Reap the Whirlwind

See? I was not being silly in my earlier post when I titled it "At least she hasn't been beheaded, yet."

There is a clash of civilizations going on and we better wake up over here in the West.

Calls in Sudan for Execution of Briton

by MOHAMED OSMAN; Associated Press Writer

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - Thousands of Sudanese, many armed with clubs and knives, rallied Friday in a central square and demanded the execution of a British teacher convicted of insulting Islam for allowing her students to name a teddy bear "Muhammad."

In response to the demonstration, teacher Gillian Gibbons was moved from the women's prison near Khartoum to a secret location for her safety, her lawyer said.

The protesters streamed out of mosques after Friday sermons, as pickup trucks with loudspeakers blared messages against Gibbons, who was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation. She avoided the more serious punishment of 40 lashes.

They massed in central Martyrs Square outside the presidential palace, where hundreds of riot police were deployed. They did not try to stop the rally, which lasted about an hour.
"Shame, shame on the U.K.," protesters chanted.

They called for Gibbons' execution, saying, "No tolerance: Execution," and "Kill her, kill her by firing squad."

See more at the link:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T83I300&show_article=1

This here gene pool is shallow, Y'all!

Do us all a favor, both of you get fixed!

Maybe I should add Pay-Pal to my site to collect for their procedures?

Britney wants to fix K-Fed but good!

from CeleBitchy:

Britney still wants K-Fed back and is said to have told him that she doesn’t want him to have any more children without her. She’s recommended that he get a vasectomy to rule out any possibility of future Federlines, and was willing to get her tubes tied if he agreed. Kevin has a new girlfriend, Colin Farrel’s sex tape co-star and former playmate Nicole Narain. Britney is said to be worried that super-potent K-Fed is going to get her pregnant too, and has volunteered to pay for the cost of surgical sterilization. As Kevin is said to have told her, it’s not like he’s the one who needs to get fixed:

“After all that’s happened, Britney still wants to get back with Kevin - and she certainly doesn’t want him having any more children with anyone else,” said a source close to her.
“Britney even offered to pay for the vasectomy and promised to get her tubes tied if Kevin agreed to it. She told him: ‘You have four. You don’t need any more. Please think about it.’”
But Kevin - who has two boys with Britney, plus a son and daughter with ex-girlfriend, actress Shar Jackson - just laughed off Brit’s request, said the source.

“Kevin won’t get a vasectomy but thinks it’s a great idea for Britney to get her tubes tied. He told her: ‘Hell, no! No one is snipping me!’ He wants more Federlines,” said the source.

It seems like Britney does shit just about every day that defies explanation, and this is uncharacteristically sane, if not selfish, of her. Kevin is not an ideal parent, but he’s a much better one than she is, even if his primary motivation initially seemed to be cash.
The FedEx can be seen on the cover of Details Magazine this month, where he’s lauded as number seven out of the top 45 men of the year. K-Fed and Larry Birkhead were named fathers of the year. Perez Hilton is also featured, so maybe it’s all tongue in cheek.

Dude can't catch a break

Why am I not surprised?





Is someone going to claim the police did this?

Rodney King Shot

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- Southern California police said 1991 police beating victim Rodney King has been shot, but the wounds are not life-threatening.

Rialto police Sgt. Don Lewis told the Riverside Press-Enterprise that King was hit in the face and arm by shotgun pellets on a San Bernardino street corner Wednesday night. He bicycled to his home in Rialto to call police and was taken to a hospital.



Police said when they arrived at the home, King and others there appeared drunk and few were cooperative in providing information.
San Bernardino police Lt. Scott Paterson tells the San Bernardino County Sun that the shooting may have involved a domestic dispute.



King was beaten by Los Angeles police in 1991 and the officers' subsequent acquittal on criminal charges sparked deadly rioting in 1992.

Your standing in the polls is rising

Just bizarre.

You'd think the legislature would erect firm and strong barriers to prevent this kind of behavior.

Oh, wait, they're the ones doing it.

Thai candidates accused of vote-buying with Viagra

Parliamentary candidates in Thailand's upcoming election are trying to buy the votes of elderly men by passing out free Viagra, a local government official said Friday.

Thais head to the polls on December 23 for the first time since the military toppled the elected prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a bloodless coup last year.
Residents in Prathumthani, on the northern outskirts of Bangkok, reported some of the candidates were passing out doses of the anti-impotence drug in exchange for promised votes, said Sayan Nopkham, a local government official.

"The villagers told me they have been given one or two pills of Viagra by candidates. Then they come to me to ask for more pills, or sometimes coffee, in exchange for voting for my brother, who is also running for a seat," he told AFP.

Thailand has a long history of vote-buying, but laws banning it have recently been toughened.
Anyone found guilty of buying votes could face up to 10 years in prison while voters who accept money face up to five years in jail.

look up more below:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071130052420.ux0v7z6o&show_article=1

At least she hasn't been beheaded, yet

Okay, that's it the Sudan has officially been taken off my list of vacation spots to travel to.

What kind of souvenirs could you get there anyway?

What if they sold teddy bears named Osama Bear Laden? Is that okay?

Sudan Sentences Teacher to 15 Days

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - British teacher Gillian Gibbons has been convicted of inciting religious hatred for letting her pupils name a teddy bear Muhammad and sentenced to 15 days in prison and deportation from Sudan, one of her defense lawyers said Thursday.

