In The News

Doctor sued for sex treatment for back pain
SEATTLE (Reuters) - An Oregon woman whose doctor convinced her that he could cure her lower back pain by having sex with her is suing him and his medical clinic for $4 million, according to legal documents obtained on Monday. - convinced? you mean to tell me his medical advice seemed logical enough to her that she actually consented?

The doctor, Randall Smith, who was 50 at the time, was stripped of his license and sent to jail for 60 days last year for charging the state's Oregon Health Plan $5,000 for his 45-minute "treatments" involving the woman. - I know he's wrong but the Pimp of the Year Award goes to...Randall Smith

"Dr. Smith's medical treatment included intercourse in which he told plaintiff was needed to help alleviate plaintiff's lower back and lower extremity pain," the former patient said in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit, which charges battery, negligence and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, was filed on Friday in Multnomah County court. Emotional distress? Yeah, uhn huh! Being a dumbass shouldn't be a good enough reason to file a suit

Though he pleaded guilty to submitting false health care claims, a felony, Smith maintained the sex with the 47-year-old woman was consensual. I'm feeling like it was consensual

Researchers Reconstruct 1918 Flu Virus
ATLANTA - It sounds like a sci-fi thriller. For the first time, scientists have made from scratch the Spanish flu virus that killed millions of people in 1918.

Why? To help them understand how to better fend off a future global epidemic from the bird flu spreading in Southeast Asia.

Researchers believe their work offers proof the 1918 flu originated in birds, and provides insights into how it attacked and multiplied in humans. On top of that, this marks the first time an infectious agent behind a historic pandemic has ever been reconstructed. - And they say AIDS wasn't made in a lab. Makes you wonder!

Official grilled over expensive pizza
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Perhaps one of the toppings was caviar.

Opposition legislators grilled Canadian Immigration Minister Joe Volpe in Parliament on Tuesday after learning that he had spent C$138 on a pizza dinner for two and charged it to his expense account. - That would be $162.74 American dollars using this table

The ruling Liberals are struggling to overcome the damage done by a government patronage scandal and are regularly accused of presiding over rampant corruption.

"I have heard of extra toppings, but this is ridiculous. When the most expensive item on the menu is C$34, how did he manage to spend C$138 for two people at a pizzeria?" asked Conservative Member of Parliament Rahim Jaffer.

Volpe replied that he had been carrying out consultations on how to improve the immigration system -- an answer which Jaffer found unpalatable.

"Either he ordered some very expensive wine or maybe he ordered a lot of take-out or maybe he is a very generous tipper," Jaffer fumed.

The head of the Royal Canadian Mint -- who earned C$277,000 a year in salary and allowances -- quit last week after it was revealed that he and his aides had racked up a vast amount in expenses and that he had put the cost of a C$1.29 pack of chewing gum to his official expense account.

Big pizza trouble again for minister
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Another day, another extremely expensive dinner at a Toronto pizza parlour.

A day after failing to explain how he had managed to spend C$138 (66.2 pounds) on pizza for two, Canadian Immigration Minister Joe Volpe was roasted in Parliament on Wednesday for spending C$207 on pizza for three people at the same establishment. That would be $244.12 American using that same table

"I'm sure Canadians are getting indigestion just thinking about all that pizza," Conservative legislator Rahim Jaffer told Parliament, prompting a chorus of mocking catcalls, jeers and groans.

Volpe -- who said last month that some meals had been used to discuss affairs in the province of Ontario -- replied that he had been talking about immigration issues. Jaffer found this explanation found hard to swallow.

"The minister of immigration has eaten himself into a corner... Obviously the minister cannot remember which phoney excuse to stick to. Which is it? Ontario issues, immigration issues or is the minister just out to lunch?" he asked.

Last month, government records showed that Volpe spent almost C$7,000 on 31 meals in one seven-week period earlier this year. The records showed that on one night, Volpe had two dinners, each one with a different group of people.

World Beard Championship in Berlin
Berlin, capital of all that is weird and wonderful, is set to host the world championship in beards and moustaches. Not since the days of the Kaiser has the city seen such magnificent facial hair.

