Michael Vick got notification from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that he is indefinitely suspended without pay from the National Football League. The Falcons concurred and the Humane society put in their two cents worth too.

Michael Vick reacted with his usual class and dignity ……

I think this is the real Michael Vick as opposed to the guy who has tried to act innocent and then remorseful right up to the point that he was trapped like a rat by his own lies.

T.H.U.G.

Read more at Gone Hollywood

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The toxicology report is in for Chris Benoit, WWE wrestler who killed his wife, child and himself last month.

The Detroit Free Press

DECATUR, Ga. — Investigators said Tuesday they found steroids and other drugs in the body of pro wrestler Chris Benoit, who killed his wife and young son last month before hanging himself in the family’s home.

Besides steroids, Benoit’s body contained the anti-anxiety drug Xanax and the painkiller hydrocodone, according to a statement from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The GBI said Benoit tested negative for blood alcohol.

Benoit’s wife, Nancy, tested positive for Xanax, hydrocodone and the painkiller hydromorphone.

The son, Daniel Benoit, had Xanax in his system, the agency said. The GBI said it could not perform tests for steroids or human growth hormones on the son because of a lack of urine.

None of this comes as any big surprise. I found it suspicious when the WWE claimed he had clean drug screens. Drug screens are easy to beat if you are a good addict. Especially if the organization taking the drug screen isn’t anxious to find any drugs in your system.

Dr. Phil Astin, Benoit’s personal physician and friend, has been charged with improperly prescribing drugs to other patients. He has been in trouble before for the same prescribing habits. His office has been raided several times by investigators who have seized his medical records. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

The WWE has vehemently denied claims that steroid use is the norm for that organization. All you have to do is look at Benoit to tell he is, was, a steroid user. The same is true for many in the spot light of the sports world.

So who is at fault? Is it the drugs fault or Benoit’s for taking the drugs? Is it the fault of the doctor who prescribed the drugs? Is it the fault of the WWE that encourages unnatural strength and then tells it’s athletes to not take steroids with a wink and a nod? Or is it the public that demand more and more violence, strength and endurance to be entertained?

Or is it just a perfect storm of all of the above?

Related:

• Chris and Daniel Benoit
• The Tragedy of Chris Benoit

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Right Celebrity, third world county, DeMediacratic Nation, Jeanette’s Celebrity Corner, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Nuke’s news and views, Pirate’s Cove, Planck’s Constant, Webloggin, Leaning Straight Up, and Public Eye, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

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Hey Hazel - remember the story of the astronaut, Lisa Nowak, who wore adult diapers so she wouldn’t have to stop for bathroom breaks while on her journey to stalk the woman she felt stole her boyfriend? The authorities found weapons and disguises in her car. She denied planning to kill the other woman, but the evidence sure suggests that she had something more than a harmless chat on her mind.

Just look at those two photos above - Crime sure doesn’t pay when it comes to someone’s looks, does it?

When I first heard that story about the diapers, all I could think of is that it doesn’t take THAT long to stop for a bathroom break. To wear diapers?! Yuk! Someone would HAVE to be a little mentally off to do that.

There’s a new transcript of an interview in which she tells her side. Here’s the story:

‘I Need to Know Where She Stands’
New Transcript Sheds Light on Ex-Astronaut’s Plan for Rival
By MIKE SCHNEIDER,AP
ORLANDO, Fla. (July 9) - Former astronaut Lisa Nowak told a detective she came to Orlando to meet her rival for the affections of a fellow astronaut because she wanted to know where she stood in the bizarre love triangle, according to a police interview made public Monday.

A 72-page transcript of the interview conducted after her February arrest, with portions redacted, was released by the State Attorney’s Office.

In it, Orlando Police Detective Chris Becton asks Nowak about why she wanted to meet Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman in a parking lot at the Orlando International Airport.

“I need to know where she stands, if she even had any idea that I fit in or not,” Nowak said. When asked whether she intended to kill Shipman if she didn’t talk, Nowak said no.

Nowak, 44, is accused of attacking Shipman with pepper spray directed through the window of her car and trying to jump into the vehicle. In a duffel bag she was carrying, police officers found a steel mallet, a 4-inch knife and a BB gun. They also recovered a wig and a trench coat which they believe Nowak used as a disguise.

She has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping, battery and burglary with assault. She told the detective she only wanted to scare Shipman with the weapons.

During the interview, Nowak repeatedly asked to speak to Shipman and asked the detective whether Shipman, who was interviewed before Nowak, knew who she was.

Nowak told Becton she wanted to tell Shipman of her involvement with Bill Oefelein, a colleague who told detectives he had a two-year relationship with Nowak but ended it some time after he started a relationship with Shipman.

She acted surprised when the detective told her that Shipman knew her only as Oefelein’s colleague, not as someone with whom he had had a relationship.

