Yeetle Box - Another Word Bites The Dust

The Special Olympics launched a campaign Tuesday to banish the word "retard," a casual insult that derives from an out-of-favor medical term and has long been considered inappropriate by people who are not retarded.

People with cognitive disabilities signed pledges not to use the word, and students who have never worked with the population gathered to denounce its use at rallies from Florida to Alaska. Over the long-term, organizers hope to change attitudes about people with mental disabilities, who number more than 190 million worldwide, according to the World Health Organization - which is retarded since the World Health Organization would do more for HEALTH than to ban a word.

"It's insulting, it's painful and it hurts people," said actor Eddie Barbanell, who has Down syndrome and appeared in the movie "The Ringer." "Get that word out! End the word! Bury it!" Eddie was then placed in a timeout room until he calmed down.

"People with intellectual disabilities themselves really mounted a movement that they did not want to be referred to with the word 'retarded,'" he slurred. "Why can't people just call us what we are - morons?"

As such, the American Association of Mental Retardation changed its name in 2007 to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, thereby lengthening their name, and, therefore, right-sizing their name. In another sign that the formal use of the term "mentally retarded" had lost currency, The Associated Press replaced it in its stylebook in 2008 with "mentally disabled," though even that term is considered offensive by some since it places the emphasis on the DIS-ability and not the A-bility. It's a fine distinction.

Those seeking to end the term's use face a difficult battle.

"This word is deeply ingrained in our psyche - and in the South. It is used frequently on South Park and by school children across the country. It comes up in a lot of different contexts," said Andrew Imparato, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of People With Disabilities. "We have to kind of call it out and start a conversation about why it's not OK to use the word."

Among the signatures collected Tuesday were several that belonged to governors: In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — whose mother-in-law founded Special Olympics — signed a proclamation to stop using the word. Governor Schwarzenegger prefers the word "retahded."

But the manpower behind the "Spread the Word to End the Word" campaign comes from the students who devised the campaign last month during a Special Olympics youth summit in Idaho and organized rallies around the country while not paying attention to the word "special" in Special Olympics and the negative connotations that phrase has. Nor did they acknowledge that the Special Olympics serves as a way to showcase the disability rather than the ability.

In Florida, an upstart idiot, 16-year-old Noah Gray organized a rally for some 600 students at Miami Palmetto Senior High School that featured a rap performance and a speech by Barbanell about his experiences of being called a "retard." As we know, any political cause gains momentum when expressed as a rap song, followed by a speech.

"Like many other high school students and adults, I used to use the word 'retarded' all the time," said Gray, who was invited to speak at last month's youth summit. "Since coming down from the Special Olympics, I have not used that word once ... and I'm discouraging other people" from using it. "Instead, I am asking people to use the words "slow" or "sandwich short of a picnic."

'The R-word'At Bowie High School in Maryland, experienced and well-established in the field of linguistic torture, 18-year-old Shannan Barksdale helped gather 861 pledges that will be sent to the Special Olympics organization. During the school's lunch periods, Barksdale yelled, "Say no to the R-word!" and urged students to sign pledges - though, in reality, the students who signed the pledges thought the "R-word" referred to "renaissance," a period of artistic explosion the students hated to study.

"The word should be eliminated from everyone's vocabulary," she said. "Even as I speak, I realize the word "retarded" should be eliminated completely. If we use the word "retarded," we are hurting the retarded people we are trying to help. That's just retarded."

Special Olympics has enlisted actor John C. McGinley of the TV show "Scrubs" as a spokesman for the campaign. (How retarded is that? Scrubs?) McGinley, whose 11-year-old son has Down syndrome, said many people don't realize the word is hateful - even when used among people living in Democracies whose Bill of Rights guarentees free speech.

"It's important to get under way before we all become retarded."

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Trash Talking

In a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed on March 20 by Maria Jimenez, the 48-year-old housekeeper claims that Vanessa Bryant, wife and ultimate forgiverer of NBA All-Star Kobe Bryant, verbally abused her and humiliated her while she worked for the couple.

