truesee's Blog

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/galleries/zombie_celebrities_halloween_and_walking_dead_usher_in_undead_stars/zombie_celebrities_halloween_and_walking_dead_usher_in_undead_stars.html

Study: Alcohol 'most harmful drug,' followed by crack and heroin

CNN Wire Staff

November 1, 2010

2:42 a.m. EDT

• The study uses a new scale to rank the harmfulness of 20 drugs
• Alcohol is the most harmful overall, according to panelists
• A co-author of the study has said horseback riding is more dangerous than ecstasy

London, England (CNN) -- Alcohol ranks "most harmful" among a list of 20 drugs -- beating out crack and heroin -- according to study results released by a British medical journal.

A panel of experts weighed the physical, psychological and social problems caused by the drugs and determined that alcohol was the most harmful overall, according to an article on the study released by The Lancet Sunday.

Using a new scale to evaluate harms to individual users and others, alcohol received a score of 72 on a scale of 1 to 100, the study says.

That makes it almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco, according to the article, which is slated to be published on The Lancet's website Monday and in an upcoming print edition of the journal.

Heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine were the most harmful drugs to individuals, the study says, while alcohol, heroin and crack cocaine were the most harmful to others.

In the article, the panelists said their findings show that Britain's three-tiered drug classification system, which places drugs into different categories that determine criminal penalties for possession and dealing, has "little relation to the evidence of harm."

Panelists also noted that the rankings confirm other studies that say that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy."

The Lancet article was co-authored by David Nutt, a professor and Britain's former chief drug adviser, who caused controversy last year after he published an article saying ecstasy was not as dangerous as riding a horse.

"So why are harmful sporting activities allowed, whereas relatively less harmful drugs are not?" Nutt wrote in the Journal of Psychopharmacology. "I believe this reflects a societal approach which does not adequately balance the relative risks of drugs against their harms."

Nutt later apologized to anyone offended by the article and to those who have lost loved ones to ecstasy. He said he had no intention of trivializing the dangers of the drug and that he only wanted to compare the risks.

In the article released by The Lancet Sunday, ecstasy's harmfulness ranking -- 9 -- indicates it is only one eighth as harmful as alcohol.

The study was funded by the London-based Centre for Crime and Justice studies.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/44449.html

Sunday, October 31st 2010, 3:09 PM

Tiger Woods is no longer top cat.

The disgraced golfer lost his No. 1 spot in the weekly World Golf Rankings Sunday, capping a dismal fall from grace on and off the golf course.

The once undisputed king of the links spent 281 straight weeks, or more than five years, in the coveted top spot and has been in first place for 623 weeks during his storied career. He is now ranked No. 2.

Lee Westwood, 37, of England, took over the top spot, becoming the first European golfer to be No. 1 since Nick Faldo in 1994.

Despite failing to win a major in his career, Westwood has been the most consistent golfer in the world with one tour win and runner-up finishes in the Masters and at the British Open.

Woods' days in the No. 1 slot were numbered once he suffered a knee injury last year that kept him out of major tournaments.

The Thanksgiving weekend domestic meltdown that led to the breakup of Woods' marriage and his exposure as a serial cheater kept him off the tour for months more.

He has struggled ever since to regain his top form.

The ranking is based on points accumulated during a two-year period, meaning it has taken awhile for Woods' slide to knock him from his perch.

German Martin Kaymer looks set to stay at No. 3 after finishing way back in the pack at a Spanish tournament this weekend.

Feel-good Master's winner Phil Mickelson sits at No. 4.

All four top golfers are bunched close together at the top of the rankings and Woods could regain the No. 1 ranking if he can regain his dominance.

Woods and the other three top golfers are all scheduled to play in this week's WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/2010/10/31/2010-10-31_tiger_woods_loses_no_1_overall_ranking_for_first_time_in_623_weeks_lee_westwood_.html#ixzz13zcRzdqu

Last Updated: 7:25 AM, October 31, 2010

Posted: 1:13 AM, October 31, 2010

He's a hair-etic.

That's the harsh ruling of a strict New Jersey Catholic school that booted a 4-year-old be cause his hair was too long -- even though his angelic locks were to be donated to kids with cancer.

Little Jack Szablewski, who has never had a hair cut, needed to grow his straight blond tresses at least 12 inches before he could donate them to the Childhood Leuke mia Foundation in memory of his grand dad and a child of a family friend who died of the cancer.

