Wheelchair Bound Man Robbed of Jewelry During Home Invasion

http://www.8newsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=12951338&Call=Email&Format=HTML

School Wants Student to Alter Religious View on Gays or Be Expelled

http://www.newser.com/story/96566/school-wants-student-to-alter-religious-view-on-gays.html

Incest

From "The Bad Lawyer" Blog; http://badlawyernyc.blogspot.com/2010/07/incest.html

The Oakland (Michigan) Press reports on the sentencing of Aimee Sword (pic), the biological mother who tracked down the teenage son she placed for adoption two days after birth, and had sex with him. This is Ann Zaniewski's story:

"[The Defendant said] she was remorseful for having sex with the teenage son she gave up for adoption as a baby before being sentenced Monday to at least nine years in prison. 'I don’t understand it,' Aimee Louise Sword said, referring to her actions.

Sword, a 36-year-old Waterford Township resident, was charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. In early June, she pleaded guilty as part of a plea bargain to one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Sword’s son was 16 when he testified at the preliminary exam in January that Sword contacted him in May 2008 while he was living in an adoptive home in Grand Rapids. He said they met at a Grand Rapids hotel and had sex. They later had sex at the home of Sword’s brother in Waterford Township.

Sword’s son, who has a different last name than her, was 14 at the time. Sword had given her son up for adoption when he was two days old and had an open adoption arrangement in which she would receive information about him every year, said defense attorney Mitchell Ribitwer. He said Sword initially got in contact with him through the social networking site Facebook after not receiving one of the annual updates.

Assistant Prosecutor Nicki Weisberger called what Sword did a 'selfish, cowardly, despicable act' that will have a longlasting impact on the teen. She said he was going through a tough time in his life at the time the crimes occurred. 'This is going to follow him and affect him for the rest of his life,' Weisberger said.

Ribitwer told Oakland Circuit Judge Daniel O’Brien that Sword fully accepts responsibility for her behavior. He asked for a sentence that would start at the low end of her sentencing guidelines, which were 81 months to 135 months in prison. Wearing a black dress and pearls, Sword apologized to the court and her family members for what happened.

She has five other children.

After O’Brien doled out the sentence of nine years to 30 years in prison, some of Sword’s supporters left the hearing in tears. Sword was also ordered to have no contact with the victim and to comply with sex offender registration. She will have to wear a tether when she’s released from prison."
_________________________
I hate this story. I hate writing about this story. It is one of many repulsive stories of the like you can read every day at local news websites around the country usually involving biological a biological male parent with their children. Sick and disgusting and inexcusable. The only thing remarkable about this story is the oddity of a young woman placing a child for adoption then stalking the child after he was an adolescent and committing this heinous act.

Sword claims not to understand "what happened." Try, seeking for the self alone, in other words extreme narcissism. Ghastly.

SHIGELLOSIS - USA: (PENNSYLVANIA)

*********************************
A ProMED-mail post

ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: Thu 24 Jun 2010
Source: ThePittsburghChannel.com [edited]



The Allegheny County Health Department is warning everyone to
remember to wash their hands to guard against a bacterial infection
known as shigellosis that has seen a spike in cases in recent weeks.

"_Shigella_ bacteria are highly contagious. It can spread very easily
from person to person or through contaminated food, water or
beverages when people are not careful about thoroughly washing after
going to the toilet, changing diapers or caring for someone who's ill
with diarrhea," said Guillermo Cole, of the Allegheny County Health Department.

_Shigella_ causes bloody diarrhea, fever and vomiting. Symptoms can
last for several days.

There are currently 97 cases reported in Allegheny County,
Pennsylvania, compared to a dozen cases for all of 2008. The Health
Department has been targeting day cares in an attempt to keep
shigellosis from spreading. "What we're doing specifically with day
care centers is requiring any worker or child with diarrhea to be
excluded until they have a negative shigella test and no diarrhea for
at least 24 hours," said Cole.

The outbreak began in October [2009], but cases have spiked in recent weeks.

"You could pass it to somebody else if you don't wash your hands, and
then they get it on their hands or they handle food that they then
ingest," said Cole. The health department is offering free stickers
based on satires of famous literature such as The Wizard of Oz and
Moby Dick reminding everyone to wash their hands.

