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![]() ![]() ARCHIVES November 2009 December 2008 December 2007 December 2006 December 2005 December 2004 December 2003 Notable Posts |
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Following Entry Posted
11/22/2009 07:57:00 AM
A picture is worth ... ![]() Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). |
Following Entry Posted
11/22/2009 06:30:00 AM
The Postal Service has decided to resume the Santa Claus letter program after Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich and Republican Rep. Don Young sent letters to Postmaster General John Potter expressing concerns. The letters will now be answered by the North Pole elves under tightened privacy rules implemented nationwide by the Postal Service in response to security concerns that arose in a similar program in Maryland last year.Merry Christmas to all! (Hat tip: ron) Government Cancels Santa Claus [Previous 11/21/09 post] Children writing letters to Santa Claus in the Alaska town of North Pole will no longer be receiving responses. The U.S. Postal Service will be rerouting the children's letters for shredding. Postal officials say the change is being made to protect children from sex offenders. I'd disagree. I think the government is solving a problem that so far doesn't exist. It's typical bureaucratic activism. | Saturday, November 21, 2009
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 09:54:00 PM
(Johnson City, Tennesssee) According to decision-makers at the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), no mammogram screening of women between 40 and 49 years of age should be performed. Presumably, it's all about efficiency and cost. However, not everyone agrees. Jocelyn Medina, M.D., a radiologist at Mountain States Health Alliance says with the study’s recommendations, many lives in the Tri-Cities would be at risk. From this year alone, cancer cases at the Women’s Health and Imaging Center prove her point.It's not exactly clear why self-examinations would be discouraged. However, since even minor concerns discovered during self-exams would lead to requests for mammograms, a program to mitigate the number of mammograms would likely include measures to reduce the number requested by women examining themselves. Furthermore, I'd suggest that the reason that mammograms for women 40 to 49 have been eliminated is that breast tumors are very small and difficult to detect within that age range but at the age of 50 and beyond sufficient growth of tumors has occured and they are easily seen. Based on their statistical analysis, the task force experts likely concluded that it's better to wait until the cancers are readily detectable rather than spend money on mammograms producing negative results. Having medical choices decided by demographics as opposed to diagnostics is disturbing. I'd hate to think that people would have to phony up their personal data just to assure they could see a doctor. |
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 07:58:00 PM
(Round Lake Beach, Illinois) A 47-year-old local woman, Laura A. Bailey, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly engaging in sex with a 16-year-old boy. She faces two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.The alleged sexual relations reportedly occurred in September. Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Stephen Scheller said Bailey was brought into custody Tuesday after admitting to engaging in sex with the teenager on multiple occasions during September.Bailey was booked into custody with bond set at $25,000. |
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 02:50:00 PM
(Mobile, Alabama) Responding to citizen complaints of prostitutes working the streets, a female undercover police officer was told to get all gussied up and hit the stroll in a neighborhood to lure customers in a sting operation. A boy walks up to the officer and says, hey, mama, you got the time for a man like me? And she says, you ain't no man, so go home little boy. He says I ain't no boy, I'm 13 and I got money. She says go away or I'll call the cops. He says no you won't cause you is working the streets and they'd arrest you. She said no they won't and her fellow officers showed up to take the boy into custody. He was overheard in the patrol car mumbling that she didn't look like no cop. He was booked into the juvenile detention center and later released. The sting operation netted 15 arrests. Tip: slwlion |
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 11:36:00 AM
(Rochester, New Hampshire) A 29-year-old local woman, Martha Thibodeau, has been accused of engaging in a pattern of inappropriate sexual behavior with a 14-year-old boy.Thibodeau faces one felony count of aggravated felonious sexual assault.Thibodeau's case will now go before a grand jury. |
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 10:15:00 AM
From ArmyTimes: A box of hollow-point bullets and an anonymous note threatening an incident like the one at Fort Hood, Texas, were discovered Thursday at Fort Benning, Ga., sparking a criminal investigation and greater police presence, a witness told Army Times.Just freaking great. |
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 09:10:00 AM
