Is America Burning - a Forum To Discuss Issues

Uganda and The Beam in Our Eye

2010-01-04T10:06:00.000-06:00

Our good friend Dan'l emailed me this morning and sent me this from yesterday's NYT.

Briefly (although you really should read the Times article), Uganda has been encouraged by some of our religious right, several who hold government office, to propose a new anti-gay act, complete with life imprisonment and possibly the death penalty.

Here, possibly slightly edited, is what I replied to him.

From the article:

"“That’s horrible, absolutely horrible,” he (one of the preachers) said. “Some of the nicest people I have ever met are gay people.”"

Every time I hear "some of my best friends are", I know I'm talking to a bigot although they would never admit it.

California and Maine have both overturned their marriage equality laws. Other states (New York for one) have refused to enact them (and New Jersey is dragging its feet). Gays can't adopt in some states and in some cases, teens are hung on fences to die.Too many states have still not even gone so far as extending anti-discrimination laws to LGBT citizens and some laws actually prohibit such legislation.

On the federal front, we still have DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell. We barely passed the new Hate Crimes Act (by sneaking it into the defense budget) and it certainly wasn't thanks to the religious right Senators who voted, in a body, against it.

Fred Phelps is still spreading his particular brand of hatred at funerals across the United States.

The threat, though, doesn't come from maniacs like Phelps. Most "reasonable" people knew he was nuts when he started attacking the families of servicemen. The threat comes from the "some of my best friends" folk whose white sheets are hidden under their suits and whose hatred is carefully concealed by their smiles and their "hate the sin, love the sinner" garbage.

I've been keeping up with Uganda on almost a daily basis through Rachel Maddow on MSNBC and the emails I receive from several gay rights groups. I've signed petitions and written letters. Did you know Uganda had one of the best records in Africa on AIDS prevention until the evangelicals got into the act? Now, those same evangelicals are wringing their hands. They can't seem to understand that they create the climate for hatred; especially in a country which has a long history of violence against its people. This is just one more example. At least they seem to have taken the death penalty off the table.

Too late for the hand wringing, the mea culpas, and the apologies. We continue to attack the mote in another's while ignoring the beam in our own.

The difference between us (as individual citizens, states, country) and the Ugandans is one of degree. We elect a gay mayor here (congratulations Texas - Houston if I remember correctly), a councilman or woman there, a Speaker of the Assembly in California, and pat ourselves on the back. The capital city of one of the reddest of the red states enacted an anti-discrimination law. We appoint a few to visible government positions and Barney Frank probably owns his seat in Congress. Meantime, that lesbian mayor in Texas, the gay Speaker in California, the LGBT citizens of that capital city, and even good old Barney, once he leaves Massachusetts, are still deprived of many basic rights.

I'm not sure there's much we, as a country, can do about Uganda until we clean up our own act.

On a lighter note, I hope everyone had a good holiday season, whatever you prefer to call it. Mine was a mix. Son Tim and hubby Juan are doing fine. Son Jim may be headed for Afghanistan in May. I had lunch with two of my great-granddaughters right before Christmas. Hard to believe they're all teens; two high school freshmen and one junior. We saw several of the family for Christmas and Tim and Juan came in for Thanksgiving. To top it off, my grandson, who I haven't seen it over 20 years and had all but given up on locating, found us on FaceBook. Joyous family reunion two days after Christmas.

Sorry I've been so out of touch. Most of you know I'm hanging out some on FaceBook, MySpace (although I hardly ever use it) and Twitter (same thing).

Gadfly, drop me a line when you get a chance. I'd like to know how you all in the Lone Star state are doing.

Happy New Year to all.

