February 14, 2011

• The Legend of Valentine’s Day
• Is War Now Inevitable in Middle East?
• Majority Support Prayer in Schools
• ChiCom Stealth Jet Ready To Attack U. S. Satellites
• Arrest Warrant For Frormer Paki President
• Egypt On The Brink as Military Considers Move To Islam
• Thoughts About Lincoln on His Birthday.
• Thrown Into The Clink
• California Court Says No More Zip Coding when Credit Card Used.
• Saudi Oil Production Peak in 2012
• Trump Says He Can Win White House: Palin nor Romney Can
• Worst Drug In History

The Wisconsin Badgers beat Ohio State’s undefeated basketball team after it had won 24 games in a row not unlike Wisconsin’s football team that ended the football Buckeyes undefeated season a few months ago.

Saint Valentine’s Day, commonly shortened to Valentine’s Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 the anniversary of his execution.. The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs, Saint Valentine, and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted.

The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Numerous early Christian martyrs were named Valentine. The Valentines honored on February 14 are Valentine of Rome (Valentinus presb. m. Romae) and Valentine of Terni (Valentinus ep. Interamnensis m. Romae) Valentine of Rome was a priest in Rome who was martyred about AD 269 and was buried on the Via Flaminia. His relics are at the Church of Saint Praxed in Rome, and at Whitefriar Street Carmelite Church in Dublin, Ireland.

Valentine of Terni became bishop of Interamna (modern Terni) about AD 197 and is said to have been martyred during the persecution under Emperor Aurelian. He is also buried on the Via Flaminia, but in a different location than Valentine of Rome. His relics are at the Basilica of Saint Valentine in Terni (Basilica di San Valentino).^[

Saint Valentine associated with Valentine's Day festival is said to have lived in Rome when the country was under the reign of Emperor Claudius II. It is said that Emperor Claudius was a hard-hearted king who continuously engaged Rome in bloody battles. But in order to keep fighting, he needed to keep recruiting soldiers. However, to his disappointment Claudius found that men were not willing to join army because of their attachment with their wives and families. In order to get rid of the issue, Claudius passed a callous decree that banned engagements and marriages in Rome. He also said that any priest who married a young couple would be put to death.

Young men and women found a savior in Valentine or Valentinus a romantic at heart priest. Even at the cost of his life, Valentine stood against the unjustified order and secretly arranged marriages with the help of Saint Marius. When Claudius found out about Valentine's defiance he was furious, Valentinus was brutally beaten  and put in prison. Legend say that during his imprisonment Valentine fell in love with his jailer Asterius's blind daughter (whose name may have been Julia), who used to bring for him flowers and notes from children. It is said that  before his execution, Valentine prayed for his sweetheart and she miraculously regained her eyesight. Valentine wrote her a farewell note and signed it "From Your Valentine" -- the first Valentine's message.

Valentine was put to death on February 14, about 270 AD. For his martyrdom and service towards lovers Valentine was named a saint after his death. That being the case this would be the 1,831 Valentine's Day.

After Mubarak, it's Ali's turn." Yemani's shouted Saturday. 10,000 protesters clashed with police in Algiers. Protest signs said: "down with the regime." Meles of Ethiopia: another US-backed ruler also appears ripe for overthrow.  Protests against US - backed regme in Iraq were minor if noisy. Anti-American elements were ranting Saturday that the" American Empire is beginning to crumble at its edges at long last."Egyptian dissidents are already showing anti-American tendencies especially the liberal elements. Moroccan government denies Morocco is a domino waiting to fall.

Newsmax reports that George Birnbaum, an international political consultant who once served as chief of staff to former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is warning that a domino-style collapse of moderate Arab regimes could lead Israel to war. It did not say but it is worth pointing out that Obama's strategy of abandonment has exaggerated the likelihood of war.

Birnbaum, an expert in global politics, cited Friday's collapse of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and the growing turmoil in nearby Jordan as ominous signs for Israel.

Israel's neighbor on the other side of the West Bank is ruled by King Abdullah II, a constitutional monarch who is Hashemite, a minority. Abdullah reigns over a population that is 70 percent Palestinian.

