Blog: drugs

Not Much Room in Here

2010-03-22T19:15:00.000+02:00

A man who returned to his house in Southfields, Northampton on the 7th December last year because he forgot his wallet found a homeless Romanian couple and their child had moved in. The victim, who lives in a two bedroom house in Southfields, Northampton, discovered Mihai and Laura Dediu moving his belongings. Judge Richard Bray sentenced the pair to 12-month orders and 100 hours unpaid work saying that it appeared the country was going back to Dickensian times. The Romanian couple, now of Great Gull Crescent, Southfields, who do not speak English, told police through an interpreter they thought the house had been empty for some time and they could squat there. Seeing as neither speak English, it is questionable that they should be in the country at all. Although Romania is in the EU there are restrictions on Romanians coming to the UK.

Pete Doherty Arrested in Connection with Northants Heiress Death

Anti BNP campaigner and ‘Musician’ Pete Doherty has been arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs following the death of Robin Whitehead, 27, from Pytchely. The body of Miss Whitehead, granddaughter of the late Teddy Goldsmith, founder of The Ecologist magazine, was discovered at a flat in Hackney, east London, on January 24 after paramedics answered a 999 call. Doherty, a ‘friend’ of Miss Whitehead, said he was “shocked and saddened” following her death. With friends like Doherty, who needs enemies? Why is Doherty free to wander the streets? The man, and I use the word loosely, has shown time and time again that he is a liability to himself and others and should be locked up for his safety and ours.

Health and Safety Gone Mad

Northants Police have to undergo ten hours of health and safety training before they can use push bikes. Plans to bring back police officers on Mountain bikes in the Kingsley and Parklands area of Northampton have now had to be put back to Summer because of the training. Last year, a group of cycling police officers from across England, Wales and Northern Ireland received national ridicule after drawing up a 93-page guide on how to ride a bike. The document told officers how to balance, brake and turn safely as well as suggesting they wore padded shorts to protect their bottoms. Northamptonshire Police has not said if any similar advice is given in its training sessions.

Lying Pondlife Strike Again

One group of anti-BNP campaigners in the county appear have whipped themselves into a frenzy because one of them, or possibly a friend, received a leaflet. In their blind hate for us, they are incapable of seeing their own idiocy. They say that it “Seems the local BNP wasted their time delivering their General Election leaflets around the town.” before moaning that it did not mention the candidate or the General election. Could this be because they missed the ‘bleeding obvious’, it is not a General election leaflet, it is a general warm -up leaflet. They then go on to say that the black and white insert contained a “photo of the American family the BNP claim as the ‘real face of BNP’”. I am sure Nick Cass, a proud Yorkshireman, and his family would not take too kindly to being described as American. This just goes to show that these idiots do not know which photos are what and just blindly copy whatever is on their Searchlight list of mistruths about the BNP. They then say that “the publisher seemed to forget to put ANYTHING other than ‘race’ on their propaganda”. What these idiots cannot seem to grasp is the difference between ‘race’ and ‘immigration’. The leaflets do not mention race at all, they do mention immigration. We know through the number of enquiries and comments we have received, that more and more people are agreeing with us.

[Via http://northantspatriot.wordpress.com]

Dutch among lowest cannabis users in Europe-report

2010-03-22T11:25:00.000+02:00

The annual report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction was published late last year, so while it´s not exactly ´hot off the presses´ news, the study´s findings and conclusions are well worth mentioning.

The Dutch are among the lowest users of marijuana or cannabis in Europe despite the Netherlands’ well-known tolerance of the drug, according to a regional study published. Among adults in the Netherlands, 5.4 percent used cannabis, compared with the European average of 6.8 percent, according to an annual report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, using latest available figures.

A higher percentage of adults in Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and France took cannabis last year, the EU agency said, with the highest being Italy at 14.6 percent. Usage in Italy used to be among the lowest at below 10 percent a decade ago.

Countries with the lowest usage rates, according to the Lisbon-based agency, were Romania, Malta, Greece and Bulgaria.

Cannabis use in Europe rose steadily during the 90s and earlier this decade, but has recently stabilised and is beginning to show signs of decline, the agency said, owing to several national campaigns to curb and treat use of the drug.

“Data from general population and school surveys point to a stabilising or even decreasing situation,” the report said.

Source: Reuters.com

Read the full report.

[Via http://marijuanacannabis.wordpress.com]

So you just laid a bunch of teachers off? Buy some art books with the money you saved!

2010-03-19T19:48:00.000+02:00

[Via http://oroville.wordpress.com]

Clarky Cat Is On The Loose

2010-03-17T11:40:00.000+02:00

And so it begins...

It is extremely unfortunate, or perhaps richly ironic, that the drug mephedrone, making headlines this morning because of the tragic deaths of two teenagers who had taken it, has the following nicknames: “M-Cat”, “MC”, “mieow” and “meow”.

Because, when I heard this, my mind turned to thoughts of yellow bentines, cake (the made up drug) and, of course, clarky cat.

Satirised by Chris Morris and the Brass Eye team almost 13 years ago, in scenes that caused great controversy at the time due to the willingness of popular figures to lend their names to a campaign that was entirely fictitious, the problem now is that satire ceases to be funny if it’s actually true.

I have no doubt that mephedrone is indeed dangerous if you stick it up your nose. I imagine snorting most things are. Cillit Bang, Mr Muscle, soap powder…

What worries me is that we are now in danger of witnessing yet another full scale moral panic regarding a drug which has been the result of no research, no previous media information, with the resulting effect that almost the entire population know nothing of it.

That is where things start to go wrong. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so too do the media.

Into this void we are going to see endless tales of the “dangers” of mephedrone. Politicians will jump on the bandwagon. There is even talking of classifying this drug as Class A, and yet you have Peter Mandelson admitting this morning that he had previously no knowledge of it.

Perhaps in a month or so, or less, we will be seeing celebrities coming out to warn da yoof about the dangers of this drug. And, naturally, the celebrities will know no more than anyone else.

Evidence. Evidence. Evidence.

I wrote about this same subject before when Professor Nutt resigned from government’s drug advisory panel. Where drugs are concerned, if we must be going down the route of prohibition (being a crazy liberal, I am unconvinced), the best we can do is to do things thoroughly. Yes, there will always be a political decision, and there will be variations in human physiology, but science is pretty damn good in fields like this, and we should use all the tools at our disposal.

But since that’s not going to happen, and with an election imminent, democracy is once again going to be exposed as a failure when it comes to resisting short-term bouts of populism. I’ll bet even the Lib Dems will find it hard to resist the tidal wave of calls for a ban. After all, would you want to look like the outsider on an issue like this?

No. Not when we’re going to have the Daily Mail and Express, with a dash of The Sun and Sky News dictating the agenda.

But still. As long as we all don’t have to live with arms that feel like a couple of fortnights in a bad balloon.

[Via http://futilitymonster.wordpress.com]

Whites Say Coverage of Jackson's Death Seen As Excessive

2010-03-17T03:39:00.000+02:00

Blacks Track News of Icon’s Death Much More Closely than Whites

This article apparenlty breaks down the numbers on what race is following the story more closely and who thinks there is too much coverage. I thought it didn’t matter “if you’re black or white hee hee!”? There is way too much MJ coverage, and yes I am white. I don’t give a fuck if you are purple, yellow, brown, or green. There is too much MJ coverage. I can’t even get the local fuckin’ news until 20 minutes into it because of this damn guy. Lets face the facts, I have never seen the media give more coverage to a drug addict who OD’d in my entire life. Bury the muthafucker already, please. And why was Al Sharpton at the ceremony? He just likes to stick his neck in everything doesn’t he? Now you can disagree with me on this all you want, but lets break it down for you to show those who do disagree with me just how ignorant you are and why you are everything wrong with America. American’s were polled this past week which stories they followed most closely, the results:

Michael Jackson Death: 31%

Health Care Reform: 19%

Iran: 18%

Ok, get my point. Whether you are black or white, you are pathetic. You spend more time caring about a story on the death of a petafile who slept in the same bed as little boys than you did on IRAN? And health care reform in your own country?!?!?! Are U FUCKIN’ KIDDING ME?!?!? This country should be ashamed. No wonder why we are the laughing stock of the world.

[Via http://thebreezy1.wordpress.com]

NWCHCA Hosts MPD Presentation on Drug Awareness Tonight

2010-03-15T11:41:00.000+02:00

According to Northwest Columbia Heights Community Association president Cecilia Jones, if you are concerned about drugs and drug culture in our neighborhoods, you won’t want to miss tonight’s meeting. A description of the meeting from an email distributed to various listservs is below:

A seasoned MPD Detective will give a “show-and-tell” presentation to help us recognize the different types of drugs in our community. We will learn more about drug distribution methods, pricing, and drug paraphernalia associated with crack cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and the most serious growing threat, PCP. You will learn ways to recognize the signs of drug use, and know which drug is being used through distinguishing features or behaviors–heroin, crack cocaine, PCP, crystal meth, marijuana, or others.

There are also many unexpected ways that children and teenagers are getting high. We will learn what parents and concerned adults should know to keep our young people from becoming addicted to drugs.

After the drug awareness presentation, to complete this topic, we will have a discussion about substance abuse recovery with a panel of providers: Neighbors Consejo, Second Genesis and Gospel Rescue Ministries.

[Via http://parkviewdc.wordpress.com]

Of a recent Tuesday

2010-03-15T03:54:00.000+02:00

I’d just wrapped up a busy day of aerial rope class, brunch with a friend (both of which are becoming part of a lovely weekly routine. Added benefit-friend is a goldmine of sexy material to impart with you later. We’ll even call her Goldie from now on for it) Then home for a quick bubble bath and a wank, back out for a theatre type meeting and delicious lychee-tini with a theatre type friend. I was done for the day, ready to go home, feed the cat, go to bed. Then I got a phone call from a friend. He lives in the Bronx, whilst I am in Brooklyn. He may as well be on Pluto. This night in was in my neighborhood, drinking wine, taking pictures of naked people, running around naked with said people. Come over, he insisted. You’ll have a blast, he proclaimed. When I got off the phone, my theatre type friend said “That’s how you know you’re an artist, when you have to ask if you HAVE to get naked before going to a party.” Bronx had assured me it was only if I wanted to.

I sploosh in the rain through nine or so extra blocks to get to the address Bronx had given me. He comes down to let me in scantily clad. I come up to find 4 young women in various states of nudity huddled around a computer you-tubeing 80’s music videos. There are magnum sized bottles of wine scatter about the room, some empty but many not. There are more bottles than people. I am given a large glass immediately by the only other man there, besides Bronx. He is wearing boxers and fairly drooling and the only thing I remember him saying that night is “It’s about time for that shirt to come off.” in reference to me. I am introduced to the girls, R, V, L, and E. L and I set our sights on each other immediately. She has a large tattoo on her chest, is wearing only girl boxers, smallish breasts and perfect thighs. Her hair is at least four different colors, all of them common to a fire or a sunset. Firehead kept my glass full and danced in a raverish way meant to be sexy but that only appealed to me in an awkwardly endearing way.

There was a photo-shooting area, a tripod aimed at a white wall with one studio light. We kissed against the wall Bronx took photos, both our exhibitionism inclinations rising, bubbling rapidly on our merging bodies. She took my shirt off. I’d been resisting, wanting to be the misfit in a pack of misfits. She choked me in the hallway, pressed so hard against the wall my feet almost rose off the ground. We paused to get more wine. She told me it would be so hot if she could shotgun pot smoke into my mouth. I thought one hit of second hand smoke wouldn’t do much.

Terrible mistake. My neck and ears went warm and tingly, a sure sign I am stoned. I whisper this to Bronx in an urgent way, but he laughs. He doesn’t understand the severity of this disaster. I can hold my liquor, I can stay up all night on coke, I can pop pills and wash ‘em back with whiskey, I’ve enjoyed acid, ecstacy, and mushrooms.

But one hit of marijuana, and I’m anxious, paranoid, panicked and guilt ridden. William Burroughs called it simply The Fear and he got it from pot too. The most famous junkie of literature and I are kindred spirits.

Firehead thinks it would be a good idea to take me into the bedroom to cuddle and calm me down. Instead we start a session of very hard heavy petting, rubbing through our panties while my head spins into another universe and I barely notice that I’ve come.

I stop to make a painfully heartfelt confession to her about her beauty, her youth, the power dynamic of what’s just happened. She says she needs to sit up, and leaning over from the foot of the bed, she vomits all over the mixed up pile of 7 naked people clothes in a make shift coat check.

The silver lining is that my fear instantly sstops as I kick into caretaker mode. Clean up the puke, get her to the bathroom, clean her up, get her some water.

Once she’s safely in bed witha friend to tend to her, though, I panic. I put on the clothes that don’t have vomit on them, or perhaps only very little. These are rainbow striped long johns, a peacoat and a newsie cap. No shirt, no bra, no pants. It’s only 11 pm in California so I call my ex-boyfriend and hiss/wail into the phone “I just got stoned and made out with a teenager!”

Side note-Born in 1990 folks, I’m not a pedophile. He even pointed out that she could have been 20.

He laughs as I begin to hyperventilate, but agrees to stay on the phone with me as I take my half dressed ass out into the wiles of Brooklyn at 2 am, find a towncar, and take it home. I thanked him endlessly for talking me through what seemed like hours, but I realized the next day of course was under 20 minutes.

[Via http://bottledamory.wordpress.com]

TPD: Drugs, a Mother and an almost Fire

2010-03-12T11:57:00.000+02:00

Friday 5 March 2010

It’s Friday night and I have big expectations. Something hectic better happen tonight, I think somewhat guiltily. I don’t want anyone to get hurt but I’m quite anxious to see how the volunteers respond to a real crime situation. Tonight I’m patrolling with Simon* and Andrew*, two big guys who like to drive fast. They’re both polite and I chat for a long time to Andrew, a fellow photography enthusiast, about our beloved DSLRS.

I’m also feeling a bit under pressure as it’s the first night that I’m shooting with the camera. As an inexperienced camera operator, it’s quite a challenge getting good quality sound and visuals, at night while chasing around in cars, as well as still ensuring that the subjects are comfortable in front of the camera. This was almost impossible. I hope that with time my camera technique will improve. I’ll just have to go on more patrols to practice.

I don’t have to wait long until we are called to a scene involving drugs. Feeling a little bored, the guys contact the police on the radio to find out if they need support. They tell us to meet them a few minutes away at a scene where a young mother is threatening to burn the house down.

We arrive first and Melanie* a CPF volunteer, former police officer and trauma counselor enters the house with the police to try and calm the woman down. The grandparents of the child are currently taking care of the young mother’s child. She wants to take the child back and is threatening to burn down the house if her parents don’t give it to her. This is why they called the police. The woman was hysterical and had to be controlled by the police. They searched her room and found drugs in her possession.

While this was going on inside the house, a group of more than 20 CPF volunteers and local residents were waiting outside, chatting with other police officers. I try to get closer with the camera to document the conversation but the police move out of the shot. Clearly they don’t want to be filmed.

The woman comes out of the house with her hands handcuffed behind her back. She’s crying so loud that we can hear her. It’s hard not to feel sympathy for her. Clearly, the police feel the same when they decide to let her off with a warning instead of arresting her for possession as initially intended.

This is much to the dismay of the locals. They want drugs out of their area. They think that this woman is going to cause more trouble in the future, which she does, the very next day but that’s a whole different story.

[Via http://nightwalkingtruths.wordpress.com]

DAY OF PRAYER FOR BURMA - 14 March 2010

2010-03-12T03:54:00.000+02:00

LER PER HER

A COMMUNITY SCATTERED

Burma Army forces and their proxies attacked Ler Per Her IDP site in June 2009, driving over 1,000 people from their homes and across the border into Thailand. Homes were burned down and the school destroyed.

With the destruction of their homes, schools, and churches, our friends are now homeless. The first time we were in Ler Per Her was in 1997 before it was an IDP site. We were on a relief mission to give assistance to IDPs further west in the Dawna Range. At that time Ler Per Her was a cluster of huts by the Moei River where all was calm and beautiful. I remember looking over my shoulder at the mountains we had just come down and thinking, ‘this place could go anytime’.

This recent loss of Ler Per Her is another in the progression of attack on and destruction of Karen communities. Ler Per Her was important as a place of Karen freedom in the midst of an oppressive country. It was also a place where others could share in their lives and taste some of that freedom that is so rare in Burma. Where boats plied the river, men fished, mothers washed clothes and children ran through the shallows. Most of all it was home for the families who lived there. The enemy came and they shot and they burned.

The families who fled need prayer, help and hope.

On March 14, 2010 take a few moments, wherever you are, whatever your beliefs, to say a prayer for the people suffering in Burma at the hands of a brutal dictatorship.

To see the full report:

Global Day of Prayer for Burma

[Via http://refugefilms.wordpress.com]

Gay Porn Star Zapped To Death By Police.

2010-03-10T11:50:00.000+02:00

A simple early morning disturbance call ended with the death of a gay-porn actor. And it was all captured on video.

Deputies with the Bay County Sheriff’s Department in Florida arrived at the Executive Inn after Andrew Grande (known professionally as Dustin Michaels), 23, allegedly got into a fight with a female friend, according to Panama City Beach’s WJHG.

Police attempted to handcuff Grande, who had reportedly swallowed a bag of marijuana. When he resisted, police tasered him.

A camera crew from Zoo Productions was at the scene and captured the moments before the incident, as well as after.

Once he was struck by the powerful electrical jolt, Grande yanked the wires from his chest but showed signs of choking. Police tried to help, with one performing the Heimlich maneuver.

Every effort by police to remove the object from Grande’s throat failed. Paramedics later arrived and removed the bag, but it was too late.

Grande was pronounced dead at Bay Medical Center.

“It’s a tragic situation for our officers,” said Sheriff Frank McKeithen, and “a tragic situation for this young man and his family.”

However, he said, it never would have happened had Grande co-operated with police.

“If he’d … allowed them to handcuff him, it would have been over,” the sheriff said. “This would not have happened.”

WARNING: BELOW VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT!

“The BklynBandette.” Mr. Hollywood’s Co-Defendant.

[Via http://heavenhollywood.wordpress.com]

GOT TO ADMIRE PFIZER MANAGEMENT………

2010-03-10T03:35:00.000+02:00

Over the past few weeks several articles have appeared in the pharmaceutical and lay press describing the latest rumors regarding the pending sale of Ratiopharm, the German based privately held generic drug company and companies such as Teva, Actavis and Pfizer, each reportedly lining up its bids and the supporting financing to make a bid for the assets of Ratiopharm.

Early in the process a number of other companies were checking out Ratiopharm and evaluating whether or not this opportunity fits well for the “buying” company. The price tag has always been in estimated at being at the high end of US$3 billion which is a significant investment for most companies.

The recent rumors state that Pfizer, Teva and Actavis are the only ones left at the alter ready to consummate the acquisition and that Pfizer is thought to have to lead position within this group.

The current bids seem to have gone north of the original estimates and are now thought to top almost US$4.1 billion.

Assuming that Pfizer is successful in this quest my only word for Pfizer has to be …..Congratulations!

This is truly a significant move on the part of Pfizer. Certainly a game changer for the whole industry both generic and brand.

Why do I think and say this?

The situation analysis is that:

Pfizer has started a generic division/effort a few years ago and it is slowly progressing towards the achievement of its goals. It had to recruit a number of people from the generic drug side of the business.
Ratiopharm has been a very successful generic company around the world, achieving a rank of #3 or #4 in Canada in terms of revenue (very close to Mylan).
- The patent cliff (as published by Tracy Staton- FiercePharma, January 22, 2009) has more than 100 pharma patents that expired by the end of 2009. Many of those were not so newsworthy. But 13 of them are, and they include GlaxoSmithKline’s herpes treatment Valtrex, bipolar remedy Lamictal, and migraine drug Imitrex; Johnson & Johnson’s epilepsy/mood drug Topamax; Forest Laboratories’ antidepressant Lexapro; and Roche’s transplant drug CellCept.
- Our 2010 patent expiration list also includes drugs whose patent actually expires, but managed to get a six-month extension due to pediatric exclusivity include Cozaar/Hyzaar (Merck); Lipitor 2011 Pfizer); Flomax (Boehringer Ing.); Arimidex (AstraZeneca); Climara (Bayer); Aricept (Pfizer); Invirase (Roche); Hycamtin (GSK); Protonix (Pfizer); Levaquin (janssen-Ortho).
- Overall, however, there are two companies most likely to be hard-hit by this year’s cliff, Global Insight concludes: GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer. Novartis and Takeda are close behind. Some believe that just a few of the drugs falling off that cliff have enough market potential for generic drugmakers to pursue them in a big way. I would not bet on this idea.
Major branded products coming off patent soon represents a value of over US$140 billion dollars by 2016 (Datamonitor forecast) in the very near few years that Pfizer will be able to participate in with generic offerings around the world.
Pfizer management has not participated in the generic business until just recently. With the acquisition of Ratiopharm they acquire the skilled talent at the development, registration and marketing/selling of generic drug products head to head against entrenched competitors like Apotex, Teva and Sandoz.
Pfizer can generate a lot of goodwill politically by announcing the retention of work forces around the world, associated with Ratiopharm, unlike the other 2 bidders who would use the acquisition of Ratiopharm as a way to consolidate operations in some countries and gain a presence in others.
In Canada, the Pfizer purchase of Ratiopharm will mean that most if not all the Ratiopharm work force will have jobs. The situation would have been quite different if Teva succeeded in acquiring the business unit. Recall, Teva owns Novopharm Canada, the #2 player in Canada in terms of generic drug domestic revenue.
It is my opinion if Teva were to buy Ratiopharm they could in fact spin off the Canadian company elsewhere as they really do not need to buy it to get share in Canada. Rather the Ratiopharm purchase would be to buy presence for Teva in places where Ratiopharm is active and Teva is not.

Why do I say game changer?

With that aforementioned cliff nearing, we can expect to see all kinds of deals and wheeling –and -dealing on generics. Drug makers may launch their own authorized copycats or work out all kinds of deals with generics makers, the general idea is the same: Cut those losses.

These deals will probably get even more creative as time goes on and generics makers have more leverage. The Pfizer purchase of Ratiopharm could be a major example of a

world wide branded company response.

Pfizer now becomes very dominant in both major segments of the Pharma industry, branded products and generic products. Pfizer will be in a position to launch a generic version of Lipitor® (world’s biggest selling drug, as a branded generic well ahead of anyone else can and get the 180 day exclusivity in the USA available by law for a first generic. Pfizer will also save itself millions of dollars of legal fees as it will not sue itself to prevent generic entry as would normally be the case for Pfizer branded products).

Pfizer will see an overall decline in its margin as a result of this acquisition but it will also see a significant rise in its top line sales and it will also see its prescription (Rx) share for each molecule also increase. Pfizer’s dominance in the overall pharmaceutical marketplace will be greatly enhanced by this move. Shareholder value should also be enhanced.

For an industry which is still relatively fragmented and rushing to consolidation, the strategy pursued by Pfizer is very correct.

Well done.

The interesting question remains, Can Pfizer actually leave the Ratiopharm operation alone and let it run as an international and multi-national stand alone business unit, as it should, without imposing the cost allocations and the policies and procedures from a brand company like Pfizer – which will choke the entrepreneurial nature of the generic drug business unit?

Let’s all hope so.

Comments – Questions – Other Points of View?

[Via http://christopherneuman.wordpress.com]

Release Order: Mar 1

2010-03-08T03:33:00.000+02:00

Hands are being shaken, fists are being pounded and hugs are given freely. Yet with each gesture of saying goodbye, I lack the genuine feeling of appreciation and longing that most people have. Simply, I perform the acts, mostly out of etiquette, so that I appear somewhat humane. In actuality, I could care less.

“Thanks for everything, I really appreciate it.”

“Give me a call when you get out . . . You have my number right?”

“Good luck with everything, I’ll see you when you get out.”

. . . And so forth and so forth. I haphazardly gather my things, throwing them in the “Department of Corrections” clear plastic bag provided by my tax dollars. Today is my release date and I can’t say that I’m truly happy leaving the prison system. I don’t think I’ll miss the mismatched colors of sea green and beige, or the fact that everything is bolted to everything else for the sake of safety, however, I am going to miss the people. Yes, I can’t believe that I’m sayin this but I will be missing the murderers, druggies, and burglars that I’ve grown close to. I have to admit that prison life does have its charm. I received three meals a day, a shelter with complementary water and power, and the occasional shanking here and there. Well no, I can’t say I ever witnessed a shank, but its true that that’s all prisoners talk about. Shanking and drugs, drugs and shanking and when they’ve fully tired out the two topics, oh yeah, drugs, mainly ice.

“James, pack your shit and get the fuck out!” The officer opens the steel door with reinforced bullproof glass to the block’s day room and yells out for me.

It’s time for me to go and I’m still procrastinating. I’m stuffing my face with food purchased from the prison store, also known as the canteen. I still can remember the Korean guy that operates it, ridiciously spiking the prices, because lets face it, its not like prisoners have anywhere else to shop. We can’t go to the mall on the weekends or a casual stroll to the convenience store. Although, rumors amongst the detainees state that if a person escapes and returns within twenty four hours, an additional charge won’t be placed on his record. So technically, if all is true, I CAN stroll to the convenience store and get some goodies. I need to find my pliers . . . wait what pliers? I need to escape to the hardware store first. Um, let me think this through.

I don’t know why I’m stuffing my face, but for some reason, I get a sense of feeling that I won’t be eating when I enter the real world once again. I’m eating pop tarts, chips, pizza, whatever I can get my hands on. I think I’m going into panic mode. Fellow detainees are entering my cell.

“It’s time to go James, the cops are calling you.”

“Hold on, I’m really hungry.” I replied.

“You’re getting out, why the fuck are you eating. Eat at your favorite restuarant.”

“I don’t know, but I’m really hungry right now. You want some?” I offer him a piece of a poptart. “Wait here take the box, I’m not going to be here anymore.”

“No shit.”

I make sure to check every corner for my things. I check behind the small table and chair set bolted to the wall, under the beds that are bolted to the wall, and near the sink that is also bolted to the wall. Everything I need is in the bag and I’m ready to go. I call my only good friend Kaipat over.

“I want you to have this.” I hand him my gray cotton blanket, brought in from the outside. It’s special because it’s from my house, and not some bullshit sheets from the government.

“Thanks, I’ll see you out there when I get out.”

For some reason, a spasm hits my chest when those last words are uttered. I give him a weak smile and wonder, if I would ever see him out anytime soon. Will I really see him out there in the real world? He’s being charged with murder. Glimpses of his wife and children during visitation hours rush through my head. Such a loving family. I remember and confirm to myself that he’s innocent and in time, the system will unearth his innocence. Surely, I will see him. Surely.

[Via http://theotherjames.wordpress.com]

Got some genuine Ray Bans!!!

2010-03-08T03:19:00.000+02:00

Im in love with these Ray Bans!

Ok so I know that ive been neglecting all of my readers for the most part of this week, and I would like to say I’m sorry, I’ve been going through some unneeded drama. But today my life got a little brighter when I acquired some genuine Ray Ban sun glasses for free! So yesterday I went out grocery shopping with my step mom and aunt and when I was helping my aunt take groceries in her house I saw this pair of large metal aviator Ray Ban sunglasses that I fell in love with and I wondered where she had gotten these sunglasses at. I picked them up to look to see if they were the “Real Deal” and to my amazement they were! So I went on with my business and didn’t think anything of them for the rest of the visit. When I had gotten back in the car I told my step mother about these glasses and how I wanted a pair of them. I went home last night and look for them on Rayban.com and found that they cost $139 so I knew that I had to get a job if I wanted these glasses. I went back to my aunt’s house today with my step mother to pick up my little cousin and my step mother saw the glasses and say to my aunt “Josh was wondering where you got those sunglasses at he liked them”, my aunt then says “Well do you want them? I never wear ‘em and they only cost $8″. I heard this and was shocked that she had gotten a pair of real $139 Ray Bans for $8 and that she was willing to give them away so easily, so I said “Sure ill take them but how did you get them for $8?” and she looks at me dead seriously and says “A crack head came around a few months ago looking to sell them for $20 so he could use the money to buy drugs and terry (her ex boyfriend) said to him I only got $8 and $8 is enough to get a fix”. So after a bad week and an even worse weekend things seem to be looking up! Leave a comment if you have ever gotten an amazingly great deal.

[Via http://joshuaclary.wordpress.com]

Health Care and...

2010-03-05T19:52:00.000+02:00

If we need the Government to control all things healthy what will become of us? Let us hope that National Health Care works for all of us…And! Back at the Ranch.

Will we dance into the drug of slavery?
Will we be ruled by a tyrant?
Will we become an ignorant mass below Ivory Towers’ stupid genius?
Freedom from Hospitals’ bills (presently no job – no money and blah – hugs).
Will the taxpayer “donations” cover a trillion $ and blah-hugs around?
Will we finally watch one skinny old dog pulling a (10 ton) sled across minefields? Good Dog_old yellow-blue-pink-red colored sled and Ka-boom?

Exciting times and no king and no slavery- nothing except drugs and drugs and drugs…Healthy? Still stupid? Why not? And! The truth of drugs will set us free…Yeah?

http://www.anovelplaceonline.com

[Via http://pmespeak.com]

The Queen of Denial

2010-03-05T03:44:00.000+02:00

My mom had agreed to watch my kids when I went inpatient. I was very clear that there was one rule: She must not watch them at her house where my abuser still lives.

I called her today with the date I was going in. She told me she couldn’t watch them at my house.

I told her I was not going to put them at risk leaving them there.

“You don’t trust me to watch your kids” she said, sounding hurt.

I wasn’t playing that game.

“No,” I told her, “It’s not you, it’s him. I don’t want my kids around a pedofile”.

Then it came.

“I don’t believe all you say about the abuse,” she told me.

She believes the one time, when I was 19 and told her right afterward.

“I think your therapists are putting ideas in your head” she told me.

I explained how not true that statement was, but I’m positive she heard none of it.

I am so angry right now.

Upset, disappointed, sad;

but mostly angry.

My entire life has been about not upsetting her.

“She can’t handle it. She needs me. She needs me to be good; to be there for her” I would tell myself.

