736. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=004BE6nsFTU

Rebecca at 10:12PM on Mar 24th 2007

737. OBAMA IS THE MEDIA'S MAN. HE IS NOTHING BUT A FAKE, WORSE YET A REAL TRAITOR, THE VERY WORST THAT POLITICS HAS TO OFFER. IF NOT THIS THEN HE MUST BE ONE OF THE STUPIDEST JACKASSES EVER. TO OPPOSE CLINTON AT THIS STAGE OF THIS WAR BETWEEN DEMS AND CONS IS POLITICAL SUICIDE. I WILL HATE THIS GUY FOREVER!!! HE IS NOT A BLACK MAN NOT A WHITE MAN, HAS TWO YEARS EXPERIENCE IF THAT AND WORST OF ALL HE SIGNED A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL-THE US MEDIA. GO TO HELL OBAMA. IF YOU VOTE FOR THIS GUY YOU WILL PAVE THE WAY FOR GUILLIANI, I GUARANTEE THAT!!!

WA at 1:32AM on Mar 25th 2007

738. This 'ad' was important in proving the ability of the internet to bypass the normal control over high-profile political discussion.

But it also threw up, front and center, Hillary-the-calculating-drone. It struck a nerve in folks from all sides. There are genuine REASONS why Hillary is actively disliked by close to 50% of those polled, over and over again.

Oliver at 8:41AM on Mar 25th 2007

739. I'm really on board with Rebecca. Thank you for posting the illuminating expose of Trinity United Church of Christ. First off, the United Church of Christ is repulsive to me after I had to share a hospital room with one of its members (who was white). I've never seen a ruder person in my life. He held LOUD evangelical pep rallies led by Dr. Bob as I tried to sleep off the exhaustion of sepsis, then when I finally did get to sleep he yelled NURSE!! at the top of his lungs because he didn't get his normal 20 second nurse response time (he had connections to the hospital's highest level of management. The last straw was when I was changing timing of the antibiotic of last resort, and was sternly warned if I didn't do my last hospital IV at X time before I made the transition to doing IVs at home, I would likely get sick again. If the SOB didn't even try to interrupt that for more attention. I told him: "Shut up!! I'm dependent on this IV to live, and you can deal with your pain whimpers when I'm done. Even more important is that this particular United Church of Christ is not all inclusive like the Democratic party - its by and for blacks only, and that is racist and his spiritual belief. Hillary wants to include EVERYONE in a country moving forward together.

I also firmly agree with what WA had to say. His campaign is all media hype; he inserted negative campaigning into a primary (which is political suicide when you then have run the actual campaign for President), and I really resent him for the way he's handled this. He has no experience in the White House, Hillary does, and we are in delicate times. I KNOW Hillary won't crack under pressure, I believe Obama will.

Finally, wob7711888 REALLY hits the nail on the head. Hillary knows how Republicans think, how they act, and how to beat them. Bill does too. Lets put an experienced Democrat in the White House, a known quantity, instead of someone who has never been "battle tested."

hillaryclinton.com

Phil at 11:25AM on Mar 25th 2007

740.
Neither Obama or Hillary will be getting my vote Obamas a moslem and Hillarys an idiot. As President Obama would do his best to help the arab world overthrow the Israeli government(it will never happen) Just remember one thing about these simplistic demorats they will do or say anything to get elected and moslems can never be trusted and should never be part of our government. Finally yes I know Obama joined the church(2 years ago) to appear as mainstream but he was born in Indonesia and raised in Jakarta as a MOSLEM this is something you won't see in the liberal media who adore him.

WIZ at 12:42PM on Mar 25th 2007

741. No one fights dirtier and dealier than the
Clintons. I'm sure she's whipping up some special
Clinton Witches Brew now and will unleash it soon.
Probably the same stuff she brewed up when Bill
was Prez. Hey, if his ex cabinet member can get away with stealing and concealing sensitve, top secret documents in his underwear -- there's no
doubt the Clinton Machine will win the BATTLE OF
BELOW THE BELT - hands down!

