Tuesday, January 31, 2012

HE’S NOT A COLD BLOODED MURDERER, HE’S JUST A HEROIC FREEDOM FIGHTER

The Palestinian Authority continues to glorify the murder of innocent Israelis, including women and children.

PALESTINIANS PRAISE KILLER OF JEWISH FAMILY
By Ryan Jones

Israel Today
January 30, 2012

The mother and aunt of a young Palestinian man who brutally slaughtered nearly an entire Jewish family last year went on Palestinian Authority television recently to praise his murderous actions and to denounce Israel for having the audacity to put him in jail.

Hakim Awad was given five life sentences by an Israeli court last August for his role in the March 2011 massacre of the Fogel family in the northern Samaria Jewish community of Itamar. During the home invasion attack, Hakim and his cousin, Amjad Awad (who also received five life sentences), mercilessly stabbed to death Udi and Ruth Fogel and three of their young children, including a four-month-old baby.

The Fogel massacre sent shockwaves through Israeli society both because of the brutality and the purposeful targeting of young children, at least two of whom were sleeping when they were set upon by the Awad cousins.

Palestinian society views the murders and the murderers much differently.

Last week, Palestinian Authority TV aired a program called "For You" decrying Israel's imprisonment of convicted Palestinian terrorists. Hakim Awad was one of the stars of the show.

Phoning in to the show, Awad's aunt read a poem she had written for Hakim and referred to the blood-soaked killer as a "hero" and a "legend" among his family, friends and peers. Awad's mother also got on the line to lament that she was being prevented from visiting her son due to the severity of the "Itamar operation" - Palestinians regularly refer to the murder of Israeli Jews, even children, as military "operations."

The hostess of the "For You" program also added her own greeting to Hakim Awad.

This continued justification and even glorification of the murder of Israeli Jews is for most Israelis the primary reason the peace process is going nowhere. As part of the original "Oslo Accords," both sides were obliged to educate their populations for peaceful coexistence.

Remarks such as those expressed by the Awad matriarchs suggests that Palestinian society has actually been educated to hate Jews even more. And it is a certainty that at least some young Palestinians watching "For You" took away the lesson that they, too, can become "legends" by murdering Jews.

THANKS TO THE SUPREME COURT, CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIONS NOW HARDER

The recent Supreme Court decision requiring a warrant to place a GPS tracking device on a suspect’s car has made police investigations more difficult, especially investigations of organized crime.

It is interesting that even the liberal Obama administration sided with the police, arguing for the warrantless use of GPS tracking devices.

A SETBACK FOR POLICE AS SUPREME COURT REINS IN GPS TRACKING
By Los Angeles Police Protective League Board of Directors

LAPPL Blog
January 27, 2012

It’s no secret that GPS tracking devices have been hot sellers of late to law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. Local, state and federal officials have used them in countless investigations, and their use in solving crimes has proven efficient and effective.

But alas, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that police need a warrant before they can put a GPS tracking device on an individual’s vehicle to covertly track the person. The high court’s unanimous ruling – a setback for law enforcement at all levels – was surprising. Attaching such a small device to a car’s undercarriage did not seem to rise to a violation of property rights, nor did it seem unreasonable for anyone driving on a public street to expect their movements to go unmonitored.

The case that brought the issue to a head involved a Washington man convicted on drug charges with the benefit of evidence collected by GPS tracking. One justice wrote in the court’s opinion that investigators trespassed when they attached the device to the man’s jeep and collected 28 days’ worth of data. Another wrote in a separate opinion that the four weeks of monitoring violated the man’s reasonable expectation of privacy.

In its argument before the court last year, the Obama Administration laid out a compelling rationale for allowing the use of GPS technology in this manner. Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreben asserted that police should not need to obtain a warrant because location information could have been obtained through ordinary surveillance methods. Anyone could track anyone – even Supreme Court Justices – without violating their privacy, he argued.

If there’s a bright spot in the decision, it’s that the ruling is narrow and leaves open some key issues in our new digital world. For example, the ruling provided no clear guidance on whether the government must obtain a warrant for access to such things as location data stored on an individual’s smartphone, or to emails archived by internet service providers.

The advance of technology is outpacing the courts. It’ll take many more cases and Supreme Court rulings to arrive at the exact restrictions criminal investigations must adhere to in their use of innovative technology. We can only hope that over time the right balance will be struck between citizens’ rights and law enforcement’s ability to use the latest technology to solve crimes in the most effective and efficient manner.

WIFE PLAYS RACE CARD BECAUSE WHITE COPS SHOT OFF-DUTY RR COP 28 TIMES

Of course, those white cops were racists. Why else would they shoot this poor African-American 28 times? Wife says she ‘fears for every Afro-American in this corrupt unjust system.’

FORMER COP CONVICTED OF TRYING TO KILL 4 OFFICERS
Defendant was shot 28 times in traffic stop after he pulled out his service Glock 9mm and started shooting

By Tina Sfondeles

Chicago Sun-Times
January 30, 2012

CHICAGO — A former Chicago cop has been convicted of trying to kill four police officers even though he was shot 28 times by police during a West Side traffic stop.

A jury Friday found Howard Morgan, 61, guilty on attempted murder charges — five years after a jury deadlocked on the same charges and acquitted him of others in connection with the 2005 incident.

The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police praised the verdict, declaring "justice served" on its website Friday.

But Morgan's wife was outraged, and blasted the decision as "ludicrous" Saturday.

Howard Morgan, a Chicago Police veteran, was off-duty as a detective for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad when he was stopped for driving the wrong way on a one-way street near 19th Street and Lawndale in the early morning hours of Feb. 21, 2005. When police tried to arrest him, prosecutors said, he pulled out his service Glock 9mm and started shooting.

Morgan allegedly wounded one officer in the incident. But three other officers opened fired and hit Morgan 28 times, his wife, Rosalind Morgan, said.

Morgan spent seven months at Oak Forest Hospital recovering, she said.

In 2007, he was acquitted of charges of aggravated battery and discharging a weapon at a police officer. But the jury hung on the attempted murder charges, leading to his retrial.

Rosalind Morgan blasted her husband's arrest and prosecution not only once, but twice, and said her husband "had never been in trouble, no prior arrests, no drugs, no alcohol.

"Four white officers and one black Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad police man with his weapon on him — around the corner from our home — and he just decided to go crazy? No. That's ludicrous," she said.

To Rosalind Morgan, this whole thing is about racism.

"If they can do this and eliminate double jeopardy and your constitutional rights, then my God, I fear for every Afro-American — whether they be male or female — in this corrupt unjust system," she said.

Police have denied the arrest or shooting were improper.

BEDBUGS AT THE RITZ-CARLTON

Oscar De La Hoya and Angelica Cecora to seek damages

By Pamela Putz

The Schalotte
January 30, 2012

Scott Geraghty, general manager of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, has admitted that bedbugs have been discovered in New York’s swankiest hotel. “Bedbugs are inevitable,” he said. “They’re brought in by guests and come in on luggage or things of that nature.”

A guest in Room 1005 of the hotel, where a midweek room can start at $695 and soar to $4500 for a suite, produced a specimen of the pesky bug, a wingless six-legged bloodsucker before checking out on Sunday.

Rosanna Polanco, a hotel maid, was upset because no one from the Ritz-Carlton told her about the bedbugs. She was told about them by a worker from Ecolab Inc., a company that supplies cleaning products and pest elimination services, but only after she had already cleaned Room 1005. “Be careful,” he warned her, “there’s a lot of bedbugs in there.”

Hotel management sources have told The Schalotte that Room 1005 is the same suite in which boxing great Oscar De La Hoya and two women had a coke and pot induced wild and kinky sex party.

The Schalotte contacted Angelica Cecora, the Playboy and Maxim model who was one of the women participating in De Lay Hoya’s sex romp. Cecora said that following the party she found the area around her crotch covered with “a bunch of red bumps that itched like hell.” The severe itching lasted for more than two weeks during which time she was unable to work or have sex with her boyfriend. She refused to say anything more and referred us to her lawyer.

Tony Evans, Cecora’s lawyer, told us he was preparing a $10 million lawsuit against the Ritz-Carlton. “Angelica has suffered considerable emotional distress and loss of income, and she has been deprived of a sexual relationship with her boyfriend,” he said, “all because of the hotel’s failure to maintain a clean and healthy bedbug-free environment.”

Evans went on to say that he would amend Cecora’s lawsuit against De La Hoya. “After all, it was De La Hoya who invited my client up to that suite. As you know, we are asking the court to award Angelica $5 million for imprisonment, emotional distress and assault and battery. Because of the bedbugs, we are going to double the damages to $10 million.”

The Schalotte also contacted De La Hoya. “That explains it ….. the red bumps and that terrible itching around my cock,” he said. “Thank God I like to wear crotchless panties, They make it a lot easier for me to scratch myself.”

Suddenly De La Hoya exclaimed, “ Oh shit, Millie [Oscar’s wife] is going to be really pissed off at me now. That explains why she’s been itching so much. I must have brought those fucking bedbugs home with me. Now she’ll have me sleeping on the couch again. I’m gonna sue the crap out of the Ritz-Carlton.”

Monday, January 30, 2012

HAVE WE NO SHAME?!

Granted, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak was a despot. But Mubarak was also an important strategic ally of the United States. So how did we repay our ally? We dropped him in the grease when the Egyptians revolted in what is known as the Arab Spring. Mubarak was imprisoned in poor health and is now undergoing a trial on charges that could bring him the death penalty. When it was apparent that he was about to be overthrown, we should have whisked him away on a plane and taken him to a country that was willing to give him asylum. And if none were willing, we should have let him live in this country.

Following months of unrest, Yemen’s embattled president Ali Abdullah Saleh said he would step down at the end of this year. He escaped with his life in an assassination attempt but was seriously injured and badly burned. He spent three months in Saudi Arabia getting treated for his injuries. Saleh has relinquished his authority. Now he has entered the United States for more treatments of his burns. But the government has made it quite clear that he will not be able to stay in this country because it does not want to be seen as harboring an autocrat accused of resorting to violence to remain in power.

Saleh promised to return to Yemen after his treatment in the U.S., but our government and our allies are pressuring him not to return. And although we do not want him to return to his homeland, we will not allow him to stay here. While he was in power Saleh was a strong ally of the U.S. He collaborated with our government in combating al-Qaeda in Yemen and other jihadist forces in his country. And this is how we repay him.

