Here We Go

Iran Test-Fires Long-Range Missile

Jon Wolfsthal
Senior Fellow, International Security Program, CSIS
Wednesday, July 9, 2008; 1:00 PM

Iran said today it had test-fired a long-range missile capable of reaching Israel and U.S. troops in the region, a step promptly condemned by the Bush administration as heightening tensions over the country's suspected nuclear weapons program.

The roughly 1,200 mile range of Iran's Shahab-3 rocket has been known for several years, but the test firing -- and pointed statements from Tehran about the country's "capability in hitting its enemies" -- added to a tense climate

Impending Roti, Bijli, and Pani Shortage!

Containing the impending crisis By Ikram Sehgal 4/25/2008

Shortage of "roti, bijli and pani" could be our undoing. Uninterrupted provision of "atta" to the masses is a must, as the temporary shortage in Islamabad graphically illustrated. The government has moved to curb or eliminate smuggling to Afghanistan by empowering the Frontier Corps in Balochistan and the NWFP. Implement this fully by enacting a law enhancing considerably the punishment to food smugglers, making public examples of the fat-cats indulging in hoarding and/or smuggling. The Philippines has recently promulgated a law declaring hoarding of rice "economic sabotage".

They're Running Out of Rice!

Food-buying panic hits Canadian stores

With food riots spreading from Haiti to Thailand and retail giants such as Wal-Mart implementing rice rationing in the United States because of shrinking supplies, analysts say Canadians will soon be paying a lot more at the grocery store.

Already, panic buying has hit some Canadian stores.

Bruce Cran, president of the Consumers Association of Canada said he was getting calls in British Columbia that store shelves were being emptied of rice by panicked buyers. "I was in one of the national chains and there was one packet of rice left on the shelf."

"It's a human trait to hoard, but there is only so much food to hoard," he said. "The world crisis is obviously going to have a ripple effect into Canada."

Eating Rat Poison May Be Dangerous

Heparin Contaminant Found

Tainted batches from China of the blood thinning drug killed at least 81 people and caused widespread panic.

They're Running Out of Food!

Why There’s a Food Shortage; Or, All Mafia Must Die!
April 22, 2008 11:51AM By Cody Willard

Let’s put this into the real world now. Let’s say you’re a grandma at home and you’ve lived cautiously your whole life and you own your home outright and you’ve got a fixed income that you’re living on. Suddenly, your dollar’s worth half a bag of rice instead of being worth a whole bag of rice because the Fed’s printing money for everybody who’s speculated on a mortgage, levered up on their credit cards, or works for a bank, especially an investment bank.

UPDATE
Is biofuel responsible for the global food crisis?

At Least the Men Folk Will Be Happy

Special Report: Food Storage I COPYRIGHT: 2008, Back2theLand, Mark Steel

The time to purchase a few hundred pounds of grain products through your local natural foods distributor is now. Specify organic-not just to be "green", but to have on hand valued seed stock to sow grains this summer. Children will help grind the grain, and men folk will be all the happier with fresh baked bread.

It's The Law

Oklahoma Sheriff Charged With Running Sex-Slave Operation From Jail

The lawsuit, filed by 12 former jail prisoners, alleges the sheriff's employees had them engage in wet T-shirt contests and offered cigarettes to those who would flash their breasts.

One prisoner alleged she became a jail trusty with more freedom after agreeing to perform a sex act on Burgess, but lost that status when she later refused.

Burgess also faces two counts each of sexual battery, rape by instrumentation and subornation of perjury. Also filed were one count each of engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, indecent exposure and kidnapping.

Don't Remember Soiling Yourself?

Study Links Incontinence Drugs With Memory Problems

The people who took the drugs had a 50 percent faster rate of cognitive decline compared to those who didn't take any. The researchers considered other risk factors for memory loss, such as age, and still found the link. The researchers found no increased risk for the memory-robbing disorder Alzheimer's in people taking the drugs.

The incontinence drugs were among the most potent and were the most frequently taken of all the anticholinergics in the study. That's why the researchers believe they are driving the memory problems, Tsao said.

Don't Drink the Water

Hidden Dangers In Plastics?

In a few weeks, the final report of a government study on plastic bottles will be released. The concern is over a chemical -- Bisphenal A -- that many scientists are worried about.

"The effects are primarily reproductive and fertility effects in both male and female organisms," said Dan Tessier, toxicologist with the University Of Illinois, Chicago.

Look Out Richard Gere

PetSmart sued over infected hamster blamed in 3 deaths

BOSTON - A woman whose husband died after receiving a liver transplant infected with a rodent virus is suing PetSmart Inc., claiming the chain should have warned customers that hamsters can carry the virus.

