Thursday, April 29, 2004
It Wasn't Mine It Was The Roosters
HIGH TIMES News
Unfortunately, this guy lost in court. Otherwise it would have set a rather convenient precedent. The Associated Press reports: A Nicaraguan defence lawyer whose client is facing cocaine charges argued Thursday the narcotics were actually in the possession of the suspect's rooster and two hens. Prosecutors dismissed the claim as "absurd and impertinent." On Saturday, police found 67.3 kilograms of cocaine and a revolver hidden in a cage housing a fighting rooster and two hens in the parking lot of a cockfighting den controlled by Francisco Armando Rivera.
Man Im so cracked out i was just trying to get these hens high so they would fuck me. But those fucking cops had too fuck everything up.
Rivera was arrested and charged with cocaine possession but his lawyer, Manuel Urbina, said his client was never in possession of the narcotics. "The drugs were in the possession of a rooster and two hens and the law is very clear that whoever is in possession of the drugs is the one who should be accused," Urbina said.
Everybody Wants Bigger Rims.
And They Don't Stop.
DANTE SPELLER’S gleaming, 20-inch rims sparkle in the sun like diamonds. The chrome monsters jack up the gray Mazda Millenia parked in the driveway of his Portsmouth home.
Speller, 24, an Army security officer, spent $3,500 to decorate his tires with custom chrome. He’s invested more than $8,000 on after-market accessories, including five TVs, a DVD player and stereo system.
Now he is eager to move on to the crown jewels of rims: 21 inches or more. “The biggest rims are the prettiest,” he said.
These days, chrome wheels are big business, transforming ordinary auto parts into urban fashion statements. The bigger they are, the better.
To upgrade to 21-inch wheels — 16-inch might be considered standard for a car this size — Speller would need to trade in his 20s and pay another $1,500 for a set. If the oversized rims don’t fit his Millenia, he might buy a new car. It’s going to make him the envy of his friends and attract attention from the ladies. Or so he says.
“It’s all about who can have the best.” Five years ago, the most popular rims — known as dubs — had a 20-inch circumference. Now those are dwarfed by 22-, 24- and even 26-inchers.
These look like what I have on my truck. I have 22" Giovanni Anzio Rims with the Spintek Mask for the spinner. I got a really good deal from one of my homeboys I sold him my rims that i had on my Tahoe for a good price so he hooked me up on these. if i would have went to a car shop and bought these I would have spent about $4,500 on rims and tires and then spent another grand on the spinners. As you can see this shit gets pretty expensive. Its hard work to look as pretty as I do.
“It’s a status thing,” said Warren Lee Durand, owner of Lee’s Tires and Rims, an after-market accessory shop in Norfolk. About 40 to 45 percent of the store’s business comes from the high-end wheels, which start at about $3,000 a set, he said. Durand, who opened Lee’s 18 years ago, estimated his store has fitted custom rims on at least 8,000 vehicles since 2000. The demand for flashier, more expensive rims is growing annually, he said.
“People typically want the biggest rims that can fit on their vehicle,” Durand said. Lee’s most popular rims are still 20-inchers, he added, because they’re more affordable than the larger sizes.
Rims can cost as much as $4,500 per wheel. Some people put pricey custom wheels on junkers worth far less than the wheels themselves. Credit rap music for the craze. Rims have been the subject of rap songs since the mid-1990s.
“You see the Bentley got the 20-inch chrome, ya heard me?” — “U Heard Me,” 50 Cent
“I put dubs on cars — when I ride, I’m fly.” — “#1 Stunna” by the Big Tymers
“We thuggin’, rollin’ on dubs, off up in the club, whylin’ like what.” — “We Thuggin’,” Fat Joe featuring R. Kelly
Rims are “like a culture,” complete with their own language, said Alex Irwin, 27, a salesman at Lee’s Tires and Rims. Some of it is popularized by celebrities who flaunt them in videos or on TV. Shaquille O’Neal pointed to the chrome 22’s on his red Mercedes Benz on the MTV show “Cribs.” Wheels themselves have their own argot. They are “twinkies,” “blades,” “shoes” and “sneakers.” The 23-inch wheels are often called “Jordans,” a reference to Michael Jordan’s jersey number.
