Enough Is Enough It’s time for Washington to cut Egypt loose.

Enough Is Enough

It’s time for Washington to cut Egypt loose.

With blood in Egypt's streets and a return to a state of emergency, it's time for Washington to stop pretending. Its efforts to maintain its lines of communication with the Egyptian military, quietly mediate the crisis, and help lay the groundwork for some new, democratic political process have utterly failed. Egypt's new military regime, and a sizable and vocal portion of the Egyptian population, have made it very clear that they just want the United States to leave it alone. For once, Washington should give them their wish. As long as Egypt remains on its current path, the Obama administration should suspend all aid, keep the embassy in Cairo closed, and refrain from treating the military regime as a legitimate government.

These steps won't matter very much in the short term. Cairo has made it very clear that it doesn't care what Washington thinks and the Gulf states will happily replace whatever cash stops flowing from U.S. coffers. Anti-American incitement will continue, along with the state of emergency, violence and polarization, the stripping away of the fig leaf of civilian government, and the disaster brewing in the Sinai. It won't affect Secretary of State John Kerry's Israel-Palestine peace talks and the Camp David accords will be fine, too; Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi can't manage his own streets, and it's unlikely he wants to mess with Israel right now.

The hard truth is that the United States has no real influence to lose right now anyway, and immediate impact isn't the point. Taking a (much belated) stand is the only way for the United States to regain any credibility -- with Cairo, with the region, and with its own tattered democratic rhetoric.

More FP CoverageEGYPT IN CRISIS

• Mubarak Still Rules
• 'They Struck Us Down Like Animals'
• 'We've Never Seen in Egypt's History This Many Attacks Against Journalists'

It's easy to understand Washington's ambivalence in the immediate aftermath of the July 3 coup. Nobody ever had any illusions that the military seizing power, suspending the constitution, and imprisoning President Mohamed Morsy quacked, as John McCain rather regrettably put it, like a duck. At the same time, the seemingly robust public support for the coup, longstanding uneasiness about the Muslim Brotherhood, the appointment of well-regarded technocrats to high-level government positions, and strong Gulf Cooperation Coucil support for the new regime stayed the Obama administration's hand. It seemed prudent to many in Washington to wait and see how things would play out, especially given the intense arguments of those defending what they considered popular revolution. It didn't help that neither the United States nor other outside actors knew quite what they wanted. Few particularly wanted to go to the mat for the Muslim Brotherhood or a Morsy restoration, and Washington quickly understood that this was not in the cards. But they also didn't want a return to military rule.

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Baltimore police officer got a call about a ‘vicious’ pit bull and this is what happened next

Officer Dan Waskeiwicz of the Baltimore City Police received a call one day when he was on duty stating that there was a “vicious dog” terrorizing a neighborhood and he needed to help. When he got to the scene, people were yelling at the pit bull as it ran around in a frenzy.

Officer Waskeiwicz writes in his letter to Modified K9:

I followed the dog into an ally to see how it was acting. Going on my own approach, being a dog lover, I got out of my car and called the “vicious dog” over to me. The dog came over with it’s tail between it’s legs and panting. I grabbed my water bottle and the dog sat down next to me and began licking my pants. I started giving the dog water. I brought the dog over and waited for the pound to show up.

via Modified K9

It was then that he decided that he couldn’t bear to see the dog go, knowing it would likely be euthanized.   Dan decided instead to take the dog home himself.  He jumped in the back seat of the cruiser with the “vicious” canine, and it was clear that he’d made the right decision.

via Modified K9
Officer Waskiewicz named the dog Bo and introduced him to his other two dogs.  The crew hit it off with no problems.  Bo had shown signs of neglect from his previous home, but he made a speedy recovery.

via Modified K9
Officer Waskiewicz even got the Certificate of Appreciation from the Baltimore Humane Society for his efforts!

via Baltimore Police Department

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Latest Research on the Effects of Alcohol on Your Waistline Moderate alcohol drinkers gain less weight over time than people who abstain, some studies show.

Latest Research on the Effects of Alcohol on Your Waistline

Moderate alcohol drinkers gain less weight over time than people who abstain, some studies show.

It isn't just the beer that contributes to beer bellies. It could also be the extra calories, fat and unhealthy eating choices that may come with moderate drinking.

Calorie Counts

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Pina Colada: A 6 oz glass has approx. 460 calories. Ingredients like pineapple juice and coconut are high in calories.

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Red Wine: A 5 oz glass has approx. 125 calories. Considered a good choice for its anti-inflammatory properties.

