New Meta-Analyses Shows Anti-Depressants Are Not Much Better Than Placebo

In spite of the known negative side effects (pdf) of modifying the reuptake of serotonin in people's bodies, a new meta analysis of multiple SSRI drug trials shows the drugs are not really any better than placebo for most people. The conclusion of this meta analysis is telling:

Drug–placebo differences in antidepressant efficacy increase as a function of baseline severity, but are relatively small even for severely depressed patients. The relationship between initial severity and antidepressant efficacy is attributable to decreased responsiveness to placebo among very severely depressed patients, rather than to increased responsiveness to medication.

So the differences in effectiveness of the drugs between severely and moderately depressed people was not due to the drugs effectiveness, but due to the ineffectiveness of placebo in severely depressed people.

With all this bad news, it's no wonder the drug companies are now trying to sell these drugs to your dog and cat.

Economy In Peril - Starbucks Goes For The Hard-Sell

You Know the economy is in trouble when Starbucks resorts to the hard-sell. I was at a Starbucks a week ago and as I was getting ready to pay for my latte, the 'barrista' told me that I could get the coffee "for free" if I bought a pound of coffee. I said no thanks, and then he proceeded to try to hard-sell me the coffee by asking me over and over if I was interested. At one point he even offered to "send the coffee to the troops" if I wasn't interested in using it myself. This is the sort of BS that really annoys me. If Starbucks thinks it would be a good idea to send some free coffee to the troops, then they should do it. They're in a much better position to do so than me. But, oh yeah...this was about increasing their profit, not doing something 'for the troops'. Using 'the troops' to make a sale is just distasteful.

Annoying your customers who want to buy something from you is a really bad idea. Just ask Radio Shack.

Mass Murders Linked To Antidepressant Use

The drug dealers have already started their offensive, so to balance their propaganda, I present this list.

This will (tragically) be a running archive of mass murders who have been linked to antidepressant use. Does this seem like quite a coincidence or what? Even though this Chicago Tribune article quotes psychiatrists as saying that antidepressants are "rarely linked to violence toward others", the FDA's Black Box warning (the most serious type of warning in prescription drug labeling) says that aggression and violence are side effects. Read the whole FDA warning below the list.

Dr. Michael Stone, a clinical psychiatry professor at Columbia and best known for his 'most evil' scale, allegedly maintains a 'database' of violent crimes and says that he only can find “...a handful of cases where the person was on an antidepressant.” Well to help you out with your database Dr. Stone, check out the site in the NY Times article. It has more than just a handful.

1. Kip Kinkel (Thurston High School Shootings 5/20/1998) [Was taking Prozac]
   
2. Eric Harris (Columbine High School Shootings 4/20/1999) [Was taking Luvox]. The medical records of Dylan Klebold (co-conspirator) have been sealed.
3. Mamoru Takuma (Osaka school massacre 6/8/2001) [Was taking an unnamed antidepressant]
   
4. Andrea Yates (Murdered her 5 children in a bathtub 6/20/2001) [Was taking Effexor]
   
5. Cho Seung-hui (Virginia Tech Shootings 4/16/2007 ) [Was taking an unnammed antidrepressant]
6. Robert Hawkins (Westroads Mall shootings Omaha 12/5/2007) [Was taking an unnammed antidrepressant, Most likely Prozac].
7. Steven Kazmierczak (Northern Illinois University Shootings 2/14/2008) [Was taking Xanax, Ambien, & Prozac] Apparently stopped taking Prozac days before after complaining of feeling like a 'zombie'.

Here is the FDA Black Box warning on antidepressants:

Suicidality in Children and Adolescents (pdf)

Antidepressants increased the risk of suicidal thinking and behavior (suicidality) in short-term studies in children and adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric disorders. Anyone considering the use of [Insert established name] or any other antidepressant in a child or adolescent must balance this risk with the clinical need. Patients who are started on therapy should be observed closely for clinical worsening, suicidality, or unusual changes in behavior. Families and caregivers should be advised of the need for close observation and communication with the prescriber.

