Teenagers find a new, free, and fatal drug

Los Angeles, CA- It's called Angel's Trumpet. A flower that is common to grow in California. Yes, it is poisonous, but one fourteen year old says that students chew the flower to get a feeling of calm and relaxation. They're chewing this flower to get high.

Angel's Trumpet is a relative of Jimson Weed, another plant that teenagers use to covet. Right now, it is only in the L.A. School District that this is catching on. I have a hunch that other students from neighboring areas will catch on to this retardedness. Students in L.A. have already gone to their school's nurses office with stomach aches, nausea, delirium, and difficulty breathing!

I miss the good old days when children who were stupid, knew they were stupid. I'm surprised today's youth hasn't gone back to sniffing glue. So many household products that contain poisons are made by companies trying to push the "go green" ingredient products. Our environ-mental parents will give birth to idiot children who will sniff Eco-friendly glue.

However, could this "Angel's Trumpet" be the "organic" source of getting high? I don't know. I get a pretty good buzz eating my neighbors oleanders.


by: THRILL

SpecOp Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR)

SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMBAT ASSAULT RIFLE (SCAR)
The Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR), designed by FN Herstal (FNH), is within a modular assault rifle family. The Rifle was designed and manufactured responding to a United States special Operations Command requirement. The weapon won quick prize after capturing the US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) development and production contract in November of 2004. The SCAR family of weapons includes the SCAR L (Light) 5.56 mm version, SCAR Heavy 7.62mm rifle, and Enhanced Grenade Launcher (EGLM) grenade launcher that is able to fire Fuse Programmable Ammunition.

SCAR L
SCAR L is set to replace the M4A1, Close Quarters Battle Rifle (CQBR) and Mk12 sometime in 2007. The CQBR and the Mk12 are currently under SOCOM use and service. The SCAR L is a 5.56 mm assault rifle whereas the SCAR H is a 7.62 mm assault rifle which will replace the Mk11 sniper rifle and M14. The SCAR L and the SCAR H variants share ninety percent (90%) commonality of parts and will have a choice of three distinct barrel dimensions. This feature will allow operators to tailer the SCAR for specific and unique operations, using a Close Quarters Combat (CQC), standard‚ or sniper barrel. Each change of barrel will directly relate to the lethal blow because of the direct affect on the velocity. The EGLM addition is a 40mm grenade launcher with a ballistic and target ranging solution for improved fire control and side opening breech to accelerate loading longer munitions.



SCAR H
Following the ultimate and final design review of the SOF Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR), FNH is finalizing the completion phase of full scale development and is currently preparing and undergoing full scale serial production of the new weapon. After a series of testing and design reviews with the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) and the United States Special Operation Command (USSOCOM) the SCAR appears to be ready for a modest and low rate initial production. The SOCOM contract calls for delivery of the first 1,000 of a total of 85,000 rifles by January of 2007. The military often keep deployment of weapons classified and we have yet to receive confirmation to whether the weapons are in SOCOM possession. The FN SCAR will be produced and manufactured at the FN Manufacturing LLC corporate headquarters and plant in Columbia, South Carolina.

The new family of SCAR rifles was specifically optimized for ergonomic availability, handling, reliability and maintainability. Parts interchangeability between the SCAR-H and SCAR-L will be further maximized to create a distinct and varied family of SCAR weapons. The SCAR's standard finish is a durable desert tan color, specifically selected by SOCOM. The SCAR is cable of lube les firing and is manufactured to be corrosion resistant. The interchangeability between all models is a requirement to improve the SOF operators ingrained emergency and operational procedure by reducing training time which will make responses easier during critical high stress situations.


SOCOM created a Joint Operational Requirements Document for the SCAR in order to specify the high reliability standards required of the rifle. The rifle is designed to meet three times the reliability standards of other assault rifles such as the M4.

At the Las Vegas SHOT show in Nevada, FNH headlined plans to bring to the consumer within two years, therefore around 2008, a semi-automatic variant of the SCAR modular rifle system. This system will be specifically designed for commercial markets and law enforcement.

Nomenclature: SCAR L SCAR H Operation principle Gas Operated, Rotating Bolt, Short Stroke Gas Piston Caliber 5.56x45 NATO 7.62x51 NATO / 7.62x39 M43 & others Max. Overall length 33" / 838 mm 40.2" / 1,021mm Minimum length 31.02" / 612 mm 38.7" / 798mm Barrel length 13.78" / 350 mm 19.70" / 500 mm Weight (unloaded) 6.8 lb / 3.08 kg 7.2 lb / 3.26 kg Rate of fire (auto) 550 RPM 550 RPM Magazine capacity 30 (M16 magazine) 20 (7.62x51) / 30 (7.62x39)

The $555,000 Student-Loan Burden

by: Mary Pilon




When Michelle Bisutti, a 41-year-old family practitioner in Columbus, Ohio, finished medical school in 2003, her student-loan debt amounted to roughly $250,000. Since then, it has ballooned to $555,000.

It is the result of her deferring loan payments while she completed her residency, default charges and relentlessly compounding interest rates. Among the charges: a single $53,870 fee for when her loan was turned over to a collection agency.

"Maybe half of it was my fault because I didn't look at the fine print," Dr. Bisutti says. "But this is just outrageous now."

To be sure, Dr. Bisutti's case is extreme, and lenders say student-loan terms are clear and that they try to work with borrowers who get in trouble.

