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| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:10 AM
January 6, 2003 The Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States For 2002 By John Hawkins (Right Wing News) Honorable Mentions: Madeline Albright, Robert Altman, Alec Baldwin, Martha Burk, Robert Byrd, James Carville, Noam Chomsky, Hilliary Clinton, Maureen Dowd, Steve Earle, Danny Glover, Ted Kennedy, Paul Krugman, Terry Mcauliffe, Neil Rogers, Al Sharpton, & Ted Turner. 20) Ed Asner: If there's any sort of anti-war gathering that the "stars" are participating in, you can expect Ed Asner to show up somewhere. Defining Quote: (On the American people) "They're sheep. They like him (Bush) enough to credit him with saving the nation after 9/11. Three thousand people get killed, and everybody thinks they're next on the list. The president comes along, and he's got his six-guns strapped on, and people think he's going to save them." -- Ed Asner 19) Amiri Baraka: Let's face it, poets are annoying to begin with. But anti-semitic liberal poets? Not only did Baraka continue to insist that urban legend he stuck in his poem was true, he showed himself to be completely nuts in an interview with Connie Chung. Here's some of the paranoid ranting from Baraka that Chung's audience was treated to... Defining Quotes: (Baraka on 9/11) "Well, here's the point. My intention was to show that not only did Israel know, because Israel -- we're talking about 9/11 -- not only did Israel know, but the United States knew. Bush and company..." -- Amiri Baraka 18) Sean Penn: Now how could we have a list of annoying left-wingers without mentioning Spicoli? This week, Penn has been playing useful idiot for the Iraqis. He spent three days puttering around Iraq meeting Iraqi flunkies like some sort of 4th rate Bono. Defining Quote: "I think that people like the Howard Sterns, the Bill O'Reillys and to a lesser degree the bin Ladens of the world are making a horrible contribution." -- Sean Penn 17) Woody Harrelson: A lot of Hollywood stars love to go to Britain to shoot their mouths off about the United States. Woody Harrelson is a prime example. Woody also went nuts in a cab and had to be run down by 14 British cops, praised Steve Earle for writing a flattering song about traitor John Walker Lindh, and called George Michael "brave" for making an Anti-war/Anti-Blair/Anti-Bush pop song. Defining Quote: "The war against terrorism is terrorism. The whole thing is just bullsh*t." -- Woody Harrelson 16) Norman Mailer: Like several other vitriolic celebrities, addled coot Norman Mailer spent a good portion of the year in Britain giving stupendously irritating interviews to left-wing British papers. In Mailer's case, he seemed particularly sympathetic to the terrorists who killed almost 3000 people on 9/11... When he wasn't sucking up to al-Queda, Mailer found time to criticize patriotism in America. Hey Norman, do us a favor and stay in Britain -- no one's going to miss you here. 15) Jesse Jackson: Like shower mildew or toenail fungus, Jackson never really seems to go away no matter what happens to him. Whether he calls New York "Hymie Town", births a kid out of wedlock, or has an incredibly embarrassing book written about him, Jackson somehow manages to keep springing back into the limelight every time a TV camera gets in his vicinity. Defining Quote: "Jesse Jackson is upset about scenes in the new movie "Barber Shop.” I guess there’s some jokes made about civil rights leaders like himself and Rosa Parks. Rosa was asked about the movie and said she was upset – but it wasn’t because of the scenes, it was because she went to the theater to see it and the place was full and she couldn’t find a seat." -- Jay Leno 14) Michael Moore: Few people play faster and looser with the facts than Moore. But no matter how many times he gets busted fudging numbers or just making things up, it doesn't dent his popularity on the left. Defining Quote: "Every would-be oppositionist in the country has lined up to blow Moore every since he put out the amazing film Roger and Me, anointing him as a leading political figure and a brilliant creative mind even though he's been an unfunny, egomaniacal blowhard for over ten years now. Moore wears his dissident credentials not on his sleeve, but on his head and his waistline: his mesh baseball cap and fat body are now the leading brand-ID marker for political discontent among the narrow, incestuous "enlightened left" demographic." -- From The Beast, Most Loathsome People in America, 2002 13) Gore Vidal: Crazed lunatic Gore Vidal said so many outrageous things that you only need to read some of his quotes from a single interview to see that he deserves a spot on the list... Defining Quote: "Well, he (Bush) might as well have been bombing Denmark. Denmark had nothing to do with 9/11. And neither did Afghanistan, at least the Afghanis didn't." -- Gore Vidal in the LA Weekly 12) Harry Belafonte: Harry Belafonte ripped into Colin Powell earlier this year and for all intents and purposes called him a "house n*gger Defining Quote: "There's an old saying. In the days of slavery, there were those slaves who lived on the plantation and were those slaves that lived in the house. You got the privilege of living in the house if you served the master... exactly the way the master intended to have you serve him. PS: Could this video be what actually made Belafonte so angry? 