AIDS Drugs May Fully Restore Immune System

WASHINGTON, DC -- Researchers report that AIDS drug cocktails may be able to fully restore the immune systems of some people infected with HIV.Immune cells known as CD4 T-cells returned to normal levels in an ideal group of patients, picked because they responded optimally to a combination of at least three AIDS drugs, Reuters reports.

The human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, ravages the immune system and leaves people vulnerable to infections that can be fatal.The study involved 1,835 HIV-infected people drawn from a larger study involving more than 14,000 patients from across Europe, Israel and Argentina."I think it's very encouraging that if people can respond to treatment well enough and can suppress the virus for long enough, we have sufficient evidence to say their CD4 counts can return to normal," Dr. Amanda Mocroft of Royal Free and University College Medical School in London, one of the researchers, said in a telephone interview."Our previous understanding was that there was a plateau in CD4 counts so that CD4 counts would stop increasing after a sufficiently long time taking combination therapy," she added.Mocroft said not all HIV patients respond as well to these drugs."This is sort of the best-case scenario, if you like, that we can identify a group of patients who we would expect to have a normal CD4 count with sufficient treatment," Mocroft said.CD4 cells protect the body from infection but HIV targets the cells and use them to create more copies of the virus, thus undermining the immune system.Even though the body replaces the damaged cells, it is unable to make enough and the body's immune system becomes increasingly weakened.Existing drugs does not eradicate the virus but they are able to keep it at extremely low levels in some people when given in the right combination.More than 40 million people have been infected by the virus globally, and more than 25 million have died.

Don't drop case because translator unavailable

I just read an article in the Sunday Pantagraph about a case against an alleged child molester that was dropped because they could not find a translator for the defendant (``Case dropped with lack of translator,'' Page A6). His native language was Vai.The prosecutors had witnesses, DNA and the 7-year-old girl said that she had been raped and repeatedly molested for over a year. But, without a translator fluent in Vai, the judge dismissed the case and it can't be retried.Is there no common sense in the world any more?The man was granted asylum in the United States. So if he doesn't speak English and has no one to translate, how did he get asylum? Surely, we have some criteria to use to decide who gets asylum.Obviously someone spoke Vai, or he was able to speak English well enough to pose his case for asylum. So, he gets a free pass to go out and molest other 7-year-old girls, or maybe he has a free ticket to go out and kill people? Where do you draw the line?How does he support himself? Does he have a job, where he doesn't have to speak English, or are we also supporting him with out tax dollars?How does he get food and shelter? Either he speaks English, or someone is translating for him.This is the stupidest miscarriage of justice that I have heard of in a long time. The judge should be removed from the bench, and the defendant should be sent back to where he came from and language will not be an issue.Donna Thacker

Man allegedly kills zebra in drive-by shooting

A BIT LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF PICKET FENCES:

RED OAK, Texas - An 18-year-old man was arrested Friday and accused of killing a zebra named Zambi in a drive-by shooting.
Zambi was shot dead July 5 as he grazed in a pasture at HiView Farms outside of Waxahachie, about 30 miles from Dallas, said Lt. Kevin Ketchum of the Ellis County Sheriff's Office. The farm is also home to camels, llamas and ring-tailed lemurs.
The owner of the farm was outside working at the time of the shooting, Ketchum told The Dallas Morning News.

Joshua Romano and four friends were swimming in a creek but had to leave because of rain. They spotted the zebra as they were driving down a road near the farm. That's when Romano pulled out a deer rifle and shot Zambi dead, Ketchum said. The animal was worth about $10,000.
Romano's friends tried to prevent him from shooting the zebra, and the driver sped up to make the shooting more difficult, Ketchum said.
No phone listing for Romano could be found.

Soldier shoots himself to avoid Iraq

Straight out of a story-line from THE JOURNEY:

NEW YORK - A soldier who recently returned from Iraq has admitted he paid someone $500 to shoot him in the leg so he could avoid returning for another tour.
Jonathan Aponte, 20, claimed he had been robbed and shot but changed his story when police questioned him, authorities said. Aponte, who was facing another eight-month tour, had been scheduled to leave last Monday.
"As far as being shot at every day, I think it's better," Aponte told WCBS-TV in an interview that aired Friday. "Mentally I can't do it anymore. I can't handle it anymore."

Aponte was charged with conspiracy and falsely reporting an incident, according to the criminal complaint.
Joke became realityApone had joked with his wife about getting shot in the leg so he could avoid another tour, according to the complaint. His wife took the remark seriously, and said she knew a man named who could do the job.
Early Monday morning, the pair met with the man, who agreed to do the job for $500. Aponte told an investigator that he smoked a cigarette and closed his eyes before he was shot.
His lawyer has said Aponte suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, and the military will evaluate him and decide whether he is fit for duty, provide counseling if needed and then send him back overseas, or discharge him.
Aponte's wife, Alexandra Gonzalez, 22, was charged with assault, conspiracy and harassment.
The couple was arraigned Thursday and released on their own recognizance. The suspected shooter was also arraigned and charged with assault, weapon possession, conspiracy and harassment.

Not Exactly News, But Cute: How/Where to Pick Up Women

It's a tough move to get wrong, and one we women wish we saw more frequently. The pleasure is in the practice — like making a perfect cast, though in this case it isn't the line that will get you anywhere. It's the lure.
Have the bartender — always the bartender — deliver another of whatever it is she's already drinking. If it's the bottom-of-the-barrel kind, upgrade. Nod your head as she takes it. Smile a little. Do not grin. Let her get used to the idea of being appreciated by a stranger before you come any closer. You are, in effect, taking your hat off to whatever it is about her you find so captivating — something you wouldn't be afraid to share with her. The way she lets one shoe dangle from a toe as she crosses her legs on the bar stool or the deftness with which she twirls the little red straw.
No matter what kind of girl she is, she'll find your gift flattering for the simple reason that she likes the door opened for her — though she'd like to have some choice in whether or not she's approached any further. Now that she sees you at the other end of the bar, she can't help liking the first impression.
You? You wait. You fish the big river with only the smallest glimmer of expectation. You step into the current with a kind of caution. Maybe you catch the fish and let it go. Not because you've had your way with it, but because you respect the grace and dignity with which it cuts a path through the stream.

