Bar Masturbator Caught Vaseline-Handed

Accused of repeatedly exposing himself at a SeaTac bar, a 41-year-old man has been charged with indecent exposure with sexual motivation.

On Jan. 3, King County, Washington prosecutors claim in charging documents, Basim Salim Abdul-Rahim was seated in the bar of the 13 Coins restaurant when a bartender there noticed he was staring at her. The woman became concerned when she realized Abdul-Rahim was fondling himself.

Abdul-Rahim fled before police arrived, a King County detective said in court documents, leaving behind a container of Vaseline.

Two days later he allegedly returned to the restaurant, prompting the bartender to call the police to report that a man who'd repeatedly exposed himself was siting at the bar, according to court documents. Deputies arrested Abdul-Rahim, finding his hands coated with petroleum jelly.

Confronted by police, Abdul-Rahim allegedly admitted to frequenting the bar but denied following the bartender, according to prosecutors' statements.

Questioned about his Vaseline-covered hands, he said he'd been having phone sex with his wife, prosecutors alleged. She denied the claim but offered that her husband had previously been convicted on similar charges in Clallam County.

Abdul-Rahim, also known as James Thomas Triblett, was jailed but has since been released after posting bond.

The Beaver is Changing Its' Name

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canada's second-oldest magazine, The Beaver, is changing its name because its unintended sexual connotation has caused the history journal to become snagged in Internet filters and has turned off potential readers.
The Beaver was founded in 1920 as a publication of the Hudson's Bay Company, then a fur trader and now a department store chain. It has long since become a broader magazine about Canadian history and will change its name to Canada's History with its April issue, editor-in-chief Mark Reid said on Tuesday.

When The Beaver started publication, the name evoked only Canada's thriving fur industry. Ninety years later, the fur trade has diminished and the magazine's name has become slang for female genitals.

Readers complained that Internet filters were blocking emails and newsletters from The Beaver, Reid said. The society also had concerns about attracting readers.

"Market research showed us that younger Canadians and women were very very unlikely to ever buy a magazine called The Beaver no matter what it's about," said Reid, adding he has mixed feelings about the name change. "For whatever reasons, they are turned off by the name."

Print subscriptions to the Winnipeg-based magazine, which publishes six issues a year, range between 45,000 and 50,000. It is published by Canada's National History Society.

Changing the name also makes sense because the fur trade, while an important part of early Canadian history, isn't meaningful to all Canadians today, especially as the population's makeup has changed through immigration, Reid said.

Readers have been generally understanding about the need for the change, he said.

Florida Grandma Sent to Jail -- and Forgotten for Two Weeks

A 78-year-old Hallandale Beach grandmother ticketed for driving with a suspended driver's license spent 15 days in jail before authorities announced her license wasn't suspended and an outraged judge set her free.

County Court Judge Lee J. Seidman ordered Gabrielle Shaink Trudeau's release in December at her arraignment.

``She's handcuffed like Houdini, for the record. She's got chains around her waist, and she's got handcuffs in front around her hands as if she was some kind of a violent criminal,'' the judge said, according to a transcript. ``I want her released. I think she's suffered enough at our system's mistakes.''

Safeguards built into Broward's judicial system are designed to prevent what happened to Shaink Trudeau. But the prolonged jailing of an elderly woman with no previous criminal record over a traffic ticket has left red-faced authorities admitting they botched her case.

``We fell down and we fell down badly,'' said Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein.

Two assistant public defenders who staff Broward's magistrate court neglected to represent Shaink Trudeau -- who is indigent -- during her initial appearance the morning after her Nov. 18 arrest, Finkelstein said. And contrary to office procedure, no assistant public defender went to meet with Shaink Trudeau at the Broward County Jail.

``It was almost like she was invisible. I deeply apologize to this woman,'' Finkelstein said.

Shaink Trudeau was having a bad 2009 even before a policeman pulled her over in the 1000 block of West Hallandale Beach Boulevard on Sept. 7 for driving her 1995 green Mercury sedan too slowly.

Neighbors at the Lone Pine Mobile Country Club West said the former waitress lost about $20,000 -- nearly all her money -- to a Jamaican land-sale scam and that the trailer park was taking steps to evict her because she could no longer pay the rent. Shaink Trudeau confirmed that account in an interview at the assisted living facility in Hollywood where she now resides.

Court records show the officer ticketed Shaink Trudeau not for driving too slowly, but for driving on a suspended or revoked driver's license -- a criminal charge that carries up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The ticket required her to appear at the South Satellite Courthouse on Oct. 8. When she did not show, a judge issued a bench warrant for her arrest and set a $2,000 bond.

Shaink Trudeau's license was revoked Aug. 27 by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles for failing to respond to earlier correspondence regarding certain undisclosed medical issues, said Assistant State Attorney Hillary Gulden. The first letter was sent in March, a few weeks after Shaink Trudeau was convicted in Miami-Dade of improper backing following an accident there, Gulden said.

On Sept. 17, 10 days after her ticket in Hallandale Beach, the state received a response and restored Shaink Trudeau's driving privileges pending further review, Gulden said.

Shaink Trudeau told a reporter she understood the notice she received from the state to mean she no longer had to appear in court.

But she misunderstood. And six weeks after the warrant was issued, three brawny Broward Sheriff's deputies arrested Shaink Trudeau in her kitchen.

``They came on real strong, like I had killed somebody or something,'' she said.