He even used that. He used it, saying if I told it would hurt her. And she wouldn’t believe me anyway.

Turns out he was right.

After tomorrow, when we have something planned together, I won’t be talking to her for a while.

She will get upset, but that’s fine. She can get mad. I’M MAD!

I should have seen it coming.

It didn’t fit that the “Queen of Denial” (as my old therapist, Robin, often called her) would believe me as easily as she seemed to. As she pretended to.

She did blame it on the alcohol. Said he wouldn’t have done it otherwise. Truly believes that.

It fits much better that the “Queen of Denial” wouldn’t come out of her denial for this as well.

This is the same woman who, days ago when I told her I don’t carry a bank card because I know I’ll use [drugs], told me “You should have one. I don’t think you’d use”.

If the former addict says she’d use, I’m pretty sure she’d know best. You don’t tell a former addict to take LESS precautions than they believe they should take.

The Queen of Denial does not believe that her husband abused me more than that one time.

That fits better.

I should have expected it.

…It still hurts.

[Via http://iamlivingx.wordpress.com]

Better Living Through Chemistry

2010-03-03T11:29:00.000+02:00

lithium

prozac

valium

lorazepam -

a cocktail

that stops me

destroying

all that

i am.

glucophage

tricor

symbacort

xoponex

atenolol

and vitamin B -

yipee and hooray

for better living

through

chemistry!!

rlb/march 2010

[Via http://rlburns.wordpress.com]

Cognitive effects of pregabalin in healthy volunteers: A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial -- Salinsky et al. 74 (9): 755 -- Neurology

2010-03-03T03:43:00.000+02:00

Cognitive effects of pregabalin in healthy volunteers: A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial — Salinsky et al. 74 (9): 755 — Neurology.

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Data Supplement Correspondence:

Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when Correspondence are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Google Scholar Articles by Salinsky, M. Articles by Munoz, S. PubMed Articles by Salinsky, M. Articles by Munoz, S. Related Collections Class I Antiepileptic drugs

NEUROLOGY 2010;74:755-761

© 2010 American Academy of Neurology

Cognitive effects of pregabalin in healthy volunteers

A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial Martin Salinsky, MD, Daniel Storzbach, PhD andSonia Munoz, MD

From the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Martin Salinsky, 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, CR-120, Portland, OR 97239 Salinsky@ohsu.edu.

Background: Antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) can be associated withneurotoxic side effects including cognitive dysfunction, a problemof considerable importance given the usual long-term courseof treatment. Pregabalin is a relatively new AED widely usedfor the treatment of seizures and some types of chronic painincluding fibromyalgia. We measured the cognitive effects of12 weeks of pregabalin in healthy volunteers.

Methods: Thirty-two healthy volunteers were randomized in adouble-blind parallel study to receive pregabalin or placebo(1:1). Pregabalin was titrated over 8 weeks to 600 mg/d. Atbaseline, and after 12 weeks of treatment, all subjects underwentcognitive testing. Test-retest changes in all cognitive andsubjective measures were Zscored against test-retest regressionspreviously developed from 90 healthy volunteers. Z scores fromthe placebo and pregabalin groups were compared using Wilcoxontests.

Results: Thirty subjects completed the study (94%). Three of6 target cognitive measures (Digit Symbol, Stroop, ControlledOral Word Association) revealed significant test-retest differencesbetween the pregabalin and placebo groups, all showing negativeeffects with pregabalin (p < 0.05). These cognitive effectswere paralleled by complaints on the Portland NeurotoxicityScale, a subjective measure of neurotoxicity (p < 0.01).

Conclusion: At conventional doses and titration, pregabalininduced mild negative cognitive effects and neurotoxicity complaintsin healthy volunteers. These effects are one factor to be consideredin the selection and monitoring of chronic AED therapy.

Class of Evidence: This study provides Class I evidence thatpregabalin 300 mg BID negatively impacts cognition on some tasksin healthy volunteers.

Abbreviations: AED = antiepileptic drug; CI = confidence interval; CLTR = Consistent Long-Term Retrieval; COWAT = Controlled Oral Word Association; GBP = gabapentin; OHSU = Oregon Health & Science University; PGB = pregabalin; PNS = Portland Neurotoxicity Scale; POMS = Profile of Mood States; RT = reaction time; TLTS = Total Long-Term Storage; TREC = Total Recall; WAIS-R = Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale–Revised.

[Via http://grussell903.wordpress.com]

Medical Marijuana Studies Critique

2010-03-01T19:05:00.000+02:00

Medical Marijuana Studies Critique

Dr. Phillip Leveque Salem-News.com

CONFIRMED SAFE & EFFECTIVE: SURPRISE!

Salem-News.com

(MOLALLA, Ore.) – I had heard rumors about studies conducted in the past ten years that the California Legislature had spent several million dollars on, to confirm that marijuana/cannabis was really a safe, effective drug –but it smelled fishy to me.

As it has been used for at least 4,000 years by at least 400 million people who weren’t stoned “staring at the spots on the wall” but getting good relief, one would wonder if those studies were real.

California has about 300,000 legal users and probably a million or more who smoke it when they can get it, regardless of the legal standing.

There are so many people in California and elsewhere who are infected with the Reefer Madness Virus that such Government-paid boondoggling as this doesn’t really surprise me.

Learning about who the 22 members of the Scientific Review Board are was really a shock. Only 6 were M.D.’s who might have had some inkling of marijuana benefits, but where do the 16 Ph.D’s fit here? If they are Pharmacologists who teach that marijuana is “dangerous and addicting”, where and how did they get their scientific background on this subject?

For the 8 M.D.’s of the 23 that serve on the National Advisory Council, where did they acquire medical marijuana expertise? I see some of this group are bought and paid for Government employees who rarely have anything good to say about this DEVIL DRUG used medically by millions of people.

Don’t get me wrong, their collective approval that cannabis/marijuana is truly a safe medication has finally caught up with the U.S. Government figures which verifiably state that 70,000,000 Americans use it once in a while with little to mild detriment.

Getting to the studies and their results one-by-one:

Dr. Donald Abrams’ on HIV Peripheral Neuropathy. He has been working with these patients for about 20 years and it must have been amusing to him to participate. Smoking as in a cigarette is totally archaic but I do see he used vaporizers, the modern method. The concurrent use of Neurontin (gabapentin), Amitryptyline (Elavil), narcotics (Oxycontin?) and NSAIDS (aspirin like) are ungentle throwbacks, but yes, cannabis works better than any of the latter. The adverse effects of the latter don’t compare with the beneficial cannabis.

Dr. Ronald Ellis’ double blind study with placebos should have given him pause. Marijuana users can tell with the first puff that the placebos are NOT marijuana. He also used marijuana cigarettes. Cannabis was superior to the FAKE DRUG and even the patients use of concurrent analgesics.

Dr. Barth Wilsey’s study on neuropathic pain indicated that even low doses of marijuana were beneficial with minimal adverse effects.

Dr. Mark Wallace’s experimental pain production with dermal injection of capsaicin (from chili peppers) was really scary and cannabis didn’t work well here. After about 45 minutes it helped but higher doses (8% THC) caused worse pain? I would guess that the higher dose of cannabis elicited the “panic reaction” response. My suggestion is – don’t inject capsaicin!

Dr. Jody Corey-Bloom studied cannabis on spasticity of Multiple Sclerosis with pain. Cannabis reduced both spasms and pain which M.S. patients discovered years ago. They have found it better than “standard” M.S. drugs.

Dr. Donald Abrams’ other investigation with vaporizers in which 14 of 18 patients preferred the vaporizers. This is a standard observation.

Dr. Sean Drummond (Ph.D.) discovered that cannabis enabled sleep which is the main reason why severe chronic pain patients have been using it for years.

Dr. Thomas Marcotte (Ph.D.) studied if cannabis affected driving ability. He indicated the results are in preparation but here is a warning, we know cannabis acts like a sedative and the patients know this also. Studies in Australia found cannabis users to be more careful drivers, they didn’t want to get caught. Alcohol users didn’t care and they got caught.

Dr. Mark Wallace studied smoked cannabis on the pain of Diabetic Neuropathy. He should know that cannabis works on almost all types of pain and by the way isn’t all pain cause by sensory neuropathy.

Dr. Barth Wilsey has another study on vaporized cannabis against neuropathic pain. He shouldn’t be surprised of the beneficial results.

Dr. Howard Fields performed studies on cannabis and migraines. Other researchers have found cannabis to be very effective in migraines, Trigeminal Neuralgia and Tempo Mandibular Joint (TMJ) pain.

Dr. Mark Barad studied the effects of cannabis on Fear Extinction such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in mice. Battle Veterans have found that cannabis is better than any other medication for suppressing immediate Battle Stress but also for Post Traumatic Stress. His studies were with mice. I would guess that mice might think differently than humans. In Iraq, soldiers have found that their “sniffer dogs” DO get canine PTSD.

Dr. Danielle Piomelli studied if the effects of acute use of THC, the botanic cannabinoid, had any effect on Anandamide, the natural endocannabinoid. He found that THC had no effect on levels of the natural endocannabinoid. Chronic use DID cause an increase in Anandamide. It is not surprising that chronic THC use might cause a different response. Acute doses rapidly go into body fats and last only for a few hours.

Again, I congratulate these marijuana scientists. If only those with Reefer Madness Virus would read and understand them. Marijuana/cannabis is more than a miracle drug of the past. It is also efficacious for about 200 medical conditions of the present and future.

Sic Semper Cannabis

[Via http://californiamarijuana.wordpress.com]

Health in the 21st Cenutry is killing us!

2010-02-26T11:30:00.000+02:00

In the 20th Century the National Health Service (NHS) is the best thing the UK government has ever done. Nevermind statues to fallen soldiers etc. the NHS is the best tribute to the scarifice that was made by so many in World War II ,it saves lives everyday and has probably saved more lives than died in World War II. The tireless individuals that put in long hours and hard work for little pay deserve medals.

The National Health Service Act 1946 came into effect on 5 July 1948 and created the National Health Service in England and Wales. Though the title ‘National Health Service’ implies one health service for the United Kingdom, in reality a separate NHS was created for England and Wales accountable to the Secretary of State for Health, with a separate NHS created for Scotland accountable to the Secretary of State for Scotland by the passage of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1947.

It shall be the duty of the Minister of Health … to promote the establishment … of a comprehensive health service designed to secure improvement in the physical and mental health of the people of England and Wales and the prevention diagnosis and treatment of illness and for that purpose to provide or secure the effective provision of services …

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Service_Act_1946

BUT You might be suprised to discover that the biggest killer in the 21st century is the Modern Health Service and you are twice as likely to die in a private hospital.

The terms iatrogenesis and iatrogenic artifact refer to inadvertent adverse effects or complications caused by or resulting from medical treatment or advice. In addition to harmful consequences of actions by physicians, iatrogenesis can also refer to actions by other healthcare professionals, such as psychologists, therapists, pharmacists, nurses, dentists, and others. Iatrogenesis is not restricted to conventional medicine and can also result from complementary and alternative medicine treatments.

Examples of iatrogenesis:

medical error
wrong prescription, perhaps due to illegible handwriting
negligence
faulty procedures, techniques, information, or methods
failure in life support instruments
prescription drug interaction
adverse effects of prescription drugs
over-use of drugs leading to antibiotic resistance in bacteria
nosocomial infection
blood transfusion
harmful emotional distress from the ascription of mental pathology nomenclature for transient personal problems

Iatrogenesis is a major phenomenon, and a severe risk to patients. A study carried out in 1981 more than one-third of illnesses of patients in a university hospital were iatrogenic, nearly one in ten were considered major, and in 2% of the patients, the iatrogenic disorder ended in death. Complications were most strongly associated with exposure to drugs and medications

Shocking death toll at flagship hospital

October: NHS trust is rated ‘good’ in glowing report by watchdog

Now: Catalogue of failings in care and hygiene is revealed

By Jeremy Laurance health Editor

Poor standards of care at an accident and emergency unit in one of the country’s flagship hospitals may have contributed to the unnecessary deaths of over 400 patients, an official NHS investigation has concluded. Dirty equipment and an absence of leadership contributed to a death rate almost 40 per cent above the national average among emergency admissions to the 770-bed Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, inspectors said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/shocking-death-toll-at-flagship-hospital-1828747.html

[2008 Oct] One in 300 NHS patients killed by avoidable blunders, warns Richard Branson in call for new safeguards[Nov 2007 UK] Blunders in hospitals are linked to 90,000 patient deaths a year

IMHO

Nurses that are overworked will make mistakes, this is NOT thier fault. It is thier managers fault.We have in the UK a Medical Service run by economic managers and financed by politions. Its the politions and managers that get the BIG BUCKS!! Its the nurses that are overworked and underpaid and SAVE LIVES!!!

These “bean counters” have turned our Health Service into a drug experiment centre for Big Pharma and are promoting unnecessary surgery ,drugs and other treatments purely for economic or experimental reasons and NOT MEDICAL ONES!!!

“I was completely shocked, amazed, and dismayed when I first added up all the statistics on medical death and saw how much allopathic medicine has betrayed us.”—Carolyn Dean, MD”Pharmaceutical companies spent $2 billion on over 314,000 events that doctors attend…in 1991 the drug industry “gave” $2.1 billion million to colleges and universities for research.”

The NHS was born from the post World War II backlash.The Conservative Winston Churchill who had led Britain through the WWII lost the post war election IN A LANDSLIDE TO THE SOCIALIST LABOUR PARTY.CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN! At this time the Labour party was full of new ideas and ideology and was out to create a better world.This is not the case today.

OBAMA’S US Healthcare plan does not have this pedigree, even if Obama does get his healthcare reform through its is NOT change I can Believe in…..it will be a cash cow for BIG PHARMA! Obama just wants everyone registered with Big Pharma ,he does not care if big Pharma is good for your health. In fact he knows its NOT, but will cover up these facts.

IT SEEMS MODERN PRIVATE HEALTH CARE IS MORE LIKELY TO KILL YOU THAN THE UK NATIONALISED VERSION.US PRIVATE HEALTH CARE IS AMERICAS BIGGEST KILLER

The total number of iatrogenic deaths shown in the following table is 783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. Death by Medicine—-Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Gary Null, PhD, Debora Rasio, MD (2003/4)

Death by Medicine – According to a review study, more deaths are caused annually in the U.S. by medical treatment and diagnostic procedures than by heart disease or cancer.

Condition Deaths Cost Author Adverse Drug Reactions 106,000 $12 billion Lazarou(1), Suh (49) Medical error 98,000 $2 billion IOM(6) Bedsores 115,000 $55 billion Xakellis(7), Barczak (8) Infection 88,000 $5 billion Weinstein(9), MMWR (10) Malnutrition 108,800 ———– Nurses Coalition(11) Outpatients 199,000 $77 billion Starfield(12), Weingart(112) Unnecessary Procedures 37,136 $122 billion HCUP(3,13) Surgery-Related 32,000 $9 billion AHRQ(85) ANNUAL TOTAL 783,936 $282 billion Heart Disease 699,697 Cancer 553,251

And these numbers are based on reported deaths, which suggests the true death toll from medical treatment is much higher.

Is American Medicine Working? Here is the reviewers’ reply…

US health care spending reached $1.6 trillion in 2003…Considering this enormous expenditure, we should have the best medicine in the world. We should be preventing and reversing disease, and doing minimal harm. Careful and objective review, however, shows we are doing the opposite. Because of the extraordinarily narrow, technologically driven context in which contemporary medicine examines the human condition, we are completely missing the larger picture.

Medicine is not taking into consideration the following critically important aspects of a healthy human organism: (a) stress and how it adversely affects the immune system and life processes; (b) insufficient exercise; (c) excessive caloric intake; (d) highly processed and denatured foods grown in denatured and chemically damaged soil; and (e) exposure to tens of thousands of environmental toxins.

Instead of minimizing these disease-causing factors, we cause more illness through medical technology, diagnostic testing, overuse of medical and surgical procedures, and overuse of pharmaceutical drugs. The huge disservice of this therapeutic strategy is the result of little effort or money being spent on preventing disease.

http://www.wanderings.net/notebook/Main/LeadingCauseOfDeathMedicalTreatment

“An analysis by Wald & Shojan [2001] found that only 1.5% of all adverse events result in an incident report, and only 6% of adverse drug events are identified properly….The Psychiatric Times noted that the AMA is strongly opposed to mandatory reporting of medical errors…Dr Jay Cohen, who has extensively researched adverse drug reactions (ADR), commented that because only 5% of ADRs are being reported, there are in reality, 5 million medications reactions each year.” Death by Medicine—-Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Gary Null, PhD, Debora Rasio, MD (2003/4)

In 2001, there were 7.5 million unnecessary surgical procedures, resulting in 37,136 deaths at a cost of $122 billion (using 174 US dollars) Death by Medicine—-Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Gary Null, PhD, Debora Rasio, MD (2003/4)

In 2001, cesarean section is still the most common OB/GYN surgical procedure,in the US. Approximately 4 million births occur annually, with 24% (960,000) delivered by cesarean section. In the Netherlands, only 8% of births are delivered by cesarean section. This suggests 640,000 unnecessary cesarean sections—entailing three to four times higher mortality and 20 times greater morbidity than vaginal delivery—are performed annually in the US.

The US cesarean rate rose from just 4.5% in 1965 to 24.1% in 1986. Sakala contends that an “uncontrolled pandemic of medically unnecessary cesarean births is occurring.”(106) VanHam reported a cesarean section postpartum hemorrhage rate of 7%, a hematoma formation rate of 3.5%, a urinary tract infection rate of 3%, and a combined postoperative morbidity rate of 35.7% in a high-risk population undergoing cesarean section. Death by Medicine—-Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Gary Null, PhD, Debora Rasio, MD (2003/4)

FYI The Dutch do NOT concider pregnancy or birth a medical issue. Most people are born at home without a Doctor being present. This natural non-medical birth practice is ONE OF THE SAFEST IN THE WORLD and is SAFER THAN A US BIRTH!

In the United States, infant mortality is 630 per 100,000 live births or 6.3 per 1000 live births

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_infant_mortality_rate

Results of the “Million Women Study” on HRT and breast cancer in the UK were published in medical journal The Lancet in August 2003. According to lead author Prof. Valerie Beral, director of the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit: “We estimate that over the past decade, use of HRT by UK women aged 50-64 has resulted in an extra 20,000 breast cancers, estrogen-progestagen (combination) therapy accounting for 15,000 of these.” We were unable to find statistics on breast cancer, stroke, uterine cancer, or heart disease caused by HRT used by American women. Because the US population is roughly six times that of the UK, it is possible that 120,000 cases of breast cancer have been caused by HRT in the past decade. Death by Medicine—-Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Gary Null, PhD, Debora Rasio, MD (2003/4)

COMPARED TO NATURAL REMEDIES WITH A ZERO PERCENT DEATH RATE

[2010 Jan] No Deaths from Vitamins, Minerals, Amino Acids or Herbs

SO WHAT IS THE CONNECTION BETWEEN A “FREE TO ALL” NATIONALISED HEALTH SERVICE AND THE PRIVATELY INSURED US VERSION AND A PILE OF DEAD BODIES?

BIG PHARMA

The Big Pharmaceutical companies that supply drugs to these health services ARE KILLING PEOPLE!! They bribe (lobby) our politions and hide and fix bad test results for economic reasons. They even supply drugs THEY KNOW ARE CONTAMINATED!!!! Actually more than a few of these companies should be classified as BIO WEAPONS COMPANIES!!!!

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES CAUGHT MANUFACTURING BIO WEAPONS TO BE TESTED ON THE PUBLIC

Pharmaceutical Companies spreading disease.

Baxter Pharmaceutical has been caught, red-handed, in spreading a live, genetically engineered H5N1 Bird flu vaccine as a lethal biological weapon all over the world, destined to be used for human vaccinations. This happened just a few months ago. And only luck prevented a global catastrophe of epic proportions.

Baxter International Inc. had mixed live, genetically engineered avian flue viruses in vaccine material shipped to 18 countries. Only by sheer luck, a Czech laboratory decided to test the vaccine on a dozen ferrets, which all died in days. The World Health Organization was notified and catastrophe was averted. This was clearly a deliberate act on Baxters part, because they adhere to BS3, bio-safety level three. Baxter admitted a mistake. Such monumental screwups are totally impossible at that level. Many safety systems would have needed to be sabotaged, many key personell would have needed to be bribed. It simply cant be done without direction from the inside. They did not send out the wrong vial they produced dozens of gallons of biological-weapon agent (genetically engineered live H5N1 / Bird flu virus), then sent it out as a vaccine.

Baxter knew full well that their vaccine was lethal, because the year before they had tested it on a few hundred homeless Polish people dozens died as a result.

Wheres the meat? Well Baxter is now being sued for the deliberate, repeated contamination of vaccines with biological weapons designed by them to mass-murder people. Here is the complaint (PDF). By some kook nutcase? Not likely Jane Burgermeister is an experienced, respected journalist. She is not the only one suing Baxter for planning and executing a plan for global genocide

The Ukrainian Flu Virus

KTLA 5 News August – Today, the MSM are not talking about this case any more. Yesterday, they wanted us to believe that Joseph Moshe was a nutcase and a terrorist, arrested for threatening to bomb the White House. Interesting detail about his arrest (the Westwood standoff) was that he seemed to be immune to the 5 cans of tear gas and 5 gallons of law-enforcement grade pepper spray they pumped into his face. He very calmly remained in his car, as the video footage of his arrest shows.

Professor Moshe had called into a live radio show by Dr. A. True Ott, broadcast on Republic Broadcasting claiming to be a microbiologist who wanted to supply evidence to a States Attorney regarding tainted H1N1 Swine flu vaccines being produced by Baxter BioPharma Solutions. He said that Baxters Ukrainian lab was in fact producing a bioweapon disguised as a vaccine. He claimed that the vaccine contained an adjuvant (additive) designed to weaken the immune system, and replicated RNA from the virus responsible for the 1918 pandemic Spanish flu, causing global sickness and mass death.

Sources tell us that Bar-Joseph Moshe made no threat against the President or the White House. He did not mention any bomb or attack. He then proceeded to inform the White House he intended to go public with this information

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpOkzKbsaNM&feature=autoshare_twitter

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES KNOWNINGLY SPREADING HIV

“After 1978, there were four major companies in the United States engaged in the manufacture, production and sale of Factor VIII and IX: Armour Pharmaceutical Company, Bayer Corporation and its Cutter Biological division, Baxter Healthcare and its Hyland Pharmaceutical division and Alpha Therapeutic Corporation, which have been or are defendants in certain lawsuits. The plaintiffs allege that the companies manufactured and sold blood factor products as beneficial “medicines” that were, in fact of likely to be contaminated with HIV and/or HCV. This resulted in the mass infection and/or deaths of thousands of haemophiliacs worldwide.[22] It is believed that three of these companies, Alpha, Baxter, and Cutter, recruited and paid donors from high risk populations, including prisoners (i.e. prison-based collections), intravenous drug users, and plasma centers with predominantly homosexual donors, esp. in cities with large populations thereof, to obtain blood plasma used for the production of Factor VIII and IX. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer#HIV_infected_Blood_Products

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES KNOWINGLY DISTRIBUTE DRUGS WITH FATAL SIDE EFFECTS

Bayer’s anti-cholesterol drug, Baycol (also known as Lipobay and cerivastatin), has deadly side effects. The Food and Drug Administration received reports of 31 US deaths due to rhabdomyolysis, a potentially fatal adverse muscle reaction that results in muscle cell breakdown and release of the contents of muscle cells in the bloodstream. Symptoms include muscle pain, weakness, fever, nausea, and vomiting. Bayer admitted that the drug might have killed 52 people already worldwide, with another 1,100 potentially crippled. Although Bayer voluntarily recalled the drug after a large number of deaths, Germany’s health minister, on 25 August 2001, accused Bayer of sitting on research documenting Baycol’s lethal side-effects for nearly two months before the government in Berlin was informed.’ A number of individual and class action law suits have been filed, including one in Pennsylvania which cited 480 cases of Baycol-related illnesses. The number of Baycol related deaths has risen to almost 100

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer#Baycol_Deaths

In October 2001, Bayer was taken to court after 24 children in the remote Andean village of Tauccamarca were killed and 18 severely poisoned when they drank a powdered milk substitute that had been contaminated with methyl parathion. The white powder that resembles powdered milk and has no strong chemical odour was packaged in small plastic bags that provide no protection to users and give no indication of the danger of the product within. The bags were labelled in Spanish only, and carried drawings of healthy carrots and potatoes but no pictograms indicating danger or toxicity.[After a nine month investigation, a Peruvian Congressional Subcommittee has found significant evidence of criminal responsibility by both the agrochemical company Bayer and the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture in the poisoning of 42 children in the remote Andean village of Tauccamarca in October 1999.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer#Methyl_parathion_poisoning_case

[2009 March] Hundreds of deaths linked to schizophrenia drug clozapine Fifty people die each year and hundreds more suffer serious side-effects as the result of taking powerful tranquillisers prescribed by the NHS….Data from the medicine watchdog’s own reporting scheme suggests that clozapine, a drug taken by schizophrenia patients, has been linked to 950 deaths since being licensed in 1990 — equivalent to nearly one fatality a week.

Vioxx killed up to 140,000 people after being ‘proved safe’ in animals, including monkeys.

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES MAKING DISEASE MORE VIRILANT

Using Baytril and other fluoroquinolones in poultry and cattle leads to antibiotic-resistant bacteria and pathogens in animals, making it possible for strains of resistant bacteria to enter the human body. This makes human versions of the drug ineffective in treating people infected by these bacteria, which could be life-threatening to the elderly, to children and to those with depressed immune systems or in weakened conditions. Fluoroquinolones are commonly prescribed to treat serious gastrointestinal illness, including the common Campylobacter and Salmonella bacteria. Campylobacter accounts for nearly two million illnesses and 100 deaths each year, and Salmonella accounts for 1.3 million illnesses and about 500 deaths annually. Very few bacteria were found resistant to fluoroquinolones until the drugs also began to be used in poultry in 1995. By 1998, 13 percent of Campylobacter tested in humans were resistant to fluoroquinolones, and by 1999, nearly 18 percent of Campylobacter were found to be resistant.

After data collected by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the use of fluoroquinolones in poultry was speeding up the bacteria’s development of resistance to the drug, the US Food and Drug Administration concluded that the health of at least 5,000 Americans is affected each year by the use of these drugs in chickens. It also proposed to ban this use. Abbott Laboratories, one of the two producers of poultry fluoroquinolones in the US, voluntarily withdrew its product, but Bayer refused to comply with the proposed ban and instead requested a hearing on the proposal. This hearing may take years to complete, and by then the ban may be a moot point since the drug may be ineffective in humans by the time the FDA is able to issue a final ban on the use of these drugs in poultry.

The United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United Nations’ World Health Organization, have strongly advocated a ban for years. On 31 October 2000, Environmental Defense, the American Public Health Association, Center for Science in the Public Interest; Delmarva Poultry Justice Alliance; Food Animal Concerns Trust; Global Resources Action Center for the Environment; Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy; National Catholic Rural Life Conference; Physicians for Social Responsibility; and Union of Concerned Scientists signed a letter to the Bayer Corporation asking it to comply voluntarily with the proposed ban. In November, more than 180 individual health care professionals and several medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American College of Preventive Medicine, sent a similar letter to Bayer.

But Bayer has recently spent over US$ 50 million to build new production facilities for Baytril in Germany and the US. The company claimed that Baytril is completely harmless in a letter to veterinarians: “Bayer has and always will play a leading role in defending fluoroquinolones”.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayer#Fluoroquinolones

[2007] ARE MOST DISEASES CAUSED BY THE MEDICAL SYSTEM? By Walter Last

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES COMMIT FINANCIAL FRAUD!!!!!! THEY ARE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY

In January 2001, Bayer agreed to pay $14 million to the United States and 45 states to settle allegations under the federal False Claims Act that the company caused physicians and other health care providers to submit fraudulently inflated reimbursement claims to the state and federally funded Medicaid program.

BUT WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM Dr.JOE MENGELE AND FRIENDS?

In his book Aspirin: The Story of a Wonder Drug, author Diarmuid Jeffreys investigated Bayer’s sponsorship of the experiments of Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele. In 1956 Fritz ter Meer became chairman of Bayer after having been sentenced at the Nuremberg trials to seven years’ imprisonment for his part in carrying out experiments on human subjects at Auschwitz.

BIG PHARMA BRIBES THE UN AS WELL, ALL THOSE ”World Health Organisation” VACCINATIONS ARE BIG BUSINESS

Big Pharma inside the WHO: confidential analysis of unreleased WHO Expert Working Group draft reports, 8 Dec 2009

The compilation of documents shows the influence of “Big Pharma” on the policy making decisions of the WHO, the UN body safeguarding public health.

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Big_Pharma_inside_the_WHO:_confidential_analysis_of_unreleased_WHO_Expert_Working_Group_draft_reports%2C_8_Dec_2009

http://www.wikileaks.org/wiki/Big_Pharma_caught_spying_on_the_WHO

[2009 Nov] Silence about Vaccine Deaths in Media is Due to the Confidential Contracts with Vaccine Manufacturers the maker of PandemRix, that is used in Sweden, passed a secret contract, the same in every European country, which specified a “Green List” of what the government MAY communicate (hardly anything!) and the “Red List” of what may absolutely NOT be made public, like intermediary results of the side effects that appear in the studies of the controversial squalene (and thiomersal) adjuvantated PandemRix until they have been sanitized by Glaxo Smith Kline researchers, and published by GSK themselves.

….What I found mind boggling, as a doctor, is to discover Glaxo Smith Kline’s “Green List” of what the government MAY communicate (hardly anything!) and the “Red List” of what may absolutely NOT be made public, like intermediary results of the side effects that appear in the studies of the controversial squalene (and thiomersal) adjuvantated PandemRix until they have been sanitized by GSK, and published by GSK themselves.

