Lawmaker shows nudie pic to high school seniors

Ohio state legislator Matthew Barrett was supposed to give a group of high school seniors a civics presentation using PowerPoint slides he had prepared on how a bill becomes a law. What they got was an anatomy lesson when the computer he was using displayed the image of a topless woman. The busty photo appeared shortly after …

[Ian Ferguson]

Shock! Men like to look at porn

It's a shame nobody can admit that most men like to look at porn, even men in positions of responsibility.

Hell, if a politician freely admitted this, I'd vote for him.

Er... is that the pope?

[heystoopid]

Alas

Alas , the long arm of the plod has arrested the wrong devices , and the political wanker should be doing hard time for showing pron to such young and impressionable students !

Obviously state elected reps in that state have too much free time !

Ha ! Ha!

[Andrew Norton]

oh no!

God forbid they see some uncovered mammories. I mean, it's only the first time since they were babies. Much better if they saw someone getting their head blown off instead,,,

Damn puritans. When I was studying for GCSE English Lit, many years ago, we watched Roman Polanski's Macbeth, aged 14. That year Schindlers List was also shown as part of the history GCSE course. School district officials here in the Us would explode in a fit if they heard about that.

[LaeMi Qian]

Blame

Blame farts on the dog

and blame porn on the kids

[Misha Gale]

Seniors?

If the kiddies were seniors, doesn't that make them about 18? Or to put it another way, adults? So who gives a flying frick if they saw some 8008135?

Enquiring minds want to know, did the boobies in question belong to a certain blonde heiress named after a capital city?

[Andy]

What I'd like to know...

...is why the image in question wasn't reproduced here? Surely the world deserves to see the truth!

[Anonymous Coward]

Purantanical Bible-bashers

Er... "high school seniors", "topless woman", "Ohio State Police" ??? The mind boggles. Are these people that anally retentive?!

The average UK sixth-former (high-school senior equivalent) would not even give you the time of day for a flash of furry knickers, never mind a couple of artificially enhanced knockers so commonly displayed in certain tabloids and widely-available magazines directed at the young male reader. Ohio residents could do with a Saturday night-out in a typical UK city to widen their horizons.

[Anonymous Coward]

As a fellow American...

...this seems to me to be typically hypocritical. Endless violence and gore is ok to depict, no, promulgate, but show a nipple, and the world as we know it falls apart.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup...

As an Ohioan, we're so proud of that dolt... It doesn't take a genius to proof a power point document, nor does it take any substantial mental abilities to differientate a boob from a bill.

Once again, irrefutable proof that politicians (and lawyers) are conceived via anal sex.

[Les Matthew]

A couple of

unexpected points in that powerpoint presentation then.

[David Wilkinson]

Ohio Public Schools.

I attended a public school in Ohio and we watched the same Romeo and Juliet Film.

I remember it clearly because I wasn't paying attention and missed the bare breasts and the teacher steadfastly refused to rewind.

Oddly enough it happens to completely legal for a women to go topless in Ohio, at least in Columbus.

(Mind you, no one actually takes advantage of this fact, except during the yearly gay pride march)

[Chris]

Julie Amero, anybody?

What I would like to know is why this legislator's disk and the computer were confiscated, but he was not arrested. It seems to me to be the SAME EXACT circumstance as Julie Amero, in that children (high school seniors are mostly only 17, making them children still) were subjected to pornography. Hmm. Could it be because this was a legislator and not a typical teacher? I realize it's not the same state, but it's the same "Oh my god, think of the children!" line wherever you go. Then again, this is the U.S., Home of Hypocrisy.

To go along with the HoH, I find it amusing that women have to cover their breasts but men don't. They're the same exact thing, and with the average overweight American, even the same size. Why can't a woman bare her A- or B-cup breasts, but a man can bare his C-cup breasts? Also, why it is acceptable for National Geographic to show bare-breasted women but not other magazines?

Welcome to the U.S. Please leave your rights, logic, and common-sense at the door.

