Emotional Abuse - Are You a Victim?

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Healthy Relationships involve trust and respect. But it is so sad to think that lots of relationships may turn abusive. You may think that there is nothing wrong because you aren't physically abused, but think again.

Emotional abuse can have devastating consequences, since it is more delicate of all abuses. It goes unseen to you, unaware that you are being abused, damaging your self-esteem. Emotional abuse is harsh, cruel and it stains your well-being.

At some point, you would be denying the situations, pretending it never occurred, even though your supportive friends encourage you to do something about it. You may have a dependent personality, afraid of rejection that you tend to stay in a harmful relationship. This stops you from entering into a new one believing they would eventually leave you once they find out how unlovable you can be. But you must realize that you have the right to be treated with respect.

These are the questions you should ask yourself to find out if you are being abused:

  • Do you try to adjust yourself in situations in order you will not upset the other and ruin his mood?
  • Do you do everything you can to avoid the things that triggers any fight?
  • Does your partner frequently criticize, ridicule or humiliate you?
  • Are you also being isolated from all supportive persons?

Controlling behavior are not signs of affection at all. If your partner keep you unaware of his plans or make plans for you, control your finances, isolate you from your supportive friends then this should alarm you.

Instead of encouraging you, an abusive partner may stop you from indulging in activities that can contribute to your well-being. You will have feelings of low self-esteem as a result of being criticized.

Your partner may also try to instill new behavior and attitudes in you that can result to lack of confidence in yourself. To make it worse, an abusive partner can withhold approval, appreciation or affection as a punishment if you do not comply to the things that he wants for you. You are desperate for love and approval and will do everything to make your partner stay in your relationship.

Does this make you powerless, intimidated and dependent to your partner?

Indeed, you fear your partner and it is not healthy anymore. If you allow these behavior, they become stronger and stronger over time. You always deserve to be yourself. If you feel that you are not being spontaneous, then you are a victim of abuse.

Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 8:30 AM

Galleon Judge Pushes the SEC – Wall Street Journal

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U.S.
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BY SUSAN PULLIAM AND KARA SCANNELL

A federal judge’s ruling could force the government to tip its hand early to defendants in the burgeoning Galleon Group insider-trading case.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff told the Securities and Exchange Commission to be ready to begin the civil insider-trading trial in five months. The unusual ruling could force the U.S. to display evidence against Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam and others in the case in advance of a separate criminal trial in the matter.

In criminal and civil cases, the U.S. has alleged that hedge-fund manager was part an insider-trading ring that also has ensnared a …

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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 3:37 PM

Bar patrons playing pool almost hit by their car

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CENTERVILLE, Wis. (AP) -- Trempealeau County deputies say two bar patrons were almost hit by their own car this week when an alleged drunk driver slammed into it and knocked it through the wall into the saloon. Neither the patrons nor the driver was hurt.

Authorities said the two men were playing pool at the Jailhouse Saloon in Centerville a little before closing time Wednesday morning when their car flew through the wall.

Authorities arrested a 35-year-old man who allegedly caused the crash. Bar manager Diane Schwartz said the man is a regular customer who might have missed the parking lot turnoff.

The man was arrested on tentative charges of drunken driving and driving with a revoked license.

Schwartz said the two men are lucky they weren't hit.

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Information from: Winona Daily News, http://www.winonadailynews.com

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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 8:30 AM

Helping Women to Leave an Abusive Marriage

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Today I made a decision to help women to get out off an abusive marriage; I want to help women to understand that they deserve a much better life. I was there and I done it, and it took me many years to get really over it and how to get out there even when the divorce was final for years. I want women to understand how they got into this situation and how they were destroyed with their self-esteem and confident, and the important part how everything even started. When I was able to get out of an abusive marriage and raise my kids all by myself in another country, so can you do it too!

Now let me tell you what I went through and how you can avoid be stacked, so you can move on in your life. There are challenges when you are from different countries and culture. When he hides behind the military and tells you that you have lost. You MUST fight for yourself and your kids rights. You are all that they have and need, they understand the situation better than you think, and they will help you. Please do not underestimate kids by doing it behind their back or you will pay the price.