11) Bill Clinton: Foreign policy failure Bill Clinton has a lot of nerve publicly giving George Bush advice about how to handle the war on terrorism. Then there was Clinton's assertion that the GOP "got a majority in the South" because of racism and perhaps the most obvious lie I've ever heard a politician tell... Defining Quote: "The Israelis know that if the Iraqi or Iranian army came across the Jordan River, I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch and fight and die." -- Bill Clinton at a Jewish fundraiser in Toronto this summer. |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:11 AM
10) Tom Daschle: Even Bill Clinton didn't stick his finger up in the air and go whichever way the polls seemed to be leaning as often as Tom Daschle did this year. Plus, he always seemed to be "disappointed" as a kid who got nothing but socks for Christmas. You knew Daschle was "disappointed" because he talked about how "disappointed" he was constantly, usually with something the Bush administration was doing. Defining Quote: "When I was accused of being an obstructionist, there was a corresponding and very significant increase in the number of issues (threats) that my family and I had to deal with." -- Tom Daschle 9) Cynthia McKinney: Ah, there are so many reasons to detest Cynthia McKinney. First and foremost among them was her suggestion that George Bush stood by and deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen so "(p)ersons close to this administration" could make money. Defining Quote: "Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead!" -- The headline that went up on RWN when McKinney lost her congressional seat. 8) Ted Rall: The words, "bad natured punk" describe Ted Rall as well as any. What else can you say about a guy who made fun of the widows who had husbands murdered in the 9/11 attacks? Rall even took what appeared to be a direct shot at Daniel Pearl's wife in the cartoon. Then there was his insane column suggesting that the GOP killed Paul Wellstone. Apparently this sort of crass lunacy pays off since Rall has his cartoons carried by the New York Times and his columns carried by Yahoo. Defining Quote: "By the way, (here's a) money-saving tip for Ted Rall's syndicate: Just lock a fatherless 8th-grader in a room with nothing but a black crayon and a copy of The Communist Manifesto. The results will be just as publishable." -- Jim Treacher On Ted Rall 7) Bruce Ratner: On 9/11, three firefighters, Dan McWilliams, George Johnson and William Eisengrein, raised an American flag in the wreckage of the WTC. It was a memorable, touching act that that resonated with the American public. That's why many people thought that a statue depicting that moment was an appropriate first memorial to the 343 fire fighters and emergency medical personnel who died at the WTC site. Defining Quote: "If they wanted to make this kind of monument, they could've taken the Twin Towers, and could've had the people lined up around it, all the emergency workers, all the ethnic groups in that monument, sort of like what they did with the Vietnam Memorial Monument down in Washington, DC. With this, they took an actual picture of what happened and changed the ethnic background just out of political correctness. You know what, that's wrong." -- An anonymous fireman quoted by National Review. 6) David 'Bin' Bonior (D - Iraq) and 'Baghdad' Jim McDermott (D - Iraq): What can you really say about two Democratic Congressmen running around in Iraq telling the world that Saddam Hussein can be trusted and George Bush can't? It was unconscionable for Bonior and McDermott to have been in effect doing free public relations work for a murderous tyrant like Saddam Hussein even though they knew that our military forces were going to be putting their lives on the line fighting against Saddam in the upcoming months. Defining Quotes: "I think the president would mislead the American people" -- Jim McDermott in Iraq |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:11 AM
5) Al Gore: In all of my life, I've never heard someone incessantly whine as much as Gore did about the 2000 elections. Gore talked about how unfair it was that he lost in interviews, while he was campaigning for Democratic candidates in 2002, and it even came up over and over again in the episode of Saturday Night Live he did. It was so bad that I wished someone, Bill Clinton, Tipper, Janet Reno, anyone, would grab Gore by the lapels, shake him and scream, "You lost the election! Get over it already you big baby!" Defining Quote: "The tone of the speech is best reflected in Gore's contemptuous dismissal of the U.S. victory in Afghanistan as "defeating a fifth-rate military power." If the Taliban were a fifth-rate military power, why didn't the Clinton-Gore administration destroy it and spare us Sept. 11?" -- Charles Krauthammer 4) The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals: This group of frothing at the mouth lefties have a history of making dumb rulings. In fact, they're the most overturned appeals court in the country. Well, they really stepped into a buzzsaw when they declared that the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional because it contained the phrase "under God." In response to their ruling, it seemed as if almost the entire country went nuts. The outcry was so loud that the Senate voted 98-0 "expressing support for the Pledge of Allegiance." The furor grew so quickly that Circuit Judge Alfred T. Goodwin stayed the ruling the next day. Defining Quote: "What's next? Will our courts, in their zeal to abolish all religious faith from public arenas, outlaw 'God Bless America' too?" -- Rep. Roy Blunt 3) The Wellstone Memorial: Not in recent memory has there been a spectacle like the Wellstone Memorial. At the nationally televised service, Trent Lott, Rod Grams, and Jesse Ventura were booed, upbeat music was played, political speeches were given, and there were even beach balls being bandied about by the crowd. Defining Quote: "If Paul Wellstone's legacy comes to an end, then our spirits will be crushed and we will drown in a river of tears."...To U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad, R-Minn., "You know that Paul loved you. He needs you now...Help us win this race." -- Rick Kahn speaking at the Memorial Service 2) Barbra Streisand: If the top twenty list would have been based on nothing more than reader opinion, Babs would have won in a landslide. Streisand made the biggest splash with her obnoxious memo to "Congressman Dick 'Gebhardt'. In that classic memo, she misspelled several things including Gephardt's name & speculated that the "logging industry" (among others) was pushing Bush to go to war with Iraq. Defining Quote: "A Republican/Conservative candidate trying with fading hopes to unseat respected Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy made a last-ditch effort to win headlines by devising ads in which she blatantly misquoted Barbra Streisand, fabricating outrageous quotes and completely misrepresenting Ms. Streisand's deep opposition to the Iranian dictator, Saddam Hussein. An Associated Press correspondent brought the ads to the attention of Ms. Streisand's representatives Tuesday, October 15, requesting comment" 1) Jimmy Carter: When Jimmy Carter was the POTUS, he destroyed the economy, crippled the military, gave away the Panama Canal, pandered to Yasser Arafat, and stood helplessly by while Iran was taken over by pro-terrorist Islamic radicals who immediately took American hostages. Yet, Carter has spent a large part of this year very publicly giving George Bush foreign policy advice. Uh -- no thanks. Defining Quote: "(The 2002 Nobel Peace Prize) should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the current (U.S.) administration has taken. It's a kick in the leg to all that follow the same line as the United States." -- Nobel Committee Chairman Gunnar Berge on giving Jimmy Carter the Nobel Peace Prize |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:36 AM
Mum told me to drive: boy, 5, says 06Jan03 A FAMILY of three has been injured in a car crash after a five-year-old boy sitting on his mother's lap allegedly steered the vehicle because she was too drunk to drive. The boy's nine-year-old brother allegedly told staff at Nambour Hospital, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, that his mother had been drinking and wanted her youngest son to steer the car while she operated the pedals, police said. "That's apparently what the child told the staff at the hospital," Senior Constable Dave Lonergan told AAP. "The five-year-old was on her lap steering the car." The car left the Bli Bli Road on the Sunshine Coast around 1.30am (AEST) yesterday, hit a tree, hurtled down an embankment and came to rest in a paddock. Snr Const Lonergan said the 37-year-old mother and the two children were not wearing seatbelts and were thrown from the car. Neighbours heard the vehicle crash into the paddock and called police. The family was taken to Nambour hospital where the woman remained today in a stable condition with neck and back injuries and facial lacerations. Blood samples have been taken to determine her blood/alcohol level. But Snr Const Lonergan said the results were not expected for a month. The five-year-old suffered a broken hand in the accident. His older brother sustained minor injuries. Both have since been allowed to go home but are yet to be interviewed by Juvenile Aid Bureau officers, Snr Const Lonergan said. Police expect to interview the boys' mother over the next few days but may have to seek the help of an interpreter as the woman reportedly speaks only limited English. |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:39 AM
