Category: Bizarre

Double or Nothing: California Moves to Stop Welfare Recipients From Using Cash to Gamble

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has moved to stop a legitimately disturbing trend: welfare recipients using state-issued debit cards withdrew welfare payments as cash from casino floors. Since October 2009, welfare recipients have withdrawn more than $1.8 million in taxpayer cash on casino floors.
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Video Shows Officer Working For BP and Preventing Filming of Headquarters

There has been considerable controversy over BP preventing journalists and activists to film in public areas — showing the damage of the recent spill on animals and the environment. BP has no authority to do so, but it continues (as in this video) to prevent filming at various locations.
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Prison Guard Fired For Posing For Playboy

We have been following a line of cases where teachers (and here and here and here and here and here), city managers, lunch ladies, police officers (and here), coaches, students and others have been fired for lawful conduct committed in their private lives. These cases are also occurring abroad in countries like England. We can now add Jessie Lunderby, a 21-year-old jailer in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Washington County Sheriff’s officer has been suspended after she participated in a nude photo shoot for playboy.com.

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Drunk Driver Opens Last Beer While Waiting To Be Cut Out of Overturned Car

Paul Nigel Sneddon, 47, is not someone to allow a wreck to stop him from enjoying a beer. Sneddon was trapped in his overturned car after driving drunk in Wellington, NZ. Since he had to wait for rescue crews to cut him out of the car, he proceeded to open one last beer because he had “nothing better to do.”
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Drunk Chicago Cop Threatens Cabbie at Gunpoint . . . So Colleagues Give Him Back His Gun and Release Him Without Charges

Chicago police officer John Killackey, 32, will only receive probation and community service after pulling a gun on a cabbie during a fare dispute. Critics have charged that the sentence for aggravated assault and theft was too light — though he only faced a one year maximum jail sentence. This is because he was only charged with two misdemeanors.
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The [Early] Rising Sun: Sleeping Japanese To Slow Global Warming

Next time you see a sleeping Japanese, do not wake him . . . he is saving the planet. The Japanese government has launched a campaign asking people to go to bed and get up extra early in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Of course, it is not clear what carbon footprint will be left by the likely increase in births associated with forcing couples into their beds for longer periods.
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Mannequin Mascetomies: Iranian Officials Reportedly Ordering Removal of Breasts From Mannequins

There is another bizarre account from Iran where the government has been cracking down on “baldy veiled women.” It appears that it is not just actual women who offend Sharia-sensibilities. There is a photo running on the web that allegedly shows how Iran’s religious police are giving double mascetomies to mannequins to avoid the appearance of breasts in public.
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Salon: Author Details Controversy at LA Times Over Article on The Israeli Lobby and Denial of the Armenian Genocide

Author Mark Arax has written an article in Salon that details allegations against the Los Angeles Times in killing a story on how the Israeli lobby was helping efforts to deny the Armenian genocide in exchange for Turkey’s support of Israel. Despite the focus on media issues on this blog, I am embarrassed to say that I was unaware of the controversy until this column.
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Texas Officer Charges Homeowner With “Illegal Photography” For Taking His Pictures During An Alleged Unlawful Entry

We have another case of a citizen arrested for photographing police. Francisco Olvera says that he was charged in Seeley, Texas with “illegal photography” when a police sergeant followed him into his own home, and he objected and took the officer’s photo with his cell phone.
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