Iatrogenic Death by vaccination Death by other drugs Suicide [2003] Depopulation and HIV by Jon Rappoport

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/who-admits-to-releasing-pandemic-virus-into-population-via-mock-up-vaccines/

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/why-wont-healthcare-workers-take-the-swine-flu-vaccine/

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/09/06/polio-surge-in-nigeria-after-vaccine-virus-mutates/

BIG PHARMA AND BIO WEAPONS

GULF WAR SYNDROME

In October 1999, the U.S. Pentagon released a report that hypothesized that an experimental drug known as pyriostigmine bromide, or PB, might be linked to the physical symptoms manifested in Gulf War Syndrome. The experimental drug was given to U.S. and Canadian troops during the war to protect soldiers against the effects of the chemical nerve agent soman

GERM WARFARE

According to the paper, “he was intending to reveal that he warned Prime Minister Tony Blair there were no weapons of mass destruction anywhere in Iraq weeks before the British and American invasion… and was also intending to lift the lid on a potentially bigger scandal, his own secret dealings in germ warfare with the apartheid regime in South Africa.”

The allegations of a potential Kelly expose come from a new film about biological weapons being debuted in London on the sixth anniversary of Kelly’s death titled “Anthrax War” (the documentary aired earlier this year on Canadian public television). Kelly was an expert in biological warfare agents, as well as a former United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq.

‘Anthrax War’

‘‘The deeper you look into the murky world of governments and germ warfare, the more worrying it becomes,” the film’s director, Bob Coen, is quoted as saying. “We have proved there is a black market in anthrax. David Kelly was of particular interest to us because he was a world expert on anthrax and he was involved in some degree with assisting the secret germ warfare program in apartheid South Africa.”

According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s summary of the film, Coen “was raised in Zimbabwe where the former white regime has been accused of unleashing anthrax against the black population… [who] embarks on a journey that raises troubling questions about the FBI’s investigation of the 21st century’s first act of biological terrorism.

“Coen’s investigation takes him from the U.S. to the U.K. and from the edge of Siberia to the tip of Africa. In a rare interview, Coen confronts ‘Doctor Death’ Wouter Basson, who headed Project Coast, the South African apartheid-era bio-warfare program,” the network’s website adds. “Project Coast used germ warfare against select targets within the country’s black population.

“Anthrax War also investigates the mysterious deaths of some of the world’s leading anthrax scientists, including Dr. David Kelly, the UK’s top military microbiologist, the Soviet defector Dr. Vladimir Pasechnik, and Dr. Bruce Ivins,” the CBC continues. “The FBI claims – despite the doubts of highly ranked U.S. officials – that Ivins was the only person behind the U.S. anthrax murders.”

http://rawstory.com/08/news/2009/07/06/uk-weapons-inspector-dead-expose/

Remember the Anthrax attacks in the US, post 9/11? Well the anthrax was made in a US Military Bio weapons “hot lab”.

The Bhopal disaster was an industrial catastrophe that took place at a pesticide plant owned and operated by Union Carbide (UCIL) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India on December 3, 1984. Around 12 AM, the plant released methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxins, resulting in the exposure of over 500,000 people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2259 and the government of M P has confirmed a total of 3787 deaths related to the gas release.[1] Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths.[2] Others estimate 8000 to 10,000 died within 72 hours and 25,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.[3][4]

Some 25 years after the gas leak, 390 tonnes of toxic chemicals abandoned at the UCIL plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater in the region and affect thousands of Bhopal residents who depend on it

SWINE FLU,DID THEY MEAN PIGS HAVE FLOWN?

“From the Archives: Radio Public Service Announcements ~ The Swine Flu Epidemic of 1975-76.”

This is a recording session held with Jimmy the Greek to produce a series of public service announcements promoting widespread vaccination in anticipation of a wide-spread outbreak of Swine Flu in the winter of 1975-76. The PSAs were produced by the Centers for Disease Control, which spearheaded a massive inoculation campaign. No swine flu epidemic came, and unfortunately the vaccine proved to be worse than the disease. Thousands experienced serious side effects, and nearly 100 people died. The government’s aggressive initiative ended in an embarrasing public health fiasco. This recording comes from the Records of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1921 – 1995, National Archives (NARA II).

The document on the WHO website linked below states that it is common procedure to release pandemic viruses into the population in order to get a jump ahead of the real pandemic, so as to fast track the vaccine for when it is needed.

In Europe, some manufacturers have conducted advance studies using a so-called “mock-up” vaccine. Mock-up vaccines contain an active ingredient for an influenza virus that has not circulated recently in human populations and thus mimics the novelty of a pandemic virus.

According to the website, “Such advance studies can greatly expedite regulatory approval.”

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/notes/h1n1_safety_vaccines_20090805/en/index.html

Vaccinations are a useful tool when throughly tested and are used responsibly.

VILLANS ARE THE POLITIONS AND MANGERS THAT BUY AND SELL OUR HEALTH WITH BIG PHARMAS EXPERIMENTAL DRUGS

FOR EXAMPLE

WARNING WARNING WARNING

IF BIG PHARMA KILLS OR DISABLES YOU OR YOUR LOVED ONES , THE POLITIONS HAVE IT COVERED!!!!!!!!

Legal Immunity for Pharmaceutical Industry

The US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, has just signed a decree granting vaccine makers total legal immunity from any lawsuits that result from any new “Swine Flu” vaccine. Moreover, the $7 billion US Government fast-track program to rush vaccines onto the market is being done without even normal safety testing.

The mass vaccinations are to be carried out predominantly for pregnant women and children. So far, neither the WHO nor the CDC or any other scientific body has demonstrated required scientific proof for the existence of the alleged H1N1 Influenza A new virus. The decree by the Department of Health and Human Services grants immunity to those making a “swine flu” vaccine, under the provisions of a 2006 law for public health emergencies.

http://www.currentconcerns.ch/index.php?id=845

I CANNOT THINK OF ANYTHING MORE CORRUPT, DANGEROUS TO PUBLIC HEALTH AND COMPLETELY IRRESPONSIBLE (but actually ,it describes a polition very well)

HEROES ARE THE NURSES AND OTHER HANDS ON MEDICAL STAFF

DID YOU KNOW…

American pioneer Mary Breckinridge, set up the Frontier Nursing Service in Kentucky using the Highlands and Islands Medical Service as a model

The Highlands and Islands Medical Service was a unique social experiment in Britain long before the NHS.

It was formally set up in 1913 with a Treasury grant of £42,000 in the wake of a report by Sir John Dewar’s committee.

Medical and nursing services were either poor or non-existent in many areas within the crofting counties. Crofters did not qualify for services under the new National Insurance scheme.

Doctors struggled to make any living in such sparsely-populated areas – apart from occasional summer visitors from the south on sporting holidays.

http://www.60yearsofnhsscotland.co.uk/

I SALUTE THE TIRELESS NURSES OF THE NHS THAT PUT IN LONG HOURS FOR LITTLE MONEY AND SAVE LIVES EVERYDAY(Hazel if you are reading this ,YES I mean YOU!!!) AND SPIT ON MANGERS AND POLITIONS THAT WOULD BUY AND SELL OUR HEALTH FOR A BOTTOM LINE DOLLAR!!!

Death by Medicine—-Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Gary Null, PhD, Debora Rasio, MD (2003/4)

The Efficacy of Radiotherapy By Don Benjamin

Measles by Viera Scheibner

Early allopathic therapies

The OTA concluded: “There are no mechanisms in place to limit dissemination of technologies regardless of their clinical value.” Shortly after the release of this report, the OTA was disbanded. Death by Medicine—-Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, Martin Feldman, MD, Gary Null, PhD, Debora Rasio, MD (2003/4)

http://www.whale.to/a/dean.html

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/anthrax-swine-flu-and-government-bio-terrorism/

http://cuthulan.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/war-on-drugs-officially-lost-another-fake-us-war-another-total-us-defeat/

I used to think politions where useless, until I realised they are biodegardable!!!

“The doctor is to be feared more than the disease.”—-Latin proverb

[Via http://cuthulan.wordpress.com]

Army Alcoholics: More Soldiers Hitting the Bottle

2010-02-26T03:26:00.000+02:00

[youtueb="http://www.youtube.com/v/8_E2GbQv3Y0"]

After Army Sgt. Edison Bayas’s car finally came to a rest on its roof, his jumbled, drunken thoughts immediately turned to the men he left in Iraq, as if he was still on the battlefield.

But he wasn’t in Iraq. He was in an El Paso intersection with a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal limit, his 19-year-old victim nearly decapitated in her car a few feet away.

Bayas, a decorated career soldier, is now serving a 15-year-prison sentence for intoxication manslaughter. He’s just one of thousands of soldiers whose problems with alcohol spun out of control in the midst of two wars, mounting pressure and a continuing stigma that macho guys don’t get help.

After years of increasing alcohol abuse within their ranks, soldiers are now seeking treatment in record numbers, according to new figures put out by the Army.

Nearly 9,200 soldiers sought treatment for alcohol abuse in 2009, a 56 percent increase since the war in Iraq started. Another 11,892 were required to undergo “alcohol education” — a 16 to 20 hour course for soldiers who were disciplined for an alcohol-related incident, but not found to have an actual abuse problem.

“There has always been a healthy work-hard, play-hard ethos to the military,” Tom Tarantino, legislative director for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told ABCNews.com. “It can turn very quickly over from being recreational to a problem.”

Drinking with Army buddies is a legacy that goes back likely as long as the Army itself. But as military brass worries over increases in substance abuse, suicides and mental health issues in its active-duty service members and veterans, alcohol use has come to be seen as a serious problem, rather than a rite of passage.

Army officials say 85 percent of the soldiers who seek outpatient substance abuse treatment are there because of alcohol. The Army is now in the midst of a nationwide search for additional counselors in an effort to reduce the wait time for help from days down to hours. There is currently one counselor for every 2,000 soldiers.

But is it too little too late? Maybe, some soldiers and veterans say.

“I don’t necessarily think they pay enough attention until it’s too late,” said Brian, a three-tour Fort Hood area soldier who did not want his last name used.

More than two years sober and on temporary disability from the Army with traumatic brain injury and other extensive combat-related medical problems, Brian said it was the realization that his career in the military was over that prompted him to get treatment.

“I realized I wasn’t ever going to have a job that was going to enable me to drink like in the military,” Brian said.

Source

[Via http://bbvm.wordpress.com]

Hollywood Goodfella: Chicago: Mexican drug kingpin pleads not guilty

2010-02-24T19:52:00.000+02:00

CHICAGO – The alleged leader of a major Mexican drug cartel has pled not guilty in a Chicago courtroom, to trafficking millions of dollars worth of heroin and cocaine into the United States.

The federal trial of Jesus Zambada-Niebla is the biggest international drug conspiracy trial in the city’s history.

Zambada was charged in Chicago, because most of the smuggled drugs ended up in the city.

Source

[Via http://af11.wordpress.com]

Equal Opportunity Drug Cartel

2010-02-24T11:43:00.000+02:00

Angie Sanselmente Valencia and her all girl drug cartel are believed to be one of the largest drug gangs in the world. Unlucky for Angie she is also now on an International wanted list. The ex lingerie model left Columbia to set up her empire in Argentina after splitting from Mexican drug baron “The monster” and was doing quite nicely thank you very muchly until someone dobbed her into police in Buenos Aires. Her bevy of beauties specialized in attracting only admiration as they traveled back and forth from Columbia to Cancun and Mexico carrying bags of cocaine. Hmm, Argentina’s Next Top Model Cartel.

[Via http://frigginloon.wordpress.com]

Hollywood Goodfella: Smuggler swallows cocaine-filled condoms

2010-02-22T19:34:00.000+02:00

Geneva border guards discovered 123 condoms filled with cocaine in the stomach of a drug mule.

A mule is someone who smuggles something either on or in his body across a national border.

The man was caught, along with three other smugglers, after trying to evade security at the checkpoint.

Authorities say the condoms, filled with 1.7kg of cocaine, would stretch out to 18 feet when put end to end.

They say the mule coated each prophylactic with wax to make swallowing his loot easier.

Source

[Via http://af11.wordpress.com]

Coasting through life

2010-02-22T03:24:00.000+02:00

Work has gotten a bit better. I think they are beginning to understand (finally!) that 4 managers are giving different sets of instructions to 5 or so staff who work in pairs, and that this is causing a bit of chaos.

I managed to get my ’scripts and watch a nurse, who was probably recently stripped of her credentials, convince the pharmacy to look her up in some data-base so that she could write her own prescription on their prescription pads. I wonder if it was embarrassing or to feed a habit.

I didn’t fill the seroquel though. I’ve been trying to live without it, but I’m not sure I can keep it up. I wake up frequently during the night, and yesterday I started to feel sick again. I asked my step-dad for some of his. Thank god it’s being passed around like candy these days. I’m going to try to sleep without it tonight and see how it effects my work tomorrow. I feel like I’m kind of coasting through, without really accomplishing much beyond the very basics of showing up for work and helping my mom in chores she assigns.

I’ve got my first psych appointment in over 2 months on Wednesday. I’m such a terrible patient. I’ve not gotten my bloodwork done for the valproic levels, nor have I been making appointments with my councilor at school. I feel like I shouldn’t use her time now that I am taking one course. I’ve been doing better with the mood logging though, and will have something to show for that. It’s not like I am being actively defiant, but I feel like I’ve got a finite number of slots, and as they get filled responsibilities and tasks are simply cast into oblivion.

[Via http://bittercupgonemad.wordpress.com]

Births, Deaths, Rebirths.

2010-02-19T11:18:00.000+02:00

Since the last time that I put my thoughts onto this virtual page, a significant amount has changed. There has been a death in my family and a birth too. My Gran passed away two weeks ago at the age of 90 after a life that was rich in experience and full of love. She was witness to the vicious descent that I went through with heroin and was unable to do anything about it except worry. I cared not how my struggle impacted on anyone else and yet my Gran and the rest of my family, exasperated though they were, remained strong in their belief that one day, however far away, I could extract myself from the sad, often deadly grip of drugs. I did that, with a lot of help, some three years ago, and one thing I am very grateful for, is that my Gran passed on without the stress and anxiety of having to worry whether she, at the age of 87, would outlive me, at the age of 35. The title of this Blog is Recovery Is Possible. R.I.P. An Acronym for My Gran and for me.

Also my Sister has recently given birth to a baby boy. So, happiness and sadness are swirling and melding round my mind at the same time and I have been feeling conflicted. Most of my family live in the U.S.A and I do not know when I may see my nephew for the first time. One thing I do know is that I will get across the puddle, and I will hold him in my arms. When I was in treatment, on my 36th birthday, my Mum sent me a card. It had only these words written on it – Happy Rebirthday. Nothing else needed to be said. I was making my own way back to life.

[Via http://recoveryispossible1.wordpress.com]

Racism, and Snow.

2010-02-19T03:22:00.000+02:00

First some background information …

As the snow started to fall last Tuesday, my grandparents decided to move the car into the driveway as to allow the plows to come and clear the streets. With the spot open, my neighbors across the street moved their car into our spot and as the snow continued to fall, and the plows began to come by, their car was encased by snow.

For the following 9 days, the car sat there. The husband has his own car, and thus has something to take to and from work, and left his wife home, with no car to use. Day after day, we(my grandparents and I) were forced to pull in and out of the drive way to accommodate each other’s schedules. Finally today, the wife came out – with a child in one arm and a shovel in the other, and cleared her car out and backed out of the spot.

This brought me to my experience …

Upon returning home from school, my grandfather told me that while the spot was vacant, there was still a substantial amount of ice and it won’t be until tomorrow when one of us got around to finishing the job of shoveling that we could clear the spot. I decided to just do it then and there.

So there I was, outside in the dark, freezing and exhausted from a long day, shoveling away at this 9 day old ice when a man walked by and in passing said, “hello”. Next thing I knew, he walked up to me and said the following:

“Hey man, my name is Marcus. You know this area good, right? I want to first thank you for being so down to earth for even talking to me. I mean it, you are a good guy already. Listen, I am not a druggie, or an addict of any sort. I am a student from Atlanta, Georgia and I am sick with a tumor behind my eye. I don’t want anything, but I need your advice. I couldn’t afford the hospital room anymore and they threw me out. I tried the YMCA, the other hospitals, Salvation Army, and the police station. I don’t know where to go. I am 7 dollars short for the room tonight. I hate to just take money … I will prove myself to you. I’ll do whatever you need. I want to work for the money, I want to show that I am not lying …”

I cut him off right there, and pulled out the two dollars I had in my wallet and said to him that he did not need to prove anything to me and that he could have these two dollars. With that he looked down, took the money and went on his way.

This brings me to a few points.

I know very well that he may have been lying to me. Its happened before, such as the time when the UHO (United Homeless Organization) got a few dollars out of me on a train ride to the city. I found out a few weeks later. See this article. But this has never bothered me. If I give money out of the goodness of my heart, then its money that I am giving. I look at it as me giving it to a person who obviously has no morals, or a serious addiction. I won’t be able to sleep tonight thinking that this man, who may have a tumor and have no place to stay would be out on the streets.

Example of a United Homeless Organization table set up ...

Why do black men automatically assume that I think they are homeless, drug addicts or out to get me? I am the most cool white dude you will ever meet. I go to a school in which whites are the minority, and I have always been able to mix into various crowds – I think mainly because of the respect and open-mindedness that I have for all sorts of people.

I’d love to hear some of your views on this issue. On how you would have treated the situation, or maybe a similar situation you’ve already been faced with.

[Via http://lionedpaper.wordpress.com]

25 Tips For a Healthy Pregnancy

2010-02-17T11:12:00.000+02:00

Congratulations on your pregnancy is awaited. Now is the time to better maintain the pregnancy so the baby is healthy in the womb. This was the beginning to have a healthy child. And this pregnancy is to determine the growth and future development of your baby.

The following are 25 tips for a healthy pregnancy:

Control regularly to the doctor for a pregnancy check. Last months of pregnancy, the control should be done more often. If you have a complaint or have any concerns with the pregnancy that you experience, see a doctor, although this is not the time you have control again.
Avoid materials or substances that cause chemical poisoning such as insecticides, paints, materials that contain mercury or lead.
Stop smoking if you smoke, or do not be passive smokers, because you often inhale the cigarette smoke from those around him, for example from your husband. Cigarette smoke will make your baby birth weight is less, the death of baby in the womb or the child easily becomes sick or slow to learn something later, can also cause you to miscarry.
Drink more, especially water. The incoming fluid is useful to help increase blood volume that occur during the pregnancy. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses a day, can be fruit juice, milk, or plain water. An easy way to look at the adequacy of fluid in the body is by looking at the color of urine. If the urine, clear as water or only slightly yellow, it indicates you are consuming enough fluids.
Consumption of nutritious foods to meet nutrition for mother and baby in a womb. The food must meet the 5 main food groups: rice, or other carbohydrate sources, meat, and other proteins, vegetables, fruit and milk. Reduce fatty foods and fibrous foods multiply.
Consumption of vitamin Folic Acid 400 micrograms per day, before pregnancy through the first few months of pregnancy. This is useful for preventing neural tube defects, and the spine to the small. Folic acid is also important obtained from foods containing Folic Acid as in cereals, brown rice, oranges, green vegetables, beans, broccoli, and others.
Consumption is also the blood booster tablets, which is a tablet containing 30 milligrams of iron daily during pregnancy, or as recommended by your doctor. Iron is useful to prevent anemia during pregnancy, which can lead to risk for the occurrence of bleeding during childbirth. Virtually all women of fertile age, should consume foods containing lots of iron.
Wash hands frequently, especially after handling raw meat while cooking or after using the restroom. Because the hand washing will prevent the spread of germs and viruses that can be caused by the disease.
Know your own situation. If there are signs or symptoms that do not normally like pain, vaginal bleeding, rupture of amniotic fluid, dizziness, fainting, become short of breath, trembling, rapid pulse becomes, continued nausea and vomiting, swelling of the joints, not feeling fetal movement, and symptoms or signs others, consult with your doctor.
Be careful in consuming drugs including traditional medicines. Including alcohol and caffeine. Caffeine is in tea, coffee, soft drinks and chocolate have also limited.
Drugs that are often taken before pregnancy, such as drugs for high blood pressure, epilepsy, asthma or diabetes, need to be consulted again with your doctor. Would need to be changes or adjustments to your pregnancy? Are these drugs safe to use in pregnancy?
The drugs are sold freely like to handle flu and cough, may be harmful to the fetus in the womb. Therefore, first consult with your doctor before drinking it.
Do not hesitate or be afraid to ask the doctor. Because it concerns the health of the fetus and mother. We better be careful and ask all the concerns that we feel.
Participate in a class for pregnant women like? Pregnancy exercise classes. In addition to benefit from these classes, prospective mothers can share experiences and gain knowledge with other fellow expectant mothers.
Keep a good activity because it will be for the mother or the baby’s future. Sports are generally safe for pregnant women such as walking, exercising, riding a stationary bike. But remember to always consult your physician before starting.
Eat small meals but often, around 5 – 6 times per day. This is much better than eating in large portions 3 a day. Eating small portions more frequently, can reduce nausea-vomiting in the morning and stomach pain. Avoid foods that can make the stomach pain, though you love it. Replace with a more nutritious foods.
Avoid bathing or soaking in hot water when pregnant. Because of the high heat can endanger pregnancy.
Plan and create a safe home environment for your child later. This is to prevent the dangers that are not desirable.
Avoid uncooked meat, cooked or undercooked, wash your hands after handling pets or gardening. This is to prevent infected with Toxoplasma parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, which can harm a fetus in the womb.
Because of the size of the uterus is getting bigger, less efficient as renal function due to pregnancy, mothers can cause more frequent urination. Can also occur out of urine when sneezing, coughing or laughing. This is because there is pressure on the uterus of the bladder, which frequently occurs in first few months of pregnancy. If urination accompanied by burning sensation, pain and more frequent, see a doctor.
Excessive weight or less during pregnancy may cause problems for the child who is still in the womb. Do not do diet during pregnancy to reduce the excess weight before consulting with a doctor.
Conduct vaccination for pregnancy. Ask your doctor about this, when vaccination should be given.
Avoid X-ray examinations (X-ray). Explain to your doctor if you are pregnant when the doctor asks you to do the examination.
Provide a healthy environment for your baby in the womb. And when your baby has been born, and grew larger, still give him guidance and love. Health and safety in the environment, must be kept in mind.
Take enough. By the time should lay to rest the side, especially to the left side of your doctor’s advice when appropriate. This position will provide the best circulation to the fetus and can reduce swelling of the leg.

[Via http://pregnancydays.wordpress.com]

MEXICO- Spring Break vacation spot WARNING to vacationers and parents

2010-02-17T03:48:00.000+02:00

Where there is the legalization of illegal drugs, that area has a influx of tourists and then it quickly becomes a war zone. Mexico: A New Temptation In Paradise By Robert Arnold POSTED: Monday, February 15, 2010 UPDATED: 4:36 pm CST February 16, 2010 HOUSTON — Local 2 investigates a change in Mexico that may affect you and your family’s next vacation. Last year, Mexico quietly changed its drug possession laws. Anyone caught with small amounts of drugs will no longer face criminal charges.

Since Spring Break is right around the corner, Local 2 wanted to know what you or your kids will be facing when heading south of the border.

Hypnotically blue water laps against pure white sand — a haven for snorkelers and sunbathers alike. Cancun, Mexico, is one of the most popular vacation spots in the world. Once the sun sets, the streets explode with a mix of music, liquor and crowds. An array of smiling faces, dancers and whimsical characters entice tourists to join the party.

Local 2 Investigates took its hidden cameras to Cancun’s hotel zone, mingling with the crowds and testing whether Mexico’s new drug laws would have any affect on tourists.

As we walked along the main drag, we were quickly approached by a cab driver named Martin.

“Tell me, I could get everything,” said Martin.

Without hesitating, he not only offered us prostitutes, he followed up by trying to sell us drugs that would be illegal to possess in the United States.

“If you want to make your party, you could get everything. You know, say everything is a weed or blow,” said Martin.

Martin wasn’t concerned at all about offering to sell us marijuana and cocaine, even though we were on the street with police officers and crowds of tourists walking by.

“We’re not going to get in any trouble with the weed or the blow?” Local 2 investigative reporter Robert Arnold asked.

“No, this is discreet,” said Martin. “I’m going to get for you.”

Martin even told us if we had the women and drugs delivered to our hotel room, we’d get a discount. We thanked him for his offer and walked away.

On another night in Cancun’s hotel zone, we walked the same street and saw the same crowds eager to fill the night clubs. This time, a man approached us and said for a real party we needed to follow him a club a few blocks away. Inside the club, we were quickly approached by three women who told us we could get marijuana in a private room.

Once inside the room, a woman, without saying a word, pulled out of bag of marijuana and started rolling a joint. She lit it and then offered it to everyone. She was very aware of Mexico’s new drug laws.

“See you take it, it’s no problem. You sell it, it’s problem,” said the woman.

Again, we didn’t buy, use or ask for any drugs, but those in that private room took the drugs with little worry. The waiter serving us drinks also made sure we knew he could get any kind of drug we wanted. Again, we didn’t even have to ask.

“Marijuana, cocaine,” said the waiter.

“You have marijuana, cocaine?” Arnold asked.

“Sure my friend, I like too,” said the waiter. “Don’t worry my friend, trust me.”

“You’re setting us up, aren’t you”" Arnold asked.

“(Look), I promise. Don’t worry, be happy,” said another woman.

Granted, it is not a big surprise to find drugs in Mexico — the same goes for any city in the United States. The difference now is that since Mexico relaxed its drug possession laws, it’s more accessible. Local 2 didn’t look for drugs or ask for drugs. The offers came to us on the street and in the clubs. The casual open approaches by dealers signals there is a good chance your kids will get the same offers we did.

“As we were walking down the street, people were coming up to us asking if we wanted weed,” said Tabitha Morar, a tourist from Chicago. “It didn’t happen when we were here two years ago, but it happened this time. It didn’t just happen once, it happened a couple of times. Obviously it’s bad, we were disturbed.”

Local 2 heard the same stories from tourist after tourist.

“He said, ‘You want something for the party?’” said Michelle, a tourist from St. Louis who didn’t want to give her last name.

“It kind of brings it on a different level coming to Mexico,” said Michelle’s friend, Cindy.

“We’ve been offered cocaine. We’ve been offered ecstasy. We’ve offered Valium, pot, everything,” said Aleesha Heffernan, a tourist from Canada.

Local 2 heard similar stories from other vacation spots in Mexico.

“It really catches you off-guard,” said Local 2 employee Chad Simpson, who recently took a six-day vacation in Acapulco. “These guys were pimping it like it was candy.”

Simpson said he never strayed from the busy tourist zone. Simpson said walking down the main street to the beach from the bed and breakfast where he stayed, he was offered everything from marijuana to cocaine to harder, potent drugs like heroin and meth.

“We had more people selling drugs approach us then we had people selling tacos on the main street,” said Simpson.

So with dealers now openly approaching tourists, there is a concern about the thousands of college and even high school students who will flock to Mexico for Spring Break and May graduation.

In 2005, Local 2 Investigates showed you the dangers of teenage binge drinking in these vacation hot spots. Now, along with the liquor, your kids may run into Martin and hundreds like him. It will all start with a well rehearsed line

“Tell me, I could get everything.”

Officials with the Mexican Consulate in Houston declined Local 2’s request for an on-camera interview to discuss this new law and its potential impact on tourist spots. However, Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderon, stated the change in law came because he wants police focusing their efforts on dealers and cartel operations, not junkies.

Mexico’s New Possession Law

Anyone caught with what is considered “personal use” amounts of drugs will no longer face criminal charges. Instead, those caught will be urged to seek treatment and given the address of the nearest rehabilitation clinic. It is still a crime in Mexico to sell drugs or possess drugs over “personal use” amounts.

Marijuana: 5 grams (about four “joints”)
Cocaine: Half-gram (about four “lines”)
Heroin: 50 milligrams (one to two “hits” or a “bag”)
Methamphetamine: 40 milligrams (one or two “hits” depending on potency)
LSD: 0.015 milligrams (one “hit”)

http://www.click2houston.com/news/22570979/detail.html

[Via http://txlady706.wordpress.com]

Letter to Brostein: Vol 15 Number 12

2010-02-15T19:25:00.000+02:00

Brostein,

What is going on with the world?

Is it really the stupidity of the U-Man race that clogs the market aisles with trash to read and false ideas to embrace? Can the world really be so bored that when I search for news, on supposed news links, all I find are flaccid celebrities apologizing to a hypocritical public who demand retribution for an act that somehow affects their paltry lives. Either the public isn’t getting enough sex at home, or they’re not satisfied with their own philandering.

I suppose if I were to rate my favorite apology it would be Emperor Henry IV for usurping the Pope’s authority and appointing his own bishops. He knelt in the snow for over three days, until Pontiff Gregory finally un-excommunicated him. Then three years later, Henry comes back to kick the Popes ass for making him do it, and has him deposed in disgrace! Now that bullshit apology was as real as it gets!

Why can’t we take the bullshit out of the bullshit? Ah, life was so much simpler then.

We could talk for hours about heroes and villains; the need for fickle readers to have them act accordingly or be outraged, gab long into the night with illegal and legal substances, finally passing out with sweet smiles on our faces, knowing we have not solved a thing throughout our discourse.

I wish I still had the impetus to wonder why. The truth is, my personal life and the need to keep up with the bills or lose shelter, has found me past all reservation and indignation. But it’s a joy to ponder these imbecilities with you. After all, aren’t we also guilty of boredom, which no doubt, leaves lazy minds to reach out for vicarious living?

Yet is judgment part of the vicarious pathway or is it something deeper, more insidious?

Unfortunately, I fear it is the latter.

In some ways, I wish I could embrace my hatred as publicly as others have found the need to do through ridiculous blogs and poorly written news articles. I wish I could abandon my principles in the name of reality TV, a moment of fame and a chance to speak my pointless views. Yass, I said pointless, aren’t they all?

Instead, I’m writing this letter, indulge in my soft drugs of coffee and cigarettes (as always), go for a walk, think about my new novel, make love to my best friend and fall soundly asleep while the dogs of war continue with their cries of apologetic reprieve. Perhaps I’ll have wild dreams that take me to the place of crazy characters and mad words that spew from their lips. If I’m lucky, I’ll remember a part. If I’m really lucky I’ll find a way to fill in the gaps, maintaining the integrity of the story and the truth of which my characters speak.

What’s the point of writing, if not to speak the truth of ones soul.