This weekend, the World Championship in Beards and Moustaches will be taking place in the German capital for the first time ever. Admittedly the event may be more of a niche interest, but judging by the extravagance of some of the facial hair, these guys mean business.






http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/

Python Bursts After Trying to Eat Gator
A 13-foot Burmese python recently burst after it apparently tried to swallow a live, six-foot alligator whole, authorities said.



The incident has heightened biologists' fears that the nonnative snakes could threaten a host of other animal species in the Everglades.

Over the years, many pythons have been abandoned in the Everglades by pet owners. Why can't people be happy with the numerous domesticated animals available for adoption?

The gory evidence of the latest gator-python encounter — the fourth documented in the past three years — was discovered and photographed last week by a helicopter pilot and wildlife researcher.

The snake was found with the gator's hindquarters protruding from its midsection. Mazzotti said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach as the snake tried to digest it.

In previous incidents, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

It is unknown how many pythons are competing with the thousands of alligators in the Everglades, but at least 150 have been captured in the past two years, said Joe Wasilewski, a wildlife biologist and crocodile tracker.

Pythons could threaten many smaller species that conservationists are trying to protect, including other reptiles, otters, squirrels, woodstorks and sparrows, Mazzotti said.

Wasilewski said a 10- or 20-foot python also could pose a risk to an unwary human, especially a child. He added, however, "I don't think this is an imminent threat. This is not a `Be afraid, be very afraid' situation.'"

European Soccer

So, I was channel surfing this weekend looking for anything to hold my attention when I flipped to HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. There was a Black guy with a french accent being interviewed so I stopped surfing momentarily to investigate. I thought hmmm interesting! Who is this guy? And what makes him interesting enough to be profiled on Real Sports... I discovered that the guy is Thierry Henry and that he's a soccer star in Europe. And what made him interesting enough to interviewd by Real Sports... is his stance against racism in soccer. It seems Black soccer players in Europe have to endure some very ugly and very overt racial behavior by white soccer fans in Europe. Here's the summary of the segment on Real Sports' web page:

* A Source of Shame

One of the biggest challenges for American sports fans is understanding the huge appeal of professional soccer (football) in Europe. To a large degree, the scope of the intense hometown support and spirited rivalries that exist between dueling teams is admirable athletic competition. But extreme fan behavior is also part of the mix in European football. Now, a three-year REAL SPORTS investigation uncovers a disturbing, unchecked aspect of fan activity -- blatant racism. Among examples of extreme fan reaction to individual players are the mimicking of monkey sounds and the throwing of bananas anytime a black player touches the ball, as well as the waving of swastikas and open Nazi salutes. Speaking with Bryant Gumbel, players such as Thierry Henry of England's Arsenal reveal that in parts of Europe "home field advantage" has less to do with the color of one's jersey and more to do with the color of one's skin. *

Real Sports... showed video clips of the aforementioned racial taunts and it was so out of control. If I remember correctly, fans in Spain were singled out for making "monkey sounds." Supposedly, the taunts are an insult to England for having to employ Black soccer players while the Spanish team is of pure European blood. Real Sports... showed pictures of a soccer player passionately doing the Nazi salute on the sidelines of the soccer field during a game to his fellow Nazi supports in the stands.

They interviewed a white English man who is vehemently opposed to Blacks playing soccer for England because they aren't pure blood English descendants. In fact, he wants all ethnics deported or removed from England. The guy went on to talk about he does a lot recruiting for the Nazi group (or Nazi-like group) he's a member of at the soccer games. He said there are lots of working class white men that attend the games that are disillusioned with the current state of affairs and it's pretty easy to recruit them to join his group.

Bryant Gumbel interviewed the President of UFEA - the governing body of European soccer. Gumbel questioned the President's sensitivity to the needs of the Black players in the league. Gumbel also questioned whether or not the board's racial make up (all of the board members were white) has played a part in UFEA's relatively lax response to overt racism in the league. The President conceded that counsel from a person of colour probably would have made a difference in his and the boards understading of racism in the league and the problems the players face.

Gumbel interviewed another Black soccer player whose name escapes my memory. This guy was completely at a loss for words describing his disbelief in the hatred he and other soccer players are forced to tolerate. He said there are times when he would love nothing more than to jump in the stands and fight the people taunting him. But he said that would only bring him down to their level and make him no better than them.

