The "Mayors and Crime" trifecta is now in play

First, there's the story of the Mayor of Detroit having his bond revoked for leaving the country.

From the AP:

DETROIT (AP) - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was jailed Thursday for a bond violation in his perjury case, his pleas for leniency rejected by a judge who made it clear the mayor would get no special treatment.

Kilpatrick, charged with perjury and other felonies over his testimony in a civil trial, apologized and acknowledged that he made a mistake when he visited Windsor, Ontario, minutes away from Detroit, for city business last month. But District Judge Ronald Giles was not moved, saying he needed to treat the mayor like any other defendant.

Now the Mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, had a SWAT team kick in his door and kill his dogs.

Again, from the AP:

BERWYN HEIGHTS, Md. (AP) - Mayor Cheye Calvo got home from work, saw a package addressed to his wife on the front porch and brought it inside, putting it on a table. Suddenly, police with guns drawn kicked in the door and stormed in, shooting to death the couple's two dogs and seizing the unopened package.

In it were 32 pounds of marijuana. But the drugs evidently didn't belong to the couple.

Police say the couple appeared to be innocent victims of a scheme by two men to smuggle millions of dollars worth of marijuana by having it delivered to about a half-dozen unsuspecting recipients.

The two men under arrest include a FedEx deliveryman; investigators said the deliveryman would drop off a package outside a home, and the other man would come by a short time later and pick it up.

A furious Calvo said Thursday that he and his wife, Trinity Tomsic, are asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the July 29 raid.

"Trinity was an innocent victim and random victim," Calvo said outside his two-story, red-brick house in this middle-class Washington suburb of about 3,000 people. "We were harmed by the very people who took an oath to protect us."

Calvo insisted the couple's two black Labradors were gentle creatures and said police apparently killed them "for sport," gunning down one of them as it was running away.

I'm not dead yet...

From the AP

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) - A man believed to have died in a Colorado flood in 1976 has been found living in Oklahoma.

Sixty-three-year-old Darrell Johnson told the Fort Collins Coloradoan for a story Friday that he didn't know he had been counted among the 144 victims of the Big Thompson Canyon flood until a resident called him last year.

Barb Anderson said residents didn't want his name on a memorial plaque without proof he was dead.

Johnson and his family had decided to leave their shabby cabin the morning of the flood after just one night. A few hours later, the resort was washed away.

How Johnson ended up on the victims list remains a mystery.

He now directs funerals in Oklahoma City and acknowledges he was lucky to get the bad cabin.

Says something about the state of records. If the guy was declared dead in 1976 I'd think his Social Security Number would be in the Social Security Death Index.

Of course, having a living person show up in the death index is a real problem, so a death not being reported seems a better error, considering the problems than a "false positive" can cause.

Odd problem for someone in the death industry, though.

When physics isn't PC

Apparently, in Dallas a County Commissioner thinks the term "black hole" is racist. No, really.

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price is sticking to his comments that the term "black hole," which a colleague used, is racist.Price also says language such as "angel food cake" and "devil's food cake" are also racially insensitive.

You've really got to check the video on the link above though. That quote above doesn't do it justice.

Just in case you need a reference, the all knowing wikipedia defines a "black hole" as:

A black hole is a region of space in which the gravitational field is so powerful that nothing, not even light, can escape its pull after having fallen past its event horizon. The term "Black Hole" comes from the fact that, at a certain point, even electromagnetic radiation (e.g. visible light) is unable to break away from the attraction of these massive objects. This renders the hole's interior invisible or, rather, black like the appearance of space itself.

Sexes split over one night stands

This bit of wisdom comes from the BBC:

Many women are left unhappy in the aftermath of casual sexual encounters, a survey has revealed.

Just under half of women who answered the internet poll, published in the journal "Human Nature", said they felt it had been a bad idea.

Four out of five men, in contrast, said they were happy with a brief fling.

French Army fires into crowd... on accident

As seen on Reuters:

TOULOUSE, France (Reuters) - Sixteen people including four children were wounded after a soldier fired live ammunition during a military show in the southern French town of Carcassonne, a local official said on Sunday.

The accident occurred during a combat demonstration by the Third Marine Parachute regiment in which a soldier used live ammunition instead of blanks, said Bernard Lemaire, the prefect of the southwestern region of L'Aude.

Praise Cthulhu... how the frak does that happen? No blank firing adapter in the rifle? Who issued live ammo for a military show?

LA Times: WTF?

