truesee's Blog

Ney/GettyTeens and young adults are often warned against casual hookups, but a new study found that such encounters don't always result in loss of self-esteem.

A surprising new study reveals that casual sex may not cause emotional or psychological damage.

Despite the pervasive belief that hooking up casually is detrimental to the well-being of young adults, researchers found that not to be the case in a recent study, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The study asked 1,311 Minnesota-based young adults, between the ages of 18 and 24, about their most recent sexual experiences, their self-esteem and their general well-being after the experience.

Only one-fifth of the subjects said their most recent experience was casual. And overall, their emotional status wasn’t any different from those who said their last sexual experience was with a committed partner.

“We were so surprised,” said Marla Eisenberg, who is an assistant professor at the university School of Public Health.

“The conventional wisdom is that casual sex, 'friends with benefits,' and hooking up is hurtful. That's what we've been teaching kids for decades,” she said, adding that abstinence-only sex education programs in particular enforce this notion.

However, researchers said that this doesn’t mean casual sex is for everyone - and Eisenberg is quick to warn of the physical consequences of casual sex. Rates of sexually transmitted diseases continue to increase and teen pregnancy rates in Minnesota in particular are also on the rise, according to the Star Tribune.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2009/12/09/2009-12-09_casual_sex_hookups_arent_emotionally_damaging_study_finds.html#ixzz0ZFg0pHFh

Alini Brito (left) and Cindy Mauro were tossed from James Madison High School after being caught naked with each other, sources say.

Two female Romance language instructors were tossed out of their Brooklyn high school after being caught "undressed" in an empty classroom, sources told the Daily News Tuesday.

Students at James Madison High School in Midwood were watching a talent show in the auditorium while Alini Brito and Cindy Mauro were speaking the international language of love, sources said.

A janitor stumbled on French teacher Mauro, 33, and Brito, 29, a married Spanish instructor, and tattled to school officials on Nov. 20.

Both tenured teachers were removed from the classroom and sent to Education Department "rubber rooms" while they're investigated for misconduct, sources said.

The episode is the talk of the school. Students even set up a Facebook group to discuss the shenanigans - and it already has more than 500 fans.

"Now you guys wished we installed cameras in our classrooms after all hmm?" wrote one student.

Janitor Robert Colantuoni refused to comment Tuesday. "I can't talk about it, I'm sorry," he said.

Brito's husband, reached by phone, said he was unaware of the accusations, but denied them.

"The school district has not informed my wife of these allegations and they are untrue," he said.

Students said both teachers were popular.

"[Ms. Mauro] was pretty fun," said junior Eddie Ramirez, 18.

"She dressed like a teenage girl - she'd wear low-cut tops, shorts, three-quarter length jeans. She was kinda sexy.

"You could see that she was the kind of person who would flirt."

Students said Mauro dyed some of her hair pink over the summer and has an array of sexy tattoos: a sun on her lower back, a flower on her leg, and a star on her foot.

Brito opted for more demure attire.

"She's pretty," said one 17-year-old who took French with her.

"Mrs. Brito was good-looking. Oh, yeah!"

A 16-year-old sophomore said Brito was a teacher students would come to with problems.

"She usually dresses elegant, looks smart," he said. "She's good-looking. And she was friendly, not flirty, just friendly."

Students said gossip about the romp was flying through the school, where staff members were trying to keep a lid on it.

"The teachers don't even want you to bring it up because they say they'll get in trouble if we're talking about it in class," Eddie Ramirez said.

"They just say, 'Let it go.'"

Teachers and administrators at James Madison would not comment yesterday, but the Education Department confirmed the probe.

"There was an incident in the evening when there was a school performance," department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said. 

"The two teachers have been reassigned pending the outcome of [an Education Department] investigation."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/12/09/2009-12-09_teachers_pet__each_other_naked_lust_was_part_of_their_lesson_plan_at_high_school.html#ixzz0ZEkHeoNM

Dec. 9, 2009

Groom testifies wedding was just a ruse

Eugene Pallisco paid for his lavish June 2002 wedding to Lesley Keith, took her and her young daughters on trips around the country, bought her jewelry and helped pay the household bills.

But they were never husband and wife. In fact, they were never intimate. They were "just friends," he said.

Pallisco made those claims to an Oakland County Circuit Court judge on Tuesday during a hearing that is part of a lawsuit Keith has filed against Pallisco. Keith claims Pallisco duped her into marrying him, all while he was married to a West Bloomfield woman who is the mother of his four children -- all younger than 8.

Pallisco insisted to Judge Cheryl Matthews that the $37,000 wedding at the Ritz Carlton in Dearborn was a "Tina and Tony" production, referring to a popular interactive dinner theater play where actors pretend to be part of a wedding party and mingle with the guests.

"Did you intend to marry Lesley Keith at that event in 2002?" his attorney Robert Sheehan asked him.

"No, I did not," Pallisco said.

"Did you consent to marry Lesley Keith?"

"No, I did not."

