© 2008 diana m. hartman
I just didn't have it to tell one more soul
From beginning to end, how I came to be whole
But this man, he wanted to hear it again
New therapist, new doctor, here we go again
I'd wanted to say how I had to decide
How I might get the wish, then regret it for life
There just came a point in the course of my life
When triumphs, survival and hope brimmed with light
But I knew that my words would mean nothing to him
How you can't talk away someone's questions or whims
So I just turned away and I wished for him peace
'Cause I know that's the one thing we all get the least
I just didn't have it to tell one more soul
The prices I've paid, the sum of the toll
But somehow I managed, and for the last time
I'm telling you this, pay attention this time
"The depths with which joy has found ways to my soul
Were mercilessly carved out way too long ago
You're taking for granted that I've always been
This happy go lucky, that's not always been
What uncle called training and auntie called chore
Turned out to be making a six year old whore
What the neighbor called favor, the old men called dues
Did mercilessly strip back all color and hue
This voice that you hear every time that I speak
Isn't mine, it's a scar, when I cough it still bleeds
You don't want to know from where my joy now comes
It is not of this world, it's a world all it's own."
He listened intently but lacked all affect
I thought it a good time to explain how it is:
"Behind closed doors and dollhouses there is a world
Where grown people get sick and throw up on girls
Where boys who stand shorter than the edge of your desk
Are strip mined and thrown out for some madman's quest
It's not just third world countries or back alley ways
It's not just in the fields or out of the way
It's right here beside you just go on next door
Peer into that window and see what stains the floor
Draw back in disgust and then cover your eyes
The child can't see you, she already died
Oh, she'll get up and walk out but look closer still
She carries no blankie, just a half beaten will
Her spirit now shattered, she will give it away
To just about anything that shuts down the pain
If that doesn’t work, and it probably won’t
Her mind will shut down while her body goes on
Once grown she will jump from one 'love' to the next
And her body will shut down right along with the rest
Perhaps she’ll know why but she won’t know the score
She’ll just think she’s damaged all the way to the core."
I told him the rest of my story and sighed
He feverishly wrote up and down, side to side
He reviewed my two long ago MMPI's*
"Shut down", "Isolated", "Might take her own life"
He then pulled the one I took one week before
"Cries easy", "Gregarious", "Unfocused" and more
He asked if I thought it was right or untrue
"A bit heavy handed" I said, "but it's true."
He said it was good that I saw it that way
"Good that you see yourself accurately, eh?
He thoughtfully helped me lay out a plan
"Here's how you'll get your life back in your hands."
He took thoughtful care and I tried to take heed
But all I could think was "I'm still in such need?"
My goodness, I thought after all I have done,
The groups and the books and the meds, aren't I done?
The management classes for anger and stress
I did learn from these things even while still depressed
The one-on-one sessions, the hypnotist, too
The psyche wards, the recalls, I've done what I could
I'm not suicidal, not even depressed
I eat right, work out, and get plenty of rest
And as I sat there it occurred to me then
I've let myself be MMPI'ed to death
I'm not so ungrateful for all of the help
But there must be limits to "fixing" myself
I know it's a journey and there is no end
But what of who I have become through all this?
That test had no question 'bout my sense of humor
But damn if it won't say my soul has a tumor
It didn't assess, and I don't think it could,
How great it can feel to feel so good
It didn't reflect my compassion and love,
My creative flow and resourcefulness
Once back from the ledge, it's a whole different thing
The test doesn't show that or the consequent strengths
I'll probably never pass your MMPI
I didn't know that was the goal all this time
I've just had a dream and I followed it through
To be who I am and then love myself, too
It makes little difference when interpreted tests
Reveal my weaknesses and ignore all my strengths
What matters the most is the question unasked
"Do you love your life and does life love you back?"
My story, the details, those aren't just some words
You've yet to ask how much did all of that hurt
My God it was painful, I thought I would die
But I didn't...and that's Where The Miracle Lies.
*MMPI stands for Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It is an extensive
psychiatric assessment in a several hundred question true/false format.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Sunday, April 22, 2007
When Words Go Unheeded
Every school shooter did in some way telegraph or flat out announce their problems and intentions.
