Is this what it’s going to come to?

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'Ponzi' princess scheme mirrors Madoff

P.T. Barnum is credited with saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” and I think he was on to something.

Lately it seems that a lot of people with money to invest are loosing their shirts to scam artists like Madoff, or this Schneider character.

Probe eyes $30M janitor-supplies 'scam'

The owner of a Long Island janitorial-supply company -- under investigation for cleaning out scores of investors -- is known as a "Ponzi princess" for pulling off a scheme that destroyed families while she lived the good life, sources said.

The US Bankruptcy Court trustee in the case, lawyer Kenneth Barnard, estimates the alleged fraud by businesswoman Laurie Schneider has hit as many as 50 victims and losses may rise to $30 million.

"Madoff is the king. She is like a little Ponzi princess," said one distraught victim, who says he lost $200,000. "And no one has done anything about it." Read the rest at The New York Post

 

Technorati Tags: scams,jamitorial supplies,laura schneider

It was a slow news days folks…

Cartoon by R.J. Matson, NY, The New York Observer and Roll Call
Visit RJ -- E-Mail RJ --

 

Technorati Tags: editorial cartoons

Feds to issue new medical marijuana policy

If this announcement sounds familiar there’s a good reason for that. Eric Holder said the same thing six months ago and guess what?

The Feds are still busting dispensaries (LA Medical Marijuana clinics raided by LA police – a week ago). They’re calling it a new policy. The only new thing will be is if they keep their word for once!

By DEVLIN BARRETT, AP

WASHINGTON – Federal drug agents won't pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

Click here to read the rest.

Technorati Tags: medical marijuana,justice department,dispensaries,new policy

Marijuana proven effective in treating different types of cancers

By Dave Stancliff/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 10/18/2009 01:27:25 AM PDT

Marijuana opponents in the federal government are up against the wall and the wall is crumbling. The feds have fought marijuana use for decades, disregarding its medicinal applications, in a senseless war against the herb.

The demonized killer weed is turning out to be anything but that. As myths about this ancient herb are dispelled, scientists are using it to treat everything from chemotherapy-induced nausea to different cancers.

In August, The British Journal of Cancer published the results of a study that found THC (the main active component in marijuana) is effective in fighting prostate cancer. Reportedly, pot attacks prostate cancer cell types that do not respond to the usual hormone treatments.

Click here to read the rest at The Times-Standard

Technorati Tags: marijuana,cancer studies

Treating Cancers with kind bud

See Sunday’s – Oct. 17 -Times-Standard for my column on treating cancers with THC

Technorati Tags: cancer studies,marijuana treatment

These are real pictures of a giant bear

 

“These pictures are of a guy who works for the US Forest Service in Alaska and his trophy bear. He was out deer hunting last week when a large grizzly bear charged him from about 50 yards away. The guy unloaded his 7mm Mag Semi-automatic rifle into the bear and it dropped a few feet from him.” Click here to read this account.

The hunter told his own story at HuntingNet.com.

check it out on Snopes.com. Snopes says the pictures are real, even if the story has been heavily embellished:

The basic story here is true although some of the details are wrong, perhaps because two different recent incidents of very large bear killings in Alaska have been conflated into one.

The bear pictured above was killed in November 2001 by a hunter (not a Forest Service employee) who came across it while he was deer-hunting in Alaska.

The pictures of the November 2001 shooting became confused with a later account of a killing, also in Alaska, of another very large bear.

That story is told here.

Above information and links via maisbisson.com

Technorati Tags: giant bear,alaska

 

Republicans for Rape: see Franken Amendment 2588

The 2010 Defense Appropriations bill is about not giving money to government contractors who don’t allow their employees to sue them if they are sexually assaulted on the job.

Sounds reasonable to me, but 30 Republican Senators voted against it!

I thought, there has to be more to it than this. Nobody votes against something like that. Franken must have added something controversial and/or inappropriate in, like the public option or legalized marijuana or something.  Maybe the amendment is 1000 pages and they didn’t have time to read it.

Or maybe their all protecting Halliburton!

See What you think:

U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111^th Congress - 1^st Session

As compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary:

Question: On the Amendment (Franken Amdt. No. 2588 )

Vote Number:
308
Vote Date:
October 6, 2009, 04:37 PM

Required For Majority:
1/2
Vote Result:
Amendment Agreed to

Amendment Number:
S.Amdt. 2588 to H.R. 3326 (Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010)

Statement of Purpose:
To prohibit the use of funds for any Federal contract with Halliburton Company, KBR, Inc., any of their subsidiaries or affiliates, or any other contracting party if such contractor or a subcontractor at any tier under such contract requires that employees or independent contractors sign mandatory arbitration clauses regarding certain claims.

