Why Did Bloomington Police Wait Four Weeks To Search The Obvious?

 

The case of missing IU student Lauren Spierers has pretty much reached the full media saturation point, at least locally. I'm a little surprised the cable news stations haven't been covering it like they did in the cases of Lacy Peterson and Natalie Holloway when they first went missing. Bloomington Police Department has had a spotlight shining on their every move, and they've conducted regular press briefings to give the impression they're really on top of the case. What I found a little bit surprising today was this news report on Fox 59 News tonight indicating BPD was only today conducting searches of the apartments of the several men who were known to have been with Spierers on the night she went missing, as well as her boyfriend's home. You're not searching the homes of the persons of interest until the four-week mark of her disappearance? As I understand it from reading other news reports, most of these guys cleared out their personal belongings and left town shortly after Spierers' disappearance and lawyered up. BPD is using canines in their search of these individuals' premises. You would have thought they would have brought out the canines the weekend following her disappearance, not one month after the fact.

The Bloomington Herald-Times has more on the searches conducted here. HT reports the police and Spierers' parents are planning a press conference for tomorrow, the first BPD has held in a week.

Justice David Prosser Receiving The White Treatment

The similarities between the plight of Indiana's Secretary of State Charlie White and Wisconsin's Justice David Prosser are uncanny. During a tough re-election race earlier this year, Prosser faced questions about tough words he had for one of his female colleagues on the high court during a heated closed conference debate of the court's justices last year by supporters of his liberal opponent, JoAnne Kloppenburg. Yes, he acknowledged that he called Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson a "bitch" in front of the other justices, but that she had goaded him into making the inappropriate reference. Abrahamson never filed an official complaint against Prosser, but another justice, Ann Walsh Bradley, told a reporter during his campaign against Kloppenburg this spring about the incident to make the case that he lacked the temperament to serve on the court and to alienate him from female voters. Kloppenburg also accused Prosser of conducting secret meetings with Gov. Scott Walker following his narrow victory over her.

Despite throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him in the election, Prosser defeated Kloppenburg, who had claimed a narrow victory on the night of the election before all of the votes had been canvassed and certified. Kloppenburg refused to concede when the final tally showed Prosser the victor; instead, she and Democratic partisans suggested voter fraud and not the will of the people had produced a Prosser victory. After a contested recount proceeding, Prosser was declared the clear winner in the race by several thousand votes. The only known case of voter fraud in the race was that of an Indiana man, Tommy Schrader, a Democratic candidate for a council seat in Allen County who somehow managed to register and vote in the election while temporarily residing in a Green Bay homeless shelter. Allen Co. Democrats moved swiftly to remove Schrader from the ballot after he won his primary election campaign for council  to avoid drawing further attention to the case, particularly while the Charlie White election contest proceeding of the Democratic Party was still in progresss. Some have questioned whether their swift action violated Schrader's right to be heard on the allegation that he was not legally residing in Allen County when he ran in the May primary. As far as I can discern, Wisconsin officials have shown no interest in looking into the Schrader matter.

More than a month after the election, the Wisconsin Supreme Court narrowly upheld the constitutionality of a collective bargaining law that had led to a long and sustained walkout by Democratic members of the legislature to block its passage with Prosser siding with the majority of justices backing Gov. Walker's new law to help check government spending, while Bradley and Abrahamson sided with the minority on the court who would have upheld a lower court ruling striking it down. Apparently there was much dissension among the justices over the release of their decision. Abrahamson, as chief justice, suggested the opinion might not be ready for release for another month, which angered Prosser and the other justices who noted the urgency in having resolution of the case before the legislature concluded its budget. What happened next has become a bit of a he said, she said matter.

What is known is that Bradley began spreading a tale of being strangled by Prosser during an angry confrontation in front of other justices. Interestingly, Bradley never filed a complaint or pressed for criminal charges. She instead waited ten days after the alleged incident occurred and following a leak to supportive members of the media to release a statement.

"The facts are that I was demanding that he get out of my office and he put his hands around my neck in anger in a chokehold," she said. "Those are the facts and you can try to spin those facts and try to make it sound like I ran up to him and threw my neck into his hands, but that's only spin.


"Matters of abusive behavior in the workplace aren't resolved by competing press releases," she said.

"I'm confident the appropriate authorities will conduct a thorough investigation of this incident involving abusive behavior in the workplace."
Prosser has declared his innocence and refused to comment further on the matter that is now under investigation by the Dane County Sheriff's department in Madison. Other sources familiar with the altercation say it was Bradley who charged Prosser with fists raised and that he had simply tried to repel her attack. According to the alternative account, Prosser merely placed his hands in a defensive manner on Bradley to restrain her while another justice separated her from Prosser. According to that account, Bradley accused Prosser on the spot of trying to choke her, while another justice spoke up and said, "You were not choked."