I love you, my wild and lunatic brother

Bindo

[Via http://bindo.wordpress.com]

10 Warning Signs Sean Sutton is 'Scoring' In Your Neighborhood

2010-02-15T11:50:00.000+02:00

Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics arrested former Oklahoma State basketball coach Sean Sutton for illegally obtaining prescription drugs from two women he met in rehab. I’m guessing rehab didn’t take, but a least he was able to network.

Sutton is apparently a fan of Oxycontin, Adderral, Clonazepam and Taylor Swift. You have to be on drugs to truly enjoy her music.

Because of the perks of fame and wealth, he was released on a $10,000 bond, but only on the condition he enter rehab since that worked so well the first time. If that had been us, we’d be in jail cells going through withdrawals.

If Sutton should leave rehab and pop up in your neighborhood, you’d probably like to know. Here are some warning signs to watch out for:

10. The nice man playing basketball with your children scores less than John Edwards.

9. Third time this week you spot someone walking on power lines.

8. You find a handwritten flier on your door about something called ‘Camp Oxy-Swap.’

7. OSU Basketball reaches the Final Four.

6. Someone on your street is driving a new Toyota.

5. The newest restriction of what Tulsa Police won’t respond to begins with “In the case of a Sutton…”

4. While watching the evening news, your child yells, “That’s the man I gave your pills to!”

3. Basketball flies through glass storm door with a prescription attached to the ball.

2. Man who asked to use your restroom offers $20,000 in return.

1. The elderly man on the corner who’s wearing a trench coat is not flashing children.

[Via http://irritatedtulsan.wordpress.com]

Literature's Most Mind-Blowing Drugs

2010-02-12T11:41:00.000+02:00

Cool article in The Guardian about fictional drugs and their effects:

The most famous invented drug is probably soma in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. It was an integral part of the story because it was an integral part of the authorities’ control mechanism – they were literally keeping the people doped up and happy. Sounds alright to me: a permanent state of blissed-out semi-catatonia. In fact, given my choice of fictional narcotics, soma would probably be first.

Nor would I mind sampling some melange/spice from Frank Herbert’s Dune (long life, heightened awareness and possible extrasensory properties, cool blue eyeballs); septus from Iain Banks’s Transition (the ability to flit between parallel worlds and inhabit others’ bodies); Dylar from Don DeLillo’s White Noise (no more fear of death); the various hallucinogens drunk with the old moloko in A Clockwork Orange (a nice quiet horrorshow starring Bog and all his angels); Can-D in Philip K Dick’s The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (allows you to participate in a group hallucination). I also quite like the sound of the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster in Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy, described as “like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick”. Well, it beats aspirin and sniffing exhaust pipes.

But as in life, so in literature, and not all fictional drugs are this appetising. Pretty much anything in William Gibson’s work, for instance, gives me the heebie-jeebies (betaphenethylamine from Neuromancer, Dancer in Virtual Light, whiz in Mona Lisa Overdrive, The Fear in Red Star, Winter Orbit). Substance D in Dick’s A Scanner Darkly is an unholy combination of LSD and crack cocaine: super-addictive, immediate, neurologically corrosive, brutal, deadly. Mimezine in Bruce Wagner’s brilliant graphic novel Wild Palms is the designer drug from hell. Serum 111 in A Clockwork Orange rewired Alex’s brain, destroyed his free will and damned him to an eternal purgatory of existential and biological nausea …

[Via http://lsdimension.wordpress.com]

US, Allies Tell Taliban About Offensive

2010-02-12T03:12:00.000+02:00

“…, but for weeks U.S. and allied officials have been telling reporters about their forthcoming assault on Marjah,…”

Why? Because we (and by that I mean the political and some of the upper military leadership) are just STUPID! You never tell the when and where your going to be. You just tell them than whenever we get to where you happen to be, you have two choices. Surrender or die.

Telling them when and where is tactically unsound, and costs American and allied lives.

http://www.military.com/news/article/us-allies-tell-taliban-about-offensive.html?ESRC=airforce-a.nl US, Allies Tell Taliban About Offensive February 06, 2010

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

KABUL – Thousands of U.S., British and Afghan troops are poised to launch the biggest offensive of the war in Afghanistan in a test of the Obama administration’s new counterinsurgency strategy.

Military operations usually are intended to catch the enemy off guard, but for weeks U.S. and allied officials have been telling reporters about their forthcoming assault on Marjah, a Taliban-held town of 80,000 and drug-trafficking hub in southern poppy-growing Helmand province.

[Via http://texan2driver.wordpress.com]

The war is dead, long live the war

2010-02-10T11:37:00.000+02:00

A lot of attention has been suddenly focused on the “new” statistical data showing that the homicide rate in Mexico has dropped (and dropped dramatically) over the last several years… in spite of the so-called “drug war”.

It is certainly true, as the Washington Post reports that:

Mexico’s homicide rate has fallen steadily from a high in 1997 of 17 per 100,000 people to 14 per 100,000 in 2009, a year marked by an unprecedented spate of drug slayings concentrated in a few states and cities, Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna said….Mexico City’s rate was about 9 per 100,000 in 2008, while Washington, D.C. was more than 30 that year.

Most of the actual decline, as noted by Patrick Corcoran (Ganchoblog) is due to a decline in violence in Mexico’s rural south:

… throughout Mexico’s southern region, rural killings have dropped off the charts since the 1990s. Given that the degree of the decline is such that a five-fold increase in drug killings in three years is more than offset, this is rather remarkable, a mini-Mexican miracle in the midst of the anarchy in Juárez and widespread violence across the North and in much of the interior of the country as well. I suspect that much of that is unrelated to Marcos, but I’d love to see a deeper explanation.

I offer no explanation, but note two additional factors that make these statistics worth more study.

First, as Malcolm Beith reported yesterday,

… the government, realizing it cannot possibly stop drug trafficking completely (both Eduardo Medina Mora and Genaro Garcia Luna admitted this in the past year or so) has been seeking other ways to frame its apparent quest for a more stable and democratic Mexico. It has decided to go after organized crime.

“Organized crime,” as Beith reports government sources saying, is human trafficking. There is validity to attacking “human trafficking,” but given that one unstated reason for the huge decline in rural violence has been rural migration. Young men without a good economic prospect are the most likely to resort to violence. Young men without good economic prospects in rural Mexico migrate, using the “services” of human traffickers.

Certainly, the “drug war” has occupied much more of the Mexican social and political consciousness than it needed, and been a drain on resources that could have, among other things, ameliorated the conditions that make rural migration (and drug smuggling, for that matter) viable. But, just redefining the “causa belli” as “human trafficking” doesn’t seem to jive with what the government officials are actually telling Beith.

As they change the war on drugs to the war on organized crime, the authorities are also changing their definition of the war. As one former PGR guy tells me, it’s all about how you look at it. (He refuses to call Mexico’s current state a “war” by the way.)

The authorities are starting to look at organized crime through a new paradigm. Instead of thinking of the enemy as crooks, and trying to put them in jail, the government is going to increasingly look at organized crime as a business. Not an illegal business, but as a business.

This is a policy I favor, and I don’t knock it. I’ve categorized “drug” posts under the “informal economy” tab in my index for some time. Still, I get the sense this is basically a Hail Mary pass. From the beginning, many have asked if the “war’s” entire raison d’etre wasn’t to neutralize questions about the administration’s dubious electoral legitimacy , and — incidentally — to weaken opposition to PAN. The result has been the opposite: PAN badly lost the 2009 legislative elections not just because voters tend to “punish”· the party in power during an economic downturn, but because of popular discontent with the “drug war” and the obvious heavy-handed attempts to paint opposition parties as mobbed up”; and the chances of PAN retaining the presidency in 2012 look increasingly dim.

But, never having defined a strategy, or a clearly obtainable goal, I suppose better late than never. If we must have a war, we need one with a relatively decent chance of success.

— More later –

[Via http://mexfiles.net]

'Ghost-Doping': Is it Harmless?

2010-02-10T03:29:00.000+02:00

With the abuse of performance enhancing substances(P.E.St) prevelent in many areas of competition can we really overlook the cutthroat world of paranomal investigating? So called ‘Ghost-Doping’ may seem harmless in terms of its health effects, but consider its impact on the paranormal sciences. Ignoring this problem will only allow it to fester and propagate like a virus (herpes for example). It is doubtful whether the field of paranormal investigation, already heavily taxed by its struggle to gain legitimacy in the sciences, can survive the stain of substance abuse.

I suggest that drug testing now may serve to avoid future scandals that could sink prominant practitioners and the discipline they strive to legitimize. P.E.Sts effect the spirit of fair competition and the acumen of the investigators senses, as well as risking the lucrative sponsorships necessary to fund further research. Substance abuse is an iceberg on our horizon; drug testing could be the lifeboat we need.

Let us look at the categorical effects P.E.Sts have on the individual investigator. Stimulants act as the investigators crutch that makes it possible for them to hobble into the wee hours. Problems that arrise include; the shakes(effecting hand held meters), jitters or jumpiness(causing overreactons and actual jumping), and an excessive need to urinate(disturbing the continuity of the investigation itself). Ameliorating these effects with sedatives becomes even more problematic.

Human growth hormones. I have no hard data on how big a human can get but I have found that human growth hormones, hGH(a type of P.E.St), can lead to heart problems(again, I have no hard data. Except in my pants). Putting an individual with a delicate heart in a position to meet a ghost face-to-face just can’t be a good idea. Other internal organs are also effected but I found no evidence that these ‘less important’ organs have ever spontaneously seized due to the fear reaction. When is the last time you startled someone only to have them say, “You scared me so bad my spleen almost seized!”

Narcotics are associated with an impairment of an individual’s sensory abilities. Much emphasis is placed on the gadgets and meters measuring the byproducts of paranemes(def: the smallest unit of a spiritual entity). Any good investigator worth his or her salt* knows that the acuity of their own senses is their greatest asset. Effects range from not seeing objects or images in the immediate environment to not caring about the objects they do see. Similarly, audio transmittions and natural sounds may be heard but may stimulate inappropriate reactions such as laughter, inability to concentrate or flatuance.

Now we come to the hallucinogens(H). This class of drugs was once thought to be closely tied to the field of the paranomal by seekers of a higher consciousness. With the emphasis on modern paranormal research shifting to science many have grown Leary of these substances.

Psychedelics, dissociatives and deliriants can create a number of unproductive side-effects which include; seeing things that are not there, seeing or sensing things that are not anywhere, dream like states(sleep may also lead to dream-like experiences and is also disruptive to the investigation process), an inability to properly operate electronic devices(including sex toys used for provocation sessions), acute fear of lens dust, an exaggerated awareness of ones own skin(disrupting to an investigation and potentialy harmful to equipment, vehicles and bystanders), and in extreme cases death. How many investigators can we affort to lose before the field is negitively impacted?

Cheating, in any form, is bad. Cheating in the realm of paranormal investigation can undermine the legitamacy of the invetigators and cast doubt on the evidence they collect(real bad). Drug effects on sensory abilities more directly destroy the credibility of the evidence(uber bad). Evidence is not proof, as Red Letter Rachel(RLR) so aptly asserted in her recent blog movement. However, this evidence must still be sound(especially in the case of EVP).

With ‘Ghost-Doping’ destroying the level playing field and reliability within the discipline, a reluctance on the part of sponsors will certianly follow. Without any real jobs many investigators will never see an infra-red camera or a multi-directional electronic device without the backing of corporate ‘deep pockets’.

So it seems undeniable that drug testing is needed. Not only do I believe P.E.Sts should be banned, but we should also regulate the use of caffeine and energy drinks, for these are commonly used to ‘mask’ the use of other drugs(I really like parentheses). I call upon all concerned to act now! How you act is up to you!

*I hope to be writing about the use of spices and condiments in paranormal investigating in a future posting featuring an overuse of semicolons. Anyone interested in starting a Spirit Orb Support Group?

[Via http://redletterparablog.wordpress.com]

The Heresey of Jenny McCarthy

2010-02-08T19:31:00.000+02:00

Actors Jenny McCarthy and Jim Carrey are taking a drubbing in the press for maintaining their stance that certain vaccinations promote autism in children now that the publication that originally published the allegations has distanced itself from them. This is something of a change from the more mixed press coverage McCarthy received before these latest revelations.

The suggestion seems to be that Hollywood celebrities like McCarthy and Carrey have no scientific expertise. This would hold more weight if some of Hollywoodland’s more ridiculously non-scientific beliefs were examined more closely.

Moreover, as the Mother Jones article would suggest, many people believe that it is immoral for parents not to vaccinate their children. Again, this argument might make sense if there were some consistency in how we as a society view the rights of individuals to dictate what goes in their own bodies. Abortion is as a choice; drug use (illegal drugs, I mean–not the ones which keep pharmaceutical executives fat) is not. Where does vaccination fall within this ethical continuum?

I am not a scientist; I can’t say who’s correct, but I guess I’d side with the preponderance of medical evidence over the opinions of Drs. McCarthy & Carrey. But before we burn McCarthy at the stake, let’s try to keep things in perspective: even science is fallible.

[Via http://smaktakula.wordpress.com]

Bloody Traffic Ticket Leads To Major Drug Bust

2010-02-08T11:40:00.000+02:00

A bloody Pound Ridge traffic ticket led police to a discover a drug warehouse inside a New Canaan, Connecticut home. The dim-witted motorist sent in his traffic ticket with a not guilty plea but an observant clerk noticed that the traffic ticket had blood and other bodily fluid on it. The Pound Ridge police, then, called the New Canaan police. When the New Canaan police went to check on the man, they noticed a broken window and blood inside the home. Once inside, they noticed drugs left out in plain view.

Officers seized about two pounds of marijuana, a marijuana plant, scales, packaging material, literature on how to grow marijuana and a 12-gauge shotgun, police said. They also found blood-soaked towels, blood on rugs and walls and in a bathtub. Now, in addition to the traffic ticket, the motorist faces a number of drug-related charges.

Brittany Murphy Died From Multiple Prescription Drug Intoxication And Pneumonia

2010-02-05T19:09:00.000+02:00

Brittany Murphy died from multiple drug intoxication, pneumonia and “iron deficiency anemia” in what the coroner has concluded was a accidental death.

The Clueless star, 32, was found unresponsive in her Hollywood Hills home on Dec. 20, despite frantic attempts by her husband, Simon Monjack, and her mother, Sharon, to revive her.

Simon and Sharon said they believed Brittany’s death was due to a congenital heart murmur and denied rumors that the actress used illegal drugs or suffered from an eating disorder. They added that Murphy’s heart condition was diagnosed in her teens, but said she had received proper treatment for it. They also said that she’d been suffering from laryngitis and flu-like symptoms in the days before her death.

A number of prescription meds were reportedly found by investigators on her nightstand. Simon says his wife was taking the painkiller Vicoprofen and the antidepressant Fluoxetine (also known as Sarafem) to deal with severe menstrual cramps, and that many of the other meds found were for his own use due to a seizure he recently suffered.

The actress was laid to rest in a twilight ceremony in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve.

A full autopsy report is expected within two weeks.

[Via http://synamatiq.wordpress.com]

Google Web Alert for: homeless vancouver Portland versus Vancouver the Homeless Debate Community of Interest

2010-02-05T03:46:00.000+02:00

Federal study to give homeless places to live

Canada.com

… will monitor a total of 2225 homeless people living with a mental illness in Moncton, NB, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg over four years. …

See all stories on this topic A housing solution for Vancouver’s homeless(News1130 Photo)

News1130

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A $150 million federal project may have long-lasting benefits for Vancouver’s homeless. A new Mental Health Commission of Canada …

See all stories on this topic Homeless Help

CJOB

The plan involves giving a thousand homeless people in Winnipeg, Moncton, Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal subsidized apartments and access to intensive …

See all stories on this topic Homeless aboriginal man left to die in busy Vancouver park

Rabble.ca

Thirty-two per cent of the homeless population in Metro Vancouver is aboriginal. Since the 2010 Olympics were awarded to Vancouver, homelessness has more …

See all stories on this topic Globe and Mail

Anti-loitering strategy causes a big stink

Globe and Mail

These are people in our community [the homeless] who need support, and this does not treat people with dignity.” Except that, truth to say, the dung did its …

See all stories on this topic

New Book Reveals Mental Health Patient’s Road to Accomplishing …

Einnews Portugal

Because of an injury, Dorn lost his successful business, and was divorced, desperate and homeless by 1990. Social service agencies directed him to …

See all stories on this topic

Google Blogs Alert for: homeless vancouver

Is a jail also a home? « Price Tags

By pricetags

McLaren points to Portland’s recent progress in tackling its own homeless problems as evidence that Vancouver’s homeless policies and funding sources simply aren’t up to snuff. Perhaps that’s right. But focusing on a few of Portland’s …

Price Tags – http://pricetags.wordpress.com/ British Columbia News » Blog Archive » Federal project will …

By admin

The entry is tagged under Canada, canada project, city, Commission, Half, health, help, homeless, Mental, mental health commission, project, Vancouver. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. …

British Columbia News – http://www.britishcolumbia.name/news/ City councillors to request city support for inquiry :: The Hook

By Christine McLaren

Vancouver city councillors are calling on the city to support the recommendation of a coroner’s inquest into the death of Curtis Brick this summer. “The main things that were asking for is that council endorse the Union of BC Indian Chiefs … Last week the UBCIC held a press conference demanding the coroner hold an inquest into the response by emergency officials surrounding the death of the homeless First Nations man on July 29 in Grandview Park near Commercial Drive. …

The Hook Home – http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/

Google Web Alert for: homeless vancouver

Portland versus Vancouver the Homeless Debate Community of Interest

Politics, Health, Medicine, Government, Private and Public relations, immigration, multiculturalism.

[Via http://homelesschampions.wordpress.com]

Hollywood Goodfella: Police: Man had $19 million in cocaine

2010-02-03T19:37:00.000+02:00

Jean-Francois Gosselin, 34, of Quebec, is charged with possession of 92 kilograms of cocaine.

NEWPORT BEACH – A Canadian man is due to be arraigned later this month on charges of possessing 92 kilograms of cocaine.

Jean-Francois Gosselin, 34, of Mascouche, Quebec, was arrested Jan. 20 in his mobile home at the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort

Story and Video

[Via http://af11.wordpress.com]

Canadian provincial leader skips waiting lists to get heart surgery in the USA

2010-02-03T02:00:00.000+02:00

Political Map of Canada

Canada has a single-payer health care system. Everyone pays the government based on their total earned income, and then the government decides who will be treated, based on special interest groups “need”. So it’s a disdvantage to be hard-working and prudent, since you end up paying taxes but never using any services. For example, politically correct services like taxpayer-funded abortions, in vitro fertilization, and sex changes are provided, but necessary care like MRIs are rationed with waiting lists. For some treatments, you can wait for years. And the government restricts the number of doctors in order to keep costs down, since fewer doctors means fewer claims to pay.

Now you may say to yourself, “Big deal! At least it’s fair! Radical leftist politicians love single-payer health care, and they get in line for health care right behind ordinary guys/gals just like me! We’re all in it together, eh?”

Erm, not so much.

Look at this story from National Post: (H/T Andrew, ECM)

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams will undergo heart surgery later this week in the United States.

Deputy premier Kathy Dunderdale confirmed the treatment at a news conference Tuesday, but would not reveal the location of the operation or how it would be paid for.

“He has gone to a renowned expert in the procedure that he needs to have done,” said Ms. Dunderdale, who will become acting premier while Mr. Williams is away for three to 12 weeks.

“In consultation with his own doctors, he’s decided to go that route.”

Mr. Williams’ decision to leave Canada for the surgery has raised eyebrows over his apparent shunning of Canada’s health-care system.

“It was never an option offered to him to have this procedure done in this province,” said Ms. Dunderdale, refusing to answer whether the procedure could be done elsewhere in Canada.

[...]During the 2008 federal election, Mr. Williams vehemently opposed the Conservative government, launching his “Anything But Conservative” — which has been credited with keeping the Tories from winning any seats in the province.

Anything but conservative, indeed, comrade Williams!

But that’s not all. Ezra Levant wrote about the hypocrisy of the secular leftist elite back in 2002.

How about the former Liberal prime minister of Canada, Jean Chretien?

Jean Chretien takes his own family to private health clinics. In fact, he doesn’t just use U.S.-style private clinics. He actually goes to private clinics in the U.S.

And he flies to those U.S. private clinics on Canadian government jets, paid for by Canadian tax dollars.

According to access-to-information documents obtained by the Canadian Alliance, on Feb. 8, 1999, Chretien and two aides flew from Vancouver to Minnesota, home of the Mayo Clinic. According to air force flight logs, they flew back to Ottawa that afternoon with Chretien’s daughter. And on Dec. 11 of the same year, Chretien went back to the clinic, this time just with his wife and his aide.

These trips were courtesy of the Canadian Forces 412th Squadron, which has flown literally thousands of nautical miles taking Chretien back and forth to the clinic.

And what about Liberal MP Belinda Stronach?

Liberal MP Belinda Stronach, who is battling breast cancer, travelled to California last June for an operation that was recommended as part of her treatment, says a report.

Stronach’s spokesman, Greg MacEachern… said the decision was made because the U.S. hospital was the best place to have it done due to the type of surgery required.

But these Liberals are just regular leftists. What about the socialist leader Jack Layton? Surely they wouldn’t take advantage of free market capitalism to be treated unequally, would they?

NDP Leader Jack Layton, who’s campaigning as the defender of public health care, had surgery at a private clinic in the 1990s, The Canadian Press has learned. Layton had hernia surgery at the Shouldice Hospital, a private facility in the Toronto suburb of Thornhill, while he was serving as a Toronto city councillor.

Capitalism for me, but not for thee, eh, comrade?

How does health care in the USA compare with other countries?
Videos explaining what government-run health care is like in Canada
Canada cuts deal with US hospitals to reduce waiting times
Understand the right way to reform health care… with short podcasts!

[Via http://winteryknight.wordpress.com]

Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll...

2010-02-01T19:35:00.000+02:00

Ian Dury has to be one of the most prolific British artists of ALL time, and can now, from the grave, he can enjoy a film dedicated to him and to his legacy.

Andy Serkis has to be the best Ian Dury impressionist ever, and I can’t wait to see the film myself. Oh, and , yes, I know… The film has been out for almost a month now!

The film seems to purvey Dury’s true nature very clearly, and is a good fresh wake up call and change to anyone bored of those same-old Hollywood blockbusters. It deals quite directly with Dury’s polio and his attitude to his disability, and maintains a good mix between drama, musical, and black comedy.

I definitely give this film 5 stars out of 5!

[Via http://blonkersaboutfilm.wordpress.com]

Jobs That Crossed My Desk Through Jan. 31, 2010

2010-02-01T03:18:00.000+02:00

The number of jobs has picked up in tune with comments I’ve heard from recruiters in recent weeks. I’ve attached my most recent list of jobs for the past week plus those from two weeks earlier for total of three weeks.

I’ve provided the list as a downloadable Word document Jobs That Crossed My Desk Through Jan31_2010 Don’t forget to review jobs on the Bio2Device Group website and other job sites listed at end of my weekly report. Audrey

[Via http://audreysnetwork.wordpress.com]

Medical issues in the works

2010-01-29T03:46:00.000+02:00

Creating a French Country antique paint finish on a Medicine Cabinet is an easy project that can be accomplished in one weekend. To start this French Country antique Medicine Cabinet project you will need a few different materials from your local home improvement store as well as some time.

Those cheap plain fake wood Medicine Cabinets are perfect for French Country antiquing. If you have old or outdated wood Medicine Cabinet and just want to change the color or look this French Country antique paint process is also good.

Here is a list of supplies you will need to start French Country antiquing and resurfacing your old Medicine Cabinet:

Primer

Bright or Royal Blue Paint & Sunny Yellow Paint or Terra Cotta and Blue Paint

Roller paint brushes

A variety of 2″, 3″, or 4″ paint brushes

Wood stain

Glaze

Sandpaper

Drop clothes

Cheap, outdated, or plain Medicine Cabinet

Now, start sanding the surface of your plain Medicine Cabinet. Once you have the surface lightly sanded, you should wipe off the dust with a clean dry clothe. An old white t-shirt will work perfectly here.

Now, you are ready to put a coat of primer. If you are using a cheap fake wood Medicine Cabinet this is a very important step. Your resurfacing and French Country antique paint technique will not stick to your surface if you don't sand and then prime your Medicine Cabinet.

If you want a rough more rustic French Country look try putting the primer on with one of the 4″ brushes. This will give texture and create the look of real wood. If you prefer the smoother look you can roll the paint on with any type of paint roller. A foam roller will create the smoothest surface.

Allow your primer to dry completely.

Put on a coat of your base paint, which can be one of two colors. You can use yellow as your base and blue as your topcoat or blue as your base and terra cotta as your topcoat. This first paint should not be the actual color you want your French Country Medicine Cabinet to end up, but the color you want to show through when you antique the Medicine Cabinet.

Now you are ready to paint your French Country Medicine Cabinet with the real color you wish them to be, so blue or terra cotta, whichever applies to you?

Don't be scared to choose a bright color because the antiquing process will tone down the appearance of the French Country Medicine Cabinet considerably.

Once your French Country Medicine Cabinet color has dried you are ready to start antiquing it. Start by using the sand paper to rough up edges and other areas that would typically be used over time.

This will allow your sunny yellow to show through the bright blue or your blue to show through the terra cotta color.

Once you have finished sanding the French Country Medicine Cabinet wipe the surface down with a clean dry cloth. That old white t-shirt will work well here again. You can stop at this point, but if you want to go the extra mile you can use a mixture of ½ wood stain and ½ glaze to darken your piece.

Start by mixing your wood stain and glaze in a plastic container. Use a white rag or another old t-shirt to rub the stain onto the French Country Medicine Cabinet.

You can do this process until you achieve the antique look you want for your French Country Medicine Cabinet.

Tips:

For additional French Country antique inspired embellishments to a very plain Cheap Medicine Cabinet try attaching some pre cut wood embellishments. You can find them at any home improvement store.

This will completely change the look of your inexpensive Medicine Cabinet and instantly give a French Country antique feel.

You can also add some picture and ceiling molding as well.

Check out more of Rebecca's Vintage Crafts.

This article brought to by http://www.freemedicaltextbooks.hostoi.com

http://www.freemedicaltextbook.com

[Via http://erectiledysfunctionaid.wordpress.com]

Letter to Yet Another Principle-Free Canadian Politician

2010-01-27T11:42:00.000+02:00

One of our public elementary schools here in British Columbia has a Led Zeppelin poster hanging in the music room. This poster is called a “supplementary instructional resource,” meaning that it is not an official District-sanctioned learning resource, but it is a resource selected by the music teacher, at his discretion, to assist teaching the music learning outcomes to elementary students, as required by the curriculum.

There are a number of obvious problems with this poster apparent to those who care about children:

Jimmy Page confessed that the Led Zeppelin band was about drugs from the very beginning to the very end, at least for him. People are dead because of this drug-rock era, including performers, band managers, and countless fans. The School District states that it “supports efforts designed to prevent and intervene in substance abuse among students.” Similarly, the district and individual schools are opposed to tobacco usage. It would be ludicrous for a school to celebrate the Marlboro man by hanging a poster of him inside a classroom. This would constitute implied endorsement of tobacco usage in conflict with the school’s policy against tobacco usage. The District confesses in their policies that school teachers “may be perceived as role models for pupils.”
Said poster cannot help small children learn how to play the recorder or sing “do-re-mi.” To argue that it is an learning resource for five to twelve-year-olds is laughable.
God help us if one of our children browses the Led Zeppelin CD section in Wal-mart or HMV– they might stumble upon the oft-banned child-porn Egyptian-god-worshiping album cover.

I brought a complaint to the school about this poster, suggesting that our goal of caring for our children’s health with regards to substance abuse reasonably includes refraining from implicitly endorsing substance abuse.

The school’s “sensitive materials” committee (principal + music teacher + one parent) reviewed my complaint and concluded that the poster was harmless, and valuable enough to remain stapled to the wall.

I then brought the complaint to the School District. After several months of letters being sent back and forth, they finally informed me that they had no official policy in place to deal with these “supplemental” resources; they would only review parent-submitted complaints about the official [and less potentially controversial] materials. This pack of unbelievers have policy papers coming out their ears, except when a policy paper might actually be useful in morality, ethics, or any such demonstration of love toward any subset of human beings in our community.

So, I brought my complaint to the Provincial ministries of Education and Health, as the ‘resource’ obviously pertains to both health and education. To my delight, the current Minister of Education in BC is also a doctor who likely has some thoughts on health. My simple question to our Provincial politicians was, “How might we reasonably understand this poster hanging in the children’s music room in the context of health, the prevention of substance abuse, and educational principles?”

I also pointed out to them that the provincial School Act calls for inculcation of the “highest morality” in school conduct.1

After several months of ignoring my letters and delegating the matter to other ministries and other MLAs, the province eventually got back to me with a letter confessing their neglect in reviewing the complaint, justifying this recklessness by referring to the very same brainless pieces of policy papers that the District had attempted to placate me with.

Now the matter is sitting on the desk of the Prime Minister of our nation. It is such a difficult one to deal with, it needed to come to this. Where is a wise man when we need one?

We understand that “the darkness has not understood” the light. (John 1:5; NIV.) I am realizing that the more immersed we are in the light, the more difficulty we have understanding the darkness. What a strange planet this is.

—

Footnote:

1. When this sentence about inculcating the highest morality [BC School Act; Section 76] was originally formulated in Ontario prior to being compromised by conspicuous modification, “highest morality” referred explicitly to the Bible. I’m curious about how many people in Canada have any clue as to where to even find “morality,” much less where to find it in its “highest form,” and then to actually take a stand for it. Canadians stand for such maniacal nonsense as the official “Gay Welcoming Whistler” for our 2010 Olympics. Hey, we’re all sinners, but do we really need official celebrations of certain variations of sin? Why do we not have a “Fornicators-and-Adulterers-Club Whistler Welcoming,” a “Teenagers-who-Do-Not-Keep-Their-Pants-On-and-Prefer-Abortion Welcoming,” or a “Shack-up-and-Ruin-a-Family-Society Welcoming” for the Olympics? My children do not really need to be exposed to a warm welcome from a particular ‘proud’ sexual group. In those ridiculous “old-fashioned” days, kids did not even learn about sex until they were teenagers. Now those parents who have some concern about strangers teaching sexuality to their children must preempt the school system to teach their six-year-olds about “homosexuality.” The so-called ’secular’ fools of our nation are working overtime to get various messages of sexual immorality to the kids in case, of course, they have that universal human tendency to be sexually immoral and require a whole lot of extra help in a culture that is so discriminatory against the perverse! Apparently, the universal strategy is to teach kids to be proud of their sin. Guess what, gays, you do not have a monopoly on sin or perversion– you are really not that special. We all need to be saved from the wretches we are.

