A New York woman, Margery Tannenbaum, was re-arrested today for further charges due to her posting a Craigslist ad under the guise of her nine year old daughter’s rival that said, “I need a little affection”.  Of course, this resulted in a number of phones being made to the child of those who stood ready to provide this perverted affection.

Her lawyer declined to comment on the specifics of the case, but said that his client is a good person.  In the meantime, another mother across town is surely living in fear of the phone ringing and probably taking monumental efforts to protect her little girl.  Tannenbaum pleaded not guilty when she stood before a judge in May and once again today when she was charged with child endangerment.  She was released without having to post bail.

In a world where kids go missing every day, many of whom are featured on nightly news programs, to purposely place an electronic ad simply because of a rivalry between nine year olds is unthinkable.  Whether or not this woman did it, the ad exists and someone had to have placed it - and it certainly wasn’t the child.  Because the two families happen to be neighbors, it’s doubtful there’ll be a block party this Fourth of July.

Now for the kicker - Tannenbaum was once a social worker and is a licensed psychologist.

The family who was the target of this Craigslist campaign has said that at no time did their daughter answer any of the incoming calls from the twenty-plus men who answered the ad.  Tannenbaum apparently used her own email address and then replied to those interested with the family’s phone number.

This comes on the same day another meddling mother was in the headlines.  This time, the cyberbullying mom, Lori Drew, who relentlessly harassed a young girl on MySpace had her conviction thrown out by a federal judge.  This woman’s hoaxes are what many say led to a 13 year old girl’s suicide.  For now, she’s no longer facing a prison sentence of up to three years nor a $300,000 fine, which her lawyer argued was excessive considering her convictions were misdemeanors.

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client loves her husband and she loves her children.  She’s trying to keep this as private as possible.”  Usher’s lawyers haven’t released any statements, but the divorce papers filed in Atlanta, GA are speaking volumes. 

The reasons for the splitting of the sheets are listed as a hopeless reconciliation and that the marriage is irretrievably broken.  Not only that, but Usher is also seeking at least joint custody of his two sons, one who is less than two years old and another who is six months old.  In the meantime, his wife Tameka has asked the court to ensure her husband continues his financial support until the divorce and custody issues have been decided.  She’s also requested her husband pay her legal fees.

It’s not said where Usher is residing, though it’s most likely outside Atlanta and probably not even in Georgia.  The two were married in August, 2007.  It was his first marriage and her second marriage.  She also has three children from that first marriage.  He says they’ve been separated since July 2008, which, if true, means they separated before they even celebrated their first wedding anniversary.

Tameka Raymond is said to still be recuperating after being hospitalized for severe complications due to liposuction she received in Brazil.  It’s only when the rumors began circulating last week over the imminent filing that she hired Kessler.  The one striking difference in this celebrity divorce and others that have hit the headlines is there doesn’t appear to be any mudslinging….yet.  Hopefully, for the sake of the little ones, these two will remember they’re the adults and that the art of biting one’s tongue will go a long way in the psyches of their kids.

The first court date is set for July 15 in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta.

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Just trying to keep track of the latest battle between makers of acetaminophen, NSAIDS and the FDA is enough to have many of us reaching for a BC for the sudden headache we’ve developed.  Today, the FDA  announced it’s considering tighter restrictions on Tylenol, the brand name for   acetaminophen, due to the high numbers of liver failures each year caused by overdosing on the pain medication and fever reducer.  Tylenol and other makers responded that these restrictions would result in more people using nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as Advil, which, they say cause kidney failure and 5,000 deaths a year and countless lawsuits.

With 2.6 billion dollars a year in profits for Tylenol, they have a lot at stake.  Further, nearly 85% of these profits are due to over the counter sales versus prescriptions of stronger medicines that include Tylenol.  This speaks to the number of people who have inadequate or no health insurance who rely on these over the counter medicines.

Tylenol provided arguments against reducing the recommended dosage of its medicines, which is one option the FDA is considering, saying that the exact label dosage is what seems to be the magic number for those suffering from osteoarthritis.  Seems there’s no middle ground in the pain reliever wars.  One suggestion included pulling multi-medicines, such as those that include sleep-aids or medicines for cold or allergy symptoms, from the market.  The FDA suggested this might be what’s contributing to the high number of liver failures.  While it’s true many take products such as Tylenol PM to induce sleep at night, it’s not uncommon for many users to become used to the standard dosage and find themselves over-medicating with double or more the recommended dosage in order to get to sleep at night.  It could be this will be the middle ground the FDA is searching for, while trying to keep manufacturers of both acetaminophen and NSAIDs happy.

In the meantime, the battle continues.  The FDA insists it’s not interested in making any one pain reliever the “king”, but rather, to reduce the number of liver failures in this country.

