Hillary Says Buy Health Insurance Or I'll Garnish Your Wages

It's so nice to hear her admit it though, but remember she claims she doesn't support socialized health care. That's only a "right wing attack" on her. When she was confronted about how her socialized health care plan, and how it would harm minorities, she flat out denied this would be the case. However, with her most recent statements on garnishing your wages ... one can't help but imagine a poor black family that chooses to pay their rent over buying insurance having their pay suddenly taken away from them by Hillary. What's more important Hillary, a roof over your head or health care?

Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she might be willing to have workers' wages garnisheed if they refuse to buy health insurance to achieve coverage for all Americans.

Remember, Hillary said she doesn't support socialized medicine. So why did she attack Obama for not requiring everyone to get health insurance?

The New York senator has criticized presidential rival Barack Obama for pushing a health plan that would not require universal coverage. Clinton has not always specified the enforcement measures she would embrace, but when pressed during a television interview, she said: "I think there are a number of mechanisms" that are possible, including "going after people's wages, automatic enrollment."

Hmmm, require everyone to get coverage, if they don't ... punish them by garnishing wages. Yeah, that's not socialized medicine.

Clearly Hillary is going after Edwards supporters, and Johnny's official endorsement. Remember Edwards wanted to garnish wages also, and there was a little scandal involving Hillary and Edwards teaming up a while back.

Why Do Unions Hate The Handicapped?

Once again I am forced to burden you with the knowledge that unions will use the helplessness of others to advance their causes. This time it isn't teachers refusing to give final exams to high school students, who need them for college applications, in order to increase their pay. I'm afraid this is far more distasteful, and the victims are those who most need our assistance ... those with disabilities.

NY Times:

A 10-day strike that inconvenienced about 9,000 wheelchair users and other people with disabilities who depend on Access-a-Ride, a government-financed van service, ended on Wednesday when members of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union voted to ratify a contract settlement.

About 1,500 drivers and mechanics began their strike on Dec. 10, shutting down operations at Atlantic Paratrans, Maggie’s Paratransit, MV Transportation and Transit Facility Management. The companies operate about half of the approximately 20,500 rides provided on an average weekday under the paratransit program, which runs door-to-door van service for eligible residents.

There is nothing like using the handicapped as pawns in your contract negociations ... well played, scumbags.

Racist, Genocidal Maniac President Bush Asks For More Funds To Help African AIDS Victims

Maybe the BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) crowd thinks Bush wants to poison them with a fake form of treatment. That way he, Rove, and Cheney can prolong the suffering of these people while they kick back and stuff their faces with popcorn.

WP:

A regal-looking Zambian woman known as "Auntie Bridget" noted that she is both a beneficiary and an implementer of the president's ambitious anti-AIDS initiative. Known as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the program is devoting about $15 billion over five years to buy antiretroviral drugs, create prevention programs and fund assistance for people suffering from the disease all over the world.

Wait ... does this mean that Kanye was wrong? President Bush DOESN'T want to kill all black people? Naaaaaah?

Breaking News: Vice President Cheney In Hospital For Irregular Heart Beat

I'm watching Fox News right now and they just broke in that Cheney is in the hospital for an irregular heart beat involving the upper chambers of the heart. He was admitted because of a lingering cough from a cold.

They will try a form of treatment in which they will shock Cheney's heart. This will stop his heart temporarily, and hopefully his heart will restart and beat normally.

It won't be long now before the liberal sites start hoping that his heart doesn't restart again.

Best wishes to Cheney and his family.

ACLU Violates Civil Rights Of Death Row Inmate

That would be his desire for the execution to go forward.

You should know about the debate on executions going on right now, and whether lethal injection is "cruel and unusual" punishment. If you aren't aware ... it's time to read up.

Start with the José Ernesto Medellín case, and then read the Heliberto Chi case.

Essentially what we have is 51 foreigners , that have been convicted and sentenced to death in the US, may not have their sentences carried out because of the 1963 Vienna Convention. President Bush is also throwing his weight around in the matter, and Texas seems to be standing alone in fighting for their right to execute convicted criminals.

The Vienna Convention states that people arrested abroad should have access to their home country's consular officials. Many of the foreigners (illegals) are arguing that they were not granted access to their country's consular officials. Keep in mind that many have confessed to their crimes of rape and murder.

As a result of these cases we have the ACLU, and other groups opposed to the death penalty, challenging the Constitutionality of lethal injections. Many executions across the country have been halted until the U.S. Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of lethal injections.

Obviously we have several problems with the current situation. State's rights are being violated, this is not a Constitutional issue, and we have international law infringing upon American sovereignty.

The Vienna Convention has no power over internal US affairs, and foreign nationals are NOT permitted under US law access to their consular officials. The US Supreme Court ruled on this very matter last year.

Stating that American law outweighs an international treaty, the Supreme Court said Wednesday that foreign criminals held in state prisons did not have a right to reopen their cases if their rights under the Vienna Convention had been violated.

The 6-3 ruling spares state prison officials a major headache. If the high court had ruled the other way, thousands of state inmates who were not U.S. citizens could have sought to have their convictions reversed.

The international treaty, drafted in 1963, seeks to protect foreigners, including Americans traveling or living abroad. It requires that officials notify the home-country consulate when a foreigner is arrested or held for "pending trial."

Despite its clear terms, police and prosecutors in the United States have failed to notify foreign criminal suspects that they have a right to the help of their nation's consulate.

Two years ago, the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, took up an appeal from the governments of Mexico and Germany. The court, based in The Hague, ruled that the treaty gave individuals a right to reopen their cases if they did not get the proper notification.

But the Supreme Court said Wednesday that it was not bound to follow that ruling.

As you can see ... the Supreme Court has already ruled on this issue, and they ruled that US law trumps an international treaty ... as it should.

Why this case is being reheard is beyond me, but Phyllis Schlafly thinks it has something to do with the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Now for the ACLU (NV chapter) violating the rights of a death row inmate.

William Castillo was sentenced to death in 1996 for bludgeoning to death an 84 year old retired teacher as she slept. He then robbed her house, left, returned, and burned it down. He would later confess to the murder, and was sentenced to die this month by lethal injection. We waived his right to appeals, and accepted his fate. Castillo requested that the ACLU and the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty not stop his execution, but his request was ignored for pure ideology.

Nancy Hart of the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty and Richard Siegel of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada said the Pardons Board has the authority to halt Castillo's lethal injection pending a U.S. Supreme Court review of such injections.

Nevada uses the injection method being reviewed by the court, Hart and Siegel wrote, adding that executing Castillo might put the state "in the untenable position of having to explain why it felt compelled to rush an execution before the Supreme Court was able to rule."

"The state of Nevada should not be executing any of its prisoners, 'voluntary' or not, while the U.S. Supreme Court is deciding whether the method violates the Constitution," they wrote.

As you can see, they didn't give a damn about what Castillo wanted. It's even more laughable that the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty asked people to "write to Gov. Jim Gibbons on behalf of William Castillo!" Even though he opposes their stance on capital punishment.

Their assertion that NV uses the same method under review by the US Supreme Court is false. Nevada uses double the formulation strength being challenged in the Supreme Court.

State Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said that Castillo will get double doses of the three drugs normally used in executions. He said that the change ensures that Castillo should "go out instantly" and not experience "any kind of discomfort."

Skolnik also said the double dose makes the Nevada method different than the Kentucky method of lethal injections, which is the subject of the U.S. Supreme Court review.

That means that if the US Supreme Court rules that the Kentucky method of lethal injections is unconstitutional ... it would not apply to Nevada anyway. The Supreme Court has not issued a halt to all executions in the US anyway, and therefore Nevada would not have to "explain why it felt compelled to rush an execution."

Their arguments are insensitive and false, but they worked.

Convicted killer William Castillo was 90 minutes away from death by lethal injection Monday night when the Nevada Supreme Court stepped in and issued a stay to allow more time to consider legal issues raised by the ACLU of Nevada.

Castillo had his final meal, and was sedated already when the order came down. Also, two of the victim's family members had come to town to witness the execution. I doubt the ACLU will reimburse them for the time and cost of their trip.

Something else had already taken place as well. Castillo's mom had said her final goodbye to her son ... only to be called later that he was not executed. You'd think Castillo and his mom would be relieved, right? Well, you'd be wrong.

News 3's Jesse Corona spoke exclusively to Castillo's family and found they are not happy about the execution being halted.

His family says he had already refused any more legal action on his behalf and that he was ready and willing to die.

"Not that I want my son to die, but I had to accept my son's decision," said Castillo's mother.

Mrs. Castillo says her son told her that he would refuse any more appeals filed on his behalf to stop his execution two months ago. She says it was the most difficult thing she's ever had to do but her son told her he wanted to take responsibility for his actions and die like a man, so she agreed to respect his wishes.

"I had to accept this, and these people come along and yank that from us?" she said.

Now I don't have sympathy for Castillo, but I do for his mother. It is impossible to imagine what she is going through. Not only does she discover that her son is a monster, but she had to come to terms with his death. Now she has to get a lawyer and fight for her son's right to be executed.

"When I hung up that phone, my son died. According to the state he was going to die 8:30 but my son died at 7 when I said goodbye," she said.

Castillo had already ate his last meal and taken the pre-execution sedative and was ready to die.

"His first words were, mom this ain't right. Get a lawyer, get someone out there to help us that was not right they had no business being here."

On top of all that ... she says that the ACLU is far more cruel than the methods they are arguing against.

Mrs. Castillo says what the ACLU did to her family was itself cruel and unusual.

She's right, and I hope she sues the hell out of the ACLU.

Mrs. Castillo, like me, is convinced the ACLU's move was a publicity stunt.

Mrs. Castillo also said that she thinks the last minute stay of execution by the ACLU was really a publicity move for the organization, and not about the issues they say it was about. She says if the ACLU's motivations were pure, they would have requested a hearing last week.

Again, she is right. Requesting a hearing the week before would have saved a lot of grief for the Castillo family, and the victim's family. Instead of requesting that hearing, however, the ACLU was polluting every news agency with their rhetoric on the situation.

The ACLU told News 3 Thursday that they have a lot of sympathy for everyone affected by what happened, but they say the issue was not about any one particular individual on death row, but instead was about the constitution.

Oh really?

So Castillo's desire to die after being convicted, and sentenced to death, was about the Constitution? Even though the Constitution gives states the right to enforce capital punishment, and even though the method of execution being used for Castillo is not the method being constitutionally challenged in the Supreme Court? Give me a break!

This is further illustration of the ACLU's hypocrisy. Why, you ask. Because the ACLU has long fought for the right to die, and they've used constitutional arguments to support their efforts.

"Each of us should have the right to die in a humane and dignified manner. The exercise of this right is as central to personal autonomy and bodily integrity as rights safeguarded by this Court's decisions relating to marriage, family relationships, procreation, contraception, child rearing and the refusal or termination of life-saving medical treatment," said Steven R. Shapiro, the ACLU's National Legal Director.

That was in 1997.

• In 2001 the ACLU supported the right of Robert Wendland's wife to take him off of life support.
• 2005 showed another case when the ACLU supported the right to die for Harold Folley in New Mexico.

You get the point ... I don't need to go on.

So why is it that the ACLU supports the right to die for some, but not those who were sentenced to death? The answer ... their political agenda. The ACLU has an agenda to get rid of the death penalty, and in their list of priorities that agenda is more important than the right to die or state's rights.

Thus, the American Civil Liberties Union violated the civil liberties of one William Castillo even though they swear they exist only to uphold such civil liberties.

11 Year Olds To Get The Pill, At School, Without Parent's Permission

This is almost as bad as requiring kids to attend an assembly, and forcing them to sign a contract that they won't tell their parents about it.

Portland Press Herald:

Students who have parental permission to be treated at King Middle School's health center would be able to get birth control prescriptions under a proposal that the Portland School Committee will consider Wednesday.

Although students must have written parental permission to be treated at Portland's school-based health centers, state law allows them to seek confidential health care and to decide whether to inform their parents about the services they receive.

I'm sure many of you are as confused about this "health center" at schools as I am. We don't have that here in Nevada, or anywhere else I've attended school. It's not quite the school nurse, but more like a quick care medical facility.

The city's Division of Public Health, which made the birth- control proposal, operates seven health centers in Portland Public Schools in an effort to increase access to physical, dental and mental health care.

They are located at Portland High School, Deering High School, Casco Bay High School, King Middle School, West School special education program, and two elementary schools -- Reiche Community School and East End Community School.

The first centers opened in the high schools more than a decade ago, Belanger said.

There are 27 school-based health centers in Maine, 20 of which are funded and overseen by the state, including those in Portland, Birkhimer said.

There are more than 1,700 school-connected health centers in the United States.

So while many schools around the country don't even allow aspirin, this one writes prescriptions in between your annual physical, teeth cleaning, and mental health evaluation. I am interested to see the data on the prescriptions recommended for ADD in these "health centers" as compared to schools without them.

Remember When Hillary Said Her Socialized Health Plan Wasn't Socialized? Well, It Is.

Take the poll at the top right of this page ...


UPDATE:

Will you be punished if you refuse to enroll in Hillary's new socialist health plan?


Many of you will remember when Hillary was asked by black journalists about the negative effects of her socialized health plan on the black community ... she responded by saying:

"I have never advocated socialized medicine. That has been a right-wing attack on me for 15 years."

Yesterday, Hillary rolled out her new "American Health Choices Plan." Well, it turns out that her 'non-socialized' health plan is very much ... socialized.

To refresh everyone on what socialized and socialized medicine means, I have included the following definitions:

Socialized Medicine:

Socialized medicine can refer to any system of medical care controlled and financed by the government.

Socialize:

1. To place under government or group ownership or control.
2. To make fit for companionship with others; make sociable.
3. To convert or adapt to the needs of society.

There, now we are all up to speed on what we are actually talking about here.

On Hillary's own website, you can read the summary of the plan in her own words.

Before we get started I'd like to point out that the idea you can increase the number of people insured, and increase the benefits while reducing the cost is absurd at best. Especially when you are talking about a minimum of 47 million new people.

This Plan covers every American - finally addressing the needs of the 47 million uninsured and the tens of millions of workers with coverage who fear they could be one pink slip away from losing their health coverage - with no overall increase in health spending or taxes. For those with health insurance, the plan builds on the current system to give businesses and their employees greater choice of health plans - including keeping the one they have - while lowering cost and improving quality. Specifically, the American Health Choices Plan will:

The language makes it sound good, but again you can't increase the number of the insured, and provide more benefits for less cost. This is grade school math people.

The Same Choice of Health Plan Options that Members of Congress Receive:
Americans can keep their existing coverage or access the same menu of quality private insurance options that their Members of Congress receive through a new Health Choices Menu, established without any new bureaucracy as part of the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program (FEHBP). In addition to the broad array of private options that Americans can choose from, they will be offered the choice of a public plan option similar to Medicare.

A Guarantee of Quality Coverage:
The new array of choices offered in the Menu will provide benefits at least as good as the typical plan offered to Members of Congress, which includes mental health parity and usually dental coverage.

Notice that they will have a 'public plan' to choose from. That's socialized medicine.

Americans who are satisfied with the coverage they have today can keep it, while benefiting from lower premiums and higher quality.

Again ... not possible.

Reducing Costs:
By removing hidden taxes, stressing prevention and a focus on efficiency and modernization, the plan will improve quality and lower costs.

Strengthening Security:
The plan ensures that job loss or family illnesses will never lead to a loss of coverage or exorbitant costs.

End to Unfair Health Insurance Discrimination:
By creating a level-playing field of insurance rules across states and markets, the plan ensures that no American is denied coverage, refused renewal, unfairly priced out of the market, or forced to pay excessive insurance company premiums.

This is the part that people will roll with their emotions on. Certainly, no one wants to be denied insurance, and I'd support that provision by itself. However, to not allow an insurance company to set their premium based on the health of the insured is blatant socialism. Many small companies will go under because of this provision. I don't believe people should not be able to get insurance, but I also believe that a company has the right to charge an appropriate premium based on the financial risk of the insured.

Relying on consumers or the government alone to fix the system has unintended consequences, like scaled-back coverage or limited choices. This plan ensures that all who benefit from the system share in the responsibility to fix its shortcomings.

This is damn risky! This allows the consumer influence over how a company operates. A company in a free market economy has the right to operate as it sees fit. Sometimes it works ... sometimes not. That's what the market is for. You do not let the customer tell the company how to do business.

Insurance and Drug Companies:
insurance companies will end discrimination based on pre-existing conditions or expectations of illness and ensure high value for every premium dollar; while drug companies will offer fair prices and accurate information.

Individuals:
will be required to get and keep insurance in a system where insurance is affordable and accessible.

Providers:
will work collaboratively with patients and businesses to deliver high-quality, affordable care.

Employers:
will help financing the system; large employers will be expected to provide health insurance or contribute to the cost of coverage: small businesses will receive a tax credit to continue or begin to offer coverage.

Government:
will ensure that health insurance is always affordable and never a crushing burden on any family and will implement reforms to improve quality and lower cost.

It doesn't get more socialize than to REQUIRE that all people get health insurance. What if I don't want health insurance? Maybe I have a medical savings account, or maybe I have enough money to pay cash for any medical issue that arises. Oh wait ... I get it now. I am going to be required to pay into the system so that my money will help cover the cost of those that are unhealthy who now get a discount on their premiums. I'M BEING TAXED!

Go to Hillary's site to read the last provisions of the plan.

At the very least, most Americans will now pay more money for their health care than they were before so we can provide lower cost insurance to people who have health problems. The plan is categorically unfair to those Americans that don't want health insurance for whatever reason.

To top it all off ... a very prudent question was asked about the plan that 'requires' all people to enroll. Will it cover illegals, or just American citizens?

Now Hillary has been working on this plan for over a decade now. You'd think she would have thought about this all important issue. Especially since illegals are such a massive burden on our medical industry. In fact, this could be the most important aspect of the plan's success or failure. So what was her response?

Senior [Clinton] policy adviser Laurie Rubiner–-while acknowledging that undocumented immigrants are a “huge issue” in this country–-said, “That’s one we’re going to have to think through a little bit.”

“We have not dealt with every single detail with this plan,” Rubiner continued.

They haven't even bothered to address the issue yet?

There is a couple of things to look at here. One of those being that illegals cost the medical industry about $35 billion a year. Which raises health care costs and premiums.

1. If illegals are not required to enroll ... will they still receive the same medical care as everyone else?
2. If so, won't premiums and costs continue to increase as the financial burden grows ... as it does now?
3. If they are required to enroll ... will we then deport them as they come forward?
4. If not, how can we confirm their income, and will their employers be punished?

If illegals are not required to enroll, but still receive the same benefits as Americans do you will see a backlash of which the likes have never been seen before.

I'm also wondering if abortion will be covered, but I think we all know the answer to that question.

See, I Told You Steroids Had Nothing To Do With The Benoit Murders

I have received great criticism for openly stating that steroids had no possible role in the Benoit murders. It really isn't that difficult to understand, but people are idiots. The situation isn't made any easier with the media constantly using the "roid rage" myth as a way to explain the murders.

Bottom line is, there was a crime that needs to be solved. No one benefits from us perpetuating the lie that Benoit murdered his family in a three day roid rage that has never been seen before in the history of mankind.

If Benoit did murder his family (and there are questions) then we need to find out why. Was it an event that happened in their lives? Was she leaving him? Did he catch her having an affair? Perhaps it was the drugs he was taking. After all, we already know that Percocet and Xanax can lead to violent behavior. It's well documented, and widely accepted that these drugs have violent side effects. If drugs led Benoit to murder ... it is far more likely that these are the prime suspects ... not steroids.

However, now we are learning that there is another possible explanation as to why Benoit would suddenly become violent towards his family.

Fox News:

Pro wrestler Chris Benoit suffered brain damage from his years in the ring that could help explain why he killed his wife, son and himself, a doctor who studied Benoit's brain said Wednesday.

The analysis by doctors affiliated with the Sports Legacy Institute suggests repeated concussions could have contributed to the killings at Benoit's suburban Atlanta home.

Finally, a legitimate explanation!

The level of brain damage Benoit had can cause depression and irrational behavior, Cantu said.

Benoit's brain showed the same degenerative processes that doctors working for the institute found in the brains of three men who had played pro football and committed suicide, Cantu said. There were abnormal protein deposits caused by trauma to Benoit's brain, Cantu said.

There's no evidence that steroid use causes such protein deposits, Cantu said, though he noted the issue has not been exhaustively studied.

Would anyone like to take a stab as to why the institute was studying Benoit's brain?

Michael Benoit said Wednesday that he agreed to the testing because murder-suicide was out of character for his son. He also disclosed that after the killings, he discovered a diary written by his son that showed his son was having problems.

"After reading the diary, I would have thought it was written by someone who was extremely disturbed at the time," Michael Benoit said.

He did not elaborate, but he did say a friend told him that prior to the murder-suicide, Chris Benoit had been wearing a rosary, which he said was also out of character.

This is extremely important. While it can not be determined that the brain damage caused Benoit to snap ... we now have Benoit's diary. Benoit was displaying unusual character for himself for an extended period of time before the murders. Thus, proving once and for all that steroids had nothing to do with the murders.

John Edwards Asks: Is Cuba's Healthcare System Run By The Government?

H/T: Newsbusters

As reported by ABC ...

When an Iowa resident asked former senator John Edwards Thursday whether the United States should follow the Cuban healthcare model, the 2004 vice presidential contender deflected the question by saying he didn't know enough to answer the question.

"I'm going to be honest with you - I don't know a lot about Cuba's healthcare system," Edwards, D-N.C., said at an event in Oskaloosa, Iowa. "Is it a government-run system?"

Newsbusters astutely points out that it is difficult to believe than any adult, let alone a former senator and presidential candidate, would not know that Cuba runs their own healthcare.

Was Beethoven Poisoned?

Apparently he was ... by his doctor.

Hillary Lies To Black Journalists

We all know what Hillary Care is ... it's socialized health care. There can be no denying it ... unless, of course, you're Hillary.

Last week, here in Vegas, we had the National Association of Black Journalists in town, and Hillary spoke at the convention. She was asked a very solid question by a journalist about the negative impacts her socialized health care plan would have on the black community.

Here's her response ...

LVRJ:

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, campaigning for president, faced a rare skeptical question at a gathering of the National Association of Black Journalists in Las Vegas last week. Why does the Democrat insist on pushing socialized medicine, "particularly when it will hurt African-American communities more than anybody else?" she was asked.

"I have never advocated socialized medicine," the former first lady replied. "That has been a right-wing attack on me for 15 years."

Uh ... yeah ... that whole "vast right wing conspiracy" thing again.

Before we continue, allow me to define socialized medicine for you.

Socialized Medicine:

Socialized medicine can refer to any system of medical care controlled and financed by the government.

Socialize:

1. To place under government or group ownership or control.
2. To make fit for companionship with others; make sociable.
3. To convert or adapt to the needs of society.

Ok, does everyone have it? If health care is placed under government control, and is funded by taxes ... it is socialized health care. It is not a conspiratorial attack on Hillary.

Unfortunately, some of us still have copies of the 1,300-page proposed "Health Security Act" crafted by Mrs. Clinton's secret committee in 1993. Under it, a patient who "stepped out of line" and offered to pay cash for a doctor's services would have been subject to criminal penalties.

But such heavy reading is hardly required. What is the rationale of the nanny-staters for all their new seat belt laws, helmet laws, child restraint laws? That "everyone" will have to pay our medical costs if we're injured, of course.

That's socialized medicine. Or does Sen. Clinton regularly vote against ongoing allocations for Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP?

Why is Hillary trying so hard to hide from her own plan? It is what it is, and you can't spin it become something else.

Hillary, you just got pwned!

To read what the exchange entailed, and Hillary's lies on the socialized health care of other nations go HERE.

Beyonce Takes A Head Dive On Stage

Man, that would suck. Apparently Beyonce tripped on her trench coat, and fell face first onto some stairs. She then slid down about 12 steps ... face first. Beyonce is a real trooper though. She got up and continued to dance even though she was bleeding.

She then asked the audience to not post the video to YouTube. I don't know if it made it to YouTube yet, but there are images of the fall online already. Nice to see that her fans respect her wishes huh?

TB Patient Escapes Quarantine

More selfishness and endangerment of innocent people.

PBC:

A man kept in isolation after he was diagnosed with contagious tuberculosis broke a hospital window and fled from his room at a Little Rock hospital.

Franklin Greenwood, 50, was placed in isolation on June 29 after he was seen coughing up blood outside of the city's traffic court and was released by a judge to the state Health Department's custody. He left the hospital on July 1. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Greenwood's disappearance in Wednesday's editions.

A state health official said Greenwood has a form of tuberculosis that would respond to treatment but that it is still important to find him because he is contagious.

Greenwood had been at Little Rock District Court for traffic offenses, officials said. He was taken to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences hospital, where he was under a medical isolation order, according to the Health Department.

State tuberculosis control officer Dr. Iram Bakhtawar wrote in a draft affidavit that Greenwood is believed to have "an active case of tuberculosis in an active state and in a communicable form."

This TB quarantine is becoming fairly common these days. The ACLU has filed a lawsuit in Arizona for civil rights violations because they quarantined a TB patient.

TB Andy Being Sued ... Says He Was Tricked Into Isolation

This crap head continues to dig himself deeper every time he opens his big dumb mouth.

The TB infected lawyer who ignored medical advice, and refused to go into isolation when ordered to do so, is now saying that he was tricked into going into quarantine.

CNN:

The globe-trotting tuberculosis patient who sparked an international public health incident in May said Friday that he was tricked into a federal quarantine.

Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old Atlanta, Georgia, attorney, said he would have gladly gone into isolation if health officials had asked him to. Instead, he said they asked him to swing by a New York City hospital for testing after his European vacation, then posted armed guards outside his door.

"They tried to trick me when it was unnecessary," Speaker said from a Colorado hospital where he has been under treatment for a month.

Hey dick head! They wouldn't have tricked you if you weren't ignoring all of their instructions in the first place! You had already refused to go into isolation once. Why should they have believed you'd actually turn yourself in this time?

He said he has no current plans to sue health officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other government agencies.

"I'm worried about people coming after me," he said in a lengthy interview with The Associated Press.

He should be worried that people are going to come after him ... they are!

The Star:

MONTREAL–The American personal-injury lawyer who caused a health scare after flying despite being infected with a potent form of tuberculosis is facing a lawsuit by three of his fellow passengers.

Montreal lawyer Anlac Nguyen says is he is planning to file a lawsuit in Quebec court next week against Andrew Speaker.

The plaintiffs in the proposed lawsuit include two Czech sisters who sat next to Speaker while on their way to a family reunion in Montreal, as well as a man who works and lives in Laval, Que.

Nguyen says Speaker unnecessarily put people at risk by travelling against doctor's orders.

"We think that Mr. Speaker has committed a fault and put people into inconvenience and suffering and therefore there should be some compensation," he said.

In a notice of the lawsuit sent to Speaker three weeks ago, damages were listed at $100,000 for each of the sisters and at $60,000 for the Laval man, who was sitting further away.

It also seems the Czech authorities are giving the ladies a hard time, and more passengers may be added to the lawsuit.

Remember TB Andy? Yeah, He's Not As Sick As We Thought.

I actually had several people call my show, and say that this would end up happening. Kudos to you all!

It turns out that TB Andy is not nearly as sick as we were led to believe.

Reuters:

The U.S. tuberculosis patient who was legally isolated after fleeing across international borders does not have the most dangerous form of TB but instead a strain that is easier to treat, his doctors said on Tuesday.

They said that Andrew Speaker, a 31-year-old lawyer, has multi-drug-resistant TB, not the extensively drug-resistant disease.

"Laboratory tests conducted at National Jewish Medical and Research Center indicate that patient Andrew Speaker's tuberculosis is susceptible to some of the medications previously thought ineffective against his disease," the hospital in Denver said in a statement.

"As a result, doctors have altered Mr. Speaker's antibiotic regimen and have put on hold a decision about lung surgery."

If you can't rely on the CDC for accurate disease information and diagnosis ... who can you trust?

Drug To "Delete" Bad Memories

Oh my. This can bad ... real bad. Not to mention all of the hypothetical scenarios we can conjure up for a drug like this. After all, every cause has an effect.

So if you want to forget about you girl breaking your heart by sleeping with you best friend ... this drug is for you.

