Thursday, April 10, 2008

Is that really a naked woman reflected in Cheney's sunglasses?


WASHINGTON — He shot his hunting partner, but Vice President Dick Cheney apparently doesn't fly fish with naked women.

Since Wednesday, the blogosphere has been atwitter over a photograph on the White House Web site of Cheney with a caption that said he was fly-fishing on the Snake River in Idaho.

The photo is a tight shot of Cheney's face sporting dark sunglasses and his trademark grin.

What's stirring all the buzz is the reflection in the vice president's dark glasses. Some thought that the reflection looked like a naked woman and, this being Cheney and this being the Internet Age, they immediately shared that thought with the world.

In a Google search for the words "Dick Cheney" and "sunglasses," 79,300 hits came back at midafternoon on Thursday.

On DemocraticUnderground.com, the discussion starts with this question: "Notice anything ... interesting ... reflected in his sunglasses? Something that has little to do with conventional 'fly-fishing'?"

It wasn't just the blogosphere. On a Web site called sportsshooter.com, dedicated to sports photography, professionals also did a double take and debated the shot on their message board.

"Naked woman??????? That explains his heart problems!!!" noted photographer Jason Frizzelle of Greenville, N.C.

"Holy crap! Is that what I think it is?" wrote one reader of the blog "A Welsh View."

"At first glance, I thought it was a naked woman as well," wrote Jody Gomez, a photographer from Murrietta, Calif. "However after close study and a second opinion ... I believe it's his arm." Others, including some White House staffers, saw the profile of a man's face and a cigar.

AOL's Political Machine online column gave readers a chance to vote on what was reflected in the vice-presidential shades. The four choices were:

—Hot babe sunbathing.

—Alien overlord.

—That's not Dick Cheney.

—The image was Photoshopped.

The vice president's office saw little humor in the buzz.

"Clearly the picture shows a hand casting a rod," grumbled spokeswoman Meagan Mitchell.

As journalists, however, the word of an official spokeswoman isn't good enough.

So McClatchy/Tribune Information Services photo editor George Bridges used the latest digital technology to enlarge the picture, took a close look at Cheney's sunglasses and concluded that Mitchell was telling the truth.

The image is of the vice president's hand on his fly rod.

"In one lens of his sunglasses you can clearly tell it is a sleeved arm of Cheney or a fishing companion. The other lens has an extreme distortion that, without looking at it closely, could be misconstrued," said investigative photo editor Bridges.

By Kevin G. Hall and George Bridges
McClatchy Newspapers

Source - http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/04/10/CHENEY.html

Google says 'no guarantee' on Street View privacy

Google has refused to give a guarantee that people's privacy will be respected when it's Street View product comes to Australia.

The service has seen Google take street-level photo shots across nearly 50 US cities for use in it's Google Maps and technology.

The pictures are taken in cities, suburbs and now often at private residences.

The Californian company is now also being sued by a couple for an invasion of privacy which saw their house and property included within the street view.

However the company has told Fairfax Media that it will not give a guarantee to Australians over privacy, saying instead if they find an issue, an image can be flagged for review.

"If the road isn't very clearly marked as a private road, or if the driver misses a sign, there will be occasional places where we make a mistake," A Google spokesman said.

The controversial Street View project has seen numerous Google vans scour parts of the United States to capture photo images at a street level - rather than it's previous satellite service.

There is no guarantee on the privacy of individuals within the photos - with many already compromised through less than flattering images.

Google Australia said today that they were working to ensure privacy within the new product when it comes online in Australia.

"We absolutely prohibit our drivers from driving down private roads. The photos in Street View are only what anyone walking down a public street can see," spokesman Rob Shilkin said.

"We will not launch this product in Australia until we are sure it complies with Australian laws... we are consulting actively with local privacy and community groups to ensure we respect Australians' privacy."

Source - By scopical.com.au

Civil Rights Leader Convicted of Incest

LEESBURG, Va. (AP) — A jury convicted an iconic civil-rights figure of incest Thursday after concluding that he had sex with his teenage daughter 15 years ago. The Rev. James L. Bevel, 71, a top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. who also helped organize the Million Man March, faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced.

The four-day trial in Loudoun County Circuit Court included bizarre testimony about Bevel's philosophies for eradicating lust, and parents' duty to "sexually orient" their children.

Bevel's daughter testified that she was repeatedly molested by Bevel beginning when she was just 6 years old, culminating in an act of sexual intercourse in 1993 or 1994 that formed the basis of the incest charge.

The jury reached its verdict after about three hours of deliberations.