This is just cruel. The American people have a constitutionally-mandated expectation of support from their government that is being bastardized. The Obama administration is blocking court-ordered compensation for the families of the 241 Americans who died in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut. Obama administration is going to court to try to block payments from Iranian assets that the families’ lawyers want seized, contending that it would jeopardize sensitive negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and establish a potentially damaging precedent.I suggest the Obama administration will experience even more sensitive negotiations with the American electorate after throwing citizens under the bus. |
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 08:07:00 AM
We read: "A civil rights group has chided Dionisia Pacquiao, mother of famed Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, for using the word "Negro" in a public statement. The Color People Advancement Community (CPAC), a small Las Vegas-based ethnic rights group, was reacting to statements made by Mrs. Pacquiao after her son's match against Puerto Rican boxer Miguel Cotto at the MGM Grand Arena on November 14. "Negro" was once the proper scientific term for the race concerned but these days the more ponderous geographical term "Sub-Saharan African" is used in scientific writing. That's a bit stupid, though, as there are about 4 million "Sub-Saharan Africans" who are white, mostly in South Africa. Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). |
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 07:51:00 AM
Here is arguably sufficient evidence to support the contention that hardware stores should be exposed-thongs-forbidden zones. When checking plumbing appurtenances at the hardware store, I'd rather they not be human. |
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 06:46:00 AM
(Gaza Strip) Here we have an unwelcome but predictable consequence to negotiating with terrorists. A Gaza charity headed by the interior minister of Hamas yesterday offered $1.4 million to any Arab citizen of Israel who abducts an Israeli soldier. Palestinians have frequently called on Israeli Arabs to abduct soldiers, but this is the first time money has been offered.Just wonderful, kidnapping has become an advertised for-profit industry. |
Following Entry Posted
11/21/2009 06:21:00 AM
(River Falls, Wisconsin) The allegations of sexual assault of a 12-year-old boy by teacher's aide Rebecca Ann O’Malley-Tietz include a disturbing threat.The 12-year-old boy saw Rebecca O'Malley-Tietz standing in her bathroom with her hand behind her back.If true, it would explain why the boy was initially reluctant to cooperate with investigators. The story came out last Friday when the boy told a social worker. After her arrest on Wednesday, O’Malley-Tietz relayed an entirely different account. She said she was "more like a mother" to the child. According to the complaint, she said any sexual contact the two had was nonconsensual; the child spanked and kissed her and then forced her to have intercourse, she said.During her interview, O’Malley-Tietz was reportedly observed to be behaving strangely, leading to speculation that she may be suffering from mental illness. Thursday, O’Malley-Tietz was released from jail on $25,000 bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for December 12. Teacher's Aide Accused of Sex with Boy, 12 [Previous 11/19/09 post] (River Falls, Wisconsin) A 34-year-old teacher's aide formerly at River Falls Academy, Rebecca Ann O’Malley-Tietz, was arrested yesterday for allegedly engaging in sex with a 12-year-old boy. She faces a charge of first-degree sexual assault of a child. River Falls police Sgt. Jon Aubart said the incident reportedly took place in 2007 off school grounds. The victim is a boy who was 12 at the time.O’Malley-Tietz was booked into custody at the Pierce County Jail. | Friday, November 20, 2009
Following Entry Posted
11/20/2009 07:34:00 PM
In today's UK Telegraph, James Delingpole summarizes the contents of confidential global warming files dumped on the Internet by a hacker. Called Climategate, the information released includes 1079 emails and 72 documents from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU). According to Delingpole's piece, hacked emails attest to a conspiracy of prominent climate scientists to manipulate and suppress scientific data and to marginalize colleagues with differing opinions. Specifically, the emails suggest: Conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.Take a look. It's an earthquake of information which supports the growing and correct belief that man-made global warming is nothing but a political power grab. Sadly, though, the elite media will probably look the other way and environmental science will continue to be infested with politics. |
Following Entry Posted
11/20/2009 04:51:00 PM
