Propaganda

Police: Woman drugs boss’s coffee so he’ll ‘chill’
Friday, March 13, 2009

(03-13) 18:18 PDT Bryant, Ark. (AP) –

Police said a woman has been arrested for allegedly slipping some tranquilizers into her boss’s coffee because she felt “he needed to chill out.” Police said the 24-year-old woman admitted to detectives that she slipped the drugs into veteranarian John Duckett’s drink. Officers said Duckett knew something was wrong shortly after drinking some of the coffee Tuesday morning.
fficers said the woman cleaned the cages at the the Reynolds Road Animal Clinic.

A judge set bond at $25,000 Friday and a jailer said the woman was still being held Friday. Her next court appearance is scheduled for April 21.

___

Information from: KLRT-TV, www.fox16.com

FROM THE GUARDIAN, AND THE GUARDIAN KNOWS…..

Transplant row over organs for drinkers

• Alcohol abusers receive 1 in 4 livers
• Doctors ‘can refuse to do operations’

Jamie Doward and Denis Campbell
The Observer, Sunday 15 February 2009

Heavy drinkers are receiving nearly one in four of the UK’s liver transplants, it was revealed last night, igniting a furious row about the ethics of allocating organs to people with alcohol problems.

Figures show that transplants for heavy drinkers have risen by more than 60% in the past decade, while waiting lists have lengthened. In December 1997, 180 people in the UK were awaiting a liver transplant, compared with 325 in the same month last year.

Dr Tony Calland, chairman of the British Medical Association’s medical ethics committee, said surgeons are within their rights to refuse transplants to anyone with alcohol-related liver disease if they do not demonstrate a genuine desire to stop drinking.

And the mother of a young woman whose organs helped to keep five people alive after she died said it was “offensive, terrible and unfair” that an increasing proportion of livers were going to people with serious alcohol problems.

Eunice Booker, whose 26-year-old daughter, Kirstie, died in a car crash in 2006, said: “I find it offensive that one in four of the livers donated go to alcoholics. If there are two people side by side wanting a liver, and both have the right tissue match, and one is an alcoholic and one isn’t, there’s no contest - you take the one who’s not an alcoholic, they are more entitled.”

Official figures that show in the year to 31 March 2008, 151 liver transplants, out of a total of 623 carried out across the UK, went to people with alcohol-related liver disease - 23% of the total. By contrast, in the year to March 2007, there were 94 liver transplants for people with alcohol-related liver disease, just 14% of the overall total.

Calland acknowledged that the trend was raising new questions for surgeons, who are within their rights to insist that anyone with alcohol-related liver disease demonstrates a genuine intention to address their problem before the operation is approved.

“Organs are precious resources and should be used where the clinical outcome - the patient’s health - justifies the use of something so scarce,” Calland said. “You have to have very definite evidence that the person is going to stop drinking. If someone won’t promise, you could refuse them the transplant on clinical rather than ethical grounds.”

Concerns about alcohol-related health problems in Britain are increasing. A report by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine two years ago suggested that deaths from cirrhosis of the liver were rising faster in Britain than anywhere else in Europe. The rise was especially sharp in men and women aged under 45, where death rates now exceed the European average.

Last month, Alison Rogers, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, warned that “the death toll from alcohol remains unacceptably high” and that twice as many people are dying from alcohol as 15 years ago.

Some have questioned whether livers are being allocated fairly. Professor Nigel Heaton, the surgeon who performed a liver transplant on alcoholic footballer George Best, said at the time that new measures were needed to identify patients likely to abuse alcohol after their operations so that medical staff could make an assessment as to whether there were more suitable candidates.

“If you knew someone was going to be recidivist, you wouldn’t take them on for a transplant,” he said.

A spokesman for NHS Blood and Transplant, the special health authority that oversees transplants, said the decision to allocate each organ was made on a case by case basis: “The patient’s surgeon assesses whether that person is fit physically and is able to cope with the rigours of living after a transplant.”

Liberal Democrat shadow culture, media and sport secretary Don Foster, who obtained the new transplant figures, said only by increasing the cost of alcohol could the nation’s health be saved from Britain’s binge-drinking culture.

