Thursday, October 30, 2008

Today's Eye-Balled News

Eye-Balled News

Visit the Zblog Archives for more tales of autistic ethics, anthrax, wild mind and humor...



Don't Miss The Hawaiian Action/Adventure Novel "Aloha's End"
Humor and Romance Zangari Style
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Now The Eye-Balled NEWS

'Innocence Lost' Sting II Another 47 Kids Recovered A second national sex trafficking sweep nets 73 pimps and 518 prostitutes and rescues more kids from the sex trade. Story

Poll: Florida too close to call

10/27/08
Letter to the Editor: New FBI Guidelines

10/27/08
FBI Releases 2007 Hate Crime Statistics


Man Indicted for Hacking Governor Palin's E-Mail AccountWed, 08 Oct 2008 09:09:08 -0500
David C. Kernell, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was indicted by a federal grand jury for intentionally accessing without authorization the e-mail account of Alaska governor Sarah Palin.


Abducted children: Conventional photos alone don't aid the searchPhysOrg Wed, 29 Oct 2008 5:03 AM PDTPeople's ability to recognise abducted children is impaired when they view a photo of a smiling, clean child, but come into contact with the same child whose appearance is very different because he or she is upset, crying, dishevelled or unkempt. This is the key finding of a study published today in Applied Cognitive Psychology.

Brothers and sisters learn to live with autismProvidence Journal - Providence,RI,USABy DON AUCOIN Children toss balls of paper containing their concerns at the Autism Resource Center in West Boylston, Mass. From left: Chrissy Berard, ...See all stories on this topic

Musical Talent and Autism: A Link Worth ExploringAbout - News & Issues - New York,NY,USAThere were music teachers galore - but none willing to take on a child with autism. Finally, we found a very young woman with a lot of patience and very few ...See all stories on this topic

A Virginia Beach surfing icon feels a wave of affectionThe Virginian-Pilot Thu, 23 Oct 2008 8:49 PM PDTVIRGINIA BEACH Pete Smith isn't psyched. He's stoked. What else would an old surfer be? At the moment, on Thursday morning, he's walking through a shop at Hilltop where a lot of his old surfing magazines, T-shirts, decals and stickers are laid out like it's the Smithsonian of surfing. But really, until a few weeks ago, all this stuff was just Pete's "collection."

Prop 9 would expand victims' rightsCalifornia Aggie Fri, 24 Oct 2008 0:02 AM PDTCalifornia law gives victims of crime the right to speak out at sentencing and parole hearings, but supporters of Prop 9 say crime victims ' rights cannot stop there.

TRANSSEXUAL STUDY REVEALS GENETIC LINK The discovery of a genetic variation in male to female transsexuals adds weight to the view that transsexualism has a biological basis, the Australian researchers behind the find say.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/301303/685626/5783/0/

== YOUR STORIES: DIAGNOSING TYPE 1.5 DIABETES == Caraline McLeod wasn't the only one surprised by tests confirming she had an uncommon type of diabetes she'd read about on the internet.
http://abcmail.net.au/t/301303/685626/5726/0/

New GI Bill on track to meet 2009 deadlineTacoma News Tribune Sat, 25 Oct 2008 1:45 AM PDTThe new Post-9/11 GI Bill, which on average will double the value of education benefits for eligible veterans, will be launched on schedule next August and begin making payments to students and colleges next fall, just as Congress intended, says a senior Department of Veterans Affairs official.

http://www.securene t.net/members/ aaxt/html/ AndreaPaperNewFo rmat(2).pdfThe author's experience gained in therapeutic workwith more than one hundred autistic children, coupledwith a study of pineal gland research, has led to thehypothesis that the problems of autism stem from animpairment of pineal gland functioning. This paper willargue for that hypothesis by proposing that specificdysfunctional conditions of the pineal gland are the causeof particular symptoms of autism. It will also report on asuccessful therapeutic strategy that involves theapplication of bodywork techniques such as CraniosacralTherapy, Polarity Therapy and the MetamorphicTechnique in conjunction with the administration ofsupplemental melatonin.Introduction

China’s new academy of Tibetan Buddhism near Lhasa may backfire as the center for Tibetan IndependenceIndia Daily Sat, 18 Oct 2008 12:49 PM PDTThe academy will train "patriotic and devotional religious personnel" with strong religious accomplishments and moral character. This is what China is telling the world.


Radioactive: Mobile phones - the battery conundrum - Networks ...Nov 9, 2005 ... Are fuel cells the answer? Tags: mobile phone, battery, battery life, fuel cell .... London Olympics fibre hub 'template for UK broadband' ...
Two More Central Florida Pharmacies Hit By Robbers WFTV 9 Orlando - Oct 25 1:00 PM EDT

Ballesteros 'stable' after third brain op CNN Sat, 25 Oct 2008 1:30 AM PDTGolf legend Seve Ballesteros is in a "stable" condition after a third operation to remove a cancerous brain tumor at La Paz Hospital in Madrid on Friday.

Police: Man urinates on dog after owner spurns sex AP via Yahoo! News Fri, 24 Oct 2008 9:43 PM PDTA 36-year-old man took revenge on his roommate after she refused to have sex with him by allegedly urinating on her dog, police said. Police said the man was arrested early Thursday morning on tentative charges of criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct related to domestic violence
Woman suing over husband's missing brain UPI Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:07 PM PDTNEW YORK, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- A 71-year-old New York woman wants $4 million from those responsible for losing her late husband's brain.

New format for pro surfing FOXSPORTS.com.au Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:49 AM PDTPROFESSIONAL surfing tournaments will have the option of a new format in 2009 with the aim of running events over shorter periods and providing opportunities for non-ranked surfers to break into the World Championship Tour.

Digital Ally to Introduce New Products at 115th Annual International Chiefs of Police Conference November 8-12, 2008 PR Newswire via Yahoo! Finance Thu, 30 Oct 2008 4:30 AM PDTDigital Ally, Inc. , which develops, manufactures and markets advanced video surveillance products for law enforcement, homeland security and commercial security applications, today announced that the Company will introduce a number of new products and product features at the 115th Annual International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference and Exposition, which will be held November 9-11, ...

PILL REPLACES INJECTIONS FOR MONOGENIC DIABETES (Science Show: 25/10/2008)
http://abcmail.net.au/t/301303/685626/5758/0/CANNABIS RECEPTORS FOR STROKE TREATMENT (Science Show: 25/10/2008) http://abcmail.net.au/t/301303/685626/5757/0/

Sex assault sailor loses appeal BBC News - UKWarrant Officer Timothy Matthews, of Gifford Terrace, Plymouth, was jailed for three years in December 2007 after he was found guilty of sexual assault. ...See all stories on this topic


THE HOBBIT ENIGMA ABC1, 8:30pm Tuesday, 4 November 2008 The Hobbit Enigma examines one of the greatest controversies in science today. Just what did scientists really find when they uncovered the tiny, human-like skeleton of a strange creature on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003?Are the bones a previously unknown and bizarre primitive species of human? How could the hobbits survive for so long and until so recently? Who were its ancestors? Is it possible that human origins are to be found in Asia, not Africa? The Hobbit Enigma forces us to ask the most difficult question of all - what does it mean to be human?
http://abcmail.net.au/t/301303/685626/5800/0/



CBS News
Alarming Sex Assault Rate Found Among VetsCBS News - New York,NY,USATuesday, researchers reported that an alarming number of female soldiers have sought treatment for sexual assault committed by fellow soldiers. ...See all stories on this topic

Sexual abuse rates of deployed female soldiers detailed in study Los Angeles Times - CA,USAThe Department of Defense has developed a sexual assault prevention and response program "and we may be seeing a response to those policies," Street said.See all stories on this topic


15% of female veterans tell of sexual trauma USA Today - USAThe study is the first of its size to screen veterans for sexual assaults and harassment, covering more than 125000 who received VA care from October 2001 ...See all stories on this topic

Female war vets report sex traumas Detroit Free Press - United StatesIt's the first large study to screen veterans for sexual assaults and harassment, covering more than 125000 who received VA care from October 2001 to ...See all stories on this topic

Brain Zap Improves DexterityLiveScience.com via Yahoo! News Wed, 29 Oct 2008 9:12 AM PDTA slight zap of electricity to the brain could make righties better at using their left hands, a new study shows.