"He had to relieve his government a few weeks ago," Birnbaum told host Stuart Varney of Fox News on Friday. "If that country goes, and in Bahrain and other countries, suddenly you're going to find Israel in a similar position it was in 1948, where it'll be isolated, surrounded by Islamic countries looking to see its destruction -- with the one exception that Israel has the ability to defend itself this time.

"But that creates another problem," he added, "which is a regional if not greater war that the world will have to face."

In an enormous understatement Birnbaum said Israel could be "in great danger."
The debate rages as it has for decades whether there really is a constitutionally mandated separation of church and state, but most Americans don't seem to mind mixing prayer and public education.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 65% of American Adults favor prayer in public schools. Twenty-four percent (24%) are opposed, while 11% are not sure.  These findings show little change from late April of last year. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

But then 73% of adults say religious faith is at least somewhat important in their daily life, although that's down from 80% in April 2010. The new finding includes 54% who say it's Very Important.  Twenty-three percent (23%) say religious faith is not very or not at all important in their day-to-day lives.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have taken the wraps off a plan for deep cuts in federal spending that sets up a showdown with Obama and Democrats. Prime targets of the budget slashing include the Environmental Protection Agency and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

A state-controlled Chinese press report on Beijing's new stealth jet, the J-20, said the aircraft has expanded China's strategic capabilities and also will be capable of carrying anti-satellite missiles.

The Wen Wei Po newspaper quoted Hong Yuan, who it described as a "famous strategy expert," as saying that the new J-20, which conducted it first flight test last month, will expand China's strategic border to a distance of 1,000 nautical miles from the coasts. Obama and Defense Sec  Gates botched a critical call on China's J-20 cancelling the U. S. F-22 stealth jet production in the mistaken believe China could not produce such an advanced aircraft for a decade or more.

 

The report said that the stealth jet has eased the "unbalanced military forces at sea and on the ground within the first island chain and the second island chain."

The report then stated, without quoting an expert directly: "Besides, the J-20 also has anti-satellite capabilities. It can carry anti-satellite missiles. By using its speed and altitude, it can realize mobile launches and fast launches. This will make it possible to seize an advantageous position in a theater."

The report also stated that as a result of the J-20, which U.S. intelligence estimated would not be deployed until 2020 and then only in small numbers by 2025, the United States may be forced to re-launch production of the world's only deployed fifth generation aircraft, the F-22. Put the U. S. ahead of everyone - if only briefly, and likely will have to find a way to resurrect the cancelled F-22 production.

Another Chinese government specialist, Jiang Feng, of the Institute for Studies on Chinese Strategies, told the newspaper that the maiden test flight of the J-20 during the visit to China by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates was meant "to convey a message to the world."

Jiang said the political message was that China's defense is not meant to "menace any other country such as the United States, a common propaganda theme of Chinese military experts and one that is increasingly dismissed by the U.S. military which has growing concerns about China's military buildup and its aggressive military activities, notably naval or maritime encounters."

Valentine's Day is a big deal forTeleflora and other floral delivery services. But, TeleFLORA appears to have it in the wringer for adding an undisclosed $25.00  "service fee" to phone and compouter orders. Losing a lot of good will and customers and possibly getting itself into all sort of entanglements with Fderal agencies that oversee such things in interstate commerce.

 

A court in Pakistan issued an arrest warrant Saturday for former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in connection with the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, a public prosecutor told CNN.

 

Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali said on the Anti Terrorist Court in Rawalpindi issued the warrant.

 

Prosecutors claim that an investigation shows Musharraf was responsible for not providing adequate protection for Bhutto and has not responded to a prosecutor's request to answer questions -- hence the court-ordered arrest warrant.

 

Bhutto, who spent many years in exile, was assassinated in 2007 as she campaigned against Musharraf for the presidency.

 

Some have accused Musharraf of being involved in the assassination, but Musharraf denies any involvement. Late last year, Pakistani authorities arrested two police officials in the case.

 

A United Nations panel looking into Bhutto's assassination concluded that Pakistan's military-led former government failed to adequately protect her and that intelligence agencies hindered the subsequent investigation.

 

The panel's scathing report in April 2010 said the suicide bombing that killed Bhutto "could have been prevented" and that police deliberately failed to pursue an effective investigation into the killings. But Musharraf's government has said Bhutto had been afforded adequate protection.

