Jackson's death a homicide, Murray is burnt toast

Got toast? Yes we do!

No surprises here, though the type and amount of drugs Dr. Toast gave Michael prior to the dose of propofol is shocking. Irresponsible would be an understatement, if you ask me.

(CNN) - The Los Angeles coroner has concluded preliminarily that singer Michael Jackson died of an overdose of propofol, a powerful sedative he was given to help him sleep, according to court documents released Monday.

Los Angeles coroner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran reached that preliminary conclusion after reviewing toxicology results carried out on Jackson's blood, according to a search warrant and affidavit unsealed in Houston, Texas.

The affidavit, used to outline probable cause for search warrants of the offices of doctors who are believed to have treated Jackson, disclosed many details of drugs given to Jackson in the weeks before his death.

Jackson family lawyer Londell McMillan said the report "reaffirms the very sad reality that there was a tragic and gross violation of duty and care for Michael Jackson."

The publicist for Jackson's family said the "family looks forward to the day that justice can be served."

"The Jackson family has full confidence in the legal process, and commends the ongoing efforts of the L.A. County Coroner, the L.A. District Attorney and the L.A. Police Department," the statement said.

While Murray fucked up and he will likely pay for it, I think many people--the family in particular--are forgetting that Michael should be held accountable for his actions. He was an adult. He was addicted. He had choices--difficult, limited, but choices nonetheless. He chose poorly.

The Associated Press is quoting a single law enforcement official, who said the L.A. County Coroner ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide. The Los Angeles County Coroner's office told CNN they had "no comment" on the report. An LAPD spokesman said the story did not come from their department.

"We will not comment on the "anonymous" law enforcement source that claims that Michael Jackson's death will be ruled a homicide," Murray's lawyer Ed Chernoff said in a statement on his firm's Web site. "Most of the reports by "anonymous" sources have been proven wrong. We will be happy to address the Coroner's report when it is officially released."

The 32-page warrant said Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, told a detective that he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for six weeks. Murray said each night he gave Jackson 50 mg of propofol, also known as Diprivan, diluted with the anesthetic lidocaine via an intravenous drip.

Worried that Jackson may have been becoming addicted to the drug, the Houston cardiologist said he attempted to wean him from it, putting together combinations of other drugs that succeeded in helping Jackson sleep during the two nights prior to his death.

On June 22 Murray said he gave Jackson a cocktail of drugs similar to what he gave him on the day he died, June 25 -- propofol, Ativan and Versed, which helped the star fall asleep, according to the documents. On June 23 he gave Jackson only the Ativan and Versed, which helped him sleep.

But on June 25, other drugs failed to do the job, as Murray recounted to detectives in an hour-by-hour account detailed by detective Orlando Martinez of the Los Angeles Police Department:

-- At about 1:30 a.m., Dr. Toast gave Jackson 10 mg of Valium.

-- At about 2 a.m., he injected Jackson with 2 mg of the anti-anxiety drug Ativan.

-- At about 3 a.m., Murray then administered 2 mg of the sedative Versed.

-- At about 5 a.m., he administered another 2 mg of Ativan.

-- At about 7:30 a.m., Murray gave Jackson yet another 2 mg of Versed while monitoring him with a device that measured the oxygen saturation of his blood.

-- At about 10:40 a.m., "after repeated demands/requests from Jackson," Murray administered 25 mg of propofol, the document said.

Holy crap!!!

"Jackson finally went to sleep and Murray stated that he remained monitoring him. After approximately 10 minutes, Murray stated he left Jackson's side to go to the restroom and relieve himself. Murray stated he was out of the room for about two minutes maximum. Upon his return, Murray noticed that Jackson was no longer breathing," the affidavit said.

Efforts at CPR proved fruitless, according to Murray.

Shortly after Murray said he found Jackson not breathing, Murray was on the phone with three separate callers starting at 11:18 a.m. and ending at 12:05 p.m., according to the court documents which cite the doctor's phone records.

"Murray didn't tell this to anyone when he was interviewed," the court documents said.

Chernoff denied the timeline referenced in the affidavit.

"Much of what was in the search warrant affidavit is factual. However, unfortunately, much is police theory. Most egregiously, the timeline reported by law enforcement was not obtained through interviews with Dr. Murray, as was implied by the affidavit," the statement said. "Dr. Murray simply never told investigators that he found Michael Jackson at 11:00 a.m. not breathing. He also never said that he waited a mere 10 minutes before leaving to make several phone calls. In fact, Dr. Murray never said that he left Michael Jackson's room to make phone calls at all."

The document also cited reports from staff at the University of California at Los Angeles Medical Center, where Jackson's body was taken, who said Murray "admitted" to having given Jackson flumazenil to counteract the Ativan.

The document lists another five doctors and a nurse practitioner who reportedly treated Jackson.

"Detectives ... believe that the miscellaneous prescriptions, from multiple doctors ... could have contributed to his death," the document said.

"It cannot be determined whether the cause of death is due to the actions of a single night and/or a single doctor, or the grossly negligent treatment of several doctors over an extended period of time."

