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In the video, Kuehnlein, a St. George officer for about two years, approaches a young man who was sitting in a parked car about 2 a.m. in a commuter lot near Spokane and Reavis Barracks roads. Kuehnlein asks for identification. When Darrow asks whether he did anything wrong, the officer orders him out of the car and begins shouting.

"You want to try me? You want to try me tonight? You think you have a bad night? I will ruin your night. ... Do you want to try me tonight, young boy?"

Darrow says no.

"Do you want to go to jail for some (expletive) reason I come up with?" the police officer says. Later, Darrow says, "I don't want any problems, officer."

"You're about to get it," Kuehnlein is heard saying. "You already started your (expletive) problems with your attitude."

After the officer notices the camera, he says, "I don't really care about your cameras, 'cause I'm about ready to tow your car, then we can tear 'em all apart."

Political attitudes may be all in head

Being conservative, liberal or in-between is wired in the brain, new study suggests

By Judy Peres | Tribune staff reporter
September 10, 2007

The differences between liberals and conservatives may run deeper than how they feel about welfare reform or the progress of the Iraq war: Researchers reported Sunday that their brains may actually work differently.

In a study likely to raise the hackles of some conservatives, psychologist David Amodio and others found that a specific region of the brain's cortex is more sensitive in people who consider themselves liberals than in self-declared conservatives.

The brain region in question helps people shift gears when their usual response would be inappropriate, supporting the notion that liberals are more flexible in their thinking.

"Say you drive home from work the same way every day, but one day there's a detour and you need to override your autopilot," said Amodio, a professor at New York University. "Most people function just fine. But there's a little variability in how sensitive people are to the cue that they need to change their current course."

That "cue" is processed in a part of the brain known as the anterior cingulate cortex, and Amodio was able to monitor its electrical activity by hooking his subjects up to electroencephalographs (EEGs) while they performed laboratory tests.

Unflattering traits

The work grew out of decades of previous research suggesting that political orientation is linked to certain personality traits or styles of thinking. A review of that research published in 2003 found that conservatives tend to be more rigid and closed-minded, less tolerant of ambiguity and less open to new experiences.

Some of the traits associated with right-wingers in that review were decidedly unflattering, including fear, aggression, tolerance of inequality and lack of complexity in their thinking. That -- along with the fact that it lumped Ronald Reagan and other political conservatives in with Adolf Hitler -- evoked outrage from conservative pundits.

John Jost, an author of both the review and the current study, was prompted to defend the research in an opinion piece published in The Washington Post.

"It's wrong to conclude that our results provide only bad news for conservatives," he wrote on Aug. 28, 2003. "True, we find some support for the traditional 'rigidity-of-the-right' hypothesis, but it is also true that liberals could be characterized on the basis of our overall profile as relatively disorganized, indecisive and perhaps overly drawn to ambiguity."

In the current study, Amodio and his colleagues recruited 43 college students for a simple experiment. The subjects reported their political attitudes confidentially on a scale from -5 (extremely liberal) to +5 (extremely conservative). Then they completed a computer test called "Go/No-Go" while an EEG measured their brain activity.

Subjects were told to press a button ("Go") each time the computer flashed the letter "M," but not when a "W" was displayed. Each stimulus-response set had to be completed within half a second.

Testing responses

Amodio said the "Go" stimulus came up 400 out of 500 times, so "they're sitting there getting in the habit of pressing this button. But 20 percent of the time, the 'No Go' stimulus comes up -- it's unexpected -- and they're supposed to do nothing. We can see how accurate people are at withholding the habitual response."

Subjects who rated themselves more liberal had higher scores for accuracy, Amodio said.

But more importantly, they also showed stronger electrical activity when the "No Go" cues were presented, indicating that more neurons were firing.

Linda Skitk

Frank J. Sulloway, a researcher at UC Berkeley's Institute of Personality and Social Research who was not connected to the study, said the results "provided an elegant demonstration that individual differences on a conservative-liberal dimension are strongly related to brain activity."

Analyzing the data, Sulloway said liberals were 4.9 times as likely as conservatives to show activity in the brain circuits that deal with conflicts, and 2.2 times as likely to score in the top half of the distribution for accuracy.

Sulloway said the results could explain why President Bush demonstrated a single-minded commitment to the Iraq war and why some people perceived Sen. John F. Kerry, the liberal Massachusetts Democrat who opposed Bush in the 2004 presidential race, as a "flip-flopper" for changing his mind about the conflict.

I'd say that's pretty close to saying conservatives are stupid. And maybe it's just my experience in Sweden and London colouring things, but it seems to me that there at least people are left wing by default - they don't question what SVT, the BBC or conventional wisdom tell them. And journalists working for the SVT or BBC tend to vote unanimously for left wing parties, often far left wing ones.

So right wingers people tend to be more skeptical in my experience, and thus more interesting to talk to. Whether they're right of course is another question, but it's just boring to talk to people who parrot conventional wisdom.

Or do you disagree somehow with the methodology

Interestingly some people think the opposite effect might be happening in America and may explain the results -

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-politicalbrain_bothsep10,1,6328755.story

Linda Skitka, a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said it's possible that Amodio's liberals appeared more flexible than his conservatives because the population was skewed.

"We're not a very liberal country," she said. "We're more likely to find extreme conservatives in the U.S. than extreme liberals."

Skitka said there's ample evidence that ideologues on the far left can also be uptight.

I.e. conventional wisdom in the US is right wing and this skews the results.

Of course most US journalists for the big networks are left wing - I read a study where for one media outlet voted overwhelmingly for the Democrats, but I suspect the media is not quite as badly biased. This is from my right wing perspective of course - if I believed in the things SVT and the BBC do, the US would be a horrible place.

