Category: News

Cudgel:

A woman is accused of repeatedly hitting a dog breeder on the head with a dead Chihuahua puppy because she was upset it had died.

Good news for the victim, though:

The breeder did not seek medical attention, police said…

Because it’s always damn embarrassing to end up in traction from a crazed chihuahua attack…

but she and two other people in the home got temporary orders of protection against the dog owner.

Because you never know when the nutbar will come back with a dead Saint Bernard and do the job right.

The St. Louis teachers’ union hasn’t met a compulsion it didn’t like, and apparently doesn’t know what "fair" means:

St. Louis teachers have clashed with Superintendent Creg Williams lately over teacher absenteeism, payroll system glitches and the requirement that 1,000 teachers must reapply for their jobs. The teachers even passed a no-confidence vote on Sunday.

But now, the union representing teachers will sit down with Williams – possibly within a week – to solicit his support for a measure that would require district employees who have declined to join the union to pay union dues.

If adopted by the St. Louis School Board, the “fair share proposal” introduced at a Tuesday night work session would require teachers, clerical workers, safety officers and teacher assistants who are not members of Local 420 to pay union dues.

The teachers’ union plays its role in squandering compulsively-collected taxpayer money. Why shouldn’t it feel it has the right to demand the right to squander compelled contributions from non-members, too?

Bear struck and killed by car near Jackson:

A black bear — rarely seen in southeast Missouri’s Cape Girardeau County — was apparently roaming around when he crossed in front of a car and was struck and killed, authorities said.

Perhaps if more of them were seen, fewer would be hit by cars.

In a strange twist of fate: Missouri Democratic Party endorses stem cell measure.

Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan has broken ranks with her party and has not thrown the measure off of the Missouri ballot.

St. Louis teachers [sic] union issues vote of no confidence:

The union representing St. Louis Public Schools teachers on Sunday issued a vote of no confidence in the district administration.

About 600 union members voted unanimously, said Mary Armstrong, Local 420 president. The vote took place at an emergency meeting called to address several issues that arose at the end of the school year, primarily the notification of more than 1,000 teachers that they will have to reapply for their jobs under a federal- and state-mandated reorganization plan.

Too bad this isn’t a parliamentary system, and the school board cannot fall, leaving the teachers to build a broad coalition and vote themselves into luxury at the public expense.

Oh, but no, they’ve got their futile votes and informational pickets, and I can only actually hope that they’re futile and that the overpaid administrators will inadvertently do what’s right for the students in the midst of voting themselves into luxury at the public expense.

It’s been covered widely, but apparently some muckety-muck real journalist for the Washington Post said, to a graduating journalism class:

Good jobs in journalism have become scarce as newspapers shrink and die, broadcast media fragment to smaller niche audiences and the public appears more and more willing to receive its “news” online from nincompoops ranting in their underpants.

Oh, if only he would have quipped thus a year earlier! We would have had Underpants Media!

(Other reactions from actual Pajamas Mediatricians Michelle Malkin and Ace.)

Diana crash probe makes ‘extraordinary’ headway: investigator:

The probe into the Paris car crash that killed Princess Diana is benefiting from a computer-generated reconstruction and is making “extraordinary” headway, the top investigator said in remarks.

Sir John Stevens told the Daily Express that revolutionary technology has allowed police to construct a virtual reality film of what happened when Diana left her hotel in Paris in August 1997 until the time the car crashed.

Maybe we have higher standards here, but I should think some headway ought to be made in the first, oh, five to seven years after an automobile accident investigation begins.

The latest sign that a bubblegeddon might be upon our markets: The Segway IPO:

And Segway Inc. President and Chief Executive James Norrod, hoping to parlay the growth into a payday for the original investors in the scooter, has made grooming the company for an initial public offering in the next few years a top priority.

Gauging Segway’s prospects in an IPO is difficult, as the company will not reveal its yearly revenue or whether it is profitable. Norrod will only say that “tens of thousands” of Segways have been sold around the world, and that the company’s revenue has been growing by at least 50 percent over each of the last few years.

Time to adjust the portfolio away from equities and back into guns and liquor.

One more reason to vote Nugent for president in 2012: he scares the lesser Brits.

Although somehow, my choice of post titles and election years belies a certain dismay with the Republican Party’s prospects in 2008.

