Showing posts with label cnn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cnn. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
CNN recycles a story that has been going around for months in Dallas, Texas. A new "designer drug" named Cheese is killing people off left and right. The story is over-hyped, condescending, and poor journalism. Nothing shocking there.
A cheap, highly addictive drug known as "cheese heroin" has killed 21 teenagers in the Dallas area over the past two years, and authorities say they are hoping they can stop the fad before it spreads across the nation.
"Cheese heroin" is a blend of so-called black tar Mexican heroin and crushed over-the-counter medications that contain the antihistamine diphenhydramine, found in products such as Tylenol PM, police say. The sedative effects of the heroin and the nighttime sleep aids make for a deadly brew.
Since the start of 2005, there have been 893 days. That means that in Dallas, somebody has died from a cheese overdose approximately every 42.5 days, or just over 1 every six weeks. CNN doesn't do this math for you. Instead they "report" the following.
Cheese" is not only dangerous. It's cheap. About $2 for a single hit and as little as $10 per gram. The drug can be snorted with a straw or through a ballpoint pen, authorities say. It causes drowsiness and lethargy, as well as euphoria, excessive thirst and disorientation. That is, if the user survives.
Look, I am not a big heroin fan. I have never taken it, and never will, especially mixed up with a drug cocktail. But, if there is an epidemic of death here, it's the death of telling kids the truth. When you lie to kids about drugs, you make them believe nothing else you say on the subject. This drug is not safe. It has led to side effects including an occasional death. How many doses were taken every 42.5 days between fatalities? If say ten thousand kids did one dose a day on average, it starts to give you a ball park figure.
Americans are pushed pharmaceuticals on tv, by schools, and by society at large for every sort of problem. I am saying nothing new under the sun here. Jefferson Airplane's song "White Rabbit" was about this very phenomena. I don't blame the kids from what transpired at a Dallas area middle school.
These are street dealers, dope dealers," Moncibais recently warned students at Sam Tasby Middle School. "They give you a lethal dose. What do they care?"
Moncibais then asked how many students knew a "cheese" user. Just about everyone in the auditorium raised a hand. At one point, when he mentioned that the United States has the highest rate of drug users in the world, the middle schoolers cheered.
Holland tells their kids the truth, are not running a massive war on drugs, yet their addiction levels are smaller than hours. Our system of urinating on the bill of rights and telling big whoppers to our kids leads them to not take any message seriously.
This is your drug policy on stupidity. Any questions?
Update: Dallas Metro area has a total population of about six million people. Less than 10 people have died per year from Cheese in the metro area. Anybody want to wager that more people have died per year from Cheese, or falling in the bathroom in the Dallas area these last few years?
This is not to say that this drug is "good" or people should freely take it without knowing the dangers. Sensationalist blather is not the way to educate.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Monica Goodling testified that Kyle Sampson, Alberto Gonzales, and Kyle Sampson were not honest when they testified under oath. She also testified that Alberto Gonzales was trying to tell her what his testimony was going to be, which is witness tampering. She also testified that she broke the civil service code by hiring or not promoting people for career positions in multiple cases because of their political views. Think on that for a second. You are a twenty-five year employee of the justice department. You work your tail off, and some 31 year old Regent University grad is not giving you a promotion because you donated $100 to Paul Tsongas in 1992 or something. So, picture all that was exposed today, and here is CNN's first few paragraphs on the hearing.
The Justice Department's former White House liaison testified Wednesday that she never discussed the hiring or firing of U.S. attorneys with White House officials.
"I did not hold the keys to the kingdom, as some have suggested," said Monica Goodling, who was Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' senior counsel and White House liaison until resigning in April.
"To the best of my knowledge, I never had a conversation with Karl Rove or Harriet Miers while I served at the Department of Justice, and I'm certain I never spoke to either of them about the hiring or firing of any U.S. attorney," Goodling said in her opening statement to the House Judiciary Committee.
The committee is investigating whether the firings of eight U.S. attorneys was politically motivated and has questioned whether Rove, President Bush's chief political adviser, and Miers, former White House counsel, were involved.
The Justice Department has said the attorneys were fired because of poor job performance, but critics allege the attorneys were fired for political reasons.
The investigation has led to calls for Gonzales' resignation.
Goodling initially invoked her Fifth Amendment right to protection from self-incrimination, but the committee granted her immunity in return for her testimony.
Goodling testified she had no significant role in determining which attorneys were to go on a list of those to be fired.
"I was responsible more for what happened after the plan was implemented rather than maybe the plan itself," Goodling testified.
That is freaking criminal. The attorney general witness tampered. The top three people at the department perjured themselves in front of congress according to her testimony. These paragraphs are CNN's idea of leading the story?
Is it a wonder people turn to the internet to get news? For all I know, Goodling could be lying. Paul McNulty says she was lying. Alberto Gonzales says tonight that he was trying to tell her what he would testify to "comfort her" in some bizarre way that I don't think any rational person could understand. Yet, CNN runs this piece of crap and calls it their news story. What is wrong with these people?
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
According to CNN.com, the fatherhood of Anna Nicole Smith's baby is the top story in the world. Not the attorney general being subpoenaed, not the violent escalation in Iraq, not the showdown between the house and Secretary Rice, but this.
Don Imus and Anna Nicole's baby daddy are the most important events occuring today apparently.
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