Susan Powell, 28, the mother of two young children, was reported missing December 6th from her West Valley City home in Utah in a case that police call suspicious. In less than ten days, her husband Josh Powell would be named as a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife.

This all depressingly familiar story of grieving husband/turned person of interest/turned prime suspect was a descriptive that I believe started off with the disappearance of Lacy Peterson, the then eight month pregnant wife of Scott Peterson, on Christmas eve 2002, whilst Scott Peterson went “sturgeon fishing”.

In a similar fashion, John Powell inexplicably decided to take the couple’s two young children, ages 2 and 4, camping in freezing conditions at 12.30 am on December 6th, Monday morning. He has however “forgotten” the exact location where he went camping  as there is fresh snow along the trail.  He has also refused to submit to police questioning other than to confirm the most mundane of questions. He has also hired an attorney.

Of course none of the above makes him guilty. But it does make him very much a “person of interest”

The sad fact it that one third of all female homicides committed each year is done by an “intimate” to the woman being killed – either an ex/ husband or ex/boyfriend. That statistic itself does make the husband of every spousal homicide an immediate person of interest who needs to be discounted or included in a list of  suspects right from the get go.

My advice to husbands contemplating murder of their wives? Do not go fishing. Nor camping. Nor hiking on the Appalachian Trails. Stay at home, order Domino’s pizza in, watch football with your in laws and make sure your murder for hire guy cuts off both hands, both feet and skull, so that there is no identifying features in the inevitable grizzly discovery of the remains of the wife less than two miles away in a swamp.

Anyone with information regarding the case can call Utah West Valley City Police at (801) 840-4000

If you are suffering from domestic abuse and want to stop the cycle of abuse, please call (303) 839-1852

To see how you can help those who have experienced domestic abuse, why not donate to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

YouTube remains the number one destination of choice for video clips of momentuous occassions, such as Republican Senator Joe Wilson criminally outrageous “You Lie” outburst during the presidential joint address to Congress on September 9th.
However, for a constant up to the minute streaming source of material debating the proposed changes (or lack of) to healthcare  reform,  CNN recently hilited some of the best twitter streams to follow. 

See the list after the jump

In no particular order:

PolitiFact. (@politifact) A Pulitzer-Prize-winning news group, which is part of the St. Petersburg Times, sorts fact from fiction on the health care debate and other topics. That “You lie!” comment, for instance? A lie, Politifact says. With over 5000 followers, @politifact likes to tweet on a micro level, such as fact checking whether the Baucus healthcare bill would tax medical devices such as X-ray tests and surgical needles!

SusannahFox. (@susannahfox) Fox’s Twitter feed is packed with anecdotes and statistics about how social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook are changing doctor-patient relationships and the state of health care at large. With over 3000 followers, one example tweet is the fact that according to Fox 38% of internet users look online for information about hospitals or other medical facilities. (not a particularly earth shattering tweet IMO)

kevinmd. (@kevinmd) Blogger and doctor Kevin Pho offers up commentary on his life as a physician and the health care system. With over 15,000 followers, Kevin offers a unique insiders’ perspective to inform outsiders ( you & me)

whitehouse. (@whitehouse)  The official White House Twitter feed covers a slate of topics, but heath care has been especially big on the administration’s recent tweeting agenda. Not surprisingly, given how ugly and the agenda has become. With over 1.5 million followers, by far the largest audience of all the tweeters mentioned by CNN.

AmerMedicalAssn (@amermedicalassn) This doctors’ group tries to spice up the health care debate with  tons of newsy updates on the latest votes, disputes and developments.  Pretty interesting tweets too and over 5000 followers.