Chamblee54

The news came out that the coroner ruled Michael Jackson’s death to be a homicide. The name of his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was mentioned.
In race obsessed times, the first question many ask is about skin color. In the case of The Entertainer, it changed from time to time. PG found pictures from two times for Dr. Murray, and he looked the same.
The older image was a booking photograph from 1994. Dr. Murray was in trouble after a domestic violence incident with his girlfriend. The Doctor was acquitted of the charges.
There was more trouble for Dr. Murray in the years to come. (The search warrant for his office is here). At the time of his Jackson employment, Dr. Murray was in deep financial trouble. “In the last three years, Murray has faced lawsuits for unpaid business bills totaling over $700,000, including rent on his medical offices. He also owes more than $13,000 in child support, $70,000 to a business partner with whom he launched an energy drink called Pitbull, and he failed to pay more than $71,000 worth of student loans from medical school.”
Ten days before Michael Jackson got high for the last time, Dr. Murray sent a letter out. He announced that “Because of a once in a lifetime opportunity, I had to make a most difficult decision to cease practice of medicine indefinitely”. Dr. Murray reportedly was paid $150k a month to serve as a private physician to Micheal Jackson.
Dr. Murray was not the only Doctor to work with Michael. “Best-selling author Deepak Chopra, a licensed medical doctor, said he first became concerned about the pop star’s prescription drug use in 2005, when Jackson visited him shortly after his trial on sex abuse allegations.
Chopra said Jackson asked him to prescribe painkillers and already had a bottle of OxyContin.
“I was kind of a bit alarmed. I said, ‘Why are you taking that. You don’t need that,‘ and then I started to probe a little further, and after I grilled him a little bit, he admitted he was getting them from a bunch of doctors,” Chopra said.”
On June 25, things went too far.
Dr. Conrad Murray told cops he had been treating Jackson for 6 weeks for insomnia — giving him 50 milligrams of Propofol every night through an IV. Murray told cops he feared Jackson was getting addicted so he reduced the dosage to 25 mg.
The morning Jackson died, Dr. Murray gave Jackson valium at 1:30 AM. Murray said the valium didn’t work so he gave the singer an IV injection of lorazepam — an anti-anxiety drug. Murray told cops Jackson was still awake, so he then gave him midazolam — a sedative.
Murray gave Jackson more drugs. He says at 10:40 AM, he administered 25 mg of Propofol. Dr. Murray told cops Jackson repeatedly demanded the drug.
As we first reported, cops found 8 bottles of Propofol in Jackson’s house after he died, but they do not know where it was purchased. Cops also found Valium, Tamsulosin, Lorazepam, Temazepam, Clonazepam, Trazodone and Tizanidine, along with the Propofol. The various drugs were prescribed by Dr. Murray, Dr. Arnold Klein and Dr. Allan Metzger.
Dr. Murray reportedly told cops 10 minutes after administering Propofol … he “left Jackson’s side to go to the restroom and relieve himself. Murray stated he was out of the room for about 2 minutes maximum. Upon his return, Murray noticed that Jackson was no longer breathing.”
Dr. Murray says he began CPR and at some point ran downstairs and asked the chef to send up Prince Jackson, the eldest son, then Murray continued performing CPR.
Dr. Murray says he noticed that Jackson wasn’t breathing at around 11 AM. He was then on the cell phone for 47 minutes with 3 separate calls, from 11:18 to 12:05. The 911 call came in at 12:21 PM …. a much longer delay than originally reported…
Interestingly, according to the warrant, Dr. Murray refused to sign the death certificate at the UCLA Medical Center.