But now his saddened mom, Renee, 47, says she's lost faith in St. Dominic's, of Brick, NJ, and the school principal who barred her son from attending his part-time prekindergarten class for failing to meet the dress code.

UNKINDEST CUT OF ALL: Four-year-old Jack Szablewski has been expelled from St. Dominic's Catholic school in Brick, NJ, for growing his hair to donate to cancer-stricken kids.

Szablewski said the paro chial school admitted Jack in 2009 knowing he was growing his hair for a cause but then revised its dress code in September to re quire that all students have short hair -- no exceptions.

"They gave us two weeks to get his hair cut or he was going to be suspended. I immediately put his hair in a ponytail and measured it; it was exactly 12 inches with no room to spare, which is the minimum required to donate," she said.

Frantic, Szablewski set up a Sept. 30 appointment at Ferrazz Salon in Hoboken and invited the press as a way to highlight the family's causes, including getting involved in bone-marrow drives.

But a severe storm was battering the East Coast, and the family was forced to cancel over safety concerns. When Szablewski took Jack back to school on Oct. 1, she was turned away in the rain and told not to come back until he was shorn.

"I feel we are being punished for teaching our son it is better to give than to receive," Szablewski said.

Not only that but the Diocese of Trenton has agreed with school Principal Carol Bathmann that there's no more sanctuary for little Jack -- even when he cuts his hair now.

"The Szablewski child is completely innocent in this matter and was never the subject of any disciplinary action, such as suspension. It is Mrs. Szablewski's failure to uphold her agreement to have the child's hair cut after being given 13 months to do so," according to a statement from the Diocese.

Szablewski insists she didn't find out about the new hair rule until after the school accepted her $2,500 tuition fee.

"I felt like a criminal when I was told he could not come back to school," she said. "I was very angry. She really knocked me off my pins. I really wasn't expecting that. They are trying to bully us out of a parish we belonged to since 1990."

In addition, although Jack attended only seven days of school, the Szablewskis were returned only $1,000. They haven't cashed the check.

"Here we are, trying to do a good thing. According to the school handbook, you are suspended or expelled for defacing property or possessing weapons, but this was an act of charity," she said.

"I found it quite appalling that an assistant principal said to me, 'You are the one who chose to make your son different.' I thought that was very un-Christlike. I was so disgusted my spirit was broken.

"One thing I want to stress is I love my church and I do love my faith. It's not about the church; it's about the people who have the power and abuse authority."

Jack still has a date in the barber's chair.

"I will be happy when somebody is going to have my hair," the spunky 36-pounder said in the family's Ocean County backyard.

In fact, right before school started, Jack raised $1,711 selling candy for a St. Dominic Church fund-raiser.

LINK TO PHOTO:

  http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/now_what_would_jesus_do_h6FDQYe7VMNri5ilyU1tfM#ixzz13zUhwBKG

Man freed from Virginia Beach eatery's exhaust vent

News Virginia Beach

Firefighters work to rescue a man trapped in the duct work at Harold's Restaurant in Virginia Beach on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010. the man, identified as a former employee, was trapped in the duct for about eight hours. (Martin Grube | Special to The Virginian-Pilot)

 

David Putney
The Virginian-Pilot
October 31, 2010

VIRGINIA BEACH

 

When the owner of Harold's restaurant entered his eatery Saturday, he knew almost immediately that something was amiss.

The fire suppression system in the kitchen had gone off and Harold Owens heard a noise that he thought was coming from above. Then he saw legs and feet dangling from the hood over the stove.

Owens called the police, and crews responded at about 9 a.m. to cut away the metal duct to free the man, Fire Department Battalion Chief Ken Pravetz said. The man had climbed into the duct at about 3 a.m. in what Pravetz said was likely an attempt to enter the restaurant on Virginia Beach Boulevard near Town Center.

Owens said the trapped man, whom police did not identify, was a former employee who apologized for trying to climb through the duct. The man spent about eight hours in the 18-inch-by-18-inch exhaust vent before rescuers dislodged him at about 10:45 a.m.

The trapped man was alert and suffered only minor injuries, Pravetz said. He was taken to Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital.

A police spokeswoman said a detective was on the scene but provided no reason why the man was in the duct.

Owens said he found the situation anything but amusing. Rather, he said, he was disgusted by it, especially if burglary was the motive.

