Lee Pires, 57, her grandson Adrian Martin, 21, also of Onset, and his friend Timothy Morrison, 19, of Wareham, were arrested Thursday after allegedly breaking into three residences and stealing jewelry, cash, and electronics, Officer William Fihlman said.

The stolen items include a 42-inch flat-screen television, a laptop computer, and a digital camera, Fihlman said.

After an invesgation, police identified the three suspects and the vehicle believed to be used in the break-ins, Fihlman said. Authorities said they then followed the vehicle to a computer-repair store on Cranberry Highway and confronted Martin.

An officer was injured in a brief scuffle with Martin as the suspect tried to flee, according to police. The officer was treated and released from Tobey Hospital.

Pires and Morrison were also arrested at the store.

Several stolen items were recovered from Morrison's residence after a search warrant was executed later Thursday, police said.

About 95 percent of the stolen items have been returned to the victims, Fihlman said.

The trio will be arraigned Tuesday in Wareham District Court, Assistant District Attorney Bridget Norton Middleton said.

Comments

Entry #2,453

June 9, 2010
6:49 am

Palin's endorsements pays off for pals

Palin's backing pays off for pals

ANDY BARR

Politico

6/9/10 1:23 AM EDT

Former Gov. of Alaska Sarah Palin waves to a crowd. | AP Photo

Some of Sarah Palin's riskiest endorsements scored major victories Tuesday. AP

Some of Sarah Palin’s riskiest endorsements scored major victories Tuesday for the former Alaska governor, showing off her power in Republican primaries.

Palin had four primary endorsements in play – Carly Fiorina, Nikki Haley, Terry Branstad and Cecile Bledsoe – and three won or moved on to a runoff.

Palin served different roles for each candidate – sometimes spotlighting conservatives not well known to the national scene while at others validating conservative credentials to an unsure grassroots and even stepping in to deflect nasty attacks.

Perhaps Palin’s most powerful demonstration came in South Carolina, where her endorsement propelled a major swing in the polls for Haley’s primary campaign for governor and sustained the state representative through accusations of two separate affairs.

"Her decision to get - and stay - involved in the race here in South Carolina was a huge boon to our campaign, because it caused a lot of South Carolinians to take a second look at a rising in the polls but once-little known state legislator who was fighting to give them back their government,” Haley spokesman Tim Pearson said of Palin.

Palin was quick to defend Haley from blogger Will Folks, who claimed to have had an “inappropriate physical relationship” with Haley, writing on her Facebook page that Folks was trying to “make things up.”

Palin recorded a robocall for Haley in the closing days, urging South Carolinians to ignore the “made-up nonsense.”

For Fiorina, Palin bucked some of her own supporters in choosing the former Hewlett Packard chief executive over tea party favorite Chuck DeVore in the California Senate race.

After announcing her support for Fiorina, the former governor’s Facebook page was overrun by negative comments trashing Palin’s support of the more moderate candidate with strong establishment ties.

But Palin rebuffed her conservative critics by touting Fiorina’s pro-life credentials as well as her 100 percent NRA rating – thus helping build the conservative grassroots narrative the multimillionaire former businesswoman utilized to dispatch both DeVore and former Rep. Tom Campbell.

“Governor Palin’s endorsement was integral to the success of our campaign,” Fiorina spokeswoman Julie Soderlund told POLITICO. “She provides the ‘good housekeeping seal of approval’ for conservative, outsider candidates. After earning her endorsement we saw an immediate spike in support for Carly amongst conservatives, who represent the vast majority of Republican primary voters.”

Palin also surprised some conservatives with her endorsement of Terry Branstad in the Iowa gubernatorial race over Bob Vander Plaats, a top aide to Mike Huckabee’s 2008 operation in the state and a grassroots favorite.

As with Fiorina, Palin was able to successfully reassure many of her troubled fans that Branstad was indeed a strong conservative amidst protests on Facebook.

