"Runaway Bride" Jennifer Wilbanks has had more than one brush with the law.

She has a prior criminal record -- which should make it easier for the local DA to charge her with filing a false police report (if she actually DID file a false report).

Court records show that Wilbanks was arrested three times in that county on shoplifting charges from 1996 to 1998.

In 1996, as district attorney, (Wilbanks' lawyer Lydia) Sartain prosecuted Wilbanks for allegedly shoplifting $1,740 in merchandise from a Gainesville mall, court records show. Sartain dropped the felony charge after Wilbanks, then 24, completed a pretrial diversion program, the records show. Wilbanks performed 75 hours of community service and paid restitution, according to court records.

Months before that felony arrest, police had charged Wilbanks with misdemeanor shoplifting for allegedly taking $37.05 in merchandise from a Gainesville Wal-Mart. Court records show that officials dismissed the case after Wilbanks completed "Project Turnabout," a six-week counseling program for shoplifters.

She was arrested again, city court records show, in April 1998, when Wilbanks, then 25, was charged with shoplifting $98 worth of merchandise from a store. She pleaded guilty and served two weekends in jail. A judge also sentenced her to probation, a $400 fine and 50 hours of community service.

Sounds like she needs some serious help from the local shrink.

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A vending machine full of Apple iPods for sale at Atlanta Hartsfield.

Figure you need lots of quarters for this machine.

Of course, my teenaged daughter wants to know how long before one gets installed at the mall.

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Dacula High School science teacher Larry "Doc" Neace was fired by the Gwinnett County School Board last night.

Neace was found insubordinate after failing a football player who fell asleep in his class, and refusing direct orders to change the student's grade. District rules prohibit teachers from using grades as a punitive measure.

Neace, a 23-year veteran of the suburban Atlanta school system, cut the grade of said football player in half after observing the student sleeping. The student whined to his daddy, who in turn whined to the school administration.

"What we have in this case is a case of a pampered football athlete sleeping in class and being given favored treatment on an academic grade," said Neace's lawyer, Michael Kramer. "What we have here is the principal essentially attempting to coerce and intimidate a teacher."

School officials said they gave Neace a chance to restore the football player's grade. When he refused, they sent him home. He has not been allowed back at school since April 14, when he was told he could resign or face being fired.

School officials on Thursday argued their case before the Gwinnett school board, which weighed the teacher's fate into the early morning hours. The hearing at school district offices in Lawrenceville lasted more than five hours.

Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks recommended to the board that Neace be fired. "He cannot have a policy that supersedes board policy," Wilbanks said. "He had no right to do that."

Neace said he had a practice of reducing the grades of students who waste time or sleep in class. His course syllabus warns that wasting class time can "earn a zero for a student on assignments or labs." No administrators had previously complained about the practice, which he adopted more than a decade ago, Neace said.

School officials said Thursday that it appeared Neace allowed students to sleep in class. "He said it was not his job to wake up students," Assistant Principal Donald Mason said.

When asked Thursday if students sleep in his class, Neace responded, "Very rarely."

This is a case of a pampered football player and a school administration whose priorities are completely screwed up. Mind you, the parents of the spoiled football player have taught their brat kid a valuable lesson. If you whine loud enough and long enough, hand-wringing administrators will give you whatever you want.

So much for personal responsibility.

Neace, in an interview on Atlanta radio station WSB this morning, said that he only wants to get back in the classroom. He loves teaching and he won't let this sour him on it.

Neace has plenty of support from students throughout Dacula High School, with signs and shirts being made in his favor. When the principal got up to speak at an assembly, the students chanted, "We want Doc!" The principal ignored them.

The principal is obviously a hand-wringing idiot more concerned about this football player than about education and commensurate discipline in his school.

Feh.

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The esteemed Rusty Shackleford over at The Jawa Report printed an e-mail from a supposed terrorist (who was here in the US illegally) awhile back. An astute reader forwarded the info to the FBI who finally got off of their hind quarters (after much harranguing), investigated, and arrested the sorry SOB.