According to the warrant and affidavit, Murray said he was not the first doctor to give Jackson the powerful anesthetic, which the singer called his "milk." The drug has a milky appearance.

Jackson also told Murray about two unknown doctors in Germany who gave him propofol, according to documents.

Documents show police found eight bottles of propofol inside Jackson's home.

A search of Murray's doctor bag, which he left at the house the day Jackson died, contained multiple bottles/vials of Lidocaine and several bottles/vials of propofol, Ativan, Versed and Anexate, according to the documents.

The affidavit said a search of Jackson's home revealed "numerous bottles of medications" at Jackson's bedside that were prescribed by Murray and two other physicians -- Dr. Allan Metzger and Dr. Arnold Klein.

Many of the drugs "have an indicated or off label use in the treatment of insomnia," the affidavit said.

Metzger's lawyer told CNN last month that Metzger -- who treated Jackson in 2003 -- refused Jackson's request in April for a propofol prescription.

Klein -- a dermatologist who also was Jackson's longtime friend -- has insisted he never gave Jackson dangerous drugs.

Jackson visited Klein's Beverly Hills, California, medical office just days before his June 25 death.

Murray took the job as Jackson's personal physician in May, as the pop star was preparing for a series of comeback concerts set to begin in July at London's O2 arena.

Murray told investigators that Jackson would not tell him what drugs other doctors had given him, but he did tell Murray the medicine given to him by Klein and Metzger was not working, the affidavit said.

The DEA has been unable to find a record of Dr. Murray purchasing, ordering or obtaining any propofol under his medical license or DEA number, according to the documents.

Source: CNN, McHumor, CartoonStock

Dyinig Stars Leave Their Mark

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Tales from the crypt...so much for resting in peace

A pile of stone, which police say is made up of broken burial vaults and headstones, sits near a grave in Burr Oak cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. (Chicago Sun-Times Scott Olson/Getty Images)

If there were a 911-like number for the Political Correctness Police, I would tell you to start dialing.

First of all, unlike others covering this story who are appalled (or pretending to be, as it's the politically correct thing to do) and calling this "a very disturbing story," I'm neither outraged nor disturbed. Surprised, even shocked? Yes, but not scandalized. Secondly, as it's often the case, I feel compelled to play devil's advocate.

Among today's top stories is the discovery that the remains of some 300 people buried at a historic cemetery near Chicago were disinterred and dumped in a mass grave or pushed deeper into the ground so that other bodies could be buried atop them in a grave-reselling scheme concocted by four individuals who ran the cemetery.

I don't need to tell you--because you can guess or because how else would people react?--that everyone is upset about this : the relatives of the dead, the community, the authorities, politicians, and--how could he miss this?--Rev. Jesse Jackson, who apparently unglued himself from the Jackson family to stick his nose some place else.

(Here we go again...why is he automatically a spokesman? Does he get paid for showing up whenever and wherever one or more African Americans are involved in anything that will guarantee him some air time on CNN? Like the moth to the flame, he finds a microphone, expresses his usual outrage, and there you have it. Ugh.)

Back to the cemetery...

Why is this such a big story? No one has been killed or raped or tortured or robbed...no constitutional rights have been violated, no bogus war has been declared, no politician has been caught with his pants down, no bomb has exploded other than the usual suicide bombs in the Middle East.

A bunch of bones were moved. So?

So it would suck, I suppose, to find out that you've been bringing flowers to a grave for years and kneeling down to speak to your long-gone loved one during yearly, monthly, weekly or daily visits only to find out that he or she isn't there alone or isn't there at all.

But here's the thing: he or she was never there--only the decaying organic matter of a corpse. The person was never there--right? So what if a few bones were moved?

Here's what we know so far:

Four cemetery workers at the Burr Oak Cemetery in the suburb of Alsip south of Chicago dug up an estimated 300 graves and made hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit from the resale of the plots.

Carolyn Towns, 49, Keith Nicks, 45, Terrence Nicks, 39, and Maurice Dailey, 59, were charged Thursday with one count each of dismembering a human body, a Class X felony for which they could serve six to 30 years in prison. Bail for Towns, described as the ringleader, was set at $250,000, while the others' was set at $200,000.

(Clockwise) Carolyn Towns, Terrence Nicks, Keith Nicks and Maurice Dailey (Chicago Sun-Times)

Investigators reportedly found a pile of bones from more than 100 bodies uncovered in an overgrown and fenced off area of the cemetery.

The scheme, said to have been in operation for at least four years, appears to have targeted older, unmarked graves that had not been visited in a long time.

"Each step you take you find more bones, more remains," Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said at a press conference today.

An investigation into the matter began six weeks ago when the cemetery's owner--Perpetua Holdings of Illinois, a subsidiary of a Tucson, Arizona-based funeral home and cemetery development company--told police an employee with a guilty conscience revealed the money-making scheme that had allegedly been going on for as long as four years.

Dart said it would take weeks, if not months, before it will be known who the bodies are, adding that 30 to 40 FBI agents "from all over the world" who specialize in identifying remains will arrive Monday to work on the case.

One of the biggest problems investigators are facing is that cemetery records appear to have been destroyed and there's nowhere else they can go for documentation because "there's no regulation whatsoever in this industry," Dart said.

