This Weeks Sound Off

Electoral “Shock” To Broken System

In an interview on MSNBC this morning, newly retiring Sen. Evan Bayh declared the American political system "dysfunctional," riddled with "brain-dead partisanship" and permanent campaigning. Flatly denying any possibility that he'd seek the presidency or any other higher office, Bayh argued that the American people needed to deliver a "shock" to Congress by voting incumbents out en masse and replacing them with people interested in reforming the process and governing for the good of the people, rather than deep-pocketed special-interest groups.

Bayh's announcement stunned the American political world, as up until just last week he looked to be well on his way to an easy reelection for a third term in the Senate, and his senior staff was aggressively pursuing that goal.

But Bayh had apparently become increasingly frustrated in the Senate. In this morning's interview he noted that just two weeks ago, Republicans who had co-sponsored a bill with him to rein in the deficit turned around and voted against it for purely political reasons. He also stated repeatedly that members of his own party should be more willing to settle for a compromise rather than holding out for perfection.

"Sometimes half a loaf is better than none," Bayh insisted.

It's no secret that the Senate has struggled to take action this year. With the two major parties unusually far apart in their substantive proposals for the direction of the country, even finding half a loaf to agree on has been difficult. Though the Democrats have had a substantial majority in the Senate for the last year, Republicans have escalated their threats to use filibusters (by forcing a cloture vote, see the graph below) to force Democrats to come up with 60 votes to pass any major legislation. And after Scott Brown's election to the Senate last month gave Republicans a 41st seat, health-care reform and other Democratic goals were stopped dead in their tracks. –Yahoo News

Personally speaking, and I’ve felt this way for some time … Throw the bunch out! If we don’t clean house, life is only going to get worse. If I were in Bayh’s shoes, I’d resign too. Both houses are a do nothing back biting bitch contest. I’m ashamed to be identified with either party.

Our politicians are nothing more than self-serving buffoons who think their shit don’t stink. They live off our money, build fortunes for themselves, pass laws that are totally anti-social, are corrupt and most of the time could care less about what we the average Joe see fit for our country. They are nothing more than over paid fat cat carpet bagger's.

It’s time to take back our government and our country. It’s time to be America again!

Locally Speaking

S.C. Legislators To Debate Texting

South Carolina legislators want to discuss banning drivers from text messaging and talking on a hand-held phone.

The House Education Committee will consider banning both texting and hand-held phone use.

But legislators are expected to try to separate the issues. Many legislators think barring chatting with a phone at one ear goes too far. They question how that's worse than other things that distract drivers, such as eating, fiddling with the radio or putting on makeup.

The bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee would bar texting only.

Legislators have proposed six bills this year on drivers texting, using a hand-held cell phone or both. –Sun News

Ragbag Headliners

Swine Flu

The H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, may have killed as many as 17,000 Americans, according to new estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta.

Though 2,498 confirmed deaths linked to the H1N1 virus had been reported to the CDC as of January 30, the agency estimates that between 8,330 and 17,160 people actually have died from H1N1.

The overwhelming majority of the people who died -- between 6,390 and 13,170 -- were 18 to 64 years old, the CDC estimates. Between 880 and 1,810 children 17 years old and younger also died from this flu, according to CDC estimates.

In comparison, the CDC says that in a regular flu season, about 36,000 people in the United States die from seasonal flu, with 90 percent of the deaths usually occurring in people age 65 and older.

Since this new flu virus emerged in April 2009, health officials have recognized that the reported numbers of people who have been hospitalized and died provide only a partial picture of the full outbreak. Underreporting of influenza cases and deaths is common, especially in the early weeks or months of an outbreak.

By mid-July last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) no longer recommended that countries with known H1N1 transmission test everybody who had flulike symptoms, as laboratories were being overwhelmed. Patients were to be diagnosed based on symptoms alone, since nearly all of the circulating flu strains were H1N1.

Only severe cases of flu, which lead to hospitalization or death, were to be tested. The CDC adopted these recommendations for the United States, also.

Despite the recommendation that deaths suspected to be from H1N1 be tested, the CDC is aware that many are not, and in many cases H1N1 might not have been suspected.

The new CDC estimates are based on laboratory-confirmed cases, flu surveillance data and mathematical modeling, CDC spokesman Richard Quartarone told CNN.

According to the report released Friday, the CDC estimates an average of 57 million people have been infected with H1N1 and an average 257,000 cases resulted in hospitalizations.