There is a lot of hot air about health care. It is an intensely personal subject. Almost everyone has a story to tell. Hidden agendas, payoffs, straw men, and misleading rhetoric are the order of the day. PG has decided to try and make a bit of sense out of the mess, and share this with his reader(s).
There was a google search, under the phrase “what is the health care proposal?”. PG found a pdf on the BHO website. It is not known when this pdf was written, or if other plan summaries are available. Also, it is not known how closely this summary corresponds to the bill before congress. PG tried to break down the BHO plan summary, with key parts set off in bold type(the ob health plan-c54 ).
There are three parts to the plan. The summary this is based on did not mention “death panels”, abortion, or illegal aliens. PG feels these are red herrings, designed to divert attention away from the plan. The current debate is a huckster’s paradise.
The first part of the plan involves lowering costs. There are three major parts to this. The first part is to modernize and digitize our health records. The second part is better maintenance of chronic disease. The third part is an overall reform of the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.
The second part of the plan calls for health insurance for all Americans. The two big steps here are the elimination of the pre existing conditions issue, and the establishment of the “National Health Insurance Exchange”. This part  is in trouble, and may be compromised away.
The third part of the plan is a call for prevention and public health. There are a few big brother like calls for “interventions”.
PG suspects there is a great deal more to the debate than this pdf, but that it is a good place to start. A 12 page pdf can only scratch the surface. The phrase “G-d is in the details” comes to mind.
Clearly, the system we have is not working for large numbers of people. The employer based insurance requirements are a leading factor in the outplacement of jobs overseas. While PG has a few doubts about what he read today, he does not see the talk radio crowd offering a better solution.

There is a statement about the role of government in our lives. It is floating around the internet. The original statement will be in green below. PG will add comments in blue. These comments are specific to life in Atlanta, GA.
The bottom line is that government plays a huge role in our lives. Even those who (loudly) claim to not like government benefit from its presence. In fact, many of the “small government conservatives” favor the deployment of 200k American troops eight time zones away. Can we say big government?

This morning I was awoken by my alarm clock powered by electricity generated by the public power monopoly regulated by the US department of energy. The regulation of The Southern Company is done by the Georgia Public Service commission. How good a job the PSC does depends on who you talk to. TSC does keep the lights on. The bad news is a heavy dependence on nuclear and coal fired plants. There is  almost no development of solar, or other renewable sources of energy. I then took a shower in the clean water provided by the municipal water utility. The water bomb will go off someday in Atlanta. The developers do what they want, and the government refuses to do anything to help. One day the tap will go dry, and five million people will be without water. After that, I turned on the TV to one of the FCC regulated channels to see what the national weather service of the national oceanographic and atmospheric administration determined the weather was going to be like using satellites designed, built, and launched by the national aeronautics and space administration. The development of weather forecasting technology is a bright spot in the big government picture. The FCC not so much. I watched this while eating my breakfast of US department of agriculture inspected food There is an abundance of relatively safe food today. It is transportation heavy, with all the financial and environmental costs that apply. and taking the drugs which have been determined as safe by the food and drug administration. There is much good and bad here. The war on fun drugs is a disaster. While prescriptions are regulated, there is much corruption, and profiteering by big pharma. Many countries get a better return on the drug dollar than we do here
At the appropriate time as regulated by the US congress and kept accurate by the national institute of standards and technology and the US naval observatory, Standard time was an invention of the railroads. Modern life without it is inconceivable. While the government does regulate this, it is not beyond reason that a private concern could not do as well. But, what would be the advantage of that? I get into my national highway traffic safety administration approved automobile Many of the problems and benefits of regulation can be seen here. Yes, some problems are alleviated. However, the system is subject to corruption and political shenanigans. and set out to work on the roads build by the local, state, and federal departments of transportation, This is one thing the government does fairly well, albeit with a lot of corruption and human error. Some see this as a model for health care…i.e., health care is seen as being in the domain of government the way that road building is today possibly stopping to purchase additional fuel of a quality level determined by the environmental protection agency, Oh the problems and benefits of oil. Much of what we need is bought from dreadful governments, who use the profits to do awful things. using legal tender issed by the federal reserve bank. The Federal Reserve is a highly controversial, much misunderstood institution On the way out the door I deposit any mail I have to be sent out via the US postal service and drop the kids off at the public school. These are needed institutions that are conceded to be the domain of government. The talk radio crowd loves to bash them. Both no doubt could be improved, but are we willing to spend the money to do this?
After spending another day not being maimed or killed at work thanks to the workplace regulations imposed by the department of labor and the occupational safety and health administration, These regulations are imperfect, but do help enjoying another two meals which again do not kill me because of the USDA, I drive my NHTSA car back home on the DOT roads, to my house which has not burned down in my absence because of the state and local building codes and fire marshal’s inspection, and which has not been plundered of all its valuables thanks to the local police department. Public safety and building inspections are two more functions that are conceded to be the domain of government. The job of the police is made more difficult because of the war on drugs.
I then log on to the internet which was developed by the defense advanced research projects administration and post on freerepublic.com and fox news forums about how SOCIALISM in medicine is BAD because the government can’t do anything right.