I think it might be because the general US population is more right wing (as Sitka pointed out) and commercial pressure tends to make the media give more time to right wing ideas. The BBC and SVT are totally exempt from commercial pressure to be sure and are still trusted fairly highly. I suspect the way the organisations are funded, by taxes, corrupts the journalists and makes them defend left wing ideas which tend to be in favour of public spending, i.e. there's a form of economic determinism at work, somewhat ironically given the left wing origins of that theory. This sort of effect doesn't really happen in the US since there is no public service broadcaster - PBS is funded mostly by donations or an endowment, and the other networks are ruthlessly commercial.

I also think that US journalists might operate in an environment where your methods are more important than your conclusions. An example would be Woodward and Bernstein who really worked to get their story. In the UK, Andrew Gilligan was able to survive for ages reporting without any "on the record" sources. In fact his most sensational allegations seem to have been f

Fine submissions like these cause me to wonder if perhaps the recent upswing in anti-kdawson sentiment isn't entirely unjustified...

The headline and summary was so priceless that I just had to read TFA. I assumed that TFS had as usual grossly mischaracterized TFA. This was, however, not the case (yay L.A. Times!). The thing that jumped out at me was that this study was conducted on a bunch of college students (i.e. undergrads looking for extra credit in intro psych classes) at UCLA and NYU. If you consider the percentage of liberal students at UCLA, I wonder if there might not be just a tad of selection bias inherent here...not to mention the libertarian objection that the political spectrum is poorly characterized in a linear fashion.

Although I couldn't find the original paper, this other article (no registration with google referrer) was more informative, quoting someone who actually was connected with the study, and another psych professor who points out that this study (of 43 students) might not be the pinnacle of statistical rigor.

On the other hand, I guess we can feel fully justified in drawing conclusions about conservatives students NYU and UCLA ;). I know that my own alma mater can count Ann Coulter, for one, amongst the 15 or so of its alumni who were strongly republican as undergrads...Ironically, this study will probably promote its own conclusion, though, when Prof. Amodio becomes the core of a republican talking point on the apparent liberal bias of America's university faculties.

"Cool, there are choices :)"

Still in the Matrix huh? I feel sorry for you people I really do. Go do some research on how the world really works and then come here and post.
By the way Obama will get us into Iran.

This cartoon on this page of today's Chicago Tribune says it all. Too bad you have to use bugmenot to see it.

Half a million Americans dead from the tobacco companies each year, another half million from McDonald's trans fats each year, fewer than three thousand dead on American soil from muslim extremists this entire century. Bin Laden should buy stock in RJ Reynolds and Burger King if he wants to kill us, the piker! I'm far more scared of the corporate terrorists than that idiot. BTW, 40,000 Americans die on the highways yearly, a third of them from bad roads. How about we put some of that Homeland Security money on a few guard rails?

-mcgrew

This cartoon on this page of today's Chicago Tribune says it all. Too bad you have to use bugmenot to see it.

Half a million Americans dead from the tobacco companies each year, another half million from McDonald's trans fats each year, fewer than three thousand dead on American soil from muslim extremists this entire century. Bin Laden should buy stock in RJ Reynolds and Burger King if he wants to kill us, the piker! I'm far more scared of the corporate terrorists than that idiot. BTW, 40,000 Americans die on the highways yearly, a third of them from bad roads. How about we put some of that Homeland Security money on a few guard rails?

-mcgrew

10 easy steps to create an enemy and start a war:

Listen closely because we will all see this weapon used in our lives. It can be used on a society of the most ignorant to the most highly educated. We need to see their tactics as a weapon against humanity and not as truth.

THIS IS HOW TO CREATE A ENEMY! THIS IS HOW TO START A WAR! THIS IS HOW TO CREATE AND ENEMY!

First step: create the enemy. Sometimes this will be done for you.

Second step: be sure the enemy you have chosen is nothing like you. Find obvious differences like race, language, religion, dietary habits fashion. Emphasize that their soldiers are not doing a job, they are heartless murderers who enjoy killing!

Third step: Once these differences are established continue to reinforce them with all disseminated information.

Fourth step: Have the media broadcast only the ruling party's information this can be done through state run media. Remember, in times of conflict all for-profit media repeats the ruling party's information. Therefore all for-profit media becomes state-run.

Fifth step: show this enemy in actions that seem strange, militant, or different. Always portray the enemy as non-human, evil, a killing machine.

THIS IS HOW TO CREATE AN ENEMY. THIS IS HOW TO START A WAR. THIS IS HOW TO CREATE AN ENEMY.

Sixth step: Eliminate opposition to the ruling party. Create an "Us versus Them" mentality. Leave no room for opinions in between. One that does not support all actions of the ruling party should be considered a traitor.

Seventh step: Use nationalistic and/or religious symbols and rhetoric to define all actions. This can be achieved by slogans such as "freedom loving people versus those who hate freedom." This can also be achieved by the use of flags.

Eighth step: Align all actions with the dominant deity. It is very effective to use terms like, "It is god's will" or "god bless our nation."

Ninth step: Design propaganda to show that your soldiers have feelings, hopes, families, and loved ones. Make it clear that your soldiers are doing a duty; they do not want or like to kill.

Tenth step: Create and atmosphere of fear, and instability and then offer the ruling party as the only solutions to comfort the public's fears. Remembering the fear of the unknown is always the strongest fear.

THIS IS HOW TO CREATE AN ENEMY! THIS IS HOW TO START A WAR! THIS IS HOW TO CREATE AN ENEMY!

We are not countries. We are not nations.(enemy) we are not religions. We are not gods. We are not weapons. We are not ammunition. (enemy) we are not killers.We will NOT be tools.

Mother fuckers
I will not die
I will not kill
I will not be your slave
I will not fight your battle
I will not die on your battlefield
I will not fight for your wealth
I am not a fighter
I am a human being!!!

But, you know, a lot of times the best stuff comes from outsiders and I personally think that newspapers should develop a 'tech section' where they can throw off the mittens & grade school knowledge that need to be on in order to handle your average reader. I know many newspapers have entire sections devoted to sports--sometimes even just one particular sport if it's in season!

Oh man, I wish I had your optimism. But I'm a geezer, I'm beyond hope.