Vote Counts:
YEAs 68 – NAYs 30 - Not Voting 2

Just for the record, here are the 30 Republicans who voted against Franken’s bill. I was disappointed to see McCain’s name in there:

Alexander (R-TN), Barrasso (R-WY), Bond (R-MO), Brownback (R-KS),
Bunning (R-KY), Burr (R-NC), Chambliss (R-GA), Coburn (R-OK), Cochran (R-MS),Corker (R-TN),Cornyn (R-TX),Crapo (R-ID),DeMint (R-SC),Ensign (R-NV),Enzi (R-WY),Graham (R-SC),Gregg (R-NH),Inhofe (R-OK),Isakson (R-GA),Johanns (R-NE),Kyl (R-AZ),McCain (R-AZ),
McConnell (R-KY),Risch (R-ID),Roberts (R-KS), Sessions (R-AL),Shelby (R-AL),Thune (R-SD),Vitter (R-LA),Wicker (R-MS)

From Senate.gov.

The text:

“Sec. 8104. (a) None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for any existing or new Federal contract if the contractor or a subcontractor at any tier requires that an employee or independent contractor, as a condition of employment, sign a contract that mandates that the employee or independent contractor performing work under the contract or subcontract resolve through arbitration any claim under title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or any tort related to or arising out of sexual assault or harassment, including assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, or negligent hiring, supervision, or retention.”

“(b) The prohibition in subsection (a) does not apply with respect to employment contracts that may not be enforced in a court of the United States.”

All-male college cracks down on cross-dressing

An all-male college in Atlanta, Georgia, has banned the wearing of women's clothes, makeup, high heels and purses as part of a new crackdown on what the institution calls inappropriate attire.

Read the story here at CNN

Which One Are You?

Via despair.com

Medical Afflictions of the Cartoon World

Technorati Tags: cartoons

Best Office Pranks of All Time

 

Click here to view some more classic stunts. Hey it’s Friday…time to have a mood adjustment before going into your weekend!

Was Balloon Boy's Whirlwind Day All for "Show"?

Falcon Heene is hugged by his mother, Mayumi, after his disappearance led to a national scare. (Cyrus McCrimmon, Associated Press / October 15)

Has the nation been duped by a balloon-wielding evil genius? Did little 6-year-old Falcon Heene have us right where he wanted, enthralled with our local news stations and hoping for his safe landing? Click here to read this story and to see video.

Scientists hope work with poison gas can be a lifesaver

I’ve heard of some strange ways people have tried to extend life (like cryonics), but this one has to be the oddest.

These guys are serious… 

“The rat sniffs the air a few times, and within a minute, his naturally twitchy movements are almost still. On a monitor that shows his rate of breathing, the lines look like a steep mountain slope, going down.

At first glance, that looks bad. We need oxygen to live. If you don't get it for several minutes -- for example, if you suffer cardiac arrest or a bad gunshot wound -- you die. But something else is going on inside this rat. He isn't dead, isn't dying. The reason why, some people think, is the future of emergency medicine.”

Read the whole story here at CNN Health.

 

Technorati Tags: poison gas,emergency medicine

Facial expressions run in the family

By Jacqui Hayes

Cosmos Online

SYDNEY: Do you look like your father when you're angry? Probably more than you'd imagined. Facial expressions may be inherited, Israeli researchers say.

According to scientists, every person has a set of facial expressions that is unique to them, a signature of their identity that remains stable over time. Stable patterns of facial expressions arise before a baby is six months old, but until now, scientists were unsure whether these patterns were learned or innate.

Click here to read the rest.

 

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Foreclosures keep soaring as unemployment remains main cause of housing woes

The number of households caught up in the foreclosure crisis rose more than 5 percent from summer to fall as a federal effort to assist struggling borrowers was overwhelmed by a flood of defaults among people who lost their jobs.

Click here to read the rest at the Chicago Tribune.

Technorati Tags: house foreclosures

AP sources: al-Qaida's Afghan head contacted Zazi

The airport shuttle driver accused of plotting a bombing in New York had contacts with al-Qaida that went nearly all the way to the top, to an Osama bin Laden confidant believed to be the terrorist group's leader in Afghanistan, U.S. intelligence officials told The Associated Press.

AP – FILE- This Tuesday, July 22, 2008 image taken from Pakistan's Geo TV shows Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, an Egyptian

Technorati Tags: al-Qaida,osama bin laden,Zazi

Dow Jones average closes above 10,000 for 1st time in more than a year

On the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, specialists Michael Scavone, left, and Michael Sollitto react as the Dow Jones industrial average crosses 10,000. (Richard Drew / Associated Press / October14)

Read the story here at the LA Times

Technorati Tags: dow jones,new york stock exchange

Evolution…

The Freedom Journalism School – learn how to be a muckraker

Here’s something of interest for our local Humboldt bloggers. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be an investigative reporter? Check out this program: 

By Peter Rothberg

The Nation -- Here's a great new idea worth supporting: The Freedom Journalism School -- a pioneering program to train a network of fifty new media muckrakers across the South.

A new project from the Institute for Southern Studies (ISS), the outfit that publishes Facing South, the South's leading online magazine, and Southern Exposure, an award-winning journal of politics and culture, the idea is to provide training for fifty bloggers and citizen journalists in investigative reporting skills in an effort to give them the tools they need to expose corruption and hold elected leaders accountable. Click here to read the rest.

Technorati Tags: investigative reporting,muckrakers,freedom journalism school