[Daniel]

@Chris

"To go along with the HoH, I find it amusing that women have to cover their breasts but men don't. They're the same exact thing, and with the average overweight American, even the same size. Why can't a woman bare her A- or B-cup breasts, but a man can bare his C-cup breasts?"

Actually, this very argument has been the basis of several successful court cases overturning public decency laws on the basis of sexual discrimination. It's been a long time, so I may have the fine details wrong here, but I believe this is the case in New York City, where women now have the legal right to be in public without shirts. Of course, this hasn't stopped the NYPD from arresting them anyway, with individual officers claiming that they were not only unaware of the (now famous) ruling, but that since it was obviously ridiculous, the women they were arresting were clearly lying to them when they quoted the ruling at them.

DAMN. FASCIST. PIGS.

-daniel

[Simon]

Snicker

Why do we need to know about their eating habits?

Or did he mean snigger?

[Sean Nevin]

Re: Julie Amero

Chris makes an excellent point. The circumstances were the same. A computer, a picture, a classroom, some giggles.

Why has the presenter not been subject to the same treatment? According to all the idealized versions of America, no one is above the law - it applies equally to all...

Oh, wait; the *idealized* version...

I remember watching "Romeo and Juliet" in 10th grade English class as well, while the scene in question (read: of interest) was brief, it was rather clear.

To comment further on how men are permitted to go topless and women are not, here in Ontario Canada, the law requiring a woman's breasts to be covered in public was repealed some years ago as well.

[Ole Juul]

This is common where I come from

My mother had tits... but then she wasn't from Ohio.

[Joe]

Don't blame me!

I love his "nothing to do with me" stance, particularly how he said that he "received the stick as a gift from an aide about three weeks earlier" - implying that perhaps it was on there when he received it... 'I have no idea about these things, I'm so innocent, butter wouldn't melt in my mouth...' etc. etc!

He's probably so used to clicking the porn folder on it that he did it automatically without thinking...

Now where's my porn-filled memory stick?

[Stuart Gray]

To David and Sean

The film mentioned was Polanski's "Macbeth", not R&J. More than just one brief bare breast scene (but then it was funded by Playboy).

Oh, BTW, why have these bloody "emoticons" appeared? Is it to pander to the part of the readership that wouldn't notice sarcasm (or as they call it "irony") if it bit them on the arse (sorry, "ass")?

Stuart

[Anonymous Coward]

Easily done.

A lot of people find it hard to keep abreast of modern technology.

[adnim]

why?

Presuming the image was of a topless female ADULT, were were the police involved?

Is it actually illegal in Ohio to view images of breasts? Is is illegal to show images of breasts to 17 year olds within the state boundaries of Ohio?

If so why has this legislator not been arrested?

Illegal or not, what a waste of police time, I expect there are real crimes being committed in Ohio with proper victims who would be grateful for the attention of these otherwise useful public servants.

[Anonymous Coward]

The police have nothing better to do?

"Ohio State Police have taken custody of the device and computer to discover exactly where the image came from."

And this was what, precisely? NOT, apparently, a pornographic image -- it was just a plain, ordinary nude.

And people PAY TAXES for police to waste taxpayer's money looking at nudes ???

Something does indeed need investigating here -- but its the police, not the picture.

[salman ali]

re:Snicker

As far as I know, snicker is a quite widely used synonym for snigger.

The chocolaty snack is called "Snickers" btw.

[dave butler]

Pretty Hippocritical

I do hope that he goes to court and faces a fourty year sentence as did that teacher as of late.

[Toby]

@Andrew Norton

I'm 17, when doing GCSE we were also shown Roman Polanski's Macbeth and Schindlers List was shown too... not to mension Sex education, and we need not go there.

[Anonymous Coward]

I cant beleive the police got involved with this

wtf has the USA become?

[J]

Police!?

Police!? POLICE!? WTF??? These people here are so uptight you can open a Coke using their asses... (I refer to one of those old bottles, for all the young ones here)

It always shocks me how it is possible that they continually show those medicals shows on TV here in the US, with all the blood and guts exposed for all and sundry, all day long, and as soon as someone pulls a Janet Jackson for barely a second it is like the world is going to end in nuclear holocaust next morning...