Mubarak and Saleh, our allies, hung out to dry. Have we no shame?! How can any other foreign leaders that are our allies, but who are unpopular with their people, still trust the American government?

A PUBLICITY STUNT THAT TURNED DEADLY

What a crock! The police chief claims they had to arrest this cop immediately or he would have been a danger to the public. What they really wanted to do was to pull off a publicity stunt with a dramatic arrest in order to show the public that they do not tolerate dirty cops.

I’m not defending this cop, but it was a 17-year-old girl and not a 15-year-oldd or younger one that he had sex with. They could have called him and asked him to turn himself in. The chances are good that he would have done that. If not, then they could have gone after him for an arrest. As it stands, this is one publicity stunt that turned deadly.

COP SHOT DEAD ON DUTY BY FELLOW OFFICERS ‘ARRESTING HIM FOR EXPLICIT SEXUAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GIRL, 17’

Mail Online
January 29, 2012

An on-duty police officer who was under investigation for an alleged sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl has been shot dead by fellow officers.

The 29-year-old cop, who worked for Santa Maria police in California, was killed as officers tried to arrest him while he manned a DUI checkpoint.

The motorcycle traffic officer, a newlywed who had been with the department for four years, was declared dead after emergency surgery.

The shooting came after he had learned of the investigation into his relationship and it became necessary to arrest him at once, police said.

They had discovered an 'inappropriate' and 'very explicit' relationship had been going on.

'We had no choice,' police chief Danny Macagni said in a news conference reported by KCOY-TV.

Investigators had evidence 'that demanded that we go out and take this officer off the street immediately', he said.

When officers arrived, the suspect put up a fight before firing his gun - but hitting no one.

'He chose to resist, he drew his weapon, a fight ensued, he fired his weapon,' the chief said.

More officers came to help the police and one shot the suspected officer in the chest once, Macagni said.

He added: 'The information that we had in hand demanded that we not let him leave that scene, get in a car, drive somewhere, it would put the public at risk.

'We just did not know what was going to happen, we did not expect him to react the way that he did.

'This is a very tragic and unfortunate situation that unfolded very rapidly and the results are something we are going to have to deal with.'

Macagni said police had expressed condolences to the officer's family.

His identity has not been released as some family members are still being notified.

The eight-year department veteran who fired the shot has been placed on administrative leave.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department is investigating the shooting.

SCIENTISTS: ‘LOOK, ONE-THIRD OF THE HUMAN RACE HAS TO DIE FOR CIVILIZATION TO BE SUSTAINABLE, SO HOW DO WE WANT TO DO THIS?’

Scientists say at least 2 billion dead bodies will be burned and converted into fossil fuels

The Onion
January 26, 2012

WASHINGTON—Saying there's no way around it at this point, a coalition of scientists announced Thursday that one-third of the world population must die to prevent wide-scale depletion of the planet's resources—and that humankind needs to figure out immediately how it wants to go about killing off more than 2 billion members of its species.

Representing multiple fields of study, including ecology, agriculture, biology, and economics, the researchers told reporters that facts are facts: Humanity has far exceeded its sustainable population size, so either one in three humans can choose how they want to die themselves, or there can be some sort of government-mandated liquidation program—but either way, people have to start dying.

And soon, the scientists confirmed.

"I'm just going to level with you—the earth's carrying capacity will no longer be able to keep up with population growth, and civilization will end unless large swaths of human beings are killed, so the question is: How do we want to do this?" Cambridge University ecologist Dr. Edwin Peters said. "Do we want to give everyone a number and implement a death lottery system? Incinerate the nation's children? Kill off an entire race of people? Give everyone a shotgun and let them sort it out themselves?"

"Completely up to you," he added, explaining he and his colleagues were "open to whatever." "Unfortunately, we are well past the point of controlling overpopulation through education, birth control, and the empowerment of women. In fact, we should probably kill 300 million women right off the bat."

Because the world's population may double by the end of the century, an outcome that would lead to a considerable decrease in the availability of food, land, and water, researchers said that, bottom line, it would be helpful if a lot of people chose to die willingly, the advantage being that these volunteers could decide for themselves whether they wished to die slowly, quickly, painfully, or peacefully.

Additionally, the scientists noted that in order to stop the destruction of global environmental systems in heavily populated regions, there's no avoiding the reality that half the world's progeny will have to be sterilized.

"The longer we wait, the higher the number of people who will have to die, so we might as well just get it over with," said Dr. Chelsea Klepper, head of agricultural studies at Purdue University, and the leading proponent of a worldwide death day in which 2.3 billion people would kill themselves en masse at the exact same time. "At this point, it's merely a question of coordination. If we can get the populations of New York City, Los Angeles, Beijing, India, Europe, and Latin America to voluntarily off themselves at 6 p.m. EST on June 1, we can kill the people that need to be killed and the planet can finally start renewing its resources."

Thus far, humanity has been presented with a great variety of death options, among them, poisoning the world's water supply with cadmium, picking one person per household to be killed in the privacy of his or her home, mass beheadings, and gathering 2.3 billion people all in one place and obliterating them with a single hydrogen bomb.

Sources confirmed that if a death solution is not in place by Mar. 31, the U.N., in the interest of preserving the human race, will mobilize its peacekeeping forces and gun down as many people as necessary.

"I don't care how it happens, but a ton of Africans have to go, because by 2025, there's no way that continent will be able to feed itself," said Dr. Henry Craig of the Population Research Institute. "And by my estimation, three babies have to die for every septuagenarian, because their longer life expectancy means babies have the potential to release far more greenhouse gases going forward."

While the majority of the world's populace reportedly understands this is the only option left to save civilization, not all members of the human race are eager to die.

"I personally would rather live, but taking the long view, I can see how ensuring the survival of humanity is best," said Norwich, CT resident and father of three Jason Atkins. "I guess if we were to do it over again, it would make sense to do a better job conserving the earth's finite resources."

"Hopefully, the people who remain on the planet will use the mass slaughter of their friends and loved ones as an incentive to be more responsible going forward," he added.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

TEXAS HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS KNOW HOW TO FIGHT AND PLAY FOOTBALL

Texas public school education shines. Students may not be able to read, write or do math, but they sure know how to fight and, of course, how to play football. At one high school, the cafeteria has become a big smackdown arena.

Andy Dekaney High School, which is located north of Houston, has been the scene of several recent riotous brawls. Although the school administration has played down the problem, parents say the situation is out of control and poses a serious threat to the safety of their children. They say the cops have had to be called out on numerous occasions to restore order.

STUDENTS: ANOTHER ‘OUTRAGEOUS RIOT’ AT DEKANEY HIGH SCHOOL
by Kevin Reece

KHOU 11 News
January 27, 2012

SPRING, Texas – Police were called to Dekaney High School in northwest Harris County Friday after a brawl broke out in the cafeteria.

Spring ISD officials said the fight started between four students. But cell phone video obtained by KHOU 11 News clearly shows a chaotic scene with a lot more than four students involved.

Students who were in the lunchroom at the time said it was more like a riot.

“All these people came and just started hitting everybody,” said Maya Rodriguez, a student. “After a while, I got hit and everybody just started fighting. So I hit back...”

Students were jumping on tables, yelling and throwing things.

“They had a riot at B lunch and it got outrageous,” said Everiel Johnson, a student. “They started throwing milk. Innocent people were getting hit for no reason.”

Dekaney’s principal said she has seen enough.

“We have to have immediate solutions. We know that. We know that we have to do something quickly,” Delic Loyde said.

Dekaney students and parents say they’re fed up with the problems at the school and they don’t think it’s safe.

“We feel like this is getting out of control, way out of control,” said one mom who didn’t want to show her face. “And we just don’t know, as parents, what to do or who to talk to.”

The woman said her son was jumped in a Dekaney hallway on Thursday. She said another student had to be sent to the hospital, so she didn’t let her son go to school on Friday.

“I feel like we’re gonna lose a life if somebody doesn’t do something to prevent these fights that are going on every day,” she said.

Cell phone videos of several small-scale riots at Dekaney were posted to the Internet last year.

That’s why Willie Mayes pulled his son out of Dekaney and sent him to private school.

“I’m coming home and there’s news vans out here once a week. Apparently not being tough enough,” said Willie Mayes. “I’m paying for him to go to private school just to be away from this.”

HE SHOULD NOT HAVE INTERRUPTED HER JOHN WALYNE MOVIE

Score a big one for us pro-gunners.

64-YEAR-OLD WOMAN HOLDS FLEEING SUSPECT FOR COPS
By Bob Walsh

PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 28, 2012

A 64-year old Dayton Beach, FL, woman held a 22-year old suspected auto thief at gunpoint for the local cops.

On Tuesday the local cops were chasing a fleeing stolen vehicle believed to be driven by Roderick Willis, 22, at about 3 am. The Sheriff’s helicopter tracked the car to the home of Karen Granville where Ms. Granville and her cat were watching Rio Bravo. She saw Willis run into her yard and attempt to scale her fence. She stepped out with her trusty .38, yelled a few choice expletives at Willis and held him at gunpoint until the local constabulary arrived.

The young man has at least one prior for fleeing the cops. He is now being held for fleeing and eluding, driving on a suspended license, use of a vehicle to commit a felony and various drug possession charges. Since this happened in Florida and not the People’s Republic of California I expect Ms. Granville will suffer no legal consequences from her act.

COLONIZING THE MOON

Newt Gingrich: “By the end of my second term we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.”

John McCain: “I think we ought to send Newt Gingrich to the moon and Mitt Romney to the White House.”

Take your pick. I’ll take McCain. I don’t think either Romney or Gingrich can beat Obama and I really do not think either one of them is worth bragging about. Romney would have a better chance to beat Obama because he carries less baggage than Gingrich. But with the Republican candidates all slinging sewage at each other, the Republicans in the House being blamed for the congressional gridlock and the economy apparently improving, I just don’t see anyone beating Obama and certainly not one of the four remaining Republican contenders. I'm sorry to say that I believe Obama will be reelected by a landslide.

I just wish the Republicans would have more to offer than the four losers that are campaigning for their party’s nomination.

PONTIAC GOING THE WAY OF THE PONTIAC

When GM stopped production of the Pontiac and closed its automotive plant in Pontiac, the Michigan city lost its tax base and several thousand jobs. That has caused many Pontiac businesses to close. The once thriving city is on the way to becoming a ghost town.

