species are found in an area, biologists must trap or bait them away.

Frankly, I contend that the endangered species act needs revision. If a bug can dramatically affect the economy of a region, state or the country, whether to protect the bug should be voted on by the public.

Imagine the ballot. Pick one: (1) Save the American burying beetle, or (2) Pay higher prices for gasoline. Yes, let the public decide. We're a democracy, are we not?

As an aside, I recall an old episode (1982) of the Saturday Night Live television program where cast member Eddie Murphy held a lobster above a boiling pot of water and asked viewers to call in during the show to determine whether the lobster, named Larry, lived or died. Check the video.



Heh.

Whether a bug, crustacean, bird, fish or non-human mammal, its need for protection under the law should be put before the voters. Let citizens decide whether the American burying beetle deserves protection. Environmentalists and scientists can make their arguments to the public while citizen and business groups can plead their case.

Florida Woman Gets Prison in Boy-Sex Case

(Dunnellon, Florida) In accordance with a plea agreement, a 24-year-old local woman, Rachel Ann Hart, has pleaded guilty to engaging in an extended-term sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy.

As a result, Hart was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Hart was renting a room from the teenager’s mother when the relationship began around October 2010, according to a sheriff’s report.

The boy told officials that he and two of his friends, ages 16 and 15, all had sex with Hart on one occasion in January 2011, according to the sheriff’s report.

All three boys told officials that the incident occurred.

Hart at first told officials that the boy forced himself on her, but then confessed that the sex was consensual.

Hart faces two years probation upon completion of her prison term.

Imus Morning Show

During discussion on the Imus in the Morning program of news about the upcoming release of the iPad Mini, Don Imus asked "Why would I want it?"

Answering, Fox News anchor Dagan McDowell said that the iPad Mini is "smaller, fits more nicely in your hand." To which, Imus said it sounds like his wiener.

With cowboy Don Imus, one must not be surprised by grit.

 NC: Hate speech from blacks is OK?

Lesbians celebrating a "homophobe"?  Leftist thinking defies all reason.  Because Farrakhan is both black and Muslim he has reached an unbeatable peak of holiness, apparently

Another local elected official has gone on record against hate speech following the ongoing controversy regarding hate leader Louis Farrakhan’s recent events in Charlotte and several LGBT-friendly elected officials’ appearances at them.

Farrakhan is a documented hate leader of the hate group Nation of Islam. Both have a history of anti-Semitism and anti-LGBT hostility, according to the Montgomery, Ala.-based Southern Poverty Law Center.

Mecklenburg County Commission Chairman Harold Cogdell, however, has said he had “no regrets” after attending a Farrakhan event and refused to condemn Farrakhan’s hate rhetoric. County Commissioner Vilma Leake was also at the Farrakhan events. She has not responded to repeated requests for comment.

Openly lesbian Charlotte City Councilmember LaWana Mayfield has taken center-stage in the controversy. She attended a Farrakhan speech on Oct. 13 at which she said the leader was “doing God’s will.” She has repeatedly refused to condemn the remarks.

Source


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

USMC Australia

Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, return from Australia
(Honolulu, Hawaii)

About 200 Hawaii Marines who were the first to establish an ongoing Marine Corps presence in Australia had minimal or negligible social impact and contributed $1.8 million to the local economy, according to reports by the Australian government.

In other words, the Marines behaved themselves.

The Fox Company Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, returned to Hawaii in late September from the six-month deployment to Darwin, Australia.

Reportedly, the presence of U.S. forces in Australia will be expanded to include a Marine Air-Ground Task Force with support strength from the U.S. Air Force.

In addition, increased U.S. presence in the SE Asia-Pacific region includes stationing forward-deployed littoral combat ships in Singapore and returning U.S. Navy ships and personnel to Subic Bay, Philippines.

Logically, the increased U.S. military presence can be attributed to the aggressiveness of the Chinese regarding maritime claims over the oil deposits below the South China Sea.