The federal lawsuit alleges Thomas Magee, 54, and two other organ recipients died after transplants from a woman who had contracted a virus from a hamster she bought at a PetSmart store in Warwick, R.I.

Quaking Earth

California in for a devastating quake within 30 years

SAN FRANCISCO -- A strong and potentially deadly earthquake is virtually certain to strike on one of California's major seismic faults with a magnitude of at least 6.7 within the next 30 years, scientists said Monday in releasing the first official forecast of statewide earthquake probabilities.

By their calculations the probability of such a strong and damaging quake hitting somewhere the Golden state is now more than 99 percent.

A much more damaging quake of magnitude of 7.5 or greater is at least 46 percent likely to hit on one of California's restless web of active fault systems within the same three decades, but probably in the southern part of the state, the team of federal and state earthquake scientists warned.

Innocent Mistake

Report Finds IRS Computer Security Flaws

By JIM ABRAMS The Associated Press Monday, April 7, 2008; 7:42 PM

WASHINGTON -- One more tax-season dread: A week before the filing deadline, Treasury watchdogs said Monday that poor controls over IRS computers could allow a disgruntled employee, agency contractor or outside hacker to steal taxpayers' confidential information.

Indeed, a hacker might even "gain full control of the IRS network," said a report Monday from the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Oh Yeah, and Bigfoot

Bigfoot in S.C.? | Experts: ‘it’s the real deal’

BISHOPVILLE — Something apparently attacked Bob and Dixie Rawson’s van in the early morning hours of Feb. 28.

The Rawsons live about two miles southeast of downtown Bishopville. They woke up Feb. 28 to find the front fender of their 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan chewed up, bite marks through the front grill, wheels on both sides bitten and metal crumpled in a wad. There was also blood on the front and sides of the car.

While there has been no “official” sighting of the Lizard Man since July 1988, the Rawsons’ evidence has created a stir, not just locally but nationwide.

The initial evidence found by Biscardi’s team is compelling, he said. “You’ve got the real deal here.”
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While Biscardi hasn’t ruled out it was a bear, he thinks it was more likely a Bigfoot. “They’re called different names in the different communities,” he said.

The creatures have three toes, Biscardi said. They range in height from 6 to 9 feet and weigh 300 to 800 pounds. They are hairy. They climb trees and move around by doing what Biscardi describes as knuckle walking.

More than 3,500 Bigfoot creatures exist nationwide, Biscardi said. “They’re nocturnal creatures and they’re migratory,” he said. “They move from south to north this time of year.”

Biscardi said he doesn’t know if Bishopville’s latest incident is related to the 1988 sighting of the Lizard Man.

Fatal shooting reported near Coastal Carolina University

CONWAY, S.C. --Classes were canceled Monday at Coastal Carolina University and students were urged to stay indoors because of a fatal shooting near campus.

It's not clear whether the victim was a student, university spokesman Doug Bell said.

The assailant has not been caught. "Because it is so close to campus and a good many students do live over there, we are taking precautions," Bell said.

Classes are canceled until 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Fear Hardened Criminals - 53 Strikes and You're ?

Man Arrested 53 Times for Groping Women on New York Subway

NEW YORK — About two weeks after he was released from prison, Freddie Johnson boarded a crowded subway train during morning rush hour in Manhattan, squeezed in behind a woman and ground his pelvis into her backside, authorities said.

It is a fairly common crime on subways in New York. But this was no common criminal.

Johnson has been arrested a staggering 53 times — the majority for groping women on the subway, police and prosecutors said.

Fear Reality, Princesses

Director of 'Pauper to Princess' Reality Show Charged With False Imprisonment

APOPKA, Fla. — Police charged an aspiring reality show director with blocking four women — half of a cast billed as ordinary girls hoping to become "princesses" — from leaving the central Florida house where the show was being shot.
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Brilleman initially denied stopping the women when questioned by police, then said "they could not leave because they were being disciplined," Miller said. Brilleman also told them they could not leave because they were under contract, the police report said.

Fear Homeless

University of Wisconsin Student's Slaying Sparks Debate Over City's Friendly Treatment of the Homeless

Police have arrested dozens of transients on unrelated charges as part of the investigation, but none are considered suspects in the death. The city also announced plans Wednesday to confront problems at a nearby park where the homeless congregate, although those efforts were in the works before the murder.