From time to time we like to do something called post the terrorist's e-mail. It's not just great fun to sign up for gay porn using a terrorists e-mail, it also pays off from time to time.

I'm not at liberty to give all the details yet. I'll post the rest of the story when the reader gives permission. I've been holding back on this one for a month. I can't anymore, though.

The basic story is we posted a terrorist's e-mail. A reader with an Arabic sounding e-mail address sent off a message to the terrorist. The terrorist responded. The FBI was informed. The FBI didn't do diddly-squat. The reader kept bugging the FBI. The FBI finally investigated, and ...... drumroll please ..... the FBI now has said terrorist locked up in a jail.

Whatever we need to do to get those scum-sucking terrorists caught and tossed. Good work, Rusty!

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Only a few weeks ago, CafePress.com had to pull a shop off of their site for encouraging violence against President Bush (the plainly named "Kill Bush" page).

Today, there's another shop, this time going after Republicans: "Save America, Kill Republicans." The shop sells shirts, baseball caps, thongs, aprons, and other things with the offensive saying on it. The site is sponsored by the blog "NaughtyGirlsX.com."

If past performance is any clue, the site will disappear within the next few hours. But this makes me wonder about motives.

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According to Chicago Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed, the FBI is planning to exhume the body of Emmitt Till, the 14 year-old black Chicago boy who was killed in Mississippi after allegedly whistling at a white woman. Till's body is buried in Burr Oak Cemetary just outside Chicago in Alsip, IL.

Till's body, which is buried next to his mother's at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, will be exhumed within the next few weeks, and an autopsy will be conducted by Cook County Medical Examiner Ed Donahue, according to a source.

"The FBI wants to know who killed Till, and due to the brutal beating he received, an exhumation may provide the evidence they need" to make a case, said the source.

The murder of Till, an unsolved case standing at the center of the American civil rights movement, gave meaning to the term "Mississippi Justice."

Then, last year, a new chapter was added to the Till story.

The U.S. Justice Department reopened the case following a documentary by African-American filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, 32, who claimed to have uncovered new evidence. The documentary, "The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till," chronicled Till's nightmare death and the sham trial of his alleged murderers.

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Right after 9/11, former CIA officer Gary Schroen was sent to Afghanistan to help the Northern Alliance in their fight against the Taliban, who was harboring Osama Bin Laden.

He told National Public Radio in an interview broadcast on Monday and Tuesday that he stopped by the office of then-CIA counterterrorism director Cofer Black for final instructions.

He said he was told: "'your basic marching orders are to link up with the Northern Alliance and get their cooperation militarily and they will take on the Taliban.

"'When we break the Taliban, your job is to capture bin Laden, kill him and bring his head back in a box full of dry ice.'"

He said he told Black, '"Sir, those are the clearest orders I have ever received, I can certainly make pikes out in the field but I don't know what I'll do about dry ice to bring the head back but we will manage something."

Two different flicks come to mind: Joe Pesci's "8 Heads in a Duffel Bag," and the legendary Warren Oates flick "Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia."

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A VW Golf which once belonged to Pope Benedict XVI while he was still a cardinal, is fetching big bids on eBay Germany.

The car, a 1999 VW Golf in mint condition, started at $16,500. As of Tuesday night, the current bid was more than $100,000.

The car is offered for sale by 21 year-old Benjamin Halbe, who got the car in January from a used car dealer, not knowing that Joseph Ratzinger would shortly be elected the new Pontiff. Halbe says the car is a "heavenly ride."

There's no word whether the exhaust gives off white or black smoke.

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Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has The Black Middle Class Lost It's Mind

Dyson has a background mired in the brick-tossing and name-calling that comes about whenever anyone black dares to step outside of the "blame Whitey" mindset that so many subscribe to. His new book continues in the same direction.

