SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany A Spangdahlem-based airman was sentenced Monday to four months confinement for her part in a sexual act with two other airmen. Airman 1st Class Ashley N. Rains pleaded guilty at a court-martial to two indecent acts charges. She had faced rape and sodomy charges but admitted to the lesser charges as part of a plea deal.
Judge (Col.) Gordon Hammock also sentenced Rains, 22, an aircrew life support specialist with the 22nd Fighter Squadron, to reduction to the lowest pay grade. She faced a maximum sentence that included as many as 10 years in a military prison, but Air Force prosecutors argued for a lighter sentence of two years. Balance at the link. Don't miss the air refueling "Threesome" photo.
#1
I deduce that the act involved a dildo and a movie camera.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
05/26/2007 4:32 Comments ||
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#2
The comments thread at the link is interesting. According to the original article, the second woman was a sergeant, which it seems is an E-5 in the Air Force rather than an E-6, and she was so drunk she was passing in and out of consciousness. I think Mike Sylwester must be right, because apparently under normal circumstances the senior officer is deemed responsible. Definitely a lurid crime tale.
#3
Reading the whole article it sounds like they went out for some drinks, then Rains and the man took advantage of her inebriated condition (perhaps themselves not entirely in their right mind), and for some reason Video-taped it. Video-tape is not stated, but the quotes for the prosocution and defense seem to lean towards one being in existance. I'm not nor will ever be in the armed forces, so what's the Conduct here? Was it the act or the fact they made a video that got them charged?
Posted by: Charles ||
05/26/2007 9:41 Comments ||
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#4
Its whatever the JAG decided to use to file charges.
9 times out of 10, if they can't get anything else to stick, they'll fall back on "conduct unbecoming"
The UCMJ is pretty easy to come up with charges against people for darned near anything you do.
#5
#1. Mike, a dildo wouldn't necessarily be envolved. It just had to be a "unnatural" sex act. Whatever that is.
Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ)
ART. 125. SODOMY
(a) Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration , however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.
(This article always got the most giggles when I read the UCMJ to in-coming flights of Air Force trainees.)
Still wondering if there is an article covering stupidity for recording the session in the first place.
#7
I suspect Ashley has a future in the entertainment industry.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
05/26/2007 11:32 Comments ||
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#8
I'm sure exJAG could enlighten us more, but one of the more interesting charges under the General Article 134 is "abusing a pubic animal". The original intent was to address the mishandling or cruelty towards government [animal] material, however there are certain conditions I'd think would warrant an expanded definition of the offense :)
PHOENIX (AP) - The body of a man who apparently tried to break into an elementary school was discovered Friday in an air conditioning duct on the school's roof, police said. The body at Sierra Vista Elementary School was found as a plumber investigated a foul odor noticed by cafeteria staff earlier in the day, said Roosevelt School District Superintendent Mark Dowling.
Authorities think the man tried to climb through the duct, got stuck and died. It wasn't known how long the body was there. "Obviously because of the smell, there are indications that he had been there for some time," said Sgt. Andy Hill, a Phoenix police spokesman.
Ewwwwww.
David Torres, who went to the school at midday to pick up his two sons, said he was surprised to see police and TV helicopters when he arrived. "I was thinking something real bad had happened," said Torres, who was leaving with his boys. "I got nervous, and I started to look for my kids."
"Then they told me it was just a dead guy stuck in a ventilating duct, and I could relax."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Insert your favorite school cafeteria food jokes here:
#3
Grunter he's 11 and shot it with a 50 caliber revolver. Fired 8 times and chased the pig for 3 hours. Had to cut down trees and get the animal out of a creek bed with a backhoe.
#11
I don't know any way to cook a hog that big whole except maybe over a huge open pit with a gigantic turning spit. It would probably take a couple of days. Start bringing in the truckloads of beer, this party is gonna last a few days. I'm not sure where Delta, Alabama is. I grew up in Pratville and near Dothan.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/26/2007 19:17 Comments ||
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#12
how does a hog that large go about without someone having seen it before? :-/
#13
After seeing the picture, I'd want a cannon. Or a .50 BMG (But only if a cannon wasn't available)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/26/2007 22:46 Comments ||
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#14
Howdy Deacon, I hail from Robinson Springs/Millbrook (Other side of Prattville)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/26/2007 22:48 Comments ||
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#15
Backwater cave people of Alabama! I guess large animals that roam the woods, just to live...HAS to die!! I'm glad it wasn't a Bigfoot or T-rex, the rest of us wouldn't have gotten an opportunity to study it! Idiots,if they want to pop of their guns, they need to go to one of their target practicing ranges and zero in on coke cans, geesh!!
Vid at link.
AFTER a visit to Australia Stacey Purdy knows what a wallaby looks like. Except this albino version was living, breathing and hopping in Olney!
The 28-year-old was walking her dog on Tuesday when she came upon the creature between Weston Road and Emberton Park. "There were the sheep and a wallaby, as large as life, eating the grass with them," said the IT trainer.
Fortunately Stacey had a digital camera bought only that morning and managed to capture it on film. "I had seen wallabies at Australia Zoo earlier this year but never dreamed I would see one so close to home," she said.