Attorneys slam Bush for 9/11 actions Honolulu Star-Bulletin Wed, 29 Oct 2008 4:32 AM PDTIn its single-minded pursuit of possible terrorists, the Bush administration has rounded up and imprisoned hundreds of people at Guantanamo Bay for years. So far, just one of them has been tried.

Ballesteros improving after brain surgery CNN Wed, 29 Oct 2008 9:06 AM PDTSeve Ballesteros' condition is improving as he battles for his life after last week's surgery on his cancerous brain tumor.

Scientists Identify Brain's 'Hate Circuit' HealthDay via Yahoo! News Wed, 29 Oct 2008 6:02 AM PDTWEDNESDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- British researchers say they've identified a "hate circuit" in the brain.
Ancient mine may be King Solomon's The Australian - Sydney,AustraliaThe new dig, led by Thomas Levy, of the University of California, San Diego, and Mohammad Najjar, of Jordan's Friends of Archeology, suggests Glueck might ...See all stories on this topic

Women want sleep, men sex in time change UPI Tue, 28 Oct 2008 7:23 AM PDTTORONTO, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- When clocks turn back an hour to standard time in Canada this weekend, most men wish the "extra" hour could be for sex, while women would rather just sleep.

Space takes off as hot issue for both parties Orlando Sentinel - Orlando,FL,USAObama's commitment to education nearly cost him the support of the Space Coast. Until August, he was urging that billions be cut from the Constellation moon ...See all stories on this topic

Text of Denis Leary’s statement in response to controversial book Boston Herald - United StatesI have nothing but admiration and sympathy for the people I know who are raising children with autism. In fact, they were the inspiration for the chapter I ...See all stories on this topic

Where They Stand: National Security Daily Vidette Mon, 27 Oct 2008 7:04 PM PDTJohn McCain After the attacks of 9/11, John McCain called for the development of an independent 9/11 Commission and the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security. McCain supports bolstering the size of the Army and Marine Corps in order to better defend the United States from threats around the world.

Shelf control: The psychology of grocery shopping Lawrence Journal-World Sun, 26 Oct 2008 10:29 PM PDTA typical Midwest grocer stocks 60,000 or so items. It may be simple math that determines the amount of goods that fit comfortably in each individual store, but it’s something of a science when it comes to figuring out how those items are displayed.

Factoring Fear: What Scares Us and Why Scientific American Mon, 27 Oct 2008 7:15 AM PDTWhat's scarier, a deadly snake slithering across your path during a hike or watching a 1,000-point drop in the stock market? Although both may instill fear, researchers disagree over the nature and cause of this very powerful emotion. "When you see the stock market fall 1,000 points, that's the same as seeing a snake," says Joseph LeDoux, professor of neuroscience and psychology the Center for .
..


Listen to Our New Podcast "Inside the FBI," Also Available on iTunes Fri, 24 Oct 2008 08:49:24 -0500
The FBI has launched a new podcast, "Inside the FBI." Listen or read the transcript on our website, or check it out on iTunes.



Fla. tops nation in mortgage fraud

Workers' comp rate reduction approved


=z=
The novelist, journalist and psychologist

Michael Zangari
http://zangarijournalism.com

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

"A Choice of Poisons" Below, Part One and Two
But first the Eye-ballled News...


New GI Bill offers benefit hikes, new stipendsNorth Texas Daily Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:37 PM PDTA 64-year-old bill just had a face-lift, and it means more money for more than 600 NT students. Housing stipends, book and supply stipends and more money for tuition are benefits of the new Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 or "New GI Bill" passed by Congress in June.
Dance Lifts Bodies and Souls for Parkinson PatientsWBUR Boston Sun, 19 Oct 2008 8:04 PM PDTParkinson's disease has no cure, and medications for it tend to stop working over time. But recent studies show that dancing can help reduce Parkinson's symptoms. A local nonprofit has started a dance class for people with the disease.
Parkinson's patient walking today into uncertain futureEvansville Courier & Press Sun, 19 Oct 2008 10:13 PM PDTKaren Smith's battle with Parkinson's Disease led her to form a local support group and start a Parkinson's Disease Walk (Oct. 25)

The effect of gamma waves on cognitive and language skills in childrenPhysOrg.com - Evergreen,VA,USAIn an article published online and in an upcoming issue of Behavioral Brain Research, Benasich offers significant new insight into the likely role gamma ...See all stories on this topic

Study Shows Group Bragging Betrays InsecurityMedical News Today Tue, 21 Oct 2008 7:06 AM PDTFrom partisans at a political rally to fans at a football game, groups that engage in pompous displays of collective pride may be trying to mask insecurity and a low social status, suggests new research led by University of California, Davis, psychologists. The research will be presented Thursday at the annual meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology in Sacramento.
Florida Agency Recommends Expansion Of Medicaid Pilot Program Despite Gov. Crist's Request To Cut Agency BudgetsMedical News Today Thu, 23 Oct 2008 3:06 PM PDTThe Florida Agency for Health Care Administration last week sent a proposal to Gov. Charlie Crist (R) recommending that a Medicaid managed care pilot project be expanded to 20 additional counties, Florida Health News reports.
Thousands in Brevard cast ballots
Oct 21 1:20 AM EDT
Voters poured steadily into polling places during the first day of early voting Monday, hoping to beat the Election Day crowd. Early voters joined absentee voters in casting ballots for the president and many other offices.

MRSA Cases Confirmed At 3 More Schools Oct 21 4:55 PM EDT
Three more Orange County students contract methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA.
Sheriff's candidates don't see eye-to-eye
Oct 21 1:20 AM EDT
With gangs on the rise and an economy on the slide, who can keep Brevard County safer? Republican Sheriff Jack Parker, 46, locked up 500 more bad guys, cracked down on methamphetamine labs and marijuana grow houses, and saved money by putting inmates to work.
Rivals bump heads on economy
Oct 21 1:20 AM EDT
Tom Feeney and Suzanne Kosmas differed on just about everything when it came to the economy Monday night, during a forum at Brevard Community College.
Feeney, Kosmas clash at forum
Oct 21 1:19 AM EDT
District 24 U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, a Republican, and Democratic challenger Suzanne Kosmas differed on NASA, energy, health care and just about every other issue at Monday night's candidate forum at Brevard Community College's Titusville campus.

Brain stimulator for depressionThe Scotsman Tue, 21 Oct 2008 3:41 AM PDTTHE US government has approved the first non-invasive brain stimulator to treat depression.


