Miss Piggy's Grocery Store Checkout Headlines

[Necronus]

Whew ... at least the Nigerian prince will still get my e-mails ... crisis averted

[Guitarman]

Former GM claims harassment at Paula Deen restaurant

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — The former general manager of a restaurant co-owned by Paula Deen claims the celebrity chef and her brother created a hostile work environment that included sexual innuendo, physical intimidation and racial slurs.
Read the complaint
Lisa Jackson says in a lawsuit filed Monday she had panic attacks because of the environment at Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House. The restaurant in Savannah is owned by Deen and her brother Bubba Hiers.
Jackson says Hiers routinely watched pornography, describing them to workers. He once violently shook a black employee. Hiers and Deen also spoke poorly of black women who worked there, using disparaging remarks.
She says the restaurant required black workers to enter through a back door and barred them from using a restroom that white workers used.
A Deen spokesman declined to comment on pending legal matters. Hiers didn't immediately return calls seeking comment

http://www.kgw.com/entertainment/For...141577453.html

[ChairmanMeow]

work environment that included sexual innuendo, physical intimidation and racial slurs.

Pretty sure this is standard in all kitchens.

[Kerberoz]

Rapture prediction was good business for pet rescue

When doomsday prophet Harold Camping conceded last week that his failed May 21 end-of-the-world prediction was "incorrect and sinful," the average American probably shrugged, perhaps even snickered.

But for Bart Centre, Camping's mea culpa could have real impact on his bottom line.

The co-owner of a business that promises to care for the pets of Christians who are swept up in the Rapture saw a jump in business last year ahead of Camping's prediction.

Now he's sorry to see Camping get out of the predictions business.

...

By the end of 2010, he had 170 clients. But once people started talking about Camping's prophecy, "then we started to see an uptick in business," he said.

With demand on the rise, Centre did what any smart businessman would do — he raised his rates, to $135 per pet for a 10-year coverage plan. If someone had a second pet, the additional fee rose to $20.

In the first quarter of 2011, business jumped 150% from the same time in 2010. In April and May — as the end-of-the-world date approached quickly — the jump was 200 percent, he said.

Total clientele rose to 245 by May 21. With the world still spinning after Camping's original prophecy failed to materialize, Centre's business only inched up to 267.

...

"Now the next thing we're gearing up for is this Mayan calendar end times, which we still believe is going to bring us some substantial business," Centre said, referring to some interpretations of an ancient Mayan calendar that the world will end in late 2012.

"After the Mayan calendar doesn't happen there will be somebody else who comes up with a prediction."

[Qalbert]

http://www.realityblurred.com/realit...14_horse-punch

A contestant was removed from a reality TV competition for punching a horse in the head last night, and while many people have been removed from reality shows for fighting other cast members, this is the first time in reality TV history the recipient of a punch was a horse.

That happened on History’s Full Metal Jousting, a surprisingly fun show that features men in armor thrusting sticks into one another while riding horses. It’s produced by Pilgrim Films & Television, which also produces History’s Top Shot, so it’s well-made and engaging even to those who don’t care about men sticking each other. (Full episodes are online.)

Before practice began, Landon Morris, a 27-year-old whose bio says he “learned to ride horses in private school, picking up several riding disciplines and playing polo,” punched his horse full on in the face. “He stepped on my foot,” Landon explained, and his coach, Rod Walker, said, “And you punched him in the head?” “Had to get him off quickly.” Rod said, “I see you punch a horse in the head again—no, seriously! Don’t fucking punch a horse in the head. What is wrong with you?’

Rod later called it “amazingly arrogant” and “one of the stupidest things I’ve ever seen,” and although he didn’t say “and you did it in front of cameras, you stupid moron,” that seemed to be implied. Landon was later confronted by Shane Adams, who’s the host and person who explains jousting to those of us who only know it from Medieval Times.

He explained that there was a “zero-tolerance policy when it comes to people not just mistreating my horses, but any horse,” and said, “They’re here to be your teammate, not to be mistreated. I can’t believe that you did what you did, and your actions have shown me you’re not a professional by any means. You have a lot of growing up to do in life and especially with horses.”

