The Original Musings

Someone needs to slap all four of these morons

There’s a lesson in this:

Alleging a plot to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O’Keefe, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group’s credibility.

Also arrested were Joseph Basel, Stan Dai and Robert Flanagan, all 24. Flanagan is the son of William Flanagan, who is the acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, the office confirmed. All four were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent of committing a felony.

According to the FBI affidavit, Flanagan and Basel entered the federal building at 500 Poydras Street about 11 a.m. Monday, dressed as telephone company employees, wearing jeans, fluorescent green vests, tool belts, and hard hats. When they arrived at Landrieu’s 10th floor office, O’Keefe was already in the office and had told a staffer he was waiting for someone to arrive.

When Flanagan and Basel entered the office, they told the staffer they were there to fix phone problems. At that time, the staffer, referred to only as Witness 1 in the affadavit, observed O’Keefe positioning his cell phone in his hand to videotape the operation. O’Keefe later admitted to agents that he recorded the event.

After being asked, the staffer gave Basel access to the main phone at the reception desk. The staffer told investigators that Basel manipulated the handset. He also tried to call the main office phone using his cell phone, and said the main line wasn’t working. Flanagan did the same.

They then told the staffer they needed to perform repair work on the main phone system and asked where the telephone closet was located. The staffer showed the men to the main General Services Administration office on the 10th floor, and both went in. There, a GSA employee asked for the men’s credentials, after which they stated they left them in their vehicle.

The U.S. Marshal’s Service apprehended all four men shortly thereafter.

Of course the four are innocent until proven guilty, but it sure looks bad and I certainly can’t think of a legitimate reason for the activities as outlined, so let’s take their guilt on assumption. I predict that the media, who largely did their best to ignore the ACORN scandal, is going to be all over this like the proverbial flies on feces. Plus it adds more fuel to the ACORN fire and probably expands the “entrapment” bandwagon some of the ACORN staffers are trying to board:

ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan said the arrest calls O’Keefe’s credibility into question, and used the opportunity to point out that he “edited (ACORN videos) to make things look as bad as possible.”

So, what’s the lesson? Don’t break the law and become what you’re targeting.

NOLA.com

Detention?  Sure.  Suspension?  Okay.

But arresting him?  Come on.

A student at Spectrum Junior-Senior High School was arrested earlier this month after he passed gas and turned off his classmate’s computers, according to a report released Friday by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.

According to the report, the incident occurred Nov. 4, when the 13-year-old boy “continually disrupted his classroom environment” by purposely breaking wind. He then shut off some computers other students were using.

No doubt this early intervention will save Florida taxpayers millions by stopping him before he escalates to serious crime.

TC Palm

That headline caught your attention, didn’t it?

The slightly less crass headline on the news article caught mine:  Man shoots himself in arm after being denied sex.  

The story:  a 29-year-old Fort Myers, FL, man and his girlfriend returned home from a bar early Wednesday morning.  The guy wanted to have sex, while the gal just wanted to go to sleep.  She refused, he got peeved and stormed out of the room.  A few minutes later, she heard two shots. 

She told deputies her boyfriend came into her room and threatened her. He then stumbled into the kitchen before falling into the oven, knocking himself unconscious.

The man was treated for two gunshot wounds to the arm and was taken to jail.

The man was charged with threatening violence and firing a weapon in an occupied dwelling. He was being held on $100,000 bail.

This is an example of what happens when you spoil your children. They grow up to be demanding, petulant little shits who shoot things when they don’t get their way. Thankfully, this one only shot himself.

You can’t make this stuff up, can you?

Dayton Daily News.

Seriously So

The FOX News headline read “Teen Sues Teacher For Calling Her Ugly” … my reaction was “well, the teacher shouldn’t be calling her ugly, but get over it, you don’t sue someone for calling you a name …”

And then I read the article.  And learned that the teacher not only called the 14-year old girl “ugly” she also called her a “brat” and more importantly, she booted her from the room with a “swift kick to the rear.”

Well, that last little detail changes just about *everything* doesn’t it?  You kick my child and you’ll be lucky if all you get is sued.

FOX News

Remind me how peaceful the Muslims are again?

Imagine the scene: you’re walking through a supermarket, arguing with your sister and her husband as they shop. Finally, you’ve had enough. Your sister has pushed you too far by bickering with you. Time to end this, and put her in her place.

What do you do?

Continue reading

Probably a Big One

So, in October, a 32-year old Florida man named Brian Sterner was issued a traffic citation for blocking an intersection. Apparently at the time, when the cops ordered him to move the vehicle, he didn’t respond quickly enough and then, when he did finally move it was while the officer was attempting to approach the vehicle. So, he was additionally charged with fleeing and attempting to elude a law enforcement officer. Perhaps over zealous on the cop’s part, perhaps justified given the driver’s attitude, who’s to say? Either way, in November he appeared in court and satisfied the penalties.

On January 29, he was arrested and the arrest records show that said arrest was due to the very same October 25, 2007 incident where he was cited for blocking an intersection, fleeing and attempting to elude a law enforcement officer.