Rose at 1:47PM on Mar 25th 2007

742. Date Rape Drugs
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[Printer-friendly version -- PDF file, 232 Kb]
What are date rape drugs?
What do the drugs look like?
What effects do these drugs have on the body?
Are these drugs legal in the United States?
Is alcohol a date rape drug?
How can I protect myself from being a victim?
See also…
• Sexual assault
What are date rape drugs?
These are drugs that are sometimes used to assist a sexual assault. Sexual assault is any type of sexual activity that a person does not agree to. It can include inappropriate touching, vaginal penetration, sexual intercourse, rape, and attempted rape. Because of the effects of these drugs, victims may be physically helpless, unable to refuse sex, and can't remember what happened. The drugs often have no color, smell, or taste and are easily added to flavored drinks without the victim's knowledge. There are at least three date rape drugs:
• GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid)
• Rohypnol (flunitrazepam)
• Ketamine (ketamine hydrochloride)
Although we use the term "date rape," most experts prefer the term "drug-facilitated sexual assault." These drugs have been used to help people commit other crimes, like robbery and physical assault, and have been used on both men and women.
What do the drugs look like?
• GHB has a few forms: a liquid with no odor or color, white powder, and pill.
• Rohypnol is a pill and dissolves in liquids. New pills turn blue when added to liquids. However, the old pills, with no color, are still available.
• Ketamine is a white powder.
What effects do these drugs have on the body?
The drugs can affect you quickly. The length of time that the effects last varies. It depends on how much of the drug is taken and if the drug is mixed with other substances, like alcohol. Alcohol can worsen the drug's effects and can cause more health problems. Also, one drug — GHB — can be made by people in their homes, so you don't know what's in it.
GHB
GHB can cause these problems:
• relaxation
• drowsiness
• dizziness
• nausea
• problems seeing
• unconsciousness (black out)
• seizures
• can't remember what happened while drugged
• problems breathing
• tremors
• sweating
• vomiting
• slow heart rate
• dream-like feeling
• coma
• death
Rohypnol
Rohypnol can cause these problems:
• can't remember what happened while drugged
• lower blood pressure
• sleepiness
• muscle relaxation or loss of muscle control
• drunk feeling
• nausea
• problems talking
• difficulty with motor movements
• loss of consciousness
• confusion
• problems seeing
• dizziness
• confusion
• stomach problems
Ketamine
Ketamine can cause these problems:
• hallucinations
• lost sense of time and identity
• distorted perceptions of sight and sound
• feeling out of control
• impaired motor function
• problems breathing
• convulsions
• vomiting
• out of body experiences
• memory problems
• dream-like feeling
• numbness
• loss of coordination
• aggressive or violent behavior
• slurred speech
Are these drugs legal in the United States?
Some of these drugs are legal, but that doesn't mean they're not going to hurt you. Even if they're legal, you should not use them unless your health care provider prescribes them.
• Rohypnol is NOT legal in the U.S. It is legal in Europe and Mexico and prescribed for sleep problems and as an anesthetic (medicine given during surgery so you don't feel pain). It is brought into the U.S. illegally.
• Ketamine is legal in the U.S. for use as an anesthetic for humans and animals. It is mostly used on animals. Veterinary clinics are robbed for their Ketamine supply.
• GHB was recently made legal in the U.S to treat problems from narcolepsy (a sleep problem).
Is alcohol a date rape drug?
While GHB, rohypnol, and ketamine are considered "date rape drugs," there are other drugs that affect judgment and behavior, and can put a person at risk for unwanted or risky sexual activity. Alcohol is one of those drugs. When a person is drinking alcohol:
• It's harder to think clearly and evaluate a potentially dangerous situation.
• It's harder to resist sexual or physical assault.
• Drinking too much alcohol can also cause black-outs and memory loss.
But remember: even if a victim of sexual assault drank alcohol, she is NOT at fault for being assaulted.
How can I protect myself from being a victim?
• Don't accept drinks from other people.
• Open containers yourself.
• Keep your drink with you at all times, even when you go to the bathroom.
• Don't share drinks.
• Don't drink from punch bowls or other large, common, open containers. They may already have drugs in them.
• Don't drink anything that tastes or smells strange. Sometimes, GHB tastes salty.
• Have a non-drinking friend with you to make sure nothing happens.
• If you think that you have been drugged and raped:
• Go to the police station or hospital right away.
• Get a urine (pee) test as soon as possible. The drugs leave your system quickly. Rohypnol stays in the body for several hours, and can be detected in the urine up to 72 hours after taking it. GHB leaves the body in 12 hours.
• Don't urinate before getting help.
• Don't douche, bathe, or change clothes before getting help. These things may give evidence of the rape.
• You also can call a crisis center or a hotline to talk with a counselor. One national hotline is the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE. Feelings of shame, guilt, fear and shock are normal. It is important to get counseling from a trusted professional.

