Avian Flu Pandemic Preparations

(Minneapolis, MN) In the proceedings of a national meeting on preparing for a lethal bird flu pandemic, it was advised:

When burying a body in the backyard, don't put it too close to the septic system.

Goes without saying, eh? It was also pointed out that a good-quality body bag goes for about $20. I would conclude that the attendees spent considerable time dwelling on worst-case scenarios.

Approximately 200 business representatives participated in the conference discussing the threat posed by the H5N1 avian flu virus and the potential effects of a pandemic on business. The conference was sponsored by the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).

Companion post at In The Bullpen.

Lesbian Molester Gets Wrist Slapped

(Oakland, California) Last November, 32-year-old Tanda Rucker pleaded no contest to having sex with schoolgirls. The former Encinal High School basketball coach pleaded to 18 felony charges, including 10 counts of penetration with a foreign object and eight counts of oral copulation with minors.

Today, Rucker was sentenced. Although she could have been given more than 14 years in state prison, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Thomas Reardon apparently decided to overlook the seriousness of her crimes and instead sentenced Rucker to one year work furlough status at the Cornell Corrections Institute in El Monte. It seems the Cornell facility is close to her current work place so she won't even have to take a vacation day to satisfy the "whereabouts" sentence imposed by Judge Reardon.

Understandably, victims' parents are outraged.

The mother of one victim, who asked that her name not be used, said after Wednesday's hearing that she thinks that Rucker's sentence was "a slap on the wrist" and that Rucker got special treatment because her father, who attended the hearing, is politically powerful in Berkeley.

During the hearing, the mother of another victim told Reardon that to allow Rucker to work while serving her one-year sentence "would be a major injustice to society."

The mother called Rucker "a pedophile" who's highly intelligent and slowly groomed her victims over time by taking them to lunch and flattering them in other ways.

Michael Kinane, an attorney who represents the victims in a civil lawsuit against Rucker, said he's taken depositions indicating that Rucker has molested at least 25 girls.

The civil suit against Rucker goes to trial on June 2. I wonder whether politics will play a part in the civil trial. I don't wonder about its starring role in the criminal proceeding.

Google OTC Censorship

John Ray at Dissecting Leftism has compiled some empirical evidence that Google is censoring his blog on Internet searches. OTC (Other than China) censorship by Google has been suspected for some time. I believe that somewhere, in a left-coast room in a left-coast building, noticeably left-leaning, self-appointed uber-smarties are curtaining Google search results.

Get used to it.

Children Murdered Walking to School

(Baghdad) Highlights in today's religion of peace news include:

From USAToday.com:

A bomb exploded Wednesday on a central Baghdad street, killing three girls and a boy walking to school, police and relatives said. The dead included two sisters and their brother.

[ ... ]

Police said the children were between the ages of 10 and 14 and included two sons and a daughter of Jamil Mohammed, a poor vendor who works in a nearby public market.

"We are poor people who has nothing to do with politics," the father sobbed at the local police station. "We only wanted to live a decent life. What is the guilt of my dead children? They were only heading to school. Now I am left with only two children. This is a disaster for my family."

First of all, does anyone at USAToday proofread? The first paragraph says "two sisters and their brother" were murdered. A couple paragraphs down, it says "two sons and a daughter" were murdered. Hello, USAToday, anybody home? In a WaPo story, three boys are reported to have been murdered.

If one reads several reports, a conclusion can be drawn that four children were murdered, three boys and a girl. Why can't the mainstream media get the numbers right? You tell me. I do know that the MSM are fairly much in unison at providing justification for the killings. Without exception, it's reported that a store which sold black-market liquor was bombed, among other stores, by the way. So, the MSM can't get the number of kids murdered right, but they sure can reach into the minds of the thug criminals and extract a motive to justify the bombing. You see a slant? I do.

Moving on, it has to be assumed that there's no room on the moderate Muslim protest schedule to express outrage at the murder of innocent children. On the other hand, it might be that murdering children doesn't meet the threshold criteria for outrage. Planned protests, I believe, are reserved for more significant criminal acts than the murder of children. Like cartoons.

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Woman Allegedly Infects 100 Sex Partners with HIV

(St. Charles, Missouri) A 26-year-old mother of four, Angela D. Harris, currently faces three felony counts of recklessly risking another person with HIV infection.

Harris became HIV-positive around the age of 14 and has since had many sex partners. Harris' mother, Cathy Lenceski, estimates that her daughter has had sex with as many as 100 people in the last five years. It's not clear how many knew they were at risk of acquiring HIV. Lenceski fears that Harris will continue infecting people is she's not stopped. Not unexpected has been an increased number of inquiries regarding HIV testing since the Harris story hit the media.