The cash strapped city had to do away with its police force and firefighters. In a desperate attempt to stay alive, Pontiac is putting its city hall, police station, fire stations, library, golf courses and even its cemeteries up for sale. So far, no takers.

OUR WILD, WILD SOUTHERN NEIGHBOR

Any way you look at it, life in Mexico has never been worth a plug nickel.

LOWER HOMICIDE RATES UNDER CALDERON THAN PREVIOUS MEXICAN PRESIDENTS
By Diana Washington Valdez

El Paso Times
January 26, 2012

Mexico had higher homicide rates under three presidents before current President Felipe Calderón, who is being blamed for most of the violence because of his war against drug cartels, according to El Paso Times research and analysis.

The country's homicide rates were higher during the presidencies of Miguel De la Madrid, at 19.22 per 100,000 population; Carlos Salinas de Gortari, at 18.92; and Ernesto Zedillo, at 15.1.

Between 2007 and 2011, the homicide rate for Mexico under Calderón was 14.53 per 100,000. The homicide rate in the Vicente Fox administration was 9.78 per 100,000.

The El Paso Times calculated the rates for the first five years of the past five presidents. Calderón, who has completed five years of his six-year term, initiated the crackdown against the drug cartels that's led to highly regionalized brutal violence. The Times gathered statistics from a variety of agencies including the United Nations, Mexican law enforcement agencies, the Mexican census bureau and the World Bank.

Salinas, who pioneered the North American Free Trade Agreement in Mexico, finished out his six-year term with the country reporting a record 92,927 homicides. Calderón would have to finish his last year in office with nearly 13,000 morehomicides to match the number of deaths in Salinas' term.

"The numbers are significant and illuminating," said L. Ray Sadler, an author and expert on Mexico at New Mexico State University. "It was under De la Madrid that DEA Agent Enrique 'Kiki' Camarena was killed."

Before Camarena was kidnapped, tortured and murdered, he was investigating suspected links between drug-traffickers and officials, according to Drug Enforcement Administration officials. By then, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Miguel Felix Gallardo had emerged as the early godfathers of Mexico's drug trade.

Fonseca is the uncle of the late Amado Carrillo Fuentes, whose organization is now involved in a bloody battle involving Juárez against the cartel allegedly led by Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. Felix, a former federal police official, is related to the Arellano Felix siblings who founded the Tijuana drug cartel.

Sadler said it's traditional in Mexico for people to think in terms of the presidential "sexenios" (the six-year) terms, when the past is quickly forgotten.

"Sexenios in Mexico have a profound cultural and political impact," Sadler said. "It's the idea that everything begins and ends, and then begins again with each new sexenio."

The Times research showed that homicide rates were even higher in Mexico's early modern history than they are today.

In 1931, when the federal government began recording homicide statistics, the rate for that year was 50.78 per 100,000 and the total number of slayings was 8,551. The national population was about a fifth of what it is today. Other previous homicide rates are telling: 67.04 in 1940, 35.93 in 1955, 25.48 in 1950, and 25.48 in 1962.

"Most murders back then probably involved land disputes and disputes between different families," said Manuel Aguirre, an independent statistics researcher in Mexico. "The population was smaller in those years and drug-trafficking was hardly noticeable. Between 1970 and 1986, the rates rose slightly again, likely due to the economic crisis, which is also when widespread crime began to increase."

In its past, Mexico suffered major currency devaluations at the end of almost every presidential term. The trend for the peso's free fall ended with Fox's administration.

The Mexican government did not publish any homicide rates for the last two years of Luis Echeverria's presidency and the first two years of his successor, José Lopez Portillo. They ruled with an iron fist during one of Mexico's most notorious crackdowns against dissidents.

The years of missing data coincide with the Mexican government's notorious "dirty war" against guerrillas and dissidents. Six years ago, the government under Fox sought to prosecute high-level officials implicated in the forced disappearances and alleged genocide that lasted from the 1960s to the 1980s.

According to the George Washington University National Security Archive, three presidents (Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, Echeverria and Lopez Portillo) were implicated in a Mexican government report "of a sustained policy of violence targeting armed guerrillas and student protesters alike, including the use of massacres, forced disappearance, systematic torture, and genocide."

Nothing came of the charges against Echeverria, and Lopez Portillo and Diaz Ordaz both died before they could be tried.

Minerva Martinez, a spokeswoman for INEGI in Mexico, said only that "no information is available for those years (1974-78), and explained that INEGI simply collates the statistics that other agencies provide.

INEGI, similar to the U.S. Census Bureau, is a source of information about deaths in Mexico, along with SINAIS (National System of Health Information), the World Bank and the United Nations.

Similar statistics were not available for Juárez, the epicenter of Mexico's drug cartel wars, which have claimed more than 9,400 victims since 2007.

Fernando Alvarez, a retired teacher and math expert in Chihuahua state, said he suspects that deaths are underreported as a whole in Mexico.

"We may never know the true number of casualties from the dirty-war years or from the drug cartel wars we are experiencing," Alvarez said. "We are living another history lesson that we hope never to repeat again."

The country's historical statistics suggest that Mexico was at least as violent in the past as it is today. However, the drug violence, which is concentrated in certain areas, is getting all the attention because it is being carried out in dramatic and public ways.

In 2010, the states with the highest homicide rates were Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Sinaloa, Morelos, Nayarit and Michoacan.

During Calderón's administration, the government began to report separate statistics for drug-related slayings, which it labels as "executions," and other homicides.

For example, the government said that between 2007 and 2010, 30,858 out of a total of 64,759 homicides were linked to drug violence.

Calderón's staff was hoping that publishing statistics in this manner will take some of the pressure off the president to control the violence.

"I don't think the presidents of Mexico since Fox have the kind of power they need to control the violence," Salder said.

BIRDS BOMBING NORTHERN KENTUCKY TOWN A TERRORIST ATTACK?

By Adolf der Schweinehund

The Schalotte
January 28, 2012

La Grange, a small Kentucky town northeast of Louisville, has been bombed daily with droppings by several hundred thousand black birds. The carpet bombing attacks have been carried out every evening at dusk since last November. They have concentrated their bombings on a three-mile radius part of the town. At night the birds, believed to be starlings, roost in nearby woods, reloading for the next attack.

Residents say that during the bombings it sounds like heavy raindrops hitting the roofs of their homes. When the birds swarm it looks like a black cloud approaching the town. Residents don’t dare to go outdoors without their umbrellas. Their streets, their cars, their houses and their yards are covered with bird shit. It takes hours to clean all that shit off of their cars. Swimming pools are just one big shitty mess.

The smell is sickening. Residents claim the carpet bombing has resulted in serious health hazards. Kids are catching eye infections and many residents are experiencing respiratory difficulties. Wildlife authorities have given several residents air cannons, but the noise from the cannons has not succeeded in scaring off the attacking birds.

Bird experts say the bird swarm phenomenon is called ‘murmuration’, a synchronized swirl of starlings. The word was coined after two filmmakers on a canoe trip in Ireland filmed the swirl and put it to music.

Frank Attwater, standing under his umbrella, said, “I believe this shitty attack is the work of terrorists. I think they’re making a test run here in La Grange before unleashing this biological weapon of mass destruction on other parts of the country.” Mary Johnson, Attwater’s neighbor, agreed and added, “Just think what kind of havoc and destruction such bombings would cause if those birds attacked our military bases.”

Hank Fairweather, leader of the Texas Defenders of Freedom, showed up to offer the help of his organization. He said TDF is a small army of good old boys that was formed to fight terrorist attacks wherever they may occur in this country. He said that TDF doesn’t trust the government in the fight against terrorism. Fairweather belittled the air cannons and said, “I’ve got more than 50 of my men ready to come up here with their shotguns to blast away those ornery critters.” Suddenly he shouted “God damn it!” as his head and face got splattered with bird shit.

But bird lover Betsy Carpenter, while standing nearby under her umbrella, shouted “Go back to Texas! We don’t want your sorry ass redneck bird killers here! This is no terrorist attack. Birds are beautiful little creatures and I think this is God’s way of punishing us because this neighborhood voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama.”

Saturday, January 28, 2012

CHILD KILLSERS AND CHILD MOLESTERS DO NOT FARE TOO WELL IN AUSTRALIAN PRISONS EITHER

Prisoners in Australia apparently have the same moral justice code as prisoners in the U.S. Child molesters and child killers are in for a rough time and often have to be placed in administrative segregation for their own protection.

In this particular case, a child killer complains that his life sentence, of which he has to serve at least 33 years, is excessive. Excessive my ass!

The piece of shit should have been executed. Look at what he told the murdered child’s mother on the phone: ''I've killed her. She's just lying there next to me with her guts hanging out. It doesn't matter anymore. All I need to know is should I dump the body somewhere and how much time do you think I am going to get for this? I killed her, man, I killed her. I killed her to get back at you. I don't care. Even if I go behind bars, I know that you are suffering.''

PRISONERS PLAN SPECIAL ‘TREATMENT’ FOR CHILD KILLER RAMAZAN ACAR
A man who boasted about killing his daughter on Facebook before stabbing her has been singled out by other prisoners for special ‘treatment’, a court has been told

Herald Sun
January 28, 2012

News of Ramazan Acar's "difficult" time was revealed in his bid to appeal against a life term with a 33-year minimum.

Acar, who appeared in the Court of Appeal via video link from Port Phillip Prison yesterday, argues the sentence is manifestly excessive.

Acar, now 24, pleaded guilty to murdering daughter Yazmina, 2.

He was dubbed "the Facebook killer" because he posted chilling messages, one reading: "bout 2 kill ma kid."

He also rang the girl's mother, Rachelle D'Argent, and said: "You're not getting her back."

Justice Mark Weinberg has reserved his decision until next week on whether to grant leave to appeal.

EXACTLY WHAT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND THE EUROPEANS DO NOT WANT ISRAEL TO DO

Fear of getting sucked into a major Middle East conflict and fear of severe oil shortages with skyrocketing oil prices if Israel strikes Iran have the Obama administration and the Europeans shaking in their boots.

REPORT: ISRAEL COULD TAKE OUT IRAN’S NUCLEAR INFRASTRUCTURE ‘IN TWO DAYS’

WorldTribune.com
January 4, 2011

WASHINGTON — Israel could destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure with three combat air squadrons, a report said.