HOT at 5:55PM on Mar 25th 2007

743. HULL, Mass. — In the final months of Rebecca Riley's life, a school nurse said the little girl was so weak she was like a "floppy doll." The preschool principal had to help Rebecca off the bus because the 4-year-old was shaking so badly. And a pharmacist complained that Rebecca's mother kept coming up with excuses for why her daughter needed more and more medication. None of their concerns was enough to save Rebecca.
Rebecca — who had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity and bipolar disorder, or what used to be called manic depression — died Dec. 13 of an overdose of prescribed drugs, and her parents have been arrested on murder charges, accused of intentionally overmedicating their daughter to keep her quiet and out of their hair.
Interviews and a review of court documents by the Associated Press make it clear that many of those who were supposed to protect Rebecca — teachers, social workers, other professionals — suspected something was wrong, but never went quite far enough.
But the tragic case is more than a story about one child. It raises troubling, larger questions about the state of child psychiatry, namely: Can children as young as Rebecca be accurately diagnosed with mental illnesses? Are rambunctious youngsters being medicated for their parents' convenience? And should children so young be prescribed powerful psychotropic drugs meant for adults?
Dispensing drugs to children diagnosed with mood or behavior problems is "the easiest thing to do, but it's not always the best thing to do," said Jon McClellan, medical director of the Child Study and Treatment Center in Lakewood, Wash. "At some level, I would hope that you'd also be teaching
According to the medical examiner, Rebecca died of a combination of Clonidine, a blood pressure medication Rebecca had been prescribed for ADHD; Depakote, an anti-seizure and mood-stabilizing drug prescribed for the little girl's bipolar disorder; a cough suppressant; and an antihistamine. The amount of Clonidine alone in Rebecca's system was enough to be fatal, the medical examiner said.
The two brand-name prescription drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in adults only, though doctors can legally prescribe them to youngsters and do so frequently.
Rebecca's parents, Michael and Carolyn Riley, say they were only following doctor's orders. Rebecca, they told police, had been diagnosed when she was just 2 1/2, and Rebecca's psychiatrist prescribed the same potent drugs that had been prescribed for her older brother and sister when she diagnosed them with the same illnesses several years earlier.
But Rebecca's teachers, the school nurse and her therapist all told police they never saw behavior in Rebecca that fit her diagnoses, such as aggression, sharp mood swings or hyperactivity.
Prosecutors say the Rileys intentionally tried to quiet their daughter with high doses of Clonidine. Relatives told police the Rileys called Clonidine the "happy medicine" and the "sleep medicine."
Through their attorneys, Michael Riley, 34, and Carolyn Riley, 32, have accused Rebecca's psychiatrist, Kayoko Kifuji, of over-prescribing medication.
Kifuji did not return calls for comment and declined to be interviewed. But Kifuji has vehemently denied any role in Rebecca's death. She has agreed to a suspension of her license while the state's medical board investigates.
Kifuji told police Rebecca had been her patient since August 2004, when she was 2. She said she based her diagnoses of ADHD and bipolar disorder on the family's mental health history, as described by Carolyn Riley, and Rebecca's behavior, as described by Carolyn and briefly observed by her during office visits.
Kifuji told police she became alarmed in October 2005 when Carolyn Riley told her she had increased Rebecca's nighttime dose of Clonidine from 2 to 2 1/2 tablets, and warned Carolyn the increased dose could kill Rebecca.
But Carolyn told investigators Kifuji told her she could give Rebecca and her sister extra Clonidine at night to help them sleep.
Tufts-New England Medical Center, where Kifuji worked, issued a statement supporting Kifuji, saying her care of Rebecca "was appropriate and within responsible professional standards."
In the months leading up to Rebecca's death, others noticed there was something wrong.
Teachers and staff members at the Johnson Early Childhood Center in Weymouth, about 20 miles south of Boston, say they called Rebecca's mother repeatedly to tell her that Rebecca was "out of it," but her mother said the girl was tired because she wasn't sleeping well.
A neighbor who lived next door to the family in the last month of Rebecca's life said Rebecca and her siblings seemed listless.
"They looked like little robots. They looked very lethargic," Phyllis Lipton said. "I said, 'Wow, they don't look right,' but who knew?"
Pharmacists at Walgreens in Weymouth called Kifuji twice to complain that Carolyn Riley was asking for more Clonidine, even though her prescription was not due to be refilled yet, according to state police.
Once, Riley said she had lost a bottle of pills, and another time, she said water had gotten into her prescription bottle and ruined the pills, according to police.
Kifuji authorized refills, but after the second incident, she began prescribing Clonidine in 10-day refills instead of 30-day supplies, investigators said.
On Aug. 16, a prescription for 35 Clonidine tablets — a 10-day supply — was filled at Walgreens, even though the Rileys had obtained a 10-day refill only the day before, investigators said.
Walgreens spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said: "The scrip was filled as written, as it was prescribed by the doctor, and all the appropriate information on the medications was given to the family."
