Birds of a feather — Blagojevich “appoints” Burris

As if to thumb his nose more at public opinion (remember, he only had a 13% approval rating when he was arrested!) and the U.S. Senate (Democrats have warned him against doing anything), Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich today “appointed” Roland Burris to the vacant Senate seat once occupied by President-elect Barack Obama, who has also released a statement that the nomination is inappropriate.

The “appointment” has to be certified by Illinois Secretary of State Jessie White who has said emphatically that he won’t approve anyone the governor names.  U.S. Senate leaders have also stated they won’t accept anyone Blago nominates, either.

So why make the “appointment” anyway?  Well, he may feel indebted to do so since Burris contributed $4,500 to Blagojevich’s campaign.  His timing was appropriate as it was received while the embattled governor was in the middle of fighting charges of ethical misconduct.

What’s odd is that Burris recently was heard being critical of Blagojevich’s alleged corruption dealings.  He even spoke negatively against Blagojevich when he was expressing his interest in the vacant seat while in the same breath praising Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s attempt to have the governor declared unfit to serve by the Illinois Supreme Court.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said the decision to announce the “appointment” was “an insult to the people of Illinois.  We believe in clean government, and Rod Blagojevich has unclean hands.”

Really, Pat??  Amazing statement since Quinn stood on-camera with Burris as he touted his interest in the President-elect’s vacant Senate seat.  Maybe he’s talking more about Blagojevich, but doesn’t it speak volumes about with whom someone associates?  Burris has continually campaigned for the seat, even though he’s been a bit more quiet about it since the charges were fired.

Burris isn’t unremarkable, though.  He was the first black politican elected to a statewide office.  He’s a native of Centralia, Ill., and even graduated from Southern Illinois University – Carbondale before studying at the University of Hamburg in Germany and finally earning a law degree from Howard University.  He served as Illinois’ comptroller from 1979 to 1991.  He then served as the state’s attorney general from 1991 to 1995.  He also served as the vice-chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1985 to 1989.

His political career hasn’t been without heartache — he lost the gubernatorial nomination in 1994, 1998, and 2002, the last loss coming to Blagojevich.  In 1995, former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley defeated him for the nomination to that city’s highest office.

Burris runs the lobbying and consulting firm Burris & Lebed Consulting, which might make him ineligible to serve in an Obama administration position but it doesn’t disqualify him from serving in the Senate.  However, his own ethical fortitude might be questioned as you look farther back into his past.  His tenures as comptroller and attorney general saw many, many contracts approved from contributors and many questionable contributions — just like most every Illinois politician before or since (the only exception I can think of would be the late Senator Paul Simon, who defeated Burris).  A Chicago Tribune article in 1994 even noted that he “sweetened his state pension with a loan from his own political fund.”

Even though President-elect Obama and late-Senator Simon’s daughter, Sheila, have stated that he is a person to be admired, Burris may have dashed any hopes of holding the seat by allowing Blagojevich to move forward with the “appointment.”  Obama’s statement reads:

“Roland Burris is a good man and a fine public servant, but the Senate Democrats made it clear weeks ago that they cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat.  I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it.  I believe the best resolution would be for the Governor to resign his office and allow a lawful and appropriate process of succession to take place.  While Governor Blagojevich is entitled to his day in court, the people of Illinois are entitled to a functioning government and major decisions free of taint and controversy.”

Blagojevich railed at the cameras and reporters as he left the press conference and said that he didn’t want the allegations against him to taint his nominee.  Well, Rod, it will and it has.  And Burris’ record doesn’t help the situation any, either.

I guess the newest hope for 2009 is that Illinois will find a politician that isn’t of the same political machine-driven fabric that has led to generations of cronyism and political corruptness.

Pennsylvania family has unwelcome Christmas guest

Talk about a creepy visitor on Christmas — and I’m not referring to Santa Claus….

A Plains Township, Penn., family didn’t know they had a squatter in their attic until local police and their K-9 officer located a man in their home.  Stanley Carter, 21, was charged with criminal trespass, several counts of burglary, theft, and receiving stolen property.

