A1A South

If only it hadn’t been a cloudless Memorial Day weekend, and Miguel Angel Lorenzo’s brother and cousins hadn’t removed the mesh fence from the pool. If only it hadn’t suddenly rained, and the boys hadn’t dashed in the house and left the back door ajar just enough for an infant to squeeze through.

If only one of Miguel’s cousins hadn’t removed him from a playpen — and then left him on the floor — Miguel would not have toddled into the pool, where he floated for four or five minutes.

That’s all it takes to deprive an infant’s brain of enough life-sustaining oxygen to nearly kill him.

Now 28 months old, Miguel — the baby who had just learned to say ”Mama” and ”Papa,” but still pointed to things he wanted — lies prone in a hospital bed that dominates his nursery, all tubes and chirping machinery. He breathes with a respirator most of the time. He is fed through an opening to his stomach.

His parents, Juan Carlos and Yusimy Lorenzo of Davie, believe they can help Miguel get better by using a medical procedure originally developed to cure the life-threatening effects of decompression sickness.

If only the hourlong treatments were not hideously expensive and, by conventional medical standards, untested.

They want the state’s Medicaid insurance program to pay for the costly hyperbaric oxygen treatments — but the state, saying the treatment is experimental, has refused. So the Lorenzos are paying for Miguel’s treatments themselves — as they fight the government in court.

The state Agency for Health Care Administration, which oversees the program, argues hyperbaric oxygen therapy is unproven — and, thus, a poor use for precious state healthcare dollars, particularly during dire economic times. Florida is expecting a $3.5 billion budget shortfall for next year.

View the rest of the story at the Miami Herald.

The boy is showing some slight improvement according to the mother.  However, I’m not convinced that Florida should even be involved with paying for this care.  That should really be taken care of by the parents and other family members, particularly the families of the cousins who were also responsible for the boy’s falling into the pool.  He has had 95 treatments so far.

Another story, also in the Miami Herald,  is about another little boy who achieved a miracle, and the doctor who wants to help other families do the same:

Dr. Jeffrey Weiss watches anxiously as Nasser Helal, a technician, cleans and buffs a 13-year-old oxygen chamber. It’s shiny blue, shaped like a cylinder. He calls it his miracle-maker.

In 2002, Weiss bought the hyperbaric chamber and installed it in his Parkland home to treat his son Justin, a toddler whom other doctors said was in a persistent vegetative state after he slipped into the family pool Memorial Day weekend. The device was his last hope. And he grasped it.

Now, the chamber sits in a soon-to-open storefront clinic in a nondescript Margate shopping plaza where Weiss will use it — and three others he just bought — to help other families find miracles: Justin, now 7, sits up, attends school, watches The McLaughlin Group and The Disney Channel on television and likes to be read dinosaur stories — all things doctors once said were impossible.

”This is Justin’s chamber,” Weiss says, pointing to the long cylinder, which still bears adhesive marks from the photos family members taped to the exterior so Justin could see his parents and siblings as he spent perhaps 600 hours taking treatments.

”I have seen miracles,” Weiss says. “I have done miracles.”

At first glance, Weiss might seem an unlikely champion for a medical procedure that most mainstream physicians consider, at best, unproven: He is an electrical-engineer-turned-doctor, who did fellowships in ophthalmologic bioengineering at Harvard University and MIT, became chief of retina surgery at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston and invented a surgical procedure that can restore vision to damaged retinas.

But Weiss has embraced the role of maverick, one he never sought. Weiss made headlines in summer 2002 when he sued the North Broward Hospital District to force doctors to allow him to treat Justin in a hyperbaric chamber when he was admitted to Broward General Medical Center.

And he’s not alone in his support for the treatments.

”I came here as a nonbeliever,” said Dale Wells, a technician and physical therapist at Ocean Hyperbaric Neurologic Center. He used to treat severe wounds with hyperbaric oxygen at Mount Sinai Medical Center on Miami Beach. But during his first stint treating patients with brain injuries, he saw results, he said: Patients left after sometimes a few sessions walking better, talking better.

First developed as a treatment for decompression sickness resulting from diving accidents, hyperbaric oxygen now is widely accepted as a treatment for severe wounds, burns, radiation injuries, carbon monoxide poisoning, crush injuries and other conditions.

Although there is anecdotal evidence that it can improve even severely compromised brain function, most scientists agree there is scant clinical data on which to base a conclusion. And without the type of rigorous scientific research normally conducted on new drugs or procedures, insurance companies are extremely reluctant to pay.

”Everybody is sympathetic to the desire of these families who want to access these therapies that seem promising,” said Susan Pisano, spokesperson for America’s Health Insurance Plans, an industry association based in Washington.