What strikes me is that this is a case of one side being unable to accept defeat and conducting nothing short of guerrilla warfare against the opponent to get what they want by hook or crook. Indiana Democrats put forth a set of damning facts aimed at defeating Charlie White in last fall's election. When that failed to move voters, they belatedly contested his eligibility to run for office and succeeded in getting a special prosecutor hungry enough for good-paying work for him and his son that he managed to turn a ham sandwich into a multi-count criminal indictment against White on charges unlike any other Indiana politician has been forced to defend against. The special prosecutor, realizing some might accuse him of doing precisely the same thing he was accusing White of doing, rushed down to the courthouse in the middle of the grand jury proceedings to update his own registered voting address. The Recount Commission unanimously found in White's favor but the name-calling and the specious criminal case against him goes on.

Similarly, Justice Prosser won an election straight up despite all the barbs and mud thrown his way. Post-election challenges failed so now they're building a criminal case against him manufactured by the very person who was trying desperately to oust him from the court in this year's election. And you knew it, the person doing the investigating endorsed Prosser's political opponent in the election. We shouldn't be at all surprised by any of this. After all, we elected a president in 2008 who was trained and schooled in the "get in their faces" approach by his mentor, Saul Alinsky, the modern day founder of the radical left's approach to "in your face" community organizing to advance their socialist agenda.

chrisescars.com

chrisescars.com


Chevrolet Camaro Rat Rod – Cool or Crazy?

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 09:49 AM PDT

Two friends Bill Rombauts and Dave Sherer decided to give a brand new Chevrolet Camaro a unique look by turning it into a rat rod. The friend duo gave the muscle car a feathered and rust look and also spent almost $100,000 on upgrading the cars power and performance.

Continue reading: Chevrolet Camaro Rat Rod – Cool or Crazy?

Chrises Cars


Chevrolet Camaro Transformers special edition

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 08:15 AM PDT

To coincide with the launch of the latest Transformers movie – Dark of the Moon, Chevrolet has released a special edition Camaro based on the character Bumblebee from the new movie. The 2012 Chevrolet Camaro Transformers special edition comes with several distinctive features and will be available in the United States, Canada, China, Japan, Europe, South America, and the Middle East.

Continue reading: Chevrolet Camaro Transformers special edition

Chrises Cars


Rolls Royce build one-off Drophead Coupe

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 07:55 AM PDT

Rolls Royce have recently unveiled a one-off bespoke Drophead Coupe. This unique luxury car was hand built at the company’s factory in Goodwood, England. The new Rolls Royce Drophead Coupe also comes with a a special luggage set for those weekends away.

Continue reading: Rolls Royce build one-off Drophead Coupe

Chrises Cars


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ALMS: Flying Lizard heads to Lime Rock for Round 3

ALMS: Flying Lizard heads to Lime Rock for Round 3

Link to ONEIGHTURBO

ALMS: Flying Lizard heads to Lime Rock for Round 3

Posted: 29 Jun 2011 01:47 PM PDT

ONEIGHTURBO

No. 44 Porsche, Darren Law and Seth Neiman

Back from the 24 Heures du Mans and a sixth place GTE Pro class finish for the No. 80 Porsche, Flying Lizard returns to their North American racing season at the Northeast Grand Prix on July 9. The driver lineup is Joerg Bergmeister and Patrick Long in the No. 45 Porsche and Seth Neiman and Marco Holzer in the No. 44. (Holzer will trade-off with Darren Law as Neiman’s co-driver for the remainder of the ALMS season in the No. 44.)

It has been a challenging start to the ALMS season for the Lizards. At Sebring, the No. 45 finished sixth and the No. 44 seventh. At Long Beach, the No. 44 finished eighth but the No. 45 was retired following an early-race accident (the No. 45 was in the lead at the time). Heading into the third of nine ALMS races, Bergmeister and Long are tenth in the drivers’ championship; Law and Neiman are ninth and Holzer is eleventh. Flying Lizard is fourth in the team championship.

Patrick Long and Joerg Bergmeister

Flying Lizard chief strategist Thomas Blam gave his perspective, “We aren’t where we’d like to be in the standings, but we’ve been through rough season starts like this in the past; we have to keep focused on the big picture and create our own momentum at this point.”

