We have often discussed the relatively low sentences handed out in some English cases. While our country goes to the opposite extreme, it sometimes shocks the conscience to see disproportionately light sentences. One such case is that of Ilyas and Tallat Ashar who brought a 10-year-old girl to England where she was repeatedly raped, kept in appalling conditions against her will, and used as more of a slave than a servant. That was roughly a decade of abuse. However, Ilyas Ashar, 84, who was found guilty of 13 counts of rape, was jailed for 13 years. That is roughly a year for year of confinement, rape, and abuse. Tallat Ashar, 68, convicted of benefit fraud and trafficking, got only five years.
Category: Society
China’s lack of food controls have previously taken its toll on its own citizens and the global markets. Last week, however, our veterinarian advised us not to give our dog Luna any dog treats made in China. It turns out that over 600 dogs are dead and thousands are sickened by Chinese dog treats. This story also allows me to post a recent picture of Luna at four months. Continue reading “Chinese Dog Treats Linked To Hundreds of Deaths and Thousands of Sick Animals”
We have previously discussed how Congress and the White House continues to spend hundreds of billions on foreign wars without pause but have failed to address an emerging global threat to humanity: antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. It is part of the lunacy that governs this nation. We spend wildly on wars while largely ignoring a threat that could endanger the entire population. Recently, Thomas Frieden, director of the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, put it in the starkest terms to try to get someone to pay attention. Indeed, Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, has warned that we are moving into a “post-antibiotic era.” That means “an end to modern medicine as we know it. Things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill.”
Since we have been discussing the Jets-Patriots brawl, we might as well add a story out of Texas where a coach is facing a charge of “bullying” because his team, Aledo High School, beat Western Hills High School by 91-0. Tim Buchanan will now have to answer for his actions after various parents filed complaints that he allowed his team to do so well. I find this type of objection to be mystifying. I have four kids in sports. I feel bad when they lose but I tell them that you do your best and try harder next time. Moreover, I am not sure what this coach is supposed to do. He has a really good team. Are they supposed to intentionally ground the ball? I think the demeaning thing is not losing to a better team but having your parents demand that they let you score.
Yesterday, we discussed the fight between a Jets fan and Patriots fans recently caught on YouTube. One of the issues for discussion was the focus of the media on a New York Jets fan, Kurt Paschke, punching a woman in a Patriots jersey. Many were outraged that he hit Jaclyn Nugent, 26, and that anger grew when it was learned that he was a former felon. However, the full video showed Paschke being attacked first by Nugent, at least in that incident. Well, it turns out that the police was not so confined in its search. Charges were filed Tuesday afternoon against Amanda MacDowell of Marlborough, Mass.; Jaclyn Nugent and David James Sacco, both of Boston, and Kurt Paschke of Holbrook, N.Y. I remain unclear as to why Paschke is even charged since what was shown on the video seems a legitimate act of self-defense. It may be misleading in terms of what occurred before, but he is shown hitting Nugent after she attacks him.
What is it about law enforcement and squirrels recently? We previously discussed the pepper spraying of a squirrel. Now Tennessee police officer Officer Jody Putnam has been fired after he tried to get rid of a squirrel in a Dollar General store by shooting at the animal and using his pepper spray.
We have previously discussed how many families, including my own, have abandoned football stadiums to rowdies who have turned games into a contest of obnoxious drinking, swearing, and fighting. Games are now viewed as a license what is becoming the American version of Soccer hooligans. That element was on display this week with the video below of a New York Jets fan punching a woman in a Patriots jersey. According to reports, the man is Kurt Paschke, who was previously found guilty of negligent homicide in a stabbing death outside of a pizzeria in 1992. However, the Patriots fans come off as no better in the video, including the woman, identified as Jaclyn Nugent, 26, who is seen as hitting Paschke before he hits her.
Continue reading “Jets Fan Shown Striking Woman After Jets-Patriots Game Identified As Former Felon”
We have followed the environmental meltdown in China which only recently moved to deal with a myriad of pollutants that have created cancer spikes and suffocating health conditions. Air pollution is the most obvious area of neglect and average Chinese are beginning to complain about pollution that continues to set records for unhealthy levels. I have previously discussed how my trips to China through the years have found horrendous levels of pollution where one is unable to see beyond half a block on some days in cities like Beijing. For decades, the authoritarian government posted false readings that became increasing comical, but sites like the one at the U.S. embassy has forced officials to admit to the alarming levels — as if the lack of line of sight vision did not already confirm the prior misrepresentations. This week, one regional capital, Harbin, has effectively shutdown due to levels of particulate pollution that would be considered unimaginable in many areas. Parts of Harbin are reporting levels of more than 1,000 PM2.5 — the level considered hazardous is 300. Thus, the city is over 300 percent higher than the hazardous level for human health.