I myself make a point of going to the swimming pool in my Speedo, just to upset the "merkins". And I don't like to have half of my legs white anyway...

[Paul]

Hey, writer...

Nice article for a republican author...

[Simon Painter]

@Toby

"not to mension Sex education"

Clearly too much time spent watching videos and not enough time learning useful things like how to spell.

[Law]

Fun times

Fook the PO-LEASE! :)

To be honest, just wanted to play with the new image bits! yey!!

[Rob McDougall]

Nipples

Does anyone remember when Richard & Judy (british "celebrities") went up to get an award at some contrived show and Judy's nipple was hanging out?

Everyone over here in the UK just went "haha, stupid Judy" and the world kept on turning...

So, if the guy broke the law - arrest him. If not, go and bust some crack dealers or something...

[Paul Tribe]

More HoH...

This reminds me somewhat of a recent Youtube video - It was a captue of an American news broadcast reporting an alledged shooting of a suspect by the local law enforcement while he was complying with the demands of the officer involved. The footage showed in a very graphic way (albeit rather grainy) the close range violent assualt - but the victim's understandable vocal reaction to the excruciating pain was beeped out by the TV station!

Obviously swearing whilst being shot is more likely to offend the average American punter than actually being shot! ....

[Karl Lattimer]

Erm, didn't a teacher get sacked for this?

Another accidental incident caused a female teacher to get sacked IIRC, this was a reg article.

So it seems there is one law for the guv and one for the rest of the plebs.

[fon]

and I thought UK was uptight... :)

Rob McDougall: sorry to dissapoint, but we did not see judy's nips!!(though quite a lot else was seen) - when she was younger, she was quite attractive, and in later years we wondered about the relationship... from then, we now know why he still loves her! lucky guy!! (BTW if you have pics to verify, post the URL!! :) )

Smiley hater: I dont think USA has heard of irony... and most dont want to type hundreds of words when a simple 'wink and smile' ;) will do much better!!

..and in europe, sex-ed is the norm at 10, so most 'breast sightings' are considered as beautiful, and if paused at that, most students would say, 'can we get on with the lecture now, sir??' ...

[swokm]

From a sacking to the slammer

Julie Amero? Yes, more than sacked. She was convicted and faced 40 years in prison. However, the last I heard of it she was awaiting a second trial, which may yet sentence her.

The difference? She is female he is male? She is not rich, he is? He has political power, she is just a citizen (a sin in the U.S. these days apparently)? Also likely, the porn bomb the students pulled up on her computer showed *gasp* a MALE nekkid! And consensual sex! See? Totally different. Forty years hard time versus just having a laugh. It makes complete sense to me now!

Reg borrowed a great writeup from Security Focus on the matter here:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/14/julie_amero_case/page7.html

[Anonymous Coward]

Re the sacked teacher

Was she ever cleared and given a proper public apology?

By all accounts, there was no actual evidence that it was she that caused the problem. It wasn't her computer, wasn't a permanent member of the staff, she didn't even have a login of her own on it and there was plenty of evidence to indicate that others were MORE likely to be to blame.

[Doug]

jail time ..

When are they going to arrest him, like that school teacher who got charged after a Windows 98 PC was found to have porn on it ...

[Les Matthew]

@ Rob McDougall

"Does anyone remember when Richard & Judy (british "celebrities") went up to get an award at some contrived show and Judy's nipple was hanging out?"

You know, some things should be against the law. ;)

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn that AutoRun

Now I know why I always disable "Display Images" on the the "Insert Removable Media" Windows AutoRun dialog.

Not that I ever have porn on a removable storage device. No sirree, nope.

Never. No, never.

Well, haaarrrrdly ever.

[Alan Donaly]

snicker

sniggering was snickering and buggering at the same time but it just replaced one of the parent words.

First of all tits are always good to see and second what the hell kind of sloppy jackass doesn't check his presentation before he gives it even at a high school who cares what he has to say after that it's obvious he's an idiot.The police arrested a thumb drive, shifty usb appliances I always new they couldn't be trusted.

[SmokeyMcPotHead]

I guess he made...