My week of picking up womenBy Matt Schneiderman For one week, I was on a mission to determine where the best venues to meet women are, so I hit up my usual destinations — and a few timely events — with a bit more forwardness than usual. I learned that context is everything: Approaching a woman at the bookstore, for instance, is vastly different from approaching a woman at your best friend’s wedding. Each destination has its charms, caveats, and strategies for meeting... but which places are most likely to yield dating success? After seven straight days of this, I know the answer and am ready to share it. Monday: Hitting the gymFor all the time I spend working out (three to four times a week), meeting a woman at the gym should come easily—where else can I show off my muscles? And yet, despite all my flexing and smiling, it had never happened. I blame iPods and the de facto segregation of the sexes, whereby men lift weights and women take exercise classes. For the sake of improving my chances of finding unplugged-in women, I decided to attend my first-ever Nia class (a combination of stretching, dance, and yoga). I spotted a cute young lady outside one of the classrooms and asked her whether she was taking the class. She responded that she was waiting for her mother to finish exercising. I contend that the girl was at least 18, but “waiting for my mom” is not an invitation to continue flirting. Instead, I found another woman who was, in fact, waiting for the class. We chatted for ten minutes about Nia as well as the other gyms in the area. The class itself was exactly what I was hoping for: 20 women and me. As the newcomer, I was introduced by the instructor and greeted by all the other students. An hour of mind, body and soul work can really bring you closer to a room of strangers; afterwards three women separately came up to me to chat. No numbers exchanged, but the opportunity was definitely there. The soreness I felt two days later somewhat dampened my memory of the experience, but if that’s the cost of meeting fit women, so be it.What I learned: Forget bugging a woman about her form on the machines or talking through her headphones—the female-dominated classes are where you can easily make your moves.Tuesday: Trying out a volunteer activityI’m a huge proponent of having fun while doing good for others, so I contacted a volunteer organization about helping out at a basketball clinic being held at a youth center. Even better, I realized, I’d be meeting women who share two of my interests, volunteering and playing ball. Such was obviously the case with the activity leader who emailed me back with the details for the clinic. I arrived in shorts and jersey, as she had suggested, and found myself one of six volunteers — three men, three women — working with 12 teenage boys. Once the drills began, opportunities to talk to the team leader or the other two females — all approximately my age — were limited, though I did chat with one during a water break who, like me, was attending this particular event for the first time. Competitive scrimmages helped build rapport between the volunteers and the kids—as well as with me and the women volunteers. Sweating profusely (the tiny gym was without air conditioning), we volunteers chatted at the end of the session about coming back in the future. I walked the team leader towards the exit, hoping to make plans to hang out prior to the next event two months away, but she stopped in front of the ladies’ room, obviously ready to clean up and get home. Luckily I still have her email address!What I learned: While opportunities to make quick connections or to get a first date lined up are limited, it’s likely that volunteers will see one at future outings if they return, which makes for good long-term relationship-building potential.Wednesday: Heading to Happy HourI hit up a bar and grill at 5 p.m.—just in time for drink specials. The place was empty save for the wait staff and, typically, the male loner sipping beer in the corner. After a fruitless hour of two-for-one melon martinis, I left and found a venue with more of an after-work crowd, albeit one with five-dollar beers. I approached two women and asked them if they worked in the area; they offered up minimalist answers. After a few minutes of polite conversation, I left them to resume their chat. We exchanged smiles — but no numbers — when they walked out. A bored-looking woman seemed to be inviting a distraction from the seven businessmen she was standing with, but again I was rebuffed by clipped responses and interruptions by her co-worker—who obviously didn’t appreciate my infringing on his group. Finally, though, three women sharing a bar table engaged with me when I asked for a female opinion on whether my friend should confront a mutual acquaintance about a potentially unhealthy relationship. They readily offered their advice and conversation smoothly transitioned to other subjects. By this point — about 7:30 p.m. — the bar was full; I’d had about four beers and was finding it easier to approach women, but harder to concentrate on the conversations. I spoke with one other group of women with whom I exchanged contact info and left. Two days later, I emailed to make plans with one of the women I met; we decided — you guessed it — to meet at a bar after work.What I learned: The bar scene is a “meet” market requiring direct approaches and quick judgment. Certainly, after-work bars offer up a variety of women—women out with their co-workers looking to unwind, women out with their boyfriends or on dates, and women looking to meet guys. Within 30 seconds of initiating conversation with a smile and a comment about the bar, I could tell which was which; within another three minutes I could tell whether there was any interest. And by 10 minutes I either had a phone number, email address, or an excuse to move on.Thursday: Hanging out at the dog runHow I envy dog-owners! Not only do they have constant canine companionship, but their pets make for excellent girl-bait. Better still, dog-people connect on sidewalks, in parks and at dog runs with other dog-people, people I definitely wanted to meet. Feeling like only a minor faker, I borrowed a friend’s speckled Dachshund and spent an afternoon walking/pulling him to a nearby park and letting him tear around a popular dog run. Milo, the Dachshund, elicited lots of attention: He’s adorable, and nearly every woman who came near us stopped to coo and pet him. Brief conversations on the street followed easily, though they were too short for me to segue into a proposition for meeting up without the pooch. The dog run presented better opportunities, as dog-owners could release their charges and talk to each other—about their dogs, of course. I had a pleasant exchange with a gorgeous woman after scolding Milo for mounting her Maltese; my embarrassment notwithstanding, Milo's amorous behavior was a perfect excuse to initiate conversation. Unfortunately, she told me she had a boyfriend when I asked for her number. Still, I had a walk back to my friend’s apartment with a surefire babe-magnet at the end of a leash to look forward to, so the rejection didn’t faze me much. It was more of the same for the remainder of my time with Milo — lots of smiles and aww’s — and despite not getting any numbers, I felt great about my prospects for next time… after I’ve adopted my own dog!What I learned: This was a departure from my other experiences meeting women in that they approached me; the hardest part, initiating a conversation, was done for me, allowing me to naturally segue into other topics—like whether she lived nearby and how often she came to the park. With a regular schedule of dog-walking and running into the same women, it would only get easier to chat these girls up.Friday: Stopping by a pal’s partyMy close friend Michael — we’ve been roommates five of the last ten years — went all out to celebrate his 30th birthday, renting out a space, and hiring a DJ and a caterer. We know a lot of the same people, though I hadn’t seen many of our common friends who were at the party in years; others I had never spent much time with. I took his birthday as an opportunity to get to know his female friends better. Introductions were breezily easy; I could always count on a mutual acquaintance to get us talking together. I discovered I had a lot in common with these women—they are Michael’s friends, after all, and share some of the same traits I like about him. Often, I had to make an effort to extricate myself from each conversation in order to speak with the other girls there. Getting friendly definitely paid off, as I left knowing I’d be in touch with at least three women I very much wanted to see again. I got in touch with one the next day; we recently went out for a second (great) date. As you might guess, I think parties are a perfect way to meet someone.What I learned: A close friend’s party is as excellent an opportunity to meet potential mates as I was likely to find. With all the advantages of a setup but without the awkwardness, built-up expectations or drawn-out conversations — plus the possibility of multiple connections — there’s no excuse for not meeting my friend’s gal pals.Saturday: Celebrating at a weddingThose Wedding Crashers are onto something: Weddings really are terrific places to meet women. I drove four hours to attend the nuptials of my best friend from college, excited by the prospect of a fun time and single women. I looked my best, dressed in a suit. I entered to find a roomful of well-put-together attendees of all ages, all smiling—and at least six approachable women. At the reception, conversations started easily thanks to the common link of the happy couple—just being there vouched for my decentness. I may have gone a bit overboard by kick-starting the dance party when I took my friend’s mom out for a spin, but not only did I elicit smiles from all the women I wanted to talk to, but I was introduced to the cute cousins immediately after the song ended. Approaches were simple from then on, as single women clumped together and were eager to meet dance partners. I could chat up a few standing off to the side or offer to take the picture of a group in between songs. Alas, the reception ended at midnight and local guests — including the two women I was most interested in — went home; I returned to my hotel, where I was sharing a room with a friend. Brunch the next day gave me another opportunity with one of the girls, though—an attractive, intelligent co-worker of the bride. We definitely hit it off, and when she was in my town visiting friends, we met up.What I learned: There were a few drawbacks to meeting women at a wedding — out-of-town guests meant limited opportunities for me to expect second meetings, and lots of the female guests brought dates — but overall, it’s no wonder so many successful couples say they met at a wedding.Sunday: Browsing at a bookstoreA rainy afternoon, I hoped, meant that many single women would have the same idea I did: Time to curl up with a book. The bookstore was indeed bustling when I walked in—dozens of men and women of all ages perusing the aisles for something to read, or camped out poring over a potential purchase. I made a beeline for my favorite section, figuring I'd be most attracted to fellow fiction-readers. Oddly, the literature section was nearly empty; evidently few people linger over books that aren’t in the “New Arrivals” piles near the door. I tried the magazine racks, hoping some woman would grab the same copy of my favorite title just as I was reaching for it, but after 15 minutes of flipping through US Weekly, I knew such serendipity wasn’t forthcoming. Unable to bring myself to interrupt anyone seemingly focused on reading, I found a pair of grad students studying in the bookstore’s café and asked them if the wireless was free. (It wasn’t.) We chatted and realized we knew a couple of people in common before exchanging contact info. Still, if it hadn’t been for the café, I would’ve come up empty.What I learned: Bookstores are pickup places for guys with big cajones—or at least a good line. What you can learn from my week: My success during my week of outings became much less about how many women were present than about how comfortable I felt approaching any one woman or group of women in a given situation. Singling out someone in the middle of a workout or while browsing books could be the way to go for some guys, but I much preferred approaching women at my friends’ wedding and party, where guests expected to meet new people. Ultimately, I had the most success with women I had some connection with—whether we shared acquaintances or a love of volunteering, exercise or dogs. No matter what the context, that kind of connection is what makes for a great pickup opportunity.Matt Schneiderman has written for Stuff and Giant.

Bartenders’ best pickup adviceBy Maggie Kim Few people have such a front-row seat to the dating and mating game as a bartender. Every night, these drink slingers watch would-be studs crash and burn, unlikely couples happily hook up, and more. Thanks to this experience, they’ve compiled a wealth of knowledge on the moves that work—not to mention those that bomb. Here, their best advice. Try this easy opener“I think the easiest way for a guy to start talking to a girl is to get next to her while she’s ordering her own drink and say, “That one’s on me.” Every girl will at least say thank you and if she’s interested, she’ll stick around and start a conversation.”—Gia Favia, Rino, ChicagoStand out with a signature drink“For both guys and girls, the meeting and hooking-up game is all about making an impression. I think finding a signature drink helps you stand out from the pack of gin and tonics and vodka sodas. Women who are sipping a bourbon definitely have a lot more mystique than one with a standard pink drink, just like a guy with a Manhattan seems more interesting than one with a beer. Find the drink that suits your style and personality and have a fun, cute story to go with it. Like ‘I drink Manhattans because my grandfather did.’ Anything that helps you stand out from the pack and start a conversation is a plus.”—Josh Wojcik, Chocolat Michel Cluizel, New YorkStick to the three-minute rule“From what I’ve seen, a woman’s usually made up her mind about a guy in the first three minutes—and I’ve never seen anyone’s mind change after that. So guys should go in for the pickup, but if three minutes go by and she’s not warming up, they should cut their losses and move on.”—David Cerequas, Craftbar, New YorkBe sincere“From what I’ve seen, it’s the Year of the Geeks and Good Guys: It’s not about being suave or sexy, but about being genuine and attentive. Women are tired of being hit on by jerks whose heads swivel every time another pretty girl walks by. Give a woman your undivided attention, and you’ll stand out from the crowd.”—Terril Johnson, Shortstop, Los AngelesLook out for the Lemon Drop“You can definitely spot the girls who are looking for a good time and want to flirt: They usually come in groups and line up at the bar versus at a table to make it easier for guys to talk to them. And if you see them drinking Lemon Drops — a yellowish liquid in a shot glass garnished with a lemon that’s been dipped in sugar — it’s a sure sign that these girls just wanna have fun! It’s replaced the Cosmo as the drink of choice for the Sex and the City-type girls.”—Erica Jobe, Moda, New YorkTry talking about your troubles“There was one guy who got a call on his cell phone about his dog being injured by a car—it felt like every woman in the bar was trying to help him and comfort him. Now, I’m not recommending guys lie and say their pet was hurt, but the lesson here is don’t be afraid to tell a girl about a dilemma or problem you’re struggling with. Women like to help.”—Chris Lower, Gator’s, MinnesotaBe a big spender“Splurge on a nice glass of champagne (think Cristal) and send it over to the woman you’re interested in. This works better than anything I’ve ever seen. It shows a guy’s not cheap and that he’s interested enough in the girl to spend some money on her. It’s smooth, impressive—and works almost every time!”—Joseph Barbour, Body English at the Hard Rock, Las Vegas