Musharraf's legal adviser told CNN that Musharraf has not appeared before the court because the accusations against him are baseless and politically motivated.

 

"This is political victimization against Musharraf," Muhammad Ali Saif said. "Musharraf was never contacted by investigators to get his version of the assassination."

 

Musharraf went into self-imposed exile in London after resigning in 2008.

 

Musharraf decided to start a political party last year and make a comeback. He has said he wants to return for a presidential run in 2013 because he sees suffering in Pakistan and doesn't see a political party offering a solution.

 

As every beginning student of intelligence knows "Weakness is a provocation;" that is startlingly evident everywhere as the USA is increasingly in fast retreat worldwide as a leaderless ship of state staggering hither thither in rudderless disarray.

 

With the departure of President Hosni Mubarak, the military is mulling the prospect of a partnership with the Islamic opposition.

 

Western intelligence sources say Egypt's military as well as the security forces can no longer be counted upon to block an Islamic takeover in Egypt.

The Supreme Armed Forces Council, in its first meeting since 1973, convened to discuss the security situation and pledged to protect people and property.

"It [council] will continue meeting on a continuous basis to examine measures to be taken to protect the nation and its gains and the ambitions of the great Egyptian people,” the council, headed by Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi, said.

Neither Mubarak or Suleiman attended the meeting of the Supreme Armed Forces Council. The council, shown on Egyptian television, showed about 25 senior commanders, some of whom were believed to have participated in a dialogue with the opposition.

“There has been a fallout between Tantawi and Suleiman,” the source said. “Tantawi has support for his position from the United States and is in contact with the Muslim Brotherhood.”

In late January 2010, Tantawi held secret talks in Washington regarding the prospect of a post-Mubarak Egypt. The sources said Tantawi left Washington in the mistaken belief that the administration of President Barack Obama supported a military coup in Cairo.

The sources said Mubarak had turned into a virtual figurehead and no longer played a significant role in Egypt. They said Suleiman has sought to recruit the military to ensure control over Egypt amid the threat of an Islamic takeover.

“There must be an end to this crisis as soon as possible,” Suleiman said. “We don’t want to deal with Egyptian society with police tools.”

The greatest threat to the Mubarak regime was said to have been the Muslim Brotherhood, which has ruled out cooperation with Suleiman, Egypt’s former longtime intelligence chief. The sources said the Brotherhood has penetrated virtually every sector of Egyptian society, including the military, security forces, media, clergy and unions.

“Officially, Suleiman is now the boss, but Tantawi controls the military, the only force left that could protect the regime,” the intelligence source said. “Tantawi and the top military commanders are talking to the Brotherhood in what could eventually result in a power-sharing arrangement.”

At the same time, the Brotherhood was organizing thousands of mosques to send volunteers and supplies to expand anti-regime protests. The Islamic opposition has also staged labor strikes, including those by bus drivers and municipal workers.

On Feb. 4, the Brotherhood issued a leaflet that called on Mubarak to leave office. The leaflet, which adopted language similar to Al Qaida, also demanded an Islamic revival in what was termed historical Egypt, which includes Sudan and parts of Israel.

“The Brotherhood has changed and draws its language and ideas from Bin Laden,” another intelligence source said. “Right now, it is waiting for the right moment to act.”

When the Berlin Wall fell President Reagan mustered America to help the former European Soviet slave states emerge and grow when Iran collapsed President Carter sat on his hands paralysed. In both cases there was a lot of talk about freedom in one case freedom succeeded and in the other a dictatorial theocracy emerged. If the Egyptian military sides with the Brotherhood it will be catastrophic. The thing to watch for Is meaningful action by Obama not more equivocation and dithering.

If convicted, Lindsay could end up without a career or a job. You know where people like that usually wind up? “Dancing With the Stars.” — Leno

Thursday evening a friend went to a Lincoln Club black tie Lincoln Club dinner in LA and that got me thinling bout Abraham Lincoln and more specifically his complexities and what we believe but do not know. Guess who uttered these words:

“Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and make their own, of so much of their territory as they inhabit.”