”There is a lot of research that shows that much of what we do isn’t in tune with medical science,” Pisano added. “If what the healthcare system does is not in tune with the latest medical science, it is both wasteful and dangerous.”

At present, said Pisano and others, there simply isn’t enough evidence to show that hyperbaric treatments can improve the functioning of children deprived of oxygen.

Dr. Blane Shatkin, chief of staff at Memorial Hospital Miramar, who is board certified in hyperbaric medicine, said Medicare, the U.S. insurance program for elders, will pay for hyperbaric treatment for about 14 conditions, such as radiation poisoning, but Medicaid, a joint state and federal program for the needy, still considers the treatment for neurological conditions experimental.

”We push for clinical trials, for evidence-based medicine,” Shatkin said, adding: “There is no clinical trial that proves that a neurological injury is helped by hyperbaric oxygen therapy. . . . The bottom line is we need a good clinical trial to be done. There have not been any large trials.”

Perhaps Dr. Weiss will be able to provide the clinical trials that would demonstrate whether the treatment works, how many treatments are needed, and whether passage of time from the time of the incident is significant in regaining any function.  

I did not think that was possible.  And nobody that has ever seen me bowling would have ever believed it either. 

It just goes to show that no matter how bad you are at something, there is usually somebody that is even worse at it.

WAYCROSS, Ga. — Three of the nine Ware County third-grade students accused of being involved in a plot to harm their teacher will face some serious charges, according police. Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner on Tuesday released pictures of the evidence, which includes a steak knife, a paperweight, handcuffs, gloves and several rolls of tape.According to Tanner, the motive for the plot might have been to get revenge on a teacher after she disciplined a girl in her classroom for standing on a chair.

The police chief said District Attorney Rick Currie has decided to charge a 9-year-old girl with two counts of aggravated assault, possession of weapons on school grounds or school safety zone and conspiracy to commit a crime of aggravated assault.

Also to be charged are a 10-year-old girl, who will face a charge of conspiracy to commit a crime of aggravated assault and possession of weapons on school grounds or school safety zone, and an 8-year-old boy accused of conspiracy to commit a crime of aggravated assault.

Those three students, whose names have not been released, were the ones who brought all the weapons, according to police.

Authorities got word of the alleged plot to harm teacher Ms. Belle Carter at Center Elementary School on Friday when another student reported seeing the knife in the possession of another child.

The 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds have been accused of being involved in a plan to harm Carter, but some parents said the plot was much worse. Channel 4 received several e-mails from parents who claimed the students wanted to kill their teacher.

The headline in Monday’s Waycross Journal-Herald read murder.

“I have not heard that word used. The principal says they were planning to harm their teacher,” said Theresa Martin, of Ware County Schools.

“We really can’t say they intended to kill her. We knew they had talked about I believe that they might hit her in the head or they may even stab her,” Tanner said.

Investigators confirmed the students brought a steak knife, a roll of duct tape, handcuffs, ribbon and a heavy crystal paperweight to school. They said all nine of the children who have been suspended had a different roll they were supposed to play in the planned attack.

Licensed mental health counselor Audrey Dearborn called the allegations against the third-graders alarming.

“Before you would see these types of behavior in high school. Now, we’ve skipped the middle school and gone right to the third grade,” Dearborn said.

Dearborn said a lot of kids view school as an environment where they have to fight to succeed and be treated fairly, but Dearborn said kids need to be taught that the word fight should not be taken literally.

“They have distorted views about how to handle problems in their society,” Dearborn said. “They respond the way the cartoon characters do- - they fight with aggression. This is a cry for help. They are saying, ‘I am angry. I am hurt and I am striking out. We need to help them.” Investigators said it was not clear whether the students understood the of what they were planning.

“Do kids know enough about anatomy or injuries to where they could even realize that if they were to have stabbed her or hit her on the head or anything else, how much harm that they would have done? That’s our biggest question,” Tanner said.

He said the parents of the children accused are, “Shocked, saddened, and surprised. This is their worst nightmare.”

Also surprised by the students’ alleged plot was the teacher, who Martin said called her students good kids.

“She showed me a picture of the students in her class. I think she was really surprised they would do this. She see them as good kids and asked me to look at them and see if thought would do anything like this,” Martin said.

Source:  News4Jax

Who would think that 3rd graders–8 and 9 year old children–would conceive of a plan to do bodily harm, even kill, their teacher, and then gather the materials to carry it out?

A Jamaican man who was planning to board an Air Jamaica flight at Orlando International Airport on Tuesday was detained and questioned by federal agents, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The man, who has not been identified, was found by security to have with him components for pipe bombs and other explosive materials in his luggage, law enforcement officials told the newspaper.The suspect was scheduled to fly on Air Jamaica Flight 80 to Montego Bay at 2:55 p.m.