Deputies took Shaink Trudeau to the Broward County Jail, where she was photographed, booked, fingerprinted and issued a standard khaki jumpsuit, jail records show.

The next morning, Nov. 19, Shaink Trudeau made her first appearance before Magistrate Judge John ``Jay'' Hurley. A video of the proceedings, in which the judge and inmates can see each other on TV monitors, shows Hurley telling Shaink Trudeau that her bond had been set at $2,000.

No court personnel called to the judge's attention the presence of an elderly wisp of a woman who needed special handling. Two experienced assistant public defenders were standing nearby, but said nothing, according to Finkelstein.

``They let a judge give this person the bum's rush,'' Finkelstein said.

Pretrial services division employees, who earlier that morning had found Shaink Trudeau eligible for pretrial release on her own recognizance, also shot up no flare to alert the judge.

Guards took Shaink Trudeau back to jail for the next two weeks, including Thanksgiving.

Shaink Trudeau says she wasn't mistreated, but was confused and wanted out.

Finally, at her arraignment on Dec. 2, prosecutor Gulden announced the state was dropping the charge because Shaink Trudeau's license was not suspended.

``On behalf of the system of so-called justice, I apologize,'' Judge Seidman said. ``I accept that,'' replied Shaink Trudeau.

Prosecutors now say they have established that Shaink Trudeau's license was in fact suspended on the day they dismissed the case. A further records check showed the state suspended it again on Nov. 26 -- while Shaink Trudeau was in jail -- for failing to obtain a medical reexamination.

Shaink Trudeau's license remains suspended today, and prosecutors have not decided whether to refile the charge, Gulden said.

Shaink Trudeau's odyssey through the belly of Broward's judicial system prompted soul-searching last week at the Public Defender's office. Finkelstein ordered retraining for several attorneys he declined to identify, but said there would be no discipline because there was no ill intent.

``She fell through the cracks,'' he said.

Judge Hurley, who said that from now on he will ask court personnel to identify special-circumstance cases that require his attention, added he wants to keep things in perspective:

``It's like when FedEx delivers a million packages a day and loses one or two. Do we really want to change the whole system because of it?''

UNFORGETTABLE TEACHERS: MRS. FANNING

Bloodmobile Expanding 'Beer for-Blood' Offer

A Tacoma Washington-based blood center offers donors a deal: Give a pint of blood, get a pint of beer.

Cascade Regional Blood Services says the promotion has worked so well at six Tacoma pubs and breweries, it's expanding its "Give blood, get beer" offer to its bloodmobile for pubs in Federal Way and Steilacoom.

Organizers say it takes all types of blood donors giving at all times to meet the demands. "We're thinking, 'pint for pint.' Its fun. we can get a new donor group," said Lauren Buchholz of Cascade Regional Blood Services.

The mobile blood takes blood, and hands out coupons for a free, cold pint. It's a fun swap and an opportunity to tap into a crowd that could help. Only 37 percent of the population is eligible to donate blood, and just 5 percent of those eligible do.

"I hate it every time but I do it, because it's for the babies," said one blood donor Lejuana Tennyson. Tennyson gives blood every two months. Hers is a rare blend off blood that newborns need. But the experience makes her cringe, and she brings a book and looks the other way.

For her, the promise of a free beer doesn't make things any more pleasant. "Seems like such a strange combination - give blood drink beer," she said, laughing. "I guess for some, it would help."

Monkey Outperforms 94% of Russian Bankers with Her Investment Portfolio

They are paid a fortune for their ability to make complex decisions about where to invest millions of pounds every single day.

But perhaps the job of an investment banker is not quite as difficult as it might seem.

A chimpanzee in Russia has out-performed 94 per cent of the country's investment funds with her portfolio growing by three times in the last year.

Moscow TV reported how circus chimp Lusha chose eight companies from a possible 30 to invest her one million roubles - around �21,000.

'She bought successfully and her portfolio grew almost three times. She did better than almost the whole of the rest of the market,' said editor of Russian Finance magazine Oleg Anisimov.

He questioned why so-called financial whizz-kids are still receiving hefty perks for their expertise. Everyone is shocked. What are they getting their bonuses for? Maybe it's worth sending them all to the circus.'

JOKE: An Irish daughter had not been home for over a year.

An Irish daughter had not been home for over a year.
Upon her return, her father cussed her, "Where have ye been all this time? Why did ye not write to us ? not even a line. Why didn't ye call? Can ye not understand what ye put yer old Mother thru?".
The girl, crying, replied, Sniff, sniff...."Dad. ...I became a prostitute..."

"Ye what!!? Out of here, ye shameless harlot! Sinner! You're a disgrace to this Catholic family, so yer are."

"OK, Daddy-- as ye wish. I just came back to give Mammy this luxurious fur coat, title deeds to a ten bedroom mansion plus a �5 million cheque.. For me little brother Seamus, this gold Rolex. And for ye Daddy, the sparkling new Mercedes limited edition convertible that's parked outside, plus a membership to the Limerick Country Club......... .................. (takes a breath)..... ........ and an invitation for ye all to spend New Years Eve on board my new yacht in the Carribean and... ."

"Now what was it ye said ye had become?" says Dad.

Girl, crying again, Sniff, sniff...."A prostitute Daddy!" Sniff, sniff.

"Oh! Be Jesus! Ye scared me half to death girl! I thought ye said a PROTESTANT. Come here and give yer old Daddy a big hug."

10Q JB