I’ll admit this is a trick question. The speaker was Lincoln. But he was not talking about the Southern states that tried to secede from the Union. No, these remarks were made in 1847, when Lincoln was defending the right of Texans to demand their independence from Mexico. A dozen years later, when six Southern states tried to declare their independence, Lincoln’s response was to smash them to bits.

As a child, I never questioned the assertion that the South was wrong to secede. And that Lincoln was right to use as much force as necessary to preserve the Union. Later, as I grew to understand the strength and uniqueness of our Constitutional Republic, I began to question both assumptions.

The U.S. Constitution, I came to believe, was a contract - a contract between the various states and the Federal government they created. Note that the Constitution had to be approved by the states, not a majority of the citizens. There was no “majority rule” here, no popular vote taken.

But this raises the question, if it was necessary for the states to adopt the Constitution, why wouldn’t it be legal for some of those states to rescind that vote, especially if they felt the contract had been broken? More and more, I found myself thinking that the South was legally and morally right in declaring its independence. And the North, by invading those states and waging war on them, was wrong.

And what a terrible war it was. By the time it was over, nearly 625,000 soldiers (and another 75,000 or so women, children and elderly civilians) were dead - more American servicemen than were killed in World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War combined. Fully one-fourth of the draft-age white population of the South was dead.

The devastation in the former States of the Confederacy is hard to imagine. Sherman’s march from Atlanta to Savannah is notorious for its savagery. But he was far from the only Northern officer who ordered his troops to lay waste to Southern farms, fields and plantations. Union troops routinely destroyed crops, sacked homes and even stabled their horses in Southern churches.

As H.W. Crocker III puts it in The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Civil War (Regency Publishing, 2008), “If abiding by the law of a free republic and fighting a defensive war solely against armed combatants be flaws, the South had them and the North did not. Lincoln ignored the law, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court when it suited him. His armies waged war on the farms, livelihoods and people of the South, not just against their armies.”

Of all the big lies about the War Between the States, the biggest of all may be that it was necessary to end slavery. The truth is that many illustrious Southerners, including Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee, recognized that slavery had to come to an end. But it should not come by force of arms, they felt; not at the point of a gun, but rather through the free consent of the owners, with the proper preparation of the slaves. To get them ready for their own freedom, for example, Lee’s wife insisted the family’s slaves be taught to read and write, and the women how to sew.

Despite what most of us have been taught, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves. It wasn’t a law, but an edict. It specifically exempted the Border States and any parts of the South that were already under the control of Federal forces. It applied only to areas that were still in rebellion. So the Proclamation, of and by itself, did not free a single slave.

What it did, however, was change the nature of the conflict. Now the war was no longer about restoring the Union or preventing Southern independence. Now it was about the morality, and the legality, of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation did not make the war more popular in the North, but it did end the possibility of other countries, especially France and Britain, from coming to the aid of the South. They might have been willing to assist Southern independence; but support a war in favor of slavery? Never.

As Crocker notes, “In Southern eyes, the Emancipation Proclamation was the ultimate in Yankee perfidy - an attempt to incite slave uprisings against Confederate women and children.”

Then he notes, “Happily, while the proclamation did encourage slaves to seek their freedom, there were no slave uprisings, no murders of women and children - which might say something good about Southerners too, both white and black.”

Lincoln, more than any other President who came before him, changed the very nature of our government. There would never again be as many limitations on the powers of the Federal government. And just as tragic, the concept of States’ rights suffered a blow from which it has never recovered.

I’m told that more than 14,000 books have been written about Lincoln. Most, of course, are incredibly adulatory. The few that attempt to balance the scales are virtually ignored. While it may not be true that might makes right, it is definitely true that the winners write the history books.

If you’re open-minded enough to consider another point of view, let me recommend two books by Thomas J. DiLorenzo to you: The Real Lincoln and Lincoln Unmasked. In these two books he presents a vastly different view of Abraham Lincoln than you’ve heard before, I promise.

Both are available at Amazon.com. (What isn’t?) Also, do yourself a favor and go to the website of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, where DiLorenzo serves as a senior fellow. You’ll find an extensive selection of articles, essays, and yes, books you can order that are way out of the academic mainstream.

So there you have this contrarian’s view of Abraham Lincoln. I’m eager to hear what some of you think - especially the sons and daughters of the South, whom I suspect, were raised with a somewhat different slant than I.

