Ray Combs, host of “Family Feud” from 1988-1994 and stand up comic. Combs show was considered a success and he got a lot of work on the stand-up circuit. When the show went off the air, Ray was involved in a horrific car crash, had a business dispute with a partner, separated from his wife and six kids, and had trouble getting more TV work. After one failed suicide attempt, Combs succeeded by hanging himself with bed sheets while staying at a psychiatric hospital in 1996.

Chris Benoit, wrestler for WWE. Chris killed himself June 24, 2007 after murdering his wife, Nancy, and 7-year-old son, Daniel. Heavy steroid use and brain damage was blamed for Benoit’s mental state.

Kurt Cobain, leader of Nirvana. Kurt killed himself with a shotgun blast on April 5, 1994. He was found three days later. He left behind rocker wife Courtney Love and their daughter Frances Bean.

Herve Villechaize, starred as Tattoo on the hit ABC series “Fantasy Island” (1978-83). He was known for the signature line “Da plane, da plane!” After being fired from the show (he asked for more money and the producers said no), the 3’11″ Villechaize started drinking and became depressed. At the age of 50, in 1993, he shot and killed himself in the backyard of his North Hollywood home.

Brian Keith, actor most famous for starring in the 1960s sitcom “Family Affair.” Keith suffered from emphysema and lung cancer, despite having quit smoking ten years earlier. Keith was found dead in his home of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on June 24, 1997, two months after his daughter Daisy had committed suicide.

Phyllis Hyman, an R&B singer. Hyman won a legion of fans with her deep, sexy voice and jazzy stylings in the late 70s. By the 80′s, in the musical “Sophisticated Ladies” on Broadway, which earned her a Tony nomination. She got into a contractual battle with Arista records in the mid 80s which put her career on a down turn. By the early 90s, she was dealing with alcohol abuse, weight gain, depression over the deaths of her mother and grandmother within one month of each other. In 1995, she took an overdose of sleeping pills.

Margaux Hemingway, a successful model and actress. The granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, the acclaimed writer, Margaux’s face graced just about every magazine known to man, but she was never comfortable with her celebrity. After failed marriages, and heavy drinking Margaux, like her grandfather before her (and three other Hemingways), decided to take her own life and in 1996, she overdosed on pills and was found dead in her studio apartment in Santa Monica. Margaux’s death and Ernest’s death occured on the same day, July 2.

Rob Pilatus, one half of the superstar music group Milli Vanilli. The duo was famous for the songs “Blame it on the Rain” and “Girl You Know It’s True” and even won the Grammy for best new artists. But scandal hit when it was revealed the duo was lip synching to other artists. The Grammy was revoked and Pilatus never lived down the scandal. After major bouts of depression and a failed comeback, Pilatus became heavily involved in drugs and even served time for robbery. In 1998, a then 32-year-old Pilatus was found dead in a German hotel having overdosed on booze and pills.

David Strickland, an actor on the amiable sitcom “Suddenly Susan.” In 1999, he had a co-starring role in the Ben Affleck-Sandra Bullock movie “Forces of Nature.” When most of his movie role hit the cutting room floor, Strickland, who was bipolar, became despondent said friends. He went to Las Vegas shortly after the movie premiered, drank heavily, and hanged himself using hotel bed sheets. He was six months shy of turning 30.

Hugh O’Connor, actor and son of the late Carroll O’Connor. Hugh co-stared with his father on the show “In the Heat of the Night” and they shared a bond until Hugh’s out-of-control drug use drove a wedge into the relationship. A despondent Hugh shot and killed himself at the age of 33 in 1995, on his third wedding anniversary. His father crusaded against drugs and drug dealers almost until the day he died in 2001 at the age of 76.

Wendy O. Williams, punk rocker with a penchant for shocking her audience. While music and fronting the band the Plasmatics was important to the Grammy-nominated Williams, making a statement was also high on her list of priorities. She would think nothing of smashing expensive equipment, TV’s, cars, etc., on stage. Williams shot herself, near her house in woods she liked to stroll, one month shy of her 49th birthday. In part, her suicide note read: “I don’t believe that people should take their own lives without deep and thoughtful reflection over a considerable period of time.”