China claims almost entire South China Sea
Source

Oldest Auschwitz Survivor Dies

A report from Poland announced the death of Antoni Dobrowolski, the oldest known survivor of the Auschwitz extermination camp. Antoni Dobrowolski was 108.

Dobrowolski, a primary school teacher, ran secret classes during Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland, when anything beyond four years of elementary education was prohibited.

In 1942, Dobrowolski was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to Auschwitz. He was later moved to the concentration camps of Gross-Rosen and then Sachsenhausen, where he was liberated by the Soviet Army in the spring of 1945 as the war ended.

More than one million people died in Auschwitz.

Chicano Country Music Icon Dies

(Mission, Texas) One of the icons of Chicano country music has died. Roland Garcia Sr. was 80.

Longtime Country Roland Band leader Roland Garcia Sr., whose family music group had its heyday during the late ’70s and early ’80s, died Thursday afternoon in Mission.

The man known as Country Roland retired from music about two and half years ago, but his impact was not forgotten, son Roland Garcia Jr. said Thursday.

Roland Garcia Sr.’s name became synonymous with Chicano country music — a mix of country songs in Spanish and classic Mexican songs with a new influence. As a small boy he learned to speak English by listening to country music, his son said.

“You have country. Then you have Tejano and then you have Country Roland,” Garcia Jr., also known as Country Roland Jr., said. “It’s maybe part of both, but it’s definitely its own genre. … It’s distinct.”

Here's a song by the Country Roland Band.




Those who live in areas along the US-Mexico border get accustomed to hearing Chicano and Chicano country music all the time. Although my music tastes are spectrum-wide, I find Chicano music particularly pleasing when coupled with a modicum of cerveza.

 Is "not optimal" the new word for "evil"?

The Left keep telling us that "There is no such thing as right and wrong" (except racism, intolerance and homophobia, of course).  Obama appears to agree

The mother of an American diplomat killed during a terrorist raid on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi has hit out at Barack Obama for describing the attack as 'not optimal', saying: 'My son is not very optimal - he is also very dead.'

During an interview shown on Comedy Central, Obama responded to a question about his administration's confused communication after the assault by saying: 'If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.'

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline today, Pat Smith, whose son Sean died in the raid, said: 'It was a disrespectful thing to say and I don't think it's right.

'How can you say somebody being killed is not very optimal? I don't think the President has the right idea of the English language.'

Source

Video at link

I think he was really dismissing the deaths of American representatives as trivial.  It clearly has never occurred to him to care.  Some context below:





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

Free Marijuana for Voters

(Eagle Rock, California)

Anonymous fliers were distributed in this northeastern Los Angeles middle-class community offering $40 of medical marijuana to anyone who showed up at the polls in neighborhood council elections last Saturday.

About 800 residents voted in the Eagle Rock election, a ten-fold increase over last year, which raised eyebrows.

Here is a video report.



Source

Teacher Gives Extra Credit for Nude Pics

(Allentown, Pennsylvania) A teacher has apparently expanded the criteria by which a female student's academic performance is graded.

Timothy Moll, 25, was a math teacher at Dieruff High School in Allentown when police said he sent text messages asking a 16-year-old female student for nude photos, in exchange for bonus points on her grade.

Moll pleaded guilty to corruption and will be sentenced in December.

Kinda dumb, eh?

Utah Woman Accused of Sex with Boy, 14

(Lehi, Utah) A 27-year-old local woman, Krystal Benallie, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Benallie faces nine counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and six counts of sexual abuse with a minor.

According to court documents the boy told his grandmother about the sexual activity. He reportedly told investigators that at least three times the woman's young children were present during the sexual acts.

According to police reports Benallie admitted to having sex with the boy at least once every other day for about three weeks. The report also states that Benallie said it was the boy's fault because he incessantly asked to have sex with her. She also said she knew that having sex with the boy was wrong, according to the report.

Benallie was booked into custody at the Utah County Jail with bond set at $15,000.