Carter had reportedly been staying with friends in the shared duplex when they asked him to leave.  The friends then filed a missing persons report a few days before Christmas after he went missing December 19th.  He accessed the shared attic space through a trap door.

Stacy Ferrance, owner of the home, said that Carter came out of his hiding space wearing her daughter’s pants and her sweatshirt and shoes.  Ferrance notified the police when a laptop, iPod, and cash were found missing on Christmas Day.  She called again the next day after finding footprints in her closet — the location of the other trap door leading to the attic.

Carter kept a list of everything he had pilfered from Ferrance’s home and even labeled it “Stanley’s Christmas List” in order to log all the items he “donated” to himself.  Police found the list as they were going through the inventory of what he took.

Ferrance said she had heard noises but thought they were caused by her children.  “From what I gather, he was helping himself to my home, eating my food, and stealing my clothes,” she said.

Port St. Lucie makes crime news again with flushed gun

What is up with Port St. Lucie, Florida??  I’ve already blogged on two sandwich assaults from there.  Now, a criminal has been arrested after the detective interviewing him wasn’t able to get a toilet to flush.

No….it wasn’t the detective’s fault that the commode wasn’t operating properly.  He was investigating the theft of a handgun, cash and jewelry from a Jensen Beach, Fla., home.  The 21-year-old suspect was staying in a Port St. Lucie hotel where the detective met with him.

Obviously forgetting where he hid some of his stash, the suspect allowed the detective to use the restroom.  When the toilet wouldn’t flush, he removed the cover from the tank and found the stolen handgun and three loaded magazines.   The suspect was charged December 22 with grand theft and grand theft of a firearm.

So, again, I ask what is it with Port St. Lucie?  Is it really a haven for stupid criminals?  Or, is it simply the unlucky victim of the press that seems to be able to highlight the inane acts of its citizens and passers-through?  Whatever the situation, I daresay that the city’s Convention and Visitors’ Bureau will probably have an uphill climb if things don’t change.

Bank robber uses pay stub as hold-up note

I’m not sure if it’s more a sign of the bad economic times or just another example of how stupid people can be.  Last Friday a Fifth Third Bank in Chicago was held-up and the robber escaped with only $400.  The note used simply stated, “Be Quick Be Quit [sic].  Give your cash or I’ll shoot.”  Okay, maybe he was nervous and didn’t notice the spelling error…. but that’s not the dumbest part of this story.

The accused robber, who was arrested in his Cary, Ill., home was easily tracked.  How?  Well, he use his October pay stub to write the note.  Half of it was left with the teller; the other half was found outside the bank’s front doors.  And, as with most pay stubs, it had his name and address clearly listed.

Money and the desire for more will make people do stupid things.  However, I’m not quite convinced that the stupidity shown in this instance could be solely blamed on it.  And I certainly wouldn’t consider this even remotely close to being the “heist of the century.”  Remember….proper planning prevents poor performance!

Ron Jeremy and pepper spray? TMZ got the story wrong, he says.

This past week, gossip site TMZ reported that porn granddaddy Ron Jeremy casually ate his dinner at Mel’s Diner on the Sunset Strip after a paparazzo attempted to snap pictures and then pepper sprayed a companion of Ron’s who objected to the photos.

In TMZ’s report, photographer Nasim Saleh began taking the pictures when a friend stood up to stop him and the spraying ensued.  Saleh stated he was only acting in self-defense and was arrested for criminal use of tear gas.  TMZ further reported that Saleh had told authorities that he was a photographer for TMZ, which they denied.

However, Jeremy has stated that TMZ got the facts of the story wrong.  He states that he and Dennis Hof, owner of the Moonlight Bunny Ranch, were inside eating and didn’t even know what was happening outside.  Jeremy said in an interview with Adult Video News:

“[Saleh] sent someone into the diner to ask if we’d do interviews and we said, ‘No problem!  We’d be glad to when we get out.  So someone was rude to the guy and said, ‘Get lost, they don’t want to bother with you.’  We never said that.  Someone just thought that we didn’t want to get bothered.  This is not Lindsey Lohan or Britney Spears.  We like attention.”

