Disrobed Judge faces disrobing

In a case that is taking the country by storm and putting my city on the map, but not in a good way, a local judge is on the hot seat defending herself against allegations that she knowingly hid her spotted background during the screening process for her job.  She failed to disclose the naked truth about herself, so to speak.

The story has more turns and twists than a bait worm contorting on a fish hook.   Apparently Jack King uploaded his wife’s photos sans robe, on a website without her knowing.  She did however, knowingly took the pics but had no idea what became of them after that until she got the call from Hugh Hefner.  Just kidding, jeez, can’t a guy have some fun with this?

Jack also tried to coerce and twist the rubber arm of a brother, (As in black guy) Alex Chapman, to get him to engage in some hanky panky with him and his unsuspecting wife, in her chamber perhaps?  Alex at first had no issue with  seducing ‘your honor’ but later voiced objections, which were sustained.  Anyways, cash was exchanged and a confidentiality agreement was signed by Alex to keep mum about the nudes and the offers Mr. King made to him.  After all, risqué photos never come back to haunt anyone.

This all happened in 2003.  Time passed and the potentially lethal volcano lay dormant but still highly explosive.   (Wow! Did I just wax poetic there or what?) then in 2010, it exploded.  Alex, sill harboring thoughts of what could have happened, decided that he could maybe squeeze some more money out of this situation.   He tried to sue Lori and Jack  on the grounds of sexual harassment and the resulting investigations and court hearings got us to where we are now.  Read it here for yourself or Google the sordid circus act.

So Jack the lawyer, moonlighting as a Hustler photographer, was ordered by whoever lawyers report to, to pay a few thousand dollars for his major part in all of this.  His practice was left intact.  His law practice that is.   Not sure if he’s still practicing photography and solicitation.  His wife, who still maintains her ignorance, is faced with losing her livelihood.  The scales of justice seems a bit unbalanced here, doesn’t it? Or is it just me?  Jack started this whole mess and that’s all he got? I guess his buddies at the law firm didn’t know Jack.

I realize she may be lying through her teeth but her husband confirmed that she was not privy to any of his dirty deeds past the  nude photos taking.  It is difficult to prove that she did indeed know so it boils down to her word against the judiciary council’s and if it doesn’t fit, then they must acquit.  Right? Isn’t that how it works? If not, what do I know? I am not a law student but it sure did work for OJ.

When asked if there was anything in her background that would reflect on poorly on the judiciary,  Lori was quoted as saying, “Well this one time at band camp…”

ORDER!

 

Related articles

• Judge’s lawyer calls for sex scandal inquiry to fold – CBC.ca (cbc.ca)
• Internet nudie judge faces inquiry Monday (lfpress.com)
• Husband of Manitoba judge in sex scandal set to testify (cbc.ca)
• Christie Blatchford: Jack King falls on his sword over nude photos of judge wife (fullcomment.nationalpost.com)
• Inquiry into judge sex scandal to resume in Winnipeg (cbc.ca)
• In Canada, it’s dandy for a judge to pose for nude bondage pics (fellowshipofminds.wordpress.com)

Don’t hate, appreciate the bloggers

Definition of a blog:  : a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer; also : the contents of such a site.  That my readers, is the definition of a blog.  You are thinking, ‘So what’s your point?’ Don’t rush me, I’m getting there.

Too often while surfing blogs, I read this from the blogger, “I am sorry that I am not very good at writing blogs but I’ll get better.”  Not always exactly in those words but an apology all the same.  I don’t know about you but I offer no apologies for the way I write.  I only apologize for errors in my blogs that got past my editing.  When I sit down to write, it’s usually about something that I feel passionate about.  I pour out my emotions into it and for that to be effective, I have to write the way I feel.  I try to convey my feelings to my readers so they too will feel what I feel or felt.  If doing this means taking liberties with the English language, then so be it.  (I get a few likes here and there so it must be getting through).

When I switch roles and go in search of blogs to read, the ones that often keep my attention are those loosely written, without language boundaries and laws of writing.  I am not saying that I enjoy reading some half-baked blog laden with spelling errors and poor grammatical structure, but when basic rules are thrown out in favor of a good presentation, I am all for that.  You understand what I am trying to say?  Then it’s fine with me.

Now as readers, we look for blogs that satisfies our thirst for whatever topic we are looking for.   We often get judgmental and accused the writers for failing to deliver if we are not satisfied in this regard. What we fail to note is that the writer is baring their soul for us.  This is the meat of the blog, the invite to come in and dine with the writer.  They share their innermost thoughts, feelings and desires.  When we criticize, we are crushing their hopes, trivializing their dreams.