Jimenez alleges that Vanessa "badgered and harassed her. Trashed talked me like it was the finals or something."

She also forced Jimenez to perform demeaning tasks such as digging into a bag of feces to retrieve a price tag for an expensive blouse Jimenez put in the washer. The Bryants have not disclosed the origin of the feces but admit they did keep a bag of feces in the house.

In addition, Jimenez claims that Mrs. Bryant called her “lazy,” “slow,” “dumb,” and a “liar,” with some profanity mixed in with the adjectives. "She talkin' to me like she gonna posterize me."

Jimenez says she tried to quit, but stayed after Kobe Bryant convinced her to stay, offered her a $2million dollar ring (It worked before!), and Vanessa apologized. Despite the apology, Bryant’s wife continued to yell at Jimenez.

The Bryants released a statement through the law firm Loeb & Loeb LLP stating that Jimenez’s claims are “totally unfounded and patently false.”

"The Bryants intend to vigorously defend against these untruthful allegations and are confident that the baseless nature of the allegations will be proven," the statement said. "The idea that one of the games all-time great players' wife would conduct herself in an abusive and demeaning manner after dealing with rape charges against her husband seems totally implausible."

Jimenez is suing for more than $127,000 in unpaid medical benefits, more than $20,000 in unpaid wages and an unspecified dollar amount in general and punitive damages.

Loeb and Loeb LLP stated, "She's a gold digger - plain and simple."

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - You Know You Are A Redneck When...

YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - This Bobcat Walks Into a Bar...

This bobcat walked into a bar in Cottonwood and attacked three people. The bobcat, a frequent patron of the bar, seemed to have a few too many and began cursing, growling, and biting patrons at random. Witnesses indicated the bobcat was a former employer for AIG. This could not be confirmed.

Though it wasn't clear how seriously the victims had been injured, Cottonwood police say the animal attacked Monday when it scratched a woman who thought she had hit it with her car. She only thought she had, but could not identify beyond doubt that that was the actual bobcat she hit.

Then police got a report of a bobcat acting aggressively toward a woman outside a Pizza Hut. Apparently, the woman had cut in line before ordering, angering the bobcat.

Later came the call from the bar that a bobcat was inside as patrons climbed atop bar stools to get away. The bobcat strutted around the bar, growling, "I ain't gonna bite ya. The hell I'm not!"

No one knows why.

Officers called to the Chapparal Bar in Cottonwood arrived to find the bobcat in the parking lot, where they shot and killed it.

Services for the bobcat will be held on Saturday and the Cottonwood Church for Alcoholic Animals.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Lifestyles of the Rich and Psychic

The Gallup Organization conducted a survey of the beliefs of the general United States population regarding paranormal topics. 41 percent of those polled believed in extrasensory perception and 26 percent believed in clairvoyance. Thirty-one percent of those surveyed indicated that they believe in telepathy or psychic
communication.

Somewhere in these survey results lie two once believers, now non-believers.

To whit:

(a) A 27-year-old “psychic” was sentenced to two months in jail in San Jose, Calif., in December after somehow convincing a woman, who had come to her for a $10 reading, to pay her, in ever-increasing increments, $108,000 for a “spiritual cleansing.” A colon cleansing would have been cheaper - and more satisfying.

(b) Charles Silveira filed a lawsuit in March in Morristown, N.J., to recover the $250,000 he had incrementally paid to a “psychic,” who said she needed to make a golden statue for him to ward off negativity. The woman also convinced Silveira to buy her a $700,000 home, but that house is in Silveira’s name, and he has asked a court’s permission to evict her.

A colon cleansing is cheaper.

Two colon cleansings.