Health officials continue to urge people who haven't received a vaccination to do so. –CNN Health

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Is Your Doc A Criminal?

You've probably heard of Dr. Conrad Murray, who stands accused of involuntary manslaughter in the death of pop star Michael Jackson, but you may not have heard of Dr. Khristine Eroshevich or Dr. Sandeep Kapoor or Dr. Phil Astin or Dr. James Graves.

Eroshevich and Kapoor stand accused of illegally prescribing drugs to an addict, actress Anna Nicole Smith. Astin was sentenced to 10 years in prison for illegally prescribing drugs to his patients, including wrestler Chris Benoit, who killed himself and his family. A Florida jury found Graves guilty of manslaughter in 2002 for prescribing the narcotic painkiller Oxycontin to four patients who eventually overdosed.

Hundreds of doctors in the United States have been found guilty of criminal acts, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards. Many continue to practice, and patients have no way of knowing about their doctor's criminal past unless they do some online sleuthing.

Most physicians, of course, don't get involved in criminal activities. "The majority of people who go into medicine have a fairly decent moral compass," says Scott Stacy, a psychologist in Lawrence, Kansas, who specializes in treating troubled physicians.

But according to the Federation of State Medical Boards, approximately 200 of the nation's 735,000 actively licensed doctors were disciplined by state boards related to a criminal offense in 2008. The crimes included conviction of criminal sexual conduct, patient abuse or neglect, driving under the influence, and insurance fraud.

Why good docs go bad

Brian Russell, a psychologist who practices with Stacy, compares Murray to politician John Edwards, the former presidential candidate whose political career unraveled when he revealed he'd fathered a child out of wedlock and then lied about it.

As Russell sees it, both Murray and Edwards presumably went into their chosen professions to help others, and must have worked hard in medical school and law school respectively, and then in their careers. But at some point, he says, they made some unfortunate choices.

"Doctors can be just like politicians," says Russell, "They're really smart and spend decades achieving their goals and then they turn around and do something incredibly stupid."

Murray pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the pop star's death. Murray, a cardiologist, told investigators he would put Jackson to sleep every night with an intravenous drip of propofol, an anesthesia used for surgeries and procedures such as colonoscopies.

What causes a doctor to slip from being a member of one of the most honored professions in the world to being in a court accused of a horrible crime?

In his practice, Russell says he's seen that a doctor's most useful assets sometimes get him or her into trouble.

"You have to have a lot of confidence to think you can heal someone, and it's healthy to have that confidence," he says. "But after practicing for some time you can develop a God complex and think you don't have to live by the same rules as everyone else."

Then another asset comes to haunt the doctor: intelligence. "They're smart and so they rationalize what they're doing. For example, they might tell themselves that they're actually helping an addict by prescribing them certain drugs," Russell says.

Money, of course, can also be a powerful motivator. Murray was suffering financially, with nearly $435,000 in judgments and liens against him over the past two years, according to court documents, when he decided to leave his practice and earn $150,000 a month working for Jackson.

Fame -- or at least being close to famous people -- also tempts doctors to break the rules, says Russell, who calls the phenomenon "Hollywood health care."

"Celebrities come around and treat the doctor like a friend and invite the doctor to parties where they meet more celebrities," he says. "They end up giving the celebrity what they want, and the doctor stops looking at himself in the mirror critically."

Does your doctor have a criminal past?

Your doctor could have a criminal past and still be practicing medicine, since state medical boards don't always revoke a physician's license after being convicted of a crime, according to Drew Carlson, a spokesperson for the Federation of State Medical Boards.

"It will vary on a case by case basis and depend on the nature of the crime," says Carlson.

However, boards often will discipline a doctor who's committed a criminal act. To find out whether your doctor has been disciplined by a state medical board, here's a state-by-state directory of medical boards. Some states will explain why a doctor has been disciplined while others will not.

A search in your state might not reveal a doctor's problems in another state. To get a national profile on your doctor, pay $9.95 to do a search on the Web site of the Federation of State Medical Boards. –CNN Health

Tiger’s Televised Apology

What Tiger Woods probably really wanted to say and really meant during his televised "press conference" was:

Let me just say to all my fans that I feel sorry for everyone who criticized me for my extra-marital affairs. You must live a miserable existence if you have nothing better to do than read about my personal life in the tabloids. But I suppose I should provide an explanation about my behavior so that you will continue to buy the products I endorse.
So here goes.

