I wonder if the Michigan lawmakers ever dreamed that their medical marijuana law would come to this. This is just another of many examples that medical marijuana laws are nothing but a big fucking farce.
EXPECTING A HIGH TURNOVER: MICHIGAN HEALTH SHOP OFFERS ‘FREE MARIJUANA IF YOU REGISTER TO VOTE’
Mail Online
July 29, 2011
Many people do say that politics has gone to pot.
But in this American health clinic that is exactly what has happened, as they are offering customers free marijuana if they register to vote.
The Your Healthy Choice Clinic of Lansing, Michigan, had been offering a half gram for each applicant ahead of a vote for city council seats.
This idea came after the council approved capping the number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the area and set a $1,000 application fee for each one.
Clinic owner Shekina Pena is fighting the plan but maintains she is not trying to buy votes by handing out drugs.
'We really got to fight to get the voters out there because the polls are showing there's 4-5,000 people in Lansing that are patients or caregivers,' she said.
'So we need those 4-5,000 people to come forth to the polls and vote for whomever they feel is in support of what they want for access.'
'We let them know how we feel, we don't tell them who to vote for,' she added.
'We definitely want to support the ones (city council members) who are supporting us.'
But it appears the incentive may soon go up in smoke.
On Wednesday, Michigan's attorney general, at the prodding of a state senator, said he was looking into whether the clinic crossed a legal line.
Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope said if the clinic tied the offer to voting for or against a particular person then it would definitely have crossed the legal line.
But Mrs Pena insisted that wasn't the case, yet Mr Swope says a line might have been crossed, noting that a website tagline — 'Vote for us and we'll vote for you.' — which suggested a close tie to candidates.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
MORE EVIDENCE THAT POT IS NOT LESS HARMFUL THAN ALCOHOL
Getting potted in a cop house parking lot is proof that weed will addle your brains. It’s just not a good place to flare up.
POLICE STATION PARKING LOT 11 A.M.: MAN CAUGHT SMOKING WEED WHILE WAITING FOR A FRIEND
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 29, 2011
You're in the tiny parking lot outside the South Houston jail and police station, waiting for a friend who's visiting an inamte.
It's 11 a.m., you're halfway through your 40-ounce, so naturally it hits you: Great place to light up a joint!!
Amazingly, this well-thought-out plan ended up badly for one dude when a cop walking nearby -- and really, what are the chances? -- "approached the male and immediately smelled burnt marijuana and the strong smell of alcohol coming from his person."
YourHoustonNews.com reports the weed-smoker was standing by a Cadillac, and casually tried to toss the joint away as the officer neared.
That, too, failed.
The officer noticed a half-full 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor in the Caddy. Breakfast of champions!
The unnamed suspect was arrested and faces possession charges.
POLICE STATION PARKING LOT 11 A.M.: MAN CAUGHT SMOKING WEED WHILE WAITING FOR A FRIEND
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 29, 2011
You're in the tiny parking lot outside the South Houston jail and police station, waiting for a friend who's visiting an inamte.
It's 11 a.m., you're halfway through your 40-ounce, so naturally it hits you: Great place to light up a joint!!
Amazingly, this well-thought-out plan ended up badly for one dude when a cop walking nearby -- and really, what are the chances? -- "approached the male and immediately smelled burnt marijuana and the strong smell of alcohol coming from his person."
YourHoustonNews.com reports the weed-smoker was standing by a Cadillac, and casually tried to toss the joint away as the officer neared.
That, too, failed.
The officer noticed a half-full 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor in the Caddy. Breakfast of champions!
The unnamed suspect was arrested and faces possession charges.
ICE MAN
A friend of mine just got back from visiting Las Vegas. While there, she met a retired California correctional officer who had worked at Folsom. He told her an interesting story. Here is what my friend wrote:
During my stay in Las Vegas, I met a retired correctional officer who had worked at Folsom Prison. We had an interesting and informative conversation. He is in the belief that if a troubled child is not given appropriate help by the age of 12, then he/she has a high chance of ending up in prison in later life.
He told me about a prisoner at Folsom called the 'ice-man'. Apparently ice-man made a good profit from making and selling little ice blocks to both prison staff and prisoners. Every prisoner knew and envied the ice-man.
Eventually, ice-man was released on parole and another prisoner took over the business of making and selling ice blocks. Unfortunately, ice-man couldn't make as much money on the streets as he could inside prison, so ice-man deliberately committed another crime to get back inside Folsom. Ice-man believed he would get back his prior prosperous prison job of making and selling ice blocks. Alas, the most shocked and unhappy once ice-man was sent to San Quentin Prison.
I wonder what made ice-man believe he would again be sent to Folsom and also be given back his old job ???
During my stay in Las Vegas, I met a retired correctional officer who had worked at Folsom Prison. We had an interesting and informative conversation. He is in the belief that if a troubled child is not given appropriate help by the age of 12, then he/she has a high chance of ending up in prison in later life.
He told me about a prisoner at Folsom called the 'ice-man'. Apparently ice-man made a good profit from making and selling little ice blocks to both prison staff and prisoners. Every prisoner knew and envied the ice-man.
Eventually, ice-man was released on parole and another prisoner took over the business of making and selling ice blocks. Unfortunately, ice-man couldn't make as much money on the streets as he could inside prison, so ice-man deliberately committed another crime to get back inside Folsom. Ice-man believed he would get back his prior prosperous prison job of making and selling ice blocks. Alas, the most shocked and unhappy once ice-man was sent to San Quentin Prison.
I wonder what made ice-man believe he would again be sent to Folsom and also be given back his old job ???
Saturday, July 30, 2011
OTHER THAN HONORABLE
I guess that wearing a diaper so that she wouldn’t have to stop and pee while driving nonstop - except to get gas - from Houston to Orlando didn’t qualify as honorable by Navy standards. Or was it that she attacked her romantic rival once she got to Orlando? Capt. Nowak’s forced retirement included a one rank pay grade reduction.
THE NAVY DOESN’T WANT EX-ASTRONAUT LISA NOWAK EITHER
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 29, 2011
The wheels of discipline apparetnly grind slower in the Navy then they do at NASA, but the USN has finally gotten around to getting rid of Lisa Nowak, the astronaut whose name will forever be linked in Google searches with the word "diaper."
The Navy announced that she has been forced out of the service and given an "other than honorable" discharge.
Juan Garcia, an assistant secretary of the Navy, said Nowak "demonstrated a complete disregard for the well-being of a fellow service member." Yeah, you could say that. On the other hand, she showed plenty of initiative with her Houston-to-Orlando trip.
"Captain Nowak's conduct fell well short of that expected of senior officers in our Navy," he said.
Nowak was fired by NASA but she agreed to a plea bargain that kept her from serving time for the felony burglary and misdemeanor battery.
She, as everyone knows, attacked a romantic rival. And there was something about diapers, we forget exactly what.
THE NAVY DOESN’T WANT EX-ASTRONAUT LISA NOWAK EITHER
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 29, 2011
The wheels of discipline apparetnly grind slower in the Navy then they do at NASA, but the USN has finally gotten around to getting rid of Lisa Nowak, the astronaut whose name will forever be linked in Google searches with the word "diaper."
The Navy announced that she has been forced out of the service and given an "other than honorable" discharge.
Juan Garcia, an assistant secretary of the Navy, said Nowak "demonstrated a complete disregard for the well-being of a fellow service member." Yeah, you could say that. On the other hand, she showed plenty of initiative with her Houston-to-Orlando trip.
"Captain Nowak's conduct fell well short of that expected of senior officers in our Navy," he said.
Nowak was fired by NASA but she agreed to a plea bargain that kept her from serving time for the felony burglary and misdemeanor battery.
She, as everyone knows, attacked a romantic rival. And there was something about diapers, we forget exactly what.
WOMAN DRIVER WREAKS HAVOC IN PLAYGROUND OF BILLIONAIRES
When you’re a woman driver who causes a pileup of five exotic luxury cars, you’ve made a prima facie case against women drivers.
MILLION DOLLAR CRASH INVOLVING 5 LUXURY CARS
FOXdfw.com
July 28, 2011
MONACO - A driver in Monte Carlo had an expensive morning when she caused a $1.1 million five-car pileup involving a Bentley, a Ferrari, an Aston Martin, a Mercedes-Benz and a Porsche.
The crash took place as the woman drove her blue Bentley Azure down the main route of the Place du Casino.
She managed to drive the $403,000 Bentley into a $121,000 Mercedes-Benz, a $231,000 Ferrari 430, a $242,000 Aston Martin and a $129,000 Porsche.
The Mercedes was the first victim, as the Bentley scraped down the side of it before plowing into the Ferrari. From there, she moved on to the Aston Martin and the Porsche.
The blonde driver and her passengers then became trapped in their car as tourists gathered to take pictures, Sky News reported.
Most of the cars needed new bumpers or front wings, and the estimated repair bill was around $160,000.
MILLION DOLLAR CRASH INVOLVING 5 LUXURY CARS
FOXdfw.com
July 28, 2011
MONACO - A driver in Monte Carlo had an expensive morning when she caused a $1.1 million five-car pileup involving a Bentley, a Ferrari, an Aston Martin, a Mercedes-Benz and a Porsche.
The crash took place as the woman drove her blue Bentley Azure down the main route of the Place du Casino.
She managed to drive the $403,000 Bentley into a $121,000 Mercedes-Benz, a $231,000 Ferrari 430, a $242,000 Aston Martin and a $129,000 Porsche.
The Mercedes was the first victim, as the Bentley scraped down the side of it before plowing into the Ferrari. From there, she moved on to the Aston Martin and the Porsche.
The blonde driver and her passengers then became trapped in their car as tourists gathered to take pictures, Sky News reported.
Most of the cars needed new bumpers or front wings, and the estimated repair bill was around $160,000.
JAILED 7 MONTHS ON TRUMPED UP ROBBERY CHARGES AFTER SHE REPORTED EX RAPED HER
Although this story was reported by the Daily Mail last December, I thought it was worth posting because the victim in this case was just interviewed July 28 on the NBC Today show.
I have a problem with why it took the police and the prosecutors seven months to uncover the true facts in this case.
RAPED THEN JAILED FOR A CRIME SHE DIDN’T COMMIT: WOMAN FREED FROM ARMED ROBBERY NIGHTMARE AFTER PROSECUTORS ADMIT SHE WAS FRAMED BY EX
Mail Online
December 9, 2010
It sounds like a plot line from a Hollywood blockbuster, a rape accusation followed by months behind bars for a crime she didn't commit, all orchestrated by a revenge-seeking ex-lover
But for Seemona Sumasar,35, this nightmare scenario was all too real.
The New Yorker spent seven months in jail after refusing to drop a rape claim against a former lover who framed her for two armed robberies.
Prosecutors, who have now brought perjury and rape charges against her ex-lover, have now admitted that she should never have been stuck behind bars.
The mother of one claims her then boyfriend, Jerry Ramrattan, raped her in his Queens apartment in March 2009.
She reported the alleged crime and was then subjected to months and months of hassle as city health and building inspectors were sent to her Queens restaurant.
She believed the visits were down to her furious ex-boyfriend and his friends but did not realize how far he would go.
In May, Sumasar was arrested and thrown into prison accused of conducting an armed robbery posing as a police officer and holding two people at gunpoint.
Held on a $1million bail she tried to tell officials about the pending rape case - she even had an alibi as she had been at a Connecticut casino when one of the crimes was supposed to have take place – but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
A free woman again, she said today: ‘They acted like I'm just trying to blame somebody else for something I did. They did not want to look into it at all.’
I didn't think I was going to last a day or night there. I cried, I prayed . . . I did everything I could to keep from going crazy.
Her nightmare ended last week when Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice admitted the alleged armed robberies were phony, part of an elaborate framing orchestrated by Ramrattan.
The two robbery ‘victims’ confessed that they had lied and prosecutors filed perjury charges against them and the ex-boyfriend.
The ruthless ex even coached the pair on what to say and how to pick Sumasar out of a lineup, according to Rice.
Ramrattan, 38, was charged with conspiracy and perjury by Rice's office last week.
Accompanied by her lawyer, Sumasar said the bungled case cost her her business, sent her house into near-foreclosure and shattered her family.
Sumasar, who had worked for a decade on Wall Street, owned a franchise restaurant, a Golden Crust bakery, at the time of her arrest.
Her family operated the struggling business for three months while she was in jail, but eventually they had to shut it down, she said.’
She said her daughter, Chiara, had to move out of their Queens home and live temporarily with her father in Brooklyn.
Ramrattan's alleged scheme, according to Sumasar's lawyer Anthony Grandinette, was ‘relatively simple.’
‘You get two people in an isolated area, they call 911, they make the whole thing up, there's no corroboration,’ he fumed.
Sumasar said she is frightened that Ramrattan will make bail, which was set at $500,000 cash.
'I fear for my life if he is released,' she said. 'Clearly he is sick and won't stop at anything -- anything.'
Ramrattan pleaded not guilty last week to perjury and other charges in the Sumasar robbery case and is being held on $500,000 bail.
His attorney did not return repeated telephone messages for comment, but told Newsday last week that there "is no credible evidence" against his client.
I have a problem with why it took the police and the prosecutors seven months to uncover the true facts in this case.
RAPED THEN JAILED FOR A CRIME SHE DIDN’T COMMIT: WOMAN FREED FROM ARMED ROBBERY NIGHTMARE AFTER PROSECUTORS ADMIT SHE WAS FRAMED BY EX
Mail Online
December 9, 2010
It sounds like a plot line from a Hollywood blockbuster, a rape accusation followed by months behind bars for a crime she didn't commit, all orchestrated by a revenge-seeking ex-lover
But for Seemona Sumasar,35, this nightmare scenario was all too real.
The New Yorker spent seven months in jail after refusing to drop a rape claim against a former lover who framed her for two armed robberies.
Prosecutors, who have now brought perjury and rape charges against her ex-lover, have now admitted that she should never have been stuck behind bars.
The mother of one claims her then boyfriend, Jerry Ramrattan, raped her in his Queens apartment in March 2009.
She reported the alleged crime and was then subjected to months and months of hassle as city health and building inspectors were sent to her Queens restaurant.
She believed the visits were down to her furious ex-boyfriend and his friends but did not realize how far he would go.
In May, Sumasar was arrested and thrown into prison accused of conducting an armed robbery posing as a police officer and holding two people at gunpoint.
Held on a $1million bail she tried to tell officials about the pending rape case - she even had an alibi as she had been at a Connecticut casino when one of the crimes was supposed to have take place – but her pleas fell on deaf ears.
A free woman again, she said today: ‘They acted like I'm just trying to blame somebody else for something I did. They did not want to look into it at all.’
I didn't think I was going to last a day or night there. I cried, I prayed . . . I did everything I could to keep from going crazy.
Her nightmare ended last week when Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice admitted the alleged armed robberies were phony, part of an elaborate framing orchestrated by Ramrattan.
The two robbery ‘victims’ confessed that they had lied and prosecutors filed perjury charges against them and the ex-boyfriend.
The ruthless ex even coached the pair on what to say and how to pick Sumasar out of a lineup, according to Rice.
Ramrattan, 38, was charged with conspiracy and perjury by Rice's office last week.
Accompanied by her lawyer, Sumasar said the bungled case cost her her business, sent her house into near-foreclosure and shattered her family.
Sumasar, who had worked for a decade on Wall Street, owned a franchise restaurant, a Golden Crust bakery, at the time of her arrest.
Her family operated the struggling business for three months while she was in jail, but eventually they had to shut it down, she said.’
She said her daughter, Chiara, had to move out of their Queens home and live temporarily with her father in Brooklyn.
Ramrattan's alleged scheme, according to Sumasar's lawyer Anthony Grandinette, was ‘relatively simple.’
‘You get two people in an isolated area, they call 911, they make the whole thing up, there's no corroboration,’ he fumed.
Sumasar said she is frightened that Ramrattan will make bail, which was set at $500,000 cash.
'I fear for my life if he is released,' she said. 'Clearly he is sick and won't stop at anything -- anything.'
Ramrattan pleaded not guilty last week to perjury and other charges in the Sumasar robbery case and is being held on $500,000 bail.
His attorney did not return repeated telephone messages for comment, but told Newsday last week that there "is no credible evidence" against his client.
MEMORABLE (OR NOT) PRISON ESCAPES
I just got this humorous list from PACOVILLA Corrections blog.
SIX MOST RIDICULOUS PRISON ESCAPES
By Ethan Lou
GUNAXIN
January 4, 2011
Some prison escapes are the culmination of years of planning and hard work, whereas others just involved a guy in a Kangaroo costume. It just goes to show that while the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, the worst laid often succeed. Well sometimes, at least.
Somewhere, Wentworth Miller is whispering to himself in unspeakable fury.
6. GEORGE HUNT DRESSES UP AS A KANGAROO
Australia’s Port Arther Prison in the 1800s was one of the harshest penal settlements around. So many inmate developed mental illnesses from all the harshness that they even built a separate asylum just to house them.
Those were hard times and on the minds of every Australian was the prospect of escape. George Hunt was no exception and he too desired freedom.
So one day, George slapped on some kangaroo skin and just plain hobbled off. His half-assed disguise worked surprisingly well and all the guards believed that the man in kangaroo skin awkwardly hopping out was an actual kangaroo.
Unfortunately, his disguise worked too well. The hungry guards started firing at him in hopes of eating roo meat. The shitlessly scared George promptly then shed his kangaroo costume and surrendered. As a reward for the false hope given to the guards, George was promptly given 150 lashes.
5. KEVIN JEROME PULLUM PRETENDS TO BE EDDIE MURPHY
Kevin Jerome Pullum was convicted of attempted murder. It was a charge that combined both malice and incompetence and will probably see him going away for life.
Not particularly excited at the prospect of eternal imprisonment, Kevin relied on his natural skills at being McGuyver and made an identity card for himself using some stock office stationery and a picture of Eddie Murphy.
He then changed into his civilian clothes which he had secretly hidden underneath his prison garb and walked out the door while mentally deriding racial stereotypes. Eddie Murphy cannot be reached for comment.
4. GIULIO B. THE ZEPPELIN MASTER
Italian drug trafficker Giulio B.’s plan for prison escape overwhelmed all others in terms of both elaborateness and bat-shit insanity. His escape involved the use of night vision goggles, climbing equipment and a four meter long zeppelin.