I personally think that newspapers should develop a 'tech section' where they can throw off the mittens & grade school knowledge that need to be on in order to handle your average reader.

Not me, I cringe every time I see the single weekly article by some so-called "tech guy" in a mainstream newspaper where someone (a non-nerd, obviously) says something like "my internet stopped working, what do I do?" and the answer starts with "first, open Internet Explorer. That's the program that lets you get on the internet"... GAH!!!! Someone will complain about viruses, does the guy ever mention Firefox? The fucktard doesn't seem to have ever HEARD of firefox, Linux, or OSS. Thankfully, the guy linked has retired. Hooray!

I know many newspapers have entire sections devoted to sports--sometimes even just one particular sport if it's in season!

That's because 48% of Americans (99% of males, probably not just Americans but men world-wide) are sometimes jocks and usually overweight wannabe jocks who love nothing better than to sit in front of the boob tube watching sports, memorizing meaningless statistics, and believing that it actually matters whether or not "their" team won the "big game" while not giving two shits or even knowing about warrantless wiretapping, limitless copyrights, the inability to make backups of DVDs they've bought, etc.

Sorry man (for me as well as for you) but it ain't gonna happen, not in my lifetime and not even in yours.

What we need is an article that causes people to seriously ask themselves how we can keep e-mail free and uncensored while at the same time stopping spam.

You're not going to see an article like that in the MSM or even in most so-called "tech" rags or sites. There are a lot of people who think they're geeks (Geek Squad anyone?) just because they own a computer!

So while this article is informational, it does nothing practical for the reader.

Informational for Aunt Gussie, not for you or me. And informing Aunt Gussie is practical.

the best way to stop spam is to stop clicking on it and show others how to do the same.

Ignorance is curable, but unfortunately stupidity is not. There are enough people who know better than to click on spam but are stupid enough to do it anyway. Hell, my oldest daughter is brain damaged with an IQ of 65 but even she is smart enough to not click on spam! But college professors do it anyway.

The situation is hopeless. If enough countries (esp. the US where most of the spam comes from) outlawed commercail unsolicited email with serious prison time for offenders, the spam problem would dry up... just like the "drug problem" has dried up.

It's hopeless.

=(

-mcgrew

Oh man, I wish I had your optimism. But I'm a geezer, I'm beyond hope.

I personally think that newspapers should develop a 'tech section' where they can throw off the mittens & grade school knowledge that need to be on in order to handle your average reader.

Not me, I cringe every time I see the single weekly article by some so-called "tech guy" in a mainstream newspaper where someone (a non-nerd, obviously) says something like "my internet stopped working, what do I do?" and the answer starts with "first, open Internet Explorer. That's the program that lets you get on the internet"... GAH!!!! Someone will complain about viruses, does the guy ever mention Firefox? The fucktard doesn't seem to have ever HEARD of firefox, Linux, or OSS. Thankfully, the guy linked has retired. Hooray!

I know many newspapers have entire sections devoted to sports--sometimes even just one particular sport if it's in season!

That's because 48% of Americans (99% of males, probably not just Americans but men world-wide) are sometimes jocks and usually overweight wannabe jocks who love nothing better than to sit in front of the boob tube watching sports, memorizing meaningless statistics, and believing that it actually matters whether or not "their" team won the "big game" while not giving two shits or even knowing about warrantless wiretapping, limitless copyrights, the inability to make backups of DVDs they've bought, etc.

Sorry man (for me as well as for you) but it ain't gonna happen, not in my lifetime and not even in yours.

What we need is an article that causes people to seriously ask themselves how we can keep e-mail free and uncensored while at the same time stopping spam.

You're not going to see an article like that in the MSM or even in most so-called "tech" rags or sites. There are a lot of people who think they're geeks (Geek Squad anyone?) just because they own a computer!

So while this article is informational, it does nothing practical for the reader.

Informational for Aunt Gussie, not for you or me. And informing Aunt Gussie is practical.

the best way to stop spam is to stop clicking on it and show others how to do the same.

Ignorance is curable, but unfortunately stupidity is not. There are enough people who know better than to click on spam but are stupid enough to do it anyway. Hell, my oldest daughter is brain damaged with an IQ of 65 but even she is smart enough to not click on spam! But college professors do it anyway.

The situation is hopeless. If enough countries (esp. the US where most of the spam comes from) outlawed commercail unsolicited email with serious prison time for offenders, the spam problem would dry up... just like the "drug problem" has dried up.

It's hopeless.

=(

-mcgrew

"Get elected, then just try raising taxes to pay for something that might happen someday".

On the other hand, the war in Iraq is estimated to cost taxpayers nearly $5,000 every *second*, with a final total cost that may be well over $1 trillion. How many bridges would that repair? Hell, how many bridges would that build?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi -iraq_digest01aug01,1,455675.story
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,221 78240-663,00.html

Please note that both these stories cite US federal government sources.

1. John Burge and others tortured suspects; public still funding their defense.
2. Anthony Abbate beat a 110 lbs. female bartender for refusing to serve him more alcohol.
3. Six cops beat up four men in a bar because they wanted to play pool.
4. Police Commissioner Phil Cline resigns as a result of above two incidents.
5. Cops beat four after police cruiser runs red light and almost hits one of the men.
6. citizens demand police officers be accountable to the public and not Chicago Police Department.
7. More than 800 complaints by citizens filed against CPD's Special operations section.

The vast majority of police are honest, hard-working people, but they _will_ break the law when it suits them. I've been witness to a Driving While Black incident and have also been illegally detained and searched because I was watching two cops shake down a girl I had recognized from the University. Sadly, incidents of police brutality, police shooting unarmed citizens and police harrassment of certain communities is not an exception, it's common practice in Chicago.

Meatspace criminals worry me a lot more.

Last year I had my car, cell phone, debit card (and pin) and checks stolen by a meatspace woman I was trying to help. At least they can't kill you or injure you over the internet!