Towns allegedly took cash from families who came to the cemetery to bury loved ones, filled out paperwork on the new burials, and then destroyed them so that there would be no record of the transactions. Then she would tell the others to exhume the remains from the graves, dump them in a mass grave on the northwest side of the cemetery, and smash the headstone into pieces.

"This crime is a whole new dimension that shows us how far people will go for financial gain," Cook County's State Attorney Anita Alvarez told reporters.

The Cemetery Care and Burial Trust Department, a division of the Illinois Comptroller's office, reportedly said it has received complaints in recent years about poor upkeep at Burr Oak, including sunken or tilting gravestones, unmanageable roads, drainage problems and weeds, AP reported.

Burr Oak is the final resting place of some notorious African-Americans, including lynching victim Emmett Till, blues singers Willie Dixon, Dinah Washington and Otis Spann, as well as Harlem Globetrotter Inman Jackson, AP reported.

"This is reprehensible if it's true," said Simeon Wright, a cousin of Till, said. "I've got several generations of my family buried there, and I've never had any problems. ... But this is a pretty ghoulish story."

Update: Authorities discovered Emmett Till’s original casket in a dilapidated garage at the cemetery filled with lawn care equipment and piles of stuff. There was wildlife living inside the casket, Dart said. Till, 14, was killed in August 1955 in Mississippi after he reportedly whistled at a white woman.

Rev. Jesse Jackson slammed the grave re-sellers: "There should be no bail for them. There should be a special place in hell for these grave thieves who have done so much to harm to these families."

He added that "we" (whoever that is) will be working closely with the families and the FBI. Doing what? Forensics?

The sheriff said people were crying hysterically, some because the remains were lost or couldn't be identified, others because they would have to bury loved ones a second time, etc.

I'm scratching my head because I just can't relate to being hysterical about this. Confused? Yes. Pissed off? Absolutely. These dirtbags messed with the remains of someone I cared about without permission, not because these had to be moved but to profit from it. What I find most outrageous is the scam and its invasive and deceptive nature.

At the same time I question how realistic it is to expect to bury every person that ever lived in a piece of land set aside for that purpose, never to be "disturbed." I can't elaborate on this because I, like most people, don't know how these things work.

I also find it ironic that often the more religious people show the most indignation about graves being disturbed when they're the ones supposed to believe that the body is nothing but a husk that houses the soul for a short time on Earth. So why cry over a husk?

Maybe there is no separation after all. Maybe the body is the person.

Maybe there's no soul. And the essence of that person is truly gone. Maybe there's no afterlife, and the remains is all that remains.

Deep inside, something in us must be hanging on to that concept; otherwise, people or machines unearthing corpses or trampling over what is left of a person we once knew wouldn't bother us--would it?

News sources: CNN, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, The Associated Press, NPR
Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved

Sick Fuck of the Week

Tarot card for "Death" from the most popular Tarot deck: the Ryder-Waite.

(Disclaimer: My apologies to those who find the word "fuck" offensive; for me there's just no other way to say it.)

I decided two days ago that I would bestow this week's Sick Fuck of the Week award upon Death itself.

The Grim Reaper took Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays in what seems like one sweep of its lethal scythe.

I'm freaking out a little bit here, but then again I'm not because I'm kinda used to this. I'm talking about being 100% certain after Michael's death that another celebrity would die before the end of the week (which for me means before the end of today)-not because of bad things coming in three's (we got four here...), but because I just knew it.

Something powerful and spine-tingling happens when universal forces gain momentum. It takes them a while to stop even after the brakes are applied, and there's nothing we can do about it.

I have a feeling about Elizabeth Taylor not making it to the end of the year, not just because she's been sick for so long, but because on top of that her beloved Michael is gone.

I hope this time I'll be wrong.

Congratulations to Death -- Sick Fuck of the Week

Tarot card for "Death"--the Grim Reaper--from one of the first known Tarot card decks: the Marseilles. Death is No. 13 among the Major Arcana, the first 22 cards of any Tarot deck that represent major forces in life.

Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved

Suicide unlikely in Carradine's death

David Carradine's death does not appear to have been a suicide, a former New York City chief medical examiner asked by Carradine's family to do an independent examination of the 72-year-old actor's body said Thursday.

However, he said that more information is needed from Thai investigators to determine the true cause of death.

"To reach a final determination as to the cause and the manner of death, we must wait for further information from Thailand as to the scene findings and the completion of the crime laboratory and toxicology studies that are still being performed," Dr. Michael Baden said in a statement.

Baden said he expects to receive more information from Thai authorities in a week or two and stressed that the information at hand was incomplete.

Carradine was found dead in his Bangkok hotel room on June 4. Although police initially believed the Kung Fu and Kill Bill star committed suicide, they later said it could have been accidental. Their description of the crime scene--that the actor's body was found nude, with ropes around his neck, wrist and genitals--fueled speculation that he was killed while engaging in a dangerous sex practice called auto-erotic asphyxiation. Others suspect foul play.

Sources: The Associated Press, NPR News, US magazine
Copyright © 2009