You Should Watch for Certain Signs If Your Child is Taking an Antidepressant
• Thoughts about suicide or dying
• Attempts to commit suicide
• New or worse depression
• New or worse anxiety
• Feeling very agitated or restless
• Panic attacks
• Difficulty sleeping (insomnia)
• New or worse irritability
• Acting aggressive, being angry, or violent
• Acting on dangerous impulses
• An extreme increase in activity and talking
• Other unusual changes in behavior or mood

US Civil War Claims Another Victim

A US Civil War relics dealer was killed Monday when what appears to be Civil War era ordinance exploded while he was cleaning it. The man, Sam White of Chesterfield County Virginia was killed when the (suspected) cannon ball detonated in his garage. Sam apparently had a decent business doing this sort of thing and must have been very skilled.

It's quite a bizarre tragedy to think of that shell, possibly being fired sometime around 1864, not detonating and instead disappearing into a muddy field. Then nearly 150 years later being found and sent to Sam for cleaning where it would finally detonate and exact its toll. I suppose it was that strange connection to the past that drove Sam to collect Civil War relics in the first place. RIP.

NIU Shooter's Girlfriend Confirms He Was On Antidepressants

And that he had recently stopped taking them. Big surprise.

She (Jessica Baty) confirmed that he had stopped taking an antidepressant about three weeks ago because "it made him feel like a zombie," but she denied that his recent behavior was unusual.

Another Mass Shooting Linked To "Medication"

It should come as no surprise by now that the recent Illinois shooter was taking some (as of yet) unnamed medication and became erratic when he stopped taking them. This is a pattern we have seen time and time again, and unfortunately, are doomed to see it continue to happen. Why? Because there's still too much money to be made. I can only guess what kinds of medication this killer was on....

Did Mitt Romney Have Help At The Florida Debate?

When I watched the Florida debate, Romney was asked if he would do the same thing that Ronald Regan did for social security (which was apparently, raising taxes). Right after the question was asked, I heard what appeared to someone whisper near Romney "raise taxes". I brushed it o ff as a whisper from one of the other candidates...but that does seem unlikely. Apparently everyone else heard it too, and now this story is getting a lot of press on the internet. Watch the video for yourself and see what you think. Was Romney getting help with his questions??

On another note, there's a lot of talk about how that the 'talk time' of the candidates was anything but equal. Here's the breakdown:

Total Times

Romney: 21:11, during 13 times
McCain: 16:00, during 13 times
Giuliani: 13:50, during 11 times
Huckabee: 12:11, during nine times
Paul: 6:31, during six times

So with Mitt Romney getting almost (3) times the 'face time' as Ron Paul, Romney 'won' the debate according to many analysts. Much of this was out of his control however, as the segment where candidates were allowed to ask each other questions, Romney was questioned more than once.

TSA Arrests And Searches A 5-Year Old (And His Mother) At SEA-TAC Airport

....because someone with his same name was on the no fly list. How many people in the world share the same name? Is this really all that they're using to check people??

This is the same organization that arrested (they call it 'detained', same thing....don't let the name fool you) Senator Ted Kennedy because someone had put a "T. Kennedy" on the list (that's no joke). That should make you feel really secure, especially now that the TSA will be arresting people for having the wrong facial expressions. Wonder what's next?

Link to Video News Story

Abusive Driver Fees Are Not Just For Cars

As Kajuan Cornish found out. He was issued a $1,050 fine for recklessly ridding his bicycle in Newport News, VA. Cited on 12/27/2007 for misdemeanor "Reckless Driving - Bicycle" under VA Code 46.2-852, he was eligible for the same abusive driver fees as everyone else. He was convicted in district court but appealed his conviction to circuit court on 1/10/2008.

I'll follow this one to see where it ends up.

Paul Begala Says Fox News Lied To The Public, Even After Knowing It was A Lie

Fox takes the lead in sucking after getting caught red handed (knowingly) pushing false information.

I think I've figured out what they mean by "We report, you decide." You get to decide if they're feeding you B.S. or not.

National Media Wakes Up To The Polling Problem

As I predicted, the polling error issue is becoming a big issue in 2008. Amazingly, the pollsters blew the Democratic vote for New Hampshire.