I am an average-looking man of mixed racial descent. Like most men, I had trouble getting "a piece" before I became a famous multimillionaire. I did o.k. at Stanford because I was on the golf team, but the women there whom I dated were of a “B” grade because they were leftovers that the players on the football team didn’t want. Before that, I got nothing because I have a bland personality and big lips.

Then, when I finally started to win few golf tournaments, women started to line up at my door. Of course, I took advantage of the opportunities. These were women who wouldn’t give me the time of day if I sold insurance or worked on a used car lot. They just wanted me so that they could brag to their friends about having sex with a celebrity, while hoping that one day they would live a life of luxury as the wife of Tiger Woods. When that didn’t happen, they seized the opportunity to sell their story to the tabloids, all the while looking and playing the part of a woman scorned.

Now I want to discuss my wife. When I met Elin, she was just like the others, except she played the “hard-to-get” strategy that women often use to corral men. It worked. She had all the qualities I wanted in a woman: a pretty face, nice "body parts", and an inviting personality. We dated for a while, had wild sex, and we genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. When I asked her to marry me, she accepted. Why wouldn't she? Only an idiot would say no to a lavish lifestyle that most people can only dream about.

Our marriage was o.k. We have two wonderful children and Elin is a good mother. But since she had those kids, she’s become a bitch, and doesn’t want to have sex often anymore. Also, she didn’t want to accompany me on road trips, except to the major championships. Unfortunately, my job requires that I travel to a different city every week where women "nod approvingly" at me where ever I go. Do you see the problem here?

To all the men out there: What would you have done in my shoes? Would you have said no to all the woman who lined up to meet you, especially after listening to your wife bitch at you over the telephone for not spending enough time at home with her and the kids?

And to all the women: How many of you would have turned down an opportunity to spend a night with me, knowing that you could sell your story to a tabloid for 500K?

I feel bad about the potential damage my actions might cause my kids. As for Elin, I can think of at least 300 million reasons why she will be o.k. if we divorce and she is forced to "survive" on her own. Don’t forget the kind of money she will get if we divorce, and the vast support network she will have after appearing on "Oprah" and "The View".

As for me, I have paid dearly for my transgressions. I have lost millions and might even lose custody of my children. Many---not all---but many who see me take great pleasure seeing me in pain.

The letters "Saint" or "St." do not precede my name. But to say [and give me the impression] that it's all right to screw everything in sight like what Bill Clinton did when he was President, but not if one is a pro-golfer [like me] really sucks!

Did I become famous for being a model married man, or was it because I'm one of the best damn golfers in the world?

While you sat in front of your TV sets anxiously waiting to hear my heartfelt apology, all I really wanted to tell you was “Fuck off!”

Author Unknown

An Idea Whose Time Has Come?

For too long we have been too complacent about the workings of Congress. Many citizens had no idea that members of Congress could retire with the same pay after only one term, that they didn't pay into Social Security, that they specifically exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed (such as being exempt from any fear of prosecution for sexual harassment) while ordinary citizens must live under those laws. The latest is to exempt themselves from the Healthcare Reform that is being considered...in all of its forms. Somehow, that doesn't seem logical. We do not have an elite that is above the law. I truly don't care if they are Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever. The self-serving must stop. This is a good way to do that. It is an idea whose time has come.

Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States ".

Author/Source Unknown

Watch The Planes From Space

I Have One Question
Hmm!

The Lady’s Drink

A large woman wearing a sleeveless sun dress walked into a bar in Dublin.

She raised her right arm, revealing a huge hairy armpit as she pointed to all the people sitting at the bar, and asked, 'What man here will buy a lady a drink?'

The bar went silent as the patrons tried to ignore her. But down at the end of the bar, an owl-eyed drunk slammed his hand down on the counter and bellowed, 'Give the ballerina a drink!'

The bartender poured the drink, and the woman chugged it down.

She turned to the patrons, and again pointed around at all of them revealing the same very hairy armpit, and asked, 'What man here will buy a lady a drink?'

Once again, the same little drunk slapped his money down on the bar and said, 'Give the ballerina another drink!'

The bartender approached the little drunk and said, 'Tell me, Paddy, it's your business if you want to buy the lady a drink, but why do you keep calling her a ballerina?'

The drunk replied, 'Any woman who can lift her leg that high … has got to be a ballerina!'

Author Unknown

Ragbag Headliners

Government Has Your Baby's DNA

When Annie Brown's daughter, Isabel, was a month old, her pediatrician asked Brown and her husband to sit down because he had some bad news to tell them: Isabel carried a gene that put her at risk for cystic fibrosis.