This morning's Chicago Tribune had a heavily biased (in favor of the labels of course) story about pre-release copies of CDs being sold on eBay and traded on file sharing networks. The article mentions Chicago station "WKQX-FM 101.1, known as Q101" playing the White Stripes unreleased "Icky Thump" album three weeks before release. Despite the fact that the station said they contacted the label, who inferred that it would be OK, Jack White called up the disk jockey who played it to bitch her out.

I'd never heard of Jack White or the White Stripes so I looked them up on Wikipedia. One thing caught m eye - he was paid $60,000 as an uncredited studio musician on Electric Six's song "Danger! High Voltage. That's more than I make in an entire YEAR.

Sixty grand for work on one song! I'd say this poor little starving asshole (Wikipedia says he was "He was charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault", and only assholes violently attack people) is getting a hell of a lot more cash than any of the fucking lawyers.

I'm neither crying for the labels OR the overpaid fucktards who record for them, only the gullible dimwits who would buy or promote (even by file sharing) them.

Don't support these assholes, give your money to the local guys who really ARE starving, who the labels are doing their damndest to keep them out of your ears.

-mcgrew

Usually his stuff is informitave, even valuable, but Neilson's off his rocker with this one. "Blog" is a contraction of "web log". Whether it's a well thought out, long, expletitive laden rant, a short opinion piece attached to a slashdot story or an informative article it's still a damned web log; a log (written piece) posted on the web. Is This Chicago Tribune editorial by Trib staffer Eric Zorn a blog? Of course it is! It's opinion, it's on the web, it even has comments attached (unlike my own now-defunct log). But this guy is a real journalist, unlike me, who studied journalism in school, also unlike me. He even has editors and proofreaders, unlike me. But It's a blog, even though it's posted in the dead tree Tribune as well as the 'net. Nielson got this one 100% wrong.

-mcgrew (like you couldn't guess...)

AT&T and Apple both knew that the iPhone would be immensely popular, but neither company apparently realized how big initial demand would be. The Chicago Tribune reports today that "before the phone's debut analysts expected Apple to sell 50,000 to 200,000 units" during the rollout, but initial reports are that 500,000 units were in customer hands within the first few hours. (see http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-070702i phone,0,1339325.story?coll=chi-business-hed) One problem was that both companies were not only introducing a new product, but a new activation method -- take it home and activate it yourself using iTunes. Store employees were not allowed to open the box or even break the shrink-wrap; it was all up to customers -- all of whom were obviously untrained in the process, and some of whom were probably less technically qualified than others. To make matters even more complicated, at least half of the iPhone first-day buyers were coming from other cell phone providers (see http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/02/500-000-iphones -sold-so-far-but-can-apple-keep-up/), the AT&T activation server was swamped. According to a friend who works for the company, all half-a-million buyers wanted to activate at the same time. Under those circumstances, what could anyone expect but difficulty? One reason I'm waiting until Christmas to get mine ...

While I believe that the United States needs improvement in healthcare, why is suggested that the government take control over it? I'm not thrilled with the incidents at Walter Reed Hospital and other VA hospitals where veterans are getting their care. The United States government is not known for its efficiency and healthcare is the last area that I would like to give up my freedom of choice. Yes, Medicare administrative costs are low, but that doesn't mean that they're efficient with their purchases.

Secondly: if you don't want to support for-profit health insurance companies, pick a plan from a non-profit company if your company lets you choose between providers. As a side note: non-profit hospitals aren't run as efficiently as not-for-profit/for-profit hospitals.

My impression is in the event there is a government run healthcare system, people will start complaining about the government instead of complaining about HMO/PPO, etc...

Here's an insightful article from the Chicago Tribune from the director of Nurses for Reform, organization based in Europe to improve Europe's healthcare system, about some of the major complaints of the British system.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/services/newspaper/p remium/printedition/Tuesday/chi-oped0626sickojun26 ,1,5503687.story?ctrack=3&cset=true

In the end, I think the way that it'll work is that 1: there'll be a tax-payer based system that is free to all and a 2: private system that wealthier people can buy into in order to get better coverage/faster treatment.

Evolution is a THEORY. Science is made up of theories. And Evolution, as one of MANY scientific theories, has a place in the science classroom. Evolution IN NO WAY conflicts with belief in God. Hundreds of Christian churches around the country celebrated Darwin's Birthday.

I have no issue at all believing that God started the Universe. It's really the only thing that makes sense. I have a huge issue believing that he takes an active involvement in every singler little tiny thing that happens here. That would make for a very busy God. If that really were true, there would be no need to pray. After all, you pray to get God's attention

I do admit that a lot of atheists use Evolution as some kind of dogma for the fact that God does not exist. However, nowhere in the classroom of any school where I was ever taught was there ever made mention of the fact that God does not exist solely based on the Theory of Evolution. For that matter, there has never been ANY anti-God propaganda by any science teacher, that, my wife, my parents or my children have experienced.

If you believe that Evolution is some kind of state sanctioned religion, then you have to believe that ALL OF SCIENCE is state sanctioned religion, and we should go back to the days of witch doctors and potion cures.

> Do you honestly think these people care more about looking good than about doing the will of their gods?

Except that Hinduism's Gods have never exactly encouraged wanton violence. And there are enough tales of the Gods themselves playing pranks and turning each other into various odd forms -- including, famously, giving Shiva's son an elephant head. So it's not that they lack a sense of humor either. Nope, these things aren't masterminded by religious leaders, they're masterminded by cynical semi-fascist political leaders with goons at their command.

Any Shiv Sena types reading this -- you guys are a disgrace to Hinduism. In a country where caste wars are still going on, where caste is big political business two *generations* after untouchability was abolished, you have nothing better to do than get your dhotis in a bunch because someone is laughing at you? Yeah, behaving like Neo-Nazi goons will really help. Assholes.

Please take your Chhatrapati Shivaji statue and shaft yourself in the rectum with it.