A report by a leading aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israel Air Force could destroy most of Iran’s infrastructure in two days. The report by Yoaz Hendel, a senior adviser to Netanyahu, said air strikes could be augmented by naval operations.

“The Israeli Air Force is capable of striking the necessary targets with two to three full squadrons of fighter-bombers with escorts to shoot down enemy aircraft,” the report titled “Iran’s Nukes and Israel’s Dilemma,” said. “However, most of the escorts will require refueling to strike the necessary targets in Iran. In addition, the Israelis can make use of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles from their Dolphin-class submarines.”

The report, published by the Philadelphia-based Middle East Quarterly, was the first by a senior Israeli government official. The publication said Hendel wrote his report before his recent appointment by the prime minister.

Hendel, a military historian, asserted that Israel was expected to target at least five main Iranian nuclear facilities. He cited the Bushehr light-water reactor facility, heavy-water plant in Arak, uranium conversion plant in Isfahan, the uranium enrichment facility in Qom and the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.

“Military planners may also feel compelled to attack Teheran’s centrifuge fabrication sites since their destruction would hamper the efforts to reestablish its nuclear program,” the report, released in late December 2011, said. “However, it is believed that the Iranians have dispersed some centrifuges to underground sites not declared to the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency]. It is by no means clear that Israeli intelligence has a full accounting of where they are.”

Hendel stressed that Iran has already fortified most of its nuclear facilities. He said Natanz was mostly underground and surrounded by Russian-origin TOR-M1 air defense batteries. Qom, designed to accommodate3,000 centrifuges, has been built into a mountain.

“The Israelis may also choose to bomb Iranian radar stations and air bases in order to knock out Teheran’s ability to defend its skies, particularly if multiple waves are required,” the report said.

Hendel said the Israel Air Force deploys an arsenal of munitions, including the U.S.-origin GBU-27 and GBU-28 laser-guided bunker-buster bombs that could penetrate Iranian nuclear facilities. He said the Air Force was training for deep strike missions since at least 2009 that included air and rapid ground refueling.

In all, Israel might have to attack as many as 60 targets in Iran. The report, citing Israeli electronic warfare capabilities, envisioned few aircraft losses and cited possible attack routes, including flying over Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

“The difficulties also depend on the precise goal of the air strike,” the report said. “A short-term, financially costly degradation of Iran’s nuclear program can be achieved in one wave of attacks, but Israeli defense analysts have estimated that a decisive blow could require hitting as many as 60 different targets with return sorties lasting up to two days.”

The analysis marked the latest effort by Israel to enhance deterrence against Iran. Middle East Quarterly said Hendel’s report reflected his personal view, but diplomats said the study was released in coordination with the Israeli government.

Hendel also envisions that Israel would target Iran’s energy sector in an attempt to prevent a massive counter-attack. He said Iran was likely to use both Hizbullah and Syria in any war with Israel.

“The Israelis will ultimately have to choose between launching an attack likely to spark a large-scale regional conflict and allowing Iran to go nuclear with dire long-term implications,” the report said. “Notwithstanding some disagreement about the immediacy of the threat and possible
repercussions, the large majority of Israelis favor military action over living with the ubiquitous threat of nuclear annihilation.”

IT WOULD BE MORE COMFORTING IF OBAMA WERE INSANE

Well put!

WHAT’S NEW, BARACK? NOTHING
By Monica Crowley

politicalmavens.com
January 27, 2012

It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. President Obama keeps giving us the same thing—the same policies, the same rhetoric, the same tone—over and over again. I’m not sure he expects a different result, though. And that’s the point: he’s neither insane nor stupid. He’s a pure leftist ideologue who will not—indeed, cannot—change.

And so in last night’s State of the Union address, he gave us more of the same warmed-over, failed stuff: more spending, more government programs (six new federal programs in the first 30 minutes alone!), more lip-service to debt reduction, more class warfare, more wealth redistribution, more self-aggrandizement. He actually used the same words—verbatim!—from speeches he gave in 2010 and 2011. His speechwriters have a fondness for beer-pong, and apparently they’re playing a lot of it these days. No need to change his words when he hasn’t changed policies or intentions.

If anyone is still wondering who this man is, what he believes, and what he intends to do, last night’s speech should have cleared that up. In fact, since he announced his candidacy in 2007, every speech, every policy, every action he has taken should have cleared it up. Still, many people refuse to see it. A pity, since it’s all right there in front of us. Last night’s leftist Alinsky hoedown had him once again doubling down on his radical agenda. No one should be surprised.

He is a totally committed leftist. In many ways, it would be more comforting if he were insane.

WHOOPEE! CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS WILL MINGLE WITH FEMALE INMATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY UNTIL LOCKUP AT NIGHT

Hmm, looks to me like a lot of correctional officers, both male and female, are going to fall for having improper sexual relations with inmates. And Bob Walsh says, “I feel so warm and cuddly I can hardly stand it.”

INMATE SPACES HIGHLIGHT NEW HEADINGLEY WOMEN’S PRISON
By: Larry Kusch

Winnipeg Free Press
January 27, 2012

HEADINGLEY -- The new Women's Correctional Centre in Headingley is different from every other jail in Manitoba in one important respect -- it was built with the female offender in mind.

The $79.5-million facility, six years in the making, will begin to receive inmates in the next two weeks. It replaces a 19th-century women's jail in Portage la Prairie that is bursting at the seams with little space to provide proper programs.

The new digs are unique in North America and could become a model for other women's jails. Prison superintendent Margo Lee said she and others toured facilities across Canada as well as some in the United States during the design process, looking for best practices wherever they went.

Even though the new jail has yet to open, Lee and the building's designers (Number Ten Architectural Group) have already spoken about the project at a convention sponsored by the American Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles.

During a media tour of the new facility on Thursday, Lee said society is starting to realize women need different jails than those designed for men. "We can't just take a male facility and paint it pink and say, 'There you go, girls.' "

She said women don't function well in large settings. They want more intimate spaces. So the new correctional centre is divided into many sub-units where corrections officers will mingle with inmates throughout the day until lockup at night.

"Men are very different," said Lee, who began her career in corrections 20 years ago at the Headingley Jail, a men's facility. "They're wanting to know who's in charge, the hierarchy. Men will want to see the person in charge to have a problem dealt with, whereas women will go to somebody that they've got a relationship with and (who) will listen to them."

The Portage Correctional Centre, built in 1893 and officially designed for 35 inmates, now incarcerates 85 women. It lacks the space to properly carry out rehabilitative programming.

That won't be the case at the new prison. There are several classrooms and meeting rooms so program providers -- be it for anger management, coping skills, addictions counselling or relationship counselling -- won't compete for space. Meeting rooms are also available for folks from social agencies to meet with inmates to ease their return to the outside world.

There's a spacious medical unit, a dental suite and even an area set aside for palliative care. The large kitchen will double as a training facility for learning life skills (such as math and measuring) as well as food safety and culinary skills.

If a jail can be cheery, this one may be it. The new facility is bathed in natural light. Each cell has a window, and even interior rooms receive an abundance of natural light either from skylights or indirectly, such as from atop a dividing wall.

Friday, January 27, 2012

HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE STUDENTS ENJOY CHOKING THEMSELVES

Mom and pop are shelling out big bucks so their kids can choke themselves to death. The Choking Game is somewhat different from autoerotic asphyxiation in that it is a feel-good game, while the latter is performed in order to experience an orgasm. Many autoerotic asphyxiation deaths are misclassified as suicides instead of accidental deaths. When an autopsy reveals evidence of ejaculation, it wasn’t a suicide.

THE CHOKING GAME: TEXAS SURVEY SAYS LOTS OF KIDS STILL PLAYING
By Craig Malisow

Houston Press Hair Balls
January 24, 2012

Sixteen percent of Sam Houston State University students responding to a survey about "The Choking Game" reported to having played the dumb-ass, potentially fatal game.

The Crime Victims' Institute study states that, of the 827 students who completed the survey, males were more likely than females to have played; "students who were bisexual or unsure of their sexual orientation" were more likely to have played than those identifying as hetero- or homosexual; and the average age of the first-time experience was 14.

Also known as "The Fainting Game," "Pass Out" and, for some reason, "Space Monkey," the "game" is pretty self-explanatory: a person restricts blood flow to the brain in order to produce a high. It was the subject of our cover story in 2007. Determining just how many kids have actually died from playing the game is pretty tricky; the Centers for Disease Control suggests that 82 kids died between 1995 and 2007.

Because other deaths may have been misclassified as suicides, the number might be higher, according to the study. When we first wrote about the Choking Game in 2007, we found the tragic story of a 14-year-old Spring girl who died while choking herself with a scarf, and her death was originally ruled a suicide.

Fortunately, the study actually includes a table of "techniques," which reduces the amount of guesswork for you folks who've never heard of it. The majority of respondents (31.6 percent) indicated they had someone squeeze their neck; 14 percent had someone press on their chest; nearly 13 percent squatted down and stood up repeatedly until they got all goofy; 3 percent took the ligature route; and an extremely determined 17 percent squeezed their own neck.

One of the most interesting claims in the study is that adolescents may have played the game for centuries; this is based on the claim that "the similar, the often unrelated practice of autoerotic asphyxiation has been documented as early as the 17th century" and that "ancient Native and Eskimo tribes detailed the practice of autoerotic asphyxiation among children." Eskimos? Really? Weird.

The study states that "even though awareness of the Choking Game is growing and more parents have reported understanding the risks of this activity, it should be noted that encouragement for parents to discuss this activity with their children should be stressed."

Hopefully enough parents will take heed, and there won't be a need for another study.

MOST ISRAELIS DO NOT BELIEVE OBAMA WILL KEEP HIS COMMITMENT TO DEFEND THE JEWISH STATE IN THE EVENT OF A MAJOR ATTACK

I don’t believe it either. Our people have had enough of this nation's involvement in armed conflicts and they have absolutely no stomach for any further shedding of American blood.

‘OBAMA PRESIDENCY HAS HARMED ISRAEL,’ SAYS ISRAELI OFFICIAL
By Ryan Jones

Israel Today
January 24, 2012

Former Israeli Ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman firmly stated last week that Barack Obama's time in the White House has caused great harm to Israel.

At a time when libelous accusations and efforts to delegitimize Israel are peaking, Obama's "weakness" has meant that "Israel has to keep apologizing for itself all the time," Gillerman said during a panel discussion at the annual Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO) conference in Tel Aviv.