“These figures are a stark warning about the impact alcohol is having on health services in this country,” he said. “Recent studies have proven that the cheaper alcohol is, the more we all drink. None of us wants to pay more for our alcohol, but with an alcohol crisis on our hands we have to look again at raising the price of the cheapest alcohol.”

APOCRYPHAL, SOMETHING THE ONION MIGHT DREAM UP, BUT WITH ITS WEIGHT IN INSIGHT……
(reprinted without permission — The Brushback knows……)
Public domain after 5 minutes

AMES, IA–Members of the Make-A-Wish Foundation struggled to come up with a response to a dying 9-year-old boy’s request that they punch slugger Barry Bonds in the nuts repeatedly. The boy, Danny Wickman of Ames, Iowa, reportedly hates Bonds and wants nothing more than to see him in debilitating pain. The director of the foundation said that it was the first such request that he had ever received.

“That’s a first. Obviously the kid really hates Barry Bonds, as a lot of people do, but I don’t know if we can comply with his request,” said Charles Hopkinton, managing director of Make-A-Wish. “We’ll have to call Barry and see if he’s OK with it. I mean, it is his dying wish, so we should do everything we can to make it happen. What really strikes me though, is the fact that he [Danny] isn’t even interested in doing it himself. He’s happy just to watch someone else do it. Now that’s hatred.”

Wickman has been diagnosed with tuberculosis and is expected to live another six months. Upon hearing about his condition through a mutual friend, Hopkinton immediately met little Danny to set him up with the foundation. After mulling over his wish, Danny decided it would be fun to watch his least favorite ball player get punched in the nuts.

“I kept asking him if he was sure,” said Hopkinton. “And he kept saying ‘yes.’ I offered him all kinds of other stuff, but he was adamant. He wants to see Bonds doubled over in pain before he dies.”

Hopkinton apparently offered Wickman a chance to meet Lebron James, have a one-on-one dinner with Brett Favre, and get an all access pass to the Minnesota Vikings training camp. As appealing as these offers sounded, nothing was more appealing than the ruthless beating of Bonds.

Mary Wickman, Danny’s mother, said her son has always had a deep, seething resentment towards Bonds.

“A lot of people hate that guy, so it should be understandable that he would request something like this,” she said. “[Danny] is not some stupid kid who blindly worships athletes. He only roots for guys who are good people. He’s heard enough Bonds interviews, as we all have, to know that the guy is an arrogant, selfish prick. I’m sure a lot of people in America would love to see the guy gets his nuts rammed with a sledgehammer. I know I would.”

Hopkinton has been trying to come up with a way to present the idea to Bonds. He does not expect the slugger to agree to have his testicles punched, but he may agree to make an appearance with young Danny, at which point they could ambush him.

“That’s the only solution I can come up with right now,” said Hopkinton. “As bad as it may sound, we might have to trick him into showing up, then just sneak in a few quick cock-punches so Danny can get his wish. After that, we might have to run like hell, but this is a kid’s dying wish. We can’t say no. And frankly, we don’t want to.”

The director’s biggest concern, he said, is Bonds willingness to show up at all, even for a brief handshake and autograph session. The famous slugger has a reputation for being ornery and extremely private, even when it comes to cute, dying children.

“I know this guy doesn’t do autographs and things like that,” said Hopkinton. “I know he has a track record of turning down charity causes. I know because one time I asked him to send a sick kid a signed 8 x 10 and he said no. Can you imagine that? He just had to sign it and send it out. He said he was ‘too busy.’ Then I told him that he could just have his secretary sign it and send it out, and the kid wouldn’t even know any better. He said ‘Nah, she’s too busy.’ Then I asked him to just turn his head slightly and look in the direction of the young boy, who was sitting behind the dugout. He just said ‘Nah. Got a sore neck.’ That’s why, if we can pull this off, I’ll be the first in line to smack him.”

While most sick children request time with athletes they admire, Wickman said he’ll be perfectly content to see an athlete he does not admire suffer greatly. When asked why he had such antipathy for the hall-of-fame slugger, young Danny answered with his usual candor.