Extensive damage to the ventilation system was done during the rescue, though no dollar amount was available.

"We're a small business struggling in this economy," Owens said. "We're going to do the best we can to get going again."

He expected to reopen, he said, as soon as he got clearance from the fire and health departments.

http://www.politico.com/countdown-to-2010-video-series/

Prosecutor: Teenager picked wrong transvestite prostitute to rob

Kimball Perry

Enquirer

October 26, 2010

Sixteen-year-old Rufus Bowman was looking for an easy victim, but he picked the wrong one during a July 13 incident.

Bowman was in the 200 block of West McMicken Avenue in Over-the-Rhine when, Assistant Hamilton County Prosecutor Ryan Nelson said, he approached Joshua Bumpus.

"Mr. Bumpus is a transvestite prostitute," Nelson said. "He goes 6-(foot)-3, 280 (pounds) and was wearing a pink halter top and pumps."

Actually, jail records list Bumpus as 6-foot-1, 290 pounds.

"(Bowman) approached Mr. Bumpus and, according to Mr. Bumpus, was trying to retain his services," Nelson said.

The two men went into a nearby alley to transact business, Nelson said, when Bowman pulled a gun.

The two men fought. The 5-foot-7, 230-pound Bowman fired his gun. The bullet hit Bumpus in the arm, went through and lodged near his ribs.

Even though he was shot, Bumpus continued fighting - and won.

"He got the gun away from (Bowman), he grabbed (Bowman) by the hair and beat him down. He beat the (daylights) out of him," Nelson said.

That's about when several of Bumpus' friends, also dressed as women, flagged down Cincinnati Police Officer Dave Kennedy. Other Bumpus friends helped Bumpus beat Bowman.

"The cops showed up during the beat down," Nelson said. "The cops said it was one of their more memorable arrests of their lives."

Bowman's case was deemed serious enough to be heard in adult court. He initially was charged with felonious assault and having a gun while under a criminal disability because he was convicted in February 2009 for possession of drugs, a crime that legally barred him from carrying a gun.

In a Tuesday plea deal, Bowman pleaded guilty to felonious assault. Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Ruehlman sent Bowman to prison for three years.

"(Bowman) picked the wrong prostitute to rob," Nelson said.

Rufus Bowman

   
Joshua Bumpus

RALLY HIGHS AND LOWS:

http://www.politico.com/click/stories/1010/stewart_rally_highs_and_lows.html

SIGNS AT THE MALL:

http://videoshare.politico.com/singletitlevideo.php?bcpid=19407224001&bctid=654310299001

COLBERT VS. STEWART:

http://videoshare.politico.com/singletitlevideo.php?bcpid=19407224001&bctid=654316115001

Palin pounces on State Department over Ahmadinejad birthday tweet

When State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley tweeted a sardonic birthday wish to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, he likely assumed it would be interpreted for the substance of its intent: a wish that for his birthday, Ahmadinejad would release imprisoned American hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer.

According to her most recent tweets, however, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) didn't catch the drift. 

On Friday, she took to Twitter to blast the Obama administration for "kowtowing" and "coddling" enemies.

"Happy B'day Ahmadinejad wish sent by US Govt. Mind boggling foreign policy ... Obama Doctrine is nonsense," she tweeted, adding that the birthday greeting after Ahmadinejad's "call 4 Israel's destruction" speaks "volumes." 

Crowley's original tweets had read:

Happy birthday President #Ahmadinejad. Celebrate by sending Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer home. What a gift that would be.

Your 54th year was full of lost opportunities. Hope in your 55th year you will open #Iran to a different relationship with the world.

So far, there's been no response from him on Twitter.

Source:
http://thehill.com/blogs/twitter-room/other-news/126535-palin-pounces-on-state-dept-over-ahmadinejad-birthday-tweet

Pot growers filled house with $1 million in plants

Jane Prendergast and Elaine Trumpey

Enquirer

October 28, 2010

Jennifer Rollins, who lives nearby with her husband and children, had no idea there was a marijuana grow operation and pot plants valued at more than $1 million inside.

“We were shocked when we heard what it was all about,” Rollins said Thursday. She lives on Paradise Cove near its intersection with Sunrise View Circle where Butler County Sheriff’s deputies busted two men Wednesday night after responding to a call about a chemical odor coming from the Sunrise house.