The sighting follows one reported by the Citizen several years ago in the same area though that animal was believed killed by a car. It is understood the wallabies could be descendants of a group which escaped from a private zoo. Or, more likely, it's Global Warming.
#1
There used to be a population in the english Peak District. Saw some once when I was hiking across the moors. Came bounding out of the mist. Spooky.
#5
Amazing footage. The bloody thing looks like a dog or a rabbit until it suddenly gets up and kangaroo-hops away. Won't the fossils confound future paleontologists! How will they explain the sudden manifestation of marsupials in Europe at this late stage?
On Saturday afternoon, in the 209th commencement at a historic campus dotted with monuments to famous generals, Faraz Bala will graduate from West Point. The Snohomish man is a rare Muslim in his class of 900 cadets, whose four years at the U.S. Military Academy overlapped with the war in Iraq.
His father, Marysville restaurant owner Shabbir Bala, thinks the government unnecessarily targets American followers of Islam. In the fight against terrorism, the elder Bala said, "the people you really want on your side is a Muslim."
But Faraz Bala -- a 22-year-old distance runner who enjoys snowboarding, bowling, cliff jumping and watching foreign films -- views himself as "just a normal guy like all the rest of my classmates," not the face of Islam in the military. That sentiment is embodied in one of his sayings: "I'm an American, I'm a soldier, and I just happen to be a Muslim."
Bala knows of four other Muslims in his class at West Point, where Islam is accepted along with other major religions. When the New York academy opened a new interfaith building last fall, it included a prayer room -- designed to face Mecca -- for Muslim cadets and their volunteer imam.
A West Point spokesman said the academy has about 30 Muslims among its 4,300 cadets, including some from Afghanistan, Iraq and other countries. No official count is available because the academy does not ask cadets their religion.
"All cadets know about Islam since it is essential to understanding the war we are fighting," Bala said this week from West Point. "There are those who do not know any Muslims, so they see Islam as pretty foreign, whether in a positive or negative light," he said. "Then there are those who do know a Muslim and see that we are regular people who think and act like everyone else."
Bala said some cadets made "insensitive" comments about Islam in class, not knowing he was a Muslim. "Things like Islam being violent or being suspicious of the religion," he said. "But no one ever said anything derogatory to me personally."
He fit in his five daily prayers and managed to observe Islamic holy days, which initially caused him some difficulty because Muslims use a calendar different from the norm. "But these issues were resolved within the chain of command," said Bala, adding that he experienced "no real problem" in the past two years.
He fasted during daylight hours during the month of Ramadan, which he said amazed his teammates on Army's cross-country team. He also competed in track. With no halal or kosher meat served in the mess hall, Bala changed his diet to include lots of fish and vegetables. "He made good friends with a Jewish cadet so they could (go out to) eat kosher meat," said Bala's mother, Ruqqy.
His parents, who each emigrated from Pakistan more than 20 years ago, hold more liberal political views than their California-born son. "We don't talk about politics," said his father, who is not thrilled that West Point's commencement speaker this year will be Vice President Dick Cheney. President Bush spoke last year.
Faraz Bala, who considers himself a moderate, said West Point has "definitely given me an opportunity to get information straight from the source. I've been taught by people who have worked in the White House and others who have first-hand knowledge of the war, so that gives an inside perspective most people don't get.
"What West Point has taught me is that the answers to political decisions are never simple, and if anyone has a simple solution, they are most likely wrong," Bala, who won awards for maintaining a high grade point average, said. "There are always good reasons on each side of the argument."
Bala's mother expressed happiness about her son's graduation but "at the same time, I'm scared, too, because now he's coming out of the safety net," she said. "That always worries the mom -- all the possibilities, ending up in a war zone."
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in international studies and a commission as a second lieutenant, Bala will enter the military intelligence branch of the Army and study at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., until February. He then will be stationed in Vilseck, Germany, with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, a Stryker Brigade formerly at Fort Lewis.
"I'll serve where my country needs me," Bala said. "This is not a crusade, so we are not fighting Muslims per se. When I go, ...my mission will be to provide security and stop the bloodshed in Iraq."
#1
going to the 309th MI Battalion. My son's "graduating" from his AIT there next month. Faraz's got his head on better than his Dad
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/26/2007 8:52 Comments ||
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#2
I wish I could say I like this, but I don't. I hope this guy doesn't become another idiot like the one who fragged his officers in Kuwait. Wherever he goes, if he develops Sudden Jihad Syndrome it's going to cause a lot of trouble.
Posted by: Mac ||
05/26/2007 10:22 Comments ||
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#3
Congratulations on your son's accomplishment, Frank. A young man to be proud of.
#4
I am proud, TW. His next stop is either Ft Shafter on Oahu or Japan. Others here have served, and/or have sons and daughters in the military (like DD's #1 son), and we should all say thanks to those who serve and risk on our behalf, especially this weekend
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/26/2007 11:31 Comments ||
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#5
"I'm an American, I'm a soldier, and I just happen to be a Muslim."