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Today was the day Bernie Madoff faced a federal judge to learn his fate.  Neither the judge nor fate was kind.  He received a 150-year prison term for what U.S. District Judge Denny Chin referred to as “extraordinarily evil” misdeeds.  Many of his victims, some one-time millionaires in their own right and others just looking for a way to stretch their nest eggs so carefully cultivated over a lifetime, took the opportunity to be sure the 71-year old crook understood exactly how his actions affected not only their lives, but those of their family members as well.

The gallery in the courtroom agreed with the judge’s sentence as applause erupted.  The judge also told Madoff and his lawyers that he’d received over 100 letters and emails, and not a single one was kind or supportive of Madoff.  Judge Chin said, “The absence of such support is telling”.

Nine victims chose to address Madoff in today’s hearing.  Some of the comments included Madoff being labeled a “monster” and an “evil low life”.  One victim said he stole money so he and his wife, Ruth, could live a life of luxury beyond belief. 

Since the federal prison system has offers no parole, Madoff will die in jail.  To date, there are thousands of victims - individuals, charities, celebrities and other businesses - who are out billions of dollars.  Many say this one Ponzi scheme is one of the reasons the American economy is in such dire straits.

Madoff did have a statement and chose to face those he scammed as he said his apologies, noting he knew it didn’t help. 

His wife released her first statement through her own lawyer that said, in part, “I am embarrassed and ashamed.  Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused.”  It can be read in its entirety here.  Still, she will spend the rest of her life with a 2 million-plus dollar nest egg while many of those victims are now being forced to move in with family members after having lost everything.

Maybe one of those victims said it best outside court, “He stole my money.  He didn’t steal my life.”

Then, in 1976, a substantial new study revealed over 65% of Americans not only supported the death penalty, but wanted it made constitutional again.  The Supreme Court heard the majority loud and clear and after having been satisfied of the changes it had strongly encouraged some four years earlier, the death penalty was once again deemed constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Interestingly, the first execution only a year later was commissioned via the firing squad.  Gary Gilmore, a Utah killer, faced the squad and in a split second, his life was over.  Still, many groups, including Death Penalty Focus, a group committed to abolishing the death penalty once and for all, insist racism is still too big a priority of those deciding the lives of others.   Further, it also reiterates the many who were convicted and executed, only to be found innocent later due to DNA or other evidence not available prior to the execution.  Currently, nearly 130 people across the country who were facing execution dates have been found innocent and not only taken off death row, but released from prison completely exonerated.  To date, there are over 3,300 prisoners who are on death row awaiting conviction.

It becomes difficult to reconcile those who adamantly insist the system is racist, especially since almost 45% of those currently on death row are white.  African Americans follow with slightly less than 42% of the total death row population, followed by Latinos (11.3%), Native Americans (1.10%) and Asian (1.10%).

With so much crime in today’s headlines, each story more evil than the one before, the odds of the death penalty being deemed unconstitutional again in the near future are practically nil.

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psychiatric practices, including the use of medications.  Even before the big Tom Cruise meltdown (which forever changed his image from a Hollywood hero to a disturbing has-been), Scientology had been accused of many wrongdoings, both medically and ethically.  Now, though, a former high-ranking medical official is telling the long overdue tale.

In 1995, a young woman left her Dallas home to join her fellow Scientologists in Florida.  While there, Lisa McPherson gained a “clear” status within the church which meant she was free of pain, trauma and bad feelings (this should’ve been a huge red flag years ago).  Within two weeks of this declaration by the church, she was involved in an automobile accident and was found nude walking the streets and shouting at passersby.  She found herself in a local hospital and was about to receive the mental therapy she clearly was in need of.  Once leaders in the church heard of this, a group of ten showed up and escorted her out of the facility and back to church headquarters.  They told the hospital they opposed psychiatric care on any level and that they would see to her proper medical treatment.

This is where Marty Rathbun says he began lying to outsiders.  He was ordered to reassure anyone who asked about her well-being that she was fine, when in fact, she was far from it.  Over the next seventeen days, she lost close to twelve pounds and had a complete breakdown.  Even when Rathbun called another Scientologist in the area who happened to be a physician, he still followed orders from his own leaders and disregarded the doctor’s insistence of taking her to a hospital.  What Rathbun and others within the church agreed to do was drive forty five minutes to the area in the state where the Scientologist/physician was located, despite her poor condition. Once there, she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Afterwards, church officials ordered any documentation that even documented her existence within the church walls be destroyed.  Rathbun told the group, “Lose ‘em” (referring to these documents). 

The woman’s family filed a wrongful death case against the church and settled for an amount that’s never been disclosed.  Now that Rathbun is no longer under the influence of the church, he’s agreed to come forward and was interviewed by a Florida newspaper.

Meanwhile, church officials continue to deny Rathbun’s story and say he was a “bitter former employee who never climbed as high in the ranks as he’d hoped to”.