Nowak suggested that her relationship with Oefelein was romantic but platonic since she “wouldn’t go beyond a certain point” while in the process of separating from her husband. She indicated that she was holding out for a possible future with Oefelein.

“I just needed to know if she was aware,” Nowak said. “He picked me up from the airport two weeks ago. I mean, I mean, you just don’t do that for anybody.”

At another point, Nowak was asked by the detective whether it would have been acceptable for Oefelein to date both of them. She responded, “as long as everybody knows that that’s the case.”

She also said it was her husband, not Oefelein, who hurt her.

“My husband is the only person who broke my heart … over the years, I guess,” she said. “It happened over time.”

An attorney for Nowak, Donald Lykkebak, asked a judge last month to seal the transcript, but the judge took no action. Lykkebak also asked that the interview not be introduced as evidence during Nowak’s trial, claiming she wasn’t properly advised of her constitutional rights.

A hearing on that motion and another to suppress evidence found in Nowak’s car is scheduled for the end of the month.

“The prosecution’s pattern of trickling out information in this case is nothing new,” Lykkebak said in a statement released by his spokeswoman, Marti Mackenzie. “The expected result has been to keep Lisa Nowak’s case in the headlines. We disapprove of this tactic.”

The transcript indicates that Becton told her she had the right to remain silent, the right to an attorney and that what she said could be used against her in court.

A lawyer for Shipman called Nowak’s claim that she didn’t intend to harm Shipman “laughable.”

“It shows her consciousness of guilt,” said attorney Kepler Funk. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know what was in her head.”

Nowak was dismissed from the astronaut corps a month after her arrest. Her trial is set for September. Oefelein was dismissed from the corps at the beginning of June.

Here are some of the items found in her car:

Lisa in happier days with her husband and two children - Just look at her. She was pretty and vivacious. She didn’t need to stalk someone. She’s gotta be crazy:

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TMZ is reporting that Lindsay Lohan had alcohol and cocaine in her system when she crashed her car Memorial Day.

According to multiple law enforcement sources, toxicology reports conclude that Lohan, 20, had “nearly twice the legal limit” of alcohol and traces of blow in her bloodstream when she crashed her 2005 Mercedes SL-65 convertible into a curb on Sunset Blvd. around 5:30 AM on May 26. In California, drivers with a .08 or higher are legally drunk.

I know, it’s hard to believe. Even shocking!

A case against Lohan could be presented to the Los Angeles District Attorney by the Beverly Hills Police Department within the next few days.

h/t: NewToob

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Pictured below are Chris Benoit with his son Daniel at a 2004 event honoring Chris Benoit.

Chris Benoit murdered his wife and his son, Daniel last weekend. He then hung himself.

This tragedy is continuing to unfold. WWE officials continue to deny steroids might have contributed to the problem. Benoit’s doctor’s office was raided and shut down. It turns out he has something of a shady past.

Another interesting development that came to light today is that someone posted an announcement of Chris Benoit’s wife, Nancy, on Wikipedia 14 hours prior to the bodies being discovered by the police.

There seem to be more and more layers to this tragedy.

h/t: TMZ

Related: The Tragedy of Chris Benoit

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Should a prisoner get a sex-change operation at the taxpayers’ expense? In a word - NO! That doesn’t stop ‘em from trying, though. You can go HERE for the whole story. I’ve selected some highlights:

Prisoner Seeks Sex-Change Operation
Massachusetts Case Tied Up Over Question of Who Pays for Surgery

By DENISE LAVOIE,AP

BOSTON (June 27) - A trial that opened more than a year ago has become bogged down in Boston federal court. There have been hundreds of hours of testimony from witnesses, including 10 medical specialists paid tens of thousands of dollars. The judge himself even hired an expert to help him make sense of it all.

The question at the center of the case: Should a murderer serving life in prison get a sex-change operation at taxpayer expense?

The case of Michelle - formerly Robert - Kosilek is being closely watched across the country by advocates for other inmates who want to undergo a sex change. Transgender inmates in other states have sued prison officials, and not one has succeeded in persuading a judge to order a sex-change operation.

The Massachusetts Correction Department is vigorously fighting Kosilek ’s request for surgery, saying it would create a security nightmare and make Kosilek a target for sexual assault.

An Associated Press review of the case, including figures obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests and interviews, found that the Correction Department and its outside health care provider have spent more than $52,000 on experts to testify about an operation that would cost about $20,000.

The duration and expense of the case have outraged some lawmakers who insist that taxpayers should not have to pay for inmates to have surgery that most private insurers reject as elective.

But advocates say in some cases - such as that of Kosilek , who has twice attempted suicide - sex-change surgery is as much a medical necessity as treatment for diabetes or high blood pressure. (emphasis mine)

. . . . Kosilek , 58, was convicted of strangling his wife in 1990. He claimed he killed her in self-defense after she spilled boiling tea on his genitals.