...a bit of a boob...!

Sorry...

[Hugh_Pym]

When I was 17...

... my girlfriend showed me her breasts. Did she commit a crime. Will I be taken in hand by the Ohio state police? Will they put the squeeze on her to confess? When will this pair of felons next see the light of day? I feel myself weighed down be the enormity of these doings.

I will hold myself in readiness for the knock at the door.

[spiny norman]

MS brilliance

Presumably this only happened because of Microsoft's fabulous Autoplay feature. Pure genius.

PS I have no idea what the icon is. It appears to be Sir Ming Campbell with a halo.

[Anonymous Coward]

To all those confused..

..by the disparity between censorship of sex and censorship of violence in America.

It's simple.

1) The bible is chock-full of violence; murder, sacrifice, execution, warfare, torture and so on but there is not one hardcore threesome scene in the whole book.

2) Let's face it; "make love, not war" is hardly official US foreign policy. When George and his buddies want to screw a country out of their oil and cash they only mean that metaphorically.

Violence is holy AND patriotic, sex is not.

Explains a lot.

[Chris Adams]

Interesting strategy.

Next time I need to do a Powerpoint presentation on some tediously boring subject I'm going to start out with a picture of a topless woman to ensure I get the full attention of the audience.

[Matthew Joyce]

Snicker, snigger

Snickering and sniggering are two different words describing two different, if related, sounds. None of which is in the least bit relevant; it's the fact that the obvious El Reg goldmine has gone begging throughout all these comments. Surely the quote should not have been:

... there were several snickers from the ...

but

... there was tittering from the ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Snickers

Some of us still refer to the chocolate bar by its correct name - Marathon.

Whatever next? Paddington Bear eating Marmite sandwiches? Surely not.

[Anonymous Coward]

No sex it the bible

"To all those confused..

By Anonymous Vulture

..by the disparity between censorship of sex and censorship of violence in America.

It's simple.

1) The bible is chock-full of violence; murder, sacrifice, execution, warfare, torture and so on but there is not one hardcore threesome scene in the whole book.

2) Let's face it; "make love, not war" is hardly official US foreign policy. When George and his buddies want to screw a country out of their oil and cash they only mean that metaphorically.

Violence is holy AND patriotic, sex is not.

Explains a lot."

Um but the Bible is chock full of begatting and lying down with women etc

and I bet he felt a right tit after the presentation

[Joerg]

The lawmaker should get fired immediately, period.

And only after he got fired he could have the freedom to watch as much porn as he wants to. A lawmaker, a judge, a politician, an officer, anyone at work that does something like that only deserves to get fired. Period.

Do you porn inside your house, in the bedroom, in the kitchen, whatever you please BUT show respect for the title you got, for the job you do, for other people. Nowadays it seems that everyone wants to be a pornstar, that's the issue here.

Porn is ok as long as it's a private thing, not a public way to make people even more retarded and unable to give the bare minimum respect for both their work, society in general and other people. Period.

[Fee]

Famous last words....

....When questioned by police, did he ask "Is this some sort of bust...?"

Can I have ring back on that taxi please?

[Anonymous Coward]

Damn kodak software

I find that this sort of thing only happens when some (L)user has installed the kodak/boots/sainsburys/whatever photo viewer which will run at windows startup and produce thumbnails whenever a flash drive or memory card is inserted in a computer - annoying as hell when you just want to get on with something else that requires you putting in a flash drive.

Unfortunately we can't (fully) blame microsoft here, although I've never seen it happen on a linux machine (on which I never run a gui).

But 2 points:

firstly, as mentioned above, we need to see the picture, otherwise it simply didn't happen

secondly, if topless (or naked) women were commonplace, this would never be a problem - they would simply be seen as beautiful? people rather than sex objects... so more naked women please!

[Anonymous Coward]

Outlaw Breasts?

If they outlaw breasts, only felons will have melons!

/taxi

[Anonymous Coward]

Teacher's case hasn't officially been settled

AFAIK (I live a few towns away), the State hasn't formally dropped charges against Julie Amero.