So, in reaction to the Supreme Court ruling on the 2nd Amendment the LA Times has an opinion piece, with this tidbit:

This year, about 12,000 Americans will be shot to death. It's a staggering figure, and even though lawmakers have continued to pass gun-control laws to try to bring the number down, they have not significantly reduced the murder rate. Indeed, for the last decade, guns have steadily remained the cause of about two-thirds of all homicides.

Gun manufacturers insist that these deaths are not their fault, preferring to pin the blame on criminals and irresponsible dealers.

Say what? The manufacturer of a legal machine is responsible for it's use?

So... Ford and Honda are responsible for drunks who use their cars to kill people?

Spoons are responsible for people eating too much ice cream?

This is the sort of idiocy those of us who support the right to keep an bear arms just scratch our heads at. Firearms are machines, not demon infested imps which act independent of human will.

Blaming the tool for the user's actions just leads to the same action being performed with a different tool.

Change! .... wait, is that a monkey???

What the...



Have to wonder if they meant to portray Obama, or if the word "Change" is just that closely identified with Obama's message.

Unaware they were in a stand off with SWAT, suspects surrender

Yeah, really.

Apparently three people in the home, two 19-year-olds and a 21-year-old, had fired some shots around 1 this morning and then went to bed. The 21-year-old was apparently playing around with the gun and decided to shoot it.

When police responded, they apparently never knocked on the door. Instead they tried calling the home and had no luck. During the time police were trying to call the home, officers called in the swat team and began to evacuate the neighbors as a precaution.

Around 8:30 this morning, the guys finally woke up, realized what was going on outside, and peacefully left with the cops. All three were arrested for possessing a firearm and firing it.

Wow. Great job there.

Hand grenade trifecta in play

First, a woman brings a hand grenade to a fire station:

GROVE CITY -- Columbus Fire's bomb squad was called out to the Jackson Twp. department, 3650 Hoover Rd., on reports of a hand grenade, NBC 4 reported.

A woman drove up to the department with the grenade in her vehicle. She said she found it while going through her father's estate and thought firefighters would accept it.

Since it still had its pin, firefighters and the bomb squad were worried the grenade was live.

Second, some kids picking up trash find a hand grenade:

HUDSON, Wis. (AP) - Three children picking up trash along a river in Hudson for community service work found much more than garbage. Charlie Thompson, 11, Maddie Roth, 10, and Demetri Roth, 8, came across a hand grenade, picked it up and headed home to show off their discovery.

On their way back Monday, they ran into a neighbor, who immediately called 911. Hudson police cordoned off the block, then determined the grenade wasn't a danger, even though it still had the firing pin inserted. Sgt. Eric Atkinson says the grenade was rusted and contained no powder.

Have to wonder if there's a third hand grenade incident out there waiting to happen...

Dad jailed because daughter fails GED

No, really.

Brian Gegner is in jail for 180 days for failing to keep an eye on his daughter's education. The problem is his daughter is 18 and has passed all except the math portion of the GED which she has failed several times. The order stems from 2 years ago.

When the original truancy happened, Brian Gegner had custody of his daughter even though she was living with her mother. Brittany and her mother both say they should be the ones to go to jail if anyone had to. "It's ridiculously wrong," said Brittany.

The court says that even though Brittany is now an adult the order can be upheld since she was a juvenile at the time. Gegner is also facing the possibility of losing his job, which he has had for 15 years, over this situation.

WTF is it about the Ohio educational system that is nucking futs?

Earlier there was a bill to force parents to volunteer in their school district or pay fines. Now parents are responsible for their kids... even if they don't live together?

This is just another reason I'm glad I don't have any kids.

Jury doesn't buy self defense in beheading

From Fox News:

DETROIT — A jury has convicted an 18-year-old man of killing another man, then beheading him and torching the body in what prosecutors called a thrill killing.

Jean Pierre Orlewicz of Plymouth, Mich., was charged with first-degree murder in the Nov. 7 slaying of Daniel Sorensen, 26, of River Rouge in Wayne County's Canton Township. The jury convicted Orlewicz on Wednesday, a day after starting deliberations.

The conviction carries a mandatory punishment of life in prison without parole.

The defense had argued in Wayne County Circuit Court that the Orlewicz killed the much larger Sorensen in self-defense and mutilated the body because he feared reprisal by organized crime figures.

But prosecutors say Orlewicz carefully planned the killing.

Just had to happen in Detroit... I don't think even RoboCop could help them any more.

'World peace' hitcher is murdered

So this story came up on a mailing list.

I'd never heard of the victim, a woman who called herself Pippa Bacca. Her web site was down, and in Italian, but here's the google cache, translated into English.

