Idiots of the Week: December 1, 2008

Top Idiots Of The Week
Nancy Morgan
RightBias.com
November 19, 2008

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AND THE WINNERS ARE:

The winner of this week's Idiot Award is the genius who decided to rename New York City's Triborough Bridge in honor Robert F. Kennedy. For those of you under 35 and/or recent graduates of government schools who don't see the irony in naming a bridge after a Kennedy, just google 'Chappaquidick'.

In a close second we have the student counselors at Ottawa's Carlton University. These yahoos voted to cancel a cystic fibrosis fundraiser because the disease “has been recently revealed to only affect white people, and primarily men”. Apparently the disease wasn't 'inclusive' enough. Translation: Your life isn't worth anything unless you're a member of a politically correct victim group. Here's hoping these kids don't pro-create.

RUNNER-UP:

The 'sanitation experts' who marked World Toilet Day by calling for the end of the flush toilet in order to save water and provide fertilizer for crops. I kid you not.


HONORABLE MENTION:

Politically correct NHS bosses in Birmingham, England are battling to ban a smoking room for terminally ill patients – forcing them to be turfed out into the cold to enjoy their final cigarettes.

Millionaire and NBA superstar Gilbert Arenas decided to show his support for President-elect Barack Obama by getting a political tattoo on his left hand. Ain't it cute?

He's not alone...A brothel in Europe offered free entry to anyone who had the brothel's name tattooed on their arm. To date, 40 idiots have taken them up on their offer.

A woman is divorcing her husband after he told her it was an "iPhone glitch" that sent pictures of his genitals to another woman. Inquiring minds want to know if he plans to sue.

A group of idiots has started a petition to get pole dancing into the Olympic games.

MOST STUPID CRIMINALS:

You might wonder what this picture depicts... Its an ATM machine with an idiot under it. A thief pried an ATM loose from a Leavenworth credit union by using a stolen skid loader. Then — in an alleged effort to bust open the boosted ATM — the 49-year-old idiot decided to use the skid loader to drop the machine down a 50-foot wooded embankment. “It makes it easier when you let go of it. That way you don’t go with it,” said Leavenworth Police Chief Patrick Kitchens.

A 21-year-old man was accused of driving drunk and leading police on a chase that finally ended with him running over himself.

A pair of 17-year-olds allegedly try to rob armed off-duty Dona Ana deputy at knife point in Las Cruses. Oops!

Last, but not least, we have a police chief in Southwestern Ohio. As he was giving his daughter a lesson in gun safety, he accidentally shot himself in his thigh. Moral of the story: make sure gun is unloaded before giving lessons.

MOST IDIOTIC STATEMENTS:

The chairman of the British Lap Dancing Association, speaking at a legislative hearing Tuesday, made an odd assertion, given his livelihood — a lap dance is "not sexually stimulating".

A lawyer representing a man arrested in Fairfield for drunken driving says the state’s breathalyzers discriminate against black people. Racist machines?

MOST IDIOTIC STATEMENTS BY ELECTED OFFICIALS:

While arguing in favor of legislation requiring that anyone report a lost or stolen firearm report that within 24 hours or potentially face a $500 fine, Pittsburgh Councilwoman Tonya Payne said, "Who really cares about it being constitutional?"

Tonya is joined by U.S. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) who, with a straight face, praised the idea of wealth redistribution and maligned the idea that people who create wealth should be entitled to keep it. Can you spell socialism?


Anyone can be stupid but it takes real effort to be an idiot. Feel free to send in contenders for next week's Idiot Awards. Meanwhile, keep smiling.

[For an animation that will make you smile, click Idiots of the Week. Hint: it involves Hillary.
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by Nancy Morgan
Right Bias.com

Idiot Awards may be reprinted, with attribution to RightBias.com

Fauxtography 101: Use PhotoShop, Catch Criminals

Catching Criminals with Photoshop?
Interview with Jim Hoerricks, LAPD, On Forensic Photography
by Nathaniel Janis
Stinky Journalism

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Second in the Fauxtography Series

ALSO at DBKP:
* Fauxtography For Dummies: Forced Perspective Fauxtography
* John McCain on 9/11: Lapel Pin Fauxtography Claim is Faux
* Iranian Fauxtography: Now, THAT’s What I Call Iranian Fauxtography!

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Over the last few years, a "Fauxtography" epidemic has been steadily infecting the reporting done by many different news outlets. From the infamous Reuters Passion of the Dolls scandal in 2006, to the numerous fake Monster Pig photographs initially verified by the Associated Press and Fox News, it is clear we are living in an age when seeing is no longer believing.