Harris was arraigned yesterday before Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham on the three felony counts, each of which carries a possible sentence of five to 15 years.


[Update 10/21/07]

Harris gets prison.

Woman Accused of Sex with Preteen Boys

(Malone, New York) A 25-year-old woman from the town of Merrill, about 30 miles west of Plattsburgh, faces multiple charges for allegedly engaging in sex acts with two boys, an 11-year-old and a 12-year-old. Misty M. Hosler was charged Monday with second-degree rape, two counts of second-degree criminal sexual act and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Hosler pleaded not guilty to the charges before Judge William A. Tucker in the Town of Burke Court. She is being held at the Franklin County Jail. Hosler's next court appearance is scheduled for March 11.

Lodi Islamic Terror Trial Begins

(Sacramento, California) Regular readers are likely aware of the ongoing story of the Lodi terror probe which resulted in the arrests of Hamid Hayat and his father, Umer Hayat. As a reminder, Hamid and Umer are accused of lying to federal agents regarding Hamid's attendance at a Pakistani terrorist training camp. Hamid is also accused of the more serious charge of planning jihadist strikes against the U.S.


Hamid Hayat & Umer Hayat
Despite vigorous efforts on the part of defense lawyers to have Hamid and Umer released on bail, the court has consistently deemed them to be flight risks. Both have been in the Sacramento County Jail since June of 2005. Indictments followed.

Today, the trial of Hamid and Umer Hayat begins. Notably, procedures for their trial are to be somewhat irregular.

From SacBee.com:

U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. has ordered the pair tried before two juries at the same time in the same courtroom to avoid prejudice to either defendant from incriminating evidence that applies to only one of them. When such evidence is presented to one jury, the other jury will be out of the courtroom.

Twelve jurors and four alternates will be chosen for each defendant.

Okay, so there's going to be two juries, two defense teams, two prosecution teams, two docket numbers, two sets of evidence, two sets of testimony, and one judge. Sounds entertaining, eh? Sort of like The Perry Mason and Jerry Springer Variety Show.

Both U.S. citizens, the Hayats have pleaded not guilty to all charges. If convicted, Hamid faces a possible 23 years in prison, Umer faces an eight-year term.


[Update]

Rusty Shackleford notes that the extent of the information reported by the SacBee indicates that sealed court documents have been compromised. As a consequence, the FBI is investigating how the information was obtained. More details are at The Jawa Report.

It will be interesting to see how forthcoming the newspaper is about its sources. My guess would be not much.

Governor's School and Susan Wiseman Sex Allegations

(Raleigh, NC) New developments have surfaced regarding allegations of sexual activity with a student by Susan Wiseman, a social studies teacher at East Forsythe High School in Winston-Salem.

Wiseman has been identified as one of two (2) teachers who presented an in-depth homosexuality indoctrination and recruitment seminar at the prestigious, taxpayer-funded, six-week Governor's School last summer. The seminar was not listed on any pre-attendance literature so the parents and families of the students were unaware that many would be subjected to a pro-homosexual agenda. Naturally, some parents were outraged.

From Paul Chesser at CarolinaJournal.com:

Jim and Beverly Burrows say their son returned home from last year's Governor's School "confused" about homosexuality as a result of the seminar, and that they have had to seek family counseling.

"We feel that this was totally inappropriate for the students who were 15, 16, and 17 years old," the Burrowses wrote to officials at the State Department of Public Instruction. "We feel that our rights as parents have been violated by this program."

The Burrows also alleged that students were taught to not believe what they had been taught by their parents and that the "Bible was not true, was filled with inconsistencies, and did not apply to society today."

Addressing why the seminar was not on pre-attendance literature, school director Lucy Milner said the seminar was placed on the schedule in the fifth week of the summer session because "she was approached by faculty who said students had been discussing the issue."

Um ... excuse me a second. Cough ... cough. Hold on a second ... cough.

Okay, let me see if I understand. Milner says the faculty heard students discussing the lack of a homosexual indoctrination and recruiting program? I'm supposed to believe that high school students sit around and chat about not having enough discussion of homosexuals? And, I'm supposed to believe that all these students thirsting for knowledge of homosexuals made her put it on the schedule? Excuse me again, but I find Milner's explanation thin, better yet, micro-thin. Nevertheless, it's her excuse for not having the homosexual program in the literature available to the parents.

Moving on, let's say I buy Milner's explanation. Should I then also buy that it was a mere coincidence that ... Voila! two homosexual activist teachers espousing an incendiary homosexual textbook magically appear?