How to Up Your Eldercool So you didn't star in a beloved sitcom, you're not a still-outrageous literary lion or recently released political dissident, and you've never led a seminal rock band. How can you convince the kids that you're worth talking to? Here are a few tips to get you on the road to Coolsville: Lose the Rug. While you're at it, toss out the hair dye, release the comb-over, and cancel the face-lift. An inability to accept the physical effects of aging is even more uncool than wrinkling itself, which is saying something. A defiantly bald head will project a self-confidence that time itself could not conquer. Swear Like a Sailor. Nothing makes Generation Next snap to attention like a few bawdy stories. As long as you don't unwittingly reveal your hopelessly retrograde political leanings in the process, a judicious sprinkling of vintage salty language will seem charming and put young adults at ease. Stay the Course. Worried that your Nixon Administration threads and stodgy Oldsmobile scream "Out of touch!" to every kid on the block? Well, they do, but don't start tooling around in a New Beetle. You'll look silly. Hang in there, stick to your guns, and wait for the next nostalgia wave to deposit you high and dry once again. (Spats are definitely coming back!) Re-emerge from Obscurity. The ultimate in cutting edge is always the thing that no one's heard of yet. That's you! Imply—but never claim—that you did a lot of prison time, or that all your underground novels are long out of print. Hip taste-makers will be falling over themselves in a race to chronicle your triumphant return to form. |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:40 AM
Elementary my dear Britney... Britney ... how she might look as Holmes Picture: REUTERS Click pic to enlarge BRITNEY SPEARS is in talks about playing the lead in a movie about a modern-day female Sherlock Holmes. The film, to be called 221bCAUSE, features a disgraced junkie cop who turns detective trying to save the US President’s kidnapped young son. I’ve mocked up a picture of how the pop princess might look as Holmes — the fictional detective who used morphine and cocaine. The movie is being made by Auroramedia Features and the pop star and her company, Britney Spears Productions, are in negotiations. One film insider told me: “221bCAUSE is the Sherlock Holmes story set in the present and with a female lead. It gets its name from Holmes’ address in London’s Baker Street. “In the story, 221b Baker Street is now a travel agents. “Britney is a New Yorker working there and she notices letters arriving for Sherlock Holmes. She starts to answer them as the detective and it leads her back to New York trying to trace the President’s son.” The singer has been steadily increasing her movie workload since her debut film, Crossroads, opened last year. She played Lucy Wagner, a girl on a trip across America to find the mum who dumped her as a baby. She then had a cameo in the Austin Powers spy spoof, Goldmember. In August I told you how the singer’s pop career seemed to have waned with the music industry abuzz with whispers of her being burned out. Also, Britney’s self-titled second album only sold 3.7million copies compared with the 8.9million shifted by her debut, Oops I Did It Again. Even merchandise sales at her gigs plummeted. So maybe films are her future? She has also signed up to play the daughter of the boss of a team in the US Nascar motor racing series in an as yet untitled movie. That project is due to be filmed this year. My source said: “The producers of 221bCAUSE have said they will work around Britney’s commitments but they want their film to be ready for a 2004 release to tie in with the US Presidential elections. “JENNIFER LOVE HEWITT was originally up for the role but her bosses weren’t keen on the drug angle of the character.” |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:42 AM
Weather Channel Launching Reality Series Sun Jan 5, 1:08 PM ET By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer You know reality TV is entrenched as a genre when The Weather Channel — the most conservative network this side of C-SPAN — is hopping on the bandwagon. The Weather Channel debuts back-to-back episodes of its new nightly series, "Storm Stories," Monday at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Don't worry. This won't be "When Hailstorms Attack" or "Weathercaster Idol." Although, when you think about it, some version of "Fear Factor" with an angry public confronting soggy meteorologists whose predictions of a sunny weekend were washed out could be fun. "Storm Stories" is exactly as it sounds: people recounting, with video footage and some artful recreations, how they were caught in severe weather. "What we've really been missing is the human element and the demonstration of what these powerful weather events can do to people," said Terry Connelly, the network's senior vice president for programming. The Weather Channel has carved a solid reputation among those who are serious about the weather. But it has been outflanked by networks like Discovery and PBS when it comes to real-life stories about life-threatening storms. "Storm Stories" is an outgrowth of the network's now-defunct newsmagazine, "Atmospheres." In focus groups, viewers said their favorite element of that series was the personal stories. Connelly said The Weather Channel wanted to avoid overly hyped stories — like other networks' "The Wrath of Nature" or "Savage Skies" — that cheapen the