I write as an outlet for my thoughts.  Of course I love to have readership and I enjoy a following but foremost is my need to get my thoughts out.  I could construct sentences with strong grammatical structure but boring and unappealing presentation, with the best of them but it’s not me.  I would rather not blog. ‘I saw a man today’ just doesn’t have the same ring as ‘Guess what I saw today?  Yes, a man!’  A few contractions thrown in for good measure goes a long way too.  I have no dreams of a book deal or being found and this enables me to write without constrictions and restrictions.  Get it out there, make sure they could understand everything and move on to the next blog.  That’s my motto.

So next time we feel the urge to dissect someone’s blog, let’s remember that we are privileged to be sharing their personal head space.  Don’t hate, appreciate.

For those of you who make a living with your blogs, I realize that your T’s have to be crossed and your I’s dotted as your career depends on it. For the casual bloggers like me who dare not dream, blog happily away!

Just my take.

Destiny or Coincidence?

By now most of you would have heard of the sick person who shot and killed 12 people at random as they watched a midnight showing of  the latest sequel in the Batman series, ‘The Dark Night Rises’ in a theater in Colorado.  Several others were also wounded.  This blog however, is not about the heinous crime or the criminal who perpetrated it.  It is about one of the victims, Jessica Ghawi, who escaped death at a Toronto Mall shooting just over a month earlier.  That shooting had an uncanny resemblance to the Theater shooting that later claimed her life.

After the Toronto shooting, she blogged about her near-death experience and the fact that it opened her eyes to the frailty of life.  Read it all here.

In a twist that reminded me of the movie ‘Final Destination‘, she later died in almost the same situation that she escaped from.  This leads me to ask, was it  destiny or merely coincidence?

Growing up, I have always been told that ‘what is to happen will happen’. Whenever someone died, the wise adults would say that was how they were supposed to go.   As I got older, I sometime wondered, ‘If I were to walk right out into traffic and got run over, would that be how ‘I was supposed to go’?”

So then, was Jessica’s situation just a coincidence?  Was she destined to ‘go’ via a bullet from a theater gunman and not a Toronto shooter?

I would like to re-visit this later from a biblical standpoint.

May God bring comfort to all involved in this unfortunate tragedy.

Related:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/21/friend-made-heroic-attempt-to-save-aspiring-sportscaster-after-gunman-opened-fire-in-aurora-theatre/

http://milesvenkman.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/an-open-letter-to-jessica-redfield/

Needle sandwiches on plane poke man, son and new bff.

English: A Delta Airlines Airbus A330-323E landing on runway 18C at Schiphol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I hate it that I am so suspicious of everything lately.   Well maybe not exactly ‘lately’.  I have always been one to lean towards the controversy theory side of a lot of things.  Don’t hate on me, it’s just that with the way things are these days, it’s hard not to be.   Everyone has their own ulterior motives and personal agendas.   So I say if it walks and quacks like a duck, it could very well still be a chicken.   And that’s why when I read the story that I am going to blog about, I took it apart searching for clues of motives and agendas.

The story, which you could read here, is about  businessman, James Tonges, who was sitting in the VIP section of a Delta Airlines flight travelling from Amsterdam to Minneapolis.   While enjoying the benefits of flying first class, he bit into a sandwich that was served and pricked his mouth on a sewing needle.   For the records, it was  a turkey sandwich.  Now don’t go blaming the turkey.  Last time I checked, turkeys don’t sew.

The soon-to-be-richer businessman was so devastated that he at once thought  ’OMG! I have AIDS!’  Oh wait, do business people say ‘omg’?  Anyways, the first thing he did was get himself a prescription for HIV.  No word on if he was concerned about the other serious needle-borne illnesses out there like Hepatitis.

Fasten your seatbelts you controversy theorists out there.  The story gets weirder, or as Alice would say, curiouser and curiouser, at least to me and my doubting Thomas self.  Another passenger on the same flight, Mr. Jack A. Drogt,  was also pricked by biting into his sandwich too.  (No, his own sandwich.  Read English much?).  In the story, it states that this other victim was someone who the first victim conveniently  coincidentally met on the plane. Ahem.

And that’s it.  Oh no, sorry, it isn’t.   I forgot to mention that Mr. Tonges’ teenaged son not only happened to conveniently coincidentally be on another Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam BUT also flew first class also.   How did I know that this lad flew first class?  Well he too was pampered with a Turkey needle sandwich.  See, told you it gets weird.    If that isn’t a terrorist act, then I don’t know what is.  As if we didn’t have enough to worry about when we fly, like pilots falling asleep and drunken flight attendants, now needles in turkey sandwiches?  Anyways, the teenager refused to hand over the offending object to authorities, claiming that he wanted to use it as evidence in his LAWSUIT.  Don’t lie,  you saw that one coming a mile away.  To you law students out there, does he really need the needle to have a legit claim?  If so, next time a dog bites me, I am seizing it to use as evidence in my lawsuit against the owner.