While grateful to have the information -- Isabel received further testing and she doesn't have the disease -- the Mankato, Minnesota, couple wondered how the doctor knew about Isabel's genes in the first place. After all, they'd never consented to genetic testing.

It's simple, the pediatrician answered: Newborn babies in the United States are routinely screened for a panel of genetic diseases. Since the testing is mandated by the government, it's often done without the parents' consent, according to Brad Therrell, director of the National Newborn Screening & Genetics Resource Center.

In many states, such as Florida, where Isabel was born, babies' DNA is stored indefinitely, according to the resource center.

Many parents don't realize their baby's DNA is being stored in a government lab, but sometimes when they find out, as the Browns did, they take action. Parents in Texas, and Minnesota have filed lawsuits, and these parents' concerns are sparking a new debate about whether it's appropriate for a baby's genetic blueprint to be in the government's possession.

According to the state of Minnesota's Web site, samples are kept so that tests can be repeated, if necessary, and in case the DNA is ever need to help parents identify a missing or deceased child. The samples are also used for medical research.

DNA given to outside researchers

Genetic testing for newborns started in the 1960s with testing for diseases and conditions that, if undetected, could kill a child or cause severe problems, such as mental retardation. Since then, the screening has helped save countless newborns.

Over the years, many other tests were added to the list. Now, states mandate that newborns be tested for anywhere between 28 and 54 different conditions, and the DNA samples are stored in state labs for anywhere from three months to indefinitely, depending on the state.

"The states have in place very rigid controls on those specimens," Therrell says. "If my children's DNA were in one of these state labs, I wouldn't be worried a bit."

The specimens don't always stay in the state labs. They're often given to outside researchers -- sometimes with the baby's name attached.

According to a study done by the state of Minnesota, more than 20 scientific papers have been published in the United States since 2000 using newborn blood samples.

The researchers do not have to have parental consent to obtain samples as long as the baby's name is not attached, according to Amy Gaviglio, one of the authors of the Minnesota report. However, she says it's her understanding that if a researcher wants a sample with a baby's name attached, consent first must be obtained from the parents.

Parents don't give consent to screening

Brown says she first lost trust when she learned that Isabel had received genetic testing in the first place without consent from her or her husband.

"I don't have a problem with the testing, but I wish they'd asked us first," she says.

Since health insurance paid for Isabel's genetic screening, her positive test for a cystic fibrosis gene is now on the record with her insurance company, and the Browns are concerned this could hurt her in the future.

"It's really a black mark against her, and there's nothing we can do to get it off there," Brown says. "And let's say in the future they can test for a gene for schizophrenia or manic-depression and your baby tests positive -- that would be on there, too."

Brown says if the hospital had first asked her permission to test Isabel, now 10 months old, she might have chosen to pay for it out of pocket so the results wouldn't be known to the insurance company.

Caplan says taking DNA samples without asking permission and then storing them "veers from the norm."

"In the military, for instance, they take and store DNA samples, but they tell you they're doing it, and you can choose not to join if you don't like it," he says.

What can parents do

In some states, including Minnesota and Texas, the states are required to destroy a baby's DNA sample if a parent requests it. Parents who want their baby's DNA destroyed are asked to fill out this form in Minnesota and this form in Texas.

Parents in other states have less recourse, says Therrell, who runs the genetic testing group. "You'd probably have to write a letter to the state saying, 'Please destroy my sample,'" he says.

He adds, however, that it's not clear whether a state would necessarily obey your wishes. "I suspect it would be very difficult to get those states to destroy your baby's sample," he says. –CNN Health

Happy Valentine’s Day

"Your love" by Jim Brickman

2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony

Never Question A Drunk

One afternoon after work and on my way home, I stopped at the local supermarket where I bought:

A half-gallon of 2% milk;
A carton of eggs;
A quart of orange juice;
A head of lettuce;
A 2-lb can of coffee;
A 1-lb package of bacon.

As I unloaded the items in my cart onto the check-out counter conveyor belt, the fellow behind me, whose breath reeked heavily of alcohol and who looked obviously drunk, watched. While the cashier rang my purchases, the drunk calmly stated: “You must be single.”

While I was startled by the inebriated stranger’s proclamation, I was even more intrigued by his intuition, since I indeed had not yet found my Mr. Right.

I looked at the items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about my purchases which would have given the drunkard any clue to my marital status.