However, it looks like the Prosecutors just want the case to quietly "disappear" at this point. When her original conviction was vacated (or whatever the proper legal term was...) the way the State filed their motions indicated they wouldn't be seeking a new trial.

You're not going to get an apology from the city, because I'm sure their weenie municipal counsel is telling them to not say anything, and the city's insurance carrier most likely is saying if you say anything, we won't pay the lawsuit. I can't imagine her attornies aren't looking at the school's insurance carrier to cough up the court costs incurred...which would've been avoided if the school was in compliance with Federal regulations.

[Shaun Vizer]

@Chris

And I quote: "(high school seniors are mostly only 17, making them children still)"

Umm yes technically, (and we all know how much the yanks like their technicalities), they are under the age of 18 but to think that none of them have seen breasts IRL would be ludicrous to the extreme.

Why would you have the police involved in something so minor, actually why is there even an article about this, unless it was written as a classic example of the over eagerness of the yanks to portray themselves as puritanical hypocrites!

[laird cummings]

Hmmm.

<< School officials in the future plan to screen class materials before guest speakers give presentations >>

Ummm, shouldn't they have *already* been doing that?

On the subject of breasteseseses, I should say that the salient points have been well and truly discussed.

Right, I'll go peacefully...

[Peter Mellor]

Celebrity nipples, biblical threesomes, and El Reg emoticons

To Les Matthew

Posted Sunday 7th October 2007 12:17 GMT

"Does anyone remember when Richard & Judy (British "celebrities") went up to get an award at some contrived show and Judy's nipple was hanging out?"

Richard and Judy are a married couple who hosted a breakfast TV programme in the UK for many years. I managed never to watch it, but I read that they were good. At any rate, they got a broadcasting award, and during their live televised acceptance speech, the top of Judy's dress fell down, revealing an all-concealing matronly bra: no nipples in sight. I saw the still photos in the papers the next day. Her wardrobe malfunction caused some hilarity, but there was no hint of the fuss there was about Janet Jackson, and no move to introduce a 5-second delay into "live" transmission, to allow instant censorship.

To Anonymous Coward

Posted Monday 8th October 2007 09:17 GMT

"The bible is chock-full of violence; murder, sacrifice, execution, warfare, torture and so on but there is not one hardcore threesome scene in the whole book."

Maybe, but there was Lot and his mates being invited out for a gay gang-bang in Sodom and offering to send his daughters down instead, handmaids standing in as surrogate wives, etc., etc.

Emoticons: Which one best expresses: "Why am I wasting my time amusing myself with this crap when I should be doing serious work?"

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: no sex in the bible

"Um but the Bible is chock full of begatting and lying down with women etc"

Well yes, but all the begetting is just a result of 'means-to-an-end' sex and if someone tries anything a little more creative their whole city gets smited with fire and brimstone and any witnesses get turned into a condiment.

They even resort to claiming a virgin birth to avoid the whole sticky issue of their God putting a bun in some virgin's oven, if that's not a clear indication of nookie-phobia I don't know what is *.

By contrast look at the Greek gods - Danae, for example, was impregnated by the god Zeus in the form of a golden shower - now that's more like it!

* my sincere apologies if I've offended anyone who truly believes in this laughable nonsense.

[Steve]

ffs

can we please get rid of these puerile images. If some readers can't recognise a joke or irony when they see it then tough. Stick with Postman Pat.

Steve

[Demian Phillips]

100% MS, no Kodac software needed.

At home, if I put in a removable drive and it gets a drive letter that I had not turned off the stupid auto play features, if windows thinks it full of pictures it will fire up the MS picture viewer and show the first image.

I have no digicam or other photo software installed and a fairly (6 month old) fresh XP install.

[Anonymous Coward]

"...not one hardcore threesome scene in the whole book."

By Anonymous Coward

To all those confused.. ..by the disparity between censorship of sex and censorship of violence in America.

It's simple.

1) The bible is chock-full of violence; murder, sacrifice, execution, warfare, torture and so on but there is not one hardcore threesome scene in the whole book.

Some in the Bible Belt daren't even admit to a twosome. "Virgin birth" & all that.