"The judge found Gillian Gibbons guilty and sentenced her to 15 days jail and deportation," said Ali Mohammed Hajab, a member of her defense team.
Gibbons walked in without handcuffs, wearing a dark jacket and blue skirt, according to reporters in the courtroom before media were ordered out of the chamber. Riot police surrounded the courthouse.

Muhammad is a common name among Muslim men, but giving the name of Islam's founder to an animal would be seen as insulting by many Muslims.

In a statement read to the court, Gibbons explained the incident and emphasized that her 7-year-old students picked the teddy bear's name, British Embassy spokesman Omar Daair told The Associated Press. Gibbons' lawyer said she would likely take the stand later.

bear with us by reading more at the link below:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8T7G8JG0&show_article=1

Don't Taze us Bro, IV!

Jesu Christu!

Okay, maybe the officer didn't know she was pregnant, but tazing her in front of her 1 year old son too?

Doing this because you were concerned that if she left with her son after she voluntarily walked in would jeopardize the child sounds like a whole lotta what a male cow excretes.

Sounds like a whole lotta poor judgment too, especially leaving him on duty while its being looked into.

I'm just saying.

Stun Gun Used on Pregnant Woman in Ohio

TROTWOOD, Ohio (AP) - A policeman forced a pregnant woman to the ground and used a stun gun on her when she refused to answer the officer's questions and resisted being handcuffed, authorities said Thursday.

The woman went to the police department in this Dayton suburb on Nov. 18 to ask officers to take custody of her 1-year-old son, said Michael Etter, Trotwood's public safety director.
The woman told the officer she was "tired of playing games" with the baby's father, Etter said.

The woman refused to answer questions, became frustrated and tried to leave with the child, Etter said. The officer feared allowing her to leave could jeopardize the child and he decided to detain her to get more information.

He said the officer grabbed the woman, got the child away from her and forced her to the ground. When she resisted being handcuffed and tried to get away, the officer used the stun gun on her, Etter said.

The woman wore a winter coat and did not tell the officer she was pregnant, Etter said. "She was totally uncooperative," he said.

The woman was arrested for obstruction and resisting arrest and transported to jail, Etter said. When she arrived at the jail, it was discovered that she was pregnant, and an officer took her to the hospital, he said. The condition of the woman and the fetus was not known.

The FBI is investigating the arrest and Etter said the police department is conducting its own probe to determine whether excessive force was used.

He said the officer remains on duty.

A cautionary note

Bexar county is looking at implementing a tent jail to ease overcrowding and to save money. It would be similar to the program run in Arizona by the Maricopa County Sheriff.

Of course problems and lawsuits have followed out there which appear to be overlooked by those rushing to show how tough they can be on crime, while short changing the security of the system, and crowing about how much money they are saving.

This short article ought to, but probably won't, give them pause.

Good luck on security if you build a tent jail.


Jail employee accused of dealing drugs to inmates

Selena Hernandez: KENS 5 Eyewitness News

Authorities say a Bexar County Jail employee was caught dealing drugs and cell phones to inmates. Bexar County Sheriff's investigators say 21-year-old Danielle Escalera, a medical assistant in the jail, was providing inmates with cocaine, marijuana and cell phones.

"We've traced some numbers back on that cell phone to a non-uniformed employee, one of the civilian employees who has access to the jail," said Brian Menges, the jail's administration director.

Jail administrators say a tip led them to Escalera and the discovery of a flawed internal system.
"The last few days, we've intensified the shakedowns," said Col. Earl Griffin, an assistant jail administrator. "Now that we're realizing that these items are getting in by staff members, we're going to step up our searches of their bags and things like that."

More at the link:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA112807.jail.kens.4c9d4b36.html

The big chill

Wow, I mean really wow.

Someone has kidnapped the 9th Circuit Justices and replaced them with look-alike clones; that could be the only reasonable explanation for their ruling.

The U.S. Supreme Court? nevermind, I think they're off base on this one big time.

Justices uphold welfare home searches

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court rejected a challenge today to San Diego County's practice of routinely searching welfare applicants' homes without warrants and ruling out assistance for those who refuse to let them in.

The justices refused, without comment, to intervene in the case from San Diego County, where investigators from the District Attorney's Office show up unannounced at applicants' homes and conduct searches that include peeking into closets and cabinets. The visits do not require any suspicion of fraud and are intended to confirm that people are eligible for government aid.

Failure to submit to the searches, which can last an hour, disqualifies applicants from assistance.

More chilling below:

http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_7561975

Hopefully it's over, The fat lady sang

There is just so much I want to say but I won't be dragged down to that level.

French police detain 'drag queen' over 18 gay murders

French police have detained a 68-year-old man -- reported to be a 'drag queen' performer -- suspected of murdering 18 mainly homosexual men, a judicial source said Wednesday.
The murders were committed between 1980 and 2002 in eastern France and the Paris region.
Detained Tuesday in the eastern city of Mulhouse, the man was being held in nearby Montbeliard along with another suspect who is already serving a murder sentence in a Paris jail, the source said.

Both men deny the accusations, according to the prosecution, which said it had "no formal proof" of their guilt at this stage.
L'Alsace newspaper said the key suspect worked as a female impersonator and that his arrest followed a two-year investigation by a Montbeliard police officer, who spotted his name in database files relating to a string of unsolved murders.

Check below for more:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=071128113849.7yp039ln&show_article=1

Ask not for whom the bell tolls....

Yikes Judge, Dude that was a little harsh.

You'll have plenty of time to think about what you did in your new private practice.

Panel gives judge a ringing rebuke

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A judge in Niagara Falls, New York, has apologized for jailing nearly four dozen people over a ringing mobile phone in his courtroom, his attorney said Wednesday.