Before the verdict, the jury had heard only passing reference to Bevel's role in the civil rights movement. But during the sentencing phase of the trial Thursday afternoon, the jury saw a documentary that spelled out Bevel's key role in organizing the 1963 Birmingham Children's Crusade. Bevel and King were leading organizers of the marches, in which police turned fire hoses and dogs on child protesters, drawing international attention to the brutality that was keeping segregation in place in the South.

Bevel was also a leading organizer at other iconic events in the civil rights movement, including the 1965 march at Selma, Ala.

Prosecutor Nicole Wittmann acknowledged Bevel's accomplishments but said the jury shouldn't be swayed by them.

"There's nothing I can say to take away what this man has accomplished, but there are two Jim Bevels," Wittmann told the jury. "We're talking about the one who had sex with his child."

Jurors heard a phone call between Bevel and his daughter in which he never explicitly admits to sexual intercourse but seems to take for granted that it occurred. During the call he explains the importance of teaching his daughter "the science of marriage" and admits that he did not want her to get pregnant after the incident.

Family members who confronted Bevel in 2004 testified that Bevel read a written accusation by his daughter and replied that he did not contest the facts she laid out.

But Bevel denied the charge on the witness stand. He testified that his family mistakenly perceived his refusal to deny the specific allegations against him as an admission of guilt.

Public defender Bonnie Hoffman urged the jury to ignore evidence that Bevel led an unconventional, communal lifestyle in which he taught that it was parents' duty to "sexually orient" their children.

Instead, she told the jury to focus on the single incident for which Bevel was charged: an act of sexual intercourse that occurred in 1993 or 1994 while the daughter was a teenager and was living with her father in Leesburg.

Hoffman said there were questions about the timeline — the daughter said she could not recall exactly what year the act occurred, and her recollection of when she lived in Virginia did not fully mesh with school records and other testimony.

Hoffman also questioned why the daughter returned to voluntarily live with her father after the alleged incest. The daughter testified that she went back because she had nowhere else to go.

Prosecutor Nicole Wittmann warned the jury against getting confused by Bevel's sometimes convoluted explanations of his philosophies and his justifications for his actions.

"There's no excuse for his philosophy in the law, or whether he's eccentric, or whether he's an historical figure. ... There's no exception" Wittmann said.

The Associated Press generally does not identify the victims of sexual abuse. The daughter is one of 16 children Bevel said he has had with several different women.

The trial divided members of Bevel's large family, with relatives testifying for both the prosecutor and defense.

Even the daughter expressed mixed emotions. As she waited Thursday for a verdict, she was occasionally joined by her father as the two smiled and cooed over the daughter's new baby girl — Bevel's granddaughter.

"The hardest part is I love my father, and I wish he loved me as much as I love him," The daughter told jurors during the sentencing phase.

The jury must recommend a prison term ranging between five and 20 years. The judge will then have the option to accept the recommendation or lower it, but he cannot increase it.

In the 1960s, Bevel was a leader in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), two of the stalwart organizations that led efforts to desegregate the South.

In 1992, he was vice presidential running mate to political maverick Lyndon LaRouche, who has a home in Loudoun County but at the time was in a federal prison for a tax conviction.


By MATTHEW BARAKAT

Source - http://ap.google.com

Artie Lange Resigns from Howard Stern Show

Artie Lange, a mainstay on the Howard Stern Stow, resigned Thursday after an argument and subsequent outburst at his personal assistant on the air.

Lange, who became a member of the show in October 2001, was seen disputing with his assistant in the hallways off the air. Once Stern found out about the dispute, he invited Lange's assistant Teddy to discuss it on the air.

The argument began with Lange's issues with Teddy over money, then discussed travel accomodations Teddy, known as "Teddy Microphone" to the staff, made for Lange to Amsterdam.

As the argument ensued, Lange physically lashed out at Teddy. The scuffle was broken up by staff members, but Stern denounced Lange's actions.


Lange, who has a similar incident on air in the past, said he could not guarantee not acting out in this manner in the future. Stern replied, saying he cannot have Lange around with the potential of another physical outburst.

Lange then offered his resignation and Stern accepted.


Several fans have visited the Stern Fan Network (SFN) to discuss their thoughts about the situation and the potential of Lange never returning to the show.

Source - http://www.transworldnews.com

Jolita Berry - School violence appalls officials

The trouble began, Jolita Berry said, when she asked a girl in one of her art classes at Reginald F. Lewis High School to sit down.

The student did not obey, coming closer to confront the teacher. "She said she's gonna bang me," Berry said. "I said, 'Back up, you're in my space. If you hit me, I'm gonna defend myself.'"

But Berry, who is 30 and started her job teaching art at the Northeast Baltimore school in December, did not defend herself. The girl caught the teacher off guard as other students cheered her on and screamed, "Hit her!"

"She just started beating on me relentlessly," Berry said, recalling the Friday morning incident that left her with a sore shoulder and a broken blood vessel in her eye.