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, cleverly answer these questions. Tag some others who might enjoy this. You can’t use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. It’s a lot harder than you think! Re-post as “my life according to (band name)”Pick your Artist: David Bowie
Are you a male or female: The Bewley Brothers
Describe yourself: Quicksand
How do you feel:Always crashing in the same car
Describe where you currently live: Life on Mars
If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Width of a circle
Your favorite form of transportation: Queen Bitch
Your best friend is: Young Americans
You and your best friends are: Kooks
What’s the weather like: Changes
Favorite time of day: Eight Line Poem
If your life was a TV show, what would it be called: Scary Monsters
What is life to you: Panic in Detroit
Your relationship: Fame
Your fear: Sound and Vision
What is the best advice you have to give:Somebody up there likes me
Thought for the Day: Hang onto yourself
How I would like to die: Ashes to Ashes
My soul’s present condition: Moonage Daydream
My motto: Andy Warhol

PG finished reading “Living with the dead”. Celebrity biographies differ in the details, but the overall story is the same. Talent is born, and pointed to the stage. Through a synchronicity of work and luck, talent becomes a success. At some point the kiddie car hits the top of the roller coaster, and starts to head down to the bottom.
At page 213, the Dead have just played the seminal concert at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium. The Auditorium was a sturdy old building, with a marble statue of Enrico Caruso in the lobby. Before the Fox was liberated from movie shows and the Civic Center civilized, the Auditorium was the only place in town to play. The bottom floor was horseshoe shaped, lit by naked light bulbs sticking out of the wall at a ninety degree angle. The base of these bulbs was blacked out to create an ersatz shade.
Soon after that show, 1971 became 1972, the dead went to europe, and america set out to re elect the president. Mr. Nixon had such an odious name, his own re election committee did not utter it. Meanwhile, Jerry and the boys went to Europe, recorded an album, did not get arrested, and were introduced to an opiate called Persian White. The latter would dominate the life of the fabled Garcia in the years to come.
At some point, there was the bright idea to start Grateful Dead Records. Yes, liberation from Warner Brothers, and enslavement to a host of unforeseen masters. Next, a movie was a good idea, and while the rest of the band became rock stars, Jerry Garcia spent two plus years making a movie. Somehow, the band came out of this in good shape, and the early 77 concerts are considered by some to be the band’s best. PG saw one of these shows at the Fox Theater…The Auditorium was torn down in embarrassment by this time, with the marble face in front of a GSU facility.
Moving into the eighties, there was a sense that the band had become a well oiled, profitable, oldies band. The new material dried up. The MTV video revolution, seemingly a natural for the acid test veterans, went by with barely a trace of the dead. And Jerry spent more and more time “chasing the dragon”, smoking Persian White in a tinfoil pipe.
The band was still on the bus, but the wheels finally fell off. Jerry went into the hospital, and Rock Scully was told to find another job. The band managed to sell out the Omni in the early nineties, but the glory days were plainly long gone. Finally, on Hiroshima Day in 1995, Jerry went to the Haight Street in the sky. The dead was dead.

Today is the last Diva Thursday, at least for now. The cd this series is based on had 17 ladies, and today will feature the last four. There are lots of other lady singers, and Diva Thursday will be back.
Nouvelle Vague does not fit the pattern set by others. It is a French collective, and has a parade of singers.
Bessie Smith was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, either July 9, 1892 or April 15, 1894. She became a star of the TOBA (Theater Owners Booking Association, or Tough on Black Asses) vaudeville circuit.
Miss Smith made numerous appearances at the 81 Theater, at 81 Decatur Street, where Georgia State University stands today. Miss Smith was one of the first ladies to perform on “race records”.
Bessie Smith was in an auto accident September 26, 1937, between Memphis, Tennessee and Clarksdale, Mississippi. She died in Clarksdale. A story, now discredited, said that she was refused admission to a whites only hospital.
Gillian Howard Welch was born October 2, 1967 in New York City. She performs with her partner, David Rawlings. Miss Welch has avoided scandals and addictions, or has not gotten caught.
Patricia Lee “Patti” Smith was born December 30, 1946. She grew up in Deptford Township, New Jersey, which she escaped as soon as possible. Miss Smith was the gf of Robert Mapplethorpe, before she found out her plumbing did not fit his washing machine. Mr. Mapplethorpe took the picture on the cover of “Horses”.
Patti Smith was quite the sensation in the mid seventies. She fell off a stage and injured her neck January 23, 1977. This required her to take a year off, while punk rock was exploding in popularity. Patti returned to action in 1978, only to get married and retire from music. Patti Smith did return to performing, and now has her son Jackson in the band.