(Bentonville, Arkansas) Forty-year-old Anita Kay Fine appeared in court yesterday and pleaded guilty to sexual assault and possession of a controlled substance. As a result, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Fine was originally charged with rape, a class Y felony, but agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charged under a plea agreement her attorney Shane Wilkinson reached with Chief Deputy Prosecutor Stuart Cearley. [...]Fine gets credit for 74 days time served. Arkansas Woman Accused of Sex with Boy [Previous 6/24/09 post] (Bentonville, Arkansas) A 39-year-old woman, Anita Kay Fine, was arrested last Saturday for allegedly engaging in sex with a 14-year-old boy. Fine faces charges of felony sexual assault of a child and sexual indecency with a child. Fine's arrest stems from a 1:09 a.m. Saturday call to Lowell police from a caller reporting that she needed assistance removing a naked female from her 14-year-old son's bedroom, according to court documents.Fine was booked into custody at the Benton County Jail with bond set at $10,000. Tip on pic: uneeda in Comments |
Following Entry Posted
11/20/2009 03:48:00 PM
(Murfreesboro, Arkansas) A 45-year-old local man, Billy Moore, found a 3.2-carat diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park, the only diamond mine in North America where the public can keep diamonds found. Billy Moore says he initially thought he had found a wadded-up piece of gum paper while sifting on Oct. 30 in the park's 37.5-acre diamond search area.Heh. Merry Christmas, Mr. Moore. |
Following Entry Posted
11/20/2009 03:38:00 PM
(Fort Smith, Arkansas) A 39-year-old local woman, Joy Trotter, was arrested yesterday for allegedly transporting teenage girls to various locations for sex. Trotter faces a charge of felony first-degree promoting prostitution. Notably, one of the teen girls has been identified as Trotter's 14-year-old relative. The arrest came after a lengthy investigation into allegations Trotter was transporting underage females to motels and residences for sex, said detective Cpl. Jeff Taylor. Police were contacted several weeks ago by an alleged victim who authorities said told them about Trotter’s operation.Trotter was booked into custody at the Sebastian County Adult Detention Center without bail. |
Following Entry Posted
11/20/2009 02:55:00 PM
(Wooster, Ohio) A 32-year-old woman from Louisiana, Melanie Marie Hearn, was arrested on a fugitive warrant for allegedly allowing her six-year-old daughter to be raped. She faces a charge of aggravated rape. Louisiana authorities alleged that she witnessed the rape of her six year old daughter but failed to do anything about it.Hearn was booked into custody at the Wayne County Jail and now awaits extradition to Louisiana. |
Following Entry Posted
11/20/2009 01:13:00 PM
(Walhalla, South Carolina) An employee of the Oconee County Sheriff's Department, Kathleen Taylor, 43, has been accused of embezzling from the sheriff's office. In the last two and one-half years, Taylor has allegedly walked out of the office with approximately $500,000. Jeez, with all the cops around, you'd think someone would have noticed. Tip: SuidaeEmpathy |
Following Entry Posted
11/20/2009 08:46:00 AM
(Lebanon, Oregon) A local cat died of swine flu. It was the first in the nation. On Nov. 4, a 10-year-old male cat was brought to the Animal Clinic in Lebanon with rapid, shallow breathing. The cat's temperature was 101.7 degrees, but it was not coughing or sneezing. X-ray results were consistent with pneumonia.The cat is believed to have acquired the H1N1 virus from a human and not any of the other three cats living in the same house. |
Following Entry Posted
11/20/2009 08:42:00 AM
We read: "U.S. Senator Barbara A. Mikulski today introduced Rosa’s Law, a bill that will eliminate the terms “mental retardation” and “mentally retarded” from the federal law books. U.S. Senator Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, is the Republican sponsor of the bill. Leftists have a long history of belief in verbal magic. They believe that by changing the name for a thing you somehow alter the underlying reality and people's attitude towards it. Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). | Thursday, November 19, 2009
Following Entry Posted
11/19/2009 11:48:00 PM
(Ballarat, Australia) Former music teacher at Ballarat High School, Michelle Lynn Dennis, 33, admitted to engaging in sex with two boys, aged 14 and 17.The County Court at Ballarat heard Dennis sent more than 1300 text messages to the students over a two-year period.Dennis reportedly cried during the proceeding. Aussie Teacher Pleads Not Guilty to Sex Charges - Updated [Previous 8/11/09 post] (Ballarat, Australia) Yesterday, 33-year-old former teacher Michelle Lynn Dennis appeared in Ballarat Magistrates Court and pleaded not guilty to 26 counts of sexual assault stemming from allegations of sex acts with two male students outside school grounds. Dennis sat with her mother and two supporters during the one-day hearing before Magistrate Peter Couzens.Dennis has a hearing scheduled for September 8 in Melbourne County Court. Aussie Teacher Faces Multiple Sex Charges [Previous 11/3/08 post] (Ballarat, Australia) A 32-year-old teacher at Ballarat High School, Michelle Dennis, was charged this past week with engaging in sex with male teen students. This is the second group of charges leveled against Dennis. She has already been charged with three counts of sexual penetration of a student, aged 17 or under.Dennis has been suspended from her teaching position. A court appearance is scheduled for January 22. (h/t JR) |
Following Entry Posted
11/19/2009 04:08:00 PM