On April 20, 1999, 18-year old Eric Harris and 17-year old Dylan Klebold, of Jefferson County, Colorado, killed 12 people and wounded 24 others before both committed suicide on the campus of Columbine High School. They had planned their violent outburst for a year. They expressed their hate and discontent with the world via website and video. This was done without parental knowledge or supervision, even though their parents were described as ""dream parents" and "caring, attentive parents."
On March 5, 2001, then 15-year old Charles Andrew Williams fatally shot two of his classmates and wounded 13 others at Santana High School in Santee, California. Williams told several people about some of the problems he was having. His divorced parents said they knew he was having problems. The day before the shooting, Williams shared information with others about the way he'd chosen to deal with his life. Because he followed his announcement with “I’m joking,” classmates would later say they didn’t take him seriously.
On April 16, 2007, 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui killed 32 people and himself, and wounded -- others at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Before the shooting, Seung-Hui’s writing assignments were described as "macabre" and "disturbing," his classmates speculated about his propensity for becoming a school shooter, and concerned faculty brought the writings to the attention of administrators.
Prior to and since 1999, there has been no shortage of school shootings by students who felt troubled and either demonstrated or spoke directly of their problems and/or their intentions. In almost every case, someone knew what was going to happen and didn’t tell anyone until a reporter or law enforcement investigator asked about their affiliation with the shooter.
I was four-years-old in 1966 when Charles Whitman killed 15 people and wounded 31 others in Austin, Texas. Since then, I've heard people half-joke about someone looking so stressed or being so bullied that they "might just end up on the news at the top of a tall building."
Before I knew it, there "someone" was - again and again. That the geography of violence has moved from the clock tower to the post office to the playground to the campus appears to have some seeing it all very differently when it's obvious the motives are the same: "I can't take it anymore and I don't know what else to do."
There is no justification for murder. Why the young men and boys did what they did is only an explanation, but it is an important, and thus far ignored part of the equation. Those who would ignore the explanation are inviting more of the same because of the inactivity their disbelief breeds. It doesn't matter whether or not a person is justified in feeling the way he/she does. What matters is that the person does feel that way. As we've seen time and again, people will sometimes act on those feelings in a violent way when they think they've run out of options. It doesn't matter that there were other options; it matters that they didn't see them.
Even if someone did show them options (although there is no evidence to suggest any of the aforementioned shooters were afforded the services they needed), they didn't continue to work with them until a plausible option was found. Before this point is bemoaned, look at yourself and the choices you've made given the options you've had.
If you're still sitting in a dead end job that makes you miserable because quitting won't pay the bills, then you know what an implausible option feels like. I'm not comparing the situations or the consequences; I'm saying you know what it feels like and how that feeling directly affected the decision you made. You can, therefore, now choose to stuff that unsettling feeling of empathy down deep inside or act on it to bring about positive change in your life and in the lives of others.
If your response is that you don't know what to do, then you also know what it feels like to feel helpless. If your response is that the shooters should have just dealt with it, then you obviously have ideas for dealing with stress that could help others, so then be kind enough to step forward and share with those who don't know what else to do. We are simply not as separate from each other as we would like to think we are - and good thing, too, because if we were, we wouldn't be capable of all the happiness and good fortune that we do have.
While water coolers and all manner of technology are abuzz with "Why did he do it?" I pose the question "Why are we just talking about it?" We don't like to think about things like this happening, much less have it plastered all over the front pages of our newspapers. That doesn't mean we should ignore it or make dead-end editorial comments in the aftermath without a plan to back it up. It means we should accept that other people, specifically children, feel differently and respond differently to the stress in their lives.
Because most of us respond differently, in that we keep ourselves in check, we are obligated to express this by sharing just how we are able to maintain control with those who come into our lives with a bit of trouble on their face. Our disdain with their lack of skills is not justification for not taking the time to at least give that person a knowing glance.
Every shooter did in some way telegraph or flat out announce their problems. They didn't have the tools to deal with their problems. If they already had the tools to deal with their problems in a positive manner they would have. They obviously didn't, and in some small way they were all looking for answers to their questions.
