A U.S. appeals court upheld the convictions of animal-rights activists charged under a terrorism statute with using their Web site to incite threats and vandalism against a company that tests products on animals.
The 2-1 decision was the first federal appellate court ruling on a constitutional challenge to the law.
Six members of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty were convicted at a 2006 trial in New Jersey of conspiracy to violate the 1992 Animal Enterprise Protection Act. The law, since revised, aimed to protect animal research laboratories from illegal, sometimes violent protests.
The group was formed to protest the activities of Huntingdon Life Sciences in Franklin Township, N.J.
The activists posted the home addresses of Huntingdon officials and contractors on the group's Web site, and harassment, vandalism and violence sometimes followed.
In just one example raised at trial, Andrew Baker, chairman of a Huntingdon holding company, testified that protesters broke windows and threw smoke bombs into his Los Angeles home and also targeted a daughter's apartment in New York, plastering her door with pictures depicting his death.
"While advocating violence that is not imminent and unlikely to occur is protected, speech that constitutes a 'true threat' is not," Judge Julio Fuentes wrote in the lengthy 3rd U.S. Circuit Court ruling issued Wednesday.
The Stop Huntingdon group also endorsed "electronic civil disobedience", using technology to overwhelm company fax machines and computers. The campaign cost Huntingdon more than $400,000 in economic damage, the opinion said.
"The record is rife with evidence that defendants were on notice that their activities put them at risk for prosecution, including the extensive use of various encryption devices and programs used to erase incriminating data from their computer hard drives," Fuentes wrote.
The defense team will meet with clients to discuss whether to appeal the ruling, said Goldberger, who represents Joshua Harper of Seattle.
Some of the other defendants were also convicted of interstate stalking. The group members were sentenced to up to six years in prison, and a few remain incarcerated. In addition to Harper, they include Darius Fullmer, Andrew Stepanian, Kevin Kjonaas, Lauren Gazzola and Jacob Conroy.
#1
It'a about time that the animal rights terrorists face real consequences.
15 yrs ago, some of them opened crates at dog shows and shoo'd the dogs towards the highway.
Yeah, some were killed. The AR SOBs gleefully announced the dogs were better off dead than 'slaves'. spit The families that loved those animals were devastated.
[Straits Times] INDONESIA'S former anti-corruption tsar on Thursday denounced charges he murdered a rival for the affections of a 22-year-old golf caddy, saying he was the victim of a smear campaign.
To applause from the packed public gallery, sacked chief of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Antasari Azhar accused shadowy interests of trying to frame him for the murder to silence the powerful anti-graft body.
'The murder accusation is clearly an attempt to kill my personal character due to my position as the KPK's chief,' he told the South Jakarta district court in his first opportunity to respond to the charges at his trial.
He said he had no role in the shooting murder of Nasrudin Zulkarnaen, the head of a state-owned company who was gunned down by two assassins in March as he drove to the Modernland golf club in Jakarta. Zulkarnaen was married to Rhani Juliani, the chief prosecution witness and a golf caddy at the course both men frequented.
Azhar, 56, was arrested on May 4 and has been held in police custody for allegedly masterminding the murder.
The police indictment contains explicit details on Azhar's alleged attempts to seduce Juliani in a Jakarta hotel room, saying that his designs were discovered by Zulkarnaen, who threatened to expose the married KPK chief's alleged infidelities to the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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A mortgage fraud crackdown announced Thursday resulted in the arrests of dozens of people, including six lawyers, seven loan officers and three mortgage brokers in four states.
Thirty-one people were arrested in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina. They were among 41 people charged with engaging in mortgage fraud scams that defrauded lenders out of more than $64 million in home mortgage loans.
Of the 10 other defendants, one was expected to surrender later Thursday, four were previously charged and five remained at large.
Authorities gathering for an afternoon news conference in Manhattan said the crackdown, dubbed "Operation Bad Deeds," was aimed at the failure of gatekeepers in the mortgage industry to act responsibly and legally.