Here's a link, highlighting the fact that I mentioned earlier: that there is not a scientific consensus on the issue of cell phones: http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-07021 8radiation-story,1,4538371.story?page=2&track=rss Again, I don't know who you think "[I] and [my] crazy[,] ignorant cronies" are, but I was kindly suggest that you question your assumptions, and, perhaps, learn to discuss something without using ridiculous ad hominem attacks. It is counterproductive. Some people with whom you disagree may, in fact, actually be smarter and/or more educated than you are.

What was Tony Snow, the White House press secretary, getting at today when he likened the role that the U.S. military might play down the road in Iraq with the role it still plays in South Korea - with tens of thousands of U.S. troops still deployed there five decades after war?

<snip>

For clarity, here is the conversation that took place at today's press briefing, building upon a question that veteran White House correspondent and columnist Helen Thomas had asked in an earlier and more informal morning press "gaggle'' with the press secretary:

Unlike the student who was arrested a while ago for completing his essay assignment as sked, these teachers will not be arrested.

FYI, charges were dropped against that student and he was allowed to return to school. Read about officials talking about dropping the charges here and then here for a story about the student returning to school.

Unlike the student who was arrested a while ago for completing his essay assignment as sked, these teachers will not be arrested.

FYI, charges were dropped against that student and he was allowed to return to school. Read about officials talking about dropping the charges here and then here for a story about the student returning to school.

You no doubt didn't see the follow-up story. All charges have been dropped and the student has been allowed to return to school.

I submitted the story last week. Oh well.

"A school safety drill that included police officers in riot gear with weapons has caused concern among some parents who say it was too realistic and frightened some students."

"Students, who were unaware police were conducting a drill, were taken from the classroom into the halls, patted down by officers and asked what they had in their pockets, the newspaper said."

"Some of these kids were so scared, they just about wet their pants," said Marge Bradshaw, a parent with four children in Godfrey-Lee Schools. "I think it's pure wrong that the students and parents were not informed of this."

} Even All Headline News hosted a report of the same contemptuous assault and battery of children, and now even their Article is gone.

Sure, they could be helping to *stimulate* those young minds into submittance, but they are also corrupting the public record of these events; the assault of the presumed-Actors moving to the commercial Scribes and non-commercial editors and their Book-keepers to CORRUPT the complete accounts and Rolls of those events. I find it stimulating that the only branches of society that could store, recollect, and preserve such evidence of terrorism are the same that are accused to be "schizzophrenic", "crazies", and "conspiracy theorists" yet they are not causing any tort or tresspass by their conservatorship over said records; StopTheDrugWar is one such persevered embalmer of these record of non-pretend raids on schools, having no difference between that of Actors and the 'tended drug raids. Even as far back as 2003 there was a video that gets posted with an article of same subjective pretended Raids and non-pretended Actors, but eventually is deleted. It makes its way around, here it is again of Stratford High School at Goose Creek. I have a couple more to reference of the same feet of non-pretend Actors, like this horrible creature, and yet another

Assume everyone is aware of this unfortunate story from a couple weeks ago. My suggestion is that these teachers and the principle do a little time of their own. In fact their sentence should probably be much harsher than the one given to the Chicago teenager. I think most parents would agree that we do halfway expect the teachers and administrators of that school to act more or less like responsible adults.

Contrary to most of the existing "cold fusion" scientists, our privately held company, Lattice Energy LLC, believes that certain well-established anomalous experimental results (e.g. He-4 production, excess heat, transmutations) that have frequently been reported by researchers in the field since 1989 are best explained by invoking the weak interaction, not strong interaction fusion or fission. Our theoretical model of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions is outlined in four readily available papers listed as follows: "Ultra low momentum neutron catalyzed nuclear reactions on metallic hydride surfaces" Eur. Phys. J. C 46, 107-111 (2006) "Absorption of Nuclear Gamma Radiation by Heavy Electrons on Metallic Hydride Surfaces" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0509269 [arxiv.org] [arxiv.org] "Nuclear Abundances in Metallic Hydride Electrodes of Electrolytic Chemical Cells" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0602472 [arxiv.org] [arxiv.org] "Theoretical standard model rates of proton to neutron conversions near metallic hydride surfaces" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/nucl-th/0608059 [arxiv.org] [arxiv.org] Importantly, no "new physics" is involved here, merely an extension of collective effects to electroweak theory within the context of the Standard Model. Thus, the phenomenon is not strong interaction "cold fusion" and never was! More papers are in preparation and will be uploaded to the Cornell physics arXiv server when they are ready. More recently, a short article by veteran science reporter Jon Van titled, "Nuclear reactions may produce phones' power," published in the Chicago Tribune on Monday, April 16. It can be found on the web at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0704140 [chicagotribune.com] 065apr16,0,1831279.story?coll=chi-business-hed [chicagotribune.com] L. Larsen, CEO of Lattice Energy LLC and Prof. A. Widom, Dept. of Physics, Northeastern University

Contrary to most of the existing "cold fusion" scientists, our privately held company, Lattice Energy LLC, believes that certain well-established anomalous experimental results (e.g. He-4 production, excess heat, transmutations) that have frequently been reported by researchers in the field since 1989 are best explained by invoking the weak interaction, not strong interaction fusion or fission. Our theoretical model of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions is outlined in four readily available papers listed as follows: "Ultra low momentum neutron catalyzed nuclear reactions on metallic hydride surfaces" Eur. Phys. J. C 46, 107-111 (2006) "Absorption of Nuclear Gamma Radiation by Heavy Electrons on Metallic Hydride Surfaces" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0509269 [arxiv.org] "Nuclear Abundances in Metallic Hydride Electrodes of Electrolytic Chemical Cells" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0602472 [arxiv.org] "Theoretical standard model rates of proton to neutron conversions near metallic hydride surfaces" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/nucl-th/0608059 [arxiv.org] Importantly, no "new physics" is involved here, merely an extension of collective effects to electroweak theory within the context of the Standard Model. Thus, the phenomenon is not strong interaction "cold fusion" and never was! More papers are in preparation and will be uploaded to the Cornell physics arXiv server when they are ready. More recently, a short article by veteran science reporter Jon Van titled, "Nuclear reactions may produce phones' power," published in the Chicago Tribune on Monday, April 16. It can be found on the web at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0704140 065apr16,0,1831279.story?coll=chi-business-hed [chicagotribune.com] L. Larsen, CEO of Lattice Energy LLC and Prof. A. Widom, Dept. of Physics, Northeastern University