THINGS EVERY MAN SHOULD KNOW About Drinking
There is no such thing as a chocolate martini.
There is no shame in club soda and cranberry juice.
There is a reason for the scarcity of piano bars.
Visiting the pub will be cheaper in the long run if you tip the bartender regularly and more generously than is necessary.
Never eat the pickled eggs.
Never order a frozen drink in a place that serves pickled eggs.
Actually, never order a frozen drink.
It's also not a bad idea to eschew the pickled pigs' feet,although their presence is fairly strong evidence that you've accidentally stumbled upon a real tavern.
For the sake of the children, leave the pistol at home.
Champagne is a place. Bordeaux is a place. Champaleis not a place.
Grappa is to lighter fluid as ouzo is to lighter fluid.
Garnish matters.
Despite a high ratio of female clientele, an insouciant way with fried mozzarella, and their prevalence in resort towns, establishments where a waitress pours shots into your mouth from a bottle she holsters in a bandolier are fraught with peril.
When throwing a party, break the seals on all liquor bottles, lest guests should hesitate to open them and come to doubt your hospitality.
Better yet: Hire a bartender.
The perfect manhattan: two parts bourbon, one part sweet vermouth, bitters, and a splash of cherry juice. Over rocks or not.
At the holiday office party, consume one drink less than your boss.
Adopt a new favorite cocktail on a seasonal basis.
That sangría means "bloodletting" is more a cautionary note than a simple fact.
Dry martinis, being nothing but gin, aren't all they're cracked up to be.
If you still want a martini, know that you cannot actually bruise gin, so go ahead and shake.
On the other hand, shaking introduces air bubbles that make the martini look cloudy for a time, so stir, already, if you're so particular.
Drinks that give you bad breath: beer, anything sweet, anything with milk.
Drinks that give you good breath: gin and tonic, gimlet, vodka and cranberry, anything with citrus.
Instead of ordering that shot of After Shock to cap off the evening, one could just walk calmly into the street, lie down, and wait.
Alternatively, you could pinch the bouncer's ass.
Hungarian proverb: If three men tell you that you are drunk, lie down.
Every man should know how to make at least one drink from a foreign country, preferably one taught to him by a local female with whom he has had a complicated, unresolved, and quite possibly dangerous dalliance.
The perfect negroni: four parts gin, one part sweet vermouth, and one part Cam-pari shaken with ice and strained. Orange peel.
Citrus cocktails benefit greatly from rubbing lemon peel around the rim of the glass.
Jack Daniel's. Rocks.
There is nothing sadder than a guy who orders beer by the pitcher when he's drinking alone.
Fresh orange juice. Fresh lemon juice. Fresh lime juice.
The perfect margarita: one part fresh lime juice, one part Cointreau, and one and a half parts tequila over ice.
On those chrome, hourglass-shaped bar measuring cups, the big side is the jigger. The little side is the pony. Never use the pony.
If you must: single-malt Scotch in a brandy snifter with a splash of water.
Avoid bars that use plastic cups, bars whose bathrooms consist solely of a trough-style urinal, bars with chicken wire protecting the band, bars where Patrick Swayze is the bouncer.
There is rarely any genuine need to shout "Skål!" "Na zdorovye!" "Sláinte!" "Bottoms up!" or "Down the hatch!"
No one but the bouncer cares how tough you are, and he already knows you're not that tough.
Drinking is not a competitive sport.
A thought for the holidays: Gift wine should not be recognizable as having come from a grocery store.
Gift wine, being a gift,is not for tonight's party. Unless the host opens it.
Decent wine costs fifteen dollars. Good wine costs thirty-five dollars. Nobody can tell the difference.
Never drink in a place that calls itself an eatery.
The cosmopolitan is over.
Rye isn't as popular as it used to be.
The perfect highball: one part rye to three parts ginger ale over ice.
There is no upside to karaoke.
There is an ever-so-slight upside to a wet-T-shirt contest, as long as you're not in it.
It is not necessary to request premium liquor for a mixed drink in which you cannot taste it, such as a gimlet or sour.
On the other hand, ascertain exactly how nonpremium the "well" liquor is before you opt against the good stuff.
Sitting at the bar works only for two people. Three or more requires a table.
Always check your fly before leaving the john.
If you were sitting in the john, make sure your wallet did not fall onto the floor.
Try to take care of the sitting thing at home.
Never utter the words I and love and you if you've had more than three drinks.
If you're a lightweight, make that one drink.
The perfect Shirley Temple: ginger ale over ice to fill a wineglass, splash grenadine, orange slice, lemon twist, cherry.
If a bartender makes you flail your arms or beg for service, well, obviously, leave.
Don't call the bartender Barkeep, Chief, Buddy, or Ace, unless his actual name, in fact, is Barkeep, Chief, Buddy, or Ace.
Even if you have ascertained your bartender's name, behaving overly familiar with him will be seen as a pathetic gambit for free drinks or, worse, proof that you have nobody to go to for affection other than a random service-industry professional who does not, in fact, know you and just wants your money.
The one foolproof hangover cure: Don't get drunk.
Once you've fallen off a stool, there is little you can say to the bartender that will change his mind about asking you to leave.
Also know that there is nothing cheeky and clever you can say to a female bartender that she hasn't already heard from some other schmuck before you.
Don't eat the worm.
If you don't smoke and you're in a bar, don't complain about other people who happen to be smoking, because, virtuous friend, you are in a bar.
Instead of trying to remember whether it's "beer before liquor" or the other way around, just be an adult and stick to one or the other.
Acceptable drinks for men: beer, wine, whiskey, cocktails that are neither sweet nor made with dairy or fruit other than lime or lemon or orange.
Acceptable drinks for women: whatever they want, except a certain few.
A certain few: the grasshopper, the Long Island iced tea, the pink lady, and any variety of spritzer.
Also unacceptable: drinks whose names mimic critical medical conditions or copulative acts and their secretions.
And while we're on the subject, drinks that are named after supposedly cute body parts, like navels, which are actually disgusting repositories for sebaceous grime: No.
All of that said, never question a woman's drink choice.
If you're the first in the group to arrive and you start a tab on your card, you deserve exactly what's coming to you.
Campari shaken with ice and strained into a martini glass.
Unless you are lounging on the Promenade Deck, do not drink from a fruit.
The perfect martini: There is no such thing as the perfect martini. Make it the way it tastes best to you.
Provided that you remember that there is no such thing as a chocolate martini.

London Car Bomb Threats Thwarted

One week before the 7/7 anniversary of the terrorist bombings of 2005.
One day before London's Gay Pride Parade, on that route...