"We shouldn't have to be on the defensive," Gillerman added.

Gillerman went on to note that the ongoing turmoil and regime changes in the Middle East were all the more reason to replace Obama with a stronger president in the upcoming US presidential election. Israeli officials have been critical of Obama's response and approach to the takeover by forces such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which they have labeled as everything from lackadaisical to appeasing.

Obama has been far more unpopular with average Israelis than any US president before him. Most Israelis believe Obama wants them to take unreasonable risks for peace with the Palestinians, and that in the event of a major attack on Israel, Obama would abandon the US commitment to defend the Jewish state.

ACTOR’S BELOVED MERCEDES CHOPPED TO BITS

Unfortunately for John Travolta, his beloved convertible probably cannot be put back together again. The perp pled guilty and in addition to jail time, he has been ordered to pay Travolta $50,000 for the car. Lots of luck collecting it, John.

JOHN TRAVOLTA’S STOLEN CLASSIC MERCEDES FOUND CHOPPED TO PIECES

Los Angeles Times
January 25, 2012

While authorities arrested two men they say stole John Travolta's classic Mercedes-Benz, the actor won't be seeing his beloved convertible any time soon, police officials said Wednesday.

Los Angeles police Det. George Molina, part of a countywide auto theft task force that broke the case open, said parts from the actor's 1970 Mercedes 280 SL convertible were found late last year on the proverbial chopping room floor.

"They chopped up the car," Molina said. "We have interior and some exterior body parts."

Molina said the men specialized in stealing classic cars and chopping them up, making money by selling the lucrative body parts. But sources familiar with the case said it wasn't exactly a sophisticated operation.

The break in the case took place last fall, when Santa Monica police acted on a tip that came in after they released a flier about Travolta's stolen car, according to sources familiar with the case. The tip identified suspect Michael Green.

That led to the Dec. 6 arrest of Green, who was on probation after pleading guilty to petty theft with priors in connection with stealing jewelry from a Sears store.

D.L. Rayford Jr. also was arrested in the case and has already pleaded no contest to grand theft auto. He has been sentenced to 16 months in state prison, Los Angeles County prosecutors said.

Authorities said Green told police in December that he stole Travolta's car and a second vehicle, described as a 1962 Mercedes 220 SE. The other car was the same vehicle LAPD officers reported in 2010 as being pushed off the 101 Freeway at Cahuenga Boulevard by a gold Chevy Cavalier.

Police were not able to make an arrest at the time because one of the suspects jumped out of the Mercedes and jumped into the Cavalier, driven by another man. That Mercedes was found to have been hot-wired but was returned to its owner.

That was not the case with Travolta's car, stolen in September when he left it parked for about 10 minutes in a Santa Monica residential neighborhood.

During the investigation, Santa Monica police detectives said they obtained video footage of the vehicle and the suspects as it was being taken from the 1400 block of Berkeley Street.

GOLDEN BOY OR FOOL’S GOLD BOY? Former champ, now chump, enjoys wearing women's undies

This is not the first time Oscar has been seen wearing women's undies. And he’s admitted to a cocaine addiction. Golden Boy? More like fool’s gold. If Oscar is going to cheat on his wife, surely he can find a sex partner with more class than Angelica.

PLAYBOY MODEL WANTS $5M AFTER CROSS-DRESSING BOXER OSCAR DE LA HOYA ‘HOSTED DRUG-FUELLED HOTEL SEX ROMP AND ATTACKED HER’
His lawyer says the only way she suffered was to miss dentist’s appointment

By Mark Duell and Inderdeep Baines

Mail Online
January 26, 2012

A model who claimed retired boxer Oscar De La Hoya assaulted her wants him to apologize and pay her $5million in damages for taking 'advantage of her in every way possible'.

Angelica Marie Cecora, 25, claimed at a lawsuit hearing that he held a drug-fuelled hotel romp last March, wore women’s underwear and intimidated her and her friend when they tried to leave.

‘It would be nice to start with an apology,’ said the Maxim and Playboy model outside court on Wednesday, dressed demurely in a ruffled shirt, short skirt and heels.

‘Oscar needs to acknowledge his mistakes,’ Ms Cecora, reported the New York Daily News. ‘He knows he did something wrong.’

After consensual sex, the married fighter put on Ms Cecora’s underwear and ordered drugs to his room at New York's Ritz Hotel, the lawsuit said.

He allegedly then requested an extreme sex act and Ms Cecora obliged before having her roommate come over with sex toys.

Ms Cecora and her friend then fell asleep but De La Hoya allegedly tried to pull her out of bed three times for more sex, reported the Daily News.

She was ‘afraid to leave the hotel room because she feared the defendant would attempt to have sex with her against her will,’ the lawsuit said.

Suites at the lavish Ritz-Carlton on Central Park South in Manhattan go for up to an eye-watering $4,500 a night.

He allegedly ran off in the morning and left the women with a $1,500 bill for the room. They in turn ran off, but Ms Cecora claims De La Hoya's manager called her later on to try to settle the bills, reported X17 Online.

She is not pursuing criminal charges, but Ms Cecora is seeking damages for imprisonment, emotional distress, assault and battery. The retired boxer's lawyer said this was all a con.

Judd Burstein told the court that the worst thing she experienced was missing a dentist appointment the next morning, reported the Daily News.

The attorney wanted sanctions imposed on Ms Cecora’s lawyer, Tony Evans, for bringing a ‘frivolous’ suit filled with ‘salacious’ allegations.

‘I’m embarrassed to have to argue this case,’ Mr Burstein said, reported the New York Post - adding she just wanted another ‘15 minutes of fame’.

But Mr Evans responded by saying the case facts are ‘salacious because the acts of Mr De La Hoya were deviant’, reported the Daily News.

‘It’s a man against a woman in a hotel room,’ Mr Evans said, reported the Post. ‘(He) was a professional boxer who’s knocked out 34 people.’

Barcelona 1992 Olympic gold medalist De Lay Hoya, of Los Angeles, California, is worth $175million and generated $700million in pay-per-view TV revenue during his career.

Known as 'Golden Boy', his idol is Sugar Ray Leonard and he has a professional record of defeating 17 world champions and winning 10 world titles in six different weights.

His most famous wins were against Mexican great Julio Cesar 'Caesar of Boxing' Chavez in 1996 and Pernell 'Sweet Pea' Whittaker in 1997. He retired in April 2009 and is now a boxing promoter.

Mr Burstein told the court that De La Hoya began rehabilitation therapy last spring because his life had spiraled out of control.

He labeled Ms Cecora ‘a prostitute and a grifter’ in court papers and said the boxer had become a ‘changed man’, reported the Post.

But Mr Evans claimed De La Hoya used his fame to manipulate Ms Cecora and had told her she would be used as a ringside girl in his boxing promotion work.

'It's the old Hollywood show business story,' he said. 'Find a girl who wants to be a model and say: "Oh you can come work for me".'

De La Hoya admitted a cocaine addiction in September and said photos of him from 2007 dressed in fishnets and lingerie were authentic.

The Olympic gold medalist was not at the Manhattan Supreme Court hearing - during which his lawyers asked that the lawsuit is dismissed - but denies the attack. The judge reserved a decision.

De La Hoya's wife Millie Corretjer, whom he married 10 years ago and has two children with, has not publically commented on the case.

This was the second time De La Hoya has been accused of wearing women’s underwear.

The first woman to do so, Siberian beauty Milana Dravnel, was rumored to have been paid $20million to go away in 2008.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

DENIED RESTROOM BREAK, 12-YEAR-OLD STUDENT EMPTIES BLADDER INTO WATER BOTTLE

A month in alternative school? Are they kidding? Send the teacher to alternative school for a month, not the poor kid.

LAWYER: TEXAS SEVENTH-GRADER FORCED TO URINATE IN WATER BOTTLE AFTER TEACHER DENIES RESTROOM BREAK

FoxNews.com
January 25, 2012

Sometimes, when you have to go, you have to go.

A Texas seventh-grader, who repeatedly asked his teacher if he could use the restroom, was forced to relieve himself in a water bottle after his requests were denied and was allegedly told by his teacher that she hopes he pees in his pants, MyFoxHouston.com reported.

The boy, 12, was given an in-school suspension after the Jan.13 incident and was not named in the report. But his lawyer told the station that he somehow worked an empty water bottle up his pant leg and urinated. He was found out after the bottle fell out of his sweatshirt pocket, Bill Hawkins, his lawyer, said.

"They called the district attorney's office to explore criminal charges," Hawkins said, the station reported. The office determined the boy did not commit a crime, the report said.

The boy attends Klein ISD near Houston and was placed in an alternate school for a month, a move his parents are appealing, the report said.

"The boy's conduct would not have taken place if not for the teacher's actions," Hawkins said, according to the report. "He had an impossible choice and he came up with the best solution he could under the circumstances."

Due to the school’s policy, it is unclear if the teacher faced any disciplinary action for allegedly not allowing the student to use the restroom, the report said.

DENTIST WHO USED PAPER CLIPS TO CLIP MEDICAID, NOW GETS WINGS CLIPPED

He probably figured his Medicaid patients would never be the wiser or if they did get wise, they would never report him.

DENTIST USED PAPER CLIPS IN ROOT CANALS

Associated Press
January 24, 2012

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. - A former dentist has pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud for using sections of paper clips instead of stainless steel posts in root canals in an effort to save money.

Michael Clair, who had a practice in Fall River, is scheduled to be sentenced next week. He pleaded guilty Friday to defrauding Medicaid of $130,000, assault and battery, illegally prescribing prescription drugs and witness intimidation charges.

Some of Clair's patients reported infections after he performed root canals on them, said Grant Woodman, a spokesman for state Attorney General Martha Coakley, whose office prosecuted Clair.

Prosecutors say Clair was suspended by Medicaid in 2002 but continued filing by using the names of other dentists in his practice.

Clair's license to practice dentistry was suspended in Massachusetts in July 2006. Woodman said Clair is no longer licensed to practice dentistry in any state.

Clair's lawyer, John Dingee, didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Tuesday. The 53-year-old Clair now lives in Crofton, Md.

James Kulild, a professor of endodontics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry, said there are very limited circumstances under which a paper clip could be used during dental procedures. He said a paper clip should never be left in permanently.