According to a news release on the TSA Web site, at approximately noon, behavior detection officers identified the man, acting suspiciously, entering the A terminal. Suspicious items were identified in his bag and law enforcement was notified.

A 300 foot perimeter was established around the checked bag and parts of A terminal were evacuated. The bomb squad is currently on site.

The newspaper reported that law enforcement officials said among the materials found were unassembled pipes with end caps, metal ball bearings and other potentially explosive materials.

“We’re responding as if it’s the real deal,” FBI spokesman David Couvertier told the Orlando Sentinel. “It’s a serious situation until we decide otherwise.”

Flight operation and check-in continues, according to the TSA.

Source:  News4Jax

Yep, pipes with ball bearings are always the things I pack first when I’m flying back home.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A woman who fired two shots at a Jacksonville police officer was fatally shot when that officer returned fire, Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Chief Rick Graham said Tuesday afternoon.

The incident began as a traffic stop near Ribualt Junior High School. However, Graham said the woman driving the vehicle, later identified as 22-year-old LaToya Grier, sped off as Officer C. L Tremaroli was approaching her car.

After a short pursuit, the officer turned off his sirens and blue lights but continued to keep sight of the car and followed it down Ken Knight Drive. That’s where Tremaroli caught up with the suspect when she pulled her car onto a grass curb.

“The vehicle was smoking to the point where Officer Tremaroli actually requested our dispatcher to call fire control because he thought the vehicle was on fire,” Graham said. “Officer Tremaroli approached the car, making an effort to get the female driver out of the vehicle, concerned that the vehicle was on fire and she was trapped. She had what appeared to be a door handle in her hand.”

When Tremaroli returned to his vehicle to get something to use to break Grier’s car window witnesses alerted the officer that the woman was running away.

Graham said Grier was caught after a foot pursuit and a brief struggle.

“After he captured the suspect, approximately 750 to 1,000 yards from the original stop, there was very brief struggle. Officer Tremaroli then had the female driver by one arm as he escorted her back toward the original stop. At that point, the female came out from somewhere on her clothing with a firearm and shoots twice at Officer Tremaroli from a very close proximity,” Graham said. “One of the shoots came close enough to Officer Tremaroli that he thought he had actually been shot and put it out on the radio that he’d been shot. The second shot actually struck the Taser on his duty belt.”

Tremaroli stepped back and fired his weapon several times, striking Grier. The woman was taken to Shands-Jacksonville Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

According to police, a small revolved believed to have been Grier’s weapon was found at the scene and a significant amount of, “what appears to be illegal drugs” were found on Grier.

JSO is expected to have a second news conference regarding the shooting sometime on Wednesday.

Source: News4Jax

Earlier in the day when the story first broke, I was on the Jacksonville.com website reading the story.   It was incredible.  There were people opining that racist cops were gunning for “black people”.  I have no idea if the police officer doing the shooting was black or white.  I suppose a police officer automatically becomes white when he/she puts on the badge.

There were further accusations that there is crime in all areas of Jacksonville, but the police officers weren’t shooting white people.  It could be because the white people aren’t pulling out guns and trying to shoot police officers over traffic stops.  I can assure everybody that if I, as a pale-hued woman, decided to shoot at a JSO representative, he/she would have no qualms about shooting back at me.  This is why I do not shoot at people pulling me over for traffic stops.  I’d rather pay the ticket than spend time in prison or the cemetery.

Others were unhappy because the officer didn’t shoot her in the leg or arm while she was attempting to kill him.  Sigh.   Maybe a lot of people really are idiots.

Working on that supposition, I have created a guide to keep the dumbass criminals from being killed by the JSO in the event they are pulled over for speeding:

1.  When the nice sheriff’s officer catches you speeding, stop.  Do not attempt to evade him/her and get away.  Strangely enough, that makes an officer suspect that you are either a criminal or a complete dumbass, both of which can be dangerous.  He’s got your tag number and your vehicle description and is likely already calling it in.

2.  Once the policeman has stopped you, no sneaky running away on foot while he’s writing the ticket. 

3.  After the policeman catches you and escorts you back to the vehicle, (and this is really important here, so pay very close attention) DO NOT SHOOT THE POLICEMAN WITH A CONCEALED WEAPON.

If you obey these simple rules, you, too will survive a speeding ticket regardless of race, sex, religious persuasion, or IQ.

*UPDATE* from News4Jax:

Grier’s family members said they have a lot of questions about how and why their loved one was shot.

“Anytime that you’re in pursuit of a criminal or anybody, the first thing you do when you bring them back is pat them down to make sure for your safety as well as the community that they don’t have a weapon. That’s the question that I have,” said Grier’s aunt, Eugenia Jones.