Cars, Irwin said, are a significant part of the rap image these days. They’re the new jewelry.
For some young people, it is embarrassing to have factory wheels. The only thing worse would be hubcaps.
“You can have a car completely done up, but if you have factory wheels on it, people would laugh at it,” Speller said. Chrome wheels haven’t always been in vogue. Ten years ago, there were only a few designer rim producers. In 1991, U.S. sales of custom rims were $1.26 billion, according to the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association. Today, the custom-wheel industry is a $3.23 billion-a-year business, with about 150 companies. Specific models, sold under brand names like Lexani, Lowenhart, Vault, Limited and Milano can sell for up to $15,000 a set. The wheels that command the biggest price tags are Sprewells, named for Latrell Sprewell, the New York Knicks player who owns Sprewell Racing. They keep spinning like pinwheels even after the car has stopped.
Patricia McDonald, bookkeeper at Joe’s Tires and Rims in Norfolk, said plus-sized rims still have a few kinks in them, especially when they’re put on thinner tires. The ride becomes bumpier, she said. “But most people who buy them don’t care about that,” she said. “They want them for the looks.”
Car manufacturers such as Dodge and Saturn have jumped on the chrome bandwagon, designing “customizable” vehicles that allow drivers to choose rims as big as 20 inches.
Durand said he has seen some older customers — men in their 40’s and 50’s — buy rims for their luxury cars. But the typical buyer is still a teenager or a man in his early 20s.
Tyrell Beamon, 28, owns a black 2000 Cadillac Escalade decked out with six TVs, a camera in the license plate, headrests that read “Beam,” tinted windows and a backseat full of 12-inch woofers.
But his 26-inch Bazo spinning rims offer a serious gawk factor when he stops at a red light and they keep spinning.
“They’re guaranteed to spin four minutes after you stop,” said Beamon, a gospel music producer. His fancy rims cost him $17,000. He has invested about $35,000 in souping up his SUV — $3,000 more than he spent on the vehicle itself.
His Car Is Pretty Clean I Wish I Could Have Got A Picture Of My Homeboys Tahoe That He Had. It Had 24's and a Escalade Front Clip. He Was Doing The Damn Fool.
But Beamon doesn’t advise people to buy the high-priced rims if they can’t really afford them.
“It’s a shame that a lot of these kids out here are dumping their paychecks straight into wheels, not caring about a savings account or a new house,” he said.
For those who can’t afford it, local rim stores have financing plans.
Steven Bryant, a 19-year-old Tidewater Community College student, plans to spend about $150 a month for his $2,500 new wheels, complete with chrome rims, on his 1995 Chrysler Sebring. Bryant, who lives with his mom in Chesapeake, has 18-inch rims now, but he wants 20s.
“I have a part-time job, and my mom is going to help, so I got to get ’em,” he said. “I have to get bigger.”
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Are My Tits Too Big! Hell No There Fucking Huge!
Three hundred and forty-four women with silicone gel breast implants responded to an FDA questionnaire in which they were asked whether they had persistent symptoms including joint pain, swelling, or stiffness; rash on the breast or chest; or fatigue.
Women were also asked whether a doctor diagnosed them with any of a list of illnesses such as scleroderma, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Sjogren’s syndrome, Raynaud’s syndrome, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, or other connective tissue disease not already listed.
After the questionnaire was completed, women underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination of their breasts to detect whether their current implants were intact or ruptured. The MRI examination can also tell whether silicone gel has leaked outside of the fibrous scar capsule that forms around the breast implant.
Women with MRI diagnosed breast implant rupture were no more likely than women with intact implants to report that they had either persistent symptoms or doctor-diagnosed illnesses that were listed.
Women with MRI-diagnosed extracapsular silicone gel (that is silicone that had migrated outside the fibrous scar around the implant) were 2.8 times more likely to report that they had the soft tissue syndrome, fibromyalgia. This association remained statistically significant after taking into account other factors including whether women thought their implants were ruptured, implant age, and implant manufacturer. Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by widespread pain, fatigue, and sleep disturbance.