We do not know how he intended to use them as he was discovered by the guards before anything could be done, but we imagine it had something to do with a top hat and witty comments.
Also discovered by the authorities were a tent and telephoto lenses his gang used to observe the prison from some 600 meters away. The escape might not have been successful, but it sure was fun.
3. KRISTOPHER ALLEN WHITE GREASES UP AND SQUEEZES THROUGH BARS
Sometimes the simplest idea is often the best. Why bother with high tech equipment and sophisticated plots when all you need is some prison bars and a bottle of lube?
Minimalist Kristopher Allen White defied all assumptions of prison architects and squeezed through the bars in his cell after lubing himself up. The slippery scoundrel then skillfully navigated around the security cameras by covering himself with a blanket.
Unfortunately, however, he was captured just 14 hours later. Maybe they followed the lube trail.
2. TIMOTHY ROUSE, RELEASED BY GROCERY STORE FAX
Timothy Rouse was jailed on counts of burglary, theft and assault and was assessed to be highly dangerous. Understandably, springing him out would be highly difficult and his friends did not even try. Or were just stupidly naive and optimistic.
Whatever the case, their half-assed escape attempt worked. Timothy’s friends sent a fax to the jail from a grocery store, demanding that he be freed. The fax supposedly came from the state’s highest court but contained numerous spelling and grammatical errors.
How the authorities believed the fax was something known only to the criminal geniuses that were Timothy’s friends.
1. GERMAN PRISONERS MAIL THEMSELVES OUT
An unnamed Turkish prisoner in Germany thought of a most ingenious way to escape his Nazi shackles. This Turkish bloke, whom we shall call Bob, was part of a group of prisoners in charge of making stationery.
One day, Bob was rammed in the face by a mega epiphany (which no doubt squirted epiphany juice all over him). It dawned on him that since the stationery had a way of getting out of prison, he too could go out the same way. So, he packed himself into a box at the end of his shift and was loaded into the back of the “express courier” (which was just a truck.)
The box measured less than four by three feet and Bob was a big man. It must have taken some serious contortionist skills to squeeze himself in there.
Anyway, Bob is now presumably back in Turkey, eating Turkish delights and shooting darts at bratwursts as he was never heard from again. After Bob’s dramatic escape, the Germans beefed up their security extensively and somehow allowed another convict, Max Friedner to replicate his deeds.Following that, Bob and Max’s fame spread far and wide and neighboring Austria experienced their own postal escape through Bosnian national, Muradif Hasanbegovic who was making lamp post parts. Like his German buddies, Muradif escaped into the oblivion and was lost to the police forever more. German speaking wardens all over the world shook their fists in anguish.
SIX MOST RIDICULOUS PRISON ESCAPES
By Ethan Lou
GUNAXIN
January 4, 2011
Some prison escapes are the culmination of years of planning and hard work, whereas others just involved a guy in a Kangaroo costume. It just goes to show that while the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, the worst laid often succeed. Well sometimes, at least.
Somewhere, Wentworth Miller is whispering to himself in unspeakable fury.
6. GEORGE HUNT DRESSES UP AS A KANGAROO
Australia’s Port Arther Prison in the 1800s was one of the harshest penal settlements around. So many inmate developed mental illnesses from all the harshness that they even built a separate asylum just to house them.
Those were hard times and on the minds of every Australian was the prospect of escape. George Hunt was no exception and he too desired freedom.
So one day, George slapped on some kangaroo skin and just plain hobbled off. His half-assed disguise worked surprisingly well and all the guards believed that the man in kangaroo skin awkwardly hopping out was an actual kangaroo.
Unfortunately, his disguise worked too well. The hungry guards started firing at him in hopes of eating roo meat. The shitlessly scared George promptly then shed his kangaroo costume and surrendered. As a reward for the false hope given to the guards, George was promptly given 150 lashes.
5. KEVIN JEROME PULLUM PRETENDS TO BE EDDIE MURPHY
Kevin Jerome Pullum was convicted of attempted murder. It was a charge that combined both malice and incompetence and will probably see him going away for life.
Not particularly excited at the prospect of eternal imprisonment, Kevin relied on his natural skills at being McGuyver and made an identity card for himself using some stock office stationery and a picture of Eddie Murphy.
He then changed into his civilian clothes which he had secretly hidden underneath his prison garb and walked out the door while mentally deriding racial stereotypes. Eddie Murphy cannot be reached for comment.
4. GIULIO B. THE ZEPPELIN MASTER
Italian drug trafficker Giulio B.’s plan for prison escape overwhelmed all others in terms of both elaborateness and bat-shit insanity. His escape involved the use of night vision goggles, climbing equipment and a four meter long zeppelin.
We do not know how he intended to use them as he was discovered by the guards before anything could be done, but we imagine it had something to do with a top hat and witty comments.
Also discovered by the authorities were a tent and telephoto lenses his gang used to observe the prison from some 600 meters away. The escape might not have been successful, but it sure was fun.
3. KRISTOPHER ALLEN WHITE GREASES UP AND SQUEEZES THROUGH BARS
Sometimes the simplest idea is often the best. Why bother with high tech equipment and sophisticated plots when all you need is some prison bars and a bottle of lube?
Minimalist Kristopher Allen White defied all assumptions of prison architects and squeezed through the bars in his cell after lubing himself up. The slippery scoundrel then skillfully navigated around the security cameras by covering himself with a blanket.
Unfortunately, however, he was captured just 14 hours later. Maybe they followed the lube trail.
2. TIMOTHY ROUSE, RELEASED BY GROCERY STORE FAX
Timothy Rouse was jailed on counts of burglary, theft and assault and was assessed to be highly dangerous. Understandably, springing him out would be highly difficult and his friends did not even try. Or were just stupidly naive and optimistic.
Whatever the case, their half-assed escape attempt worked. Timothy’s friends sent a fax to the jail from a grocery store, demanding that he be freed. The fax supposedly came from the state’s highest court but contained numerous spelling and grammatical errors.
How the authorities believed the fax was something known only to the criminal geniuses that were Timothy’s friends.
1. GERMAN PRISONERS MAIL THEMSELVES OUT
An unnamed Turkish prisoner in Germany thought of a most ingenious way to escape his Nazi shackles. This Turkish bloke, whom we shall call Bob, was part of a group of prisoners in charge of making stationery.
One day, Bob was rammed in the face by a mega epiphany (which no doubt squirted epiphany juice all over him). It dawned on him that since the stationery had a way of getting out of prison, he too could go out the same way. So, he packed himself into a box at the end of his shift and was loaded into the back of the “express courier” (which was just a truck.)
The box measured less than four by three feet and Bob was a big man. It must have taken some serious contortionist skills to squeeze himself in there.
Anyway, Bob is now presumably back in Turkey, eating Turkish delights and shooting darts at bratwursts as he was never heard from again. After Bob’s dramatic escape, the Germans beefed up their security extensively and somehow allowed another convict, Max Friedner to replicate his deeds.Following that, Bob and Max’s fame spread far and wide and neighboring Austria experienced their own postal escape through Bosnian national, Muradif Hasanbegovic who was making lamp post parts. Like his German buddies, Muradif escaped into the oblivion and was lost to the police forever more. German speaking wardens all over the world shook their fists in anguish.
Friday, July 29, 2011
$225 MILLION YEARLY OF OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS AT WORK (2)
Here is another article on how our country’s aid to the Palestinian Authority works to support terrorism. It also shows that, by serving pro-Palestinian President Obama, Hillary Clinton has done a complete turnaround in her convictions since she left the U.S. Senate.
AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: BANKROLLING PALESTINIAN TERROR
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
July 28, 2011
There are two pillars that continue to hold aloft terrorist activity as an attractive proposition for Palestinian Arabs, and to keep the practice of murdering Jews far more of a mainstream affair than a fringe phenomenon.
The first is the cultural glorification of those Palestinians who have murdered Jews, or who have died trying. This is especially prevalent among Palestinian children, who are used to having their schools, soccer teams and summer camps named after such "heroes."
The second is the knowledge that if one survives carrying out a terrorist attack, there will be few, if any, serious consequences, and many rewards. The most obvious reward is that the killer or would-be killer will be hailed as a champion of his or her people. Perhaps even more compelling, at least for some, is that the terrorist and his or her family will suddenly come into what amounts to a financialy windfall in this region.
The maintainence of these two pillars, and therefore of the Palestinian terrorism industry, is made possible in large part by American taxpayers.
On Tuesday, Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch explained to US congressional leaders how financial aid from America, Israel's greatest ally, is being cynically used to encourage the slaughter of Israeli Jews.
Marcus first outlined what most should know by now - that the Palestinian Authority spends a huge amount of money honoring terrorists in the most public fashion. But he also highlighted for the lawmakers a fact that most media outlets choose to ignore - that the Palestinian Authority pays a generous monthly salary to nearly all of the Palestinian terrorists sitting in Israeli jails, and provides many of their families with financial support.
All of these activities - the glorification of terror and the financial backing of the terrorists themselves - are funded by the PA's general budget.
And all of this costs a lot of money, especially paying the salaries of terrorist prisoners, which comes to $5.2 million EVERY MONTH.
As such, these expenses are heavily dependent on incoming foreign aid.
The Palestinian Authority receives roughly $1.5 billion in foreign aid every year. The US contributes about $200-$300 million in direct budget assistance, and another $400 million in various other forms of assistance and investment.
Marcus reminded his congressional hosts that it is a violation of US federal law to provide financial assistance to a terrorist or terror-supporting entity.
But Marcus was largely preaching to the choir.
A week earlier, congressional leaders had put forward a bill that would end US financial aid to Pakistan, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and the Palestinian Authority unless they met a list of stringent requirements.
In the case of Lebanon, Congress insists that the terrorist militia Hizballah cannot hold positions of political power. Hizballah currently dominates the Lebanese cabinet.
As far as the Palestinians are concerned, Congress wants them to immediately cease all of the nefarious activities Marcus outlined.
Fully aware that these nations are never going to meet these conditions - in other words, are never going to stop supporting terrorism - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lashed out at Congress.
The new bill "would be debilitating to my efforts to carry out a considered foreign policy and diplomacy, and to use foreign assistance strategically to that end," Clinton wrote in a letter to congressional leaders.
Years ago, when she was a humble senator from New York, Clinton stood beside Marcus as he presented a worrying analysis of the anti-Jewish Palestinian school curriculum. Clinton staunchly supported Marcus and demanded reform in the Palestinian education system.
It would seem she no longer holds to those convictions.
AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS AT WORK: BANKROLLING PALESTINIAN TERROR
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
July 28, 2011
There are two pillars that continue to hold aloft terrorist activity as an attractive proposition for Palestinian Arabs, and to keep the practice of murdering Jews far more of a mainstream affair than a fringe phenomenon.
The first is the cultural glorification of those Palestinians who have murdered Jews, or who have died trying. This is especially prevalent among Palestinian children, who are used to having their schools, soccer teams and summer camps named after such "heroes."
The second is the knowledge that if one survives carrying out a terrorist attack, there will be few, if any, serious consequences, and many rewards. The most obvious reward is that the killer or would-be killer will be hailed as a champion of his or her people. Perhaps even more compelling, at least for some, is that the terrorist and his or her family will suddenly come into what amounts to a financialy windfall in this region.
The maintainence of these two pillars, and therefore of the Palestinian terrorism industry, is made possible in large part by American taxpayers.
On Tuesday, Itamar Marcus of Palestinian Media Watch explained to US congressional leaders how financial aid from America, Israel's greatest ally, is being cynically used to encourage the slaughter of Israeli Jews.
Marcus first outlined what most should know by now - that the Palestinian Authority spends a huge amount of money honoring terrorists in the most public fashion. But he also highlighted for the lawmakers a fact that most media outlets choose to ignore - that the Palestinian Authority pays a generous monthly salary to nearly all of the Palestinian terrorists sitting in Israeli jails, and provides many of their families with financial support.
All of these activities - the glorification of terror and the financial backing of the terrorists themselves - are funded by the PA's general budget.
And all of this costs a lot of money, especially paying the salaries of terrorist prisoners, which comes to $5.2 million EVERY MONTH.
As such, these expenses are heavily dependent on incoming foreign aid.
The Palestinian Authority receives roughly $1.5 billion in foreign aid every year. The US contributes about $200-$300 million in direct budget assistance, and another $400 million in various other forms of assistance and investment.
Marcus reminded his congressional hosts that it is a violation of US federal law to provide financial assistance to a terrorist or terror-supporting entity.
But Marcus was largely preaching to the choir.
A week earlier, congressional leaders had put forward a bill that would end US financial aid to Pakistan, Lebanon, Egypt, Yemen and the Palestinian Authority unless they met a list of stringent requirements.
In the case of Lebanon, Congress insists that the terrorist militia Hizballah cannot hold positions of political power. Hizballah currently dominates the Lebanese cabinet.
As far as the Palestinians are concerned, Congress wants them to immediately cease all of the nefarious activities Marcus outlined.
Fully aware that these nations are never going to meet these conditions - in other words, are never going to stop supporting terrorism - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lashed out at Congress.
The new bill "would be debilitating to my efforts to carry out a considered foreign policy and diplomacy, and to use foreign assistance strategically to that end," Clinton wrote in a letter to congressional leaders.
Years ago, when she was a humble senator from New York, Clinton stood beside Marcus as he presented a worrying analysis of the anti-Jewish Palestinian school curriculum. Clinton staunchly supported Marcus and demanded reform in the Palestinian education system.
It would seem she no longer holds to those convictions.
ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT SETTLED ONCE AND FOR ALL
The Israelis and Arabs both finally realized that, if they continued fighting, they would someday end up destroying each other. So they decided to settle their dispute with an ancient practice: a duel of two, like David and Goliath. This "duel" would be a dog fight.
The negotiators agreed each side would take 5 years to develop the best fighting dog they could. The dog that won the fight would earn its people 'the right to rule the disputed areas. The losing side would have to lay down its arms for good.
The Arabs found the biggest, meanest Dobermans and Rottweiler?s in the world. They bred them together and then crossed their offspring with the meanest Siberian wolves. They selected only the biggest, strongest puppy of each litter, fed it the best food and killed all the other puppies. They used steroids and trainers in their quest for the perfect killing machine. After the 5 years were up, they had a dog that needed steel prison bars on its cage. Only expert trainers could handle this incredibly nasty and ferocious beast.
When the day of the big dog-fight finally arrived, the Israelis showed up with a very strange-looking animal, a Dachshund that was 10 feet long! Everyone at the dogfight arena felt sorry for the Israelis. No one there seriously thought this weird, odd-looking animal stood any chance against the growling beast over in the Arab camp.
All the bookies took one look and predicted that the Arab dog would win in less than a minute. As the cages were opened, the Dachshund slowly waddled toward the middle of the ring.
The Arab dog leaped from its cage and charged the giant wiener-dog. As he got to within an inch of the Israeli dog, the Dachshund opened its jaws and swallowed the Arab beast whole in one bite. There was nothing left but a small puff of fur from the Arab killer dog's tail floating to the ground.
The stunned crowd of international observers, bookies and media personnel let out a collective gasp of disbelief and surprise. The Arabs approached the Israelis, muttering and shaking their heads in disbelief. "We do not understand," said their leader, "Our top scientists and breeders worked for 5 long years with the meanest, biggest Dobermans, Rottweiler?s and Siberian wolves, and they developed an incredible killing machine of a dog!"
The Israelis replied. "Well, for 5 years, we have had a team of Jewish plastic surgeons from Boca Raton, Florida working to make an alligator look like a Dachshund.
The negotiators agreed each side would take 5 years to develop the best fighting dog they could. The dog that won the fight would earn its people 'the right to rule the disputed areas. The losing side would have to lay down its arms for good.
The Arabs found the biggest, meanest Dobermans and Rottweiler?s in the world. They bred them together and then crossed their offspring with the meanest Siberian wolves. They selected only the biggest, strongest puppy of each litter, fed it the best food and killed all the other puppies. They used steroids and trainers in their quest for the perfect killing machine. After the 5 years were up, they had a dog that needed steel prison bars on its cage. Only expert trainers could handle this incredibly nasty and ferocious beast.
When the day of the big dog-fight finally arrived, the Israelis showed up with a very strange-looking animal, a Dachshund that was 10 feet long! Everyone at the dogfight arena felt sorry for the Israelis. No one there seriously thought this weird, odd-looking animal stood any chance against the growling beast over in the Arab camp.
All the bookies took one look and predicted that the Arab dog would win in less than a minute. As the cages were opened, the Dachshund slowly waddled toward the middle of the ring.
The Arab dog leaped from its cage and charged the giant wiener-dog. As he got to within an inch of the Israeli dog, the Dachshund opened its jaws and swallowed the Arab beast whole in one bite. There was nothing left but a small puff of fur from the Arab killer dog's tail floating to the ground.
The stunned crowd of international observers, bookies and media personnel let out a collective gasp of disbelief and surprise. The Arabs approached the Israelis, muttering and shaking their heads in disbelief. "We do not understand," said their leader, "Our top scientists and breeders worked for 5 long years with the meanest, biggest Dobermans, Rottweiler?s and Siberian wolves, and they developed an incredible killing machine of a dog!"
The Israelis replied. "Well, for 5 years, we have had a team of Jewish plastic surgeons from Boca Raton, Florida working to make an alligator look like a Dachshund.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
$225 MILLION YEARLY OF OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS AT WORK
It’s refreshing to see our taxes being spent to pay the salaries of ‘Freedom Fighters.’ Yeah right! Our money being used to pay a bunch of terrorists is not exactly what we taxpayers have in mind when we send those checks to the IRS.
U.S. PAYS SALARIES TO PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS
By Jonathan Tobin
Jewish World Review
July 27, 2011
U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority has become an increasingly controversial matter in the wake of the group's decision to bypass peace negotiations and go to the United Nations for recognition of an independent state. But the outlay of funds to the Palestinians may become even more toxic after the release of a report by a media watch organization detailing the payment of salaries from the U.S.-funded PA to imprisoned terrorists.
The report from Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli-based organization that monitors the Palestinian media and culture, said that more than 5,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are getting salaries from the PA. Though Palestinians held by Israel on charges of terrorism have always received stipends from the PA, the practice was formalized this past April when a new law to that effect was promulgated. The law was reported in the Palestinian official press but went unnoticed by the international media. Given that the United States gives more than $600 million to the Palestinians each year, including $225 million that goes directly to the PA, the payment of these salaries is a violation of U.S. law.