genre. He calls these series "disaster TV." Indeed, some early episodes of "Storm Stories" are clunky in their conservatism. "As you can imagine, it was a night they will always remember," host Jim Cantore says in introducing an episode about a tornado that damaged Hoisington, Kan., and ripped apart a family's home on their son's prom night. Well, duh! But there are some compelling stories, and the series doesn't forsake modern production techniques. In the tornado episode, producers use a shaky camera — almost like MTV! — to approximate the chaos of the whirlwind overhead. And when talking about the prom family's experience, only a snapshot of their daughter is shown until the end. The simple trick builds suspense about whether or not she survived. |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:44 AM
Ben Stiller And Jack Black's `Crappy' New Movie HOLLYWOOD (Wireless Flash) -- Film critics who say Hollywood keeps churning out crappy new movies will be right on the money with the latest project from Ben Stiller and Jack Black. The two comedians will star in an upcoming DreamWorks flick, "Envy," in which Black's character creates a spray called "Vapoorizer" which makes dog poop evaporate into thin air. "Envy" doesn't have a scheduled release date yet, but some of the other movies coming to a theater soon include... -- The Farelly Brothers comedy "Stuck On You," which may star Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins. -- "Old School," in which Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell play 30-year-olds who try to recapture their wild college days by setting up their own fraternity house. -- And, finally, there's the remake of "The Stepford Wives," starring Nicole Kidman. |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:45 AM
Big push for trolley revival January 5, 2003 BY ROBERT C. HERGUTH TRANSPORTATION REPORTER Advertisement In their heyday--well before being phased out in 1958--trolleys had 2,000 miles of track in Chicago. If an influential Southwest Side congressman has his way, trolleys, also known as streetcars, will return to select Chicago and suburban roads in less than a decade, perhaps on some of the same rails used years ago. U.S. Rep. William O. Lipinski (D-Ill.) said Friday he will push to get money from the next surface transportation bill to help pay for a trolley line from the North Riverside Park Mall to the West Loop or Navy Pier. The streetcar route, as he envisions it, would run largely on Ogden Avenue and Cermak Road. It would be geared toward commuters, as opposed to being solely a tourist attraction. He said he hopes it would spur housing and business development along the corridor, much of which is economically depressed, and little if any of which is in his congressional district. "Back when I was attending Blessed Sacrament Grammar School, I was a patrol boy at Ogden and Central Park," said Lipinski, whose late father was a streetcar operator and bus driver in the same Lawndale neighborhood. "Ogden Avenue was such a wide street. ... I always believed that should be a main thoroughfare . . . because of its close proximity to the Loop, its direct access to the Loop, and because the housing stock was so substantial." Major stops, according to a preliminary map drafted by the CTA, would include existing transit stations, Douglas Park, the West Side Medical District and the United Center. There would be two strips of track so trolleys could simultaneously travel in each direction. For several months, Lipinski has consulted with CTA and city officials. Although he characterized those officials as "cooperative," for now they back an alternative for the corridor: a so-called bus rapid transit system with dedicated lanes for public buses. Because of his position in Congress, Lipinski will play a key role in crafting the multibillion-dollar transportation bill, and he will help push Mayor Daley's transportation agenda, which for the CTA might include a new circular L line. So mayoral aides are treading gently with Lipinski, even as they differ with him over the trolley proposal. "The fact that Congressman Lipinski is as interested as he clearly is is exciting," said CTA President Frank Kruesi, a Daley adviser. Kruesi acknowledged he likes the bus plan because it's cheaper and could be converted to a rail line "at a later date," but he added: "It's still very preliminary. It could be proven that I'm wrong. . . . It's way early to be able to make informed judgments about what would make the most sense along that corridor and how those alternatives would stack up to other alternative projects." Chicago's transportation commissioner, Miguel d'Escoto, also is involved in the process but didn't return a phone call Friday. Lipinski wants to seek federal funds under a special category for test projects that could serve as models for other cities. As such, he believes the trolley concept has a better chance of securing federal money. The state, city and maybe some near west suburbs also would need to kick in cash to make the project work, he said, adding: "I'm presuming both of those entities [the city and state] will look favorably on putting some