Abraham Lincoln’s home life was dysfunctional. He was not a saint by any means but he was the right man at the right place at the right time.

Until next time, keep some powder dry.

Around theater to “break a leg” is a wish for good luck but, as some say it did not begin as black humor after Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth broke his leg jumping from the presidential box onto the stage- whatever the origin that was not it. Wilkes was treated by Dr. Mudd who became unwittingly involved, was wrongly accused and fought for years to be exonerated as he was - but, ” your name is Mudd” sticks to this day.

For centuries to be thrown into the Clink has meant to be jailed. The Clink was a real and fearsome English prisons and one of its oldest. It was located in the “:Liberty of Clink” across the river from the City of London from the 12^th Century until rioters ransacked and burned it in 1780..Because it was independent from London law and owned by the Bishop of Winchester so  it could make up its own rules and did.  It was a huge source of money for the Church because the only way to escape harsh punishments that included flogging, boiling in oil, starvation, breaking on the rack and wheel and prisoners being forced to stand in freezing water until their feet rotted was to repeatedly pay enormous bribes.

It was perhaps the most notorious example of abuse leading to the U. S. Bill of Rights - the first ten amendments to the U. S. Constitution — that in part guaranteed against cruel and unusual punishment and the right to bail of persons accused of crime,

If you, a family member or other friends need bail to gain release from custody Acme Bail Bonds professionals can step up and arrange it with nothing down on approved credit. A single phone call puts them on your team when you join the thousands who have and do rely on Acme for Fast help and always in absolute confidence.

Lindsay Lohan was in court and she wore a white mini dress. Lindsay claimed the white dress stood for “innocence” and “purity.” Unfortunately, her jewelry stood for “felony” and “larceny.” — Leno

California merchants may not ask customers who pay with credit cards for their ZIP codes, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday.saying it is personal identification information.

The ruling resultedfrom a class-action lawsuit against Williams-Sonoma Stores Inc. by a woman who contended that Williams-Sonoma asked her for her ZIP code when she purchased an item with her credit card. She said the store used her name and ZIP code to identify her address and then stored the information in a database for marketing. She also contended the store had the ability to sell her information to other businesses.

Two lower courts rejected the suit, but the California Supreme Court said a ZIP code was part of a person’s address and therefore covered by the state’s Credit Card Act.

“The Legislature intended to provide robust consumer protections by prohibiting retailers from soliciting and recording information about the cardholder that is unnecessary to the credit card transaction,” Justice Carlos R. Moreno wrote for the court.

Fort Wayne has a new government center, and its people voted to name it after the Indiana city’s longest tenured mayor … Harry Baals. As of today, the city’s website had logged 3,541 votes for the “Harry Baals Government Center.” Baals was mayor from 1934-1947 and from 1951 until his death in 1954  No. 2, in the voting was the “Eugene Johnson Memorial Center” had just 321 votes. Hoosiers do have a sense of humor. Including the Mayor’s parents who named him. I can hardly wait to see the official dedication T-shirt.

