Totally Perplexed

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CBS news show 48 Hours ran an episode on Saturday night about a medical examiner in Memphis, Tennessee, who was found wrapped in barbed wire around his hands, feet and face. The story was titled Terror at the Morgue. It was gruesome.

Furthermore, the medical examiner was locked up with TWO padlocks locks around each hand forcing him into the crucifix position over a grated window. And worse, the medical examiner had a real live homemade bomb super-glued to his chest.

When he was found, Dr. O.C. Smith told police that he was attacked after leaving work late at night. He told the police that someone threw lye at him to render him blind and then they went about tying him up and attaching the bomb.

He said the assailant told him, “Push it, pull it, twist it, and you die. Welcome to death row.”

After a year and a half investigation, the police were not able to come up with a plausible assailant. Early on in the investigation, investigators did focus on a death row inmate that Dr. O.C. Smith knew well: Phillip Workman. Phillip Workman was accused of robbery and killing a cop — and he always maintained he didn’t kill the cop. Workman managed to get a clemency hearing — a hearing that Dr. O.C. Smith devastated by presenting new and convincing evidence that supposedly showed Workman was in fact guilty. Dr. O.C. Smith sealed Workman’s death sentence. Workman says to police Dr. O.C. Smith’s testimony was all lies.

After months of investigation, the police were unable to find anyone who could have carried this out on behalf of Workman so they dismissed him from the list of suspects.

Furthermore, the EMT who arrived on the scene where Dr. O.C. Smith was shackled said that his wounds were not consistent with his story. If someone splashed lye into his face, why didn’t he have burns under his eyes? He only had it on his cheeks. Why didn’t the barbed wire injure him more? He didn’t have puncture wounds…only scratches from it. How could that happen?

The police said that Dr. O.C. Smith’s also got his story mixed up. He didn’t clearly recollect how he was tied up with the barbed wire. One time he thought his feet were tied first, another time he remembered his hands being tied first.

What really happened that night?

Well, the state of Tennessee charged Dr. O.C. Smith with the crime of doing this to himself to get attention. Yet Dr. O.C. Smith was a well-recognized and well-established medical examiner for the county for over 20 years.

While watching Dr. O.C. Smith, I am totally perplexed. He seemed to say the right things. He showed some emotions. Yet with the questions raised in the case, I do lift an eye-brow.

I reject the claim made by the state that Dr. O.C. Smith has Munchausen disease — a disease that would have caused him to do this for attention — because he got plenty of attention as the medical examiner according to 48 Hours. But I question how come the lye didn’t get onto his cheeks underneath his eyes and I wonder why the barbed wire didn’t puncture his face? It’s simply odd.

Dr. O.C. Smith was tried in a court of law — however the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict, deadlocked and the case has yet to be retried. The state, while still maintaining their belief that Dr. O.C. Smith did this to himself, doesn’t believe they have enough evidence to try the case again so Dr. O.C. Smith is free.

Dr. O.C. Smith says he fears for his life still…got a guard dog and now carries a gun. He no longer works for the county.

While I want to believe Dr. O.C. Smith when he talks, I can’t say it with 100% certainty if he is honest or not. I have to pass. This could go either way. I cannot make a call here. Dr. O.C. Smith does act very similar to a pathological liar. Pathological liars usually say all the right things, and yet in a weird twist, their expressions are usually baseline — more baseline than normal — and Dr. O.C. Smith’s emotions are not very deep — which is a concern.

This case simply stumps me at this point. How I would love to have access to more footage of Dr. O.C. Smith to see if I could come to a stronger conclusion.

Visiting the Eye Doc

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A year and a half ago, my dad got a scary diagnosis. He was told he had a moderate to advanced case of glaucoma. The day we heard the diagnosis, my mom and I were in a state of shock. I remember that day vividly. My dad had lost 40% of his vision in one eye and the other eye was affected as well. We immediately envisioned my dad going blind. Thankfully, if he is lucky, however that won’t happen. With proper treatment, most glaucoma cases can be sustained to prevent more damage.

