November 17, 2015

Judge accused of soliciting sex in exchange for sentence reductions

Judge accused of soliciting sex in exchange for sentence reductions

A Cross County judge is accused of soliciting sex from offenders in his court in exchange for sentence reductions, the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission said.

District Court Judge Joseph Boeckmann will have 30 days to respond to charges filed by the commission, which were released Tuesday. He is also entitled to a hearing in front of the commission.

Boeckmann, a district judge since 2009, used his role as judge to seek "out young Caucasian male litigants," for the purpose of sexual relationships, the commission stated in its allegations.

The report says Boeckmann at times told offenders to perform "substituionary sentences" and asked them to "contact him to present their 'trash pick up' requirements at either his office or his home."

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/nov/17/cross-county-judge-charged-giving-leniency-sexual-/

November 17, 2015

To the Republicans Blaming President Obama for the Attack in Paris: Are You Out of Your Damn Minds?

Many Republicans have reached such a point of absurdity, it’s unfathomable to me that there are people who still take them seriously. Try as I might, I cannot bring myself to the simplistic, small-minded level of thinking that it clearly requires to buy into and believe the nonsense the GOP constantly pushes.

...

That being said, following the awful terrorist attack in Paris on Friday, I saw many Republicans suggesting President Obama might be to blame for the attack. They seem to enjoy claiming that his “failed foreign policy” is what allowed this to happen.
Just stop.

First, you can spin ISIS however you want, but the terror group might never have existed had George W. Bush not invaded Iraq, botched the whole damn thing and destabilized the entire region. Furthermore, if you’re blaming President Obama for our troop withdrawal – think again. That, too, was Bush by way of the Status of Forces Agreement he signed with the Iraqi government in 2008 that set the timetable for when our troops had to be out of Iraq.

And if you don’t believe me, just ask Dick Cheney who called the troop withdrawal a “sign of success in Iraq.

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/republicans-blaming-president-obama-attack-paris-damn-minds/


Very well stated.

July 22, 2015

MY INITIATION AS A WHORE

MY INITIATION AS A WHORE
by Artemisia de Vine

It has been four years since I became a full-time sexuality professional: a whore. Wow what an incredible journey it has been! I have grown so much as a person and as a professional to become the Goddess of Conscious Kink and the Erotic Arts I am today. I have worked under many names and in many different roles and learned a wide variety of erotic arts from feathers to whips, following the erotic cookie crumbs on a journey of sweat, flesh, cum and self discovery.

This morning I let my mind drift back in time to a pivotal moment a couple of years before I decided to enter the adult industry. I now see that it was my initiation into whoredom. The memory touched me so much I wept. I want to share it with you. I want to honor the people who may not realise they played a part in making me who I am.

I’ve always been a sexually curious adventurer. My friends would say, “Can’t you talk about anything else besides sex?” I’d be quite baffled at that. It was my passion and fascination. It was my thing. I’ve also always been drawn to look into the “whys” and “hows” of the human psyche. It became a natural thing for me to want to explore sexuality with awareness. However it has been a long journey and I started with practically no knowledge and a deep, destructive sense of shame due to my strict upbringing.

My adventures in self discovery led me to try all sorts of outrageous things: BDSM, swinging, group sex, ritual sex, exhibitionism and more. You name it, I tried it. I lost count of how many lovers of all genders I’d had well and truly before I turned professional. Through it all I remained a spiritual being who aimed to have integrity. Oh I made mistakes aplenty, but my intention was to remain in integrity for my own well-being and for that of my play partners.

snippage

She played with words pictures and poetry to create impressions: snippets of things long ago, of myth, of legend, of temples to the Goddess where sacred prostitutes were once honored, of times when Goddesses were revered. She whispered of incense, flesh, spirit, of embodied, empowered women, menstrual blood, lovers entwined, erotic pleasure, dance… the visceral and the ethereal. Cunt. Whore. Slut. Spirit. Heart. All as words of empowerment not degradation.

much more at: http://badwitch.es/initiation-whore/
===

This comes from a really good site with lots of food for thought and other things...