Frankly, I've completely broached the threshold of being able to suspend my disbelief. I frequently suspend disbelief when watching a film, but I'm insulted when expected to do it in real life. The story that's being spewed by Milner is pure hogwash and I'm fairly confident that school officials either unknowingly promoted homosexuality through ineptitude or they knowingly did it surreptitiously to hide their agenda from the parents of the kids.

If the school is going to shove homosexual dogma into the minds of impressionable youngsters, fine, but it should be done with the parents foreknowledge. The Burrows and other families have every reason to be outraged and they should protest loudly. So far, at least three families have reported disturbing behavioral and psychological changes in their children.

With regard to Susan Wiseman's involvement, it's not clear whether or not her teaching homosexuality at the Governor's School is related to the investigation of sexual activity with a student. It is clear, however, that it's not going to help her case if she is found to have engaged in a lesbian relationship with the student. It also probably doesn't help that she is better known as a homosexual activist than as a social studies teacher at East Forsythe High School.

In conclusion, the investigation of Susan Wiseman continues and no target date for completion has been disclosed. In the meantime, someone should take a close look at the agenda of the Governor's School and make sure the parents of all students have prior knowledge of the curricula their children will be subjected to. Lastly, school director Milner should be reassigned, demoted or fired. When someone spews manure in North Carolina and I can smell it in Ohio, it's time to clean house.

Additional coverage: Free Republic

Tip: Jason Cann


[Update 05/15/06]

Susan Wiseman avoids prosecution.

Geena Davis Wants More Females in Cartoons

It's nutty, but Geena Davis, the "Commandress in Chief" (now on hiatus), has studied cartoons and is complaining that too many men are depicted. In particular, she doesn't like Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story.

Obviously, Geena Davis should stick to acting and leave the thinking to others. For crying out loud, Geena, they're cartoons.

Sting Nets Suspected Internet Predator

(Parma, Ohio) A 22-year-old Canton resident, Nicholas Frascone, was arrested in a sting operation conducted by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Via the Internet, Frascone had set up a meeting to have sex with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl. Unfortunately for him, the 14-year-old girl was actually an undercover police officer.

Frascone was apprehended at the meeting place he arranged with the "girl/undercover officer." He faces several sex charges and is being held at the Cuyahoga County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bond.

Fingerhut Quits Run for Ohio Governor

(Columbus, Ohio) Ohio State Senator and former U.S. Congressman Eric Fingerhut has dropped out of the run for the governorship.

From WCPO.com:

State Sen. Eric Fingerhut, short on campaign cash and lacking widespread support, ended his long-shot campaign Monday to overtake U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland for the Democratic nomination for governor.

In a letter to supporters on his campaign Web site, Fingerhut said he will formally withdraw from the race at a news conference Tuesday, less than six weeks after he announced his candidacy.

Fingerhut lost considerable support when Strickland announced that popular former Attorney General Lee Fisher would be his running mate. Fingerhut's departure leaves Strickland as the only major Democratic hopeful.

On the Republican side, Attorney General Jim Petro and Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell must file by Thursday for the May primary election.

Putting Lead in Your Pencil

Add this to the "Failed Experiment" file.

From Ananova.com:

A Serbian man needed emergency surgery after sticking a pencil inside his penis to keep it stiff during sex.

Zeljko Tupic, from Belgrade, told doctors he had experienced erectile difficulties in the past.

So as he prepared for a night with his new lover, he decided to insert a thin pencil into his penis.

Tupic had to cut his sex session short when the pencil shifted and became lodged in his bladder, forcing him to call an ambulance, the daily Kurir reported.

In my opinion, this story was either misinterpreted or it's a flat fabrication. I do not, for a second, believe that a man would do what is alleged. Besides the obvious pain of trying this trick, any pencil thin enough to insert into the penis would also probably break with the slightest perpendicular force.

I think this report is likely a hoax.

Say 'I Love You' With Rhinoplasty

(Shanghai, China) Well, capitalism and wacky customer behavior have combined to produce a rather novel medical service. It's the "give yourself and your loved one rhinoplasty for a 20 percent discount" offer for Valentine's Day.

AP:

China's obsession with plastic surgery is finding fresh demand from couples who are going under the knife to get their noses and even their eyes done as a sign of their love for one another, the official newspaper China Daily reported.

"I suggested it as a way of celebrating our relationship and bringing us closer together with a special kind of bond," Liu Yan, 24, was quoted as saying of the matching nose jobs for her and her 28-year-old boyfriend.

Liu said her boyfriend "loved the idea" and readily paid the 10,000 yuan ($1,200) for the surgery.