I was born and raised in Germany, married and American GI when I was 26, I was 32 when I came to the US 13 years ago. After living for 2 years in Huntsville Alabama I failed than for divorce. It was hard and ugly, I was alive ripped apart, and on the end I made it.  I was good for the 22 months the divorce took, because I saw it as a business deal I must win, I must win it because of my boys. The fight was to protect my boys and make sure they got what they needed. All they had was me and nobody else. They are so important in my life and I won for them, at that time they were only five and six years old.  

I was physical and mental abuse in the front of my boys eyes, I allowed him to destroy me, my self-esteem, my self-confident and I started to believe that I was not good enough and that nobody wants to be with me. He told me that I had no rights and I am living in his county so can do with me whate! ver he w ant to do. I suffered and he played me out, against my boys, own family, against my boys teachers, my friends, his coworkers and neighbors. Him and his girlfriend spread lays around me to destroy my name, my reputation and made me look like a monster. I was harassment over the phone about his affairs with his black girlfriend and why he is doing it. It all was a set up game, so people will support him and approve his cheating on me, that they will feel sorry for him and in the same time to drive me over the edge.

I know that I am not the only woman who went through this situation, and it took me years to understand how and why it was happen to me. I am now open up myself to help other women how to get out of it, what to watch out in your divorce and how to build a new life. Just remember that I done it in another country without support, and by the state law I was not allowed to leave the state or country without his permission. I have done so you can do it! Look out for my next articles about my life, the abuse, the warning sign, the red flags, the games they play so you will lose in the divorce and to find the ticker point they use to get you were they want you to be so they still can control you.

There is a way out and I will show you how.

Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 7:02 AM

Are You in an Emotionally Abusive Relationship?

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Emotional abuse is more difficult to diagnose than physical abuse because the symptoms can slowly work their way into a relationship. This starts with unhealthy behavior patterns and escalates to something more troubling. For example, an emotionally abusive partner tries to manipulate you to get what they want. They often don't mean to hurt you, but their controlling nature makes them behave in ways that are emotionally harmful to you.

What signs should you look for to determine if your relationship is an emotionally abusive one? Here are a few:

  • You are afraid to express yourself freely with your partner, and feel like you have to watch what you say.
  • Your partner's jealousy often keeps you from doing things you want with the opposite sex, even friends and colleagues.
  • Your partner frequently criticizes you, humiliates you in front of others, and you feel like your self-esteem has taken a blow since you met him or her.
  • Your partner prevents you from spending time with your friends, family, and anyone else outside of the relationship.
  • Your partner monitors your internet usage or reads your email correspondence.
  • Your partner has hinted at the possibility of hurting you or your loved ones if you ever betrayed him or her, or if you ever broke off the relationship.
  • Your partner has hinted at the possibility of hurting himself or herself, or even commiting suicide if you ever broke off the relationship.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of what to look for in an emotionally abusive relationship, but it gives you an idea of some of the major warning signs. The last sign - a partner who threatens suicide - is an especially dangerous manipulative tactic. If your partner threatens suicide if you don't do what they want, they are essentially taking you as their hostage in the relationship. If this is the case in your relationship, you need to get a third party involved as soon as possible.

If you think you're in an emotionally abusive relationship, you need to get help or get out as soon as possible. Even if the situation never escalates to physical abuse, you should be aware that emotional abuse is just as harmful and can lead to stress, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other problems that will disrupt your life.

Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 8:30 AM

No one on ballot for mayor, council in NC town

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SPENCER MOUNTAIN, N.C. (AP) -- Who's on the ballot in a tiny North Carolina mill village? This year, no one.

The Charlotte Observer reports that no one has filed to run for mayor or any of the three town council seats in Spencer Mountain in Gaston County.

The incumbents say the filing deadline just sneaked up on them, but they have a solution: They'll just show up at the polls and write in each other's names.

Gaston County Elections Director Frances Pinion says it's not unusual for no candidates to file in small communities like this one.

Write-ins usually solve the problem, but Pinion says Spencer Mountain's charter keeps incumbents in office until new officials are elected, so the seats won't be empty.