Source: CBS2.com

The only commercial I don’t mind seeing is the one in the airport, his expression at the end cracks me up. I just saw one with some dumb cavemen dancing to disco music. Geico is lucky I’m too lazy to drop them.

Those instances we know is a fact. What is not clear is what led to his shooting.

According to Wikipedia:
Version one as told by an undercover officer:
“One of Bell’s friends was heard to say “yo, get my gun” as they left the scene. Fearing a shooting was in the making, the Undercover Detective followed them to their car while alerting his Backup team that they were possibly retrieving a gun from the car, prompting the team to confront Bell and his companions before they could leave the scene. [13] The undercover officer followed the group and Bell was ordered by the officer to raise his hands after getting in his car. Instead, Bell accelerated the car and seconds later hit an unmarked police minivan.”

Version two as told by Sean’s friends:
“…the detectives never identified themselves while they approached the vehicle with drawn weapons.[9] Another source also told New York Daily News that the officers failed to warn Bell before opening fire and started firing immediately upon leaving their vehicles.”

All of the defendants opted for a bench trial rather than a jury trial. Smart move seeing how people were up in arms upon finding out that yet another unarmed man was shot to death by the police. On his wedding day. On April 25, 2008, all three of the police officers indicted were acquitted on all counts.

According to My Way:
Upon hearing the verdict, “Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to “close this city down” to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends.

“We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians,” Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. “This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell.”

Sitting behind Sharpton as he spoke were Bell’s parents, his sister and Nicole Paultre Bell, who took her fiance’s name after his death.

“The justice system let me down,” Paultre Bell told the crowd in a soft voice. “April 25, 2008: They killed Sean all over again. That’s what it felt like to us.”

Sources:
Wikipedia

My Way

Okay, that was two questions. But I’ve never understood that law. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

At 18, you can get married and start a family, but can’t go buy a bottle of wine from the store.

At 18, you can sign up with the military, go to Iraq and shoot up insurgents, but you can’t go to the NCO club and grab a beer.

At 18, you can hop in your car and drive cross-country, but can’t enjoy an alcoholic beverage in your hotel restaurant.

I know you can do those things before 18, but I’m focusing on 18 because of the current debate to lower the drinking age.

Check out what MSNBC has to say.

Amy spent the night in jail after attacking two men early Wednesday morning. According to the report, Amy was cooperative with the police and was giving a ‘Caution’.

Source: Daily Mail

At least he’s trying: Gas station owner shuts pumps for a day

NYC has had enough: Machine Gun-Toting Officers To Patrol NYC Subway

Whew! Guess we dodged that bullet: Study says near extinction threatened people

“Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison on tax charges Thursday, a victory for prosecutors who sought to make an example of the action star by aggressively pursuing the maximum penalty.

Snipes’ lawyers had spent much of the day in court offering dozens of letters from family members, friends even fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington attesting to the good character of the “Blade” star and asking for leniency. They argued he should get only probation because his three convictions were all misdemeanors and the actor had no previous criminal record.

But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a “history of contempt over a period of time” for U.S. tax laws, and granted prosecutors the three year sentence they requested one year for each of Snipes’ convictions of willfully failing to file a tax return. “

Source: Yahoo

“Most scientists involved in Aids research believe that a vaccine against HIV is further away than ever and some have admitted that effective immunisation against the virus may never be possible, according to an unprecedented poll conducted by The Independent.

A mood of deep pessimism has spread among the international community of Aids scientists after the failure of a trial of a promising vaccine at the end of last year. It just was the latest in a series of setbacks in the 25-year struggle to develop an HIV vaccine. “

Source: The Independent

Well, not anymore. Apparently, a major rice crop failed. Prices are shooting up. Now, people are starting the horde the rice. Yes, I said horde. I like rice, so I guess I’m going to have to stock up myself. However, I’m lazy as all get out when it comes to cooking, so I’ll be stocking up on Minute Rice.

Also…

“The latest data show cereal prices rising by more than 8% a year. Both flour and rice are up more than 13%. Milk, cheese, bananas and even peanut butter: They’re all up by more than 10%. Eggs have rocketed up 30% in a year. Ground beef prices are up 4.8% and chicken by 5.4%.”

Flour, can you believe it?

Source: Wall Street Journal