“Why do I hate Barry Bonds? There’s no specific reason. I just think he’s a dick,” said Wickman. “He’s so conceited and he thinks he’s better than everyone else and he’s sits there in that stupid reclining chair in the clubhouse like he’s the king of the world or something. Having this disease really sucks, but I swear I’ll die happy if someone punches Barry in the nuts. It’s easy. All they have to do is get a press pass to go into the Giants locker room after a game, pretend they’re a reporter, and give him a couple quick punches. That’s all it takes to really hurt someone. Is that too much to ask, Mr. Hopkinton? Don’t you want to make a dying boy happy?”

Copyright 2003, The Brushback - Do not reprint without permission

Make-A-Wish Foundation Asked To Punch Barry Bonds In The Nuts
July 6th , 2004 - Volume 1 Issue 56

IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN SOMETHING AND ARE ASKED TO DIE FOR IT, THEN IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SUICIDE MIGHT BE A CREATIVE FORM OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, OR, FOR THAT MATTER, A WAY OF WORKING OUT GUILT FOR HAVING COMMITTED UNSPEAKABLE ACTS IN THE NAME OF DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM….COMMENT?

Army official: Suicides in January ‘terrifying’

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Two dozen soldiers believed to have killed themselves in January, official says
The number of likely suicides more than those killed in combat last month
Army psychologist says long, cold months of winter might have contributed to spike
Army takes rare step of releasing figures for month rather than waiting till end of year
Next Article in U.S. »

From Barbara Starr and Mike Mount
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) — One week after the U.S. Army announced record suicide rates among its soldiers last year, the service is worried about a spike in possible suicides in the new year.

If reports of suicides are confirmed, more soldiers will have taken their lives in January than died in combat.

The Army said 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January alone — six times as many as killed themselves in January 2008, according to statistics released Thursday.

The Army said it already has confirmed seven suicides, with 17 additional cases pending that it believes investigators will confirm as suicides for January.

If those prove true, more soldiers will have killed themselves than died in combat last month. According to Pentagon statistics, there were 16 U.S. combat deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq in January.

“This is terrifying,” an Army official said. “We do not know what is going on.”

Col. Kathy Platoni, chief clinical psychologist for the Army Reserve and National Guard, said that the long, cold months of winter could be a major contributor to the January spike.

“There is more hopelessness and helplessness because everything is so dreary and cold,” she said.

Don’t Miss
Army to report record number of suicides
Troops won’t get Purple Heart for stress disorder
But Platoni said she sees the multiple deployments, stigma associated with seeking treatment and the excessive use of anti-depressants as ongoing concerns for mental-health professionals who work with soldiers.

Those who are seeking mental-health care often have their treatment disrupted by deployments. Deployed soldiers also have to deal with the stress of separations from families.

“When people are apart you have infidelity, financial problems, substance abuse and child behavioral problems,” Platoni said. “The more deployments, the more it is exacerbated.”

Platoni also said that while the military has made a lot of headway in training leaders on how to deal with soldiers who may be suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, “there is still a huge problem with leadership who shame them when they seek treatment.”

The anti-depressants prescribed to soldiers can have side effects that include suicidal thoughts. Those side effects reportedly are more common in people 18 to 24.

Concern about last month’s suicide rate was so high, Congress and the Army leadership were briefed. In addition, the Army took the rare step of releasing data for the month rather than waiting to issue it as part of annual statistics at the end of the year.

In January 2008, the Army recorded two confirmed cases of suicides and two other cases it was investigating.

Last week, in releasing the report that showed a record number of suicides in 2008, the Army said it soon will conduct servicewide training to help identify soldiers at risk of suicide.

The program, which will run February 15 through March 15, will include training to recognize behaviors that may lead to suicide and instruction on how to intervene. The Army will follow the training with another teaching program, from March 15 to June 15, focused on suicide prevention at all unit levels.

The 2008 numbers were the highest annual level of suicides among soldiers since the Pentagon began tracking the rate 28 years ago. The Army said 128 soldiers were confirmed to have committed suicide in 2008, and an additional 15 were suspected of having killed themselves. The statistics cover active-duty soldiers and activated National Guard and reserves.