Finally, curiosity got the better of me, and so I said; “Yes, you are correct. But how on earth did you know that I am single?”

The drunk replied, “ ‘Cause you’re ugly.”

Author Unknown

Government-Run Health Care

Meet Marvin, Men's Answer To Maxine

Men strike back!

How many men does it take to open a beer?
None. It should be opened when she brings it.
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Why is a Laundromat a really bad place to pick up a woman?
Because a woman who can't even afford a washing machine will probably never be able to support you.
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Why do women have smaller feet than men?
It's one of those 'evolutionary things' that allows them to stand closer to the kitchen sink.
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How do you know when a woman is about to say something smart?
When she starts a sentence with 'A man once told me....'
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How do you fix a woman's watch?
You don't. There is a clock on the oven.
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If your dog is barking at the back door and your wife is yelling at the front door, who do you let in first?
The dog, of course. He'll shut up once you let him in.
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Scientists have discovered a food that diminishes a woman's sex drive by 90%.
It's called a Wedding Cake.
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Why do men die before their wives?
They want to.
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Women will never be equal to men
Until they can walk down the street with a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
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Send this to a few good men who need a laugh and
To the select few women who can handle it!

And Maxine says … ‘Marvin’

Maxine just had to have the last word.

This Weeks Sound Off

Ex-Edwards' Aide Tells All

A new book about former Sen. John Edwards paints him as a cold, calculating and reckless politician willing to deny fathering a daughter, risking his marriage and putting the Democratic Party in potential political jeopardy -- all in the name of trying to win the presidency.

In "The Politician," former Edwards' aide Andrew Young details his efforts to conceal an ongoing extra-marital affair and the birth of a child out-of-wedlock.

"The Politician" went on sale Saturday.

Young described an elaborate plan that allowed Edwards to maintain a mistress while he sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. The plan was funded by two wealthy benefactors, the late trial lawyer Fred Baron and banking heir widow Bunny Mellon, but Mellon was unaware that her money was being used for the mistress.

A federal grand jury is investigating payments the former senator's campaign and supporters made to Rielle Hunter, who was a videographer as Edwards was preparing a bid for 2008 White House run. –CNN Politics

With all coming to light, it’s a good thing Edwards didn’t win the White House! What a DOG! Cheating is bad enough, but to even suggest his mistress undergo an abortion? Yeah, Edwards is a low life piece of shit! The best thing for this damaged politician is to simply, GO AWAY! I wouldn’t trust this man if my life depended on it. The only individuals I feel for, Edwards ex-wife and kids. I can’t even imagine the embarrassment and humiliation this family is experiencing. As for you, Edwards, I have no sympathy for you! Your good looks and expensive hair cuts are only skin deep … you are ugly to the core buddy!

Ragbag Headliners

6 More Weeks Of Winter

The groundhog has spoken. And it's bad news.

Punxsutawney (puhnk-suh-TAW'-nee) Phil has emerged to see his shadow before chilly revelers in Pennsylvania, meaning winter will last another six weeks.

German tradition holds that if a hibernating animal sees its shadow on Feb. 2 — the Christian holiday of Candlemas — winter will last another six weeks. If no shadow is seen, legend says spring will come early. –Yahoo News

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Attention Coffee Drinkers

After tasting 37 different blended coffees, Consumer Reports couldn't find one that measured up to its "excellent" or "very good" ratings, the publication said Tuesday.

The less-than-glowing report follows a year that saw tight supplies of high-quality arabica coffee beans in Colombia, followed by steep premiums that caused some roasters to look for cheaper and more available options for their blends.

Ranking at the top of the list of 14 caffeinated blends -- earning a rating of "good" -- are the Starbucks House Blend, calculated at 26 cents per cup, and Green Mountain Signature Nantucket Blend Medium Roast, at 23 cents per cup.

Blends are the best-selling type of ground coffee and contain beans from at least two regions or countries, the publication said.

The highest score for the 13 decaffeinated coffees also failed to reach the top two categories. The better scoring varieties included Allegro Organic Decaf, Blend Medium Dark, Peet's Decaf House Blend, Caribou Daybreak Coffee Morning Blend Decaf and Bucks County Decaf Breakfast blend.

Consumer Reports has a rating criteria in which the tasters look for specific characteristics including the flavor and aroma.

