BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Just DISGUSTING! What is it with guys who can't keep their pants on and everyone around them who wants to cash in? What a depraved society we are living in - far too much reality television! The husband of Sen. John Ensign's former mistress made "exorbitant demands for cash and other financial benefits" through an attorney, an aide to the Nevada Republican said Friday. In a statement, Ensign spokesman Tory Mazzola said the demands from an attorney for Doug Hampton were made within the past month. "The demands were referred to Senator Ensign's legal counsel, who is handling the matter going forward," the statement said. Mazzola did not name the attorney nor immediately respond to requests for additional details. Hampton's lawyer, Daniel Albregts, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. The FBI in Las Vegas and Las Vegas police said Friday they were not investigating the matter. Unconfirmed reports that Doug Hampton was pressuring En...

By Patricia Lefave, Labelled, D.D.(P). The only thing needed to create a scapegoat's distressed reaction is the act of an aggressor with a hidden agenda of domination. If he/she can covertly manipulate a group of people to accept the reality of the situation between him/her and his/her victim as the opposite, and keep the group convinced of it long enough to create enough chaos and pressure to completely confuse the victim, then the result is predictable. The victim's ego structure may well start to break down under the enormous, unrelenting stress, coupled with the inability to either resolve the problem, or escape from the situation. Once the victim has been ''successfully'' invalidated by the abuser and the group that supports and enables him or her, nothing the victim thinks, says, feels or does will be heard as straightforward communication ever again. It will then be heard through the ''interpretive'' filter of the group's beliefs about...

ON WATERBOARDING Sultan Knish has a very good post about waterboarding. While I am personally against torture, he makes some very strong and valid points. I hope everyone goes and reads the whole thing ! Here's some excerpts : United States prisoners have been tortured or assaulted in virtually every war in the 20th century from WW2 to Korea to Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan. The fact that the United States respected the rights of Nazi, Imperial Japanese, Communist and Islamist prisoners did not in any way restrain the followers of these totalitarian ideologies from abusing our captured soldiers. If anything it made it safer for them to do so knowing that there would be no retaliation. Some forms of psychological pressure are used by law enforcement on a day to day basis. There are people who experience psychological trauma after an encounter with law enforcement. But if law enforcement personnel were not intimidating, they would be useless. In preparation for the 1972 Munich Oly...

UNDER PRESSURE For some reason reading this article in Haaretz reminded me of those inane commercials (and net-spam) asking men "are you losing your edge in the bedroom" or "did you know as you age you lose testosterone?" of course followed up with the pitch for some testosterone boosting pill, cream or food replacement. Those commercials sprang to mind when I read the statement coming out of PM Olmert's office. Maybe he found some product that worked? FINALLY? Security cabinet rejects Gaza truce, opts to keep pressure on Hamas By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent, The security cabinet decided at a meeting Wednesday to reject a cease-fire with Hamas over the violence in the Gaza Strip, and that the Israel Defense Forces should continue with its ongoing policy of military action against the Palestinian militant groups. Noting a "relative decrease in Qassam rocket launchings," the cabinet decided to continue "attacks and military pressure on terro...