That those questions were hidden beneath disturbing comments, stares, conversations, videos, websites and one-act plays is no excuse for having kept right on about one's business as if one had heard nothing. I'm not saying anyone should've heard murder coming, but every person privy to what was said or demonstrated heard or saw something that was obviously good enough to repeat to reporters the day of and after the shootings.
With the exception of Seung-Hui's teacher alerting administrators of his writing, no one reported their concerns prior to the shootings. Is this because they lacked a microphone and the promise of a few minutes of publicized glory? If what you hear today is good enough to repeat in an on-camera interview tomorrow, then it's worth mentioning to someone today.
We all know what it feels like to have a horrible no good very bad day. For some of us, it's way more than just a day. Why is it so unfathomable for so many to believe that the odds of someone actually going through life feeling tormented -- by their own inner demons or by others -- are alarmingly high?
The Santee, California boy was called a "coward" and his actions "cowardly." What was he called the day before? That's right - no one was listening. Everyone was too busy not taking his comments seriously. His actions were taken seriously, though, weren't they? Look at how much attention was given to every shooter's violent behavior versus how much attention was given to anything they'd said or demonstrated before they hurt anyone. The same can be woefully said of every shooter.
Echoed in the haunting lyrics of Harry Chapin's "Sniper", the young men involved in every shooting either asked for help from those around them even though some of them didn't know how to say it, or they made their intentions clear by way of the things they were doing and saying. Like the "Sniper," we have once again answered the desperately human question "Am I?" with inhumanity.
Given the daily hostility, stress, and aggravation we are all subjected to, it's a miracle there aren't more people losing it, but who is to say there aren't more people losing it? We heard about Eric and Charles and Cho because they killed people. We aren't hearing about any of the other kids who, at this very moment, are feeling the same way they did but are instead withdrawing inside themselves. We may never see some of them ever again. Others, we may see on the news in the coming days.
The pen was thought to be mightier than the sword. Unfortunately, we've sent the message loud and clear that we will not heed words, only weapons. We didn't focus on what any of these young men were saying until they said it with bullets, and even now our focus is not on what they said but how they said it.
Robert Fulghum wrote, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will break my heart." Every one of us will find a way to be heard when the need is strong enough, and every one of us has an opportunity to listen. The Virginia Tech shooting, along with all the others like it, is proof that we will continue to be haunted by the people we choose not to see and the words we choose not to hear.
On April 20, 1999, 18-year old Eric Harris and 17-year old Dylan Klebold, of Jefferson County, Colorado, killed 12 people and wounded 24 others before both committed suicide on the campus of Columbine High School. They had planned their violent outburst for a year. They expressed their hate and discontent with the world via website and video. This was done without parental knowledge or supervision, even though their parents were described as ""dream parents" and "caring, attentive parents."
On March 5, 2001, then 15-year old Charles Andrew Williams fatally shot two of his classmates and wounded 13 others at Santana High School in Santee, California. Williams told several people about some of the problems he was having. His divorced parents said they knew he was having problems. The day before the shooting, Williams shared information with others about the way he'd chosen to deal with his life. Because he followed his announcement with “I’m joking,” classmates would later say they didn’t take him seriously.
On April 16, 2007, 23-year-old Cho Seung-Hui killed 32 people and himself, and wounded -- others at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Before the shooting, Seung-Hui’s writing assignments were described as "macabre" and "disturbing," his classmates speculated about his propensity for becoming a school shooter, and concerned faculty brought the writings to the attention of administrators.
Prior to and since 1999, there has been no shortage of school shootings by students who felt troubled and either demonstrated or spoke directly of their problems and/or their intentions. In almost every case, someone knew what was going to happen and didn’t tell anyone until a reporter or law enforcement investigator asked about their affiliation with the shooter.
I was four-years-old in 1966 when Charles Whitman killed 15 people and wounded 31 others in Austin, Texas. Since then, I've heard people half-joke about someone looking so stressed or being so bullied that they "might just end up on the news at the top of a tall building."
Before I knew it, there "someone" was - again and again. That the geography of violence has moved from the clock tower to the post office to the playground to the campus appears to have some seeing it all very differently when it's obvious the motives are the same: "I can't take it anymore and I don't know what else to do."