Gumbel also chatted with a guy from the organization Kick It Out whose slogan is Let's Kick Racism Out of Football. From their website: Kick It Out works throughout the football, educational and community sectors to challenge racism and work for positive change.

The segment ended with Gumbel asking Thierry whether or not racism would still be as prevalent in soccer 5 years from now. Thierry really couldn't answer that question but said he hoped his efforts to fight against racism would make it better for those coming after him.

Thierry launched Stand Up, Speak Up to combat racism. He is selling interlocking black & white bracelets to raise money for his campaign.

The caption in the pic reads:
"...Racism is the biggest problem facing football across Europe. People may think it has disappeared, but it hasn't. It's time for us all to take a stand - players, fans and authorities. It's time to stand up and speak up." - THIERRY HENRY

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Bill Bennet

Media Matters exposes Bennett: "[Y]ou could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down"

Download this clip here

Addressing a caller's suggestion that the "lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30 years" would be enough to preserve Social Security's solvency, radio host and former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett dismissed such "far-reaching, extensive extrapolations" by declaring that if "you wanted to reduce crime ... if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down." Bennett conceded that aborting all African-American babies "would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do," then added again, "but the crime rate would go down."


Bennett's remark was apparently inspired by the claim that legalized abortion has reduced crime rates, which was posited in the book Freakonomics (William Morrow, May 2005) by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. But Levitt and Dubner argued that aborted fetuses would have been more likely to grow up poor and in single-parent or teenage-parent households and therefore more likely to commit crimes; they did not put forth Bennett's race-based argument.

From the September 28 broadcast of Salem Radio Network's Bill Bennett's Morning in America:

CALLER: I noticed the national media, you know, they talk a lot about the loss of revenue, or the inability of the government to fund Social Security, and I was curious, and I've read articles in recent months here, that the abortions that have happened since Roe v. Wade, the lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30-something years, could fund Social Security as we know it today. And the media just doesn't -- never touches this at all.

BENNETT: Assuming they're all productive citizens?

CALLER: Assuming that they are. Even if only a portion of them were, it would be an enormous amount of revenue.

BENNETT: Maybe, maybe, but we don't know what the costs would be, too. I think as -- abortion disproportionately occur among single women? No.

CALLER: I don't know the exact statistics, but quite a bit are, yeah.

BENNETT: All right, well, I mean, I just don't know. I would not argue for the pro-life position based on this, because you don't know. I mean, it cuts both -- you know, one of the arguments in this book Freakonomics that they make is that the declining crime rate, you know, they deal with this hypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up. Well --

CALLER: Well, I don't think that statistic is accurate.

BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.

Bill Bennett's Morning in America airs on approximately 115 radio stations with an estimated weekly audience of 1.25 million listeners.

— A.S.

Gotta Love Da Kids

This is my Godson Sterling who affectionately refers to me as "Uncky Shawn." Saturday I dropped by to visit and to give him his overdue birthday present. Sterling never ceases to entertain me. He has officially developed into a ham and half. He's not the class clown type with his antics but his natural behavior is very comical. Look at the expression on his face in the above pic. He swears he's a Dee Jay now. His mom bought him some fake turntable toy that has a mic attached and makes scratching noises. It's a mess! He turns on the synthesized beats, starts scratching and shouting things into the microphone.

Throughout the day he treated me to several moments to add to my personal highlight reel. A few recaps:

* He went on a tirade about how he didn't make the football team at his school. He animatedly shared his frustration in knowing some "fat kid" named Jontha made the squad after he was initially cut and never finished trying out like Sterling and the rest of the other kids. I was surprised by his emotion. I'd never seen him that passionate about anything.

* He instructed me on the proper way to receive your food through the bulletproof glass inside of the local Taco Bell

* As we ate lunch he wanted to watch Harry Potter. Before the movie begins he says you're lucky I don't remember this movie or I would tell you everthing that's going to happen Uncky Shawn

* He tried to convince me that vegetarians can't eat french fries.

It's great spending time with a kid that isn't a future menace to society. He's definitely enriched my life. I hope I am giving enough to him in return. My mission is to increase my efforts to pour great things into him.

Victim or Suspect pt 2

Well it turns out that the woman's husband really did commit suicide in their vehicle. How sad! For whatever reason, the police instructed my friend's dealership not to touch the car but to let another nearby dealership come pick up the car.