International probe as London police avert car bomb carnage

LONDON - British police on Friday defused a car bomb which could have caused carnage in London’s entertainment district, sparking a manhunt and probe into possible international links.
Amid widespread disruption in the capital, new Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the alert was a fresh warning of the threat faced by London, which next week marks the second anniversary of suicide attacks which killed 52 people.
The head of Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism unit Peter Clarke would not speculate on who was behind the bomb -- comprising gas cylinders, petrol and nails -- found outside a nightclub near the Piccadilly Circus tourist trap and a host of bars, theatres and restaurants
But he said: ‘Even at this stage it is obvious that if this device had detonated, there could have been significant injury or loss of life.’
As the United States praised the British authorities for their swift action, Clarke said police had no warning of an attack and it was unclear if the nightclub was the target but there were similarities with previous plots.
Members of an Islamist-inspired gang were jailed for life earlier this year after plotting to attack a number of high-profile British targets, including London’s Ministry of Sound nightclub.
And a Muslim convert was put behind bars for 30 years here last November for plotting devastating attacks in London and New York, including a plan to detonate limousines packed with explosives at key landmarks.
A security source quoted by Britain’s Press Association news agency said it was ‘entirely possible’ the latest incident had overseas links as insurgents in Iraq had used similar methods, but they were keeping an open mind.
The alert triggered tightened security measures at the flagship Wimbledon tennis championships in south London and police cordoned off the main Park Lane thoroughfare after reports of a suspicious vehicle.
Scotland Yard said they were not making a link between it and the previous incident ‘at this stage’.
Later in the afternoon police were seen sealing a section of Fleet Street near London’s City financial district. A spokesman declined to comment immediately.
The events, which dominated British media Friday, was a baptism of fire not just for Brown, but for his Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who was less than 24 hours into the role.
She met Brown in Downing Street and said afterwards: ‘We are currently facing the most serious and sustained threat to our security from international terrorism.
‘This latest incident reinforces the need for the public to remain vigilant and alert to the threat that we face at all times.’
Smith earlier chaired a meeting of the government’s emergency contigencies committee ‘COBRA’ and reported to Brown’s senior ministers at an extended cabinet meeting.
Clarke said an ambulance crew treating a person at the vast ‘Tiger, Tiger’ nightclub on The Haymarket street called in police explosives experts after noticing a metallic green Mercedes car giving off smoke at about 1:00 am.
Inside they found ‘significant quantities’ of petrol and a ‘large number’ of nails, he added.
Police sources said there was as much as 60 litres of petrol on the back seat of the car and in the boot (trunk).
As the car was taken away for forensic examination, Brown -- who took over as prime minister from Tony Blair Wednesday -- said the incident was a reminder of the ‘serious and continuous’ security threat facing Britain.
A hunt was under way for the driver with detectives expected to scour footage from closed circuit television cameras in streets surrounding The Haymarket, which is busy well into the early hours of the morning.
Cameras used to recognise car number plates for London’s traffic congestion charge would also be able to trace the route of the vehicle into the capital.The alert came ahead of the second anniversary of the July 7, 2005 attacks in London that killed 56 people, including four Islamist suicide bombers.
Britain has been on the second highest level of security alert -- ‘severe’ -- since the British Islamist extremist bombers detonated homemade bombs on three Underground trains and a bus two years ago.
Two of the bombers justified the actions because of Britain’s involvement in Iraq, where three British soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack Thursday.
The domestic intelligence service MI5 said a ‘severe’ threat level means there is a ‘serious and sustained threat from international terrorism to the UK and UK interests overseas’, particularly from Al Qaeda.

Chris Benoit: Wrestler strangled wife, suffocated his 7-year-old son, hanged himself

I don't mind Professional Wrestlers taking steroids, as such. In fact, I may prefer it. The practice gives them awesome bodies worth drooling over. And while I had stopped watching Pro Wrestling regularly for over a decade, I do enjoy catching the occasional match on telly - I even attended a live match in Oakland with TJ about 8 years ago - and recently found a few recorded matches on some old VHS tapes in some old boxes.

But there is a bit of a downside, apparently...

ATLANTA (AP) -- Investigators are looking into who altered pro wrestler Chris Benoit's Wikipedia entry to mention his wife's death hours before authorities discovered the bodies of the couple and their 7-year-old son.
Benoit's Wikipedia entry was altered early Monday to say that the wrestler had missed a match two days earlier because of his wife's death.
A Wikipedia official, Cary Bass, said Thursday that the entry was made by someone using an Internet protocol address registered in Stamford, Connecticut, where World Wrestling Entertainment is based.
An IP address, a unique series of numbers carried by every machine connected to the Internet, does not necessarily have to be broadcast from where it is registered. The bodies were found in Benoit's home in suburban Atlanta, and it's not known where the posting was sent from, Bass said.
Benoit strangled his wife and son during the weekend, placing Bibles next to their bodies, before hanging himself on the cable of a weight-machine in his home, authorities said. No motive was offered for the killings, which were discovered Monday.
Officials raid office of Benoit's doctor
Also Thursday, federal drug agents said they had raided the west Georgia office of a doctor who prescribed testosterone to Benoit.
The raid at Dr. Phil Astin's office in Carrollton began Wednesday night and concluded early Thursday, said agent Chuvalo Truesdell, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration. No arrests were made.
Hours before the raid, Astin told The Associated Press he had treated Benoit for low testosterone levels, which he said likely originated from previous steroid use.
Among other things, investigators were looking for Benoit's medical records to see whether he had been prescribed steroids and, if so, whether that prescription was appropriate, according to a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity because records in the case remain sealed.
Astin prescribed testosterone for Benoit, a longtime friend, in the past but would not say what, if any, medications he prescribed when Benoit visited his office Friday.
State medical records show that Astin's privileges were suspended for three months in 2001 at a Georgia hospital for "reasons related to competence or character."
Astin did not return calls to his cell phone from the AP on Thursday.
Anabolic steroids were found in Benoit's home, leading officials to wonder whether the drugs played a role in the killings. Some experts believe steroids cause paranoia, depression and violent outbursts known as "roid rage."
Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard said in a statement Thursday that he could not immediately comment on the raid.
Benoit's page on Wikipedia, a reference site that allows users to add and edit information, was updated at 12:01 a.m. Monday, about 14 hours before authorities say the bodies were found. The reason he missed a match Saturday night was "stemming from the death of his wife Nancy," it said.
Reporters informed the Fayette County district attorney's office of the posting Thursday, and the agency forwarded the information to sheriff's investigators, who are looking into it, a legal assistant said in an e-mail to the AP.
WWE attorney Jerry McDevitt said that to his knowledge, no one at the WWE knew Nancy Benoit was dead before her body was found Monday afternoon. Text messages released by officials show that messages from Chris Benoit's cell phone were being sent to co-workers a few hours after the Wikipedia posting.
WWE employees are given WWE e-mail addresses, McDevitt said, though he did not know whether Chris Benoit had one.
"I have no idea who posted this," McDevitt said. "It's at least possible Chris may have sent some other text message to someone that we're unaware of. We don't know if he did. The phone is in the possession of authorities."
On Thursday afternoon, the Wikipedia page about Benoit carried a note stating that editing by unregistered or newly registered users was disabled until July 8 because of vandalism.
In other developments Thursday, Ballard told the AP that 10 empty beer cans were found in a trash can in the Benoit home. An empty wine bottle was found a few feet from where Benoit hanged himself, Ballard said.
It could take several weeks for toxicology tests to be completed on Benoit to see what substances, if any, were in his system.
Benoit took four months off from work in 2006 for undisclosed personal reasons, McDevitt said.
"He was feeling depressed, that kind of thing," McDevitt said.
In the days before the killings, Benoit and his wife argued over whether he should stay home more to take care of their mentally retarded 7-year-old son, according to an attorney for the WWE wrestling league.
The child had a rare medical condition called Fragile X Syndrome, an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism.
Chris Benoit's father, Michael Benoit, declined to comment on the slayings when reached Thursday by telephone in Alberta, Canada. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

and from wikapediea:

On June 25, Benoit, his wife Nancy, and their 7-year-old son Daniel were found dead in their Fayetteville, Georgia, home at around 2:30 PM EDT.[84] Fayette County, Georgia police are currently investigating this case. Lieutenant Tommy Pope of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department reported to ABC News that sheriffs entered his home on a "welfare check" after missing several appointments, leading to concerns.[85] Pope also stated the police are not searching for any suspects outside of the house, as the instruments of death were located at scene of the crime.[86]
Detective Bo Turner of the Fayette County Sheriff's Department told television station WAGA-TV that the case was being treated as a murder-suicide. The station reported that investigators believe that Benoit murdered his wife and son over the weekend and committed suicide sometime on Monday.[87]
During a press conference Tuesday, June 26, Fayette County district attorney Scott Ballard confirmed that Chris Benoit had murdered his wife and son. His wife was bound at the wrists and feet, while there were no signs of restraint on his son, both died of asphyxiation. It is reported that his wife died on Friday, his son died on Saturday, and Benoit killed himself later Saturday evening or early Sunday morning. Benoit's body was found dead of asphyxiation and hanging by the cord of a weight machine in his basement. It was also reported that there was a Bible by both Nancy and Daniel's bodies.[88]
On Wednesday, June 28, County's District Attorney Scott Ballard explained Benoit may have killed his son with a chokehold. He said the boy had internal injuries to the throat area, but showed no bruises, indicating he may have been locked in the crook of his father's arm. Nancy Benoit had bruises on her back and stomach consistent with someone pressing a knee into the small of the back while pulling on a cord around the neck. Benoit killed himself by wrapping a cord around his neck that was attached to a weight machine, and when Benoit released the weights about 240 pounds caused his strangulation. Ballard said the pull-down bar had been removed and Benoit was found seated against the machine. [89]

Reaction from World Wrestling Entertainment
It was first reported to fans of WWE on their WWE Mobile Alerts Service and posted to their official website soon after. On their website, World Wrestling Entertainment released the following statement:
World Wrestling Entertainment is deeply saddened to report that today Chris Benoit and his family were found dead in their home. There are no further details at this time, other than the Benoit family residence is currently being investigated by local authorities. Tonight’s Raw on USA Network will serve as a tribute to Chris Benoit and his family. WWE extends its sincerest thoughts and prayers to the Benoit family’s relatives and loved ones in this time of tragedy.
WWE canceled the scheduled three hour long live RAW show on June 25, and replaced the broadcast version with a tribute to his life and career, featuring his past matches, segments from the Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story DVD, and comments from wrestlers and announcers.[7]
The next night, before their ECW broadcast, WWE aired a recorded statement by Vince McMahon hinting towards regret for the previous night's special and stating that Benoit's name would not be mentioned other than during McMahon's comments.
Last night on Monday Night Raw, the WWE presented a special tribute show, recognizing the career of Chris Benoit. However, now some 26 hours later, the facts of this horrific tragedy are now apparent. Therefore, other than my comments, there will be no mention of Mr. Benoit tonight. On the contrary, tonight's show will be dedicated to everyone who has been affected by this terrible incident. This evening marks the first step of the healing process. Tonight, the WWE performers will do what they do better than anyone else in the world -- entertain you.[90]
It was also stated that the Chris Benoit Hard Knocks DVD had been pulled from the website of European WWE distributor Silvervision, along with other Benoit merchandise from the official WWE website. [91]