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Regular Beer: A 12 oz glass has approx. 150 calories. An alternative: light beer, which averages about 100 calories.

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Margarita: A 6 oz glass has approx. 280 calories. Snacks like guacamole and chips might be hard to resist.

A recent study found that men consume an additional 433 calories (equivalent to a McDonald's double cheeseburger) on days they drink a moderate amount of alcohol. About 61% of the caloric increase comes from the alcohol itself. Men also report eating higher amounts of saturated fats and meat, and less fruit and milk, on those days than on days when they aren't drinking, the study showed.

Women fared a bit better, taking in an extra 300 calories on moderate-drinking days, from the alcohol and eating fattier foods. But women's increase in calories from additional eating wasn't statistically significant, the study said.

"Men and women ate less healthily on days they drank alcohol," said Rosalind Breslow, an epidemiologist with the federal National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and lead author of the study. "Poorer food choices on drinking days have public-health implications," she said.

The findings dovetail with controlled lab studies in which participants generally eat more food after consuming alcohol. Researchers suggest that alcohol may enhance "the short-term rewarding effects" of consuming food, according to a 2010 report in the journal Physiology & Behavior that reviewed previous studies on alcohol, appetite and obesity.

But other studies have pointed to a different trend. Moderate drinkers gain less weight over time than either heavy drinkers or people who abstain from alcohol, particularly women, this research has shown. Moderate drinking is considered having about two drinks a day for men and one for women.

"People who gain the least weight are moderate drinkers, regardless of [alcoholic] beverage choice," said Eric Rimm, an associate professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard Medical School and chairman of the 2010 review of alcohol in the federal dietary guidelines. The weight-gain difference is modest, and "starting to drink is not a weight-loss diet," he said.

The various research efforts form part of a long-standing debate about how alcohol affects people's appetites, weight and overall health. Researchers say there aren't simple answers, and suggest that individuals' metabolism, drinking patterns and gender may play a role.

Alcohol is "a real wild card when it comes to weight management," said Karen Miller-Kovach, chief scientific officer of Weight Watchers International. At seven calories per gram, alcohol is closer to fat than to carbohydrate or protein in caloric content, she said. Alcohol tends to lower restraint, she notes, causing a person to become more indulgent with what they're eating.

Research bolstering the role of moderate drinking in helping to control weight gain was published in 2004 in the journal Obesity Research. That study followed nearly 50,000 women over eight years. An earlier study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 1994, followed more than 7,000 people for 10 years and found that moderate drinkers gained less weight than nondrinkers. Studies comparing changes in waist circumference among different groups have yielded similar results.

Dr. Rimm said it isn't clear why moderate drinking may be protective against typical weight gain, but it could have to do with metabolic adjustments. After people drink alcohol, their heart rate increases so they burn more calories in the following hour.

"It's a modest amount," he said. "But if you take an individual that eats 100 calories instead of a glass of wine, the person drinking the glass of wine will have a slight increase in the amount of calories burned."

Food choices could also play a role. Some studies suggest that women who drink alcohol eat fewer sweet foods, possibly because alcohol stimulates the same pleasure center in the brain as sweets, said Dr. Rimm. That isn't seen as consistently in men.

Men have more of the alcohol dehydrogenase group of enzymes that metabolize some alcohol in the stomach than women, said Andrea N. Giancoli, spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a professional organization.

One theory for what this might mean is that women's bodies divert alcohol not being broken down in the stomach to a different metabolic pathway that results in more calories being burned, said Ms. Giancoli, a registered dietitian near Los Angeles. As a result, fewer calories from alcohol may be stored in women as fat, she said.

Another factor is drinking patterns. A 2005 study in the American Journal of Epidemiology looked at data from 45,896 drinkers. It found that as the quantity of drinking increased from one to four drinks in a day, the subjects' body-mass index increased.

"People who drank the least often but drank more on the days that they drank had higher BMI," said Dr. Breslow, who co-authored the study.

Dr. Breslow's latest study, which found caloric intake increases with moderate drinking, didn't look at associations between alcohol and body weight or track food choices and diets over time. She suggested that people who increase their caloric intake with moderate drinking one day might compensate the next day by consuming less.

The study, which appeared in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and included 1,864 mostly moderate drinkers.

Another study, which looked at data from nearly 16,000 individuals over a year, concluded that as alcohol consumption increased there was a decline in diet quality.

That research was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in 2010.