Palin frequently uses the Susan B. Anthony List as barometer of suitable conservative candidates, and, as with Fiorina, the group’s support of Bledsoe led Palin to the Arkansas House candidate

Palin labeled Bledsoe one of the “mama grizzlies” the former governor contends are leading a new feminist movement, and the Arkansas state senator turned a distant second place showing a month ago into what looked like a narrow defeat at the hands of Rogers Mayor Steve Womack.

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Entry #2,452

June 8, 2010
11:12 pm

Dick Morris: Obama doesn't have a clue

Morris: Obama doesn’t have a clue

Dick Morris

The Hill

06/01/10 07:03 PM ET

Conservatives are so enraged at Obama’s socialism and radicalism that they are increasingly surprised to learn that he is incompetent as well. The sight of his blithering and blustering while the most massive oil spill in history moves closer to America’s beaches not only reminds one of Bush’s terrible performance during Katrina, but calls to mind Jimmy Carter’s incompetence in the face of the hostage crisis.

America is watching the president alternate between wringing his hands in helplessness and pointing his finger in blame when he should be solving the most pressing environmental problem America has faced in the past 50 years. We are watching generations of environmental protection swept away as marshes, fisheries, vacation spots, recreational beaches, wetlands, hatcheries and sanctuaries fall prey to the oil spill invasion. And, all the while, the president acts like a spectator, interrupting his basketball games only to excoriate BP for its failure to contain the spill.

The political fallout from the oil spill will, indeed, spill across party and ideological lines. The environmentalists of America cannot take heart from a president so obviously ignorant about how to protect our shores and so obstinately arrogant that he refuses to inform himself and take any responsibility.

All of this explains why the oil spill is seeping into his ratings among Democrats, dragging him down to levels we have not seen since Bush during the pit of the Iraq war. Conservatives may dislike Obama because he is a leftist. But liberals are coming to dislike him because he is not a competent progressive.

Meanwhile, the nation watches nervously as the same policies Obama has brought to our nation are failing badly and publicly in Europe. When Moody’s announces that it is considering downgrading bonds issued by the government of the United States of America, we find ourselves, suddenly, in deep trouble. We have had deficits before. But never have they so freaked investors that a ratings agency considered lowering its opinion of our solvency. Not since Alexander Hamilton assumed the states’ Revolutionary War debt has America’s willingness and ability to meet its financial obligations been as seriously questioned.

And the truth begins to dawn on all of us: Obama has no more idea how to work his way out of the economic mess into which his policies have plunged us than he does about how to clean up the oil spill that is destroying our southern coastline.

Both the financial crisis and the oil come ever closer to our shores — one from the east and the other from the south — and, between them, they loom as a testament to the incompetence of our government and of its president.

And, oddly, to his passivity as well. After pursuing a remarkably activist, if misguided and foolhardy, agenda, Obama seems not to know what to do and finds himself consigned to the roles of observer and critic.

America is getting the point that its president doesn’t have a clue.

He doesn’t know how to stop the oil from spilling. He is bereft of ideas about how to create jobs in the aftermath of the recession. He has no idea how to keep the European financial crisis contained. He has no program for repaying the massive debt hole into which he has dug our nation without tax increases he must know will only deepen the pit.

Some presidents have failed because of their stubbornness (Johnson and Bush-43). Others because of their character flaws (Clinton and Nixon). Still others because of their insensitivity to domestic problems (Bush-41). But now we have a president who is failing because he is incompetent. It is Jimmy Carter all over again.

Who would have thought that this president, so anxious to lead us and so focused on his specific agenda and ideas, would turn out not to know what he is doing?

Morris, a former adviser to Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and President Bill Clinton, is the author of Outrage, Fleeced and Catastrophe. To get all of his and Eileen McGann’s columns for free by e-mail or to order a signed copy of their latest book, 2010: Take Back America — A Battle Plan, go to dickmorris.com. In August, Morris became a strategist for the League of American Voters, which is running ads opposing the president’s healthcare reforms.