It appears the Saudi kingdom might have exaggerated its crude oil reserves by nearly 40 percent. In cables released by WikiLeaks, the department was told that Riyad could not reach its goal of reaching a crude oil production capacity of 12.5 million barrels per day.One of the cables, dated November 2007, quoted a former senior executive of Saudi Aramco as saying that the Arab kingdom would peak in oil production as early as 2012.The Saudi, former head of exploration at Aramco, Sadad Al Husseini, warned American diplomats that the kingdom could not ensure oil price stability. Al Husseini said Aramco overstated its oil reserves by 300 billion barrels. “According to Al Husseini, the crux of the issue is twofold,” the 2007 cable said. “First, it is possible that Saudi reserves are not as bountiful as sometimes described, and the timeline for their production not as unrestrained as Aramco and energy optimists would like to portray.”   A majority of Fox News focus groups participants composed of members of the Iowa GOP caucus said they think Obama is a Muslim. That seems unlikely but he definitely harbors strong Muslim sympathies aa reflected in his attitude and actions toward Israel and others. The clip put the Views Joy Bahar into an anti-Republican  froth. Admittedly Bahar will never be accused of being an intellectual, and the whole Brouhaha is absurd in any case. The IOWA caucuses start in less than a year on February 6, 2012. A new drilling technique is opening up vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil in the western United States, helping reverse a two-decade decline in domestic production of crude. Companies are investing billions of dollars to get at oil deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California. By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day - more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now. This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers. Within five years, analysts and executives predict, the newly unlocked fields are expected to produce 1 million to 2 million barrels of oil per day, enough to boost U.S. production 20 percent to 40 percent. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates production will grow a more modest 500,000 barrels per day. By 2020, oil imports could be slashed by as much as 60 percent, according to Credit Suisse’s Morse, who is counting on Gulf oil production to rise and on U.S. gasoline demand to fall. At today’s oil prices of roughly $90 per barrel, slashing imports that much would save the U.S. $175 billion a year. Last year, when oil averaged $78 per barrel, the U.S. sent $260 billion overseas for crude, accounting for nearly half the country’s $500 billion trade deficit. Obama’s Director of National Intelligence minced words Thursday at a House hearing making excuses for the Muslim Brotherhood ascerting there is no overarching, international agenda for the group. The FBI director almost immediately disagreed that it can be considered a benign, secular organization. The massively egotistical Donald Trump is “seriously thinking” about running for president, and Wednesday said he could win, adding he doesn’t see Sarah Palin capable of winning a presidential election, and a Mitt Romney candidacy is not “resonating.” I partially agree with Trump except he himself is no electable. A Saturday poll but every Republican behind Obama with Romney closest at a seven point gap.point gap “I am seriously thinking about it. I won’t make a decision until June,” Trump told CNN’s Piers Morgan. “But, I will make a decision, and it may surprise people, frankly. Yes, I think I could win, otherwise I wouldn’t do it. “I don’t think there is a leader right now of the [GOP] candidates. Romney, I guess, would be somebody that people are thinking about, but it’s not resonating,” he said. “Sarah Palin is somebody that I happen to like, I just don’t think she can win the election, and a lot of people agree. “She can win [primaries] perhaps, but she can’t - she can’t win the election. I can tell you [President Barack] Obama is dying to run against Sarah Palin.” Trump said that if elected, he would reassess U.S. foreign policy, especially the relationship with China, whom he considers “the enemy.” “The first thing I would do is announce very strongly that we’re going to tax Chinese products - 25 percent tax on all Chinese products,” he said. “They will come to the table immediately, and stop manipulating their currency, which they’re doing. 27% of Americans say they will definitely vote for Obama in 2012 while 37% say they definitely will not. Trump spoke Thursday at the Conservative Political Conference in Washington DC as some attendees openly laughed at his remarks. President Obama hosted Republican leaders for lunch at the White House. Obama had to do without salt, bread, pepper, and butter, but not for health reasons. The Republicans refused to pass anything. — Leno Calling it the worst drug in history an estimated 10 million patients have already used the pain reliever propoxyphene and were sent scrambling to doctors’ offices when it was recently pulled from the market. Many physicians are still dealing with the aftermath of the product, first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1957. “Propoxyphene is the worst drug in history,” Ulf Jonasson, doctor of public health, from the Nordic School in Gothenburg, Sweden, told Medscape Medical News. The researcher played a role in the decision to stop the pain reliever in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and later in the entire European Union. “No single drug has ever caused so many deaths,” Dr. Jonasson said. Propoxyphene was banned in the United Kingdom 5 years ago because of its risk for suicide. It was taken off the market in Europe in 2009 over concerns about fatal overdoses and now in the United States for arrhythmias. “I agree that