Six needles in total, including the three that poked the hapless victims, were found on Delta flights, which means that these guys, James Tonges, Jack A. Drogt and Tonges’ son  just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and coincidences do happen.  Do not become like me and let your mind wander off into seeing things that are not there.  Even though I am suspicious, there’s no way that these guys could have had anything to do with placing needles into sandwiches just so they could take advantage of an American trend.  Now way!   Sarcasm? What sarcasm? I am serious.  But hey, could you imagine if they were actually the ones who planted those needles?

Just me and my take…

Related articles

• You: Needles found in Delta sandwiches (thedailybeast.com)
• Needles In Sandwiches: Terrorist Plot or Hoax? (radio.foxnews.com)
• Believe It Or Not: Needles Found in Sandwiches on Delta Flights (foxnewsinsider.com)

Exercising and testing your faith

One of my Facebook friends uses her statuses to testify about her love of God and her relationship with him.   Her statuses are all to glorify him and I have yet to read one that was just about her.   I have always admired her for giving props where it was due.  As a local entertainer,  it would have been easy and excusable for her to exalt herself  but she chose to put God on the pedestal instead.  As I often do when I am touched by what someone did or said, I made sure to let her know how refreshing her statuses were to me.

Reading her last couple statuses however, I got the impression that she was going through a personal struggle of sorts, one that was apparently pushing her faith to the limit and raising questions about God’s plans for her.

Today, her status read, “ Sometimes, I wonder what GOD is doing …when things that make no sense happen in my life. When a problem arises … without any warning.This is when my faith is tested and I am tempted to give up. But, then I remember that … “Faith is being sure of what I hope for and certain of what I cannot see.” Re-assuring me, that even when problems arise, GOD is fully aware of my situation … and HE will work out everything for me … in His perfect time”.

Even though she surprised me with the line, ‘tempted to give up’, I was happy to see that she remembered what faith was all about.  Too often, we as Christians forget that like non-Christians, we are also prone to temptations, disappointments and other heartbreaks of life.  Having a deep relationship with Christ does guarantee us immunity.  It helps us to face  and overcome these setbacks. With faith, we know and believe that God will see us through.

As I commented on my friend’s status, faith is like your muscles.  It also needs to be exercised.  So think of temptations as the weights that our faith must carry to get a workout.  Without these hardships, who needs faith?  How would we know if we have faith if it’s not exercised and tested?  I can say I am a great at math until I am actually tested and prove I suck at it.  So too, we can say we have faith but it’s time to test it, we have little or none.

God never promised us a bed of roses.  He never said, ‘Follow me and you will live a stress-free life with everything you want.’  If we keep this in mind, we will be ready for the next hiccup or road block that comes our way.  We will say, ‘Oh here comes another test.  Let’s see how I do on this one.’  Remember, we have never seen a problem that HE couldn’t fix.  And really, if we REALLY DO believe in him and have faith in him, there is no room for worry as faith and worry cannot co-exist.

How strong is your faith?

Related articles

• What is Faith? (sthaelrazor.com)
• Let your faith remain strong… (the1savedbygrace.com)
• Defending the Faith Requires Definitions (pjcockrell.wordpress.com)
• On The Importance of Faith in Action (cardboardmagazine.wordpress.com)
• Why and What Do You Believe? (ising4god.com)
• Hmmm… Keep the Faith! (myhmmmcollection.wordpress.com)
• Close Your Eyes to Open Your Faith (gggceo.wordpress.com)
• because he trusted God, and had faith. The faith of a mustard seed. (transientreflections.com)
• Is the Bible’s definition of faith opposed to logic and evidence? (winteryknight.wordpress.com)
• Have Faith within (jilljacobs7.wordpress.com)

Texteritis outbreak reported!

Students with Texteritis. Note the hunched shoulders

Don’t panic just yet but I have some bad news.  Apparently there is an epidemic, or is it pandemic? that is going around.  Yes sir, it’s called Texteritis that is very contagious.  It does not discriminate.  Sex, age or race, no one is exempted.  Don’t take this lightly folks, this is some serious stuff I’m talking about right here.  I don’t care who you are, this stuff aint funny.

Take the other day for example, my wife and I were at a restaurant enjoying a rare lunch moment alone.  No, not alone with the kids, alone with each other.  There’s no such thing as ‘enjoying lunch with kids’ and you should know that, if not go read here.  But anyways, as I was saying, we were having lunch at a restaurant and happened to see these five young construction workers suffering from various forms of Texteritis.  Texteritis usually renders its victim speechless and devoid of social skills, hence they were sitting there without a word to each other.  Their hunched shoulders, were also a symptom of Texteritis.  How sad.

Now, I am not immune to this disease.  I have experienced minor symptoms myself which compels me to grab my cell while in the company of friends and family, and start texting.   With exercise and self-discipline, I have been able to avert a full onset of the disease, fortunately.  Some are not so fortunate.