If he means what he says, and does as he sez, well, all right then.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/26/2007 12:54 Comments ||
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#7
Frank, on behalf of your son, thanks. This does not sit well with me either. I believe a lot of the folks at the top are convinced they can modify Muslim beliefs. I don't. They've been brainwashed since their first breaths. I would never feel safe operating around one of these people, especially in circumstances where your life may depend fully on their decisions. We'll see when these people go to the front lines and have to decide whether to extinguish Muslims or Americans.
#9
Others here have served, and/or have sons and daughters in the military (like DD's #1 son), and we should all say thanks to those who serve and risk on our behalf, especially this weekend
Hear, hear! Well said, Frank. My gratitude to all who are serving and who have served. Without you all,and those who came before you, there would be no free United States of America; without those who served in Europe and the Middle East in World War II, I would not exist to type this.
#10
My thanks go out to Frank's son, Faraz and all those who will serve - and many more thanks to all those who have served or are doing so now. I could not have had the great life I have without them, and neither could anyone else I know and love.
As for Faraz, I have higher hopes than some here. As someone who is clearly intelligent, he would be aware that openly making common cause with Jews while serving a "Crusader" army, will not endear him with Islamists. And if he were to explain that he was a Muslim himself, it would only make them that much more of a worthy target with them. Unless he is a deeply committed sociopath able to lead a double life flawlessly, he is putting himself at considerable risk with our common enemy - even without publicizing what he is doing in the press. Building a base of pro-democracy, reformist Muslims is crucial to winning the war on Islamist fascism in the long run IMHO. Let's hope Faraz represents the start of a trend that might build into something significant in the future.
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) - President Bush began Memorial Day weekend at the bedside of wounded U.S. troops, handing out Purple Hearts. Bush visited on Friday with troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, their families and the medical staff at the National Naval Medical Center just outside Washington. The president was making his seventh visit to the medical center. "People come here without much hope and leave, in many cases, healed and ready to move on with their lives," Bush said.
He thanked the medical personnel for their work, which includes treating tragic battlefield injuries. Bush also thanked the soldiers for their service to the nation. "I'm constantly amazed at the strength of character of those who wear the uniform," he said.
Bush met about two dozen soldiers, sailors and Marines, and handed out five Purple Hearts, the medal awarded to those who are wounded in combat.
On Monday, Bush will mark his sixth Memorial Day as a wartime president with a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. He is to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns to honor those who have died in past and current battles.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Number of grandstanding bottom dwelling Senators who bitched about Walter Reed facilities personally visiting the wounded during the day of remembrance?
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - More than five years after their loved ones were killed at the Pentagon during the Sept. 11 attacks, relatives of the victims got a chance Friday to tour the construction site of a memorial park being built in their honor. When it is completed next year, the park will stand just outside the Pentagon wall where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed on Sept. 11, 2001, killing 184 people.
Seeing the park take shape brought tears to Abraham Scott's eyes. ``Now I can actually see and touch something and know that it's going to happen,'' said Scott, whose wife, Janice Marie, was killed three months before their 25th wedding anniversary. She was a civilian worker at the Pentagon.
Planning for the memorial began two months after the attacks, and a ceremonial groundbreaking was held last June. The Memorial Day weekend tour was the first opportunity for many of the families involved in the Pentagon Memorial Fund to see the site since construction began. The park will have 184 benches, each inscribed with a victim's name and paired with a small reflecting pool. They will be placed in order of the victims' ages, with 3-year-old Dana Falkenberg at one end and 71-year-old John D. Yamnicky at the other.
The fund still has plenty of work ahead of it. Nearly $8 million out of the estimated $21.5 million cost of building the park still needs to be raised. Fund leaders also want to raise another $10 million to create a permanent endowment to maintain the memorial.
Jim Laychak, the fund's president, said his brother, Dave, a civilian who worked at the Pentagon, would probably tell him to get on with his life instead of working on the memorial. ``These things are for the living,'' Laychak said. ``This is important for us, it's important for the family members, and it's important for the country.''
Rosemary Dillard, the fund's vice president, walked around the site and found where her husband's bench will be. She felt a cool breeze when she got there, and it made her smile: Eddie was getting a good spot. ``I want it to be a cool spot because I want everybody to come and share my love for Eddie by coming and sitting on this bench and rubbing his name that's going to be engraved on the end of it,'' she said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/26/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The Memorials should consist of very large pyramids of Islamofascist skulls. I don't much care where the pyramids are located.
#2
It remains worth noting that an infant is able to vocalize every single sound needed to speak any language on earth. The process of learning a given native language involves discarding those phonemes not being used and selectively reinforcing whichever ones are required to speak it. Having grown up in a bilingual household, learning other languages and pronouncing foreign names has always been a lot easier for me.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Body Found in Duct at Phoenix School
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) - President Bush began Memorial Day weekend at the bedside of wounded U.S. troops, handing out Purple Hearts. Bush visited on Friday with troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, their families and the medical staff at the National Naval Medical Center just outside Washington. The president was making his seventh visit to the medical center. "People come here without much hope and leave, in many cases, healed and ready to move on with their lives," Bush said.