As the authors of the report pointed out when they presented their findings to members of Congress on Tuesday, the 2010 legislation that authorized aid to the PA said the State Department must "take all appropriate steps to ensure that such assistance is not provided to or through any individual, private or government entity, or educational institution that the Secretary knows or has reason to believe advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in, or has engaged in, terrorist activity."
The PA's payment of salaries to convicted terrorists is a clear violation of this law. In addition to speaking of the cash layouts to terrorists (which actually exceed the salaries paid to Palestinian civil servants), the report also discussed the incitement against Israel and Jews that is published and broadcast by the Palestinian official media. Another egregious example of Palestinian incitement was the fact that a summer camp sponsored by PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad divided children into three groups-each named for terrorists.
For those who have followed the history of U.S. aid to the Palestinians, this is familiar stuff. Ever since the original Oslo Accords, the State Department has made it a practice to either ignore or to deny all reports of PA support for terror or glorification of terrorists. Throughout this period, such outrages have been swept under the carpet by diplomats intent on pursuing an agenda of appeasement of the Palestinians in the vain hope this will cause them to make peace. But the United States has not been rewarded for its generosity.
We can only hope this latest evidence of Palestinian treachery will finally motivate Congress and the White House to hold the PA accountable and stop the flow of money from American taxpayers to terrorists.
U.S. PAYS SALARIES TO PALESTINIAN TERRORISTS
By Jonathan Tobin
Jewish World Review
July 27, 2011
U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority has become an increasingly controversial matter in the wake of the group's decision to bypass peace negotiations and go to the United Nations for recognition of an independent state. But the outlay of funds to the Palestinians may become even more toxic after the release of a report by a media watch organization detailing the payment of salaries from the U.S.-funded PA to imprisoned terrorists.
The report from Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli-based organization that monitors the Palestinian media and culture, said that more than 5,500 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are getting salaries from the PA. Though Palestinians held by Israel on charges of terrorism have always received stipends from the PA, the practice was formalized this past April when a new law to that effect was promulgated. The law was reported in the Palestinian official press but went unnoticed by the international media. Given that the United States gives more than $600 million to the Palestinians each year, including $225 million that goes directly to the PA, the payment of these salaries is a violation of U.S. law.
As the authors of the report pointed out when they presented their findings to members of Congress on Tuesday, the 2010 legislation that authorized aid to the PA said the State Department must "take all appropriate steps to ensure that such assistance is not provided to or through any individual, private or government entity, or educational institution that the Secretary knows or has reason to believe advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in, or has engaged in, terrorist activity."
The PA's payment of salaries to convicted terrorists is a clear violation of this law. In addition to speaking of the cash layouts to terrorists (which actually exceed the salaries paid to Palestinian civil servants), the report also discussed the incitement against Israel and Jews that is published and broadcast by the Palestinian official media. Another egregious example of Palestinian incitement was the fact that a summer camp sponsored by PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad divided children into three groups-each named for terrorists.
For those who have followed the history of U.S. aid to the Palestinians, this is familiar stuff. Ever since the original Oslo Accords, the State Department has made it a practice to either ignore or to deny all reports of PA support for terror or glorification of terrorists. Throughout this period, such outrages have been swept under the carpet by diplomats intent on pursuing an agenda of appeasement of the Palestinians in the vain hope this will cause them to make peace. But the United States has not been rewarded for its generosity.
We can only hope this latest evidence of Palestinian treachery will finally motivate Congress and the White House to hold the PA accountable and stop the flow of money from American taxpayers to terrorists.
DO IT YOURSELF SURGERY
He must not have had adequate health insurance.
MAN OPERATES ON HIMSELF WITH A BUTTER KNIFE
The Straits Times
July 27, 2011
LOS ANGELES - A 63-YEAR-OLD man with a hernia plunged a butter knife into his abdomen to try to fix the problem, and later put a lit cigarette in the wound, according to police.
Police found the man lying naked on the porch of his apartment in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale in California on Sunday night after his wife called to report his attempt at surgery, Glendale police spokesman Sergeant Tom Lorenz said.
'He actually impaled himself with the butter knife,' Sergeant Lorenz said. 'He told his wife he was frustrated with this hernia, and he didn't want to wait any longer for the medical procedure.'
Police officers watched as the man, after pulling the knife out of his abdomen, put a lit cigarette into the wound, Sergeant Lorenz said.
'I don't know if it was an attempt to cauterize or anything,' he said.
Police did not identify the man, but Sergeant Lorenz said he committed no crime and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he was put on a 72-hour psychiatric hold, police said. -- REUTERS
MAN OPERATES ON HIMSELF WITH A BUTTER KNIFE
The Straits Times
July 27, 2011
LOS ANGELES - A 63-YEAR-OLD man with a hernia plunged a butter knife into his abdomen to try to fix the problem, and later put a lit cigarette in the wound, according to police.
Police found the man lying naked on the porch of his apartment in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale in California on Sunday night after his wife called to report his attempt at surgery, Glendale police spokesman Sergeant Tom Lorenz said.
'He actually impaled himself with the butter knife,' Sergeant Lorenz said. 'He told his wife he was frustrated with this hernia, and he didn't want to wait any longer for the medical procedure.'
Police officers watched as the man, after pulling the knife out of his abdomen, put a lit cigarette into the wound, Sergeant Lorenz said.
'I don't know if it was an attempt to cauterize or anything,' he said.
Police did not identify the man, but Sergeant Lorenz said he committed no crime and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where he was put on a 72-hour psychiatric hold, police said. -- REUTERS
HAPPY CALIFORNIA PAROLEE TAKES MATTERS IN OWN HANDS
Christmas ‘comes’ in July. Hand jobs are among the recreational activities prison inmates really enjoy. It’s hard to break old prison habits.
LEGGETT PAROLEE ARRESTED IN UKIAH FOR INDECENT EXPOSURE
By Linda Williams
The Willits News
July 22, 2011
A parolee from Leggett was arrested in Ukiah Monday after allegedly exposing himself and making a series of obscene gestures and contact with women at an Ukiah female fitness center.
Clarence Bernard Christmas, 39, of Leggett, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor indecent exposure, misdemeanor sexual battery and violating parole.
Customers of the Ukiah Curves told police Christmas, who was naked from the waist down, came into the facility and began masturbating. When asked by employees to leave or police would be called, Christmas allegedly grabbed a woman's shoulder and then her buttocks. A patron also told police while the first victim was calling police, Christmas continued masturbating and came over and touched her sexually before she was also able to escape.
When police arrived at Curves, they found Christmas facing the entrance to the facility. He was still naked from the waist down and still masturbating. He was taken into custody without further incident.
The last time UPD dealt with Christmas was in May 2010 when officers spotted Christmas, naked from the waist down and masturbating in front of a California Department of Corrections work party. He pleaded nolo contendre in 2010 to lewd conduct in public and received a 60 day jail sentence. In July 2010, Christmas pleaded guilty to possession of mace and received 30 days in jail.
Christmas has served two stints in state prison for felony petty theft with priors in 2008 and second degree burglary in 2005.
LEGGETT PAROLEE ARRESTED IN UKIAH FOR INDECENT EXPOSURE
By Linda Williams
The Willits News
July 22, 2011
A parolee from Leggett was arrested in Ukiah Monday after allegedly exposing himself and making a series of obscene gestures and contact with women at an Ukiah female fitness center.
Clarence Bernard Christmas, 39, of Leggett, was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor indecent exposure, misdemeanor sexual battery and violating parole.
Customers of the Ukiah Curves told police Christmas, who was naked from the waist down, came into the facility and began masturbating. When asked by employees to leave or police would be called, Christmas allegedly grabbed a woman's shoulder and then her buttocks. A patron also told police while the first victim was calling police, Christmas continued masturbating and came over and touched her sexually before she was also able to escape.
When police arrived at Curves, they found Christmas facing the entrance to the facility. He was still naked from the waist down and still masturbating. He was taken into custody without further incident.
The last time UPD dealt with Christmas was in May 2010 when officers spotted Christmas, naked from the waist down and masturbating in front of a California Department of Corrections work party. He pleaded nolo contendre in 2010 to lewd conduct in public and received a 60 day jail sentence. In July 2010, Christmas pleaded guilty to possession of mace and received 30 days in jail.
Christmas has served two stints in state prison for felony petty theft with priors in 2008 and second degree burglary in 2005.
EMPLOYEE QUITS, BASHES WHOLE FOODS MARKET (2)
In full, here is the e-mail letter of resignation:
Dear Whole Foods Market,
My experience at Whole Foods was like an increasingly sped up fall down a really long hill. That got rockier with every meter. And eventually, just really spiky ... With fire, acid and Nickleback music.
I was hired about five or six years ago. I appreciated and respected what the company said it's philosophies were at that time. The 'core values' essentially. However, it didn't take long to realize what complete and utter bullshit they are:
Oh, you don't recycle properly? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you throw out enough food to feed a lot of hungry university students. (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you're asking me to put latex gloves on the sales floor so customers can throw a pair out for every handful of gummy bears they take? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you've installed massive television screens all over the store, sucking up energy and polluting the environment with tacky advertisements. (Caring about our communities and our environment, Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you waste an absurd amount of energy, ink and paper in your offices for useless bureaucratic nonsense. (Caring about our communities and our environment, Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you just write off 10-20 percent of the product that you buy for your bulk department because the bins look nice. (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you sometimes intentionally order too much just to guarantee a full shelf, knowing full well the product will most likely be thrown out? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you don't actually audit or evaluate each product you sell? (Caring about our communities and our environment, We sell the highest quality natural and organic products available)
Oh, you force team members to come in to work, on their day off, once a month, at 7am in the morning, knowing a lot of them live an hour away and the TTC isn't completely running that early in the morning and then force feed them useless updates on the company and embarrassingly artificial pep talks ([Redacted] once compared Whole Foods Market to religion... had to throw that in there. That was definitely a 'Did she really just say that moment'.)? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence, Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you buy poorly made, ugly t-shirts for your employees that will just be thrown in the trash and pretend they're gifts when they're really just advertising tools? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence, Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, the food here is really quite awful on average? Almost everything that prepared foods makes is terrible. The pizza used to be pretty good but the slices have shrunk, the toppings are sparser and it's usually extremely overcooked. The sandwiches are the stuff of nightmares. (It's amazing what advertising can make people think. It can even trick their senses.) (We sell the highest quality natural and organic products available)
Oh, you let some customers abuse your employees and then actually reward the customers for their behavior and then trample on the integrity and honor of your abused employees? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you practice discrimination by offering 'healthier' employees better discounts? And you think having different rules for new smoker employees versus old smoker employees is a good idea? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you purchase products from Israel (Or any distant country) if they're slightly cheaper than local alternatives? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you've somehow created the worst computer program I've ever used to run your entire buying system? IRMA is some Windows 95 era stuff, guys. I could design a significantly better interface in 30 minutes on a pad of paper. I know several students who could create a superior program in their spare time. Was someone actually hired to create that thing? Was it the Realplayer dudes? Even Captain Picard couldn't facepalm hard enough to express the amount of failure in that... that, thing... (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you push employees into greater responsibilities without compensation? Often having them essentially do all the work of a higher position without the pay? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you ambush employee's [sic] using two managers when you want to write someone up? No warning. No representation. All reasons and excuses fall on deaf ears. (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you'd rather attempt to create some sort of fake 'culture' with signs and forced meeting than let it happen naturally by letting employees socialize lightly as they work? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you like to manage 'systems' instead of people? You don't hold critical thinking and discretion in high regard? You encourage blindly following rules? I.e., no recourse in challenging write ups. Employees given cold shoulder when they attempt anything like this. (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you want us to politely call and let you know if we'll be late... but you'll still write us up when we arrive? Kind of a dick move, guys. (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you actually think being 20 minutes late matters? You know Whole Foods Market is just a grocery store, right? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you don't believe inflation exists? Cost of living raises aren't given here? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
I notice a trend... Honestly, I could go on and on and fill out the details but since most people will just dismiss this email I should probably not put too much effort into it. I should have kept a blog…
Now the employees have lost a lot of their former power and the store is being sucked into some centralized monster. Quality is being thrown out in favor of the people at the top having to do a little less work.
Competition is being destroyed and you're not even pushing that many healthy products. Every second endcap is potato chips or pop or some sort of salt filled snack (Promoting the health of our stakeholders through healthy eating education). A lot of the stuff in Whole Body doesn't even work or has absolutely no credible evidence to back any claims up. You're kind a faux hippy Wal-Mart now. Great. Job.
Dear Whole Foods Market,
My experience at Whole Foods was like an increasingly sped up fall down a really long hill. That got rockier with every meter. And eventually, just really spiky ... With fire, acid and Nickleback music.
I was hired about five or six years ago. I appreciated and respected what the company said it's philosophies were at that time. The 'core values' essentially. However, it didn't take long to realize what complete and utter bullshit they are:
Oh, you don't recycle properly? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you throw out enough food to feed a lot of hungry university students. (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you're asking me to put latex gloves on the sales floor so customers can throw a pair out for every handful of gummy bears they take? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you've installed massive television screens all over the store, sucking up energy and polluting the environment with tacky advertisements. (Caring about our communities and our environment, Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you waste an absurd amount of energy, ink and paper in your offices for useless bureaucratic nonsense. (Caring about our communities and our environment, Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you just write off 10-20 percent of the product that you buy for your bulk department because the bins look nice. (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you sometimes intentionally order too much just to guarantee a full shelf, knowing full well the product will most likely be thrown out? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you don't actually audit or evaluate each product you sell? (Caring about our communities and our environment, We sell the highest quality natural and organic products available)
Oh, you force team members to come in to work, on their day off, once a month, at 7am in the morning, knowing a lot of them live an hour away and the TTC isn't completely running that early in the morning and then force feed them useless updates on the company and embarrassingly artificial pep talks ([Redacted] once compared Whole Foods Market to religion... had to throw that in there. That was definitely a 'Did she really just say that moment'.)? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence, Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you buy poorly made, ugly t-shirts for your employees that will just be thrown in the trash and pretend they're gifts when they're really just advertising tools? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence, Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, the food here is really quite awful on average? Almost everything that prepared foods makes is terrible. The pizza used to be pretty good but the slices have shrunk, the toppings are sparser and it's usually extremely overcooked. The sandwiches are the stuff of nightmares. (It's amazing what advertising can make people think. It can even trick their senses.) (We sell the highest quality natural and organic products available)
Oh, you let some customers abuse your employees and then actually reward the customers for their behavior and then trample on the integrity and honor of your abused employees? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you practice discrimination by offering 'healthier' employees better discounts? And you think having different rules for new smoker employees versus old smoker employees is a good idea? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you purchase products from Israel (Or any distant country) if they're slightly cheaper than local alternatives? (Caring about our communities and our environment)
Oh, you've somehow created the worst computer program I've ever used to run your entire buying system? IRMA is some Windows 95 era stuff, guys. I could design a significantly better interface in 30 minutes on a pad of paper. I know several students who could create a superior program in their spare time. Was someone actually hired to create that thing? Was it the Realplayer dudes? Even Captain Picard couldn't facepalm hard enough to express the amount of failure in that... that, thing... (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you push employees into greater responsibilities without compensation? Often having them essentially do all the work of a higher position without the pay? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you ambush employee's [sic] using two managers when you want to write someone up? No warning. No representation. All reasons and excuses fall on deaf ears. (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you'd rather attempt to create some sort of fake 'culture' with signs and forced meeting than let it happen naturally by letting employees socialize lightly as they work? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you like to manage 'systems' instead of people? You don't hold critical thinking and discretion in high regard? You encourage blindly following rules? I.e., no recourse in challenging write ups. Employees given cold shoulder when they attempt anything like this. (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you want us to politely call and let you know if we'll be late... but you'll still write us up when we arrive? Kind of a dick move, guys. (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you actually think being 20 minutes late matters? You know Whole Foods Market is just a grocery store, right? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
Oh, you don't believe inflation exists? Cost of living raises aren't given here? (Supporting team member happiness and excellence)
I notice a trend... Honestly, I could go on and on and fill out the details but since most people will just dismiss this email I should probably not put too much effort into it. I should have kept a blog…
Now the employees have lost a lot of their former power and the store is being sucked into some centralized monster. Quality is being thrown out in favor of the people at the top having to do a little less work.
Competition is being destroyed and you're not even pushing that many healthy products. Every second endcap is potato chips or pop or some sort of salt filled snack (Promoting the health of our stakeholders through healthy eating education). A lot of the stuff in Whole Body doesn't even work or has absolutely no credible evidence to back any claims up. You're kind a faux hippy Wal-Mart now. Great. Job.
ZAPPED AND CANINED
That’s what I call ‘street justice’ police work. Unfortunately, LAPD will probably get their butts sued over this one. In that case, look for the city to settle for a substantial amount of do-re-mi.
MAN CORNERED BY POLICE SHOCKED WITH TASER, BITTEN BY POLICE DOG
LAPPL NewsWatch
July 27, 2011
A man who wanted to fight with police when he was cornered today was shocked with a Taser and bitten by a police dog, Los Angeles police said. Police were sent to the 200 block of East 84th Street on reports of an assault with a deadly weapon about 2 p.m., police spokeswoman Sara Faden said. It was unclear what the man, whose name was withheld, was suspected of doing. He was taken into custody by police assigned to the 77th Street Station, Faden said.
MAN CORNERED BY POLICE SHOCKED WITH TASER, BITTEN BY POLICE DOG
LAPPL NewsWatch
July 27, 2011
A man who wanted to fight with police when he was cornered today was shocked with a Taser and bitten by a police dog, Los Angeles police said. Police were sent to the 200 block of East 84th Street on reports of an assault with a deadly weapon about 2 p.m., police spokeswoman Sara Faden said. It was unclear what the man, whose name was withheld, was suspected of doing. He was taken into custody by police assigned to the 77th Street Station, Faden said.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
DRAWING TOO FINE A LINE IN APPEAL FOR WRONGFUL CONVICTION
I find it hard to swallow that the 5th Circuit could not find any wiggle room to give this man a new trial. Justice cries out for a new trial when there is substantial doubt about the conviction for which he is serving a life term.