2 Comments

Entry #2,451

June 8, 2010
9:03 pm

Sarah Palin to President Obama: "Call me"

Sarah Palin to President Obama: "Call me"

Kate Pickert

Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 5:59 pm

In a new, oddly titled Facebook post, Sarah Palin blasts President Obama for not communicating directly with BP CEO Tony Hayward.

Mr. President: with all due respect, you have to get involved, sir. The priorities and timeline of an oil company are not the same as the public's ...as a former chief executive, I humbly offer this advice to the President: you must verify. That means you must meet with Hayward. Demand answers.

After running through her experience dealing with oil company executives and repeating the most talked about comment she made in her 2008 RNC convention speech - that a community organizer lacks the executive experience of a mayor - Palin has one more piece of advice for Obama (emphasis mine):

Please, sir, for the sake of the Gulf residents, reach out to experts who have experience holding oil companies accountable...They can help you. Give them a call. Or, what the heck, give me a call.

It seems somewhat strange that in a post titled, "Less Talkin', More Kickin," Palin is urging Obama to talk to more people, but she is clearly trying to inject herself into the crisis.

Obama will make a fourth trip to the Gulf next Monday and Tuesday.

THIS IS A COPY OF THE FACEBOOK POST BY SARAH PALIN

Sarah Palin: Less Talkin’, More Kickin’

June 8, 2010

2:31pm

50 days in, and we’ve just learned another shocking revelation concerning the Obama administration’s response to the Gulf oil spill. In an interview aired this morning, President Obama admitted that he hasn’t met with or spoken directly to BP’s CEO Tony Hayward. His reasoning: “Because my experience is, when you talk to a guy like a BP CEO, he’s gonna say all the right things to me. I’m not interested in words. I’m interested in actions.”

First, to the “informed and enlightened” mainstream media: in all the discussions you’ve had with the White House about the spill, did it not occur to you before today to ask how the CEO-to-CEO level discussions were progressing to remedy this tragedy? You never cease to amaze. (Kind of reminds us of the months on end when you never bothered to ask if the President was meeting with General McChrystal to talk about our strategy in Afghanistan.)

Second, to fellow baffled Americans: this revelation is further proof that it bodes well to have some sort of executive experience before occupying the Oval Office (as if the painfully slow response to the oil spill, confusion of duties, finger-pointing, lack of preparedness, and inability to grant local government simple requests weren’t proof enough). The current administration may be unaware that it’s the President’s duty, meeting on a CEO-to-CEO level with Hayward, to verify what BP reports. In an interview a few weeks ago with Greta Van Susteren, I noted that based on my experience working with oil execs as an oil regulator and then as a Governor, you must verify what the oil companies claim – because their perception of circumstances and situations dealing with public resources and public trust is not necessarily shared by those who own America’s public resources and trust. I was about run out of town in Alaska for what critics decried at the time as my “playing hardball with Big Oil,” and those same adversaries (both shortsighted Repubs and Dems) continue to this day to try to discredit my administration’s efforts in holding Big Oil accountable to operate ethically and responsibly.

Mr. President: with all due respect, you have to get involved, sir. The priorities and timeline of an oil company are not the same as the public’s. You cannot outsource the cleanup and the responsibility and the trust to BP and expect that the legitimate interests of Americans adversely affected by this spill will somehow be met.

White House: have you read this morning’s Washington Post? Not to pile it on BP, but there’s an extensive report chronicling the company’s troubling history:

“BP has had more high-profile accidents than any other company in recent years. And now, with the disaster in the gulf, independent experts say the pervasiveness of the company’s problems, in multiple locales and different types of facilities, is striking.

‘They are a recurring environmental criminal and they do not follow U.S. health safety and environmental policy,’ said Jeanne Pascal, a former EPA lawyer who led its BP investigations.”

And yet just 10 days prior to the explosion, the Obama administration’s regulators gave the oil rig a pass, and last year the Obama administration granted BP a National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) exemption for its drilling operation.