When Channel 4 asked Graham a similar question the police chief said, “He just now got control of her. He’s by himself with her, and there are a couple of options that he has. He chose the option to escort her out. He felt that … he needed to get her out to a better area to take further action. What that further action would have been — there were several options. He could have handcuffed her. There were other back-up officers that were in close proximity coming to him. I’m not going to speculate what he should have done at that point. He had control of the suspect at that time and that was his decision.”

According to police, a small revolver believed to have been Grier’s weapon was found at the scene and a significant amount of, “what appears to be illegal drugs” were found on Grier.

Police said Grier had a police record that includes possession of marijuana, drug possession with intent to distribute, aggravated battery with a firearm, burglary and carrying a concealed weapon by convicted felon.

Jones said she and other family members were aware of the Grier’s history.

“The family, we have an open mind about it. However it may turn out, we will deal with it,” Jones said. “We just want to know the truth.”

CNN)– U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says President Bush should consider boycotting the opening ceremony of the Olympics Games in Beijing this summer to protest China’s human rights record.

“I think boycotting the opening ceremony, which really gives respect to the Chinese government, is something that should be kept on the table,” Pelosi told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts in an interview to air Tuesday morning, according to the ABC News Web site. “I think the president might want to rethink this later, depending on what other heads of state do.”

Pelosi said she does not think U.S. athletes should boycott the games themselves. “I believe a boycott of the Beijing Olympics would unfairly harm our athletes who have worked so hard to prepare for the competition,” she said in a statement last week.

President Bush has said he intends to meet with China’s president during a trip to see the Olympic Games in Beijing, which start on August 8.

Bush didn’t elaborate on what issues he might bring up, but his administration has accused China, a major U.S. trade partner, of human rights abuses.

Read the rest of the story here:

Well, well.   Is this the same Nancy Pelosi who was all worked up about George Bush not ‘negotiating enough’ with the Syrians (whose leader can certainly be accused of violating the civil rights of those he has had murdered), Saddam Hussein (I believe those mass graves would argue some civil rights violations) and/or Iran? 

Why is it that Nancy Pelosi is cozy with some of the most egregious civil rights violators on the planet, but gets her panties in a knot over Tibet?  I suppose it’s just more politically correct to state one’s intentions to kill, say, every Jew and then provide the financial and weapons backing for murderous maniacs to actually engage in wanton destruction aimed at a civilian population that happens to be Jewish.   

“Speaking just for myself, I would be ready to get on a plane tomorrow morning, because however objectionable, unfair and inaccurate many of (Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s) statements are, it is important that we have a dialogue with him,” Lantos said. “Speaking for myself, I’m ready to go — and knowing the speaker, I think that she might be.”

Pelosi did not dispute that statement, and noted that Lantos — a Hungarian-born survivor of the Holocaust — brought “great experience, knowledge and judgment” to the recent bipartisan congressional delegation trip to Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia in addition to Syria.

“I find the president of Iran’s remarks to be so repulsive that they are outside the circle of civilized human behavior,” Pelosi said, referring to Ahmadinejad’s past comments that Israel should be wiped off the face of the map and his questioning of the existence of the Holocaust.

“But a person of Mr. Lantos’ stature and personal experience is saying that — even as a Holocaust survivor and even recognizing the outrageous statements of the president of Iran — it’s important to have dialogue. I think that speaks volumes.”

I’m not sure that I understand her foreign policy statements.  To repeat, Iranian representatives that murder lots of innocent people are supposed to be met with and ”dialogued” with, but our 4th largest customer, China, is not supposed to be accorded any such courtesy but instead insulted.  This dialogue thing is getting confusing.  

If Nancy Pelosi were indeed worried about civil rights violations, shouldn’t she have also urged the President to immediately insult Islamic policy throughout much of the world?  

I’m just a bit mystified as to why Nancy is running off at the mouth on foreign policy to begin with.  Let’s review her job duties again:

As specified in the rules and customs of the House, responsibilities of the Speaker include:

• Calling the House to order.
• Administering the oath of office to House Members.
• Presiding over debate, recognizing Members to speak on the floor, and preserving order; or delegating that power to another Member of Congress.
• Setting the legislative agenda.
• Leading the appointment process for the chairs of the various committees and subcommittees in the House, including conference committees which negotiate final versions of legislation.

Oddly enough, I do not see anything in that description for setting foreign policy or insulting foreign leaders.

Seems to me that Nancy has some political aspirations of her own and that Obama and Hillary better watch their backs.

A leader is someone who leads.   A leader does not sit around waiting to see what everybody else is going to do before taking action.