Now, another well-known celebrity doctor is being accused of speaking out of turn. Dr. Drew Pinsky has been quoted as saying he’s convinced Lindsay Lohan will get sober one day. This leading comment has many

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believing Lohan is still abusing drugs, alcohol or both. In retaliation, Lohan twittered over the weekend that “real” doctors didn’t discuss such matters in public. It’s true she’s done far more damage to her own image than anyone else possibly could, whether it’s a doctor or some tabloid scrambling for a front page story. In any event, she doesn’t like to be the topic of his conversations.

It’s a fine line physicians, lawyers, psychologists and others in the medical field must walk. They’re bound by their oath of confidentiality. But an across the board general comment such as what the good doctor made about Lohan in no way betrays that oath. Anyone can see she’s troubled. He’s not the first to state the obvious. The fact that it’s not even known whether or not Lohan has ever been a patient of his proves he’s not betrayed the trust as a physician. Seems as though his concerns of something drastic being what finally awakens her has been hashed out in the media for years. Let’s face it, we’ve seen some mighty erratic behavior out of both Spears and Lohan and if it wasn’t due to intoxication, then they certainly need a few lessons in proper etiquette and how to behave in public.

Hopefully, she’ll seek out the guidance of medically trained personnel in the near future. Since Dr. Drew seems to have a head start, it might as well be him.

The girl said she lied because her father was more than a little upset and felt she was going to be in big trouble if she owned up to it.  I doubt she anticipated international interest along with her face being plastered all over the world via the internet.  Unfortunately, she’s also risked the reputation of the tattoo artist who was only doing what was requested of him.  She chose to walk ten miles to tell a lie when two

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steps for the truth would’ve more than sufficed.  Either way, her father was bound to be upset.  I think it’s fair to say any young girl’s father would be upset upon discovering his little girl is now adorned with a tattoo (again, I know from experience).

So now this young woman has in essence gone from one threatening to sue to one who’s now at risk of being sued for the possible damage to the reputation of the tattoo artist.  My guess is he will surely be researching what legal remedies are available to reestablish his reputation, whether they’re civil or possibly even criminal remedies.

As bad it must have been to reveal her new look to her father, I’m wondering how exactly she’s going to explain these stars on a first date.  Surely it’s going to be distracting to look in her eyes over the dinner table when one’s so distracted by the stars that surround them.

There’s a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam that the U.S. is tracking via satellite that left its port on Wednesday.  It’s supposed to be carrying weapons material, which of course is in direct violation of these latest global sanctions.  The military is calling the ship a “repeat offender” since it’s been used in the past to transport nuclear and other damaging materials that can be used should North Korea decide to take on the world.  Other countries are tracking this vessel as well.

What’s so disturbing is the promise made by North Korean leaders that any attempts to thwart its vessels’ missions will be met with a “1000 fold” retaliation effort.  You have to ask yourself, “Do we really know for sure what North Korea is up to and what it has at the ready to back up these threats?”  It could be all talk, then again….

Bottom line is that it took less than one week for North Korea to thumb its nose at these latest sanctions.  As many believed, these threats are falling as short as its current nuclear missile reach.  This small country simply isn’t intimidated.  Hopefully, there won’t be so much time wasted on sanctions that serve no purpose and a more definitive solution can be found that will eliminate the threat this country continues to be.  Although this might leave only one solution, hopefully, it won’t come to a full-scale war, despite North Korea’s apparent insistence that it’s acceptable as far as it’s concerned.

Links to lawyer & lawyers

Barbara Wagner, a Glastonbury, CN councilwoman was arrested for driving while intoxicated a few days ago.  She’s recorded on video as threatening the arresting officers and warning them that she’s the one who approves their salary increases.  She accused one officer who attempted to interview her as being rude, even though the video might indicate otherwise.  After she sobered up, she penned a letter to the city’s Police Chief.  In her letter, she expressed deep regret for her behavior and conduct and said she was embarrassed.  She assured Chief Thomas Sweeney of her intent to redeem herself.  She’s requested admittance into a state alcohol rehabilitation program that’s made available to first time offenders.  If she is granted access to the program and successfully completes treatment, the charges will be dropped.

Meanwhile, in Michigan, another city councilwoman is having her own problems with accusations of illegal activities.  Monica Conyers, whose husband John has been a U.S. representative since 1964, is doing her best to avoid the media and its questions regarding pay-offs from an out of state contractor.  She’s supposedly “Council Member A” in documents that accuse her of taking more than $6,000 for a vote in 2007 that gave a $47 million dollar contract to a company in Houston.  The company, Synagro Technologies, recycles sludge from a wastewater treatment plant.  One Synagro contractor has already pleaded guilty to bribery.  Ray Jackson testified that he gave the money to Conyers.  He will be sentenced later this month. 

There have been no charges for Conyers, although she fully expects to be charged.  This will be a high price for a mere $6,000 pay-off, especially for a contract that was worth close to $50 million.  Hardly worth it, no doubt.  Her husband, who’s nearly forty years her senior, is certainly wondering why she would take such a risk that jeopardized not only her career, but his too.