"Paper clips do not satisfy the requirements for posts, not only because they aren't made of stainless steel but because their shape and consistency will not allow them to be functionally acceptable to use," Kulild said.

WOMAN INJURED BY IDIOT’S FLYING BODY PARTS WHILE WAITING TO CATCH A TRAIN

Bob Walsh says the train that hit the idiot was doing 70 mph and ‘it kind of shredded him.’

DEAD MAN’S ESTATE SUED FOR DAMAGES CAUSED BY HIS FLYING BODY PARTS
By Mitch Kowalski

Financial Post
January 3, 2012

When people do really dumb things that result in their own deaths, the buck does not stop with the dead.

The Chicago Tribune reports on the decision by an Illinois Appeals Court that the estate of a man hit by a train can be held liable for damages caused when parts of his body are flung down the track.

In 2008, Hiroyuki Joho decided to run across train tracks to reach the station platform for a northbound commuter train into Chicago. He failed to look while crossing and was struck by a southbound train. His body parts were tossed over 100 feet and struck Gayane Zokhrabov who was waiting on the southbound platform to catch another train. Mr. Joho’s flying body parts broke Ms. Zokhrabov’s wrist and leg. Her shoulder was also injured.

The court of first instance ruled that Mr. Joho’s estate could not be held liable for Ms. Zokhrabov’s injuries as Mr. Joho would not have anticipated that his body would cause damage when struck by the train.

An Appeals Court has now over-turned that decision.

As Leslie Rosen, Ms. Zokhrabov’s lawyer, told the Tribune, ”If you do something as stupid as this guy did, you have to be responsible for what comes from it.”

Mr. Joho’s estate is now appealing to the Illinois Supreme Court.

PIG FARMERS AND SHEEP RANCHERS DEMAND SAME RIGHTS AS GAYS

By Pamela Putz

The Schalotte
January 25, 2012

OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON – About 30 noisy pig farmers and sheep ranchers demonstrated in front of the state capitol demanding the same rights of marriage as gays.

A bill to legalize gay marriage in Washington now has enough votes to pass the state legislature, a lawmaker who sponsored the measure said on Monday, as the state moved closer to becoming the nation's seventh to legalize same-sex unions. Governor Chris Gregoire, a Democrat, announced earlier this month that she would support the legislation.

The farmers and ranchers stood out among hundreds of other demonstrators, with some demonstrators clamoring in favor of gay marriage and others protesting against same-sex marriage.

Fred Finley, 37, a pig farmer from Farmington, demonstrated alongside one of his pigs. Finley told the Schalotte that because of his occupation he had been unable to establish any lasting relations with the opposite sex. “No matter how many times I bathe, I can’t wash off the smell,” he said. “Whenever I go into town, people scatter in all directions.” Finley said that he began having sex with his pigs about six or seven years ago. “Myrtle here is my favorite pig. We’ve been lovers for the past three years. If Gays are allowed to marry, then I should be allowed to marry my sweet Myrtle.”

Hank Brownlee, 34, a sheep rancher from Green Meadows, was standing with one of his sheep, shouting “We demand the right to marry our sex partners.” Brownlee told us he had been having sex with his sheep for more than 10 years and he found it more satisfying than having sex with women. “Francesca here is my steady,” he said. “I’ve been in a loving relationship with Francesca for four years. Our anniversary was last week.” Brownlee said he supports Gay marriage. “I believe that if Gay lovers can marry, then the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment requires the state to let me marry the love of my life, faithful Francesca.”

The Schalotte found Marilyn O’Mara, 28, an attractive redhead from Olympia, and her Great Dane standing among the farmers and ranchers. She told us that she hated men because her husband, a psychology professor at The Evergreen State College, had left her for one of his students. “I’m not into Gay relationships,” she said. “But I love my Hamlet,” pointing to her Great Dane, “and I want to marry him. After that no good bastard left me, I let Hamlet sleep in bed with me. One night I woke up to find Hamlet mounting me, and it’s been whoopee ever since. He satisfies me more than any man I’ve ever slept with. He’s been mounting me almost every night for two years now and I think that if Gay lovers can marry, I should be able to marry this handsome stud. The only thing Hamlet ever wants from me is for me to love and feed him. In my mind, that makes for a perfect marriage.”

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

AMERICA’S RAPID FALL FROM POWER IN THE ARAB WORLD

“America lost most in ‘Arab Spring’. Sadly, most voters still don’t grasp the extent” is an op-ed by Caroline Glick that was published in the January 24 issue of Jewish World Review. Glick detailed a lengthy examination of America’s rapid fall as a regional power following the ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Libya. Here are some excerpts:

TO UNDERSTAND the depth and breadth of America's losses, consider that on January 25, 2011, most Arab states were US allies to a greater or lesser degree. [Former Egyptian president Hosni] Mubarak was a strategic ally. [Former Yemen president Ali Abdullah] Saleh was willing to collaborate with the US in combating al- Qaida and other jihadist forces in his country.

[Libya’s Muammar] Gaddafi was a neutered former enemy who had posed no threat to the US since 2004. Iraq was a protectorate. Jordan and Morocco were stable US clients.

One year later, the elements of the US's alliance structure have either been destroyed or seriously weakened. US allies like Saudi Arabia, which have yet to be seriously threatened by the revolutionary violence, no longer trust the US. As the recently revealed nuclear cooperation between the Saudis and the Chinese makes clear, the Saudis are looking to other global powers to replace the US as their superpower protector.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect to the US's spectacular loss of influence and power in the Arab world is that most of its strategic collapse has been due to its own actions. In Egypt and Libya the US intervened prominently to bring down a US ally and a dictator who constituted no threat to its interests. Indeed, it went to war to bring Gaddafi down.

Moreover, the US acted to bring about their fall at the same time it knew that they would be replaced by forces inimical to American national security interests. In Egypt, it was clear that the Muslim Brotherhood would emerge as the strongest political force in the country. In Libya, it was clear at the outset of the NATO campaign against Gaddafi that al-Qaida was prominently represented in the antiregime coalition. And just as the Islamists won the Egyptian election, shortly after Gaddafi was overthrown, al-Qaida forces raised their flag over Benghazi's courthouse.

US actions from Yemen to Bahrain and beyond have followed a similar pattern.
In sharp contrast to his active interventionism against US-allied regimes, President Barack Obama has prominently refused to intervene in Syria, where the fate of a US foe hangs in the balance.

Obama has sat back as Turkey has fashioned a Syrian opposition dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Arab League has intervened in a manner that increases the prospect that Syria will descend into chaos in the event that the Assad regime is overthrown.

Obama continues to speak grandly about his vision for the Middle East and his dedication to America's regional allies. And his supporters in the media continue to applaud his great success in foreign policy. But outside of their echo chamber, he and the country he leads are looked upon with increasing contempt and disgust throughout the Arab world.

Obama's behavior since last January 25 has made clear to US friend and foe alike that under Obama, the US is more likely to attack you if you display weakness towards it than if you adopt a confrontational posture against it. As Assad survives to kill another day; as Iran expands its spheres of influence and gallops towards the nuclear bomb; as al- Qaida and its allies rise from the Gulf of Aden to the Suez Canal; and as Mubarak continues to be wheeled into the courtroom on a stretcher, the US's rapid fall from regional power is everywhere in evidence.

MAN HARASSES COPS WHO KILLED HIS BROTHER

Of course, this poor parolee was the victim of two brutal cops who shot the poor bastard to death for no reason at all while he was entangled in a car’s seat belt. This is just further proof that cops are just itching to kill Latinos and other racial minority folks every chance they get.

LOCAL COPS GET RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST DEAD PAROLEE’S FAMILY
By Bob Walsh

PACOVILLA Corrections blog
January 24, 2012

In a very interesting turn of events the Manteca Police Officers' Association has obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) protecting two police officers against the family of a Lathrop man who the officers shot to death in June of last year.

Officers John Moody and Armen Avakian had made a traffic stop when Officer Moody shot Ernest Duenez, Jr. Junior was on parole at the time when the traffic stop went bad. He came at the cops with a gun in his hand and the cops shot him.

Since that time Duenez’s brother, Gabriel Duenez, has been allegedly violating their personal space, shouting obscenities at them outside of the Manteca police building and following them and their families off duty. He has photographed their families in public spaces, specifically referenced was an incident at a theme park.

The Duenez family asserts that Junior was not armed and was tangled up in his seat belt at the time he was shot. They have, of course, sued.

THE SCHALOTTE UNCOVERS DIABOLICAL GOVERNMENT PLOT

Secretary Napolitano demanded to know who told us about the plot

By Adolf der Schweinehund

The Schalotte
January 24, 2012

On our promise not to reveal his identity, a high ranking official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) informed us that the government planned to deport seniors to lower the federal deficit and to save Social Security and Medicare. He advised us to contact a friend of his who is high up in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for more information.

When we promised not to reveal his identity, the HHS official confirmed what the ICE official had told us. Here is the diabolical plot that The Schalotte has uncovered:

__To help lower the federal deficit, the Government will announce next month that instead of rounding up and deporting illegals, Immigration and Customs Enforcement will start rounding up and deporting seniors, thereby reducing the staggering costs of Social Security and Medicare.

__The Obama administration believes that older people are easier to catch than illegals and will not remember how to get back home. And by getting rid of enough seniors they will save Social Security and Medicare from insolvency.

When we contacted Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and asked her about the information we obtained, we heard her mutter ‘God damn it’ before she demanded to know who gave us that information. After telling her we could not reveal his identity, we again asked her about the plan to round up and deport seniors. She said, “I can’t comment on that now. Why don’t you talk to the Vice President about it.”

When we contacted Vice President Joe Biden and asked him if the information we obtained was correct, he exclaimed “Oh shit! You’ll have to get with Secretary Napolitano on this one.”

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

DOPE DEALER’S CONVICTION OVERTURNED BECAUSE OF WARRANTLESS GPS USE

I’m surprised that the conservative justices agreed that the warrantless use of a GPS to track a suspect violates the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

SCOTUS UNANIMOUSLY RULES WARRANT NEEDED FOR GPS TRACKING
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said that the government’s installation of a GPS device, and its use to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitutes a search

By Pete Yost and Jesse H. Holland

Associated Press
January 23, 2012

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects.

The GPS device helped authorities link Washington, D.C., nightclub owner Antoine Jones to a suburban house used to stash money and drugs. He was sentenced to life in prison before the appeals court overturned the conviction.