June 19, 2015

Democratic Party of Arkansas: Our search for Executive Director begins

Candace Martin, who has done amazing work for the DPA for the last four and a half years, has sadly announced she is leaving. We will be depending on her to help get us through our exciting JJ Dinner with Hillary Clinton and other immediate things. But we must plan this transition and bring a new ED on board, with the plan that he or she will be able to spend time with Candace before she leaves.

The DPA has appointed a terrific group of people who have agreed to serve on the Search Committee to find our next Executive Director. This group brings together the best of both elected and party officials. A brief job announcement is below, and you may click on this link to read the full job description.

Job Announcement: DPA Executive Director
The Democratic Party of Arkansas seeks a dynamic and committed individual to lead our staff. Candidates must have extensive experience with management, fundraising, and political skills that will compliment the existing talent within our organization.

The Executive Director works in collaboration with the state Party chair, its officers, and all its affiliates to oversee the strategic plan, programs, and fundraising activities of the state party. He or she must be reliable, honest, loyal and discreet. The Executive Director reports to the state party Chair.

To apply, candidates should email resume, cover letter and three references to jobs@arkdems.org by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, July 20, 2015. Late applications will not be accepted. Salary is commensurate with experience. The DPA is an equal opportunity employer.

To read the full job description, please click here.

June 10, 2015

OP/ED: Leaving Arkansas

Leaving Arkansas
By Rex Nelson
This article was published today at 3:02 a.m.

What's now the Arkansas Economic Development Commission is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The agency is serving a state far different from the one that existed in 1955.

Desperate to do something about massive out-migration, the Arkansas Legislature passed a bill that year creating the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission. Though it was given very little money, the commission was tasked with bringing new industries to the state, expanding existing industries and upgrading the standard of living.

For years, Arkansans had been leaving the farm to find work in automobile factories in Detroit and shoe factories in St. Louis. In the Delta, thousands of sharecroppers and tenant farmers were out of work due to the rapid mechanization of agriculture. The exodus, however, wasn't limited to the Delta. In the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, the Arkansas River Valley and the Gulf Coastal Plain, people also packed up and headed out.

...

"Unfortunately, good land soon ran out, leaving many of the state's rural areas overpopulated in relation to arable soil," Holley wrote. "The earliest out-migration, beginning in the 1890s, was in part a response to this fundamental problem. Population losses continued in the first two decades of the 20th Century. In the 1920s, Arkansas lost almost 200,000 people, a record high to that point. Migration slowed slightly during the depressed 1930s, but by the 1940s, when the national economy shifted to war production, the migration stream that had previously been a steady leak turned into a torrential flood. Arkansas, in fact, lost population in every decade between 1890 and 1970."

...

Holley wrote that the magazine's headline had asked "a valid question, and the answer was easy--the lack of well-paying jobs. Arkansas' most significant export was not lumber, cotton or bauxite, but people." Stemming that tide was the first task for Rockefeller and the AIDC six decades ago.

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/jun/10/leaving-arkansas-20150610/
...

Very interesting article from today's paper. It may be behind a paywall, so sorry in advance if you cannot read the entire article.

March 9, 2015

India’s Daughter

India’s Daughter, a film from the Storyville strand brought forward by the BBC from International Women’s Day (on Sunday) “given the intense level of interest” in it after preview clips sparked outrage in Britain and India, was the most shocking piece of revelatory filming on TV this year. India has now banned its broadcast, with urban development minister M Venkaiah Naidu declaring: “This is an international conspiracy to defame India. We will see how the film can be stopped abroad too.” The splendid news for the ludicrous man is that the genie doesn't go back into that bottle any more.