After Rebecca's death, police found only seven Clonidine tablets in the family's medicine tray; the pharmacist said there should have been 75. All together, prosecutors say, Carolyn Riley got 200 more pills in one year than she should have.
The Rileys' lawyers call them unsophisticated people who did not question their children's doctors.
Both were unemployed; they collected welfare and disabilty benefits and lived in subsidized housing. Michael Riley, who is also awaiting trial on charges of molesting a stepdaughter in 2005, claimed to suffer from bipolar disorder and a rage disorder; his wife told police she suffered from depression and anxiety.
"They are not the sort of people who go on the Internet and look on WebMD. These are the sort of people who, when they go to a doctor, the doctor is God and they do what the doctor says," said John Darrell, Michael's lawyer.
Carolyn's lawyer, Michael Bourbeau, said that because the Rileys' three children were all taking Clonidine, Rebecca's prescription may have come up short at times when her siblings were given some of her pills. And some of the pills may have been lost when they were split in half, he said.
In July, after a therapist filed a complaint with the state Department of Social Services, social workers met with the family's doctors and other medical professionals and were assured that the medications Rebecca was taking were within medical guidelines.
"There were lots of medical eyes on this case and none of them seemed to say there was an issue of over-medication in this case," said Social Services Commissioner Harry Spence, who has come under fire for the agency's handling of the case.
Still, there were lingering concerns. When social workers tried to make a home visit in November, Carolyn "resisted and evaded," Spence said. Weeks later, workers resolved to make a surprise check, but Rebecca died the very next day, before they could visit.
Rebecca was found dead on the floor of her parents' bedroom wearing only a pink pull-up diaper and gold-stud earrings, on top of a pile of clothes, magazines and a stuffed brown bear.
Rebecca's uncle, James McGonnell, and his girlfriend, Kelly Williams, who lived with the Rileys, told police that the Rileys would put their kids to bed as early as 5 p.m. Rebecca, they said, often slept through the day and got up only to eat.
When Michael Riley decided the kids were "acting up," he told Carolyn to give them pills, McGonnell and Williams told police.
According to McGonnell and Williams, Rebecca spent the last days of her life wandering around the house, sick and disoriented. But the Rileys told police they were not alarmed. "It was just a cold," Carolyn repeatedly said during police interviews.
The medical examiner said Rebecca died a slow and painful death. She said the overdose of Clonidine caused her organs to shut down, filling her lungs with fluid and causing congestive heart failure.
Williams told police that the night before she died, Rebecca was pale and seemed "out of it." At one point, the little girl knocked weakly on her parents' bedroom door and softly called for her mommy, but Michael Riley opened the door a crack and yelled at her to go back to her room, Williams said.
Later that night, McGonnell told police, he heard someone struggling to breathe and found Rebecca gurgling as if something was stuck in her throat. McGonnell told police he wiped vomit from his niece's face, then kicked in the door to her parents' room and yelled at the Rileys to take Rebecca to the emergency room.
Instead, Carolyn Riley said, she gave her daughter a half-tablet of Clonidine.
Carolyn's mother, Valerie Berio, said that when she visited the kids the night of Dec. 11, Rebecca seemed congested but not seriously ill. In a photograph Berio said she took that night, Rebecca is smiling slightly as her mother holds a new green velvet dress in front of her.
Berio said that shows that her daughter and son-in-law could not have known how sick Rebecca was.
Rebecca's death has inflamed a long-running debate in psychiatry. Some psychiatrists believe bipolar disorder, which was traditionally diagnosed in adolescence or early adulthood, has become a trendy diagnosis in young children.
"As a clinician, I can tell you it's just very difficult to say whether someone is just throwing tantrums or has bipolar disorder," said Oscar Bukstein, a child psychiatrist and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
A study of mentally ill children discharged from community hospitals, published in January in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found the proportion of children diagnosed with bipolar disorders jumped from 2.9% in 1990 to 15.1% in 2000.
A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002 estimated that about 7% of elementary school-age children — or approximately 1.6 million youngsters ages 6 to 11 — have been diagnosed with ADHD.
The annual number of U.S. children prescribed anti-psychotic drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5 million, according to a study published last year by researchers at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville
Some child psychiatrists say bipolar disorder may have been under-diagnosed in children for years, partly because several key symptoms are also symptoms of ADHD, including hyperactivity, distractibility and talkativeness.
Janet Wozniak, director of the Pediatric Bipolar Disorder Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said early diagnosis and treatment are critical because the illness can cause social and academic problems, and lead to drug abuse, crime and suicide.
"What's commonly overlooked when considering diagnosing and treating children at such an early age is the risk of not treating and not intervening," Wozniak said.