In removing City Court Judge Robert Restaino from office Tuesday, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct called his decision to lock up 46 people after no one claimed ownership of the phone "a gross deviation from the proper role of a judge."
But Restaino's lawyer, Terrence Connors, said Wednesday the judge "profoundly apologizes for his actions" during the March 2005 hearing and will appeal the panel's ruling.

"It is our hope that the Court of Appeals will measure those few hours against a decade of exemplary conduct on the bench," Connors said in a written statement.
But the commission found Restaino's conduct so egregious that his 11 years of service and clean record did not matter.

"We conclude that respondent's behavior ... warrants the sanction of removal, notwithstanding his previously unblemished record on the bench and the testimony as to his character and reputation," the panel ruled.

According to the commission report, Restaino was presiding over a domestic-violence case when a ringing mobile phone interrupted proceedings. When no one took responsibility for the ringing phone, Restaino ordered that court security officers search for the device.
About 70 defendants were in the courtroom that day to take part in a monitoring program for domestic violence offenders. When no one admitted to owning the phone, Restaino heard the remaining cases and then recalled the cases of defendants who had already been released to question them about the phone, according to the commission report.

After all the defendants denied having the phone or knowing who it belonged to, Restaino sent 46 people to jail. Fourteen who were unable to make bail were handcuffed and jailed for several hours.

According to the report, Restaino decided to release defendants only after learning reporters were inquiring about their incarceration.

Bond..James Bond

If he was really James Bond your ass would be dead.

BTW, IMHO no one has done Bond better than Sean Connery.

Pierce Brosnan Won’t Be Charged For Suckerpunch

from CeleBitchy

Pierce Brosnan seems to be displaying some of his James Bond character’s wiliness – he’s not going to be charged for the alleged sucker punch he delivered to a photographer’s ribs who superficially complimented him. Personally, if you’re offering me compliments, superficial or not, the last thing I’m going to do is punch you in the ribs.

The photographer, Robert Rosen, then allegedly kicked Pierce in the stomach before fleeing the scene, possibly throwing his hands up the skies and demanding “What happened to your debonair charm? 007 is always cool and calm in the face of danger!” Perhaps he didn’t understand that Pierce was an actor taking his son out to dinner, not actually James Bond.
And while we seem to know the details of the October 26 incident, it seems the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department is not so well informed.

“After a complete review of the investigation done by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, there is insufficient evidence to prove this case to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney James Garrison said in court papers.
[From Reuters]

I’m glad that the matter isn’t going to be pursued, it seems like something of a waste of valuable court time. I actually like Pierce Brosnan’s Films so I’d be a little sorry if they were put on hiatus. He is scheduled to appear in The Thomas Crown Affair 2 next year, but it’s listed as being in pre-production and could possibly be delayed by the writer’s strike. Filming is said to start in January of next year.

Butt Out!

I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!

Buttocks Sign Rejuvenates Neighborhood Cam Battle
Controversial Toilet Sign Considered Free Speech

SATELLITE BEACH, Fla. -- An ongoing dispute between two Satellite Beach neighbors over an outdoor home security camera has been reignited by a homeowner's large buttocks sign placed in a yard.

Edward Fleming initially installed security cameras at his house on South Patrick Shores earlier this year and apparently pointed them in the direction of a home belonging to neighbor Arthur Hendricks.

Hendricks responded with a homemade toilet sign along his property line.
"Personally, as long as he has his camera, this one and another one, pointing in our direction, he should be grateful all he is looking at is a toilet seat," Hendricks said after posting the sign.
Brevard County code enforcement recently ruled that the toilet seat sign was protected free speech.

Look out for more below:

http://www.local6.com/news/14705017/detail.html

Get the Puck out, they didn't!

They get their serious game on in Canada, eh?

Lets see, you give them sticks that they can hit each other with.

It sounds like a Bad News Bears ripoff.

Hockey brawl between 8-year-olds stuns police

GUELPH, Ont. -- Six hockey players and two coaches were suspended following a brawl between two teams of eight-year-olds in Guelph last week that has stunned police.
Three players each from the Duffield Devils and Niagara Falls Thunder novice triple-A teams, and their respective coaches, were ejected from the Guelph Power Play Tournament on Friday after a brawl during a game.
"These are eight-year-olds," said Staff Sgt. Neal Young of Guelph Police.
"How ridiculous is that?"

More below:

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Canada/2007/11/27/4688537-sun.html

Farewell Sean Taylor, Rest in Peace

Its a terrible tragedy that this happened.

God bless his family and give them solice.

Redskins' Taylor dies day after shooting

By MATT SEDENSKY Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) -- Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died early Tuesday, a day after he was shot at home by what police say was an intruder. He was 24.
Family friend Richard Sharpstein said Taylor's father told him the news around 5:30 a.m.
"His father called and said he was with Christ and he cried and thanked me," said Sharpstein, Taylor's former lawyer. "It's a tremendously sad and unnecessary event. He was a wonderful, humble, talented young man, and had a huge life in front of him. Obviously God had other plans."
He said Taylor died early Tuesday at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he had been airlifted after the shooting early Monday.

more at the link

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FBN_OBIT_TAYLOR?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=SPORTS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Why do I need a driver's license? All the police know me, Y'all!

Of course she is. I don't know why she isn't just let go and the city and State of California should apologize to her. Maybe pay her attorney's fees as well.

Maybe Governor Schwartzenegger should make her the head of the DMV, you know the folks in charge of issuing driver's licences.