Women with MRI-diagnosed extracapsular silicone gel were 2.7 times more likely to report that they had “other connective tissue disease,” a category that included a diverse group of illnesses such as dermatomyositis, polymositis, and mixed connective tissue disease. This association did not remain statistically significant after taking into account other factors including whether women thought their implants were ruptured, implant age, and implant manufacturer
Man These Two Mother Fuckers Were So Hi That They Told The Cops Were Ther Stash Was!
The Evansville-Vanderburgh County Drug Task Force received information that led them to pursue a search warrant for 2701 Koressel Road, the residence of Darrell and Felina Nance.
While waiting for the warrant, they saw Darrell leaving his home. Darrell was then stopped for speeding by SGT. Hahn, who noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the vehicle.
A search was initiated, after Darrell voluntarily produced a Derringer. The search of Nance's vehicle produced two large bags of marijuana, a loaded semi-automatic handgun, a loaded shotgun, and a large amount of money.
Nance was taken back to his residence where investigators arrived with a warrant for the home. Darrell Nance voluntarily showed police two locations of hidden marijuana on the property.
Investigators also found a zip-lock bag in Nance's freezer containing three more bags of marijuana.
Several rifles and handguns were located throughout the residence. The total amount of money confiscated was $19,466.
Darrell and Felina Nance were both arrested for dealing marijuana, a Class D felony.
Friday, April 23, 2004
Grumble - Ask Dr. Wombat
What is Sexaholics Anonymous?
Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other so that they may solve their common problem. SA is not a sex or group therapy and offers no treatment -- it is a program of recovery for those who want to stop their sexually self-destructive thinking and behavior. SA's support group philosophy is taken directly from the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Why do people like sex so much? Because, if done right, it gives it's participants a lot of pleasure. Those good feelings are fed right into your primal subconscious. Whether you call it "getting in touch with your root chakra" or "giving in to primordial genetic drives," the effect is that sex grooves you at the most fundamental level.
And there's the rub. To accept receiving pleasure at your most fundamental level, you must believe that you are worthy of it. And you don't. You are conflicted. You want to be worthy, and you want others to acknowledge you as worthy, but you secretly despise some part of yourself.
And so you have the sex, because you crave the validation. But sex doesn't transform you; whatever you despise is still there. And so you look over at your oblivious partner and say "wow ... if her standards are low enough to sleep with a troglodyte like me, there must be something really wrong with her -- I'd better dump her" and "I'm such a hypocrite, and every time I look at this person I'll be reminded of my hypocrisy -- so I don't ever want to see her again."
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What is Sexaholics Anonymous?
Sexaholics Anonymous (SA) is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength, and hope with each other so that they may solve their common problem. SA is not a sex or group therapy and offers no treatment -- it is a program of recovery for those who want to stop their sexually self-destructive thinking and behavior. SA's support group philosophy is taken directly from the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Why do people like sex so much? Because, if done right, it gives it's participants a lot of pleasure. Those good feelings are fed right into your primal subconscious. Whether you call it "getting in touch with your root chakra" or "giving in to primordial genetic drives," the effect is that sex grooves you at the most fundamental level.
And there's the rub. To accept receiving pleasure at your most fundamental level, you must believe that you are worthy of it. And you don't. You are conflicted. You want to be worthy, and you want others to acknowledge you as worthy, but you secretly despise some part of yourself.
And so you have the sex, because you crave the validation. But sex doesn't transform you; whatever you despise is still there. And so you look over at your oblivious partner and say "wow ... if her standards are low enough to sleep with a troglodyte like me, there must be something really wrong with her -- I'd better dump her" and "I'm such a hypocrite, and every time I look at this person I'll be reminded of my hypocrisy -- so I don't ever want to see her again."
The Tohono O'odham border crossing remains a hot spot in the drug war.
Tribal police nab up to 6,000 pounds of coke and pot each month. In the federal government's multi-billion dollar war on drugs, the U.S.-Mexican border that runs through the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation remains an oozing wound.