Judge tosses out zoning that blocked Aurora hospital:

A Waukesha County judge ruled Thursday that the City of Oconomowoc illegally rezoned land to block construction of a hospital by Aurora Health Care.

In response to the ruling, Aurora – the largest and, critics contend, most expensive health care system in southeastern Wisconsin – immediately moved to extend its reach into affluent western Waukesha County.

I’ve written about this before. It’s good to see, though, that eventually, occasionally, right-minded citizens cannot EJM (Ends Justify the Means, now a verb of its own coming soon to a blog near you) to thwart the encroaching tentacles of the health care menace. Even if it’s from one of those eldritch, foetid for-profit companies.

Cptlism fthagn.

Red Cross warns blood donors of possible ID thefts in Midwest:

About 1 million blood donors in the Missouri-Illinois Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross were warned last week that personal information about them could have been stolen earlier this year by a former employee and might have been used in identity thefts.

The former worker had access to 8,000 blood donors in a database she used in her job, all of whom were notified by mail of possible identity theft problems on March 17, according to the agency. But after the original warning letters went out, the Red Cross decided to expand the identity theft warnings to all 1 million donors in the Missouri-Illinois region because of concerns that she may have accidentally accessed other records in the larger group.

They don’t need your Social Security Number to take your blood. But by asking for it and putting it in their computers, they made it available to someone with less than honest intentions who would work for them for minimum wage.

Remember, just say no to SSN, boys and girls.

Star Trek blade seized:

THIS five-foot martial arts sword capable of beheading a man was recovered by shocked cops in a house raid.

The terrifying Batleth weapon is identical to one wielded by Klingon aliens in the Star Trek sci-fi films.

Officers seized the three-handled sword — which has huge pointed blades at either end — at a home in Gloucester.

It would be funny if, deep down, I wasn’t afraid that these brilliant ideas–seizing all knives and knife turn-in amnesty programs and the eventual outlawing of the fetal position as a defense because it offends those who’ve had abortions–were impossible here.

You know that extra room in your house? The city of Chesterfield, Missouri, has taken control of it, or at least who can room in it: Council approves ban on renters in houses:

Although they added an exception for foreign exchange students, Chesterfield lawmakers approved legislation that prevents homeowners from renting rooms in their houses.

City officials – and some residents – have insisted the practice can lead to excessive crowding, parking difficulties, more transients, and other neighborhood nuisances.

Other residents, who spoke to the City Council on May 15, protested that renting rooms can be a valuable aid to young students and elderly homeowners.

Besides, the single occupant isn’t high enough density. If you’ve got a spare room in your house, the city of Chesterfield will put a retail outlet of some sort in it, since that’s the best use of your downstairs bedroom from their perspective. And they’ll stick you with the bill to make your walk-out basement ADA-compatible.

In a shocking turn of events, the prosecutors are eager to begin:

Those who violate the law will be subject to a fine of up to $1,000 or jail time of up to three months.

Tim Engelmeyer, the city’s prosecuting attorney, favored the bill and recently told city officials in an E-mail that the law would “protect the integrity of our neighborhoods.”

As a bonus to eroding property rights, it will also generate revenue! What’s not to like about it?

Other than the erosion and generation parts to the benefit of a government, I wholeheartedly support bending the dangerous individual to the will of the community.

Time to dump some textbooks into the Milwaukee River, what with unelected representatives levying their own taxes:

A budget endorsed Tuesday by the Milwaukee Area Technical College Board would increase the school’s tax levy 5% in the coming fiscal year, outpacing inflation and contradicting the growing anti-tax sentiment in the state.

After breathing a sigh of relief that the Legislature had failed to pass constitutional tax and spending limits earlier this month, the board backed a budget that would increase spending about 6.3%, based on current projections.

The $309 million MATC has budgeted for 2006-’07 represents a 32.4% increase from its spending at the start of the decade and tops the rate of inflation for that period by roughly 14 percentage points.

Contradicting the anti-tax sentiment? I’d say not; these bureaucrats are actually acting on it and feathering their nests while they can, because taxpayer relief of some sort will pass in Wisconsin, accidentally, one of these days, and the tax districts want to make sure that they get as much loot as they can before they’re leashed. And if it never comes to pass, well, it’s even better, as it’s a precedent for ever-inflating percentages into perpetuity.

Over at Boots and Sabers, Owen thinks it’s wonderful. He’s being sarcastic.