There is no justification for murder. Why the young men and boys did what they did is only an explanation, but it is an important, and thus far ignored part of the equation. Those who would ignore the explanation are inviting more of the same because of the inactivity their disbelief breeds. It doesn't matter whether or not a person is justified in feeling the way he/she does. What matters is that the person does feel that way. As we've seen time and again, people will sometimes act on those feelings in a violent way when they think they've run out of options. It doesn't matter that there were other options; it matters that they didn't see them.
Even if someone did show them options (although there is no evidence to suggest any of the aforementioned shooters were afforded the services they needed), they didn't continue to work with them until a plausible option was found. Before this point is bemoaned, look at yourself and the choices you've made given the options you've had.
If you're still sitting in a dead end job that makes you miserable because quitting won't pay the bills, then you know what an implausible option feels like. I'm not comparing the situations or the consequences; I'm saying you know what it feels like and how that feeling directly affected the decision you made. You can, therefore, now choose to stuff that unsettling feeling of empathy down deep inside or act on it to bring about positive change in your life and in the lives of others.
If your response is that you don't know what to do, then you also know what it feels like to feel helpless. If your response is that the shooters should have just dealt with it, then you obviously have ideas for dealing with stress that could help others, so then be kind enough to step forward and share with those who don't know what else to do. We are simply not as separate from each other as we would like to think we are - and good thing, too, because if we were, we wouldn't be capable of all the happiness and good fortune that we do have.
While water coolers and all manner of technology are abuzz with "Why did he do it?" I pose the question "Why are we just talking about it?" We don't like to think about things like this happening, much less have it plastered all over the front pages of our newspapers. That doesn't mean we should ignore it or make dead-end editorial comments in the aftermath without a plan to back it up. It means we should accept that other people, specifically children, feel differently and respond differently to the stress in their lives.
Because most of us respond differently, in that we keep ourselves in check, we are obligated to express this by sharing just how we are able to maintain control with those who come into our lives with a bit of trouble on their face. Our disdain with their lack of skills is not justification for not taking the time to at least give that person a knowing glance.
Every shooter did in some way telegraph or flat out announce their problems. They didn't have the tools to deal with their problems. If they already had the tools to deal with their problems in a positive manner they would have. They obviously didn't, and in some small way they were all looking for answers to their questions.
That those questions were hidden beneath disturbing comments, stares, conversations, videos, websites and one-act plays is no excuse for having kept right on about one's business as if one had heard nothing. I'm not saying anyone should've heard murder coming, but every person privy to what was said or demonstrated heard or saw something that was obviously good enough to repeat to reporters the day of and after the shootings.
With the exception of Seung-Hui's teacher alerting administrators of his writing, no one reported their concerns prior to the shootings. Is this because they lacked a microphone and the promise of a few minutes of publicized glory? If what you hear today is good enough to repeat in an on-camera interview tomorrow, then it's worth mentioning to someone today.
We all know what it feels like to have a horrible no good very bad day. For some of us, it's way more than just a day. Why is it so unfathomable for so many to believe that the odds of someone actually going through life feeling tormented -- by their own inner demons or by others -- are alarmingly high?
The Santee, California boy was called a "coward" and his actions "cowardly." What was he called the day before? That's right - no one was listening. Everyone was too busy not taking his comments seriously. His actions were taken seriously, though, weren't they? Look at how much attention was given to every shooter's violent behavior versus how much attention was given to anything they'd said or demonstrated before they hurt anyone. The same can be woefully said of every shooter.
Echoed in the haunting lyrics of Harry Chapin's "Sniper", the young men involved in every shooting either asked for help from those around them even though some of them didn't know how to say it, or they made their intentions clear by way of the things they were doing and saying. Like the "Sniper," we have once again answered the desperately human question "Am I?" with inhumanity.
Given the daily hostility, stress, and aggravation we are all subjected to, it's a miracle there aren't more people losing it, but who is to say there aren't more people losing it? We heard about Eric and Charles and Cho because they killed people. We aren't hearing about any of the other kids who, at this very moment, are feeling the same way they did but are instead withdrawing inside themselves. We may never see some of them ever again. Others, we may see on the news in the coming days.