HOT at 5:54PM on Mar 25th 2007

744. HULL, Mass. — In the final months of Rebecca Riley's life, a school nurse said the little girl was so weak she was like a "floppy doll." The preschool principal had to help Rebecca off the bus because the 4-year-old was shaking so badly. And a pharmacist complained that Rebecca's mother kept coming up with excuses for why her daughter needed more and more medication. None of their concerns was enough to save Rebecca.
Rebecca — who had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity and bipolar disorder, or what used to be called manic depression — died Dec. 13 of an overdose of prescribed drugs, and her parents have been arrested on murder charges, accused of intentionally overmedicating their daughter to keep her quiet and out of their hair.
Interviews and a review of court documents by the Associated Press make it clear that many of those who were supposed to protect Rebecca — teachers, social workers, other professionals — suspected something was wrong, but never went quite far enough.
But the tragic case is more than a story about one child. It raises troubling, larger questions about the state of child psychiatry, namely: Can children as young as Rebecca be accurately diagnosed with mental illnesses? Are rambunctious youngsters being medicated for their parents' convenience? And should children so young be prescribed powerful psychotropic drugs meant for adults?
Dispensing drugs to children diagnosed with mood or behavior problems is "the easiest thing to do, but it's not always the best thing to do," said Jon McClellan, medical director of the Child Study and Treatment Center in Lakewood, Wash. "At some level, I would hope that you'd also be teaching
According to the medical examiner, Rebecca died of a combination of Clonidine, a blood pressure medication Rebecca had been prescribed for ADHD; Depakote, an anti-seizure and mood-stabilizing drug prescribed for the little girl's bipolar disorder; a cough suppressant; and an antihistamine. The amount of Clonidine alone in Rebecca's system was enough to be fatal, the medical examiner said.
The two brand-name prescription drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in adults only, though doctors can legally prescribe them to youngsters and do so frequently.
Rebecca's parents, Michael and Carolyn Riley, say they were only following doctor's orders. Rebecca, they told police, had been diagnosed when she was just 2 1/2, and Rebecca's psychiatrist prescribed the same potent drugs that had been prescribed for her older brother and sister when she diagnosed them with the same illnesses several years earlier.
But Rebecca's teachers, the school nurse and her therapist all told police they never saw behavior in Rebecca that fit her diagnoses, such as aggression, sharp mood swings or hyperactivity.
Prosecutors say the Rileys intentionally tried to quiet their daughter with high doses of Clonidine. Relatives told police the Rileys called Clonidine the "happy medicine" and the "sleep medicine."
Through their attorneys, Michael Riley, 34, and Carolyn Riley, 32, have accused Rebecca's psychiatrist, Kayoko Kifuji, of over-prescribing medication.
Kifuji did not return calls for comment and declined to be interviewed. But Kifuji has vehemently denied any role in Rebecca's death. She has agreed to a suspension of her license while the state's medical board investigates.
Kifuji told police Rebecca had been her patient since August 2004, when she was 2. She said she based her diagnoses of ADHD and bipolar disorder on the family's mental health history, as described by Carolyn Riley, and Rebecca's behavior, as described by Carolyn and briefly observed by her during office visits.
Kifuji told police she became alarmed in October 2005 when Carolyn Riley told her she had increased Rebecca's nighttime dose of Clonidine from 2 to 2 1/2 tablets, and warned Carolyn the increased dose could kill Rebecca.
But Carolyn told investigators Kifuji told her she could give Rebecca and her sister extra Clonidine at night to help them sleep.
Tufts-New England Medical Center, where Kifuji worked, issued a statement supporting Kifuji, saying her care of Rebecca "was appropriate and within responsible professional standards."
In the months leading up to Rebecca's death, others noticed there was something wrong.
Teachers and staff members at the Johnson Early Childhood Center in Weymouth, about 20 miles south of Boston, say they called Rebecca's mother repeatedly to tell her that Rebecca was "out of it," but her mother said the girl was tired because she wasn't sleeping well.
A neighbor who lived next door to the family in the last month of Rebecca's life said Rebecca and her siblings seemed listless.
"They looked like little robots. They looked very lethargic," Phyllis Lipton said. "I said, 'Wow, they don't look right,' but who knew?"
Pharmacists at Walgreens in Weymouth called Kifuji twice to complain that Carolyn Riley was asking for more Clonidine, even though her prescription was not due to be refilled yet, according to state police.
Once, Riley said she had lost a bottle of pills, and another time, she said water had gotten into her prescription bottle and ruined the pills, according to police.
Kifuji authorized refills, but after the second incident, she began prescribing Clonidine in 10-day refills instead of 30-day supplies, investigators said.
On Aug. 16, a prescription for 35 Clonidine tablets — a 10-day supply — was filled at Walgreens, even though the Rileys had obtained a 10-day refill only the day before, investigators said.
Walgreens spokeswoman Tiffani Bruce said: "The scrip was filled as written, as it was prescribed by the doctor, and all the appropriate information on the medications was given to the family."