Candidate	Predicted % Of Vote (Rasmussen)	% of NH Vote	Within Margin of Error (95% confidence)?	% Difference
Barack Obama	37%	36%	Yes	-2.7%
Hillary Clinton	30%	39%	No	30.0%
John Edwards	19%	17%	Yes	-10.5%
Bill Richardson	8%	5%	No	-37.5%
Dennis Kucinich	3%	1%	Yes	-66.7%
Mike Gravel	0%	0%	Yes	0.0%

Generic OTC Omeprazole (Prilosec) Coming in 2008

Israeli pharmaceutical company Dexcel Pharma Technologies, has announced they will be producing generic Prilosec in 2008. The product will be exclusively marketed in the US by Perrigo, (PRGO) a major manufacturer of over-the-counter (OTC) generics for major retalilers (Wal-Mart, Target, etc)

Polling Results Vs. Real Results For The First Primary

Look at the predictions from Rasmussen (a highly respected pollster), versus the actual results. The margin of sampling error for this poll was +/-4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Candidate	Rasmussen Poll 12/17/2007 (%)	Actual Result (%)	% Difference
Mike Huckabee	28	34	21.43
Mitt Romney	27	25	-7.41
John McCain	14	13	-7.14
Rudy Giuliani	8	3	-62.50
Fred Thompson	8	13	62.50
Ron Paul	6	10	66.67
Tom Tancredo	2	0	-100.00
Duncan Hunter	1	0	-100.00

Giuliani's, Huckabee's, and Thompson's results all fell outside of the margin of error. Paul was on the very edge of it.

The Time Has Come To End The Death Penalty

Last week a Texas man, Charles Chapman, was freed after spending 27 years in prison for a crime the state now admits he never committed. Sentenced to prison in 1981 for rape, it was DNA evidence that finally exonerated him. And DNA evidence is nothing new to Dallas County, the jurisdiction that convicted Chapman. In fact, since 2001 (15) wrongly convicted people have been released from this one county alone based on DNA evidence.

According to the Innocence Project, the first DNA based exoneration was in 1989 (PDF). Since that time there have been (192) people released from prison because the DNA evidence showed they were wrongly convicted. Fourteen of those wrongly convicted people had been sentenced to death. And those numbers are certainly just the tip of the iceberg.

It is now painfully clear that the debate about the likelihood of the government wrongly killing an innocent, wrongly convicted citizen has moved well beyond the academic. I fail to see how anyone, at this point, can support the death penalty when it is clear that justice not only makes mistakes, but does so frequently.

For the state to take away 27 years of someone's life is a horrific mistake. Killing them in error at this point, knowing what we now know, is nothing short of criminal.

The Best Radar Detector Hiding Spot

Uniden has announced they are introducing a GPS/Radar Detector combo. This makes hiding your radar detector a lot easer in places where you can't have them. Unfortunately, laser is making detectors more and more worthless as police convert to them.

I hope this doesn't spur police in places where radar detectors are illegal (like in Virginia, for example) to begin cracking down on windshield mounted GPS devices....It's already illegal to have one on your windshield in many of those states.

Legal Bizzarre: Don't Slander Virginia

Apparently, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, libel and slander only apply if the object of your lies is a woman. Be careful what you say to chaste Virginian belles.

§ 18.2-417. Slander and libel.

Any person who shall falsely utter and speak, or falsely write and publish, of and concerning any female of chaste character, any words derogatory of such female's character for virtue and chastity, or imputing to such female acts not virtuous and chaste, or who shall falsely utter and speak, or falsely write and publish, of and concerning another person, any words which from their usual construction and common acceptation are construed as insults and tend to violence and breach of the peace or shall use grossly insulting language to any female of good character or reputation, shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.

The defendant shall be entitled to prove upon trial in mitigation of the punishment, the provocation which induced the libelous or slanderous words, or any other fact or circumstance tending to disprove malice, or lessen the criminality of the offense.

(Code 1950, § 18.1-256; 1960, c. 358; 1973, c. 526; 1975, cc. 14, 15.)

But feel free to talk about the dirty ones all you want.