As it turned out, one of the kids in the class was recording what happened on a cell phone. Video footage was posted on the social networking site MySpace and aired on local television news, showing a teenage girl hitting a woman lying on the floor.

The woman's face is not visible.

By yesterday, the head of the Baltimore Teachers Union and Mayor Sheila Dixon were pointing to the incident in calling for the city school system to dedicate more resources to reducing classroom violence.

State Superintendent Nancy S. Grasmick told WBAL Radio that she was "horrified" and said that increased character education, community partnerships and parental responsibility are needed.

"It's just appalling," said Marietta English, president of the union's teacher chapter, adding that Berry is meeting with a union attorney. She said she's been complaining to system officials all year about assaults on teachers. "What I said, you now see on video," she said.

English said her office has been receiving two or three complaints a day of assaults on teachers, many of which are not reported to the school system or police. The system says it has expelled students for assaults on staff members 112 times this school year, compared with 98 at this time last year.

In response to English's complaints, Gen. Bennie E. Williams, chief of staff to schools chief Andres Alonso, agreed a few weeks ago to convene a task force on teacher assaults. Its first meeting was scheduled for yesterday.

While the system declined to comment on the specifics of the alleged assault on Berry, which she reported to school police at 11:45 a.m. Friday, Williams issued a statement yesterday saying that "we are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness." The girl involved has been suspended pending the outcome of the system's investigation.

Part of the public outrage stemmed from how Berry said her principal responded to the incident. She said the principal told her she'd provoked the attack by telling the student she would defend herself.

"That principal might need to be disciplined because no teacher should be disrespected in the classroom," Dixon said at a morning news conference.

While teachers also have to respect students, the mayor said, the principal's response "is unfair to that teacher."

Berry said that she was also frustrated that the principal did not remove the student from the school immediately. As she left the school Friday to go to a medical clinic, Berry said, she had to pass by the girl, bragging to her friends about what she'd done.

The principal, Jean Ragin, did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages yesterday.

News of the assault came the same week as two West Baltimore Middle School students were beaten with lacrosse sticks by peers who mistook red trim on one of the boys' athletic shoes as a gang sign.

"It's getting out of hand," Dixon said. "This might sound harsh, but I believe we have to come up with some very stern discipline action. Young people now feel, some feel, that it's acceptable, and it's not acceptable."

The teachers union has long asserted that city school administrators aren't reporting violent incidents or doing enough to punish children who are violent, for fear their schools will be labeled "persistently dangerous" under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

Maryland defines a persistently dangerous school as one with a certain percentage of its student population suspended for violent offenses. Critics say that that discourages suspensions and makes violence worse because students see they can get away with it.

Social networking sites like MySpace and the video-sharing site YouTube, along with the prevalence of cell phones with video cameras, have made school violence and other inappropriate behavior easier to document.

YouTube contains footage of boys fighting in the bathroom at Thurgood Marshall High and students at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High trying to throw a girl out of a window.

Berry said one of her friends found the video of her assault on MySpace, and her union representatives urged her to bring it to the news media's attention.


Since becoming CEO of the city schools last summer, Alonso has encouraged principals to look at alternatives to suspension for nonviolent offenses, but urged zero tolerance for violence.

Some educators say his directive has been misinterpreted, with principals discouraging all suspensions. Alonso has said he will fire any administrator who does not honestly report school violence.

Reginald F. Lewis High is one of the smaller schools created by the breakup of the large, chaotic Northern High School in 2002. Last summer, the state put Lewis on probation for its high number of suspensions for violent incidents. If the rate of suspensions keeps up this year, the school will be labeled persistently dangerous.

Another school located in the same complex, W.E.B DuBois High School, already has the persistently dangerous designation, meaning it must offer students the option to transfer elsewhere.

At a school board meeting last month, English complained to Alonso and the board about teacher assaults. "You will not have good test scores ... as long as these students are allowed to run the halls, come back to the classroom and continue to act in a violent way," she said.

She asked for a meeting to discuss "strategies to help students who need some kind of support because obviously they're crying out for help," a request that led to the formation of the task force.

Alonso responded that night that he'd be happy to meet with English and anyone else about school violence, but he said he wanted specifics about incidents that are not being reported, not generalized allegations.

"The message that I have made very clear to principals is that ... any student who commits the kind of offense that leads to persistently dangerous status by law has to be part of a process which takes them out of a school.

"If that is not happening, then the law is not being followed in the school, and I need to intervene. ... If you have specifics, bring them to my attention. I will respond immediately. I would rather deal with specifics than with the notion that the kids are running wild, because that's not helpful."


By Sara Neufeld | Sun reporter
April 10, 2008

Sun reporter John Fritze contributed to this article.

Source - http://www.baltimoresun.com