Jeremy also stated that Saleh may have been acting in self-defense as witnesses claim that someone attempting to shoo him from the premises did so while threatening him with a knife.

The biggest laughs, however, came from Jeremy when he read the “punchline” of TMZ’s story, “….we’re told during the incident, Ron Jeremy just kept eating.”

Jeremy, however, gloated over the gaff and even found it humorous that Hof didn’t even rate a mention in the article:

“Six seasons of HBO’s ‘Cathouse’ and they didn’t even put Dennis Hof’s name in there — he didn’t even exist.  It was Ron Jeremy and a pastrami sandwich, not Dennis and his bowl of soup.  So I want to rub that in his face every chance I get.  It bothered him; he didn’t act like it did, but it did.”

Don’t worry Hof….the world knows now….

Return of $10,000 doesn’t garner reward from owner

Everyone wants to think the best in others, especially during the holiday season. Debra Rogoff of California is an example of the kind of person we always say we’d be like.  In October, she found $10,000 in crisp $100 bills inside a box of Annie’s Sour Cream and Onion Cheddar Bunny crackers and didn’t spend any of it.

Rogoff called the police and they feared that it was actually part of a drug money drop-off since the bills were in an unmarked white envelope.  However, the store where the crackers were purchased knew who the money belonged to.  The Whole Foods Store in Tustin said that an elderly lady was frantic after she realized that the money she had withdrawn from the bank — her life savings — had been stored inside a box of crackers she inadvertently returned.

I understand the woman’s distrust of the bank because of the recent economic mess.  Many who lived through the Great Depression might be more apt to pull their savings out for fear of losing everything.  I don’t understand returning food to the grocery store, but that’s a whole other article.

What I don’t understand is how after fearing that she had lost everything the woman who owned the money has not done anything to show her gratitude to the person who found it.  Rogoff said that she has never heard from the woman and to date has only received a replacement box of crackers from Whole Foods.  The store’s policy is to compost returned food, not restock it — so not only does the woman have Rogoff to thank but also whomever at Whole Foods inadvertently put the box on the shelf.

So much for gratitude these days…

Adolf Hitler has birthday cake issues

Maybe you’ve heard this story already, but it does lead to a controversial argument.  In Pennsylvania, 3-year-old Aldof Hitler Campbell was refused a personalized birthday cake by a grocery store because of his name.

Adolf’s father, Heath Campbell, said:

I think people need to take their heads out of the cloud they’ve been in and start focusing on the future and not on the past.  There’s a new president and he says it’s time for a change; well, then it’s time for a change.  They need to accept a name.  A name’s a name.  The kid isn’t going to grow up and do what (Hitler) did.

A very admirable statement.  And, with any hope, he won’t.

On the other side of the coin, there’s the statement from the store:

We reserve the right not to print anything on the cake that we deem to be inappropriate.  We considered this inappropriate.

Karen Meleta, the spokeswoman for the Greenwich, PA,  ShopRite, continued to defend the supermarket as she said the Campbells had similar requests denied at the same store the last two years and added that Campbell previously had asked for a swastika to be included in the decoration.

The cake requested was finally created at a Wal-Mart in Pennsylvania.  Wal-Mart has stated they plan to review their policies regarding cake decorations and other requests in light of the publicity of the decoration.

The family, who lives in Hunterdon County, NJ, held the birthday party and reported that 12 others including children of mixed races were invited and attended.

The Campbells’ other children have unique names as well:  JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 1, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell, who will be 1 in April.

Campbell states that he chose the name for his son because it was unique and most other children wouldn’t have it.  He also states that he was not raised to avoid persons of other races but to not mix with them socially or romantically and plans to raise his son differently.

He made the statement while showing off the boots he states were worn by a German soldier in WWII and touted his German ancestry.