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail


[The following is extracted from moderator LL's comments in a prior
ProMED post Shigellosis, imported sugar peas - Norway, Denmark: (ex
Kenya) susp. 20090626.2328:

"... from the US FDA (Food & Drug Administration) Center for Food
Safety and Applied Nutrition, Bad Bug Book
():

"The illness caused by shigellosis accounts for less than 10 percent
of the reported outbreaks of foodborne illness in this country.
_Shigella_ rarely occurs in animals; principally it is a disease of
humans except for other primates such as monkeys and chimpanzees. The
organism is frequently found in water polluted with human feces. The
infective dose is as few as 10 cells depending on age and condition
of host. The _Shigella_ spp. are highly infectious agents that are
transmitted by the fecal-oral route.

"Associated foods include salads (potato, tuna, shrimp, macaroni, and
chicken), raw vegetables, milk and dairy products, and poultry.
Contamination of these foods is usually through the fecal-oral route.
Fecally contaminated water and unsanitary handling by food handlers
are the most common causes of contamination.

"Clearly unlike foodborne infections in humans due to _Salmonella_
(except for typhoid fever), _E. coli_ O157, and _Campylobacter_,
shigellosis is associated with food contamination with human, not
animal feces."

Allegheny County is in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania
(). As
of the 2000 census, the population was 1 281 666. The county seat is
Pittsburgh. The state of Pennsylvania can be located in the
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map at:
.
- Mod.ML]

[see also:
Shigellosis, changing epidemiology - Canada: (ON) RFI 20100216.0548
2005
----
Shigellosis, retreat center - USA (OR) 20050812.2364
2003
----
Shigellosis - USA (FL) 20030929.2452
Shigellosis - USA (North Carolina) 20030713.1727
Shigellosis - USA (Texas) (02) 20030509.1156
2002
----
Shigellosis - USA (New Jersey) 20020826.5153
Shigellosis - USA (Georgia): alert 20020624.4587
2001
----
Shigellosis - USA (Iowa) 20010924.2316
Shigellosis - USA (Ohio, Kentucky) 20010815.1930
Shigellosis, toddlers - USA (Ohio) (02) 20010721.1419
1997
----
Shigellosis - Canada 19970610.1214
1996
----
Shigella, deliberate contamination? - USA (Texas) 19961119.1946]
...................ml/ejp/dk


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and its associated service providers shall not be held
responsible for errors or omissions or held liable for any
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Boy Dies in Microwave Playing Hide-and-Seek

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTYQaLYjRwA&NR=1

NRA Exempts Itself from Oppressive Law and Caves in to Support It

June 16, 2010

Dear Campaign for Liberty Member,

Once again, free speech and political liberty are under attack in Congress. And this time they have a surprising (to some) assailant -- the National Rifle Association.

In a minute, I'll give you links to the sorry story and ask you to tell the NRA and your congressman you OPPOSE the freedom-killing DISCLOSE ACT, with or without the NRA's deal.



You see, if there is one thing the establishment hates, it is watching its hand-picked candidates be held accountable for their records on liberty issues.

They want their Big Government power grabs to go unnoticed.

After watching some of their favorites go down in flames in race after race these past few months and seeing their statist schemes like Cap and Tax grind to a halt as a result of a massive uprising by liberty-loving Americans, they plan to strike back.

In a move that has dire consequences for our First Amendment right to freedom of speech and for Campaign for Liberty's ability to fight for our freedoms, incumbent politicians have colluded with a super-sized establishment lobbying group, the National Rifle Association, to push H.R. 5175, the DISCLOSE ACT, or as I like to call it, the "Establishment Protection Act," through the House of Representatives as soon as this week.

According to Politico, the NRA bargained for an exemption for itself and other large, established groups while trampling the rights of private citizens, new groups (like Campaign for Liberty), and small organizations.


As John Bresnahan reports, "The proposal would exempt organizations that have more than 1 million members, have been in existence for more than 10 years, have members in all 50 states and raise 15 percent or less of their funds from corporations... The NRA, with 4 million members, will not actively oppose the DISCLOSE Act, according to Democratic sources."

RedState's Erick Erickson mentions one of our Regional Conference sponsors when saying, "I support Gun Owners of America, which is a consistent and uncompromising defender of the second amendment, not a weak little girl of an organization protecting itself while throwing everyone else under the bus."

Another pro-gun organization friendly to Campaign for Liberty, the National Association for Gun Rights, said in a national email, "And frankly, this craven deal by the NRA will damage our gun rights and our free speech rights."

As we hold politicians accountable and put them on record with our issue discussion program, the Establishment Protection Act will force organizations like C4L to turn over the names of their "top" donors for exercising our First Amendment rights.

You see, they are targeting groups like Campaign for Liberty because they think their "right" to hold office is more important than your rights to privacy and free speech.


Campaign for Liberty has experienced tremendous growth this past year, and the establishment knows we are out there every day fighting back against its statist power grabs.

