SHOCKING NEWS! A REPUBLICAN LIBERAL!

In today's political atmosphere in the USA, unfortunately, Senator Margaret Chase Smith would be drummed out of the Republican Party and, quite possibly, tarred and feathered, certainly smeared by the likes of such blowhards as Limbaugh and - what was his name - the dude that "quit" (yeah, right) FOX News, that bastion of truth, justice and the American Way - NOT!  Beck - bwwaaaaaahhhhaaahhhaaa!

SEEKS RELECTION.  Senator Margaret Chase Smith,
Republican liberal and supporter of the administration,
is seeking re-nomination in the Maine primaries.
(U.P. telephoto)

Here is some information about Senator Margaret Chase Smith from Wikipedia:

Margaret Chase Smith (December 14, 1897 – May 29, 1995) was a Republican Senator from Maine, and one of the most successful politicians in Maine history.[1] She was the first woman to be elected to both the U.S. House and the Senate, and the first woman from Maine to serve in either.[2] She was also the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the U.S. Presidency at a major party's convention (1964 Republican Convention, won by Barry Goldwater).[3] She was a moderate [4] Republican, included with those known as Rockefeller Republicans. When she left office, Smith had the record as the longest-serving female senator in United States history, ranking 11th in seniority among the members of the Senate, a distinction that was not surpassed until January 5, 2011, when Senator Barbara Mikulski was sworn in for a fifth term.

Oh, how far the party of Lincoln has fallen, the party that used to stand for liberty and social justice. Now we've got such female Republicans "running" for the Presidency of the United States as the quitter Sarah (how much will you pay me?) Palin and that even sillier woman (is it possible? YES) Representative Michelle Bachmann from the 6th District of Minnesota in the House of Representatives in Congress, who should donate her brain to science when she dies -- oh, but she doesn't have one. She's purely autonomic, darlings. Oh my.

How the Chinese, the Iranians, the North Koreans and the Russians must be laughing at us right now...laughing their asses off!

Friday Night Miscellany

Hola Darlings!

Whew - what a week. The election is FINALLY over with, Thank Goddess! we're free of those horrid lying, sleezy political advertisements (both sides, but especially on the Republican side, unfortunately) for the next 2 years, I hope!

Speaking of sad, check this out. The Governor's Feelings Are Hurt. Boo Hoo. Lady, it hurts my feelings that you are so far right Hitler would feel uncomfortably LIBERAL next to you. Er, shouldn't those balloons be red (photo above)? But maybe the Alaskans who decorated Sarah Palin's governor office think red means "Communist" - or possibly, "Socialist" and so they didn't want to use the Republicans' TRUE COLOR. I mean, darlings, what could possibly be more Socialist or even outright COMMY RED than spending a trillion dollars and more of taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street and the rich sons of bitches who pitched this country headlong into probably the worst "recession" (it's actually going to be a Depression, as in Great Depression) in living memory. This COMMUNISM under the Bushites. Make no mistake, the Bushites' motto is SCREW THE MIDDLE CLASS INTO NON-EXISTENCE, and isn't that exactly what the Communist goal was? Of course! So, we have Socialist/Communism for the rich bastards, and everyone else is screwed. It will take at least eight years, and quite possibly the rest of my life, to recover from the incredible destruction that the Bushites have wrought upon this country. The Bushites, starting with Carl Rove and the Vice-President, should be taken out and shot as traitors to this country. All current descendants of George Bush, Sr. should be sterilized so they can no longer reproduce and pass along their defective genes to another generation. Of course, we're civilized, so we won't do that. Sometimes -- if we could only be just a little bit more "Russian" as in Putin-Russian, the evil smut, where "enemies" of the state get poisoned or shoved down stairwells or out of a window from the 29th floor in a building somewhere. Oh well. In a neat trick of reversal, which the Bushites are very good at, one can only hope that someone will do the world a favor and shove Miniputin down a bottomless pit - with a stake through his heart.