"Unfortunately, instead of protecting our financial system, in some cases they abused their positions and joined criminal schemes to steal millions of dollars," said Richard H. Neiman, the superintendent of banks for New York State.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement that he found it "especially alarming" that lawyers, loan officers and mortgage brokers treated their professions as a "license to loot banks and profit from other people's pain." Those charged also included an accountant and a residential property appraiser.
Authorities said the arrests resulted from a series of investigations conducted by state and local authorities along with federal prosecutors, the FBI, the New York State Banking Department, federal housing authorities, the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Postal Service investigators.
Most of the bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges brought against the defendants carry potential prison terms of 20 to 30 years .
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This is penny-ante shit. when you bust the Countrywide and BOA CEO's wake me up.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 6:02 Comments ||
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Julius Streicher (February 12, 1885 -- October 16, 1946) was a prominent Nazi prior to World War II. He was the founder and publisher of Der StĂĽrmer newspaper, which became a central element of the Nazi propaganda machine. . . . After the war, he was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed. . . .
Streicher was hanged in the early hours of October 16, 1946, along with the nine other condemned defendants from the first Nuremberg trial . . . . Streicher's was the most melodramatic of the hangings carried out that night. At the bottom of the scaffold he cried out "Heil Hitler!" When he mounted the platform, he delivered his last sneering reference to Jewish scripture, snapping "Purim-Fest 1946!" . . . Streicher's final declaration before the hood went over his head was, "The Bolsheviks will hang you one day!" For those of you cynics who think "there ain't no justice," consider the following:
The consensus among eyewitnesses was that the hanging of Julius Streicher did not proceed as planned, and that he did not receive the quick death from spinal severing typical of the other executions at Nuremberg. [snark]
Awwww. Poor bay-bee.
[/snark]
Kingsbury Smith, who covered the executions for the International News Service, reported that Streicher "went down kicking" which may have dislodged the hangman's knot from its ideal position. Smith stated that Streicher could be heard groaning under the scaffold after he dropped through the trap-door, and that the executioner intervened under the gallows, which was screened by wood panels and a black curtain, to finish the job. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
10/16/2009 09:58 ||
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#1
...Trying to remember if Streicher was the one who was determined to be borderline retarded.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/16/2009 12:10 Comments ||
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#2
Ummm, Mike Pick another name, I've seen "Monsters Inc", I'm sure others have too.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 14:10 Comments ||
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#3
he was Mike Kozlowski before "Monsters, Inc.". I think that's grandfather rights
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2009 19:08 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Qur'anic verses have reportedly appeared on the body of a nine-month old boy named Ali from the Russian Republic of Dagestan.
Since his birth, birthmarks in the form of Arabic script have been appearing on Ali's body. First, there were individual letters but then texts began appearing, the Russian-language Vesti news channel quoted his parents as saying on Thursday. "First, there was a hematoma on his chin. When the bruise went off, we saw the word "Allah," Ali's mother Madina Yakubova said.
Surprisingly, one of the baby's legs has an inscription, "Allah is the creator of all entities."
The TV channel reported that Ali was first diagnosed with "ischemic heart disease of the second degree" and "infantile cerebral paralysis" in the maternity clinic. However, after the inexplicable events began happening, he was examined again and found healthy.
The incident has been drawing hundreds of Dagestani Muslims to Ali's home everyday, prompting local authorities to guard the house round-the-clock.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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The Tourism Committee of the Madinah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) fears the industry could be hit by more than SR3 billion thanks to swine flu. “The loss of business within the Haj and Umrah industry this year is going to be at its highest compared to the last 50 years. The negative trend is likely to continue for the next three years at least."
[Straits Times] INDONESIA has indefinitely suspended the traffic of domestic helpers to Kuwait due to concern over widespread abuse and exploitation by their employers, the labour ministry said Thursday.
About 500 women with complaints ranging from physical beatings to the denial of pay are sheltering at the Indonesian embassy in the oil-rich Gulf emirate, awaiting assistance to be sent home, ministry spokesman Budhi Laksana told AFP.
They must have them stacked in the halls like cordwood.
At Indonesia's request, Kuwait stopped accepting new maid arrivals on Sept 14, he said.
'We have temporarily stopped sending domestic helpers to Kuwait since Sept 14 to protect our helpers who had problems with their employers there,' Mr Laksana said.