But as tuitions rise, many people are borrowing heavily to pay their bills. Some no doubt view it as "good debt," because an education can lead to a higher salary. But in practice, student loans are one of the most toxic debts, requiring extreme consumer caution and, as Dr. Bisutti learned, responsibility.

Unlike other kinds of debt, student loans can be particularly hard to wriggle out of. Homeowners who can't make their mortgage payments can hand over the keys to their house to their lender. Credit-card and even gambling debts can be discharged in bankruptcy. But ditching a student loan is virtually impossible, especially once a collection agency gets involved. Although lenders may trim payments, getting fees or principals waived seldom happens.

Yet many former students are trying. There is an estimated $730 billion in outstanding federal and private student-loan debt, says Mark Kantrowitz of FinAid.org, a Web site that tracks financial-aid issues -- and only 40% of that debt is actively being repaid. The rest is in default, or in deferment, which means that payments and interest are halted, or in "forbearance," which means payments are halted while interest accrues.

Although Dr. Bisutti's debt load is unusual, her experience having problems repaying isn't. Emmanuel Tellez's mother is a laid-off factory worker, and $120 from her $300 unemployment checks is garnished to pay the federal PLUS student loan she took out for her son.

By the time Mr. Tellez graduated in 2008, he had $50,000 of his own debt in loans issued by SLM Corp., known as Sallie Mae, the largest private student lender. In December, he was laid off from his $29,000-a-year job in Boston and defaulted. Mr. Tellez says that when he signed up, the loan wasn't explained to him well, though he concedes he missed the fine print.

Loan terms, including interest rates, are disclosed "multiple times and in multiple ways," says Martha Holler, a spokeswoman for Sallie Mae, who says the company can't comment on individual accounts. Repayment tools and account information are accessible on Sallie Mae's Web site as well, she says.

Many borrowers say they are experiencing difficulties working out repayment and modification terms on their loans. Ms. Holler says that Sallie Mae works with borrowers individually to revamp loans. Although the U.S. Department of Education has expanded programs like income-based repayment, which effectively caps repayments for some borrowers, others might not qualify.

Heather Ehmke of Oakland, Calif., renegotiated the terms of her subprime mortgage after her home was foreclosed. But even after filing for bankruptcy, she says she couldn't get Sallie Mae, one of her lenders, to adjust the terms on her student loan. After 14 years with patches of deferment and forbearance, the loan has increased from $28,000 to more than $90,000. Her monthly payments jumped from $230 to $816. Last month, her petition for undue hardship on the loans was dismissed.

Sallie Mae supports reforms that would allow student loans to be dischargeable in bankruptcy for those who have made a good-faith effort to repay them, says Ms. Holler.

Dr. Bisutti says she loves her work, but regrets taking out so many student loans. She admits that she made mistakes in missing payments, deferring her loans and not being completely thorough with some of the paperwork, but was surprised at how quickly the debt spiraled.

She says she knew when she started medical school in 1999 that she would have to borrow heavily. But she reasoned that her future income as a doctor would make paying off the loans easy. While in school, her loans racked up interest with variable rates ranging from 3% to 11%.

She maxed out on federal loans, borrowing $152,000 over four years, and sought private loans from Sallie Mae to help make up the difference. She also took out two loans from Wells Fargo & Co. for $20,000 each. Each had a $2,000 origination fee. The total amount she borrowed at the time: $250,000.

In 2005, the bill for the Wells Fargo loans came due. Representatives from the bank called her father, Michael Bisutti, every day for two months demanding payment. Mr. Bisutti, who had co-signed on the loans, finally decided to cover the $550 monthly payments for a year.

Wells Fargo says it will stop calling consumers if they request it, says senior vice president Glen Herrick, who adds that the bank no longer imposes origination fees on its private loans.

Sallie Mae, meanwhile, called Mr. Bisutti's neighbor. The neighbor told Mr. Bisutti about the call. "Now they know [my dad's] daughter the doctor defaulted on her loans," Dr. Bisutti says.

Ms. Holler, the Sallie Mae spokeswoman, says that the company may contact a neighbor to verify an individual's address. But in those cases, she says, the details of the debt obligation aren't discussed.

Dr. Bisutti declined to authorize Sallie Mae to comment specifically on her case. "The overwhelming majority of medical-school graduates successfully repay their student loans," Ms. Holler says.

After completing her fellowship in 2007, Dr. Bisutti juggled other debts, including her credit-card balance, and was having trouble making her $1,000-a-month student-loan payments. That year, she defaulted on both her federal and private loans. That is when the "collection cost" fee of $53,870 was added on to her private loan.

Meanwhile, the variable interest rates continue to compound on her balance and fees. She recently applied for income-based repayment, but she still isn't sure if she will qualify. She makes $550-a-month payments to Wells Fargo for the two loans she hasn't defaulted on. By the time she is done, she will have paid the bank $128,000 -- over three times the $36,000 she received.

She recently entered a rehabilitation agreement on her defaulted federal loans, which now carry an additional $31,942 collection cost. She makes monthly payments on those loans -- now $209,399 -- for $990 a month, with only $100 of it going toward her original balance. The entire balance of her federal loans will be paid off in 351 months. Dr. Bisutti will be 70 years old.

The debt load keeps her up at night. Her damaged credit has prevented her from buying a home or a new car. She says she and her boyfriend of three years have put off marriage and having children because of the debt.

Dr. Bisutti told her 17-year-old niece the story of her debt as a cautionary tale "so the next generation of kids who want to get a higher education knows what they're getting into," she says. "I will likely have to deal with this debt for the rest of my life."