I'll be working probably until I drop dead around age 100 to make up for the money my 401(k) plans have lost since October, 2007 when the Great Bear Market began, just to try and maintain my current standard of living (such as it is). Food prices up 30 to 40%; natural gas prices up 40%; electric bill up 30%; water bill up 35%; sewer bill up 20%. Just in the past 12 months. Who knows what the hell my property taxes will be? One thing I know for sure - they will not GO DOWN! Health insurance coverage costs for 2009 - up 90%. That's not a mistake. My monthly premiums are increasing from around $61 a month to $110 a month if I want to maintain the same coverage (I won't be able to do that - I cannot afford it). My raise - I won't know until early January, 2009, but suffice to say it won't be anywhere NEAR the cost of living increase during the past 12 months. Let's see, I'll probably lose about 32% total purchasing power - but I should count myself lucky, because I still (may) have a job. Silly me - what am I thinking. There probably won't be a raise. In 2009, they may even ask me for money back - well, those first years who are earning $150,000 must be fed, and I do have to lose more weight...

Things are so bad, even the state of Wisconsin is telling their very well-pensioned retirees that their checks will be smaller this year. The screams of rage are still echoing around the hills and valleys. I suppose I shouldn't wish that some of those retired hunters and members of the NRA would go "bear hunting" on Wall Street. Perhaps all MBA degrees should be banned in this country. Think of it - people with common sense and everyone's interests at heart actually running things in the banks and financial industry if all of the pricks and greedy Gordon Gekko wannabes were wiped out. Hell, even if we killed every single one of the sods tomorrow, their claims for deferred compensation and company-paid life-insurance would probably bankrupt the country. Expect full employment for lawyers for the next 500 years, but a vicious cycle of declining beginning wages for first years who may actually have to WORK 60 hours a week in order to earn their $150,000. Oh oh, they may even have to do their own typing, copying, mailing, filing, scanning, archiving, taking abuse from irate clients. I may be out of a job soon - growing vegetables in my upstairs bedrooms under green lights until the power is cut off, chopping down my trees for firewood to keep warm in the winter, luring my currently fat and sassy squirrels into traps for meat. Thank heaven the Family has lots of land up north. We can hold out up there for years, I'll just have to get used to using an outhouse while holding my nose. dondelion and I may be relocating sooner than we thought...

The President of Italy is being hoisted, roasted, and everywhichway toasted over a big fat Italian fire for a joke that is silly, juvenile and absolutely inane, but harmless. So Barack Obama has a "suntan" - so what? How can this be an insult in the United States where every day on the bus and in populars videos and music I hear dark-skinned kids and pale-skinned Polish descended kids calling each other NIGGAH. So now sudddenly the WORLD is getting sensitive about noticing the color of someone's skin? Hey, music video and record producers, better sit up and take notice, darlings. There's a new world dawning where words really DO mean something, so get rid of the racist crap. Yeah, right.

Times are tought all over. Even the plastic surgeons - oh, excuse me - costmetic artistes - are offering discounts to keep their pockets flush during this economic catastrophe some pundits are euphemistically calling a "downturn."

The first "measureable" ice/sleet/snow is expected here tonight. The house is exactly the same temperature it is at all times throughout the five month heating season (64 degrees F), but it feels COLD! I'm going to do a Mr. Cratchet (Bob Cratchet from "Scrooge") and light a candle at my computer desk to warm my hands over! Hopefully I'll acclimate as the temperatures continue to drop and the snow begins to pile up. But every year it gets harder. Retirement, which used to be 10 years away before the geniuses on Wall Street decided to do their best Stalin imitation of wiping out all and asking questions never, is now an impossible dream. Good bye, warm, dry, climate - the dream that never was... Hmmm, what was the name of that Jodi Foster movie where she learns how to shoot and fight dirty in order to get revenge on the assholes who killed the love of her life? I think I need to watch that movie, and sign up for some lessons... I have LOTS OF REVENGE I want to work out.

Good night darlings, if you can.

Hola! Thoughts on Voting, Etc.