New York Times Get's Caught Lying...Again

The New York Times used be "all the news that's fit to print". Now it's mainly known for a continual stream of serious screw ups, ranging from bad fact checking to the publishing of outright lies.

Today comes word of the latest New York Times slander by way of yet ANOTHER fact-free article. In a blog piece published on the Times' website by the Virginia Heffernan,the NY Times published 'allegations' that Ron Paul is a Neo-Nazi. Where did these allegations come from? Apparently their only source was Bill White, the "Commander of the American National Socialist Workers' Party." The times is apparently so friendly with the American National Socialist Worker's Party, that there was no need to fact check this radical and sweeping allegation. No, instead they allowed it to be printed on their website verbatim.

The NY Times, after feeling the wrath of upset Paul supporters and realizing that the blog post bordered on slander/libel, published this "editor's note" (my emphasis added):

Editors' Note: The post below, which appeared on The Medium on Monday, contained several errors. Stormfront, which describes itself as a "white nationalist" Internet community, did not give money to Ron Paul's presidential campaign; according to Jesse Benton, a spokesman for Paul's campaign, it was Don Black, the founder of Stormfront, who donated $500 to Paul. The post also repeated a string of assertions by Bill White, the commander of the American National Socialist Workers Party, including the allegation that Paul meets regularly "with members of the Stormfront set, American Renaissance, the Institute for Historic Review and others" at a restaurant in Arlington, Va. Paul never attended these dinners, according to Benton, who also says that Paul has never knowingly met Bill White. Norman Singleton, a congressional aide in Paul's office, says that he met Bill White at a dinner gathering of conservatives several years ago, after which Singleton expressed his indignation at the views espoused by White to the organizer of the dinner. The post should not have been published with these unverified assertions and without any response from Paul.

After 290 comments on the story, and this embarrassing story making the rounds on the Internet, the Times has closed the blog to comments. I'm sure it will be accidentally 'removed' from the website soon enough. So what will happen to Virginia Heffernan? My guess is absolutely nothing. I suspect the higher ups at the NY Times support her in her campaign to smear Ron Paul. She will just join the NYTIMES hall-of-fame-er Jayson Blair as the typical NY Times "reporter".

I guess that means Ron Paul is officially in the ridicule (read: smear) stage that Mahatma Gandhi so succinctly outlined: "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win ."

Was Pseudoephedrine Maligned To Make A Corporation Rich?

Jeffrey A. Tucker at the Ludwig von Mises Institute has a fascinating short post about what may be the real reason Pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) was moved behind the pharmacy counter as part of the Patriot Act.

Protectionism and My Stuffy Nose

Florida Woman Tasered For Being Loud And Obnoxious

A 35 year old Daytona Beach, Florida woman was Tasered in a Florida Best Buy for being loud, using profanity and exhibiting what police called "passive physical resistance".

Once again, this proves the point that the Taser is no longer being used in place of lethal force. It's being used as a primary tool of force to get people to comply. That would be fine, if people weren't frequently dying from this tool being used.

[Link to video of incident]

Google News Stories of the incident

Does Fox News Suck More Than CNN?

Well, I didn't think it was possible, but I think Fox is taking the lead in sucking. Take a look at this clip, where moron ex-Miss America Gretchen Carlson asks Ron Paul to play a word game.

Here's what she asks him @ 1:36 seconds

"OK...let me ah...do ah..a little kind of a situation with you here. I'm going to say a topic and if you can give me a one word response (sic). IRAQ-Mainstream Media- Immigration-War On Terror" (Watch Carlson's eye's light up after she finishes saying "IRAQ" at 1:43 seconds. It's like she just tied her shoes for the first time. I think she was just proud she could read all those big words, even though she's unable to speak in complete sentences.)

So why does Gretchen want to play the "Let's put a complex issue into one word" game? Perhaps it's because she can only ponder one word at a time. But I suspect it's more because she's been told that one word is the maximum that a Fox News audience member can grasp.

From what I can tell, that's correct.

To see how utterly ridiculous Fox News has become, take a look at this: Fox News Porn. You'd think it would be 'not suitable for work', but it's nothing but actual Fox News clips. Hilarious, but with a serious message - Fox News Sucks.