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UPDATE:  The jury has found the private not guilty of rape:

A military jury early Friday morning found Pvt. Darren W. Williams not guilty of raping and sodomizing a woman last August in his barracks room at Camp Humphreys.

But the jury found Williams guilty of disobeying a direct and lawful order. He had pleaded guilty to wrongfully leaving the post after his off-post pass privileges were revoked when he became a suspect.

The soldier has a psychologist to thank for saving him from jail:

Army Maj. Matthew Cody, a forensic psychiatrist assigned to Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, said he conducted two psychiatric evaluation sessions with the woman. Cody testified she also told him that on the day of her visit she put on fishnet-thong panties and wore no bra because she thought that would increase her appeal to Williams.

Cody said the woman told him she performed a sex act on Williams and that they had intercourse for what she thought could have been about an hour. Afterward, the woman did not want to go home, Cody said she told him, mainly because she feared her father would be angry she’d visited Williams against parental instruction.

The woman said that after they had sex, Williams called her ¿stupid,¿ which hurt her feelings and made her want ¿payback,¿ Cody testified the woman told him.

The psychiatrist said he asked her if she wanted payback for any other reasons. ¿I was waiting for her to say, `Rape!¿¿ Cody testified, but the woman said no, there were no other reasons.

Cody also disputed testimony Wednesday from Air Force Maj. Jennifer Chow, a psychiatrist testifying for the prosecution, that the woman had mental problems that made her unable to handle decisions about whether to consent to sex, and that she had developed post-traumatic-stress disorder after the incident.

Both Chow and Cody testified the woman has a low IQ of about 75.

Pretty convincing testimony and this is what I assume turned the jury towards the defendant’s favor in this case.  However, he is still in some deep trouble with the violations of direct orders given to him by his command, which will probably end it up in a Field Grade Article 15 against the soldier.  Depending on his past performance history the command may be able to chapter him out of the army if he has had past discipline problems.  However, this guy ought to just consider himself very lucky that a Field Grade is all he is probably going to end up with.

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This is why you don’t have sex in the barracks:

Lawyers at Camp Humphreys made opening arguments Tuesday in the jury trial of a soldier charged with raping and sodomizing a woman in his barracks room last August.

Pvt. Darren W. Williams, a cook with the Army¿s 249th Military Police Detachment, pleaded not guilty to rape, forcible sodomy and disobeying orders of a superior commissioned officer, prosecutors said. But he pleaded guilty to wrongfully leaving the post after his off-post pass privileges were revoked when he was a suspect in the case.

Prosecutor Capt. Yong J. Lee portrayed Williams as a ¿predator¿ who took advantage of a mentally handicapped woman in her early 20s.

The defense countered that the woman had consensual sex with the soldier, then ¿cried rape¿ to deflect her parents¿ wrath.

Apparently this girl may be autistic which the defense of course disputes.  Here is why these rape allegations are not always cut and dry:

Defense lawyer Capt. Jack Ko told the jury the case was one of a woman ¿who made a decision to have sex with someone her parents disapproved of¿ ¿ but ¿cried rape¿ when she realized MPs would tell her parents of her visit to Williams¿ barracks.

Ko told the jury the woman became acquainted with Williams when she reached him while attempting to phone her boyfriend.

Ko said that during further phone contact, the woman told Williams of her sexual preferences and pressed him to let her visit him at Camp Humphreys.

Showing the jury the woman¿s garments, Ko said that on Aug. 27, she ¿prettied herself up,¿ donned thong panties, a pink-and-white flowered tank top and pink skirt and traveled by bus to see Williams.

Once in his room, Ko told jurors, she kissed him, said she wanted to perform a sex act and had consensual intercourse.

Any of you all soldier out there with girlfriends, this is a perfect example of why you don’t bring them in the barracks and for women, why shouldn’t go to the barracks.  Even if the defense claims are true, it is hard to disprove the prosecutions arguements when the assault happened in a barracks room.  If the soldier had her agree to go to a hotel room instead and then she cried rape afterwards than the defense would have a stronger case to defend the soldier.  We will see what happens, but from what I read it doesn’t look good for the soldier.

I wonder if it is at least as good as Google Earth?:

South Korea sent a satellite into space on Friday primarily for geographical surveys but also for possibly spying on North Korea, which raised regional security concerns by launching missiles earlier this month.

The 900-kg (2000 lb) Arirang-2 satellite, launched in Russia, can take high-resolution pictures of the earth’s surface, a government agency said. Experts said it would be the country’s most advanced surveillance satellite.

“The high-definition MSC (multi-spectral camera) will be able to give real-time visual data on North Korea’s missile launch preparations or military activities, which would be otherwise unavailable,” South Korea’s Overseas Information Service said.

At present, South Korea mostly relies on U.S. spy satellites and planes for aerial reconnaissance of North Korea.

Japundit has an interesting video up of former Korean President Kim Dae-jung not allowing the Japanese Emperor and his wife to pass by him during the 2002 World Cup that is worth viewing.  For those of us who have lived in Korea before this should be familiar.