money into this project because they want to make sure I look favorably" on their needs. Neither Lipinski nor Kruesi could provide cost estimates, but the veteran congressman believes funding to design and build the trolley line would have to be spread over the next two surface transportation bills, which are renewed every five years or so. The CTA is researching whether old trolley track remains below the pavement on parts of Cermak and Ogden, officials said. If the track is still there, it might be able to be reused, Lipinski said. As for the streetcars, he wants them to look historic. In Chicago, trolleys, which were powered by an overhead electric line, date to 1890, according to the CTA. Trolleys eventually became so popular that cable cars, which were introduced in 1882, were phased out by 1906. Pullman became a big manufacturer of streetcars, which were operated in the early days by private companies. The CTA, which was created after World War II, eventually took over trolley operations, phasing out the last route, the Clark-Wentworth, in 1958. "They were Green Hornets," said the Illinois Railway Museum's Richard Schauer, referring to the nickname of those streetcars. "Really they went out of service because the CTA . . . didn't see a future for them in their surface transportation plan. They saw buses" and the L. Trolleys required too much infrastructure, too much labor, too much maintenance. Trolley buses--which also tapped the overhead wires--ran until 1973. As for Lipinski's plan, Schauer, a volunteer at the Union museum, said: "If it's just a novelty, it's doomed, in my opinion. . . . If it's done correctly, they could get a lot of buses off the road that are polluting buses, and a lot of cars off the road, too. But it's something that has to be well done to be useful." Streetcars differ from interurban electric lines such as the South Shore Line and the old North Shore route. Trolleys typically travel on streets with traffic, make more stops and have lighter, slower rail cars, experts say. "They call them 'light-rail vehicles' now instead of streetcars," said Ralph Taylor, chief engineer for the Fox River Trolley Museum in South Elgin. Whatever they're called, more U.S. cities are embracing them, including Kenosha, which brought back streetcars in 2000, Taylor said. The Chicago region hasn't had much luck in recent years when it comes to proposals for unusual transit projects. A monorail-type system in Rosemont and a downtown trolley that was dubbed the Central Area Circulator and promoted by Daley were scrapped, for financial and political reasons. Daley reportedly hasn't yet taken a position on Lipinski's trolley plan. While not Lipinski's top priority for funding, he hopes the plan has wheels. |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:49 AM
Homeless cited in mouthwash thefts High alcohol content spurs street popularity By David Abel, Globe Staff, 1/5/2003 It's when the shakes start, sometime after midnight or on a Sunday afternoon, that Michael McGlaulin sets out to score a bottle of ''cheap whiskey'' or what merchants call ''wine for the homeless.'' It's a stiff brew with a sharp aftertaste. But unlike other cocktails, this one has a few distinct advantages - it's among the cheapest on the market, it's available anytime, any day, and in addition to freshening breath, according to manufacturers, it helps fight gingivitis. ''I drink the big bottle every day,'' says McGlaulin, 55. He explains one recent night, while drinking on the steps of a church, that he steals it or panhandles to buy it. ''I can't stand the taste, but it carries me over; it prevents the seizures.'' In recent months, with more homeless on city streets, police say downtown convenience stores have seen a spate of thefts. The most stolen item: mouthwash. At $3.99 for a 50-ounce bottle, Listerine and similar brands pack a punch - with as much as 27 percent alcohol content, compared with about 12 percent for the typical bottle of wine. Another perk: drinking it is legal. Police can't arrest anyone for drinking mouthwash in public. In response to the thefts and abuse, the owner of three 7-Eleven stores in the area decided to cut the number of brands he sells and keep the remaining bottles behind the counter. At the new Walgreen's on Summer Street, managers and clerks say they keep watch whenever people who are believed to be homeless enter the store. And at several downtown CVS stores, signs next to the bottles of mouthwash read: ''Selected products have been protected by the manufacturer against theft.'' When the homeless walk into the 7-Eleven across the street, where the franchise owner estimates he has lost tens of thousands of dollars in thefts at his store this year, the clerks are told to try to dissuade them from buying mouthwash. ''I say, `Try to steer the customer away,''' says J.R. D'Avila, the manager of the 7-Eleven on the corner of Arch Street. ''The stuff's just not good for them.'' However, health officials and outreach workers, who say they've seen a rise in the abuse of mouthwash by homeless alcoholics in recent years, argue it would be dangerous for stores to refuse to sell them