New Brain-Machine Interface Reactivates Monkey's Paralyzed MusclesSpectrum Online Tue, 21 Oct 2008 9:44 AM PDTA monkey learned to use the output of just one brain cell to move its wrist
Cops using DNA to bite into small crimeAlbany Times Union Tue, 21 Oct 2008 2:11 AM PDTPolice are mainstreaming technology once used to solve only violent crimes DENVER ? The burglar was undone by his taste for strawberry soda.RazJohn Smyer, a suspect in a string of Denver-area break-ins, often checked his victims' refrigerators and helped himself to a drink. The soda cans he left behind gave police enough DNA evidence to link him to five burglaries. He's now serving a 20-year ...
Hair doesn't match men convicted of murdersLexington Herald-Leader Tue, 21 Oct 2008 9:04 AM PDTDNA tests from a hair found at the scene of a 1985 double-murder in eastern Kentucky does not match either of the two men on death row for the crime nor does it match the victims in the case. The test results were returned in January 1999, but not given to defense attorneys for Roger Dale Epperson and Benny Lee Hodge until September. The results are now at the center of efforts by Epperson ...
Ag Mukasey subpoenaed for detention dataDenver Post Tue, 21 Oct 2008 11:59 PM PDTSenate Democrats on Tuesday subpoenaed Attorney General Michael Mukasey for testimony and documents about the Justice Department's legal advice to the White House on detention and interrogation policies since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
HHS limits anthrax vaccine legal liabilityThe Health and Human Services Department early this month moved to shield government, industry and business officials from lawsuits filed by those who have received the anthrax vaccine. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael ...Democratic Underground Latest... - http://www.democraticunderground.com/
HHS Secretary declares "public health emergency" to shield anthrax ...By Georgetown CNSL 10/21/08: Government Executive reports that Health and Human Services Secretary Henry Leavitt moved earlier this month to shield government producers and distributors of the anthrax vaccine from lawsuits brought by receivers of the ...Georgetown Security Law Brief - http://www.securitylawbrief.com/main/
CDC: 1-2% of anthrax vaccinees may die or become disabled...but ...By Meryl Nass, M.D.(Meryl Nass, M.D.) CDC published a report October 1 on its very expensive, 43 month-long trial of anthrax vaccine, but inexplicably discussed only the first 7 months and only 65% of the subjects. No explanation was given for why only partial data were ...Anthrax Vaccine -- posts by Meryl... - http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com/
HHS limits anthrax vaccine legal liabilityBy admin Source: … Continue here: HHS limits anthrax vaccine legal liability.PORT☆CITY☆UNDERGROUND - http://www.portcityunderground.com/

Crossing Blood-Brain Barrier: Scientists Develop Drug Delivery ...Science Daily (press release) - USA... brain, according to research presented at the 20th EORTC-NCI-AACR [1] Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Geneva on 22 October. ...See all stories on this topic
Cognitive and Language Development Influenced by Gamma Waves in ...MedIndia - Chennai,IndiaA research article in the online edition of the journal Behavioral Brain Research says that the new findings provide a window into their cognitive ...See all stories on this topic

Parkinson's Disease Advocates And Researchers Hail Consensus Statement On What We Know And Need To Know About ...Medical News Today Wed, 22 Oct 2008 6:08 AM PDTRepresentatives from the Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) and Parkinson's Action Network (PAN) today released an executive summary of the consensus statement on "Parkinson's Disease (PD) and the Environment," which was recently published on-line in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP), the peer-reviewed journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
Ralph Adolphs: The Neuroscience of Social Behavior: From Looking at Faces to Understanding AutismCaltech Today Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:58 AM PDT10/15/2008 [ 56k modem ] [ broadband ] [ cable/DSL ] 61 minutes Ralph Adolphs, Caltech's Bren Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience and professor of biology, discussed how his lab has used brain imaging, direct recordings from the brain in surgical patients, and studies of clinical populations to understand face processing.
E.O. Wilson Returns to the Hive With Superorganism TomeWired News Tue, 21 Oct 2008 9:24 PM PDTSuperorganism Tome authorName= josh mchugh creditType= illustration credit= Martin Woodtli -- With a new book on bugs, E.O. Wilson reignites the superorganism debate. Today, E. O. Wilson is thinking small. He wants an ants-only conversation. Usually the Harvard biologist engages in big-think — ideas that have shaken up biology, evolutionary theory, psychology, and more, often embroiling ...
Lawyer: Police coerced confession
Oct 22 1:20 AM EDT
The confession of a homeless man accused of killing his friend in a dispute over bathing habits should be thrown out because police coerced the statement by plying him with alcohol, his lawyer will argue in court today.
Sheriff Candidate Says He Can't Discuss FHP Suspension Incident
WFTV 9 Orlando - Oct 22 1:00 PM EDT
Study shows brain's racial stress responseUPI Wed, 22 Oct 2008 8:40 AM PDTCOLUMBIA, S.C., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers said brain imaging showed stress in African-Americans in response to neutral facial expressions of whites -- indicating racial distrust.
Today's Alternative Energy; and November Issue Topics, Including Computer-Brain Interfaces and DNA ComputingScientific American Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:00 AM PDTScientific American magazine editor in chief, John Rennie, talks about the November issue's contents, including computer-brain interfaces, DNA computing, the ongoing attempts to find an HIV vaccine and getting closer to the Star Trek tricorder with portable NMR. Plus, we'll test your knowledge of some recent science in the news. Web sites mentioned on this episode include snipurl.com/4LJ71; ...
Seeing a brain as it learns to seeEurekAlert! Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:25 AM PDTA brain isn't born fully organized. It builds its abilities through experience, making physical connections between neurons and organizing circuits to store and retrieve information in milliseconds for years afterwards. Now that process has been caught in the act for the first time by a Duke University research team that watched a naïve brain organize itself to interpret images of motion.
Streamlining brain signals for speed and efficacyEurekAlert! Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:14 AM PDT( Salk Institute ) Life exists at the edge of chaos, where small changes can have striking and unanticipated effects, and major stimuli may go unheard. But there is no space for ambiguity when the brain needs to transform head motion into precise eye, head, and body movements that rapidly stabilize our posture and gaze; otherwise, we would stumble helplessly through the world, and our vision ...
Could brain abnormality predict drug addiction?EurekAlert! Wed, 22 Oct 2008 9:48 AM PDT( University of Nottingham ) Scientists at the University of Nottingham are to use MRI technology to discover whether abnormalities in the decision-making part of the brain could make some people more likely to become addicted to drugs.
Brain Jogging game released for iPhoneMacworld Wed, 22 Oct 2008 9:19 AM PDTBrain Jogging is Virtual Programming's first iPhone game -- a brain gym.
Been there, done that: Brain mechanism predicts ability to generalizeEurekAlert! Wed, 22 Oct 2008 9:25 AM PDT( Cell Press ) A new study reveals how the brain can connect discrete but overlapping experiences to provide a rich integrated history that extends far beyond individually experienced events and may help to direct future choices.
Key wants brain drain addressedNZCity Wed, 22 Oct 2008 1:49 PM PDT23 October 2008 National leader John Key says slowing down New Zealand's brain drain is critical to the country's future. Statistics New Zealand figures show more than 47,000 people left for Australia on a permanent or long-term basis during the year to September. Around 13,000 came back.
Crossing Blood-Brain Barrier: Scientists Develop Drug Delivery System For Brain Cancers, Other DiseasesScience Daily Wed, 22 Oct 2008 6:09 AM PDTScientists have developed a new drug delivery system that is capable of crossing the blood-brain barrier to reach and kill cancer cells in the brain. Following successful preclinical studies, the technology is being evaluated in two phase I clinical trials in patients with malignant glioma and brain metastases.

Murmuring hearts echo across sacred Tibets mountainsPeople's Daily Wed, 22 Oct 2008 7:30 AM PDTThe tranquil Yamdroyum Lake, together with the 7,260 meters Nojin Kansa Peak, in Langkazi County of southern Tibet presents more than breathtaking beauty for its significance in Tibetan Buddhism. Monasteries and stone altars in the area, big or small, receive endless followers who came over, spinning their prayer wheels in hand while chanting scriptures in a murmured tone. As pious as the old ...