Law enforcement officials report that the tribal police who patrol the area--which is located about 100 miles from Tucson--routinely confiscate 4,000-6,000 pounds of cocaine and marijuana bound for buzz-hungry U.S. customers each month. And that bulky catch does not take into account whatever caches of dope are intercepted by the Border Patrol, the FBI and U.S. Customs agents who also monitor the region.
CHEMICAL DRAWING OF COCAINE
Yet--in spite of all the overlapping lawmen--officials speculate that the multiple tons of drugs that are seized on the reservation annually represent only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
"It's a major area for drugs entering the U.S.," says Walt Lamer, acting head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Law Enforcement Division. "We've done an intense examination of the area. We have all those agents down there and it's still not enough to stem the flow of drugs."
Those drugs--primarily marijuana and cocaine--gush into this country like water through a net. And once the smugglers are north of the border, the illicit substances they have squeezed through the Tohono portal are distributed across the country. In fact, Lamar says, Tohono traffic has been traced as far north as the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Northern Montana, where it played a major part in a recent sting operation that officials say is the biggest drug bust in all of Indian Country history.
It might seem like a leap that drugs flow from south of the border to the snow-capped peaks of Big Sky country, but Lamar says the unique layout of the Tohono border crossing makes it easy for enterprising Mexican drug lords.
"The reservation extends on either side of the border," he says. "There are a large number of folks who go back and forth every day."
The criss-crossing goes on, even though it is not supposed to.
Lawrence Seligman, head of the Tohono O'odham tribal police, says that there are at least 2,000 O'odham Indians who live in Mexico who are not recognized by the U.S. (see "Between Two Worlds," June 7). As a result, they live in gray cloud of citizenship that allows them to traverse a border that technically offers no legal point of entry.
Currently tribal leaders are working with federal officials in hopes of coming up with an arrangement similar to the one enjoyed by members of the Canadian Mohawk Nation. Even though those Mohawks are not residents of the U.S., the federal government allows them access into the country to visit their New York State-based cousins.
Seligman says the Mexican O'odham have yet to strike such a deal with the authorities, so the foot and vehicle traffic continues. He says issues of manpower and practicality make it hard to restrict the daily influx of Mexican Indians, some of whom may have drugs in tow. The 60 officers who make up his staff have their hands full patrolling a reservation that is 5,000 square miles and spreads across three Arizona counties. Now, because other federal agencies are clamping down on non-Indian sections of the Arizona-Mexico line, his department is doing double duty as a makeshift DEA patrolling its 75-mile piece of the border.
"The more pressure the Border Patrol and the INS put on other parts of the border near towns like Douglas, the more it pushes traffic out into what is called the 'western desert.' The problem is the western desert is perceived as a barrier, because it's a hostile environment, but it's not a barrier. If you squeeze the balloon over there, we feel it here," Seligman says.
"So we are confiscating 4,000-6,000 pounds of marijuana monthly, and you know what? It's not our job. Our focus is not working the border; it's serving our community. This takes us away from our community, but we can't ignore it," he says. "Our department has suffered as a result. We have limited resources and this eats away at our ability to serve the community."
His staff--like many BIA-subsidized police forces in Indian Country--operates on a tight budget. He says they are ill equipped to deal with the sophisticated and dangerous world of big-time drug traffic. Last year he nearly lost an officer who was run down by a van piloted by a desperate smuggler. Only the officer's bulletproof vest prevented his chest from caving in upon the impact.
Seligman has taken his message of frustration to federal authorities, including representatives of the Department of Interior. Tohono O'odham Tribal Chairman Edward D. Manuel has been alerting the media to the problem, including an op-ed piece in the Arizona Republic he penned last fall describing the bails of marijuana confiscated on his reservation. And Walt Lamar continues to lobby lawmakers in Washington in hopes of securing funding for drug enforcement all across Indian Country.
Meanwhile the traffic continues.
"You can sit on a hill out here and watch these guys radio each other from both sides of the border," says Seligman. "When the shift changes for the Border Patrol or for our officers, it's like watching the Oklahoma land rush out here as people scramble to get across."
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Tribal police nab up to 6,000 pounds of coke and pot each month. In the federal government's multi-billion dollar war on drugs, the U.S.-Mexican border that runs through the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation remains an oozing wound.