Phone calls and text messages
Saturday, 23 June at 3:30 p.m., a co-worker received a voice message from Benoit stating he missed his flight and overslept and would be late for that night's Beaumont, Texas, house show. According to the WWE Web site, the co-worker called Benoit back and Benoit sounded tired and groggy as he confirmed everything he had said in his voice message. A 3:42 p.m., the same co-worker, "concerned about Benoit's tone and demeanor," called him back again. Benoit did not answer the call and the co-worker left a message stating, "just call me back." Two minutes later, Benoit called the co-worker back, stating he didn't answer the call because he was on the phone with Delta Air Lines changing his flight. "Benoit stated he had a real stressful day due to Nancy and Daniel being sick with food poisoning," the WWE Web site said. At 4:30 p.m., according to the Web site, a co-worker who often travels with Benoit called him from outside the Houston airport and Benoit answered. "Benoit told the co-worker that Nancy was throwing up blood and that Daniel was also throwing up." At 5:35 p.m., Benoit called WWE's "Talent Relations" office, stating that his son was throwing up and that he and Nancy were in the hospital with their son, and that he would be taking a later flight into Houston, but would make the live event in Beaumont. [92]
On Sunday, June 24, between 3:51 and 3:58 a.m., Benoit sent five text messages to co-workers from both his and his wife's phone. [93] The first, third, fourth, and fifth text messages stated:
"My physical address is 130 Green Meadow Lane, Fayetteville Georgia. 30215"
The second text message stated:
"The dogs are in the enclosed pool area. Garage side door is open"
At 12:30 p.m. Monday, June 25, WWE officials were notified of the text messages sent to the co-workers the previous day. [93]
Alcohol consumed in house
Fayette County District Attorney Scott Ballard told the Associated Press that empty beer cans were found in a trash can in the Benoit home and an empty wine bottle was discovered a few feet from where Benoit hanged himself. [94]

Links to steroids
Steroids were found in the home, leading to theories about steroid abuse being a factor. Prosecutors in upstate New York have been investigating the deliveries Benoit received from Signature Pharmacy and MedXLife.com, which sold steroids, human growth hormone and testosterone on the Internet. Terence Kindlon, lawyer for MedXLife co-owner Dr. Gary Brandwein, denied allegations that his client's company sold steroids to Benoit. Brandwein has pleaded not guilty to six counts in New York state court related to the criminal sale of a controlled substance. He was accused of signing and sending prescriptions without ever seeing patients. WWE attorney, Jerry McDevitt said the drugs found in Benoit's house were legitimately prescribed.[95]
Some media organizations have hypothesized that a steroid-induced rage may be the cause of Benoit's actions, as some doctors have linked steroid use to uncontrollable anger, among other psychological issues which include paranoia.[96][97] However, the WWE has stated that they believe the facts of this crime do not support the hypothesis that "roid rage" played a role in the murders. They cite evidence of premeditation in addition to the lack of a toxicology report, and the fact that the steroids found within Benoit's home were legally prescribed.[98]

Raid on office of Benoit's doctor
On June 28, FOX News also reported that Federal agents conducted a raid on the office of Benoit's personal physician and friend, Dr. Phil Astin. Officials said the raid stemmed from the investigation into drugs found in the Benoit home .[95] Astin's medical license was suspended in 1992 for "unprofessional conduct" and again in 2001 for "reasons related to competence or character."[99] Carroll County will launch its own investigation of Dr. Phil Astin. [100]

Son's Fragile X syndrome
Benoit's son had Fragile X syndrome, a condition with effects including autism, which has led one source familiar with Benoit to hypothesize that after he killed his wife, he killed his son for fear that his special educational needs wouldn't be met.[101]
ABCNews.com reported that the couple argued over whether he should stay home more to take care of their son. "I think it's fair to say that the subject of caring for that child was part of what made their relationship complicated and difficult, and it's something they were both constantly struggling with," said Jerry McDevitt, an attorney for World Wrestling Entertainment. "We do know it was a source of stress and consternation."[102]
District Attroney Scott Ballard stated the Daniel had old needle marks in his arms. Ballard said he had been told the parents considered him undersized and had given him growth hormones. "The boy was very small, even dwarfed," he said. [103]

Possible brain trauma
An alternate motive for Benoit's suicide-murder has been proposed by former wrestler Christopher Nowinski, now a respected authority on concussions and brain trauma in sport.[104] Nowinski suggests that Benoit's violent and erratic behavior may have been a result of long-time concussions incurred during his career, which may have led to feelings of rage and paranoia. [105] Nowinski himself was forced to retire from wrestling as a result of a severe concussion giving him lasting headaches and related pain due to post-concussion syndrome, which could have been further complicated were he to have continued wrestling.

Separate burials
Benoit will have a private service in Canada, separate from the services for his wife and son, his father Michael said during a telephone interview. He also stated the mother and child will be cremated in Georgia and a funeral likely held in Daytona Beach, Fla. [106]

Early reports of Nancy Benoit's death

Wikinews has news related to:
Death of Nancy Benoit rumour posted on Wikipedia hours prior to body being found
Initially reported on Wikinews, FOXNews.com later reported that news of Nancy Benoit's death was posted on Wikipedia half a day before the police discovered the bodies. The posting reads: “Chris Benoit was replaced by Johnny Nitro for the ECW Championship match at Vengeance, as Benoit was not there due to personal issues, stemming from the death of his wife Nancy.” The phrase "stemming from the death of his wife Nancy" was added to the English Wikipedia's "Chris Benoit" article at 12:01 a.m. EDT on June 25,[107] whereas the Fayette County police reportedly discovered the bodies of the Benoit family at 2:30 p.m. EDT (14 hours, 29 minutes later). The IP address of the editor was traced to Stamford, Connecticut, which is also the location of WWE headquarters.[108]

also check out: http://prowrestling.about.com/od/whatsrealwhatsfake/tp/10tragedies.htm

Death of Another World Actor

David Oliver (actor)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
David Oliver
Born
January 31, 1962(1962-01-31) Concord, California, USA
Died
November 12, 1992 (aged 30) Los Angeles, California, USA
David Oliver (born January 31, 1962, Concord, CA; died November 12, 1992, Los Angeles, CA) was an American actor best known for roles on two television programs.
From 1983 to 1985, he played the role of Perry Hutchins on the daytime soap opera Another World. In 1986 he played the role of Sam Gardner in the miniseries A Year in the Life. The miniseries then became a regular series in the fall of 1987 and ran on NBC for one season. Oliver's wife in both the miniseries and regular series was played by a young Sarah Jessica Parker.
David Oliver died of complications due to AIDS on November 12, 1992.

Girl's Feet Cut Off At Six Flags

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Police confirmed that a girl's feet have been cut off at Six Flags' Kentucky Kingdom. Officials said they got the call around 5 p.m. Thursday, and both her feet were detached at the ankle.
According to MetroSafe dispatch supervisors, the girl was riding the Superman Tower of Power, which is 177 feet tall and drops riders at 54 miles per hour. According to Kentucky Kingdom, the girl was injured when the ride malfunctioned.
On scene EMT personnel were on hand to immediately transport the girl to a hospital.

The ride was shut down and will remain so until a full investigation has been completed.

PICKET FENCES - AND REALITY

They finally released PICKET FENCES on DVD on Tuesday, 19 June 2007. I'm ecstatic! I've watched the first 2 of 6 disks already, and the show has not lost any of its charm, poignancy, quirkiness, and, rather surprisingly, its relevance.

Of course, the show takes place in the fictional sleepy town of Rome in Wisconsin, created and written by David E Kelley. But for the next four season this sleepy town would wake up to find the most peculiar murders and eccentric people popping up each week.

And in the wake of this marvelous release, a true crime story has blasted out in a sleepy town in Wisconsin:

PORTAGE, Wis. - Police initially went to a rental property in this sleepy Wisconsin town in search of a 2-year-old girl kidnapped from her Florida foster home by her mother last fall.
What they found was a house of horrors, detectives say: A roving band of suspected identity thieves who had killed one of their own, buried her in the backyard and locked her bloody and beaten 11-year-old son in an upstairs closet.
“It’s crazy. Weird,” said next-door neighbor Angie Turley, who moved from Milwaukee to Portage to get away from crime. “It can happen anywhere.”