Dyson showed up on NPR's Talk of the Nation today to continue his blather. The interview is streamed on NPR's site - listen for yourself, if you can stomach it.

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The time? 11:37 MT last Friday night. The place? 7-Eleven on Solano Street in Albuquerque, NM. Who? Jennifer Wilbanks, the now-legendary runaway bride that has been plastered all over the news this past week. What? The 911 phone call where Wilbanks concocted her half-assed story of kidnapping.

Dispatcher: Alberquerque 911. Operator 45. What is your emergency?

Wilbanks: I'm at the ... I don't know where I am. I'm right here beside Solano Street at the 7-Eleven.

...

Dispatcher: What is your name, ma'am?

Wilbanks: Jennifer.

Dispatcher: Were you hurt, Jennifer? Do you need any medical attention?

Wilbanks: No I don't need any medical attention. [inaudible] I told them my name.

Dispatcher: Do you know who did this to you?

Wilbanks: No.

...

Dispatcher: Do you know where your location is?

Wilbanks: At some street ... I, I don't even know who I am. And I'm just sitting here.

Dispatcher: Did they hurt you in any way? Jennifer, do you need medical attention?

Wilbanks: No, they didn't hurt me. I'm talking to them right now...

...

Dispatcher: Who did this to you?

Wilbanks: I don't know.

Dispatcher: Did they just drop you off right now?

Wilbanks: I don't know how long ago it was. They didn't drop me off here. Away from here. On some street, I don't know where I am...It was a Hispanic man and a Caucasian woman. It happened in Duluth.

Other evidence indicates that Wilbanks had purchased a bus ticket several days prior to her disappearance last week. So she planned this thing -- at least the runaway if nothing else -- in advance. Mind you, this isn't the first time she's bailed out of the engagement.

She's a stupid, spoiled brat, and that, certainly isn't a crime. And arguably, she didn't actually file a false police report (which would actually have been a crime). But she was the root cause of time, effort, energy and money being spent to find her -- even though that wasn't a crime in and of itself, what it does do is leave her open to a civil suit. And that's what the local officials are contemplating.

I'd leave her be -- until she signs the contract for the inevitable Lifetime Made-For-TV, "ripped from the headlines" movie and book deal. Then I'd sue her for every single penny of that money.

Posted by: mhking at 06:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Crews of two F/A 18 Hornet jets are missing in Iraq.

The jets were flying a routine mission in what was termed "bad weather" from the carrier USS Carl Vinson.

The Navy believes the jets collided with each other as a result of the bad weather. It is not known whether the jets were over land or over sea when the incident occured.

The crew of the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson lost contact with the planes about 10:10 p.m. (2:10 p.m. ET), a U.S. military statement said.

"There was no indication of hostile fire in the area at the time contact was lost," the military statement said.

The Boeing-built F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather fighter and attack aircraft, versions of which can carry either one- or two-person crews.

They will be included in my prayers tonight.

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LA talk radio giant KFI has fired their own salvo in the "Los Angeles, Mexico" billboard mess started by Spanish-language television station KRCA with their news billboard last week.

Just to clarify, you are here: Los Angeles, CA USA
Gracias, KFI AM640

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Remember the bruhaha about the television station billboard in Los Angeles last week?

Well, the billboard has been altered.

While we wait for the MSM (Main Stream Media) such as CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN to show America the offensive billboards in LA to America, concerned citizens and activists protested outside of the TV 62 KRCA studios today to demand they remove the Los Angeles, Mexico billboards. Now we have a new breaking story!

SaveOurState.org and Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) have worked with other organizations to arrange the protest. During the peak of the protest a supporter of both groups raced with his camera to the billboard (located at Orangethorpe and State College in Fullerton) to take the picture presented below.

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A Plymouth, MA father has been charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon after spanking his 12 year-old son with a belt.

