I love it when people over step their authority and get caught.

The suburban Philadelphia school district accused of spying on students using school-issued laptops snapped thousands of images of teenagers in their homes, including shots of a boy asleep in his bed, documents filed in a lawsuit claimed Thursday.

In a motion filed April 15 by Michael and Holly Robbins, and their teenage son Blake, the family's attorney said Lower Merion School District personnel remotely activated Blake's MacBook over 400 times in a 15-day stretch last fall, taking photos using the notebook's camera and snapping images of the computer's screen.

"There were numerous webcam pictures of Blake and other members of his family, including pictures of Blake partially undressed and of Blake sleeping," alleged the motion. Screenshots of Blake's conversations with friends using instant messaging were also taken, said his lawyer.

The motion claimed that the LANRev software Lower Merion used to track stolen, lost or missing MacBooks took "thousands of webcam and screen shots ... of numerous other students in their homes, many of which never reported their laptops lost of missing." Among the photographs were some of a student who had a name similar to another student's who had reported a missing notebook.

Lower Merion, of Ardmore, Pa., was first sued by the Robbins family in mid-February, when they alleged that the district spied on Blake Robbins using his laptop. Later, Robbins said, a Harriton High School assistant principal accused him of selling drugs and taking pills, and used a snapshot taken by the computer as evidence. Robbins claimed the pictures showed him eating candy.

The motion filed on Thursday asked U.S. District Court Judge Jan DuBois to grant the Robbins' attorney access to the home of Carol Cafiero, information systems coordinator for the district, to seize any computers found in her home. Cafiero is one of two district employees who were put on paid administrative leave by Lower Merion in late February pending the ongoing investigation. According to her attorney, Cafiero only triggered the remote monitoring feature on school officials' orders.

Cafiero's computers' hard drives will be imaged, and the machines returned to her within 48 hours, the motion said. "There is reason to believe that evidence may be found on her personal home computer of the downloading of the pictures obtained from the LANRev 'peeping tom' technology," the Robbins' attorney argued.

The motion noted that Cafiero cited her right under the Fifth Amendment to not answer questions during a recent deposition, which she had earlier contested. "Unlike any of the witnesses asked to testify, [Cafiero] invokes the Fifth Amendment to every question asked of her, including a question asked as to whether she had ever downloading [sic] pictures to her personal computer, including pictures of students who were naked while in their home."

Watching the high school students at home via their computers' cameras was like "a little [Lower Merion School District] soap opera," a staffer said in an e-mail to Cafiero obtained by Robbins' lawyer during discovery.

"I know, I love it!" Cafiero said in a reply, the motion asserted.

In a statement Friday, David Ebby, the president of the Lower Merion school board, countered the Robbins' newest allegations. "A Motion filed yesterday by the plaintiffs ostensibly was against Carol Cafiero, but instead appears to be a vehicle to attack the District," said Ebby. "We do not feel it is appropriate for anyone other than the investigators to dictate the timing of the investigation and the release of complete findings." The district has hired a Philadelphia law firm to oversee the investigation.

But Ebby conceded that the school-issued laptops had taken a "substantial number of webcam photos," and said it had proposed to Judge DuBois that families of students who appear in those photographs be notified and given the chance to view the images.

Ebby also obliquely addressed the motion's charge that Cafiero or others used the district's technology to spy on students. "While we deeply regret the mistakes and misguided actions that have led us to this situation, at this late stage of the investigation we are not aware of any evidence that District employees used any LANRev webcam photographs or screenshots for such inappropriate purposes," said Ebby.

Earlier last week, DuBois ordered that only lawyers for the school district would have access to camera images and screenshots of students besides those taken of Blake Robbins and his sister Paige, who also attends Harriton High School. DuBois' order also said that the district would wrap up its investigation by May 4.

"We are committed to disclosing fully what happened, correcting our mistakes, and making sure that they do not happen again," said Ebby in the April 16 statement.

Neither the school district or Cafiero's attorney immediately replied to requests made Saturday seeking comment.

    I was a proud graduate of the D.A.R.E. program when I was a child. I have since learned that like the national office of drug control policy, telling the truth isn't the job of law enforcement or government agencies. Their job is to reduce the use of certain substances whether the substance is actually harmful or not. They are paid lobbyists, nothing more. They lie and propagandize people, spreading fear when they should be spreading the truth. Now I despise their kind just as everyone should because having the truth is the only way to make an informed rational decision. Don't treat people like children, telling them lies, and them expect them to trust you when they find out the truth. Legalize and tax marijuana because its prohibition is based on lies, nothing more. If you care to find out the truth it isn't hard, but beware, you will resent your own government afterward for their lies.