PG received this email today. He has not started to write in the first person. The toilet paper tea party patriots are a source of amusement to PG.
Today my girlfriend tried to go to a town hall meeting to hear about and participate in the health care debate in Monroe, GA. Her US Rep. John Linder was slated to be there. Unfortunately, the meeting was canceled at the last minute literally due to the high emotions of organized group members.
One of them is the Tea Party Patriots. They have one purpose: to drown out anyone who is in favor of health care reform and to demonize government in general and more specifically anything that has the word DEMOCRATS associated with it.
I don’t care what side you are on over this huge issue. I do care that there is an element in our society that is doing exactly what they accuse our government of doing, running over people in the name of their agenda.
Take a look at the tea party link. And do some original agenda-neutral research to come to your conclusions and let your US Rep. and Senators know your position.
As an American I am deeply embarrassed by the behavior of this kind of group and uncertain whether saner voices will take the time to participate as citizens. Be a Patriot.

The one thing PG is sure of in the Troy Davis case is the abundance of material on the internet. This is true of all death penalty cases. When you have celebrities calling for clemency, the data crush gets heavier.
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a district court needs to have a hearing on the Troy Davis case. The Supremes were convinced that there is enough evidence to doubt the conviction of Troy Davis for the murder of Mark MacPhail. Justices Scalia and Thomas dissented.
The dissenting opinion, written by Justice Scalia, is a doozy. “This court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.”
It should be noted that PG is not a lawyer, and some of the arguments he is reading make his head swim. Some say that Justice Scalia was correct in his opinion. Others think he is crazy.
The one thing PG has not been able to find in his googling is a picture of Sylvester “Red” Coles. Mr. Coles is known to have been present at the murder site. Mr. Coles owns a .38 pistol with a chrome finish, similar to the pistol that shot Mr. MacPhail. On the morning after the murder, Mr. Coles and an attorney showed up at the Police Headquarters. Soon, a decision was made that Troy Davis was the killer.
The reason PG wants to see a picture of Sylvester Coles is to know, for sure, if he is black or white. Mr. Coles is described as a “a fearsome neighborhood thug ” and a drug dealer. If Troy Davis (black) takes the blame for killing Mark MacPhail ( white) and allows Sylvester Coles (?) to go free, is this racism? Perhaps it is sloppy policework, or a bribe from the Coles attorney.While we are talking race, please note that Clarence Thomas concurred with Antonin Scalia in his dissent.
There are some who don’t think the ruling yesterday will change much. The MacPhail family and the Chatham County police are convinced of the guilt of Mr. Davis. This case has been bouncing around the courts for twenty years, and several courts have upheld the original guilty verdict. PG would hope that at any hearing, these parties will present evidence to show why they have this opinion.