David Jensen, a 56-year-old who considers himself overweight, says cutting his daily drink or two helped him reduce nighttime snacking. "You have a glass of wine and then it's, oh man, I need cheese with that, or I need chocolate. You end up eating all this other stuff," said Mr. Jensen, who lives near Seattle and works as a translator for financial clients.

Last year he stopped drinking for five months and lost just over 10 pounds "with really no effort," Mr. Jensen said.

But once he started drinking again his weight went up and he is back to where he started.

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the most powerful domestic violence ad ever produced

the most powerful domestic violence ad ever produced

Officer tells woman to lift bra during traffic stop

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Office Bullies Pick on Their Unattractive Co-Workers

Whether or not your unfriendly workplace Johnny Lawrence or Regina George is aware of it, he or she is singling out at least one type of victim with his or her cruelty: less-attractive colleagues.

That’s one of the unhappy conclusions in a study titled “Beauty, Personality, and Affect as Antecedents of Counterproductive Work Behavior Receipt,” recently published in the journal Human Performance. Conducted by professors Brent A. Scott of Michigan State University and Timothy A. Judge of the University of Notre Dame, the experiment drew on a pool of more than 100 health-care professionals. The test subjects were photographed and “evaluated for physical attractiveness by those otherwise unfamiliar with the study,” says Judge in an e-mail. Yes, this experiment began with the scientific equivalent of Hot or Not.

After being rated based on their looks, the subjects were then asked about “the degree to which their co-workers treated them in an uncivil manner at work.” The results, as they say, weren’t pretty.

The subjects who were considered unattractive reported incidents of being tormented. “It is not merely the characteristics of the [bully] that drive bullying behavior at work—as has mostly been the assumption in past research,” says Judge. “The characteristics of the targets of bullying are important as well. We found that both the inner (personality) and outer (physical attractiveness) influence the degree to which others behave in a negative way toward us at work.” In other words, if you’re unattractive and lack self-confidence, you could be unwittingly “inviting” a bully to ruin your day.

While many people may believe that this type of behavior is confined to high school cafeterias, workplace bullying has come to light in recent years as a serious issue. “Counterproductive work behavior,” as it’s otherwise known, is characterized by abuse, aggression, antisocial behavior, incivility, social undermining, and workplace deviance, according to Scott and Judge. Or, as Joe Grimm, editor of the book The New Bullying: How Social Media, Social Exclusion, Laws and Suicide Have Changed Our Definition of Bullying, told Bloomberg Businessweek last year: “In a lot of workplaces, it’s just considered part of workplace culture: browbeating, intimidation, cutting people off, and being the loudest in the room with an opinion.” In a survey last year, CareerBuilder reported that 35 percent of employees said they had been bullied at work.

Bullying can be costly, as well. A Gallup poll in 2008 of more than a million workers revealed that an “overbearing boss” was the No. 1 reason employees quit their jobs. “If you quit because of bullying, it would take a company twice your annual salary to replace you: flying in job candidates, hiring, and training,” said Grimm.

According to Judge, the point of their study was awareness. “We know from substantial research that physical attraction influences hiring decisions, earnings, career success, and now how our colleagues treat us at work,” he says. “Very few of us would admit that we take attractiveness into consideration in how we treat our co-workers—yet our study suggests that we do.”

But if you’re the target of a bully at work, and confronting your tormentor or calling on a supervisor hasn’t panned out, there’s always another option before quitting: the crane.

Apple, Google Among Top U.S. Companies Parking Cash Offshore To Reduce Taxes, Study Says

Apple may get the brunt of the attention for its use of offshore havens to offset the taxes it pays in the U.S., but it’s hardly alone.

Six of the biggest names in technology — Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Cisco Systems, Hewlett-Packard and Google – ranked in the Top 15 of the 100 publicly-traded companies (as measured by revenue) with the most money held offshore, according to a new report called “Offshore shell Games” by U.S. PIRG, a federation of public interest research groups.

“Many large U.S.-based multinational corporations avoid paying U.S. taxes by using ac¬counting tricks to make profits made in America appear to be generated in offshore tax havens—countries with minimal or no taxes,” the group says in its 35-page report on the legal loopholes used to shift profits offshore. “By booking profits to subsidiaries registered in tax havens, multinational corporations are able to avoid an estimated $90 billion in federal income taxes each year. These subsidiaries are often shell companies with few, if any employees, and which engage in little to no real business activity.”