The publication advised coffee drinkers not to count on familiar brand names or expensive price tags, noting that the cost doesn't accurately reflect the cost per cup due to varying grind densities, and recommended ratios of coffee to water. –Yahoo News

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Medical Journal Retracts Study

The medical journal The Lancet on Tuesday retracted a controversial 1998 paper that linked the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism.

The study subsequently had been discredited, and last week, the lead author, Dr. Andrew Wakefield, was found to have acted unethically in conducting the research.

The General Medical Council, which oversees doctors in Britain, said that "there was a biased selection of patients in The Lancet paper" and that his "conduct in this regard was dishonest and irresponsible."

The panel found that Wakefield subjected some children in the study to various invasive medical procedures such as colonoscopies and MRI scans. He also paid children at his son's birthday party to have blood drawn for research purposes, an act that "showed a callous disregard" for the "distress and pain" of the children, the panel said.

After the council's findings last week, The Lancet retracted the study and released this statement.

"It has become clear that several elements of the 1998 paper by Wakefield et al. are incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier investigation. In particular, the claims in the original paper that children were 'consecutively referred' and that investigations were 'approved' by the local ethics committee have been proven to be false. Therefore we fully retract this paper from the published record." -CNN Health

Locally Speaking

High Court Hears Helmet Law

The five South Carolina Supreme Court justices had questions for all sides of the Myrtle Beach helmet lawsuits heard Wednesday, but so far have offered no opinion on whether the controversial law will stand.

During two hearings related to the issue Wednesday, they questioned attorneys supporting and opposing the city's right to pass a local motorcycle helmet law, as Myrtle Beach did in 2008. The law was one in a series of ordinances designed to push the May motorcycle rallies outside city limits after years of complaints from residents about traffic, noise and lewd behavior.

The justices appeared to interrogate all the attorneys equally, though Justice Donald Beatty took to task lawyer Mike Battle, who represented the city, when he asserted the city only passed the helmet law because of safety concerns.

"I realize the issue is narrow here, but don't pretend like we don't know what's going on," Beatty said. "We read. We all know why the city [passed the rally ordinances]."

Attorney Thad Viers - representing his brother Bart, who was given a helmet ticket, and the group Business Owners Organized to Support Tourism - was up first. He presented a short version of the extensive legal arguments he already has filed in writing.

Justice Costa Pleicones told Viers the city has a legitimate interest in regulating noise, lewd acts and controlling nuisances.

"You're not trying to say that's not legitimate, right?" the justice asked.

Viers said he was only trying to say that the city can't pass a law regarding helmets because there is already a state law that says people younger than 21 must wear them, but says nothing about people 21 or older.

Viers argued this meant the legislature had wanted adults to have the freedom to choose, though Battle argued it's that very silence on the matter that allows the city to make its own law. The city's law requires all riders to wear helmets.

The justices appeared interested in the argument that letting the helmet law stand could mean a hodgepodge of different laws across the state - a situation the state's Uniform Traffic Act is meant to prevent, Viers said.

Pleicones asked Viers if he was trying to say that travel throughout the state could be impacted by "a morass of little pockets of local law." Viers responded that that was exactly his argument.

Battle argued the benefits of the helmet law outweigh the inconvenience, and pointed out that people coming into S.C. on motorcycles have to wear them in the surrounding states.

"What is the burden on the person wearing the helmet? I think everyone agrees it's safer for them, just like when you have to strap on a safety belt," Battle said.

Some wondered Wednesday whether the justices had already made up their minds.

Carol and William O'Day of Myrtle Beach, two of McGrath's clients, were there Wednesday, among about two dozen other rally supporters. Carol O'Day said she felt the hearings went well, and her husband agreed. He said he felt the opinion could come back soon because "I think they already knew what they wanted to do," he said.

Others speculated the ruling won't matter anyway, because the city already accomplished its goal, which was quell the rallies. Last year's attendance fell far short of the peak years' half a million people between both rallies. –Sun News

Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells

Medical researchers use laboratory-grown human cells to learn the intricacies of how cells work and test theories about the causes and treatment of diseases. The cell lines they need are “immortal”—they can grow indefinitely, be frozen for decades, divided into different batches and shared among scientists. In 1951, a scientist at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, created the first immortal human cell line with a tissue sample taken from a young black woman with cervical cancer. Those cells, called HeLa cells, quickly became invaluable to medical research—though their donor remained a mystery for decades. In her new book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, journalist Rebecca Skloot tracks down the story of the source of the amazing HeLa cells, Henrietta Lacks, and documents the cell line's impact on both modern medicine and the Lacks family.