Three! Three colon cleansings.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - How Does It Feel

Bob Dylan's California neighbors, Cindy and David Emminger, a family living near the 67-year-old folk and rock icon's house in the posh California beachside community of Malibu have complained to city officials about an outdoor portable toilet, which is apparently used by guards on Dylan's compound.

Cindy and David Emminger say the toilet wafts fumes from waste treatment chemicals, and that the smell carried by breezes from the Pacific Ocean makes their family feel ill.

"It's a scandal — 'Mr Civil Rights' is killing our civil rights," said a defiant David Emminger, holding a handkerchief over his face. "Feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door."

Meanwhile, a helicopter from a local television station hovered over Dylan's property this week, capturing video of the offending toilet. The pilot of the helicopter stated just hovering over the property made him ill. "Wow," he said. "I love Dylan's music, but phew...somethin's blowin' in the wind down there, but it ain't me, babe."

Shortly thereafter firefighters were called to Dylan's home to whiff the toilet odors. Said the Fire Chief, "Never smelled anything like it - ever. I guess he's getting to that age when he was so much older then. He's younger than that now."

But Malibu Mayor Andy Stern said other neighbors report smelling nothing from the toilet, and that he has left the matter to the enforcers of the city's code on objectionable odors. (That fact that there is a city code on objectionable odors is interesting in itself. But I regress...)

"I really have not involved myself in Bob Dylan's toilet, and by the way I haven't involved myself in anyone else's toilet in Malibu," Stern said, just to be certain that he was not singling out a known celebrity. "You see," he added, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

A spokesman for Dylan stated he expected the situation was temporary as the weather forecast indicated a hard rain was a'gonna fall.

Something is happening, but we don't know what it is. Do we, Mr. Jones?

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - AIG Predicts Huge Loss

Talking tougher by the hour, livid Democrats confronted beleaguered insurance giant AIG with an ultimatum Tuesday: Give back $165 million in post-bailout bonuses or watch Congress tax it away with emergency legislation.

So there!

Republicans, who have very little to add to this discussion, declared the Democrats were hardly blameless, accusing them of standing by while the bonus deal was cemented and suggesting that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner could and should have done more. Republicans also stood by for six years as this behemoth of an insurance company raped the insurance industry.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reported that 73 separate company employees received bonus checks of $1 million or more last Friday. This at a company that was failing so spectacularly the government felt the need to prop it up with a $170 billion bailout. Cuomo said, "Can you believe that a company whose sole goal is to make a lot of money took a lot of money when it was given? Unbelievable!"

The financial bailout program remains politically unpopular even though the plan began under his predecessor, George W. Bush - who is nowhere to be found. The White House is well aware of the nation's bailout fatigue — anger that hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars have gone to prop up financial institutions that made poor decisions, while many others who have done no wrong have paid the price - except George W. Bush who is rumored to be writing his memoirs, tentatively titled, "You Just Don't Get It."

AIG chief executive Edward Liddy, no relative to G. Gordon Libby or Watergate fame, can expect a verbal pummeling Wednesday when he testifies before a House subcommittee and maybe even some sour rhetorical questions for which he has no answer.

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, suggested that if the AIG executives had any integrity, they would return the $165 million in bonus money. One leading Republican even suggested they might honorably kill themselves, then said he didn't really mean it, but Rush Limbaugh made him say it.

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., lisped that the government, through the bailout, is now an 80 percent owner of the company and suggested that was grounds to sue to recover the bonuses.

However, the ever astute Republicans said President Obama and his administration should have leaned harder on AIG executives to reject the extra pay, raising some speculation over Geithner's future.

"I don't know if he should resign over this," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala. "He works for the president of the United States. But I can tell you, this is just another example of where he seems to be out of the loop. Treasury should have let the American people know about this. Not last year's this. This year's this."

At least three Democratic bills and one Republican measure were introduced to crack down on the Treasury Department and stiffen rules for recipients of bailout funds. Two bills in the House aimed to impose a 100 percent tax on the bonuses.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - He Shoots! He....Shoots!