mouthwash, especially on holidays or during the stretch between Saturday night and Monday morning when the state's liquor stores are closed. A study of 14 homeless people who died between 1998 and 1999 found nearly all died on Sunday or early Monday morning, according to Healthcare for the Homeless, the study's author. Three years earlier, a study of 1,700 emergency calls from shelters to police found that 25 percent of the calls were for seizures, with 75 percent of the calls on a Sunday or Monday. ''There's really a tough ethical dilemma,'' says Dr. James O'Connell, president of Healthcare for the Homeless, adding that mouthwash does not have any more severe medical consequences than other alcohol. ''There are no easy answers. The real problem is alcoholism. But from a harm-reduction point of view, it's better to let them drink Listerine than to have a seizure,'' which can cause brain damage. The annual census of Boston's homeless, conducted earlier this month, found there are now about 6,200 men and women living on the streets, nearly double the number there were a decade ago. Combined with budget cuts, the increase has put huge pressure on agencies that help the homeless. As Jim Greene prowls city streets in his job as the daytime outreach coordinator of the Pine Street Inn, the region's largest shelter, he now finds only one detox bed for every 10 people he finds who could use one - up from a bed for every three people he met a few years ago. ''The people who drink Listerine are the people most gravely in need,'' he said. ''These are end-stage alcoholics who are in the most need of our attention.'' The officer often called to ''clean up the mess,'' as he said, is Jim O'Malley, who for decades has spent the evening hours patrolling downtown. He often finds homeless alcoholics passed out with an ''overwhelming'' stench of mouthwash seeping through their pores. ''It's sad people can be that desperate,'' he said. ''It tastes horrible, but it helps keep me warm,'' says Sullivan, 39, noting he's drinking the yellow CVS brand, the most potent for the price. ''You have to do what you have to do.'' Another man, a former painter named Mike, says he sometimes has to haggle with store clerks or ask passersby to get him a bottle. Even though it ''warps my brain a bit,'' caused him to tumble down a flight of stairs recently, and nearly got him thrown out of a shelter, the 50-year-old insists it's worth it. ''The truth is, it's easy to drink - and it makes the shakes go away,'' he said. |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 09:51 AM
The case of the five vanishing suspects By PETER CHENEY AND VICTOR MALAREK Saturday, January 4, 2003 – Print Edition, Page A1 Like the posthumous Elvis Presley, Canada's five mysterious terror suspects seem to have popped up everywhere. They were at Akswesasne, being smuggled into the United States by natives. They were at Toronto's Pearson Airport, where they slipped into Canada by claiming refugee status. One was seen on a bus entering the Lincoln Tunnel. Another was spotted on a West Coast ferry. By the middle of this week, they had starred in hundreds of newspaper and television reports and had been on the lips of everyone from U.S. President George W. Bush to Senator Hilary Clinton, who announced at a press conference that they had entered the United States through Canada. But yesterday, the FBI admitted that the most important ingredient in the story -- that is, the proof -- is nowhere to be found: "There is no border-crossing information that would say they're here," FBI spokesman Ed Cogswell said. "And to say they came in from Canada is pure speculation." Mr. Cogswell's comments are the latest wrinkle in an odd, highly hyped saga that began on Dec. 29, when the FBI announced that it was launching a national manhunt for the five men. Although details were sketchy, the five were believed to have come to Canada from the Middle East before entering the United States on some unstated mission. Arriving just three days before New Year's, which provided an obvious peg for terrorism-related stories -- and right in the middle of the holiday "silly season" -- the tale of the five mystery men quickly assumed tremendous energy. "Frankly, we were surprised at all the coverage," said Sgt. Paul Marsh, a spokesman with the RCMP. "It was amazing, really." What Mr. Marsh had expected to be a relatively minor item soon became a lead story. By Dec. 30, it was the top item on the CNN newscast, with anchor Paula Zahn introducing it as "the big FBI story." The press rushed to fill the obvious gaps in the story, such as how the five were supposed to have entered the United States. The New York Daily News, for example, reported that they had been smuggled across the border at Akwesasne, southwest of Montreal. Grand Chief Raymond Mitchell angrily pointed out that there was no evidence to support the story. Other news reports offered different accounts: Some, for example, said the five were spirited across at road checkpoints. A shortage of official information, coupled with pressure to produce scoops on the developing story, resulted in heavy cross-pollination among the media. By this