Regrow Human Limbs and Body Parts

2009-12-17T11:00:00.017-06:00

Recently there have been news articles about research into growing/regrowing penises lost to injury, disease, or deformity, and others about regrowing women's breasts (not implants but real tissue) after amputations. See:
Regrow Penises
Regrow Breasts

Now there is news about research into regrowing human limbs and body parts like the salamander does and how lizards regrow a tail. If perfected, this will be a miraculous boon to humankind.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091214121434.htm

How Do Salamanders Grow a New Leg? Protein Mechanisms Behind Limb Regeneration

A female wild-type axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum). The most comprehensive study to date of the proteins in a species of salamander that can regrow appendages may provide important clues to how similar regeneration could be induced in humans. (Credit: iStockphoto/Armin Hinterwirth)

ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2009) — The most comprehensive study to date of the proteins in a species of salamander that can regrow appendages may provide important clues to how similar regeneration could be induced in humans.

Researchers at the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and colleagues investigated over three hundred proteins in the amputated limbs of axolotls, a type of salamander that has the unique natural ability to regenerate appendages from any level of amputation, with the hope that this knowledge will contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms that allow limbs to regenerate.

"In some ways this study of the axoltol's proteins was a fishing expedition. Fishing expedition can be a derogatory term in biology but for us it was positive, since we caught some important "fish" that enable us to formulate hypotheses as to how limb regeneration occurs," said David L. Stocum, Ph.D., professor of biology and director of the Indiana University Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, both in the School of Science at IUPUI, who led the study.

"Comparison of these proteins to those expressed in the amputated frog limb, which regenerates poorly, will hopefully allow us to determine how we might enhance limb regeneration in the frog and ultimately in humans, Dr. Stocum said.

With few exceptions -- notably the antlers of moose, deer and their close relatives, the tips of the fingers and toes of humans and rodents, and the ear tissue of certain strains of mice and rabbits -- the appendages of mammals do not regenerate after amputation.

Limb regeneration in the axolotl occurs when undifferentiated cells accumulate under the wound epidermis at the amputation site, a process known as the establishment of a blastema. These cells are derived by the reprogramming of differentiated cells to a less specialized state, and from resident stem cells.

"We found proteins that point to several areas that need to be studied closely to give us vital information about the mechanisms that operate to form a blastema that then goes on to regenerate the missing parts of the limb," said Dr. Stocum, an internationally respected cell and developmental biologist who has studied limb regeneration for over three decades.

Investigating the proteins found in the axolotl limb, the researchers noted three findings that appear to have significance in reprogramming cells to grow new limbs:

Quantities of enzymes involved in metabolism decreased significantly during the regeneration process.
There were many proteins that helped cells avoid cell death. Because amputation is very traumatic, this is critical.
A protein which appears to keep cells from dividing until they are fully dedifferentiated and reprogrammed to begin forming a new limb was expressed at high levels throughout blastema formation.

Findings were published online in the journal Biomedical Central Biology on November 30 (BMC Biology 7:83, 2009). Co-authors of the study, which was funded by the W. M. Keck Foundation, are Nandini Rao, Ph.D. and graduate student Behnaz Saranjami of the School of Science; graduate student Deepali Jhamb and Mathew Palakal, Ph.D. of the IU School of Informatics; Fengyu Song, D.D.S., M.S., Ph.D. of the IU School of Dentistry; Mu Wang, Ph.D. and Michael W. King, Ph.D. of the IU School of Medicine; Bingbing Li, Ph.D. of Central Michigan University; S. Randal Voss, Ph.D. of the University of Kentucky; and Derek J. Milner, Holly L. D. Nye and Jo Ann Cameron, Ph.D. of the University of Illinois. All except the final four are also affiliated with the IU Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine.

The School of Science, IU Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, IU School of Dentistry, IU School of Informatics, and IU School of Medicine are all located on the IUPUI campus.

OBAMA - Peace and War

2009-12-11T18:20:00.002-06:00

COMMENTS:

danielpagano said...

Gods mill grinds slow but sure........................................

Sunday, December 13, 2009 8:57:00 AM

Chaplain Joins the Fray and Coins a Battlecry.