Britney Spears's Lawyer Says She's Being Treated Unfairly

By Howard Breuer

Britney Spears's attorney says the singer is being treated unfairly in her case of driving without a valid California license. In a Los Angeles courtroom Monday a judge agreed to postpone the proceedings on the case to Jan. 2 so attorneys can further negotiate.

Spears's lawyer J. Michael Flanagan commented outside court, saying that he feels the system is treating the singer too harshly by seeking 24 months' probation for what he considers "a fix-it ticket." "No misdemeanor violation is satisfying to me," Flanagan says, adding that in 38 years he's never seen the system seek to punish someone so harshly for this type of violation.

He also said that deputy Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Amerian offered a plea deal of 12 months, but Flanagan wants no probation at all. After being cited for driving without a valid a California license, the singer did obtain one on Oct. 2. However, "that doesn't account for when she drove without it," City Attorney spokesman Frank Mateljan said previously.

They want their 15 minutes of fame?

Oh, I don't know, so they can be on You Tube?

or they want to be like Paris, Lindsey or Britney?

Seriously, in a capital murder trial I presided in a few years back the defendant had videotaped himself looking into the medicine cabinet mirror and bragging about the murders committed. He received the death penalty from the jury.

Why do so many criminals want to be video stars?

BY RICHARD B. WOODWARD

The Wall Street Journal

"Peeping Tom," the chilly 1959 movie by Michael Powell, concerns a young psychopath who uses a 16mm movie camera to film his victims while he is killing them. The close-ups of terror that cross the faces of the women as he impales them on a spike attached to his tripod are for him a source of curiosity and pleasure.

Widely reviled on its release--and credited with destroying the commercial career of Powell, a venerable English director ("The Red Shoes")--the work was rediscovered by Martin Scorsese and other cinéastes in the 1970s. They argued against its earlier detractors, noting that in its exploration of the dynamics between movie images and violence, criminality and voyeurism, the film was shockingly ahead of its time.

A casual reading of the news illustrates just how prescient "Peeping Tom" has turned out to be. There was the recent arrest in Nevada of Chester Stiles, who allegedly filmed himself raping a three-year-old girl. This sensational item overlapped with the capture in Thailand of Christopher Paul Neil, a Canadian schoolteacher accused of posting on the Internet images of himself having sex with a series of children. Neither would in all likelihood have been jailed so quickly had they not photographed themselves performing these atrocities. Both Pekka-Eric Auvinen, who shot eight people in a Finnish high school on Nov. 7, and Cho Seung Hui, murderer of 32 at Virginia Tech this April, made confessional videos for broadcast or posting online--so called massacre manifestos--designed to outlive their suicides.

A partial list of others happy or compelled to document their own crimes in recent years would include the young arsonist in California who took pictures of himself against the background of the infernos he set. Or the Canadian joy-riders who cruised around Vancouver at night, shooting frightened pedestrians with paint-ball guns while recording themselves whooping it up during these escapades. Or Sean Gillespie, a neo-Nazi who videotaped himself in 2004 firebombing an Oklahoma City synagogue as part of his racist promotional package. Or the three teenagers arrested last year in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for clubbing with baseball bats three homeless men, one of them to death, events the boys commemorated by making a video.

Read more below:

http://www.tdcaa.com/node/1546

15 yard penalty for unsportmanlike conduct

Had he been living in the city he plays for this, of course, would not have happened as all guns are banned in D.C.

Redskins' Taylor shot in his home
Pro Bowl safety in critical condition in Florida hospital

ASHBURN, Va. (AP) -- Washington Redskins star safety Sean Taylor was shot in the leg at his home Monday and was bleeding heavily, and police said he was in critical condition. They are investigating a possible robbery.
Officers were sent to Taylor's home at about 1:45 a.m. after his girlfriend called 911 and said he was shot in his lower body, Lt. Nancy Perez said. He was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital, she said, but did not disclose how many times he was shot.
Richard Sharpstein, an attorney who represented Taylor in a criminal case, said the player's father told him his son had been shot in the leg and there was much bleeding because the femoral artery was severed.

More at the link:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/football/nfl/11/26/bc.fbn.redskins.taylors.ap/index.html

The heavens weep!

WTF? OMG!

Does she want to start a war with China fer chrissakes?

To all Chinese people, run, hide, hide your children, hide your streets so she can't drive on them.

Britzilla is coming!

(This has got to be a joke of some sort, I mean right?)

Britney Spears plans to adopt Chinese twins

Troubled pop singer Britney Spears, who recently lost permanent custody of her two sons, Jayden James & Sean Preston to ex-husband Kevin Federline, is planning to adopt Chinese twins.

According to reports from Britain’s News Of The World newspaper, Britney, 25, has confided to pals that she’s in the final stages of talks with an adoption agency and plans to go ahead with the adoption very soon.

The news of Brit’s planned adoption comes after Spears’ former husband, Kevin Federline was awarded full custody of their two sons.

A photographer snapped the ‘Gimme More’ singer - who still has access to the two boys, enjoying some time with Jayden & Sean at her home in LA on Friday.
Friends of the singer reckon that Britney has elected to adopt the two six-year-old children from China in a frantic bid to fill the void left by losing her sons to K-Fed.
Britney was also banned from driving with the kids in the car after she ran a red light in Hollywood.

And, according to further reports, Britney has also spent $50,000 on arranging her own funeral!
Spears allegedly splashed the cash arranging her funeral because she fears her spiralling lifestyle may lead to an early grave.
Brit’s bizarre purchase has left her friends and family worried that she is becoming increasingly depressed and that her unhealthy lifestyle is taking its toll.