We would really rather not be talking about sex with our tiny children, but we accept that compared to many Canadian parents, we are the strange ones– we read that big fairytale Bible that is the world’s most influential book, written across 1500 years by 40 authors, all witnessing to that One who remains the unchanging living witness in our hearts today. We would love to show unconditional love to our fellow sinners, while yet not compromising the truth or neglecting to show the kind of love that comes in the form of admonishment; meanwhile, our nation is ushering in Islam and Shariah law, which will see to it that the sexually immoral are beaten, whipped, and/or executed; they prefer not to defer wrath and punishment to their Allah-god. But Canadians do not talk about Islam, because it helps them believe that the infection really is not happening. Satan has told us that we create our own realities by dreams and wishes invented in our [deceitfully wicked] hearts. We generally appreciate that lie, because we would rather do anything than submit to the God we hate. Even feminists, of all people, find some benefit in collaborating with the preachers and victims of Islam. If they can work together at some attempt to take a swipe at Jesus Christ, they can always stab each other in the back later.

There is a problem here for the enemies of the King of kings: His kingdom is not of this world; therefore, policy/legal swipes at Christians do not touch His kingdom. Even Satan is not so stupid as to plot that kind of failing tactic. When you say that the age of Christianity is over, you will discover that it is just beginning. If this pathetic militant world has not even managed to get rid of those pesky Jews who always want their nation, how much more will it dramatically fail in attempts to stomp out Jesus Christ. He is not going away. When all is gone, He alone will remain.

[Via http://looseassociations.wordpress.com]

でぶ熟女contoh soal olimpiade geografi

2010-01-27T03:53:00.000+02:00

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[Via http://homelesschampions.wordpress.com]

Peer Pressure at 25

2010-01-25T19:51:00.000+02:00

It’s pretty hard to reflect upon yourself, but I think I can say that I’ve not been victim to the typical peer pressures as a teenager.

I didn’t fall into sex, drugs, rock & roll, etc. partially because no one ever asked me, and because I knew what I wanted for myself. So, I was very surprised at myself last weekend when I was invited to go out for a joint and I actually contemplated saying yes.

Well, my friend was definitely NOT pressuring me to smoke with her. I simply asked where she was headed, and she simply invited me, “I’m going to smoke my joint, wanna come?” Perhaps it wasn’t so much peer pressure as an opportunity that I was now open to.

In the past 5 or so years, I’ve redirected my judgmental attitude toward stupid people, and have become much more open about things, including marijuana. I knew that it wouldn’t change me as a person, and that I wouldn’t be addicted forever, and that I wouldn’t be any more close to death because of it. It seemed like a safe environment where I could try something new once and have it checked off on the list of things that I had tried in my life.

The irony of me being “peer pressured” at the ripe old age of 25 hit me later.

Anyway, I said no because I was chicken, and the whole experience didn’t change the way I thought of my friend, or my friend me. Should I have done it?

[Via http://mincostflow.wordpress.com]

Charities call on PM to scrap prescription charges

2010-01-25T11:02:00.000+02:00

In a letter to the prime minister seen by Healthcare Republic, the charities’ chief executives called on the prime minister to implement his promise of free prescriptions as soon as possible.

‘Prescription charges are a deeply unfair burden on people with long-term conditions — those who need medicines the most for day-to-day quality of life’, they said.

‘Patients should not be prevented by an NHS charge from accessing treatment to improve their quality of life.’

Writing in the letter as the Prescription Charges Coalition, the charities said they hoped that the government would be able to find a way to implement this policy as soon as possible.

The letter has been signed by representatives of the following charities: Androgen Insensitivity Support Group, Arthritis Care, Association for Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, Asthma UK, Behcets Syndrome Society, British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK, Disability Alliance, Klinefelter’s Syndrome Association, Mind, MS Society, National Ankylosing Spondylitis Society, National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease , National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society, Parkinson’s Disease Society, Pernicious Anaemia Society, Rethink, Skin Care Campaign, Stroke Association and Terence Higgins Trust.

[Via http://abolishprescriptioncharges.wordpress.com]

Jail the messenger?

2010-01-22T19:16:00.000+02:00

Sure.

A new proposal by Mexico’s ruling party could result in musicians being sent to prison for performing songs that glorify drug trafficking.

The proposed legislation would mean sentences of up to three years for people performing or producing songs or films that glamorise criminals.

“Society sees drug ballads as nice, pleasant, inconsequential and harmless – but they are the opposite,” Oscar Martin Arce, a National Action party MP, told the Associated Press.

The ballads – known as narcocorridos – often describe drug trafficking and violence and are popular among some norteño bands.

After some killings, gangs pipe narcocorridos and threatening messages into police radio scanners.

Martin said his party’s proposal, presented to congress on Wednesday, was also intended to combat low-budget films praising druglords. It remained unclear when it would be voted on.

“We cannot accept it as normal. We cannot exalt these people because they themselves are distributing these materials among youths to lead them into a lifestyle where the bad guy wins,” Martin said.

He added that the proposal’s intention was not to limit free expression but to stop such performances from inciting crimes, claiming one alleged murderer had told police he became involved in crime because he liked narcocorridos…

And playing Country-Western backwards makes your wife faithful and your dog come home.

[Via http://mexfiles.net]

Sex Trafficking of American Indian Girls and Women

2010-01-20T11:01:00.000+02:00

All over the world, indigenous populations are highly vulnerable to trafficking into commercial sex industries. Here in the U.S., the American Indian population is no exception. Unfortunately, sex trafficking among this population is rarely studied. The following is a brief look at sex trafficking of American Indians in the U.S. For a more in-depth analysis, check out this recent report out of Minnesota.

One Native woman, let’s call her Lisa, told a social service agency her story. At the age of 12, Lisa’s mother began selling her to other men on the reservation, to support her mother’s crack habit. To cope with the pain of being raped repeatedly at her mother’s behest, Lisa turned to drugs as well. By the time she was 14, Lisa used the only way to earn money she knew to support her addiction — she began recruiting other young American Indian girls into the sex trade. This system of exploitation rippled through Lisa’s community, until she was eventually able to get out.

Lisa’s story is not unusual. Some advocates claim cultural trauma and a history of exploitation and abuse of American Indians allows traffickers to get a foothold in these communities. Other experts point to a number of risk factors that influence other populations — high rates of runaway or throwaway youth, normalization of sex for children, drug and alcohol addition, and social systems failures. All these risk factors are present in some American Indian communities, and in many cases the problems are acute. American Indians also face many of the same barriers members of other traditionally marginalized communities face, like lack of educational opportunities and cycles of poverty which can be hard to break.

Addressing the exploitation of Indian Americans can be challenging, especially for those living in areas governed by tribal law. Often, young girls living on reservations are taken outside the reservation and sold for sex in nearby cities. Therefore, fighting this form of trafficking takes cooperation between tribal authorities and those from outside the tribal area. Some NGOs are working to train both tribal and city-based law enforcement to recognize trafficking across jurisdictions within the U.S., but more work is needed. Additionally, once traffickers are apprehended, it can sometimes be difficult to determine which authority should prosecute them.

The challenges American Indian women and girls face when it comes to sexual exploitation and trafficking are similar to those other native and indigenous populations face, including those in Australia, Canada, and and other formerly colonized countries. It’s important to consider the unique needs of all native peoples and include them in broad national plans to address human trafficking in that country.

source: http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/sex_trafficking_of_american_indian_girls_and_women

[Via http://cjaye57.wordpress.com]

John of Jerusalem - Prophecy Number 20

2010-01-20T03:40:00.000+02:00

When the Year Thousand that comes after Year Thousand begins

A lot of men will remain seated with their arms crossed

Or will wander without knowing where, with glazed eyes

For they will no longer have a forge to beat metal

And no field to cultivate

They will be like a seed which cannot take root

Roaming around and owning nothing, humiliated and desperate

The youngest and the oldest often homeless

They will have only war to save them

And they will start by fighting themselves

And they will hate their lives.

This prophecy speaks about people who cannot find work. Markets have changed and they have lost their livelihoods.

It speaks of their search from place to place, their humiliation and their desperation. They own nothing and are often homeless, particularly the youngest and the oldest among them.

The young ones can join the army, but first they have to win the battle against themselves. Being out of work creates a feeling of self-loathing, of being good-for-nothing. People become depressive, which in turn can lead to suicide.

The longer you are out of work, the more difficult it becomes to find a job. Others can see you as “lazy” and criticise you, which makes it worse. I know, I’ve been there.

It can eventually lead to homelessness and all the additional problems of living in the street. Drugs and alcohol (also a drug) help to numb the pain, but to get them, the only way is theft or prostitution.

I will be eternally grateful never to have been reduced to homelessness.

With this twentieth prophecy we are two-thirds of the way through John’s description of life today as he saw it nearly 1,000 years ago, and half-way through his forty prophecies. The last ten are life farther into our future, and are extremely optimistic. Already we can see the beginnings of changes for the better concerning some of the things which we have seen in these first twenty.

Tomorrow we shall embark on the last ten which speak about today, before plunging into the ten about our bright future, predicted to begin around 2020 to 2050.

[Via http://marilynkaydennis.wordpress.com]

Intimacy With Christ- The Nature of Christ-2

2010-01-18T03:49:00.000+02:00

Intimacy With Christ Sometimes Means That Jesus Will “Show-Up” In The Midst Of Our Conventional Wisdom To Do Or Say Something That “Counters” Us To Draw Us Into Following Him- To Draw Us To Himself More Deeply Than We Imagined Possible.

Jesus Fills the Empty Boat After a Night of Total-waste

One day Jesus was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret while the people pushed their way up to him to listen to the word of God. He saw two boats pulled up on the beach; the fishermen had left them and were washing the nets. Jesus got into one of the boats–it belonged to Simon–and asked him to push off a little from the shore. Jesus sat in the boat and taught the crowd. When he finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Push the boat out further to the deep water, and you and your partners let down your nets for a catch.” “Master,” Simon answered, “we worked hard all night long and caught nothing. (All Who Are Thirsty/Weary- Song) But if you say so, I will let down the nets.” They let them down and caught such a large number of fish that the nets were about to break. So they motioned to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full of fish that the boats were about to sink. When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he fell on his knees before Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord! I am a sinful man!” He and the others with him were all amazed at the large number of fish they had caught. The same was true of Simon’s partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” They pulled the boats up on the beach, left everything, and followed Jesus. – Luke 5:1-11

In this story Jesus is standing at Lake Gennesaret. No, let me say it again so we hear. In this story Jesus is- according to the leading and guidance of His Father and the character of God- Jesus “Shows-up” standing at a Lake. You see– when you are somewhere God wants you to be it’s not just nothing. With God/Christ showing up- it’s never a “Happen-chance” event. Also, with the Servant of Christ abiding in His supply of faith, vision, guidance, and power-

Jesus says: If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. John 12:26

With the kind of disciple/follower Jesus’ mentions- us believers- we too can ”just show up” as we faithfully work on the small and big details of life according to the nature and character of Christ and His power at work within us by The Spirit of Christ- we walk as he did (many would just call it “in the right place at the right time” – No, that’s not what we’re talking about here– it’s more. And so– in this context there’s no Happen-chance with us either when we’re walking in His will/Walking With Him.

The Nature of Christ- 1: With Jesus Christ and His activity here on earth there is never Happen-chance with Him showing up. Never. He doesn’t just waste His time popping in here or there. That’s never His intention. He has a plan and a Redemptive/Lover’s plan at that. We need to know and expect that He’s going to at some point in and out of our history with Him just show-up on our beach- as it were. To the one’s God has set His love upon (There are those who refuse Him setting anything upon them of His– yet, they have to receive because He still sends the sun and rain for the crops– out of goodness and love- they have no choice to just let the rain and sunshine come down from Him.) He says, “I am with you always….”, “I will never leave you nor forsake you…” “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.“ (You Are Here- Song) This is about The Presence or Presencing of Christ– He Positions Himself to be “With” or “Amongst” or “In” us. God just presences Himself with us Always/Forever. His Love endures forever. And so, Jesus is Here now with His people by The Person- The Spirit- as they (The Father, Son, Holy Spirit) are One and share the same nature. With Christ– there’s no Happen-chance– and that ought to comfort us that He is somewhere near where He’s Woo-ing men and women to Himself- to Abide/Be Intimate With Him- though we may not “see” Him. He shows up on our beach with a purpose in mind- an intent to draw us close to Him and the Father too- drawing us closer to His son as any Groom’s Father would counsel– “Be close to Your Bride to be Son. Enjoy her to the utmost. Surpise her and “show-up” to bless her son.” — that’s wise counsel any loving Father would give.

Next, our Lord Christ- (Christ means anointed one- totally set-apart to God for a purpose- fulfilling the promise of the OT that He woudl come.) while the crowd was expecting a teaching of and about God- steps into specific boat. Not just any boat. He went into the boat of Simon-Peter. He saw the nets- empty. He saw the men working hard. He saw the crowd waiting for a word from God. But, in a very Intimate way– He “Saw” Simon-Peter- the man. You see Christ will sometimes seemingly “leave” the crowd for the One. And yet, having not left the crowd at all. Then Jesus asks the ridiculous from a tired, swamped, discouraged and perhaps- a bit ashamed professional fisher who had been out all night– push the boat out. Simon would have to be blind to not have noticed that the crowd was there and wanted a “sermon” from Jesus. So, by God’s Providence and Simon’s obedience- Simon-Peter pushed it out- the crowd wanted a “sermon” and little did Peter know that it was also- “The Lord Wanted Him.”

The Nature of Christ- 2: Our Lord Christ isn’t looking for numbers and crowds as much as He is on the look for those who will “follow.” He is looking for souls one at a time. He doesn’t ignore the many. He just reaches people one at a time like the Shepherd who left the 99 safe sheep to reach the one in the crevice. He is and has reached out to You. Many are called- can you hear Him- “Come to me and Learn of Me!” – and few respond and are chosen.

With God it’s all about “Intimacy”– and never about a shallow “en masse.” There was a “personal-ness” when Jesus Christ came to You- to Me. And that’s just humbling. He’s a Personal Lord. But, He’s a Lord that will sometimes catch us at our deepest weariness as not to be able to take one more step in this or that direction and then says, “step out.” It’s not just a stepping nowhere– it’s a stepping into Him. Simon that day wasn’t stepping just into a boat– He was stepping into Jesus Christ.

Once Jesus had finished preaching the Kingdom of God at the shore to the masses who wanted to hear Him- He then moves away from them- to go to a lonely place out in the deep.

Hosea 2:14-16

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.”

…. Later God calls her not servant but Bride in Hosea and John 14 where Jesus no longer calls them servants but “friends” and later after Pentecost Paul reveals “Bride.”

(Basically- He took her to “the deep“- away from the crowds- “to a lonely place” To Be Intimate and to reveal His glory.)

So, Jesus takes them away to the deep with Peter likely shocked and likely having thought, “Well, I’m bushed and once He’s done here I’m going to finish cleaning my net and then call it a night and go sleep the day off.” Well- Jesus does what seems to be just dumb as the fishers were professional fishermen having fished likely many, many years. Not just that– it was an insult to their intelligence. Putting up with a sermon is one thing– putting up with sheer non-sense is another– so, it seemed. What Jesus has in mind seemed once again- ridiculous. But, the fishermen were humble enough and blessed are the humble– to go at this strange preacher-man’s bidding. Well, we know of the extravagance of Christ– He didnt’ just fill one boat with fish– God filled several and in the filling drew more men into His proximity as it were like the Prophet Hosea says, “I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.” What a tender thing for Jesus to do- fill the boat of several very, very, tired simple fishermen! Now, not to take away from Christ’s/God’s work– I often find that the most simple, largely honest of heart/hard working people are tender not shrewd in the ways of the world– so shrewd as to Miss God’s Blessings. Otherwise- how could there have ever been named a TV show called “Life Goes On” staring Corky- a Down’s Syndrome character? There is something about the meek.

The Nature of Christ- 3: Jesus Christ is not looking to whip us as the Son of man came not to judge– but, to bless. Jesus Christ is not looking to only frustrate us– but, if we are patient with His workings as long as they might take (here a moment and in other places almost a life-time- I suppose Job’s trial looked like a life-time to him) He’s here to bless His people– His humble ones. Jesus Christ calls us out of ourselves (as these men were professional fishermen and could have ended it all by putting their wisdom at the center of the universe and so just went with it) and into Himself/His Path of Blessing and Learning of Him. That’s Intimacy. Are you into yourself? Am I? (That’s condemning ourselves to a fruitless existence. This is not to say that being “wise” at what we do is wrong. Rather, all of our “doings” and “goings about” need to have Jesus Christ at the center (I speak about that in a blog on food, drink people and living above and below the line. On that day such professional wisdom wasn’t being allowed by God to succeed. He’ll do that sometimes– allow the best of the best insight and wisdom to fail– just to get to us as individuals.)

So, the next thing we see after this miraculous catch is a catching the fishermen off guard as to the Nature of Christ. Peter came immediately in touch with His God- the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob- in His Christ. Peter flopped from the inside out and knew/acknwoledged to Christ all those years he had allowed his life to be controlled by sin– as likely the others felt– but, it was as always Peter first “jumping out of the boat”- metaphoricaly- to come to Christ in an honorific way.( Sometimes it’s the Honorific Respect/Humility we lack in our lives, our church life, our relationship with God or reading His Word.) Jesus then draws them all- all 5 men to Himself like netting fish and turns around and gives them a mission that went well beyond their nets into all the world– Jesus Identified Them With Himself In His Mission As Fisher Of Men. That’s Intimacy. To be drawn into Jesus’ Mission as your/our mission.

The Nature of Christ- 4: Jesus Christ does miracles every day around us whether we see them or not. There are times in the midst of the clutter of our lives where we’re tired and almost “too tired” to see anything of Him where He just does something to draw us to Him and into His Mission as Our Mission. To Love the Lord His God was the heartbeat of His Mission. To Love His neighbors as Himself. The Call of Jesus here included a call out of themselves/ourselves and into Himself- to Love God. The call here was out of their “professionalism” into His professionalism- Intimacy With Men- Immanuel- God with us- and so- to become fisher-of-men.

Father God, help us to not miss Jesus and His purposes for our lives to be called out of ourselves and deeper (into the deep waters/the wilderness) in to Him–

To hear Him speak tender things with the Power to back the tenderness and promises.

(Oh- How He Loves Us- Oh- Song)

To see Him draw us into the deep, a lonely place, a place perhaps where we experienced hardship before to see Him do the tender thing above and beyond our imagination.

Lord, we submit to Your bidding. We submit to Your wisdom. Lord Jesus– thanks that you’re not like taking out a popular preacher for coffee who is absorbed with waving at everyone in the coffee-shop and whose attention to me/us is a divided one at best. Here- Your Nature of Loving These Men/Us is not a divided one. Thanks Lord that we are called the apple of Your eye. We are called Your own disciples. We are called Your own body. We- together are Your Bride– the Bride of Christ. Let us revel in You– as You speak tender words to us and as we humble ourselves- though tired we may be- to receive. In Jesus Name AMEN

[Via http://kamvanhereweghe.wordpress.com]

Day 68 (1/12/10): Of The Earth

2010-01-15T19:50:00.000+02:00

Within seconds of getting tea with Cassie, I caught the whiff of weed. Of course, I should have been suspect from the get-go when she pitched tea, but I’m a trusting fella. I may or may not have shown up to these dates half a flask down, but I still didn’t approve. Most of my girls don’t get within smelling distance until I’ve had a few in their company, and by then they can probably tell what kind of drunk I’ve decided to be that night.

But I kept an open mind to Cassie, with her brunette braided pigtails. She was twenty six, but looked seventeen. She talked photography, and I mentioned my interest, and she basically ignored me. She was a one-track-minded girl with a one-sided conversation that made me wish for Whiskey. I even pitched getting out of there, and hitting up the dive next door. She fought me on it, and I made up a story about knowing the bartender and it being his first shift, how I wanted to show my support. She sighed and let an, “okay, just one quick round.”

Three Bloody Mary’s later we are talking about tea, Conan O’Brien, and how weird it was that my bartender friend was basically ignoring me. She was a David Letterman girl…which hurt more than the pot. I kept offering her up my booze-infused celery, and I fessed up that I don’t disbelieve in Karma. She asked if I wanted to smoke after we left the bar, I told her I did, but not that kind. Ironically, enough, she told disapprove of my smoking, and I told her to not worry, because I wasn’t going to give her my smoker’s breath, or even my bloody mary breath, but I had a lovely evening.

[Via http://100girls100days.com]

Here is your scientific word/term for Jan. 13, 2010:

2010-01-13T19:46:00.000+02:00

Today’s term is a twenty-letter word that many nursing students learn.

Term: pharmacotherapeutics

Definition: The study of the effects of drugs in a clinical setting.

The emphasis here is on the effects that a drug has, and accordingly, the drug’s proper uses.

A couple of somewhat similar-looking words have their own meanings of course. “Pharmacodynamics” refers to the study of the interaction of drugs with living tissue, and “pharmacokinetics” refers to the study of what happens to drugs in living organisms.

The more general term, “phamacology” can be defined as the study of the effects of drugs.

Coming on Saturday (1/16/10), “If I had a hammer…”

—

Any single term and definition provided here may be used for personal or educational purposes. Please attribute any such use using “From ScientificWords.wordpress.com – ” followed by the posting date. Source material includes various editions of the “EasyTerms” series of books on scientific vocabulary. More info at:

Applecreek Books

You can also search for books by title or by searching for my name at major online retailers.

[Via http://scientificwords.wordpress.com]

Vrouw valt met auto van Botlekbrug

2010-01-11T11:41:00.000+02:00

bron: De Pers

De politie spreekt van een noodlottig ongeval.

Op basis van welke informatie trekt de politie deze conclusie? Het valt mij namelijk op dat er nooit wordt gesproken over zelfmoord naar aanleiding van dit soort ‘onmogelijke’ eenzijdige ‘ongevallen’. De politie komt altijd met dezelfde standaardantwoorden als ‘te hoge snelheid’ (goed excuus voor nog meer misplaatste controles), noodlottig ongeval (oftewel totaal nietszeggend, maar dan hoeven we verder ook niets te doen), alcoholmisbruik (eigen schuld, dikke bult) en dergelijke. Je hoort nooit iets over een technisch mankement aan de auto, of zelfmoord.

Misschien een rare gedachte, maar de steeds kleiner wordende zogenaamd milieuvriendelijke autootjes worden natuurlijk weer steeds geschikter voor het plegen van een dergelijke daad en waarom zou je wel pillen slikken, voor een trein springen, van een brug springen, maar geen auto nemen voor het plegen van zelfmoord? Mocht ik ooit zo ver zinken, dan zou de auto zeker een hele serieuze overweging krijgen! Je kunt op die manier ook nog eens je daad combineren met het laten zien van je maatschappelijke ongenoegen.

Het hele geval roept bij mij in ieder geval de nodige vragen op. Wat doet een 29-jarige vrouw uit Zoetermeer in vredesnaam om 2:30 ’s nachts alleen in het Botlekgebied? De Botlekbrug is van verre herkenbaar, dus waar was ze mee bezig in plaats van autorijden? Blijkbaar heeft ze ook nog eens de maximumsnelheid overschreden, anders kun je moeilijk spreken van ‘hoge snelheid’.

Zaterdagnacht, ik roep even een paar woorden: drank? drugs? stukgelopen relatie? uit de hand gelopen feestje? slaap? misbruikt? sms? gsm? emoties als verdriet, wanhoop?

Lekker speculatief allemaal I know, maar dat is toch wat je krijgt als de politie verder geen informatie wil verstrekken? Hé, dat veel mensen in dit land niet meer zelf na durven of kunnen denken wil niet zeggen dat dat voor iedereen geldt. De overheid kan dat wel graag willen, maar zolang ik denk besta ik, dus blijf ik denken

[Via http://relativo7.wordpress.com]

hell or glory i don't want anything in between

2010-01-11T03:16:00.000+02:00

“nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist that there is no God.”-Heywood Broun

i can’t seem to figure out what i want to live for. i know what i love to do (music, drawing, writing, acting). but i’m so scared of trying to pursue any of those skills just to find out that i’m either (a) no good at them in the long run or (b) it was never meant to be my calling and i wasted a lot of time because i never paid attention to what i was supposed to be doing to make a difference in the world.

i believe that everything happens for a reason. even if it happens just for entertainment. there’s no such thing as coincidence. i believe there is a god. i believe god has a plan for each and every one of his creations. lately my problem is trying to figure out why he and i have such trouble communicating. how am i supposed to know what my calling is if i’m not told by the ultimate creator? that’s where my faith starts to falter. i believe in god. but i don’t necessarily believe that there’s a specific code of conduct everyone has to follow in order to find favor with him and/or have a fulfilled life. i can’t believe that because so many good people have screwed up their lives and made all the wrong choices just become revolutionary in the world with christ and bringing people to believe. so if some drug addict who’s committed countless crimes (sins and just plain stupidity with a side of ignorance), can get turned around so ultimately in the end, then what is God waiting for where i’m concerned?

no i haven’t completely given my life over to him. i’ve tried many times, but i have control issues and it never lasts. i’m stubborn. i’ve been through a lot of crap. many things have made me question if god is really the only god, the only way, and the only life. but if there’s even the slightest chance that hell exists, i do NOT want to go there. i believe there is a god. i’ve been through too much to ignore that fact in my life. but does that really mean that something as simple as not fully committing to a “godly” life is going to keep me out of heaven? i want to do the right thing. i want i want to be a good person. but sometimes i just want to say screw it all and embrace the voice in the back of my head who tells me to do the specific sins in the bible just to say i did. i want to experience everything or else i’m going to always wonder if i could be happier doing the things i held myself back from.

so what to do now.

well, i’ve found in the past that when i feel myself drifting, i just need to be a little more strict with the self-discipline to keep myself from having an irreparable damaging event at some point in my life. so an opportunity in the self-discipline department has presented itself in the form of a 21 day fast. it’s called the daniel fast and it started at sun down today. for 21 days, until sundown February 1st, i will be eating as a vegan. nothing that came from any animal in any form with enter this mouth until sundown. oh and i can’t have anything with sugar in it either. that’s just the diet. you’re also supposed to fast the things you are either addicted to or in love with for those twenty-one days as well. so i’m fasting men. i will not think of, nor flirt, nor touch in any non-plutonic way any man. i will not be crushing. i will not even give them a secondary glance. i will talk to those who i absolutely have to talk to (my boss, my dad, the guys i work with, my dad’s co-workers at church) but other than that, i will be blind to the opposite sex.

here goes nothing…

goodbye to you

goodbye to everything

i thought i knew

[Via http://that1girl.wordpress.com]

...in the beginning

2010-01-08T11:44:00.000+02:00

I was going to be a rock-star.

Instead I became a chef.

How did this happen?

It was easy. I started washing dishes at the local pub restaurant so I could save money to get some time in the recording studio. It wasn’t long before my lazy, uncooperative and perpetually stoned band-mates were superseded by the foul-mouthed, psychopathic and perpetually entertaining cast of characters that dwelled inside that kitchen.

It was a world that was a strange and tasty mash of Peter Pan’s Lost Boys and Hook’s Pirate Crew. There was so much sex, drugs, alcohol, profanity and mayhem oozing from every corner it was a wonder that any food was cooked at all.

I was home.

A friend told me that there was a job going so I rang the number. I was transferred from the bar to the kitchen after being told to ask for ‘Matt’.

“Kitchen, Natalie speaking.”

“Good afternoon, I was wondering if I could speak to Chef Matt.”

“About?”

“About a possible trial for the kitchen hand position.”

“MATT! PHONE! DISHPIG!”

Muffled silence.

“Yo! Matt speaking.”

“Good afternoon, my name is ******* ****, I was ringing about the kitchen hand position…”

“Right. It’s simple. You come in. You work your arse off. It’s shit and it’s nasty but you get to go home and not think about it after. Best job in the world.

“Ok, Woul…”

“Just don’t WASTE MY FUCKING TIME! Seriously. If you don’t want to work nights, fuck off. If you don’t want to work weekends, fuck off. If you’re going to whine that it’s hot and smelly and damp and you never see your girlfriend/mates/mum/fucking dog/cat gay lover/priest or Jesus or fucking WHATEVER, then fuck off. How’s that sound?

“Sounds good to me Chef. When can I come in for a trial?”

“Fuck. I need you tonight. How soon can you get here?”

[Via http://culinarycoalface.wordpress.com]

The Downward Spiral of Winehouse.

2010-01-08T03:52:00.000+02:00

[Via http://melissadesa.wordpress.com]

Here he comes for his final disgrace

2010-01-06T19:37:00.000+02:00

[ As Mike Ramos cleans the house that this man helped to build, we suspect that his expressed interest in running again is little more than an advance defense against an investigation of him. Follow Stout at the iePolitics blog. The military- and prison-industrial complexes of this nation brought us 9/11, the hate of the world and the violation of our own people and their families. Dennis Stout is their shill in San Bernardino County. Don't let him rape us again. ]

SAN BERNARDINO – Former district attorney Dennis Stout says he’s ‘committed’ to winning back his old job.

Stout is determined to root out government corruption…

“During eight years that I was district attorney, we prosecuted over fifty major corruption cases. By the time I completed my second term, corruption in San Bernardino County was pretty much under control. But, during the last seven years, it has reared its ugly head again.”

Stout did not seek re-election in 2002 and was replaced by Mike Ramos.