Charged Wednesday with being a party to first-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse and child abuse are Candace Clark, 23; Clark’s boyfriend, Michael Sisk, 25; Michaela Clerc, 20; and Felicia Mae Garlin, 15.
The teen is the dead woman’s daughter and the sister of the boy in the closet.
Police said the group arrived in February in Portage, a town of 8,000 about 40 miles north of Madison that touts itself as “Where the North Begins.”
The group was joined by Garlin’s mother, Tammie Garlin; her 11-year-old brother; and three other children, including the kidnapped girl.
Running from the lawDetectives said the group was running from the law in several states. Clark was wanted in Florida in her 2-year-old daughter’s abduction, as well as in Kentucky on felony warrants for financial fraud, Columbia County District Attorney Jane Kohlwey said.
Sisk was wanted in Colorado for not returning to jail after he was let out on work release, Kohlwey said. In the past year, the group had lived in Florida, Maine, Tennessee, Kentucky and Colorado, and came to Wisconsin to see snow, a criminal complaint said.
The group was making a living through financial fraud using aliases, prosecutors said. Kohlwey said investigators found a stash of money orders in the house, each good for $500, made out to the fake names.
They tortured the 11-year-old — identified in the complaint only by his initials — by whipping him, withholding food, scalding him with hot water and pulling his genitals with pliers, the complaint said. The group sometimes choked him until he nearly passed out and forced him to sleep naked in his sister’s closet, prosecutors said.
His mother and sister helped torture him, prosecutors said.
Group turned on Tammie GarlinAt some point, the group turned on Tammie Garlin, burning her and forcing her into the closet with the boy, he told authorities. She was the only one who helped him, by putting cream on his wounds, he said.
The complaint said Tammie Garlin and Clerc had been lovers but had separated, and that Clerc was upset because she thought Tammie Garlin had cheated on her. Detectives, however, said they weren’t sure why the others turned against Tammie Garlin.
Police said Clark told them Tammie Garlin died June 4. According to the complaint, Felicia Garlin and Clerc had kicked her, then later that day carried her into the bathroom, where Clerc dropped her head on the floor.
Sisk went into the bathroom and shut the door. He emerged a few minutes later, announcing Tammie Garlin was dead. Clerc laughed, the complaint said.
They buried her in the backyard. The landlord said Sisk approached him a few weeks ago asking if he could plant a garden in the spot.
He never got around to it. Florida detectives were closing in.
Portage officers, alerted by sheriff’s deputies in Lake County, Fla., went to the house June 14. They found the missing toddler, along with Clark’s two other children, and caught her trying to give them a false name, the complaint said.

'I don't want to hurt no more'Police found the 11-year-old sitting on the closet floor with his knees pulled to his chest, his body a mess of cuts, burns and scars. His feet were burned so badly he couldn’t walk.
The complaint said the boy told a doctor, “I don’t want to hurt no more.”
Police captured Sisk at a Milwaukee bus terminal with a ticket to Kentucky the next day. Police caught him because his bus had been delayed, police Lt. Mark Hahn said.
A judge on Wednesday denied bail for Sisk and Clark, identified by prosecutors as the group’s leaders. He set bail at $500,000 for Felicia Garlin and $350,000 for Clerc.
Defense attorneys said the allegations in the complaint are unproven and they don’t have the money to flee. But Judge Alan White said all four posed a flight risk.
Hahn said investigators were trying to piece together the group’s activities and whereabouts across the country.
“We could have victims from all over in different parts of the country,” he said. “Fortunately, it ended here.”

Paris and the Pokey

June 8, 2007 - The Paris Hilton saga continues. The 26-year-old heiress, who was sentenced to 45 days in jail last month for violating her probation on a previous alcohol-related conviction, turned herself in to a Los Angeles county jail earlier this week, only to be released three days later. The sheriff's office announced Thursday morning that Hilton would be finishing the rest of her sentence under house arrest due to an undisclosed medical condition. But the bizarre case didn't end there. Yesterday, the city attorney's office filed a motion for another hearting (scheduled for 9 a.m. PT Friday) to put Paris back in jail. While we wait for the new decision, NEWSWEEK's Ramin Setoodeh and Joshua Alston discussed what it is about the Paris Hilton case that captures the public’s attention.The latest installment of Listening In, a periodic online conversation among NEWSWEEK reporters and editors.

Setoodeh: Did you hear the breaking news?! Is the world ending??? Ah, on second thought, scratch that. Paris might be going back to jail. The next hearing is just mere minutes away (Update: Paris intended to testify over the phone, but the judge has now ordered that she show up in person. By the time she gets dressed and arrives at the courthouse, she'll be very late.) I know that some people say they could not care less, but I—like most of the blogosphere—am really disturbed that she got out in the first place. This isn't just a story about another celebrity behaving badly anymore. It's an illustration of how fame and riches can buy you a ticket out of jail.
Alston: Yeah. But isn't that an old illustration? I mean, if it were a literal illustration, and not a figurative illustration, it would be all faded and yellowed by now, you know, assuming someone hadn't framed it.
Setoodeh: Yes, perhaps. O.J. got out, but then again, we didn't know that he did it—at least until he wrote "If I Did It." In Paris's case, the judge ordered her to 45 days in jail. He made sure there were no loopholes for her to get out early. Jail overcrowding is one thing, but that's not the reason she was sent home. We still don't know what happened exactly, but as far as I can tell, the sheriff's office released her due to a "psychological" problem. The message this sends: if you're a celebrity heiress and you don't like jail, you can go home. Do we even need to wonder what would've happened in the same situation if Paris was a poor minority woman with the same sentence? She'd still be in jail right now.
Alston: All excellent points, all totally valid, but who cares? This story is getting attention because Paris is the embodiment of everything people hate about wealth and celebrity, so they want to see her suffer a little. But let's say she did finish out her sentence. What would it prove? What effect would it have on the inequities of our justice system? What would be accomplished?
Setoodeh: I think you're missing the point. She has to go back to jail. In our democracy, we're all supposed to be treated equally in the eyes of the law. Giving Paris Hilton special treatment because she's a celebrity and then saying, "Who cares!? She's just a celebrity" is on par to not voting for the president, because a single vote can't count. The system might not be perfect, but we have to try to make it work. Otherwise, what's the point of a democracy anyway? That's why I'm on the send-her-back-to-jail side of the debate. Also, I refuse to shell out $20 for a FREE PARIS T shirt.
Alston: It's not that I'm on the don't-send-her-back-to-jail side of the debate, I'm just on the "Who cares?" side. Granted, she was driving under the influence, which could have had very serious consequences for innocent people, but there were none. She drove on a suspended license, and that's why she's getting the book thrown at her. Neither of these transgressions are so worthy of my rage that I'm angry at her release. If she serves 45 days, fine, if not, that's fine, too. I just don't think it makes a difference in the world or demonstrates that our justice system works either way. By the way, you can always borrow my FREE PARIS T shirt, but you're much smaller than me, so you'll have to cinch it.
Setoodeh: Thanks, but no thanks. You're not tricking me into switching my thoughts on this case so easily! Let's talk about some of the bizarre details. Why do you think the sheriff's office let her go? The rumors have been all over the place—from her not eating to a rash. But no matter what it was, I don't understand why they couldn't have just checked her in to the jail's hospital and taken care of the situation on the premises.
Alston: There's definitely something odd about that, and it should be looked into. I'm sure there are plenty of other sick people in that jail who would be more than happy to serve out their sentences in Paris's mansion. There's no reason to have let her go for medical reasons. Or for overcrowding reasons either, for that matter. It's not as though she takes up a lot of space.
Setoodeh: One train of thought is that she bugged the prison guards so much, they wanted to get rid of her. But I don't buy it. These people deal with hardened criminals every day. You can't tell me that Paris proved more of a burden than the average jailbird who doesn't follow any rules. We've all seen "The Simple Life." Paris can be annoying. but not that annoying.
Alston: I'd sooner believe that she just bribed them. Theoretically, it wouldn't be all that difficult for her to promise someone she would pay them if she were let out. Her sentence is short enough to make good on such a promise in a very short period of time. Just sayin'.
Setoodeh: Now you're starting to sound like Rosie O'Donnell on "The View" with your conspiracy theories. Predictions on the new ruling? I think the judge will send her back to jail, which will only cause this media circus to grow. Remember, she'll only have to serve half her sentence anyway (due to overcrowding). So the countdown will begin for when Paris is finally released (20, 19, 18 ...) to be reunited with her beloved family: Tinkerbell.
Alston: I think the judge will openly weep and attempt to parlay that into his own syndicated court show, à la Larry Seidlin from the Anna Nicole Smith case. Or he'll just send her back to jail. Hopefully, both.

Judge orders Paris Hilton back to jail
Weeping heiress screams ‘It’s not right!’ as she’s taken from courtroom

LOS ANGELES - Paris Hilton was sent screaming and crying back to jail Friday after a judge ruled that she must serve out her sentence behind bars rather than in the comfort of her Hollywood Hills home.
“It’s not right!” shouted Hilton, who violated her probation in a reckless driving case. “Mom!” she cried out to her mother.
The 26-year-old hotel heiress was taken handcuffed from her home in a black-and-white police car, paparazzi sprinting in pursuit and helicopters broadcasting live from above. She entered the courtroom disheveled and weeping, hair askew, without makeup, wearing a fuzzy gray sweat shirt over slacks.