No it is not the latest rock band. Fat Leonard is the nickname for the rotund contractor named Leonard Glenn Francis, chief executive of Glenn Defense Marine. The Asian company is accused of greasing the skids in the Navy with bribes ranging from prostitutes to luxury hotels to tickets to Lady Gaga concerts. Snared in the scandal are an array of top Navy officials, including an official at the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and a Navy Commander known “Little Bro” to Fat Leonard. Fat Leonard was well known in Naval circles and was given his nickname because he dressed out at 6-3 and 350 pounds.
Continue reading “Fat Leonard And The Sailors: Navy Rocked By New Contracting Scandal”
Officer James Harris in DeLand, Florida has been fired after he ran over a man who was fleeing police. Marlon Robert Brown, 38, was being pulled over for a seatbelt violation when he fled. He won’t do that again. The video shows Harris pursuing Brown in his car and when Brown trips, running over the man.
Joel T. Jackson, 50, of Manchester has a curious defense after he shot and killed a one-year dog named Chincee because he has an abnormal fear of dogs. His counsel added that “He was surprised a BB gun would have that kind of effect.” He could receive as much as six months for the killing. Notably, however, the intentional shooting of a family pet remains only a misdemeanor — given less protection than breaking into a shed and stealing property.
Former Kansas Attorney General and current Liberty University law professor Phill Kline is now indefinitely suspended from the practice of law due to his investigation of abortion clinics run by the late George Tiller and by Planned Parenthood. Tiller was murdered in 2009 while attending church in Wichita with his wife. While opting not to disbar Kline, the Kansas Supreme Court found “clear and convincing evidence” of professional misconduct (including the violation of 11 rules) to warrant indefinite suspension.
The Taliban has long personified the ignorance and intolerance found among religious extremists. Indeed, they first attracted international attention with their destruction of the famous giant Buddhas of Bamiyan. However, it is always impressive to see the degree to which its Islamic beliefs seem to produce uniformly harmful impacts on the populations under its cruel control. A report last week documented how there is a serious polio outbreak that is threatening global progress against the disease. The Taliban has denounced vaccinations as a Western plot and threatened anyone who receives one. It is a tragic irony since the disease has long been the scourge of the Middle East going back to ancient times, as this Egyptian tablet from the 18th Dynasty (1403–1365 BC) reflects. The ancient populations could only dream of a cure but, now that one is available, the Taliban again seeks to force its areas back into the dark ages.
A couple years ago, the family went through a toll booth in Illinois by mistake without paying: we mistook an automatic lane for a cash lane. We spent the rest of the day trying to reach someone to pay the toll only to be told that it would not be necessary. I thought of that experience today after reading about Ronny Williams and Cora Lewis of Pflugerville, Texas who have racked up $236,026.32 in unpaid tolls and fines. We are obviously on opposing ends of a guilt spectrum. By the way, Mandy and Stephen Dyment of Hutto were not far behind with $217,619.79 in unpaid tolls and fines.
Submitted by Charlton Stanley (Otteray Scribe) Guest Blogger
“Nobody is in charge.”
“Low and middle level bureaucrats have no power to make anything happen. The only way they can have any sense of personal worth and power comes from their ability to obstruct.”
– Dr. Dwight W. Allen, Dean Emeritus, College of Education, University of Mass., Amherst.
In 1971, I was having lunch with Dr. Dwight Allen. The conversation was wide ranging, but he has strong views on educational institutions, school boards, why irate parents are irate and making institutions more accountable. At that time the Vietnam war was dragging on, and his views on entrenched power structures applied to our difficulty extricating ourselves from that as well. He co-authored American Schools: The $100 Billion Challenge, with one of his former doctoral students, Dr. William H. Cosby. You may have heard of Dr. Cosby.
Some people use the term “bureaucrat” as an epithet. When George Wallace ran for President in 1972, he railed against “bureaucrats,” saying he was going to take all their briefcases and throw them into the Potomac. Wallace conveniently ignored the fact as Governor of Alabama, he was in charge of a huge bureaucracy that had exactly the same problems he said he was going to fix.
Decades ago, Dr. Laurence Peter pointed out that all organizations with a hierarchical management structure are bureaucracies. Dr. Peter analyzed those structures, and reported many of the same issues Dr. Allen shared with me over lunch. He coined the term, “Peter Principle” to describe how otherwise competent people rise through the ranks until they achieve their “level of incompetence.”
Recently, we see those observations applying to people who are caught up in a Kafkaesque drama at city hall and municipal traffic courts. Public officials and offices are not the only culprits. There are countless tales of woe from people trying to deal with big banks, mortgage companies and faceless collection agencies. Those are problems likely to have more direct effect on us personally than global events in Washington, London or Kabul.
Let’s take the case of Capt. Dave. Dave Petrich, of West Seattle, WA mostly navigates boats around the Puget Sound area rather than vehicles with wheels; hence’ his nickname, “Capt. Dave.” The good captain restores old wooden schooners and runs maritime-history tours. As he put it, “I like to put old boats back to work.”
Continue reading “Capt. Dave and the FarmBoat: Trapped in Limbo When Nobody is in Charge”