'The suspension will go on indefinitely until the problems are sorted out.' There are around 60,000 Indonesian domestic helpers in Kuwait and they are typically paid as little as 60 Kuwaiti dinars (S$290) a month, he said.
'Most said they were owed salaries and when they asked their employers for the money, they were beaten up and some ended up in hospital,' Mr Laksana said, referring to the 500 women at the embassy.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
You go, girls! Let 'em scrub their own skid marks.
[Bangla Daily Star] A Dhaka court yesterday issued an arrest warrant against former Awami League general secretary Abdul Jalil in a case filed by National Board of Revenue (NBR) in connection with dodging income tax to the tune of Tk 4 lakh.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he seized the landmark Hilton hotel on Margarita Island because its owners dared to impose conditions on its use by his government to host a summit there last month. "To hold the conference we had to ask for permission... and the owners tried to impose conditions on the revolutionary government. No way," said Chavez. "So I said, 'Let's expropriate it.' And now it's been expropriated." Since all that has to happen is for Fearless Leader to say "let's expropriate it" and the expropriation occurs that means that nobody in Venezuela actually has any property rights. Work hard, create, build for the future, and the state can at any time say "let's expropriate it" and you are left with squat, or maybe squat with a broken head to show for your cheek.
The Venezuelan government was already a majority shareholder in the Hilton on the Caribbean resort island when Chavez took it over on Tuesday. "The acquisition by force of the real estate, furnishings, and related assets... of the Margarita Hilton & Suites Hotel Complex, along with the Marina owned by Inversiones Pueblamar y Desarrollos MBK, have been ordered," read a presidential decree in the official register.
The sprawling complex, including 280 rooms, 210 suites, a casino, stores, restaurants, offices and meeting areas, as well as the adjoining marina, will be held by the state tourism corporation Venetur, which reports to the Tourism Ministry.
The hotel, in northeastern Nueva Esparta state, was targeted for nationalization less than a month after it was used to host the South America-Africa Summit on September 26 and 27.
The seizure was billed as part of an "urgent" effort to boost "the social development side of the tourism and hotel industries in Nueva Esparta state."
On Wednesday, the US-based Hilton chain said it was "evaluating" Venezuela's seizure of one of its hotels. A Hilton spokeswoman told AFP that, in the meantime, the facility "remains a member of the Hilton system of hotels."
Venezuela's Minister of Tourism, Pedro Morejon, on Wednesday said the Hilton and its facilities were in an "advanced state of disrepair" and that the government would refurbish them.
"We're going to socialize the hotel," the minister told VTV television, adding that its future facilities would include a "training center for tourism."
He also said that all current Hilton Hotel employees would not be out of a job.
"We're going to change its name," said Chavez. "We'll give it a local sounding name because the Hilton brand is so international."
It is not the first time the Chavez government has checked into a Hilton and stayed for good.
Caracas has already seized the Hilton in Caracas, re-christening it the Hotel Alba, a reference to the Venezuelan-led leftist regional alliance Alianza Bolivariana para las Americas (ALBA).
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
And this is different from the Obamanation seizure of GM and Chrysler how??
China is exporting something simpler, and indeed more corrosive to Western pre-eminence, than the individual nuts and bolts of its colossal thirty-year transformation. This is the basic idea of market-authoritarianism. Beyond everything else that China sells to the world, it functions as the world’s largest billboard advertisement for the new alternative of “going capitalist and staying autocratic.” Beijing has provided the world’s most compelling, high-speed demonstration of how to liberalize economically without surrendering to liberal politics.
#1
But it only works until they run out of other people's money. And ours has run out.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2009 14:01 Comments ||
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#2
This is amusing, in a bizarre sort of way. The Chinese are behaving like the "Yankee traders" of old, who are mostly known to modern Americans from the Star Trek, The Next Generation series, as the aliens known as "Ferengi".
The reality was that the original Yankee Traders were pure capitalists, always on the lookout for a better trade deal, and unconcerned with how foreigners carried out their side of the bargain, at least at first.
It represented colonialism without establishing a colony more than a trading post. In the early days of the founding of the United States, these traders became the forefront of the democracy movement around the world, to a great extent because democrats were far more trustworthy than tyrants and princes, who would cheat you at the drop of a hat.
