paul schreiber

Health Beat has a terrific roundup of health care new:

Physicians and hospital leaders in Cedar Rapids began by counting how many CAT scans they were doing, only to find that in just one year 52,000 scans were done in a community of 300,000 people. “I was embarrassed for us,” confides Jim Levett, a cardiac surgeon and the head of a large physician group in Cedar Rapids. It’s just not likely that 1/6 of the population needed a CAT scan in a given year.

NBC Philadelphia reports on this shocker — a pool in Philly kicked a bunch of kids out … because they are black.

“There was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion … and the atmosphere of the club,” John Duesler, President of The Valley Swim Club said in a statement.

1940 called. They want their ignorant moron back.

A couple years ago I came across stories of a 72-year-old ex-boxer and an 84-year-old beating the crap out would-be robbers.

The trend continues.

In February, 70-year-old Ellen Basinski beat up some robbers with a saucepan:

The feisty Basinski was on the phone with her husband, a local judge, when the would-be robbers entered the house.

“I was angry,” she says.

As one of them started rummaging through her purse, she grabbed her favorite trademark Lagasse saucepan and, as the famous chef himself likes to say, BAM!

“He told the police it almost knocked him out,” Basinski says. “I gave it a good whack. I figured, ‘You might get only one swing, lady!’ So make it good!”

Last week, 69-year-old Dwayne Austgen shot a crack addict with a 22.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Jackass “officer” pulls his gun during a traffic stop, then takes 13 minutes to write a ticket. Oh yeah, Moats’ mother-in-law died while he waited for the ticket to be written.

Kunkle said Officer Robert Powell has been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with an incident last week in which he stopped a family rushing to visit a dying mother, detaining them for 13 minutes to write a traffic ticket.
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During the traffic stop, caught on the officer’s in-car camera, Powell berated the driver, 26-year-old NFL running back Ryan Moats, and threatened him with arrest for running a traffic light.

“I can screw you over,” said Powell, 25. “I’d rather not do that.”
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Powell drew his gun and yelled at her to get back in.
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Moats and Collinsworth’s father went into the hospital, where they found Collinsworth had died, with her daughter at her side.

Apparently some people just don’t read the news. Remember, kids: don’t mess with a marine:

A boy in his mid-teens learned Wednesday afternoon that it is not a good idea to try to rob a former U.S. Marine at knifepoint, even if the former Marine is 84 years old, police said today.
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The man then put his bags on the ground and told the boy that if he stepped closer he would be sorry. When the boy stepped closer, the man kicked him in the groin, knocking him to the sidewalk, Bair said. The ex-Marine picked up his grocery bags and walked home, leaving the boy doubled over, Bair said.

The Manchester Evening News, a British rag is reporting a lottery scratchcard has been withdrawn from sale “because players couldn’t understand it.”Apparently your average Brit is well-qualified for a job at Verizon:

Tina Farrell, from Levenshulme, called Camelot after failing to win with several cards.The 23-year-old, who said she had left school without a maths GCSE, said: “On one of my cards it said I had to find temperatures lower than -8. The numbers I uncovered were -6 and -7 so I thought I had won, and so did the woman in the shop. But when she scanned the card the machine said I hadn’t.”I phoned Camelot and they fobbed me off with some story that -6 is higher – not lower – than -8 but I’m not having it.”I think Camelot are giving people the wrong impression – the card doesn’t say to look for a colder or warmer temperature, it says to look for a higher or lower number. Six is a lower number than 8. Imagine how many people have been misled.”

From HDNet:

Dan Rather Reports presents conclusive evidence of the failure of touch screen voting machines across the country. The episode, “The Trouble with Touch Screens”, is an entire hour devoted to new information on this story. From scientists involved in testing the equipment, to manufacturers in third world countries who shipped these defective voting machines to the United States, Dan Rather Reports presents new information showing that these defective machines may have altered the outcome of multiple elections.

The Independent’s Johann Hari goes on a cruise with readers of the National Review:

A red-faced man who looks like an egg with a moustache glued on grumbles, ” If the Germans think they can take responsibility for the world, I don’t care about German courts. Bomb them.” I begin to witter on about the Pinochet precedent, and Kate snaps, “Treating Don Rumsfeld like Pinochet is disgusting.” Egg Man pounds his fist on the table: ” Treating Pinochet like that is disgusting. Pinochet is a hero. He saved Chile.”

Max Blumenthal checks out the College Republican National Convention:

Ex-Marine, 72, fights off pickpocket:

Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash.

He immediately grabbed the person’s wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches with his right, landing six or seven blows before a store manager intervened.
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He’s anything but an easy mark: Barnes served in the Marines, was an accomplished Golden Gloves boxer and retired after 20 years as an iron worker.
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“There was blood everywhere,” said another manager on duty, Abby Ostrom, 25.