The librarians in Independence, Iowa don’t take kindly to people holding on to their books. Shelly Koontz, 39, probably feels like she has become a character out of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment after police arrested her for failing to return a book that she checked out in April. The book value is $13.95.
The fifth-degree theft charge is based on Koontz keeping “The Freedom Writers Diary,” a story about a high school teacher’s effort to inspire students to write. Koontz was released on $250 bond.
Whatever happened to canceling the library card?
She is not unique. Heidi Dalibor was booked on the same book charge and gave a very nice mugshot. She was guilty of hoarding “Angels and Demons” and the “White Oleander.” 
For the full story, click here.
Turley, can Americans sue the human rights organizations that pressed for the release of the terorists at Gitmo that have since re-joined Al Queda when these terrorists cause damamge, injury, or even death to Americans or American soldiers?
When Obama closes it down and these terrorists rejoin the fight can we impeach him when American soldiers are killed by these same terrorists he releases??
Two ex-Guantanamo inmates appear in Al-Qaeda video
1 hour ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Two men several human rights organizations pressed for released from the US “war on terror” prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have appeared in a video posted on a jihadist website, the SITE monitoring service reported.
One of the two former inmates, a Saudi man identified as Abu Sufyan al-Azdi al-Shahri, or prisoner number 372, has been elevated to the senior ranks of Al-Qaeda in Yemen, a US counter-terrorism official told AFP.
Three other men appear in the video, including Abu al-Hareth Muhammad al-Oufi, identified as an Al-Qaeda field commander. SITE later said he was prisoner No. 333.
On the video, al-Shihri is seen sitting with three other men before a flag of the Islamic State of Iraq, the front for Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
“By Allah, imprisonment only increased our persistence in our principles for which we went out, did jihad for, and were imprisoned for,” al-Shihri was quoted as saying.
Al-Shiri was transferred from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia in 2007, the US counter-terrorism official said.
The other men in the video are identified as Commander Abu Baseer al-Wahayshi and Abu Hureira Qasm al-Rimi (also known as Abu Hureira al-Sana’ani).
The Defense Department has said as many as 61 former Guantanamo detainees are believed to have returned to the fight.
The latest case highlights the risk the new US administration faces as it moves to empty Guantanamo of its remaining 245 prisoners and close the controversial detention camp within a year.
None of the human rights organizations that had pressed for the release of these figures were willing to be interviewed.
Commentary: Obama breaks his own rules already
By Campbell Brown
January 23, 2009
CNN
(CNN) — Just a couple of nights ago, we heaped praise on the new president for announcing what he called a new era of openness, where in his administration, transparency would rule the day.
And the lobbyists that he was so critical of during the campaign? Well, he told us they will now face even tougher new restrictions.
President Obama: “The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any other administration in history. If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president.”
Well, anyway that’s what President Obama said two days ago. But as we first told you Thursday Obama already wants and will get an exception to his own new rule.
You see, what happened is, there is this former lobbyist for a big defense contractor called Raytheon. Obama wants him to be deputy defense secretary. So, he wants a waiver to his own rule – now.
That means Obama is saying he will put tough new restrictions on lobbyists, except when he won’t.
Really? Is this how it is going to be? Just three days into this administration?
Remorse
January 24, 2009 at 7:00 am
LOL! Funny how Obama’s “Executive Order” to close Gitmo was really an “Executive Order” to creat a plan to create a plan for the closing of Gitmo.
Remorse
1, January 24, 2009 at 7:01 am
Commentary: Obama breaks his own rules already
By Campbell Brown
January 23, 2009
CNN
(CNN) — Just a couple of nights ago, we heaped praise on the new president for announcing what he called a new era of openness, where in his administration, transparency would rule the day.
And the lobbyists that he was so critical of during the campaign? Well, he told us they will now face even tougher new restrictions.
President Obama: “The executive order on ethics I will sign shortly represents a clean break from business as usual. As of today, lobbyists will be subject to stricter limits than under any other administration in history. If you are a lobbyist entering my administration, you will not be able to work on matters you lobbied on, or in the agencies you lobbied during the previous two years. When you leave government, you will not be able to lobby my administration for as long as I am president.”
Well, anyway that’s what President Obama said two days ago. But as we first told you Thursday Obama already wants and will get an exception to his own new rule.
You see, what happened is, there is this former lobbyist for a big defense contractor called Raytheon. Obama wants him to be deputy defense secretary. So, he wants a waiver to his own rule – now.
That means Obama is saying he will put tough new restrictions on lobbyists, except when he won’t.
Really? Is this how it is going to be? Just three days into this administration?