Instead, Pallisco insisted that his metal recycling business in Detroit had been hampered by an overzealous police officer writing environmental tickets. Keith, he said, was related to a police officer who could convince the zealous cop to back off if he thought Pallisco was married to Keith.

"It was to shield me," he said of the wedding that he claims was staged.

His attorney asked him why have the wedding at the expensive hotel "and not the VFW hall," and Pallisco gave a long account of how difficult it is to do business in Detroit and how he had to make the wedding "look like the real thing."

Pallisco's attorneys also played several voice mails Keith left Pallisco, begging for money and sometimes using profanity.

The judge is expected to hear additional testimony at an upcoming hearing, then decide whether the matter can go to trial. No date has been set.

Keith, who now lives in Arizona, is seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress.

The wedding photo of Lesley Pizzuti -Keith and Eugenio Pallisco on Saturday, June 29, 2002.

Dick Cheney hits out at Obama again by calling 9/11 trial in New York 'a huge mistake'

Thomas M. Defrank
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF

 

Tuesday, December 8th 2009, 8:32 PM

 

AP

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged terror mastermind who will be tried in New York along with other suspected 9/11 plotters

East/Reuters

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York where the trial will take place

WASHINGTON - Dick Cheney has ratcheted up his criticism of President Obama again, calling the decision to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in New York a "huge mistake."

In an interview with Fox News Channels Sean Hannity, the former vice president said the trial, which isn't expected to begin for at least a year in Manhattan's federal district court, will allow KSM an ill-advised showcase to spew his anti-American venom.

"He'll be able to go in whenever he's up on the stand and proselytize, if you will, millions of people out there around the world including some of his radical Muslim friends and generate a whole new generation of terrorists," Cheney said.

"I think it will make Khalid Sheikh Mohammed something of a hero in certain circles, especially in the radical regions of Islam around the world. It will put him on the map. He'll be as important or more important than Osama Bin Laden, and we will have made it possible."
 
The Obama administration has previously rejected Cheney's argument, saying Mohammed won't be allowed to grandstand by the trial judge and that his conviction and possible execution will show the world the U.S. isn't afraid of putting terrorists on trial in civilian courts.

Cheney also zapped Obama for telegraphing a 2011 exit date for some of the 30,000 surge troops the President has just ordered into Afghanistan.

"When (Al Qaeda) see him announce in advance that there's going to be a withdrawal 18 months down the road, they come to the point where they feel like their strategy, their world view has been validated and in the meantime, your task of trying to control the situation, trying to put down the Taliban and so forth, has simply gotten harder because you're weak and indecisive when you made the decision to do it."

Cheney ducked when served up the chance to label Obama a Socialist, seeming to settle for card-carrying liberal instead.
 
"I don't want to use that kind of a label," he said. "I think on his part he does not have the kind of commitment to the private sector that most of us have and have lived with in the past."

He also was more judicious than friends say he really feels about his successor, Vice President Biden. 

"Joe and I have a different approach to the job and to politics in general," he said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/12/08/2009-12-08_dick_cheney_hits_out_at_obama_again_.html#ixzz0ZBqbLsEU

http://www.ajc.com/video?bcpid=1659825399&bclid=1716449804&bctid=55337782001

Sobering news: coffee increases drunkenness

Drinking coffee does not sober you up – and may actually further impair your judgement, new research suggests.

Richard Alleyne

Telegraph UK

Science Correspondent
Published: 3:28PM GMT 08 Dec 2009

The combination of alcohol and caffeine produces a potentially lethal mix that just makes it harder to realise you are actually drunk in the first place.

And the study published in Behavioural Neuroscience suggests popular caffeinated energy drinks could also raise risks from intoxication rather than lessen them.

In laboratory tests caffeine made mice more alert but did not reverse the awareness problems caused by alcohol, including their ability to avoid things they should have known could hurt them.

Dr Thomas Gould, of Temple University, Philadelphia, said: "The myth about coffee's sobering powers is particularly important to debunk because the co-use of caffeine and alcohol could actually lead to poor decisions with disastrous outcomes.

"People who have consumed only alcohol, who feel tired and intoxicated, may be more likely to acknowledge that they are drunk.

"Conversely, people who have consumed both alcohol and caffeine may feel awake and competent enough to handle potentially harmful situations, such as driving while intoxicated or placing themselves in dangerous social situations."

Dr Gould and colleagues investigated how alcohol, caffeine or a combination of both affected the ability of mice to negotiate a maze and learn to avoid unpleasant stimuli.

Mice given alcohol alone were found to be less anxious, moved around more but had problems learning to avoid the unpleasant stimuli.

Those given the equivalent of up to six to eight cups of coffee for humans were more anxious, moved around less and learned less well.

If given both alcohol and caffeine, the alcohol was found to block the caffeine's ability to make the mice anxious, but did not reverse the alcohol's effect to inhibit learning. As a result, alcohol calmed the caffeine jitters, leaving the animal more relaxed but less able to avoid threats.