Study shows brain's racial stress responseUPI Wed, 22 Oct 2008 8:40 AM PDTCOLUMBIA, S.C., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers said brain imaging showed stress in African-Americans in response to neutral facial expressions of whites -- indicating racial distrust.
eavesdroppers Resources ZDNetNSA and phone sex: Eavesdroppers listened to intimate conversations .... cell phone foils eavesdroppersthat's illegal in USThe gov. won't allow voice ...

Medical Experts Take Notice of Jenny McCarthy's Autism MessageAbout - News & Issues - New York,NY,USAUp until now, outside of a heated debate on Larry King Live, the medical establishment has taken little notice of Jenny McCarthy's take on autism. ...See all stories on this topic

Autism Support Network LauncheseNews Park Forest - Park Forest,IL,USAPRWEB) October 21, 2008 -- Autism Support Network today announced the launch of its free online support community available at http://www.autismsupportnetwork.com/. ...See all stories on this topic


Beirut Marines remembered at memorialWNCT Greenville Thu, 23 Oct 2008 3:59 PM PDTEveryone in the U.S. remembers 9/11, but the commandant of the Marine Corps says what most people don’t know is that the global war on terrorism began on in October 1983 and Marines were the first victims.

ACIP opens door to anthrax shots for first respondersCenter for Infectious Disease Research and Policy Thu, 23 Oct 2008 3:10 PM PDTOct 23, 2008 (CIDRAP News) – The federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has opened the door to voluntary anthrax vaccination for first responders, revising an 8-year-old recommendation against that step.
Proxeon and Thermo Fisher Scientific Integrate System Software ...Chennai: India is becoming one of the world's top hubs of illegal software business which is estimated to be worth $2 billion in 2007, grew by nearly 50 ...

THE SCIENCE SHOW - Cannabis for stroke victims? Saturday 25 October, 12.05pm & Monday 27 October, 7.05pm RN The brain's reaction to a bang on the head or a stroke is similar - and pretty hopeless. Back in nature there wasn't much the body could do to repair such catastrophe and after a stroke inflammation is the last thing you need. But now a team in Dunedin are finding that some drugs are picked up more after stroke and subdue harmful inflammations. Professor John Ashton and his team describe the progress and how you isolate one or two of the many chemicals in cannabis to find a treatment.http://abcmail.net.au/t/294764/685626/902/0/ALL IN THE MIND - The secret life of bacteria – small, smart and thoughtful! Saturday 25 October, 1.05pm & Monday 27 October, 1.05pm RN We can’t survive without them – and we’ve long underestimated their prowess. Controversially, bacteria could even have cognitive talents that rival our own: predatory behaviour, cooperation, memory. Jules Verne eat your heart out! Natasha Mitchell takes us on a strange adventure into the secret world of microbial mentality.http://abcmail.net.au/t/294764/685626/903/0/THE PHILOSOPHER’S ZONE - The logic of the market Saturday 25 October, 1.30pm & Monday 27 October, 1.35pm RN Karl Popper was one of the greatest philosophers of the twentieth century and a great advocate of scientific rationality, but what happened when he turned his attention to the more disorderly world of politics and economics? This week, we look at Popper and the free market.http://abcmail.net.au/t/294764/685626/904/0/OCKHAM’S RAZOR - Under the hammer Sunday 26 October, 8.45am RN Who would have thought just a few years ago that one day we’d be able to peer down like God into everyone’s backyard through our computer screens? Or that almost anywhere there’d be a camera watching us, recording what we do. Today Melbourne author Andrew Herrick delves into the not too far distant future to tell us what can happen and warns that it’s not all science fiction.http://abcmail.net.au/t/294764/685626/910/0/


Proposition 9 would give crime victims a stronger voice, but critics say it could violate inmates' rightsLos Angeles Times Thu, 23 Oct 2008 0:16 AM PDTOpponents of the measure include Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley. A quarter-century after the slaying of Marsalee Nicholas, a college student from Malibu, voters will consider an initiative launched in her name that would give a stronger voice to crime victims and their families, and impose harsher treatment on convicted killers.

Ballesteros faces additional brain surgeryUPI Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:13 AM PDTBARCELONA, Spain, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- Hall of Fame golfer Seve Ballesteros faces additional surgery after tests indicated a brain tumor he had removed was cancerous.
Ballesteros brain tumor is cancerousSan Francisco Chronicle Thu, 23 Oct 2008 1:59 PM PDTSeve Ballesteros' brain tumor is cancerous and he will undergo another operation to relieve pressure caused by swelling and bleeding that have recently developed. The remaining parts of the malignant tumor, located in a very deep part of the brain, will be...

SA's Moir claims surf titleNews 24 South Africa Thu, 23 Oct 2008 9:27 AM PDTOXBOW team rider South Africa's Matthew Moir has captured his second consecutive ISA World Longboard Surfing title in Portugal.


High heel event prompts male empathyMoldova.org Thu, 23 Oct 2008 9:15 AM PDTSeveral male students at the University of Central Florida say they now empathize with women after going on a march wearing women's' shoes with high heels. Psychology student Ivan Gonzalez said after the volunteer high heel walk around campus, he has a better understanding of what life can be like for a woman wearing the treacherous footwear, The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel said Thursday.I couldn't ...
Poll: Most Floridians will vote to ban same-sex marriage Oct 23 12:30 PM EDT
Love it or hate it, most Florida voters have made up their minds about a ballot amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

Study finds genomic changes in the brains of people who commit suicideEurekAlert (press release) - Washington,DC,USADr. Poulter is affiliated with the Molecular Brain Research Group, Robarts Research Institute, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University of ...See all stories on this topic

ABC News
Research in Mice Suggests It Might Be Possible to Delete Specific ...ABC News - USA... the mouse brain and then triggering the animal's recall can cause erasure of those, and only those, specific memories, according to research in the most ...See all stories on this topic

OneindiaCell Phones Cause Brain Tumors?Oneindia - Tamilnadu,IndiaPawl has called for major research initiatives to assess the possibility that using cellular phones may lead to an increased risk of brain tumours. ...See all stories on this topic
Could brain abnormality predict drug addiction?Genetic Engineering News (press release) - New Rochelle,NY,USAThe research will focus on the frontal cortex, the area of the brain which is involved in decision-making and which allows us to weigh up short term gain ...See all stories on this topic

Many Factors to Carefully Consider in Caring for Elderly Loved One, Advises Antelope Valley Estate Planning Law FirmPRWeb via Yahoo! News Wed, 22 Oct 2008 8:40 AM PDTAntelope Valley estate planning law firm Thompson Von Tungeln advises its clients to consider a wide range of factors before deciding upon the best care for an elderly loved one.
Initiative to increase education of care workers gains supportThe Olympian Thu, 23 Oct 2008 0:28 AM PDTGlenda Faatoafe has been a home-care worker for 12 years, working with the elderly and disabled by helping bathe, feed or dress them.


Sex Offender Speaks OutABC News Thu, 23 Oct 2008 6:19 AM PDTAmid a community's fears, sex offender said on radio he's a "changed man."
California Measure to End Same-Sex Marriage Trailing, Poll SaysBloomberg Thu, 23 Oct 2008 3:51 AM PDTOct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- A California ballot measure that would halt same-sex marriages in the most-populous U.S. state is trailing among those expected to cast ballots in November, a poll found.
Teacher who spoke out on sex abuse loses jobBoston Globe Thu, 23 Oct 2008 6:15 AM PDTA Rutland alternative school teacher who worked with juvenile sex offenders for 16 years was removed from his job in September, weeks after testifying to a legislative committee about the likelihood that offenders will commit new crimes.