A source close to Britney said: “It doesn’t seem that Britney has thought this through completely. Adoption and a funeral? The two don’t exactly go hand-in-hand.
“Paying for a funeral is a sensible thing to do—but not when you’re only 25!
“It’s a case of too much, too soon with Britney.
“Not a week goes by without something strange happening to her now. She’s doing herself no favors.”

Also more in CeleBitchy:

http://www.celebitchy.com/7719/britney_spears_plans_to_adopt_chinese_twins/

Son of a preacher man

Nothing makes me more angry than "men of the cloth" (women too) who use their positions to prey on others, sexually or monetarily.


What can be more heinous (except of course, kiddy-diddlers) then someone who preaches for the lord while stealing, self-aggrandizing or fooling around with others, all in the name of the Lord, of course.

If there is a hell, then there must be a special place for them in the hereafter.

Also its not just Christian mega-churches either.

Some recent notable examples.

Sex Scandal Hits Atlanta Megachurch

Time Magazine (DECATUR, Ga.) — The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch is at the center of a sex scandal of biblical dimensions: He slept with his brother's wife and fathered a child by her.

Members of Archbishop Earl Paulk's family stood at the pulpit of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church a few Sundays ago and revealed the secret exposed by a recent court-ordered paternity test.

More here: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1685950,00.html


Pastor defends spending

John Tedesco and Abe Levy, San Antonio Express-News

Pastor Rick Godwin took the stage at his popular church Saturday and said a newspaper article presented an inaccurate financial picture of Eagle's Nest Christian Fellowship.
But Godwin acknowledged the church might have spent too much on gifts for church leaders and on charter planes.

He said the church is temporarily halting charter travel for him and other members, and he told the congregation the church has hired a law firm to review expenditures.
It was Godwin's first public appearance at Eagle's Nest after the San Antonio Express-News raised questions in an article a week ago about the church's spending.

Most of the congregation gave Godwin an enthusiastic standing ovation. Some members remained seated and didn't clap as they waited for their pastor's explanation.
Godwin, his image beamed on large screens hanging in the church's packed auditorium, seemed happy to be back in San Antonio after a trip overseas.

"I welcome you tonight, as well as any members of the Express-News journalists who may be present," Godwin said, sparking chuckles in the crowd.
Records show the church has spent tens of thousands of dollars on charter flights or first-class travel for Godwin, his family and church leaders. In the first seven months of this year, the bill for charter flights alone was $143,000.

Church funds were used for luxury hotels and gifts for elders and other church associates that include $2,600 for an Armani suit and accessories and $2,518 for a Cartier watch.

read more here: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA112507.01A.Godwin.29b8b3f.html


Scandal tests faith at TV preacher's university

OKLAHOMA-BORN evangelist Oral Roberts fits right in to that American tradition of perspiring, impassioned preachers who just happen to become very wealthy thanks to the generosity of their wide-eyed congregations.

Roberts began with a revival tent show touring the impoverished South, became a pioneering television preacher and founded a university in his name.

His ministry avoided the sex scandals that besmirched many other television preachers, but the self-proclaimed healer, now 89 and enjoying retirement in California, may yet live to see his life's work undone.

His son, Richard, who has taken on his ministry and is the university's president, is alleged to have involved Oral Roberts University in a local conservative's political campaign in breach of US tax law, plundered its coffers for his family's benefit and wrongfully dismissed three whistleblowers.

A lawsuit issued last week for the three academics alleges Richard Roberts commandeered the university's plane for family use, used university staff to complete his daughters' homework, and spent university funds to renovate his house, which has been remodelled 11 times in 14 years.

His wife, Lindsay, is accused of spending thousands of dollars of funds on clothes, including $US39,000 ($A43,000) at one store. She was heard to say: "As long as I wear it once on TV, we can charge it off."

Mrs. Roberts is said to have awarded scholarships to her friends' children and to have sent dozens of text messages on university mobile phones to "under-age" males.

Read more if you have the stomach for it here: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/scandal-tests-faith-at-tv-preachers-university/2007/10/10/1191695989842.html


Chabad Embezzlement Scandal Widens

Now for the current allegations. According to Ha'aretz:

The leader of the "Young Chabad" movement in Israel and four other suspects were arrested by Israeli police yesterday on suspicion of embezzling $60 million from donated monies, tax evasion and money-laundering. The arrests of Yosef Aharonov, his assistant and the others followed a collaborative secret eight-month investigation by the Central District Fraud Squad and the Tax Authority.

Donated money never reached its destination, police suspect, and the money-laundering was effected in part by paying salaries to people under the table, and by "paying" money into fictitious bank accounts, Channel 10 reported last night. Businessmen reportedly abused the mechanism by "donating" money to the organization that they'd simply get back by these methods, while taking advantage of the tax break on charitable donations, not to mention the adulation. "We discovered that money was changing hands left and right, and it seems that the suspects were treating the money as though it belonged to them personally," investigating officer Avi Mantzour told Haaretz yesterday.…

[Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak] Aharonov, the Young Chabad manager, is suspected of theft by a manager, fraud under grave circumstances, falsifying corporate documents, hiding income and abetting tax evasion. Evidence shows that a great deal of money passed from the Young Chabad bank account to both private and fictitious bank accounts linked to Aharonov and his cronies.