No Friday Night Miscellany tonight - I'm just too wound up by the non-ending "news" about the election. Pray Goddess it all ENDS on Tuesday, I'm so sick of it all. The commercials are the worst - some are outright lies, others are blatant distortions, still others are almost relevant by pointing out differences in potential policy approaches (those are few and far between). I've had enough of both Presidential candidates in the U.S. running large frigging pep rallies all around the country. It's like - snore - so what? I'm tired of hearing John McCain's "My Friends," sick of Sarah Palin's phoney corn-pone accent, bored with Biden's too-wide smile (does he wear a toup???), and impatient with Obama's equanimity. I want to see a little PASSION, Mister! And what if I'm one of the millions of people in this country who does NOT own a computer or have internet access? How do I find out about the candidates' stands on issues then, heh? Someone who wants to know will NOT generally find in-depth analysis of the candidates' respective stands in their local newspapers (unless one happens to subscribe to The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, or The Washington Post), and certainly not from political hack ads on television and radio being paid for by the campaigns, the respective national party organizations for the Democrats and Republicans, and various private organizations. On the plus side, I have been extremely pleased to see as much as one-third of the potential electorate casting early ballots during this election. I did the same. I voted early in 2004 but I had to do so in person at City Hall - not a pleasant experience, as there were several hundred other people already standing in a snaking line in City Hall's small atrium when I got there at 4:00 p.m. after taking off work an hour early on purpose just to vote. It took hours! I didn't get home until 7:30 p.m. that night - I live less than a mile away from City Hall. I suppose I waited too long and I confess I had not educated myself enough on the process, so I don't know if it would have been possible THEN to send in an application for an "absentee ballot" (they don't call it "early voting" here) and vote by mail, which is exactly what I did this year - convenient, painless, easy. I downloaded the "application" from the internet from the City Clerk's website, filled it out and mailed it in. I could have faxed it but - call me old-fashioned - I felt uncomfortable with the idea of doing so. Yeah, I know, doesn't make sense - can't explain it, it was just one of those things, darlings! In Wisconsin, one does not have to provide a "reason" for casting an early ballot, so one does not have to come up with a "dog ate my homework" type of excuse. I got my ballot a week ago last Thursday in the mail and mailed back to City Hall on Monday of this week. It's done, and I feel glad, happy - and relieved - to have done my citizen's duty. Only silly thing - you need a WITNESS! Yeah - I mean - how silly is that - as if one couldn't cheat about the witness? There was an enclosure with the official ballot along with a postage-paid return envelope (taxpayer dollars at work, finally an expenditure I benefit from!!!) explaining that I had to exhibit my BLANK ballot in front of my witness, then vote in secret (I made my witness cover her eyes and swear she wasn't peeking), I filled out the ballot in #2 pencil, folded it up, placed it in the envelope and sealed it. Then I signed and then my witness signed and provided her address as requested. I wonder - do they check those addresses of every "absentee ballot" witness to see if they're valid or not? How would they do it if, say, a person is a renter and not a property owner (so no property tax bill data base), not a driver, as I am not (therefore no drivers' license data base to check from), and not a person who has voted in the past several elections - or ever voted, for that matter (therefore does not show up in any state-wide canvass of local voter registration lists). Hmmmm...would that mean my absentee ballot would be thrown out? Oh oh, now I'm getting paranoid. Hmmm... At any rate, I am glad for the early voting opportunity and the ease of execution to vote early in Wisconsin. Thank you, Wisconsin! In other states the process has been much more problematic, and I'm worried about that. If people come to vote early and are confronted with long lines that will take hours to work through, will they be daunted and just go back home without voting? And if they do go home without voting from early voting, will they show up at the polls next Tuesday? I live in a suburb of Milwaukee; Milwaukee has opened a large early voting center downtown, where a lot of people work and, I have to say, readily accessible by bus from any part of the city. I understand, on average, 1500 people a day have been voting since this center became available - but I don't know how long it has been available. But you know, any amount of congestion that early voting relieves from the polls next Tuesday is a triumph; as I understand it, "experts" are predicting the largest nationwide voter turnover - over 63%! - in more than 40 years. I suppose I'm being naive, though, in praying that there will be no legal challenges filed by partisans of Republicans and Democrats caused by legitimate and illegitmate reasons for discarding votes, or sending people home without voting, or mysteriously disappearing ballots or - oh Goddess, this is all giving me a headache. You'd think we were living in a third world country where stealing elections is commonplace! Geez! I'm going to go relax in one of my comfy wing chairs now, with a glass of wine, and open up "The Fire" where I left off a few days ago. I'm doing my first pass through Neville's novel slowly, savoring every moment...