How long have I been saying this?  Michelle Wie should win a women’s tour event and at least become one of the best female golfers in the world before trying out PGA tour events.  Well now it appears some people are actually beginning to agree with me:

The ever-fickle media seem to be turning their back on the teenage golfer Michelle Wie. To take reports in the international press these days, Michelle Wie is nothing but hype. On top of a string of disappointing finishes, the decisive turn in press sentiment may have been her withdrawal from the John Deere Classic PGA event that opened on July 15. Why, oh why has the press turned against its erstwhile darling?

It was Golf World Columnist Jaime Diaz who threw the first stone. Ahead of the opening of the John Deere Classic, Diaz said in a column provocatively titled, “Wie shouldn’t compete on PGA tour,” “Unless she makes the cut, this week’s John Deere Classic should be the last time Michelle Wie accepts a sponsor’s exemption to play in a PGA Tour event until she becomes the best woman golfer in the world.” Other golfers on the same circuit were also quoted as making unkind comments.

It is not just the media but even some women golfers that are fed up with the Wie phenomenom:

Jeff Gove offered some advice: “She’s got to learn to play faster and be a little more respectful of the other players, things of that nature.” Wie was up on the chopping block at the HSBC Women’s World Match Play Championship early this month. A bewildered Pak Se-ri said at the time, “I tried to talk to her a few times, but she wouldn’t even give me a response.” The LA Times says Wie found herself going head-to-head with the men because PGA officials, her parents and the press pushed her to do so.

How could she turn her back on and ignore a fellow Korean?  I thought she was “definitely Korean”, well at least according to her dad she is.

Michelle Wie has been playing in these PGA tour events in order to build her brand name image and make money from it.  However, she is doing this at the expense of all the much better LPGA golfers out there which is effecting the image of the LPGA and their players as them being below Wie and a lesser league even though many of the golfers in the LPGA are better than her.  If Michelle Wie consistently played LPGA events and lost which she probably would her name brand image would sink dramatically but the quality of the image of the LPGA would improve because it would show how much better the other female golfers are compared to Wie.  However, by consistently playing in PGA events and losing it gives her some kind of creditbility in order to make money and that is what it is all about.

Michelle Wie is young and has unlimited potential and will have plenty of opportunity to challenge the PGA in the future, but she should at least become a serious contender before challenging the PGA.  How would the LPGA feel if golfers that couldn’t make it in the PGA joined the LPGA?  It would decrease the quality of play of the league and that is what Michelle Wie is doing compared to when a serious female golfer like Annika Sorenstam plays in PGA events.  Even a minor leaguer in baseball can strike out a big leaguer every once in a while but are they really ready for the big leagues?

So says North Korea:

NORTH Korea has defended its missile launches ahead of an Asian security forum expected to focus on them, describing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a “political imbecile” for criticising the tests.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) accused Dr Rice, who called North Korea a “completely irresponsible” and “dangerous” state for test-firing seven ballistic missiles on July 5, of distorting the facts.

However, the communist state also came in for criticism from a United Nations official who said the launches had prompted a cutback in food aid.

Dr Rice and her North Korean counterpart Paek Nam-Sun are due to attend the ASEAN Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur on Friday amid international tensions over the missile tests.

For a change, I’m glad I’m not in the Air Force:

The Air Force unveiled the much-anticipated details of the fiscal 2007 portion of its multiyear ¿force-shaping¿ plan Wednesday, announcing that 8,000 officers, mostly those in midgrades, must be eliminated from the roster by Sept. 29, 2007.

Enlisted personnel are safe from the chopping block, but 1,227 noncommissioned officers will be given a choice: switch career fields or get out of the service.

It is days like today that it feels great to be an American with Floyd Landis winning the Tour de France and Tiger Woods defending his British Open title.  You couldn’t ask for two better champions to represent our country.  In Landis’ case I wonder what doping allegations the French will come up with to slime him?

Kim Jong-il has gotten married, but it is not to who you think it is.  Can you say the Korean Wave has hit North Korea?

I’m willing to bet that this is going to work:

Worldcup Arirang Taxi Co. drivers have until Monday to return to work or face being banned as an employee for any current or future contractor with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, said union and AAFES officials.

Cliff Choy, AAFES Pacific services manager, Saturday told more than 100 protesting drivers the exchange can end working privileges for individuals via a ¿17-I letter¿ citing a worker for unacceptable performance.

I think this article does clear up what the main reason for the strike was and it is not the demand for a $105 pay raise:

The union is at odds with Arirang over a requested $105 monthly raise. On Saturday, some drivers said Arirang also wants to raise the daily quota each driver must make in receipts.

Each driver now must make $87 in fares during a 13-hour shift before splitting fare earnings evenly with the company. Drivers on Saturday said the company wants to raise that to $125.

The company raising the split earnings fare makes sense when the overall taxi fares have risen due to supposedly the increased fuel prices.  If the taxi union can at least get the cab company to keep the split earnings fee at $87 they will get a significant pay increase because the company will be bringing in more money from raising the fares.

Anyway it appears this strike is going to end one way or another real soon and good by AAFES for putting their foot down finally on this issue.  Since many soldiers in Korea cannot own a car taxis are of extra importance when serving in Korea and it will be to everyones benefit to get the taxi service operating again.

Then:

Now: