Question of the Day

If as they say ... 'the cream rises to the top'... why is it that the curds and the whey are floating there?

North Carolina police are investigating another pregnant soldier's death

Authorities are investigating the death of a soldier who was seven months pregnant after her body was found at a Fayetteville, N.C., motel.

Spc. Megan Lynn Touma was identified Tuesday, two days after her body was found. The 23-year-old dental specialist with the 19th Replacement Company was from Cold Spring, Ky.

The Fayetteville Police Department called the death suspicious in a release but didn't say why or immediately return a phone message. The release said the cause of death isn't known.

She had arrived at Fort Bragg from a base Germany less than two weeks ago.

Touma is the second pregnant service member to die in North Carolina this year. A fellow Marine has been charged in the death of Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach and is awaiting extradition from Mexico.

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I know we called Fayetteville, Fayette-Nam back in my day (and with good reason) but this trend of dead pregnant soldiers is a little creepy even for an old war horse like me.

Aww, just when it was going good ...

Judge issues gag order in Texas swingers club case

or if you prefer

Judge issues gag order in Texas swingers club case

A judge has issued a gag order leading up to the next trial involving an East Texas swingers club that allegedly forced children into sex shows.

State District Judge Jack Skeen Jr. in Tyler issued the ruling Tuesday after lawyers for defendant Patrick Kelly subpoenaed two local reporters who have covered the case.

Attorney Thad Davidson has said he plans to ask a Tyler Morning Telegraph reporter and a KLTV reporter about alleged personal relationships with the lead prosecutor in the case. Davidson wants the trial moved outside of Smith County.

The paper will seek to quash the subpoena at a hearing Friday.

Kelly faces life in prison on charges that he helped run the swinger's club, where children as young as 5 allegedly performed sex acts.

In addendum:

An East Texas newspaper acknowledged Tuesday that a reporter covering a trial of a child sex club dated the prosecutor until five months ago, an allegation the defense team is using to seek a change of venue.

A reporter from television station KLTV is also accused of having a personal relationship with Smith County Assistant District Attorney Joe Murphy. But the station's news director called the allegation "pure slander."

State District Judge Jack Skeen Jr. issued a gag order Tuesday in the trial of Patrick Kelly, who is accused of helping run an East Texas swinger's group that forced children as young as 5 to perform sex shows.

Thad Davidson, Kelly's attorney, wants Tyler Morning Telegraph reporter Casey Knaupp and KLTV reporter Danielle Capper to testify Monday when he seeks to get the trial moved from Smith County.

Davidson contends that coverage by Knaupp and Capper has been biased because of their personal relationships with Murphy, and that their stories in turn biased the prospective jury pool.

The newspaper and television station said they will seek to quash the subpoenas at a Friday hearing.

In a story on the Tyler Morning Telegraph's Web site Tuesday, the newspaper acknowledged that Knaupp had dated Murphy and the relationship ended more than five months ago. The first trials in the case were in March.

Knaupp told her paper she keeps her "personal and professional lives separate."

"The allegations by Thad Davidson that my coverage of this case are biased are wholly unfounded," Knaupp said in the paper's story. "I believe anyone who reads my articles will see that."

Kenny Boles, news director of KLTV, said the station's coverage has been "groundbreaking, responsible and balanced."

"I stand by our reporting of both the investigation and criminal trials related to the tragic abuse of the East Texas children in these cases," Boles said.

He called the allegations made of the relationship between his reporter and the prosecutor "pure slander," but wouldn't comment further.

Dave Berry, managing editor of the Tyler Morning Telegraph, has said the paper wasn't of aware of Knaupp's relationship with Murphy but stood by his reporter. He declined further comment Tuesday, and messages left for Knaupp at the paper were not immediately returned.

Phone calls to reach Murphy at his office after business hours Tuesday rang unanswered.

Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham told The Associated Press this week that he was aware Murphy and Knaupp dated, but said he did not see how it is relevant to the trial. He said Knaupp, the paper's courts reporter, has written stories that were not always favorable to his office.

"Yeah, (Murphy has) been out with her," Bingham said. "I don't know how that affects whether or not his defendant is guilty of sexual assault of a child."

Kelly, 41, is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, tampering with physical evidence and engaging in organized criminal activity. Davidson has said his client passed a lie-detector test and is innocent.

Tomato Update

Salmonella can ride water into tomatoes

Pick a tomato in the blazing sun and plunge it straight into cold water. If that happened on the way to market, it might be contaminated. Too big of a temperature difference can make a tomato literally suck water inside the fruit through the scar where its stem used to be. If salmonella happens to be lurking on the skin, that's one way it can penetrate and, if the tomato isn't eaten right away, have time to multiply.

That doesn't mean people shouldn't wash their tomatoes - they should, just probably not in cold water.

But as the Food and Drug Administration investigates the nation's outbreak of salmonella from tomatoes, the example shows the farm isn't the only place contamination can occur - and checking things like water quality and temperature control in packing houses and other supply stops is one key to safety.

Raw fruits and vegetables are crucial to a healthy diet. But they're also the culprits in a growing list of nasty outbreaks: E. coli in spinach and lettuce. Hepatitis A in green onions. Cyclospora in raspberries. Salmonella in cantaloupe. Shigella in parsley.

This newest salmonella outbreak is the 14th blamed on tomatoes since 1990.

Preventing future illnesses depends on learning how salmonella sneaks onto and inside tomatoes, which might seem to be pretty well protected by their smooth waxy skin. Yet scientists have few answers, prompting the FDA last year to begin a Tomato Safety Initiative that is studying industry practices in Virginia and Florida, origin of several previous outbreaks.

Florida's agriculture department on July 1 begins enforcing so-called "tomato best practices," farming and handling guidelines that leading growers pushed the state to formally adopt, and that many farms voluntarily began following in the past year.

The FDA likewise wants the authority to set mandatory safe-handling rules, what it calls "preventive controls," for growers and suppliers of foods linked to repeated outbreaks of serious illness, such as tomatoes and leafy greens. Congress hasn't yet acted on that request.

"We need them, we've asked for them, and we don't yet have them," says Dr. David Acheson, the agency's food safety chief, who is directing the CSI-like hunt for the tainted tomatoes.

Further complicating the picture, budget woes mean the FDA's inspections of food-producing facilities have plummeted by 56 percent between 2003 and last year. Acheson says the drop has continued this year, and the FDA plans to hire more inspectors with a pending budget boost from Congress.

But inspections aren't the solution to food poisoning, insists Acheson, who also hopes to double or triple the 10 percent of FDA's budget historically devoted to prevention.

FDA "is not arguing that you can inspect your way out of these problems," he says. "The critical point is to build safety upfront, not load up inspection at the end."

There are some common themes when fresh produce sickens, either from salmonella - bacteria that live in the intestinal tracts of humans and numerous animals - or other microbes: Water sources, worker hygiene and wildlife or domestic animals near fields are frequent culprits because they involve points where safety systems can easily break down.

Washing fresh produce under running water is a commonsense consumer defense.

"We know you can wash off some salmonella," says Virginia Tech food microbiologist Robert Williams, who accompanied FDA scientists to Virginia farms as part of the tomato initiative. But, "nobody's ever shown it washes off all salmonella."

Water is an automatic first suspect. Was clean water used to irrigate, mix pesticides sprayed on crops, wash down harvest and processing equipment, and wash field workers' hands?

Then in packing houses, tomatoes often go straight into a dump tank, flumes of chlorinated water for a first wash. To guard against salmonella washed into the water in turn being sucked into the tomatoes, producers often keep wash-water 10 degrees warmer than the incoming crop, says food-safety scientist Keith Schneider of the University of Florida, also part of FDA's tomato initiative.

Beyond packing houses, the industry points to cases where suppliers were shipped unwashed, warm tomatoes and dunked them in ice-water baths to firm them for further processing.

Another question: How often does the water have to be changed? Dirt, leaves and other sediment reduce the chlorine's effectiveness.

Studies never have shown that plant roots can suck salmonella up and inside the tomato, where it can't be washed out, says Virginia Tech's Williams, whose lab is working to confirm that. Still, if contaminated water is sprayed onto the leaves or blooms, or bird droppings fall directly onto the foliage, salmonella might be absorbed internally, he says.

In fact, salmonella may be particularly hard to prevent in a variety of crops because birds, reptiles and amphibians carry it - the same reason children should wash their hands after handling a turtle, iguana or frog. The tomato industry's guidelines already advise surrounding fields with bare soil "buffer zones" to discourage reptiles.

"You're not going to stop a bird going through a field. You're not going to stop a frog," Schneider says.

Soap Opera: episode 9 million and one

Key teen witness in sect case denies Texas' claims

A 16-year-old girl is a key witness in the state's effort to pursue criminal charges against members of her polygamist sect, even though she denies investigators' claims that she was abused.

The girl, a daughter of the sect's jailed prophet, says she's never been married and doesn't have a baby. She denies church elders are influencing her and wants to fire her lawyer. The state can't even prove her alleged abuse happened in Texas.

A court filing shows that the girl has been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury Wednesday, the day the panel convenes in Schleicher County, home of a west Texas ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The Associated Press does not usually identify alleged victims of sex abuse.

Her attorney, Natalie Malonis, was also subpoenaed, according to Tim Edwards, an attorney for the girl's mother who is trying to have Malonis removed from the case.

It's unclear who else will testify. Grand jury proceedings are secret and the Attorney General's office, which is handling the prosecution, has declined to comment.

The criminal case follows state child welfare officials' ill-fated April seizure of more than 400 children at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado.

The state accused the sect of widespread sexual abuse of teen girls, but the Texas Supreme Court forced the state to return the children from foster care in June. The high court said the state overreached in taking all the children from the ranch when only a handful of girls may have been abused.

It's not clear what, or whether, criminal indictments of FLDS members may result. But the girl scheduled to testify Wednesday illustrates that to win indictments, prosecutors may have to overcome the denials of the teens they allege were abused.

The girl initially fought attempts by Malonis to finalize an emergency restraining order issued Friday to force her mother to keep church elder Willie Jessop away from the girl.

Malonis said Jessop was influencing the teen and encouraging her to be uncooperative. The girl denies that and accused her lawyer in a letter to the judge of falsely claiming the girl was spiritually married at 15 and had a child.

The girl wants a new lawyer but agreed Tuesday to allow the restraining order to stay in place another 90 days.

Asked whether she had any comment as she left the courthouse on Tuesday, the teen said, "What do I say, except that I'm sick of everything?"

Malonis has said she would not fight with her client through the media. She has said state investigators have given her the information that leads her to believe her client has been abused.

Jim Bradshaw, an FLDS attorney, said Jessop denies any wrongdoing. Jessop has done "nothing that is in the realm of threatening witnesses," he said.

FLDS leaders have consistently denied there was any abuse at the ranch and vowed earlier this month not to sanction underage marriages.

FLDS spokesman Rod Parker said he's not sure whether the girl will be cooperative in her grand jury testimony or whether other FLDS children have been subpoenaed to appear.

"If they're going to be asked to testify against their parents, that's a real dilemma," he said. "I don't know if they're going to be that cooperative."

Under Texas law, a girl younger than 17 cannot generally consent to sex with an adult. Bigamy, which is generally considered a crime of fraud, is also illegal in Texas, although FLDS plural marriages were not sanctioned by the state.

Any criminal prosecution on sex charges is likely to be difficult. The state does have DNA material collected from most YFZ ranch residents to help them sort out family groups after the April 3 raid, and FLDS officials fear the evidence could be used against them in a criminal case.

"I thought from the beginning there was a secondary reason they wanted it," Parker said.

Texas Child Protective Services said it would turn over the DNA test results to criminal prosecutors if it were subpoeanaed by a grand jury or ordered by a court to do so.

Even if they had DNA evidence of abuse, prosecutors would have jurisdictional problems. Without the cooperation of the sect's teen girls, prosecutors will be unable to determine what state any alleged abuse occurred in. The sect has homes in Texas, Arizona and Utah and elsewhere.

The FLDS is a breakaway sect of the mainstream Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago. Historically, church members lived along the Arizona-Utah line, where authorities had not sought criminal charges in decades until allegations of underage marriages - and willing witnesses - surfaced several years ago.

Still, just a handful of criminal cases have been prosecuted in the sect, estimated to have 6,000 members. Warren Jeffs, the girl's father and the leader who is revered as a prophet, was convicted in Utah of rape as an accomplice for his role in the marriage of a 14-year-old and her 19-year-old cousin. He is jailed awaiting trial on Arizona charges related to marriages involving young girls.

*****

OK, you folks in Texas - the laughs are getting shallower and fewer ... it's time to move on to another 'story'.

I know ... what about live sex shows with children? Oh, wait they've already done that story, too!

Sylvia Plath Reads 'Daddy'

Finnish Butter Commercial

June Posts

200 posts in June - it's been a busy month!

CDC: About 8 percent of Americans have diabetes

The number of Americans with diabetes has grown to about 24 million people, or roughly 8 percent of the U.S. population, the government said Tuesday.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on data from 2007, said the number represents an increase of about 3 million over two years. The CDC estimates another 57 million people have blood sugar abnormalities called pre-diabetes, which puts people at increased risk for the disease.

The percentage of people unaware that they have diabetes fell from 30 percent to 25 percent, according to the study.

Dr. Ann Albright, director of the CDC Division of Diabetes Translation, said the report has "both good news and bad news."

"It is concerning to know that we have more people developing diabetes, and these data are a reminder of the importance of increasing awareness of this condition, especially among people who are at high risk," Albright said in a statement.

"On the other hand, it is good to see that more people are aware that they have diabetes."

A message left Tuesday night seeking further comment from the CDC wasn't immediately returned.

The disease results from defects in insulin production that cause sugar to build up in the body. It is the seventh leading cause of death in the country and can cause serious health problems including heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and amputations.

Among adults, diabetes increased in both men and women and in all age groups, but still disproportionately affects the elderly. Almost 25 percent of the population 60 years and older had diabetes in 2007.

After adjusting for population age differences between various groups, the rate of diagnosed diabetes was highest among American Indians and Alaska Natives (16.5 percent). This was followed by blacks (11.8 percent) and Hispanics (10.4 percent), which includes rates for Puerto Ricans (12.6 percent), Mexican Americans (11.9 percent), and Cubans (8.2 percent).

By comparison, the rate for Asian Americans was 7.5 percent, with whites at 6.6 percent.

*****

Not the rosiest report the CDC has ever made, now is it. Eight percent is eight percent too much. We need to find a cure and work on prevention as well. Find out all you can about Diabetes ... it is true that knowledge is power and the more you know about Diabetes the better you can handle it.

A Life 4 Sale

What is 'A Life 4 Sale' ?

Hi there, my name is Ian Usher, and I have had enough of my life! I don't want it any more! You can have it if you like!

No, I'm not contemplating suicide, I am going to sell my life!! I have my reasons, for further details click the "Why" tab below. However, I am still not sure whether this is inspired madness, complete foolishness, or just some sort of mid-life crisis.

Whatever it is, it's all going up for sale in one big auction. Everything I have and everything I am.

On the day it is all sold and settled I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet in one pocket and my passport in the other, nothing else at all, and get on the train, with no idea where I am going or what the future holds for me.

*****

Not quite sure what to make of this story I found on the net. I know we all have entertained such notions as just chucking it all away and going 'walkabout', but this fellow seems to be planning on just that in reality. We'll see how he does.

Potty Humor

Beijing enlists army of toilet trained staff

Beijing has dispatched 8,000 toilet maintenance staff, each responsible for a specific public restroom in the city and trained in hygiene standards and techniques, Olympic knowledge and practical English expressions, Xinhua said Friday.

There will be selective inspections every week and the results will be posted on the website of the Municipal Utilities Administration Commission, said the news agency.

The city was also struggling with which style of commode would be best, noting Westerners prefer seated toilets, which are more comfortable and convenient for the elderly or infirm.

Told you So!

Long time readers may remember I said as much back on May 30th, 2008

Controversy around "uncontacted" tribe photos

Last month, this photo was released of an "uncontacted" tribe in the Amazon rain forest. It's an amazing photo, but it's now come out that the tribe had actually been known since 1910. The photographer, José Carlos Meirelles, went to where they were thought to live specifically to take their pictures. Meirelles works for Funai, the Brazillian Indian Protection Agency, and apparently was trying to attract publicity to help protect indigenous people in the area. Meanwhile, a post on the blog of Survival International, the indigenous rights group which works with Funai, denies that there's been any wrongdoing on their part at all. From The Observer:

Survival International, the organisation that released the pictures along with Funai, conceded yesterday that Funai had known about this nomadic tribe for around two decades. It defended the disturbance of the tribe saying that, since the images had been released, it had forced neighbouring Peru to re-examine its logging policy in the border area where the tribe lives, as a result of the international media attention. Activist and former Funai president Sydney Possuelo agreed that – amid threats to their environment and doubt over the existence of such tribes – it was necessary to publish them.

But the revelation that the existence of the tribe was already established will provoke awkward questions over why a decision was made to try to photograph them – a form of contact in itself – in order to make a political point. Link

From Survival International:

The only people who ever claimed that the Indians photographed were ‘lost’ or ‘undiscovered’ were…. the press, despite the fact that Survival has been campaigning for the protection of the many isolated Indian tribes on the Peru-Brazil border for more than twenty years.

Indeed, you might have thought that the fact that the Indians are living in a government reserve set aside for isolated Indian groups would tend to indicate that they weren’t exactly ‘unknown’.