After Rebecca's death, police found only seven Clonidine tablets in the family's medicine tray; the pharmacist said there should have been 75. All together, prosecutors say, Carolyn Riley got 200 more pills in one year than she should have.
The Rileys' lawyers call them unsophisticated people who did not question their children's doctors.
Both were unemployed; they collected welfare and disabilty benefits and lived in subsidized housing. Michael Riley, who is also awaiting trial on charges of molesting a stepdaughter in 2005, claimed to suffer from bipolar disorder and a rage disorder; his wife told police she suffered from depression and anxiety.
"They are not the sort of people who go on the Internet and look on WebMD. These are the sort of people who, when they go to a doctor, the doctor is God and they do what the doctor says," said John Darrell, Michael's lawyer.
Carolyn's lawyer, Michael Bourbeau, said that because the Rileys' three children were all taking Clonidine, Rebecca's prescription may have come up short at times when her siblings were given some of her pills. And some of the pills may have been lost when they were split in half, he said.
In July, after a therapist filed a complaint with the state Department of Social Services, social workers met with the family's doctors and other medical professionals and were assured that the medications Rebecca was taking were within medical guidelines.
"There were lots of medical eyes on this case and none of them seemed to say there was an issue of over-medication in this case," said Social Services Commissioner Harry Spence, who has come under fire for the agency's handling of the case.
Still, there were lingering concerns. When social workers tried to make a home visit in November, Carolyn "resisted and evaded," Spence said. Weeks later, workers resolved to make a surprise check, but Rebecca died the very next day, before they could visit.
Rebecca was found dead on the floor of her parents' bedroom wearing only a pink pull-up diaper and gold-stud earrings, on top of a pile of clothes, magazines and a stuffed brown bear.
Rebecca's uncle, James McGonnell, and his girlfriend, Kelly Williams, who lived with the Rileys, told police that the Rileys would put their kids to bed as early as 5 p.m. Rebecca, they said, often slept through the day and got up only to eat.
When Michael Riley decided the kids were "acting up," he told Carolyn to give them pills, McGonnell and Williams told police.
According to McGonnell and Williams, Rebecca spent the last days of her life wandering around the house, sick and disoriented. But the Rileys told police they were not alarmed. "It was just a cold," Carolyn repeatedly said during police interviews.
The medical examiner said Rebecca died a slow and painful death. She said the overdose of Clonidine caused her organs to shut down, filling her lungs with fluid and causing congestive heart failure.
Williams told police that the night before she died, Rebecca was pale and seemed "out of it." At one point, the little girl knocked weakly on her parents' bedroom door and softly called for her mommy, but Michael Riley opened the door a crack and yelled at her to go back to her room, Williams said.
Later that night, McGonnell told police, he heard someone struggling to breathe and found Rebecca gurgling as if something was stuck in her throat. McGonnell told police he wiped vomit from his niece's face, then kicked in the door to her parents' room and yelled at the Rileys to take Rebecca to the emergency room.
Instead, Carolyn Riley said, she gave her daughter a half-tablet of Clonidine.
Carolyn's mother, Valerie Berio, said that when she visited the kids the night of Dec. 11, Rebecca seemed congested but not seriously ill. In a photograph Berio said she took that night, Rebecca is smiling slightly as her mother holds a new green velvet dress in front of her.
Berio said that shows that her daughter and son-in-law could not have known how sick Rebecca was.
Rebecca's death has inflamed a long-running debate in psychiatry. Some psychiatrists believe bipolar disorder, which was traditionally diagnosed in adolescence or early adulthood, has become a trendy diagnosis in young children.
"As a clinician, I can tell you it's just very difficult to say whether someone is just throwing tantrums or has bipolar disorder," said Oscar Bukstein, a child psychiatrist and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
A study of mentally ill children discharged from community hospitals, published in January in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found the proportion of children diagnosed with bipolar disorders jumped from 2.9% in 1990 to 15.1% in 2000.
A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2002 estimated that about 7% of elementary school-age children — or approximately 1.6 million youngsters ages 6 to 11 — have been diagnosed with ADHD.
The annual number of U.S. children prescribed anti-psychotic drugs jumped fivefold between 1995 and 2002, to an estimated 2.5 million, according to a study published last year by researchers at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville
Some child psychiatrists say bipolar disorder may have been under-diagnosed in children for years, partly because several key symptoms are also symptoms of ADHD, including hyperactivity, distractibility and talkativeness.
Janet Wozniak, director of the Pediatric Bipolar Disorder Research Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said early diagnosis and treatment are critical because the illness can cause social and academic problems, and lead to drug abuse, crime and suicide.
"What's commonly overlooked when considering diagnosing and treating children at such an early age is the risk of not treating and not intervening," Wozniak said.

