Painkillers

An interesting article on addiction to painkillers..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/21/AR2007082100146.html

"You get to where you don't even want them (pills) anymore, you just do them so you can get through the day," said the 43-year-old southern West Virginia resident.

"As OxyContin came under scrutiny, doctors were more careful about how they prescribed it. Many switched to hydrocodone products, which were already popular but didn't have the same stigma."


Switching from one to another....and 4 yrs down, they see this is also addictive!!!

Gambling-- a disease???

In the latest NBA scandal, referee Tim Donaghy has been found betting on games, and sharing information available only to referees. He has been charged with offense due to to the involvement of mafia, and in the latest twist brought about by his lawyers, they are claiming he has had this condition(giving it medical terms) for a while, and being untreated, he has fallen deeper and deeper through the years.....I fee it is a pure manipulation of the system, where anything and everything is a medical condition ....Can betting be really attributed to a medical condition....???

Article on Nightclubs

Hyper link: Nightclubs are hell. What's cool or fun about a thumping, sweaty dungeon full of posing idiots?
By Charlie Brooker in The Guardian

Quotes:
"Clubs are such insufferable dungeons of misery, the inmates have to take mood-altering substances to make their ordeal seem halfway tolerable. This leads them to believe they "enjoy" clubbing."

"They were all photographing themselves. In fact, that's all they seemed to be doing. Standing around in expensive clothes, snapping away with phones and cameras... It's not enough to pretend you're having fun in the club any more - you've got to pretend you're having fun in your Flickr gallery, and your friends' Flickr galleries."

Save A Life

I don't know how many of you know about the practice of public hangings in Iran. Sometimes it is murderers or thieves. Sometimes.

A while ago, I saw pictures of two young boys being hanged. I didn't know why; thought they did something terrible. I forgot about all of this it until today; I came across a news article that talked about this particular incident; apparently they were hung for being gay. There are a lot of people waiting on death row in Iran, for a number of similar 'reasons'; women and young girls awaiting the noose for "acts incompatible with chastity".

I do not think this issue needs discussion or deliberation. It is quite appalling from any perspective. I found 2 petitions, addressed to the U.N Secretary General, that you can sign. Its not much, but it is something.

http://www.petitiononline.com/sce/petition.html
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Malak/

Nice article on Porn

The Porn Myth by Naomi Wolf

"For the first time in human history, the images’ power and allure have supplanted that of real naked women. Today, real naked women are just bad porn."

"When I came of age in the seventies, it was still pretty cool to be able to offer a young man the actual presence of a naked, willing young woman. There were more young men who wanted to be with naked women than there were naked women on the market. If there was nothing actively alarming about you, you could get a pretty enthusiastic response by just showing up."

"If your appetite is stimulated and fed by poor-quality material, it takes more junk to fill you up."