Wow, I guess crime really does pay, after all. Isn't jail supposed to be a punishment? My husband is a correctional officer, and I was very shocked, yet entertained, at this kind of behavior. I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall during these investigations! Ladies and gentlemen, your tax dollars at work:

(From MSN News, May 26, 2009)

Report: Inmate lived cushy life behind bars

S.C. jail sprung him loose for family parties, drove him to shop at Wal-Mart

While serving time for cocaine trafficking, Kevin Bell, 42, was reportedly so trusted by his jailers that he ran a business washing county cars and was allowed to eat dinner at his parents' house.


GAFFNEY, S.C. - Like plenty of fathers, Kevin Bell took his young daughter to Chuck E. Cheese's for her birthday. He just had to get a ride from his jail cell to do it.

While serving his final six years for cocaine trafficking, Bell left jail for more than the party in 2006, state investigators say. In fact, his daughter was conceived after Cherokee County jail officials sprung him to attend a holiday dinner nearly three years earlier.

He had a $20,000 bank account — and deposited money into it by selling items on eBay for deputies, jailers and even the sheriff, according to a state investigation. It's a good thing that Bell was earning money, though. After all, he had to pay his cell phone bill and needed money for his planned wedding to one of his jailers.

The bizarre prison term of Bell, who was released last year, has prompted a state criminal probe and outraged people in this former mill town about 50 miles south of Charlotte, N.C. While behind bars, Bell became so trusted that he ran a business washing county cars, was driven by an officer to shop at Wal-Mart and was allowed to eat dinner at his parents' house.

"Everyone at the jail knew of Kevin's relationship and other activities. It was overlooked," Robin Murphy, a jail employee, told state prison investigators.

Bell's privileges resemble those enjoyed by inmates at the so-called "Animal House" jail in rural Montague, Texas, who were allowed to bring in recliners, chat on cell phones and have sex with their jailers, according to an indictment this year against the sheriff there and 16 others.

Unlike the Texas case, though, it appears Cherokee County officials gave preferential treatment to just one man. And while other jails in South Carolina and around the United States allow inmates known as "trusties" to serve as mechanics, groundskeepers or other laborers, those jobs don't come with the perks Bell received.

"I've been doing this a long time, and I've never heard of this much flexibility" for a trusty, said Ed Bales, managing director of Federal Prison Consultants, a group that supplies expert witnesses for trials and sentencing hearings.

Bending the rules

Bell, 42, went to prison after being caught selling drugs in 1996. He pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine and was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He has no other criminal record in the state.

In 2002, Cherokee County officials requested Bell be sent to their jail to serve out his state prison sentence. He's from Greer, which is one county away, but why he ended up in the jail remains unclear: Bell rebuffed repeated requests for an interview and Sheriff Bill Blanton won't discuss specifics of the report.

"We've made changes and are in the process of doing things," said Blanton, who won re-election to a four-year term in 2006. "We don't want to comment on it until they get through."

Nearly three dozen county and city jails across South Carolina take inmates from the state prison system. The prisoners usually have family nearby and are requested by local officials to become trusties. Jails sign agreements to follow state prison policies, which forbid most conveniences Bell enjoyed, said state Corrections Department spokesman Josh Gelinas.

It wasn't long after Bell's arrival that the rules started to bend. He left jail dozens, if not hundreds, of times, according to the prison report issued late last year. One jailer let Bell go unaccompanied to the bank, while another took him to McDonald's. Another deputy drove his own wife, two children and Bell to the Chuck E. Cheese party. The mother of Bell's daughter told investigators the deputy supported his child, too — giving the woman more than $1,000.

'Good, normal life'

When state investigators searched Bell's cell, they found an invitation to his wedding to a female guard with whom Bell admitted having sex in the jail, according to the report. The nuptials — later called off — were scheduled for the day after Bell's release.

A guest list included about two dozen jail employees, deputies, Gaffney police officers and other law-enforcement workers. The woman was later fired from the jail. It's against state law for guards to have sex with inmates.   

[Gee, ya think???] 

I just can't "soap-box" it enough...everyone should try to attend this!!! This is a worthwhile cause that will be insanely fun for the whole family!!!I know it's a little early, but some of us LOVE stuff like this!!!!!