Contrary to most of the existing "cold fusion" scientists, our privately held company, Lattice Energy LLC, believes that certain well-established anomalous experimental results (e.g. He-4 production, excess heat, transmutations) that have frequently been reported by researchers in the field since 1989 are best explained by invoking the weak interaction, not strong interaction fusion or fission. Our theoretical model of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions is outlined in four readily available papers listed as follows: "Ultra low momentum neutron catalyzed nuclear reactions on metallic hydride surfaces" Eur. Phys. J. C 46, 107-111 (2006) "Absorption of Nuclear Gamma Radiation by Heavy Electrons on Metallic Hydride Surfaces" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0509269 [arxiv.org] "Nuclear Abundances in Metallic Hydride Electrodes of Electrolytic Chemical Cells" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0602472 [arxiv.org] "Theoretical standard model rates of proton to neutron conversions near metallic hydride surfaces" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/nucl-th/0608059 [arxiv.org] Importantly, no "new physics" is involved here, merely an extension of collective effects to electroweak theory within the context of the Standard Model. Thus, the phenomenon is not strong interaction "cold fusion" and never was! More papers are in preparation and will be uploaded to the Cornell physics arXiv server when they are ready. More recently, a short article by veteran science reporter Jon Van titled, "Nuclear reactions may produce phones' power," published in the Chicago Tribune on Monday, April 16. It can be found on the web at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0704140 065apr16,0,1831279.story?coll=chi-business-hed [chicagotribune.com] L. Larsen, CEO of Lattice Energy LLC and Prof. A. Widom, Dept. of Physics, Northeastern University

Contrary to most of the existing "cold fusion" scientists, our privately held company, Lattice Energy LLC, believes that certain well-established anomalous experimental results (e.g. He-4 production, excess heat, transmutations) that have frequently been reported by researchers in the field since 1989 are best explained by invoking the weak interaction, not strong interaction fusion or fission. Our theoretical model of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions is outlined in four readily available papers listed below: "Ultra low momentum neutron catalyzed nuclear reactions on metallic hydride surfaces" Eur. Phys. J. C 46, 107-111 (2006) "Absorption of Nuclear Gamma Radiation by Heavy Electrons on Metallic Hydride Surfaces" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0509269 "Nuclear Abundances in Metallic Hydride Electrodes of Electrolytic Chemical Cells" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/cond-mat/0602472 "Theoretical standard model rates of proton to neutron conversions near metallic hydride surfaces" http://www.arxiv.org/pdf/nucl-th/0608059 Importantly, no "new physics" is involved here, merely an extension of collective effects to electroweak theory within the context of the Standard Model. Thus, the phenomenon is not strong interaction "cold fusion" and never was! More papers are in preparation and will be uploaded to the Cornell physics arXiv server when they are ready. More recently, a short article by veteran science reporter Jon Van titled, "Nuclear reactions may produce phones' power," published in the Chicago Tribune last Monday, April 16. It can be found on the web at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-0704140 065apr16,0,1831279.story?coll=chi-business-hed L. Larsen, CEO of Lattice Energy LLC and Prof. A. Widom, Dept. of Physics, Northeastern University

Why? He did what was asked of him: http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2007-04/ 29376499.jpg

If you are espousing a school system where a teacher tells a class to write stream-of-consiousness and then expells a student based on the content of the consciousness, then what's the purpose of school? To filter out youth that do not conform to a very specific set of thoughts into the margins? If you are going to ruin someones life based on what they wrote when they were asked to write what they were *thinking* you are getting far too close to the thought-police or Ministry of Peace for my tastes. I for one, am glad I got out before the School Overlords took over.

This should back you up.

Found this just now while browsing TFA.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-070426stude nt-essay,0,5824686.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Teen's essay
Editor's note and language advisory: Below is what Cary-Grove High School student Allen Lee says he wrote, according to his lawyer. The essay contains language some readers may find offensive.

Published April 27, 2007

Blood sex and Booze. Drugs Drugs Drugs are fun. Stab, Stab, Stab, S...t...a...b..., poke. "So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone..., then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did." Umm, yeah, what to wright about...... I'm leaving to join the Marines and I really don't give a (obscenity) about my academics, so why does the only class that's complete Bull Shit, happen to be the only required class...enough said. The model citizen would stay around to vote in new board member to change the 4 years of English policy, but no one really stays around to vote for that kind of local crap, so whoever gets there name on the Ballet with a pretty face gets to do what the (obscenity) ever they want with local ordinance. A person is smart, but people are dumb selfish animals. We can't make rules for ourselves so we vote others to do it for us, but we can't even do that right, I meen seriously, Bush for President? And our other option was John Kerry who claimed to parktake in Vietnam Special Forces missions that haven't been declassified....(obscenity) Bull Shit. So Power Flower Super Mario. Pudge, hook, rot, dismember "Fresh Meat." Mostly new/young teachers are laid back, and cooperative with students as feedback and input into the curriculum and atmosphere. My current English teacher is a control freak intent on setting a gap between herself and her students like a 63 year old white male fortune 500 company CEO, and a illegal immigrant. If CG was a private catholic school, I could understand, but wtf is her problem. And baking brownies and rice crispies does not make up for it, way to try and justify yourself as a good teacher while underhandedly looking for complements on your cooking. No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting.

(The following is Lee's explanation of the essay above, given to the media by his lawyer.)

