Despite my work with older prisoners at the Project for Older Prisoners (POPS), you sometimes find people that buck the trend and commit crimes late in life. Police say that Laura Lundquist is one such “later bloomer.” She is 98 years old and accused of killing her 100-year-old roommate Elizabeth Barrow (shown here) in Massachusetts at the Brandon Woods Nursing Home.
Continue reading “Ninety-Eight-Year-Old Woman Kills 100-Year-Old Roommate in Massachusetts”
While Thomas the Tank Engine may be a capitalist stooge (here), one train employee has become a proletarian hero. A London Underground or tube announcer had some unconventional advice for riders recently: if they are frustrated with the service they might want to consider suicide as an option.
Continue reading “Railing Against the Bosses: London Train Announcer Suggests Suicide as Option for Travelers”
Professor Shauna Wilton and colleagues at the Department of Social Sciences Research at the University of Alberta have made a disturbing discovery: Thomas the Tank Engine appears to be a vehicle used to implant a “conservative political ideology” in our children. This is the liberal version of the campaign against Purple Teletubby Tinky Winky by Jerry Falwell as sending hidden gay messages. The professor, however, may find proletarian values in another railway, the London underground: here.
Continue reading “Thomas the Capitalist Stooge: Professor Finds Dark Messages in Children’s Series”
A recent study found that as much as three-fourths of the state schools were holding back the most talented and brightest students because they wanted to combat the scourge of “elitism.” These students were not being given more advanced work even though they were not being sufficiently challenged by grade-level material.
Brian Ross at ABC has aired the results of his investigation into the use of alleged mercenaries by the United States. I was interviewed on the story, though I was obviously not at liberty to discuss it before it aired yesterday. Ross found evidence that private contractors were being used in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq for combat missions — a role that raises very disturbing legal and policy questions.
Continue reading “Shadow Army: ABC Discloses Use of Blackwater Contractors as Possible Mercenaries”
Federal prosecutors allege that high school drug counselor was a bit too close to his subject. They have charged the intervention specialist with conspiracy to distribute and distribution of oxycodone.
Continue reading “High School Drug Counselor Arrested For Drug Dealing”
It is a good thing that Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) represents Montana and not Minnesota, here. New details have emerged in the ethics scandal surrounding the Senator. Baucus allegedly gave his girlfriend Melodee Hanes a nearly $14,000 pay raise in 2008 when he started his romantic relationship and later took her on a taxpayer funded trip to Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Continue reading “Baucus: “I Went Out Of My Way To Be Up And Up” On His Romantic Relations With Staff Member”
There is an interesting fight in Minnesota where State Senator Ellen Anderson made the modest suggestion that the state repeal laws making it illegal for a married woman to cheat on her husband and another statute that makes it a crime for single women to have sex at all. The response of the powerful Minnesota Family Council is to call for the law not to be repealed but strengthened to make it a crime for men to have sex outside of marriage.
Irish Green Party member Paul Gogarty cut to the chase in the Irish Parliament in this video when confronted by by Labor Party members. Gogarty responds with “With all due respect and in the most unparliamentary language, f— you Deputy Stagg, f— you.” I felt the addition of “with all due respect” made all the difference.
Continue reading “With All Due Respect . . . Kiss My Shillelagh”
If this happy looking man appears relieved, it is because he is. Daniel L. Shilts Jr., 36, of Waldo, Wisconsin was arrested after his fifth DWI and then urinated on the back of the head of the officer taking him to jail. Officers spotted him driving erratically and striking a pole. Then things went from bad to much much worse . . .
Chinese doctors at the Hunan Hangtian Hospital in Changsha were unsure what was the cause of the pain that a student was describing after a drunken party until he rolled over and the television in the hospital room changed channels . . .
Continue reading “Bachelor Comes With 500 Channels! Chinese Doctors Remove Clicker That Was a Bit Too Remote”
Uganda is considering a new law that would impose the death penalty for some gays and sentence family members to up to seven years in jail if they fail to report gay relatives to authorities. The law would even jail landlords for accepting gays as tenants.
Continue reading “Uganda Law Would Execute Gays and Imprison Their Families”
There is an interesting story out of Indianapolis, Indiana where attorney Paul K. Ogden has sued the city over the imposition of fines against any citizen who dares to challenge a traffic ticket. Ogden says that the city is charging as much as $2500 if citizens do not just fork over the dough with a ticket.
Continue reading “Indianapolis Hits Motorists with Large Fines For Contesting Tickets”
It is rare for an inmate to volunteer to turn over a shank, but Rance Johnson, 19, was ready to come clean with the Merced County jail in California.
Continue reading “Concealed Weapon: Prisoner Turns in Shank and Demands Surgery”
A Connecticut dairy family is heralding the arrival of a cow with a white cross on its head. A Texas farming couple is showing an egg with a cross on it. Both are being cited as signs from God during this holiday season. Together they make for either a powerful message of the Almighty or a divine steak omelette.
Continue reading “Holy Cow: Connecticut Cow Is Latest Divine Sign To The Faithful”