TOWANDA, Pa. -

A high school graduate was sentenced to up to two years in jail for streaking the graduation ceremony from which he had been excluded.

Russell Chmieleski, 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree indecent exposure and must serve six months to two years. Because the charge is a misdemeanor, he can stay in a county jail, rather than state prison.

The first-degree charge was made because children were in the crowd when Chmieleski ran across the football field where the Towanda High School graduation ceremony was held in June.

Police said Chmieleski was upset that school officials excluded him from the ceremony because he graduated in January.

I've seen lots of stories in the past several years about school officials trying to clamp down on graduation ceremonies by denying diplomas to those who misbehave, even when there is absolutely no question the diplomas have been earned. This is the first time I've seen a graduation prankster sentenced to up to two years in jail for antics.

And don't kid yourself - they didn't have to charge it as "first-degree," they chose to ruin the kid's immediate future. They did it for fun, and to show who's in charge. It's a great reason not to move to Towanda, PA.

Josh Marshall:

As we told you a few days ago, six Republican party staffers and campaign workers in South Dakota resigned over a burgeoning voter fraud scandal. Chief among them was Larry Russell, head of the South Dakota GOP's get-out-the-vote operation, the Republican Victory Program.

To date, no criminal charges have been filed. But the state Attorney General says the investigation is "continuing."

Today comes news, however, that Russell -- still under investigation in South Dakota -- has been reassigned to run President Bush's get-out-the-vote operation in Ohio. Russell will now "lead the ground operations" for Bush in Ohio, according to an internal Republican party memo obtained by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

And Russell's bringing along with him to Ohio three of the five other GOP staffers who had to resign in South Dakota and are similarly under investigation in that state.

Hesiod:

RED ALERT! GOP ELECTION THEFT IN OHIO

This is extremely serious and urgent. Everyone must do whatever they can to expose this, help the Ohio Democratic party, and contact the DNC and the Kerry campaign -- immediately! This could literally swing the election!

The Lucas County Democratic Headquarters was burglarized overnight, and three computers, including the party's main system, were stolen.

The computers contained highly sensitive information, including the party's financial information, names and personal phone numbers of hundreds of party members, candidates, and volunteers.

The computers also stored e-mails from candidates that included discussion about campaign strategy.

A second computer, belonging to an attorney-volunteer working to ensure voters' rights, also was taken, officials said. The headquarters on 1817 Madison Avenue does have an alarm system that volunteers believed they set late Monday when they left.

The thieves knew exactly what to steal.

And, someone with knowledge of the situation informed me that the this will seriously hamper the Democrats' get out the vote efforts in Ohio, and may dampen Democratic turnout and possibly swing the state to Bush! Lucas County is heavily Democratic, and any drop off in voter participation there will be singularly damaging to John Kerry and the Democrats.

The suspicion is that this was an inside job, because there were no valuables taken by the thieves except the computers. The belief is that the GOP infiltrated the HQ, and orchestrated another Watergate style break-in.

How I wish for the days when I could be confident it was all a coincidence.

I'm sure there's probably a shorter and equally robust way to do this, given I'm half-asleep, but I couldn't find it and it probably took me about as long to write this as it would have to have continued searching. Post improvements in comments, please.

Set playback position (AppleScript)	Friday, October 15, 2004
on string_to_seconds(timeString)    if timeString does not contain ":" then error "String must contain colon"    set colon to offset of ":" in timeString    set mins to text 1 through (colon - 1) of timeString as integer    if mins < 0 then error "Don't get cute with negative times."    set secs to text (colon + 1) through end of timeString as integer    if secs > 59 then error "No more than 60 seconds per minute, please"    return mins * 60 + secs as integer end string_to_seconds on seconds_to_string(timeNumber)    set mins to (timeNumber div 60) as integer    set secs to timeNumber - (mins * 60)    return (mins as text) & ":" & (text -2 through -1 of ("00" & secs)) as text end seconds_to_string tell application iTunes    set p to player position    set result to display dialog "Go to what position?" default answer my seconds_to_string(p)    if button returned of result is "OK" then       set newPosition to my string_to_seconds(text returned of result)       if newPosition ≤ finish of current track then          set player position to newPosition          play       else          error "You can't position past the end of the current track."       end if           end if end tell
Top | Made with Script Debugger 3.0

Most of you out there have never been a homo. Let me share a personal story to illustrate how this works for a gay person. I came out to my parents when I was in my 30s -- they were shocked, then understanding, but also a little queasy about it. The queasiness was much less about them accepting me as it was their friends accepting them.

That's the part that stings. No matter how old you get.

… It may sound like a subtle implication to a straight person -- clearly it does; even the most liberal straight pundits appear oblivious to it -- but a gay person hears it scream out loud and clear. You people still feel there's something to be ashamed of here.

One of the happiest days of my life came when one of the old ladies at my mom's Catholic bridge club mentioned what a nice young husband I'd make. My mother, in her 60s by then, laughed it off. "I don't think that's going to happen," she said. "He's gay."

I was stunned when I heard the story. It had taken her years to get to that point. And it meant everything to me. She didn't care what the bridge ladies thought. She cared more about me.

This is why everyone needs to subscribe to Salon and in general support professional, independent media. There's a referral thing that will give me an extra month for every subscription, but I have to send it to you via E-mail; let me know if you want it. Or just sign up and get a free gift subscription for a friend who really needs it, like everyone you know.