42 year-old Charles Enloe hit his son three times with a belt as a form of discipline after his son's teacher reported to the elder Enloe that the boy had forgotten his homework assignment.

‘‘I never knew it would be considered assault with a deadly weapon,'' Enloe said. ‘‘And it shouldn't be. It shouldn't be a crime if it's discipline. I know there are parents out there that abuse their children, but I'm definitely not one of them. But police have to follow the letter of the law. My father was a police officer. I'm not angry at them, and I don't blame my son.''

Enloe said he hopes the courts will dismiss the charge after reviewing the facts. ‘‘I have no previous record,'' he said.

Police Capt. Michael Botieri said officers have more leeway about arresting a parent for domestic violence when an open hand is used for spanking.

‘‘When a parent uses an instrument to discipline, it makes it more difficult for us,'' Botieri said. ‘‘The belt pushed this over the edge.''

The incident happened at about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, and left no marks or bruises, according to police.

This sounds like we've got a couple of problems here: first off, the mother has politely undermined any measure of discipline the father has been trying to enforce. Secondly, if a spanking with a belt -- three swats mind you -- is a felony, then I guess I ought to hold out my hands to the nearest cop for arrest; and if that's the case, I guess my mom and dad ought to be on death row.

The Massachusetts Department of Social Services is investigating the incident, after being informed by the police this week. Under Massachusetts law, corporal punishment is not deemed illegal so long as the child is not injured or "left with a bruise, bumps, cuts and you would also consider the frequency of the punishment."

Sounds like the police involved overstepped their authority as well.

Welcome to Massachusetts -- the nanny state.

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Alderman Dorothy "The Hat" Tillman -- so nicknamed because of her continuous variety of colorful hats -- is a long-standing member of the Chicago City Council. Tillman has taken on, as her personal windmill to tilt, the cause of slavery reparations based upon the descendants of older firms that profited from the trade of slaves.

Tillman has most recently gone after Bank of America, and citing it's ties to predecessor banks. The one in question -- Providence Bank -- is the target of Tillman and her cronies, even though Providence distanced itself from the slave trade.

Founded in 1791, Providence Bank is a predecessor of Fleet Boston, which was acquired by Bank of America last year.

"First, the research disclosed no evidence establishing that the Providence Bank had investments or profits from slavery. Second, there is no indication of the source of the funds used by Brown to purchase his 23 shares in the bank. Last, the evidence suggests that the bank, in fact, avoided slave-related activities of John Brown or any other bank customer," said the bank's attorney V. Duncan Johnson.

Ald. Dorothy Tillman (3rd) accused "arrogant" bank officials of providing "selective and fraudulent" information to a joint City Council committee.

Tillman said research conducted by her daughter at some of the same places Bank of America looked -- the Rhode Island Historical Society and Brown University Library -- has already produced evidence that Providence Bank made loans used to purchase ships that transported slaves.

"The whole reason the bank was founded was so that the merchants could have a bank for their money to go through. Their whole existence was slavery. They had no other existence," she said.

"They thought they could bring this lawyer in and lie and just say, 'Moses Brown [John's brother] was an abolitionist. You see, they were good guys.' The lawyer's job was to protect Bank of America -- not to get to the truth. And we won't stop until we get to the truth."

Oh. And before you ask, yes, Tillman is a stark, raving mad, howling, moonbat Democrat. She's also a card carrying member of the soul patrol, who seems to think that any and everyone who is even remotely conservative is the spawn of Satan. And she is one of the name-calling crowd that denigrates black conservatives every and anytime they cross her path.

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Atlanta Journal-Constitution and syndicated columnist Cynthia Tucker continued the whitewash job that the left has started against California Supreme Court Justice and Bush judicial nominee Janice Rogers Brown in her column for Sunday's paper.

Tucker insists that the filibuster against Rogers Brown must occur because Rogers Brown, in effect, isn't really black.

Tucker proceeds to heap plenty of praise on Rogers Brown, then lowers the boom on her.