They watch as we inform you which candidates support the Constitution and which candidates refuse to take a stand on liberty issues.

And they know we won't play their Washington game of trading principle for power. They want to silence us once and for all by going after our donors.

Campaign for Liberty will not be silenced, and we will lead the fight against the Establishment Protection Act so you have the right to speak freely without your name and personal information being turned over to Big Brother.

Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 right away to contact your representative and INSIST they uphold your First Amendment right to free speech and vote against H.R. 5175, the Establishment Protection Act.

After you contact your representative, call the NRA headquarters at 1-800-672-3888 and their Legislative Action group at 1-800-392-8683 and let them know how you feel about their move to stab freedom organizations in the back.

Sincerely,



John Tate

President

Price of Coffee to Rise; Leaf Rust in Colombia

LEAF RUST, COFFEE - COLOMBIA: SPREAD
************************************
A ProMED-mail post

ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: Wed 19 May 2010
Source: Dow Jones Newswires [edited]



'Rust disease' is latest threat to Colombian coffee crop
--------------------------------------------------------
The trees here [in Narino department], normally a lush green, are
yellow and spotty, as a virulent fungus compounds the woes of
Colombia's southern coffee-growing belt. Colombia is the world's
largest grower of high-quality arabica coffee beans. The provinces
accounting for about a third of that output are being hit by one of
the worst attacks of a fungal disease the region has ever seen.

This latest outbreak in southern Narino province is tied to a string
of weather problems caused by El Nino, which has warmed the Pacific
Ocean and led to unseasonal and excess rains followed by drought.
This appearance of rust disease follows a severe drought and an
outbreak of the broca pest [coffee berry borer] in another of the
country's main coffee-growing regions. Colombia's National Federation
of Coffee Growers, or Fedecafe, recently cut its forecast for output
in the first half of 2010.

[Byline: Maja Wallengren]

--
Communicated by:
ProMED-mail


[Coffee leaf rust (CLR; also called orange rust) is caused by the
fungus _Hemileia vastatrix_, one of the most feared pathogens of the
crop. Of the 2 coffee species grown commercially, _Coffea arabica_
(arabica or highland coffee) and _Coffea canephora_ (robusta or
lowland coffee), it affects only arabica varieties and has completely
destroyed coffee industries in several countries. The disease is
characterised by yellow-orange powdery lesions on the underside of
leaves, where it attacks through stomata, but rarely occurs on stems
or fruit. CLR can lead to complete defoliation with death of the host
plant. Spores are spread by wind and rain.

Disease management relies mainly on multiple fungicide applications
during the rainy season. Rust-resistant cultivars exist, but the crop
is generally of poorer quality. More than 30 races of the fungus have
been detected, making it particularly difficult to establish durable
host resistance.

In Colombia, CLR outbreaks were reported in 2009 from several
departments including Caldas, Tolima, and Antioquia, but appears to
have spread further south. It has been said that severe CLR outbreaks
were last seen in the country over 25 years ago, and the possibility
of an emerging new, more aggressive fungal strain is being
considered. Cercospora leaf spot caused by the fungus _Mycosphaerella
coffeicola_ (ProMED-mail post 20100222.0595) and coffee berry borer
(_Hypothenemus hampei_; ProMED-mail post 20091008.3490) currently
exacerbate the situation in some parts of the country.

Maps
Colombia:
and

Colombia departments:

Early worldwide spread of coffee rust (pre-1990):


Pictures
CLR symptoms:
,
, and

Cercospora leaf spot and berry blotch:
,
, and

Coffee berry borer:

Berry borer damage on coffee beans:


Links
Coffee rust information and background:
,
, and

CLR resources:

_H. vastatrix_ taxonomy:

Information on cercospora leaf spot of coffee:
and via
,
, and

Coffee berry borer:
and

Arabica coffee varieties:
. - Mod.DHA]

[see also:
Coffee & cocoa diseases - Central Africa: update 20100421.1289
Cercospora leaf spot, coffee - Colombia: (QD) alert 20100222.0595
2009
----
Leaf rust, coffee - Colombia (02) 20091008.3490
Leaf rust, coffee - Colombia: (TO, CL) 20090225.0773
2008
----
Fungal diseases, coffee - East Africa 20081226.4072
2007
----
Leaf rust & berry disease, coffee - Kenya 20071108.3631]
...................................dha/mj/lm

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information, and of any statements or opinions based
thereon, are not guaranteed. The reader assumes all risks in
using information posted or archived by ProMED-mail. ISID
and its associated service providers shall not be held
responsible for errors or omissions or held liable for any
damages incurred as a result of use or reliance upon posted
or archived material.
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