ConBio Plastic and Laser Surgery Hospital is advertising the 20 percent discount from Feb. 14-17. The devoted couples also get free roses. Ah, nothing says 'I Love You' like, "Cut me."

What is most interesting about this story is that medical procedures are being offered with holiday discounts. Now, to my knowledge, medical professionals in the U.S. haven't, as yet, launched any similar business practice. For example, I haven't heard anything like "Half-price Labor Day Sonograms" or "Get 10% Off Your Christmas Vasectomy" or "Prices Slashed on Memorial Day Breast Reductions."

Nonetheless, given time and the lure of profit, it will come.

Lisa Lynnette Clark Gives Birth

(Hall County, Georgia) The story of Lisa Clark continues to get more interesting. As previously reported, 37-year-old Clark had been predicted to give birth on Feb. 20th, but the baby, a boy, had a different schedule and was born Saturday night.

Named Skye Cobain Gonzales, he weighed 7 pounds, 9 ounces, and was described as a "healthy baby boy with sandy blonde hair."

At the request of Clark's attorney, Dan Sammons, Judge Bonnie Oliver rescheduled Clark's arraignment to February 24. Sammons said he had visited Clark and the child at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center and said his client was "holding up." He wouldn't say she was in good spirits, though, since she's going to jail and the baby is going elsewhere.

Notably, the name of Clark's 15-year-old boy-husband has been consistently withheld and court documents only identify him as "A.S.G." Well, since his child's been given the last name Gonzales, it doesn't require too much thought to conclude that the "G." in A.S.G. is Gonzales.

Furthermore, I hope that Cobain is a family name and the baby wasn't named after a drug-addicted rocker who blew his head off with a shotgun. Little baby Gonzales has enough inherited baggage to contend with in his future.


[Update 02/24/06]

Lisa Clark rejects a deal offered by the prosecution and pleads not guilty to all charges. Another court date is scheduled for March 15.


[Update 02/25/08]

Lisa Clark released from prison.

Convicts Complain About Prison Food

So, what else is new?

In prisons throughout the state of Washington, Muslim inmates are being fed vegetarian diets because they won't eat meat unless it has been slaughtered in a proscribed manner. As a result of inmate complaints, state courts are looking at lawsuits from convicts demanding "halal" (religiously approved) food.

Muslim inmates, who comprise 4 percent of the prison population, have expressed a particular lack of fondness for a diet of leaves and grasses.

I wonder where the vegetarians are on this issue. Customarily, they don't allow criticism of their food ideology to go unchallenged.

Fatwas

Simply put, fatwas, or Islamic legal pronouncements, are confusing to many people. Understandably, non-Muslims have a general unfamiliarity with fatwas. It's somewhat surprising, however, that Muslims also have frequent questions about fatwas. Islamic scholars called muftis issue fatwas but there's no coordination among the muftis, so it's not uncommon for contradictory fatwas to be issued.

Consequently, the editors at Arab News decided to address the subject of fatwas to clear up any misunderstanding.

Nobody's fatwas or rulings are binding on all Muslims. A fatwa is binding only to the scholar issuing it. It is he who considered a particular case, looked into all the relevant evidence and formulated his ruling on the basis of his research and study that is committed to it. If I give you a ruling saying, for example, that music is not forbidden, while you read in Dar Al-Ifta's publications or on their website that it is forbidden, you need to look into the evidence supporting each of the two views. Neither ruling is binding on you, but my ruling is binding on me, and the Dar Al-Ifta's ruling is binding on the scholars who issued it. [Note: Dar Al-Ifta is an Islamic authority for issuing religious edicts, but it does not oversee all edicts. There is more than one Dar Al-Ifta.]

What should be the position of a person who cannot distinguish the validity of evidence, or does not understand the intricacies involved in arriving at a ruling? The answer is that he should simply follow a scholar whom he trusts to be sincere, honest, and would not compromise his religious standpoint in order to please any human being.

Got all that?

My interpretation is that the followers of the religion of peace have options regarding which fatwas to comply with. It's all based on which mufti a Muslim trusts to be sincere and honest.

In summary, muftis issue fatwas which are binding only on themselves and their followers. However, it appears that Muslims can pick any mufti they want to follow. Of course, if a Dar Al-Ifta for a nation, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, issues a fatwa, it likely is binding on all Muslims in the country. When a mufti not affiliated with the Dar Al-Ifta issues a fatwa, it's binding only on his followers.

Everybody clear on this subject now?