Thankfully as well my dad quickly found a doctor and felt comfortable with him. Another bonus was the medication he was prescribed seemed to manage his problem so we had little to worry about. We were all at ease that my dad could drive on into old age.

Last October, however, when my dad went for a checkup, my dad told us that his eye pressure was rising again (which meant that perhaps the medication wasn’t managing it — and he could loose more vision)– and it was of some concern to the doctor — but the doctor said they would re-evaluate it in six months. That six month evaluation came yesterday.

When we greeted my dad after the visit, he told us things weren’t looking good. Both my mom and I got a pit in our stomach. We listened my dad out.

He said that the pressure in his eye last time was 21-23mm Hg — and this time it was 25-26mm Hg. He then gave my dad a new medication and told him to start the sample at once — and to come back in three weeks to see how this “sample” worked.

I asked my dad if the doctor told him about any side effects of this sample drug. My dad said that the doctor said there were none outside of darkening of the eye lashes. I didn’t believe him.

I asked my dad if he noticed any vision changes and my dad said under his breath yes though he had not mentioned it to either my mom and I. I asked my dad if the doctor told him his vision loss was perrmanent?

My dad said he lost the ability to read an entire line on the eye chart.

I was mortified. An entire line???

With glaucoma, once you loose your vision — you don’t get it back!! It is permanent. I guess I asked it because I was hoping he would say it wasn’t.

I was outraged….and smelled a rat!

Isn’t this doctor supposed to prevent this from happening, I asked? If you were having serious problems — then he should have made you come in for a visit once a month until you corrected this. If we keep waiting like this, you could go blind! This is not good medical care!!!

I was very alarmed.

And mad.

I remembered back to the last time my dad visited this doctor. He told my dad that while his pressure was slightly elevated, if they kept it under 30mm Hg they would be okay. My dad doesn’t remember this…

Something wasn’t adding up to me. This time it wasn’t above 30mm Hg yet he is on the defensive with “new” drugs.

Why?

Was he getting kick-backs?

I expressed my concerns to my dad who flat wanted to reject me for questioning his doctor. My dad got agitated.

I then advised him and my mom that I would (a) get a second opinion, (b) I would read about this drug to see if it is “new” drug. If it is a new drug, I would NOT take it until it is well tested and studied! (c) I would read about the old drug to see if dosage could be increased — in the event his second opinion does concur that he needs to bring his eye pressure down. His current eye doctor told him it could not be increased. I want to know the truth!!

Well, first thing this morning, I have already found a lot more to horrify me. The drug is NEW. The standard care for a patient with glaucoma is monitoring 4 to 6 times a year. This guy only sees my dad twice a year!! Treatment protocol also dictates that when pressure rises even slightly — evaluations should occur at minimum every four weeks until the situation resolves! Hello, that’s logical!

Also, they say that ideal eye pressure is between 15-21mm Hg — and for someone over age 65, the medical treatment goal is to keep the pressure below 25mm Hg. Hmm….

I’m worried about my dad and VERY FRUSTRATED this morning. I’m wishing I didn’t have eyes for lies… but if it helps my dad, I’ll be happy. Very happy. My dad didn’t sense anything was wrong… Now in the face of the evidence I have exposed, he believes me that perhaps this doctor didn’t care about him like he should…

Kathryn Asks…

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Could you have a look at the footage on this page? http://www.boingboing.net/2005/04/20/berkeley_laptop_thie.html
We think the prof is bluffing about the data on his pc so he can get the guy to come forward. Is he lying? Thanks!

Kathyrn, I do not believe the professor is lying about the data.

I do believe he is being honest about the data. While his voice quivers during his speech, I think it is because he is angry.

Saying Goodbye…

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Babes, Feb. 2004, age 19

My precious little, petite and absolutely gorgeous kitty who was nearly 20, if not 20, passed away this morning. She started a slow decline in health back in August of last year — and even though her normalcies disappeared, she still seemed interested in living.