Brown's writings showcase a brilliant intellect and literary depth. Her rulings and speeches tend to quote writers from Thucydides to Edmund Burke to John Grisham, not to mention the lyrics of popular songs such as "A Whiter Shade of Pale."

While she occasionally rankles her colleagues with barbs hurled their way, there's no doubting her quick wit. In a dissent in a 1996 anti-trust case, she wrote: "The quixotic desire to do good, be universally fair and make everybody happy is understandable. Indeed, the majority's zeal is more than a little endearing. There is only one problem with this approach. We are a court."

Brown has every right to be an ultraconservative. That's what the civil rights movement was all about — giving black Americans the opportunity to live as they desired, choosing the neighborhoods, schools, churches and political philosophies that best suit them.

Her intellect notwithstanding, she has no business on the federal bench. Her views are well outside the mainstream.

She has no respect for precedent and frequently uses her rulings to express far-reaching opinions on matters not directly before the court.

She does not belong on the federal bench.

Let's face it. Janice Rogers Brown has demonstrated, both through her decisions from the bench and from her writings, that she has the intellectual capability to advance the legal opinions necessary. She also has become her own woman, one whose conservative opinions and logic step outside the liberal mindset championed by Tucker and others, both black and white.

Finally, would you honestly expect that the Bush Administration would nominate someone whose ideology falls outside that of the rest of the Administration? Is Janice Rogers Brown so "dangerous" that she shouldn't be accorded an honest up-or-down vote by the full body of the US Senate?

Apparently most liberals think so, and they'll do anything to make sure that she's presented that way to the American people.

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24 year-old Chris Short (Short Family Online) has received an invitation to join the AARP.

So he's going to collect the $12.50 membership fee to join and submit it, along with stating his actual age (instead of padding his age to actually get in) to the AARP. You're welcome to give him a hand with the $12.50 via donation or BlogAd.

He's planning on reporting back what they say once they see his age. Stay tuned.

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After more than 30 years, the state of Indiana is set to begin observing Daylight Saving Time beginning next year. A new bill, passed by the state house late last night, and pushed for by Governor Mitch Daniels, ensures that the state's counties outside the Louisville, Cincinnati & Chicago areas will join the bulk of the rest of the nation in observing DST.

In an April 11 column to constituents in his southwestern Indiana distrct, freshman Republican Rep. Troy Woodruff of Vincennes said he had received overwhelming feedback from them to fight against legislation mandating statewide observance of daylight-saving time.

"I have and will continue to always vote against this controversial piece of legislation," he wrote.

But shortly after 11:30 p.m. EST Thursday, during a second House vote on the bill, Woodruff switched his no vote and provided a 51st "yea" to give it final legislative approval and send the proposal to Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Daniels, who lobbied extensively for the proposal because he said it would eliminate confusion and boost commerce, is sure to sign the bill into law.

The move makes Arizona the only hold out in the Continental United States to Daylight Saving Time.

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UPN dumps Star Trek Enterprise, and what are we left with?

"Britney Loves Cletus" -- the would-be "real Beverly Hillbillies" -- shows up in the form of Britney & Kevin around mid-month.

Damn those sweeps stunts.

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Sgt. Hasan Akbar is led from the Staff Judge Advocate Building after being sentenced to death at Fort Bragg, NC Thursday evening. (AFP/Yahoo!)

Akbar tossed grenades and fired a rifle into tents where fellow soldiers were sleeping in Kuwait, killing Cpt. Christopher Seifert and Maj. Gregory Stone and wounded 14 others from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, KY.

On Thursday morning, Akbar made a statement in court, apologizing for a fatal grenade attack on his comrades.

"I apologize for my actions," he said. "When I did that I felt my life was in jeopardy and I had other problems."

Akbar will be taken to the military's death row unit at Ft. Leavenworth, KS where he will stay while any appeals are worked out, and await his fate.

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