The Army’s confirmed rate of suicides in 2008 was 20.2 per 100,000 soldiers. The nation’s suicide rate was 19.5 per 100,000 people in 2005, the most recent figure available, Army officials said last month.

Suicides for Marines were also up in 2008. There were 41 in 2008, up from 33 in 2007 and 25 in 2006, according to a Marines report.

In addition to the new training, the service has a program called Battlemind, intended to prepare soldiers and their families to cope with the stresses of war before, during and after deployment. It also is intended to help detect mental-health issues before and after deployments.

The Army and the National Institute of Mental Health signed an agreement in October to conduct research to identify factors affecting the mental and behavioral health of soldiers and to share strategies to lower the suicide rate. The five-year study will examine active-duty, National Guard and reserve soldiers and their families.

SO THERE ALL YOU MATH WIZARDS!!!

Palin rails against ‘anonymous, pathetic bloggers’
By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, February 5, 2009

(02-05) 08:29 PST New York (AP) –

Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is still mad at media coverage of her candidacy, particularly “anonymous, pathetic bloggers” who she says spread falsehoods about her.

The Alaska governor also says she’s addicted to Carmex lip balm, grew up playing flute and trombone, and says sports taught her everything she knows. She shared those and other insights in the March issue of Esquire magazine, scheduled to hit newsstands Feb. 16.

In the interview, Palin, who rocketed to fame as John McCain’s running mate in last year’s election, reiterated her complaints about media coverage of the campaign. She said reporters continue to question whether her 9-month-old son, Trig, is actually the child of her 18-year old daughter Bristol from a secret previous pregnancy.

“I’ll tell you, yesterday the Anchorage Daily News, they called again to ask — double-, triple-, quadruple-check — who is Trig’s real mom,” Palin told Esquire. “And I thought, ‘Okay, more indication of continued problems in the world of journalism.’”

Rumors that Bristol was Trig’s mother swirled on the Internet shortly after McCain chose Palin as his running mate. But the mainstream media did not report the story until the McCain campaign announced that Bristol was pregnant, in part to tamp down the rumors about Trig. Bristol delivered a baby boy in December.

In the interview, Palin also reiterated her wish that she had had more input on strategy during the campaign.

“If I were giving advice to myself back on the day my candidacy was announced, I’d say, ‘Tell the campaign that you’ll be callin’ some of the shots. Don’t just assume that they know you well enough to make all your decisions for ya,” Palin said.

On other topics, Palin said she hunts and goes fishing to provide “good clean healthy protein” for her family. Mooseburger is the secret to a good chili recipe, she said.

“I don’t know if you can get it commercially in New York,” Palin said. “Come up here to my home, and I’ll prepare it for ya.”

Palin said she named Bristol in part for Bristol, Conn. — home of the sports network ESPN.

“When I was in high school, my desire was to be a sportscaster,” she said. “Until I learned that you’d have to move to Bristol, Connecticut. It was far away. So instead, I had a daughter and named her Bristol.”

___

On the Net:

www.esquire.com

http://sfgate.com

IT SUCKS….

updated 8 minutes ago

New Haggard accuser: ‘He really thought he was invincible’
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Accuser says disgraced pastor Ted Haggard talked of having “fun on the side”
NEW: Church says it won’t reclaim $179,000 settlement to Grant Haas
Man was 22 and struggling with his sexuality when he met Haggard
Haggard apologizes for “inappropriate” behavior but denies sexual relationship
Next Article in Crime »

y Jim Spellman and Eric Marrapodi
CNN

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) — Disgraced evangelical Christian leader Ted Haggard sought drugs from a young male volunteer at his Colorado church and masturbated in front of him in a hotel room, apparently believing himself “invincible,” the former volunteer says.

Grant Haas says disgraced pastor Ted Haggard’s resurfacing is “reopening a lot of old wounds.”

Grant Haas told CNN he began receiving text messages from Haggard in January 2006 that were “out of the ordinary” — questions about what sexual positions he enjoyed, what drugs he used. He said the approaches culminated in a hotel-room encounter in July of that year, when he said Haggard offered him pills and masturbated in a bed they shared.