For the avoidance of doubt, let’s just make it clear – yes, the tribe is uncontacted, that is to say, has no peaceful contact with outsiders. But no, they’re not ‘lost’ – they know where they are, and anthropologists, Survival, other NGOs and the Brazilian government have known that there are many isolated Indian tribes living in that region for decades. Link

Shipping children by postal mail: illegal since 1913

From the Smithsonian's Flickr stream of historic, public domain photos, a shot commemorating the end of being able to ship your children by postal mail:

This city letter carrier posed for a humorous photograph with a young boy in his mailbag. After parcel post service was introduced in 1913, at least two children were sent by the service. With stamps attached to their clothing, the children rode with railway and city carriers to their destination. The Postmaster General quickly issued a regulation forbidding the sending of children in the mail after hearing of those examples.

Link

Thanks to the folks over at Boing Boing for this gem.

Mission Accomplished

If you have made one person smile in your life then you have lived a life worth living.

This is a message left for me (cited in part) telling me that I have accomplished my mission in life for I have brought a smile to at least one person's face:

... just wanted to let you know that I also joined both of your communities. You're a very interesting, creative person. After leaving you a thank you message, I looked at your communities. In a manner of minutes, you brought "Sunshine Into my Foggy Day".

Enjoyed watching Mr. Carlin's video. I've been going through some horrific, storms of life; thank you for brightening my day. . You had one more joke that made me smile about "7 ... Women ... Shopping". Did you ever think of being a comedian? Maybe where you live they have comedy clubs? I believe that "knowledge is power".
Besides being a comedian, I read somewhere in your tags or blogs, that you love poetry and quotations. Now I owe you a second thank you; I've been moving around so much since college day; fav quotation book got lost along the way. After I joined your community, "lo & behold", the book that I've been missing was found. You use great quotes, but you also provide your community with info on where to go and find more info. "Seek and ye shall find." Never had chance to finish college, but they say it's never to late.

Not only Walt Disney has the power to create magic & fantasy come to life, but also each person holds the key(s) to reach their dreams. So many people wish they did this or that, why wish? It took me a long time to figure it all out. It's too late for me, but if I can help man, woman or child reach their goals or dreams, then I do.

Take care, may you and your family & friends have a great summer vacation!!!! When all is lost, but not forgotten; when life seems to fall apart; remember that after every hurricane comes sunshine. No matter what life brings us; we have to be strong; take the good, bad, ugly and sad. I think that my writer's block has disappeared.

Before you change you mind about my membership to your community, it would be an honor to be a part of either one. Are there any prerequisites for being a member? I'm new to the world of blogs. Have a "GRRRRReat" day!

In response to the last two questions: Why would I change my mind about membership in my communities ... only Haters are looked at askew? Alas, there is a prerequisite for membership ... being a human (sorry, but other species will be considered on a case by case basis only).

*****

Thank you for allowing me to fulfill my mission.
I am glad.
I am also, glad I am checking my in-box more regularly as well.

The Haters and the Second Amendment

The haters don't have a clue about anything and the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is no exception.

There is one particular verbose hater on another forum who keeps trying to dance semantic with ones who are equipped and well versed and in true fashion is failing miserably. Quoting the NRA's misinterpretation of the Amendment as holy gospel is not correct, yet he continues to blather with his blinders on full steam ahead.

No comprehension of 18th century grammar and syntax is no excuse for trying to foist what is an out-and-out lie as truth is nothing but a hater agenda ploy. The Second Amendment does not say 'every citizen has the right to own a gun' what it says (and means) is the each state has the right (and the obligation) to form and maintain a "well regulated militia". In fact the federal government does not have the right to form or maintain a military or militia under the Constitution and does so at the benevolence of the individual States - not something the haters understand either.

Some people don't deserve to be a mother

Police say DUI suspect went to bar instead of jail

A woman charged in the drunken-driving death of her son went to a bar after his funeral instead of reporting back to jail, state police said.

A judge had given Erin Howard, 26, of Corry, permission to leave the Erie County Prison for 24 hours to attend her son's funeral in Ohio, with orders to return to the lockup by 3 p.m. Saturday.

Instead, Howard went to a bar in Hamilton, Ohio, about a mile from the church where the funeral for 6-year-old Samuel Carpenter was held, police said.

Calls to Howard's public defender went unanswered after business hours Monday.

Howard had been in prison in lieu of $75,000 bail on charges that she was driving drunk when she crashed into a creek bank near Corry, killing Samuel on June 14 - her 26th birthday.

Pennsylvania police found out Sunday morning that Howard had been arrested in Ohio after her son's father allegedly tipped off authorities to her whereabouts. She was being held in Ohio awaiting extradition to Erie.

Howard has now been charged with escape in addition to involuntary manslaughter, drunken driving, child endangerment and other charges related to the crash.

*****

Let's hope they throw this bitch (pardon me, ladies, but that is the nicest way to say it) under the jail house and forget she is there!