It’s a friendly neighborhood where neighbors pitched in and cooked dinners for her family when she had a baby recently, Rollins said.

She had never seen anyone at the house where the pot-growing operation was found, although her husband had occasionally noticed someone in and out at the house, she said.

The two men were arrested after deputies found about 1,050 marijuana plants and a sophisticated indoor grow operation inside the Liberty Township house. Each of the plants could have been sold on the street for about $1,000, the sheriff’s department said.

Deputies went to the house at about 8:40 p.m. Wednesday.

Firefighters found an open window at the back of the house, but when they tried to look inside, someone shoved a piece of drywall against the window to block the view, said Sgt. Todd Langmeyer, of the sheriff’s department’s criminal investigations unit.

Firefighters were still able to see what they thought was pot. And when a deputy approached the front door, he could smell what he thought was marijuana, Langmeyer said.

Once inside, deputies and officials from the sheriff’s department’s drug task force found the entire house being used as a pot-growing operation.

Officers found the plants in various stages of growth, some already harvested and hanging in separate rooms to dry. Ventilation ran from each room, including the basement and attic, Langmeyer said. Planting beds in almost every room measured 4 feet by 8 feet, with each containing hydroponically grown marijuana.

The two men, A. Bay Luong, 46, of Monroe, and Phuc Ky Luong, 50, whose listed address is Oakland, Calif., were found hiding in the attic. They were charged with cultivation of marijuana, a third-degree felony.

But those charges likely will be upgraded, Langmeyer said, once authorities weigh all the pot.

A relative of the suspects appears to own the $247,000 four-bedroom Colonial-style house that was built in 2007 and is valued at $247,000, according to the Butler County auditor.

“It’s a fulltime challenge to combat the war on drugs within the United States, including Butler County,” said Sheriff Richard K. Jones, whose office has twice recently intercepted shipments of pot hidden inside wooden bar units.

LINK TO PHOTOS OF HOUSE AND POT

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101028/NEWS010701/310280018/1167/NEWS/Pot-growers-filled-house-with-1-million-in-plants?GID=XYqSVwhRv8GzpzRAXOa1JVTljRiJSLaGFN7dw0Gwmsg%3D

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrives for a press conference on Capitol Hill to discuss Democratic accomplishments during the past congressional sessionJim Lo Scalzo / EPA

As Nancy Pelosi goes, so might a generation of her colleagues.

If Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives next week, as most political observers expect, there is a good chance that the House Speaker will opt to spend time with her eight grandchildren rather than toil in the relative obscurity of the minority. Even if she wanted to stay on, it's not at all clear that she would win the position of minority leader: seven Democratic incumbents and several candidates oppose her leadership — on Wednesday, North Carolina Representative Heath Shuler suggested he might challenge Pelosi for the spot — and another 20 have refused to say one way or another. Pelosi is more likely to leave gracefully, trading the red-eye slog for the pleasant commute between her San Francisco and Napa homes, and leaving the caucus in the hands of majority leader Steny Hoyer, who has been chafing in her shadow for decades.

A quick retirement is not an uncommon choice for the boss of the losing party; Newt Gingrich stepped down three days after losing five seats in 1998, saving his party a potentially divisive leadership election he could well have lost. And the only reason Denny Hastert (who succeeded Gingrich) lingered for more than a year after shedding his Speaker's mantle in 2007 was to keep his Illinois seat warm for his son, who never made it past the primary.

Other Democrats are sure to follow Pelosi out of the Capitol. After the GOP lost the House in 2006, 27 Republicans called it quits. But in the case of Pelosi's Democratic cloakroom, the exodus could be deeper: five of the 20 current committee chairmen are her allies from California. Without their champion, some veterans such as Education and Labor Committee chairman George Miller, who has been in Congress since 1975, may be inclined to leave. Even if they don't head for the exits, they might choose to abandon their gavels: Standards Committee chair Zoe Lofgren, also of California, is serving at Pelosi's request and has made no secret of her distaste at being her colleagues' ethical watchdog.

 Others are older — Rules Committee chair Louise Slaughter and Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers, both 81, know that life in the minority holds less appeal for octogenarians. And, in any case, it might be time for some fresh blood. The average age of Democratic House chairs is nearly 70, while top Republicans are, on average, a decade younger — thanks, in part, to the 2006 spate of retirements. Democratic chairs have spent an average of 13.5 terms, or 27 years, in office, compared to Republicans who average 9.5 terms, or 19 years, in office.