Parkinson's Disease Society Comments On Patients' Right To Self Referral Announcement, UKMedical News Today Wed, 22 Oct 2008 8:07 AM PDTThe Parkinson's Disease Society (PDS) today welcomed Alan Johnson's announcement to allow patients to self-refer to physiotherapists and allied health professionals. Steve Ford, Chief Executive of the PDS said: "Alan Johnson's announcement is certainly a step in the right direction.
SEX SICKO GRILLS VICTIM ON STANDNew York Post Fri, 24 Oct 2008 2:07 AM PDTTwo years ago, a young psychology student was sodomized at knifepoint in the bathroom of her Lower East Side apartment. Yesterday, in an exchange nearly as harrowing, the woman squirmed in the witness stand as violent sex fiend John Hamlett -..

.Mechanism In Cells That Generate Malignant Brain Tumors May Offer ...Science Daily (press release) - USAThis could offer a target for scientists seeking treatments that would kill malignant brain tumors at their source and prevent them from recurring. ...See all stories on this topic
Depression during pregnancy can double risk of preterm delivery ...The Canadian Press - OAKLAND. Calif.The work was done by the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. The small number of women on antidepressants could be excluded from the ...See all stories on this topic
OR Colts kicking up coins for pediatric brain tumor researchGuilford County Northwest Observer - Oak Ridge,NC,USAby Alicia Cosgrove OAK RIDGE – Most third-graders don’t give much thought to brain tumors, but the students of third-grade teacher Judith Jones at Oak Ridge ...See all stories on this topic
Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, LLC ...MarketWatch - USAIt is categorized as "primary generalized" or "partial onset" depending on the specific location of the abnormal electrical activity in the brain that ...See all stories on this topic
Your Bare Brain, Your Bear MarketForbes - NY,USAMichael Ervolini, behavioral finance expert and head of Cabot Research agrees that any sort of change provokes anxiety and that a lot of people freeze up ...See all stories on this topic
Experimental Pill May Treat MSWebMD - USABy Miranda Hitti Oct. 23, 2008 -- An experimental pill may help curb brain lesions in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS), ...See all stories on this topic

Canada.com$20M brings renowned brain scientist back to CanadaCanada.com - Don Mills,Ontario,Canada"Thanks to Dr. McNaughton's world-class work we're going to see incredible impact in the area of brain research that will benefit not only Alberta, ...See all stories on this topic
HRL Labs to research neuromorphic electronics that function like ...Small Times - USA... 2008: HRL Laboratories LLC will begin research to develop electronics that simulate the cognitive capabilities and efficiencies of the biological brain ...See all stories on this topic
Innovative headband to keep drivers awakeTaiwan Journal - Taiwan(Courtesy of BRC, NCTU) By Jean Yueh Traffic accidents are often linked to drivers falling asleep, but a headband designed by the Brain Research Center at ...See all stories on this topic
Coping With Depression During PregnancyU.S. News & World Report - Washington,DC,USAResearch published today in the journal Human Reproduction found that women with symptoms of depression were more likely to experience a preterm birth. ...See all stories on this topic

Chronic Constipation in Senior Citizens Topic for New Training for Health Care PractitionersSenior Journal Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:22 AM PDTOct. 23, 2008 – The association dedicated to serving the medication needs of senior citizens has launched a new education initiative for health care professional and other elderly care providers that help in better understanding the causes and treatment of chronic constipation (CC) in older adults.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 24, 2008
REPOST: A CHOICE OF POISONS 1 AND 2 PLUS A SLIGHT DIGRESSION TO KFMQ RADIO IN LINCOLN NE

Entry for September 11, 2006 A Choice Of Poisons2
The safety report from the environmental company was in the tray of the fax machine. It began to dial. The numbers toned out like the numbers on the keno machine. I had found the report that the agency refused to release. They were sending it to me. Then the owner walked in and killed the call. “I have to get permission from the agency before I can give this to you” he said.
My heart went down with the phone receiver.
There was still time to do research at the city and county buildings permit library. I had already been to the lieutenant governors office. I had spent time with my congress people from Hawaii and Florida. I had talked to the police and the FBI. I had been to OSHA and the Health Department.
At the peak darkness of the valley of the shadow, sick and on my own, I headed for the bus stop. I no longer had gas money. The two hour ride to Honolulu was wildly disorienting. A group of ethnically Filipinos recited the rosary in the back where I was, in the horseshoe of seats where the kids and working people grouped at the end of the day. Kids with headphones on sang along with their mp3 players. The scenery slipped by in a haze of colors as the sunlight and shadows strobed the windows.
Sometimes people would talk around me, to each other, but giving me information I needed about the clinic and what was going on. Disheveled and confused I met a group of clients from the adult team who knew who I was and what I was doing. They too fed me information.
I had come up with the name of the architect and the name of the construction company that had built the clinic and put in the carpet. I interviewed the key people. The architect told me that he had only used “green” materials in his plans. There were no toxins. He said the agency had cut corners to save money. They had not put in the elevator for the disabled. Upstairs there was a door that led into an empty shaft. In the darkness you would see the cables loop the pulleys and drop to the bottom floor. Raw sewage came through the shower nozzle in the basement of the clinic. Something was wrong with the septic tank.
I talked to the owner of the construction company that built the clinic. He told me exactly what they had done.
The carpet was never meant to be glued in, he said. It was supposed to be tacked in. The chemicals in question, Bigelow Nu-Broadlock, Afta P and BM and Ethoglyconol were mixed to stretch them out. There wasn’t enough of the glue to cover the clinic. The combination of chemicals ate the backing off the carpet adding another layer of toxic stink to the swamp gas that inundated the clinic. The inexperienced crew tried to get rid of the smell. The did the one thing they should not have done. They attempted to steam clean the carpets. The steam continued to fuse the chemicals into a toxic bomb. A dangerous situation got more dangerous.
In talking to my peers on the bus, many of whom were at the clinic in those first weeks, I found out that the clinic had been a disaster site. One of the people who I talked with worked in the office at the time. He said his job was to file the safety reports as they were rewritten. He counted five drafts. He described the office as a place of total pandemonium. The fumes were so strong that the administrative staff had to take a breaks every fifteen minutes to keep working. People were passing out as they worked. Big fans were brought in to keep the air circulating in the office. People were beginning to have major memory and cognition problems. Still, the denial was as thick as the fumes. The clinic stayed open and business ran as usual.
The Afta P and BM were a controlled substance. These chemicals were often used to make methamphetamine. The information Web Sites on the chemicals were monitored. The clinic had stockpiled a supply in a closet downstairs. People were known to drink the green bile for its high, an amphetamine like buzz that ended in rage and extreme muscle tension as it wore off. It also made you keenly paranoid.
The Bigelow Nu-Broadlock had been banned in the continental United States, but as was typical, was available in Hawaii for a reduced price. It was like the Depo-Provera they were giving local women for birth control at the local clinics. It was banned everywhere in the United States except Hawaii. It was cheap and available on the Leeward side of the island.
The federal government had dumped these well intentioned, huge lump sum grants on the poorest communities. The money was usually channeled into local people’s hands who had never had any significant money available to them in their lifetimes. Frequently there were community shenanigans nation wide around the money, how it was spent and by whom.
It would have been better for everyone if the money had been performance based instead of pork barreled out. As it was, the large sum of money available must have tempted even the strong in that small community.
In court I fought for the release of documents to document what had happened.
Later, I fought for the intervention of the attorney generals office in the case to obtain information.
Nothing worked.
In fact nothing could have worked in those circumstances. My papers weren’t filed on time. There was no case. Why it dragged on for two years is a mystery to me. How I kept it alive in the state I was in is even a bigger mystery.
I am grateful to my federal marshal peers for keeping me laughing at the courthouse and the support of the federal clerks in the courts main office for keeping me on time and straight with my efforts. I thank the Hawaiian people I met there, who as individuals and families continue to fight for the land that was stolen from the over a hundred years ago. There example, as always was very sustaining for me.
I am thankful to individual plaintiffs, many of whom were women fighting sexual assault and harassment cases for their company and companionship.
My treks to federal court at dawn to drop papers in the box are an experience I’ll never forget. Getting there meant going down the coast at sunup, driving or riding besides the raging pacific ocean as it crashed into the reef line near the highway. Then, after I made it into town and through Chinatown and outdoor markets I get to the citadel of the federal building. Winding my way in I’d find the filing box outside the door of the court. The machine stamped the documents, took them and dropped them in a box that resembled the crane and pebble machines with the teddy bears and rings in the supermarkets.
In 2001 my physical condition was at a point where I could no longer work or sustain myself in Hawaii. I left for Florida in January, where I had a massive congestive heart failure. I was told I needed a heart transplant. My focus and orientation shifted from the lawsuit to staying alive.
By the time the Supreme Court had bounced my petition out of court I was no longer heavily involved with the outcome of the case. I had a narrative that read like horror and spy fiction. Dutifully I continued to hack the memorandums out until there was nothing left to say and no recourse to law.
Though I could not stand up to do the dishes or lay down to sleep, my breathing was so labored, I started to take the steps I needed to take for to survive. And I did.
Thank God almighty for my family.
And my obstinacy.
And the willful, living spirit of my Buddhism that helped me let go of all of it and watch the dark until the sun came up.
When the daylight flickered on the horizon I was still there.







