Studies in Confusion Similarly, two weeks ago, a study in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. revealed that the herbal supplement St. John’s wort wasn’t effective in treating major depression. But the fine print at the end of the journal article, where researchers disclose their monetary ties, should have given readers pause. Pfizer, which makes the antidepressant Zoloft, not only underwrote some of this research but also had financial connections with many of the study’s investigators.
—————————————
ALERT ALERT, St. John’s Wort must be doing a lot of good for people if the drug makers are trying this hard to debunk it.

According to the Holy Bible
abortion is not murder. According to the Holy Bible
abortion is not murder.
——————————-
Don’t get mad at me. I didn’t write the Bible.

Inmates Do More Than Phone Home Inmates Do More Than Phone Home
With the 1st Amendment as a shield and monitoring spotty, prisoners make calls to arrange crimes that include murder.

By DANIEL YI, Times Staff Writer

Anne Marie Reed prided herself on being an efficient communicator–skills she put to use for Mexican Mafia leaders behind bars at the Los Angeles County Jail.
Working out of her home in a quiet La Mirada neighborhood, the 22-year-old single mother helped gang members orchestrate stabbings, beatings and drug smuggling from the lockup, authorities say. She relayed messages by phone between inmates and the streets–all under the noses of jail officials.
—————————
Now read the story just below and see if you can figure it all out?

Some Jailed Mothers Say Hale House Didn’t Keep Promises Prison rules make it very difficult for the women involved to speak out themselves. They are not allowed to receive telephone calls, their own calls are restricted, and volunteer advocates may not take them messages.
—————————-
It’s a little harder to keep your family together in prison than it is to keep the gang ‘banging’.

Dubya damn well knew the difference between people of color and white folks when he led Texas to its dubious distinction as the state with the most executions of prison inmates. The following exchange was witnessed by a tour group at the Governor’s Mansion and has been recounted by multiple sources, including Lucius Lomas of The Texas Observer. John M. Swamley, a professor of social ethics at St. Paul School of Theology and a writer for The Humanist, is the source of this version:
An aide abruptly appeared with papers he held out to then-Governor Dubya. “It’s the death warrants to sign, Governor. There are two executions scheduled for tonight.”
Absent-mindedly, the Governor took the offered pen. But in mid-signature he lifted his hand. He looked hard at his aide.
“They’re not white are they?”
The aide flashed a nervous smile. “Governor, would we do that to you?” he asked.
“It’s not a woman either, is it? I’m not executing any more damn women. That last one—I was getting telegrams from as far away as Bolivia,” Bush complained. “What the damn Bolivians or anyone else in Europe know about law and order in Texas I can’t imagine.”
The aide reassured him, “Both prisoners are male, Governor. One’s black and one’s Hispanic. Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Pacified, Bush nodded. “That’s okay then,” he said. In an instant the aide retrieved the signed warrants and was gone.
————————————
File this under stuff not reported in your local daily newspaper.