Republicans

The two symbols of the Republican Party: an elephant, and a big fat white guy who is threatened by change.
- Seth MacFarlane

All Hail the Pumpkin King

My last Halloween post. Enjoy the video links below.

How did you decorate? My pumpkin looks on with envy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5qJCEaTdr8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUAV_1jBJB4

Alcohol 72, Crack 54, Cocaine 27, Tobacco 26, Cannabis 20, Methadone 14

By Kate Kelland

LONDON | Sun Oct 31, 2010 8:06pm EDT

(Reuters) - Alcohol is a more dangerous drug than both crack and heroin when the combined harms to the user and to others are assessed, British scientists said Monday.

Presenting a new scale of drug harm that rates the damage to users themselves and to wider society, the scientists rated alcohol the most harmful overall and almost three times as harmful as cocaine or tobacco.

According to the scale, devised by a group of scientists including Britain's Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs (ISCD) and an expert adviser to the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), heroin and crack cocaine rank as the second and third most harmful drugs.

Ecstasy is only an eighth as harmful as alcohol, according to the scientists' analysis.

Professor David Nutt, chairman of the ISCD, whose work was published in the Lancet medical journal, said the findings showed that "aggressively targeting alcohol harms is a valid and necessary public health strategy."

He said they also showed that current drug classification systems had little relation to the evidence of harm.

Alcohol and tobacco are legal for adults in Britain and many other countries, while drugs such as ecstasy and cannabis and LSD are often illegal and carry the threat of prison sentences.

"It is intriguing to note that the two legal drugs assessed -- alcohol and tobacco -- score in the upper segment of the ranking scale, indicating that legal drugs cause at least as much harm as do illegal substances," Nutt, who was formerly head of the influential British Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD), said in a statement about the study.

Nutt was forced to quit the ACMD a year ago after publicly criticizing ministers for ignoring scientific advice suggesting cannabis was less harmful than alcohol.

The World Health Organization estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and cancer -- accounting for 3.8 percent of all deaths. It is the third leading risk factor for premature death and disabilities worldwide.

In an effort to offer a guide to policy makers in health, policing, and social care, Nutt's team rated drugs using a technique called multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) which assessed damage according to nine criteria on harm to the user and seven criteria on harm to others.

Harms to the user included things such as drug-specific or drug-related death, damage to health, drug dependence and loss of relationships, while harms to others included crime, environmental damage, family conflict, international damage, economic cost, and damage to community cohesion.

Drugs were then scored out of 100, with 100 given to the most harmful drug and zero indicating no harm at all.

The scientists found alcohol was most harmful, with a score of 72, followed by heroin with 55 and crack with 54.

Among some of the other drugs assessed were crystal meth (33), cocaine (27), tobacco (26), amphetamine or speed (23), cannabis (20), benzodiazepines, such as Valium (15), ketamine (15), methadone (14), mephedrone (13), ecstasy (9), anabolic steroids (9), LSD (7) and magic mushrooms (5).

(Editing by Alison Williams)

For New Cat Owners from a Cat Lover.

The difference between dogs and cats as revealed from their diary entrys...

Have a good weekend

EXCERPTS FROM A DOG'S DIARY

8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVORITE!
10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
1:00 PM - OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVORITE!
1:30 PM - ooooooo. bath. bummer.
4:00 PM - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
5:00 PM - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
5:30 PM - OH BOY! MOM! MY FAVORITE!

EXCERPTS FROM A CAT'S DIARY

DAY 752 - My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture.

Tomorrow I may eat another houseplant.

DAY 761 - Today my attempt to kill my captors by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must try this at the top of the stairs. In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair...must try this on their bed.

DAY 765 - Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I was...Hmmm. Not working according to plan.

DAY 768 - I am finally aware of how sadistic they are. For no good reason I was chosen for the water torture. This time however it included a burning foamy chemical called "shampoo." What sick minds could invent such a liquid? My only consolation is the piece of thumb still stuck between my teeth.

DAY 771 - There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in solitary confinement throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell the food. More importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY power of "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my advantage.

DAY 774 - I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously a half-wit. The bird on the other hand has got to be an informant, and speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal room his safety is assured. But I can wait; it is only a matter of time.

Midgets and Lesbians

This post might anger you. It, like 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', has little or nothing to do with either midgets or lesbians.

I was just watching a video on Spike TV of a police officer conducting a nighttime traffic stop and was reminded of a comment made to me once, "Things were better before they started hiring midgets and lesbians.".