So the Chinese are following in their footsteps, after a fashion. More than willing to make profitable deals with fourth world tyrants, as they screw their own nations, and far more concerned with political stability than enriching the locals.
Unlike the United States, that has lost its capitalistic edge, China will become very strong through ruthless capitalism. But eventually what will happen to them is what happened to the US. The public will get tired of putting money above all things.
#3
I'm not big on lessons from history, but one is that democracies survive crises, whereas authoritarian regimes don't, or at least not without large body counts.
China has yet to be faced with a post economic liberalism crisis. In fact the last 30 years has been an extraordinarily benign period for China.
#1
I think this is definitely a more appropriate case of trademark protection than the "Monster" energy drink thugs going after "Vermonster" beer.
Posted by: Dar ||
10/16/2009 15:21 Comments ||
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#2
Disney was a leading player in corrupting our copyright laws from one of a limited 'lifetime' of the author to the inheritable and unlimited old royal patent that our founding fathers detested.
#3
As far as I remember the Snow White story predates Disney by several hundred years - I don't see how Disney can claim copyright on a fairy tale which has been around for hundreds of years.
(CNNMoney.com) -- Despite concerted government-led and lender-supported efforts to prevent foreclosures, the number of filings hit a record high in the third quarter, according to a report issued Thursday.
"They were the worst three months of all time," said Rick Sharga, spokesman for RealtyTrac, an online marketer of foreclosed homes.
During that time, 937,840 homes received a foreclosure letter -- whether a default notice, auction notice or bank repossession, the RealtyTrac report said. That means one in every 136 U.S. homes were in foreclosure, which is a 5% increase from the second quarter and a 23% jump over the third quarter of 2008.
Nevada continued to be the worst-hit state with one filing for every 23 households. But even tranquil Vermont, where the foreclosure crisis has barely brushed the housing market, saw foreclosure filings jump nearly 170% compared with the third quarter of 2008. Still, that resulted in just one filing for every 5,023 households in the state -- the best record in the country.
The RealtyTrac report also unveiled the results for September, and it found that there was slight relief from foreclosure filings. Last month, notices totaled 343,638, down 4% compared with August. Unfortunately, that total accounts for 87,821 homes that were repossessed by lenders.
That deluge contributed significantly to the quarter's record 237,052 repossessions, a 21% jump from the previous three months. So far this year lenders have taken back 623,852 homes.
"REO activity increased from the previous quarter in all but two states and the District of Columbia, indicating that lenders may be starting to work through some of the pent-up foreclosure inventory caused by legislative delays, loan-modification efforts and high volumes of distressed properties," James Saccacio, RealtyTrac's CEO, said in a statement.
Most disturbing is that all foreclosures -- not just repossessions -- are rampant despite efforts to corral them. Not only has the Obama administration's Making Home Affordable foreclosure prevention program taken a bite out of REOs but lenders themselves have scaled back repossessions over the past few months to give the program time to work.
And in some low-price markets, lenders simply aren't following through on foreclosures, according to Jim Rokakis, treasurer for Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland.
"They'll even set the date for the sheriff's sale, but they don't file the final papers," he said. "They hold it in abeyance and let the residents stay in the house."
In ever more frequent cases, delinquent borrowers want out of the mortgage worse than the lenders. There are no firm statistics for it, but many industry watchers claim the percentage of REOs caused by borrowers voluntarily walking away from their homes is skyrocketing.
A study of the trend by the Chicago Booth School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management determined that when home price declines drop home values 10% below the mortgage balances, people start to give up their homes. When "negative equity" approaches 50%, 17% of households default, even when they can still afford their mortgage payments.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
In ever more frequent cases, delinquent borrowers want out of the mortgage worse than the lenders.
As ludicrous as it sounds now, the banks' (and that is pretty much every bank in the western world) business model was that real estate prices would never decline decline significantly - enough to make borrowers walk away from the homes they had bought with borrowed money.
This will end up with basically all banks insolvent, a collapse in in real estate financing, and a collapse in house prices.