In people, this combination could lead to them thinking they are only slightly drunk and able to function normally – such as drive a car – when in fact, they are unable to do so.

Dr Gould said: "The alcohol-energy drink combinations have skyrocketed in popularity."

He cited other evidence that these drinks produce deficits in general cognitive ability and raise the odds of alcohol-related problems such as drunken-driving citations, sexual misconduct, and needing medical assistance.

He added: "The bottom line is that, despite the appeal of being able to stay up all night and drink, all evidence points to serious risks associated with caffeine-alcohol combinations."

The US Food and Drug Administration is looking into the safety and legality of combination alcohol-caffeine beverages. In November, it sent letters to 30 manufacturers asking for evidence that such drinks are safe and legal under FDA regulations.

To date, the FDA has only approved caffeine as an additive in soft drinks at concentrations less than 200 parts per million and has not approved adding caffeine at any level to alcoholic beverages.

Under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, a substance added intentionally to food such as caffeine in alcoholic beverages is deemed unsafe and is unlawful unless its particular use has been approved by FDA regulation or is generally recognised as safe.

LARRY ALEXANDER

Staff Writer

A slow moving horse and buggy led to the arrest Sunday night of a Paradise man, who was charged with drunken driving.

Police said Elmer Stoltzfoos Fisher, 22, was found slumped over and asleep in a buggy that was moving slowly in the first block of North Ronks Road.

East Lampeter Township police received a call around 9:05 p.m. Sunday from off-duty Quarryville police Officer Jesse Blank.

Blank was driving a car on North Ronks Road when he pulled up behind the buggy, which Blank said was moving at a walking pace. The horse was straddling the center line as it pulled the buggy.

Sensing a problem, Blank stopped his car. His passenger, Nate Perry, got out and approached the buggy on foot. Stopping the horse, Perry found Fisher slumped over and asleep, police said.

Perry pounded on the buggy door until Fisher woke up.

Police said Fisher showed signs of intoxication, including a strong smell of alcohol on his breath and bloodshot, watery eyes.

Police said they administered a breathalyzer test, which showed Fisher's blood-alcohol content was 0.18 percent. Pennsylvania residents are considered legally intoxicated if their blood-alcohol content is 0.08 or above.

 Tuesday, 12.08.09

Tiger Woods' mother-in-law taken from his home to hospital

An unidentified woman being brought into Health Central hospital in Ocoee, Fla. Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009. Fire department medics responded early Tuesday to a 911 call in the same block as Tiger Woods' Orlando-area home and took an adult patient to the hospital. AP TV

Associated Press

Sarah Palin: Tomatoes Thrown During Book Event, Police Arrest Jeremiah Wobbe

First Posted: 12- 7-09 07:59 PM   

Updated: 12- 8-09 12:14 AM

A man was arrested for allegedly throwing two tomatoes at Sarah Palin from the second floor balcony during a book signing event at the Mall of America in Minnesota, MyFoxTwinCities.com. reported.

Neither tomato came close hitting the former 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, but did hit a police officer in the face, the station reported.

The unidentified man may face charges for assaulting a police officer, according to the station.

Police identified him as 33-year-old Jeremy Paul Olson from St. Paul, but they think he also goes by the name Jeremiah Wobbe. Police said he was arrested and booked on assault and disorderly conduct charges. Officers added that when they arrested him, they found two more tomatoes he'd been carrying.

LINK

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/07/man-throws-tomatoes-at-sa_n_383451.html

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/orl-bad-tattoos-copy,0,6940308.photogallery

Armored truck drops money on I-75

Police say a crash involving an armored truck that dumped several money bags on I-75 in Clayton County appears accidental.

The crash occurred on I-75 southbound near the  Mount Zion Road exit in Morrow shortly after noon on Sunday

A silver Acura was driving south when it struck the back of a Brinks armored truck, Clayton County Police spokeswoman GlenNeta Griffin said.

The crash caused the Brinks truck to spin out of control and hit a cement wall on the interstate, Griffin said.

Police closed all southbound lanes while they cleared the wreckage, including several money bags that fell out of the Brinks truck.

“Three money bags fell out and officers were out there guarding the money,” Griffin said. “The officers stayed there until another Brinks truck could get there and pick them up.”

Nothing was taken in the crash, police said.

Police are still investigating, but will likely not file any charges, Griffin said.

“It looks like an accident,” she said.

Paramedics rushed the Brinks’ driver and another employee to Atlanta Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, Griffin said. The driver of the Acura was taken to Southern Regional Medical Center, where he was treated and released.

Their names were not available Sunday.

http://www.wbaltv.com/video/21804629/

http://www.kitv.com/news/21875423/detail.html

World

Sunday, 12.06.09

FORWARD LOOK / THE NATIONAL DEBT

War costs, while high, are small part of budget deficit

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are not the main reason the publicly held national debt has doubled since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

DAVID LIGHTMAN

McClatchy News Service

http://www.wftv.com/video/21807168/