Just in time for Christmas

Regulators approve free cellphones for California's poor

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

SACRAMENTO — Impoverished Californians will soon get free cellphones.

The state Public Utilities Commission has approved a federal cellphone giveaway program designed to help the homeless and other impoverished people connect with family, friends and potential employers.

Assurance Wireless, an arm of Sprint, will organize cellphone distribution. The program should be in place next year.

The Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/WaJHNB ) reported that nearly 5 million California residents with annual incomes below $25,000 and those who receive Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid, food stamps and other aid will be eligible for the federal "Lifeline" program.

Access to cellphones will help people look for housing, jobs and stay in touch with families, said Joan Burke of Loaves & Fishes, a Sacramento-area homeless services group.

The state is bankrupt but can give out free cellphones.....meanwhile they can't pay to have the roads fixed, the schools in California are in the bottom of the nation but come and get your free cell phone.

Time to move to California!

 

Victoria Secret....Baaaaad Wooompum

Victoria's Secret apologizes for use of headdress in fashion show

By FELICIA FONSECA
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 9:12 a.m.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Victoria's Secret has apologized for putting a Native American-style headdress on a model for its annual fashion show, after the outfit was criticized as a display of ignorance toward tribal culture and history.

The company responded to the complaints over the weekend by saying it was sorry to have upset anyone and that it wouldn't include the outfit in the show's television broadcast next month, or in any marketing materials.

"We sincerely apologize as we absolutely had no intention to offend anyone," the company said.

Headdresses historically are a symbol of respect, worn by Native American war chiefs and warriors. For many Plains tribes, for example, each feather placed on a headdress has significance and had to be earned through an act of compassion or bravery. Some modern-day Native American leaders have been gifted war bonnets in ceremonies accompanied by prayers and songs.

The $12 million show, which had musical performances by Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars, showcased plenty of not-meant-to-be worn ensembles, including circus-themed outfits and a $2.5 million "fantasy bra." Last year the show averaged nearly 10.4 million viewers, up from 8.9 million in 2010, according to Horizon Media. (This year's show was taped on Nov. 7 and is set to air Dec. 4.)

Kloss, who walked the catwalk in a leopard bikini, turquoise beaded jewelry, high-heeled moccasins, and a floor-length feathered headdress (with the word "Thanksgiving" projected on a screen behind her), issued an apology via her Twitter account on Sunday: "I am deeply sorry if what I wore during the VS Show offended anyone. I support VS's decision to remove the outfit from the broadcast."

Man on Man, people are way too sensitive.... next thing you know there will be no more Polish Jokes....... and besides I didn't even notice the headdress until the story pointed it out...

Gone way too far!

12 Million a year Salary.....not too shabby

Man uses IDs from dead people to collect millions from IRS

Reuters – 1 hr 55 mins ago

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A Barbados national who stole the identities of hundreds of dead people in a scheme to collect more than $120 million in bogus tax refunds from the U.S. government was sentenced in federal court on Wednesday to 9-1/2 years in prison.

Andrew Watts, 35, pleaded guilty in July to one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Prosecutors said Watts, a Barbados national who was in the United States legally, used the stolen identities to file 645 false federal tax returns between 2007 and 2011 and to claim more than $120 million in tax refunds.

Watts received more than $19 million in refund checks from the U.S. Treasury before the Internal Revenue Service discovered the scam.

The vast majority of the money was frozen in various accounts Watts controlled before he could spend it. But according to court documents, Watts used more than $1.6 million in refunds to rent apartments in New York, Beverly Hills and Chicago, buy a Mercedes Benz SUV and jewelry, provide cash to his girlfriend, and jet back and forth from California to New York.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall sentenced Watts to 7-1/2 years in prison for mail fraud and two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.

Gottschall also ordered Watts to pay nearly $1.7 million in restitution.
The case is USA v. Watts, 11-CR-00231, U.S. District Court Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
(Reporting by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Greg McCune and Leslie Adler)

Ok, lets see, he steals 120 million and get to take a vacation at a federal prison with cable TV, a Gym, health benefits, 3 meals a day, a library, on and on, 
Not too bad of a trade off.....probably could have been a little more careful not to have got caught.

Police officer tasers blind man for carrying a stick

From the UK telegraph

A blind man got tasered by police officers after walking on the street with his stick, according to news media reports.

A police officer faces an investigation after tasering the blind on the street after he mistook his white cane for a samurai sword.

Former company director Colin Farmer, 61, was hit in the back by a 50,000 volt stun device and then handcuffed while he was on his way to meet friends for a drink at the local pub.

Mr. Farmer who used to run an architect business said he had made a formal complaint and has taken legal action against the police in Lancashire, who have apologized and have begun an investigation.
"It was like being trapped in a nightmare," Farmer said, a fellow of the Institute of Management for 20 years. "I did not even know that the police were there. I heard men shouting. I thought they were yelling at some people.

I certainly did not know they were police and certainly did not know they were yelling at me.
I thought it was going to be attacked by hooligans. Next I was shot with a Taser gun, but I did not know it was a Taser at the time,” he told the local newspaper.

Really makes me feel safe having these cops around.......

Enough is Enough, the loss of reality.

Three-and-a-half year old Hunter Spanjer, who is deaf, signs his name by crossing his forefinger and index finger and moving his hand up and down.

