The founder of a California charter school with ties to a controversial religious movement is facing up to 17 years in prison after being convicted of stealing taxpayer funds and defrauding private investors.
When a judge sentences former Gateway Academy Superintendent Khadijah Ghafur next month, he will probably close the books on a Fresno-based charter school with ties to both Sunnyvale and Lahore, Pakistan -- home of the spiritual leader of a fringe Muslim group whose members have been linked to criminal activity in the United States and Canada.
Ghafur has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and blamed the Gateway investigation on post-Sept. 11 prejudice against Muslims.
"Lies! All lies!"
But Ghafur's attorney said Monday that he doesn't see any grounds for appealing the findings of a Fresno jury, which convicted her Friday on 13 felony counts, including grand theft and misuse of public funds. ``I try very hard not to second-guess juries after they issue verdicts,'' said defense attorney Franz Criego, who added that he expects his client will receive a significant prison sentence when she returns to court Aug. 10. She is in Fresno County jail without bail.
#1
1. The founder of a California charter school
2. Khadijah Ghafur
Anybody besides me see a problem in the above two lines?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/04/2006 8:45 Comments ||
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#2
Not really Jim. As a former resident of the Silicon Valley I can say with some authority that white native-born English-as-a-first-language American citizens are not exactly the norm in that area.
Cindy Sheehan and four other war protesters filed a lawsuit Friday challenging roadside camping and parking bans near President Bush's Crawford ranch.
Sheehan, who lives in Berkeley, Calif., was in Waco to file the case, which asks that the ordinances not be enforced during protests in August and ultimately be declared void.
The suit, filed in state district court, was filed against McLennan County, the sheriff and county commissioners.
Sheehan, whose oldest son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004, reinvigorated the anti-war movement last summer with her peace vigil - dubbed "Camp Casey" - that started in ditches off the road to Bush's ranch.
As it grew, the group also set up "Camp Casey II" on a private, one-acre lot closer to the ranch.
Neighbors complained of traffic congestion from the August rally and commissioners enacted the parking ban on parts of 14 roads near the ranch and prohibited camping in any county ditch.
#1
the ditch witch whines about laws enforced for public safety? I'd think the Waco/Crawford locals would take a dim view of this mobile trash cluttering up their community
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 12:21 Comments ||
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#2
She has no midwestern brains..
Here is how to do it.
Put up posters for a 32 Keg barbacue (beef and pulled pork) open for a cover and pass the hat when the beer runs low.
Hire the sherif's designated brother to run security and the staff he requires.
Let Longneck or Bud distributors in on it and a local radio station or two. Have a booth for your protest.
END OF STORY.
You have your parking, your protest the communities beer and ribs. Every buddy is full, drunk and happy.
Win Win.
No lawyers no fuss. (execpt the DUI's)
#7
Pig manure makes for a fine roadside fertilizer.
Posted by: ed ||
07/04/2006 18:25 Comments ||
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#8
You've got to be kidding me.
Maybe it's time that we hold a vigil in her neck of the woods, protesting her stupid waste of court time and the like.
She's not even worth it.
This is Jan
Posted by: JAN ||
07/04/2006 20:37 Comments ||
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OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Sen. Maria Cantwell, a true-blue Democrat, is trying to tamp down unrest among those on Washington state's political left who are furious with her unapologetic support for the Iraq War. In a state that has shown no affection for Republicans in more than two decades of presidential elections, Cantwell would seem to have an easy time securing a second term amid President Bush's sagging approval ratings and discontent with the GOP-controlled Congress. It would be a welcome change for the 47-year-old Washington state lawmaker, who six years ago had to wait more than a month before finding out whether she had won the country's closest Senate race. She prevailed by fewer than 2,300 votes.
But Cantwell is facing fierce opposition from anti-war activists who ordinarily would back her. Chants of "No More War" rang out before her speech at last month's state party convention, protesters unfurled a banner reading, "Maria Can't Say No to War" at another event, and demonstrators squatted in her Seattle office. Even an appearance with popular Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in heavily Democratic Seattle elicited boos for Cantwell. "We're frustrated," said Joe Colgan, 64, a retired lineman from Kent, Wash., whose son, Army 2nd Lt. Benjamin Colgan, was killed in Iraq. "With all the information that is out now that shows the war was a terrible mistake, she will not admit that her vote was wrong. That's a fairly serious flaw."