There are 29 registered voters in Spencer Mountain.

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Information from: The Charlotte Observer, http://www.charlotte.com


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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 2:10 PM

Lebanese to Israel: Hands off our hummus!

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BEIRUT (AP) -- Lebanese chefs prepared a massive bowl of hummus belief over two bags Saturday that bankrupt a world almanac organizers said was previously captivated by Israel - a bid to acknowledge proprietorship over the popular Middle Eastern dip.

"Come and action for your bite, you know you're right!" was the byword for the event - allotment of a alive war over regional cuisine between Lebanon and Israel, which have had close political relations for decades.

Lebanese businessmen allege Israel of stealing a host of acceptable Middle Eastern dishes, decidedly hummus, and business them common as Israeli.

"Lebanon is trying to win a battle against Israel by registering this new Guinness World Record and telling the whole world that hummus is a Lebanese product, its allotment of our traditions," said Fady Jreissati, carnality admiral of operations at International Fairs and Promotions group, the event's organizer.

Hummus - fabricated from mashed chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, auto juice, alkali and garlic - has been eaten in the Middle East for centuries. Its exact origin is unknown, though it's about seen as an Arab dish.

But it is also badly popular in Israel - served in accustomed commons and at many restaurants - and its acceptance is growing around the globe.

The affair of food copyright was aloft last year by the head of Lebanon's Association of Lebanese Industrialists, Fadi Abboud, back he announced plans to sue Israel to stop it from business hummus and other regional dishes as Israeli.

But to do that, Lebanon charge formally annals the product as Lebanese. The affiliation is still in the action of collec! ting abs tracts and proof acknowledging its claim for that purpose.

Lebanese industrialists cite, as an example, the accusation over feta cheese in which a European Union court ruled in 2002 the cheese charge be fabricated with Greek sheep and goats milk to bear the name feta. That ruling is alone valid for products awash in the EU.

Abboud says that action took seven years and realizes Lebanon's action with Israel is an acclivous battle.

Meanwhile, he says, contest like Saturday's serve to admonish the world that hummus is not Israeli.

"If we don't tell Israel that abundant is enough, and we don't admonish the world that it's not true that hummus is an Israeli acceptable dish, they (Israelis) will accumulate on business it as their own," he said Saturday.

Some 300 chefs were complex in preparing Saturday's massive ceramic bowl of hummus in a huge covering set up in city Beirut. The white-uniformed chefs acclimated 2,976 pounds (1,350 kilograms) of mashed chickpeas, 106 gallons (400 liters) of auto juice and 57 pounds (26 kilograms) of alkali to accomplish the dish, belief 4,532 pounds (2,056 kilograms).

It was not clear what the former Israeli almanac was, and organizers gave conflicting letters on back it was made.

But chefs and visitors bankrupt into acclaim and applause back a adumbrative from the Guinness Book of World Records presented Abboud with a certificate verifying Lebanon had broken the antecedent record. The bowl was then busy with the red, green and white Lebanese flag.

A similar attempt to set a new world almanac will be captivated Sunday for the largest serving of tabbouleh, a salad fabricated of chopped parsley and tomatoes, that Lebanon also claims as its own.

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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 4:10 AM

Woman flashes $27,000 at Mass. bar, gets robbed

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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- Massachusetts police say they are searching for two men suspected of robbing a woman of $27,000 after she flashed the cash in a Springfield bar. Sgt. John Delaney said on Friday that the 22-year-old woman was robbed Monday night by two men wearing dark clothing and bandanas, one armed with what appeared to be a semiautomatic handgun.

According to police, the woman bragged in the bar of receiving the $27,000 from an insurance claim. Police say she was later robbed after she left the bar with a male friend.

Delaney said the woman should have put her cash settlement in a bank.

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Information from: The Springfield Republican, http://www.masslive.com/news/


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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 2:10 PM

19-year-old Norwegian takes Monopoly world title

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LAS VEGAS (AP) -- A advantageous swap and some acquisitive architecture propelled a 19-year-old Norwegian student to the top of lath bold fame and sent three would-be tycoons to the poor abode at the Monopoly World Championship in Las Vegas.