Who was Henrietta Lacks?

She was a black tobacco farmer from southern Virginia who got cervical cancer when she was 30. A doctor at Johns Hopkins took a piece of her tumor without telling her and sent it down the hall to scientists there who had been trying to grow tissues in culture for decades without success. No one knows why, but her cells never died.

Why are her cells so important?

Henrietta’s cells were the first immortal human cells ever grown in culture. They were essential to developing the polio vaccine. They went up in the first space missions to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity. Many scientific landmarks since then have used her cells, including cloning, gene mapping and in vitro fertilization.

There has been a lot of confusion over the years about the source of HeLa cells. Why?

When the cells were taken, they were given the code name HeLa, for the first two letters in Henrietta and Lacks. Today, anonymizing samples is a very important part of doing research on cells. But that wasn’t something doctors worried about much in the 1950s, so they weren’t terribly careful about her identity. When some members of the press got close to finding Henrietta’s family, the researcher who’d grown the cells made up a pseudonym—Helen Lane—to throw the media off track. Other pseudonyms, like Helen Larsen, eventually showed up, too. Her real name didn’t really leak out into the world until the 1970s.

How did you first get interested in this story?

I first learned about Henrietta in 1988. I was 16 and a student in a community college biology class. Everybody learns about these cells in basic biology, but what was unique about my situation was that my teacher actually knew Henrietta’s real name and that she was black. But that’s all he knew. The moment I heard about her, I became obsessed: Did she have any kids? What do they think about part of their mother being alive all these years after she died? Years later, when I started being interested in writing, one of the first stories I imagined myself writing was hers. But it wasn’t until I went to grad school that I thought about trying to track down her family.

How did you win the trust of Henrietta’s family?

Part of it was that I just wouldn’t go away and was determined to tell the story. It took almost a year even to convince Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah, to talk to me. I knew she was desperate to learn about her mother. So when I started doing my own research, I’d tell her everything I found. I went down to Clover, Virginia, where Henrietta was raised, and tracked down her cousins, then called Deborah and left these stories about Henrietta on her voice mail. Because part of what I was trying to convey to her was I wasn’t hiding anything, that we could learn about her mother together. After a year, finally she said, fine, let’s do this thing.

When did her family find out about Henrietta’s cells?

Twenty-five years after Henrietta died, a scientist discovered that many cell cultures thought to be from other tissue types, including breast and prostate cells, were in fact HeLa cells. It turned out that HeLa cells could float on dust particles in the air and travel on unwashed hands and contaminate other cultures. It became an enormous controversy. In the midst of that, one group of scientists tracked down Henrietta’s relatives to take some samples with hopes that they could use the family’s DNA to make a map of Henrietta’s genes so they could tell which cell cultures were HeLa and which weren’t, to begin straightening out the contamination problem.

So a postdoc called Henrietta’s husband one day. But he had a third-grade education and didn’t even know what a cell was. The way he understood the phone call was: “We’ve got your wife. She’s alive in a laboratory. We’ve been doing research on her for the last 25 years. And now we have to test your kids to see if they have cancer.” Which wasn’t what the researcher said at all. The scientists didn’t know that the family didn’t understand. From that point on, though, the family got sucked into this world of research they didn’t understand, and the cells, in a sense, took over their lives.

How did they do that?

This was most true for Henrietta’s daughter. Deborah never knew her mother; she was an infant when Henrietta died. She had always wanted to know who her mother was but no one ever talked about Henrietta. So when Deborah found out that this part of her mother was still alive she became desperate to understand what that meant: Did it hurt her mother when scientists injected her cells with viruses and toxins? Had scientists cloned her mother? And could those cells help scientists tell her about her mother, like what her favorite color was and if she liked to dance.

Deborah’s brothers, though, didn’t think much about the cells until they found out there was money involved. HeLa cells were the first human biological materials ever bought and sold, which helped launch a multi-billion-dollar industry. When Deborah’s brothers found out that people were selling vials of their mother’s cells, and that the family didn’t get any of the resulting money, they got very angry. Henrietta’s family has lived in poverty most of their lives, and many of them can’t afford health insurance. One of her sons was homeless and living on the streets of Baltimore. So the family launched a campaign to get some of what they felt they were owed financially. It consumed their lives in that way.

What are the lessons from this book?