HOT at 6:57PM on Mar 25th 2007

745. 1984... Well, considering her Marxist leanings, Hillary Clinton as "Big Sister" (rather than "Big Brother") isn't really a big stretch. Just what the world needs, Joseph Stalin in a pantsuit! NOT!!! LOL! ;-)

Ron at 8:46PM on Mar 25th 2007

746. Nothing under the sun is new..we find our selves looking at the trash stuck at the bottom of the barrel,And wondering why it didn't come out with the rest...Now someone has to pull it loose.
George Sorros funds the demise of America....

dorothy at 11:58PM on Mar 25th 2007

747. Boring. But then again so is uTube.

Thats Stupid at 1:03AM on Mar 26th 2007

748. Hillary and Jezebel have that same ring to it. A vote for Hillary is a vote for the devil, for she is practiced at the art of deception...I can tel be her blood stained hands...and her other half Billy Ball Clinton..."I never had sex with that woman, Monica Lawinski, and it all depends upon what "Is is". Billy ball Clinton's mom had 5
husbands...yeh, he's not too damaged by that...We don't need another disfunctional family in our White House....Here comes the nuclear bomb if that wench ever gets in. She gets in and I am moving out..and running for safety!

shannon at 8:17AM on Mar 26th 2007

749. Hillary and Jezebel have that same ring to it. A vote for Hillary is a vote for the devil, for she is practiced at the art of deception...I can tel be her blood stained hands...and her other half Billy Ball Clinton..."I never had sex with that woman, Monica Lawinski, and it all depends upon what "Is is". Billy ball Clinton's mom had 5
husbands...yeh, he's not too damaged by that...We don't need another disfunctional family in our White House....Here comes the nuclear bomb if that wench ever gets in. She gets in and I am moving out..and running for safety!

shannon at 10:48AM on Mar 26th 2007

750. Hillary and Jezebel have that same ring to it. A vote for Hillary is a vote for the devil, for she is practiced at the art of deception...I can tel be her blood stained hands...and her other half Billy Ball Clinton..."I never had sex with that woman, Monica Lawinski, and it all depends upon what "Is is". Billy ball Clinton's mom had 5
husbands...yeh, he's not too damaged by that...We don't need another disfunctional family in our White House....Here comes the nuclear bomb if that wench ever gets in. She gets in and I am moving out..and running for safety!

shannon at 8:16AM on Mar 26th 2007