Mariesa Weber, a 38 year old Winn-Dixie cashier lived with her parents and her sister. Late in October, she came home, greeted her mother, went to her room, and disappeared. For 2 weeks, the family searched for her, believing she had been abducted. They distributed fliers and appealed for her return on television. All the while an incresingly foul odor developed in her room in the house they shared. Unable to locate her, the family attributed the odor to dead rats in the walls.

Finally, two weeks after she disappeared, her sister made a horrifying discovery. Feeling behind a bookshelf, she touched a foot. Further investigation confirmed that it was indeed the body of Mariesa. Apparently while attempting to adjust the plug to her television, Mariesa fell headfirst off a dresser and became lodged behind the bookshelf where she asphyxiated.

This reminds us of the time we got bored playing hide and seek and gave up trying to find the hider, who was ensconced in a very clever spot. Hours later, she came out, and she was quite upset. Well, now we can say to her, with great confidence, it could have been far worse. But you probably don’t want to have either us or the Webers on your search party should you go missing.

A Brazilian woman, illegally living and working in Britain, has been convicted of blackmailing a female immigration judge who had employed her. Roselane Driza also had an intimate relationship with another (male) immigration judge and stole 2 explicit video tapes from him, one featuring him and the first judge in flagrante delicto. In addition, Driza claimed that the tape showed the female judge snorting cocaine. Evidence presented included text messages from the male judge to Driza, calling her, among other things, “chilli hot stuff.”

According to the Sun, “The conduct of the Judges involved may be investigated.” Granted, we’re not familiar with the rules of English jurisprudence, or the ethical codes thereof. But it seems to us that at the very least, immigration judges who are known to have employed or engaged in any relationship with illegal aliens must immediately be removed from their positions. To do otherwise would be to make a mockery of the law. Or to prove true the words of Dickens’ Mr. Bumble: “The law is a ass — a idiot.”

Steve Silver calls it the “worst thing ever” and we can’t disagree. A young mother returned to the homeless shelter where she was staying after a night of drinking. After retrieving her baby from a sitter, she went to sleep with the baby and sometime later, vomited into a bucket of cleaning solution near her bed. At some point later, the baby fell off the bed and drowned in the bucket of vomit. The New York Times reports:

“It sounds like a tragic accident,” said Judge Alexander Jeong, as Ms. DeJesus sat before him, her face buried in her hands. But, the judge added, “there was some responsibility.”

Our reaction to this surprises even us. Though we are usually all in favor of harsh punishment, we wonder what purpose it serves here. The mother was clearly negligent, but can any punishment hold a candle to the pain she must already feel? In such a horrific case, it’s easy to demand a pound of flesh, but the harder choice, compassion, would appear to be the more proper course.

We were both amused and disturbed to learn recently from Flight Wisdom of a recent incident at Logan Airport in Boston. It seems that as part of a security drill, 8 ounces of potent plastic explosive were attatched to the bumper of a vehicle in a secure parking area. Over a week later the explosives have still not been found. During the test, a Massport employee, unaware of the drill, got into the vehicle and drove off. Nearly 10 minutes later, and a mile and a half away, the truck was found, sans explosive. Despite exhaustive searches of the airport propeincluding the dismantling of a street sweeper, the explosive remain missing. State Police assure us that without a detanator the explosives pose little threat.

We wonder: If explosives can disappear without a trace so easily during a controlled situation, how can we trust security to detect explosives carried by a dedicated attacker?

In an episode reminiscent of The Naked Gun, CNN anchor Kyra Phillips took a bathroom break during a Presidential address without having her mike turned off (video). While there, she spoke negatively of men, excluding her husband whom she praised. She also referred to her sister-in-law as a “control freak.” Phillips seems to have taken the epsiode in good humor, appearing on David Letterman’s show and delivering a Top 10 List of excuses for her behavior. We have yet to hear whether her control freak sister-in-law has taken the episode in equally good humor. Good thing she wasn’t on an airplane, the FBI would have gotten involved.