Once again, tragedy has struck Iraqi soccer - a tragedy in a long string of Iraqi soccer tragedies.

During victory celebrations following a match on Saturday between the Shiite villages of Sinjar and Enana, a fan accidentally shot the victorious goalie to death, the police in Babil Province said.

During the celebrations, an off-duty policeman started firing his pistol in the air (you know how they do that when they're happy), but lost control of the pistol. A bullet struck the Sinjar goalie, an 18-year-old high school senior named Mohammed Amin, in the head, killing him instantly.

There was no indication of foul play - other than the fact that the goalie was killed. In fact, the policeman was himself a Sinjar fan. Sinjar had won the game 2-1.

The officer, Jawad Kadham, 28, has been charged with recklessly discharging an official weapon and with negligent homicide. He remains in custody.

The family of the goalie is demanding so-called blood money from the policeman, the police said.

Word of the incident comes two days after an Iraqi soccer player was shot dead by a fan just as he was about to kick what could have been the tying goal. It appears the two shootings occurred on the same day.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box -

Malaysian police said a man shot his neighbor, mistaking her for a monkey as she was picking sapodilla fruit in his tree. Why she was in the tree picking fruit in still to be determined.

Yahaya Othman, police chief in eastern Pahang state, said the woman was gathering fruit Thursday when her neighbor shot her.

The man came home and saw rustling in the tree and fired into it, Yahaya said. "Then there was screaming ... and only then did he know it was his neighbor - which sounded much like a monkey scream."

The woman was hospitalized with a wound to the abdomen, but her condition was stable Friday. She is scheduled for plastic surgery some time next week.

Police are investigating the man, a volunteer security corps member, for illegally discharging a firearm at a monkey, which carries a maximum prison term of two years. If police determine he was discharging his firearm at a woman, he will receive community service.

Throughout Malaysia, it is very common to see wild monkeys. Although monkeys can look extremely cute, they can become quite aggressive.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Brick-Sucking Vampire Found In Italy

An archaeological dig near Venice has unearthed the 16th-century remains of a woman with a brick stuck between her jaws — evidence, experts say, that she was believed to be a vampire.

The well-preserved skeleton was found in 2006 on the Lazzaretto Nuovo island, north of the lagoon city, amid other corpses buried in a mass grave during an epidemic of plague that hit Venice in 1576 - one many experts believe occurred during the period known as "The Reign of the Brick Sucking Vampires."

Said Matteo Borrini, a forensic archaeologist and anthropologist at Florence University who has studied the case over the last two years. "For the first time we have found evidence of legitimate vampire population."

At that time vampires presented disturbing appearance of decomposing bodies, Borrini told The Associated Press by telephone - during the day, outside, in the sunlight.

Mass graves were often reopened to bury fresh corpses and diggers would chance upon older bodies that were bloated, with blood seeping out of their mouth and with an inexplicable hole in the shroud used to cover their face.

"These characteristics are all tied to the resting of vampire bodies," Borrini said. "They saw a fat, dead person, full of blood and with a hole in the shroud, so they would say: 'This guy is alive, he's drinking blood and eating his shroud.' A conclusion with which we firmly agree."

What passed for scientific texts taught that "shroud-eaters" were vampires who fed on the cloth and cast a spell that would spread the plague in order to increase their ranks. To kill the undead creatures, the stake-in-the-heart method popularized by later literature was not enough: A stone or brick had to be forced into the vampire's mouth so that it would starve to death.

That's what is believed to have happened to the woman found on the Lazzaretto island, which was used as a quarantine zone by Venice. Aged around 60, she lay in waiting for the brick to be removed so she may feast again.

Much later, someone, no doubt a Vampire Brick Layer, jammed the brick into her mouth when the grave was reopened. Borrini said that marks and breaks left by blunt instruments on several among more than 100 skeletons found by the archaeologists show that the grave was reused in a later uprising of the more advanced "Blood-Sucking Vampires," popularized in fiction and film.

Unfortunately, the media has put a different spin on these events, leading us to believe the vampires never existed at all - particularly the Brick-Sucking variety.

"Maybe a priest or a gravedigger put the brick in her mouth, which is what was normally done in such cases," Mannucci said. "Priests hoarded bricks for such occasions."

Jews were also often accused of spreading vampirism, and, anthropologists point to the brief period of the "Goyim-Sucking era" as evidence of the Jews link to vampirism.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Today's International News....

McGruff attacked by ‘funny’ bus driver

District officer Tyrone Hardy, dressed in a McGruff the Crime Dog costume to hand out flyers to children in northwest Washington, was punched by a bus driver - as he should have been.

According to the Washington Examiner, the 38-year-old bus driver, Shawn Brim, “stopped, got out and adjusted his mirrors and then cold-cocked McGruff in the head with a closed fist.”

Brim then drove off as McGruff stumbled, and children who had witnessed the incident were screaming, "Get up, McGruff!" Several police officers who were there with McGruff immediately followed and caught Brim.

Brim later told his supervisor that he was trying to “take a bite out of crime.” Brim has been charged with simple assault.

Woman gives boyfriend extra special birthday kiss

Tracy Davies, a 40-year-old woman from Gateshead, England, stands the charge of one count of causing grievous bodily harm with intent for biting off a portion of her boyfriend’s tongue on his birthday. And that's not the bad part.

Davies’ boyfriend, Mark Coghill, met Tracy through a newspaper ad for singles with a tongue fetish. The couple had been dating and were celebrating Coghill’s 45th birthday. The pair had planned to meet for dinner and drinks. They were also witnessed purchasing two bottles of vodka.

Davies was reportedly upset that she had been trying to have a baby and was not pregnant - no matter how many times she tongued the men in her life. Coghill comforted her with a tongue lashing. Afterwards, Davies told Coghill she loved him and asked him to kiss her with his tongue - all sloppy and passionate in the hopes that she would get pregnant.

She bit down hard.

When Coghill pulled away, the piece of tongue was left in Davies’ mouth.

She dropped it on the floor.

When authorities arrived at the residence, Davies had put the piece of tongue in a plastic bag and handed it to the police, asking if they could please inseminate her with the tip of Coghill's tongue.

Coghill was brought to the emergency room, but surgeons were unable to reattach the piece of tongue due to fear of infection.

Coghill was quoted as saying, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhhhh."

And that's the bad part.

Modern Toilet – a new restaurant

Modern Toilet is a Taiwanese restaurant that is branching out across Asia. The restaurant lives up to its name keeping with a bathroom theme.

“Every customer sits on a stylish acrylic toilet (lid down) designed with images of roses, seashells or Renaissance paintings,” said Natalie Tso on Time.com. “Everyone dines at a glass table with a sink underneath. The servers bring your meal atop a mini toilet bowl (quite convenient, as it brings the food closer to your mouth), you sip drinks from your own plastic urinal (a souvenir), and soft-swirl ice cream arrives for dessert atop a dish shaped like a squat toilet. It really is one-stop dining / relief.”

Despite being bathroom-themed, the food at Modern Toilet is very reasonably priced, and the restaurant is very clean...usually.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Heads I Win

Two California lawmakers are at war - over a parking space.

When a veteran Oakland City Council member left office, it set off a battle between Desley Brooks and Jean Quan for the outgoing official's spot at the side door of City Hall - prime real estate for those with a sense of self-importance.

The brouhaha landed in the laps of Council President Jane Brunner and City Attorney John Russo, who ruled the combatants should flip a coin - as is based on California statute when minor public officials behave like children.

Quan has agreed, but Brooks has not. He stated he would be willing to engage in a Thumb War instead.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Tie Me Kangaroo Down

An Australian man fought off a feisty intruder and saved his family over the weekend - to whit, a kangaroo!