(Monterey, California) In 2007, 33-year-old youth softball coach Eraelia Glisson was arrested for allegedly hosting a party in which 14- and 15-year-old girls were allowed to drink alcohol. Glisson was charged with child endangerment, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and hosting a party that provided alcohol to minors. In October 2007, Glisson pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of probation. Last Saturday, Eraelia Glisson, now 35, was arrested again -- this time on charges stemming from alleged sex with a 16-year-old between October 14 and November 11 this year. On Tuesday, she pleaded not guilty. Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Hulsey said Glisson faces violations of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, oral copulation with a minor, and charges related to child pornography.Glisson has been booked into custody at the Monterey County Jail with bail set at $200,000. |
Following Entry Posted
11/19/2009 08:33:00 AM
(Nashville, Tennessee) Thanks to Greenpeace and other environmental groups, the feds are going after the evil-doers making guitars. Gibson has been raided.An international crackdown on the use of endangered woods from the world's rain forests to make musical instruments bubbled over to Music City on Tuesday with a federal raid on Gibson Guitar 's manufacturing plant, but no arrests.Interestingly, there's a systemic problem associated with knowing that your wood is good since it slips through many hands before crafting and traceability can be lost. Even environmentalists admit that bad wood is often unknowingly used because "it can be tricky to be certain of the source." It's anybody's guess how many of the world's guitar players are already fingering bad wood. In any event, I suggest that Greenpeace and other environmental groups are at risk of disturbing the affectionate relations they have with their most prominent and loudest supporters, music industry performers. Even worse, some musicians may even start questioning their blind support of save-the-planet initiatives and begin thinking of consequences. Few follow a bandwagon when the music dies. Meanwhile, Gibson's CEO and chairman, Henry Juszkiewicz, has walked away from his position with the board of the Rainforest Alliance as a result of the federal raid. Juszkiewicz has held a leadership position with the Rainforest Alliance for 15 years and now apparently senses possible "conflict or distraction." Frankly, I'd be somewhat jacked if I worked for 15 years promoting greenie initiatives and it ended up biting me in the glutes. Heh. No good deed goes unpunished. In conclusion, the United States government is hassling a guitar-maker in Nashville, Tennessee, to save the rainforests in Madagascar and Brazil. In my opinion, the U.S. government should be doing everything to save the guitar-maker and let the nations of Madagascar and Brazil take care of their rainforests. Companion post at The Jawa Report. |
Following Entry Posted
11/19/2009 07:55:00 AM
As the scientific basis for Warmism becomes vanishingly small, the religious nature of it comes to the fore On a page by itself, we find this inside the front cover of Al Gore's latest climate fraud promotion book: "I'm offering you the choice of life or death. You can choose either blessings or curses." --Deuteronomy Chapter 30, Verse 19 Let's imagine that a Republican former vice president (say Dan Quayle or Dick Cheney) authored a similar book telling us that apocalypse was at hand unless we shoveled massive amounts of public money toward companies they've heavily invested in. Let's say the Republican-authored book also prominently featured the Bible verse above, suggesting that Quayle or Cheney was offering the reader the choice between life of death. In the scenario above, would the mainstream media give Quayle or Cheney with the same respect and free book promotion airtime that Gore has received in recent weeks? SOURCE Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). | Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Following Entry Posted
11/18/2009 09:14:00 PM
(Hilo, Hawaii) In April 2008, a 51-year-old special-education teacher at Keaukaha Elementary School, Lynn M. Dionise, was arrested for trafficking in methamphetamine after a police raid on her condominium.Yesterday, U.S. District Senior Judge Susan Oki Mollway sentenced Dionise, now 52, to five years in prison and five years of supervised release for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine. The FBI says Dionise was among a group of 10 people who brought methamphetamine into Hawaii from California in 2007 and 2008 and distributed the drugs on Oahu and the Big Island.Dionise also faces state charges of trafficking and possession of methamphetamine which remain to be adjudicated. Judge Mollway is allowing Dionise to remain free on bail until February 1, 2010, when she must turn herself in to begin her federal sentence. |
Following Entry Posted
11/18/2009 07:55:00 PM
(North Kansas City, Missouri) A 31-year-old kindergarten teacher at Northview Elementary School, Emily Bowers, has been accused of third-degree assault stemming from an incident where a one-year-old infant was injured while in her care.Bowers was charged before she started working for the school district. A background check performed before she was hired failed to identify the alleged assault. The school district placed Bowers on paid leave. Bowers has pleaded not guilty to the assault charge. |
Following Entry Posted
11/18/2009 05:37:00 PM