“He really thought he was invincible, because he used to say to me, ‘You know what, Grant, you can become a man of God and you can have a little bit of fun on the side.’ And I really think he believed that philosophy — that he can do whatever he wants as long as he’s praying and fasting on the side,” Haas said.

Haas said Haggard’s “insanity” increased after that encounter, and that his eventual discovery was “only a matter of time.” Haggard was forced from the pulpit of his New Life Church in November 2006 amid allegations he used drugs and patronized a male prostitute in Denver, Colorado. Watch Haggard’s accuser speak out »

Haggard, who founded New Life Church in 1984, admitted receiving a massage from the man and buying drugs, but said he threw them away unused. At the time, he was president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a politically active network of churches representing 30 million parishioners.

Haas said he did not report Haggard’s conduct to the church immediately because he feared retaliation. About a year after the scandal broke, he won a $179,000 settlement from the church under terms of confidentiality, but said he is coming forward with his story now that Haggard has resurfaced in a new documentary and a round of television interviews.

Don’t Miss
Disgraced pastor facing new allegations
Haggard: I contemplated suicide after first scandal
“If Ted Haggard wants to start another church in the Springs, by me staying silent, I feel like I’m allowing him to do that — and I’m allowing him to possibly treat other young men the way he treated me,” he said.

The church called the payment “compassionate assistance” to a former employee who was struggling. But Haas told CNN that church officials threatened to reclaim the funds if he went public. The church issued a statement Wednesday to CNN saying it would not do so.

“We will do the right thing for the right reasons even to our own hurt,” the church’s senior pastor, Brady Boyd, said in the statement. “We will uphold our end of the agreement even if he does not uphold his end of the agreement.”

Haggard referred CNN to a public relations firm when asked about Haas’ account. But in a statement released through HBO, which produced the upcoming documentary “The Trials of Ted Haggard,” he said he has sought forgiveness from Haas “for our inappropriate relationship.” Watch Haggard in the HBO documentary »

“Prior to that time, I discussed it with my wife, my therapist and our children,” Haggard said. “Although there was no physical contact, I have regretted my irresponsible behavior. Once again, I ask Grant for his forgiveness as well as the people of the church.”

HBO, like CNN, is a subsidiary of Time Warner. Haggard is scheduled to appear on CNN’s “Larry King Live” on Thursday night.

Haas said he met Haggard in 2005 at New Life Church. He was 22 years old, far from home and struggling with his sexuality.

Haas said was “kicked out” of a conservative Christian college and moved to Colorado Springs to attend a Colorado University branch. While there, he began attending Haggard’s church, eventually becoming a volunteer in the pastor’s office.

Shortly after he disclosed his struggle with his sexual identity, Haggard “lit up,” Haas said. He said he expected Haggard to be “a friend who I could talk to about it.” But he said Haggard — whom he said was usually easygoing and joking, even about sex — soon began asking him questions about sex and drugs.

“He could be the nice 50-year-old pastor who’s godly, and the next minute he’s this horny 16-year-old boy,” he said. “I never knew what I was going to get, and part of me hoped the 16-year-old horny boy would go away and the Ted Haggard I knew — that I started my relationship off with — would come back.”

Their alleged hotel-room encounter occurred in July 2006, in the mountain town of Cripple Creek, Colorado, during a church trip Haas said started off “comfortable at first.” They went to a show, then went back to the room Haggard had rented with a single bed, Haas said.

Haas said Haggard wanted to play “truth or dare,” and the game “just got weirder and weirder.” By the end of the night, he said, the pastor had masturbated next to him in the bed and then expressed remorse for his actions.

“He just started weeping in bed and told me the Holy Spirit was really angry at him, that he shouldn’t be doing this with me — that I was supposed to be a pastor, and he wants to make that happen still.”

When Haas awoke the next morning, he said Haggard was praying, speaking in tongues and asking him to pray with him. Haas said he did not report Haggard’s conduct until after the pastor was gone, because many parishioners and church leaders “believed Ted was the right hand of God.”

“He would talk to reporters. He was on CNN. He was on Fox News,” Haas said. “He was so in the public spotlight, he was talking to President Bush.”