Stinky Journalism's Nathaniel Janis recently had the chance to sit down with Jim Hoerricks--forensic analyst with the Los Angeles Police Department--to discuss ways to identify such photos when they appear, and other issues relating to digital photograph manipulation.

Nathaniel Janis: Could you describe what you do as a forensic video analyst for the Los Angeles Police Department's Scientific Investigation Division?
Jim Hoerricks

Jim Hoerricks: It's a pretty straightforward job description. As far as digital, analog, or any multimedia-type evidence goes, whether it be crime scene, CCTV footage, or audio recordings or surveillance that's done by officers - it comes through our office, and then it gets processed either for comparison or straight out for the media.

If they're looking for just a cell image to put on a flyer, or as part of an Amber Alert, there are a lot of different things to do with the video. After that's taken care of, the audio side needs to be clarified and cleaned up so you can hear what's going on. Finally, we may have to complete certain tasks like identifying a face, license plate, distributing the video to the media or a patrol unit; that sort of thing.

NJ: What would be one of your most common or typical objectives when you're looking at a video from a crime scene? What do you normally have to determine?

JH: We mainly focus on identification of an individual or an object; you know, did subject A do this? Is this subject A? Does the person in the video or the image match the person that we think did it? Or can we get a license plate? Or if we can't see the person's face, is there anything identifiable about the person or the object that we can get out there to the public, whether through the media or crime bulletins internal?

NJ: You've been significantly involved in many projects - including a book and a website - devoted to Adobe's Photoshop program. How did you begin working with the program, and what makes Photoshop and other digital photo applications so valuable and widely used as forensic tools?

Continue reading: Catching Criminals with Photoshop?


by Nathaniel Janis
Source: Catching Criminals with Photoshop?
image: Stinky Journalism

The John Atkinson Case: Federal Prosecutor Kills HimselfA 'Sex' or a 'Sexual Predator' Sting?

by Little Baby Ginn
[photo: steelturman]

Prosecutor Accused In Sex Sting Kills Himself

From Local6 News:
MILAN, Mich. -- A federal prosecutor who was arrested in an Internet sex sting after he allegedly traveled to Michigan from Florida to have sex with a 5-year-old girl hanged himself in a Michigan federal prison Friday morning, Detroit television station WDIV-TV reported.

This story is appalling on several levels.

First of all, note that this man, John Atchison, was never put on trial nor convicted of being a sexual predator. He committed suicide so his status at this time is “alleged” sexual predator.

Whoever wrote this news story decided to describe the potential molestation, assault and/or rape of a five year girl as “having sex.”

The headline, “prosecutor accused in ‘sex sting’ is interesting too. The molestation and/or rape of a five year old child is not “sex” so in my opinion the headline should of read “Prosecutor Accused in Possible Sexual Predator Sting”.

Atchison was a married father of three and a respected figure who coached girls' softball and basketball in a park a few blocks from his home in a well-to-do Florida beach community.

Atchison had been communicating with an undercover sheriff's detective from Macomb County, Mich., who was posing online as the fictitious girl's mother and arranged for him to have sex with the child, police said.

He was arrested carrying presents for her, including a doll and earrings, and sexual materials, officials said.

"There were no red flags. He was normal.”

“He was normal.” And if these allegations are proven to be true then people need to realize that the perpetrators of these types of crimes are not always the “bushy haired” stranger or the creepy guy living in his parents basement. Some of these predators hold down decent jobs, are married, look and seem very presentable and very respectable. They also seem to fit a pattern of hanging around kids in some capacity.

There is also the issue of whether Atchison in his duties as a prosecutor might have been lenient in bringing charges against any “fellow” sex offenders. Of course he may decided to play it cool and follow the law. Who knows what types of crimes Atchison was charged with prosecuting; hopefully they were of a different nature than that of sexual predators. But at this juncture Atchison was“alleged” to have committed these crimes. He was never tried nor convicted. There is no issue in this case of being “falsely” accused. The man is now dead by his own hand. Hopefully the truth will come out.

Atchison was charged with three felonies, the most serious of which is crossing state lines with intent to have sex with someone under 12. Conviction carries a minimum 30-year prison sentence and a maximum of life.

“Intent to have ‘sex’ with someone under 12?” The word, “sex,” is highly inappropriate in the matter of molesting a five year old child? Some would argue that this is matter of semantics. Others would disagree. Each word has a distinct meaning.

Which sentence do you think holds more weight? “The most serious of which is crossing state lines with intent to have sex with someone under 12?” “The most serious of which is crossing state lines with intent to molest and/or rape someone under age 12?

Someone who goes after children is a sexual predator they are not someone who is “going to have sex” because the other person, the child, is an unwilling victim. The crime committed is heinous and leaves lifelong scars. Why is this being sugarcoated in the guise of “having sex?”




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