The pen was thought to be mightier than the sword. Unfortunately, we've sent the message loud and clear that we will not heed words, only weapons. We didn't focus on what any of these young men were saying until they said it with bullets, and even now our focus is not on what they said but how they said it.
Robert Fulghum wrote, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will break my heart." Every one of us will find a way to be heard when the need is strong enough, and every one of us has an opportunity to listen. The Virginia Tech shooting, along with all the others like it, is proof that we will continue to be haunted by the people we choose not to see and the words we choose not to hear.
Sunday, April 08, 2007
Satire: Illusionist David Copperfield and USMC Join Forces
The White House has announced that illusionist David Copperfield secretly and voluntarily enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Meritoriously-promoted Lance Corporal Copperfield has graduated from MCRD Parris Island and will soon deploy with Camp Lejeune-based 2nd Recon. The unit's top-secret mission will be to solicit the attention and attendance of insurgents in a given area of combat. Once the insurgents are lured, Copperfield will make the Marines disappear. When the insurgents are adequately befuddled, the Marines will commence firing.
After the initial mission has taken place, the tactics will change because it is assumed word will spread to remaining insurgents that disappearing Marines must be avoided. Details about the change in strategy have not yet been released, but unidentified White House sources have disclosed the possibility of Copperfield turning U.S. military strongholds into mosques and Marines into virgins. Copperfield, who successfully convinced millions into thinking he’d made the Statue of Liberty disappear, was said to have expressed doubt about being able to create the illusion of something as far-fetched as a virginal Marine.
Earlier today, United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates formally denied rumors that any U.S. military leader or servicemember is currently training with Copperfield in an eventual effort to make President Bush and Vice President Cheney disappear long enough to get the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan moving along in a way more befitting the military standard. In a video press conference held shortly after his graduation from boot camp, Copperfield warned that his illusions, when conducted by inadequately trained personnel, run the risk of becoming real and permanent.
After the initial mission has taken place, the tactics will change because it is assumed word will spread to remaining insurgents that disappearing Marines must be avoided. Details about the change in strategy have not yet been released, but unidentified White House sources have disclosed the possibility of Copperfield turning U.S. military strongholds into mosques and Marines into virgins. Copperfield, who successfully convinced millions into thinking he’d made the Statue of Liberty disappear, was said to have expressed doubt about being able to create the illusion of something as far-fetched as a virginal Marine.Earlier today, United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates formally denied rumors that any U.S. military leader or servicemember is currently training with Copperfield in an eventual effort to make President Bush and Vice President Cheney disappear long enough to get the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan moving along in a way more befitting the military standard. In a video press conference held shortly after his graduation from boot camp, Copperfield warned that his illusions, when conducted by inadequately trained personnel, run the risk of becoming real and permanent.
Horology For the Masses
To best take advantage of the information provided herein, open links/images in a new window.
As the United States begins its earlier-than-usual shift into springtime, we take a look at many things horological around the world. (European Union countries will shift later this month and the shift varies for those countries outside the EU and US that participate in Daylight Saving Time.) While every attempt has been made to spare the reader a pun-laden expose, try to forgive the occasional transgression.
We are most aware of time when the phone rings in the wee hours of the night. We first look at our bedside clock (as if it were the source of the noise?) and with a sudden sinking feeling we answer the phone, certain it’s bad news. Sometimes all is well but for the future of the loved one in another part of the world who innocently proclaims, "I forgot about the time difference." In sleepy haste, we scribble a note: Take caller out of will.
He Who Defines the Terms
Lee Smolin, a theoretical physicist, professor of physics, and member of the Center for Gravitational Physics and Geometry at Pennsylvania State University, answers the question "What is time?" He can answer a lot of questions, to be sure, none of which I'm qualified to paraphrase here. If I've learned nothing else about horology, it is that the smartest people in the world know way more about it than I do. It's nice that they share.