Bjorn Halvard Knappskog, who accelerating this year from the Oslo Private Gymnasium school, captured the appellation on Thursday when the battleship badge of 25-year-old Geoff Christopher of New Zealand landed consecutively on Pacific Avenue and North Carolina Avenue, and he couldn't allow the combined $1,600 rent.

"(I'm) the most surprised you could ever be," Knappskog told The Associated Press. "I think this was a absolutely acceptable final. It was the best bold I played in the whole tournament."

Knappskog won $20,580 in absolute money for the appellation - the total bulk in the bank of a standard Monopoly game. The added finalists won annihilation above the cruise that brought each of the 41 competitors to the Caesars Palace hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip to represent their home countries as national champions.

After demography out 24-year-old Russian Oleg Korostelev, Knappskog bankrupted American champion Rick Marinaccio, a 26-year-old corporate advocate from Buffalo, N.Y., who was trying to become the aboriginal U.S. amateur to win the lath bold championship since 1974.

Knappskog was the alone amateur afterwards a cartel afterwards trades gave Marinaccio the amethyst acreage group, Christopher the oranges and Korostelev the added expensive greens.

But the bold turned when Korostelev swapped Knappskog a cheaper light blue acreage to gain the red acreage group, giving Knappskog an inexpensive car! tel with cash to develop. The moved surprised Knappskog and the added players because Korostelev couldn't allow to build on the acreage group and didn't accommodate for cash.

"I thought I was in such a great position," Marinaccio said. "I didn't see that coming and I don't think New Zealand saw that either."

Knappskog mortgaged his added backdrop and loaded up on hotels for Oriental, Vermont and Connecticut Avenues, seeing his opponents' tokens within ambit of the spaces on the board.

The move was risky because his iron badge faced a gauntlet side of developed amethyst and orange properties, and Knappskog said he may have lost if his opponents dodged his hotels.

"Either they appear to me and I get enough money to survive, or I go out," he said.

He accomplished with $6,888 in cash and assets in the game.

Knappskog said he planned to take a helicopter tour Friday night of the Grand Canyon and the Las Vegas skyline, then visit friends in Los Angeles afore returning home from his aboriginal cruise to the United States.

The final lasted about 45 minutes, quick for a clash bold and far less time than a archetypal casual Monopoly game. Home amateur traditionally take longer because of accepted abode rules - like $500 beneath Free Parking - that give players added chances to stay competitive.

The clash amateur also used a third die - known as the acceleration die - that sped up the action significantly. The clash die manipulates moves and generally forces players into spaces where they have to pay hire during the backward stages of games.

The apple tournament, held periodically and aftermost staged in Tokyo in 2004, began Wednesday at Caesars Palace with players from 41 altered countries. Games were played in English, with interpreters on duke to advice players who spoke altered languages a! ccommoda te trades with one another.

The real-estate trading bold based on the streets of Atlantic City, N.J. aboriginal awash in 1935, afterwards inventor Charles B. Darrow of Germantown, Pa., showed the amateur to Parker Brothers executives. More than 275 million copies of the game's assorted versions have awash in 106 countries, according to toy and bold distributor Hasbro, Inc.

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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 4:10 AM

Cops: NY woman arrives drunk to pick up DWI friend

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LAFAYETTE, N.Y. (AP) -- Troopers have charged a 22-year-old upstate New York woman with aggravated driving while intoxicated after she showed up drunk at the state police barracks to give a ride to a friend who had been arrested earlier for DWI. Troopers said Stacy Kolinski had a blood alcohol level of .20 percent - more than double the legal limit - when she arrived at the Lafayette barracks 10 miles south of Syracuse around 2:30 a.m. Sunday.

Kolinski came to the barracks to give a ride to 34-year-old George Reddick who was stopped for speeding earlier Sunday morning and charged with DWI and misdemeanor criminal possession of cocaine.

Reddick and Kolinski were both issued tickets to appear in town court at a later date. Troopers said they don't know if they have lawyers.