2009-12-07T07:17:00.005-06:00

Chapel services were in progress at 7:55 a.m. on the morning of December 7, 1941 when Japanese bombs began raining on Pearl Harbor. Dedicated chaplains did their best to care for the wounded and comfort the dying. Aboard the cruiser New Orleans Chaplain Howell Fogey joined the human chain passing ammo to keep the big guns firing back. When one enemy Zero began to fall from the sky he paused long enough to echo what would become a national battlecry: "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition."
click on link below for brief news item re: Chaplain Fogey

Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition

Pearl Harbor - 68 Year Anniversary

2009-12-07T05:19:00.005-06:00

Cross posted at http://thefuturewasyesterday.blogspot.com

The USS Arizona burns, mortally wounded in attack on Pearl Habor by Japanese warplanes.
Memorial, built over her sunken body, grave to the men who went down with her. 68 years later she still lies bleeding - large globs of oil, her life blood, rise to the surface now and then.

To those Americans of a proper age to remember that awful "day of infamy", the anniversary is always an emotional time, dredging up the wounds to psyches that remain raw and painful beneath the surface, and reinjured during the terrible events of 9-11. I know Pearl Harbor only as history but my best friend and her peers were old enough to recall the attack and the reactions of the citizenry, how it affected the nation. I have seen my friend rock and weep on anniversaries and/or news reports, remembering old pains and griefs, and as she wept during 9-11 I asked her if that was like Pearl. She nodded wordlessly. There is more but it is not my story to tell.
........................................................................................................................

Now Playing--click on thumbnail or title below to play video. Video has excerpts from news of that day.

Pearl Harbor artifact rediscovered 68 years after attack

Sun Dec 6, 3:53AM PT

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The extraordinary heroics performed by the man caught unawares by the sneak attack on that peaceful Sunday morning demonstrates how they rose bravely to their duty, how fiercely they battled, and some willingly, knowingly sacrificed their lives in the service of their comrades, their ships, and their country. There are too many to publish on a blog but the url below is to a site that briefly tells a few. http://www.homeofheroes.com/pearlharbor/pearl_6nevada.html

Nazi Prison Guard Prosecuted -- Ballsy Kucinich

2009-11-30T03:12:00.012-06:00

Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Cross Posted at http://thefuturewasyesterday.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-it-never-too-late-is-there-still.html

89 year old war crimes prison guard finally brought to trial. Accused of murdering 27,000 Jews of 250,000 in camp in 1943..

Question: will Bush and Cheney ever be brought to trial for their war crimes? Will anyone ever have the balls to prosecute ?

Will there be another Congressman Dennis Kucinich? He has had the guts to repeatedly try to get Bush and Cheney impeached.

Comments

lacyjpyburn said...

...........................................

Monday, November 30, 2009 7:06:00 AM

Granny said...

Grayson of Florida doesn't seem to be afraid of much.

Monday, November 30, 2009 7:39:00 AM

YELLOWDOG GRANNY said...

not as long as obama is kissing the generals asses..

Monday, November 30, 2009 1:13:00 PM

Thanksgiving Greetings

2009-11-25T02:13:00.018-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving from Is America Burning

Comments:

YELLOWDOG GRANNY said...

and to you ...Goddess bless you..

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 7:22:00 PM

Gadfly said...

Thank you, Yellowdog Granny.

Thursday, November 26, 2009 8:34:00 PM

The Subversive Librarian said...

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to you. I'm grateful for another one clean and sober.

Friday, November 27, 2009 12:56:00 AM

Granny said...

I'm belated too. We're having our Thanksgiving tomorrow because it was the only time both boys could make it. Jim is stationed with the Guard in LA and Tim will probably be moving there soon since that's where Juan's work is. Jim tells me he'll probably be headed for Afghanistan around July.

"Subversive" - me too. If I stay out of trouble until December 26, I'll have 30 years.

Take care, everybody.

Friday, November 27, 2009 8:23:00 AM

Groan! Our fearless leader!

2009-11-15T10:14:00.006-06:00

From the Chronicle's resident cartoonist; Nick Anderson. Nove. 15, 2009
Houston, Chronicle.

COMMENTS:

YELLOWDOG GRANNY said...

'good hair' perry strikes again..just when you think he can't say anything dumber...? he does it again..

Sunday, November 15, 2009 12:48:00 PM

Granny said...