Stout expects to make a formal campaign announcement within two weeks. (INT)

Story Date: January 6, 2010

[Via http://bbvm.wordpress.com]

Wife of slain El Monte civic leader didn't think drug war would touch her family

2010-01-06T03:50:00.000+02:00

[ When you live in a democratic society, you are equally responsible for the crimes you allow your "po-po" to commit. This is not innocence. Stop the drug war. ]

Betzy Salcedo cited an old Mexican saying: He who doesn’t owe anything has nothing to fear. She always figured that people who had nothing to do with drug trafficking would not be targets in the country they loved.

The wife of Agustin Roberto “Bobby” Salcedo, the El Monte civic leader abducted and killed in Durango, Mexico, during a vacation with her, talked to The Times’s Mexico City Bureau chief Tracy Wilkinson about what happened.

“We were just going out with a group of friends,” Betzy Salcedo said, speaking slowly and casting her eyes downward. “You are careful, you look around, but you never think this kind of thing can happen … to innocent people. We were having a good time. Then we were in the mouth of the wolf.”

Hours later, Bobby Salcedo was dead, hauled away from the bar with five other men, their bodies dumped in a dried-grass field on the outskirts of town.

Arrangements were being made Saturday to repatriate Salcedo’s body. The 33-year-old, who was born and raised in the Los Angeles area, was an assistant principal and school board member in El Monte.

His slaying underscores the random volatility of the violence in Mexico and the ease with which the pain it causes can seep past the country’s borders.

Read Tracy Wilkinson’s full story here.

[Via http://bbvm.wordpress.com]

Stoned (stonehedge) T-shirt

2010-01-04T03:41:00.000+02:00

STONED Men’s Black by gritfx

Make your custom tshirt at zazzle

There have been many theories expounded regarding the purpose for the structure known as Stonehenge. By far the most outlandish came from Trevor McDonnell, a former hemp farmer, marine biologist and failed inventor. McDonnell claimed to have found ancient manuscripts detailing the rituals conducted at Stonehenge by extraterrestrials. Bringing with them a massive hookah pipe, the alien entities would levitate in a circle within the stone structure and get high. Needless to say, McDonnell’s theory was never taken seriously, yet some years after his death, the manuscripts were examined by ‘experts’ and determined authentic.

[Via http://randomfunnytees.wordpress.com]

Determined To Find A Life In 2010

2010-01-01T03:25:00.000+02:00

Let me see. That gives me ten years to find a new life. One might ask what is wrong with the one I have? What is not wrong would be a better question. My son has been a drug user since his high school days. I had him in and out of drug rehabs until I understood that he only learned about a new drug in there. Yep, just as soon as he was out, he was on to trying the latest drug that he learned about in rehab.

My front door has revolved with him in and out of it for years. He would find a way to get inside after I had said no a hundred times. Mom, I just need a place to stay for a couple of days. That would turn into a few weeks. After that length of time, I would be stark raving crazy and would put his things out and change the locks. The last time he wanted to come live with me, he had a baby daughter with him. His girl friend wasn’t stable enough to care for her. He thought he was. I ended up taking care of the precious baby. Then one day he came home after being out with her for a weekend and told me that he was using again and needed help. Help? Right. How many times had I heard that?

I called DHR (Children Services) and took the child and sent his butt to the curb. No. I will not listen to I need your help any longer. Long story short, he doesn’t have the child and neither do I. As long as she was in my care, he came and went around here as he pleased. I couldn’t take it. Why? I don’t like him. Why should I? All I have to do to be reminded of my life with him is to raise a photo on any wall in my home to see the hole that he put their with his fist. Yes, I kept those holes for a reason. I could have patched them but they serve a better purpose by not being patched.

Now the child is living with her mother’s grandmother. The mom lives with them. The good thing is a grandfather is involved. He makes her toe the line. She can go to work but when she is home in his house, she has to take care of the baby. Good for a strong-minded man. I visited her last week. She seemed happy. We played and danced and sang Barney songs on the porch. I know in my heart that I will not be allowed to come and go in her life. That family will not let me. Oh, did I mention that my son doesn’t know it the child is his? Hopefully, that will come up in court before too long.

I also had a person scam me into staying with me for a month while he waited on his bank account to be transferred and credit cards to arrive. Right. They never arrived. I kicked him out too. A shame that he wasn’t a good guy because he was a great cook and loved to help wash the dishes. Other than that, he was worthless. Hey, I am just telling it like it is.

So, I am interested in getting my head on straight because it seems to have SUCKER written across it. I wonder if I could get it off with some good strong detergent or if I will need plastic surgery? Hey, maybe some of that makeup for people with scars will help until I can figure out what is wrong with me in the shrink’s office.

Happy New year folks. I am on my way to a better life in two-thousand-ten. Goodness gracious but that is weird in print.

[Via http://sassysweetbren.wordpress.com]

Frankenstein robs Fort Lauderdale bank.

2009-12-30T19:02:00.000+02:00

The National Reporter

47-year-old Robert Jeffreys has been roaming the streets of Fort Lauderdale Florida dressed like Frankensteins monster since he had a bad reaction to LSD when was 16 years old.

Local residents were amused at first, but in the past few years his shenanigans have gone from amusing to down right frightening.

What started out as harmless fun soon became a serious psychosis.

He really believed that he was Frankenstein.

His first violent out burst was recorded on video tape at Fort Lauderdale’s busy Coral Ridge mall.

He was video taped walking through the mall which he did everyday since he was 16 when he suddenly grabbed a small child and tried to drop her in the fountain.

Mall security guards quickly grabbed him and escorted him out of the mall and banned him from coming back.

Robert Jefferys is shown here walking through the Coral Ridge mall moments before he grabbed the child.

For the next two weeks the streets of fort Lauderdale were void of Roberts Jefferys daily strolls dressed like Frankenstiens monster.

Then in the early hours of December 18th, he reappeared in the lobby of the Colonial bank with a more sinister motive in mind other than to scare people with his monster costume.

He came to rob the bank.

“Everyone knows Robert, he’s a nut that dresses like Frankenstien and walks around town trying to look scary.” Robbery witness Tim Howell told us. “I always thought he was harmless until now. It was really wierd, he didn’t have a gun or anything.

He just thought that the tellers were going to hand the money over to him because he was dressed like Frankenstien and they would be terrorfied.

He just stood there grunting and saying gimmie money, me want money,..gimmie money!!”

Me want money,..gimme money! he grunted

“No one said anything, everyone thought he was just fooling around like he always does.

Then when the security guard walked over to tell him to leave, he swatted him aside with his arm and stomped towards the counter.

That was when we realised that he had finally gone over the edge and completely lost his mind.”

The teller hit the silent alarm button when Robert started roaring insanely and climbed over the counter.

He rolled over the counter and fell to the floor and struggled to get to his feet for a minute or two, he had a hard time because of his extra-large Frankenstein boot with the half-foot lift bottoms.

Once he got to his feet he began scooping up cash and stuffing it into his Frankenstein jacket.

When he had filled his jacket, he roared at the tellers and the customers again and climbed back over the counter to make his get away.

He was grabbed by police and the FBI seconds after he walked out side and arrested.

Robert Jeffreys AKA, Frankenstein, being led away by police and the FBI after his unsuccessful bank robbery.

When he was brought into court for his arraignment, he had to strapped to a wheel chair because he had become increasingly violent while in custody.

Judge Ernest Goldman said he had never seen such a deranged individual in all his 36 years on the bench.

Roberts defence attorney is expected to enter the insanity plea.

Robert Jeffreys AKA, Frankenstein, being rolled into court for his arraignment.

Mr. Jeffreys is still in jail under suicide watch.

Judge Goldman has set his bail at 1 million dollars.

The National Reporter will be on hand to cover his trial when it comes up in mid July.

© The National Reporter, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to The National Reporter with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

[Via http://aceflashman.wordpress.com]

Teva Hails Milder Restrictions On Parkinson's Dose

2009-12-30T03:00:00.000+02:00

NEW YORK–Teva Pharmaceutic Industries Ltd. Said Monday U.S. Wellness regulators scaly cover dietary and health restrictions on its Parkinson’s Disease dose Azilect.

Teva said the intelligence labeling eases interested around drug interactions with early medications, including terminated-the-buffet cold-blooded medicines.

The intelligence labeling also states that patients no longer birth to surveil general dietetic restrictions on levels of tyramine, an aminic battery-acid foundation in certain foods, including spreading-dried and fermented meats. Because of increased sensibility in around patients, nonetheless, the tidings labeling recommends against heights grading of the pane.

The Nutrient and Dose Administration affirmative Azilect in 2006 as a day-after-day treatment for Parkinson’s Disease.

Shares of Teva Pharmaceutic Industries Inc. Fell 9 cents to $53.40 in astern-hours trading.

[Via http://ownhealthcure.wordpress.com]

Early Mornin' B*S: Tiger Woods Goin' into Rehab?

2009-12-28T11:29:00.000+02:00

Ran across a blurb that Tiger Woo, in a drastic measure to get his life together and maybe keep his wifey, is goin’ into’ therapy for his sexual addiction (the excuse/reason?) and use of the drugs, Ambien and Vicodin.

Plan is that he check in early next month. Snitches say he’s willin’ to do whatever Elin says to keep her, and this is at the top of the list of demands.

Is this the logical next step for people like Tiger? It seems like it- all these famous folks, once they get caught at some shyt, have a breakdown and admit the fault, and then ‘go into rehab/therapy’? Then come out fresh and brand new, and all is forgiven?

Well good for him, anyway. But I still think Elin is takin the kids, the cash, and whats left of her dignity, and movin’ to Sweden. This may get you an extra visit or two…

[Via http://benzbaby.wordpress.com]

'Revenge killings' rattle Mexico

2009-12-23T10:53:00.000+02:00

Source

Armed men have killed family members of a Mexican special forces marine involved in a military raid last week that ended in the death of a powerful drug leader.

The attack at the family’s home in Quintin Arauz on Tuesday took place just hours after the military honored the officer, Melquisedet Angulo Cordova, as a national hero.

He died in the same raid that killed Marcos Arturo Beltran Leyva, a cartel head in Cuernavaca.

Officials condemned the killing of the mother, brother, sister and aunt of Cordova as an unprecedented revenge killing.

More than a dozen men reportedly broke in the door of the home in the eastern Mexican state of Tabasco with a sledge hammer before opening fire in the living room and bedrooms.

Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s president, called the shooting a “cowardly and contemptible act of violence.”

“These outrageous actions show the lack of scruples of organized crime in mowing down innocent lives,” he said in a public speech.

Police said a joint police, army and navy team was searching for the killers, who were suspected of working with the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.

The Mexican government had hailed the death of Levya as a major blow to organized crime in the country, but cautioned its citizens that violent retributions might only increase in the short term, Al Jazeera’s Franc Contreras, reporting from Mexico, said.

“The brutal murders of Codova’s family members seem an affirmation of that grim prediction,” he said.

Regional official killed

In an unrelated attack, armed men fired on and killed the tourism secretary in the western state of Sinaloa – a stronghold for drug-trafficking gangs.

Local media also reported that gang members fired on a restaurant in the northern city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, where government officials had been meeting the mayor of Eagle Pass, a US border town in Texas.

Calderon has deployed more than 45,000 army troops across Mexico in a bid to secure the population and weaken cartel strongholds.

Despite these measures, more than 7,000 drug-related deaths have been reported this year.

Government officials say revenge killings complicate their efforts to attract new army and police recruits, and raises fears among those already involved that their families are at risk.

[Via http://bbvm.wordpress.com]

Why did Brittany Murphy died????

2009-12-21T10:27:00.000+02:00

As an american actress and singer,Brittany Murphy starred in films such as Clueless, Girl, Interrupted, 8 Mile, Sin City and Riding in Cars with Boys, and performed vocals on a range of films and with dance musician Paul Oakenfold, together garnering a number one dance music hit in the United States in 2006.

She has captured the hearts of many with her stunning beauty and incredible talent.

Hollywood and her fans worldwide are shocked by the sudden death of Brittany Murphy. The actress who celebrated her 32nd birthday last month, died Sunday in Los Angeles. She was 32. Murphy was pronounced dead at 10:04 a.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Sally Stewart said.now friends of the star are claiming she had a serious problem with prescription drugs. One said sadly, ”We have been very worried something like this was about to happen. Brittany had been living life on the edge.” It had been rumoured recently that the actress had a cocaine habit, but this has been denied. Instead she had developed an addiction to painkillers after a recent bout of cosmetic surgery. It is thought Brittany’s mum Sharon discovered her daughter’s unconscious body in the shower and quickly called the emergency services. Sadly, however, they were unable to resuscitate her. Brittany’s neighbour said last night that while the paramedics worked on her in the front garden, the actresss’ husband Simon Monjack was wandering around his his pyjamas looking bewildered. An official cause of death has yet to be released.

“Today the world lost a little piece of sunshine. My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany’s family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon,” tweeted Ashton Kutcher, Murphy’s “Just Married” co-star and former off-screen boyfriend. “See you on the other side, kid.”

Lindsay Lohan wrote: “My deepest condolences go out to all of Brittany Murphy’s loved ones and may she rest in peace. … She was a great talent w/a beautiful soul xo.”

“Brittany Murphy was an incredible ray of light to so many people,” Jessica Simpson tweeted. “Her smile was contagious. My prayers are with her family and loved ones.”

Friend Eliza Dushku said, “My heart aches having just learned of Brittany Murphy’s death. We were friends time-to-time thru the yrs. I always admired her pure spirit.”

“This is horrible news when anyone passes,” Khloe Kardashian wrote on her Twitter. “I’m so sorry for her family. Send prayers out, please!”

“Brittany Murphy and I did a USO Tour together in 2003,” Alyssa Milano recalled. “She was a sweet soul, with a lot of talent and heart.”

Fred Durst, whose manager Murphy used to date, wrote, “RIP Brittany Murphy. What a sweet human being. My prayers are with her friends and family.”

“Am beyond words by the loss of Brittany Murphy,” Soleil Moon Frye tweeted. “I was so blessed to know your grace. My heart goes out to your mama+ loved ones.”

“Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist” star Kat Dennings wrote simply, “R.I.P Brittany Murphy. This is so awful.”

“Am very shocked to hear of Brittany Murphy’s passing,” director Edgar Wright tweeted. “Was a fan of her in ‘Clueless,’ ‘Freeway’ and ‘Sin City.’ Very sad to lose someone so young.”

Simon Pegg said: “Just heard about Brittany Murphy. How very sad. Met her briefly after Sin City. Seemed a great girl. My sympathy to her friends and family.”

And critic Roger Ebert tweeted her praise, writing, “Brittany Murphy, dead at 32. She had a genuine quality.”

[Via http://passionisjustoneword.wordpress.com]

Pro Sports, Drugs, Testing, and more Lip-Service

2009-12-21T03:16:00.000+02:00

I’m really grateful for excellent bloggers like JR Atwood at Playthink. JR has again prompted me to write an entry that is essentially a response/reflection on one of his recent posts. JR’s post has a highlight section of the discussion between Bill Simmons and Malcolm Gladwell about sport celebrity…that, to me, goes nowhere. The topic of the part of the discussion posted in JR’s blog is about the public reaction to sports-celebrities’ behaviors, and how “random” those reactions appear to be.

While a fascinating topic in itself, that conversation really goes nowhere. There are no answers in the end. Why?

That’s the reason for this post.

I’m confused by the Gladwell/Simmons conversation. They only talk around their subject-matter, describing it, but not uncovering anything.

What’s strange to me is that neither of them points out that expectations of (or reactions-to) professional athletes and their behavior are entirely fabricated. They’re created by the media, the consensus-view of the commentators, and the consensus-view of the viewers. Granted, that’s a vague statement, but stick with me for a second.

What I’m saying is that there is no “strict moral ground” by which to judge the behavior of celebrity athletes (or any celebrity, for that matter). Instead, the reaction is more a conflagration of the “public image” of that athlete, the media’s reaction/billing of the behavior, and the public’s buy-in to that billing.

I don’t think the reaction has anything to do with the “volatility of statistics.” Stats are meaningless if a game is “infinite” (played for its own sake, to continue playing, as opposed to played to win). Therefore, the value of stats is agreed-upon before the sport is begun. The rules are laid out. “This is a finite game. It is played to win. Therefore, we keep track of everything.”

This is also a cultural creation. What are the meaning of statistics? The meaning, like the meaning of celebrity athletes’ behavior, is culturally created. What is the meaning of one or several players taking performance-enhancing drugs (PED’s) and thereby skewing those stats? How can one really know?

At this point, I’d like to turn to the PED discussion. Because it does highlight what’s happening underneath this discussion of celebrity-athlete behavior and public reaction.

Here’s the deal, and here’s what fascinates me the most – This “debate” itself is a game.

It’s similar to the “healthcare debate” entry I posted. Till cultural change occurs that supports all of the talk about healthcare change/promotion, any talk about healthcare is mere lip-service. No true change can occur until the culture will support that change.

Similarly, until a systematized, reliable, regular, and transparent method of testing athletes for PED’s is put into place, there’s no real telling what the “true” stats are.

Along with any other specifics about the subject matter they propound on, Gladwell and Simmons don’t discuss the testing policies/procedures in place now, or the history behind those policies.

While they were “banned” in 1991, “random” drug testing was only started in MLB in 2001. Steroids were only banned in the NBA in 1999. And, though steroids were “banned” in the NFL in 1990, loopholes were found in 2005 that allowed Carolina Panthers players to be prescribed banned substances two weeks prior to the 2004 Superbowl. (go here for the USA Today article outlining the last two references).

I put “random,” and “banned’ in quotes above, because, to the best of my knowledge, testing is far from random, and (as in the case of the Panthers), performance-enhancing substances are far from truly banned. Instead, players are tested who will test positive. Occasionally, a scapegoat may be needed, or someone out of which to make an example, and they’ll be tested. Or, someone from outside the organization will report unfavorable news and the whole thing will blow up.

My point about testing, above, is to say that the stats are already skewed. It’s impossible to know what the true stats are for sports until everyone is tested. If that’s your goal.

But I don’t think that it is.

This site has a nice “news-based” overview of drugs in sports, that shows clearly that athletes have always used “performance-enhancing drugs” of some sort or other. So the question I come to is not whether or not PED’s should be banned, or whether or not they’re skewing sporting outcomes, but what the game is behind this discussion.

What is the purpose of organized sports? “Bread and circus?” – that is, a distraction for the masses?

For those who believe that organized sports are simply there because so many people enjoy watching them, I strongly disagree. At the point at which a thing becomes a multi-billion dollar industry, people’s enjoyment, as being free from coercion, diminishes exponentially.

So if it doesn’t really matter…that is, if there’s no way to know what the “real” stats are, and there’s no “real” ground by which to judge a (any) celebrity’s behavior, what are we talking about here?

I don’t think we’re really talking about anything. Certainly nothing of importance. Just surface characteristics of a much larger dynamic.

It’s like talking about the weather. How is it? The city-slicker hates the rain, the farmer loves it. Same rain.

But hate it or love it, there it is.

Why do we talk about the weather? It’s easier than doing something. It’s easier than admitting that we have no control over it. Comfort? I don’t know…you tell me.

[Via http://leegertrained.wordpress.com]

The few, the proud, the heavily armed...

2009-12-18T02:59:00.000+02:00

Two issues — that shouldn’t be issues — are raised by international reportage and commentary on the demise of gangster Arturo Beltran Leyva:

Who done it?

I don’t know why this jumped out at people, but there were several commentators (and a couple of e-mails to me) incredulous of the factoid that the late Arturo Beltran Leyva met his maker at the hands of naval personnel.

A commentator in the Huffington Post seemed incredulous of the idea that Mexican has — or ever has had — a navy (hint… check a map) or needed one (having been invaded by sea twice by the United States, twice by France, Spain and Britain… and German U-boats), yes, indeed Mexico needs a navy.

Burro Hall thought it hilarious that the navy was sent into Cuernavaca.. far from any seaport. But, then, it’s the burro’s job to be snarky (and he snarks well).

AP and the New York Times called the troops involved in the operation “naval personnel” (which they were), but not — as Time Magazine called them — “sailors”. Not really, anyway.

Two non-issue issues that have been raised by international reports on the death of gangster Arthuro Beltran Yes, the navy does have land troops, just like every other navy in the world. Although there are only about 8,000 Mexican Marines — mostly stationed on-board ships (they are the ones who board ships stopped at sea suspected of carrying contraband) or around seaports and oil platforms — and many of their functions have been transferred to the Army in recent years, there are several Marine bases throughout the country. I don’t think Beltran was taken down by the Presidential Guard (which are Marines), but there are a couple of rapid-response marine units stationed in the Mexico City area.

Given that the late Mr. Beltran was in the Colombian import-export trade, and the Colombian agricultural products in which Mr. Beltran invested for re-export to the United States mostly entered Mexico by sea, naturally the Navy was involved in their interdiction, and in disrupting his business activities.

Do as we say, not as we do:

No one has yet to comment on the fact that Arturo Beltran Levya will never receive his day in court (nor, that despite having abolished the death penalty years ago, even gangland mob bosses should be eligible for “social readaption”). Not that I’m going to fret much about it, but it was interesting that United States Ambassador Carlos Pascual was quoted just before the Cuernavaca raid as praising military deployment in what is basically a criminal justice/police matter. Gancho mightily argues that this is not really interventionism, but I’ll believe it when the United States Marines march down Wall Street and start blowing away the money launderers and banksters who control the U.S. end of the cocaine trade.

[Via http://mexfiles.net]

Colombia: Police Seize FARC Marijuana in Cauca

2009-12-16T18:58:00.000+02:00

Anti-narcotics Police Commander Francisco Patiño announced today that authorities seized three tons and 153 kilos of marijuana during an operation carried out yesterday morning in Cauca. The drugs reportedly belonged to the FARC’s sixth front headed by alias ‘Sargento Pascuas’, and were ready for distribution to various regions throughout the country. ‘Sargento Pascuas’ is one of the oldest and most wanted FARC leaders, for whom the Colombian government has recently offered a COP2 billion (almost USD1 million) capture reward.

[Via http://matthewmrose.wordpress.com]

UNITAID Approves Patent Pool for HIV Drugs

2009-12-16T11:14:00.000+02:00

UNITAID, the international finance mechanism for drugs to treat HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, has given the go-ahead for a patent pool for antiretroviral drugs, a mechanism to promote wider licensing of patented drugs to generic manufacturers, in order to lower the cost of treatment. The decision, taken by UNITAID’s Executive Board, was announced on December 14. The pool, scheduled to start operating in mid-2010, aims to make newer medicines available at lower prices, for low- and middle-income countries. Expected savings exceed one billion dollars a year, which will make more medicines available for more people.

The idea of a Patent Pool has been in discussion for a number of years. In 2006, Knowledge Ecology International and Médecins Sans Frontières proposed it to UNITAID. Earlier this year, RESULTS activists joined with MSF and the Stop AIDS Campaign to campaign for a patent pool.

“This is an historic day,” said Philippe Douste-Blazy, Chair of UNITAID’s Executive Board. “UNITAID has now put in place a mechanism that will make medical advances work for the poor, while compensating companies for sharing their technology.”

The Patent Pool will allow generic companies to make lower cost versions of widely patented new medicines by creating a common space for patent holders to license their technology in exchange for royalties. This will spur competition and further bring down the price of vital new and effective medicines, says UNITAID.

It is hoped that the administrative efficiency of managing voluntary licenses through the patent pool will prove attractive to companies which must currently manage a proliferating number of licenses.

UNITAID says that it has already had consultations with several major manufacturers of antiretrovirals including Gilead, Tibotec, Merck, as well as Sequoia, a biotechnology company that is developing an agent that could replace ritonavir as a booster for protease inhibitors.

One of the chief merits of the patent pool proposal, say its advocates, is the opportunity it gives for the creation of novel fixed-dose drug combinations that will aid adherence and cut down on supply chain management problems.

Rather than waiting for 20 years for patents to expire, generic producers would be able to develop new products quickly to respond to emerging needs, says UNITAID.

The first three-drug fixed dose combinations were created by Indian generic manafacturers using products that were not patented in India. These products were critical in permitting rapid scale-up of antiretroviral treatment from 2003 onwards.

Patent pool advocates say that similar products will be needed in order to promote access to lower-cost second-line treatment, and to encourage adoption of safer, more potent drugs for first-line treatment.

Potential combinations of interest will include a wider selection of three-drug combinations that include tenofovir and efavirenz, in order to promote greater price competition in the first-line therapy market.

In second-line treatment there will be interest in creating fixed dose products that contain the protease inhibitor atazanavir and two nucleoside analogues, or the integrase inhibitor raltegravir in combination with a boosted protease inhibitor.

None of these second-line combinations are currently available as products created by the patent holders.

UNITAID has identified 19 products from nine companies for potential inclusion into the pool. The pool will facilitate the development of fixed-dose combinations (FDCs).

“FDCs are especially important in the treatment of children, who make up 10% of current treatment needs,” said Jorge Bermudez, UNITAID Executive Secretary. “The Patent Pool will greatly help us accomplish our mission of scaling up treatment access, particularly for specific target groups otherwise neglected by the market – that is, children and people who fail on older therapies.”

“Today is a good day for people living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries,” said Nelson Otwoma, the HIV/AIDS community representative on UNITAID’s Executive Board. “When my son was a baby we had to break pieces of adult tablets for him – treating him was guess work. The Pool gives me hope that we’ll have better medicines to treat children in the future.”

[Via http://resultsuk.wordpress.com]

Former Drug Smuggler Advocates Complete Decriminalization.

2009-12-14T19:27:00.000+02:00

After my post on Friday, Brian O’Dea, former drug smuggler and current author-slash-filmmaker, sent me the video of his interview with CNN’s Kyra Phillips last week.

O’Dea thinks domestic drug policy is backwards. “We brag about increased [drug] arrest rates. That’s not something to brag about,” he said, adding that decriminalization would increase the number of addicts seeking treatment, although it’s not quite clear from his interview exactly how. As I type, I’m working through a policy study from The Cato Institute on drug decriminalization in Portugal, which O’dea used as a case study in decriminalization. Maybe the answer’s in there.

It’s hard to call drug decriminalization an inherently responsible or safe piece of public policy, but it’s even harder to argue with the empirical evidence that says it has reduced drug consumption and generated other favorable results. And drug policy is one area of public policy that’s far more important than it initially seems: chasing and locking up dealers and users diverts police forces and clogs up the criminal courts, and imprisonment is the most economically unproductive thing I can think of. It’s also not ridiculous to point out that drug consumption plays a role in funding the kind of terrorism that necessitates yet more funds to try and contain through war and military occupation.

O’Dea is absolutely right to point out that current drug policy isn’t working, and that perhaps the answer lies in some form of decriminalization.

(Note: O’Dea is on Twitter and wrote a book about his former role as an international drug trafficker that I’m anxious to read.)

[Via http://upalldamnnight.com]

Doctors question Tamiflu's effectiveness

2009-12-11T06:40:00.000+02:00

According to an article in the Guardian, a review published in the British Medical Journal questions how effective Tamiflu really is. The problem is that Roche, the drug’s manufacturer, has not released sufficient information to be able to the judge the effectiveness of Tamiflu. Roche has made approximately £1.6bn this year.

[Professor] Freemantle said he saw “very little evidence to support the widespread use of oseltamivir [Tamiflu] in the otherwise healthy population who are developing signs of influenza-like illness.”

[Via http://labascations.wordpress.com]

The Fact That Drunk Drivers 'Choose' to Drive Drunk Is Completely Irrelevant

2009-12-11T03:39:00.000+02:00

Mark R. Crovelli

There is a virtual consensus among the American public that drunk driving is an horrific crime that deserves only ruthless punishment. Indeed, the level of consensus on this issue is so unanimous that virtually the only debate that ever occurs with regard to drunk driving revolves around how best to step up enforcement and inflict ever more merciless punishments on people who choose to drive drunk. Few and far between are any substantive criticisms of the idea of hunting down and imprisoning people, just because they happen to have an arbitrary amount of alcohol in their blood.

One of the major reasons why this level of consensus has emerged in recent decades is that the proponents of drunk-driving prohibition have seized the moral high ground. They have accomplished this primarily by portraying drunk drivers as uniquely dangerous and uniquely evil drivers – drunk drivers are the great and deadly scourge of the modern world. The drunk driver is painted as the moral and legal equivalent of a man pointing a loaded shotgun at a crowd of innocent people – a menace crying out for the state to step in and “disarm” (i.e., mercilessly punish him) before he kills or hurts anyone.

The glaring problem with the argument that drunk drivers are uniquely dangerous and uniquely evil, however, is that there are plenty of other drivers in this world that are equally dangerous and deadly, but who are not vilified, hunted down and imprisoned by the state. There are sleepy drivers, drivers toying with their stereos, drivers old enough to have seen Great Depression I, drivers with dogs on their laps, drivers putting on makeup, drivers with glasses thicker than their taillights, teenage drivers, drivers looking at maps, drivers with the flu, drivers screaming at their spouses, drivers with kids fighting in the backseat, drivers eating tacos, virtually every single driver in Los Angeles…

Recognizing the fact that there are plenty of other idiotic and deadly dangerous drivers on the road, drunk-driving prohibitionists have to supplement their portrait of drunk drivers with the idea that drunk drivers “choose” to get behind the wheel while intoxicated, and this fact makes them uniquely dangerous and evil. According to this commonplace argument, Grandma didn’t “choose” to slow down her reflexes and become shorter than her steering wheel, but the evil drunk driver does “choose” to get behind the wheel after drinking. Similarly, one often hears the claim that people don’t “choose” to become sleepy while driving, but they obviously “choose” to drink alcohol before driving. Hence, we are urged to conclude, drunk drivers deserve all the punishment we can throw at them for having “chosen” to drive drunk.

As a rhetorical strategy designed to vilify drunk drivers as uniquely dangerous and uniquely negligent, it would be difficult to contest the effectiveness of this argument. When one looks at the argument itself, however, one cannot help but be struck by how thoroughly foolish and fallacious it is.

In the first place, it should be obvious that drunk drivers do not always choose to become “drunk.” For example, imagine a man and his wife going out for a nice meal of tapas and margaritas. They do not intend to get drunk, by any means, but to a very large extent the choice is not up to them. The bartender could be distracted when he mixes the drinks, (or he could just be a good sport), and thus might make them much stronger than the couple is expecting. It is easy to play armchair designated driver and condemn the couple for having “chosen” to drive drunk afterward, but it seems disingenuous at the very least to describe their accidental intoxication as a uniquely deliberate “choice” worthy of time spent in jail.