Bizarre Sect Encourages Marital Sex

Newly Married Girls in Polygamist Sect Forced to Have Sex in Temple Bed, Court Documents Say Thursday, April 10, 2008

Or see:
Christian or Biblical Polygamy
A research repository for all things related to Christian plural marriage, polygamy, or polygyny.
Home

Arrest Made in Texas Polygamy Case

Texas state troopers have made an arrest in their search of a rural compound built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger says the person arrested Monday was not Dale Barlow, the man who a 16-year-old girl said had married her.

Young Man's Heart Craves Beer

I was given a young man's heart - and started craving beer and Kentucky Fried Chicken. My daughter said I even walked like a man

One asked: "Now that you've had this miracle, what do you want more than anything else?" "Actually," I replied, "I'm dying for a beer right now." I was mortified that I had given such a flippant answer, and also surprised.

I didn't even like beer. But the craving I felt was specifically for the taste of beer.

For some bizarre reason, I was convinced that nothing else in the world could quench my thirst.

Fear Dental Hygiene

'Peeping Tom' Dentist Pleads Guilty to Videotaping Employees
Monday, April 07, 2008

"You're a dentist, a city commissioner, a husband, a father and a believer in God," one woman told Durbin. "If I couldn't trust you, who can I trust?"

Lab Coat Mangler Strikes Again

Medicine Mix-Ups Harm Hospitalized Kids

CHICAGO — Medicine mix-ups, accidental overdoses and bad drug reactions harm roughly one out of 15 hospitalized children, according to the first scientific test of a new detection method.

Polygamy is Deadly

Law officers enter temple at polygamist ranch

Palmer said it was unclear whether the girl who made the report was among the nearly 200 women and children taken Friday and Saturday from the compound built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.

Texan Toilet Births Often Problematic

Texas Police Say Baby Probably Cried Before 14-Year-Old Mom Killed Him in Flush Attempt

BAYTOWN, Texas — A baby born to a 14-year-old mother in a restroom at her junior high was alive at birth, dying only after she tried to flush it down the toilet, officials said Thursday.

Police also announced Thursday that the baby born Wednesday was a boy.

Baytown police Lt. Eric Freed said the baby boy was probably full term and cried once before his mother tried to flush him down the toilet.

An autopsy confirmed the infant was alive.

The mother, an eighth-grader at Cedar Bayou Junior High, was taken to a hospital Wednesday. People who knew her at school said she wore baggy clothing, and nobody suspected she was pregnant, the Houston Chronicle reported Thursday.
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The incident came just three days after another 14-year-old girl delivered a stillborn fetus in the bathroom of an airplane on her way back to Houston from a middle-school field trip.

Fear Transients

Police focus on transients in student's death

Madison police are focusing on the population of transients regularly in the Bassett neighborhood as part of their investigation into the death of a 21-year-old UW-Madison student whose body was found Wednesday in her apartment near campus.
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Though no suspect has been identified, police believe the killer may still be in the area.

"People are fearful, as rightly they should be," Balles said.

Lab Coat Mangler Terrorizes Woman

Woman sues over hospital boobs

But when she woke up after the operation she found doctors had put two silicone implants into her breasts, increasing their size from a C cup to a D.

Doctors said the woman should not complain as the best way to tighten the skin and remove the wrinkles was to make her breasts bigger.

Lab Coat Killer Strikes Again

Medical errors still claiming many lives
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY Posted 5/18/2005 12:02 AM

As many as 98,000 Americans still die each year because of medical errors despite an unprecedented focus on patient safety over the last five years, according to a study released today. Significant improvements have been made in some hospitals since the Institute of Medicine released a landmark report in 2000 that revealed many thousands of Americans die each year because of medical mistakes.

But nationwide, the pace of change is painstakingly slow, and the death rate has not changed much, according to the study in The Journal of the American Medical Association.

The researchers blame the complexity of health care systems, a lack of leadership, the reluctance of doctors to admit errors and an insurance reimbursement system that rewards errors — hospitals can bill for additional services needed when patients are injured by mistakes — but often will not pay for practices that reduce those errors.

Killers in Lab Coats

Medical Mistakes Kill 100,000+ Americans A Year

If a Jumbo Jet crashed and killed 280 people everyday.. 365 days a year.. year after year.. would you be concerned about flying?? Would you question the Federal Aviation Administration? Would you demand answers?? Think about it .. close to 100,000 people dying every year from plane crashes. Sounds Ridiculous??!!

Well think again.. what if you were told that over 100,000 people are killed and over 2 million people maimed and disabled every year .. year after year from modern medicine.. would you believe it??

....

That number of deaths is the equivalent of what would occur if a jumbo jet crashed every day; it is three times the 43,000 people killed each year in U.S. automobile accidents.