To his family, friends and those who know the Signing Exact English (S.E.E.) language that the Grand Island, Neb., boy uses, that gesture uniquely means "Hunter Spanjer."

But to Hunter's school district, it might mean something else. The district claims that it violates a rule that forbids anything in the school that looks like a weapon, reports KOLN-TV.

And Hunter's parents claim that Grand Island Pubic Schools administrators have asked them to change their son's sign language name.

"Anybody that I have talked to thinks this is absolutely ridiculous," Hunter's grandmother Janet Logue told the TV station. "This is not threatening in any way."

Hunter's father Brian Spanjer said, "It's a symbol. It's an actual sign, a registered sign, through S.E.E."

The family told KOLN that lawyers from the National Association of the Deaf may push for Hunter's right to sign his name at the school.

Jack Sheard, Grand Island Public Schools spokesperson told KOLN, "We are working with the parents to come to the best solution we can for the child."

One Grand Island resident said she disagrees with the school.

"I find it very difficult to believe that the sign language that shows his name resembles a gun in any way would even enter a child's mind," Fredda Bartenbach said in the news report.

So the moral of the story is that the US has gotten to the point of all common sense has disappeared from reality. No one is allow to do anytihng that offends, disturbs or in any way allows one to do pretty much anything that a decade ago would have been the normal.....

I just don't understand why people can't make silly stuff like this go away.....

Give me that Egg buddy or into the clink!

2 Seattle men stopped at border for illegal candy

The Associated Press

SEATTLE - Two Seattle men say they spent more than two hours in a detention center at the Canadian border after U.S. border agents discovered illegal chocolate eggs in their car.

Brandon Loo and Christopher Sweeney told KOMO-TV ( http://is.gd/usuy85) they decided to bring home some treats for friends and family during a recent trip to Vancouver, British Columbia. They bought Kinder Eggs - chocolate eggs with a toy inside.

The two men say border guards searched their car and said the eggs are illegal in the United States because young children could choke on the small plastic toys. Importing them can lead to a potentially hefty fine.

Sweeney says the bust was a waste of his time and the agents' time. The men eventually got off with a warning.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman declined to comment about the case Tuesday night.

The agency warned on its website around Easter that the treats can't be imported legally.

The agency says it seized more than 60,000 Kinder Eggs from travelers' baggage and international mail shipments in fiscal 2011.

Nice to see that big Govmint is protecting you since YOU are unable to do it yourself......what's next? I am sure that there are tons of other things around the house that could cause more harm than this stuff...

Thought Police are alive and well in Denver

Colo. boy, 6, suspended for reciting 'Sexy' lyric

 

The Associated Press

AURORA, Colo. - A 6-year-old boy was suspended from his suburban Denver school for three days after school officials said he told a girl "I'm sexy and I know it," a line from a popular song.

D'Avonte Meadows, a first-grader at Sable Elementary School in Aurora, is accused of sexual harassment and disrupting other students, according to a letter the school district sent to his mother after he was sent home Wednesday.

School officials issued a statement saying they couldn't discuss the case, but they pointed out a school board policy that defines sexual harassment as any unwelcome sexual advance. There is no age limit.

The Aurora Police Department said it was not involved in the case because laws only cover children ages 10 and older.

D'Avonte's mother, Stephanie Meadows, said her son doesn't know the meaning of sexual harassment and it's the second time he has gotten in trouble for quoting "Sexy and I Know It." The song by the duo LMFAO was at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 chart for two weeks in January.

"I'm just, I'm floored," Stephanie Meadows told KMGH-TV ( http://bit.ly/KaXY7f). "They're going to look at him like he's a pervert. And it's like, that's not fair to him."

The Associated Press could not locate the Meadows family for comment.

Aurora Public Schools issued a statement Thursday saying it is trying to provide an equal learning environment for all students.

"We have policies and protocol in place to prevent any disruption to the learning environment. Due to privacy laws, we are unable to discuss appropriate disciplinary consequences about a specific student," wrote spokeswoman Paula Hans.

Denver attorney Craig Silverman said elementary school students have the same rights to free speech as adults as long as they understand and follow the rules. He said school policies should allow for exceptions.

"Sometimes when you go to a zero-tolerance policy, you end up with a zero-sense policy," he said.

D'Avonte's suspension comes as the Colorado Legislature considers a measure that would eliminate zero-tolerance discipline policies related to violence and weapons that were enacted after the Columbine High School shootings.

It's a response to cases in which students have been punished for bringing fake guns or butter knives to school and doesn't address sexual harassment policies. However, Sen. Linda Newell, the bill's sponsor, said the measure would also direct school districts to consider alternative forms of discipline, such as remediation decided by a student's peers, in all kinds of discipline cases.

The bill has passed the state Senate and is awaiting action by the full House.

Lawmakers who worked on the measure say zero-tolerance policies have disrupted too many students' education for minor offenses.

As examples, lawmakers have cited Colorado students who were referred to police for trying to break up a fight or having a replica gun on school grounds.

They also point to cases such as at least two in Florida in which girls, 10 and 11 years old at the time, were arrested for allegedly bringing a plastic butter knife and a small kitchen knife to school.

You just can't make this kind of stuff up........ Sexual Harassment at age 6?
Give me a break!