A case out of Cincinnati, Ohio has many of us scratching our heads at the judgment of some parents. Ben Hawkins scammed parents into believing that he was a researcher who needed to measure the underwear of their children — alone. He was just arrested for sexual assault of the children.
Recently, the Navy surprised many by announcing that it was scrapping its multi-billion dollar construction program of the new Zumwalt class of stealth destroyers — after only two ships are built. After the first $5 billion ship was completed, the Navy canceled the program. It now appears that the most expensive surface vessel in the world may be defenseless against anti-ship weapons. If true, there are serious questions of representations made to Congress to produce the world’s biggest and most expensive target decoy.
Continue reading “Meet the Navy’s New $5 Billion Sitting Duck”
A proposed Colorado constitutional amendment would define a fertilized human egg as a person. The Egg-As-Person amendment is set for a vote for November — a ballot initiative that could drive religious voters to the polls to the advantage of John McCain.
Continue reading “Microscopic People: Colorado Amendment Would Declare Fertilized Eggs To Be Persons”
A 56-year-old official in the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had been arrested for exceeding the wife limit in the Jazan province of Saudi Arabia. Under Sharia law, a man can have as many as four wives but the official had accumulated six wives. It appears that the official has two wives too many.
Continue reading “Saudi Religious Police Official Arrested for Excess of Wives”
Peter Tubic might not have known in 2004 that he could not park his own broken down van in his own driveway without a proper license plate. What he surely did not know is that the $50 ticket could eventually cost him the house itself. The city foreclosed on his $245,000 home after the accumulated penalties pushed the ticket to $2,600.
Continue reading “Milwaukee Forecloses on Home of Disabled Man Over Unpaid $50 Parking Ticket”
Israel’s six most prestigious universities are fighting a limitation imposed by the military that would make them justify the acceptance of more than 70 Palestinian students as students. There is also a bar on these students taking certain courses. The restrictions raise core academic freedom — as well as raw discrimination — questions. Academics at Tel Aviv, Hebrew, Ben-Gurion and Haifa universities along with the Weizmann Institute and the Technion are launching a public campaign against the regulations. Israeli academics are concerned that the latest controversy could expand the current boycott of Israeli universities in the West.
Continue reading “Israel Restricts Universities to a Limit of 70 Palestinian Students a Year”
Chinese authorities have shown the importance of maintaining properly running toilets — your life could depend on it. Yan Dabin was the former director of transportation for Wushan County in southwest China. He was arrested after a resident in his apartment building called police about water leaking through his ceiling. When the police arranged for the apartment to be opened with a maintenance worker, they discovered the problem: eight soaked cardboard boxes containing 9.39 million yuan ($1.3 million) from bribes.
Continue reading “Pay As You Go: Leaky Toilet in China Reveals Millions in Soggy Bribes”
>Another religious event has led to a massive death toll in India. The most recent stampede occurred in northern India at the Naina Devi Temple in Bilaspur district. As if often the case, the authorities and organizers allowed too many people to squeeze into a small area and then claimed amazement that a stampede followed — killing at least 30 children.
Continue reading “145 People Dead After Stampede At Hindu Festival”
There are just some crimes that are difficult define. This arrest of Brendon Alan Erhardt, 39, would be one of them and it would not be “shooting kangaroos from the vehicle whilst driving north”.
Continue reading “Man Arrested in Flagrante Delicto Whilst Driving North Shooting Kangaroos”
Remember the British pullout that led to all of the lawlessness and killings? It turns out to have been triggered by a disastrous deal struck with a Shia prisoner, Ahmed al-Fartusi, who promised that the release of him and his men (and the withdrawal of British forces) would stop the violence. Instead, they unleashed a torrent of shootings and bombing — most directed at the withdrawing British.
The Prince George’s Sheriff was investigating the delivery of marijuana on July 31, 2008. A pot package would normally not be viewed as the equivalent to the Lindburgh kidnapping, but you would not know it from the reaction of the Prince George’s sheriff’s office. They sent in a SWAT team to the home of Berwyn Heights Mayor Cheye Calvo. The team proceeded to shoot the two black labradors at the home, bust through the door, and handcuff the the mayor (who was in his underwear) and his mother-in-law. They were questioned for hours while their dogs laid nearby in pools of blood. It turned out to be a mistake — the smugglers were probably just using their address to pick up the package off the porch — a common practice.
Continue reading “In Mistaken Pot Raid, SWAT Team Members Shoot Mayor’s Two Dogs, Bust Into Home, and Handcuff Mayor and his Mother-in-Law”
Today I returned from Goshen — the huge Virginia Cub Scout reservation where my oldest son was completing a week of camping as a cub scout. I only learned when I returned that nine scouts were sickened by E. coli 0157 at the camp. Now, with eighteen serious cases and 60 scouts showing symptoms, the number of cases are expected to rise in the coming days. Both Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts were affected.
Continue reading “Earning Your E-Coli Badge: 18 Scouts Sickened at Virginia Camp”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has continued her search for book sales and it seems her search for a plausible rationale for personally blocking any impeachment investigation of President Bush. The latest explanation can in an interview with Time Magazine. It seems that she would not allow an investigation because Bush would never have supplied incriminating evidence against himself. It seems that House investigators rely on the accused to build an impeachment case.
In the latest decision involving the liability of sperm donors, the New Mexico Court of Appeals says some sperm donors must pay child support. The case involves Kevin Zoernig who agreed to donate sperm for two children with Janna Mintz. Mintz is a lesbian who wanted a child with her partner in the mid 90s. It is one of a recent series of such decisions exploring the liability of both anonymous and non-anonymous sperm donors.
Continue reading “New Mexico Sperm Donor Found Liable for Child Support”
It appears that CNN’s Nancy Grace will have to answer for her conduct on her program. CNN and Grace have been sued for the wrongful death of Melinda Duckett, who committed suicide after Grace attacked her on the program — suggesting that she was responsible for her own child’s disappearance. Many in the bar are delighted by the lawsuit against Grace who was repeatedly charged with abuses as a prosecutor and has degraded the profession with her snarling sensationalistic program.
Continue reading “Dis-Grace: CNN’s Nancy Grace Loses Critical Motion in Court”