So is it an innocent child who is being discriminated against because his parents foolishly didn’t consider what problems his name would cause?  Or is this a case of white supremacists trying to live vicariously through the publicity they believe their childrens’ names will bring them to further their “cause” for separation?

I have friends who participate in WWII re-enacting.  Some do German, and even though they occasionally have parties they would never consider requesting a cake with a swastika on it, even if it were for an “official” event.  Why?  Because they’re not Nazis and don’t believe in the policies and politics of that era, even though they re-enact history either for fun or to “honor veterans” as some put it.

So why would parents want a cake with a swastika on it?  If it were actually being used as the Hindu, Buddhist, or Jainism symbols, I could see that.  Even German-Jewish WWI aviator Fritz Beckhardt wore one as a good luck charm.  It wasn’t until the Nazi Party used it to denote their Aryan supremacy that it became a reviled symbol.

And even if this cake wasn’t to have a swastika on it, is the store right in it’s decision to deny Adolf a cake with his name on it?  Just because someone has an unpopular name, does that mean corporations have the right to discriminate?  If the Campbells arrived and asked for just “Happy Birthday Adolf,” would they have been denied?

This is an argument that will go on for quite some time in chat rooms and blogs.  I don’t have an answer for it.  It is an argument between freedom to name your child as you wish to corporate policy protecting customers from offensive material.  Who makes the decision, though?  Where is the line drawn?

Japanese adult video theatre fire kills 15

Wednesday, a man set fire to a Japanese adult video theatre in a failed suicide attempt and killed 15 others.  He was arrested and confessed to setting the fire with a bag of newspapers.  Public broadcaster NHK reported that the man stated he committed the crime because he was “tired of living.”

The Cats Adult Video Theater was located on the ground floor of a seven-story building in Osaka’s entertainment district.  When the fire started, most of the 32 viewing cubicles — equipped with a television, DVD player, and cot — wer occupied.  Not all of the cubicles were being used to view adult films, however.  Occasionally businessmen would use the rooms if they missed the last train home and many who could not afford proper housing use them live in these types of lounges.  This particular theater also offered DVD cartoons and Hollywood films for those not wishing to view porn.

Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has instructed fire departments to conduct nationwide emergency inspections of all video shops, Internet cafes, karaoke bars, and other facilities that utilize individual cubicles.

Know where the key is when handcuffing your partner!

The Detroit Free Press reported that Thursday a Dearborn, Michigan man called the police to his house to borrow a key.  Apparently, he had misplaced his and was unable to free his wife who had been handcuffed to the bed.

Fortunately, the universal key carried by police officers did the trick.  The police say that it was a consensual and intimate relationship, not an imprisonment, so no charges should be filed.  Besides, I figure the publicity will either help him remember to keep it close by or cause his wife to never want to do that again.

Proper planning prevents poor performance — so keep your keys within reach!

Sneezing linked to sex?

Friday, the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine published a paper by Mahmood Bhutta and Harold Maxwell citing the case of a man who suffered sneezing fits whenever he thought about sex.  Seeing this as an interesting phenomenon, the researchers entered anonymous Internet chat rooms and were told by 17 people, of both sexes, that they either sneezed when thinking about sex or after achieving orgasm.

Bhutta is an ear-nose-throat specialist and said that this could be an inherited trait and can be more widespread than others first thought.  I want to see the genetic study that shows which gene is responsible for sex sneezes!

When discussing his findings, Bhutta said:

It certainly seems odd, but I think this reflex demonstrates evolutionary relics in the wiring of a part of the nervous system called the autonomic nervous system….  This is the part beyond our control, and which controls things like our heart rate and the amount of light let in by our pupils.  Sometimes the signals in this system get crossed, and I think this may be why some people sneeze when they think about sex.

Reportedly, there are only two other references to sneezing and sex in medical journals.  Bhutta believes that embarrassment could be the reason this phenomenon isn’t being researched further.

If you suffer from this, don’t be afraid to say something!  It’s more common than you think and might provide invaluable insight into how sex and other bodily functions relate.  I can’t wait to read more!