Then Landon proved he was mature and said, “I’m not upset that I did that. I did it for the right reason.” And then when Shane questioned his professionalism, Landon looked like he was considering punching him in the head, too.

[Moss]

holy fuck lol. the dialogue sounds like something straight from monty python

[Pirian]

Story of the fucking year. Wop's Grocery Store Checkout II: No seriously, don't fucking punch a horse in the head

[Moss]

the way he says "Had to get him off quickly!" kills me

[6souls]

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7068/6...2e0fa69761.jpg

Notorious hacker of the PlayStation 3 and numerous other devices George Hotz, known across the vast internet as ‘Geohot’, was arrested on his trip to SXSW in Austin, Texas for possession of marijuana. Based on a post by AboveTheLaw and EuroGamer, Hotz was the owner of a medical marijuana license in his home state of California.

However, he failed to realize that across state boundaries, you’re under somebody else’s law – particularly in this case, Texas’s.

Geohotz has been charged with felony and set with a bail of $1500.

You might find the name recognizable, as it’s associated with his famed jail breaking of the iPhone in 2008, as well as his collaboration with hackers to unlock the PlayStation 3 framework. A lengthy court battle between Hotz and Sony eventually ended with both parties settling.

http://www.insidegamingdaily.com/201...na-possession/
http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/15/ps3-...Cw33ak.twitter
http://abovethelaw.com/2012/03/famed...route-to-sxsw/
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...acker-arrested

[Vuitton]

A felony? Are you fucking kidding me?

[BaneTheBrawler]

Texas shitting on someone's parade?! IMPOSSIBRU!

[Pirian]

A felony? Are you fucking kidding me?

It's a felony when you break a federal law. It was the feds that busted him, not Texas. Although, I'm sure Texas didn't try and stop them, or anything.

[ChooChooTrain]

It's a felony when you break a federal law. It was the feds that busted him, not Texas. Although, I'm sure Texas didn't try and stop them, or anything.

surprised he's not on death row right now to be perfectly honest

[jmc]

A felony? Are you fucking kidding me?

probably due to the amount, and traveling across state lines with it?

[Cail]

oh my state...

A man acquitted of an attempted-murder charge by reason of insanity after an armed standoff with police is now suing the state, saying his confinement at Connecticut Valley Hospital for six years was illegal because he was never insane.

Two things had to happen for Bryan Brouillard to be sprung from the hospital and land in a position to sue — a stunning flip-flop by the CVH psychiatrists who had called him highly dangerous for six years before suddenly changing their tune; and the legislature's unusual decision to overturn an initial denial of his claim against the state.

Lawmakers, in their decision, cited a 2007 U.S. Department of Justice investigation that found deeply entrenched problems at CVH, including "unnecessary hospitalizations" of some patients.

Brouillard's $5 million lawsuit is heading for trial in 2013.

A Superior Court judge in 2008, having been put into "an awkward situation" by the "extraordinary" 180-degree swing by the CVH doctors, discharged Brouillard from the hospital and from the jurisdiction of the Psychiatric Security Review Board, the panel that watches over those acquitted by reason of insanity.

Brouillard's case, by virtue of his claim that he never belonged at CVH, let alone the maximum security Whiting Forensic Division there, keeps aloft lingering questions about the credibility of the insanity defense.

In his lawsuit, he characterizes his arrest on a charge of inciting a disturbance at the hospital and his two escape attempts from CVH — one by jumping out of a third-floor window and breaking his legs — as the actions of a sane man in an insane asylum.

Standoff With Police

In Mashamoquet Brook State Park in Pomfret in 1999, Brouillard, then 19, pointed a loaded handgun at state troopers and ignored repeated commands to drop it. He set in motion a standoff that ended with his being shot in the side and disarmed by the troopers.

Brouillard, who grew up around the Dayville section of Killingly in eastern Connecticut, was the son of prominent, wealthy parents. His father was the CEO of major regional bank and is mother was a pediatrician.

He drank too much, underachieved in school, had a contentious relationship with his parents and got into scrapes with the law, according to a report by one of the renowned psychiatrists hired by Brouillard's family or his lawyers during the last 13 years.