Source: PRlog. org - Global Press Release Distribution

The It's Alive Show Announces World Zombie Day & 2008 Zombie FestBy Clownhouse Productions, LLCDated: Feb 02, 2008

The It's Alive 2008 Zombie Fest will be held on October 25 & 26 at the Pittsburgh ExpoMart. New this year is World Zombie Day, where cities worldwide hold zombie walks with food drives.

Following up on its successful inaugural convention last fall, The It's Alive Show (www. theitsaliveshow. com) is pleased to announce the 2008 Zombie Fest, which will be held at thePittsburgh ExpoMart on October 25 and 26.

And the show is taking zombie walks to a new level by coordinating World Zombie Day.Zombie Fest is a weekend of activities for zombie and horror fans which will feature a two-day convention with vendors, artists, celebrity guests, films and author panels; a masquerade ball; and the third annual Zombie Walk which will take place at Monroeville Mall, site of the George Romero zombie film, Dawn ofthe Dead.

The two previous Monroeville Mall Zombie Walks in 2006 and 2007 (pending verification) set Guinness World Records™ for the largest zombie gathering; the 2007 walk is nominated for a Rondo Hattan Classic Horror Award for Best Fan Event.

This year, organizer Mark Menold, producer and host of The It's Alive Show, has even bigger plans for the walk. "We've been thinking about a World Zombie Day since the day after our first walk", says Menold. "In 2008, we're going to contact zombie walk organizers across the globe to coordinate walks on the same day, all benefiting their local food banks and raising awareness of hunger worldwide."

The Monroeville Zombie Walk will again feature a food drive on behalf of the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

At press time, Atlanta (GA), Nashville (TN) and Sacramento (CA) will be joining Pittsburgh in its WorldZombie Day endeavor.The schedule of activities and celebrity guests is being developed and details will be released as they become available.

But Menold says to expect a "fun, carnival-like experience" over the course of the weekend. The undead like to have fun too. For information regarding sponsorship, vendor/exhibitor rates and admissions, please email zombiefest@verizon.net.

For more information on World Zombie Day, visit www. myspace. com/worldzombieday.

Phone 412-215-6317Address 307 Murrays LaneCity/Town PittsburghState/Province PennsylvaniaZip 15234Country United States

The Real-Life Web MD

Paging Dr. Jay: An online physician moves medical care out of the ER and into the IM.

Saddled with $300,000 of medical school debt, freshly licensed physician Dr. Jay Parkinson felt pressure to follow the same route taken by many young doctors: join a traditional practice and see dozens of patients each day-for about five to ten minutes each.

But he couldn't make himself do it.

"I didn't want to spend the next 30 years of my life doing that," he says in between sips of coffee at a café in his Brooklyn neighborhood.

Parkinson decided to open his practice in cyberspace, where he recruits, diagnoses and even treats his patients online. He has no office. Instead, he makes himself available to his patients via email or text message.

Dr. Jay Parkinson calls himself a new kind of physician: one who communicates with his patients online. Photo by Noah Kalina

His system works like this: patients pay $500 a year to be part of his network. For that, they get a complete initial physical examination at their home, office or wherever they may choose, plus two additional visits. Afterwards Parkinson is available to them by email or text messaging, anytime during normal business hours.

Patients can web chat with Parkinson on his Apple Powerbook or even upload a photo of a cut finger to his iPhone so he can determine whether they need stitches or just a band-aid. In addition, his website has a list of symptoms and questions to go with them, so patients can streamline the diagnosis process by filling in answers online.

Most of the actual diagnosing and treatment happens in patients' homes.

He limits his practice to his own zip code, with few exceptions, and sees only patients between the ages of 18 and 40.

It's a unique practice, but Parkinson doesn't want to be known as a Web M.D: "I'm not so much an online doctor. I am a doctor who utilizes good communication for my patients."

The 31-year-old is a bit of an Internet pioneer. While still a student, he designed medical training websites. And more than 10 years before YouTube made Web video ubiquitous, he was uploading cardiac ultrasound images to the Internet.

