Help is being requested in bringing to the public's attention the plight of six Brooklyn friends who went on a Carnival Cruise to the Caribbean and have ended up beaten and jailed in Antigua over a dispute in the fair with a taxi-driver.

This X-Posted from transgriotfeed's post Free The Antigua 6

Rachel Henry, certified chef; fashion and runway model
Shoshannah Henry, singer-songwriter; law school student
Dolores Lalanne, social worker
Nancy Lalanne, licensed practical nurse
Joshua Jackson, crew chief for an international airline and a customer service representative for a utilities company
Mike Pierre-Paul, licensed practical nurse

They were part of a group of a dozen Brooklyn, NY residents aboard a Carnival Cruise ship that docked at Antigua earlier this month.

The six negotiated a $50 fare with a cab driver to tour the island, but ended up in a dispute with the cabbie when he demanded double the amount at the end of the ride. When the group refused to pay the new amount, he drove the passengers to a police station away from the port where the cruise ship was docked.

The group was subsequently arrested and beaten by the Antiguan po-po's. They are facing numerous charges and had an Antiguan court hearing at 2 PM yesterday in which the all pleaded not guilty.

(Clickety-click on fake LJ Cut for full story and where you can call, write and be generally helpful)

Yes, please DO feel free to pass this on

Now you can check it out on another of those handy-dandy interactive maps (this time courtesy of the NY Times).

Murder: New York City
Each day, the New York Police Department announces major crimes, including most homicides, in the five boroughs. This data is compiled from those reports, in addition to news accounts, court records and additional reporting. The map will be updated as new information becomes available.

See what kind of interesting things you find on twitter?

FDA Calls for a Caution on Label of Merck Drug

The agency wants the asthma medication Singulair and similar medicines to come with a caution about reports of psychiatric problems in some patients.

[I've NEVER had anything close to the reported symptoms, and the insomnia is very odd for a drug we all are told to take at night before sleeping]

and found this lovely looking website quite by accident

Story Book Woods
haven't even had time to look thru everything (not even sure if this is the hompage) but it seems to have seasonal ephemera, quotes and poems. I just love stuff like this.

and the thing that makes this more of "man bites dog" item than a "ho-hum - welcome to NYC - so what else is new" story is . . .

( Read more... )

young lady w/older brother's help has retrieved her belongings from mother's house no one was home so it was without incident thank god/ess!

and I have now set her to baking a fine chocolate cake with M&M sprinkles and fudge-y icing while she considers her options

quiet kitchen putterings with cats (+ ubiquitous CNN in background) is grounding plus chocolate cake cures many of life's ills

tired from helping neighbors battle ACS for their daughter who was snatched from them 4 days before her 2nd Bday over cultural differences

and then because ACS took away the child the family is no longer eligible for family housing so they are being evicted and put on the street

and then predictably the dual diagnosis grandmother (mother of the mom) reacted to the stress by turning to sex-n-drugs-n-rock-and-roll

and then high & partying with her new "man" grandmother lashed out further by turning on the younger children still at home

and because of the ruckus the and screaming the neighbors called the police, sadly it was the dumb, vicious and corrupt 77th precinct

and then the police reacted by threatening the children (ages 4 to 17) who were being beaten with arrest if they didn't shut up

and then they put the eldest of the children, a pregnant 17 year old out of the house and onto the street or face arrest

and then she showed up her face and arms all swollen, split lip etc, (the baby ok though) sobbing at my house at 2 in the morning

welcome to Crown Heights Brooklyn!

Lil Mikey walked in this AM, said "Happy Mother's Day" and dropped his HS Diploma down on the desk next to me, [and he also now has his New York State Security Licence, three white button-down shirts and a blue + grey rep tie too LOL!]

Many congratulations and recognition to Ms. Tiajuana Ward his (long-suffering!!) HS Guidance Councilor and all the other teachers and school staff too. It was definitely a group effort.

Hot chocolate could make you smarter?

People who drank it did better at a math test than those who didn't, a study at Northumbria University in England found. Chocolate contains flavanols, which can fight fatigue and pump up mental sharpness. It may be because they widen blood vessels and increase blood flow to the brain.

Story as reported by the Uni's own site here: Foods rich in cocoa may improve performance on challenging mental tasks like arithmetic, according to researchers at Northumbria University

who are perfectly happy to publicize the views of the "Poverty Pimps" like Melissa Farley who dash about wailing and wringing their hands [and being well paid for it] over what they claim is modern-day "white-slavery" and the "plight" of exotic looking ladies in "foreign climes" and yet totally failed to mention, do anything, stand in support of actual real women who were being brutalized and killed in their own back-yard because they were just not PC enough to suit.

I personally wrote two different contributors at Feministing.Com asking for ther help and didn't even get the courtesy on a "No".

Just silence.

going on over at bialogue

Icons for the Bisexual, Fluid & Pansexual Communities:
free to good homes

[16] Easter and Spring Icons

01	09	12	16

( click here to see all icons )

which in my case means I'm changing my Icons & Backgrounds to my Spring ones, welcome to the computer age, LOL!

Can this be true? It sure would be nice . . .

To Curb a Cough: Indulge in a square or two of dark chocolate. Researchers found that chocolate's theobromine compound is more effective than codeine at suppressing persistent coughs without the side effects of drowsiness and constipation.

"One of the very first things I figured out about life . . . is that it's better to be a hopeful person than a cynical, grumpy one, because you have to live in the same world either way, and if you're hopeful, you have more fun."

~~ Barbara Kingsolver

oh how adorable . . .



a young (I'm guessing maybe four years old?) Barack Obama plays baseball in Hawaii.

life is normal again!

I get worried e-mails like this:

In a message dated 12/18/2008 12:07:15 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, XXXXXX@gmail.com writes:

We are doing a report on (mainly American) Christian organisations working in "rescuing" Cambodian sex workers and forcing them to convert to Christianity.

There are lots. Many US Evangelical Churches have set up as Faith Based Organisations and are working in developing countries to "rescue" women and children; but on their US Church websites they refer to it as "Missionary Work" and "Gathering Souls for Christ" . . . .

When we complete this report we could do with some help to get out the message in the US.

I don't know how to tell them that not only will most peole here not care they probably will think it is a great idea.