In 1999, while on probation, he took a trip to California, which was a technical violation. When he got back, he says, he had every intention of turning himself in. But instead, he went to the Mashamoquet campground. According to his account, he and his friend had brought along a gun from his friend's girlfriend's house. They fooled around with the gun for a while, firing it at trees. Then he slipped the gun into his pants. He had been drinking beer.

At one point, he says, he called state police and told them he wanted to turn himself in on the probation violation. When no troopers had come within a couple of hours, he called back. He reported that there was a man waving a gun in the park and that there may be hostages. The troopers came then — one after another. He says he was still clinging to the notion that he wanted to turn himself in.

Brouillard, a free man since 2008, lives in New London now. He's married with a young child, and works for a pharmaceutical company. He was candid and articulate in a phone conversation last week. His lawyer, James Sullivan of Hartford, participated in the conference call but only occasionally intervened to stop him from answering a question.

Brouillard was asked to talk about what went on in his mind during the standoff with state police. He does not say he was insane, or delusional, or that he didn't know right from wrong.

"I was scared," Brouillard said. "Although I had made that call and said what I said, to entice them with a reason to come to the park, I never expected for them to come in the force they came with. I was frozen."

In an October 2007 interview with Harvard psychiatrist James Beck, Brouillard said, "I knew the trouble I was in — a lot bigger than a probation violation. They were saying, 'It's just a misdemeanor violation, put the gun down.' But I knew it wasn't just a misdemeanor. I didn't want to go to jail. I think I knew I was going to.

"[I thought], 'I'll try to look agitated and maybe they'll shoot me. No more arguments with mom and dad, no jail.' I pretended like I was agitated, walking toward the cop. The trooper said, 'One more step and we'll shoot.' I kept walking."

Brouillard went on to tell Beck that he was not depressed, and he "adamantly denied" that he initiated the confrontation because he wanted the police to kill him, according to Beck's report.

[MaachaQ]

http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_...cid=todmsnbc11

Matching orange shirts get workers fired
By Eve Tahmincioglu

Forget about seeing red. Managers at a Florida law firm reportedly saw orange and fired everyone wearing the color.

A group of 14 workers were handed pink slips because they all wore orange shirts to work last Friday, according to a story in the Sun Sentinel this weekend. The law firm isn’t commenting on the mass firing, but some employees are claiming they were fired for the innocent act of just wanting to match their outfits.

This workplace color clash opens the question of whether workers have any legal rights when they're canned or demoted for their fashion choices.

Former employees of Elizabeth R. Wellborn law firm in Deerfield Beach, FL, said they chose to wear orange en masse last week because they were planning to go to happy hour together and wanted to distinguish themselves as a group for the night’s festivities.

A person answering the phone at the law firm who would not give her name said "we don't have any comment right now."

But a group of fired workers, who could not be immediately reached by TODAY on Monday, told their story to the Sun Sentinel last week. “We decided to wear orange,” said Janice Doble, a terminated employee and a lover of all things orange.

On Friday, she said, management at the law firm told her and the other workers that their fashion choice was considered threatening and they were all being fired as a result. “I think it was an excuse to fire all these people,” she maintained.

Excuse or not, there are few laws protecting employees when it comes to their fashion choices if workers don’t have an employment contract or are part of a union.

“Unless they are in a state with a specific law on point, such a termination would be lawful,” said Hanan Kolko, an employment attorney.

Florida, among other states, is an at-will work state and that means employers can pretty much fire you for whatever reason, except when it comes to discriminating against a particular group.

If you have to wear a certain outfit for religious reasons that right is protected under labor laws, but even then, you may be restricted from wearing certain garments if they impede the work you do or pose a safety issue.

Some employees at the law firm said they were told management saw their matching orange shirts as some sort of sign of protest. The workers denied it was a protest, but ironically, if they had worn the shirts as an act of solidarity to protest a workplace issue they may also have been protected under collective bargaining laws that protect concerted efforts among employees to better things such as wages or working conditions.

But just wearing a certain color shirt, or any other garment, because you feel like it, isn’t protected.

Most employers are pretty open-minded when it comes to what their employees can wear.

About 55 percent of employers offer casual dress at least once a week, and 36 percent allow casual dress everyday, according to a study by the Society of Human Resource Management.