If I weren't so fond of my TX friends, I would have suggested he not let the door hit his ass on the way out.

I know most of you are sane but why does he remain so popular?

Not that TX has the market cornered of course. We have our own share of freaks right in sunny CA.

Sunday, November 15, 2009 1:44:00 PM

Gadfly said...

Yellowdog Granny: Amen! Be so glad to be rid of him. Just hope his replacement isn't equally bad.

Granny Ann: It's a mystery to me. Everybody you talk to swears they didn't vote for him but SOMEBODY voted that dork into office!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 6:10:00 PM

Kvatch said...

If I weren't so fond of my TX friends, I would have suggested he not let the door hit his ass on the way out.

Why not? Though the real fireworks will come when Senator 'Helmet Hair' meets Perry in the Republican primary. I'm going to sell tickets...now that I'm, once again, a resident of the state of my upbringing.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 3:05:00 PM

Granny said...

Hey, Kvatch

If enough of you move back, possibly you can restore the state to sanity.

Gadfly

Yep and we were dumb enough to vote for the governator - twice. I don't generally approve of term limits but in our case I was grateful.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 3:35:00 PM

Murdered Soldiers - and a WWI Survivor.

2009-11-12T00:49:00.013-06:00

Re: the murdered at Fort Hood, Texas.

Yellowdog Granny at: http://yellowdoggrannie.blogspot.com has posted a thumbnail bio on each of the victims where they come alive to us as people instead of just names. Read her post at the above address, scroll down to the following post:

"Tuesday, November 10, 2009

GODDESS BLESS YOU ONE AND ALL"

and take the opportunity to wish her a happy 66th birthday for November 11th.

..................................................................................................................
A World War I Survivor... passed away in 1992 at age 93. My Father.
(Photo taken from my daughter's family album. This is my father: J.L.W. - WWI - US Army - Wagoneer. He suffered a knee injury when firing a Knee Mortar, an obsolete weapon now.)

November 11th was also my father's birthday. During WWI he and other soldiers were in a field near camp digging some thing when they heard shouting, gunfire and a huge hullaballoo. The camp had just received word of the Armistice --the war was over. One of his comrades wondered aloud what was going on. My father casually joked, "I guess they're celebrating my birthday".
The grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren get quite a laugh about the uniform but we tell them it is the man inside that matters, not military fashion of the day. The only physical injuries he suffered was the knee injury but he was plagued by horrific memories for many years. All wars are terrible.

COMMENTS:

Dusty Rose said...

It was good of Yellowdog Granny to post all those bios. The memorial service was really moving.

I'm glad you posted this about Grandpa. I used to laugh at his uniform but I don't any more. I love and respect the man inside that uniform. He was a hell of a man!

Thursday, November 12, 2009 2:21:00 AM

YELLOWDOG GRANNY said...

thanks..I thought it was important for everyone to know who they were..not just the 13 that got killed...

Thursday, November 12, 2009 10:50:00 AM

Honor our Veterans. Remember Those We Have Lost.

2009-11-10T13:57:00.012-06:00

"A country needs to be reminded that warriors have died, and that Memorial Day and Veterans' Day are not just days for picnics at the beach."

Tribute to Our Vets from Revolutionary War to Present

..............................................
Like a Rock

..................................

Ten years, twenty years, fifty years, a hundred years - it doesn't matter. Time and the march of our warriors stretch back and back into the mists of time. Every generation has its heroes, hard bodied, beautiful, strong young bodies going to war and as they age, they recall their youthful years. We see some in their 80s and 90s, frail, white haired, but looking past the ravages of time we see them as they once were, "arrow straight, bearing the weight" of the duties and responsibilities thrust upon them. We owe them. Our nation owes them. We owe them debts that can never be paid. The very least we can do is honor them and remember them and thank them.

Comments:

2 Comments:

YELLOWDOG GRANNY said...

goddess bless them one and all.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 3:48:00 PM

Worried American said...

May it be so, for every one of them.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 8:10:00 PM

SH*T HAPPENS!

2009-11-05T00:33:00.006-06:00

Uh Oh!

