Drug War Drive-by Massacre in Mexico

Six men were gunned down in a drive-by massacre in Mexico City last night, sparking fears that the capital has finally succumbed to the country's brutal drug war.

It was the fifth apparently unrelated massacres inside seven days and took the week's body count past 50.
Earlier that day in Ciudad Juarez, a town bordering Mexico and the U.S., four people were killed and more than two dozen seriously wounded when a convoy of gunmen attacked buses carrying factory workers.

Drive-by: A police officer stands next to the bodies of two of the six men shot to death in the Tepito massacre

However, the street-corner shooting in Tepito carries more significance because it shows the drug war is spreading brazenly into previously safer streets.

Just after midnight, gunmen jumped out of a white SUV and blasted to death six men in their 20s and 30s, who were gathered outside a corner shop in Tepito. A seventh man survived.

Farmville Made Mother Kill Baby

A 22-year-old mother from Jacksonville, Florida, has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for shaking her 3-month-old son to death after his crying interrupted her FarmVille game.

The mother, Alexandra V. Tobias, was arrested in January and declared her plea on Wednesday before Circuit Judge Adrian G. Soud, The Florida Times-Union reports.

She told investigators that she shook the baby, smoked a cigarette “to compose herself,” and proceeded to shake him again. The baby may have hit his head during one of the two shakings, she said.

FarmVille, named one of the “worst inventions” in recent decades by Time magazine, has more than 60 million members, most of whom access the game through Facebook (Facebook). Some players have found it so addicting that they’ve lost their jobs and racked up debts north of $1,000.

Needless to say, it is Ms. Tobias — and not the game itself — that is responsible for the death of her 3-month-old son. This is not the first time that a virtual game has led to murder; in 2009, 28-year-old Joseph Johnson of Chicago was charged with first-degree murder after allegedly shooting his companion in the head while playing an Xbox game.

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Lauren Valle was Targeted for Stomping

The MoveOn worker who was attacked by Rand Paul supporters has now spoken out about the assault, claiming she was "injured," "in severe shock," and that she has no doubt that the attack was "premeditated."

She also vowed "further legal action."

Lauren Valle, who was dragged to the ground and had her head stepped on during a scuffle outside last night's Kentucky Senate debate, detailed the attack in a conference call with several reporters. She described it as being at least as bad as the footage suggests.

"My memory of it is sort of that of a traumatized person," she said. "I distinctly remember a blow to my head."

Some have suggested Valle tried to bait Paul into getting photographed with her, but she said she didn't get close enough for that to happen. She said she had been yelling out to "Dr. Paul" in the crowd, in order to get him to respond to her effort to give him an award from the fake company "Republicorps." But she added she never got a chance to get close to him because she was "targeted."

Valle said the attackers had identified her well in advance of the assault.

"They identified me as a MoveOn worker, and as someone they knew from prior campaign events," she said. "And so, about five minutes before Rand Paul showed up, they motioned to each other to start taking photographs of me." She added that they formed a "blockade" behind her.

"It was premeditated," she continued. "As soon as Rand Paul's car showed up they started to move in front of me."

I asked her why she was able to give subsequent interviews last night, if she'd been severely hurt. She pushed back, saying the full brunt of the pain hit her later.

"I was in severe shock," she said, adding that the pain in her head started in earnest "an hour and a half afterwards."

"I was certainly injured," she said. "If you have any questions about that, maybe watch it again."

Tim Profitt, Paul's Bourbon County coordinator, has admitted to being behind the attack, and the Paul campaign has disassociated itself with him.

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Rachael Leigh Cook Hates Photoshopped Women

More pictures

In an unusual move for a celebrity, Rachael Leigh Cook, a hot actress who took part in the movie "She's All That", made a vocal condemnation of the media industry's common practice of photoshopping female celebrities to make them look more attractive. She advises women and young girls to know more about the Photoshop software and its ability to artificially enhance the looks of celebrities. Cook considers the airbrushing of celebrities to be extremely offensive despite the fact that it helps the media businesses market those celebrities more successfully. She also claims that it's bad for young girls because it sets unrealistic standards for beauty and attractiveness. Furthermore, she considers it a crime to use modified images of real celebrities for advertising because it's deceptive. Cook stresses that those images shouldn't be taken seriously. To emphasize her seriousness in the issue, Cook had joined several organizations that are against photoshopping, such as the Creative Coalition and the Girl Scouts.

If one looks at the pictures of Cook, it's not surprising that she's against photoshopping. She's one of the celebrities that are good looking without putting on much makeup or relying on graphical enhancement. For other celebrities, computer graphical technology is a blessing to them. It helps them look better in front of the public. Instead of trying to make the media industry ban such practice, Cook should just spread the word that many of the celebrity pictures are photoshopped.

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Styrofoam Crumbs Sicken Woman

ROCHESTER — A mysterious white powder that came in the mail with her  dress has forced Patricia McBride and her husband, Mike, from their home  and caused her several health problems.

Tests have shown that  the substance isn't a biohazard, such as anthrax or ricin, and a private  laboratory in Somersworth has indicated the substance is micro sized  polystyrene particles.