His interests are not confined to technology and medicine - he's also an amateur photographer with a dedicated following on Flickr. During his medical residency in Baltimore, he created a series of portraits of aspiring models that seem to expose both their subjects' dreams and the improbable distance they will have to travel to achieve them. There's a tattooed, red-haired woman sitting on a floral couch, naked except for a pet hamster she holds in front of her.

Parkinson practiced photography during medical school

Another woman sits on the corner of a bed in her attic bedroom, arching walls in the background missing patches of green paint.

 

The pictures are both starkly sad and beautiful.

His experience as a photographer may make it easier for Parkinson to treat people in their own homes. It also reflects an artistic sensibility that has led him, in part, to treat other artists--like Pilita Garcia.

Brooklyn-based Garcia developed chronic asthma from smoking cigarettes and constant exposure to paint fumes. She could hardly breathe when she text messaged Parkinson. She had been having trouble getting an appointment with a traditional doctor.

"I sent him an email and within two minutes he answered me and the next day he was here," she said from her loft apartment near the Manhattan Bridge.

Parkinson not only prescribed medication that helped Garcia get better almost immediately--he also helped her find it at 90-percent below cost. It was a huge savings for Garcia, who like most of Parkinson's patients is uninsured.

Parkinson says he's developed a network of service providers, everyone from medical labs to radiology, willing to lower their prices for cash patients like his.

"I know who charges a good price and who has a good heart," says Parkinson. Physicians, too, contact him, saying, "I'd like to be a part of your unspoken network."

Parkinson says part of the reason he went into this kind of practice is because he believes the healthcare system, with its lack of transparency in pricing, is cheating patients, especially the uninsured.

"The system is broken and there is no real way to fix it without someone who is willing to confront the industry."

But some medical professionals don't see Parkinson's model as a fix.

"Really what this is called is boutique medicine," says Dr. Aaron Nayfack, 29, a resident at Los Angeles County Hospital. "You pay a retainer fee to a physician who agrees to be available to you, reachable in the middle of the night. The problem is, who gets left behind? What about those who can't afford to put a physician on retainer?"

Critics also accuse Parkinson of cherry picking from the healthiest age group and some have raised concerns about patient privacy in online communications.

Parkinson communicates with some of his patients via webcam.

Parkinson says that's not an issue since all of his online interactions are done with user names created by the patients. He also counsels them to keep private matters for their face-to-face visits.

Regardless of these concerns, Parkinson seems to be on to something. He says he's already signed up more than 50 patients and his website gets more than 10,000 hits each day.

And if that's not enough, he's also become a cause celebre, with everyone from the Wall Street Journal to the Today Show calling about his unorthodox practice. Parkinson says there have even been discussions about a reality TV series.

It's a personal examination this Internet age doctor is happy to entertain at least for now.

ADD HIM AS YOUR FRIEND ON MYSPACE!!!

www.myspace.com/jayparkinsonmd

I cut this article down a little to keep all readers' attention.  Sometimes we ALL get a little "short-attention span."

http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

By John Raby, Associated Press writer:

November 7, 2007

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Graphic depictions of violence, suicide and sexual assault in two Pat Conroy books are at the heart of a First Amendment debate, pitting offended parents against high school students who object to being told what they can't read.

Even Conroy has interjected himself into the debate. In an e-mail to a student, Conroy slams those who would ban his works as "idiots."

A student group is vowing to sue the Kanawha County Board of Education if the removal of "Beach Music" and "The Prince of Tides" from two Nitro High School classes is made permanent and expanded countywide.

In a move that appeased neither side, the board decided Monday to explore using advisory labels on books that show content for violence, language, sexual content or adult situations.

The book challenge is one of hundreds reported to the American Library Association every year on requests to have materials removed from schools or libraries, including the popular Harry Potter series, which some Christians believe promotes witchcraft.

Steve Shamblin, who teaches honors and Advanced Placement courses at Nitro High, said the graphic depictions in Conroy's books are found in newspapers every day. He also noted that several literary groups have deemed the books as age-appropriate for high school upperclassmen.

"As long as we stay in a 1950s utopian mind-set, we're not going to get past the 20th century," he said.