The Top 15 companies for 2012 are: General Electric, Apple, Pfizer, Microsoft, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, IBM, Exxon Mobil, Citigroup, Cisco Systems, Abbott Laboratories, Procter & Gable, Hewlett-Packard, Google and PepsiCo. Together, they held $776 billion off shore through a combined 859 tax haven subsidiaries.

Source: US PIRG

Here are some of the other findings from the report, which says the use of tax havens is “ubiquitous” among the 100 companies it studied:

• As of 2012, 82 out of the top 100 publicly-traded U.S. com¬panies operated, collectively, 2,686 subsidiaries in tax haven ju¬risdictions. Those jurisdications included Ireland,

• Only 21 of the top 100 disclose what they would expect to pay in taxes if they didn’t keep profits off¬shore. “All told, these companies would col¬lectively owe over $93 billion in additional federal taxes. To put this enormous sum in context, it represents close to the entire state budget of California and more than the federal government spends on education.”

• The 15 companies with the most money offshore hold a combined $776 billion overseas., which is 66 percent of the approxi¬mately $1.17 trillion held abroad by the 100 companies studied.

• The average tax rate these companies currently pay to other countries on this income is just 6.9 percent, well below lower the 35 percent statutory U.S. corporate tax rate.

The group notes that these companies aren’t doing anything illegal, but rather “gaming” the tax code system. It makes recommendations for closing some of those loopholes, including

Raising a child can be a challenge for any family in US, Why ?

No, You’re Probably Not Smarter Than a 1912-Era 8th Grader - What do you Think ?

In the early years of the 20th century, the students in Bullitt County, Kentucky, were asked to clear a test that many full-fledged adults would likely be hard-pressed to pass today. The Bullitt County Geneaological Society has a copy of this exam, reproduced below—a mix of math and science and reading and writing and questions on oddly specific factoids–preserved in their museum in the county courthouse.

But just think for a moment: Did you know where Montenegro was when you were 12? Do you know now? (Hint: it’s just across the Adriatic Sea from Italy. You know where the Adriatic Sea is, right?)

Or what about this question, which the examiners of Bullitt County deemed necessary knowledge: “Through what waters would a vessel pass in going from England through the Suez Canal to Manila?” The Bullitt geneaological society has an answer sheet if you want to try the test, but really, this question is just a doozie:

A ship going from England to Manilla by way of the Suez Canal would pass through (perhaps) the English Channel, the North Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay (possibly), Strait of Gibraltar, Mediterranean Sea, Suez Canal, Red Sea, Gulf of Aden/Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, Gulf of Thailand (may have been called Gulf of Siam at that time), South China Sea.

Eighth graders needed to know about patent rights, the relative size of the liver and mountain range geography. They had to be able to put together an argument for studying physiology. Though some of it is useful, much of the test amounts of little more than an assessment of random factoids.

So, if you’re anything like us, no, you’re probably not much smarter than an 1912 Bullitt County eighth grader. But that’s okay.

Tests like this are still done today, of course, often in the form of “scientific literacy” tests. The tests are meant to give an idea of how well people understand the world around them. But, in reality, what the these tests share in common with the Bullitt County test is that they quiz facts in place of knowledge or understanding. Designing a standardized test to quiz true understanding is of course very difficult, which is one of the reasons why these sorts of tests persist.

Writing for The Conversation, Will Grant and Merryn McKinnon argue that using these types of tests to say that “people are getting dumber” or “people are getting smarter” is kind of dumb itself. “Surveys of this type are, to put it bluntly, blatant concern trolling,” they say.

We pretend that factoids are a useful proxy for scientific literacy, and in turn that scientific literacy is a useful proxy for good citizenship. But there’s simply no evidence this is true.

Like asking a 12-year old Kentuckian about international shipping routes, “[t]he questions these [science literacy] tests ask have absolutely no bearing on the kinds of scientific literacy needed today. The kind of understanding needed about alternative energy sources, food security or water management; things that actually relate to global challenges.”

So, really, don’t feel too bad if you can’t finish your grandparent’s school exam—the fault lies more in outdated ideas of education than in your own knowledge base.

But, with all that aside, taking the Bullitt County quiz is still kind of fun:

Doesn't he Deserve Death Penalty - Pennsylvania Judge Sentenced For 28 Years For Selling Kids to the Prison System -

In the private prison industry, longer sentences earn more money from the state.

Since 2003, Ciavarella received millions of dollars in bribes for condemning minors to maximum prison sentences. In one case, Ciavarella sentenced a 10-year-old to two years in a detention facility for accidentally bottoming out his mother’s car.