Definitely an "Aw Shit!" moment.
How in hell did they manage THAT?
Or THIS?
OMG! Gonna come right through the windshield!

Back your stupid asses up very carefully until you're back on land. If that flood rises a few more inches you're gonna get swept off that causeway. Idiots!
Say, Buddy, you put your underwear on backwards.Besides which, you're in a world of shit!
OOPS!

Humans= 0 Bull=100
Hey Guy! You're supposed to hang onto the handle bars! Ba-a-a-d landing ahead!

Um...you got a little close to film the action, didn't you, Buddy?

YeeHaw! Ride 'em Cowboy! A dedicated player will go to great lengths to make the basket.

If he was backing up to get a good shot, he might have gotten a good snap of the water hitting his face.

COMMENTS:

YELLOWDOG GRANNY said...

cracked me up..

Sunday, November 08, 2009 1:49:00 PM

Worried American said...

Good Heavens! Some of these events undoubtedly ended in tragedy!! Scary!

Monday, November 09, 2009 3:42:00 AM

The Subversive Librarian said...

Oh, my!

Monday, November 09, 2009 2:10:00 PM

Obama meets military death plane, speaks with grieving families

2009-11-01T05:30:00.012-06:00

President Barack Obama and Army Assistant Judge Advocate Maj. Gen. Daniel Wright salute as an Army carry team transports the case containing the remains of Sgt. Dale R. Griffin of Terre Haute, Ind., at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Del.

Editorial

The Commander's Duty Done

In his midnight mission to honor the returning war dead, President Obama did more than personally extend the nation’s condolences to grieving families gathered at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Without uttering a public word, Mr. Obama erased President George W. Bush’s shameful attempts to hide the pain of war from Americans and to shield himself from paying public tribute to the thousands who died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The long-overdue display of national gratitude and regret by the commander in chief rekindled a note of most solemn ritual that the country owes sons and daughters in uniform sacrificed in war. The president was restoring a post-Vietnam tradition that included the graphic embraces and wrenching words personally extended by President Ronald Reagan to the families of the 241 soldiers, sailors and Marines who perished 26 years ago in the bombing of the Marines' camp in Lebanon.

The Bush policy was to prohibit any news media coverage of the returning war dead and to never show the president within a camera-lens' length of the dolorous homecomings. Under Mr. Obama, the Pentagon reversed the no-coverage policy in February. On Thursday, the president himself took the necessary next step.

He silently saluted in the morning darkness as the remains of 18 Americans killed this week in Afghanistan were transferred from a military transport. He spent close to two hours talking in private with stricken families. One of them gave approval for the news media to show the nation its loved one's arrival before the president and assembled officers. Within minutes, of course, bloggers were reacting. Some were grateful. Others denounced Mr. Obama for photo-op exploitation even as they demanded he hurry up and decide whether to send tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan.

The true cost of war must never be denied by the nation or its leader. Mr. Obama's visit was entirely appropriate as he faces the decision of what comes next in Afghanistan. The pity is President Bush never dared as much.

More Articles in Opinion » A version of this article appeared in print on October 30, 2009, on page A30 of the New York edition.
................................................................................

Obama calls Dover visit a 'sobering reminder' - White House ...

President Barack Obama says the sight of 18 cases holding the remains of Americans killed in Afghanistan can't help but influence his thinking about sending more ...

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33526742/ns/politics-white_house
...................................................................................................

Think about it, Mr. President. Bring the rest home while alive and well and don't send any more over there.

Fall Back - Day Light Savings Time

2009-11-01T04:08:00.004-06:00

Fall Back -

Comments:

The Future Was Yesterday said...

I have a question - who in hell gets up a 2 A.M. to turn back their clocks?

Other than Texans, I mean.:)

Monday, November 02, 2009 12:29:00 AM

Gadfly said...

Hell fire. SHE was still up. I don't think I was; I think I might've been passed out on my neighbor's lawn.