Friday Night Miscellany

No Showgirls tonight, darlings! They're putting a wrap on their report - yes, I know - there are still 4 more games scheduled, but all GM Anand has to do is garner 1.5 points from those games in order to win the WCC Match outright. The Girls aren't bucking the odds and yes, they are hearing the Fat Lady Sing. Now, down to the business of the ridiculous and the sublime. There's lots to choose from, but I'm tired and Katherine Neville's "The Fire" is calling out to me, along with the fireplace and a glass of wine. Tomorrow it's running errands to get ready for the winter here, which may visit us with the first snow of the season Sunday evening, eek! It's buy mulch, bulk ice melt, bulk bird seed, bulk sunflower seed, bulk dog food (for the crows and other critters), one last 2 gallon container of gasoline (which optimistically looks forward to at least 1 more warm enough weekend where the grass can be cut before winter descends), bulk wine time, cuz I don't want to be lugging this stuff home once it drops below zero and the blizzards blow like they did last year! In the sad but sublime column, Barack Obama quits the campaign trail for a day or so during a crucial time period to visit his gravely ill grandmother. The generation that fought in and were adults during WWII is fast dying off. Obama's grandmother worked in an airplane factory during WWII and his grandfather fought in the war. My own dear father, a WWII Marines veteran, died at the age of 80 in November, 2002, just a few days before Veteran's Day. He was wounded in action and was awarded a Purple Heart. It wasn't until years later, as we all grew up that we realized he also suffered other lingering injuries from frostbite suffered in 1944. He had other medals and ribbons too, but I don't know what they were - he never talked about them. Dad's funeral was featured in a Journal/Sentinel article in 2002 close to Veteran's Day, that talked about the decreasing number of veterans available to play taps at Vets' memorial services. Now, many veterans have a taped "Taps" played at their memorial services. We were fortunate, we had a live bugle player, and as a Vet, Dad received a 21-gun salute. Dad is buried in a Veterans' Cemetery in southeastern Wisconsin, and there is a place for mom next to his grave. I have a rose carefully preserved from that service, in a glass-enclosed bookcase that houses my most precious mementos and books. I see it every day and remember the man it represents. Mom, who has had a few health scares over the years but takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin', is either 85 or 81, depending upon which date of birth she uses :) I think she'll live to be 100, at least. That's what I plan for myself, by the way. Mom is from tough Polish stock, stubborn as hell, and while I got my coloring and build from my father's French-mixed ancestry, I sure got more than my share of mom's unbending neck! My oldest brother went into the Army out of high school in the mid 1970's and served his time in Germany, was honorably discharged, and went into the Wisconsin National Guard. He eventually earned the NCO rank of Seargent - don't ask me what level because I don't know, it's not something we've talked about. My brother was still in the Guard when his unit was called up in 1991 to go serve in Desert Storm. My brother did not, however, travel with his unit, though he threw a big fit about it! He wanted to go but, you see, he was recovering from chemo- and radiation-therapy for a certain form of cancer that often strikes young men in the prime of their lives. While the cancer was pronounced eradicated, his lungs had been severely weakened by the treatments he received and his doctor refused to release him to go overseas to a desert climate which, so the doc said, would probably kill him. My brother would have gone anyway, but the government said no. So, he swallowed his disappointment and continued to serve at home. He married his long-time girlfriend, who was already a sister-in-law de facto if not de jure! She was one of the family even if there was no wedding ring. She's black, we're white. Oh, pardon me, she's African-American (she'd laugh if I ever called her that to her face, LOL!) Another mark against us, I suppose. My brother continued in the Guard until a few years ago; I'll have to check with him for the exact number of years, I believe he served 25 years in the Guard before retiring. It really yanks my chain when Sarah Palin stands up and implies in her speech that because I am a Democrat from a family of Democrats, that because I - and my family - support ideas that she doesn't agree with - we are not REAL Americans, we are NOT patriotic, we are somehow LESS than human and beneath contempt. She has crowds cheering her when this filth and calumny flows from her mouth. That tells me all I need to know about Sarah Palin, John McCain and the party and people who support this kind of "campaigning." Are we living in Germany during the 1930's - geez! Let's move on to the ridiculous, shall we? How about getting yourself and your family a brand new wardrobe to the tune of $150,000 courtesy of the Republican National Committee? (Notice the source - a British newspaper, lol!) We're not talking Walmart, baby, nosiree! Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom's, Designer Labels and exclusive designer boutiques. I want to know what happened to the hockey mom from Alaska. Oh, I forgot - she's the one caught out charging the state of Alaska for per diem expenses when oops, she was actually at home and, oops, her kids traveled on the state's dime as part of "official business" and oops, she's got a $500,000 house on a reported income that doesn't support the mortgage payment. Hmmmm.... Oh, maybe she doesn't have a mortgage. Maybe she and First Dude came up with $500,000 in cash to pay for the house in full. Gee, maybe we should all move to Alaska and cash in too! Darlings, I'm in the wrong profession. I should have gone into MAKE-UP. The McCain Campaign has paid a make-up artist over $22,000 for TWO WEEKS WORK on Sarah Palin. That's just about half of what I make in a YEAR. Nice work if you can get it. But what the hell, the McCain Campaign is funded by OUR TAX DOLLARS (public campaign financing) - Mr. McCain has made a BIG POINT of that, like he took the High Road. What's the difference between Sarah Palin dipping into taxpayer dollars to cloth herself and her family so they all look good while traipsing around the country trumpeting a bigoted, narrow-minded campaign that seeks to divide the country along racial, economic and religious lines, and the dudes who master-minded the taxpayer financed bail out Wall Street to the tune of $700 million and counting, the bail out AIG to the tune of $122 million and counting, the bail out of various large financial institutions to the tune of $250 million and counting. So who cares if Palin spends a measely $150,000 for clothes the likes of which 99.5% of Americans will never be able to afford, right? Chump change. But, John McCain says that Obama's proposed tax cuts for the working poor and middle class are SOCIALISM and modest tax increases to the wealthy and rich - in reality, just peeling back the gigantic giveaways to the rich and richer given out during the Bushite years - is well, gaddummit, just plain wrong! We've got to balance the budget! We've got to pay off them Commies over in China, hell, we owe them $500 billion. You want soup lines darlings? The Great Depression ain't got nothing on what will happen in this country if McCain wins the election. The rich will eat their cake and continue to quaff their French champagne, while setting up trusts that protect their millions and billions from any liability while putting their handicapped and mentally ill children on the public dole (it's only against the law for the increasingly disappearing middle class in this country to "divest" assets when a spouse has to go into a nursing home; it's not illegal for a billionaire to put his mentally incompetent or physically handicapped child into state-funded Medicaid programs once they reach the age of majority in their state), and everyone else will just starve to death while McCain fiddles in the White House during intermittent bouts of hysteria and Sarah impatiently taps her $400 shod foot, waiting for him to croak. Gee, a great prospect, aina hey? Just remember, the guys who are bitching about SOCIALISM are the same guys who want to put your Social Security taxes to work in the "Free market." These are also the same guys who are the first with their hands out to collect their Social Security when they hit 62, and the first who try to find a way to prevent the Social Security benefits payable to their moms and dads drooling away in nursing homes from going to the state, while mom and dad are on Medicaid (taxpayer funded) because son and daughter can't be bothered to part with their parents' hard-earned millions to pay for their care. Let the stupid frigging taxpayers do it, the say! It's all legal too, and all rigged for the rich and uber-rich to get away with this kind of b.s. Irony of ironies, working class and poor people actually BELIEVE that McCain and Palin have their best interests at heart. If nothing else, this definitively demonstrates the abject failure of "No Child Left Behind", one of the shining examples of legislation left behind by the Bush Years. Cough cough. P.T. Barnam sure was right. Anyone earning less than $250,000 a year in income in this country who votes the Republican ticket is voting against his or her own self-interest, and yet they're happy to do it! Just goes to show - there are suckers born every minute, boooyah! Or brain-washed Borg. How sad. Why not just take a big knife and slit your own throats while your at it. I'm sure the Wall Street guys will get a big kick out of that. From the sad but true department, a white female campaign worker for the McCain campaign was caught out in a big lie when she said that a big black man (BOOOO!) attacked her and carved a backwards "B" on her cheek when he discovered she was a McCain supporter. I'm surprised she didn't also say he sported a turban and flowing "Arab" robes. Turns out the lady carved up her own cheek. She's not sure why... Unfortunately, I'm sure that some folks read the initial reports but have not seen the follow-up reports - and will go away thinking -- well, you can fill in your own blanks about what they'll be thinking. Pathetic. And really Pathetic. Time to go read Katherine Neville.

