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RandySF's JournalTenn. frat house alcohol enema case worries experts
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Before an unruly Tennessee party ended with a student hospitalized for a dangerously high blood alcohol level, most people had probably never heard of alcohol enemas.
Thanks to the drunken exploits of a fraternity at the University of Tennessee, the bizarre way of getting drunk is giving parents, administrators and health care workers a new fear.
When Alexander "Xander" Broughton, 20, was delivered to the hospital after midnight on Sept. 22, his blood alcohol level was measured at 0.448 percent — nearly six times the intoxication that defines drunken driving in the state. Injuries to his rectum led hospital officials to fear he had been sodomized.
Police documents show that when an officer interviewed a fellow fraternity member about what happened, the student said the injuries had been caused by an alcohol enema.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49228851/ns/health/#.UGkplH2J__8
Dad's rant: I'm going to let my kid be a kid on the weekend, dammit.
My son just started first grade. He has an 8-hour school day beginning at 8 a.m. Every day he has language arts, math, science, social studies, Spanish and religion/philosophy (it's a parochial school). On PE days (Tuesday and Thursday), he comes home and I can feel the dried sweat on his body. He walks out the door every day with a tired look on his face and he still has 20 minutes of homework and 10 minutes of reading ahead of him after dinner. He has almost no free time before he takes a bath and goes to bed (including story time) and he has to repeat this five days a week. And some other parent tells me I have to keep him busy on the weekend? I'm glad their child takes karate on Saturday and skating on Sunday, but I'm the one who watches my kid fall asleep as soon as his head hits this pillow. I'm going to let him reast, play and be a kid on the weekends. If that makes me a bad parent, then so be it.
Iowa:550-plus, mostly Democrats, vote in Polk County
The first day of early voting in Polk County was busier than ever for election staff.
By 4 p.m., 550 people had cast ballots at the Polk County Election Office. In 2008, 100 people voted on the first day but that number had been far eclipsed by 11 a.m.
Of those, 401 were registered Democrats, 90 were Republicans, 57 had no party affiliation and two were affiliated with other parties, said Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald.
He could not say who people had actually voted for
After an initial two-hour rush when the polls opened at 8 a.m. that led to hour-long wait times and was largely a function of Obama campaign efforts, the office saw a steady stream of people throughout the day, Fitzgerald said.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120927/NEWS/120927016/1007/news05?nclick_check=1
Stan Lee undergoes heart surgery.
Comic book mogul Stan Lee has opened up about his recent health scare, revealing he underwent heart surgery last week.
The 90-year-old sparked concern among fans when he recently canceled a number of personal appearances and he has now confirmed he was admitted to hospital in Los Angeles to have a pacemaker fitted.
Lee has released a statement to assure followers he is recovering well and jokingly compared his health problems to that of his comic book creation Iron Man.
He says, "Attention, Troops!... Your leader hath not deserted thee! In an effort to be more like my fellow Avenger, Tony Stark (Iron Man), I have had an electronic pacemaker placed near my heart to insure that I'll be able to lead thee for another 90 years.
http://wonderwall.msn.com/entertainment/stan-lee-undergoes-heart-surgery-1708708.story
In Debate, Romney Plans To Drop ‘Zingers’ On Obama
Looking forward to the first presidential debate next week, Mitt Romney has a plan: Knock President Obama off his game with some well-rehearsed "zingers," reports the New York Times:
Mr. Romney’s team has concluded that debates are about creating moments and has equipped him with a series of zingers that he has memorized and has been practicing on aides since August. His strategy includes luring the president into appearing smug or evasive about his responsibility for the economy.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/in-debate-romney-plans-to-drop-zingers-on
Same-Sex Immigration Policy: U.S. To Treat Gay Partners As Relatives
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - The Obama administration has directed immigration officials to recognize same-sex partners as family members in deportation cases, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on Friday.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Pelosi in a letter that she had ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to notify its field offices "that the interpretation of the phrase 'family relationships' includes long-term, same-sex partners."
Pelosi welcomed the federal recognition of gay and lesbian couples. At the same time, she called for more to be done to protect undocumented immigrants in long-term relationships with American citizens.
Napolitano's directive "will provide a measure of clarity and confidence to families dealing with separation in immigration cases," Pelosi said in a written statement. "Our nation is served when loving families are kept together."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/28/same-sex-immigration-reform_n_1924763.html
Brown signs limited ban on "open carry" of rifles
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown announced Friday that he had extended a ban on the open display of handguns in most California cities and towns to include rifles and shotguns.
Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada-Flintridge, said he wrote AB1527 after gun rights advocates began carrying unloaded long guns to protest a law from last year that prohibited the display of handguns.
The measure will make it a misdemeanor to display an unloaded firearm in a public place. It includes dozens of exemptions for hunters, members of the military, rural Californians, and those bringing their guns to shooting ranges or gunsmiths.
The rifle and shotgun ban sparked lengthy debates in both houses of the Legislature, with Republicans calling it an attempt to infringe on Second Amendment rights.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Brown-signs-limited-ban-on-open-carry-of-rifles-3903451.php#ixzz27p5r3WeI
Politico calls Bill Clinton "Obama's crutch".
The presidential race appears to be moving in President Barack Obama’s favor, but he’s still relying on the Bill Clinton crutch.
Clinton heads to New Hampshire next Wednesday to provide the overture for Obama in the hours before the first debate, and more stops are in the works.
The message couldn’t be clearer: There may be a way for Chicago to pull off a win without Clinton’s continued help, but they’re not going to risk it.
The Obama campaign used Clinton to buoy the Democratic convention, then had him star in the president’s post-convention ad buy — and not just because the former president remains immensely popular. As the campaign acknowledges, Clinton brings credibility to the connection between an Obama presidency and a strong economy, reinforcing the idea that there’s a straight line between Obama’s proposals and Clinton’s legacy of budget surpluses and middle class prosperity.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81794.html#ixzz27oqNs0lV
Meet Dean Chambers, The Virginia Republican Who Is ‘Unskewing’ The Polls
With Republicans up in arms over poll after poll showing President Obama ahead, conservatives have latched on to a new polling site that promises to “unskew” the data, correcting what the site believes are polling samples with too many darn Democrats. Rick Perry has tweeted his approval of the site — which shows Mitt Romney ahead by 7.4 points — and even Stephen Colbert expressed his faux appreciation.
Here’s what the site’s founder, Dean Chambers, does. He changes the baseline assumption on how much of the electorate is Republican and how much is Democratic. Initially, he used Rasmussen’s real numbers on party identification to re-weight various polls. Rasmussen’s numbers break down to 37.6 percent Republican, 33.3 percent Democrat and 29.2 percent Independent. As of Thursday night, Chambers began using party identification numbers from his own web-based poll.
Chambers’ project started in July after he noticed an ABC News/Washington Post poll that “just didn’t look right.” An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted this month showed Obama up over Romney 49 percent to 48 percent. “Unskewed,” however, after applying Rasmussen’s numbers on party ID, Romney leads Obama 52-45 in the poll. It’s like magic. But Chambers insists he isn’t “changing” or “making up” data. “The only thing I’m doing is weighting.”
But that’s exactly what most pollsters don’t do. “We don’t have any preconceived notions about the party breakdown of a poll before we conduct it. The only things we make any adjustments for are gender, race, and age,” Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling’s Tom Jensen told TPM in an email. “It makes sense that as support for Obama increases, more people also identify themselves as Democrats. I know conservatives want to think it’s more Democrats in the poll causing Obama to do better, but it’s actually Obama doing better causing more Democrats in the poll.”
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/dean-chambers-unskewed-polls.php?ref=fpb
Jerry Brown signs bill protecting employees' Facebook passwords
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Your private information is a little safer now thanks to a law signed Thursday by California Gov. Jerry Brown that prevents employers from asking for your Facebook or other social media passwords so that they can check up on you.
With his signature, Brown stops a technology trend before it becomes a widespread problem. In our world of social media, he used Twitter to announce that he's approved a pair of bills making it illegal for employers or universities to ask for those passwords starting in January. In his tweet, he said, "California pioneered the social media revolution. These laws protect Californians from unwarranted invasions of their social media accounts."
A growing number of employers were asking job applicants for passwords to see their Facebook pages where age, gender, religion, and sexual orientation may be listed. Recruiters are not allowed to ask questions related to that, but they defend the practice because it allows them to make sure applicants aren't hiding some big secret that might become a problem.
Social media expert Andy Jones says so many people are desperate for a job in this economy that they'll hand the password over, but that's not the way to find out more about a potential employee. "All of us have private lives that we'd like to keep private and not have to worry about being ourselves on the weekend because of how an employer might find out about it," he said.
http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/politics&id=8828019
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