These decisions and the resulting spill have shaken the public’s confidence in the ability to safely drill. Unless government appropriately regulates oil developments and holds oil executives accountable, the public will not trust them to drill, baby, drill. And we must! Or we will be even more beholden to, and controlled by, dangerous foreign regimes that supply much of our energy. This has been a constant refrain from me. As Governor of Alaska, I did everything in my power to hold oil companies accountable in order to prove to the federal government and to the nation that Alaska could be trusted to further develop energy rich land like ANWR and NPR-A. I hired conscientious Democrats and Republicans (because this sure shouldn’t be a partisan issue) to provide me with the best advice on how we could deal with what was a corrupt system of some lawmakers and administrators who were hesitant to play hardball with some in the oil field business. (Remember the Alaska lawmakers, public decision-makers, and business executives who ended up going to jail as a result of the FBI’s investigations of oily corruption.)

As the aforementioned article notes, BP’s operation in Alaska would hurt our state and waste public resources if allowed to continue. That’s why my administration created the Petroleum Systems Integrity Office (PSIO) when we saw proof of improper maintenance of oil infrastructure in our state. We had to verify. And that’s why we instituted new oversight and held BP and other oil companies financially accountable for poor maintenance practices. We knew we could partner with them to develop resources without pussyfooting around with them. As a CEO, it was my job to look out for the interests of Alaskans with the same intensity and action as the oil company CEOs looked out for the interests of their shareholders.

I learned firsthand the way these companies operate when I served as chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC). I ended up resigning in protest because my bosses (the Governor and his chief of staff at the time) wouldn’t support efforts to clean up the corruption involving improper conflicts of interest with energy companies that the state was supposed to be watching. (I wrote about this valuable learning experience in my book, “Going Rogue”.) I felt guilty taking home a big paycheck while being reduced to sitting on my thumbs – essentially rendered ineffective as a supervisor of a regulatory agency in charge of nearly 20% of the U.S. domestic supply of energy.

My experience (though, granted, I got the message loud and clear during the campaign that my executive experience managing the fastest growing community in the state, and then running the largest state in the union, was nothing compared to the experiences of a community organizer) showed me how government officials and oil execs could scratch each others’ backs to the detriment of the public, and it made me ill. I ran for Governor to fight such practices. So, as a former chief executive, I humbly offer this advice to the President: you must verify. That means you must meet with Hayward. Demand answers.

In the interview today, the President said: “I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick.”

Please, sir, for the sake of the Gulf residents, reach out to experts who have experience holding oil companies accountable. I suggested a few weeks ago that you start with Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, led by Commissioner Tom Irwin. Having worked with Tom and his DNR and AGIA team led by Marty Rutherford, I can vouch for their integrity and expertise in dealing with Big Oil and overseeing its developments. We’ve all lived and worked through the Exxon-Valdez spill. They can help you. Give them a call. Or, what the heck, give me a call.

And, finally, Mr. President, please do not punish the American public with any new energy tax in response to this tragedy. Just because BP and federal regulators screwed up that doesn’t mean the rest of us should get punished with higher taxes at the pump and attached to everything petroleum products touch.

- Sarah Palin

3 Comments

Entry #2,450

June 8, 2010
8:24 pm

Limping bandit robbed 23 banks gets his day in court

Limping bandit pleads guilty to 23 bank robberies

Jun 08, 2010 8:44 AM EDT

Updated: Jun 08, 2010 8:58 AM EDT

Cecil Stephen Haire (Source: Charleston County Sheriff's Office)

GA man known as "the Limping Bandit" pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to 23 counts of bank robbery, according to U.S. Attorney William N. Nettles.

Cecil Stephen Haire will be sentenced at a later date after a judge as reviewing pre-sentencing reports. Haire faces up to 25 years in prison and $250,000 fines for each count.

Haire admitted to committing the robberies across the Southeast United States beginning in June 2006. Nettles said Haire first robbed three banks in Georgia, and eight more over the next three years in Florida and Alabama, as well as 13 banks in Summerville, Orangeburg, Aiken, Sumter, Edgefield, Camden, Charleston and Mount Pleasant, SC.