Two chairmen have already retired: Appropriations Committee chief David Obey of Wisconsin and Tennessee's Bart Gordon, the top Dem on the Science and Technology Committee. Both seats look likely to fall into GOP hands next week.

Another five chairmen are endangered. Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts last week loaned his campaign $200,000 as his race unexpectedly tightened. A recent poll showed Budget Committee chairman John Spratt trailing by 10 points in his South Carolina district. And Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton, Transportation Committee chairman Jim Oberstar and Natural Resources Committee chairman Nick Rahall are all in the toughest races of their careers.

All told, half or more of the top Democrats on the House's 20 committees might lose, quit or retire.

Serving in the minority in the House is vastly different from governing. The minority party is almost totally cut out of the legislative process, and their only path to attention is often to do their best to block whatever the majority is doing. For many of the old bulls who survived a dozen years in the minority to get their chance to govern, a return to second-class citizenship is unappealing. A spate of rank-and-file retirements is likely, giving Republicans an extra advantage Dems enjoyed in 2008: dozens of open seats in districts that haven't been vacant for decades. This could set the GOP up for more gains in 2012, though President Obama will be on the ticket next time around.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,2028212,00.html#ixzz13qQau2Fj

http://www.wpxi.com/news/25567324/detail.html

Cops: Mom gave pot to kids ages 1, 4, 7

Eileen Kelley

Enquirer

October 28, 2010

Child welfare investigators learned of the allegation in late September when the 7-year-old told an adult about the drug use. On Wednesday, their mother, Valerie Cecil, 25, of Stewart Road in Madisonville, was arrested on three counts of corrupting with drugs. The charges are felonies and she faces 4 ½ years in prison if the charges go forward and she is convicted.

Additional charges for Cecil as well as additional arrests of other adults could be forthcoming, said Megan Shanahan, a prosecutor on the case.

Prosecutors and police say Cecil would blow the marijuana smoke into the faces of the children and have them open their mouths so that she could directly blow the smoke into their mouths and systems.

Shanahan said the pot smoking was a routine occurrence and had been going on for months. Two of the children got to the point where they could smoke a marijuana cigarette on their own.

“I cannot believe that this woman can call herself a mother,” Shanahan said. “… to forcibly have her children use marijuana is repulsive.”

This is the first arrest for Cecil, who appeared before Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Dwane Mallory on Thursday. Mallory allowed her to remain free without having to post bond. Brian Gregg, a spokesman with the Department of Job and Family Services said the three children have been taken out of the mother’s home and are with other family members.

The case is similar to another local case late this summer, when a 2-year-old child was captured on her mother’s cellphone video putting a marijuana cigarette to her lips, inhaling, fanning the smoke away and inhaling again. In the video, a woman, believed to be the child’s mother is heard saying, “Don’t blow on it,” as the toddler holds the joint.

Police say Jessica Gamble, 21, then shared the cellphone video with someone else and it eventually landed in the hands of police and prosecutors. She faces 11½ years in prison on felony charges of corrupting with drugs, child endangering and tampering with evidence.

US President Barack Obama's trip to India next month is set to be the biggest ever by any US president in terms of the protocol and logistics.

Headlines Today has accessed the details of elaborate arrangements that will be in place to guard Obama during his three-day trip beginning on November 6. He will be accompanied by US First Lady Micehlle Obama.

Obama's visit is historic in terms of logistics which is the largest ever for a visiting US president. The presidential entourage will have 40 aircraft, including the Air Force One that will ferry the president. There will be six armoured cars, including the Barack Mobile, a Cadillac.

The Cadillac limousine is equipped with a mini communication centre to enable Obama to be in touch with the White House, US vice president and the US strategic command. It also has the US nuke launch codes and the nuclear switch for the president. It can also withstand a chemical or germ warfare or even a bomb attack.

The secret service will set up two command posts in Delhi and Mumbai which will act as the communication nerve centres. These centres will keep an eye on each movement by the president with real time satellite monitoring.

Three Marine One choppers will be reassembled in India to ferry Obama and his family. These helicopters will also assist in evacuation in case of an emergency.

Moreover, 30 sniffer dogs will be put on service to boost the security arrangements during Obama's visit.