(Mars Hill, North Carolina) Convicted rapist Amanda Metcalf, 24, appeared before Superior Court Judge Philip Ginn last week and was sentenced to prison for felony statutory rape of a 13-year-old boy. The sexual activity reportedly occurred around spring break in 2008. Metcalf must serve at least 94 months and no more than 122 months in the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh. Under state sentencing guidelines, Metcalf had faced a possible 40 years in prison. After she is released, Metcalf was ordered to register as a sex offender "for 30 years." North Carolina Woman Accused of Raping Boy [Previous 4/8/09 post] (Madison County, North Carolina) A 23-year-old area woman, Amanda Metcalf, has been arrested for the alleged statutory rape of a 13-year-old boy. According to Madison County Sheriff's Detective Mike Boone, an anonymous tip led to an investigation which resulted in Metcalf being charged with felony statutory rape. Boone said he was able to identify the minor, and then "spoke to the parent and with the minor himself."Metcalf was booked into custody in Haywood County with bond set at $25,000. |
Following Entry Posted
11/18/2009 02:42:00 PM
According to this report, Recovery.gov claims that more than $3.4 million dollars of federal stimulus funding was allocated to nine "imaginary" Ohio congressional districts for job creation. Unfortunately, the districts don't exist. |
Following Entry Posted
11/18/2009 02:08:00 PM
(Ottawa, Canada) To show support for commercial seal hunting, the Canadian Parliament will be including seal meat on its restaurant menu. As a consequence, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are protesting. Members of Parliament and senators soon will be able to decide for themselves when seal meat comes to their swishy private restaurant on Parliament Hill.I'd suggest seal goes well with a robust burgundy. |
Following Entry Posted
11/18/2009 01:16:00 PM
(El Paso, Texas) Last month, the local teachers' union filed a class-action grievance with the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), contending that the district grading policy violates state law. The battle is over a district policy that requires teachers, in most cases, to give students a grade that is no lower than a 50 for the first grading period of each semester, even if the student's performance merits a lower grade. [...]EPISD Superintendent Lorenzo García has said that state law isn't violated since it only applies to classroom assignments and the district's minimum grade policy applies to end-of-period grades. Therefore, actual grades earned will be given for homework, class assignments and tests and it's only at the end of six-week grading periods that the minimum fudging of marks applies. In a nutshell, school administrators want district performance numbers to be artificially increased, arguably sidestepping state law, and the teachers are strongly opposed to the policy. District officials said they will meet to discuss revising the grading policy. Currently, it's not exactly clear how the teacher-administrator impasse will be resolved. Companion post at EdWatch. |
Following Entry Posted
11/18/2009 08:59:00 AM
What part of "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion (in 1st Amendment) do the judges not understand? "The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a student who complained that high school officials violated her constitutional rights when they turned off her microphone during her religion-tinged graduation speech. Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). |
Following Entry Posted
11/18/2009 06:14:00 AM
(Pleasanton, California) Last week in Alameda Superior Court in Pleasanton, a 22-year-old recent arrival to the U.S., Abdul Walid Hamid, pleaded not guilty during arraignment on charges of battery, grand theft and making terroristic threats stemming from an incident at the Stoneridge Shopping Center in Hayward. Hamid allegedly ripped a crucifix off a fellow shopper's neck while yelling "Allah is power" and "Islam is great" and brandishing a pen in a fist over his head. According to witnesses, Hamid shouted anti-Christian statements. Hamid reportedly had to be restrained and forcefully arrested by Pleasanton Police. Hamid's family members claimed that the incident was a misunderstanding and an accident, explaining that he had only been in the U.S. a short time and he was still learning the language. Inexplicably, the mainstream media have avoided the story as if it were radioactive and the local police department seems bent on downplaying the hate-crime and violent nature of the incident. Pleasanton Police Lt. Mike Elerick, for example, excused Hamid's belligerence by saying it was similar to the behavior of loud Christian activists. Honestly, I'm more than skeptical. Never have I heard of an instance when a Christian attacked a Muslim while shouting "Jesus Christ hu akbar." Nevertheless, since Hamid recently arrived in the U.S., it would be nice to know from where he came. After all, his behavior could at least partially be explained if he had come from a jihadi training compound in Pakistan or Somalia or Yemen. Right now, Hamid is free on $27,000 bail. Regarding the nuts and bolts of the legal issues involved, Eugene Volokh weighs in here. Tip: Charley Nestor |
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