Those driven to learn by data alone will no doubt find much to be had with Horology: The Index, as presented by world traveler and all-around very smart man, Fortunat F. Mueller-Maerki. Interested newcomers to horology may take interest in the clepsydra (0), an ancient device for measuring time by the regulated flow of water or mercury through a small aperture.
Who Doesn't Love a Convert?
Silent Warriors not only displays an easy-to-use visual reference (1) for converting standard time to military time, they've also included a brief explanation for those new to the conversion. Intuitor founder Tom Rogers shows us how and why a time of 12:11 converts to 8_1F on a hexclock (2).
Tool Time
Time is noted many times in a day on many a machine, appliance, and accessory. If you want to know the time on someone's watch in a different country (something our will-banished caller would do well to try), take a look at Steffen Thorsen's user-friendly World Clock. For visual reference, the different time zones can be seen as mapped out by World Time Zone.
From sundials to the atomic second, Encyclopedia Britannica's Clockworks offers a most comprehensive horological examination of time tools with easy-to-read passages and eye-catching imagery. Equally intriguing and visually appealing is the Franklin Institute Science Museum Journey in Time. Enthusiasts will likely find the former more interesting, while schoolteachers may find the latter more useful.
History buffs, trivia collectors, and anyone who enjoyed picture books as a child may enjoy the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) presentation of The Evolution of Time. You only thought you didn't have time to learn about ancient calendars, early clocks, world time scales and time zones, the revolution in timekeeping, the atomic age, and lots of suggested reading in the bibliography.
NIST's laboratories in Boulder, Colorado, developed NIST-F1, a cesium fountain atomic clock. This clock is about as close as you can get to the end-all-be-all of timekeeping as it is "the nation's primary time and frequency standard" and "contributes to the international group of atomic clocks that define Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the official world time."
Call Your Travel Agent
Everything you wanted to know about time travel is just moments away. For your perusal is PBS' companion Web site to the NOVA program "Time Travel," and "Time Travel for Beginners" by John Gribbin, science writer and visiting Fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. If you're thinking about taking that fateful trip, Scientific American presents the schematic-free "How to Build a Time Machine."
If your horological interest in travel is less about dimension and more about destination, there are a few clocks you may find interesting. The Astronomical Clock (Orloj) (3) of the Old Town Hall in Prague, Czech Republic, continually provides the full range of astronomical data. The clock was installed in 1410 and rebuilt in 1490 by the Master Hanuš. Of its three parts -- the procession of Apostles, the astronomical clock, and the calendar -- its most popular attraction is the hourly procession of the 12 Apostles. The tower stands about 226 feet (approximately 69 meters).
The 1547 Horloge Astronomique of Strasbourg, Alsace, France (4) offers up four levels of timekeeping activity. Among the most fascinating things this clock does is show the different stages of life. The fourth level shows the Apostles pass by, bow, and receive Christ's benediction. Also, a rooster spreads its wings and sings. This used to happen when the clock struck twelve noon, but it upset the clergy that many churchgoers were leaving mass before it ended to see the clock at its most active glory. The clergy delayed the passing of the Apostles until half past noon.
Set in 1753, the clock of Independence Hall (5) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was removed in 1828. It was replaced in 1972 by the National Park Service with a 14-foot carved replica. (I've been many places in the U.S. and Europe, but never Philadelphia. If someone knows anything more about this clock, please leave information in the comments section below.) The oldest and longest continuously running clock in the United States is said to be the Winnsboro, South Carolina Town Clock, built in 1833. The works for this clock were ordered from Alsace, France (home of the aforementioned Horologe Astronomique). Many public clocks throughout the United States are located, inventoried, and assisted in their preservation and maintenance by Save America's Clocks.
Timely Tidbits
Every part of the picture (of the Musée d'Orsay clock in Paris) links to something relevant with time. By opening a link in a new window, you will have this page to refer back to for more fun!
The End of Time
Time is a concept limited to the human mind, as it exists nowhere else. Vast, though, are the efforts and attempts made throughout history to measure, keep, save, and track time. This has been but a brief look at a few of these efforts. It's hoped the horologically inclined among us have learned or learned more for it.
"Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in." - Henry David Thoreau
The Almost Report: Thallium Poisoning?
News that might've happened. Speculation at 11:00.