Oh, She's Just One of Us - B. Frigging S.

The Republican National Committee spends $150,000.00 - ONE HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND AND 00/100 DOLLARS - on clothes for Sarah Palin. And she's supposed to be a female version of Joe the Lying Ass, Tax Dodging Plumber, an Average American. Well, I don't know any Average Americans like Joe the Plumber, and I sure as hell am glad I don't - I might be arrested as a criminal accesory after the fact! Here I am, one of those EVIL COMMY UNAMERICAN LIBERALS. I earn $45,000 a year gross. My clothing budget is around $300 a year. Last year I really splurged and spent nearly $90 (on sale) buying a pair of water-proof Sorels guaranteed to keep my feet warm to 20 below zero. That was in addition to my $300 for other clothing purchases. This year I'm only shopping for new shoes to get me through the winter, as my clothing budget has otherwise been eaten up by the double-digit increases in my electric and gas bills, my real estate taxes, and what I pay for groceries. I expect to pay a total of perhaps $50 for two, hopefully three, pairs of shoes at Payless. Woooo hoooo! Now you tell me, darlings, just who is more representative of the average American, heh? Fifi the Alaskan Attack Dog from Alaska, or yours truly from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whose feet do not sport $400 a pair designer stilletto heels. Sarah, Sarah, how can you be so frigging stupid? You are letting these Republican a-hole duds (I'd call them dudes but actually, they are just duds) ruin your future career in politics to serve their selfish short-term goals. Sarah, you are thereby proving every single negative perjorative the Janus-faced "neo-con" Nazis who are now running the Republican party in this country have ever foisted upon the female sex. Sarah, you should know better.

Friday Night Miscellany

I'm full of "whys" this week; I haven't been sleeping well and I'm depressed. I wonder why? Sarah Palin is in the news. Meet the Alaskan Fifi, the Republican right-wingers' newest and cutest attack dog. She's trainable and has sharp teeth. Why did this 44 year old mother of 4 NOT use birth control when the risks of having a Down Syndrome child are well known for women over 40? Even if she didn't want to use an IUD or a diaphragm or - God forbid - birth control pills for - whatever reasons - there's still self-control (I.E., ABSTINENCE) and the good old fashioned rhythym method. Isn't ABSTINENCE what they preach? Did she not know about the odds of having a Down Syndrome child at her age? Did she know, but not care? Did she think that God wouldn't allow her to HAVE a Down Syndrome child? Did she not think at all, just eat, screw and be merry, for tomorrow al-Qaida may kill us all before we kill them? I have major problems accepting this woman's life-affecting lapse in judgment and her self-indulgent hubris. The same applies to Mr. Fifi's judgment because, after all, it takes two to tango, and as the father of four children and the husband of a middle-aged woman he should have been aware of what the risks were. Do a loving mother and father force a 17 year old girl into a shot-gun wedding because their daughter got knocked up by an 18 year old jock who has nothing going for himself except - well, nothing? Is this the newest and latest morality out of the Republican Party - that bastion of righteousness and family values? Just what family values are being taught here? IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY NOW SAYING IT IS JUST PEACHY KEEN FOR TEENAGE GIRLS TO SCREW AROUND AND GET PREGNANT AND FOR THEIR BOY FRIENDS (OR STATUTORY RAPISTS) TO DO IT? Is their message NOW about forgiveness of sin (for we all know that the flesh is weak no matter how willing the spirit may be) and reconciliation? If Chelsea Clinton was the pregnant, unwed daughter of a Vice-Presidential candidate, would the Republicans THEN be saying "this is a private, family matter"? Ah, Bristol. How does it feel at 17, I wonder, to have the whole rest of your life planned out for you by your parents, depending upon what track your mom's political career takes? Will you try and hold out to not marry the 18 year old dude who got you pregnant until after the election, in the hope that if McCain/Palin loses, you won't have to commit after all? Do you really think you'll be allowed to do this? Well, you know what they say: "If you're old enough to do the crime, you're old enough to do the time."

*******************

Here is another really sad story. And no - I did not hunt it down because it features an elephant, which is the symbol for the Republican Party.

Elephant cured of heroin addiction Four-year-old Asian elephant treated with massive methadone doses Sep 04, 2008 02:04 PM The Associated Press BEIJING – An Asian elephant that became addicted to heroin at the hands of illegal traders will return home after a three-year rehab program, Chinese state media said today. Xiguang, a 4-year-old male Asian elephant, became addicted after he was captured by smugglers along the Chinese-Myanmar border in March 2005. The traders fed the elephant bananas laced with heroin as bait and to pacify the creature, the official Xinhua News Agency said. When Xiguang was found two months later along with six other captured elephants in China's southwest, he was suffering from withdrawal and was sent to a protection center in China's tropical Hainan island. Xiguang received daily methadone injections in doses five times larger than those given to a human and has now fully recovered, Xinhua said. He is expected to return to the Yunnan Wild Animal Park in the capital of Yunnan province, Kunming, on Saturday. The Asian elephant is threatened with extinction, according to the World Wildlife Fund conservation group, with only 25,600 to 32,750 left in the wild of Asia's tropical forests – fewer than a tenth of the number of wild African elephants.