Robert Kosilek legally changed his name to Michelle in 1993, and has sued the Correction Department twice, arguing that its refusal to allow a sex-change operation violates the Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment.

In 2002, U.S. District Judge Mark Wolf ruled that Kosilek was entitled to medical treatment for gender identity disorder, but stopped short of ordering the surgery. Kosilek sued again in 2005, arguing that the hormone treatments, laser hair removal and psychotherapy she has received since Wolf’s ruling have not relieved her anxiety and depression.

“I would not want to continue existing like this,” Kosilek testified.

Kosilek ’s second trial, which began in May 2006, has featured expert testimony from 10 doctors, psychiatrists and psychotherapists. Wolf has not indicated when he will rule.

. . . . Those who argue against allowing the surgery say it could open the floodgates to other inmates who want sex-change operations or other treatments considered elective.

In Massachusetts, 10 inmates have been diagnosed with gender identity disorder and are receiving hormone treatments. Two other inmates besides Kosilek have asked for sex-change surgery.

. . . . Dennehy also said prison officials cannot be influenced by Kosilek ’s talk of suicide.

“The department does not negotiate or respond to threats of harm or suicide in an effort to barter,” she said. “You couldn’t run a prison with that kind of leveraging going on.”

I guess if they have their own money, they can pay to have the surgery done, but for the taxpayers’ to pay for it is ridiculous. I’m sure there are law-abiding folks out there who would like to have the surgery, but they can’t afford it. If it’s done for a prisoner, then all anyone would have to do is break the law, get put in prison and insist on the surgery.

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WWE Pro Wrestler, Chris Benoit, his wife and 7-year-old son were found dead in their Fayetteville, Georgia home on Monday afternoon. The deaths have been rules a double murder suicide.

Preliminary reports are that Benoit strangled his wife, Nancy (aka Woman) on Friday. She was found with her hands and feet bound. He apparently suffocated his son, Daniel, sometime early Saturday.

Benoit then called to say he wouldn’t be making a scheduled appearance on Saturday evening due to a family emergency. He sent text messages to friends on Sunday that were alarming enough for the friends to notify Richard Hering, VP of Government Relations for WWE, who in turn contacted the Fayette County Sheriffs office. When authorities entered the home they found all three family members dead.

Authorities believe he hung himself with his weight equipment sometime late Sunday or early Monday. The bodies have been sent to the Georgia Department of Investigation’s crime lab.

There is a lot of discussion about the possibility of ‘Roid Rage’, that this incident may have been precipitated by steroid use. The WWE is denying that citing clean drug screens among other things. None is terribly convincing. It’s not that hard to get around a drug screen.

I have seen a lot of his colleagues speak of Benoit in disbelief that these events have transpired. They spoke of his love and affection for his son. But there are suggestions there might have been a darker side to Benoit. His wife had filed for divorce and obtained a restraining order in 2003 stating she feared her own and her son’s safety. The Atlantic Online reports that it is looking like Benoit might have lead a ‘tortuous, rageful life’ culminating in this horrific act.

Chris Benoit’s wife, Nancy, has an interesting history of her own. She was a wresting manager from 1984 until her death last weekend. Her stage name was ‘Woman’.

The story of this tragedy will continue to unfold. The toxicology results should confirm whether or not steroids might have exacerbated Benoit’s rage. People will talk more and the pieces of the puzzle will slowly get put into place.

I find it so odd that he felt responsible to call and tell the WWE that he wouldn’t make his appearance on Saturday night. I don’t know why that has puzzled me so much. Perhaps he didn’t want them finding him before he was ready.

ProWrestling.com
Check out Allie is Wired

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The Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf received an anonymous letter claiming that the body of four-year-old Madeleine McCann is hidden, buried under rocks a short distance from the where she was abducted on May 3rd. The newspaper passed the letter on to the Portuguese police who are taking it very seriously.

This has to be tough twist for Kate and Gerry McCann. Sky News reports that they were very upset at reports - but no evidence - that police diggers had arrived at the site. They has planned on some down time to grieve and catch up after 40 straight days of hard work keeping Madeleine McCann in the front of everyone’s minds.

They have been to Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Morocco to try to track her down. Their nightmare started on May 3 when Madeleine was taken from the family’s holiday apartment in the Mark Warner Ocean Club resort as her parents ate at a tapas bar only meters away.

She was sleeping next to her younger brother and sister, but they slept through her abduction and are too young to understand what has happened. [source]

There is no evidence that the claims are real, but the Portuguese police are investigating and naturally the parents are distraught. But then, I can’t imagine how distraught they have been since the horrible day their daughter was abducted.

We can only hope and pray that by some miracle the child is found safe.

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