#2
I would be interesting to know the demographics of the defaults. %Caucasian, black, asian, muslim, hispanic and especially illegals. If the loan is to a fake ID why should they give a damn.
#4
This will end up with basically all banks insolvent, a collapse in in real estate financing, and a collapse in house prices.
GOOD.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 6:05 Comments ||
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#5
Phil nailed it.
The stock market rally is being touted as proof of recovery. It is not, for four reasons.
1. In what are called "constant dollars", the market is only worth a little more than what it was at its lowest point owing to a drop in the currency value of the dollar.
2. Real estate values have plummeted in terms of their face price, but also due, again, to the drop in the value of the dollar. Real estate will NOT have a true increase in value for many years and may experience futher declines both in face value and in real terms.
3. Unemployment will continue to grow - unless businesses are more reassured that they won't be taken over by the government or have a stable (going forward) tax environment, they will not hire, and who can blame them?
4. Business cannot trust government to resist the impulse to increase taxes or to implement regulations for which compliance is costly (a de facto tax), thus making them unlikely to engage in any large capital expenditures.
If you combine all these things, you get a lot fewer people seeking loans. Bye-bye banks in that environment.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/16/2009 6:11 Comments ||
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#6
If wages are not rising, then house price rises are a bad thing.
You want constant affordability, and price rises from wage gains you got falling affordability and a bubble.
#7
The Fed and the Administration are inflating the economy. They're going to have to jack up interest rates now or later to fight it eventually. That will flatten or kill the economic recovery. The later they wait the higher the interest rates will be before they plateau. Either way, all those adjustable rate mortgages are going to be hammered and the economy will see a second major wave of defaults.
#8
I vaguely remember my pop buying a new middle-class house for the family 30 years ago for approx. $35K. He had a middle-class salary job that paid approx. $30K/year.
Today an equivalent house would probably be priced at $250,000. And today an equivalent middle-class job would bring approx. $50-60K.
I think housing prices still have a LONG way to fall before reaching any natural equilibrium.
Check the increase just in square footage over the years. That's not including the number of rooms, bathrooms and size of garage. People have been 'expecting' something bigger and tricked out more than what our fathers were looking for. Our fathers were looking for a place to live. And the banks and other lending institutions have played on that 'expectation' with developers and builders to end building 'affordable' housing, that is consistent with the economic means to payoff. Housing stop being a place to live and became an 'investment'. Builders and buyers started to play the margin game with houses.
#10
P2K, and all the levels of gov't loved it because they could raise taxes. What good is a Prop 2 1/2 type limit if the assesment rises exponentially? Has anyone heard of property taxes falling because of the decrease in value? No, I didn't think so.
#11
Creative loan products offered through 2007 inflated house prices. Your $2000/month went from buying $350k of house to $700k of house. Result was that prices more or less doubled. The market can't recover until prices come back down, and right now the most efficient mechanism for prices to come down is foreclosure. It is not objectively efficient -- foreclosure takes about a year start to finish. But it's the best option out of many bad options.
#12
P2K, and all the levels of gov't loved it because they could raise taxes.
Yep. Even though we have a building ceiling where I'm at [can't build new unless you can show where the developer can find new water], the outlook from the pols is no further than their nose. Instead of approving four 125k houses on a quarter acre lot, they'd rather approve a half million dollar house on an acre lot. Now while the county is OK with the wash on the property tax, the city which is dependent upon a fractional sales tax gives up four consuming households for one, but can't figure out why their revenue stream is continuing to go down.
#13
P2K, forty years ago I lived in a house like the one you describe. Seven of us in a 3 bedroom ranch, 1 bathroom, small living and dining area, small kitchen, unfinished basement.
It did have a big yard.
My father definitely was looking for a place to live, and I'm not complaining.
I'd still rather have the house I have today even if I paid a lot more for it than Dad paid for his.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2009 13:46 Comments ||
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#14
My Dad was a Civil engineer, worked for State of Alabama Highway department, I remember him laughing that he bought a brand new house for exactly one year's salary $13.000.00, yup thirteen grand.