Cantwell voted in 2002 for the resolution authorizing Bush to use force to topple the Baghdad regime of Saddam Hussein, and she rejects suggestions that she made a mistake. She has supported the war but has criticized Bush's handling of it, arguing that Congress must hold the administration accountable and "make sure that 2006 is a year of significant transition in Iraq." Cantwell recently joined a majority of Democrats in opposing a deadline for U.S. troops to be out of Iraq but voted for a more moderate resolution for forces to start withdrawing.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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#3
The Kossacks attacking Lieberman and Hillary . . . booing Obama . . . and now this. The moonbats are looking to purge anyone in the Dem party who is anywhere to the right of David DukePat Buchanan Mother Sheehan on the war.
Fratricide away, kids. Remebre how well that "progressive ideological purity" trick worked for George McGovern?
Posted by: Mike ||
07/04/2006 0:45 Comments ||
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#4
Uh, thats a bit off, the Dem Political Machine in Washington State will not allow it. She will win, no problem... it's pretty much a moot point here in Washington.
Posted by: bk ||
07/04/2006 12:15 Comments ||
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#5
True enough - Washington state's Dem machine makes Chicago's look like a bunch of amateurs.
Barry Kissin is a Democratic candidate for Congress in Maryland's 6th District
By Barry Kissin Our country is engaged in an illegal and immoral war of aggression. The only thing unusual about the massacre in Haditha and the ensuing cover-up is that the massacre has been uncovered.
Nice, categorical statement. I'm sure he has evidence...
On June 1, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stated that violence against civilians had become a "daily phenomenon" by troops in the American-led coalition who "do not respect the Iraqi people." "They crush them with their vehicles and kill them just on suspicion," he said.
I missed that statement. If he did make it, it wasn't very diplomatic, was it? Nor does it jibe with the other things he's been saying...
On June 9, congressional conservatives quietly stripped a provision from an Iraq War funding bill that would have prohibited using any of the appropriated funds for the construction of permanent military bases in Iraq. We are constructing 16 massive military bases in Iraq, not to mention our huge fortress of an embassy in Baghdad. These bases are part of a network of about 800 bases in 130 different countries that we maintain around the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Rome responded to every act of resistance disproportionately. By the time of Jesus, the Roman legions had killed tens of thousands in Galilee and had enslaved many thousands more. Another method practiced by Rome for deterring challengers of its rule was crucifixion.
Actually, that's historically and provably untrue in almost all its aspects.
Rome's crackdown on the Jews really didn;t get rolling until almost 40 years after Jesus' crucifixion when the Jewish rebels staged a full-scale rebellion. Prior to this time the Romans governed the region with their normal doctrine of firm reasonableness. They had no desire to kill tens of thousands of law-abiding tax-paying civilians when simply leaving them alone, so long as they obeyed the law, paid their taxes, and didn;t try to foment or incite rebellion.
In addition, crucifixion was a form of punishment intended, and generally used, only against those who had seriously transgressed Roman law. It was usually a long and agonizing process reserved solely for those deserving of "special treatment" in their execution. Putting a condemned criminal to the sword or beheading him was much more efficient and much less time consuming without all the foofaraw of all that publicity as well.
It was the Jewish hierarchy that demanded that Jesus be executed by crucifixion. Pontius Pilate actually saw little or no reason to execute Jesus at all, but bent to the will of the locals.
So, this moonbat is wrong all the way around and is simply attempting to use his faulty "knowledge" of history and the Bible to gain himself a little extra status amongst the religious folks (whom he probably looks at as wingnuts anyway).
#2
Now that he as come out of the closet and declared himself a full blown moonbat who is hid opposition for the 6th district? We need to support whoever it is to insure this goof is not elected.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/04/2006 9:25 Comments ||
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#3
I wish I had a time machine. I'd grab a copy of this article and go back to 9/12 and shove it in the face of every Democrat I met and say, "THIS is what your party is going to degenerate into in less than five years, if you don't do something about it."
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/04/2006 9:33 Comments ||
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#4
My question is, is this guy misinformed and foolish or an outright bull$hitting piece of dung?
#6
Me thinks Barry should be Kissin my ass. What a small and insignificant little liar man
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/04/2006 10:04 Comments ||
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#7
Pontius Pilate was so vicious and corrupt that the Emperor Tiberius -- not exactly known for his own sweetness and light -- had him recalled to Rome and executed for it. While governor of Judea, he had the entire population of a city in Samaria put to the sword because the elders asked him to look into overtaxation.
As for crucifiction, the Romans may not have liked to do it, but after the second Jewish Revolt in 125 AD, the bodies of Jews nailed to crucifixes lined the road almost all the way to Rome.