In the same restaurant,  not far from the stricken construction workers, four businessmen sat with zombie-like expressions,  (a visible sign of Texteritis).  They, like the construction workers, had also lost the ability to converse.  Again, how sad.

If you are still thinking that this is a teenager disease, think again.  On the weekend I was at the beach and not far from my picnic spot sat an elderly gentleman and his happy-face wife.  I am not sure why she was even happy as her husband was obviously suffering late stage Texteritis.  He was sitting there, albeit close to her, while his thumbs flew across the keypad.  Ok, maybe he was just playing games on it but he too seemed to have lost verbal communication. When I left the beach, he was still sitting there with his oblivious happy wife.  Well, as the saying goes, as long as they are happy…

The crazy thing about Texteritis is that it can strike at anytime and anyplace, just asked the young woman who was took ill on her own wedding day while walking down the aisle with her dad no less! Yes, you read it right, she had to send and or receive a text message at that important time.  If you are going, ‘What?!’  Read it here.  This Texteritis is nothing to sneeze at.  poor bride.  How sad.

I have seen victims of the disease at work desks, bus stops, churches, toilet stalls, everywhere.

I am a worry wart or a hypochondriac as the medical people call it, so I of course went to see my doctor with my concerns.  He assured me that I had nothing to worry about and that Texteritis generally, note that I said ‘generally’ strikes those between 13 and 39.   He said with proper parenting, my own kids should be ok.  The good doctor also made some suggestions as to how I could immunize myself and my family from this dreaded disease.

I will share his recommendations with you.

Keep exercising your voice by using it to talk to my friends and family, not by texting.

When in a social setting, put cell on vibrate and put it away unless it’s an emergency.

It’s not that important that you have to text and drive or walk and text.

You should practice calling someone on you cell.  If  you can remember how to.

I quickly made it home to pass on this information to our ailing foster son.  His response was, “Maybe they have an app for that.”

Note:  If you or someone you know are experiencing uncontrollable urges to texts at inopportune times which alienates you from friends and family, please pay attention to your symptoms and seek help immediately, your social life depends on it!

Related articles

• NJ town bans texting and walking (mega949.com)
• Kids with Blackberries
• 1-2-3 Texting
• Bride caught texting at her own wedding

Living in a bubble

Do you want to know how much our kids are pampered and coddled these days?  Well never mind, I am sure you do know.  It’s clearly visible every single day.  As a daddy, I am scared of what they are going to be like when it’s their turn to run this world.

Just a few weeks ago, I was at a bbq and happened to notice that one of the kids had a weird contraption that looked like a hand-held fan.  On the table was a shallow container with soapy water.  It didn’t take my rusty brain long to figure out what it was.  It was a bubbles maker!  You dip the fan-like thing into the soapy water, turn it on and voila! you’ve got bubbles without wasting a breath.  Heck, one could still keep up with their texts while blowing bubbles now.  Are you kidding me?

Our kids are missing the point on life.  It’s not about the bubbles, it’s the effort it takes to let out just the right amount of air to give you that perfect bubble.  Can’t our kids get a chance to break a sweat over anything anymore?  The schools work around them and allow them to be tardy and underachieving.  For example, at a meeting with one of our foster son’s teachers, he was told by the teacher not to worry too much about the work that he did not hand in during the term as he could always drop them off after exams and get his mark changed.  Now what is that doing to us who are trying to instill in him, the value of getting his work done and handed in on time?  What is this kid learning here?  That the world waits on him and he could get away with anything?

In sports, our poor over-worked children are taught not to compete.  Don’t keep scores and leave the nets empty. (no goaltenders).  It’s all about the fun of the game.  Who cares about developing the kids early? Thank goodness Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods didn’t grow up in this.   Coincidentally, recent studies are showing that obesity is a growing concern among kids.  They are not active enough.  Duh.

Back in the islands, we made our own toy cars and trucks.  We blew bubbles using our breaths, even though I was asthmatic, I was right in there with the best of them.  We played sports and yelled and celebrated when we scored or won a game.  No kid was traumatized by losing.  We knew our limitations so it didn’t bother us  that we weren’t the best player.   We kept playing.  Our teachers marked us ‘fail’ or ‘pass’ and nothing we did after the fact could change that mark.  Now look at me now.  Ok, maybe I’m not exactly a good example so don’t look but yeah, you get my drift.

(Do you know that they now have an app that blows bubbles for you?).

Our kids today are pampered, spoiled, coddled and over-protected.  I fear that they are ill-prepared to deal with the real world that awaits them when the bubble bursts.  But what do I know? It’s just my take.

Related articles

• Really Big Bubbles – I Mean Really Big! (francineclouden.typepad.com)
• Why innovation flourishes in a bubble (cbsnews.com)
• Our Schools