"It's by far the number one problem" in health care, said Leape, an adjunct professor of health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health.

In their study, Leape and his colleagues examined patient records at hospitals throughout the state of New York. Their 1991 report found that one of every 200 patients admitted to a hospital died as a result of a hospital error.

Researchers such as Leape say that not only are medical errors not reported to the public, but those reported to hospital authorities represent roughly 5 to 10 percent of the number of actual medical mistakes at a typical hospital.

"The bottom line is we have a system that is terribly out of control," said Robert Brook, a professor of medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles. "It's really a joke to worry about the occasional plane that goes down when we have thousands of people who are killed in hospitals every year."

Fear Wild Gigantic Cats

Cheetahs maul woman at wildlife sanctuary

She was conducting an exhibition with two male cheetahs in an enclosure on Saturday when one became distracted by a ball being bounced outside, the sheriff's office said. The cheetah moved toward the ball quickly and knocked her to the ground.

The cheetah then pounced on her and began biting and clawing her, said Gabriella Ferraro, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission spokeswoman. At some point the other cheetah attacked her as well, Ferraro said.
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Wildlife officers are investigating the attack, but so far it appears there no violations and no laws were broken, Ferraro said.

Your Phone is Killing You

Mobile phones 'more dangerous than smoking'

By Geoffrey Lean
Sunday, 30 March 2008

Mobile phones could kill far more people than smoking or asbestos, a study by an award-winning cancer expert has concluded. He says people should avoid using them wherever possible and that governments and the mobile phone industry must take "immediate steps" to reduce exposure to their radiation.

Fear Tigers, Lawyers

Brothers claim zoo, city negligent in tiger attack

The pair were injured on Christmas Day after a 250-pound Siberian tiger scaled the walls of its enclosure, attacked them and killed their friend, 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. The animal eventually was shot dead by police.

The documents allege the city failed in its duty to provide a safe zoo environment, defamed the brothers by spreading falsehoods about their possible role in provoking the attack and improperly impounded Kulbir Dhaliwal’s car.
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“The Dhaliwal brothers’ attorneys have made clear from the beginning that they intended to sue the city,” said Matt Dorsey, a spokesman for City Attorney Dennis Herrera.

Fear Abstinence

Kate Walsh: Abstinence-Only "Not Working"

Walsh, who played a doctor on "Grey's Anatomy" and stars in its spin-off, "Private Practice," is a member of the board of advocates of Planned Parenthood, and went to Capitol Hill Thursday to take part in a congressional briefing on sex education.

She's been lobbying for sex ed to include birth control and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

Fear Warrants

Senate Passes Bill to Expand U.S. Spying Powers

This, I believe, is the right way to go for the security of the nation,” said Senator John D. Rockefeller IV, the West Virginia Democrat who leads the intelligence committee and who was a pivotal supporter of the White House-backed plan approved Tuesday.

Beyond the immunity provision, the Senate measure would also widen the executive branch’s surveillance powers by allowing the National Security Agency and intelligence agencies to use broad orders — without getting court orders in advance — to eavesdrop on groups of overseas targets, rather than using individualized warrants.

Homicidal Mania Is Contagious

Defining a deadly virus
Maybe you've decided that the guns laws are too tight. Or too loose. You think the NIU gunman's girlfriend should have reported his increasingly bizarre behavior. You think the system should have flagged a man discharged from the military for psychological reasons—and stopped him from buying a gun.
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Why not apply this epidemiological approach to campus violence—particularly these horrendous murder rampages?
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Will those lessons be heard, as they should be, at every campus across the country? They will, if what happened at NIU marks the start of a broad state effort to treat these terrible attacks for what they are—a deadly virus that is getting stronger.

Fat People, You Will Soon Be Fat and Crazy

Bulging belly now could mean dementia later

Previous research has shown that having an apple-shaped body increases the risk of diabetes, stroke and heart disease, but this is the first time it has been linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Milk - Got Death?

Fear Milk in Tea

Health experts agree that tea has a number of health benefits, including protecting against heart disease and some cancers (see below). But a recent study conducted by German scientists found that all of the positive health effects of sipping tea are erased if you add milk to your cup.

Researchers at the Charite Hospital at the University of Berlin found that adding milk cancels tea's ability to fight off cardiovascular disease.

Monkeypox

Monkeypox is latest disease to reach America
14 June 2003 From New Scientist by Debora Mackenzie

AS IF West Nile fever, SARS and BSE weren't bad enough, North America now has another new disease to contend with: monkeypox. More than 37 people may have caught the virus from pet prairie dogs, though only four cases have been confirmed so far.