Remorse
1, January 24, 2009 at 7:04 am
Elections have consequences
In his inauguration speech, President Obama said, “the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.” He suggested that these arguments should be set aside as “childish things.”
Today Obama listened to Republican criticism of his stimulus package during a meeting with congressional leaders, acknowledged that there are philosophical differences between the parties, and then reminded the assembled Republicans, “I won.”
Who is the child?????
Remorse
January 24, 2009 at 7:10 am
Obama hides signing EO authorizing aid money for abortions
On the anniversary of Roe v Wade, abortion supporters expected Obama to issue an executive order reversing the Mexico City policy imposed by George Bush prohibiting American aid dollars for international abortions.
Obama demurred, perhaps wishing to avoid the media scrutiny that would attend such a move on Roe’s anniversary. Instead, Obama will quietly sign the new EO today, away from the media spotlight:
President Barack Obama will sign an executive order later Friday ending the ban on federal funds for international groups that promote or perform abortion, officials said.
It is a move certain to please liberals and other abortion-rights advocates, and the reversal was expected in the Democrat’s first week as president.
This isn’t exactly a Profile in Courage. Actions get taken on Friday afternoons when people want the media to ignore it. By noon, the broadcast networks have their evening news well planned, and Americans as a rule go out to socialize. It’s not called the graveyard of news cycles for nothing.
It seems significant that the first such Friday afternoon news cycle of the Obama administration gets used for authorizing American tax dollars for abortions abroad. We’re spending a trillion dollars that we don’t have now for an economic stimulus that will likely make the economy worse as we pull capital out of the markets. With the federal budget deficit exploding to three times its previous size, thanks to the bailout, why should Americans pay for abortions overseas?
Hey, Rafflaw, the entire lyrics of nearly every song written are available on the web. Great old songs are on YouTube. It is great. These are the good old days.
And Jules, thank you, spot on:
oh we got trouble,
Right here in River City!
That’s trouble with a capital “T”
That rhymes with “B”
And that stands for Books,
That stands for Books.
Vince,
Thanks for the transcript of AR. This past Fall, my wife and I saw Arlo Guthrie at a small local theatre and he was great. To show you how old I/we have gotten, his son was playing in his band. You have to love the “father raping and mother stabbing” line. The moveie is available on netflix, but when you watch it you realize how low-tech the movie was. It was a hell of trip to see it again.
What a revolting situation. Books should never be borrowed from libraries. They should be purchased from publishers, lined up on one’s own shelves and carefully dusted at least every other day.
And, Mr. Vince Treacy, children should not read books. Book reading leads to all kinds of problems, including lifetime addiction. First it’s one book, just one little book to see what it’s like, then there’s a second, and a third, and it just escalates from there. Next thing you know, a kid is sneaking books into his/her bedroom, along with Dad’s flashlight, sitting in bed with the blankets over his head, running down the batteries in the flashlight while they fill their little minds with (gasp) words; big words, little words, whole sentences and paragraphs. From there, they start to have ideas, notions; they experiment with bigger books, books without pictures. The whole thing ends in the disaster of boys who grow up to be things like Constitutional law professors, girls who scorn their Barbie dolls and who fancy themselves to be “smart,” and everyone knows that smart girls end up as spinsters who never know the joy of wiping baby-burp from the shoulder of their cashmere sweater, or experiencing the delight of bleaching the skid marks out of hubby’s drawers.
No, no, and NO. Children should not read books. It stretches their little minds out of shape, and creates wrinkles around their eyes. I know this from experience. My careless mother exposed me to books at the tender age of three years, and taught me to read. By the age of four, I was sitting on a kitchen stool, reading the war news to her from the local newspaper while prepared supper, and I’ve paid the price for this behavior all my life. Now, although I’m closing in on 70 years on this rock, I’m still secretly buying books, although I’ve stopped the flashlight-covers-over-the-head perversion. Protect your children, America. Buy for them footballs and tea sets.
Right on the money, Rafflaw.
I am so old that I am going to take out Alice’s “LP” and put it on the “turntable.” Younger folk can wiki those terms.
Proceeded through, and when I finally came to the see the
last man, I walked in, walked in sat down after a whole big thing there,
and I walked up and said, “What do you want?” He said, “Kid, we only got
one question. Have you ever been arrested?”
….
And I proceeded to tell him the story of the twenty seven eight-by-ten
colour glossy pictures with the circles and arrows and the paragraph on
the back of each one, and he stopped me right there and said, “Kid, I want
you to go and sit down on that bench that says Group W …. NOW kid!!”