Heck of a read. I'm still wondering what the point of her trip was, even after reading this:

The Project
By Silvia Moro & Pippa Bacca
Our dream is to hitch-hike across the war-torn areas of the Balkans and the Mediterranean – dressed as brides. That’s the only dress we’ll carry along - with all stains accumulated during the journey. We’ll visit artists and craftsmen along the way and stop at museums, foundations, cultural centres and youth clubs for the daily pacifist ritual/performance of personal hygiene and then interaction with the place, people, and their crafts.

Objectives Objectives
The goal is to explore and collect photographic and video evidences on the common Mediterranean culture. The expected route is through route is through North-Eastern Italy, Serbia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria. At the end of the journey the dresses shall be exposed together with other evidences of the journey.

WTF is "daily ritual pacifist / performance of personal hygiene"? Taking a bath in a drum circle? Singing kumbaya in the shower?

Whatever. I feel for her family. Her sister had this to say ( from the BBC article ):

Ms di Marineo's sister, who had gone to Turkey to look for her, identified the body. An autopsy is being conducted in Istanbul.

"Her travels were for an artistic performance and to give a message of peace and of trust, but not everyone deserves trust," another sister, Maria, told the Italian news agency, Ansa.

Well said. If only her sister had listened.

Navy Hooker Had Sex With "Hundreds"

From the Post Chronicle:

Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Dickinson, a Navy Lieutenant who was a pricy call girl for the D.C. Madam, has testified in court and revealed that she 'serviced' hundreds of clients while working for the D.C. Madam.

Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Dickinson was paid $250-$300 per hour by D.C. Madam Deborah Jeane-Palfrey and admitted to having sex with almost every client that Palfrey set her up with between October of 2005 and April of 2006.

Dickinson, a Navy supply officer and former Naval Academy instructor, reportedly has 3 children and a husband, but the marriage is apparently 'troubled'.

Shortly after filing for bankruptcy, Dickinson became a hooker. now that she's caught, the Navy has sent her a letter of reprimand and explained that she will never dress in uniform again.

"We expect the men and women who serve in our nation's Navy to adhere to a standard of conduct that reflects our core values of honor, courage and commitment," Hanzlik said.

"Lt. Cmdr. Dickinson's conduct will prevent her from wearing this uniform again in the service of our country."

This incident has made Dickinson a bad girl in no time, who has otherwise had a good career profile. The Lt. Cmdr. had two Navy/Marine Corps Commendation medals and four Navy/Marine Corps Achievement medals, say sources.

Dickinson's civilian lawyer says she understands that her career is now over. Dickinson was fired from her position as an instructor at Naval Supply Corps School.

She said "It was getting harder for me to do," Dickinson testified. "I had other responsibilities. I didn't like it." She added, "I quit for many reasons. . . . Partly because of other commitments."

She should have quit sooner.

Great write up. You've just got to love that photo; it seems to clarify what people paid $300 an hour for.

Ohio House Bill 519: Mandatory Volunteering for parents

Well this doesn't look good.

House Bill 519 introduced in the Ohio legislature would require parents to volunteer at least 13 hours in their school district.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The bill, sponsored State Rep. Sandra Williams (D-Cleveland) would penalize parents with a $100 fine if they don't donate their time, reports 610 WTVN's Christy Chatman.

According to the proposal, no later than June 30th of each school year, the superintendent of each school district would be required to report parents who didn't volunteer to the Ohio Department of Education.

Since when did volunteering become mandatory? Isn't that called conscription? As far as schools needing work done, property taxes cover that here in Ohio as the main source of school funding.

For those readers from Ohio who might like to comment on this proposed legislation, you can find your representative here.

Eric Cartman on NPR

No, really.

Eric Cartman was interviewed on NPR and even answered an adaptation of the Proust questionnaire.

This is a similar story to the one NPR did on the Cookie Monster; just seems odd that Cartman is on NPR. Seems like there should be four guys on horses riding around.

Alleged Bank Robber Leaves Her Photo ID

From the AP

WARREN, Mich. (AP) - A would-be bank robber came away empty-handed but left behind something useful for police: her photo identification. The woman was arrested less than an hour later on a charge of attempted armed robbery, Police Commissioner William Dwyer said.

The woman filled out an account application Thursday morning, then pulled a handgun and demanded cash, Dwyer said. She panicked and fled without getting any money; police found an address on the account application, along with her photo ID.

The address was for an apartment near the bank. The manager gave the woman's new address to police, who arrested her without incident.