Haire was stopped after he entered the National Bank of South Carolina on US-17 in Mount Pleasant on July 17, 2009. Nettles said he handed the teller a brown paper bag, pointed a gun at her and demanded that she put money in the bag. After he fled the bank, someone followed him and gave a description of his vehicle to Mount Pleasant Police. Officers located Haire about 20 minutes later sitting in his vehicle in the parking lot of a retirement home. Police found the clothing that he wore in a nearby dumpster, as well as a BB gun pistol that he used to commit the robbery.

While he was still a suspect, Haire acquired the nickname "The Limping Bandit" because many of the bank tellers described a noticeable limp in his walk. After his arrest, the FBI confirmed that Haire's limp is a result of childhood polio

In 1986, Haire was convicted in Georgia for seven counts of armed robbery and one count of bank robbery. He was released on parole in 2006.

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Entry #2,449

June 8, 2010
4:17 pm

Jon Stewart takes on Helen Thomas for Israel Remark

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/08/jon-stewart-takes-on-hele_n_604086.html

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Entry #2,448

June 8, 2010
1:11 pm

Groin-Punch a new and disturbing game

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37455920/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/

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Entry #2,447

June 8, 2010
9:19 am

Obama seeks 'ass to kick' over oil spill crisis

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/08/AR2010060800393.html?hpid=topnews

1 Comment

Entry #2,446

June 8, 2010
9:14 am

Boy, 7, has body of a granny

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/837704/Brave-Ashanti-Elliott-Smith-is-7-with-the-body-of-a-granny.html

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Entry #2,445

June 8, 2010
6:45 am

Make children of illegal immigrants pay tuition to attend public schools in Arizona

Arizona Sen. Russell Pearce: Make children of illegal immigrants pay tuition to attend public school

Michael Sheridan
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Monday, June 7th 2010, 12:18 PM

Severson/AP

Arizona state Senator Russell Pearce wants to challenge the 14th Ammendment that makes children citizens if they are born in the United States, regardless of their parents' status.

First, Arizona targeted illegal immigrants. Now the state's eyeing their children.

A state senator is looking to draft legislation that would keep children born in the United States to parents who are in the country illegally from becoming citizens, as well as making them pay tuition to attend public schools.

"My issue is protecting the taxpayers. You can't come here illegally and not be a legal resident and expect the taxpayers to pick up your tab," State Sen. Russell Pearce told the Arizona Capitol Times.

The Arizona Republican is looking to draft legislation that will target the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, which states that, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

Pearce called this "policy" from the Constitution "a magnet that attracts illegal immigrants."

Separately, the senator wants children whose parents are in the United States illegally to pay tuition to attend public school.

"They shouldn't be a burden," Pearce told the Capitol Times. "You don't have a right to be a non-resident of this state and take advantage of the taxpayers of this state."

State Sen. John Huppenthal tried to propose similar legislation earlier this year, but it failed to pass.

Arizona began its assault on illegal immigration last month, when Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law a controversial bill that would allow state police to question the citizenship of suspected criminals.

The law has been criticized across the nation by police commanders and politicians who fear it could lead to racial profiling. However, polls suggest a majority of Americans would like to see similar legislation passed in other states.

Brewer met with President Obama last week over her state's battle with illegal immigration. The White House says it plans to send 1,200 National Guard troops to the Mexican border, as well as $500 million in funding.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/06/07/2010-06-07_arizona_sen_russell_pearce_make_children_of_illegal_immigrants_pay_tuition_to_at.html#ixzz0qFyqAK1M

2 Comments

Entry #2,444

June 7, 2010
10:32 pm

Fox News gunning for Helen Thomas' front-row seat

Fox News gunning for Helen Thomas' front-row seat in the White House briefing room

DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Monday, June 7th 2010, 5:18 PM

Pete Souza

Fox News are among media outlets looking to grab the now-vacant seat held by Helen Thomas, who resigned as White House press icon Monday.