week, the story had taken on something of a surreal quality. On Wednesday, a Pakistani jeweller whose picture is among the five released by the FBI emerged at his shop in Lahore to say he has never visited the United States. An Associated Press photograph of Mohammed Asghar taken at his shop was a near-perfect match for the one included on the FBI list under the name Mustafa Khan Owasi. Mr. Asghar, 30, said he was surprised to open a local newspaper and see his picture with another man's name beneath it. "I am a Pakistani and am living in my country, but American authorities have released my picture among those who are being traced by the FBI for entering America," he said. "I have no links with any terrorist organization." Mr. Asghar's bit of dissonant information was part of the story's general unravelling, which was virtually complete yesterday when the FBI admitted that there was no proof that the five had come from Canada, that they had crossed the border, or that they were connected with terrorism. "We don't know if they ever entered the U.S.," Mr. Cogswell said. "And in fact we've never linked these guys to terrorists. Most of what we have here is an unknown, and even with these individuals we don't know if they are true names with those photographs." "We're chasing rumours," a senior RCMP officer said. "We don't know if these five men were ever in Canada and we certainly have no proof whatsoever that they crossed into the United States either legally or illegally." Asked what might have triggered the initial FBI allegation about the five Middle Eastern men entering the U.S. from Canada, the Mountie replied caustically: "It was a slow week at the White House. They needed something to stir the pot because nothing was happening in Iraq." |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 10:10 AM
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| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 02:19 PM
What do call a lawyer gone bad ? Senater What is Sex? An 8-year-old girl went to her dad, who was working in the yard. She asked him, 'Daddy, what is sex?' The father was surprised that she would ask such a question, but decides that if she is old enough to ask the question, then she is old enough to get a straight answer. He proceeded to tell her all about the 'birds and the bees'. When he finished explaining, the little girl was looking at him with her mouth hanging open. The father asked her, 'Why did you ask this question?' The little girl replied, 'Mom told me to tell you that dinner would be ready in just a couple of secs.' Idiot, n.: A member of a large and powerful tribe whose influence in human affairs has always been dominant and controlling. -- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary" |
| Koko | Posted
on 06-Jan-03 03:10 PM
Benefits of sex!!!!!!!!!!! You've gotta read this. It's hilarious! Be sure to read the warning at the bottom. Did you know that you can tell from the skin whether a person is sexually active or not? 1. Sex is a beauty treatment. Scientific tests find that when women make love they produce amounts of the hormone estrogen, which makes hair shine and skin smooth. 2. Gentle, relaxed lovemaking reduces your chances of suffering dermatitis, skin rashes and blemishes. The sweat produced cleanses the pores and makes your skin glow. 3. Lovemaking can burn up those calories you piled on during that romantic dinner. 4. Sex is one of the safest sports you can take up. It stretches and tones up just about every muscle in the body. It's more enjoyable than swimming 20 laps, and you don't need special sneakers! 5. Sex is an instant cure for mild depression. It releases endorphins into the bloodstream, producing a sense of euphoria and leaving you with a feeling of well-being. 6. The more sex you have, the more you will be offered. The sexually active body gives off greater quantities of chemicals called pheromones. These subtle sex perfumes drive the opposite sex crazy! 7. Sex is the safest tranquilizer in the world. IT IS 10 TIMES MORE EFFECTIVE THAN VALIUM. 8. Kissing each day will keep the dentist away. Kissing encourages saliva to wash food from the teeth and lowers the level of the acid that causes decay, preventing plaque build-up. 9. Sex actually relieves headaches. A lovemaking session can release the tension that restricts blood vessels in the brain. 10. A lot of lovemaking can unblock a stuffy nose. Sex is a natural antihistamine. It can help combat asthma and hay fever. This message has been sent to you for good luck in sex. The original is in a room in Palaiseau. It has been sent around the world nine times. Now sex has been sent to you. The "Hot Sex Fairy" will visit you within four days of receiving this message, provided you, in turn, send it on. If you don't, then you will never receive good sex again for the rest of your life. You will eventually become celibate, and your genitals will rot and fall off. This is no joke! Send copies to people you think need sex (who doesn't?). Don't send money, as the fate of your genitals has no price. Do not keep this message. This message must leave your e-mail in ! 96 hours. Please send ten copie |