"Fictitious bank account" means that documents showing transfers refer to accounts that don't actually exist. The fiction went on with donations by major businessmen. "They would donate the money, and receive an income tax break on it. But we can now say that they got it back, though a certain sum would remain in the association's hands," Mantzour said.…

Leading businesspersons are expected to be brought in to police headquarters for questioning including, according to reports, Arcadi Gaydamak.

read more here: http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2007/11/chabad-embezzle.html

Now researching his new video "Jailers Gone Wild"

Crocodile tears are copiously being shed everywhere.

'Girls Gone Wild' founder claims abuse

CHICKASHA, Okla. - The millionaire producer of the "Girls Gone Wild" video series has accused guards of abusing him during his brief stay at an Oklahoma jail, a newspaper reported Friday.

Guards at the Grady County Law Enforcement Center denied Joe Francis food and blankets and threatened to strap him naked to a chair for 48 hours, Francis' attorneys alleged last month in court papers seeking his release on bail in a Florida case, The Oklahoman reported.

Francis, 34, was held at the jail from May 17 to June 4 while being moved from a Florida jail to a federal facility in Reno, Nev., where he is awaiting trial next year on a tax evasion charge.
Grady County officials denied the accusations, telling the newspaper that guards never threatened to strap Francis to a chair, that Francis had an extra blanket he shouldn't have had confiscated and that his transfer was delayed because his family had somehow found out when he was to have been moved, creating a potential security risk.

"Mr. Francis was treated like every inmate that comes through the Grady County Law Enforcement Center," jail administrator Shane Wyatt told the newspaper.

Boo Hoo read more at the link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071123/ap_on_re_us/girls_gone_wild

Tovarisch, can you spare a dime?

Hokey Smokes!

That's some serious change he intended (allegedly) to embezzle.

Which brings up a question; is it allegedly in Russia? or is it he did it?

I bet Putin is pissed, I wouldn't want to be the focus of Putin when he is pissed, I wouldn't want to be anywhere near Putin when he is pissed at me, I wouldn't want to be on this planet if Putin is pissed at me.

I wouldn't give you 5 kopecks on this guy living long enough to stand trial.


Russia deputy finance minister charged with fraud, embezzlement

[JURIST] Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak was charged Friday with fraud and attempting to embezzle $43.3 million in state funds, according to his lawyer.

After an initial investigation [JURIST report] the Russian Prosecutor General's Office [official website, in Russian] accused Storchak of working with Sodexim [corporate website] head Viktor Zakharov and Interregional Investment Bank [bank website] chairman Vadim Volkov to take funds from a Russian bank for Sodexim business expenses. Storchak was arrested November 15, just before his scheduled departure to South Africa with Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin. Kudrin has insisted on Storchak's innocence [St. Petersburg Times report], and has petitioned the court to release Storchak on his personal guarantee. Storchak has been denied bail and Russian prosecutors have said his confinement is necessary to prevent him from leaving the country, destroying evidence, or intimidating witnesses.Storchak previously oversaw Russia's oil windfall fund and served as Russia's chief liaison to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank [official websites].

He was also instrumental in negotiations which paid off billions in Soviet-era debt. Russian media sources see the arrest as an effort by elements in the Kremlin to control Kudrin's economic policies, particularly those dealing with Russia's oil wealth.

read more below:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071123/D8T3G6100.html

Don't taze me Bro!, III

Three Canadians die after being tasered in the past few weeks?

Is it because the tasers used are different? i.e. higher voltages than the American ones?

Is it a fatal combination of Canadian beer and high voltage electricity? eh, hoser?

Canadian man dies 4 days after being Tasered

VANCOUVER, Canada -- A Canadian man died Saturday, four days after police used a Taser stun-gun on him because he reportedly was acting erratically in a store, police said. He was the third person to die in recent weeks in Canada after being shocked by the hand-held weapon.

Robert Knipstrom, 36, died in a hospital after two officers used pepper spray, a Taser and their batons to subdue the British Columbia resident. Police earlier said Knipstrom was extremely agitated, aggressive and combative with the two officers who responded. He was conscious and speaking when he was taken to the hospital.

The cause of death has yet to be determined. Although a Taser was used against Knipstrom, it was not immediately clear what role, if any, it played in his death, said Inspector Brendan Fitzpatrick.

Investigations into Knipstrom's death have been launched separately by the British Columbia Coroner's Office and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, police said at a news conference Saturday.

Read more of this shocking story:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/11/25/canada.taser.ap/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

The devil's lighter

Man, when I used to be a geologist and would go to offshore rigs this was my biggest concern, there's no place to run to.

Especially when the only place to go is into an ocean that will kill you dead of hypothermia in a matter of minutes if you're unprotected.

Bless them all and protect them.

Oil platform on fire in North Sea

Norwegian and British helicopters race to rescue 159 workers

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Norwegian and British helicopters raced to rescue 159 workers from a British oil platform that caught fire in the North Sea Sunday, a British Defense Ministry official said.

Norwegian helicopters had removed at least 44 people from the burning platform, the official said.

"They've made a good start and it's now just a question of as many guys you can get of in one go," Royal Air Force spokesman Michael Mulford said in an ITN interview.
Seven helicopters were involved in the rescue effort, including aircraft from the British Coast Guard and the Royal Air Force, Mulford said.

"We are very lucky that we have three neighboring platforms within five or six miles and in that sort of distance we will be able to land and refuel," he said.

The platform is in the United Kingdom section of the North Sea, about 120 miles northeast of the Scottish coast, according to a map.

YIKES!

Boy howdy, I sure wouldn't want her angry at me.

I understand her music is supposed to be quite good but her personal life is apparently just shy of Britney's full press melt-down.