Parents Ken and Leona Tyree found certain scenes in "The Prince of Tides" "obscene and offensive." Leona Tyree said she was unable to finish the book. Their son has since left Shamblin's Advanced Placement literature class.

Another parent, Karen Frazier, complained about violence in "Beach Music," and told school board members last month she wants guidelines for books used in public schools.

"If a teacher was on a computer and sending this filth to underage students, they'd probably be arrested," Frazier said at last month's meeting.

Neither Frazier nor the Tyrees have listed phone numbers.

Makenzie Hatfield, who teamed with fellow students to form a coalition against censorship, said her group is prepared to go to court if the school board sides with the parents.

"This is a college class," said Hatfield, a senior at Kanawha County's George Washington High. "We chose to take this class. The school didn't tell us to. We chose."

Conroy did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press, but defended his books in an e-mail to Hatfield.

Because the two books were temporarily banned "every kid in that county will read them, every single one of them. Because book banners are invariably idiots," Conroy wrote in the letter published Oct. 24 in The Charleston Gazette. "They don't know how the world works — but writers and English teachers do."

Conroy referred to the books as "two of my darlings, which I would place before the altar of God and say, 'Lord, this is how I found the world you made.'"

He said his late father fought in three wars and turned violent on his wife and seven children; his youngest brother committed suicide; a female relative was raped; eight classmates at the Citadel were killed in Vietnam, and his best friend died last summer in a car accident.

"The world of literature has everything in it, and it refuses to leave anything out," he wrote. "I've been in ten thousand cities and have introduced myself to a hundred thousand strangers in my exuberant reading career, all because I listened to my fabulous English teachers and soaked up every single thing those magnificent men and women had to give."

This article was written by Dave McCoy, for MSN Movies.

When Norman Bates, dressed as his mother, ripped open Janet Leigh's shower curtain and knifed her to death in "Psycho," horror movies changed. Along with Leigh's blood, classic horror style and romantic figures like Frankenstein and Dracula went right down the shower drain. The veiled sexuality and hidden violence that dominated most classic horror films suddenly were gleefully dragged into the open, for everyone to exploit. For better or worse, style often became as important as substance, and booming box-office numbers proved that horror was serious business. The shifting times created opportunities for filmmakers to innovate, finding new and terrifying ways to scare the pants off audiences.

The mark of a great horror film is whether it sustains its vision of terror through several generations of increasingly desensitized viewers. Does the movie still make you jump or squirm or sweat or scream? The following efforts do all of the above.

10. "Eraserhead" (1977)
David Lynch's cult classic is the closest thing to being stuck in a nightmare: Not much makes sense, but you get the feeling that nothing is quite right. Lynch employs dinners that walk off the plate, eerie silences that become deafening and an infant that makes Rosemary's baby seem cute and cuddly. So chilling it's damn near unwatchable.

9. "The Exorcist" (1973)
The real terror of "The Exorcist" may not involve Satan and possession, but the helplessness of a parent trying to save a child. Of course, a ton of harrowing special effects and director William Friedkin's somber respect for the supernatural subject matter doesn't hurt either. It's horror for grown-ups.

8. "Halloween" (1978)
John Carpenter's film is blamed for the rash of slasher films that destroyed the genre in the '80s, but "Halloween" possesses a style and intensity that most of its copycats lack. From the opening sequence -- when we see through the eyes of little boy Michael Myers as he stalks and murders his sister -- onward, the film relies on suspense rather than sensationalism. Our fear is caused by what might happen rather than actual events, as Carpenter spends a good amount of time in darkness, making us see things that may or may not be there.

7. "Don't Look Now" (1973)
Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie head to Venice to forget the tragic accidental death of their child. However, it's impossible to forget when the dead child keeps reappearing. Nicolas Roeg's labyrinthine film is rich in dreamlike atmosphere and works on a purely psychological level: It disorients, frustrates and builds to a horrible climax, reminding that tragedy can never be forgotten ... and neither can this film.

6. "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974)
A group of annoying teens make a wrong turn on a road trip through Texas and encounter the most dysfunctional family imaginable. It's a teen exploitation flick shot like a documentary. Wonderfully grim, mean and inhumane, director Tobe Hooper's debut doesn't spill much blood, instead opting to giddily, relentlessly torture and chase its audience (much like Leatherface treats his victims) for 80 minutes. It feels like days.