JOHN KINSEL, CLAIMING WRONGFUL CONVICTION, IS DENIED NEW TRIAL: “OUR HANDS ARE TIED”, SAYS APPEALS COURT
By Mandy Oaklander
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 26, 2011
A few months ago, we wrote a cover story about John Kinsel, a Texas man sentenced in Louisiana to life without parole for the rape of his girlfriend's live-in daughter. That girl, 9-year-old Alyssa Medlin, testified that Kinsel had raped her anally and vaginally for years.
Years later as an adult, Medlin recanted and said she made the whole thing up. Since then, Kinsel has been fighting for his release from Angola Prison -- or at very least, for a new trial. He was granted one in 2006, when a judge ruled that without Medlin's testimony, there was no case. The state appealed, saying that she was more credible as a child than as an adult. The Fifth Circuit upheld the appeal, but Kinsel's lawyer Autumn Town was granted a rare oral argument in front of the court. Only 12 percent of such requests are granted.
A few days ago, Kinsel received a long-awaited decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: there's nothing they can do.
Kinsel couldn't prove, the judges wrote in the 14-page opinion, that he had undergone any constitutional violations. "The state court's decision must have been more than incorrect or erroneous," said the opinion. "The state court's application must have been 'objectively unreasonable.'" But it's hard to call any application in this case "objectively unreasonable", since Medlin at one point or another testified to both sides.
Another way to gain relief would be to prove that the state used perjured testimony to get a conviction. In some circuits, it's a violation to use perjured testimony even when the government doesn't know it's perjured. This would almost certainly apply in Kinsel's case, but in the Fifth Circuit, prosecutors are only at fault if they know the testimony is perjured. Although witnesses for the defendant questioned the veracity of Medlin's testimony at the time, the prosecutors never budged.
Basically, since Kinsel couldn't effectively prove that his conviction was obtained by violating the Constitution, there's nothing the Fifth Circuit could do -- even though it acknowledges that if Kinsel were to get a new trial, he probably would not be determined guilty.
The opinion closes thus: It is beyond regrettable that a possibly innocent man will not receive a new trial in the face of the preposterously unreliable testimony of the victim and sole eyewitness to the crime for which he was convicted. But our hands are tied by the AEDPA [Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act], preventing our review of Kinsel's attack on his Louisiana postconviction proceedings, so we dutifully dismiss his claim.
Kinsel's sister, Alice Wilkinson, said that last line broke her heart. "It makes them sound like they believe he's innocent," she said.
Kinsel's final course of action is to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which he and his lawyer plan to do. Town was not available to comment.
Said Wilkinson, "It's just all crazy if you ask me. I think they should just let him come home."
JOHN KINSEL, CLAIMING WRONGFUL CONVICTION, IS DENIED NEW TRIAL: “OUR HANDS ARE TIED”, SAYS APPEALS COURT
By Mandy Oaklander
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 26, 2011
A few months ago, we wrote a cover story about John Kinsel, a Texas man sentenced in Louisiana to life without parole for the rape of his girlfriend's live-in daughter. That girl, 9-year-old Alyssa Medlin, testified that Kinsel had raped her anally and vaginally for years.
Years later as an adult, Medlin recanted and said she made the whole thing up. Since then, Kinsel has been fighting for his release from Angola Prison -- or at very least, for a new trial. He was granted one in 2006, when a judge ruled that without Medlin's testimony, there was no case. The state appealed, saying that she was more credible as a child than as an adult. The Fifth Circuit upheld the appeal, but Kinsel's lawyer Autumn Town was granted a rare oral argument in front of the court. Only 12 percent of such requests are granted.
A few days ago, Kinsel received a long-awaited decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals: there's nothing they can do.
Kinsel couldn't prove, the judges wrote in the 14-page opinion, that he had undergone any constitutional violations. "The state court's decision must have been more than incorrect or erroneous," said the opinion. "The state court's application must have been 'objectively unreasonable.'" But it's hard to call any application in this case "objectively unreasonable", since Medlin at one point or another testified to both sides.
Another way to gain relief would be to prove that the state used perjured testimony to get a conviction. In some circuits, it's a violation to use perjured testimony even when the government doesn't know it's perjured. This would almost certainly apply in Kinsel's case, but in the Fifth Circuit, prosecutors are only at fault if they know the testimony is perjured. Although witnesses for the defendant questioned the veracity of Medlin's testimony at the time, the prosecutors never budged.
Basically, since Kinsel couldn't effectively prove that his conviction was obtained by violating the Constitution, there's nothing the Fifth Circuit could do -- even though it acknowledges that if Kinsel were to get a new trial, he probably would not be determined guilty.
The opinion closes thus: It is beyond regrettable that a possibly innocent man will not receive a new trial in the face of the preposterously unreliable testimony of the victim and sole eyewitness to the crime for which he was convicted. But our hands are tied by the AEDPA [Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act], preventing our review of Kinsel's attack on his Louisiana postconviction proceedings, so we dutifully dismiss his claim.
Kinsel's sister, Alice Wilkinson, said that last line broke her heart. "It makes them sound like they believe he's innocent," she said.
Kinsel's final course of action is to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, which he and his lawyer plan to do. Town was not available to comment.
Said Wilkinson, "It's just all crazy if you ask me. I think they should just let him come home."
ENSURING THE RELIABILITY OF JAILHOUSE INFORMANT TESTIMONY
As pro-prosecution as I am, I really can’t argue against requiring independent evidence of guilt to corroborate an inmate's testimony against a defendant.
JAILHOUSE INFORMANT BILL A TEST FOR JERRY BROWN
By Bob Egelko
San Francisco Chronicle
July 25, 2011
Testimony from a prisoner that a fellow inmate confessed to a crime can be powerful evidence of guilt. But a Bay Area legislator and a statewide commission say such testimony may also be self-serving and unreliable and can send innocent defendants to prison.
Now Gov. Jerry Brown must decide whether to ban California juries from convicting defendants based solely on jailhouse informant testimony. The bill, passed by the Legislature, is sponsored by defense lawyers and opposed by the statewide prosecutors' association - with the notable exceptions of the San Francisco and Los Angeles district attorneys, who support it.
Brown's decision, due by the end of the month, will be an early test of his views on contentious criminal justice issues. It could also breathe new life into a commission whose recommendations for changes in criminal investigations and trials were rejected by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, established by the state Senate in 2004, was chaired by former Attorney General John Van de Kamp and included prosecutors, defense lawyers, law enforcement officers and academics.
Legislation it sponsored would have required police to tape-record interrogations of violent felony suspects, set guidelines for police lineups and made it easier for wrongfully convicted prisoners to get state compensation. Schwarzenegger vetoed each bill, largely at the urging of prosecution and police groups.
The current bill, SB687 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, is a new version of a measure that Schwarzenegger vetoed twice. Similar to laws in 17 other states, it would require prosecutors to present independent evidence of guilt to corroborate an inmate's testimony that the defendant confessed to a crime. State law already requires the judge to tell jurors to consider such testimony with caution, and requires the prosecution to disclose any promises of leniency it has made to the informant.
But the jury can still rely entirely on the testimony to issue a guilty verdict or a death sentence. And Leno and his allies say the law is ripe for exploitation by cons who can reduce their own sentences by fabricating cellmates' confessions.
Leno's office said studies have shown that perjured testimony was a common cause of wrongful convictions in California, and a 2005 Northwestern School of Law study found that such testimony was the leading cause of erroneous death penalty convictions in the United States.
In a letter endorsing Leno's bill, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said the measure "strikes a delicate balance" that allows prosecutors to use informant testimony with safeguards that "increase the legitimacy of this type of evidence."
But the California District Attorneys Association says the bill would do more harm than good.
Problems in "a very, very small number of cases" don't justify excluding an entire category of evidence, said Marty Vranicar, the association's assistant chief executive.
He said jurors can evaluate uncorroborated testimony with the current cautionary instruction. Barring all such testimony, Vranicar said, would hinder prosecution of jailhouse crimes, in which victims and eyewitnesses are often reluctant to talk and informants may be the only source of evidence.
Leno says such forecasts aren't borne out in Los Angeles, which has restricted informant testimony for years. In a statement issued through Leno's office, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley said the policy has made testimony more reliable and hasn't prevented convictions.
"When the wrong person is prosecuted, the guilty go free," Cooley said.
JAILHOUSE INFORMANT BILL A TEST FOR JERRY BROWN
By Bob Egelko
San Francisco Chronicle
July 25, 2011
Testimony from a prisoner that a fellow inmate confessed to a crime can be powerful evidence of guilt. But a Bay Area legislator and a statewide commission say such testimony may also be self-serving and unreliable and can send innocent defendants to prison.
Now Gov. Jerry Brown must decide whether to ban California juries from convicting defendants based solely on jailhouse informant testimony. The bill, passed by the Legislature, is sponsored by defense lawyers and opposed by the statewide prosecutors' association - with the notable exceptions of the San Francisco and Los Angeles district attorneys, who support it.
Brown's decision, due by the end of the month, will be an early test of his views on contentious criminal justice issues. It could also breathe new life into a commission whose recommendations for changes in criminal investigations and trials were rejected by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, established by the state Senate in 2004, was chaired by former Attorney General John Van de Kamp and included prosecutors, defense lawyers, law enforcement officers and academics.
Legislation it sponsored would have required police to tape-record interrogations of violent felony suspects, set guidelines for police lineups and made it easier for wrongfully convicted prisoners to get state compensation. Schwarzenegger vetoed each bill, largely at the urging of prosecution and police groups.
The current bill, SB687 by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, is a new version of a measure that Schwarzenegger vetoed twice. Similar to laws in 17 other states, it would require prosecutors to present independent evidence of guilt to corroborate an inmate's testimony that the defendant confessed to a crime. State law already requires the judge to tell jurors to consider such testimony with caution, and requires the prosecution to disclose any promises of leniency it has made to the informant.
But the jury can still rely entirely on the testimony to issue a guilty verdict or a death sentence. And Leno and his allies say the law is ripe for exploitation by cons who can reduce their own sentences by fabricating cellmates' confessions.
Leno's office said studies have shown that perjured testimony was a common cause of wrongful convictions in California, and a 2005 Northwestern School of Law study found that such testimony was the leading cause of erroneous death penalty convictions in the United States.
In a letter endorsing Leno's bill, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón said the measure "strikes a delicate balance" that allows prosecutors to use informant testimony with safeguards that "increase the legitimacy of this type of evidence."
But the California District Attorneys Association says the bill would do more harm than good.
Problems in "a very, very small number of cases" don't justify excluding an entire category of evidence, said Marty Vranicar, the association's assistant chief executive.
He said jurors can evaluate uncorroborated testimony with the current cautionary instruction. Barring all such testimony, Vranicar said, would hinder prosecution of jailhouse crimes, in which victims and eyewitnesses are often reluctant to talk and informants may be the only source of evidence.
Leno says such forecasts aren't borne out in Los Angeles, which has restricted informant testimony for years. In a statement issued through Leno's office, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley said the policy has made testimony more reliable and hasn't prevented convictions.
"When the wrong person is prosecuted, the guilty go free," Cooley said.
IF THESE GUNS ARE RECOVERED, WILL THE ATF REPORT THEM AS COMING FROM AMERICAN GUN DEALERS?
Eventually these guns may be recovered by Mexican authorities. After that happens, I’ll bet the ATF will report that some of them had been obtained by straw buyers from American gun dealers.
HOODED COMMANDOS DISARM STATE POLICE OFFICERS
Borderland Beat
July 25, 2011
Authorities in Michoacan admitted that last week 21 police officers of the State Auxiliary Police were disarmed by armed commandos.
The uniformed officers were on their way to provide security at a rodeo in the community of San Miguel del Monte, located south of Morelia, when they were surprised and overcome by hooded men armed with AK-47s.
The gunmen conducted individual searches of every officer and one by one, they were stripped of their weapons. The officers said they could not defend themselves for fear of being executed, and that the armed sicarios were in a very angry mood, so they felt they would be slaughtered if they fought back against the illegal action.
After the police reported the incident, forces from different agencies conducted operations in an attempt to locate those responsible for stealing the weapons from the police, but the operation was not successful in locating the sicarios.
In total; 21 police officers were disarmed, the sicarios stole six rifles type Uzi and twenty one .38 special caliber handguns. The weapons are now in the hands of organized crime.
HOODED COMMANDOS DISARM STATE POLICE OFFICERS
Borderland Beat
July 25, 2011
Authorities in Michoacan admitted that last week 21 police officers of the State Auxiliary Police were disarmed by armed commandos.
The uniformed officers were on their way to provide security at a rodeo in the community of San Miguel del Monte, located south of Morelia, when they were surprised and overcome by hooded men armed with AK-47s.
The gunmen conducted individual searches of every officer and one by one, they were stripped of their weapons. The officers said they could not defend themselves for fear of being executed, and that the armed sicarios were in a very angry mood, so they felt they would be slaughtered if they fought back against the illegal action.
After the police reported the incident, forces from different agencies conducted operations in an attempt to locate those responsible for stealing the weapons from the police, but the operation was not successful in locating the sicarios.
In total; 21 police officers were disarmed, the sicarios stole six rifles type Uzi and twenty one .38 special caliber handguns. The weapons are now in the hands of organized crime.
VIRTUALLY ALL OF THE ENEMIES OF THE JEWS ARE ON THE LEFT
“What Will It Take To Wake Jews Up?” is an op-ed by Dennis Prager published in the 7-26-11 issue of the Jewish World Review. Here are some excerpts:
Not everyone who is on the left — and certainly not the traditional liberal — is an enemy of the Jews. But, aside from Islamists, virtually all the enemies of the Jews are on the left.
The worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel (i.e., to pave the way for moral acceptance of Israel's destruction) is virtually all on the left. Universities in America and elsewhere in the Western world, as well as the mainstream news media outlets around the globe, are all dominated by the left. They drum into their students', readers', listeners' and viewers' minds that Israel is one of the worst societies on earth.
The anti-Israel propaganda on the left is so great and so effective that according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Many of the youths who survived the (Norway) massacre said they thought the killer, dressed as a police officer, was simulating Israeli crimes against Palestinians in the occupied territories."
Yet, most American Jews still walk around thinking that Christians and conservatives are their enemies when, in fact, they are the best friends Jews have in the world today. From the present conservative Canadian government, which is probably the most vocal pro-Israel country in the world today, to every major conservative talk-show host in America (including the fiercely pro-Jewish and pro-Israel Glenn Beck, who has been libeled as an anti-Semite), to the leader of Holland's Party for Freedom and member of the Dutch parliament, Geert Wilders (one of the most eloquent pro-Israel voices in Europe today), to The Wall Street Journal's editorial page — the right is where the Jews' friends are.
What will it take for this generation of Jews on the left to realize what Arthur Koestler, perhaps the most prominent Jewish leftist of a previous generation, came to realize: namely, that leftism is "the god that failed"? Will it take a San Francisco ban on the oldest practice of the Jewish people? The City of Berkeley declaring Marines "unwelcome intruders"? PETA arguing that there is no moral difference between barbecuing chickens and cremating Jews? The ostracizing of the Jewish state from the world community by institutions dominated by the left?
Whatever it takes, the sooner the better.
Not everyone who is on the left — and certainly not the traditional liberal — is an enemy of the Jews. But, aside from Islamists, virtually all the enemies of the Jews are on the left.
The worldwide campaign to delegitimize Israel (i.e., to pave the way for moral acceptance of Israel's destruction) is virtually all on the left. Universities in America and elsewhere in the Western world, as well as the mainstream news media outlets around the globe, are all dominated by the left. They drum into their students', readers', listeners' and viewers' minds that Israel is one of the worst societies on earth.
The anti-Israel propaganda on the left is so great and so effective that according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Many of the youths who survived the (Norway) massacre said they thought the killer, dressed as a police officer, was simulating Israeli crimes against Palestinians in the occupied territories."
Yet, most American Jews still walk around thinking that Christians and conservatives are their enemies when, in fact, they are the best friends Jews have in the world today. From the present conservative Canadian government, which is probably the most vocal pro-Israel country in the world today, to every major conservative talk-show host in America (including the fiercely pro-Jewish and pro-Israel Glenn Beck, who has been libeled as an anti-Semite), to the leader of Holland's Party for Freedom and member of the Dutch parliament, Geert Wilders (one of the most eloquent pro-Israel voices in Europe today), to The Wall Street Journal's editorial page — the right is where the Jews' friends are.
What will it take for this generation of Jews on the left to realize what Arthur Koestler, perhaps the most prominent Jewish leftist of a previous generation, came to realize: namely, that leftism is "the god that failed"? Will it take a San Francisco ban on the oldest practice of the Jewish people? The City of Berkeley declaring Marines "unwelcome intruders"? PETA arguing that there is no moral difference between barbecuing chickens and cremating Jews? The ostracizing of the Jewish state from the world community by institutions dominated by the left?
Whatever it takes, the sooner the better.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
SPECIAL DELIVERY TO SOUTH CAROLINA PRISON FAILS TO ARRIVE
There’s nothing quite like a thriving prison contraband business operated by a street gang and its cohorts in the joint. The loss of this load of contraband is just the cost of doing business.
TRAFFIC STOP LEADS TO SEIZURE OF PRISON CONTRABAND
By Dana Fisher
WLTX.com
July 24, 2011
Kershaw County, SC -- Kershaw County traffic officers made a prison contraband seizure while patrolling on I-20 Saturday.
Deputies say they conducted a traffic stop on Reco Maurice Bell of Columbia.
A routine driver's license check indicated that Bell was driving under suspension and operating an uninsured vehicle, said Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews.
While interviewing Bell, deputies noticed two duffel bags on the rear seat of his vehicle and asked for permission to search.
The officers said in these two bags were 23 individually wrapped one-pound bags of tobacco and 12 individually packaged cell phones with charging cords.
The officers said they recognized this discovery as being consistent with contraband that is often thrown over the fence at prisons.
On the street, these items are of little value, but in prison, tobacco is valued at $800 per pound and a working cell phone is worth about $500, said deputies.
Authorities said when asked about the phones and tobacco, Bell admitted that he was being paid to throw these items over the wall at a corrections facility, but he would not state which facility.
Kershaw officers said Bell was charged with driving under suspension (2nd offense) and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.
According to Sheriff Matthews, a national criminal records check revealed that Bell was connected with the "Bloods" street gang.
TRAFFIC STOP LEADS TO SEIZURE OF PRISON CONTRABAND
By Dana Fisher
WLTX.com
July 24, 2011
Kershaw County, SC -- Kershaw County traffic officers made a prison contraband seizure while patrolling on I-20 Saturday.