The comment was made while we were watching a bar fight that had gotten out of hand and spilled into the street. A crowd had gathered, the police had been called and when we arrived the two officers needed assistance themselves. They did not have control of the two individuals engaged in the brawl, who were both quite a bit physically larger than the two uniformed officers dispatched to officiate. Bystanders stepped in to help.

In the video, a female officer of approximately 5'3" and 140lbs had stopped a man who would have been 6'2" and tipped the scales at maybe 280 or more. I may be wrong on my numbers but you get the idea of the imbalance.

The officer was attempting to get the man out of the car and into handcuffs. He was uncooperative, wouldn't be talked out and she was physically unable to pull him out so she introduced a taser into the situation.

A passerby, a big strapping young lad, offered the officer assistance, was told to step back and did. The man in the car wrestled away the taser and used it on the cop, twice. As more police arrived the passerby had already subdued the man, was himself wrestled to the ground by incoming officers.

Before you get all out of joint and label me sexist or start quoting Mark Twain about the size of the fight in the dog, I know "miniature" cops and girls in uniform too and respect them greatly.

They do a good job. This is simply an observation.

There was a time when the "Uniform" part of a police officer included being a male over 5'8" tall. I think at some time or in some places even facial hair was prohibited. When you called the police you knew exactly what to expect. You got the Officer in the picture. The Officer that could "beat up the bad guy" if he needed to and the bad guy knew it by just looking. Your minimum uniform expectation of service was met and the bad guy was intimidated.

There were no tasers, police were intimidating enough. Escalation of force was perceived as; cooperate or receive a beat down which you knew you would get. I was in my twenties before I had first hand knowledge of an officer drawing a gun. Any time a weapon be it stick, taser or gun is introduced into the situation it is available to all.

I am not advocating the reinstatement of archaic hiring policies but just like a stick-handler need an enforcer or a running back needs an offensive line, our Police are a team too. Maybe if the smaller officer in the video had a larger partner (or a partner at all) a taser would not have been drawn. Maybe if one (or both) of the first officers dispatched to a street fight at 3am had been selected from the team's "goon squad" it would have been different.

Who knows, but for the record..I love midgets..and lesbians too.

"The secret is to work less as individuals and more as a team. As a coach, I play not my eleven best, but my best eleven."
Knute Rockne

$19 Billion Later, Pentagon’s Best Bomb-Detector Is a Dog

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/19-billion-later-pentagon-best-bomb-detector-is-a-dog/

Drones, metal detectors, chemical sniffers, and super spycams — forget ‘em. The leader of the Pentagon’s multibillion military task force to stop improvised bombs says there’s nothing in the U.S. arsenal for bomb detection more powerful than a dog’s nose.

Read More http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/10/19-billion-later-pentagon-best-bomb-detector-is-a-dog/#ixzz13Q1qbFu5

Three sides to his persona?

It seems that Williams took on the name Sovka from his stepfather from 1970 to some unspecified time before he was married. I wonder what significance that has in the way he signed these post-confession apology letters. To his wife, "Russ". To some victims "RW" and others "RS"? Like a train wreck I cannot take my eyes off this developing story.

The letters were written after Williams’ confession to police and released in court today.

The text is below:

Dearest Mary Elizabeth [Russell Williams' wife], I love you, sweet [illegible]. I am so very sorry for having hurt you like this. I know you’ll take good care of sweet Rosie. I love you, Russ.

Mrs. Lloyd, You won’t believe me, I know, but I am sorry for having taken your daughter from you. Jessica was a beautiful, gentle young woman, as you know. I know she loved you very much—she told me so, again and again. I can tell that she did not suspect that the end was coming. Jessica was happy because she believed she was going home. I know you have already had a lot of pain in your life. I am sorry to have caused you so much more. RW

Mr. Comeau, I am sorry for having taken your daughter, Marie-France Comeau from you. … I know you won’t be able to believe me, but it is true. Marie-France has been deeply missed by all that knew her. RS

Laurie, I am sorry for having hurt you the way I did. I really hope that the discussion we had has helped you turn your life around a bit. You seem like a bright woman who could do much better for herself. I do hope that you find a way to succeed. RS

[Name censored], I apologize for having traumatized you the way I did. No doubt you’ll rest a bit easier now that I’ve been caught. RS

October 20, 2010 – 2:12 pm

http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/10/20/russell-williams-wrote-letters-to-his-victims-families/