Authors Note: This production of writing is done in the most accurate manner I can depict of the original writing. Grammar and spelling mistakes are included at the best accuracy possible. The first phrase in questions is in fact a Green Day song. The second reference to drugs is in relation to the schools history of drug problems. I am personally clean of all controlled substances. The statement in quotes is done so as a non personal statement as I would have done in reference to a character for a story. The reference to the gun P90 is from a video game, combined with a reference to necrophilia as a comment regarding a seriously messed up situation. A situation such as the rape of villagers during a raid by U.S. troops in Vietnam. I really do not care too much about by continuing academia as in relation to grades. I do however believe on continuing my personal education, and I am actually still working for my classes. My views on the graduation requirements explain themselves. The reference to Mario and Pudge( a DOTA character) are completely random as is this essay. The reference to a person being smart and people being dumb is based on a quote from "Men in Black." I generally do believe the public opinion is best. The rest of the essay is rather self explanatory, the main statement in question I have already released a comment online about. I request that all information I have released is read together, and nothing given separately or as an excerpt as the administration has seen fit to do.

On an addit

As reported by the Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-07042 6student-essay,1,6366371.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Blood sex and Booze. Drugs Drugs Drugs are fun. Stab, Stab, Stab, S...t...a...b..., poke. "So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone..., then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did." Umm, yeah, what to wright about...... I'm leaving to join the Marines and I really don't give a (obscenity) about my academics, so why does the only class that's complete Bull Shit, happen to be the only required class...enough said. The model citizen would stay around to vote in new board member to change the 4 years of English policy, but no one really stays around to vote for that kind of local crap, so whoever gets there name on the Ballet with a pretty face gets to do what the (obscenity) ever they want with local ordinance. A person is smart, but people are dumb selfish animals. We can't make rules for ourselves so we vote others to do it for us, but we can't even do that right, I meen seriously, Bush for President? And our other option was John Kerry who claimed to parktake in Vietnam Special Forces missions that haven't been declassified....(obscenity) Bull Shit. So Power Flower Super Mario. Pudge, hook, rot, dismember "Fresh Meat." Mostly new/young teachers are laid back, and cooperative with students as feedback and input into the curriculum and atmosphere. My current English teacher is a control freak intent on setting a gap between herself and her students like a 63 year old white male fortune 500 company CEO, and a illegal immigrant. If CG was a private catholic school, I could understand, but wtf is her problem. And baking brownies and rice crispies does not make up for it, way to try and justify yourself as a good teacher while underhandedly looking for complements on your cooking. No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting.

Ok, this is the essay in question.

Basically the dude was aiming to piss his teacher off apparently, from the content. I suppose a case could be made that the last line was a threat. Either way - guess it worked. Teacher was pissed - right?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-07042 6student-essay,1,6366371.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Blood sex and Booze. Drugs Drugs Drugs are fun. Stab, Stab, Stab, S...t...a...b..., poke. "So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone..., then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did." Umm, yeah, what to wright about...... I'm leaving to join the Marines and I really don't give a (obscenity) about my academics, so why does the only class that's complete Bull Shit, happen to be the only required class...enough said. The model citizen would stay around to vote in new board member to change the 4 years of English policy, but no one really stays around to vote for that kind of local crap, so whoever gets there name on the Ballet with a pretty face gets to do what the (obscenity) ever they want with local ordinance. A person is smart, but people are dumb selfish animals. We can't make rules for ourselves so we vote others to do it for us, but we can't even do that right, I meen seriously, Bush for President? And our other option was John Kerry who claimed to parktake in Vietnam Special Forces missions that haven't been declassified....(obscenity) Bull Shit. So Power Flower Super Mario. Pudge, hook, rot, dismember "Fresh Meat." Mostly new/young teachers are laid back, and cooperative with students as feedback and input into the curriculum and atmosphere. My current English teacher is a control freak intent on setting a gap between herself and her students like a 63 year old white male fortune 500 company CEO, and a illegal immigrant. If CG was a private catholic school, I could understand, but wtf is her problem. And baking brownies and rice crispies does not make up for it, way to try and justify yourself as a good teacher while underhandedly looking for complements on your cooking. No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting.

(The following is Lee's explanation of the essay above, given to the media by his lawyer.)

Authors Note: This production of writing is done in the most accurate manner I can depict of the original writing. Grammar and spelling mistakes are included at the best accuracy possible. The first phrase in questions is in fact a Green Day song. The second reference to drugs is in relation to the schools history of drug problems. I am personally clean of all controlled substances. The statement in quotes is done so as a non personal statement as I would have done in reference to a character for a story. The reference to the gun P90 is from a video game, combined with a reference to necrophilia as a comment regarding a seriously messed up situation. A situation such as the rape of villagers during a raid by U.S. troops in Vietnam. I really do not care too much about by continuing academia as in relation to grades. I do however believe on continuing my personal education, and I am actually still working for my classes. My views on the graduation requirements explain themselves. The reference to Mario and Pudge( a DOTA character) are completely random as is this essay. The reference to a person being smart and people being dumb is based on a quote from "Men in Black." I generally do believe the public opinion is best. The rest of the essay is rather self explanatory, the main statement in question I have already released a comment online about. I request that all information I have released is read together, and nothing given separately or as an excerpt as the administration has seen fit to do.

On an additional note, I have completed the MEPS (Military Entry Processing Station) examinations, and yes a psychiatric evaluation is included in the process. If I'm qualified to defend the country, I believe I'm qualified to attend school.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-07042 6student-essay,1,6366371.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Blood sex and Booze. Drugs Drugs Drugs are fun. Stab, Stab, Stab, S...t...a...b..., poke. "So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone..., then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did." Umm, yeah, what to wright about...... I'm leaving to join the Marines and I really don't give a (obscenity) about my academics, so why does the only class that's complete Bull Shit, happen to be the only required class...enough said. The model citizen would stay around to vote in new board member to change the 4 years of English policy, but no one really stays around to vote for that kind of local crap, so whoever gets there name on the Ballet with a pretty face gets to do what the (obscenity) ever they want with local ordinance. A person is smart, but people are dumb selfish animals. We can't make rules for ourselves so we vote others to do it for us, but we can't even do that right, I meen seriously, Bush for President? And our other option was John Kerry who claimed to parktake in Vietnam Special Forces missions that haven't been declassified....(obscenity) Bull Shit. So Power Flower Super Mario. Pudge, hook, rot, dismember "Fresh Meat." Mostly new/young teachers are laid back, and cooperative with students as feedback and input into the curriculum and atmosphere. My current English teacher is a control freak intent on setting a gap between herself and her students like a 63 year old white male fortune 500 company CEO, and a illegal immigrant. If CG was a private catholic school, I could understand, but wtf is her problem. And baking brownies and rice crispies does not make up for it, way to try and justify yourself as a good teacher while underhandedly looking for complements on your cooking. No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting.