A kangaroo—about 90 pounds—bounded into Beat Ettlin’s home near Canberra early Sunday morning, offended at Mr. Ettlin's remarks at a local pub - that evolution was a hoax.

Proving to the kangaroo that Mr. Ettlin was a sandwich shy of a picnic, Mr Ettlin stated that upon seeing the kangaroo, his first thought was that the intruder bouncing on his bed was a “lunatic ninja” that had come through the window.

Laughing, the ‘roo hopped into Mr. Ettlin's son’s room to bounce on that bed as well. Mr. Ettlin responded boldly and got it into a headlock, wrestled it toward the front door and pushed it out into the darkness, screaming, "CREATION, YA DAMNED 'ROO!!!

The ordeal lasted a few minutes and left gouges in the woodwork and a trail of blood on the floor. Ettlin is still nursing some scratches from the Darwinian - touting marsupial.

Experts say kangaroos rarely invade homes—but they have in the past when offended.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Gates 12:5

Roman Catholic bishops in Italy are urging the faithful to go on a high-tech fast for Lent, switching off modern appliances from cars to iPods and abstaining from surfing the Web or text messaging until Easter - as is written in Gates 12:5.

This demonstrates the Church's increasing focus on technology's uses — with many of the Lenten appeals posted on various dioceses' Web sites.
Dioceses and Catholic groups in Modena, southern Bari and other cities have called for a ban on text messaging every Friday in Lent, which began last week with Ash Wednesday, including phrases such as "God Bless You," Jesus Loves You," or even "John 4:15."

The diocese said the "no SMS day" seeks to draw attention to years of conflict in Congo fueled in part by the struggle for control of coltan mines, an essential material in cell phones.

In addition, the Turin diocese is suggesting the faithful not watch television during Lent. In the northeastern city of Trento, the church has created a "new lifestyles" calendar with proposals for each week of Lent. Among their many great suggestions for honoring Lent and focusing on the spiritual:

• Leave cars at home and hop on a bike or a bus,
  
• Stop throwing chewing gum on the street,
  
• Start recycling waste,
  
• Enjoy the silence of a week without the Internet and iPods.

Each of these are addressed directly in Christ's teachings and violate the "four forgotten commandments."

Some say Lenten abstinence should be a personal matter, in line with giving up meat for lent, though fish can be eaten in abundance. Others contend that people who need technology to work shouldn't be asked to do without.

"What does giving up mean? Does it mean go without? Or Does it mean denouncement? If the use is capricious, then abstinence is welcome, but if technology is needed for work it makes no sense," said the Rev. Giancarlo Angelo Andreis, a priest at a Rome basilica, sort of twisting two subjects into one incoherent statement.

The Church is trying to balance an increasing appreciation of modern communication with a wariness of new media. Why? Well, because.

Ironically, in January, the Vatican launched its own YouTube channel, with Pope Benedict XVI welcoming viewers to this "great family that knows no borders." Benedict praised social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace for forging friendships and understanding, but cautioned that online networking could isolate people from real social interaction - as he demonstrated by using YouTube to reach the masses.



The pope has also warned about what he has called the tendency of entertainment media to trivialize sex and promote violence, but did not expand as he was late for a meeting to discuss the abuse of acolytes in the church.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Cow Urine Soda Is Coming

For those who did not believe me,

I told you so!

A hardline Hindu organisation is testing a soft drink with cow urine, which many Hindus believe is sacred and has medicinal properties. The RSS, which opposes Western imports, wants the bovine beverage to outsell the likes of Coca Cola and Pepsi. It is the latest attempt of the RSS, which has been accused of violence in the past, to cleanse India of Western influence.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - The Myth of Mental Illness

A study, conducted by the World Health Organization and the Iraqi government, found that Iraqis have suffered from a surprisingly low rate of severe mental disorders such as PTSD, which officials said indicated resilience in the face of decades of war and hardship. Military officials were encouraged with the results of the study as it sets the stage for repeated future invasions without concern for "civilian causalities."