Deputies say they conducted a traffic stop on Reco Maurice Bell of Columbia.
A routine driver's license check indicated that Bell was driving under suspension and operating an uninsured vehicle, said Kershaw County Sheriff Jim Matthews.
While interviewing Bell, deputies noticed two duffel bags on the rear seat of his vehicle and asked for permission to search.
The officers said in these two bags were 23 individually wrapped one-pound bags of tobacco and 12 individually packaged cell phones with charging cords.
The officers said they recognized this discovery as being consistent with contraband that is often thrown over the fence at prisons.
On the street, these items are of little value, but in prison, tobacco is valued at $800 per pound and a working cell phone is worth about $500, said deputies.
Authorities said when asked about the phones and tobacco, Bell admitted that he was being paid to throw these items over the wall at a corrections facility, but he would not state which facility.
Kershaw officers said Bell was charged with driving under suspension (2nd offense) and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.
According to Sheriff Matthews, a national criminal records check revealed that Bell was connected with the "Bloods" street gang.
ANOTHER NON-VIOLENT, NON-REVOCABLE CALIFORNIA PAROLEE (2)
The Los Angeles Police Protective League is pissed off. And all Californians should be pissed off likewise at the early prison releases and the state’s non-supervision farce of a parole system.
CALIFORNIA’S WILLIE HORTON?
LAPPL Blog
July 22, 2011
We all remember the case of Willie Horton, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 1974 killing of a 17-year-old gas station attendant. In 1986, Horton was released under Massachusetts’ weekend furlough program but never returned. Ultimately, he committed assault, armed robbery and rape. The case was a classic example of the risks behind the early release of prisoners likely to commit serious crimes.
Almost a quarter of a century later, we have the case of Zackariah Lehnen, a 30-year-old transient paroled from a California prison after serving only five months of a 16-month sentence for drug possession. As recounted by Bloomberg reporter Christopher Palmeri, a program to reduce costs by freeing “nonviolent” prisoners without supervision allowed Lehnen to leave prison in November 2010.
A month after his release, Lehnen was in a state court in Beverly Hills pleading no contest to assault charges. Although he was on parole at the time and had prior convictions for spousal battery and drug possession, Lehnen was released again, unsupervised, on Dec. 23, as court records reported by Bloomberg show.
Six months later Lehnen was arrested and charged with murder in the torture and stabbing deaths of an 89-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman in a Los Angeles suburb. He is in jail with a plea hearing set for July 28.
Former military prosecutor and now Democratic state senator from Torrance Ted Lieu told Palmeri in a phone interview, “It’s a perfect example of what goes wrong when you prioritize saving money over public safety,” adding that Lehnen is an example of how the state’s system for sorting inmates by the risks they pose can fail.
Sen. Lieu gets it. We’ve been calling attention to this issue for well over two years. How many Zackariah Lehnens are needed to convince our elected leaders that the unsupervised early release of prisoners to save money is poor prioritization of public funds and a danger to society?
CALIFORNIA’S WILLIE HORTON?
LAPPL Blog
July 22, 2011
We all remember the case of Willie Horton, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for the 1974 killing of a 17-year-old gas station attendant. In 1986, Horton was released under Massachusetts’ weekend furlough program but never returned. Ultimately, he committed assault, armed robbery and rape. The case was a classic example of the risks behind the early release of prisoners likely to commit serious crimes.
Almost a quarter of a century later, we have the case of Zackariah Lehnen, a 30-year-old transient paroled from a California prison after serving only five months of a 16-month sentence for drug possession. As recounted by Bloomberg reporter Christopher Palmeri, a program to reduce costs by freeing “nonviolent” prisoners without supervision allowed Lehnen to leave prison in November 2010.
A month after his release, Lehnen was in a state court in Beverly Hills pleading no contest to assault charges. Although he was on parole at the time and had prior convictions for spousal battery and drug possession, Lehnen was released again, unsupervised, on Dec. 23, as court records reported by Bloomberg show.
Six months later Lehnen was arrested and charged with murder in the torture and stabbing deaths of an 89-year-old man and a 27-year-old woman in a Los Angeles suburb. He is in jail with a plea hearing set for July 28.
Former military prosecutor and now Democratic state senator from Torrance Ted Lieu told Palmeri in a phone interview, “It’s a perfect example of what goes wrong when you prioritize saving money over public safety,” adding that Lehnen is an example of how the state’s system for sorting inmates by the risks they pose can fail.
Sen. Lieu gets it. We’ve been calling attention to this issue for well over two years. How many Zackariah Lehnens are needed to convince our elected leaders that the unsupervised early release of prisoners to save money is poor prioritization of public funds and a danger to society?
WE DIDN'T HAVE THE 'GREEN THING' BACK IN OUR DAY
In the line at the store, the young cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.
The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But the old woman was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana .
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."
The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."
He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.
But the old woman was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana .
In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.
We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn't have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service.
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.
But isn't it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?
EMPLOYEE QUITS, BASHES WHOLE FOODS MARKET
With more than 300 stores, this Austin, Texas based chain promotes protection of the environment and healthy living with emphasis on ‘natural and organic products.’ Just maybe, Whole Foods Market ain’t all that it’s cooked up to be.
‘YOU’RE A FAUX HIPPY WALMART’: WHOLE FOODS MARKET WORKER QUITS IN ‘EPIC’ RESIGNATION EMAIL
By Lee Moran
Mail Online
July 25, 2011
A Whole Foods Market employee has launched an hilarious attack on the firm with an extraordinary letter of resignation.
Fed up with what he described as the fakery of the store - which he claims is more of a 'faux hippy Wal-Mart than an 'earth-and-body-friendly organic foods paradise' - he sets about righting some of those perceived wrongs in a 2,343-word essay to former bosses.
In his outburst he says the firm mistreats and underpays employees, flouts its environmental responsibilities, and allows customers to abuse staff.
He also labels the food, the portion sizes of which he says are shrinking, as 'really quite awful on average' and not as healthy as advertised.
If his intention was to go out in a blaze of glory then it has certainly worked as the email, which was sent to every employee in the entire company, has now become an internet sensation.
In his parting shot picked up by Gawker website, the disgruntled Toronto bulk buyer, who has not been named, starts out noting point-by-point how the chain does not live up to its corporate ideals.
He writes: 'I was hired about five or six years ago. I appreciated and respected what the company said it's philosophies were at that time. The 'core values' essentially.
'However, it didn't take long to realize what complete and utter bulls**t they are.'
He then turns his attention to individual co-workers who he addresses, in turn, about how he cannot stand to work with them anymore.
In one post he says: 'We get it, we get it. You go to the gym. Nobody is impressed. In fact we all just laugh at your inferiority complex.'
And in another he adds: 'For the love of god, learn to respect women. You have no idea how insulting and aggravating it is to be around someone who is so condescending to all the women you work with.
'Stop calling them 'mamma' don't refer to them as 'beautiful'... for christs sake, just keep all pet names off the table.
'You are NOT complimenting women, you are being open about not knowing their names, and lazy enough to not read a name-tag.'
His diatribe, which was obtained by the Gawker website, ends with advice for the employees he has left behind.
'As I've said above a few times: you work at a grocery store. Go ahead and relax. Also, Whole Foods will try to make you feel like they are doing you a huge favor by employing you,' he says.
'It's really a mutual agreement or transaction. Don't fall for the guilt trips. Call in sick if you need to, etc.. There are laws in place to stop them from taking advantage of you.
'And if you're thinking 'This is just the way it is. Suck it up!' You're the biggest part of the problem. I'm afraid we can't be friends. Just enjoy life. It's pretty short, you know?'
A Whole Foods Market spokesman said: 'We disagree with this former team member’s statements, and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.'
‘YOU’RE A FAUX HIPPY WALMART’: WHOLE FOODS MARKET WORKER QUITS IN ‘EPIC’ RESIGNATION EMAIL
By Lee Moran
Mail Online
July 25, 2011
A Whole Foods Market employee has launched an hilarious attack on the firm with an extraordinary letter of resignation.
Fed up with what he described as the fakery of the store - which he claims is more of a 'faux hippy Wal-Mart than an 'earth-and-body-friendly organic foods paradise' - he sets about righting some of those perceived wrongs in a 2,343-word essay to former bosses.
In his outburst he says the firm mistreats and underpays employees, flouts its environmental responsibilities, and allows customers to abuse staff.
He also labels the food, the portion sizes of which he says are shrinking, as 'really quite awful on average' and not as healthy as advertised.
If his intention was to go out in a blaze of glory then it has certainly worked as the email, which was sent to every employee in the entire company, has now become an internet sensation.
In his parting shot picked up by Gawker website, the disgruntled Toronto bulk buyer, who has not been named, starts out noting point-by-point how the chain does not live up to its corporate ideals.
He writes: 'I was hired about five or six years ago. I appreciated and respected what the company said it's philosophies were at that time. The 'core values' essentially.
'However, it didn't take long to realize what complete and utter bulls**t they are.'
He then turns his attention to individual co-workers who he addresses, in turn, about how he cannot stand to work with them anymore.
In one post he says: 'We get it, we get it. You go to the gym. Nobody is impressed. In fact we all just laugh at your inferiority complex.'
And in another he adds: 'For the love of god, learn to respect women. You have no idea how insulting and aggravating it is to be around someone who is so condescending to all the women you work with.
'Stop calling them 'mamma' don't refer to them as 'beautiful'... for christs sake, just keep all pet names off the table.
'You are NOT complimenting women, you are being open about not knowing their names, and lazy enough to not read a name-tag.'
His diatribe, which was obtained by the Gawker website, ends with advice for the employees he has left behind.
'As I've said above a few times: you work at a grocery store. Go ahead and relax. Also, Whole Foods will try to make you feel like they are doing you a huge favor by employing you,' he says.
'It's really a mutual agreement or transaction. Don't fall for the guilt trips. Call in sick if you need to, etc.. There are laws in place to stop them from taking advantage of you.
'And if you're thinking 'This is just the way it is. Suck it up!' You're the biggest part of the problem. I'm afraid we can't be friends. Just enjoy life. It's pretty short, you know?'
A Whole Foods Market spokesman said: 'We disagree with this former team member’s statements, and we wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors.'
Monday, July 25, 2011
ISRAEL IS BEING BETRAYED BY GEORGE SOROS AND HIS FELLOW LEFT-WING JEWS
I think it's a dirty rotten shame that America's left-wing Jews are helping the Palestinians who have vowed and continue to vow to eradicate the State of Israel. George Soros is hurting Israel far more than any other man in the world that I can think of. Jews siding with those who vow to eradicate the Jewish state is as low as it gets!
LEFT-WING JEWISH LOBBY GROUP FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS IS AIDING PALESTINIAN STATE BID
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
July 24, 2011
Left-wing American-Jewish lobby group J Street is actively aiding the Palestinian Authority in its unilateral statehood bid, according to Palestinian officials who spoke to WorldNetDaily.
The news website reported that Palestinian officials acknowledged that J Street has been helping them set up meeting with certain congressional representatives in an effort to win diplomatic support for their agenda.
The Palestinian Authority this September intends to petition the UN to recognize an independent and sovereign Palestinian state in the absence of a peace agreement with Israel.
US President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the motion in the UN Security Council, and Congress has warned that it will outlaw all funding of a Palestinian state established in that way.
But that isn't stopping J Street and its backers, which according to recent admissions by J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami includes radical left-wing money man George Soros.
LEFT-WING JEWISH LOBBY GROUP FUNDED BY GEORGE SOROS IS AIDING PALESTINIAN STATE BID
By Ryan Jones
Israel Today
July 24, 2011
Left-wing American-Jewish lobby group J Street is actively aiding the Palestinian Authority in its unilateral statehood bid, according to Palestinian officials who spoke to WorldNetDaily.
The news website reported that Palestinian officials acknowledged that J Street has been helping them set up meeting with certain congressional representatives in an effort to win diplomatic support for their agenda.
The Palestinian Authority this September intends to petition the UN to recognize an independent and sovereign Palestinian state in the absence of a peace agreement with Israel.
US President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the motion in the UN Security Council, and Congress has warned that it will outlaw all funding of a Palestinian state established in that way.
But that isn't stopping J Street and its backers, which according to recent admissions by J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami includes radical left-wing money man George Soros.
COACH BELIEVES POLITICALLY INCORRECT SONG GOT HIM FIRED
Although the story of his firing is a year old, I only received the song yesterday. Obviously it’s not politically correct, but I think it’s a clever song.
WHEN YOU’RE HOLDING A HAMMER, EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE A NAIL!
Words and Music by Kyle Hill and Bryan Glover
He was a little man, just turned three
Took the present from his daddy’s hand
A genuine toy hammer
He started beatin’ to beat the band
He hit the floors and the wall, broke a lamp in the hall,
Started swinging at the puppy’s tail
When you’re holding a hammer
Everything looks like a nail.
He was the president, number 44
He says, “Trust me, I’m here to help you
I have got some big big plans
You’re gonna love what I’m gonna do.”
There’s no problem too big or small
He thinks he’s got an answer that just can’t fail
When you’re holding a hammer
Everything looks like a nail.
He thinks big thoughts and he dreams big dreams
But it’s another man’s sweat that pays for those schemes
He don’t care how the little people feel
‘Cause saving the world is a big freaking deal
So he does his business behind closed doors
And pretends that the world is just begging for more
When the stuff hits the fan he says, “Don’t look at me
If you got trouble, blame 43.”
Now Congress is saving Wall Street
While they’re watching Main Street fall
They got health care all figured out
But it don’t seem to care much at all
As soon as they save the planet
They’ll put the fire out in hell
When you’re holding a hammer.
Everything looks like a nail.
He thinks big thoughts and he dreams big dreams
But it’s another man’s sweat that pays for those schemes
He don’t care how the little people feel
‘Cause saving the world is a big freaking deal
So he does his business behind closed doors
And pretends that the world is just begging for more
When the stuff hits the fan he says, “Don’t look at me
If you got trouble, blame 43.”
There’ll be a party come this November
When we’re gonna set things straight
All good people gonna gather ‘round
Gonna show what made this country great
We’ll run off the schemers and backroom dealers
So the Red, White and Blue will prevail
When we’re holding the hammer
When we’re holding the hammer
Everyone of them looks like a nail.
__________
Glover claims his song cost him his middle school football coaching job. The school superintendent denies that the song was the reason for his dismissal.
FOOTBALL COACH FIRED FOR ANTI-OBAMA SONG?
By Todd Starnes
Free Republic
August 23, 2010
A Tennessee middle school football coach said he got fired after he wrote a song that criticized President Obama.
Bryan Glover, an assistant coach at Grassland Middle School near Nashville, co-wrote the country music song, “When You’re Holding a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail.”
It was co-written by a parent who has a child on the team. Glover, 26, said he emailed a copy of the song to friends, family members and player’s parents through his personal email account.
And that’s when all the trouble started for the self-described independent conservative.
“The coach called me and said parents were upset – that I was being politically incorrect and the song had racial overtones,” Glover told FOX News Radio. “An hour and a half later I was told I was being terminated.”
“I was informed that I was being let go because of the song,” he said, denying claims there were any racial overtones in the song.
Williamson County School Superintendent Mike Looney disputed Glover’s account and said his dismissal had nothing to do with the song.
“Absolutely not,” he told FOX News Radio. “That’s a false claim.”
Looney said he was not allowed to go into specifics but acknowledged he spoke with the school’s principal and was satisfied with their handling of the matter.
“They presented me with logical, legally defensible reasons for doing so,” Looney said. “As far as I’m concerned they’ve handled the matter appropriately.”
Glover said he’s angry over what happened and believes he lost his job because his song was critical of President Obama. He is seeking legal counsel and may consider a lawsuit against the school.
WHEN YOU’RE HOLDING A HAMMER, EVERYTHING LOOKS LIKE A NAIL!
Words and Music by Kyle Hill and Bryan Glover
He was a little man, just turned three
Took the present from his daddy’s hand
A genuine toy hammer
He started beatin’ to beat the band
He hit the floors and the wall, broke a lamp in the hall,
Started swinging at the puppy’s tail
When you’re holding a hammer
Everything looks like a nail.
He was the president, number 44
He says, “Trust me, I’m here to help you
I have got some big big plans
You’re gonna love what I’m gonna do.”
There’s no problem too big or small
He thinks he’s got an answer that just can’t fail
When you’re holding a hammer
Everything looks like a nail.
He thinks big thoughts and he dreams big dreams
But it’s another man’s sweat that pays for those schemes
He don’t care how the little people feel
‘Cause saving the world is a big freaking deal
So he does his business behind closed doors
And pretends that the world is just begging for more
When the stuff hits the fan he says, “Don’t look at me
If you got trouble, blame 43.”
Now Congress is saving Wall Street
While they’re watching Main Street fall
They got health care all figured out
But it don’t seem to care much at all
As soon as they save the planet
They’ll put the fire out in hell
When you’re holding a hammer.
Everything looks like a nail.
He thinks big thoughts and he dreams big dreams
But it’s another man’s sweat that pays for those schemes
He don’t care how the little people feel
‘Cause saving the world is a big freaking deal
So he does his business behind closed doors
And pretends that the world is just begging for more
When the stuff hits the fan he says, “Don’t look at me
If you got trouble, blame 43.”
There’ll be a party come this November
When we’re gonna set things straight
All good people gonna gather ‘round
Gonna show what made this country great
We’ll run off the schemers and backroom dealers
So the Red, White and Blue will prevail
When we’re holding the hammer
When we’re holding the hammer
Everyone of them looks like a nail.
__________
Glover claims his song cost him his middle school football coaching job. The school superintendent denies that the song was the reason for his dismissal.
FOOTBALL COACH FIRED FOR ANTI-OBAMA SONG?
By Todd Starnes
Free Republic
August 23, 2010
A Tennessee middle school football coach said he got fired after he wrote a song that criticized President Obama.
Bryan Glover, an assistant coach at Grassland Middle School near Nashville, co-wrote the country music song, “When You’re Holding a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail.”
It was co-written by a parent who has a child on the team. Glover, 26, said he emailed a copy of the song to friends, family members and player’s parents through his personal email account.
And that’s when all the trouble started for the self-described independent conservative.
“The coach called me and said parents were upset – that I was being politically incorrect and the song had racial overtones,” Glover told FOX News Radio. “An hour and a half later I was told I was being terminated.”
“I was informed that I was being let go because of the song,” he said, denying claims there were any racial overtones in the song.