Authors Note: This production of writing is done in the most accurate manner I can depict of the original writing. Grammar and spelling mistakes are included at the best accuracy possible. The first phrase in questions is in fact a Green Day song. The second reference to drugs is in relation to the schools history of drug problems. I am personally clean of all controlled substances. The statement in quotes is done so as a non personal statement as I would have done in reference to a character for a story. The reference to the gun P90 is from a video game, combined with a reference to necrophilia as a comment regarding a seriously messed up situation. A situation such as the rape of villagers during a raid by U.S. troops in Vietnam. I really do not care too much about by continuing academia as in relation to grades. I do however believe on continuing my personal education, and I am actually still working for my classes. My views on the graduation requirements explain themselves. The reference to Mario and Pudge( a DOTA character) are completely random as is this essay. The reference to a person being smart and people being dumb is based on a quote from "Men in Black." I generally do believe the public opinion is best. The rest of the essay is rather self explanatory, the main statement in question I have already released a comment online about. I request that all information I have released is read together, and nothing given separately or as an excerpt as the administration has seen fit to do.

On an additional note, I have completed the MEPS (Military Entry Processing Station) examinations, and yes a psychiatric evaluation is included in the process. If I'm qualified to defend the country, I believe I'm qualified to attend school.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-07042 6student-essay,1,6366371.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Carroll said the complaint against Lee quotes his essay as saying: "Blood, sex and booze. Drugs, drugs, drugs are fun. Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, s ... t ... a ... b ..., puke. So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did."

According to Carroll, another passage said, "as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first CG shooting."

Carroll said the two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct in the amended complaint filed Thursday refer to both passages.

Of the passages in the complaint, Lee, reached late Thursday, said prosecutors "only took out certain parts. ... They are edited remarks."

Lee said he hopes to release the full essay Friday after conferring with his lawyer. He also said he appreciates the support he has received from people commenting on message boards and calling him.

Blood, sex and booze. Drugs, drugs, drugs are fun. Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab, s ... t ... a ... b ..., puke. So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did.

as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first CG shooting.

Obama though did vote FOR the Patriot act. Also, coming out against the war in 2004 isn't exactly ahead of the curve. The war was already going badly at that point. (Obama Voting Record)

Compare this to Ron Paul, who has been against the war from day 1. He also voted against the Patriot act from Day 1. ( Ron Paul Voting record)

Obama on the other hand has said "I don't oppose all wars." He would even has said that he would consider a missile strike on Iran.

Obama is young and charismatic, and he may seem like a breath of fresh air. But, in the end he's just another poitician. He changes his positions based on whatever suits his needs at the time. For a real change, Ron Paul is your man.

For those a little too young to get that, here's the original. And yes, it's definitely worth reading. :-)

"Atkin's diet need not be debunked to be criticized. The burden of proof is on it's proponents to show that it is effective"

You mean something like this?

And in Europe, the law mandates that such records be preserved. Last year, the European Union ordered phone and Internet companies to retain traffic data tied to individual computer addresses for six to 24 months to help police investigate crimes. The EU left the exact time frame to each member nation to decide.

And in Europe, the law mandates that such records be preserved. Last year, the European Union ordered phone and Internet companies to retain traffic data tied to individual computer addresses for six to 24 months to help police investigate crimes. The EU left the exact time frame to each member nation to decide.

"She's on active duty with the Navy," said Cmdr. Lydia Robertson. As for Nowak's ongoing criminal proceedings, Robertson called it a "civilian matter" and would not speculate on any military actions "that would come under her new commander."

Nowak, who was arrested last month in Orlando on charges she attempted to kidnap a romantic rival, remains an active duty naval officer. She has been "on detail" to NASA as an astronaut since her selection in 1996.

NASA requested an end to the relationship because "the agency lacks the administrative means to deal appropriately with the criminal charges pending," a NASA press release said. Nowak is not subject to administrative action by NASA because she is a naval officer on assignment and not a space agency civil servant.

March 5, 2007, 2:52PM
Stations agree on anti-payola settlement

I saw this at 7:00 a.m. CST.

What is this "Chron dotcom" you link to? What's wrong with the New York Times or LA Times or the Dallas Morning News or Adweek or any of the other 365 articles that Google News lists?

News for nerds... from the witless. Jesus H. Christ, people!

OK, now that the rant against the witless link is over, 12 million? That's only four million for each of the big 4. Chicken feed, chump change, part of their operating expense. It's only a PR ploy. Nothing to see here, move along...

Business as usual. FCC looking like it's doing its job, when IT AIN'T!

More importantly and perhaps less on topic, in a thread a couple of days ago some folks said that the major labels were the ones who sort the wheat from the chaff in music, and that is entirely correct. Correct, but wrong. It's correct because of payola, which is wrong.

The broadcasters themselves should be the ones who bring you the "good stuff". And there should be a hell of a lot more than four of them.

And we need a new slashdot, too.

Qwest is one of the companies speaking out against net neutrality. The CEO even went as far as to call it "really silly." Could it be that the CTO's comments are politically motivated?

I, for one, think so.

How about:
http://ufoevidence.org/
http://www.nuforc.org/
http://disclosureproject.org/

And recently:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotiv e/columnists/chi-0701010141jan01,0,5874175.column