Revolt against Rome was already in the air in Jesus' time. The priestly class in Jerusalem, to a man closely related to the Maccabees who'd ruled before the Romans came, feared exactly the result of the two Judean Revolts, and would have been willing to get rid of a man who threatened the safety of all the Jews in the Roman Empire. Understand, at that time to claim to be the Messiah was to claim the earthly throne of King David, and open repudiation of Rome's rule, and that would have been how the Jewish mob would have understood it.
#13
#11 Was there a third Jewish Revolt?
1945-47, RJ.
Hmmm, 1881 years between revolutions, and god knows how many changes of Governments. Seems extremely harsh measures do indeed work.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/04/2006 19:42 Comments ||
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#14
(Sigh) Can't add today, 1520 years, still quite a long time.
Now can we erect enough Gallows (Today's Cross Equivalent) to set the next Islamic troubles around 1800 years off into the future?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
07/04/2006 19:48 Comments ||
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#17
Some folks consider the 125 AD revolt to be the Second Revolt. It is much more common to call the 132 AD (Bar Kokhba) revolt the Second Jewish Revolt. No good reason is to be found for this, just custom.
There was a Galilean revolt in 6 AD, led by Judas of Galilee and Zadok (probably a title rather than a proper name, IMO), a priest. Although most scholars are scornful of applying the term "zealot" to Hebrew rebels prior to Josephus' first use of the term (68 AD in his chronology, IIRC), we see here the priestly/kingly parallelism found in Josephus' later descriptions of the Zealots and in writings found in the Dead Sea Caves and associated with the Essenes.
#20
"Our country is engaged in an illegal and immoral war of aggression."
-a statement based on pure opinion and not one real fact. Saddam Hussein violated the 91 Gulf War peace treaty 17 times over a 12 year period. Kicking his ass was not only legal but essential.
Stung by leaders of her own party and facing a Republican primary battle, Katherine Harris has turned to North Florida and the small towns that dot the state's rural landscape to reinvigorate her campaign for the U.S. Senate. Since Memorial Day, the Longboat Key Republican has spent nearly every weekend in North Florida, attending festivals in towns that even the ol' Florida crackers aren't likely to pick out on a map. Jasper, Perry, Mayo and Palatka have seen more of Harris than big cities like Miami, Orlando and Tampa. "It looks like she's focusing on the folks who have a more favorable impression of her," said Dan Smith, a University of Florida political science professor.
That's not surprising, given how roughly she's been treated by her own party and the media, Smith said. North Florida might just offer her sanctuary from questions about her private dinners and illegal campaign donations from a corrupt defense contractor who bribed another member of Congress. Her appearances and speeches aren't likely to get the same scrutiny and tough analysis from the weekly publications and small newspapers as they would in major media markets, he said.
It also makes sense for Harris to target the state's conservative base in preparation for the Republican primary, Smith said. Even though her three opponents are largely unknown, Harris needs to make sure conservative voters aren't tempted to cast ballots for her opponents -- especially since Gov. Jeb Bush was openly courting other Republicans to challenge her. The most threatening of the primary trio appears to be Orlando-area attorney Will McBride, who has family ties to Salem Communications, the Christian radio empire. With support from religious commentators and financial support from conservative backers, McBride could present a serious challenge.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court on Monday jailed a Pakistani man for five years who was part of a group which kidnapped and robbed a South African diplomat two years ago. Arshad Mehmood Mohammed Shafi, 40, had pleaded guilty to theft, robbery and the abduction of Deputy High Commissioner Nicky Scholtz. The judge, Nursinah Adzmi, handed him three sentences totalling 14 years for the crimes, ordering the terms to run concurrently from the date of his arrest in June 2004, reported the state Bernama news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/04/2006 00:00 ||
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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.
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Sen. 
Our country is engaged in an illegal and immoral war of aggression. The only thing unusual about the massacre in Haditha and the ensuing cover-up is that the massacre has been uncovered. 
Stung by leaders of her own party and facing a Republican primary battle, 
KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian court on Monday jailed a Pakistani man for five years who was part of a group which kidnapped and robbed a South African diplomat two years ago. Arshad Mehmood Mohammed Shafi, 40, had pleaded guilty to theft, robbery and the abduction of Deputy High Commissioner Nicky Scholtz. The judge, Nursinah Adzmi, handed him three sentences totalling 14 years for the crimes, ordering the terms to run concurrently from the date of his arrest in June 2004, reported the state Bernama news agency.