Nice house too, 2 Br 1 bath and a half basement (On a sharp hillside)the only thing that I hated was there were 27 Pine trees in the (Small) front Yard (I had to mow the Yard, I couldn't get between the trees, and this waas before weed whackers and string trimmers existed) and it was halfway up a relatively steep hill (I rode a bicycle those years) good Muscle dveloper.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 13:53 Comments ||
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#15
AlanC:
It is bad enough out here that my home's tax valuation went down by almost 10% in the last two years.
#16
My nephew's son lives in south Florida and he said a lot of people just walked away from mortgages--just moved out one day and left the house. There is also a problem with a lot of these houses and that is they were made with Chinese wallboard which emits toxic fumes rendering the houses uninhabitable. The nephews son has this problem with his house. A pox on the housing market and a pox on the Chinese.
Followup: outrage has results. The sheepish withdrawal by the property manager has "don't fire me!!11!!" all over it. Fire her
Flags are OK again at an Albany apartment complex after the property manager reviewed the policy and decided she didn't have the legal standing to ban flags from the exteriors of apartments and vehicles parked at the complex. Oh shit. Management is abandoning me like a leper ship
"If people want to fly any flag of any nationality, it's their right," said Barb Holcomb with Oaks Apartments "Now. We'd prefer it was a Hezbollah flag or PLO or something we could be proud of"
KVAL News asked whether she had talked to the resident who originally went to the media with the story. Holcomb said no, although she said she would talk to him -- and would have talked to him before he went to the media. Holcomb said he did not approach her before talking to KVAL News partner KATU. "if he'd mentioned going to the media, I coulda evicted him first, dammit"
"He's just a romping, stomping patriot," Holcomb said. I bet that hurt
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Context.
If this was Berkley or San Fran, after the renter went to the media, would you really expect a change or more likely that the next morning the renter found his vehicle tires deflated? /rhet question.
#6
The problm with Gold today is it's grossly overpriced to buy, and worth near nothing when you sell, there's no government mandated Standard anymore. I remember when you could go to any bank, give them a dollar and get a small glass bottle full of 99.9% silve granules, Can't now.
THAT was the Standard.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 14:06 Comments ||
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Nope this was in 1975.
But you had to use a silver certificate (Dollar) which don't exist anymore except as collector's items.
Govt ordered them pu;;ed from circulation.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 21:22 Comments ||
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#10
PULLED Dammit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/16/2009 21:23 Comments ||
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Rifqa Bari is a convert from Islam to Christianity who has run away to Florida from home in Ohio. She fears execution. Source is video of Robert Spencer being interviewed on Fox News.
If her parents are here illegally,
- the court may appoint a local custodian and she could declare independence from her family when she turns 18
- the court may turn her over to the feds for deportation and she could be sent overseas and be executed
- various permutations of these two are possible
Posted by: lord garth ||
10/16/2009 09:16 ||
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About one in eight girls at Robeson High School are pregnant. Officials say a variety of factors are to blame. There's more than one way to get stagnant? Who knew?
All those young ladies are moms or moms-to-be at Paul Robeson High School. Young ladies? That's a good one. They may be young but these ain't no ladies, bub. There's a word for 'em but it begins with "s", ends with a "t" and has four letters. It's not a school for young mothers, it's a neighborhood school. And all of the pregnancies have happened, despite prevention talk.
If you want to know why, the people closest to the situation say there's no simple explanation.
Chicago Public Schools says it does not track the overall number of teen moms in the district. But Robeson Principal Gerald Morrow knows the count at his school in Englewood: 115 young ladies who are expecting.
To put it in perspective, their school pictures would fill roughly six pages of their high school year book.
Why is it happening at Robeson? I'd say there's a lotta humpin' going on. What's your guess?
"It can be a lot of things that are happening in the home or not happening in the home, if you will," Morrow said. Absentee fathers are another factor, he said. More happening than not happening, natch...
LaDonna Denson and two other Robeson students say parents not talking to teens and, in some cases, the pursuit of public assistance also factor into the pregnancies. None of them thought they'd be moms at such a young age. "All I did wuz take my pants off and suddenly -- baby bump!
They said they have support at home. But not all girls do, they said. In fact, some girls get thrown out of the home. "... and never darken my door again!"