The problem with the argument that drunk drivers are uniquely responsible for having “chosen” to drive runs much deeper than this, however. Indeed, the argument asks us to believe two contradictory things about the drunk driver. On the one hand the argument specifically asks us to believe that drunk drivers are uniquely responsible for “choosing” to get behind the wheel, but, on the other hand, the argument is predicated upon the assumption that drunk drivers are hopelessly dangerous, due to their lack of “judgment.” The argument, in other words, looks something like this:

A: Unlike other deadly dangerous drivers, (like the decrepit elderly, for example), drunk drivers are uniquely responsible for “choosing” to get behind the wheel in an intoxicated state.

B: Drunk drivers are extremely dangerous because they thoroughly lack the judgment to be able to drive safely.

It should be obvious that these propositions contradict one another. Drunk drivers cannot be both uniquely responsible for their choices and lacking judgment at the same time. If we want to say that drunk drivers lack the necessary judgment to decide when it is safe to drive, then we cannot at the same time say that they are uniquely responsible for their actions. In fact, we would be closer to the mark if we said that they were less responsible for their “choices.” Conversely, if we want to say that drunk drivers are uniquely responsible for their “choice” to get behind the wheel, then we must not say that they lack the judgment to decide when it is safe to drive.

The logical problems only multiply when we shift our attention to other deadly dangerous drivers. The argument that drunk drivers are uniquely responsible and uniquely dangerous because they “choose” to get behind the wheel rests upon the ludicrous notion that other deadly dangerous drivers do not “choose” their impairment. Extremely dangerous elderly drivers, as was noted above, are often portrayed as helpless victims of time, whereas drunk drivers are portrayed as calculating and diabolical villains. But, in what sense can we really describe grandma’s decision to get behind the wheel as any less of a deliberate “choice” than the drunk driver’s? To be sure, grandma did not “choose” to let time ravage her mind and body, but she absolutely does “choose” to turn the ignition in her gigantic Buick and creep out of her driveway. The same is true of the cross-country motorist who gets sleepy – while he does not “choose” to get tired, he undeniably does “choose” to continue driving in that condition.

The simple fact of the matter is that drunk drivers are exactly the same as other drivers, and they are responsible for their actions in exactly the same manner, and to exactly the same degree, as other deadly dangerous drivers. Any appeal to the fact that drunk drivers “choose” to get behind the wheel is completely irrelevant, because all people, no matter what their condition, “choose” to get behind the wheel and drive. The fact that other drivers are extremely dangerous should not be allowed to be ignored or forgotten simply because if the irrelevant fact that drunk drivers “choose” to drive drunk. Of course they do, and so does everyone else who drives in a dangerous condition.

This brings us to the question of what is to be done about all of these extremely dangerous drivers on the road. Simple logical and legal consistency demands that we deal with all of these drivers in exactly the same way. The woman who plays with her iPod, thereby jeopardizing the lives of bystanders, must be treated exactly like the man who drives after imbibing at his local pub. Both are responsible for driving, and they both put other people’s lives at risk. Because we must deal with these dangerous drivers the same way, our options are relatively limited.

One option would be to start treating all dangerous drivers, (like those who are caught driving over the age of 65, those caught eating hamburgers while driving, those caught playing with their radios while driving, etc.), exactly the same as we now treat drunk drivers. We could identify all these deadly dangerous drivers and send them all to jail. This could be accomplished by doubling or tripling the number of police on the roads, having mandatory and permanent checkpoints on all major roads and highways, and installing cameras in everyone’s cars to make sure they never put other people’s lives at risk. This solution would certainly be consistent with treating all dangerous drivers equally, but it would have the inconvenient side effect of exterminating any semblance of freedom in America. It would also be slightly difficult to put this into practice, since the police have a nasty little tendency to drive drunk themselves, and so do the elected officials who are supposedly in charge of the police. It would also be a fairly expensive option, since we would have to build jails large enough to incarcerate…well, everyone.

Another option would be to simply recognize the fact that people are responsible for their actions, and only fine and incarcerate them if they actually cause harm to another person. Yes, this option would mean that we would have to leave drunk drivers alone unless they actually hurt someone, just as we now do with drivers who are sleepy or are decrepitly aged. But, is this not the same standard that we employ in other areas of criminal law? We do not deem it morally or legally acceptable for the police to raid the poorer areas of our cities to search out and incarcerate people they think will become criminals one day, simply because the poor are more likely to commit certain crimes. We do not deem it morally or legally acceptable for the police to round up and imprison people according to race, based upon the fact that certain races commit disproportionate amounts of crime. Why, then, do we allow the state to do precisely this to drunk drivers, based solely on the assumption that drunk drivers may harm other people, when we would condemn it if it was done to any other segment of society?

Both justice and freedom demand that we choose the latter option, and not the option of treating one group of people as potential criminals, all in need of incarceration.

[Via http://bbvm.wordpress.com]

Lindsay Lohan: sex, drugs and music for Muse Magazine

2009-12-09T10:54:00.000+02:00

Known for her hectic life, sprinkled with sex, drugs and alcohol, Lindsay Lohan has revealed her wild side in a very provocative photo shoot.

The shootout expresses exactly what the 23 year old actress lived recently.

Together with another boy and with Sofia, (Madonna’s friend and dancer) they have dropped all inhibitions and posed naked.

Lindsay showed professionalism and managed to leave vulgarity behind, adopting a sensual and provocative image.

Complete gallery

[Via http://celebgossipandrumors.wordpress.com]

The Daily Habit: Television

2009-12-09T03:15:00.000+02:00

11:59 pm

I Used to be on ‘Family Ties’ but now I’m a Tatooed Felon – BOULDER, COLORADO - You ever watch those Vh-1 documentaries on former child actors? It’s basically a “where are they now” reality show where former kid actors are hunted down and interviewed against their will, and the viewing audience is wooed into a lost sense of nostalgia by tricky camera angels and narrated goo goo ga ga, until they find out their favorite tv kid is a total loser with a $100 coke habit. Of course Todd Bridges comes to mind when it’s talk of bady boys. He went from being Mr. Drummond’s house boy Willis to boosting cars and sniffing glue in Compton. Not a whole lot different for baby brother Arnold. Gary Coleman went from being America’s “cutest” child actor to a notorious wife beater downs a fifth of vodka a day on his job as a security guard. Same goes for the little dude who played Andy on Family Ties, only the show went best before anybody knew his name, and they still don’t.

Colorado state police arrested 28-year-old former child star Brian Bonsall who played Andy on Family Ties, though little is known about him since the show went off the air before he had a speaking part. Bonsall allegedly got wasted Sunday night and smashed wooden stool over his coke dealer’s head for trying to peddle duff. After being busted for assault and possession of a bong, Andy, little brother of Alex P. Keaton played by Michael J. Fox, told officers he had been drinking Absinthe all day and didn’t remember what the hell happened. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091208/ap_en_tv/us_family_ties_actor_arrested)

According to court records Bonsal lives in Westminster, Colo., about 20 miles south of Boulder, and also lists his occupatoin as a grower of medicinal marijuana. This wasn’t the first time Dandy Andy was nabbed for rocking the ganje, and playing punching bag with a female. He was sentenced to probation in 2007 after assaulting his girlfriend and for possession of a large amount of really good marijuana. A few months later was later accused of probation violations when he failed a drug test every Friday for two months. He is being held in the Boulder County Jail until the judge decides to do with him. He’s not much of a known child star so the chances of him being picked up for Celebrity Rehab are slim to none. The only option might be jail, or at least a cheap, state owned rehab to rid him of the jones for good pot.

[Via http://the115.wordpress.com]

No definite link between cannabis use and suicide: our review

2009-12-07T11:18:00.000+02:00

We’ve published an interesting review (aren’t they all though?) on a study that discussed the lack of association between marijuana and suicide risk, in what our reviewer Wayne Hall from the University of Queensland, Australia, described as “the largest and best controlled prospective study of the relationship to date“.

It’s a tough topic to tackle, especially in a time when celebrity deaths, marijuana usage and suicide are so closely linked by tabloid media (Marilyn Monroe being the newest revelation) and when fears that teenage brains getting destroyed by cannabis are high on the news agenda. But on the other hand, when a highly-respected scientist such as Professor David Nutt gets vilified by the government for his outspoken views on drugs policy, the media generally showed support for the sacked Professor while still being skeptical of his evidence-based comments (such as cannabis use being safer than horse riding).

Hall looked at the paper, Cannabis and suicide: longitudinal study, by Allebeck and Price at al. from Cardiff University UK, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, which went beyond previous small cross-sectional studies to look at whether the cannabis/suicide attempt relationship took into account pre-existing suicide risk between young people who become regular cannabis users and their peers who do not.

In the study, more than 50,000 Swedish men aged 18-20 were followed up for 33 years using death registers to identify those who had died from suicide.

Hall says:

As in previous studies, self-reported cannabis use at conscription was positively related to suicide (odds ratio [OR]=1.62, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.65-2.07) but this association was no longer significant when plausible potential confounders, such as problematic behavior during childhood, intelligence, alcohol abuse, parental psychiatric disorder, other drug use, and psychiatric diagnosis at conscription were statistically controlled for by logistic regression (OR=0.88, 95% CI 0.65-1.20). The selection of confounders to control for did not affect the finding that the OR was no longer significant after adjustment for confounders. This study strongly suggests that the modest association observed between regular cannabis use and suicide in cross sectional studies reflects the fact that young people who are at marginally higher risk of suicide are more likely to become regular cannabis users than their peers.

And it’s the last point that is most pressing: those at a slightly higher suicide risk are more likely to become regular pot smokers, not the other way round. If you look at the citation rates on Google Scholar for “cannabis and suicide”, many academics seem to support the view that the two are strongly linked.

Allebeck and Price’s earlier paper, published in 1990 at this study’s 15-year mark, even stated “the proportion of suicides increased sharply with the levelof cannabis consumption“: their new study clarified that the “association was eliminated after adjustment for confounding” and the link was better explained by markers of psychological and behavioural problems.

No doubt long-term studies such as this will lend more weight to the Nutt debate and, if they are given adequate publicity, hopefully help to cut down on biased anti-drug journalism.

[Via http://blog.f1000.com]

Tiger Story Continues on Ugly Path, Enjoyed Ambien Sex

2009-12-04T19:37:00.000+02:00

Radar Online continues to scrape deeper levels of grime of the Tiger Woods sex scandal:

Now we’ve learned that [Rachel] Uchitel told friends that she and Tiger liked to have sex while taking the drug Ambien. Uchitel told one pal, ‘You know you have crazier sex on Ambien – you get into that Ambien haze. We have crazy Ambien sex.

Now, I have never even heard of Ambien sex before. I’ve played many sports throughout my life, spent time in locker rooms, I’ve discussed filthy stories with my guy friends, and I’ve even had sex with a woman or two. Through all of this, I have never even touched upon this topic.

Tiger is a freak.

This is going to get worse, before it gets better.

Stay tuned.

[Via http://hugesunglasses.wordpress.com]

Booze Pills

2009-12-02T19:47:00.000+02:00

IGN

Behold the world’s tax dollars at work. A Russian professor at the Saint Petersburg Technological University has developed a process that allows him to take almost any kind of alcohol, turn it into a powder, and then pack it into a pill for easy transport. Yeah, someone actually took the time and the research money to figure this out. Why bring a bottle of wine to your next dinner party when you can just drop a few tablets of whisky on the kitchen table and call it a night?

“We have developed a technology that allowed us to turn any liquid solution into powder,” the scientist was quoted as saying by a web portal.

The mastermind behind the technique is Evgeny Moskalev, who was first able to produce vodka into a “dry” form, supposedly to make it easier for consumer to calculate an exact dosage. After the transformation, the “dry” vodka (or whiskey, or beer) can fit easily into bag or even your pocket.

Screw underage drinking, it’s all about thizzin’.

[Via http://klyam.com]

Another Thanksgiving Without a Fatality

2009-12-02T03:45:00.000+02:00

Let me start off by saying that I adore my family; they allow me to speak my mind and make my own choices without having to worry about judgments, cynicism or being blacklisted from attending any family event ever again like my cousin Joe. They are also very much like me and when we join forces, the combined kookiness makes for a ridiculously entertaining time and Thanksgiving was no exception; I just wish I could remember everything that happened. I am going to write this like a journal entry from Into the Wild because for one, it is easier to organize the blur of events that I managed to retain and also, because no one should have survived.

Day 1: Meet the Sister

I had to work today, but the excitement over seeing my sister Ashley and meeting my step-sis Maggie for the first time got me through the day. We are headed out on a road trip to Montana tomorrow to visit the family and I hope we all get along; otherwise that 7 hour drive is going to be more difficult than getting Tiger Woods’ wife to put down the 9 iron and use her anger management skills. I know that there will be plenty of booze and weed to get us through the holiday though, so pretty much it is going to be at minimum an interesting trip. Aside from not being able to find Maggie at the airport because neither Ashley nor I knew what she looked like, things went pretty smoothly. We came home and played drinking games all night while I informed Maggie of the embarrassing stories that I knew about her brother, as we used to be a couple (Yes, I know this is weird; imagine my apprehension at meeting my ex’s sister who is now my legal step-sister after I wasn’t exactly “Fiancé of the Year” to her brother. If you are confused as to how we are related, just watch an episode of Maury Povich or Jerry Springer; that should clear things right up.)

Day 2: Road Trip

I woke up this morning to Maggie’s arms and legs wrapped around me in a bear hug…either she’s already really comfortable around me, or she is a flaming incestuous lesbian who likes to keep it in the family. I’ve decided to be optimistic and assume that she just likes me in a normal sisterly way. Don’t get me wrong; she’s really hot, but I think it’s a law of human nature that you are allowed to fuck only one of your siblings, and I’ve already done that. I guess Marie Osmond didn’t get the memo.

Despite my raging headache that was inspired by my sisters’ sophisticated taste for cheap beer, I was ready to go and party with the rest of the family. After struggling to pile 24 cans of beer, 6 pieces of luggage, 3 sisters, an unruly Labrador and a partridge in a pear tree into my SUV, we were off. By 7:15pm, we arrived at our destination; Ashley and Maggie were drunk and I was baked (I am adamantly against drinking and driving; cops can easily smell liquor on you and test for it…weed and pills are much safer. Oh, and because it is dangerous. Duh.) As soon as I walked into the door, Dad handed me a joint and welcomed us home while Mom ran upstairs to get her new invention; a tincture. I had no idea what a tincture was, but I knew it would be good if Mom had a hand in making it…turns out it is a combination of everclear and THC oil that you drop under your tongue for an instant high. Don’t worry about commenting on how awesome my parents are; I am already aware of the fact. We did go out, but I honestly cannot remember anything about it. I guess that tincture really does work, Ma!

Day 3: Thanksgiving

I woke up at 8:00am this morning and took a long hot shower…it was the only moment of sobriety that I had today. After getting dressed, I intended to go to the kitchen and aid in the creation of Thanksgiving dinner, but first I needed to smoke a bowl. Somehow, this led to 10:00am at the local watering hole with Ashley. I am not 100% sure on how it happened, but I think that it involved getting apples and milk…only I mistook the bar for the grocery store and replaced the apples and milk with car bombs and whiskey cokes.

This scenario is shockingly similar to last Thanksgiving, only this time Ashley and I were at a regular bar instead of Dancin’ Bare. Hey, I had never been to an all-nude strip club before and was curious about how they could justify selling a can of Pepsi for $8.00…and now I know why. Sorry for leaving Thanksgiving dinner for another pussy, Grandma! I just used the words “Grandma” and “pussy” in the same sentence; I’m going to Hell for sure.

Back to our day; we went outside to smoke a cigarette and bam! All of a sudden we are talking to Shaggy Too Dope from Insane Clown Posse about his woman, who recently broke his shoulder with an axe handle. Yeah I know; totally random, but totally true. After getting wasted and texting all of our friends about our famous encounter, Ashley and I left the bar at about 2:30pm and headed home. When we arrived, we found that Mom was almost finished with dinner and we were ravenous. I smoked another bowl to tie me over until it was ready. At 3:00, we had our grand Thanksgiving dinner. I’m pretty confident in my observation that everyone was on the same level of intoxication at that point.

Oh, and Mom thought it would be funny to put two lemons in each turkey breast and convince us that it had huge nipples. This was the greatest thing that I have ever seen and I totally believed it at first. Ashley, on other hand, wasn’t so amazed and told us that her friend had gotten some turkey tits last year too and that it was normal. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Ashley doesn’t catch on to things too easily.

The meal must have been energizing, because only one hour after wolfing it down I found myself back at the bar with the entire family. I do not recollect what transpired between then and 2:00am, but I do know that I started the night with $100 in cash and it was gone by the end of it. That may not seem like a lot of money, but when you are at a hick bar in Montana where drinks are $2.50 and you look better than most of the sheep in the area, you shouldn’t be spending more than $20; it is safe to say that I was wasted. By 2:30am, Ashley and I had lost Maggie and were at an after party with some dude that I determined was the love of my life because he a) adored that I had all of my teeth and b) knew the basics of quantum physics. I know very little about quantum physics, but apparently it is the key to my heart.

After some self-reflection and determining that I was sticking to my recent resolution to abstain from uncommitted sexual relations, I called it quits at 4:30am and went home with Ashley. At 4:37am, I found myself eating a second Thanksgiving meal. At 5:29am, I found myself puking it up.

Day 4: Brownies

At 8:30am, I woke up to Mom trying to peel me from the hallway floor, which is where I decided to pass out last night after puking up enough to feed a small country. At least I was smart enough to sprawl out on a rug instead of sleeping on the wood planks. Seeing as how it had only been 3 hours since I crawled there in the first place, I decided to smoke a bowl and find an actual bed for additional sleep. Don’t judge me; Thanksgiving is the designated holiday for being grateful, spending time with your family and getting as fucked up as possible because you don’t have any responsibilities for a whole day. They should rename it Thanksgluttony.

It couldn’t have been more than 20 minutes later when my nap was interrupted by the sound of a truck heading up our driveway. Then I heard Maggie scream, “Jared!” and I knew that sleep was not in my future. Jared is my awesome step-brother, but not the one that I was engaged to. Don’t get me wrong; the other one is awesome too but I tend to favor Jared, as he has never painfully ripped my heart into a million irreconcilable pieces and although I appreciate the life lessons that Jack taught me, Jared and I just have more fun together. Maggie and I have been begging him to come for Thanksgiving for days but he decided to hold out and surprise us. As soon as he showed up, the levy (or instinct for survival) that was restricting the flow of alcohol and weed broke and it was Thanksgiving Day all over again. Mom cooked him up a plate of leftovers and I declared that the goal of my day was to make delicious and intoxicating brownies. I followed the recipe for the most part, only I increased the amount of cannabis butter by 50% and added a shot of Mom’s tincture. I am pretty sure that the words “I have never been this high in my life” came out of my mouth at least 4 times this week, and I think that they were true each time I said it.

So, we ate brownies, smoked, drank some wine and headed out. By nightfall, Ashley and I were talking outside of the bar when I noticed movement in the window next to us and turned to investigate it. What was it, you ask? It was Mom; She was licking the window. No, seriously, she was licking the window…I couldn’t make this shit up. I think that at this point, Mom had never been that high in her life either.

There were so many funny things that happened that night and I just don’t remember any of them. I did end up tapping out before midnight and went home to eat more Thanksgiving dinner, which I later fought valiantly to resist throwing up. Either something is wrong with Mom’s stuffing, or I am drinking way too much.

Day 5: Wha?

My thoughts this morning: vacation is almost over and it’s so sad. The fall leaves that once whispered my name are turning into the chilly breeze of winter and…huh? What’s this? Where did I get a gram of coke?! Well shit, I guess I should start drinking again!

Fast forward to 11pm; I’m at a bar and feeling really witty and articulate while talking to an old friend, despite the 4 or 5 Jack and Cokes swimming in my tummy. Ashley is next to me and she’s trying to take it slow by drinking only beer. Since she hadn’t had any tequila and I was feeling sober, our night seemed pretty innocent. Well, it was innocent, until Ashley had one too many beers. See below.

Day 6: The Shed

I didn’t sleep until 6:00 this morning because of that damn blow and woke up at 8:30 to a text from Ashley that said, “I’m on my way home now!” After reading it, I looked over and realized that she wasn’t in the bed with me. Shit. Ashley may be 32, but sometimes she needs help making good decisions and I had let her down. Turns out, she went home with the cook from my old job that we were drinking with. Well, the use of the word “home” isn’t really accurate in this case, considering the fact that he literally lives in a storage shed and has no plumbing, heat or water. I guess I shouldn’t judge it though; home is where the heart is. And my sister’s vagina too, apparently. I wonder if she had to shit in a bucket.

Maggie showed up eventually to eat, and her shirt was soaking wet. Dad made a comment about her breasts leaking beer and we laughed. At this point we are brain dead and everything is making me laugh hard enough to piss myself.

Day 7: Survival

I can’t believe that I am still alive. Furthermore, I can’t believe that I am successfully driving 7 hours after having so little sleep and killing so many brain cells. The dog just puked in the car and it smells like a dead body. Fuck it, I don’t care.

There are so many additional things that happened this week, but TLC made me sign an agreement for our upcoming reality show that won’t allow me to divulge the details, and since TLC doesn’t give a fuck about you, innocent children or anyone else for that matter, I have to leave them out. Sorry!

Out of everything that happened this week, the only thing that has actually struck me as odd is that while I was intoxicated and uninhibited, I had at least 4 chances to get laid and the only slutty thing I did was kiss someone on the mouth with no tongue…and I could easily blame that on the sexiness of quantum physics. Go me!

[Via http://oomikioo.wordpress.com]

Struggling

2009-11-30T03:12:00.000+02:00

Yesterday morning I did a Bible walk with some folks from Mountview Uniting Church. One of the things they asked me was to tell them the story of someone I know from the street who’s had their life transformed. I said that I know a lot of people who’ve been able to make changes in their lives, but that change often takes a long time. I have friends who’ve quite heroin, and then ended up on it again, and then quit again for a while before they go back to using once again. (For most people it takes a number of attempts to quit before they can sustain themselves without heroin.) A number of people have been around for years and years, and are still struggling with the same problems.

That could be seen as disappointing. But I don’t know that it’s actually much different to any of the rest of us. I have a feeling that most of us struggle with the pretty much the same problems from our childhood and adolescent stages until the day we die. It’s just that some of us struggle with problems that are highly disapproved of and difficult to hide (such as homelessness or illicit drug dependency), whereas others struggle with things that aren’t considered as important – such as working too much or neglecting our families.

So I think it’s okay that people never stop struggling. We need to keep struggling. And we need to struggle together.

[Via http://wonderfulawful.wordpress.com]

you just gotta have the right friends

2009-11-27T03:35:00.000+02:00

they say they are drugs

and that they do nothin’

but bad,

unless they filter it through

the beurocracy and all of their

committees and sheets of

paper thick with molasses.

i, say, i love you all when

my little white friends drift

lazily down my throat.

i say that i’m at 100% when my

good old friends sit around

on velvet couches and chat

about things that make us happy

resting our feet on a coffee table

made of pure opium.

doodoodododoot

dodoot dodoot doot dadoot doot

doodoodododoot

dodoot dodoot doot dadoot doo doot.

i say my vein lines vibrate like

bass lines when i’m high

and i am at one with lower

pitches and the smoother licks

that life brings. i say that the

cold rain up against my face

prickles down to my spine and

is smile enducing at times.

hey, senator man, church man,

why don’t you let loose?

you wouldn’t think it poison if

you saw how it makes you

more alive.

[Via http://sieveandsand.com]

Why Thanksgiving Makes You Sleepy

2009-11-25T19:48:00.000+02:00

In the spirit of thanksgiving, todays post will deal with tryptophan and if it makes you sleepy. We all know thanksgiving as a holiday of food. A veritable cornicopia of various dishes. What most people complain about is the feeling of sleepyness after eating lots of turkey. Most of us like to blame the copious amounts of food we consume on causing what we colloquially call “food coma.” However there is known evidence over the last 20 years that shows that in fact its turkey’s higher levels of L tryptophan (an essential amino acid) that creates that sleepy feeling. Tryptophan is converted into Seratonin via a biochemical pathway. Since seratonin is a neurotransmitter often responsible for sleep/ tiredness one can infer that more turkey = more tryptophan = more seratonin= more sleepy.

So now, knowing what we know, lets take a look at these two molecules. When you look at the molecular structure of Tryptophan and the structure of Seratonin, its not suprising that one turns into the other.

A molecule of Tryptophan

A molecule of seratonin

Seratonin can be found in neurons of the central nervous system (CNS) where it functions in several ways. Its been found to process in regulation of mood, appetite, sleep, muscle contraction, and some cognitive functions including memory and learning. When excess tryptophan is eaten more seratonin is produced by the body. This means that more seratonin is present in the neuronal synapses and thus with a constant level of neurotransmitter reuptake more neurotransmitter is creating action potentials (or firing of neurons) at the post synaptic gap. In other words you can state that more seratonin means an increase in mood,a decrease in appetite, an in crease in sleep and relaxed muscles in the sympathetic nervous system and an increase in the para sympathetic nervou system leading to digestion.

So this thanksgiving lets all go eat some turkey, and while we sit an begin to doze off we can think about how tryptophan and seratonin are playing a role in our drowzyness.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!

[Via http://natchem.wordpress.com]

ANTI-PSYCHOTICS Chemical | ANTI-PSYCHOTICS Drugs |ANTI-PSYCHOTICS Products | ANTI-PSYCHOTICS Manufacturers | ANTI-PSYCHOTICS Exporters | Suppliers

2009-11-25T11:49:00.000+02:00

Antipsychotics (also called neuroleptics) are a group of psychoactive drugs commonly but not exclusively used to treat psychosis,[1] which is typified by schizophrenia, but can also be present in severe bipolar disorder, as well as many other conditions.

Profile :

Euroasian Chemicals Pvt. Ltd. evolved from Euroasia’s group. The latter in the recent past has made its presence felt in the international market by the many specialization of drug discovery Continued recognition and success coupled with a desire to serve the research community more efficiently has encouraged us to further diversify our services. We have dedicated R & D team comprising of organic chemists, biochemists, cell biologists, pharmacologists and molecular biologists. Our CRO’s in the United States and China are an asset to our growing success.

Based in India, the world’s outsourcing hub popular for its high quality and cost effective services, stable government and English speaking talent pool, Euroasian looks ahead with confidence in serving the very potential market that appears before it.

For more information on ANTI-PSYCHOTICS Drugs Products Manufacturers Exporters Suppliers, please visit :

http://www.euroasiarnd.com/products-ANTI+PSYCHOTICS-36.html

[Via http://euroasiarnd.wordpress.com]

DMX - "Slippin"

2009-11-23T19:32:00.000+02:00

When you know your life is not on the right path just type DMX to google and click the Wikipedia link and learn that life aint shit but DMX knows how really to fuck up a career. But shit in Grade 9 he was one of the greatest through the 90’s, so DMX you have earned a post and much love TO U & your lyrics and Music….ARRF ARRF !!!!

Criminal record:

In 1999, DMX joined rappers Jay-Z, Method Man and Redman for Jay-Z’s Hard Knock Life tour. DMX was arrested but later cleared of a stabbing that occurred at a tour stop in Denver, Colorado; he was also cleared of an assault charge back at his hometown of Yonkers. However, in the summer of 1999, DMX and his wife were arrested and charged for animal cruelty and possession of drugs and weapons after his manager uncle was accidentally shot at a hotel in New Jersey. Eventually, he successfully plea-bargained simply for fines, probation, and community service. DMX was arrested in March 2000 for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, speeding, failure to signal, driving without a license, failure to notify the DMV of an address change, and possession of marijuana New York State Route 33 in Cheektowaga, New York, following a concert in Buffalo, New York. He was then scheduled to appear in Cheektowaga Town Court on March 21, but failed to appear, resulting in a warrant being issued for his arrest. He later turned himself in, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of driving without a license and was sentenced to 15 days in jail and fined $400. Since beginning public life as a rapper, DMX has made headlines for multiple arrests, such as for animal cruelty,[19] reckless driving,[20] unlicensed driving, drug possession,[21]and identity falsification.[22] In 1999 officers from the Fort Lee Police Department executed a search of his home, which led to Earl Simmons aka DMX surrendering himself the next day on weapons charges.[23] He has served some jail time, such as a 15-day sentence in 2000 for possession of marijuana[24] and another in 2001 for driving without a license and possession of marijuana. His appeal to reduce the 2001 sentence was denied, and he was charged with assault for allegedly throwing objects at prison guards.

In June 2004, he was arrested at the John F. Kennedy International Airport on charges of cocaine possession, criminal impersonation, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal mischief, menacing, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol while claiming to be a federal agent and attempting to carjack a vehicle.[25] He was given a conditional discharge on December 8, 2004 but plead guilty on October 25, 2005 to violating parole.[26]

On November 18, 2005, DMX was sentenced to 70 days in jail for violating his parole; the lateness charge caused a 10-day extension from the original 60-day plan.[27] For good behavior, DMX was released from jail early on December 30, 2005.[28]

As of December 31, 2008, DMX had pleaded guilty to charges of drug possession, theft and animal cruelty and was sentenced to 90 days. [29][30] On May 22, 2009, DMX entered a plea agreement/change of plea. He pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated assault. On July 2, 2008 DMX was arrested in Phoenix at Sky Harbor airport after arriving from Miami for outstanding warrants and failing to appear in court. His bond is $1075 for driving without a license and $10000 for previous drug charges on May 9th.Two weeks later, DMX was arrested at a Phoenix mall on suspicion that he gave a false name & Social Security number to a hospital to get out of paying for medical expenses.DMX is suspected of having used a false name, “Troy Jones” and failed to pay a $ 7,500 bill to Scottsdale’s Mayo Clinic in April. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said DMX’s bond had not been set, and if he remains in 4th avenue jail, he would be isolated from the rest of the inmates for his own safety. “They may not like his music.” His judgments took place on June 8. DMX entered rehab to stop his addiction to drugs in 2002.[31][32]

[Via http://givemeheadwear.wordpress.com]

You know Gash?