Depending on who you talk to, Soviet-born Dr. Marina Kovalevsky, 49, and her daughter, Yana, 26, were and were not confirmed to have been poisoned with thallium while visiting Moscow. They definitely left Russia after treatment and they're definitely being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
According to most of the following news sources, the two women "emigrated to the United States in 1989." In mid-February of this year, they flew to Moscow to attend a wedding. On February 24th, they became ill and were hospitalized in Moscow. (Isn't it funny how the word "emigrated" is used for everyone who did not immigrate from Mexico?)
The Almost Report asks: Were they poisoned with thallium or not?
Yes - On March 7th, an informed source told RIA-Novosti (Russian News and Information Agency) that two visiting U.S. citizens of Russian origin were poisoned with thallium.
Maybe - In that same RIA-Novisti report, the U.S. Embassy said it had not confirmed thallium poisoning, but did say it was "a possibility."
Yes - Not to be outdone by the U.S. Embassy, NBC11 reported Nikolai Filatov, Moscow's top public health doctor, as having said thallium poisoning was confirmed. NBC11 says, "Now investigators want to know if the poisoning was intentional."
How do you investigate whether or not something was intentional if you don't yet know that it even happened? This is what you get when you use graduates from the School of Intelligent Design.
Maybe - SignonSanDiego reports the hospital as having said, "It is still too early to determine exactly what may have caused their illness.”
Yes - CBS' March 7th headline read "Poisoned U.S. Women Out Of Moscow Hospital."
CNN and Radio Free Europe reported on the side of Maybe, but ABC ("2 American Women Poisoned in Moscow") joined NBC11 and RIA Novisti on the side of Yes.
Almost all of the news reports closed with a humdinger of a "this didn't happen, but we're reporting it anyway" segment: The CIA is said to have "considered" -- rather "reportedly considered" -- using thallium against Fidel Castro, "possibly" putting it in his shoes so he'd lose his beard.
Yes citizens, you heard right. Baldness is worse than death, and unrealized pranks have now been bumped up into the category of "news." Johnny Knoxville will be thrilled.
Depending on who you talk to, Soviet-born Dr. Marina Kovalevsky, 49, and her daughter, Yana, 26, were and were not confirmed to have been poisoned with thallium while visiting Moscow. They definitely left Russia after treatment and they're definitely being treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
According to most of the following news sources, the two women "emigrated to the United States in 1989." In mid-February of this year, they flew to Moscow to attend a wedding. On February 24th, they became ill and were hospitalized in Moscow. (Isn't it funny how the word "emigrated" is used for everyone who did not immigrate from Mexico?)
The Almost Report asks: Were they poisoned with thallium or not?
Yes - On March 7th, an informed source told RIA-Novosti (Russian News and Information Agency) that two visiting U.S. citizens of Russian origin were poisoned with thallium.
Maybe - In that same RIA-Novisti report, the U.S. Embassy said it had not confirmed thallium poisoning, but did say it was "a possibility."
Yes - Not to be outdone by the U.S. Embassy, NBC11 reported Nikolai Filatov, Moscow's top public health doctor, as having said thallium poisoning was confirmed. NBC11 says, "Now investigators want to know if the poisoning was intentional."
How do you investigate whether or not something was intentional if you don't yet know that it even happened? This is what you get when you use graduates from the School of Intelligent Design.
Maybe - SignonSanDiego reports the hospital as having said, "It is still too early to determine exactly what may have caused their illness.”
Yes - CBS' March 7th headline read "Poisoned U.S. Women Out Of Moscow Hospital."
CNN and Radio Free Europe reported on the side of Maybe, but ABC ("2 American Women Poisoned in Moscow") joined NBC11 and RIA Novisti on the side of Yes.
Almost all of the news reports closed with a humdinger of a "this didn't happen, but we're reporting it anyway" segment: The CIA is said to have "considered" -- rather "reportedly considered" -- using thallium against Fidel Castro, "possibly" putting it in his shoes so he'd lose his beard.
Yes citizens, you heard right. Baldness is worse than death, and unrealized pranks have now been bumped up into the category of "news." Johnny Knoxville will be thrilled.
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