Law enforcement officials report that the tribal police who patrol the area--which is located about 100 miles from Tucson--routinely confiscate 4,000-6,000 pounds of cocaine and marijuana bound for buzz-hungry U.S. customers each month. And that bulky catch does not take into account whatever caches of dope are intercepted by the Border Patrol, the FBI and U.S. Customs agents who also monitor the region.
CHEMICAL DRAWING OF COCAINE
Yet--in spite of all the overlapping lawmen--officials speculate that the multiple tons of drugs that are seized on the reservation annually represent only the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
"It's a major area for drugs entering the U.S.," says Walt Lamer, acting head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Law Enforcement Division. "We've done an intense examination of the area. We have all those agents down there and it's still not enough to stem the flow of drugs."
Those drugs--primarily marijuana and cocaine--gush into this country like water through a net. And once the smugglers are north of the border, the illicit substances they have squeezed through the Tohono portal are distributed across the country. In fact, Lamar says, Tohono traffic has been traced as far north as the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Northern Montana, where it played a major part in a recent sting operation that officials say is the biggest drug bust in all of Indian Country history.
It might seem like a leap that drugs flow from south of the border to the snow-capped peaks of Big Sky country, but Lamar says the unique layout of the Tohono border crossing makes it easy for enterprising Mexican drug lords.
"The reservation extends on either side of the border," he says. "There are a large number of folks who go back and forth every day."
The criss-crossing goes on, even though it is not supposed to.
Lawrence Seligman, head of the Tohono O'odham tribal police, says that there are at least 2,000 O'odham Indians who live in Mexico who are not recognized by the U.S. (see "Between Two Worlds," June 7). As a result, they live in gray cloud of citizenship that allows them to traverse a border that technically offers no legal point of entry.
Currently tribal leaders are working with federal officials in hopes of coming up with an arrangement similar to the one enjoyed by members of the Canadian Mohawk Nation. Even though those Mohawks are not residents of the U.S., the federal government allows them access into the country to visit their New York State-based cousins.
Seligman says the Mexican O'odham have yet to strike such a deal with the authorities, so the foot and vehicle traffic continues. He says issues of manpower and practicality make it hard to restrict the daily influx of Mexican Indians, some of whom may have drugs in tow. The 60 officers who make up his staff have their hands full patrolling a reservation that is 5,000 square miles and spreads across three Arizona counties. Now, because other federal agencies are clamping down on non-Indian sections of the Arizona-Mexico line, his department is doing double duty as a makeshift DEA patrolling its 75-mile piece of the border.
"The more pressure the Border Patrol and the INS put on other parts of the border near towns like Douglas, the more it pushes traffic out into what is called the 'western desert.' The problem is the western desert is perceived as a barrier, because it's a hostile environment, but it's not a barrier. If you squeeze the balloon over there, we feel it here," Seligman says.
"So we are confiscating 4,000-6,000 pounds of marijuana monthly, and you know what? It's not our job. Our focus is not working the border; it's serving our community. This takes us away from our community, but we can't ignore it," he says. "Our department has suffered as a result. We have limited resources and this eats away at our ability to serve the community."
His staff--like many BIA-subsidized police forces in Indian Country--operates on a tight budget. He says they are ill equipped to deal with the sophisticated and dangerous world of big-time drug traffic. Last year he nearly lost an officer who was run down by a van piloted by a desperate smuggler. Only the officer's bulletproof vest prevented his chest from caving in upon the impact.
Seligman has taken his message of frustration to federal authorities, including representatives of the Department of Interior. Tohono O'odham Tribal Chairman Edward D. Manuel has been alerting the media to the problem, including an op-ed piece in the Arizona Republic he penned last fall describing the bails of marijuana confiscated on his reservation. And Walt Lamar continues to lobby lawmakers in Washington in hopes of securing funding for drug enforcement all across Indian Country.
Meanwhile the traffic continues.
"You can sit on a hill out here and watch these guys radio each other from both sides of the border," says Seligman. "When the shift changes for the Border Patrol or for our officers, it's like watching the Oklahoma land rush out here as people scramble to get across."
