Pennsylvania Teens face Child Porn Charges -

[Martinus]

In Spain only senior bureaucrats are appointed and civil servants cannot be fired. Isn't it similar in the UK as well?

It's the same in Poland and most of Europe as far as I am aware. Only people like ministers and vice-ministers are politically appointed. The people underneath (secretaries, under-secretaries etc.) are part of the civil service and are not subject to political appointments.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I don't think there are any political appointments of bureaucrats in the UK.

At least, not directly, as a government ages it can use it's powers of patronage to promote the sort of people it favours 

[Oexmelin]

in western democracies, bureaucrats are routinely appointed by politicians (as well as fired) for political reasons.

In most of the Western democracies (including Canada), the number of such political positions is very low. Bureaucrats who displease their political masters are shuffled around or shelved. Bureaucrats may become appointed to special jurisdictions once in a while, and these positions can indeed be terminated, but these are extraordinary events. This difference between the US and the rest of the Western world (including the UK) was well noted by Max Weber in the early 20th c.

[Gbeagle]

It's hard to imagine any jury voting to convict.  I'm not familiar with this town, but it appears to be just outside Pittsburgh.  If it was in the middle of the state (which culturally resembles rural Alabama or something) I would actually see a conviction being possible.

Nah, I have relatives from Greensburg/Westmoreland County. It's filled with your standard rural western Pennsylvanians. In other words lots of genetically deficient people with mullets, disabled vehicles on blocks in the yard, and random furniture/appliances (like fridges) on the porch. "civilization" doesn't extend very much past the boundaries of Allegheny County (the one Pittsburgh is in).