OxyContin. Is there nothing it can’t do to help make the GOP a bigger and better party? From Raw Story:

Court document: Republican election judge bought votes with OxyContin

Clay County, Kentucky has a reputation for corrupt government. After years of federal investigations and numerous authorities landing in jail, each progressive revelation becomes that much less shocking.

But this one still packs a punch. According to local media:

A former Clay County election officer plans to plead guilty to a charge that he took part in a vote-buying scheme with prominent public officials.

The attorney for Paul E. Bishop filed a motion Thursday seeking a hearing for him to plead guilty to one count of racketeering.

That charge alleges that members of the conspiracy used the county Board of Elections as a vehicle to corrupt voting between 2002 and 2007 so they could hold on to power and enrich themselves and others. [...]

Bishop and [elections official William] Stivers also used OxyContin to buy votes at the direction of [School Superintendent Douglas] Adams in 2002, former Manchester assistant police Chief Todd Roberts told investigators, according to another court document.

With all due respect, he may have just been trying to drum up some extra listeners for Rush Limbaugh.

St. Teresa – Joan Osborne with Donal Lunny

EMT In Confrontation With Trooper Speaks Out

Okmulgee – An Emergency Medical Technician who was involved in a scuffle with an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper is speaking out about the incident.

Maurice White, Jr. is a critical care paramedic with the Creek Nation EMS. He was nearly arrested after the confrontation, which was captured by the cell phone of Kenyada Davis.

Paul Franks was the driver of the ambulance, which was transporting a patient to a hospital in Prague.

(more…)

SURVIVING THE WORLD

Wanted to give this guy a little exposure. Simple. Funny. Dry as the Sahara.

Maybe it’s because the cable industry charges too much for the crap that they offer…

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The two largest U.S. cable operators expect slower customer growth in the current quarter across all their products when compared with the first quarter.

Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc said subscriber growth is slowing in the second quarter and cautioned that the U.S. economy is still not out of woods.

Chief Executive Brian Roberts said at an investor conference on Friday his company has seen a subscriber slowdown across its TV, Internet and phone services partly due to the slower housing market and widespread job losses.

“I would conclude there’s a lag effect,” said Roberts at Bernstein Strategies Decision conference in New York. “There are less opportunities to sell new things right now.”

Roberts said U.S. consumers appeared to be resetting their expectations.

IT’S BLEEP’N GOLDEN!

This promises to be fun:

Raw Story

In “No Harm No Foul” Digby links an important piece on lasting psychological damage from torture, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Further proof for the pile. “It’s Never The Crime …” covers news from The Daily Telegraph (UK) that the unreleased Abu Ghraib photos include evidence of rape and sexual abuse reported by General Taguba previously. The Obama White House has pushed back on the Telegraph‘s credibility. Several questions remain. Are rape photos part of the group of photos requested through the Freedom of Information Act and now being withheld? And, as Nick Baumann asks, if there’s clear photographic evidence of rape, why has no one been prosecuted for that?

Think Progress has a ten-page piece on “Why Bush’s ‘Enhanced Interrogation’ Program Failed” that can be read on their site or downloaded as a PDF. It’s also further proof for the pile, and a useful overview.

Finally, Scott Horton has two valuable pieces, “Cheney Prepares the Twinkie Defense,” dissecting Cheney’s speech from last week, and “Galileo and Gitmo.” Horton’s always insightful, but this latter piece is a cut above for all that. If you’re a fan of both Galileo and Brecht (as I am), you’ll really appreciate it, and even if you’re not, I think you’ll find it memorable.

(Cross-posted at Vagabond Scholar)

Philip Glass – “Knee 1″ from Einstein on the Beach

Just the music, but if you’re a Glass fan, who needs more?

How fitting that such a shrill and stupid person be immortalized in a comic book. From Wonkette:

Bachmann Comix Will Feature Sexy Flying Imams, Other Things

The crazed baby-farming, Bush-groping McCarthyite fluorescent light bulb evangelist Michele Bachmann captures the imaginations of liberals and artists alike. How, they wonder, can somebody be so nuts without very publicly nurturing an addiction to high-strength prescription meds?

Bachmann lovers will be able to indulge their obsession with a fancy new comic book, hitting the stands “soon,” and it sounds like it’s jam-packed with fun stuff:

This is that one that TELLS IT ALL — it leaves NOTHING TO THE IMAGINATION! It’s all there, the global conspiracy to end American freedom, the apocalyptic last days of human kind, the lesbians in the bathroom, the threats, the vengeance, the Bush-kissing, the sordid lies, Satan, Jesus Christ, the flying imams —

Man Accused Of Urinating In IRS Elevator

DETROIT — An agent used surveillance cameras to confirm a smelly suspicion: Someone had been urinating in a freight elevator at an Internal Revenue Service data center in Detroit.

Authorities filed a criminal charge Tuesday against Michael Hicks. In an affidavit, treasury agent Delmaria Scott said she interviewed Hicks in January 2008 and he admitted urinating in the elevator for months.

Scott said Hicks did it “because he felt he could get away with it.” It cost $4,600 to clean the elevator.

Hicks, who was a contract employee at the IRS, was charged with damaging federal property. A defense lawyer was not listed.

Gina Balaya, a spokeswoman for prosecutors, said the government was unsuccessful in trying to resolve the case without a criminal charge.