Ragbag Headliners

Iceland's Penis Museum Gets First Human Member

Iceland's penis museum finally has its featured member.

Pall Arason, who passed away last year at the age of 95, has officially donated his "pickled penis" to the Phallological Museum, giving the bizarre exhibit its very first human specimen.

Sigurdur Hjartarson, Arason's friend and the museum's curator, says that Arason's posthumous gift helps to complete the growing collection of whale, bear, seal and other mammalian private parts.

Located in the fishing town of Husavik, the museum boasts a collection of over 209 penises and penile parts "belonging to almost all the land and sea mammals that can be found in Iceland," according to the museum website.

According to the medical director of nearby Akureyri Hospital, a doctor at the local morgue supervised the operation, which was carried out in January.

The museum has been open since 1997 without a human specimen.-AOL News 

<><><>*<><><>

Cops: Weight-Loss Doctor Told Patients to Burn Calories With Orgasms

A doctor at a weight-loss center in Conshohocken sexually assaulted at least a half-dozen of his patients and while doing so, told several of them that orgasms burn 200 calories, according to court documents.

Arie Oren, 64, of Narberth, has been charged with four counts of aggravated indecent assault and eight counts of indecent assault for his alleged conduct with six patients who range in age from 24 to 59.

The victims, who said they were assaulted by Oren between 2008 and December 2010 in his office at Weight Control on 3rd Avenue, all told Conshohocken police strikingly similar stories, according to court documents.

Oren often used an electronic massager with a long handle and flat, round head around the victims' thighs and buttocks, telling them that it would break up the fat, police said.

He would then move the massager to the patients' genital area and then sometimes inserted his finger into the patients, according to court documents.

"If you have an orgasm, that would burn around 200 calories," he is quoted in his arrest affidavit as telling one patient who told him she was uncomfortable.

He even tried to or did kiss several of the patients, according to police.

One victim said that Oren grabbed her breasts and said that although she may want to lose her stomach, she wouldn't want to lose her breasts, police said. Another claimed that after assaulting her and putting her hand on his penis, he told her that "the visit is on the house because you're so hot," according to court documents.

Oren was arraigned yesterday and posted $100,000 cash bail.

This is not the first time that Oren has been in trouble with the law. In the mid-1990s, he pleaded guilty to insurance fraud. He was sentenced to 24 months in prison and three years' probation and ordered to pay $272,000 in restitution, according to online court documents.

In one court document from 1997, Administrative Law Judge Joseph Riotto described Oren as "a highly untrustworthy individual."

However, Oren does have a valid license to practice medicine that was last renewed in December, according to the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Authorities urge other alleged victims to call Conshohocken police at 610-828-4032. –Philly 

<><><>*<><><>

Paul Ryan: The Dr. Kevorkian of Medicare

Republicans have always hated Medicare, but most Americans have always loved it. Now, led by Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republicans are trying to kill it once and for all.

When JFK and LBJ proposed and passed it, Ronald Reagan called Medicare socialism and warned that it would lead to the end of freedom. If Medicare passed, the Gipper said, "... one of these days, you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free."

A half-century after Reagan's dire warning, I suspect most Americans see Medicare -- the single-payer health system that covers seniors -- as an essential element of our freedom. But not Congressman Ryan, nor many other Republicans. Ryan would end Medicare as we know it, replacing it with a voucher that seniors would take to insurance companies, upon whose tender mercies their lives and health would then depend.

Establishment big shots hail Ryan's "courage," but ordinary Americans may not see his plan as courageous. More like mean-spirited.

Only among Beltway elites is it considered courageous to deny ill and infirm seniors the health care they deserve -- while giving oil companies billions in taxpayer subsidies. Most Americans have a different definition of courage. They think courage is taking on oil companies, corporate special interests and billionaire polluters. But that's not in the GOP playbook. –Read more at CNN Opinion 

<><><>*<><><>

Big Oil's $4 Billion Tax Break In Doubt

President Obama repeated his call Tuesday for an end to $4 billion in oil industry tax breaks as gas prices approach $4 a gallon and after a top lawmaker indicated a possible shift in Republican policy.

In a letter to congressional leaders, the president said the oil industry is profitable enough without the tax incentives and that the money should be spent on alternative energy sources and conservation.

"CEOs of the major oil companies have made it clear that high oil prices provide more than enough profit motive to invest in domestic production without special tax breaks," said Obama. "As we work together to reduce our deficits, we simply can't afford these wasteful subsidies."

This week those profits are going to be front and center. BP (BP) is expected to report earnings on Wednesday. Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) is slated to announce its results on Thursday. Some analysts expect the company's profits to jump 50% from last year. Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) is scheduled to make its earnings announcement on Friday.

The oil industry and many of its supporters in Congress have long argued that the tax breaks encourage domestic oil production and provide jobs for millions of Americans. Republicans in particular have resisted efforts to eliminate these tax breaks, something many Democrats have been trying to do since at least 2008. –Read more at CNN Money 

<><><>*<><><>

Orlando Gas Station Charges $5.69 A Gallon

Gas prices are on the rise nationwide, but one filling station in Florida has earned the dubious distinction of having the highest prices in the country.

Suncoast Energys, located near the Orlando International Airport, was charging $5.69 a gallon for regular gasoline on Friday. That's the highest of any gas retailer in the nation, according to price tracker gasbuddy.com.

By contrast, the average price in the city of Orlando is $3.78 a gallon, a few pennies below the state and national averages.

Patrick DeHann, senior analyst at gasbuddy.com, said many tourists use the station before returning rental cars on the way to the airport, without realizing how expensive the gas is until it's too late.
Rising gas prices: 'When is it going to stop?'

The manager of Suncoast Energys, Bob Barnes, confirmed Friday that the station is also charging $5.74 a gallon for medium grade gas and $5.79 for premium. –Read more at CNN Money

<><><>*<><><>

IMF Bombshell: Age of America Nears End

The International Monetary Fund has just dropped a bombshell, and nobody noticed.

For the first time, the international organization has set a date for the moment when the "Age of America" will end and the U.S. economy will be overtaken by that of China.

And it's a lot closer than you may think.

According to the latest IMF official forecasts, China's economy will surpass that of America in real terms in 2016 — just five years from now.

Put that in your calendar.

It provides a painful context for the budget wrangling taking place in Washington right now. It raises enormous questions about what the international security system is going to look like in just a handful of years. And it casts a deepening cloud over both the U.S. dollar and the giant Treasury market, which have been propped up for decades by their privileged status as the liabilities of the world's hegemonic power.

According to the IMF forecast, which was quietly posted on the Fund's website just two weeks ago, whoever is elected U.S. president next year — Obama? Mitt Romney? Donald Trump? — will be the last to preside over the world's largest economy. –Read more at Yahoo Finance