According to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, over 5,000 young men and women were unjustly sentenced to prison and denied their constitutional rights. Many of them have now been released and cleared of their charges.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned some 4,000 convictions issued by him between 2003 and 2008, claiming he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles – including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Some of the juveniles he sentenced were as young as 10-years old.

Ciavarella was convicted of 12 counts, including racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud and tax evasion. He was also ordered to repay $1.2 million in restitution.

His “kids for cash” program has revealed that corruption is indeed within the prison system, mostly driven by the growth in private prisons seeking profits by any means necessary.

Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom manner, was convicted of racketeering, money laundering, mail fraud, and tax evasion. He was ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution.

“Unfortunately, two judges in Luzerne County have caused unimaginable taint to the laudable efforts of many dedicated individuals,” Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille said, “conduct for which those two judges presently are paying dearly,”

Ciaveralla’s attorneys requested a reasonable sentencing, arguing that the media attention brought to the case was punishment enough: “He will forever be unjustly branded as the `Kids for Cash’ judge.”

Pennsylvania judge Michael Conahan was accused as a co-conspirator, but pleaded guilty on the charge. Since 2003, he collected more than $2 million from PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers.

What do you think about Colorado's medical marijuana industry?

At first glance, Colorado's medical marijuana industry seems like an unmitigated success story. Hundreds of dispensaries and grow houses have sprouted up since the state began taxing weed sales three years ago, bringing in millions of dollars in extra revenue. Colorado's fiscal windfall has led many to herald its program as a model for other states to follow, but in the capital of Denver, things are in a state of disarray.

According to an audit released last week, regulators in Colorado's largest city are still struggling to keep up with its booming medical marijuana business. Despite an influx of weed tax revenue, local agencies remain understaffed, underfunded, and woefully disorganized. Records on licensed vendors are incomplete or inconsistent, and oversight is spotty, at best. As the report notes, Denver officials don't even know how many weed dispensaries are currently in operation, or where they're located.

"IT’S LIKE, HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN?"

The report comes at a critical time for Colorado lawmakers, who are still deliberating over how to regulate the sale of marijuana for recreational use. Both Colorado and Washington voted to fully legalize the drug in November 2012, and have since become something of a drug policy laboratory — a test case for whether marijuana legalization can actually work on a large scale.

City regulators blame their disorganization on recent budget cuts, and say they've already begun implementing substantive changes. But with Colorado less than six months away from opening its doors to retail marijuana sales — and with the national spotlight getting brighter by the day — many are now wondering whether the state will be prepared, and where all their tax dollars went.

"I would say there’s definitely a feeling of, 'Yo, we're turning in so much money all the time so how does the state not have the money to regulate it?'" says "SB," manager of a Denver-based medical marijuana shop. SB declined to be identified by his real name on the grounds that he is unauthorized to speak on behalf of his company.

"It's sort of a mystery when you call the city and no one has an answer or there's not enough people there to help. It's like, how does this happen?"

To date, 19 US states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medical use. New Hampshire became the latest to pass medical marijuana laws this week, and similar legislation is pending in a handful of other states. But Colorado is unique in that it's the first to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis, and its early struggles to regulate and finance the industry could influence similar policies across the country — especially at a time when so many states are facing budget shortfalls.

Image credit: Laurie Avocado/Flickr

The perils of underfunding regulatory programs were laid bare in Denver's audit, released last Thursday. The report described Denver's oversight as "ineffective," warning that widespread mismanagement and understaffing poses "substantive risks to the city." There are no formal licensing procedures for medical marijuana centers in Denver, the audit noted, and related fees are determined on an arbitrary basis. Record-keeping is similarly haphazard and incomplete, with data on licensed vendors scattered across two incongruous databases.

Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2000, but didn't implement a regulatory framework until 2010 — largely due to concerns over federal law, under which marijuana is still illegal. The extent to which Colorado's medical and recreational marijuana programs will overlap remains unclear. The state passed a set of preliminary provisions on July 1st, and has announced that medical marijuana dispensaries will have the first chance to apply for retail licenses in January.

The provisions won't be finalized until later this summer and voters will decide on how to tax the drug in November, but critics say the government may be biting off more than it can chew.

"THIS IS GETTING IN THE HANDS OF OUR KIDS."

Smart Colorado, a nonprofit that works to stem the commercialization of marijuana, was quick to herald last week’s audit as evidence of "impending disaster" throughout the state. In a phone interview with The Verge, Smart Colorado volunteer spokeswoman Diane Carlson said that a lack of government oversight would make it easier for children to purchase the drug, and cautioned other counties from rushing into commercial marijuana when the industry opens in January. (Colorado’s Amendment 64 allows for local governments to legalize or outlaw retail marijuana sales as they see fit.)