Amazon just scared PG. They are too optimistic . The first thing PG gave up when he lost his job was paying for reading material. The Chamblee Library has come a long ways from its humble beginnings as a storefront, next to Woolworths.
PG is reading “Wild Ducks Flying Backwards” by Tom Robbins. At least that is who got the copyright. The real star of this book is the contractual advance brigade at Bantam Books. WDFB is not a novel, but a collection of magazine articles. There is even rumored to be, G-d forbid, poetry.
Tom Robbins is a hero to PG. Ever since page three of “Another Roadside Attraction”, when Amanda asked about the meaning of life. When the oblique one asked  how Amanda would repay him for this knowledge, she lowered her eyes and said “I will suck you off”. PG was hooked, and read each of the seven novels that followed.
One night in 1990, PG went to a eye clinic in Little Five Points to pick up his contact lens. It was a first for him…to see the world click into focus, without glasses, was astounding. From there it was on to Buckhead. A car dealership, turned bookstore, hosted an appearance by Tom Robbins (who did you expect, Neal Boortz?). PG was too late for the speech, but did get to wander by the desk while he signed books. Mr. Robbins also stood up, and slowly turned around, to lusty cheers .
PG then went home, to find a message on his machine. A longtime friend said to call him, it was important. When PG obliged, he learned that his friend had AIDS. This was enough experience for one day.
So, what does this have to do with the mind police at amazon? PG likes to write book reports, and he gives a link to Amazon for the book as a way of giving information. Well, those amazoners collect this information, and have a list of books that you inquire about in the corner. You don’t even have to buy them, which is handy for PG.
They also have a list of books ” you might also consider”, which is where we go into never never land. PG likes Rock and Roll books, including ubertacky groupie sagas. That afternoon on the sofa reading “Going down with Janis” by Peggy Casserta was memorable, even if PG didn’t believe a word of it. So, what does Amazon suggest but “I’m with the band” by Pamela Des Barres. PG hasn’t inquired, but has thought about it. Its a small world, or maybe a small mind connected to a medium internet.

Furman Bisher has a piece at the fishwrapper site about Joe Torre. The punch line is that Mr. Torre “grew up” when the Braves traded him to St. Louis. PG was a kid when this was going on, and did not hear a lot of what went on.
In 1965, the Braves played a lame duck year in Milwaukee before moving to Atlanta. One night, there was an exhibition game at Atlanta Stadium, the Braves against the Yankees. PG got his oh so patient dad to take him to the clubhouse after the game, to get autographs. In those days, you could go into the bowels of the stadium and wait outside the locker room. Hank Aaron came out and signed dozens of autographs while smoking a cigarette. Joe Torre came out, hid behind a truck, and took off running.
Mr. Torre was a racoon eyed catcher for the Braves. In the first regular season game in 1966, he hit two home runs, in a thirteen inning loss. Soon, the novelty of big league baseball in a toilet shaped stadium wore off. Mr. Torre got at least one DUI, and apparently a reputation as a barroom brawler. He was traded to St. Louis in 1968. Mr. Torre hit .373 and won the national league MVP in 1971.
The comments to the feature by Furman Bisher were interesting. Cecil 34 contributes “The reason that Torre was traded is because on the team’s charter flight back to Atlanta back in 68, a drunken Torre got into a fistfight with Aaron. Aaron popped off to Torre, and thus the fight was on, broken up by the other players.
Since Aaron was the face of the franchise at the time, Torre was traded. There had been bad blood between them for years before this incident anyway. Reasons vary. But the final nail in the coffin was this fistfight. I was told Torre could pack a punch and Aaron came out on the worse end of it.”
There has been whispering for years about Hank Aaron and his attitude. Furman Bisher made hints once or twice, but there was never anything of substance. It seems that Mr. Aaron does not lack for self confidence. Hank Aaron was the subject of much racially based abuse while  chasing the home run record in 1973.
Hank Aaron was  known to not get along with Rico Carty. Mr. Carty is a dark skinned man from the Dominican Republic, who was popular with fans. Mr. Carty was eventually traded. Rico Carty had a barbeque restaurant on Peachtree Road in Chamblee, next door to the Park and Shop.
Joe Torre was the manager of the Braves in the early eighties. The team won a divisional title in 1982, but lost the NLCS. This was after Ted Turner bought the team, and Mr. Turner fired Mr. Torre in 1984. ( Managers are hired to be fired ).
Getting back to the comment thread, Misterwax contributes “Turner cut Joe Torre loose because Ted was in love with Henry Aaron and Aaron thought Joe Torre was a white supremacist….A hangover from the clubhouse days when they were teammates…still does today. And THAT is the only reason he was cut….beause Hank Aaron said so.”
Hank Aaron was recently quoted on Barry Bonds and Steroids. Joe Torre is managing the Los Angeles Dodgers, and is leading his division. Furman Bisher is 90, has outlived Bear Bryant by 26 years, and continues to sign his columns “selah”.