    The AMA, along with every other medical association has approved of medical usage of cannabis. They've also all published findings that show there's no negative health risks associated with regular cannabis use. The government simply continues to ignore these scientific findings and promotes their own profit-mongering lies and propaganda.

    I believe it is unconscionable to deny this effective medicine to sick and dying patients.

    My first introduction into the dark world of drugs was tobacco then alcohol, but of course you will find very few politicians with the courage to fight these industries, especially when these organizations are directly responsible for keeping politician’s wallets fat. Shame on you politicians! You have spit on the public trust.

    Fourteen states - Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington have enacted laws protecting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution. These laws are operating primarily as lawmakers intended and have not led to widespread abuses among adolescents or adult recreational users. Locally, nearly six out of ten Pennsylvania voters support HB 1393, according to a December 2009 poll.

    In York, Pennsylvania under a clear blue sky about 40 supporters, several in wheelchairs, held up signs for PA HB 1393; the still-active medical marijuana bill in the Pennsylvania legislature. Hundreds more showed their support by honking car or motorcycle horns, waiving, cheering and stopping by for information on an awesome spring Saturday.

    Chuck Homan is a driven local activist who has been leading a growing crowd of volunteers in public education efforts for PA medical marijuana. Homan has been featured in several news reports for his peaceful marches and protests in Central Pennsylvania; including at the State Capitol. His organization is called The Medical Movement and works with the statewide non-profit group PA4MMJ.

    Homan attended the December 2, 2009 House Health and Human Service Committee hearings for HB 1393. On Saturday March 20, 2010 the Medical Movement gathered at George Street & Route 30 in York PA. The weather could not have been more perfect.   For the 2010 kick-off to support the educational march of House Bill 1393, Chuck Homan was able to rally 38 people to educate the public.

www.pa4mmj.org has an easy-to-use system for PA residents to indentify and contact their legisaltors. PA HB1393 will have additional hearings before the Assembly Health and Human Services Committee by May 2010. At that time PA4MMJ expects the companion bill to be introduced in the state Senate.


    Public information seminars, marches and rallies are being planned from Philadelphia to Harrisburg to Pittsburgh. PA4MMJ is also seeking donations to purchase billboards on major Pennsylvania roadways.

    Homan is planning the next Medical Movement rally at the Harrisburg Statehouse on Tuesday 4/20/2010.

    Let’s talk about what politicians understand. Money. It should come to no surprise that for a majority of our country's history marijuana/hemp was a major cash export. Most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence both sold and profited from its use. But today, we treat this substance it would rob our nation of prosperity and direction. Nothing could be more false. The projected tax revenues expected from legalized medical marijuana in Pennsylvania is $25,000,000. Show me a simpler, safer and more compassionate path to this revenue than medical marijuana.

The bill

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/CFDOCS/Legis/PN/Public/btCheck.cfm?txtType=HTM&sessYr=2009&sessInd=0&billBody=H&billTyp=B&billNbr=1393&pn=1714

More information about medical marijuana in Pennsylvania can be found at

www.pa4mmj.org

http://www.phillynorml.org/

http://www.temple.edu/law/spin/forum.html

www.medicalmovement.com

    As you may tell I am 100% toward approving HB 1393.

Just like Meth and Sex, Facebook is an addiction. You can easy hide away in your living room shutting yourself off from real interaction with friends and society to be able to be in a dark room online to interact with friends and society. It’s just like the real world but more sad and pathetic. The real question is are you doing it right? Status updates and mobile uploads fill our days, but do you always need the information they supply? Do you really need to see a someone’s baby sleeping or hear about how long the line is at Walmart? Perhaps not. What if you’re the one offering up these boring little tidbits? What if you’re the one clogging up Facebook with asinine comments and making it dumber for the rest of the Intrawebs. How do you know? Easy, here are 10 Signs.

10. Depressing Status Updates
Listen, we all have bad days, no way around them. But keep in mind we really don’t care about yours.  We don’t give a flying fig if your boyfriend is a mindless jerk, or that you just don’t know if you can live this life anymore. Status updates are meant to be funny, clever and filled with completely useless information. Unless we’re going to be seeing a mobile upload of slit wrists or empty pill bottles, we really don’t care.