Live Science:

Researchers at Harvard and McGill University (in Montreal) are working on an amnesia drug that blocks or deletes bad memories. The technique seems to allow psychiatrists to disrupt the biochemical pathways that allow a memory to be recalled.

In a new study, published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, the drug propranolol is used along with therapy to "dampen" memories of trauma victims. They treated 19 accident or rape victims for ten days, during which the patients were asked to describe their memories of the traumatic event that had happened 10 years earlier. Some patients were given the drug, which is also used to treat amnesia, while others were given a placebo.

A week later, they found that patients given the drug showed fewer signs of stress when recalling their trauma.

In New York further studies were done on rats in which they were able to remove bad memories while preserving positive ones. Do rats have bad memories, and how do we know that? Well, at least the tests dealt with shock treatment.

I've seen movies with this sort of thing in it. Will we be able to remove the memories of murderers, and then set them free? Also, what about the notion that your life experience is essential to the type of person you will become? If we erase all bad memories, what type of human beings will we have roaming the earth?

Babies Lie At Six Months Old

I knew they couldn't be trusted!

A recent study found that babies learn to decieve far earlier than anyone thought before. Which proves my theory that humans are naturally dishonest.

Telegraph UK:

Behavioural experts have found that infants begin to lie from as young as six months. Simple fibs help to train them for more complex deceptions in later life.

Until now, psychologists had thought the developing brains were not capable of the difficult art of lying until four years old.

Following studies of more than 50 children and interviews with parents, Dr Vasudevi Reddy, of the University of Portsmouth's psychology department, says she has identified seven categories of deception used between six months and three-years-old.

See everyone, when you lie you are doing what comes naturally to humans. Nature vs nurture baby.

So Some Kid Ate His Shoe And Now The Recall Is On

It is actually a reasonable recall ... it just sounds stupid. I guess the plastic rivets that attach the strap to the shoe can come off, and present a choking hazard. Full recall info here.

Anti-War Activist Banned From Performing At Walter Reed

John Mellencamp asked folk singer Joan Baez to perform with him at Walter Reed, but the Army denied her performance. Joan Baez is an anti-war activist who opposed Vietnam as well as the current war.

Military.com:

"I have always been an advocate for nonviolence and I have stood as firmly against the Iraq war as I did the Vietnam War 40 years ago," she wrote. "I realize now that I might have contributed to a better welcome home for those soldiers fresh from Vietnam. Maybe that's why I didn't hesitate to accept the invitation to sing for those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. In the end, four days before the concert, I was not 'approved' by the Army to take part. Strange irony."

Irony is not the proper word ... more like retribution. To put it in a hippie term you might understand ... the cosmos realigned to bring karma back into balance with the earth.

The Post reported that Walter Reed officials did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday, but that in an e-mailed statement published Monday on RollingStone.com, spokesman Steve Sanderson said the medical center received the request for participation by Baez just two days before the concert.

"These additional requirements were not in the agreement/contract and would have required a modification," Sanderson told the magazine's Web site.

Mellencamp's people didn't respond to this article, but told RollingStone.com:

"They didn't give me a reason why she couldn't come. We asked why and they said, 'She can't fit here, period.' "

I believe Mellencamp is telling the truth. The troops don't take kindly to anti-war activists showing up and singing anti-war folk songs as their buddies are still fighting.

Machine May Cure Insomnia

Oh thank God!

For those of you who don't know ... I have chronic insomnia. My listeners have given me every suggestion they can think of, and I've tried all sorts of medication and supplements. If this machine works It will be a Godsend.

Daily Mail:

Scientists have invented a technique which they say could help trigger deep sleep in the most chronic insomniac.

Using medical equipment, they stimulated the brain with harmless magnetic pulses.

These penetrate the nerves that control a type of deep sleep called "slow-wave activity" and made their brains produce these waves.

Researchers believe the same principles could be used to create a machine which can electronically stimulate a deep-sleep power nap. This mimics the restorative benefits of eight hours of rest.

THANK YOU ... THANK YOU ... THANK YOU!

The research comes out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but there is some skepticism. Who cares! At least someone has come up with something that is original, and may have a shot at working. With all of the hours, and money, invested into studying insomnia we still don't know what causes it, and we don't know how to cure it. Someone has to make a breakthrough sooner or later.