So that means orange shirts, or any color, probably goes in most U.S. workplaces even if they’re supposedly a no no at Elizabeth R. Wellborn’s law firm.

Unfortunately for Wellborn, totally banning orange may be tough this year. The hot color at New York Fashion Week last month was, you guessed it, orange.

tl;dr - about a dozen workers all wore orange shirts to work so they could find each other easier at the bar later, they were fired because the boss thought it was some kind of protest.

[Cail]

i hate people...

[MaachaQ]

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/20...cid=todmsnbc11

SUV license plate 'SMUGLER' doesn't fool agents in cocaine case
By msnbc.com staff

You would think a drug runner would know better than to get into a car with a personalized license plate with the letters S-M-U-G-L-E-R.

Or that she would think twice before booking a room at the Smuggler's Inn, a mere sprint from the Canadian border.

Homeland Security agents received a tip in mid-December about a cocaine deal at a Pizza Hut in Bellingham, Wash., the SeattlePI.com reported, citing recently released court documents. They set up surveillance at the Pizza Hut and watched as a GMC Yukon with a driver and two passengers pulled in. The license plate read SMUGGLER.

Agents followed the SUV to the Smuggler’s Inn, pulled it over and found, in a large, white box, nine bricks of cocaine weighing just under 24 pounds, the P-I reported.

One of the passengers, Jasmin Klair, 20, admitted that the illicit cargo was hers and agreed to cooperate with law enforcement officials, according to court documents. She explained to agents that she had been told to book at a bottom-floor room facing Canada at the Smuggler’s Inn, a bed and breakfast with rooms named "Al Capone" and "DB Cooper." Klair wanted the "Captain's Room," about 150 feet from the border.

While agents interviewed her, she started receiving text messages from two men who had given her the job, the Vancouver Sun reported. Authorities prevailed on her to beckon the two men to the Smuggler’s Inn.

They arrived within minutes, the Sun reported, and made a run for it when police ordered them to stop.

One of the two men, Narminder Kaler, allegedly told agents that he would have received $2,000 for the deal, according to the Sun. He sorely needed it, he is alleged to have said, to pay off a $325,000 debt for losing 115 pounds of marijuana a year and a half ago.

Klair, 20, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to conspiring to distribute cocaine, the P-I reported. She will be sentenced on May 29. Kaler and Gurjit Sandhu are in jail and face similar charges, according to the P-I.

Boulé, the Smuggler's Inn owner and driver of the SUV, took the recent events in stride. Last year, 57 people were arrested going through his property.

“It’s part of life on the border,” Boulé said. “The officers go through on the hour every hour. There are sensors in the yard. We’re on camera where we live.”

[hey]

http://www.destructoid.com/priest-se...t-224340.phtml

A catholic priest, doing his bit to fulfill every negative stereotype about his fellows, recently sold a Nintendo DS and forgot to remove the child pornography that was stored on it. This classic goof led to an investigation, in which photographs of naked boys were found on his computer.
67-year-old Rudolph “Rudy” Carl Bullman admitted using the Nintendo handheld to access gay porn sites, but claimed he only ever visited pages that clearly stated the models were of age. After agreeing to let detectives search his computer, they found images of kids as young as twelve.
"Well those aren't adults," accepted Bullman. He argued, however, that the images only appeared while he was searching for other types of naughtiness. Let me just say, from personal experience, that you won't find anything but hot, legal, man-on-man action if that's all you're looking for. I find it hard to believe it was a mistake, given the rather clear distinction between children and grown, muscular, toned, beautiful men.
He's charged with felony sexual abuse of children, in any case.
What gets me though is ... a DS ... really? I mean, how desperate do you have to be for any kind of porn that you've resorted to looking at it on a f*cking DS? Now, I know I'll get accused of bias for suggesting a DS is not as good for looking at kiddy porn as a PS Vita or iPhone but ... it's not.
Sorry, Nintendo fans, your favorite handheld sucks for looking at perverted illegal filth. This priest is an idiot as well as an "alleged" pedophile. What a horrible person.

[BaneTheBrawler]

I concur that the DS is a terrible platform for porn.