She cried throughout the hearing, dabbing her eyes, and her body shook constantly. Several times she turned to her parents, seated behind her in the courtroom, and mouthed, “I love you.” TMZ.com reported that Hilton's family will file an appeal, maybe as soon as Friday afternoon.
Hilton was taken to a treatment center at the downtown Twin Towers jail for medical and psychiatric examination to determine which facility she will be held in, said sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore.
“She’ll be there for at least a couple of days,” he said.
Despite being ordered to serve the remainder of her original 45-day sentence, Hilton could still be released early. Inmates are given a day off their terms for every four days of good behavior, and her days in home detention counted as time served.
Superior Court Judge Michael T. Sauer was calm but apparently irked by Sheriff Lee Baca’s decision to release Hilton three days into her sentence due to an unspecified “medical condition.”
“I at no time condoned the actions of the sheriff and at no time told him I approved the actions,” Sauer said. “At no time did I approve the defendant being released from custody to her home.”
Hearing sought by prosecutorsThe hearing was requested by the city attorney’s office, which had prosecuted Hilton and wanted Baca held in contempt for releasing Hilton despite Sauer’s express order that she must serve her time in jail. The judge took no action on the contempt request.

A member of the county counsel’s staff said Baca was willing to come to court with medical personnel. The judge did not take him up on the offer.
Assistant City Attorney Dan F. Jeffries argued that Hilton’s incarceration was purely up to the judge. “Her release after only three days erodes confidence in the judicial system,” he said.
Hilton’s attorney, Richard Hutton, implored the judge to order a hearing in his chambers to hear testimony about Hilton’s medical condition before making a decision. The judge did not respond to that suggestion.
Another of her attorneys, Steve Levine, said, “The sheriff has determined that because of her medical situation, (jail) is a dangerous place for her.”
“The court’s role here is to let the Sheriff’s Department run the jail,” he said.
Judge didn't receive papers from sheriffThe judge interrupted several times to say that he had received a call last Wednesday from an undersheriff informing him that Hilton had a medical condition and that he would submit papers to the judge to consider. He said the papers never arrived.

Every few minutes, the judge would interrupt proceedings, state the time on the clock, and note that the papers still had not arrived.
He also noted that he had heard that a private psychiatrist visited Hilton in jail, and he wondered if that person played a role in deciding her medical needs.
The last attorney to speak was another deputy city attorney, David Bozanich, who declared, “This is a simple case. There was a court order. The Sheriff’s Department chose to violate that order. There is no ambiguity.”
Hilton’s twisted jailhouse saga began Sept. 7, when she failed a sobriety test after police saw her weaving down a street in her Mercedes-Benz on what she said was a late-night hamburger run.
She pleaded no contest to reckless driving and was sentenced to 36 months’ probation, alcohol education and $1,500 in fines. In the months that followed she was stopped twice while driving on a suspended license. The second stop landed her in Sauer’s courtroom.
Back before Sauer on Friday, Hilton’s entire body trembled as the final pitch was made for her further incarceration. She clutched a ball of tissue and tears ran down her face.

Seconds later, the judge announced his decision: “The defendant is remanded to county jail to serve the remainder of her 45-day sentence. This order is forthwith.”
Hilton screamed.
Eight deputies immediately ordered all spectators out of the courtroom. Hilton’s mother, Kathy, threw her arms around her husband, Rick, and sobbed uncontrollably.
Deputies escorted Hilton out of the room, holding each of her arms as she looked back.

Gay Marriage: Scriptual Showdown

June 8, 2007 - For years, Mitchell Gold, a founder of the popular furniture company Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, has been irritated by what he sees as fundamentalist Christians’ use of the Bible to justify withholding civil rights from gays. Scripture, Gold argues, was used in the past to defend slavery, prohibit interracial marriage and prevent women from voting. Frustrated that few politicians dare to confront anyone brandishing a Bible, in 2005 Gold formed the group Faith In America (FIA), which says its goals are to educate people about the past “misuse” of religion and scripture. FIA's latest campaign is centered on next week’s 40th anniversary of Loving v. Virginia, the Supreme Court decision that overturned Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage, which had been supported by a Virginia judge who ruled the intention of “Almighty God” was to keep the races separate. This week, FIA ran a series of full-page ads in Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, featuring a photo of former Florida governor Jeb Bush and his wife, Columba, a Mexican native, over a caption that says “they reside in Florida, where interracial marriage was illegal prior to 1967.” Gold hopes that reminding people about the Loving decision—and how social arrangements considered morally unacceptable just a few years ago are acceptable today—will help them see it’s wrong to make policy decisions based on some individuals’ interpretation of the Bible. (Photos of other public figures with interracial marriages and/or parents, like Barack Obama, Tiger Woods and Sen. Mitch McConnell, also appear in the ads; some of them have objected to gay marriage in the past.) NEWSWEEK’s Julie Scelfo spoke with Gold about the campaign. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: Why do you think reminding people that interracial marriage used to be illegal will help end anti-gay sentiments?Mitchell Gold: Most people acknowledge today that it was wrong 40 years ago to deny couples who loved each other the right to marry, the freedom to marry, simply because of one’s own religious belief. We want to remind people of past mistakes. This 40th anniversary of Loving is the perfect opportunity to do that. The similarity [to anti-gay rhetoric] is it’s religious-based discrimination. In 1959, when the Virginia judge handed down the decision prohibiting interracial marriage, he quoted from scripture that it was God’s will. And that is similar to today, whether it’s the president of the United States or senators and congresspeople that invoke the name of their God or religion to deny gay and lesbian couples the legal right to marry.
How has the issue of gay rights touched your life?In 1989, Bob Williams and I founded our company with $60,000 and over 10 years it grew into a $40 million business [that provides furniture to stores like Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware]. But because we were gay and couldn’t marry, we realized if one of us should die, the other would have to pay huge inheritance tax—and may not be able to afford it. So, we decided the only way to protect ourselves was to sell the company which was really emotionally difficult. It was our baby. If we were a heterosexual couple we would not have had to think about that. We subsequently bought it back in 2004 with the help of investors, but it’s still not the same. Now, we have a lot more financial stability—and we’re also not a couple anymore—so we’re less concerned about the tax issue.
The ad campaign also includes other people who have interracial marriages like former Defense secretary Bill Cohen and Tiger Woods, or who have interracial parents like Barack Obama. Did those folks consent to letting you use the photos?We didn’t ask. We notified them that we were using them, but because they’re all people in the public domain, those are images you can buy from stock-photography companies. I would hope they would be happy to be included and be pleased to be part of an effort to provide the freedom to marry that they have with others.
Have you heard from any of them?No, to my surprise. They’re laying low.
What has the reaction been like so far?Well, it’s been great actually. Everywhere I go people tell me they’re happy [my group] is talking about the history of discrimination in America. There’s so much talk today in politics about religion, and frankly too often at that intersection is discrimination. I also found it interesting that we haven’t had a flood of negative calls to say that’s a horrible argument or isn’t valid. In fact, I’ve had nobody say that.
Previously, you've said fundamentalist Christians have been waging a war against homosexuality and few people fight back. Why do you think that’s the case?I think many politicians are afraid to say somebody using their Bible is wrong. Secular civil-rights groups are very uncomfortable. And we feel enough harm has been done, it’s time to stop this, to stand up and have the courage to say to folks, this really is not right, to think back about what types of harm this kind of religious thinking has done in the past. When he realized the harm he was causing, Jerry Falwell in the 1970s apologized to African-Americans for [previously] supporting segregation. We’re hoping that good Americans today will recognize if they’re using their biblical beliefs to deny gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people of their full and equal rights, that’s it’s wrong and harmful.
It seems like this issue is really personal for you.[Far too many] kids commit suicide because they’re gay, because they find the world untenable for themselves. I can understand because I was almost one of those statistics. But I was fortunate to get help when I needed it. When you're growing up and you’re 14 years old—I can tell you—and your parents, your church and your government are telling you you’re wrong, you’re not equal, that’s a tough nut.

31-year-old lawyer apologizes; no others found to be infected, CDC reports

DENVER - The Atlanta lawyer quarantined with a dangerous strain of tuberculosis apologized to fellow airline passengers in an interview aired Friday, and insisted he was told before he set out for his wedding in Europe that he was no danger to anyone.
“I’ve lived in this state of constant fear and anxiety and exhaustion for a week now, and to think that someone else is now feeling that, I wouldn’t want anyone to feel that way. It’s awful,” Andrew Speaker, speaking through a face mask, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” from his hospital room in Denver.
Meanwhile, questions arose as to whether the wedding even took place. The mayor of the island of Santorini in Greece, Angelos Rousso, told The Associated Press: “There was no wedding. They came for a marriage but they did not have the required papers.” He said the couple stayed in a hotel for three days and then left.

In Denver, Speaker’s doctors said that he could be in the hospital for up to two months, and that if antibiotics fail to knock out the extremely drug-resistant infection, he may have to undergo surgery to remove infected lung tissue, about the size of a tennis ball.
Surgery to remove pieces of the lung was more common before the advent of sophisticated drugs in the 1960s. But it is coming back as a treatment because of the development of strains resistant to those drugs.
Speaker is the first infected person quarantined by the U.S. government since 1963. In the TV interview, Speaker, wearing street clothes, repeatedly apologized to the dozens of airline passengers and crew members now anxiously awaiting the results of their TB tests.