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said that the government's installation of a GPS device, and its use to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a search, meaning that a warrant is required.

"By attaching the device to the Jeep" that Jones was using, "officers encroached on a protected area," Scalia wrote.

All nine justices agreed that the placement of the GPS on the Jeep violated the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

Scalia wrote the main opinion of three in the case. He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Sonia Sotomayor.

Sotomayor also wrote one of the two concurring opinions that agreed with the outcome in the Jones case for different reasons.

Justice Samuel Alito also wrote a concurring opinion in which he said the court should have gone further and dealt with GPS tracking of wireless devices, like mobile phones. He was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan.

A federal appeals court in Washington had overturned Jones's drug conspiracy conviction because police did not have a warrant when they installed a GPS device on his vehicle and then tracked his movements for a month. The Supreme Court agreed with the appeals court.

The case is U.S. v. Jones, 10-1259.

OWNER OF JEWISH NEWSPAPER NEEDS TO BE LOCKED UP IN A PADDED CELL

What a jerk! The Secret Service should go after this head-case full blast, his apology notwithstanding!

ATLANTA JEWISH TIMES PUBLISHER RESIGNS OVER OBAMA ‘ASSASSINATION’ COLUMN
Andrew Adler suggested Israel should assassinate U.S. President Barack Obama to counter Iran’s nuclear weapons program

Haaretz.com
January 23, 2012

The owner and publisher of the Atlanta Jewish Times, Andrew Adler, who suggested Israel should assassinate U.S. President Barack Obama, has resigned from his post, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported on Monday.

Adler, who has since apologized for his article, listed three options for Israel to counter Iran’s nuclear weapons in an article published in his newspaper last Friday. The first is to launch a pre-emptive strike against Hamas and Hezbollah, the second is to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities and the third is to “give the go-ahead for U.S.-based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel in order for the current vice president to take his place and forcefully dictate that the United States’ policy includes its helping the Jewish state obliterate its enemies.”

Adler goes on to write: “Yes, you read “three correctly.” Order a hit on a president in order to preserve Israel’s existence. Think about it. If have thought of this Tom-Clancy-type scenario, don’t you think that this almost unfathomable idea has been discussed in Israel’s most inner circles?"

According to JTA's report, Adler announced Monday that he is “relinquishing all day-to-day activities effective immediately,” and that he named John McCurdy as interim managing editor.

RUNNING HOT, A MAJOR PROBLEM IN ALL POLICE AGENCIES

Traffic crashes involving cops running hot has long been a serious problem. Younger officers seem to get off by putting the pedal to the metal with lights flashing and siren blaring. The golden rule of running hot is that your emergency lights and siren seek the right of way, they don’t give you the right of way.

There is really no excuse for a police car to exceed 90 mph, even in an ‘officer down’ or ‘shots fired’ call. The difference in time between arriving at a scene when driving 80 or 90 mph and driving 100 or 110 mph is miniscule.

A lot of police car crashes occur when cops are speeding without their emergency lights or siren on. A good way to stop that kind of driving is to make the officer pay for the damages to a police car if the crash was his fault.

LAPD TRIES NEW POLICIES TO CUT COSTLY, DANGEROUS TRAFFIC CRASHES
LAPD officers are involved in an average of one traffic crash a day – they cost taxpayers millions of dollars a year and in some cases result in serious injury or death to other drivrs

By Joel Rubin

Los Angeles Times
January 22, 2012

At any given moment in Los Angeles, scores of police cars are out on the streets — either rushing to calls for help or prowling around in search of trouble.

Despite the training cops receive in how to speed safely through traffic, they are an accident-prone bunch. Police were involved in traffic accidents more than 1,250 times in the last three years — an average of about one a day.

Most of the crashes were minor, but some resulted in life-threatening injuries or totaled police cars, or were the result of the officer violating traffic laws, according to LAPD records. In at least two incidents, the driver of another car was killed.

And at a time when the Los Angeles Police Department is trying to stem the steady stream of lawsuits filed against officers that cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year, traffic accidents remain a significant and costly obstacle. They represent nearly one out of every four lawsuits filed against the department. The city has paid nearly $24 million in settlements or verdicts in about 400 LAPD traffic-related lawsuits over the last nine years and must contend with dozens more cases that remain unresolved, city records show. In all but a few of the closed cases, city officials opted to pay a negotiated settlement instead of taking their chances at a trial — a strong indication that the officers were in the wrong.

"It is a top priority for us to get a comprehensive risk management plan in place, and addressing traffic accidents has to be a big part of that," said Richard Drooyan, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, the civilian board that sets policy for the LAPD. "We need to look at what kind of training, supervision and policies could be implemented to prevent these accidents."

In a recent article, The Times highlighted a 2009 traffic collision in which a 25-year-old woman was killed when her car was broadsided by an LAPD police cruiser without its emergency lights and siren on. The officers claimed that they were driving between 40 and 45 mph, but after data from an onboard computer showed the car had been traveling nearly 80 mph, the city settled last year with the woman's family for $5 million.

And next month a civil trial is scheduled for another deadly crash involving an LAPD squad car. In that 2010 collision, 27-year-old Jovanna Lugo had backed her car out of her driveway onto the street at night and was hit by a police cruiser. Attorneys representing Lugo's young son and husband alleged in court filings that the officer was speeding without the car's headlights or emergency lights and siren on. Attorneys for the city did not respond to a request for comment.

Lugo's death spurred LAPD officials to reconsider the way the department investigates serious accidents in which officers are suspected of negligence or other significant misconduct, said Cmdr. Andrew Smith. Such investigations now are treated like typical misconduct inquiries, but the department is considering whether to treat them similarly to officer-involved shootings. In shooting inquiries, officers are separated from each other at the scene to avoid collusion, and special teams of detectives spend months gathering evidence and witness testimony. The commission ultimately rules on whether the officers were justified in using force.

In nearly all traffic accidents, the officers are not accused of serious breaches of conduct but instead are faulted for being inattentive. With hundreds of such cases each year, the workload was a major drain on Internal Affairs investigators. So in late 2008, the department switched to a point-accrual system similar to the one the state Department of Motor Vehicles uses for driving violations and accidents.

Under the LAPD's point system, in accidents determined to have been their fault, officers are assigned one, two or four points, depending on the seriousness of the crash. If an officer is issued 3 points in a 24-month period, he or she is required to undergo driver retraining. Cops lose the right to drive for six months if they acquire five points over three years.

Commissioner Alan Skobin, who helped write the new procedures, said that beyond reducing the caseload for Internal Affairs investigators, the plan addresses a fairness issue. "Minor things happen, and we shouldn't always be taking a punishment mode," he said during a discussion of the plan at a recent Police Commission meeting.

Skobin added that he is hopeful the point system will lead to a reduction in the number of crashes caused by officers. With only a few years of statistics, police officials said they cannot yet determine whether the points system is, in fact, contributing to a decrease in the number of accidents. The preliminary figures indicate it has done so, as the number of crashes each year appear to have declined between 2009 and 2011.

However, the point system appears to have done nothing to help the department as it tries to slow the number of lawsuits people file against it. In a three-year period since the point system was implemented, 205 traffic-related lawsuits were filed, according to city records. That is 40% more lawsuits than were filed in the three years before the points plan went into effect.

Drooyan said he plans a thorough review of the points system to determine whether more changes are needed in how the department deals with traffic accidents.

Crashes account for about a quarter of the nearly 1,900 lawsuits brought against the Police Department since 2002, city records show. Large numbers of lawsuits involve civil rights violations and workplace issues, such as harassment and retaliation, and can result in tens of millions of dollars in payments.

In cases that have been closed, the city has paid a total of $138 million of taxpayer money in settlements and verdicts — more than the combined cost of resolving lawsuits brought against all other city departments. Elected officials have long criticized the LAPD for its inability to address problems that lead to lawsuits.

Repeatedly over the past year, Drooyan and Chief Charlie Beck have identified lawsuits as one of the most pressing issues facing the department. Beck has said the department needs to be better at identifying problem officers and correcting behavior before lawsuits result. Coordination between the LAPD and the city attorney's office, which defends the city in lawsuits, has also been uneven. Beck recently created and filled a new risk manager position, saying he is hopeful the addition will help matters.

MURDERER DOING TIME LOOKING FOR ROMANCE ON FACEBOOK

67 prior convictions and he got only nine years for shooting some bloke dead? What kind of shit is that? There's something drastically wrong with the Australian justice system.

Thanks to Dorina Lisson for the heads-up on this story.

BROWN PRISON INMATES SET-UP FACEBOOK PAGE TO FIND PENPALS
A LOVESICK killer locked away inside one of Victoria's toughest prisons is looking for romance online

By Wayne Flower

Herald Sun
January 23, 2012

Dressed in his baggy black prison-issued shorts and a white T-shirt, Marcus Phillips, also known as Smiley, grins from ear-to-ear with delusions of love.

A Facebook profile of the killer, who shot dead 47-year old Michael Horn in 2005 after a dispute, describes Phillips as a happy, easygoing bloke who enjoys a chat.

It proudly lists the 41-year-old as doing nine years at Barwon Prison for manslaughter, showcasing his great sense of humour, love of rock 'n' roll and need of female company.

The site, titled Guys At Barwon Prison That Want Girls To Write To Them, has been active for just over a year and provides the prison's postal address.

Barwon houses criminals such as the "Mornington Monster" John Sharpe, child killer Arthur Freeman and rapist John Xydias.

Phillips received six years' jail with a non-parole period of four years when found guilty of manslaughter.

The sentence was increased on appeal to nine years with a minimum of seven, making him eligible for parole at the end of this year.

The court heard Phillips had a long criminal history comprising 67 convictions, including a year's jail for reckless conduct endangering life and assaulting a police officer.

The Police Association's Inspector Bruce McKenzie said the page was offensive.

"Surely he has wreaked enough havoc on society and that Facebook site should be taken down," he said, calling on Corrections to investigate how the photographs from inside jail appeared online.

"Clearly a privilege here has been abused and hopefully the prison authorities deal with him in a fairly severe way."

A Corrections Victoria spokesman said the website should be taken down.

"This site and post seem to have been created by someone outside the prison," he said.

"We would ask they remove it out of respect for victims."

Monday, January 23, 2012

THE GHOST OF JACK DANIEL’S DID IT

Thanks to Aussie Dorina Lisson for the heads-up on this Wisconsin ghost story.