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Monday September 11, 2006 - 11:19pm (EDT) Edit Delete Permanent Link 0 Comments
Entry for September 10, 2006 A Choice Of Poisons

Let’s keep it relevant.
In terms of fact there is nothing new here. Everything mentioned in these next few posts can be found in the text and content of Federal Lawsuit No. 03-15367, Lower Court No 00-99-0072 DAE-KSC. The information here was filed as evidence. The lawsuit was filed in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the 9th Circuit Court. It progressed to the Supreme Court of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco where I officially lost the case.
It was not a total loss. The decision reaffirmed that I was guilty of “no misconduct” in terms of how I left my position as a manager in a federally funded program. I was given unemployment insurance. The defendant admitted in summary judgment arguments there were toxins in the work environment and that there was a “possibility” of exposure. This was good. In terms of OSHA reporting that’s all that’s required for further action. I reported it.
During this time period the OSHA investigators were denied access to the property to conduct tests.
I had done what I set out to do. I had entered evidence into the public record for later investigation. I felt an obligation to my clients, my friends, my coworkers and my clients to do so.
Why did I lose?
In short, my lawyer failed to file on time. As a point of fact no evidence was heard. As I have mentioned, before, I had an admission from the clinic that there were toxins in the building. I had gotten this confirmation in mediation and in court by the opposition. I had a termination contract that was clearly illegal under the ADA. I had a mandate under executive order to report all crimes. I had financial discrepancies documented. Some of missing money came directly from my salary. That amounted to about $10,000 a year. The clinic had no insurance per se. They had a million dollar slush fund held in reserve in case of liability. Insurance had been denied.
Everything was in place.
As my financial resources dwindled, I could no longer justify borrowing money for a lawyer. After I lost the summary judgment I took on the case myself. I ended up representing myself. I felt more in control. Over all, the process was more satisfying. I learned a lot about the courts. I had motivation to do more investigation while the case dragged on. It was another year before I had exhausted lower court options.
As stated, my goal was simply to document what happened. I was very sick by this time. I remember the absolute low point as being after a consult with my lawyer in Honolulu. On the way back from the meeting I could not find my car in the parking structure. I was in a state of profound physical and mental exhaustion. The parking garage looked like a slaughterhouse, a long series of multi-leveled mazes with stalls. I wandered from floor to floor in confusion. It took me two and a half hours to find the car.
I was in tears by the time I found it. It was sitting right where I left it. My memory was shot. My cognition was weak. Breathing was very difficult. I looked terrible. I had to count pennies from my change bank to pay for parking and gas. It was a thirty mile drive back home in rush hour traffic. It was like going from one maze into another.
How the hell did I get there?
Clearly the end of my employment was death-knelled by a visitation of Federal Monitors in 1997. I worked under CASP grant at a mental health agency. I had excellent evaluations. I ran two pilot projects on the Leeward coast. One program was a therapeutic foster care program and the other provided in-home intensive therapy for families in crisis. I worked with kids. I was not prepared by management as to what to discuss at this meeting. I was not told what to say or not to say to the monitors. I was on my own. That’s the way it usually was. So I put together a culturally appropriate presentation and answered their questions. I brought clients and employees in to be available for the monitors.
One of my foster parents, a Native Hawaiian women chanted. The prayer was O’ he'emai. It was a prayer to “be heard,” for the federal monitors to "hear our cry.”
I viewed this as an opportunity to tweak Federal involvement. I thought that was what it was all about. The monitors wanted to know about problems. I told them that I had no access to budget information and little or no supervision. I pretty much ran the program on my own. I didn’t like the home intensive model. I felt it was culturally inappropriate and not as effective as a less intensive intervention. The monitors appreciated our candor.
I got a good mention and write up in the federal monitors report on the Leeward Coast of O’ahu in 1997. The report is available from the Health Department in Washington D.C.
It felt good. We felt good. I cared deeply about what I was doing as did the people who worked for me and the clients we served. I was committed to the community and to working in Hawaii. After all, I lived in the community I worked in.
Management, however, was livid.
I got my budget and supervision. A casual examination of the budget was enough to tell me that the figures did not crunch. I had rewritten the RFP for funding that year for the state. I spent about twenty hours nonstop editing the thing. I got very familiar with how things were set up. It wasn’t right. Things were getting increasingly uncomfortable at work. In the lawsuit I made the allegation that management used every trick in the book to get me to quit from that point on. Their tactics, according to my affidavit, involved racist jokes, attacks on my religion and violations of my disabilities contract with the agency.
There were other concrete legal issues.
We were working in a brand new building. It was built on ceded land granted to the agency by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs. The agency was responsible for the building. OHA retained control of the land. There were clear care taker issues as well.
In the previous year, the administrative staff had moved into the building. The clinical staff soon followed. I was placed in a small office in the Children’s section of the clinic. It was the room that was the least ventilated in the complex. I of course had my faithful negative ion generators going at full blast. I spent a lot of time on the carpet with the kids. I was newly in love and happy with my job.
I was usually the first person to arrive at management meetings on Monday mornings. On one particular morning, one of the administrators had already arrived and was setting up equipment. He had with him a safety report on the building. He told me I could read it. As he fiddled with his laptop and projector, I did. It stated that the carpet had been installed wrong and there were toxic fumes in the building. They had run short of the adhesive used to hold it in place and had mixed chemicals. The resulting fumes were extremely dangerous. It listed some of the results of exposure to the fumes as blindness, dementia, liver, kidney, brain, and lung and heart damage.
One of the administrators, the grant writer, had gone to her doctor to get details on what these chemicals did to the human body and forced the issue in the management meeting. She was very concerned. She left the agency shortly afterwards. Administrative staff talked about the impact on the carpet workers who glued the carpet in. They were temporary workers hired for the job, local people. They were very sick. In the meeting we were assured that everything was under control and the situation could be effectively dealt with by “leaving the windows open” over a couple of weekends, letting the place air out. They passed the report around.
We accept this information at face value. But it nagged at me. It still does.
Things had gone from good to bad overnight. When I was fired I filed a complaint with the EEOC. The agency did not cooperate with the EEOC investigators. They provided none of the requested documents. They did provide a copy of the termination agreement. The EEOC agent spotted the ADA problems immediately. We went into a federal mediation sponsored by the EEOC.
As we entered this phase of the negotiations, I was feeling increasingly sick. I wondered if my illness was connected to exposure to the toxins in the clinic. I had also received the anthrax filled letter from Nigeria. Things were going wrong with my body.
In mediation the management was prepared in advance to talk about toxins. They had a version of the safety report with them. It was used as a bargaining chip in negotiations. If I settled, I would get the medical information I needed to seek treatment. I was offered a small sum of money for settlement and references. I considered it. In a fit of consciousness, the mediator provided the names of the chemicals to me on the phone. He also provided the name of the company that did the safety report. He had a strong ethical base and a federal obligation under law to do so. It was enough information to keep me going.
I felt like I was being held hostage for medical information. I filed the lawsuit.
The EEOC signed off and promptly lost all records pertaining to the case. They were obligated to retain them until the legal process had completed. To date, the whereabouts of those files remains a mystery.
I was truly and completely on my own.
Tags: michaelzangariachoiceofpoisons, anthraxandtoxicexposure Edit Tags
Sunday September 10, 2006 - 03:47pm (EDT) Edit Delete Permanent Link 0 Comments
Entry for September 09, 2006 A Slight Digression