"We're probably not dealing with the smartest person in the world," Dwyer told The Detroit News for a story published online Thursday.

Perhaps if Detroit is producing criminals this dumb there's an upside to the Detroit city schools %24.9 graduation rate.

Missing NY Rev. Found at Ohio Strip Club

Damn stories like this amuse me.

From the AP:

RIVERSIDE, Ohio (AP) - Police say a pastor who was reported missing from his home in western New York has been found at an Ohio strip club.

A police officer patrolling the K.C. Lounge parking lot Friday morning in the Dayton suburb of Riverside spotted out-of-state license plates on 46-year-old Craig Rhodenizer's car.

The FBI and New York authorities had been searching for Rhodenizer, who disappeared Wednesday after telling his wife he was getting his computer fixed at Best Buy. He is the pastor of a church in Lyndonville, N.Y.

Detective Matt Sturgeon said Rhodenizer was disoriented when confronted by police and said he felt "emotionally guilty."

Emotionally guilty? Why not just say he was there to support single mothers?

Why gorgeous girls are happier with plain guys

From the UK Daily Mail:

psychologists reckon that happier marriages result from attractive women who wed uglier men.

..and..

The University of Tennessee study leaves 40-year-old Ifans set fair if, as expected, he marries 26-year-old Sienna this year, and it might also explain a few other couples such as Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas and Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller.

The Tennessee team tested 82 newly-wed couples for facial attractiveness and the quality of their marriage.

Their results, in the Journal of Family Psychology, suggested most men who married attractive women were happy to bask in the glory of their partner's beauty.

I've no idea what to really make of this study, but I had to double check this photo:



Thought for a second that Catherine Zeta Jones brought her father to an event...

'Dead parents' show up at press conference about their murders

From the Daily Mail

Searching for the bodies of the owners, police dug into the garden and tore up the verandah of a country house.

Then they called a press conference to announce their concerns that Dr Roy Ostell, 63, and his wife Heather, 58, had been murdered.

But just as TV crews were setting up their cameras and reporters were opening their notebooks at the couple's home north of Melbourne, a Volkswagen campervan rumbled up the driveway.

At the wheel was the "dead" doctor and his "murdered" wife.

"What on earth is going on?" asked Mrs Ostell.

"Never mind that," exclaimed her daughter, Angela, who had contacted police to report her fears that something terrible had happened to her parents. "Where have you been?"

On hearing police fears that they had been murdered, the couple - who had merely been away for a short holiday - burst out laughing.

Their daughter had raised the alarm when she called at the home, near the small town of Narre Warren, to find the campervan missing, the front door wide open and no sign of her parents.

"That was my husband's fault, leaving the door open like that," said Mrs Ostell. "He's always doing it.

"It was very much a spur of the moment thing to go away to the coast last Friday.

"We told our other daughter, Melanie, about our plans but we couldn't contact Angela. It seems that nobody could get in touch with her, so she didn't know we'd taken the unusual step of of taking an instant short holiday."

The couple had arranged for their dog and ponies to be cared for by a neighbour, but Angela had not thought to check with neighbours about her parents' possible whereabouts.

"We're very sorry for all the trouble we've caused," Mrs Ostell told the police and the crowd of journalists who had turned up to hear details of what they expected to be a murder mystery.

The couple now plan to spend a few days filling in the holes in the garden and repairing the verandah.

40% of German soldiers too fat

From the Guardian

German soldiers are fat, unfit and too fond of cigarettes and stodgy food, according to a parliamentary report into the physical state of the army.

The report, an annual review of the state of the military, said Germany's soldiers were fatter than the average citizen - 40% are overweight, compared with 35% of civilians of the same age, while 8.5% are classed as "seriously overweight".

"It would be an enormous advantage on the battlefield if they shaped up," the defence ministry admitted yesterday.

The report, presented in Berlin by Reinhold Robbe, the parliamentary commissioner for the military, said soldiers, 70% of whom smoke, ate too much and did not move enough, either on or off duty. "This has much to do with poor equipment and lack of training," the report said. It added that bureaucracy got in the way of their physical fitness.

Soldiers, it said, spent too much time filling in forms, doing emissions tests on vehicles, and separating rubbish. Robbe also criticised financial cuts made in recent years which he said had reduced the quality of food supplied to the army.

A respondent to an army blog posting who identified himself as an officer blamed conscription, which meant many soldiers were not serious about the task.

The army was, he said, "full of fatties ... making us the laughing stock abroad where we're seen as overweight grumpy old men ... compared to the British, we're viewed as pathetic."