As of two weeks ago, she was unable to walk anymore and my parents tended to her 24/7. In an odd twist, she seemed to enjoyed the attention and thrive in an unexplainable way (if we sense any different, we would have ended it then). Every time my parents would pick her up there was a contentment that filled the room like nothing we’d ever seen before. She’d purr, eat, drink — all in the arms of people she knew loved her. It was almost as if this was “her” time.

We had hoped her heart would give out and she’d just drift off in her sleep but unforuntately, she wasn’t that lucky. Last night, she had a seizure and lost all control of her muscles and we think she wanted it to end. She expressed for the first time serious frustration — not pain but frustration and perhaps some confusion. She lashed out and bit anything she could but not us –to express her emotion. She told us without words that she had had enough.

We feel we honored her wishes as painful as it was to say good-bye. The vet says she most likely had a brain tumor that was taking away her control.

I’ve had Babes since I was 16 or 17 years old — nearly half of my life. My friend dropped her off at my house when I was still in high school hoping we’d take her — and of course we did. She was the size of a tea-cup — taken away from her mother way too young. It was heart-breaking. Babes took years to warm up to being held and loved — and it was like the last few months of her life — she made up for it. All she wanted was constantly love, attention and to be held — and she was.

When I went off to college, Babes and I were really close. We’d snuggle and nuzzle every day. We had a routine. I would lay down on my back, pick her up and suspend her over me. Then I’d rub my nose and face all over hers and she’d purr up a storm. She began to love it — but when I moved out she never forgave me. Ever. She always held a grudge against me for abandoning her — much like she must of thought her mother did. When I got married, I took her with me only to be strongly informed that option was not viable. She was miserable and made it known. She wanted to live at home — the only home she had ever known with or without me.

My heart is aching, and I am without words to describe my loss. I think she welcomed the relief of death, and yet that relief leaves such a huge void in my life, an absence, a cold, a chill — the unknown. Where did my sweet little soul go?

I dread going over to my parents house to feel it all the more… For the past year, she would lift her head to greet me as I walk in the door as she laid all snuggled in her bed. The thought that I will no longer see her makes me want to cry out in pain. Life can be so cruel and unfair. Everyday seems like a continual promise for tomorrow when the reality is — it’s not.

I love you my little sweet spirit. I love you for everything you were: strong, enduring, wise, intelligent, picky, persnickety, fiesty, and yet all at the same time, loving.

Thank you for gracing our lives with your beauty.

We are going to miss you more than words could ever express. I hope you are in a much better place…and I hope that one day we get to be close again…

If you have a pet, please kiss it for me in Babe’s honor…please?

PAX’s Lie Detector Show Review

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Tuesday night I watched my second episode of Lie Detector which was a re-run of the first episode of the show which aired back in March. I had not seen this episode before. I disagree with two of the results found by polygraph. I concur with one.

Guest #1
The first person on the show was Robert Smitty. He donated a kidney to a psychologist who was legally advertising on the web to find a donor. Donors are not allowed to profit according to U.S. law. The big question at hand is did he profit or intend to profit from the donation of his kidney.

Smitty spoke that he donated a kidney to do good by another person. At first I believed him. He seemed sincere but as Smitty continued to speak, I got two twinges for reasons I am unable explain. They were just pangs of emotion — a lack of trust that welled up inside me, and I started to have my doubts about the guy.

In the end, I suspected Robert Smitty was going to fail the lie detector test for reasons I couldn’t explain– and he did.

After taking the test and being confronted that he failed, Smitty of course denied that he had anything but the truest intentions.

But then he hinted that he had some encounters with people who posed as donor recipients when in fact they were reporters. He said there was some “banter” between them and the reporter was fishing for a story. You are left with the feeling Smitty wasn’t above board in these dealings though nothing ever materialized from them.

As the story goes on, I feel that Smitty wanted the world to believe he donated his kidney to the psychologist because he was a kind man.

I believe Smitty knew that he wasn’t going to profit from the psychologist directly when he agreed to do it, but he didn’t discount the fact that he could profit from it in other ways. At the very end, Smitty reveals he has a ghost writer who is going to write his story.