Report: Ohio Burglar Popped by Homeowner

(Elyria, Ohio)

A homeowner shot and killed a man who he and his wife say broke into his Water Street home early Friday.

Police said the home at 112 Water St. had been burglarized Thursday night, and the homeowner, Jack Dillon, was sleeping downstairs on the couch with a gun nearby when an the alleged burglar entered through a window. Dillon’s wife, Linda Dillon, 53, told a 911 dispatcher that they believed the man, later identified as Jeffrey Carson, 29, of 701 W. Broad St., had returned to finish the job after leaving the window unlocked Thursday night.

Lt. Andy Eichenlaub said the window was still unlocked when Carson entered through it Friday morning. According to a police report, someone stole a 52-inch Sharp flat-screen LCD television from Dillon’s home Thursday morning. Eichenlaub said police are investigating whether Carson was involved in that burglary.

Then, at 2:44 a.m. Friday, Jack and Linda Dillon told police they were awakened by a noise in the living room. There they found Carson and believed he was stealing the rest of the electronics, they told police.

Jack Dillon told police he called out to Carson, who lunged at him. The couple told police Jack fired at Carson, but Eichenlaub would not say how many times the weapon was fired.

The incident remains under investigation.

Tip: Wireless Phil

Virginia Woman Accused of Sex with Boy, 14

(Garner, North Carolina) A 35-year-old Virginia woman, Lisa Hess, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 14-year-old Florida boy.

Hess faces three counts of statutory rape and two counts of sex offense with a child.

Investigators said Hess is a friend of the boy's family.

Search warrants in the case indicate that police detectives in Florida contacted Garner police on Sept. 6 after the boy's father found sexually explicit text messages and photos on the boy's cellphone.

The boy's mother also found Facebook messages that were described in the search warrant as "concerning."

Hess awaits extradition to North Carolina.

 Is there any limit to Leftist reality denial?

The Campaign to Stop Gun Violence must be one of the sickest subsections of the Left

A man who broke into a home near Calera got a surprise Wednesday morning, when he was shot by a 12-year-old girl who was in the home alone.

According to Ladd Everitt and the CSGV, this girl has a 'duty to retreat'.  She locked herself in a closet.  But Ladd and his fellow cultists would still believe she was in the wrong because, when the scum tried to get into the closet, the girl fired through the door, hitting him. And what do the say about that?

"'Using armed violence in any context is flat out wrong..."

Now me personally, I think this girl did everything right. She called her mom (who obviously trained her daughter in the safe use of firearms), called 911, got a gun, went to a safer location and then shot the POS when he kept pursuing. Gun control advocates, however, believe we should trust in the good intentions of a criminal while they're in a home alone with a 12yr old girl.

SOURCE

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

Carolina Teacher Accused in Counterfeit Goods Case

(Anderson, South Carolina) A 33-year-old teacher at Glenview Middle School, Anna Brook Mullinax, has been accused of selling counterfeit goods to 40 people, including students.

Mullinax was placed on administrative leave by the school system.

The newspaper reports that law enforcement seized more than $10,000 in retail value of fake versions of Beats by Dre, Bose and Skull Candy brand headphones.

Mullinax surrendered to police on October 3.

US Navy Returns to Subic Bay

(Subic Bay, Philippines)

US and Philippine officials have confirmed that Subic Bay, once home to the 7th Fleet and the site of the United States' largest overseas naval base, is to host US personnel on a semi-permanent basis.

The Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said that a rotational deployment of US forces had been ongoing since 2011. "President [Benigno] Aquino has authorised this, as have both houses of Congress, and it is a move widely popular with the Philippine people," said DFA Visiting Forces Agreement Director Edilberto Adan, a retired general and former chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

"The US will not return to the bases they gave up in 1991, but they will be here regularly and are welcome here," said Adan. He added the resultant increase in joint military exercises would have an effect beyond better interoperability and improvements in AFP doctrine and equipment. "It improves our security and, to be honest, gives people in Southeast Asia peace of mind."