2009-11-20T10:54:00.000+02:00

Overseas they are up on something called gash. If you know what that means, let me know in the comments so we can share the true meaning with this side of the world. Enjoy!.

more about “untitled“, posted with vodpod

The definition is too raunchy for my site so i will link it from the urban dictionary for you.

One for the road. Not quite gash, but it is hard to deny the prevelance of the word in this flick.

Medical Supplies ...

2009-11-20T03:29:00.000+02:00

TNMSC also expanded as Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation Ltd, is a State Government initiative to ensure continued supply of live saving drugs and pharmaceuticals to all Government run hospitals. They are engaged in procurement, storage and supply of 268 drugs and medicines, 84 suture items and 63 surgical items to govt run hospitals and primary health centres. They also procure, store & supply 114 veterinary drugs and medicines to various veterinary dispensaries across the state of Tamil nadu.

They are located at Pantheon Road, Egmore.

Baltimore Part Of Human Trafficking Problem, Experts Say

2009-11-18T11:19:00.000+02:00

Task Force Training Officers To Spot Potential Victims

BALTIMORE — Local advocates are using a tragic story of a 5-year-old sold as a sex slave, to talk about human rights abuses in Baltimore.

On Tuesday, authorities in Fayetteville, N.C., confirmed that a body discovered yesterday is that of 5 year-old Shaniya Davis.

Detectives accuse the girl’s mother, Antoinette Davis, 25, of selling the child as a sex slave. Mario McNeil, 29, is being charged in Davis’ kidnapping.

“Sorry baby that you have to do this, you are in a better place. You are in better hands. You don’t have to hurt no more,” Shaniya’s father, Bradley Lockhart, said.

Numbers are difficult to come by in the shadowy world of child sex trafficking, but it is prevalent enough in Maryland that there is a state task force assembled to address the issue.

WBAL-TV 11 News spoke to a member of the task force who has spent years trying to reach victims.

Sidney Ford, of You Are Not Alone, or YANA, is part of Maryland’s Human Trafficking Task Force. She’s counseled women who have sold their own children into prostitution and she said there are willing buyers in the Baltimore area.

“Right here in Baltimore, there are people who are willing to pay big bucks to have sex with children. (It) fuels the market for this really abhorrent practice,” Ford said.

Ford said there are often missed opportunities to help victims like Shaniya before it’s too late. She trains police officers to look out for potential red flags.

“In their routine calls, emergency rooms, down the street, when they see certain types of situations happening that they ask questions that go beyond the immediate situations,” Ford said.

Situations which she said play out on Baltimore streets every day and often come to light if you ask the right questions.

“A woman saw an 11-year-old out on the corner. Her mother flew out of her house and said, ‘You need to make $500 tonight or I will beat your ass,’” Ford said.

It’s too late to save Shaniya, but those who advocate against human sex trafficking hope her story will shine light on the practice.

Ford adds that traffickers, including parents, often threaten kids or get them hooked on drugs or alcohol to make them less likely to run away or ask for help.

There is a national hotline set up for victims — that number is 1-800-373-7888.

source: http://www.wbaltv.com/news/21647344/detail.html

Deeper on Woodstock: Politics

2009-11-18T03:24:00.000+02:00

Especially for those of us who weren’t alive or there, the original Woodstock festival continues to take on a mythologized utopianism. Forty years later, it’s as strong as ever, and due to where its arrival fits in the continuum of time, it may be set for good.

It’s almost in and from this odd, time immemorial phase of the music industry as it’s become known today.

No, 1969 is not technically that long ago, but there were a lot of drugs used back then; and let’s face it, a lot of the people that fit the “target market” of the Woodstock of 1969 can only tell us how good it all was. Therefore, studying Woodstock is not going to get any easier. So as we live in this fortieth anniversary year of the original event, I’m reminded to learn more about August 15-18, 1969 on Max Yasgur’s Farm in New York State. That combined time-frame and location clearly changed the music industry for all of us.

To me, it’s tough to separate Woodstock and politics. There is something special about the way you can still hear culture’s voice from that era through the (thankfully) recorded music we have access to.

From his book Remembering Woodstock, by Andy Bennett.

In the original 1969 Woodstock, rock music rode on the back of the politics and not vice versa. The event was envisioned as participatory, non-commercial and counter-cultural, with music being the cultural prism for already existing social movements. Abbie Hoffman, notorious political activist of that period, saw it as epitomizing a part of an ongoing social revolution which was ‘not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit.’ Yet, of course, there were issues specific to the period: at that time, ‘the civil rights and anti-war movements engaged millions of people in the politics of direct action primarily on the strength of the issues themselves.’ In turn, the politics influenced the style and form of the music itself.

Possession of Drugs and Alcohol in Cars

2009-11-16T19:49:00.000+02:00

Here at Weisz, Botto & Gilbert, P.C. we get a LOT of clients who are found to have alcohol or drugs in their vehicle.

Alcohol is not illegal to possess or transport unless it’s open in your car, or you are under 21. And open doesn’t mean out of the container, it means open in order to be able to drink. Amazingly we’ve seen “open” intoxicant cases where people were charged for just having a beer taken out of its case. This is not what an “open” intoxicant is. Drugs (illegal drugs, or prescriptions for which you don’t have prescriptions) are NEVER legal to possess in your car, or anywhere else.

So how do the police find drugs (or alcohol) in your car?

One way is obvious. They see them. There is a bag of weed sitting in the console, or on the back seat, or under someone’s leg, but it is visible to the naked eye. This is known as “plain sight” and the police do not need a search warrant to search your car for drugs if they can see them out in the open.

The second way is that you, the driver, give the police consent to search your car. The police, if they don’t have reason to believe that there is alcohol or drugs in the car, must ask your permission to search. You do not have to give them permission to search. It is your right to refuse a search. If the police are asking you to search your car, it’s probably because they don’t have a reason to and are just hoping you will say yes. A lot of people say yes.

If you say no, and you exercise your 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, then the police may briefly detain you to bring around a search dog to walk around (not in) your car, and smell for drugs as long as the stop is not unreasonably prolonged. This precedent was set in Illinois v. Cabelles (2005) in which it was held to be legal to have a drug sniffing dog brought around your vehicle during a traffic stop. This means that your stop could be for something completely unrelated to drugs, like speeding, and as long as the stop is not unreasonably prolonged, you will have to wait while the dog sniffs around your vehicle . If it alerts (barks) then the police can go inside it. So beware, an officer with a K-9 unit will almost certainly do a perimeter search of your car.

The third way the police can search your vehicle is because they have a search warrant specifically to look inside your vehicle. It is most likely that this will not be executed when you’re driving, but who knows. This is a very uncommon occurrence (few people are going to be pulled over and have the police in possession of a search warrant of the car).

If you are stopped by the police, they can only search your car if you are letting them do so, or they have a reason to believe that you have drugs or other contraband in the car. That “reason to believe” has to be something more than just a hunch.

If you have been stopped by the police and they found drugs or open intoxicants in your vehicle, give Weisz, Botto & Gilbert, P.C. a call at (815) 338-3838.

7. My Family's History with Drugs

2009-11-16T11:11:00.000+02:00

During the 1960’s and into the 1970’s drug use was becoming more and more common. The 1960’ were a time of peace, love and hippies. Hippies in the 1960’s were all for anti-government but they were also for drugs and experimentation.

The disease that is addiction did not simply pass my family by but actually strongly affected my mom and her sister. My mom began experimenting with marijuana almost once she transferred into public school. This experimentation slowly turned to harder drugs. But since my Aunt Camille was much older she had been experimenting already.

Her addiction to drugs slowly pushed her family farther and farther apart until really no one knew where she was. Drugs are a horrible thing and can end up completely consuming someone’s life; this is what ended up happening to my aunt for a while. Around the time of my mom’s marriage (1973) my aunt wasn’t really around.

My mom later ended up finding herself in the same situation. During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s my mom began to move from marijuana onto much harder drugs such as heroin. Her drug abuse greatly affected her life down the road (much closer to the 1990’s).

Take Dashamoola Kashayam with Eranda Tailam to get rid of Kati Shoola or Back Pain Low,,,

2009-11-13T11:21:00.000+02:00

No need to worry if you have back pain low. A simple herbal remedy can get rid of all your pain. What you need to do is to prepare a fresh kashayam or decoction of Dashamoola. Add 5 to 10 ml of Eranda tailam or Castor oil to it and consume it twice daily before food. Dashamoola powder is readily available in the market, so as Eranda tailam too.

What is Dashamoola?

Dasha moola means 10 roots. They are a combination of the roots of 10 plants. They are as follows:

1. Shalaparni – Desmodium gangeticum

2. Prishniparni - Uraria picta

3. Brihati – Solanum melenginum

4. Kantakari – Yellow Berried Nightshade – Solanum Xanthocarpum

5. Gokshura – Small or Land Caltrops – Tribulus Terrestris

The roots of the above said 5 plants put together are called Laghu Panchamoola or the lesser panchamoola.

6. Bilwa - Bael fruit – Aegle Marmalos

7. Agnimantha – Premna Mucronata

8. Shyonaka - Oroxylum Indicum

9. Patala – Stereospermum chelonoides

10. Gambhari – Coomb Teak – Gmelina Arborea

The roots of the above said 5 plants poot together are called Brihat Panchamoola or the greater panchamoola.

The Laghu and Brihat Panchamoolas put together are called Dashamoola.

Preparation of Kashayam or decoction:

Coarse powder of each of the above said 10 drugs belonging to the Dashamoola are taken in equal quantities. This powder is boiled with 16 times water and reduced to 1/4th quantity. It is filtered and the decoction is taken orally.

Alternatively the Dashamoola Kashayam and Gandharvahastadi tailam available in the market can be used.

Dose: 50 ml added with 5 to 10 ml of Eranda tailam(Gandharvahastadi tailam) or medicated castor oil

Benefits of Dashamoola Kashayam: It allievates Vata, Jwara(fever), Kasa(cough), Shwasa(breathing problems like asthma etc), Shoola(pains and colic), Mandagni(Digestive impairements/indigestion) & Aruchi(tastelessness and anorexia). When added with Eranda tailam it effectively eliminates Kati shoola or Back pain.

Order for quality medicines at: http://www.avnpharmacy.com or contact hebbarjv@gmail.com

For details contact:

Dr Raghuram Y.S

Consultant Physician

Arogya Ayurvedic Centre

12th cross, 7th block Jayanagar(Off K.R.Road),Behind Shastry’s Bakery

Bangalore-82

Ph: 080-26766291(Land) or +91-9480071422

Mailing id: drraghuramys@gmail.com and drraghuram@avnarogya.in

web: www.arogyabangalore.com and www.avnarogya.in

Scottanimo Bay:TOP 5 Jacksonville punk Albums of the 2000's

2009-11-13T03:26:00.000+02:00

So it doesnt matter if you care or not but southernshedpunk.com has decided to post it anyways. Beware !!!what lurks below comes from what some high horse big time punk record label fest guidebooks call a DOOMED CITY. Yes there are bands from Jacksonville and yes we are gonna post about them. SO HERE WE GOOOOOOOOOOOO

5. GRABBAG VS TRUCKASAURUS Shed Split CD

This was the pinnacle of the original shed punk scene. 6 songs from each band at the height of their relevance in the early 2000’s. This split defined a generation of young Jacksonville bands to come. Influencing through disgrace these 2 bands showed that you didnt have to sell out and be a douche in Jacksonville to lead an awesome drug fueled life. You just had to not give a fuck and talk a lot of shit and own a few instruments.

4. GRABBAG NEVER CHEESIN ALWAYS FLEXIN

Recorded over a single weekend, inside a bathroom stall with a 4 track. This was irrelevant Jacksonville post pop punk insanity at its best. Always weird, sometimes political and strangely sexual. GRABBAG delivered hard with this 13 song cassette in 2001 and have regretted it ever since. Originally pressed ass 50 tapes for a weed dealers birthday party. Some how die-hard fans have kept this polished turd a float in the toilet bowl of Florida southern shed punk music and I guess it’s not half bad.

3. WHOREMOAN RIOT SMOSHED EP

All Girl, all balls to the wall jax thrash street punk. 5 songs that come fast and correct with a comedic edge that has you begging for more. This EP will make you rip out your Girlfriends tampon with your teeth and spit it on the floor of the pit. (http://www.myspace.com/whoremoanriot)

2. 9/10’s SMASH HITS

NO OTHER BAND. SOUNDS LIKE THIS BAND!!!! One of the most original sounds in the city or any city for that matter. I dont even know if the chords Mitch plays are real! But they sound like Skater Ska punk goodness if i’ve ever heard it. They have politically charged lyrics and circle pit inducing bass lines and drum beats. They are legends in all of DUVAL’s hearts and i cant wait till their new release. (http://www.myspace.com/ninetenths)

1. DEAD MANS WALTZ/ THE 2416 I forgot what it was called but the first CD they came out with.

Hands down the best band to come out of the whole 2006-2009 DOOZERS Experiment. Innovative post-post-post punk insanity, that melts your mind and your inhibitions. These fuckers are fucking rockers! Vintage Futuristic stoner mind punk. This band owns Jacksonville and if you let them. They will own your hearts and your ears. (www.the2416.com)

scottanimo bay

UK government drug policy in disarray as more scientific advisors quit

2009-11-11T11:14:00.000+02:00

Three advisors to the UK government on drugs policy resigned yesterday in protest at the sacking of Professor David Nutt as chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). This means a total of 6 out of 31 advisors have now quit after home secretary Alan Johnson sacked Prof Nutt for claiming that cannabis is less harmful than tobacco and alcohol.

Prof Nutt said that the government had made a mistake when it decided to reclassify cannabis from Class C to the more allegedly-harmful Class B. He questioned the evidence that cannabis causes mental illness in a large number of users, and disagreed with the hypocrisy of sanctioning prosecution for the possession of a substance that he considers less harmful than the legal, government-approved drugs tobacco and alcohol.

The advisors who resigned yesterday are: Ian Ragan, director of a consultancy for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, CIR Consultancy Ltd; John Marsden, a research psychologist at the Institute of Psychiatry; and Simon Campbell, a synthetic organic chemist and former head of Worldwide Discovery and Medicinals R&D Europe at Pfizer. All three argued for the reinstatement of Prof Nutt before resigning, claiming that government belittled and interfered with their advice. The scientists in particular wanted assurances their reports and recommendations would in future be taken seriously, and sought an agreement over how their advice was handled by ministers.

Dr Les King, the former head of the drugs intelligence unit of the Forensic Science Service, and Marion Walker, the clinical director of Berkshire Healthcare NHS foundation trust’s substance misuse service, resigned in the immediate aftermath of Nutt’s sacking.

Prof Nutt’s dismissal shows that the government doesn’t really care how its policies reflect on objective reality. The reclassification of cannabis was a political act, based on questionable scientific evidence. And the resignations further demonstrate the government’s lonely position relative to truth and honesty.

Your Aversion to Cannabis

2009-11-11T03:09:00.000+02:00

Submitted by: Dan

In response to Mary Jane.

I’d say your aversion to cannabis use is based more on the connotations of its illegality than on actual facts. Cannabis has long been touted as a “gateway drug,” when research shows that nearly everyone who’s tried cannabis and moved on to “harder” drugs is an alcohol user as well. Yet for some reason, alcohol is never called a gateway drug. Why is that?

As for addiction, yes, cannabis is habit-forming, and it’s easy to see why – it’s a lot of fun. However, it is not physically addictive, like alcohol, nicotine, or even caffeine (it has a lower rate of addiction than all 3). Rather, it’s habit-forming in the sense that watching TV, using the internet, and watching porn is habit-forming – stopping is simply a matter of personal discipline. Using cannabis does not make you a “slave” to the drug any more than watching movies makes you a slave to the theater.

People’s perceptions of this drug have been subject to constant misinformation by lawmakers and the media, while the facts of science and medicine have largely been ignored. When used responsibly, the risks of cannabis pale in comparison to prescription medicine and legal drugs. But don’t take my word for it. Do some research yourself – you might be surprised.

[October, 1989] Drugs are Bad

2009-11-09T17:08:00.000+02:00

10/18/88

Dear Journal,

Today two people are going to come in and talk about drugs.

Did you say No?

I was probably too overwhelmed by the visit to write more about it.

That day was a somber one in the classroom, and our teacher told us to be on our best behavior and give our guests our full attention.

One of the visitors was a police officer, dressed in uniform, probably to intimidate us with his authority (in my case it worked, in spades). The other was a civilian, probably a drug educator of sorts. They walked around the classroom with a small open suitcase which contained samples of drugs and drug paraphernalia, in order for us to more easily recognize narcotics and say “no.” There were also diagrams and we got a lecture about the dangers associated with the different drugs. Physiological effects were detailed and anecdotal evidence shared, such as the kid who smoked PCP, thought he could fly, and jumped out the window.

Up to that point, my only exposure to drugs was limited to what I had read in books and seen on television. In the Sweet Valley High series of books, one of the characters tried cocaine and died almost instantly of a heart attack. There was also that Very Special Episode of Growing Pains when Mike Seaver was offered coke by a pretty blonde played by Kristy Swanson (of Flowers in the Attic “fame”). There was also that now-iconic commercial where an upset Dad confronts his teen son about finding drugs in the youngster’s room, only to be told “I learned it by watching you, Dad!” All of these fictional incidents disturbed me and hammered home the point of how scary and dangerous drugs were.

None of these moments unsettled me quite like the school visit, though. I found it terribly spooky and could not understand why anybody would take drugs, why they would risk their lives for a temporary high. Those classroom scare tactics made a believer out of me. I didn’t even touch a cigarette until I was 18.

I no longer bootleg alcohol. Or tampons.

2009-11-09T03:36:00.000+02:00

It may have been perfectly innocent.

It may just have been three guys shooting the breeze.

But, damn, if it didn’t look like a drug deal going down.

OK, yes, I will admit I’ve never actually seen drugs being exchanged for money in real life. Oh, sure, every second long-hair in Amsterdam offered to sell me something potent when all I was interested in doing was playing tourist. And one fellow traveller did accompany a shady character down an alley when we were both in Hawaii, in an effort to score some Maui Wowie. But I stayed on the main street and wondered if the next time I saw my friend he would be a) behind bars, or b) floating face-down in Pearl Harbor.

Because my addictions are limited to caffeine, The Hockey News and the Internet, I’ve seldom found myself in dubious places where laws might be broken.

Yes, I did say “seldom.” As opposed to “never.”

Years ago, as I rounded the corner of a building in my hometown — deep in thought, intent on my errand — I nearly walked straight into into a large First Nations lad.

“Will you bootleg for me?” he asked and I found myself nodding. Don’t ask me why. My mind was still addled by how close we’d come to blindsiding each other in a collision from which I definitely would have emerged second-best. And I did mention he was big, right? More like huge.

The next thing I know, I’m in the nearby liquor store, the fellow’s $20 bill clutched in my hand, scanning the shelves. He’d asked me to buy a bottle of rye. So, naturally, I’m looking for rye. Except, in my ignorance as a non-drinker, I didn’t realize that what I should have been looking for was rye whiskey.

Several years later, a cheeky girlfriend sent me into a supermarket to buy her tampons. It was like deja vu all over again — that helpless, panicky feeling that I had no idea what I was looking for, while, at the same time, blushing crimson because I knew I looked like an idiot just standing there and staring blankly at the displays.

I did finally grab the first bottle of rye whiskey that caught my eye, paid the difference out of my own pocket because it cost more than $20, and then shoved the paper bag into the waiting fellow’s hand right in front of the store. The smart thing would have been to meet him around the corner — bootlegging being illegal and all — and ask for the rest of the money. But all I wanted was for the embarrassment to be over.

So, today, I’m walking home from downtown and I see these three guys at the far edge of a petrol station’s property. The white guy, judging by his uniform shirt, works at the station. The other two are scruffy-looking Maori males. Now I hate to sound racially insensitive, but you look at the local paper’s Most Wanted ads, and nearly 100 per cent of the felons are Maori or Polynesian. It’s a sad fact of life here in New Zealand.

One Maori man, the fellow with the backpack, is pulling something out of a bag to show the petrol station attendant. It looks, from my vantage point, just like a brick of dope.

But it can’t be, right? I mean, they’re standing right in the open, for chrissakes. If I can see them, so can everyone else driving by or filling up. Surely no one would be that brazen. Or stupid.

I have no idea what was being displayed but I do know it wasn’t Michael Jackson’s latest CD or All Blacks players’ cards.

It just looked suspicious is all I’m saying.

Seconds later, as I continued walking, a cop car cruised past. For a nano-second I thought about flagging it down. But I didn’t. I just kept walking.

If what I saw was innocent, then there was no use wasting the police’s time. If it was something illegal and these guys make a habit out of being so blatantly obvious, then they’ll eventually get nabbed without my help.

Because, whether it’s rye or tampons, helping tends to come back and bite me in the arse.

Magic pills.

2009-11-06T11:42:00.000+02:00

Introduction:

The age, hormonal instability, society, money and many other things become the reason erectile dysfunction. Medicinal grasses, fruits and certain physical exercises can help to improve erection, but always there was a search of drugs capable to help men to cope with their problem completely and with presence of a minimum of by-effects. Pills Viagra hit the market with 1998, and have received instant success at men. But because of by-effects Viagra the further researches were necessary, and the new product was going to arrive. Cialis then has arrived and with its minimum profile of by-effects.

What is erectile dysfunction?

Erectile dysfunction is the inability of the person to either initiate or sustain a penile erection for a sufficient period of time that is needed to attain a sexual gratification. The causes of it may be many for e.g. psychological, hormonal, arterial or muscular. The diseases associated with it are Diabetes Mellitus, Major Depression, certain thrombotic disorders, etc.

What is cialis?

Cialis and drugs related to it like Viagra act by inhibiting an enzyme called phosphodiesterase type 5 which release Nitric Oxide from nerve endings and endothelium causing relaxation of smooth muscle and hence penile erection. This is a product developed by Eli Lilly and ICOS and it is a trade name of the product called Tadalafil launched in the market in 2003.

Who all can benefit?

Men with erectile dysfunction due to some arterial disorders will benefit the most. It doesn’t benefit those with hormonal problems or psychological problems except those with Diabetic neuropathy. There is a myth that a person as soon as taking the drug will have erection but that is not the case. It starts taking action only when a person starts physical activity.

What are the advantages and side effects?

Although the vasodilatation that is needed is in penis, due to the extreme non-specificity of the product there are certain side effects related to vasodilatation at other sites such as headache, nasal congestion, stuffiness , and fall in blood pressure. Some patients complain of loose motions. These side effects are more applicable to products such as Viagra than to Cialis. Some patients have suffered heart attack and severe fall in blood pressure.

How is cialis better than others?

Cialis has a half life of around 36 hours while that of Viagra is around 4 hours that means that a person can take the drug and can expect to have erection at a time much later than the time of administration. This achieves much patient compliance.

What is the latest research that is going on?

The latest research that is going on is hormonal therapy and genetic therapy in this regard. These are basically to avoid the side effect profile of these types of drugs.

Drugs.

2009-11-06T02:53:00.000+02:00

Being around people who do hard drugs makes me never want to do drugs again.

It’s such fucking bullshit.

They just had a discussion about how hard drugs, specifically ecstasy and acid, will help you solve all of your major mental, social, and life problems by opening up your senses to new things and more intense sensations and letting you see the world “as it really is.”

Acid is made to fuck up how you see the world. Acid changes your perception of the world. Acid does NOT let you see the world “as it really is.”

Ecstasy makes everything really, REALLY fucking awesome. THAT IS NOT HOW THE WORLD IS.

Maybe I’m just bitter because their stupid bullshit led to my mental status going drastically downward, but I just think it’s pathetic. Being around them actually just makes me really fucking angry.

NEFA highlights funding strategies of jihad cell

2009-11-04T10:36:00.000+02:00

North Carolina jihadist cell organizer Daniel Patrick Boyd, who was indicted this summer for conspiracy to support terrorism and on other charges, had money on his mind…

Daniel Boyd, your local jihad financier

A new eye-catching presentation from the NEFA Foundation highlights some telling comments from the accused:

According to DOJ, “It was a part of the consipiracy to raise money to support the defendants’ efforts in training and provision of personnel, and to disguise the destination of such moneys from the donors.

An FBI summary of a recorded May 2009 conversation between Boyd and a witness states: “Boyd states that the fact of the matter is, is that these dope boys [drug dealers], they be carrying a lot of money. Boyd states that they should snatch it from them and use it for the ‘sake of Allah.’…If you take it, send it to the muhahidin…He wants ten grand and up.”

During the same conversation, Boyd discusses robbing banks to fund jihad and strike the “corrupt society”: “Hitting the Wells Fargo trucks and banks, that money is insured. They have to pay the people who had the money. Those people don’t get hurt. The banks get hurt and the banking system is the main ammunition for the Kuffar…you get in and out of a bank in 3 minutes or less, that’s a good deal. You get in and out in 2 minutes or less, some of the cops can’t even react.”

Authorities also found $13,000 in cash in Boyd’s house. Guess he can’t trust a “Kuffar bank” (see Koran 3:68).

Liveblog: J&J Execs Discuss Job Cuts

2009-11-04T02:43:00.000+02:00

J&J executives are discussing the company’s plan to cut 6% to 7% of its global workforce. Here’s what they’re saying.

The company will take a charge of $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion in the fourth quarter of this year. The cuts will save an estimated $1.4 to $1.7 billion a year once they’re fully implemented.

9:03: CEO Bill Weldon is speaking. Company has launched four significant “new molecular entities” (i.e. new drugs) in the U.S. this year.

9:05: The health care industry continues to evolve … The plans and associated savings we are announcing today will increase our operational efficiency. Company will continue to invest in Alzheimer’s and other areas.

9:07: Last night we began communicating to our employees about restructuring. Starting in August, the company has been removing layers of management. Our plans in many businesses include reducing layers of management.

9:08: These types of broad structural changes are not made easily. They will have a very personal impact on people who have been dedicated to the mission of Johnson & Johnson.

9:09: Affected employees are being notified.

9:09: Dominic Caruso, CFO: Today’s restructuring shouldn’t affect analysts’ models. More clarity about health-reform issues and J&J’s bottom line is expected in January.

9:11: “Position eliminations” across all businesses. There will be two cents per share of incremental costs, on top of one-time restructuring costs. Company affirms existing earnings estimates for this year.

9:14: Weldon: “We’re looking across the organization.” “We’re looking at layers and streamlining the organization so we can make faster, easier decisions.” Restruction is global, if anything “it might be more skewed” toward cuts outside the U.S.

9:15: Caruso: Estimates for restructuring “are not targeted to a specific response to U.S. health-care reform.” “Assuming health-care reform is out of the equation … the leverage that we expect to achieve in 2010 appears to be already reflected in [analysts'] models.”

9:17: Weldon: “We want to make sure we have the resources to continue to invest … Economically, there’s challenges still ahead of us.” Then you have put in the investments necessary” for existing products and pipeline.

9:18: Cuts are across all businesses, plus home office. “We’re looking at everything so we can streamline our business.”

9:19: Caruso: “We were reducing the overall level of R&D expense, particularly in the pharma business, consistent with industry trends. We would expect that to continue in 2010.” But the company will continue to make incremental investments in pipeline research.

9:20: Weldon: “We have such a rich portfolio that we need to make sure we have the resources to invest.” Expense to bring products to market are much higher than they were a decade ago. “And the risks are so much greater.” Recent deals: Cougar biotech, Alzheimer’s deal with Elan, vaccines with Crucell.

9:22: “We’re continually looking at opportunities to bring in new businesses and spin out businesses.” “We don’t think we’re in a position where we have to make radical change … We’re well positioned, we just want to make sure we’re very disciplined in the approach we take.”

9:24: “We’re not centralizing.” This is looking at restructuring within each of the decentralized businesses. We may see some opportunities to work across the businesses in the area of supply chain, but none of this is aimed at centralizing the business.

9:26: Weldon: “I don’t really think we can comment on health-care reform.” “This really is not aimed at addressing health-care reform.”

9:27: “The economic environment has adversely impacted all the businesses.” Unemployment continues to be a problem.

9:28: Partnerships are becoming more of the model. In Alzheimer’s for example, company is working with Pfizer. Working together improves chances for a good outcome, “plus it does mitigate risk and allows us to share expenses.”

9:29: Economic headwinds will continue. “Until we see easing in unemployment and other areas, people are going to be more cautious” about spending.

9:32: Caruso: This is “not necessarily a comment on gross margins in med tech.” It’s more to give the company the ability to invest in the current pipeline and in new opportunities. But there has been a “much more challenging environment with price.”

9:34: “The large majority of the [projected] savings are due to the workforce reductions.”

9:35: Weldon: More of this will be outside of the United States. The savings per head is different than it was during the company’s 2007 restructuring.

9:37: Caruso: The health-care reform initiative is still undergoing some change. We haven’t yet seen the Senate bill. It is premature to talk about what particular impact it might have on us or the inudstry.

9:38: Company has seen economic pressure in elective surgery and consumer. Recovery “will take longer to take hold” and “may be in fits and starts.”

9:39: Weldon: “Until we get unemployment under control and people feel safe and comfortable I don’t think people are going to be spending in areas where they’ve spent previously.” Until unemployment numbers improve, there will continue to be economic pressure on health care. “I don’t think anybody’s expecting [the economy] to come roaring back tomorrow.”

9:42: “It is more the external environment that is a continuing concern for all of us.” … “It’s the pressures in the regulatory environment and the cost of bringing new products to market.” J&J needs resources to invest in products, and to launch them.

9:43: “We know that in some countries outside the United States there will be price reductions in some products.” That’s on top of possible health-reform in the U.S.

9:47: “We’re coming out into the sunshine after the cloud that’s been over us.” That includes patent expirations on Risperdal and Topamax.

9:48: The company is trying to make its supply chain more efficient. That may affect manufacturing.

9:50: “It’s not just the regulatory body here in the United States, it’s regulatory bodies around the world that are asking for more, and justifiably so.” As a result, product launches are becoming more expensive.

9:53: Caruso: “This is really about streamlining the organization and allowing us the resources to invest in the growth of the business.”

9:54: The call is over.

Photo: Associated Press