The findings showed that nearly 17 percent of a random sample of 4,332 Iraqis over the age of 18 surveyed had suffered from a mental disorder in their lifetime, ranging from post-traumatic stress disorder to depression. Relatively speaking, this is a very low number, giving the WHO and the Iraqui government confidence that they can eradicate mental illness in the beleaguered country.

"This ability of the Iraqi people to overcome difficulties gives great hope for a better future," Iraqi Health Minister Saleh al-Hasnawi said at a conference to release the report. "We have to fight the discrimination against those who have cured themselves of mental illness. We believe we owe a great debt to our 'Pee On Mental Illness' initiative. We have issued key chains to those who do not demonstrate any signs of mental illness." (Below)

Much has been documented about the mental effect of war on the U.S.-led forces in Iraq, but the study sought to cast attention on the Iraqi people.

Nearly 70 percent of those who suffered from a mental disorder also said they had considered suicide - suicide bombing, that is. The authors said the overall figure suggested that Iraqis have adapted remarkably to trauma as a way of life after nearly six years of brutal conflict and previous suffering under Saddam Hussein.

"They eventually get inured to the stress. They have challenged the psychiatric community by overcoming all kinds of mental disorders. It has become a part of life," Kessler said. "Democracy has taken root, and we are pleased."

Iraq's mental health system, along with other institutions, has been depleted of professionals after many fled the country to escape the violence. Those who stayed behind sought to understand this phenomenon and have suggested that routine bombing, destruction, and invasion by a foreign force might prove key to eliminating common psychiatric disorders in the United States.

Researchers said they were particularly surprised by the relatively low number of cases of PTSD — just over 3.5 percent of respondents. But even those were suspected as Iraq has experienced a high degree of malingering as the United States efforts have had such a positive side effect that Iraq is becoming known as the mental health country of the world.

"The most important finding here is the decreasing prevalence of mental disorders, particularly PTSD, across the generations," said Mario Maj, the president of the World Psychiatric Association. "This may be a function of the intergenerational increase in sectarian violence, and the key to solving a significant problem of our returning soldiers."

"Society should know that mental problems are important. They should know that they can be addressed," Maj said.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Dog Days

• On the Open Road: A 70-lb. pit bull jumped on a car's gearshift at a carwash in Pryor, Okla., in November, sending the car out of the bay, to circle the lot briefly.
  
  
• And a boxer-shar-pei mix similarly jostled the gearshift of a van in Port Jefferson, N.Y., in November, sending it through the front window of the Cool Beanz coffee shop.

• On the Firing Line: Oregon State Police said a gunshot into a boat on Tillamook Bay in November was probably caused by a Labrador's jumping on a 12-gauge shotgun while the boat was unattended.
  
  


• And a 19-year-old man had several toes shot off on a hunting trip in January in Forrest City, Ark., when his dog jumped onto a shotgun in the front seat of his truck.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Government at Work

A 69-year-old man angry about being put on hold has been charged with threatening to kill a Social Security Administration worker.

Police said the man called a Social Security answering service in New York because he was upset about not receiving his check.

He told police he was on hold for more than 30 minutes, and when a supervisor finally told him she couldn't help, he said he was going to kill the first person he met at the Social Security office in Keene.

The office was closed as a precaution. The man was arrested at his home and charged with criminal threatening.

He said he was frustrated and said something stupid.

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - I'm Lovin' It

Authorities say a Florida woman called 911 three times after McDonald's employees told her they were out of Chicken McNuggets.

27-year-old Fort Pierce resident Latreasa L. Goodman told authorities she paid for a 10-piece but was informed the restaurant had run out of the delectable goodies.

She says she was refused a refund and told all sales were final. A cashier told police she offered Goodman a larger portion of different food for the same price, but Goodman became irate.