I hope things work out for her.

Amy Winehouse's Husband to Spend Christmas in Jail

By Courtney Rubin

Amy Winehouse wiped away tears as her incarcerated husband Blake Fielder-Civil was denied bail today. Fielder-Civil, 25 – who is charged with conspiracy involving alleged witness tampering in his upcoming assault trial – will spend Christmas in jail awaiting a Jan. 18 hearing. Should his case go to trial, Judge David Robson said he was "penciling in early June." As he was led away, Fielder-Civil held his hand to his ear like a telephone and mouthed, "I'll call you," through the glass of the defendant's box. Winehouse waved and blew him two kisses.

Read more below:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20162200,00.html

This day in legal History

And to think I enlisted in May, 1969, only to be rejected for a football knee injury.

My life sure would've been different I think.


Lt. Calley ordered court-martialed for My Lai massacre


On November 24, 1969, US Army Lt. William L. Calley was ordered to stand trial by court martial for the massacre of over 100 civilians in the Vietnamese village of My Lai in March 1968.

Read the overview of the My Lai Massacre Trial by Professor Douglas Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in JURIST's Famous Trials series.

Overview of the trial here:

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/trials3.htm

Mr. Obvious speaks

Ya think? She's only been missing for 2 1/2 years now.

I sure do feel badly for the family and hope that justice prevails.

Aruba's Chief Prosecutor Believes Natalee Holloway Is Dead

ORANJESTAD, Aruba — Aruba's chief prosecutor told FOX News that he believes Natalee Holloway is dead.
Hans Mos said authorities have not found her body, which will make prosecuting the case difficult.
He told FOX News he has new evidence in the case, but would not reveal the evidence.

• Click here for photos.

A judge Friday ordered an extended detention of two brothers held in the disappearance of Holloway after reviewing new evidence in the case of the missing teenager.
Surinamese brothers Satish and Deepak Kalpoe will be detained in separate jails for at least another eight days while prosecutors continue to pursue the investigation. The brothers have been held since Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in Holloway's death.
A third suspect, Joran van der Sloot, was expected to arrive in Aruba on Friday, a day after a judge in the Netherlands approved his arrest and transfer, the prosecutor's office said.

read more at the link:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312710,00.html

Uh... we didn't have any more cells to use?

WTF?

What idiot, although an idiot might have a higher IQ then the nimrod who did this.

So apologies to all the idiots out there who might be offended.

You put a 15 year old teen age girl in a cell with 21 male prisoners and you don't think there might be a problem? IMHO the folks who condoned this should be tried as accessories to the crime as well.


Male Prisoners Force Female Teen to Have Sex for Food in Brazilian Jail

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — A teenage girl was locked up on theft charges in an Amazon jail for weeks with 21 men who she said would only let her eat in return for sex, according to authorities, setting off a national scandal over the treatment of women by Brazil's justice system.
The 15-year-old said she was required to have sex with at least two inmates, police spokesman Walrimar Santos said by telephone Thursday from Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon River, where the victim was transferred after nearly a month living with male inmates.
By her account, officials did nothing — until the story erupted in the national media and outraged Brazilians demanded her transfer.
"Throwing a 15-year-old girl into a cell with 20 men was a heinous and intolerable act," Brazilian Bar Association president Cezar Britto said in an interview. "It is a serious case of criminal negligence against women, who in Brazil continue to be victims of prejudice."

read more of this outrageous story below:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312703,00.html

Oh those poor sex offenders.

I don't think its too strict.

Keep them away from the kids please.

Or better yet, let them move next door to those folks who supported revoking this restriction, including the Judge too.

Georgia high court rejects sex offender residence law

[JURIST] The Supreme Court of Georgia [official website] Wednesday unanimously overturned [opinion, PDF; summary, PDF] a state law that prohibited registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of schools, playgrounds and other areas where children gather. Civil rights groups had criticized the law [legislative materials] as overly strict, saying that the state's roughly 11,000 registered sex offenders would have been barred from living in almost any residential area.

State Rep. Jerry Keen (R) [official profile], who sponsored the law, expressed disappointment in the court's ruling and said that state lawmakers may readdress the issue in January.The Southern Center for Human Rights (SCHR) [advocacy website], which represented the plaintiffs in their class-action lawsuit [complaint, PDF; SCHR materials], had argued that the law violated several constitutional provisions and at least one federal statute.

The law was passed last year and was scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2006, but in June 2006 US District Judge Clarence Cooper [official profile] issued a temporary restraining order [brief in support, PDF; JURIST report] that prevented the state from enforcing the law against eight plaintiffs, and then later extended the restraining order to all registered sex offenders in the state [JURIST report]. AP has more.

........A good start?

Okay so you won't defend us so we'll kill you.

That's a persuasive argument to make sure your legal rights are defended.

India courthouse bombings kill at least 13 lawyers

[JURIST] Courthouses in the northern Indian cities of Lucknow, Varanasi, and Faizabad [official websites] were hit Friday with bombings that killed at least 13 lawyers and injured over 50 other people.

The blasts occurred in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh [official website], where lawyers decided earlier this year not to defend terrorist suspects. Indian authorities say they suspect militant groups trying to spark conflict between the Hindu majority and the Muslim minority in the country.

Varanasi is one of Hinduism's holiest cities and Faizabad is near the site of the Babri Mosque bombing in 1992, which sparked widespread Hindu-Muslim riots. India [JURIST news archive] has been rocked by a series of terrorist bombings over the past two years. In August, a pair of explosions in the southern city of Hyderabad killed 43 and in July 2006, the Mumbai commuter train bombings [JURIST news archive] killed more than 200 people. AP has more.