Frankly, I'm not. The entire scheme seems analogous to having one county with a dozen county sheriffs. Everybody is forced to sidle up to one sheriff just to protect himself from the other sheriffs. Nonetheless, it does explain how one Muslim (Sunni) can go to war with another Muslim (Shiite). Two muftis in one country, like two sheriffs in one county, don't always agree.

VP Cheney Shoots Lawyer

On a hunting trip in Texas, Vice President Cheney accidentally blasted fellow hunter Harry Whittington, a lawyer. Whittington is in the hospital and reported to be "alert and doing fine."

There's no confirmation of the rumor that Whittington is a Democrat.

Muslims Protest Cartoon in Akron Newspaper

(Akron, Ohio) In a seemingly intentional effort to be offended by just about anything, Muslims are protesting cartoonist Chip Bok and the Akron Beacon Journal. Bok's February 5th cartoon is considered insensitive and insulting to Muslim leaders and they have demanded an apology from the newspaper.

Additionally, after an apparent anger consolidation prayer meeting at a local mosque on Friday, one irate follower of the religion of peace, Mustafa Muhammad of Akron, said the cartoon made the prophet look like a crackhead. He also called for Chip Bok to be fired.

According to Beacon Journal spokeswoman, Rita Kelly Madick, there will be no firing and no apology. More appropriate, in my estimation, would be a followup cartoon opining on the relative thickness of the average Muslim's skin. For example, two researchers talking about a recent experiment at the Nanoscience Measurement Lab.

Saddam Starting Hunger Strike

(Baghdad) Apparently, Saddam Hussein believes that he's not getting enough sympathy and media exposure.

From Reuters.com:

Saddam Hussein and the seven co-defendants in his trial are to start a hunger strike on Monday, the former Iraqi president's defense team said on Sunday, citing sources inside the detention center where they are being held.

"Saddam and his followers will start a hunger strike from tomorrow, protesting the illegitimate procedures and bad treatment by the court," Khamis al-Aubeidi, a leading member of Saddam's defense team, told Reuters.

Frankly, the idea of strapping the murdering thug to a gurney and shoving a feeding tube through his nose and down his esophagus doesn't elicit my sympathy. In fact, I'd recommend that the authorities be innovative in force-feeding Saddam and try a new technique. A gnarly tube through the brokeback might work.

Nevertheless, the hunger strike is nicely timed to coincide with continuation of the trial which was interrupted two weeks ago when the defense team walked out of the courtroom and protested the new judge. Since then, Saddam has whined about being abused by prison guards. It appears that Saddam and his co-defendents are trying to do everything possible to disrupt the trial "to fuel concerns about the legitimacy of the tribunal and its eventual verdict."

Companion post at The Jawa Report.

Muslim Leader Accused of Terrorist Ties

(Tacoma, Washington) Last November, 39-year-old Somalia-born Abrahim Sheikh Mohamed was arrested by federal authorities for allegedly being in the U.S. illegally. Mohamed is the imam of the Abu-Bakr Mosque and leader of Seattle's Somali community.

The deportation hearing for Mohamed is currently in progress at Immigration Court in the Tacoma Tideflats' Northwest Detention Center. On Friday, during the third day of the proceeding, an FBI agent testified that Mohamed is also the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation for allegedly diverting funds from his mosque to terrorist groups.

From The Seattle Times:

Agent David Rubincam testified in the immigration case against Abrahim Sheikh Mohamed that officials believe Mohamed was smuggled into the U.S. through Mexico to help raise money for the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which wants an independent state for ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia.

Note the words "smuggled into the U.S. through Mexico."

Rubincam testified that a confidential source told the FBI in 2003 about questionable financial dealings at the mosque -- that money to rebuild the mosque was being diverted overseas to the ONLF and to an organization called AIAI, Somalia's largest militant Islamic organization. Rubincam said the FBI put Mohamed under surveillance that year.

Mohamed is also accused of authorizing young men from his mosque to attend jihadist training.

In the immigration case, federal officials say Mohamed lied to obtain legal asylum status after his arrival in the U.S. in 2000, falsely claiming to belong to the persecuted minority Tumal clan. Rubincam testified on Friday that sources have told the FBI Mohamed belongs to the dominant Ogaden clan.

In Mohamed's defense, attorney Hilary Han complained that Mohamed's accusers are confidential sources, therefore, they can't be confronted. The veracity of one FBI source, Peter Coleman, was also questioned since he was a convicted felon and a paid informant. Coleman had testified that he attended the mosque and heard Mohamed talk of holy war and praise Osama bin Laden.

In the meantime, the Somalian community has been mobilized to protest outside the detention center.

Companion post at Diggers Realm.