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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 2:10 PM

Iowa mom repeatedly whacks intruder with toy bat

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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) -- A woman surprised by a man in the front room of her home near Council Bluffs grabbed a plastic toy bat and hit him repeatedly until he ran out the front door. The Pottawattamie County sheriff's office said the 26-year-old woman was taking a bath Wednesday night with her 3-year-old child when she noticed a cat who normally stays outside had entered the bathroom. Thinking this odd, she dressed and walked into the front room, where she saw a man standing over her 4-year-old son, who was sleeping in a recliner.

She yelled for him to leave and threatened to call 911, but he hit her in the head.

She then grabbed the bat and hit him multiple times until he ran away.

The sheriff's office said the woman didn't know the man.


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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 4:10 AM

Man pleads guilty to DWI in motorized La-Z-Boy

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DULUTH, Minn. (AP) -- A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his automatic La-Z-Boy armchair while drunk. A criminal complaint said 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told badge he larboard a bar in the arctic Minnesota town of Proctor on his armchair after bubbler eight or nine beers.

Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, added than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.

Police said the armchair was powered by a adapted lawnmower and had a stereo and cup holders.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Heather Sweetland stayed 180 days of jail time Monday and ordered two years of probation for Anderson. His attorney, David Keegan, did not immediately return a call for comment.

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Information from: Duluth News Tribune, http://www.duluthsuperior.com


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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 2:10 PM

Gunman runs away after Minn. bank teller says no

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ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- A St. Paul bank teller refused to hand over cash to a gunman and lived to tell about it. Authorities said the would-be robber walked into the Cherokee State Bank on Tuesday afternoon. He pointed a handgun at a teller and demanded money, but when she refused, he ran away with nothing.

St. Paul police spokesman Sgt. Paul Schnell said it's best for victims confronted by a robber to comply. Schnell said, "Sometimes, they respond as this man did, but sometimes they don't."

The FBI described the suspect as a white man in his 30s, 5-feet-8 to 6 feet tall, with a slender to medium build. He was wearing a black coat, blue jeans, a white bandanna around his neck, and a red baseball cap.

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Information from: Star Tribune, http://www.startribune.com

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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 4:10 AM

9 lives per gallon? Cat stuck in SUV engine is OK

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NEW YORK (AP) -- A cat who rode two miles through New York City while stuck in the engine compartment of an SUV has lived to meow about it. Wilfred Rodriguez heard rattling while he was driving Monday in the Bronx. After he parked, he spotted a bushy tail and a paw sticking out of the SUV's front end.

His initial reaction: "Oh my God! I killed a cat." He was relieved when the paw moved.

Detectives with the New York Police Department's Emergency Service Unit freed the grease-covered kitty by removing the SUV's battery and other vehicle parts.

Richard Gentles of New York City Animal Care & Control says the tan-and-white stray appears to be in good physical shape.

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Information from: Daily News, http://www.nydailynews.


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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 2:10 PM

Cops: Man claims bag of stolen goods just sex toys

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SALEM, Mass. (AP) -- A man has been arrested for breaking into three cars afterwards badge spotted him carrying a apprehensive bag he said was filled with his above wife's sex toys. Michael Conway was ordered Monday held on $5,000 banknote bond for abomination larceny. However, he was detained without bond on the acquittal violations.

According to a badge report, the 34-year-old was apparent by a Salem patrolman about 3 a.m. Monday walking about town with an abandoned bag. An hour later, badge saw Conway with a full bag.

Conway told badge he was carrying his above wife's sex toys. But inside badge said they found acclaim cards, an iPod, a GPS accessory and a number of other items.

Conway interrupted his attorney at his arraignment to tell Salem District Court Judge Richard Mori he had a drug problem.

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Information from: The Salem News, http://www.salemnews.com

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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 4:10 AM

Police stop driver for 15 violations in 11 minutes

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GOSSAU, Switzerland (AP) -- Authorities say an Italian man took adventuresome driving to new heights in 11 frantic minutes of traffic violations in eastern Switzerland. They said they first spotted the 47-year-old driver as he sped his jeep accomplished an unmarked badge car at 160 kph (100 mph) in a rainstorm Sunday.