He explained, “We’ve had our one DNF for the season; we can’t afford anything outside of a top five GT finish from here on out. BMW has won the first two races and has a large points lead. Historically we’ve been very strong at Lime Rock: Joerg has won here with the Lizards four years in a row, the last two with Patrick, who was on the pole in 2010. We need to keep the Lime Rock streak going and build from there. There are six races to go, including three long races (Road America, Laguna Seca, and Petit) – a lot can still happen.”

- Flying Lizard Motorsport

Related posts:

  1. ALMS: Patrick Long Qualifies Flying Lizard Porsche 8th in GT, No. 44 13th for Mid-Ohio

ALMS: Flying Lizard heads to Lime Rock for Round 3


Volkswagen given the green light for two plants in China

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 08:24 PM PDT

ONEIGHTURBO

As planned, the Volkswagen Group can build two further automobile plants in China, continuing its long-term growth strategy in the world’s largest market for passenger cars. During the German-Chinese government consultations in Berlin, final approval was granted today for the plants to be built at Foshan and Yizheng. Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, today signed appropriate declarations together with the Presidents of the Chinese partner organizations.

  • Chinese government approves plans for Foshan and Yizheng
  • Planned annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles for each plant

The factory at Yizheng, in Jiangsu Province in eastern China, is to be developed together with partner Shanghai Volkswagen, and the plant at Foshan, in Guangdong Province in southern China, will be built together with the FAW-Volkswagen joint venture. The first documents for the development of the two sites were signed in the summer of 2010. “China is already the world’s largest sales market for automobiles and further substantial growth is expected in the future,” Winterkorn said on the occasion of signing the contracts at the Federal Chancellor’s Office in Berlin. “The Volkswagen Group intends to play a major role in shaping this growth with new environmentally compatible models and the expansion of local production capacity. Our new plants show that Volkswagen remains a strong motor for the Chinese automobile industry.”

Each of the two plants will be designed for an annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles and production is due to start in 2013. “The new factories are a key element in our plans to increase annual production capacity in China to three million vehicles in the medium term together with local partners,” said Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group China in Berlin.

In view of the dynamic development of the Chinese automobile market, Volkswagen had boosted its investment program for China to 10.6 billion euros for the period from 2011 to 2015. In addition to the two new plants, plans have already been announced to expand production capacity at each of the existing Nanjing and Chengdu plants to between 300,000 and 350,000 vehicles per year.

Related posts:

  1. VW’s SEAT will target young buyers in China

Volkswagen given the green light for two plants in China


Only Dancing

By Rennie Ellis, via

Indiana Democratic Party's Paid Mouthpiece Compares White To Weiner

According to Jennifer Wagner, a paid spokesperson for the Indiana Democratic Party, Secretary of State Charlie White's battle to fend off a partisan hit job initiated by her party is no different than disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner's sexting scandal. The Star actually published this drivel on its editorial page today:

White has attempted to turn his failure to properly register to vote and his illegitimate service on the Fishers Town Council into an intricate personal tale: It wasn't his fault he broke the law. Life just got too complicated to focus on the details . . .
Not long ago, the nation watched another bizarre personal story unfold after New York Congressman Anthony Weiner accidentally unleashed a now-infamous photo that he had intended to send privately to a Twitter follower.
It took Weiner three weeks of similarly embarrassing stories and pressure from fellow Democrats before he resigned . . .
At a tearful media event, Weiner told reporters that "I had hoped to be able to continue the work that the citizens of my district elected me to do: to fight for the middle class and those struggling to make it. Unfortunately, the distraction that I have created has made that impossible, so today I'm announcing my resignation from Congress."
Weiner's choice of words could not be more directly applicable to White's situation: The distraction that he has created makes it impossible for him to do his job.

Apparently Wagner is too young to remember the ordeal Evan Bayh endured while serving as Secretary of State when Republicans launched a legal contest challenging his eligibility to run for governor--a legal battle he ultimately won. One passage in Wagner's column sticks out and begs for a response.  "The attorney in me could devote this column to debunking White's story, but I don't practice law for a living," she writes. "I practice public relations, a field where White's win tally is pretty dismal." If Wagner learned anything in law school, she would have learned how to read and comprehend the findings of fact and conclusions of law decided by a unanimous Recount Commission comprised of two Republicans and one Democrat. She was in attendance at the hearing, but for some reason she insists on stating falsely in her column that White "broke the law." She would have also heard the commission's chairman remind those in attendance of the law as established in the Evan Bayh case decided by our state's Supreme Court, which found Bayh eligible notwithstanding the fact that he continued to vote in Indiana elections after moving to Washington, D.C. to work for a law firm where he remained for nearly two years before returning home to run for Secretary of State.