propoxyphene is among the worst drugs in history,” Eduardo Fraifeld, MD, president of the American Academy of Pain Medicine, said in an interview. “I’m surprised it stayed on the market so long. It’s addictive, in my experience not very effective, and toxic.” “I’d probably add Demerol to the list too,” Dr. Fraifeld said. “It’s toxic and sedating, and my personal opinion is it should not be used at all.” Also known as pethidine, Demerol was the first synthetic opioid synthesized in 1932 as a possible antispasmodic agent. Its analgesic properties were recognized later. For much of the 20th century, pethidine has been the opioid of choice for many physicians treating acute and chronic severe pain. “The writing has been on the wall for both of these drugs,” Dr. Fraifeld said. “With adverse events, prescription abuse increasing, and questionable effectiveness, this isn’t innocuous.” A growing number of products are entering the US market, Dr. Fraifeld noted. “It’s unrealistic to expect regulators to be able to closely track every single one.” Prescribers and patients must therefore pay close attention to any emerging side effects, he said. “Unfortunately, clinicians are not using adverse event reporting systems adequately,” Dr. Fraifeld added. “I think it’s fair to say that many physicians have no idea how to even use the system, and this is a problem.” Propoxyphene was first developed by Eli Lilly and later sold to Xanodyne Pharmaceuticals, which marketed the drug under the brand names Darvon and Darvocet. Since 1978, the FDA has received 2 requests to remove propoxyphene from the market. In January 2009, an advisory committee voted 14 to 12 against the continued marketing of propoxyphene products. At that time, the committee called for additional information about the drug’s cardiac effects. In terms of benefit to risk ratio, “I would say, little ‘b’, big ‘r’ for this drug. And that’s unsettling,” committee member Ruth Day, PhD, from Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who voted to remove propoxyphene, said at the time. The drug is a narcotic opioid. “It looks like it offers placebo benefits with opioid risks,” added committee member Sean Hennessey, PhD, an epidemiologist from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Later in 2009, the FDA decided to allow continued marketing of propoxyphene, but with a new boxed warning added to the drug label alerting of the risk for fatal overdose. That came to an end in November 2010, when regulators disclosed new study results, combined with epidemiologic data, and medical examiner reports prompting the drug’s market removal. New study results showed propoxyphene puts patients at risk for potentially serious or even fatal heart rhythm abnormalities. A San Diego County man is selling what he believes to be the desk set that Adolph Hitler used to sign the historic 1938 Munich Pact. The 50-pound brass inkwell bears the initials “AH” and the Nazi eagle and swastika. Memorabilia dealer Craig Gottlieb of Solana Beach estimates it will bring up to $1 million. He says newsreel footage shows the set as Hitler signs the agreement with Mussolini, the French prime minister and Britain’s Neville Chamberlain, who famously said the appeasement deal heralded “peace in our time.” Gottlieb tells the North County Times that he got the set on consignment from a Houston man, who claims he took it as a souvenir while serving in Munich in the final days of World War II. Stroke rates among younger America’s rising sharply, according to a nationwide evaluation of hospitalizations for acute ischemic stroke. Significant increases were seen for both males and females ranging in age from 5 to 44, while rates for people ages 45 and older were found to actually be decreasing. The findings of the analysis were recently presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference. Findings showed that the rates of ischemic stroke hospitalization declined among females aged 0 to 4 and for both males and females aged 45 and older. However, significant increases were seen among the age groups from 5 to 44, with the most prominent being among males aged 15 to 34 at an alarming 51 percent jump from 9.8 to 14.8 per 10,000 hospitalizations. The second largest increase was noted for males aged 35 to 44 at 47 percent, rising from 36.0 to 52.9 per 10,000 hospitalizations, followed by a 36 percent increase among women in the same age group rising from 21.9 to 30.0 per 10,000 hospitalizations. Other growing rates were seen in males aged 5 to 14 at an increase of 36 percent, among females aged 5 to 14 at 31 percent, and in females aged 15 to 34 at 17 percent. Reasons could be improved diagnostic capabilities, more numerous referrals to stroke neurologists, and a heightened awareness of stroke among young people, as well as increases in other risk factors. The researches concluded that further research will be necessary to make any determinations.  Ischemic stroke is most common type of stroke. It occurs when an artery is blocked, preventing the flow of blood to the brain. When an artery remains blocked for more than a few minutes, death of the brain cells can occur, meaning that immediate medical treatment is critical to survival. There are many risk factors for stroke. Among the most common are family or personal history of stroke, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. Having a healthy lifestyle that includes a nutritious diet and exercise can help to prevent the occurrence of stroke. One in ten American school children now attend a Charter School because parents believe they receive better education in Charter Schools. In California those are almost exactly the same numbers. Public schools in California get $10,700 per pupil per year while charter schools get $6,900. Only 30% of public school students graduate from LA schools while nearly 80% of Charter school pupils graduate.