And I, I walked over to the, to the bench there, and there is, Group W’s
where they put you if you may not be moral enough to join the army after
committing your special crime, and there was all kinds of mean nasty ugly
looking people on the bench there. Mother rapers. Father stabbers. Father
rapers! Father rapers sitting right there on the bench next to me! And
they was mean and nasty and ugly and horrible crime-type guys sitting on the
bench next to me. And the meanest, ugliest, nastiest one, the meanest
father raper of them all, was coming over to me and he was mean ‘n’ ugly
‘n’ nasty ‘n’ horrible and all kind of things and he sat down next to me
and said, “Kid, whad’ya get?” I said, “I didn’t get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage.” He said, “What were you arrested for, kid?”
And I said, “Littering.” And they all moved away from me on the bench
there, and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I
said, “And creating a nuisance.” And they all came back, shook my hand,
and we had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing,
father raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the
bench.
Vince,
WAsn’t “plastics” from “The Graduate”?? Alice’s best line was during the scene in his draft physical when he was forced to sit on the “Group W” bench where all the misfits and criminals had to sit.
If this bookin’ occurred in Alaska, especially Wasilla, Gov’nah Sarah Palin would pardon the good lady only IF the stolen book(s) ridded the ‘lieberry’ of blasphemous tomes involving Evolution or anything under the headings of Science, Law, Logic, or Geography et al.
However, Palin would seek full prosecution of the pagan lady if the snatched book(s) fell under the Dewey Decimals of Religion, Witchcraft, Moose Killin’ & Jerky Makin’, The Airborne Art of Shootin’ Wolves, Turkey Slaughter Techniques, How to Teach Endangered Species a Deadly Lesson about Who’s the Boss…
Gee, I was hoping for a post about the ruling declaring that nurses in the US are practicing as slaves. (Long Island page, New York Times, 1/23/2009).
http://virtuouskeptic.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/it-is-what-it-is-its-slavery/
Thanks, Patty, Rafflaw.
This has been a very instructive thread.
Because of it, I just returned two library books.
I don’t want that inspector from Les Miserables hounding me for the rest of my life.
Rafflaw, if you remember Alice, then I have one word for you: “plastics.”
rafflaw,
Keeping a book from the library is one crime we all know Bush never committed. Too bad because he could be arrested in the U.S. for that! (The school library gave him My Pet Goat.)
Vince, that was funny. As were the other great comments above!
Vince,
This library book case is similar to the infamous”massacree” in Alice’s Restaurant! What a waste of police and eventually, court time. I agree with Buddha that the judge will not be amused that the police and prosecuting attorney are tying up the system with this nonsense. We can’t get the Democrats to prosecute for Torture, but look out if you don’t return that $14.00 book. (I wonder if the mere use of the word “torture” will bring out our friendly trolls?)
I am very sorry, but this is not the tragedy of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. It is the farce of Jerry Seinfeld, who was pursued remorselessly by the library policeman Lt. Bookman:
“Let me tell you something, funny boy… You know that little stamp? The one that says New York Public Library? Well, that may not mean anything to you, but that means a lot to me. One whole helluva lot. Sure, go ahead, laugh if you want to. I’ve seen your type before — flashy, making the scene, flaunting convention. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking… Why’s this guy making such a big stink about old library books? Let me give you a hint, junior. Maybe we can live without libraries, people like you and me…. Maybe. Sure, we’re too old to change the world. What about that kid, sitting down, opening a book right now in a branch of the local library and finding pictures of pee-pees and wee-wees in The Cat in the Hat and The Five Chinese Brothers. Doesn’t he deserve better? Look, if you think this is about overdue fines and missing books, you’d better think again. This is about that kid’s right to read a book without getting his mind warped. Or maybe that turns you on, Seinfeld… Maybe that’s how you get your kicks… You and your goodtime buddies… I’ve got a flash for you, joy boy. Partytime is over.”
– Lt. Bookman, in “The Library”
Hey, Arlo Guthrie was jailed for “litterin”!
[Google Seinfeld, library and bookman for all the details.]
Free Shelly Koontz! Some people are just too cute to be arrested.
Book her, Dano!
Hey that link leads to my local newspapers site!!!
It’s about time this happended!! I cannot count the number of times that I have gone to the library to only discover that the book I want is not there.
How many of these book “borrowers” are we going to let continue checking out these books and not returning them in a timely fashion??
I say cut her card up and ban her from all libraries in the United States.
This is just too funny. What a great thing to be arrested for.
See that smile? It’s because she knows the judge will laugh his or her ass off at the prosecution.