I went to high school in Bellevue Nebraska. In the summer I did Ag work one year. I detasseled corn in 110 degree weather. Not for very long though. I came home exhausted and wrung out. One day I got separated from the rest of the crew I was working with. Up ahead as far as I could see was the muddy row and the corn towering above and arcing over my head. In back of me the same infinite tunnel of corn. I broke into a blind panic and began to run. I tripped, and tumbled face down into the mud, regaining my senses. It was a satori of sorts, an awakening of something deep inside of me. A nameless dread. The next summer I worked as a janitor for the school system. I worked at a little elementary school with an elderly man who seldom spoke to me. He listened to easy listening radio station KFOR. I remember the haunting, ascending electric piano of Stevie Wonder on "You are the sunshine of my life" all summer long, the chills that tingled up my spine when the piano hit G# and twinged the central nervous system. I was lost in a dream, pushing my mop bucket down the long empty hallways. The next year I started selling records and stereos at the Brandies department store. That's where by chance I met radio announcer Jimmy O'Neill. Jimmy O'Neill was working at WOW in Omaha. He was famous. He had been the host of the ground breaking 1960s show Shindig on TV. I use to watch him in Spanish when I lived in Puerto Rico. I watched him work intensely on the phone doing a remote for the store. He gestured fanatically as he delivered the commercial. He enunciated every word. Boxed with the consonants. He literally shook when he talked he was so intense. He was as kinetic as hell even planted in the corner of the record shop. Between stop sets I asked him how to get into radio. I wanted to do what he did. I was already shaking. He told me I should go to the Columbia School of Broadcasting in Kansas City. I almost went. I got the catalog. I got some broadcast training in a special program in high school. I had decided that I wanted to be on the radio. That much I knew. I played guitar in the church choir. I played in a USO band. I played in a basement band called Queen Anne's Revenge which morphed into Grunt. I spent all my time playing guitar and piano. Don Fawn, a friend and guitar player in all those incarnation contacted me recently. He has a tape of us playing Carl Perkins’s "Honey Don't." I didn’t. We played the state prison once. We got paid in cake. Another job one night promised real cash. It was at a church dance somewhere out in the country. We climbed into the van and did the dance. When it came time to be paid, the minister scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders. He mumbled bible words. We didn't get cash. We got a carton of hot dogs and a case of Orange Crush. We drove the van to the local drive in and watched "Fritz the Cat" from the back of the open van. All night we gorged ourselves on the best hot dogs and orange soda I ever had. We had it made. That is my work experience, summed up in three stories. I was still playing guitar and singing in a weak voice when I went to college. It was a big part of my self image and identity. The Italian blues kid. I sought out opportunities to play. At the Centennial education program, Jeff Table let me sit in with his bands, Crumbhunger and the Permanent Waves. Ric Marsh, my advisor and friend tolerated my lack of focus, timing and pitch and jammed with me. At the University one night I went solo. I played did a night in a little coffee house in the student union. It was big time. And truly awful. I decided that night that I would never be a great performer. Music went from 100% of my life to zero overnight. I decided to write instead. I got hired by the Daily Nebraskan in 1975.Vince Boucher was the editor at that time. I could write music and art pretty well. I was groomed to replace the star writer of that time, Dave Wood. My parents moved to Florida that year, leaving me at school in Lincoln. I started off at the University of Nebraska majoring in Journalism and Political Science. I was in the School of Broadcasting where I was told by the head of the department that there was something wrong with my voice. I didn't sound like anybody else there. I didn't have the pipes. My instructor sent me off to a doctor to get the vocal nodes sliced off my vocal chords like deli baloney. After the doctor stuck a mirror down my throat and noodled around for awhile, I passed on the operation. Despite the alleged grunge in my throat I carried on. I did OK in broadcast news and photography. I did good interviews and framed things well. I learned my base radio skills on the air at KRNU, the University of Nebraska radio station. A friend of my brothers, Dennis Dorgherty, who was the resident manager at my dorm, knew Doug Agnew, the station manager at KFMQ. He was the son of Steve Agnew, the owner of the progressive rock station. Dennis got me an interview. He knew they were desperate for an overnight personality. They had just lost their night announcer. Doug was going down to the station with a case of beer and a couple of friends to keep the station on the air. He usually shut it down by 3 a.m. They hired me for the midnight shift. I didn't have the pipes, but I was the first one in my class to get a radio job. Steve Agnew, the extraordinary air personality and engineer hired me. They told me not to talk. Maybe it was the uncut baloney on my vocal cords, I don't know. I do know I ended up talking anyway. They let me. I played good sets and segued records really well. Roger Agnew, who had the best radio voice I ever heard, got me up to speed. He said they had hired someone from California to come and take over, but after he got to the station I could do weekends. He told me to have a good time. I was sad, but exhilarated to be on the air at all. I was working seven days a week, midnight to six in the morning. The guy from California finally arrived. He got off a bus in the middle of the night and came down to the station. It was over just like that. Or so I thought. It turned out that he had a few problems. He was at the station 24 hours a day telling people how to cut commercials, how to run the station, and what music to play and how to be on the air. He had all the signs of someone with a strong PTSD. He drank all the time. He didn't sleep. He couldn't stand to be alone. He was locked into his anger. He was a control freak. They fired him and hired me. I continued to work seven days a week. I'd sleep two hours in the morning and get up and go write and edit for the Daily Nebraskan. The fired guy called me a couple times a night. I could not get him off the phone. He said he didn't want me to get fired like he did. He’d tell me how to survive. He started off friendly and got increasingly hostile. He broke into the station one night drunk. And stole records. He threatened to castrate me. I was getting to the point where I was carrying empty coke bottles into the parking lot in case I needed something to defend myself. As Senator Dave Landis said, "a coke bottle, now there's the weapon of choice." Dave did a jazz show on the weekends. David Kappy, Captain Classics, the guy who did the weekend classical show agreed. I finally told the program director and the station called the police. It turns out he had just gotten out of prison for assault and did not want to go back. That was my introduction to radio. KFMQ was a one hundred and fifty watt station, one of the last in the country. The big ones were usually a hundred thousand watts. What you would call a stick station. We covered a tri-state area, and sometime were heard as far away as Canada and Wyoming. I was there for ten years. That is my fourth and final telling work tale.
I left ten years later to the day I was hired.
That was my work experience going into grad school. I worked in a library, built a bridge, washed dishes, managed a gift shop, and was a file clerk and a telephone operator.
I worked as an audio tech for work study. I sold what I wrote.
That’s what I learned from work.
Nothing could prepare me for the year 1997.
Tags: michaelzangariatradiostationkfmq, kfmqlincoln'sbestrock Edit Tags
Saturday September 9, 2006 - 02:19am (EDT) Edit Delete Permanent Link 1 Comment
Entry for September 08, 2006 How the elephant got into my pajamas