For scientists, one of the lessons is that there are human beings behind every biological sample used in the laboratory. So much of science today revolves around using human biological tissue of some kind. For scientists, cells are often just like tubes or fruit flies—they’re just inanimate tools that are always there in the lab. The people behind those samples often have their own thoughts and feelings about what should happen to their tissues, but they’re usually left out of the equation.

And for the rest of us?

The story of HeLa cells and what happened with Henrietta has often been held up as an example of a racist white scientist doing something malicious to a black woman. But that’s not accurate. The real story is much more subtle and complicated. What is very true about science is that there are human beings behind it and sometimes even with the best of intentions things go wrong.

One of the things I don’t want people to take from the story is the idea that tissue culture is bad. So much of medicine today depends on tissue culture. HIV tests, many basic drugs, all of our vaccines—we would have none of that if it wasn’t for scientists collecting cells from people and growing them. And the need for these cells is going to get greater, not less. Instead of saying we don’t want that to happen, we just need to look at how it can happen in a way that everyone is OK with. –Smithsonian.com

Take Back America

Daddy Sleeps Naked

"Late again!!" the third-grade teacher sternly said to little Sammy. "It ain't my fault this time, Miss Crabtree. You can blame this 'un on my Daddy. The reason I'm three hours late is my Daddy sleeps naked!" Now, Miss Crabtree had taught grammar school for thirty-some- odd years. Despite her mounting fears, she asked little Sammy what he meant by that.

Full of grins and mischief, and in the flower of his youth, little Sammy and trouble were old friends, but he always told her the truth. "You see, Miss Crabtree, out at the ranch we got this here low down coyote. The last few nights, he done ate six hens and killed Ma's best milk goat. Last night, when Daddy heard a noise out in the chicken pen, he grabbed his shot gun and said to my Ma, "That coyote's back again, I'm a gonna git him!''

"Stay back," Daddy whispered to all us kids!

"My Daddy was naked as a jaybird -- no boots, no pants, no shirt! To the hen house he crawled, just like an Injun on the snoop.. Then, he stuck that double barreled 12 gauge shot gun through the window of the coop."

"As he stared into the darkness, with coyotes on his mind, our old hound dog, Rip, had done gone and woke up and comes sneaking up behind Daddy. Then, as we all looked on, plumb helpless, old Rip done went and stuck his cold nose in my Daddy's crack! Miss Crabtree, we all been cleanin' chickens since three o'clock this mornin!'

Author Unknown

LET ME SEE IF HAVE THIS CORRECT!

LET ME SEE IF I GOT THIS RIGHT.

IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YEARS
HARD LABOR.

IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED
INDEFINITELY.

IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT.

IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE
JAILED.

IF YOU CROSS THE CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU MAY NEVER BE
HEARD FROM AGAIN.

IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE
BRANDED A SPY AND YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED.

IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO
POLITICAL PRISON TO ROT.

IF YOU CROSS THE U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET

1 - A JOB,
2 - A DRIVERS LICENSE,
3 - SOCIAL SECURITY CARD,
4 - WELFARE,
5 - FOOD STAMPS,
6 - CREDIT CARDS,
7 - SUBSIDIZED RENT OR A LOAN TO BUY A HOUSE,
8 - FREE EDUCATION,
9 - FREE HEALTH CARE,
10 - A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON
11 - BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED IN YOUR LANGUAGE
12 - AND THE RIGHT TO CARRY YOUR COUNTRY'S FLAG WHILE YOU PROTEST THAT YOU DON'T GET ENOUGH RESPECT

I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I HAD A FIRM GRASP ON THE SITUATION...

Author Unknown

Our Troops Still Have A Sense Of Humor
Thank God they can still maintain their sense of humor over there!
God Bless Our Troops!

Traffic Camera

I was driving when I saw the flash of a traffic camera. I figured that my picture had been taken for exceeding the limit even though I knew that I was not speeding.

Just to be sure, I went around the block and passed the same spot, driving even more slowly, but again the camera flashed.

Now I began to think that this was quite funny, so I drove even slower as I passed the area once more, but the traffic camera again flashed.

I tried a fourth and fifth time with the same results and was now laughing as the camera flashed while I rolled past at a snail's pace.

Two weeks later, I got five tickets in the mail for driving without a seat belt..

You can't fix stupid.

Author Unknown

The White House Frig

A peek inside the White House walk-in refrigerator.
Oh, shut up and lighten up ... I know you're laughing!!!

The Government Can

This is hilarious! Give the video a second to load, then click on white arrow to start. It’s funny, and unfortunately true. Click on the link below and laugh!

The Government Can