Not on Morrow's turf. "We're not looking at them like 'Ooh you made a mistake,'" he said. "We're looking at how we can get them to the next phase, how can we still get them thinking about graduation?"
So there's help in a teen parent program. And coming soon, right across from Robeson, developers are turning a one-time crack house into a day care for student use. "We have to provide some type of environment for them and some form of support for them," Van Vincent, CEO of VLV Development, said.
It's all made an impression. "Just cause you have a baby, that doesn't mean your life is over," one student said.
One thing they might not know about their principal: His mom had him when she was 15. That's why accepting the problem -- and working through it -- is so important to him.
#3
Not mentioned: Get pregnant and
Obama's gonna pay for your mortgage.
Obama's gonna pay for your car.
Obama's gonna pay for your groceries.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2009 12:44 Comments ||
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#4
About one in eight girls at Robeson High School are pregnant.
Considering there are 45 months from the start of 9th grade til graduation, that means 5/8 of the girls are pregnant (ignoring multiples and dropouts) during high school.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2009 12:54 Comments ||
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#5
Not on Morrow's turf. "We're not looking at them like 'Ooh you made a mistake,'" he said. "We're looking at how we can get them to the next phase, how can we still get them thinking about graduation?"
I think I see one of the contributing factors right there. No accountability. Get Preggers and the government and Robeson High School will take care of all your needs. Baby == GoldenTicket
#6
Be as unhappy as you want, if we don't help the young women it's the babies that suffer.
I for one won't allow innocent babies to suffer.
No one is happy about teen pregnancy. I'd like to see better abstinence programs, better home education (better home life for these young women), and a better push to get young men and women to think about their futures and not just on rutting.
Anybody know how to do that? I sure don't.
The school officials are stuck, and I don't blame them in their response. It's better to get the young women back into school somehow and get a diploma. Better for them and better in the long term for society.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2009 13:23 Comments ||
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#7
Paying for birth control, preferably for the implants, beginning in middle school when they become sexually active despite all the talk in the world, would be one expenditure that would be cost-cutting in the long run.
#8
You don't allow babies making babies to move out of mom's flat on the taxpayer's dime. You don't pay for her independent living and love shack for new teen mommy and boyfriend. And if you want, it's for the children™. Both the baby and teen mother are better off living with grandma. Pay for formula if you want, but not the apartment, car, groceries and a 40 oz.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2009 13:43 Comments ||
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#9
Obviously 'human trafficing' isn't a big deal in Chicago. In fact, it pays quite well.
#10
I agree with Dr. Steve, with the following addendum: make all the pregnant girls, and the baby daddies (I do so hate that term!!!!) take an intensive practical trade course so they can support the child by means of a paying job when they graduate, stripping the academics down to the classes necessary to graduate. And connect the trade school with union apprenticeships and jobs following graduation. The kids can do the college thing later, once the babies are in elementary school and don't need as much attention.
I'm sure a good community organizer can figure out the details to make it work.
#11
I'm with you Steve, It's the babies to suffer for teen pregnacies. One of the problems is that there is no stigma or shame anymore when a girl gets pregnant (or a guy knocks a girl up - it may even be a badge of honor...).
But you shouldn't tell the mother (or father) "Oh - its not your fault! You did nothing wrong.". It is their fault (except in the case of rape of course) - particularly when there is a zillion ways to prevent it.
You help them - oh yes - particularly the child. I've done that before - more than once.
But you don't let the parents off the hook either.
And you don't promote a culture which idolizes men (and yes women) who are so irresponsible. Like Hollywood and the pop-culture/rap seem to do today.
#12
Thank you TW, and I accept your friendly amendment :-)
It's not about letting the young people 'off the hook'. Baby Mama figures out that her life has changed irrevocably right around the time of delivery, and every moment thereafter.
I'd like to see Baby Daddy be responsible, but the ways we have of doing that these days don't seem to work. I don't see our society hauling a few hundred thousand baby daddies to prison or even the stocks. I don't see our society shaming young men -- one can argue that it's a shame we don't, but society has changed and I'm not interested in tilting at windmills.
So while it might have been a whopping mistake to create a baby whilst doing the horizontal tango, the baby is there and you have to figure out what to do.