"The real concern for us is diversion," Carlson said. "This is getting in the hands of our kids. Our kids have been told it's a wellness product, and they honestly think there are no harmful effects. It’s an epidemic."

EVEN LEGALIZATION ADVOCATES SEE CAUSE FOR CONCERN IN COLORADO

Carlson says outsiders would be "shocked" at how prevalent marijuana is at local high schools, though a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last year found that marijuana use actually declined among Colorado teenagers between 2009 and 2011 — the period when medical marijuana came under state regulation.

Even legalization advocates acknowledge that the audit's findings are cause for concern, albeit for different reasons. Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), said the lack of government oversight represents a broken political promise more than anything else.

"The public wanted oversight, which is why the government spent so many hours debating and drafting regulations," Armentano told The Verge. "They were promised oversight, so they ought to get oversight."

Critics say taxes collected from marijuana sales should have gone back into regulating the industry. According to the Colorado Department of Revenue, medical marijuana brought in nearly $6 million in sales tax to the state last year, with Denver sales alone accounting for $2.4 million.

"THE SKY IS NOT FALLING IN COLORADO."

"At some point I think the consumer has to ask if these taxes are going to be used to pay for the regulatory oversight that lawmakers have promised," Armentano said. "At least with medical marijuana, that doesn't seem to be happening."

Less clear is whether Colorado's ongoing struggles will have ramifications on the national level. Carlson says other states should see Colorado's experiment as a cautionary tale, but Armentano downplays her warnings.

"We’ve been told that the reason we can't change [marijuana policy] is because if we do, the sky will fall," he says. "The sky is not falling in Colorado. People that live in Colorado recognize that, and people outside of Colorado will recognize that, as well."

Vendors like SB, meanwhile, are cautiously optimistic about the future of commercialized marijuana in Colorado. SB doesn't know yet whether his company will make the transition to retail in January, though he describes it as a "huge" business opportunity. And despite the threat of higher taxes or licensing fees, he says the industry would welcome tighter regulations.

"We definitely need more regulations," SB says. "If any other substance was marketed as a medicine and regulated the way medical marijuana is, it would be a joke. A fucking laughing stock."

Debate: Does Ariel Castro deserve the death penalty?

The man who imprisoned three women in his home, subjecting them to a decade of rapes and beatings, pleaded guilty Friday to 937 counts in a deal to avoid the death penalty.

Ariel Castro told the judge he was addicted to pornography, had a ‘‘sexual problem’’ and had been a sexual abuse victim himself long ago.

In exchange for his plea, prosecutors recommended Castro be sentenced to life without parole plus 1,000 years.

Castro, 53, said he understood that he would never get out of prison, saying he expected he was ‘‘going to get the book thrown at me.’’ He later added, ‘‘I knew that when I first spoke to the FBI agent when I first got arrested.’’

Castro, wearing glasses for the first time in court, was far more interactive than in previous court appearances when he mostly kept his head down and eyes closed. He answered the judge’s questions in a clear, intelligible voice, saying he understood the proceedings and that he would never be released from prison.

Who is innocent Zimmerman or Trayvon ?

Prejudice means to make a judgment before evidence, reflexively. Prejudice does not necessarily mean supporting segregation or racial subjugation, but can imply deep social feelings. Prejudice is usually negative, although I suppose we could have a prejudice towards assuming innocence in the absence of evidence. Pretend it is not so if you want, prejudice in some places, remains institutionalized.

Could this explain the whole sordid affair that took place in Standard one dreadful night when Trayvon Martin lost his life and one day when George Zimmerman won his freedom?

Car pooling helps drivers save cash, eases congestion

More than ever, Americans are getting to work by driving alone.


Today, only 5 percent of workers take public transportation, down from 11 percent in 1960; only 4 percent walk to work, down from 7 percent in 1960.



One surprising detail in the numbers: The share of workers who work at home is actually lower today than it was 50 years ago (4 percent today versus 7 percent in 1960). A 1998 Census report pointed to "the steep decline in the number of family farmers and the growing tendency of professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, to leave their home and join group practices resulted in a loss each decade of the number of at-home workers." The share of people working at home has been rising for the past few decades, as telecommuting has become more popular, but the rise hasn't been nearly enough to make up for the earlier decline.