Continue reading

But hopefully he’ll get something for it

Here’s one from HDD’s old stomping grounds:

Manishkumar M. Patel, 34, of Appleton, WI, is married, *and* he’s got a girlfriend, with whom he has a three-year old child. He didn’t want any more children, though, so when his girlfriend became pregnant in December and then again in September, he took care of that little problem by slipping her mifespristone, the abortion pill also known as RU-486.

The first time around, she thought she’d just miscarried. The second time, she suspected foul play. So, she had a blood sample sent to a California lab for analysis and when it tested positive for the drug, she went to law enforcement.

Patel was arrested Wednesday, whereupon he readily admitted having slipped her the drug. He was charged Thursday afternoon with first-degree murder of an unborn child, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, placing foreign objects in edibles, possession with intent to deliver prescriptions, stalking, burglary, possession of burglary tools, and two counts of violating a restraining order.

Personally, I’m thinking the HDD Solution™ sounds about right.

FOXNews.com – Man Charged With Murder for Slipping Abortion Drug to Girlfriend to Cause Miscarriages

… with the *wrong* guy …

We’ve all encountered the big mouth jerks who think it’s great fun to mess with other people on the Internet. After all, behind the keyboard, the 5’5″ 100 pound high school age mama’s boy and the 5’10″ 350 pound 50-year old basement bum are equals. Why not? They can say what they want and be as rude, obnoxious and insulting as possible, and no one can really do anything about it.

Maybe.

“I didn’t think anybody was stupid enough to try to kill anybody over an Internet fight,” said John G. Anderson, 59.

Anderson, who runs a haunted house near Waco, Texas, joined an online artwork forum where he began posting his art and airing his political views. A few people felt compelled to share their less than favorable opinions, so he blocked them from his page. Then they Photoshopped him, so he retaliated with insults and his own Photoshoppings and then he went too far: he started sending them computer viruses.

Fire Controlman 2nd Class Petty Officer Russell Tavares (27) got sick of it. He’d been in the Navy for nine years and had several medals, including one for being a “pistol expert.” He went on leave from his post as a weapons systems operator at the AEGIS Training and Readiness Center in Dahlgren, Va. He told coworkers he intended to point a gun at Anderson and then shoot his computer while en route to visit his parents in Arizona.

Anderson had posted his name and hometown online while bragging about his haunted house. Russ began driving cross country towards Arizona. He took photos of the state line signs he passed and posted them to show his progress online. After posting the “Welcome to Texas” sign, he made a detour toward Waco and found Anderson’s home — a trailer in Elm Mott.

He didn’t find Anderson, however. So, he soaked a piece of foam in gasoline, tossed it into the trailer and lit a flare. $50,000 worth of damage later, Anderson was short some computer equipment and out one mobile home. Anderson also suffered smoke inhalation trying to put out the blaze.

Russell Tavares was sentenced to seven years this week after pleading no contest to the arson and admitting he set it.

He did take it too far. I think seven years is a maybe a bit excessive but hey, they could have thrown “attempted murder” charges at him too and if the jury didn’t have enough geeks on it he’d have probably gotten a lot worse. And really, torching the guy’s trailer was over the line.

Mostly.

“Before this happened, the rule was: Nobody messes with the haunted house guy,” Anderson said.

Okay, let’s be honest here.

Don’t you think Anderson kinda had it coming? I’m finding it real hard to dredge up a whole lot of sympathy ’cause he was pretty much asking for it, IMHO.

He’s an online braggart. An Internet bully who sends people computer viruses if they make him mad. He’s a worm, a foul spot on the fruit, a troll who goes too far simply because he can. He thinks he’s safe behind his little computer screen and he thinks he can do whatever he wants with complete and utter impunity.

He ranks up there with SPAMmers, and virus-spreaders, albeit on a different level. And you know what? I’m going to piss a bunch of people off by saying that after a certain point, I think SPAMming ought to be grounds for execution — and I believe anyone who spreads a virus that causes damage to thousands of people’s computers should be executed as well.

There comes a point where things cross a line.

Anderson didn’t cross that line, so he didn’t deserve to die. And he didn’t really deserve to be out of a home (even if it was just a trailer). He kinda did deserve to lose his computer equipment though, didn’t he? I’m thinking that’s pretty fair for the online bully-small scale virus spreader-troll level.

Did Tavares cross that line?

Which one was really the most deserving of punishment — Tavares or Anderson? Where do your sympathies lie right now? If Tavares had gotten to the trailer and found Anderson at home, would he have been justified in shooting the computer? (I won’t agree on pointing the gun at him — even if only to make a point — because I don’t think you should ever point a gun at someone if you don’t intend to pull the trigger. But to show him the gun and throw the fear of God into him and then shoot the computer? Oh, hell yes.)

Sci-Tech Today | ‘Nerd’ Feud Goes Offline, Leads to Arson

And stop asking!

The owner of a car dealership in Georgia was so fed up with two of his employees who kept asking for a raise that he shot and killed them.

The 38-year old Lithuanian immigrant turned himself in two days later and has confessed to the slayings. He has been charged with two counts of murder.

Police: Boss kills workers who asked for raise – CNN.com