"Gave up in 1991" is a misstatement. The U.S. Navy was cordially booted out, as I recall.

A Woman Feels Complete

A picture may be worth 1,000 words but all I can think of is a three-letter abbreviation with a question mark - WTF?

Texas Teacher Gets Prison - Update

(Huntington, Texas)

For violating probation, former teacher at Huntington ISD Melissa Williams has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Melissa Williams, 44, was sentenced by state District Judge Barry Bryan Thursday morning in a hearing continued from the previous day.

According to testimony, Angelina County probation officer Lisa Page said her primary concern about Williams is the belief she is still associating with her sex offender boyfriend, Daniel McGinty, who is also a wanted felon.

In 2010, a no-contact order was filed between Williams and McGinty, who was living with her in Fuller Springs at the time.

Note that Melissa Williams was initially sentenced in 2009 to 10 years in prison with all but six months suspended and the remainder on probation.

* * * * *
Texas Teacher Accused of Violating Probation
[Previous 9/18/12 post]
(Huntington, Texas) A 46-year-old teacher formerly with Huntington ISD, Melissa Beth Williams, was arrested yesterday for violation of probation.

Williams was originally convicted of improper relations with a student in 2008.

"The officer filed a violation report with the Courts because she was discharged from the sex offender treatment program due to failing several polygraph tests," Dustin Fore, the supervisor of specialized casework services for Angelina County's Adult probation Department, said.

"She also admitted to accessing the Internet without permission from her officer."

Fore said that Williams also has several old probation violations, including possessing pornography, having direct contact with a child under the age of 17, associating with a known felon/fugitive, and possessing alcohol that were addressed through additional probation terms in 2010.

She is facing a revocation hearing at this time, and until that date, she will remain in jail without the option of bonding out.

Williams was booked into custody at the Angelina County Jail.

Warmist paper withdrawn 

I had some succinct comments on this bit of nonsense on May 20.  Warmists have a severe problem with selective vision  -- not being able to see what is staring them in the face if it conflicts with their theories.  I was rather ill in most of May but some things just leap out at you.  It seems that they leaped out at a few other people too -- JR

In June, we wrote about the withdrawal of a paper claiming that temperatures in the last 60 years were warmest in the last 1,000 years. At the time, we reported, following posts by others, that the authors had been made aware of errors in their work and were withdrawing it to correct their calculations.

For several months, the page housing the Journal of Climate study read:  "The requested article is not currently available on this site."

It still does. But another page that should house the paper now reads, as commenter Skiphil notes:  "Due to errors discovered in this paper during the publication process, it was withdrawn by the authors prior to being published in final form."

In June, one of the authors, David Karoly, told us and others he expected to resubmit the paper to the journal, and that’s what the University of Melbourne also reports on top of the original press release about the paper (also noted by Skiphil):

"Scientific study resubmitted.

An issue has been identified in the processing of the data used in the study, “Evidence of unusual late 20th century warming from an Australasian temperature reconstruction spanning the last millennium” by Joelle Gergis, Raphael Neukom, Ailie Gallant, Steven Phipps and David Karoly, accepted for publication in the Journal of Climate.

The manuscript has been re-submitted to the Journal of Climate and is being reviewed again."

SOURCE  (See the original for links)

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

Planet Found in 4-Star System

Two amateur astronomers, Kian Jek and Robert Gagliano, have found the first planet, called PH-1, orbiting in a four-star system, consisting of two binary pairs.

It’s bigger than Earth, about six times our radius, or about half the diameter of Jupiter. The mass isn’t well known, but may be as high as 170 times our own mass, though far more likely it’s closer to 20 – 50 times our mass. That makes it closer physically to Uranus and Saturn than Earth, so it’s likely a gas giant.

It’s also hot, with a probable cloud-top temperature of 400+ Celsius (800+° F). Even if it has Earth-sized moons they’re likely to be too hot to be hospitable. And since it’s 5000 light years away, we’re not headed there any time soon, anyway.