“I don’t expect for people to ever forgive me. I just hope that they understand that I truly never meant to put them in harm,” he said, his voice cracking.
The CDC expects to lift the isolation order on Speaker within a few days. He will become the responsibility of Denver health authorities who will determine he is not planning to flee, NBC News has learned.
Contacting passengersHealth officials have contacted 74 of the 310 U.S. citizens who were on the May 12 Air France flight that Speaker and his fiancee took to Paris, the CDC said. That count includes all 26 who sat in the five-row area around Speaker — the ones considered at greatest risk.
None is exhibiting symptoms, CDC officials said.
Speaker, 31, said he, his doctors and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention all knew he had TB that was resistant to some drugs before he flew to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon last month. But he said he was advised at the time by Fulton County, Ga., health authorities that he was not contagious or a danger to anyone.
Officials told him they would prefer he didn’t fly, but no one ordered him not to, he said. Speaker said his father, also a lawyer, taped that meeting.

“My father said, ‘OK, now are you saying, prefer not to go on the trip because he’s a risk to anybody, or are you simply saying that to cover yourself?’ And they said, ‘We have to tell you that to cover ourself, but he’s not a risk,”’ Speaker said.
“I never would have put my family at risk, and my daughter at risk. I repeatedly asked my doctors, ’Is my family at risk? Is anybody at risk of this?”’ he said.
‘Abandoned’Speaker was in Europe when he learned tests showed he had not just TB, but an especially dangerous, extensively drug-resistant strain.
“He was told in no uncertain terms not to take a flight back,” said Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s division of global migration and quarantine. But there were no legal orders preventing his travel, Cetron said.

Speaker said he felt as if the CDC had suddenly “abandoned him.” He said he believed if he didn’t get to the specialized clinic in Denver, he would die.
“In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the best decision, but I did ask if it was voluntary. And in my mind, I thought that if I went there, if I waited until they showed up, that meant I was going to die,” Speaker said.
Speaker’s new father-in-law, Robert C. Cooksey, is a CDC microbiologist whose specialty is TB and other bacteria. He said neither he nor his CDC lab was the source of Speaker’s TB.
Cooksey said he provided only “fatherly advice” to Speaker about traveling with the illness.
“In my capacity as his future father-in-law, I told him to take care of my daughter,” Cooksey told the AP.

Cooksey may have been involved in preparing one of the lab tests that determined what type of TB Speaker had contracted and helped track down the honeymooning couple, CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding said. But she declined to provide more details on Cooksey’s involvement in the case, and would not comment on the propriety of his actions.
“The father-in-law’s role was limited to what was expected of a father-in-law,” Gerberding said.
Doctors hope to determine where Speaker contracted the disease, which has been found around the world and exists in pockets in Russia and Asia. The tuberculosis was discovered when Speaker had a chest X-ray in January for a rib injury, doctors said.

The Lady and the Veep

June 11, 2007 issue - Condoleezza rice seems in control of everything—except events. As she paused for a few minutes in the cabin of her Boeing 757 last week, winging her way to her 63rd country in two and a half years (Spain this time), the secretary of State calmly swatted away questions about the apparent stalemates she faces on so many fronts: Israeli-Palestinian talks, out-of-control nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, and an emerging cold-war-like confrontation with Russia. (That's without even bringing up the quagmire in Iraq.) Rice gets through controversy by snubbing it, smiling it out of existence. She's particularly dismissive when asked whether, at this late date, she is still fighting rear-guard actions against hard-liners in Washington—especially those in Vice President Dick Cheney's office who don't like her diplomatic approach to Iran. "There's always noise in any large system," Rice told NEWSWEEK in an interview.

She's not being glib: administration officials universally acknowledge that her views are dominant in Washington. But the rumbling has been getting louder. A NEWSWEEK investigation shows that Cheney's national-security team has been actively challenging Rice's Iran strategy in recent months. "We hear a completely different story coming out of Cheney's office, even now, than what we hear from Rice on Iran," says a Western diplomat whose embassy has close dealings with the White House. Officials from the veep's office have been openly dismissive of the nuclear negotiations in think-tank meetings with Middle East analysts in Washington, according to a high-level administration official who asked for anonymity because of his position. Since Tehran has defied two U.N. resolutions calling for a suspension of its uranium-enrichment program, "there's a certain amount of schadenfreude among the hard-liners," says a European diplomat who's involved in the talks but would not comment for the record. And news-week has learned that the veep's team seems eager to build a case that Iran is targeting Americans not just in Iraq but along the border of its other neighbor, Afghanistan.
In the last few weeks, Cheney's staff have unexpectedly become more active participants in an interagency group that steers policy on Afghanistan, according to an official familiar with the internal deliberations. During weekly meetings of the committee, known as the Afghanistan Interagency Operating Group, Cheney staffers have been intensely interested in a single issue: recent intelligence reports alleging that Iran is supplying weapons to Afghanistan's resurgent Islamist militia, the Taliban, according to two administration officials who asked for anonymity when discussing internal meetings.

Historically, Iran and the Taliban have been more often bitter enemies than allies; in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cooperated with U.S. efforts to oust the Afghan regime that harbored Osama bin Laden. Tehran went so far as to round up Qaeda suspects transiting or residing in Iran for possible deportation to countries (like Saudi Arabia or Egypt) aligned more closely with Washington. In early April, however, British forces operating under NATO command in Afghanistan's wild-west Helmand province stopped a convoy carrying what appeared to be ordnance of Iranian origin intended for delivery to the Taliban. The explosives bore suspected Iranian markings similar to those found on weapons confiscated from Shiite militias in Iraq—and the Brits intercepted another shipment a month later.
An official familiar with the interagency group's deliberations said that Cheney's aides kept asking what sounded like leading questions, demanding to know whether there was any Iranian entity other than the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—the state security force Washington accuses of arming Iraqi insurgents—that could be responsible for the arms shipments. Cheney's aides, the official added, appeared less interested in other more mundane items on the Afghanistan policy committee's agenda. British officials who asked for anonymity because of the nature of their work emphasize that they lack hard evidence linking the shipments to the Revolutionary Guards, and that the weapons could just as easily have been bought on the black market in Iran. But according to one official familiar with the intelligence on Iranian interference in Iraq, Cheney earlier this year began exhibiting particular interest in any evidence detailing Tehran's aid to anti-American insurgents there. Asked about the vice president's allegedly keen interest in Iran's activities in Afghanistan, Cheney spokeswoman Megan McGinn said, "We do not discuss intelligence matters or internal deliberations."
Rice has more directly clashed with Cheney's office on issues like Mideast peace, where according to administration sources who declined to be named discussing internal deliberations, she's found herself stymied in efforts to push for more engagement with Syria and the Palestinian radical group Hamas. A senior White House official concedes that even on what should be the simplest-to-achieve deal—a new relationship with Syria that would help stabilize Iraq—Cheney's office is blocking Rice's efforts to bring Bush around. The secretary has also fought with the veep's office in seeking to soften detention policies at Guantánamo. In the interview, however, Rice insisted her relationship with Cheney himself is good. "The vice president has never been somebody who tries to [undermine others] on the sidelines, behind the scenes. He really doesn't," she said. "In fact we have a kind of friendly banter about it, in which I'll tease him about the image that he doesn't like diplomacy."
Rice has reason to be confident. She maintains a tight relationship with Bush, with whom she talks twice a day. "We have been together a long time, the president and I, in any number of different incarnations, and when I'm speaking, I'm speaking on his behalf," she says. Even one of Rice's fiercest current critics, former U.N. ambassador John Bolton—a key Cheney ally who was her subordinate only a few months ago—says that her views are ascendant in the administration. "I think those who support [the policy of nuclear negotiations with Iran] ... are riding high," Bolton told NEWSWEEK, adding that he left the administration because he believed his hard-line views toward Iran and North Korea were being eclipsed by Rice's State Department (there was also the small matter of the Democrat-controlled Congress refusing to confirm him).
Bolton admits that the hard-liners are not what they were in the first term, when Cheney's office was accused of cherry-picking intel to make the case for war against Iraq. One by one, the Cheneyites have been losing significant supporters in the top ranks of the administration—most recently White House deputy national-security adviser J. D. Crouch, a conservative former Pentagon official and academic who left last week. To thwart the hard- liners once and for all, though, Rice knows that she must start to deliver. Even as Tehran has made technical strides in its enrichment program, negotiations have been stalled: on Thursday the chief Iranian and European negotiators announced they would meet again in two weeks.
In the end, the administration's few remaining hard-liners may be the least of Rice's problems. In her NEWSWEEK interview, she acknowledged how hard it would be to achieve the kind of "breakthrough" agreement that traditionally defines a successful secretary of State. "I wouldn't rule it out," she said. But, Rice added: "we're laying the foundations for someone else to succeed in the future, and I think that's fine." As long as she can keep things under control.