Driving dangerously abutting to other cars on the autobahn, he then allegedly ignored badge attempts to cull him over - first with a stop sign, and then with flashing lights and sirens.

Police say the man drove through a architecture zone at 140 kmh (87 mph), nearly twice the acceleration limit, before actuality stopped.

They seized the man's driver's license, and a judge ordered him activated for medications and illegal drugs.

Police said Monday the man racked up 15 traffic violations in 11 minutes.

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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 2:10 PM

Man allegedly takes car on 1,000-mile test drive

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JANESVILLE, Wis. (AP) -- A Massachusetts man who allegedly kidnapped a car salesman during a test drive and drove the vehicle more than 1,000 miles was in custody in Wisconsin. Authorities said a Wisconsin State Patrol trooper pulled over a 32-year-old man near Edgerton, Wis. on Friday for speeding, reckless driving and operating a motor vehicle without owner consent.

The suspect is expected to be extradited back to Massachusetts to face charges of kidnapping, larceny of a motor vehicle and unarmed robbery.

The incident began Thursday afternoon when the man and a Honda car salesman went on a test drive but the man refused to turn back around. The salesman was able to get out of the car when it slowed at a tollbooth near the Massachusetts state line.

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Information from: The Janesville Gazette, http://www.gazetteextra.com

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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 4:10 AM

Safety of H1N1 Vaccine, Hospital Readiness Worry Americans

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A girl receives an H1N1 vaccination
Countries in the northern hemisphere are starting to distribute the H1N1 flu vaccine as part of a massive immunization program against the viral pandemic. Parents and some professionals are concerned about the safety of the vaccine, while some doctors question the ability of hospitals to handle serious cases.

Demand for the H1N1 flu vaccine has drawn scores of people to vaccination clinics in the U.S.

Michelle Lowrey has three young children and one on the way. "I have every reason to be here today," she said.

Pregnant women have a higher risk of complications from the H1N1. And at least 86 American children have died from the new virus.

Katherine Blake is concerned about her young son. "He's high risk, he had open heart surgery as a baby so I've been very nervous for him," she said.

The US Centers for Disease Control reports this new flu virus has spread throughout most of the United States.

Still, some Americans say they will not get vaccinated.

"We live in Sacramento," said one man. "There's some cases of the swine flu there, but not a lot, so [it] just hasn't really affected us."

Some are concerned about the safety of the vaccine because it has been produced so fast, and because it contains a preservative that some parents say can cause autism.

Dr. Anne Schuchat from the Centers for Disease Control says the vaccine is safe and is also available without the preservative.

"We are not cutting any corners in the safety of the production of this vaccine or in the testing and oversight of this vaccine," she said. "And it's very important that this process be done carefully and safely."

Public health officials and doctors are redoubling efforts to promote vaccination as the best protection against H1N1.

Dr. Peter Holbrook
Dr. Peter Holbrook at Children's National Medical Center in Washington says people are mistaken if they think the flu is similar to a cold.

"It's very important to think very clearly about the vaccination and the disease we're preventing," he said. "This is not a mild disease, it's a significant disease."

Dr. Holbrook says even mild cases cause serious illness and severe cases can worsen rapidly.

Doctors are concerned that many hospitals may not have enough doctors or staff to handle a major outbreak. Dr. Arthur Kellermann at Emory School of Medicine is concerned about where to put patients who need intensive care.

"We need [to] prepare our critical care units and our healthcare systems for the possibility of making very tough choices about who gets into an intensive care unit and who does not get into an intensive care unit," he said.

If the H1N1 virus follows the course it took when it broke out last March, the disease will peak and then fall off in roughly seven weeks. If that is the case, Dr. Holbrook says it may already be near the peak in the United States.

"But that's only with the understanding that there could easily be another wave that comes in the winter time," he said.

One thing all specialists agree on is a novel flu is unpredictable.

And there is not enough H1N1 vaccine to go around, even in the United States.

The World Health Organization says international donations of the vaccine should arrive in developing countries in a few weeks.
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Posted by Criminal Defense Lawyer at 4:55 AM

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