But the more interesting thing about this planet is its host stars: PJK-1 orbits a binary star, two stars that orbit each other (like Tatooine, if you like). Six other planets are known to orbit binary stars, but PH-1 is even cooler: the binary star is itself orbited by another binary pair much farther out, making it the first planet found in a four-star system.

So we have two stars orbiting each other, orbited by a planet, and also orbited by two other stars which orbit each other.

In the realm of time and space, I contend that all human endeavor is less than negligible.

Man Cooked with Tuna

(Santa Fe Springs, California)

A seafood plant employee died Thursday after he was cooked in an oven in an industrial accident, authorities said Friday.

Bumble Bee Foods officials identified the man as Jose Melena, a 6-year employee of the business.

Authorities are investigating the 'accident.'

Oklahoma Teacher Accused of Sex with Male Student

(Pawnee County, Oklahoma) A 26-year-old English teacher at Prue High School, Katie Megan Hightower, has been accused of engaging in sex with a 16-year-old male student.

Hightower faces charges of second-degree rape of a minor and furnishing an alcoholic beverage to minors.

According to court documents, students at Prue High School told deputies Hightower bought a group beer after a football scrimmage on Aug. 17, took them to her home and disappeared into the bedroom to have sexual intercourse with one of the underage boys.

Hightower rode the bus to and from the football scrimmage and sat next to the boy during the out-of-town trip, an affidavit states.

After returning, Hightower and three students went to Keystone Lake for about an hour, and the students said they overheard Hightower calling the boy "Babe" and then put her head in his lap.

Hightower was booked into custody at the Pawnee County Jail.

Apple vs. Samsung

Readers likely have heard of the continuing wide legal battle between Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. part of which includes an August 2012 jury verdict in U.S. Court where Apple was awarded more than $1 billion for patent infringement by Samsung

The verdict is among an ongoing raft of legal challenges by both parties including … blah … blah … blah … with litigation on patent Case Nos. …blah … blah … blah … and finer points of ornamental design infringement … blah … blah … blah -- and so on.

More interestingly, a story from a Mexican website got picked up by Yahoo! and was reposted throughout the Internet which indicated that Samsung had paid off its $1 billion judgment to Apple by trucking 20 billion nickels to the Apple home office.

But -- since $1 billion in nickels would reportedly require upwards of 3,000 18-wheelers to deliver, weighing more than 100,000 tons, the story is now logically reported as a hoax.

Apparently math is hard and gullibility is easy.

Jihad Jane Pleads Guilty

(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) A 48-year-old Pennsylvania woman, Colleen LaRose aka Jihad Jane, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to murder a foreign target, supporting terrorism and lying to the FBI.

Colleen LaRose of Pennsburg, Pa., faces a life sentence for plotting to kill Swedish artist Lars Vilks over a cartoon that offended Muslims.

Sentencing is scheduled for December 19.

* * * * *
Jihad Jane Exclusive Report
[Previous 3/11/10 post]



Jihad Jane
Now a worldwide news story, the Colleen LaRose, aka Jihad Jane, exclusive report of online terror support activities is posted at The Jawa Report. TJR has been instrumental in documenting Jihad Jane's slide into being a terrorist tool.

Take a look. It's a good write-up.

Trouble in France

(Paris, France) Elected in May 2012, French President François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande is instituting fiscal measures that are scaring the business community.

“The situation is very serious. Some business leaders are in a state of quasi-panic,” said Laurence Parisot, head of employers’ group MEDEF.

“The pace of bankruptcies has accelerated over the summer. We are seeing a general loss of confidence by investors. Large foreign investors are shunning France altogether. It’s becoming really dramatic.”

MEDEF, France’s equivalent of the CBI, said the threat has risen from “a storm warning to a hurricane warning”, adding that the Socialist government of François Hollande has yet to understand the “extreme gravity” of the crisis.

The immediate bone of contention is Article 6 of the new tax law, which raises the top rate of capital gains tax from 34.5pc to 62.2pc. This compares with 21pc in Spain, 26.4pc in Germany and 28pc in Britain.