White has maintained his innocence of breaking the election laws from the outset, and the Recount Commission unanimously agreed with White on that point. Weiner, on  the other hand, initially denied sending sextings and blamed it on a computer hacker and a prominent conservative blogger, Andrew Breitbart. Only after irrefutable evidence surfaced that Weiner had not only sent a sexting to the woman in question but many others as well, including a porn actress, did he finally acknowledge that he had lied, apologized and eventually resigned from office. There is absolutely no comparison of White's actions to those of Weiner. To borrow a phrase from Rex Early, that dog won't hunt, Jen.

Wagner apparently doesn't practice public relations any better than she practices law. Many Democrats were less than pleased of some one's decision at the state party to peddle a story to the news media on the eve of Tuesday's Recount Commission hearing questioning Wheeler's impartiality based on an allegation that he had served as one of the hosts of a fundraiser at his law firm for White at which a large contribution was made to White's campaign from the firm's political action committee. What the person peddling the story on behalf of the party neglected to mention was that the firm had made a similar contribution to White's opponent, Vop Osili, a fact that left the reporters, including WTHR's Kevin Rader, with egg on their face after running the story. Wheeler further denied he had hosted or attended the event.

The Democratic Party made a bad miscalculation in going after Wheeler based on the faulty assumption that their appointee to the commission, Bernard Pylitt, would side with the Democratic Party in its efforts to oust White from office. That miscalculation blew up badly in their faces when Pylitt did the right thing and applied the facts and law as they were presented to the commission rather than base his decision on press releases put out by the Democratic Party. Even Pylitt was upset that the issue of which member had given what to whom had been raised in an attempt to impugn the integrity of the commission's proceedings. Pylitt has contributed generously to Democratic Party over the years after all. He went out of his way at Tuesday's hearing to explain that the commission's finding that White had not broken the law had nothing to do with partisan politics.

Yes, someone had a very bad week in public relations. It's your client, Jen, that had the bad week. Get over it. No amount of spinning and reinventing of the facts is going to change that. Not even your own party's commission member is buying your drivel. It's particularly sad, though, that the Indianapolis Star would give space to you on its editorial page to spread a load of crap after your client's horrible missteps this week. Will your client be offering an apology to Wheeler?

Inline Performance Magazine

Inline Performance Magazine


Contour Left Side Mount

Posted: 28 Jun 2011 10:00 PM PDT


If you ride motorcycles, sooner or later the day is going to come when you want to record yourself riding. Maybe it's because you need the world to see you tearing it up on the back roads or flying down the freeway at triple digit speeds. Or maybe it's because you're going riding with some beginners and want to make sure you catch any crashes on tape. Regardless of your reasons, you need a helmet camera.

Here at Inline Performance, we have an arsenal of cameras and mounting equipment, but when it comes to simplicity and ease of use, it's hard to beat our Contour HD camera. While fancier cameras like GoPros offer more features, the Contour's compact size and simple, one button operation make it an ideal choice for a helmet cam.

Mounting a camera on the curved, smooth surface of a motorcycle helmet would be a challenge, was it not for Contour's purpose-built motorcycle helmet mounts. The mounts retail for just under twenty bucks, and have a slight curve built into them so they fit flush against the curved sides of the helmet. Contour offers mounts with the proper curvature for either the left or right side of the helmet, so make sure you know in advance which side the camera will be on before you buy.

Attaching the mounts to the helmet couldn't be simpler. Make sure the surface of the helmet is clean, peel the backing of the double-sided tape on the mount, and firmly press it into place on the helmet. Just make sure that the mount is lined up right because the adhesive that Contour uses is extremely strong—once the mount is in place, it's there for good. (We put the camera on the mount before we stuck it on the helmet, just to be sure our alignment was correct.)

Contour recommends allowing the mount to sit for 24 hours before use, and this is probably a wise idea, considering that a camera falling off your helmet is not only an expensive lesson, but also a potential hazard for any riders behind.

Of course, we were too impatient to wait a whole day, especially with a brand new loaner GSX-R 600 from Suzuki sitting in the garage. We're happy to report that the mount worked perfectly, even at higher speeds. Even better, because the Contour HD camera makes beeping sounds to indicate when it's recording, starting and stopping the camera with the helmet still on your head is a snap.

Stay tuned for more updates, and be sure to order your copy of the 2011 print edition of Inline Performance Magazine HERE at the pre-order price for a limited time.

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