Jack Daniel’s ghost often shows up in domestic disputes.

FON DU LAC MAN SAYS WIFE PUNCHED, STRANGLED BY GHOST
By Russell Plummer

The Northwestern
January 19, 2012

A Fond du Lac man was arrested after he told police a “ghost” punched and strangled his wife.

Michael F. West, 41, of 281 Fond du Lac Ave., was charged Wednesday with strangulation and misdemeanors of battery, disorderly conduct and resisting or obstructing an officer.

At about 8 p.m. Jan. 15, police arrived at West’s home to find the woman crying and bleeding from her nose.

According to allegations contained in the criminal complaint:

The woman was upset after West blamed her for the house being foreclosed. When the woman pointed out that she works while West sits on the couch, he became angry.

West strangled the woman twice. He then told her to call the police. As she went to grab the phone, West punched her repeatedly in the face.

West told police the woman got her injuries from falling. When asked specifically about the neck injuries, West responded, “A ghost did it.”

Officers had to struggle with an intoxicated West to place him in handcuffs after he made the ghost comment.

The woman said West has made comments about killing her.

West is being held in the Fond du Lac County Jail on $1,000 bail. He was ordered to stay sober while the case is pending.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Jan. 27.

MOTORMOUTH CHAMPIONS

Last week, President Hugo Chavez spoke for more than nine hours at Venezuela’s National Assembly during his annual report to the nation. I believe that even beats Fidel Castro’s former marathon speeches.

Here in Houston, we have a U.S. Congresswoman who could give Hugo a run for his money. Once Sheila Jackson-Lee opens her big mouth you can’t shut her up. Many of us would like to send Jackson-Lee to Cuba or Venezuela where her motormouth would fit right in.

QUALITY CONTROL

A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due to the way the production line was set up, and people with experience in designing production lines will tell you how difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect 100% of the time. Small variations in the environment (which can’t be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed acr oss the line so that customers all the way down to the supermarket don’t get pissed off and buy another product instead.

Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the toothpaste factory got the top people in the company together, and they decided to start a new project, in which they would hire an external engineering company to solve their empty box's problem, as their engineering department was already too stretched to take on any extra effort.

The project followed the usual process: budget and project sponsor allocated, RFP, third-parties selected, and six months (and $8 million) later they had a fantastic solution — on time, on budget, high quality and everyone in the project had a great time.

They solved the problem by using high-tech precision scales that would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box weighed less than it should. The line would stop; someone would walk over and yank the defective box off of it, pressing another button when done to re-start the line.

A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the Return On Investment of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. Very few customer complaints, and they were gaining market share. “That’s some money well spent!” – he said, before looking closely at the other statistics in the report.

It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0 after three weeks of production use. It should have picked up at least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with the report. He requested an inquiry, and after some investigation, the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct. The scales really weren't picking up any defects, because all boxes that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

Puzzled, the CEO traveled down to the factory, and walked up to the part of the line where the precision scales were installed.

A few feet before the scale, there was a cheapdesk fan, blowing the empty boxes out of the belt and into a bin.

“Oh, that,” says one of the workers — “one of the guys put it there 'cause, he was tired of walking over every time the bell rang."

A NEW 2012 FORD

Renault and Ford have joined forces to create the perfect small car for women.

Mixing the Renault 'Clio' and the Ford 'Taurus' they have designed the 'Clitaurus'.

It comes in pink, and the average male car thief won't be able to find it - let alone turn it on - even if someone tells him where it is and how to do it.

Rumor has it though, that it leaks transmission fluid once a month, and can be a real bitch to start in the morning!

Some have reported that on cold winter mornings, when you really need it, you can't get it to turn over

New models are initially fun to own, but very costly to maintain, and horribly expensive to get rid of.

Used models may initially appear to have curb appeal and a low price, but eventually have an increased appetite for fuel, and the curb weight typically increases with age.

Manufacturers are baffled as to how the size of the trunk increases, but say that the paint may just make it LOOK bigger.

This model is not expected to reach collector status.

Most owners find it is best to lease one, and replace it each year.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

99 PERCENT, 1 PERCENT

The Occupy Wall Street movement was started to protest the unequal distribution of wealth, where 1 percent are filthy rich while 99 percent of us poor slobs are allegedly being screwed by the 1 percent. There is also a 99 percent, 1 percent divide among California welfare recipients.

The other day I received a video clip of David Spady, the State Director of Americans for Prosperity in California, talking about California’s welfare funds being spent on vacations in Hawaii and Las Vegas, as well as on cruise ships sailing out of Miami.

The video was made well over a year ago. The fraud occurred from January 2007 through May 2010. Spady leaves the impression that this type of welfare fraud is the case, not the exception. He got his information from a Los Angeles Times report (below). Spady conveniently failed to mention that the $69 million represents only one percent of the almost $11 billion in welfare funds allocated during the time covered by the LA Times report.

That’s not to say that welfare fraud isn’t a serious problem. Of course it is, and $69 million is nothing to sneeze at. But in this case, California had a problem where one percent of its welfare funds were spent on vacations. How much of the other 99 percent was spent fraudulently is another question.

$69 MILLION IN CALIFORNIA WELFARE MONEY DRAWN OUT OF STATE
By Jack Dolan

Los Angeles Times
October 4, 2010

More than $69 million in California welfare money, meant to help the needy pay their rent and clothe their children, has been spent or withdrawn outside the state in recent years, including millions in Las Vegas, hundreds of thousands in Hawaii and thousands on cruise ships sailing from Miami. State-issued aid cards have been used at hotels, shops, restaurants, ATMs and other places in 49 other states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, according to data obtained by The Times from the California Department of Social Services. Las Vegas drew $11.8 million of the cash benefits, far more than any other destination. The money was accessed from January 2007 through May 2010.

Welfare recipients must prove they can’t afford life’s necessities without government aid: A single parent with two children generally must earn less than $14,436 a year to qualify for the cash assistance and becomes ineligible once his or her income exceeds about $20,000, said Lizelda Lopez, spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services.

Round-trip flights from Los Angeles to Honolulu on Orbitz.com Sunday started at $419 — more than 80% of the average monthly cash benefit for a single parent of two on CalWorks, the state’s main aid program. “How they can go somewhere like Hawaii and be legit on aid … they can’t,” said Robert Hollenbeck, a fraud investigator for the Fresno County district attorney’s office. “This is money for basic subsistence needs.”

The $387,908 accessed in Hawaii includes transactions at more than a thousand big-box stores, grocery stores, convenience shops and ATMs on all the major islands. At least $234,000 was accessed on Oahu, $70,626 on Maui, $39,883 on Hawaii and $22,170 on Kauai. The list includes $12,433 spent at the upscale Ala Moana shopping center, $3,030 spent at a group of gift shops next to Jimmy Buffett‘s Beachcomber restaurant on Waikiki Beach and $2,146 withdrawn from ATMs on the island of Lanai, home to a pair of Four Seasons resorts and little else. “If it’s on Lanai, that should trigger an investigation,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. “California taxpayers, who are struggling to keep their own jobs, are subsidizing other people’s vacations. That’s absurd.”

Of the nearly $12 million accessed in Las Vegas, more than $1 million was spent or withdrawn at shops and casino hotels on, or within a few blocks of, the 4.5-mile strip. The list includes $8,968 at the Tropicana, $7,995 at the Venetian and its Grand Canal Shoppes, and $1,332 at Tix 4 Tonight, seller of discount admission for such acts as Cirque du Soleil. Although many Las Vegas casinos block the use of welfare cards in ATMs on gambling floors, more than $34,700 has been spent or withdrawn from the ATM at a 7-Eleven in the shadow of Steve Wynn’s new Encore casino and a couple of blocks south of Circus Circus….

The data show addresses of stores and ATM locations where the cards have been used and the amounts of the transactions by year. They do not reveal the identities of the welfare recipients or show how many users visited a given retailer.

Of the $1.5 million accessed in Florida, $13,109 was spent or withdrawn in South Beach, most of that at bars and restaurants along trendy Lincoln Road. More than $7,000 was withdrawn from ATMs a few hours north, at Walt Disney World.

The data also show $16,010 withdrawn from 14 cruise ships sailing from ports around the world — Long Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Beijing. Eight sail primarily from Miami.

The out-of-state spending accounts for less than 1% of the $10.8 billion spent by welfare recipients during the period covered, and advocates note that there are legitimate reasons to spend aid money outside of California. From the data provided, it cannot be determined whether any of the expenditures resulted from fraud. “I think when somebody hears it’s in a fancy hotel in Hawaii or Vegas, it’s too easy to assume the [welfare recipient] is visiting that place and it wasn’t somebody who stole their card,” said Jessica Bartholow, a legislative advocate for the Western Center on Law and Poverty.

There is no rule preventing welfare recipients from leaving California, as long as they get clearance from their county case worker to be absent from the program’s 32-hour-a-week job training requirement. County investigators, who state authorities say are responsible for rooting out fraud and abuse, typically don’t question a recipient’s whereabouts until transactions on a welfare card show that he or she has been gone for more than 30 days.

“If it’s a one-time thing in Miami, we would never check that out,” said John Haley, commander of the financial crimes division of the San Diego County district attorney’s office, who said 24% of all new welfare applications in his jurisdiction contain some form of fraud. “We look for patterns of abuse.” In Los Angeles County, investigators hadn’t been checking until a recipient was gone for three months, said Department of Public Social Services Director Philip Browning. The inability to do more was “really just a resource issue,” he said. Following questions from The Times, Browning said investigators would start inquiring once the data show that a recipient has been gone for more than 30 days.

Many recipients travel to other states in an emergency such as a death in the family, investigators say. But with government resources scarce, it’s difficult to sort those cases from incidents of abuse. An anti-fraud unit in Orange County, which won praise from state officials last year for saving the state millions, has since had to slash its budget and lay off 15 investigators, said Paul Bartlett, commander of the county district attorney’s Bureau of Investigation. Those cuts saved $900,000 in operating expenses but allowed “an estimated $9.6 million in suspected fraud payments out the door,” according to an Orange County Grand Jury report released in May.

A state audit last year found that none of California’s 58 counties was adequately following up on information that could help root out fraud, including monthly computer matches that list clients who are receiving duplicate aid from other states, those who are ineligible because they’re in prison and others who have died.