9. Profile Pic Is Your Dog
What part of FACE did you miss on Facebook. Part of finding friends on Facebook is seeing how they’ve changed, good or bad. Discovering an ex-girlfriend has gained 40 pounds since you broke up 5 years ago is information gold. Discovering she owns a pug is crap.

8. You’re Begging Your Friends For Cows To Play FarmVille
Listen, if we wanted to play games we’d go down to the local arcade. (Do they even have them anymore?) We’re not here to play games. We’re here to be voyeurs. We don’t want to spend the first five minutes of our Facebook experience ignoring Farm requests. We don’t have trees or livestock to give, ask again and we’ll burn your farm to the ground.

7. Unaware Everyone Can Read Your Wall
Think of your wall as a big ass bulletin board for all to see. If you post you’re eating a burrito we know it and get a little hungry ourselves. If you post you’re stuck in traffic we know it and are glad we’re not in our car. If you post that you hope your friend’s doctor visit over their hemorrhoids went well and you might miss your free clinic visit because you slept over at a stranger’s house, well… we know that too. It’s time to learn the different from a private message and the wall. If you can’t figure this out, MySpace still wants you.

6. Your Facebook Profile Pic Is Over A Decade Old
It’s hook up time! Late one Thursday night you start chatting with a new friend on Facebook. It’s going well. You have a lot in common, more than you’d think for someone you’ve never met. It’s going really well. It just might be time to meet in person.  You should recognize them from their profile picture right? Sure, if it was 15 years and 80 lbs ago. If only the ‘remove friend’ option worked at a Jamba Juice.

5. You Take Your Own “How Well Do I Know Me” Test And Get An 78
Thanks for littering our feed with the constant quizzes you take. No one cares which Disney character or ’70s actor you’re most like. But when we watch you take a quiz about yourself and get a B-, it’s really time to shut down your computer and take a long look in the mirror. When you think you’re done… keep looking. Anything to get you offline.

4. You’re A Fan Of Myspace Tom
Sure, there are a lot of moronic things to be a fan of: Bread, Shopping even clouds. If you’re completely amazed by the simple things in life, then that’s your thing. But if you’re THIS simple… you just need to go away.

3. You Get A Buzz From Sending Drink Requests
STOP! STOP! STOP! If you us another round of martinis we are sending you to FBAA (you figure it out).

2. Hacking Movie Quotes Or Music Lyrics For Your Status Updates
It’s called plagiarism or even better, lack of originality. If we wanted to know you didn’t need any stinking badges then we’d dig through your DVD collection.

1. Laughing At Your Own Status Updates
If you put LOL or HA HA in a status update then you’re officially the crappy comedian we hate that laughs at his own jokes. Go away.

ingredients: water, baking soda and white vinegar, you can cook up some homemade cleaners that'll get your place back to date-shape before she shows up. And for a helluva lot less than the cleaners you buy in the store.

All Purpose Cleaning Solution:
1 cup Vinegar
1 cup Water
1 spray bottle

Pour vinegar and water into a spray bottle and shake. Use this for daily wipe-downs of the counter in your kitchen or bathroom, or for small spills on the stove-top. If you want to add some scent use one or two drops of lemon, orange or pine oil and shake the bottle before use. These oils are great for helping to remove stains, and tea-tree and eucalyptus oil work as excellent disinfectants. Don't worry about the smell of the vinegar overpowering the essential oil. Vinegar dissolves quickly and doesn't leave behind a smell.

If you want an all-purpose kitchen cleaner add a teaspoon of liquid dish detergent and shake well before use. (For tough stains in the bathtub or toilet bowl, use straight, undiluted white vinegar.)

Furniture Polish:
1/2 teaspoon Olive oil
1/4 cup Vinegar or fresh lemon juice

Pour in a spray bottle and shake. Spray a bit onto a cloth and apply to wood surfaces. The oil replenishes the wood, helping your old furniture look like new.

Window Cleaner:
1 cup Rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
1 cup Water
1 tablespoon White vinegar
1 spray bottle

Mix in a spray bottle, shake, and use on glass or chrome surfaces. The rubbing alcohol dissolves rapidly keeping your glass streak-free. For really dirty glass, or for cleaning the outside of windows, use non-sudsing ammonia instead of vinegar. Just be careful not to inhale the fumes and to protect your hands with rubber gloves while mixing in the ammonia.