5. "Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984)
Before dream-killer Freddy Krueger became a quipping pop-culture reference, he represented the most twisted monster unleashed on the public since Halloween's Michael Myers. Seeking vengeance by slicing and dicing the children of the parents who murdered him, Freddy scared the hell out of Cineplex audiences. His on-screen entrance remains terrifying, as does much of director Wes Craven's surreal, smart and shocking masterpiece.

4. "Suspiria" (1977)
"Suspiria" is a full-on sensory assault by Italian horror master Dario Argento, the cinematic equivalent of an anxiety attack. A poor American ballet student arrives in Europe and Argento berates her with weather, grisly murders, a possible coven of witches, his virtuosic camera, and possible the freakiest score ever conceived (by the director himself). The plot barely makes sense, so just let it terrorize you.

3. "Night of the Living Dead" (1968)
A group of kids get trapped inside a farm house by an endless stream of flesh-eating zombies. Sounds silly, but director George Romero takes his simple premise and redefines the genre with a shoestring budget. The amount of sadistic gore, the claustrophobic tension, the rising levels of hysteria and an increasingly deflated awareness that a happy ending is impossible make this a nasty classic. There is no hope here, only suffocating terror.

2. Repulsion (1965)
Director Roman Polanski did more horror afterward, with "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Tenant," but this -- a menacing, nightmarish profile of one woman's descent into madness -- may be his most realized effort. Catherine Denueve embodies sexual repression as a young woman left alone in her apartment -- and to her deluded fantasies -- for the weekend. The film is nearly silent, creating a mounting mood of dread. Try watching it alone with the lights off and see how long you last.

1. "Psycho" (1960)
Alfred Hitchcock's blueprint for contemporary horror: More than just a film, "Psycho" was a cultural slap in the face. Censors wanted to ban it, while screaming audiences couldn't get enough of it. Hitch employs all of his tricks -- shifting audience sympathies, killing off the main character halfway through the film and a ton of macabre humor -- but more importantly he makes the horror internal. Norman Bates isn't a monster in the classic sense; he suggests that the greatest evil can lurk beneath the quietest, most pleasant surface.

Just missed: "The Shining" (1980); "Jaws" (1975); "The Silence of the Lambs" (1991); "Dead Ringers" (1988); "Seconds" (1966); "Audition" (1999)

What are your favorite horror films? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com

Long drama short: Beloved (mostly) comedian Ellen DeGeneres adopts a Brussels Griffon mix named "Iggy" from a California dog rescue organization called Mutts and Moms.

In doing so, signs papers (though maybe she didn't read the small print) saying if she can't keep the dog herself she will return it.

Instead, because he's "rambunctious," she gives dog to her trusted hairdresser and her family. Mutts and Moms calls Ellen two weeks later to check on the dog. Ellen tells truth. Rescue group goes to hairdresser's house and reclaims the dog. Hairdresser and daughters upset. Rescue lady upset. Ellen upset, and everyone (media included) seems to be taking themselves too seriously.

Iggy could figure this thing out in a second; but with humans, celebrities and lawyers involved, expect the drama to last for months.

******************************************

OK. The solution to this is SO simple, even Iggy could figure it out. Ellen needs to realize that the adoption contract she signed is legal and binding, and most all shelters & rescues do this. That's because, say, what if you adopt a dog, give it to your grandma, and it bites the neighbor's kid? Guess what? YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT INJURY!!! I mean, the police can be involved and everything. Put on your glasses, Ellen! Make sure they explain stuff to you S-L-O-W-L-Y!!!! We could also have a bunch of "Michael Vicks" running all over the place and no one would be held accountable for it.

Simple solution:  Let Moms & Mutts take the dog back like they're supposed to, by law.  Then have the hairdresser (and the distraught daughters) go to Moms & Mutts, do the whole adoption procedure, and VOILA! The dog is theirs, lawfully and rightfully. And if Ellen says she had to spend $3000 on trying to train a "rambunctious" dog, that's her own stupidity.

Jeez, quit making it entertainment fodder to keep yourself in the spotlight!!!