However, McBride is convinced the substance included something else that is making her sick.

On  Friday, officials from EnviroVantage of Epping were at the McBrides'  Erin Lane home attempting to vacuum up additional particles of the  substance. The collected particles have been sent away for additional  testing.

"I want to know what this is," said a frustrated  McBride, who has spent the last two weeks living in a camper parked in  her driveway.

McBride's issues started on Oct. 3 when a dress that she had ordered came in the mail. The dress came third party from China.

"When I looked at the dress it didn't appear navy blue as ordered and I  found it was because there was white powder all over it and in the  clear bag which was folded over and closed with two pieces of tape," she  said.

Within an hour of handling the dress McBride said her  hands began to itch. A few days later she was at Wentworth-Douglass  Hospital with a swollen, hot, itchy right hand and itchy hot left hand  and two huge welts. She was given some medication and it relieved the  initial reaction, she said.

At the advising of a family member,  McBride called police to alert them about the substance and members of  the fire department responded to her home.

The substance was  bagged and taken to the Rochester Fire Department where it was tested by  regional Haz-Mat team. It tested negative for being a biohazard,  according to an after incident report.

McBride said she was told  to vacuum her home, which she did with a mask and gloves. She was also  told since the substance tested negative for being a biohazard, the  city's responsibility was done and she would have to seek the services  of a private lab if she wanted to know what the substance was.

"I was extremely upset that this substance was in my home and being treated so lightly," she said.

McBride  then tried to get the substance tested at the state lab in Concord but  was told they didn't have enough white powder to conduct a sample. In  addition, somewhere between the fire department and lab, the original  clear plastic dress bag the substance was in went missing, according to  McBride.

From there, McBride said she struggled to reach the state and get a clear answer to whether they tested anything at all.

The  McBrides' struggles continued as they decided to move into their camper  on Oct. 7. McBride said she took her C-Pap machine for her sleep apnea  with her, wiping down the top of it because it had some of the white  powder on it.

"I didn't even think about the head gear and mask  which were between my bed and nightstand and took them out to the camper  with the machine," she said.

McBride had originally opened the package in her bedroom in the area those items were kept.

She  put the mask on to take a nap and woke with a large fat lip. She  returned to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital and was given some medication.

McBride  said she used the machine again on Oct. 9 and woke up with a swollen  tongue, a sore and swollen throat, hoarseness and a few welts on her  head. She would later go to Portsmouth Regional Hospital where she was  given high doses of steroids.

The problems persisted and McBride  was referred to a specialist in Kittery, Maine, and given more  medication. McBride said she is now being referred to Massachusetts  General Hospital in Boston.

"The state doesn't want to hear from  us anymore and won't release what they have tested for and at this point  we don't really know if they did any testing because they kept telling  us they didn't have much powder to go on, but they did test for anthrax  and ricin," she said. "So we continue to live in our camper not knowing  what this substance is and not able to get our house cleaned without  exposing somebody else."

Chris Adamski, chief of disease control  at the state Department of Health and Human Services, wasn't aware of  McBride's case but said it's state protocol to test for anthrax and  other biological threats.

If something is deemed a biological threat, the state would be involved in that case, she said.

"We can rule out biological threats, but can't identify all chemicals," she said.

Dr.  Karen Simone, a clinical toxicologist with the Northern New England  Poison Center, said it's unlikely that someone would get symptoms like  the ones described by McBride from polystyrene particles.

"Polystyrene is generally not thought of as being very harmful at all," she said. "It's in stuff we use every day."

Simone  said people who are exposed to large amounts of polystyrene dust can  become irritated by it, but noted it would have to be a really large  amount.

McBride said she is well aware about polystyrene not  being considered harmful and that's why she feels it could be something  else.

In addition to contacting EnviroVantage, McBride has  reached out to several local and state politicians, seeking help in  identifying the substance.

As for the dress, McBride had ordered it for a friend's wedding but never attended the wedding because she was too sick.
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Welfare Gone Wild: Massive Strike Cripping France's Economy

The expectable national protests continue in France after it began a few days ago. The most immediate is on its economy. Garbage and recyclable refuse remain on the the sidewalks with no garbage trucks to pick them up, causing a foul stench to permeate many of France's streets. Many transportation services are inactive. Refineries are shut down and those people who were willing to work were forced off by the strikers. Ships remain anchored offshore because the seaports were all closed. Road blocks placed by the strikers ensured that many people won't be able to get to work or where they want to go on time or at all, causing many drivers to abandon their cars. This was all caused by the French government's decision to change the age for retirement from sixty to sixty-two. Talk about welfare gone wild. In America, this would never happen.

To many people in France, this is actually normal, since French citizens expect the government to take care of them. They are protesting the fact that the government is trying to shed its role of being a caretaker for its people. This contrasts to what is happening in America where people complaining of too much government intervention. Some Americans think they are working harder than the French because the French have many work benefits and comfortable working schedules. At its current state, France is a good example of a socialistic state. If these protests become more frequent, France might undergo another revolution in the future.

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