So, did Smitty get illegal money from the donation — I don’t believe so. That was the point he was trying to make but failed to accurately convey through the lie-detector test.

Will he profit in the end — and was that his ultimate goal? I believe the answer is yes. He is trying to do so in every way he can conceive. The lie detector sniffed him out.

Guest #2
The second guest was Bob Pagani. He worked at Yankee Stadium between 1971 -1979. He worked at the stadium the year a bronze bust of Mickey Mantle was mounted and displayed at the stadium. He also worked at the stadium when that exact bust was stolen.

Oddly, sometimes thereafter these events, Pagani happened to find a bust of Mickey Mantle at a flea market for $75.00, bought it and stashed it away. He states that it “looked like what I saw at Yankee Stadium” but he makes no mention that he ever questioned its authenticity.

Yeah right.

After Mickey Mantle died, Pagani says he decided he was going to sell it. He called around to a Hall-of-Fame dealer and the dealer supposedly told him the bust he described on the phone could be worth some $30,000. Bob seemed happy — $30,000!

I guess it still didn’t dawn on Bob that this might be the stolen bust. Hmm….

Bob then says some guy called him up wanting to buy it. So with that, Bob flies out of town to meet this guy and agrees to take $25,000 cash on the spot. He grabs the cash, leave the bust and tries to run (he used the word “run”) –but the FBI nabbed him and he is now a convicted felon.

He swears he is innocent. He is hoping for a Presidential pardon.

Bob comes on the show because he wants people to know that he was honest. With that I guess that means, he wants us to believe he did not know the bust he had was the one that was stolen. He takes the polygraph and passes.

He passes.

Personally, I don’t believe Bob. I have to wonder if perhaps he studied polygraph machines and manipulated this one. Something isn’t right here. I do not agree with the polygraph finding.

Guest #3
And last guest on the show was Paula Jones, the administrative assistant who accused then Governor Bill Clinton of sexually harassing her back in 1991. Do you remember her?

She says she was working a convention when the Governor’s body guard, a state trooper, tells her that Mr. Clinton would like to see her in his hotel room. She says she was excited to meet the Governor so she happily went up to his room. She says the door was ajar. She walks in, they have small talk, and he pulls his pants down, exposes himself and asks for favors.

She says she left at once and said she told Mr. Clinton she wasn’t that kind of girl. She says when she left Mr. Clinton said , “You’re a smart girl. Let’s leave this between ourselves.”

I believe Mr. Clinton did say she was a smart girl and to keep the situation just between the two of them. That’s true. Very true. I believe that Mr. Clinton did expose himself to her as she says too. She is honest when she says that.

Paula Jones passes the lie detector.

But what I don’t believe is that Paula is telling the whole story. There is more here than she is letting on. She did some other things…things she doesn’t want to discuss. At least, that is my belief. Here is why…

When Paul Jones says after she left the hotel room where Mr. Clinton was, “I proceeded to go out the door and when I walked past Andy Ferguson, he had a smirk on his face and I flew right past him.”

She continues, “I was scared. I thought someone was going to come after me. I thought honestly, maybe I was video-taped in the room or something.”

Huh?

Excuse me? What did you say???

Why would you be AFRAID you were video taped if you were victimized???

Wouldn’t a video camera be the biggest and best proof you could have asked for?? If there was a video recording of the event, wouldn’t it have been relief for her — if she was telling the truth???

I find it so ironic that 14 years later when she is recounting her story, she still talks about her fear of a video camera in Mr. Clinton’s room as she is running out. That concern was very powerful to recount all these years later…because it is the truth.

Want to tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, Ms. Jones? While you passed the lie detector that Mr. Clinton did expose himself… I think you know a lot more than you are willing to admit.

I wonder what Paula Jones is hiding… don’t you?? I do not agree with the final results of the lie detector. Because there weren’t enough questions asked, we didn’t get to the true heart of this matter.