"This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn’t have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don’t want one," Goodman told police. "This is an emergency."

Police say Goodman was cited on a misuse of 911 charge.

A McDonald's spokesman says Goodman should have been given a refund, and she's being sent a gift card for a free meal.

Ms. Goodman's attorney was unable to comment while chewing on a Whopper.



The YeetleMasters

Yeetle Box - All In The Family

Tittleman Fauatea, 25, was charged yesterday with second-degree murder in connection with the stabbing of Asa Yamashita, a 43-year-old mother of two from Ewa.

Family members of the man accused of stabbing to death a popular Waianae High School educator on Friday described him as "weird" but said they do not think he is violent since stabbing a woman is not considered a violent act in Hawaii, traditionally.

"I don't think he did 'em," said his niece Linga, who only gave her first name. "He usually keep to himself. He one mellow guy, just like my dad. And my dad never stabbed no one no how 'cept that one time. He was really mellow at the time, too."

She added, "I know he not going do that for no reason. There probably was a reason why he went knife her. She probably asked him to do 'er."

According to a police affidavit released yesterday, on Friday before the stabbing, Fauatea went into Longs Drugs at Ewa Town Center (NOT a violent act) and purchased a foot-long kitchen knife (NOT a violent act). He handed a wad of money to the cashier (NOT a violent act) and walked off without the change (NOT a violent act). Then he went toward the Ewa Seed Co., unwrapping the knife, police said, noting that unwrapping a knife was not a violent act in itself.

Yamashita was sitting on a bench eating a bowl of noodles when Fauatea knocked the noodles out of her hand and started stabbing her at about 1:45 p.m., police said. The noodles were unharmed and still edible, according to police.

Yamashita stumbled into the Lovely Nails II salon for help, and Fauatea walked away from the shopping center with the knife. the Lovely Nails II salon noted they had a BOGOF special at the time.

At 1:51 p.m. a police officer saw Fauatea kneeling in the right shoulder of Fort Weaver Road, makai of Geiger Road. The officer reported that as he pulled up, Fauatea raised his hands and placed them on the back of his head. Fauatea complied with orders and lay down. He was arrested without incident at 1:51 p.m. Does this sound like anyone other than a mellow man? Nope!

Police found the knife believed to be used in the stabbing in the bushes on Geiger Road.

Yamashita was taken to a hospital, where she died at 2:23 p.m. from unknown causes.

Fauatea remained in custody yesterday in lieu (or "luau" as they say in Hawaii) of $500,000 bail.

Linga said she knew her uncle only as "T-man" and that he used to baby-sit her and her older sister when she was under 10. He cooked and "did everything for us. He even taught us to whittle."

"I know he not that psycho," she said. "Everybody that meets him thinks that he's psycho. But that was Norman Bates at that hotel. Not T-man."

Linga said he would tell her about his many girlfriends and would ask questions as if in the middle of a conversation.

"He would just talk to you for no reason," she said.

Surprisingly, family members also said Fauatea told them he spent time in Hawaii State Hospital in Kaneohe for people with mental illnesses.

"When his dad passed away, that's when everything went downhill," Linga said without explanation. "Deep down, I know he didn't do 'em."

The YeetleMaster

Yeetle Box - Mellow Yellow

India is recognized as a world leader in promoting the health benefits of urine. No wonder, then, that India seeks to ensure its dominance by the end of the year as plans for a cow-urine-based soft drink are underway.

Om Prakash, chief of the Cow Protection Department of the RSS organization (India's largest Hindu nationalist group), trying to reassure a Times of London reporter in February, promised, "It won't smell like urine and will be tasty, too."

He noted that medicinal herbs would be added and toxins removed. In addition to improved health, he said, India needs a domestic (and especially Hindu) beverage to compete with the foreign influence of Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

So, Coca-Cola might be using India's clean water to manufacture the soft drink, but can it match this?

They call it Mellow Yellow.


The Yeetlemaster