Williamson County School Superintendent Mike Looney disputed Glover’s account and said his dismissal had nothing to do with the song.
“Absolutely not,” he told FOX News Radio. “That’s a false claim.”
Looney said he was not allowed to go into specifics but acknowledged he spoke with the school’s principal and was satisfied with their handling of the matter.
“They presented me with logical, legally defensible reasons for doing so,” Looney said. “As far as I’m concerned they’ve handled the matter appropriately.”
Glover said he’s angry over what happened and believes he lost his job because his song was critical of President Obama. He is seeking legal counsel and may consider a lawsuit against the school.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
COMMON SENSE TELLS US IT CAN'T BE TRUE
What has happened to the ATF? It used to be such a reliable law enforcement agency. Now it has been reduced to a political hack for the gun-control crowd.
The ATF, in response to an inquiry from California’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has informed her that of the 29,284 guns recovered from drug cartels in Mexico, and submitted for tracing in 2009 and 2010, 20,504 were “United States-sourced firearms.” To Sen. Feinstein and New York’s Sen. Charles Schumer, both ardent gun-control advocates, that means only one thing – 70 percent of the drug cartels’ guns came from American gun dealers.
Feinstein and Schumer are using the ATF report to buttress legislation they have introduced to reinstate the expired ban on ‘assault rifles’ like the AK-47 and the AR-15, as well as additional gun restrictions.
20,504 firearms purchased by straw-buyers from American gun dealers in a two year period? Come on, let’s get real! Common sense tells us that can’t be true. It would take an awful lot of straw-buyers to purchase one, two or even three assault rifles at a time and then try to smuggle them into Mexico. No way, Jose! Common sense tells us that most of those 20,504 guns, if they actually did originate in the U.S., came from large-scale arms dealers rather than from gun dealers along the border.
The ATF has become a tool of the anti-gunners and has lost a lot of credibility with me.
The ATF, in response to an inquiry from California’s Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has informed her that of the 29,284 guns recovered from drug cartels in Mexico, and submitted for tracing in 2009 and 2010, 20,504 were “United States-sourced firearms.” To Sen. Feinstein and New York’s Sen. Charles Schumer, both ardent gun-control advocates, that means only one thing – 70 percent of the drug cartels’ guns came from American gun dealers.
Feinstein and Schumer are using the ATF report to buttress legislation they have introduced to reinstate the expired ban on ‘assault rifles’ like the AK-47 and the AR-15, as well as additional gun restrictions.
20,504 firearms purchased by straw-buyers from American gun dealers in a two year period? Come on, let’s get real! Common sense tells us that can’t be true. It would take an awful lot of straw-buyers to purchase one, two or even three assault rifles at a time and then try to smuggle them into Mexico. No way, Jose! Common sense tells us that most of those 20,504 guns, if they actually did originate in the U.S., came from large-scale arms dealers rather than from gun dealers along the border.
The ATF has become a tool of the anti-gunners and has lost a lot of credibility with me.
STUPID LAWYER IS AS STUPID LAWYER DOES
This 39-year-old lawyer was either extremely desperate for love or she had taken leave of her senses – or probably both. Another professional career flushed down the toilet.
LAWYER ‘FELL IN LOVE WITH DRUG DEALER SHE REPRESENTED AND HELPED HIM ESCAPE JAIL SO THEY COULD MARRY’
By Daniel Bates
Mail Online
July 22, 2011
A defense attorney is facing a trial of her own for allegedly helping a client escape from jail so she could marry him.
Amy McTeer is said to have fallen in love with Roy Kuykendall and met up with him when he walked out of the correctional facility where he was serving nine years for dealing drugs.
So happy was she that she even took a photo of them walking away from the prison and posted it on Facebook, police say.
McTeer, 39, is said to have helped Kuykendall, 35, evade capture for a day by driving him around and lying to police.
When officers arrested them she allegedly said they were going to get married the next day.
Kuykendall was taken back to prison but when police combed through McTeer's Facebook page they found that she had been posting messages of affection toward him on her wall for some time.
In a series of pictures of them together they noticed she had got 'Roy' tattooed across her ring finger.
The couple had met in 2008 when she represented him during the drugs case for which he was caged for nine years in the Union City Community Corrections Facility in Oklahoma City.
At the time of his alleged escape he had 870 days left on his term.
The two appear to have been plotting for some time and corrections officers said they had a recording of a phone conversation between them talking about the escape.
Kuykendall walked out of the jail on July 9 this year and was arrested the following day at a restaurant in Oklahoma City when McTeer's bother tipped them off.
She then allegedly lied to police and said that she had no idea he had escaped.
A search of her $350,000 home in Nicholls Hill however turned up Kuykendall's prison uniform.
Officers also seized her iPhone, Kuykendall's inmate identification card from a kitchen cabinet, men's clothes and love letters which she kept in her bedroom.
Even after the arrest McTeer was still determined to get married and asked a judge overseeing her case to perform the ceremony
In a court hearing Oklahoma County District Judge Jerry Bass asked her why she would want to marry somebody in prison, to which she replied:
'I do'.
He then agreed to do it provided she got a marriage license, although she never bothered to do so.
'I'm not one to stand in front of love,' the judge said, according to the Oklahoman.
Kuykendall has been charged with escaping from a correctional facility and faces up to seven more years in prison if convicted of the felony.
McTeer is facing a felony harboring a fugitive charge - and the end of her career as a lawyer.
LAWYER ‘FELL IN LOVE WITH DRUG DEALER SHE REPRESENTED AND HELPED HIM ESCAPE JAIL SO THEY COULD MARRY’
By Daniel Bates
Mail Online
July 22, 2011
A defense attorney is facing a trial of her own for allegedly helping a client escape from jail so she could marry him.
Amy McTeer is said to have fallen in love with Roy Kuykendall and met up with him when he walked out of the correctional facility where he was serving nine years for dealing drugs.
So happy was she that she even took a photo of them walking away from the prison and posted it on Facebook, police say.
McTeer, 39, is said to have helped Kuykendall, 35, evade capture for a day by driving him around and lying to police.
When officers arrested them she allegedly said they were going to get married the next day.
Kuykendall was taken back to prison but when police combed through McTeer's Facebook page they found that she had been posting messages of affection toward him on her wall for some time.
In a series of pictures of them together they noticed she had got 'Roy' tattooed across her ring finger.
The couple had met in 2008 when she represented him during the drugs case for which he was caged for nine years in the Union City Community Corrections Facility in Oklahoma City.
At the time of his alleged escape he had 870 days left on his term.
The two appear to have been plotting for some time and corrections officers said they had a recording of a phone conversation between them talking about the escape.
Kuykendall walked out of the jail on July 9 this year and was arrested the following day at a restaurant in Oklahoma City when McTeer's bother tipped them off.
She then allegedly lied to police and said that she had no idea he had escaped.
A search of her $350,000 home in Nicholls Hill however turned up Kuykendall's prison uniform.
Officers also seized her iPhone, Kuykendall's inmate identification card from a kitchen cabinet, men's clothes and love letters which she kept in her bedroom.
Even after the arrest McTeer was still determined to get married and asked a judge overseeing her case to perform the ceremony
In a court hearing Oklahoma County District Judge Jerry Bass asked her why she would want to marry somebody in prison, to which she replied:
'I do'.
He then agreed to do it provided she got a marriage license, although she never bothered to do so.
'I'm not one to stand in front of love,' the judge said, according to the Oklahoman.
Kuykendall has been charged with escaping from a correctional facility and faces up to seven more years in prison if convicted of the felony.
McTeer is facing a felony harboring a fugitive charge - and the end of her career as a lawyer.
REVOLVING BORDER CROSSING DOOR
Jose, Juan, Manuel, Angel, Jaime, Pedro, etc.: In and out, in and out, and in and out again and again. Only in America! The revolving border crossing door makes a farce out of our government’s assurances that it is keeping our borders secure.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BORDER SECURITY
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections Blog
July 22, 2011
Jose Vigil Carbajal, 25, is a small fish in the game of border security criminality. He is, however, an indicator of what is wrong with the system.
Carbajal was stopped by the local constabulary in Escondido for a vehicle code violation. He was determined to be an illegal alien and turned over to ICE. Again. He has been deported 15 times. His arrest record includes multiple DUI and hit-and-run violations and at least two arrests for driving on a suspended license.
In the last 14 months ICE has arrested 539 illegal aliens who had previously been deported.
Anybody think that any of these guys will hesitate even slightly about coming back and committing crimes again?
THE IMPORTANCE OF BORDER SECURITY
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections Blog
July 22, 2011
Jose Vigil Carbajal, 25, is a small fish in the game of border security criminality. He is, however, an indicator of what is wrong with the system.
Carbajal was stopped by the local constabulary in Escondido for a vehicle code violation. He was determined to be an illegal alien and turned over to ICE. Again. He has been deported 15 times. His arrest record includes multiple DUI and hit-and-run violations and at least two arrests for driving on a suspended license.
In the last 14 months ICE has arrested 539 illegal aliens who had previously been deported.
Anybody think that any of these guys will hesitate even slightly about coming back and committing crimes again?
THE APPELLATE COURT GOT THIS ONE EXACTLY RIGHT
Score one for the cops.
WOLFGANG FISHER: TRIES TO REVERSE CHIMP-ABUSE CONVICTION BECAUSE WRONG COUNTY WAS ON THE SEARCH WARRANT
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 22, 2011
Acting on a tip, Harris County Deputy Constable Christine Kendrick went to a garage in Crosby in 2008 to check on a chimpanzee housed there.
She heard the chimp screaming and found a chimpanzee in a metal enclosure inside a garage. No water was available. The enclosure was extremely dirty with the floor covered with feces, vomit and trash. The chimpanzee is extremely ill, with lesions in the mouth, vomiting continuously is thin and appears to be in respiratory distress.
Untrained in handling primates in such conditions, she called for assistance and prepared a form for a search warrant. She made a mistake on it, though, and threw it away only to realize it was her last one.
So she borrowed one from an HSPCA volunteer accompanying her, filled it out and got it signed by a magistrate.
It wasn't until much later that authorities discovered the form was a Montgomery County form, not a Harris County form, and this gave chimp abuser Wolfgang Fisher a degree of hope.
After entering a guilty plea, he challenged the validity of the search warrant to the appeals court, since obviously a probable-cause form that was meant for Montgomery County shouldn't count in Harris County.
Kendrick testified that she had not read the form closely, just filled in the blanks as usual, believing it was a Harris County form.
Alas, Wolfgang's bid to escape an animal-cruelty conviction was for naught. The 1st Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that Kendrik's mistake had been made in good faith and didn't invalidate the warrant.
WOLFGANG FISHER: TRIES TO REVERSE CHIMP-ABUSE CONVICTION BECAUSE WRONG COUNTY WAS ON THE SEARCH WARRANT
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 22, 2011
Acting on a tip, Harris County Deputy Constable Christine Kendrick went to a garage in Crosby in 2008 to check on a chimpanzee housed there.
She heard the chimp screaming and found a chimpanzee in a metal enclosure inside a garage. No water was available. The enclosure was extremely dirty with the floor covered with feces, vomit and trash. The chimpanzee is extremely ill, with lesions in the mouth, vomiting continuously is thin and appears to be in respiratory distress.
Untrained in handling primates in such conditions, she called for assistance and prepared a form for a search warrant. She made a mistake on it, though, and threw it away only to realize it was her last one.
So she borrowed one from an HSPCA volunteer accompanying her, filled it out and got it signed by a magistrate.
It wasn't until much later that authorities discovered the form was a Montgomery County form, not a Harris County form, and this gave chimp abuser Wolfgang Fisher a degree of hope.
After entering a guilty plea, he challenged the validity of the search warrant to the appeals court, since obviously a probable-cause form that was meant for Montgomery County shouldn't count in Harris County.
Kendrick testified that she had not read the form closely, just filled in the blanks as usual, believing it was a Harris County form.
Alas, Wolfgang's bid to escape an animal-cruelty conviction was for naught. The 1st Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that Kendrik's mistake had been made in good faith and didn't invalidate the warrant.
SAD STATE OF CALIFORNIA'S PAROLE SYSTEM
California parole agents sound off in response to the following item:
COP KILLER HAD BEEN CONTINUED ON PAROLE LAST MONTH
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections Blog
July 22, 2010
Parolee Thomas Halloran, who murdered a Sheriff’s Deputy in Petaluma shortly before being terminally rehabilitated by an armed private citizen two days ago, had been COPd (continued on parole) in May on a drug beef.
The late and unlamented Halloran had tried to pass a forged script and got caught. He was sentenced to 2 years probation by the trial court and the parole people elected to take no further action against him. I think maybe they guessed wrong on that one.
BOB WALSH ADDED: Any form of conditional release will have failures. Some will be spectacular. If you have rules, the system should follow them. This guy committed a FELONY and attempted to illegally obtain drugs. He should have been rolled up.
I know the system now is biased towards NOT rolling people up except for the most egregious acts. The system pretends to supervise parolees and therefore pretends to preserve public safety. It is essentially dishonest.
We should not bother with the expense of pretense. Why should we drug test parolees if they will not be rolled up for drug use? Why should we have hearings where we will pretend to consider whether or not to roll a parolee up for criminal activity when we know we won’t do so?
J. J. CONROY SAID: Bob, I came to parole from a probation department in 2007. I’ve asked myself the same questions about why drug test, ect. The only outcome is that I’m generating paperwork stuck behind a desk and the parolee is not going to comply anyway. If the parolee doesn’t comply, than I’m gerating more paper work to cover why they didn’t comply. It has consistently gotten worse as each year has gone by with so-called “best evidence based practices” being implemented. It is especially bad now.
I have had case after case of parolees committing new felonies that are deferred to local adjudication over the years. I had one that committed four separate new felonies over a three year period while on parole. The Court kept giving him Drug Court (another joke) and parole deferred each time. This parolee never served a single day of revocation. I have had cases where a parolee has absconded for significant periods of time where we just have them sign an absconders waiver and all is good.
All this just delays the inevitable, which is most will commit a new crime that returns them to prison. CDCR and DAPO [the parole division] have continually stepped on their D%$KS and brought the ultimate demise of DAPO and maybe eventually CDCR.
My last day at work is next Friday as I’m completely fed up with DAPO and the state of California. I’ll spend the next three months with pay due to all those furloughs and PPL days that supposedly saved money. There is still hope that I’ll get that pick slip before I officially retire.
‘5,110 AND A WAKE UP’ SAID: This, gentlemen, is why parole will be a thing of the past in four or five years. If the hand ringers in Sacramento had paid as much attention to public safety as they have to discrepancy reports and STAR/Lit Lab attendance, parole would not be irrelevant now.
They made us jump through all of the hoops that the public demanded to cut the recidivism rate and our thanks is the public believes we’re a failure.
When a parolee finally goes to prison, he/she has failed every possible county diversion treatment program available. When the parolee continues his lifestyle, parole is a failure and Brown wants to give them back to the experts who have had them since juvenile hall?
AND I SAID: I really feel sorry for you guys and I’m being serious. Being part of a program that is nothing more than a joke has to be a real pain in the ass.
When I was a parole agent back in the 1960s, parole really meant something. The only problems I can remember is some of the sissy social worker type agents looking the other way and other agents returning parolees to get rid of a nuisance case. (My case load would have been reduced by more than a half had I returned my nuisance cases.)
As an agent in the CRC program, I was encouraged to work closely with the narcs in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. I was also encouraged to conduct surveillance and to make my own investigations of drug violations. As a result, I was able to seize some quantities of heroin by myself and other quantities together with my police narcotic unit friends.
Sure looks like them days are gone forever.
COP KILLER HAD BEEN CONTINUED ON PAROLE LAST MONTH
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections Blog
July 22, 2010
Parolee Thomas Halloran, who murdered a Sheriff’s Deputy in Petaluma shortly before being terminally rehabilitated by an armed private citizen two days ago, had been COPd (continued on parole) in May on a drug beef.
The late and unlamented Halloran had tried to pass a forged script and got caught. He was sentenced to 2 years probation by the trial court and the parole people elected to take no further action against him. I think maybe they guessed wrong on that one.
BOB WALSH ADDED: Any form of conditional release will have failures. Some will be spectacular. If you have rules, the system should follow them. This guy committed a FELONY and attempted to illegally obtain drugs. He should have been rolled up.
I know the system now is biased towards NOT rolling people up except for the most egregious acts. The system pretends to supervise parolees and therefore pretends to preserve public safety. It is essentially dishonest.
We should not bother with the expense of pretense. Why should we drug test parolees if they will not be rolled up for drug use? Why should we have hearings where we will pretend to consider whether or not to roll a parolee up for criminal activity when we know we won’t do so?
J. J. CONROY SAID: Bob, I came to parole from a probation department in 2007. I’ve asked myself the same questions about why drug test, ect. The only outcome is that I’m generating paperwork stuck behind a desk and the parolee is not going to comply anyway. If the parolee doesn’t comply, than I’m gerating more paper work to cover why they didn’t comply. It has consistently gotten worse as each year has gone by with so-called “best evidence based practices” being implemented. It is especially bad now.
I have had case after case of parolees committing new felonies that are deferred to local adjudication over the years. I had one that committed four separate new felonies over a three year period while on parole. The Court kept giving him Drug Court (another joke) and parole deferred each time. This parolee never served a single day of revocation. I have had cases where a parolee has absconded for significant periods of time where we just have them sign an absconders waiver and all is good.
All this just delays the inevitable, which is most will commit a new crime that returns them to prison. CDCR and DAPO [the parole division] have continually stepped on their D%$KS and brought the ultimate demise of DAPO and maybe eventually CDCR.
My last day at work is next Friday as I’m completely fed up with DAPO and the state of California. I’ll spend the next three months with pay due to all those furloughs and PPL days that supposedly saved money. There is still hope that I’ll get that pick slip before I officially retire.
‘5,110 AND A WAKE UP’ SAID: This, gentlemen, is why parole will be a thing of the past in four or five years. If the hand ringers in Sacramento had paid as much attention to public safety as they have to discrepancy reports and STAR/Lit Lab attendance, parole would not be irrelevant now.
They made us jump through all of the hoops that the public demanded to cut the recidivism rate and our thanks is the public believes we’re a failure.
When a parolee finally goes to prison, he/she has failed every possible county diversion treatment program available. When the parolee continues his lifestyle, parole is a failure and Brown wants to give them back to the experts who have had them since juvenile hall?