“Let’s be clear, Article 6 is not acceptable, even if modified. We will not be complicit in a disastrous economic mistake,” Mrs Parisot told Le Figaro.

An alliance of private organisations in France has issued a protest entitled “State of Emergency for Business”, warning that confiscatory tax rates threaten lasting damage to the French economy.

Mrs Parisot said the policies border on economic illiteracy: “The idea of aligning taxes on capital with those on wages is a profound economic error. It is scandalous that the French have been left in such economic ignorance for years.”

Socialism and economic ignorance, eh? What a shock!

ABC Censors Obama Communist Joke‏ 

Must not joke about the messenger of hope

The ABC television network has removed jokes about President Obama and former President Clinton from an upcoming episode of  “Last Man Standing,” according to the show’s star – Tim Allen.   Allen told The New York Post that the Disney-owned network yanked a number of political jokes from an episode that is scheduled to air just before the presidential election.

Allen’s character, a conservative, is trying to persuade his daughter to vote for Mitt Romney.

The ABC standards department ordered the show to remove one joke that had Allen’s character called Obama “a communist.”

“I love communist jokes,” Allen told the Post. “The right sees everything as a communist.”

“We also had this line about the Clintons where I say, ‘They’re like shingles; just when you think they are gone, they pop back up,’” he added.

That line was deleted, too.

“ABC won’t allow certain buttons to be touched,” wrote Tim Graham, director of media analysis at the MRC. “It’s almost funny that the censors would be so lax on sex and violence, but will clamp down like Bonnie Bluehair on Obama jokes. Is this their only Thou Shalt Not?”

Source

The whole episode is rather Soviet.  The banned bit was apparently meant to ridicule conservatives but the total lack of humor at  ABC management meant that they were too dim to see that.  The Soviets were humorless too.  They banned P.G. Wodehouse even though his comic novels could well be seen as excellent propaganda against a class system.  Wodehouse always portrayed the aristocrat as dim and the worker as smart.

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

Florida Woman Collared for Drugs

(Naples, Florida) An 18-year-old local woman, Vida Golac, has been arrested by Naples police officers for smuggling marijuana into the Naples jail.

An officer stopped the car Golac was riding in with two others after seeing it drifting it between lanes, according to an arrest report. During a search of the car, the officer found marijuana in the back of the car near where Golac sat.

Golac said the drug wasn't hers because she's a medical student, and asked the officer to check with the other passengers to see if it was theirs, reports said. The other two passengers denied ownership and were allowed to leave while Golac was arrested.

Notably, while being searched at the jail Golac was found to be hiding additional marijuana in her lady parts.

BBC Arabist, Malise Ruthven, says that only "scholarly" criticism of Islam should be allowed 

It's a very long-winded article (in the NYT, unsurprisingly)  but the last 3 paragraphs of it (below) seem to be the point of it.  Ruthven burnishes his own scholarly status by using such hard words as "aniconic" and "docetic" but shows how much he really knows by approving of the term "Christianist" as a description of Pamela Geller.  She is Jewish and needs no assistance from Christians or Christianity to form her opinion of jihadists.  Ruthven is obviously far too grand to listen to or respect "ordinary" people

These contrasting responses suggest the possibility of a two-pronged approach to the free speech issues raised by images of the Prophet. “Insulting” the Prophet with the intent of stirring up hatred might be categorized as a form of “hate speech” comparable to anti-Semitism, racism, flag desecration, or Holocaust denial, which are forbidden by law in many countries (though not the US, where a proposed amendment protecting the US flag failed to pass by a single Senate vote in 2006), because the sacred image of the Prophet has become a fundamental part of how Muslim communities have come to define themselves. While in practice it may be difficult to draw the line between “insult” and “criticism,” if there is a distinction it must lie in intention.