WASHINGTON - Long before Helen Thomas resigned under fire Monday, Fox News had trained its sights on grabbing her coveted front-row seat in the White House briefing room.

Sources within the White House Correspondents' Association, which oversees the seating chart, told the Daily News that Fox, the nation's largest cable news outlet, has argued for years it belongs in the front row, where CNN, ABC and MSNBC (represented by NBC) already reside with the Associated Press and Reuters.

Media sources said The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Bloomberg News and Washington Post are also making pitches for the now-vacant prime real estate.

The association board plans to decide as early as Thursday who gets the seat.

The uproar over Thomas' anti-Israel remarks triggered a feeding frenzy in the briefing room as other news organizations maneuvered to move their own seats up in the musical chairs sweepstakes.

In the George W. Bush administration, press secretary Ari Fleischer - who led the charge to get Thomas fired over the weekend - pressured the correspondents' association to alter the seating chart. He managed to get some organizations considered sympathetic to the administration better seats in the pecking order.

When Thomas left United Press International after the Unification Church bought the wire service in 2000, she would normally have had to relinquish the seat. But she kept what became known as "the Helen Thomas seat" out of respect for her long and distinguished tenure as a White House regular.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/06/07/2010-06-07_fox_news_gunning_for_helen_thomas_frontrow_seat_in_the_white_house_briefing_room.html#ixzz0qDyveHIo

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Entry #2,443

June 7, 2010
10:24 pm

Empire State Building won't light up to honor Mother Teresa

Catholic League, Council Speaker Quinn blast Empire State Building over Mother Teresa dis

Adam Lisberg and Corky Siemaszko
Daily News Staff Writers

Monday, June 7th 2010, 3:26 PM

Smith for News

The Empire State Building declined the Catholic League's request to light the building blue and white...

...to honor what would have been the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa.

Green/AP...to honor what would have been the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa.

The ultra-conservative Catholic League got an unlikely ally Monday in its fight to get the Empire State Building to honor Mother Teresa: City Council Speaker Christine Quin.

Quinn weighed in after building owners denied the Catholic League's request to commemorate the beloved holy woman's 100th birthday with blue and white lights - the colors of her religious order.

"The question of why the building will not be lit is a question that deserves answering," Quinn told The Daily News. "As far as I'm concerned, the answer should be yes."

Quinn, who is openly gay, has often been on opposite sides of the League on issues from gay marriage to whether gays should march in the St. Patrick's Day parade.

Quinn said she reached out to the Empire State Building ownership last week after learning from another Council member that the lighting application had been denied.

"We urged them to try to find a way to light the building," said Quinn. "We are all very disappointed."

Asked if the owners gave a reason for refusing the request, Quinn replied, "Not particularly."

Quinn called on the owners to reevaluate their decision and "choose to honor this wonderful woman who has given so much to the world."
She would have been 100 years old on Aug. 26.

Among other things, the saintly nun best known for her work with poor in
Calcutta also opened the first hospice for AIDS patients in Greenwich Village, said Quinn.

"She was voted the most admired woman in the world three years in a row and even won the Nobel Peace Prize," Quinn wrote.

There was no immediate response from the Empire State Building Lighting Partners, which has been hit with thousands of petitions - egged by Donohue and his group - requesting they reverse their decision.

In a statement, an outraged Donohue pointed out that New York's most iconic building lit up its tower in red and yellow lights last year to mark the 60th anniversary of China's Communist Revolution, which installed a regime that murdered millions of its own people.

Mother Teresa was 87 when she died in 1997. She has been beatified by the Roman Catholic Church, a step before being named a saint.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/07/2010-06-07_catholic_league_council_speaker_quinn_blast_empire_state_building_over_mother_te.html#ixzz0qDvhFyf1

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Entry #2,442

June 7, 2010
10:13 pm

Child fan at Philly's game filmed drinking beer

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/07/kid-drinks-beer-at-philli_n_603014.html

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Entry #2,441