Photo by Fred Rackle
Post card from the condo.
Caption: "Located in scenic Makaha Valley, these 586 luxurious apartments equipped with central air-conditioning and cable T.V. are immediately adjacent to two eighteen hole championship golf courses. Swimming and surfing at famous Makaha Beach are within walking distance."
Despite a somewhat notorious civil rights history in the 1960s, the condos attracted a variety of people. It is filled with retirees and newlyweds. Built on a spot sacred to the Hawaiian Royalty. It is said that the buildings are haunted and cursed by the amakua of those kapuna who came before. The condos have survived mudslides and shifting real estate prices and still captivate the mind and spirit. It is a holy spot. Despite the curses. The view is killer. The condos are surrounded on three sides by Volcanic Mountains that crumble like German chocolate. About three hundred wild goats live up there. There are waterfalls that cascade behind the condos in the winter. They are generally followed by mud. Peacocks parade the idyllic. Down the valley two miles is the ocean.
The cable lanes that ties the condos together is a subject of some speculation. Exactly how private are these condos? What kind of intrigues fills this place? The famous have stood at the railing and looked down the valley at the rising moon. Are there spies lurking about? Did the population of the two entire buildings narrowly escape eradication in 1998 by an anthrax attack from a foreign power? Its' a wild tale indeed. "A ripping good tale" as Earnest Hemmingway wrote. But let’s start here. 1998.
Prelude
Let me review what I know to be true.
In the late summer or early fall of 1998 I received a letter from Nigeria.
The letter was a type-written document. The body of the letter was an attempt to recruit me to set up a bank account. It offered a base fund of $150,000. I was not to touch the money in the account but could have the interest accrued on an interest baring account.
In the folds of the letter was a little more than a gram of white powder.
I called the FBI immediately. In a phone interview with the FBI agent (who did not identify himself) the agent said that the letter was of a type that he was receiving reports on. The letter was similar to letters received by others. It was regarded as a scam. The unidentified white powder was most likely talcum powder. Talcum powder, he explained, was used to obscure finger prints.
In the previous decade, the first cases of anthrax exposure in 50 years had been reported in the United States. There had been fatalities. The anthrax was of a weapons grade, stolen from a secure government facility. The accused perpetrator was an employee of the facility, who evidently smuggled the anthrax out of the facility. The first cases were apparently random mailings. One of the victims, an elderly woman, is perplexing. The victims in Vero Beach, employees of the Globe Newspaper in Vero Beach, are evidently more explainable. The Globe is a Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper which does investigative reporting. I believe it also does stories on tea parties with aliens. It is what my mother would call a “scandal sheet.” The current issue has the following headlines:
HILLARY ATTACKS BILL’S SECRET LOVER. HE FORCES HILLARY INTO SEX THERAPY.
JACKO WAS FRAMED
BRAD AND ANGELINA MOVING IN TOGETHER
KENNY CHESNEY’S OTHER WOMAN REVEALED
The magazine describes itself as publishing “true life stories and fun.”
Their Web Site is http://www.globemagazine.com/
It is clear that these individuals were highly traumatized by their experience and have researched what happened extensively.
The incident itself is more explainable. No one likes journalists.
According to my cardiologist, who was informed on the initial attack, the weapons grade anthrax was lethal within a couple of seconds.
In short, a typical knowledge of such exposure would indicate that this powder was not of the same variety of anthrax in those initial attacks. It came from outside the country. All known cases of anthrax exposure originated in the United States, with stolen United States government-issue anthrax as a likely source of contamination.
According to the 70 year old Berkley study on negative ions, as well as standard operational procedures for medical and research facilities, negative ions contain or kill anthrax. The following site is by no means definitive, but it is simplified to a degree that you can quickly absorb the information. It will give you enough grounding to do further research. http://www.superforce.com/
I lived in a high-density, negative ion infused environment. I had two high density negative ion generators going full blast for seven years prior to the getting the letter. I lived in a controlled, air conditioned environment. The floors space was of a studio type.
It consisted of a single room condo, a hall way, and a two chambered bath and dressing room. It was inter-connected to nineteen or twenty floors of other occupied condos.
The FBI agent had me fax a copy of the letter and the envelope to him. I had to remove the white powder from the envelope in order to do this. No sample of the white powder was collected.
So what happened to the letter?
I was working at radio station KCCN AM at the time. A newswoman, Mandy Armstrong, was interested in what had happened. She later became the News Director on the FM side of the band. I gave the letter to her. I don’t remember if there was powder in the envelope or not. We can assume that there was some residue in the envelope. I’ll attempt to call Mandy today to find out if there is additional information.
I got progressively sicker, culminating in a congestive heart failure. I almost died. Organ damage was such that a heart transplant was recommended for my survival. I am currently on 100% disability for toxic exposure and well.
That’s another story.
Is there another explanation for the illness? That’s next.
Alternative speculation as to the nature of the crime:
It is a frequent organized crime and espionage tactic to create the appearance of a pattern crime with many victims. It is used to mask specific crimes. In this way the whys of the crime can be covered up. Attacks appear to be part of a random splattering of violence or criminal aggression. It’s explainable by a wider pattern of events.
If so, why was I targeted? To what end?
Was I meant to be disabled by a lower quality anthrax exposure?
Was the offer based on truth?
Is there a link to a financial network, or “battle funds” set up for unnamed parties to pull on while remaining anonymous?
I was out of work. I was engaged in a Federal Lawsuit against my former employer.
I was economically vulnerable. That vulnerability was increased by an increasing inability to work and isolation.
The plot, as it is unfolded like the letter from Nigeria.
In the folds of the letter is the unknown white powder of whys, whose and whereas. Contained in it is the spore of events that set the next seven years in motion.
These are the known facts of these events as I know them. I do for swear it.
Addendum:
What is anthrax?
Anthrax, named after the Greek word for coal because of the dark skin lesions it causes, is a caused by the Bacillus anthracis bacterium. Spores can exist in the soil for years and, herbivores such as cattle, sheep and goats are most likely to become infected while grazing. Human cases are rare.
How dangerous is it?
The bug can infect humans through a cut on the skin, more rarely by inhalation of spores or, even more rarely, by eating infected meat. Inhaling spores in sufficient numbers is likely to lead to death, although early antibiotics can reduce the risk. Ingested anthrax is similarly deadly, but more than 80 per cent of those with a skin infection survive.
What are the symptoms?
Generally feeling unwell with a flu-like illness and breathing difficulties are the early signs of inhaled anthrax. Skin infections cause an itchy, inflamed pimple that turns into a blister with extensive swelling. Several days later this turns into an ulcer with the classic black marks.
Can it spread between humans?
Anthrax does not spread person-to-person, although there have been extremely rare reports of skin infections apparently transferring from one person to another.
Related topic
· Anthrax http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=1490