AND I SAID: I really feel sorry for you guys and I’m being serious. Being part of a program that is nothing more than a joke has to be a real pain in the ass.
When I was a parole agent back in the 1960s, parole really meant something. The only problems I can remember is some of the sissy social worker type agents looking the other way and other agents returning parolees to get rid of a nuisance case. (My case load would have been reduced by more than a half had I returned my nuisance cases.)
As an agent in the CRC program, I was encouraged to work closely with the narcs in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. I was also encouraged to conduct surveillance and to make my own investigations of drug violations. As a result, I was able to seize some quantities of heroin by myself and other quantities together with my police narcotic unit friends.
Sure looks like them days are gone forever.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
NOTHING BUT THE BEST FOR THIS OKIE CAR THIEF
Who says Okies don’t have any class?
BENTLEY BANDIT BAGGED
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
July 21, 2011
Police have finally caught up to the "Bentley Bandit," wanted in seven states for allegedly stealing luxury cars, after he wrecked -- you guessed it -- a Bentley after a chase.
Justin William Durbin of Altus, Okla., was arrested six hours after he allegedly wrecked a 2007 Bentley stolen from a Florida dealer.
The car was stolen in Naples, Fla., and the personalized license plate had been stolen separately, according to authorities. The license plate read, "CALL 911."
Florida authorities determined late last week that Durbin had apparently taken the car to Louisiana, where Louisiana State Police found him in Lafayette. We suspect finding a Bentley in Lafayette is easier than turning up a stolen Toyota Corolla.
Durbin initially eluded police in a chase, they caught up to him again, according to the AP, in Lake Charles and chased the car to Sulphur. Durbin fled on foot after the car crashed and police called out bloodhounds and trackers to find him. He was arrested without incident.
BENTLEY BANDIT BAGGED
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
July 21, 2011
Police have finally caught up to the "Bentley Bandit," wanted in seven states for allegedly stealing luxury cars, after he wrecked -- you guessed it -- a Bentley after a chase.
Justin William Durbin of Altus, Okla., was arrested six hours after he allegedly wrecked a 2007 Bentley stolen from a Florida dealer.
The car was stolen in Naples, Fla., and the personalized license plate had been stolen separately, according to authorities. The license plate read, "CALL 911."
Florida authorities determined late last week that Durbin had apparently taken the car to Louisiana, where Louisiana State Police found him in Lafayette. We suspect finding a Bentley in Lafayette is easier than turning up a stolen Toyota Corolla.
Durbin initially eluded police in a chase, they caught up to him again, according to the AP, in Lake Charles and chased the car to Sulphur. Durbin fled on foot after the car crashed and police called out bloodhounds and trackers to find him. He was arrested without incident.
REAL TEXAS WOMEN
We like to have our women settle their differences Texas style. None of that California kumbaya feel-good stuff for real Texas women. Them East Texas cops ain’t nothing but a bunch of spoilsports. Instead of arresting these broads, they should have waited for the fight to be over, then had them shake hands and sent them on their way.
SEVEN-WOMAN CATFIGHT AS EPIC AS IT SOUNDS
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 21, 2011
The current lead item on the Cherokee County Sheriff's Web site is the impending auction of a stray heifer, but that doesn't mean things have been quiet lately.
Unless you consider an epic catfight between seven women, in full view of the cops, to be quiet. Maybe in Jacksonville, Texas, they do.
KLTV has the details on the Sunday incident.
Two of the women involved, Soni Brooks and Christina Thornton, had been "exchanging heated text messages" over...wait for it...you only get one guess....correct! "...about the father of Christina's children."
Mere text messages could not contain the passion involved in the baby-daddy discussion, so two carloads full of pissed-off women met in the parking lot of a convenience store.
Where they commenced to whaling away on each other.
But it gets better:
__The owner of the convenience store called police, but before officers got there four of the women had already left.
__While officers were questioning Ms. Thornton, the four women that left came back and began fighting with the other women again.
Because you're not going to let a couple of cops stop you from dealing out an ass-whupping.
The final scorecard:
__Brittany Monique Spink, 22, Soni Lynn Brooks, 20, Terri Jean Birck, 38, Elizabeth Cova, 19, Christina Thornton, 25, and Skyla Victoria Singleton, 21, were arrested and charged with "participating in a riot." Kimberly Shana Darty, 19, was charged with "giving a false name to police" and "retaliation" for threatening one of the witnesses -- Ms. Birck -- while police were present.
SEVEN-WOMAN CATFIGHT AS EPIC AS IT SOUNDS
By Richard Connelly
Houston Press Hair Balls
July 21, 2011
The current lead item on the Cherokee County Sheriff's Web site is the impending auction of a stray heifer, but that doesn't mean things have been quiet lately.
Unless you consider an epic catfight between seven women, in full view of the cops, to be quiet. Maybe in Jacksonville, Texas, they do.
KLTV has the details on the Sunday incident.
Two of the women involved, Soni Brooks and Christina Thornton, had been "exchanging heated text messages" over...wait for it...you only get one guess....correct! "...about the father of Christina's children."
Mere text messages could not contain the passion involved in the baby-daddy discussion, so two carloads full of pissed-off women met in the parking lot of a convenience store.
Where they commenced to whaling away on each other.
But it gets better:
__The owner of the convenience store called police, but before officers got there four of the women had already left.
__While officers were questioning Ms. Thornton, the four women that left came back and began fighting with the other women again.
Because you're not going to let a couple of cops stop you from dealing out an ass-whupping.
The final scorecard:
__Brittany Monique Spink, 22, Soni Lynn Brooks, 20, Terri Jean Birck, 38, Elizabeth Cova, 19, Christina Thornton, 25, and Skyla Victoria Singleton, 21, were arrested and charged with "participating in a riot." Kimberly Shana Darty, 19, was charged with "giving a false name to police" and "retaliation" for threatening one of the witnesses -- Ms. Birck -- while police were present.
GRAZIE MILLE AMERICA! (2)
This is what Fiat inherited from the American taxpayers: A bunch of pot smoking, boozing union workers. I suspect this type of behavior is common throughout the auto industry.
YOU JUST CAN'T FIX STUPID
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
July 21-2011
The Fox TV station in Detroit has again caught on video Chrysler union workers smoking dope and drinking before work and on their lunch break.
This time it was not in a public park, but in the parking lot of their nearby United Auto Workers union hall, before they headed back to finish their shift at Chrysler Group's Trenton engine plant that builds the new Fiat 4-cylinder for world use.
FOX 2 reporter Rob Wolchek says he got calls from two workers in the plant who told him that working with people who have been getting high is dangerous.
This is the same Fox reporter who last fall caught workers at Chrysler's Jefferson North Plant in Detroit spending their lunch hour drinking beer before going back to build the newly launched Jeep Grand Cherokee. The video was a severe embarrassment for Chrysler, which took action against the workers, and for the union.
The station says Chrysler sent people to the station to review the latest video and the station posted on its website this reaction from Scott Garberding, Chrysler senior vice president of manufacturing:
"I just want to say I am both hurt and angered over what your cameras captured. Again, we have Chrysler workers in a compromised position, without regard for the impact of their actions, the reputation of their coworkers, the plant, of the company, not to mention their own reputation and that of their families.
"As a company, in the last two years we've come too far and made way too much progress to let the bad actions of a few put a shadow on the rest of the employees."
Late update: Chrysler Group announced it has identified and suspended without pay nine union workers caught on video drinking and smoking marijuana before their shifts and on their lunch break. Chrysler said it identified the workers using the Fox2 video and has suspended them pending an investigation that will determine their final fate.
YOU JUST CAN'T FIX STUPID
By Jerry Reynolds
The Car Pro Weekly
July 21-2011
The Fox TV station in Detroit has again caught on video Chrysler union workers smoking dope and drinking before work and on their lunch break.
This time it was not in a public park, but in the parking lot of their nearby United Auto Workers union hall, before they headed back to finish their shift at Chrysler Group's Trenton engine plant that builds the new Fiat 4-cylinder for world use.
FOX 2 reporter Rob Wolchek says he got calls from two workers in the plant who told him that working with people who have been getting high is dangerous.
This is the same Fox reporter who last fall caught workers at Chrysler's Jefferson North Plant in Detroit spending their lunch hour drinking beer before going back to build the newly launched Jeep Grand Cherokee. The video was a severe embarrassment for Chrysler, which took action against the workers, and for the union.
The station says Chrysler sent people to the station to review the latest video and the station posted on its website this reaction from Scott Garberding, Chrysler senior vice president of manufacturing:
"I just want to say I am both hurt and angered over what your cameras captured. Again, we have Chrysler workers in a compromised position, without regard for the impact of their actions, the reputation of their coworkers, the plant, of the company, not to mention their own reputation and that of their families.
"As a company, in the last two years we've come too far and made way too much progress to let the bad actions of a few put a shadow on the rest of the employees."
Late update: Chrysler Group announced it has identified and suspended without pay nine union workers caught on video drinking and smoking marijuana before their shifts and on their lunch break. Chrysler said it identified the workers using the Fox2 video and has suspended them pending an investigation that will determine their final fate.
COLD BLOODED KILLER COPS (2)
It’s a good bet that, despite evidence to the contrary, the ‘witnesses’ will continue to insist that those cold blooded killer cops shot an ‘unarmed’ choir boy.
TURNS OUT THE COPS DIDN’T SHOOT HIM AFTER ALL
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
July 21, 2011
Three days ago I wrote in a post linked here about the late and not particularly lamented Kenneth Harding, 19, believed to have been shot to death by the S.F.P.D. I say unlamented because Harding was suspected of having murdered a pregnant woman in Seattle just before coming to The City By The Bay. When he died he was running down the street throwing shots indiscriminately back over his shoulder as he ran. Turns out he shot himself in the process.
The autopsy has revealed that Harding died from a shot fired at very, very close range that left a light-weight 9mm slug in his head, probably fired from a .380 automatic. SFPD has carried .40 cal for almost 15 years.
The cop haters will still rail, because they did shoot at him. It will, however, take some of the wind out of their sails.
TURNS OUT THE COPS DIDN’T SHOOT HIM AFTER ALL
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
July 21, 2011
Three days ago I wrote in a post linked here about the late and not particularly lamented Kenneth Harding, 19, believed to have been shot to death by the S.F.P.D. I say unlamented because Harding was suspected of having murdered a pregnant woman in Seattle just before coming to The City By The Bay. When he died he was running down the street throwing shots indiscriminately back over his shoulder as he ran. Turns out he shot himself in the process.
The autopsy has revealed that Harding died from a shot fired at very, very close range that left a light-weight 9mm slug in his head, probably fired from a .380 automatic. SFPD has carried .40 cal for almost 15 years.
The cop haters will still rail, because they did shoot at him. It will, however, take some of the wind out of their sails.
MOONLIGHTING ON DUTY
Groping bare breasts and spanking bare buttocks? My research has shown that a lot of women love to have men in uniform do this to them.
Traffic officers are assigned to issue parking tickets and guide motorists at heavily congested intersections, among other duties. Apparently, L.A. Department of Transportation officials did not agree that groping and spanking qualified for ‘among other duties.’
While moonlighting on duty is strictly verboten, these guys bring new meaning to the term ‘dumb cops.’ Anyone with half a brain should have known that once the porn film went on sale, some viewer(s) would have contacted the authorities about a couple of uniformed LA cops and an official LA cop car appearing in the movie.
LA TRAFFIC COP SACKED AFTER APPEARING IN PORN FILM WHILE ON DUTY AND IN UNIFORM
Mail Online
July 22, 2011
A Los Angeles traffic cop has been fired after he was caught in appearing in a porn film while on duty and in uniform.
John K. Dancler, who has worked in the role for 23 years, was stripped of his role for 'misconduct on the job and engaging in indecent acts that reflected poorly on the city workforce'.
The officer's discharge notice said his indecent acts included 'groping the bare breasts, spanking the bare buttocks, and being straddled by an adult video actress in public,' around March 2008.
Mr Dancler, who had worked at the Department of Transportation, challenged his firing on the same day, and has filed an appeal with the city's Civil Service Commission.
Mr Dancler and another traffic officer came under investigation three months ago after KNBC reported they appeared in a video showing a uniformed officer spanking and fondling an actress.
While Mr Dancler has been fired, the other officer in the movie, Vaughn Dorsey, has been allowed to return to his job as a parking enforcement officer in the Valley Division after being disciplined, NBC reported.
In the film, Mr Dorsey stood by while a porn actress got into his official police car and performed lewd acts on herself on camera, according to NBC.
Mr Dorsey received appropriate discipline and is still working, a transportation department spokesmansaid.
He declined to elaborate on the discipline because state law protects the privacy of employees when they don't appeal a disciplinary action.
Mt Dancler was hired in 1988 by the department and earned nearly $56,000 annually.
His lawyer, Bobby Samini, called the termination unwarranted and claimed to the Los Angeles Times that city officials had made his client a 'convenient scapegoat.'
Mr Samini said the public has not been given an accurate depiction of Dancler and warned that, depending on the outcome, the termination proceedings could result in a lawsuit.
'There are going to be a lot of facts that are going to come out regarding what happened after the incident that will paint a very unpleasant picture for the city,' he told the LA Times.
Traffic officers are assigned to issue parking tickets and guide motorists at heavily congested intersections, among other duties.
Traffic officers are assigned to issue parking tickets and guide motorists at heavily congested intersections, among other duties. Apparently, L.A. Department of Transportation officials did not agree that groping and spanking qualified for ‘among other duties.’
While moonlighting on duty is strictly verboten, these guys bring new meaning to the term ‘dumb cops.’ Anyone with half a brain should have known that once the porn film went on sale, some viewer(s) would have contacted the authorities about a couple of uniformed LA cops and an official LA cop car appearing in the movie.
LA TRAFFIC COP SACKED AFTER APPEARING IN PORN FILM WHILE ON DUTY AND IN UNIFORM
Mail Online
July 22, 2011
A Los Angeles traffic cop has been fired after he was caught in appearing in a porn film while on duty and in uniform.
John K. Dancler, who has worked in the role for 23 years, was stripped of his role for 'misconduct on the job and engaging in indecent acts that reflected poorly on the city workforce'.
The officer's discharge notice said his indecent acts included 'groping the bare breasts, spanking the bare buttocks, and being straddled by an adult video actress in public,' around March 2008.
Mr Dancler, who had worked at the Department of Transportation, challenged his firing on the same day, and has filed an appeal with the city's Civil Service Commission.
Mr Dancler and another traffic officer came under investigation three months ago after KNBC reported they appeared in a video showing a uniformed officer spanking and fondling an actress.
While Mr Dancler has been fired, the other officer in the movie, Vaughn Dorsey, has been allowed to return to his job as a parking enforcement officer in the Valley Division after being disciplined, NBC reported.
In the film, Mr Dorsey stood by while a porn actress got into his official police car and performed lewd acts on herself on camera, according to NBC.
Mr Dorsey received appropriate discipline and is still working, a transportation department spokesmansaid.
He declined to elaborate on the discipline because state law protects the privacy of employees when they don't appeal a disciplinary action.
Mt Dancler was hired in 1988 by the department and earned nearly $56,000 annually.
His lawyer, Bobby Samini, called the termination unwarranted and claimed to the Los Angeles Times that city officials had made his client a 'convenient scapegoat.'
Mr Samini said the public has not been given an accurate depiction of Dancler and warned that, depending on the outcome, the termination proceedings could result in a lawsuit.
'There are going to be a lot of facts that are going to come out regarding what happened after the incident that will paint a very unpleasant picture for the city,' he told the LA Times.
Traffic officers are assigned to issue parking tickets and guide motorists at heavily congested intersections, among other duties.
Friday, July 22, 2011
GRAZIE MILLE AMERICA!
The American taxpayers lost $1.3 billion bailing out Chrysler only to have Fiat, an Italian company, end up with the majority ownership of the former all-American auto maker.
WE HAVE LOST OUR WAY
I couldn’t have put it any better.
NOTABLE PASSING
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
July 21, 2011
Exactly 42 years ago today Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. A few hours ago the last scheduled American space shuttle landed. America’s manned space program is, for the foreseeable future, dead and stinking. We do, however, have plenty of money to study the drinking habits of Chinese prostitutes and to exercise shrimp on treadmills. Somewhere, somehow, we have lost our way. I am unfortunately unsure that we will ever find it again and it is truly a damn shame.
NOTABLE PASSING
By Bob Walsh
PACOVILLA Corrections blog
July 21, 2011
Exactly 42 years ago today Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. A few hours ago the last scheduled American space shuttle landed. America’s manned space program is, for the foreseeable future, dead and stinking. We do, however, have plenty of money to study the drinking habits of Chinese prostitutes and to exercise shrimp on treadmills. Somewhere, somehow, we have lost our way. I am unfortunately unsure that we will ever find it again and it is truly a damn shame.
ANOTHER NON-VIOLENT, NON-REVOCABLE CALIFORNIA PAROLEE
California voters do not want to spend any more money on prisons and the Supreme Court has ordered the state to reduce its prison population. In either case, public safety was obviously not a consideration.
PRISONERS RELEASED AS STATES CUT SPENDING
By Christopher Palmeri
Bloomberg
July 20, 2011
Zackariah Lehnen, a 30-year-old transient, was paroled from a California prison in November after serving five months of a 16-month sentence for drug possession. He left under a program intended to reduce state costs by freeing nonviolent prisoners without supervision.
Six months later he was arrested and charged with murder in the torture and stabbing deaths of an 89-year-old man and a 27- year-old woman in a Los Angeles suburb, according to court documents. He’s in jail, with a plea hearing set for July 28.
Lehnen’s case, reminiscent of Willie Horton, the Massachusetts inmate who committed rape in 1987 after failing to return from a weekend pass, is an extreme illustration of the risks states face when they look to reduce prison spending by locking up fewer convicts.
“It’s a perfect example of what goes wrong when you prioritize saving money over public safety,” said Ted Lieu, a former military prosecutor who’s now a Democratic state senator from Torrance, in a telephone interview.
“We’re going to release more prisoners around the country,” former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, who heads the security consulting firm Kroll Inc., said in a telephone interview. “A large share of those being let out are going to be people who are clearly a danger to society.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered California to take 33,000 inmates out of prisons in two years to resolve overcrowding and substandard health-care. California runs the nation’s largest correctional system, with about 161,000 inmates.