You can view BBC videos on Chrome and by d/l the Hola app. It will allow the video to play.
--
Stunning story, surprised no one has linked it here yet. India screwed up by banning the story - now people all over the world are watching this story. I'd probably not watched it until I read about the banning of the story in the Guardian.
--

India news channel banned from showing gang rape documentary
Government stops NDTV from screening Leslee Udwin’s India’s Daughter on International Women’s Day as thousands turn to internet to watch in support

A news channel in India banned by the government from showing a controversial documentary about the fatal gang rape of a young woman in Delhi responded with a powerful hour-long on-air protest on Sunday night.

Leslee Udwin’s documentary India’s Daughter was due to be shown on the Indian news channel NDTV on International Women’s Day, but the screening was cancelled after the government in Delhi went to court to ban the film in India.

The ban forced tens of thousands of Indians to turn to the internet to see the film. And the response of viewers was overwhelmingly against the ban on the film about the horrific gang rape of a student in December 2012.

more at: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/08/india-news-channel-banned-from-showing-gang-documentary

March 8, 2015

The Drug Lord With a Social Mission

The Drug Lord With a Social Mission
Matt Bowden (sometimes known as Starboy, an "interdimensional traveler&quot helped create one of the most viral outbreaks of new drugs in history. He might also have the antidote.
MAIA SZALAVITZ MAR 2, 2015

http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/the-drug-lord-with-a-social-mission-also-performs-under-the-alter-ego-starboy?Src=longreads

[snippage]

For a time in the late 1990s, Bowden had worked in the “herbal highs” business—developing and selling products similar to Red Bull, as well as some containing ephedrine, the active ingredient in the now banned performance-enhancing stimulant ephedra. In part to look for new products, and in part out of a personal fascination with drugs, Bowden had trained informally with a neuropharmacologist. And while perusing the scientific literature, he had come upon a drug called benzylpiperazine (BZP).

[snippage]

And sell it did: His customer base quickly climbed to half a million. Within a few years, a study would find that 20 percent of adult New Zealanders had tried “legal party pills”—as products made from BZP rapidly became known—and 44 percent of respondents who reported having used both legal party pills and illegal party drugs said they’d used BZP to replace the illegal drugs. Soon, the press in New Zealand was spending less time writing about the country’s meth epidemic, and more time sounding the alarm about an epidemic of drugs like BZP.

[snippage]

New Zealand, an isolated island nation where popular traditional drugs are harder to come by, was one of the first countries to see the commercial spread of so-called legal highs (thanks in no small part to Matt Bowden). But when a worldwide ecstasy shortage in 2008 spiked the price and lowered the quality of traditional club drugs, the market for legal highs went global. The new drugs started to show up worldwide in online marketplaces, at head shops, even in gas stations—and, finally, on the radar of the world’s drug control agencies.

[snippage]

Worldwide, more than 350 new substances are now marketed as alternatives to marijuana, amphetamines, and other drugs, branded with names like bath salts, Spice, K2, and Blaze, according to the United Nation’s drug control agency. In the United States, by 2012, over 11 percent of high school seniors were reporting that they had tried at least one of these new psychoactive substances, usually a synthetic cannabinoid designed to substitute for pot. That made synthetic marijuana the second most popular class of drugs among American teens, after marijuana itself.

[snippage]

In 2013, New Zealand passed a law creating the world’s first set of regulations to allow the clinical testing and approval of new recreational drugs. Much as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does for medicines, New Zealand’s system stands to create a government-regulated market for legal highs—an attempt to tame the industry not by stamping it out, but by guiding consumers to safe, reliable products, and giving suppliers an incentive to bring such products to market.

much, much more at: http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/the-drug-lord-with-a-social-mission-also-performs-under-the-alter-ego-starboy?Src=longreads

February 12, 2015

Did anyone watch American Experience this week? "The Forgotten Plague"

Holy crap! TB has been with mankind since the beginning. The ancient Greeks are the one's who called it consumption. It could take 30-40 years to die of TB.

I cannot highly praise this show - show much information, especially about the early Public Health systems and the draconian ways they had of coming in and just taking people from their homes. Bellevue ran out of space for TB patients and put them on barges on the Hudson River.

The shows talks to patients who had to go to Sanatoriums and their lives during those times.