The Times of India has local coverage.

If being rich is a disease, then make me sick baby!

OMG, this lady is someone who is so easy to dislike.

Paul, give her what she wants and be done with her.

Oh, and Heather, give me a million or two and I promise I won't be a snob.

Heather Mills says the rich are snobs

From CeleBitchy:

Heather Mills sure knows how to give average, run-of-the-mill hypocrites a run for their money. The crazed loony - who has long been criticized for her poorly received attempts at social climbing – has decided to further ostracize herself from the nice people that used to have her over for dinner when she was married to a Beatle. For some reason Heather was invited to give a speech to the debate society at Trinity College in Dublin. I have no idea why they would want to give such a raving diatribist an academic soapbox. It’s like encouraging her mad delusions. During her hour and a half long speech (I can’t help but wonder if it really was supposed to be that long) Mills went off on the rich, calling them stingy and snobby. This is the same woman who turned down several divorce settlements in the $50 million range.

Mills McCartney said she was reluctantly obliged to befriend the world’s wealthy because that was the only way to maximize her power as an agent for change.

“Sadly, you have to mix at a certain level of people to raise the level of funds you need to bring about the greater good,” she said. “Because people are very snobby. These people who have lots of money, they’re either snobby or they’re stingy. If you have lots of money, you have to be stingy — because why would you want that amount of money?”

"She also compared herself to human rights crusaders down through the ages, suggesting they all had been victimized for their beliefs. “If you look at every single person in the history of the world who has tried to make a difference, you’ll find a very long section of their lives where they were treated horrifically by the government or by the media,” she said."
[From Fox News]

read more if you dare:

http://www.celebitchy.com/7694/heather_mills_says_the_rich_are_snobs/

Brother, can you spare a dime?

I believe this is happening because of the decline in the value of the US Dollar. Why kill when a buck is not worth more than say...oh, 50 to 55 cents?

I mean, right?

Or maybe its due to global warming. Why not? Global warming is being blamed for everything else.

City Homicides Still Dropping, to Under 500

By Al Baker, NY Times

New York City is on track to have fewer than 500 homicides this year, by far the lowest number in a 12-month period since reliable Police Department statistics became available in 1963.
But within the city’s official crime statistics is a figure that may be even more striking: so far, with roughly half the killings analyzed, only 35 were found to be committed by strangers, a microscopic statistic in a city of more than 8.2 million.

If that trend holds up, fewer than 100 homicide victims in New York City this year will have been strangers to their assailants. The vast majority died in disputes with friends or acquaintances, with rival drug gang members or — to a far lesser degree — with romantic partners, spouses, parents and others.

The low number of killings by strangers belies the common imagery that New Yorkers are vulnerable to arbitrary attacks on the streets, or die in robberies that turn fatal.

Dying to know more? click below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/23/nyregion/23murder.html?ei=5065&en=e317f6d8d8c57dde&ex=1196485200&partner=MYWAY&pagewanted=print

I spy..with my little eye...

I seem to recall in my office where we got a search warrant to obtain these types of records which helped prove up that particular case, which I believe, eventually pled out.

Again as I stated before, there should be no good reason not to obtain these records without a search warrant, if there is no probable cause then its an impermissible infringement on a person's right to privacy IMHO.

Cellphone Tracking Powers on RequestSecret Warrants Granted Without Probable Cause

By Ellen Nakashima: Washington Post

Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers

.
In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.

Such requests run counter to the Justice Department's internal recommendation that federal prosecutors seek warrants based on probable cause to obtain precise location data in private areas. The requests and orders are sealed at the government's request, so it is difficult to know how often the orders are issued or denied.

Search for more below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/22/AR2007112201444_pf.html

Titanic Collision!

A little more than 95 years after the sinking of the Titanic by an iceberg another ship has its hull stove in by an iceberg!

I think its a conspiracy, they both were ships, they had Brits on board, they were both in the ocean when it happened. Coincidence? Methinks not!

Better a conspiracy than the lawsuits which are bound to happen.


Iceberg smash sinks cruiseliner

MORE than 20 British passengers are among 154 people forced to abandon a cruise liner sinking in the Antarctic Ocean.
The captain and first officer gave the order to leave the MV Explorer after it was holed by an iceberg. They were the only men to remain on board.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We have not had any reports of anyone seriously injured. We are in contact with all the relevant authorities.

"We are still monitoring the situation closely and will provide full consular assistance as necessary."
The collision, which caused a small hole in one of the cabins of the Canadian-owned, Liberian-flagged vessel, occurred early this morning in temperatures of about minus 5C.
Owner G.A.P. Adventures, based in Toronto, said the MV Explorer "hit ice" in the Bransfield Strait off King George Island, Antarctica, at 5.24am.
It added that all passengers and crew were safe and uninjured.

Howdy! and hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Howdy!

I hope all of you had a Happy Thanksgiving. I know I enjoyed watching the Dallas Cowboys manhandle the New York Jets.

Had a minor problem with the Internet connection, first the cable modem went out and had to get it reinitialized by TimeWarner Roadrunner, who BTW should now let me watch next week's game between the Green Bay Packers and the 'Boys on the NFL channel, fat chance of that happening. Then I had to get Linksys on the phone to reset my router as it was preventing me from connecting once the cable modem went back into service.

Anyhoo, we back and while I am working on an Appellate brief due in Austin in a week, I will try to get some posting done as well.

Sam