Governor Jerry Brown, a 73-year-old Democrat, plans to meet the Supreme Court order by no longer admitting low-level offenders to state prison, leaving that responsibility to local law enforcement.
“The system of corrections itself is failing with a 70 percent recidivism rate, and at a cost of $50,000 per inmate, this is not a sustainable system,” Brown, who was previously the state attorney general, said in an April press conference. “The realignment plan is a very well-thought-out response to the problem.”
Lehnen, accused of the double murder in California, is an example of how the state’s system for sorting inmates by the risks they pose can fail, Lieu said. A month after his release from prison, Lehnen was in a state court in Beverly Hills, where he pleaded no contest to assault.
Though on parole at the time, and with prior convictions for spousal battery and drug possession, Lehnen was released again, unsupervised, on Dec. 23, court records show. Lehnen was given credit for time served and good behavior, according to court records.
“I don’t understand why he got the credits he did,” Steve Katz, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, said in a telephone interview.
Lehnen met the criteria for unsupervised release in November because his most serious prior conviction was for drugs, according to Luis Patino, a spokesman for the state Corrections Department.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department medical records on file in the murder case indicate Lehnen has bipolar paranoid schizophrenia and takes medication.
Kathryn Doyle, the mother of Erica Escobar, the 27-year-old that Lehnen is charged with killing, said she is studying California’s changing parole process with the goal of preventing violent criminals from being released.
“I understand prisons are overcrowded and the inhuman treatment in them, but I don’t understand why my daughter’s dead,” Doyle said while choking back tears in a telephone interview. “I know she would want me to find out.”
“This guy was bipolar and supposed to be on psych meds -- who is making sure he takes his meds?” asked Doyle. “He’s not the only one. It’s a major concern.”
PRISONERS RELEASED AS STATES CUT SPENDING
By Christopher Palmeri
Bloomberg
July 20, 2011
Zackariah Lehnen, a 30-year-old transient, was paroled from a California prison in November after serving five months of a 16-month sentence for drug possession. He left under a program intended to reduce state costs by freeing nonviolent prisoners without supervision.
Six months later he was arrested and charged with murder in the torture and stabbing deaths of an 89-year-old man and a 27- year-old woman in a Los Angeles suburb, according to court documents. He’s in jail, with a plea hearing set for July 28.
Lehnen’s case, reminiscent of Willie Horton, the Massachusetts inmate who committed rape in 1987 after failing to return from a weekend pass, is an extreme illustration of the risks states face when they look to reduce prison spending by locking up fewer convicts.
“It’s a perfect example of what goes wrong when you prioritize saving money over public safety,” said Ted Lieu, a former military prosecutor who’s now a Democratic state senator from Torrance, in a telephone interview.
“We’re going to release more prisoners around the country,” former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton, who heads the security consulting firm Kroll Inc., said in a telephone interview. “A large share of those being let out are going to be people who are clearly a danger to society.”
The U.S. Supreme Court has ordered California to take 33,000 inmates out of prisons in two years to resolve overcrowding and substandard health-care. California runs the nation’s largest correctional system, with about 161,000 inmates.
Governor Jerry Brown, a 73-year-old Democrat, plans to meet the Supreme Court order by no longer admitting low-level offenders to state prison, leaving that responsibility to local law enforcement.
“The system of corrections itself is failing with a 70 percent recidivism rate, and at a cost of $50,000 per inmate, this is not a sustainable system,” Brown, who was previously the state attorney general, said in an April press conference. “The realignment plan is a very well-thought-out response to the problem.”
Lehnen, accused of the double murder in California, is an example of how the state’s system for sorting inmates by the risks they pose can fail, Lieu said. A month after his release from prison, Lehnen was in a state court in Beverly Hills, where he pleaded no contest to assault.
Though on parole at the time, and with prior convictions for spousal battery and drug possession, Lehnen was released again, unsupervised, on Dec. 23, court records show. Lehnen was given credit for time served and good behavior, according to court records.
“I don’t understand why he got the credits he did,” Steve Katz, a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, said in a telephone interview.
Lehnen met the criteria for unsupervised release in November because his most serious prior conviction was for drugs, according to Luis Patino, a spokesman for the state Corrections Department.
Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department medical records on file in the murder case indicate Lehnen has bipolar paranoid schizophrenia and takes medication.
Kathryn Doyle, the mother of Erica Escobar, the 27-year-old that Lehnen is charged with killing, said she is studying California’s changing parole process with the goal of preventing violent criminals from being released.
“I understand prisons are overcrowded and the inhuman treatment in them, but I don’t understand why my daughter’s dead,” Doyle said while choking back tears in a telephone interview. “I know she would want me to find out.”
“This guy was bipolar and supposed to be on psych meds -- who is making sure he takes his meds?” asked Doyle. “He’s not the only one. It’s a major concern.”
JUSTICE TRUMPS FORGIVENESS: VICTIM TRIES AND FAILS TO STOP EXECUTION
Mark Stroman saw himself as an avenger when he waged his personal war against the Arab Muslims he held responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. However, the people he attacked at convenience stores were not Arabs.
On September 15, 2001, four days after the attacks, Stroman killed Waqar Hasan, a Pakistani Muslim. On September 21, he shot and seriously wounded Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim who was born in Bangladesh. On October 4, 2001, he killed his third and final victim, Vasudev Patel, a Hindu. Stroman was sentenced to death for Patel’s murder.
Rais Bhuiyan, who had been shot in the face and lost an eye, survived against all odds. Bhuiyan went to court and tried to stop the scheduled execution. He claimed that his Muslim faith required him to forgive his assailant. He held that if Stroman were executed, his (Bhuiyan’s) rights as a victim will have been violated because he would be deprived of the opportunity for a "healing dialogue" with his assailant.
The man Bhuiyan wanted to hold that healing dialogue with had served two prison terms before he went on his shooting rampage and claimed membership in the Aryan Brotherhood, that notorious white supremacist prison gang.
Bhuiyan failed in his efforts to spare Stroman’s life. The scumbag was executed Wednesday evening by the State of Texas. Among his last words, Stroman declared that he was “still a proud American, Texas loud, Texas proud!”
Well folks, us Texans sure as hell ain’t proud of that sorry ass scumbag. We are proud that justice has been done and that the earth is now rid of a vile subhuman. His mistake was that he went on his hate-filled shooting rampage in this state. Had he done so in California, he would never have been executed.
On September 15, 2001, four days after the attacks, Stroman killed Waqar Hasan, a Pakistani Muslim. On September 21, he shot and seriously wounded Rais Bhuiyan, a Muslim who was born in Bangladesh. On October 4, 2001, he killed his third and final victim, Vasudev Patel, a Hindu. Stroman was sentenced to death for Patel’s murder.
Rais Bhuiyan, who had been shot in the face and lost an eye, survived against all odds. Bhuiyan went to court and tried to stop the scheduled execution. He claimed that his Muslim faith required him to forgive his assailant. He held that if Stroman were executed, his (Bhuiyan’s) rights as a victim will have been violated because he would be deprived of the opportunity for a "healing dialogue" with his assailant.
The man Bhuiyan wanted to hold that healing dialogue with had served two prison terms before he went on his shooting rampage and claimed membership in the Aryan Brotherhood, that notorious white supremacist prison gang.
Bhuiyan failed in his efforts to spare Stroman’s life. The scumbag was executed Wednesday evening by the State of Texas. Among his last words, Stroman declared that he was “still a proud American, Texas loud, Texas proud!”
Well folks, us Texans sure as hell ain’t proud of that sorry ass scumbag. We are proud that justice has been done and that the earth is now rid of a vile subhuman. His mistake was that he went on his hate-filled shooting rampage in this state. Had he done so in California, he would never have been executed.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
DON'T FORCE-FEED THEM, LET THEM STARVE
The hunger-striking inmates are the worst troublemakers and the most dangerous criminals in the California prison system. Force-feed them? No, fuckem! Keep offering them their three squares and if they refuse to eat, let them starve!
TOP PRISON OFFICIAL TO SEEK COURT ORDERS TO FORCE-FEED HUNGER-STRIKING INMATES
LAPPL NewsWatch
July 20, 2011
More than 400 inmates in California prisons have refused food to protest what they call "inhumane" conditions in isolation units. Some of those inmates have not eaten for nearly three weeks; they risk permanent physical damage and death. The head of the state corrections department said Tuesday he'd force-feed inmates if necessary to save their lives. Prisoners in Security Housing Units spend 23 hours a day in their cells and one hour in a concrete exercise yard.
_________
The hunger-striking inmates don’t realize how good they’ve got it. Let me repeat how my Aussie friend Dorina Lisson described Asian and Middle Eastern prison conditions:
If you are unlucky enough to find yourself on the wrong side of the law and end up in an Asian or Middle Eastern prison, here is a sample of what to expect.
In these countries drug-traffickers are presented with the death penalty. If you are caught with 15 grams heroin, or more, it is a mandatory death sentence.
These countries make no legal distinction between 'soft' and 'hard' drugs. Harsh penalties for carrying illegal drugs can be severe, even for offences involving marijuana and alcohol.
Penalties include public executions to the sound of cheers, life in prison without parole, limb amputation, flogging and even torture.
Be prepared to share your prison cell with a bucket, at least a dozen cockroaches, some lice and a few rats. You will need to become accustomed to the aroma from the bucket (your toilet).
If you conform, prison officials will reward you with a lid for your bucket. If you refuse to conform to what is expected of you by authorities, you may be legally flogged.
Most prisons have small dormitory cells and can contain up to 20 prisoners with one large bucket for everyone to share.
A variety of contagious diseases and infections including hepatitis and HIV are plentiful. The local drinking water contains a natural potent laxative - diarrhea becomes a habit.
Every prisoner is allowed one cold shower (2-3 minutes max before the tap is turned off by prison staff) per week. Every prisoner is allowed clean underpants once only per week. If you soil your underpants you will have to sit in it.
The bed is usually a thin mat on the floor/ground, but do not assume you will get much sleep - those annoying mosquitoes keep buzzing in your ears and the rats have a bad habit of running over your face throughout the night.
As for the food ... you wouldn't feed it to a dog - the cockroaches look more appetizing!
TOP PRISON OFFICIAL TO SEEK COURT ORDERS TO FORCE-FEED HUNGER-STRIKING INMATES
LAPPL NewsWatch
July 20, 2011
More than 400 inmates in California prisons have refused food to protest what they call "inhumane" conditions in isolation units. Some of those inmates have not eaten for nearly three weeks; they risk permanent physical damage and death. The head of the state corrections department said Tuesday he'd force-feed inmates if necessary to save their lives. Prisoners in Security Housing Units spend 23 hours a day in their cells and one hour in a concrete exercise yard.
_________
The hunger-striking inmates don’t realize how good they’ve got it. Let me repeat how my Aussie friend Dorina Lisson described Asian and Middle Eastern prison conditions:
If you are unlucky enough to find yourself on the wrong side of the law and end up in an Asian or Middle Eastern prison, here is a sample of what to expect.
In these countries drug-traffickers are presented with the death penalty. If you are caught with 15 grams heroin, or more, it is a mandatory death sentence.
These countries make no legal distinction between 'soft' and 'hard' drugs. Harsh penalties for carrying illegal drugs can be severe, even for offences involving marijuana and alcohol.
Penalties include public executions to the sound of cheers, life in prison without parole, limb amputation, flogging and even torture.
Be prepared to share your prison cell with a bucket, at least a dozen cockroaches, some lice and a few rats. You will need to become accustomed to the aroma from the bucket (your toilet).
If you conform, prison officials will reward you with a lid for your bucket. If you refuse to conform to what is expected of you by authorities, you may be legally flogged.
Most prisons have small dormitory cells and can contain up to 20 prisoners with one large bucket for everyone to share.
A variety of contagious diseases and infections including hepatitis and HIV are plentiful. The local drinking water contains a natural potent laxative - diarrhea becomes a habit.
Every prisoner is allowed one cold shower (2-3 minutes max before the tap is turned off by prison staff) per week. Every prisoner is allowed clean underpants once only per week. If you soil your underpants you will have to sit in it.
The bed is usually a thin mat on the floor/ground, but do not assume you will get much sleep - those annoying mosquitoes keep buzzing in your ears and the rats have a bad habit of running over your face throughout the night.
As for the food ... you wouldn't feed it to a dog - the cockroaches look more appetizing!
FIRST THE ISRAELIS, THEN HIS LIBERAL BASE, AND NOW THE ARABS
The Israelis were the first to become disillusioned with Obama. Then his liberal supporters came to realize that his ‘change and hope’ rhetoric was nothing more than hot air. And now the Arabs, a major part of the Muslim world that the president has been reaching out to, are disillusioned with Obama.
NOW IT’S THE ARABS WHO ARE DISILLUSIONED WITH OBAMA, EXPERTS SAY
By Lydia Mulvany
Jewish World Review
July 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama isn't living up to his promises in the Middle East, and it's driving Arab attitudes toward the United States to their lowest point in years, analysts say.
In a Zogby International poll released last week, respondents in four out of six countries surveyed had a lower opinion of the United States than at the end of the Bush administration in 2008.
The feeling among many in the region is that no American president can bring about change, James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute and a senior adviser at the eponymous polling firm, said Tuesday.
Citing conversations he had in the region during the polling, Zogby said, "There was this sense that it's a fundamentally broken system, that (the U.S.) can't do the right thing."
Part of the reason were sky-high expectations after Obama's celebrated speech to the Muslim world in 2009 in Cairo.
Arabs believed Obama two years ago when he said he would change Washington and the world, Zogby told a roundtable at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. Now, a stunning majority — as high as 99 percent of those surveyed in Lebanon and 94 percent in Jordan — said Obama hasn't met expectations.
Even actions that could be construed as constructive, such as establishing a no-fly zone over Libya or killing Osama bin Laden, didn't win points. In the poll, the killing of bin Laden actually worsened attitudes. Zogby said it was because those actions reinforced America's image as the bully on the block.
"I use the example of the next-door neighbor (who screws) around with your wife for a couple of years, and then one day trims your bushes and takes your garbage out. You don't say, 'Gosh what a great guy,'" Zogby said.
Of course, U.S. approval ratings in the region have been low for a long time. Arab opinion of the United States rose briefly after 9-11, then dropped with the invasion of Iraq. While favorability surged in many Arab countries when Obama was elected, it was clearly on the wane by 2010.
After the Cairo speech, hopes for a solution for Israel and Palestine were high. Lack of progress on that issue was a chief disappointment, analysts said.
Shibley Telhami, a senior fellow at the center-left Brookings Institution, said that the numbers showed that the "Arab Spring" popular uprisings this year haven't had much of an effect on how Arabs view the U.S. Rather, they continue to view America through the prism of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Analysts also said that Obama gave the impression he would change foreign and security policy drastically, while such changes often occur incrementally.
Republicans jumped on the poll and said that Arab countries wanted the George W. Bush administration's more aggressive foreign policy back. Elliott Abrams, a deputy national security adviser under Bush, said the Obama administration wasn't supportive enough of freedom in the Middle East and wasn't with the people when they rose up against dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.
One poll question asked people to name the greatest obstacles to peace in the Middle East. The top two answers were U.S. interference in the Arab world and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The issues people in the region might welcome help with are pressing needs like the economy, health care and education — not democracy, Zogby said.
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, said the message she took from the poll results was: Just stop interfering.
"There was a time when you'd get questions back, like we need you to lead here differently, or we need you to be balanced — that's just gone. Now it's just stay out of it," Berry said. "We are now reduced to interference."
NOW IT’S THE ARABS WHO ARE DISILLUSIONED WITH OBAMA, EXPERTS SAY
By Lydia Mulvany
Jewish World Review
July 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama isn't living up to his promises in the Middle East, and it's driving Arab attitudes toward the United States to their lowest point in years, analysts say.
In a Zogby International poll released last week, respondents in four out of six countries surveyed had a lower opinion of the United States than at the end of the Bush administration in 2008.
The feeling among many in the region is that no American president can bring about change, James Zogby, founder of the Arab American Institute and a senior adviser at the eponymous polling firm, said Tuesday.
Citing conversations he had in the region during the polling, Zogby said, "There was this sense that it's a fundamentally broken system, that (the U.S.) can't do the right thing."
Part of the reason were sky-high expectations after Obama's celebrated speech to the Muslim world in 2009 in Cairo.
Arabs believed Obama two years ago when he said he would change Washington and the world, Zogby told a roundtable at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. Now, a stunning majority — as high as 99 percent of those surveyed in Lebanon and 94 percent in Jordan — said Obama hasn't met expectations.
Even actions that could be construed as constructive, such as establishing a no-fly zone over Libya or killing Osama bin Laden, didn't win points. In the poll, the killing of bin Laden actually worsened attitudes. Zogby said it was because those actions reinforced America's image as the bully on the block.
"I use the example of the next-door neighbor (who screws) around with your wife for a couple of years, and then one day trims your bushes and takes your garbage out. You don't say, 'Gosh what a great guy,'" Zogby said.
Of course, U.S. approval ratings in the region have been low for a long time. Arab opinion of the United States rose briefly after 9-11, then dropped with the invasion of Iraq. While favorability surged in many Arab countries when Obama was elected, it was clearly on the wane by 2010.
After the Cairo speech, hopes for a solution for Israel and Palestine were high. Lack of progress on that issue was a chief disappointment, analysts said.
Shibley Telhami, a senior fellow at the center-left Brookings Institution, said that the numbers showed that the "Arab Spring" popular uprisings this year haven't had much of an effect on how Arabs view the U.S. Rather, they continue to view America through the prism of the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Analysts also said that Obama gave the impression he would change foreign and security policy drastically, while such changes often occur incrementally.
Republicans jumped on the poll and said that Arab countries wanted the George W. Bush administration's more aggressive foreign policy back. Elliott Abrams, a deputy national security adviser under Bush, said the Obama administration wasn't supportive enough of freedom in the Middle East and wasn't with the people when they rose up against dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.
One poll question asked people to name the greatest obstacles to peace in the Middle East. The top two answers were U.S. interference in the Arab world and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
The issues people in the region might welcome help with are pressing needs like the economy, health care and education — not democracy, Zogby said.
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, said the message she took from the poll results was: Just stop interfering.
"There was a time when you'd get questions back, like we need you to lead here differently, or we need you to be balanced — that's just gone. Now it's just stay out of it," Berry said. "We are now reduced to interference."
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