Haas told CNN he has attempted suicide four times, has been seeing a psychiatrist and drinking heavily.

After Haggard’s dismissal, New Life’s leaders encouraged all who had been hurt by Haggard to come forward for help. Haas said he received church-paid counseling for more than a year after Haggard’s behavior was exposed, and went back to the church for more help after having trouble getting his bills paid.

He got a lawyer, and the church agreed to pay him a $179,000 settlement — a package Boyd told CNN on Monday was “to help him move forward.” He said he advised Haas not to go public, because “it wasn¹t going to help him or the church’s healing — plus it was in violation of the agreement we signed with them.”

Haas said he taped a phone conversation with Haggard as he was considering a lawsuit. He shared that recording with CNN. In it, a man who sounds like Haggard acknowledges he wasn’t “an honorable pastor” — but urges Haas to forgive him, “drop this thing and move on.”

“The bottom line is I did what I did as a grown man,” the man says. “And if you want to punish people, then that’s the life you’re going to live. You’ll try to punish people, and people will try to punish you. I just don’t think that’s a good life.”

CNN has so far been unable to confirm the authenticity of the recording or whether it had been edited. Haggard would not comment to CNN.

He told talk show host Oprah Winfrey on Wednesday that he contemplated suicide after his conduct was discovered, and said he does not consider himself to be gay.

“I do believe that I don’t fit into the normal boxes,” he said. “I do think there are complexities associated with some people’s sexuality.”

But Haas said he wished Haggard would return to obscurity.

“He’s reopening a lot of old wounds — not only me, but other families at New Life Church,” Haas said. “He’s coming back and he’s gonna bash the church, bash a lot of the people who support him, and that’s why I think he just needs to live life in quiet.”

YESTERDAY, A DAY THAT WILL LIVE IN HAPPINESS…..

Just Hours Away …a note from Michael Moore

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

Friends,

This happy, happy day!

We have made it through the Dark Ages and here we are, in one of the most redemptive moments history has ever witnessed. Barack Obama is our best hope to get it right, to heal our national soul, to reach out to the rest of the world with an olive branch instead of shocking brutality.

I want to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who has worked to make this day happen. For many, the madness goes back, not eight years but twenty-eight years, to the tragic day Reagan was sworn in to dismantle our precious “government of the people” and our beloved way of life.

To all of you who have spoken up and spoken out, who have written letters and marched for peace, for all of you who never gave up, you are the true heroes today. Many of you have suffered great economic losses. Some of you have endured a loved one being shipped overseas to senseless and shameful wars, and thousands of you have seen those loved ones returned home, no longer alive. It has been a heartbreaking time.

But the sun comes out at noon today. The disgraced outgoing president will slide out the side door and head to Crawford to sell the Hollywood set known as the Bush “ranch” before he settles down in an exclusive neighborhood in Dallas. I would encourage Mr. Bush to issue one final pardon before noon today — his own. He had better issue a blanket pardon for all crimes that may have been committed since 2001 by himself, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the whole gang. Serious laws were broken, a war was concocted on a lie, and now, please, justice must be carried out.

So let us move forward and fix the horrible mess we are in. We are fortunate to have a new president who is smart and kind and committed to serving his country. Take a moment today and think about what you can do to join him in helping him do his job. We’re all in this together. Our country has been so profoundly wrecked by an administration who decided to mug our constitution and then steal what they can for their Wall Street cronies on the way out the door.

Here is my plea: Let’s not leave Barack Obama alone to clean up the mess. As he takes his oath today, please take one yourself — to work harder than ever to end these wars, create universal health care, save our planet, end poverty, increase knowledge and establish a true government “of, by and for the people” (instead of “of, by and for the lobbyists, the bankers, and the war profiteers”).

On a personal note, it’s no secret that I have had to suffer an avalanche of hate and attack as I stuck my neck out to simply do my job. Some day I will tell you what the true cost of this has been for me, but not today. Today is a time for celebration and optimism and hope. I’m glad we all lived to see this incredible moment. And I thank each of you for your support of my work and your dedication to our democracy.

12:01pm can’t come soon enough! Happy Inauguration Day!

Yours,
Michael Moore