Get baby Mama to finish her diploma. Find a job for her, even if it's data entry or entry retail. Get her moving in the trades or practical work; as TW said, she can work on moving up and doing better as the baby grows. But she needs a job, and she'll need help be it from Grandma or the local school or Uncle Sugar.
The one thing I don't let her do is let her sit at home collecting a check and figuring out how many more babies she's going to have. I want to her to have help, and I want society to help, but she has to work. That means education, job training, help with daycare, and a boot in the seat of the pants at any sign of slack-o-tude.
If baby mama can't find a job, no problem, we'll help with food, housing and basic medical -- but in return she gets a rake and cleans up the local park. Five days a week. Eventually she'll find a way to do better. And in the meantime we'll have a clean park, and she'll have some pride in having cleaned it.
I know, I know, I'm a Neanderthal. Charles Johnson would call me a racist.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2009 15:29 Comments ||
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#14
I for one won't allow innocent babies to suffer.
Well, they're going to. Unless you take them away from the mother and put them into an orphanage until they're adopted. Run DNA analysis to determine the father. Put a lifetime 10% surcharge on his income tax. Sterilize the mother. If you aren't willing to consider that or something equally draconian, the problem will continue to grow. The intolerable must be treated intolerably.
#15
Let's hope America doesn't ever agree with you, Nimble. That's not an America I want to live in.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2009 16:20 Comments ||
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#16
Then you're going to live in an America that hosts more and more illegitimate children, both absolutely and relatively, being brought up in poverty, moral as well as material, in families without fathers paid for by fewer and fewer people who are penalized for following the rules of civilization by paying for those who don't. That is becoming the America you do live in. Two unappetizing alternatives. One temporary, one permanent.
#17
This seems to be something I would expect from a majority 'black student' school
OOPS! I'm sorry, this is a majority black student school
Daycare for more than 100 pregnant students at 1 high school in Chicago.
I'm sorry, this is from what city, can't be the city our president's from right! cos he done so much right and everything jus fine in Shitcago
Posted by: rectum brown ||
10/16/2009 16:53 Comments ||
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#18
I suggest that in extremely irresponsible cases, the Baby Momma, Baby Daddy, AND Baby Momma/Daddy's Momma & Daddy get sent to live on a spartan communal work farm in Montana or Idaho - to isolate their malign influence on others, and to minimize their burden on the rest of society.
No more fancy city living for you! Get out in the fields and pull some weeds. A guard with a shotgun and sunglasses on a horse would complete the picture nicely.
(I know, I'm bad. Just let me enjoy my little fantasy scenario).
#20
Must have been some huge celebration 9 or so months ago for all these kids to go off abstinence at the same time. I mean, it's almost like they believed SOMETHING happened that made it so all the worries in the world would pass them over!
Posted by: Charles ||
10/16/2009 20:15 Comments ||
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#21
not a black or city thing... high school kids and the end of school... rabbits don't have anything on kids alone at home while momma is working.
we live in a fairly conservative country town in the south. my son's high school has about 20 infants/toddlers in day care and this is a smaller school than the one in Chicago... it is a 'get to move out on your own' thing for a lot of the girls... "mama and daddy are mean.. they have rules... i'm gonna go get me a baby and move into a DFACs house where i can do what i want." school has devoted counselors to help the girls get the paperwork started soon as the test is positive"
/puke
Posted by: abu do you love ||
10/16/2009 21:42 Comments ||
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#22
Science Czar John Holdren's point about putting contraceptives in the drinking water.....
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Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
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trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said he seized the landmark Hilton hotel on Margarita Island because its owners dared to impose conditions on its use by his government to host a summit there last month. "To hold the conference we had to ask for permission... and the owners tried to impose conditions on the revolutionary government. No way," said Chavez. "So I said, 'Let's expropriate it.' And now it's been expropriated." 
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About one in eight girls at Robeson High School are pregnant. Officials say a variety of factors are to blame. 
Chicago Public Schools says it does not track the overall number of teen moms in the district. But Robeson Principal Gerald Morrow knows the count at his school in Englewood: 115 young ladies who are expecting. 