In Britain, for example, the government’s effort in the wake of the Rushdie Affair to extend the race relations act in response to Muslims protests opened a legal minefield. It is now an offense (under the 2006 Racial and Religious Hatred Act) to display by writing or other visible representation material that is “threatening, abusive or insulting” with the intention of causing “harassment, alarm or distress.” Yet the law paradoxically protects the right to “insult and abuse” with a proviso stating that nothing in it “shall be read or given effect in a way which prohibits or restricts discussion, criticism or expressions of antipathy, dislike, ridicule, insult or abuse of particular religions or the beliefs or practices of their adherents.” Intention is clearly the key. Had he been required to defend his book under the 2006 act, Rushdie and his lawyers would doubtless have argued that the storm of controversy it raised was an unintended consequence of a misreading (mostly by politically-motivated parties) of his “serious” novel.

Critical analysis of the Quran that challenges the myths surrounding the primal figures of Islam is another story entirely: it is something that scholars of other faiths have been engaged in since the Enlightenment. Since the nineteenth century, Islamic scholars such as Sayyed Ahmad Khan and Chirag Ali have questioned the authenticity of many of the hadiths (verbally transmitted reports) on which the earliest chroniclers relied for their accounts of the Prophet’s life, exemplary behavior, and ministry. It would be utterly wrong for the law to discriminate in favor of (or effectively against) Muslims by insulating them from this process, because critical engagement—about science, religion, and politics—is a necessary precondition for communities to flourish in a cosmopolitan and increasingly globalized world.

Source

It's absurd to expect everybody to speak with academic precision and yet that is essentially what this guy is proposing.  What about having one law for all and not a law that suits just a few?

Treating everyday speech as scientific or scholarly speech is a very common bad-faith ploy.  For instance, if a man says:  "Blacks are a criminal lot", he will immediately be hounded as some sort of terribile bigot who is obviously wrong because some blacks are not criminal.  But that is bad faith.  That all blacks are criminal is unlikely to be what the speaker meant and instead of people trying to understand what the speaker is really saying he gets condemned.

If however, someone says that "the incidence of criminality is  much higher among blacks than whites"  he gets a pass.  I know.  I once said something similar and even got it published in one of the academic journals of sociology  -- of all places.  But I did have some striking statistics on my side.

There is far too much "hunting" of people according to the way they express themselves.  In a decent world one would try to understand what the average person was saying rather than pouncing on him with vile and superficial allegations because his speech is a bit careless.  That someone has the background to speak in an academic way is no guarantee of wisdom, rightness or moral probity.  The praise recently lavished on the unrepentant and disgusting Communist Eric Hobsbawm is evidence enough of that.


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

French Hygiene Study

(Paris, France) According to a study performed by a French hygiene product company, people in France do not consider personal hygiene to be a priority.

Frankly, it's been the word on the street for as long as I can remember.

My perspective? While certain segments of society may stink up their surroundings, generally poor French hygiene is more a myth than a matter of fact.

Sniffer Mice Smell Landmines

(New York City) The threat of landmines, which reportedly kill about 70 people every day worldwide, is being addressed by development of genetically-modified rats and mice, capable of sniffing out explosives.

The concept of using rats to sniff out landmines began with HeroRats, giant African pouched rats who, after nine months of training, can detect TNT even when the source is underground. When a HeroRat catches the telltale scent of TNT, it scratches at the ground and makes a clicking noise to let its handler know that it has come across a buried landmine.

Two HeroRats and a handler can cover 300 square feet in under two hours, as compared to the two days that it would take two people with metal detectors to cover the same area.

Researchers at Hunter College in New York also began recruiting mice (dubbed MouSensors) to sniff out landmines; however, to eliminate the training step, they genetically modified their mice so that they were extremely sensitive to the smell of DNT, a close relative of TNT.[…]

Before the MouSensors can be of use as bewhiskered landmine detectors, researchers still need to develop a ‘readout’ for their sensitivity, or some signal which would indicate the presence of TNT comparable to the HeroRats' clicking and scratching.

Reportedly the rats and mice are too small and light to trigger detonations of the landmines.