Monday, November 02, 2009 10:52:00 PM

Health Care Bill - Ted Poe - Videos

2009-10-30T21:26:00.002-05:00

I am not fond of Ted Poe but sometimes he makes some valid points, or poses pertinent questions.

Congressman Ted Poe on the Health Care Bill

Constitutional Issues in Health Care Bill 10-29-2009

28 views - 20 hours ago

HALLOWEEN HEALTH CARE BILL 10-27-2009

57 views - 2 days ago

Spider Mystery Solved

2009-10-26T20:30:00.003-05:00

http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2008/jan/ed_2/

I enjoy camping out by the lakes but although I appreciate this phenomenom as a scientific curiosity, my personal curiosity is not stirred sufficiently to entice me to view it. I don't like spiders and have no desire to get close to such a population explosion of them. Brrr! Gives me the shudders to think of it. The Old Woman (Worried American) is fairly tolerant of spiders and was curious about this explosion when the news first broke. she didn't make the drive to view it. I have noted that her spider tolerance has limits, however. Once when we were returning from Corpus Christi and crossed a bridge over a body of water, she spotted thick stands of the pest water hyacinth growing at the water's edge. She wanted a few specimens to float in one of her patio fountain bowls so waded through the knee high weeds to get some. Once there, she finally noted that practically every weed sported a web of a baby golden orb weaver spiderling, a spider of which she is NOT fond. Damn! I didn't know the old woman could move so fast -- uphill, too! She tore it up getting back to the car, without the water hyacinths. :)
........................................................................................................................

http://texasento.net/Social_Spider.htm
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http://www.tpwmagazine.com/archive/2008/jan/ed_2/

January 2008

Web Mania!

Spiders spin a mysterious masterpiece at Lake Tawakoni - and ignite a media frenzy.

By Sheryl Smith-Rodgers

As soon as the news made headlines across Texas - and around the globe - I fired off an e-mail: I want this assignment! Though sent as a joke, I was serious, too. Imagine my surprise when I read the reply: Hightail it up there! The next morning, long before sunrise, I jumped in my car and hurried north to Lake Tawakoni State Park east of Dallas, where massive amounts of spiderwebs enshrouded trees and other vegetation on a remote hiking trail.

Along the way, I followed Mike Quinn, an invertebrate biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, who'd been watching the webs via online photos. He wanted to look at the scene firsthand and collect specimens. Like other biologists and arachnologists, he was baffled. Had scores of spiderlings tried to disperse? Or had social spiders taken up residence in the park? Why had so many spiders - which by nature are normally solitary - congregated in one area? What species would he find?

As for myself, I couldn't wait to see the web. Spiders have long fascinated me. Several years ago, I bought a plethora of spider books and read all I could. I'd kept an assortment of live spiders, raised three tarantula spiderlings and shared my passion with anyone who'd listen. Today - the last day of August - I would witness a genuine spider phenomenon that had the whole world talking.

Remarkable discovery

No one's quite sure when construction began on the park's giant web. But Kim Feuerbacher of Rockwall and her son Trent saw something in early summer. While biking on a trail on the park's north side, they braked when they came upon thousands of silvery strands, strung high and glistening in several post oaks. "It was beautiful, but we couldn't get off that trail fast enough!" recalls Feuerbacher, who mentioned what they'd seen only to her husband.

In the following weeks, endless rains and muddy conditions kept most visitors off the trails. Finally, a dry spell came August 6, which meant park ranger Freddie Gowin could get back on a mower. While on a nature trail, he rounded a curve, then gaped dumbfounded. "The web was plumb across the trail and all over the trees!" he says. "I had to drive through it to finish mowing."

Nine days later, superintendent Donna Garde photographed what she called a "white fairyland" of gossamer that enveloped six trees, underlying vegetation and the ground. The photos were e-mailed August 24 to TPWD biologist Mike Quinn and other entomologists. Stunned and befuddled, he forwarded the startling images to several more spider experts across the nation.

Reponses boomeranged back. Some speculated that the web belonged to a social cobweb spider (Anelosimus studiosus) known to coexist in colonies, where females cooperatively capture prey and care for young. Others theorized that spiderlings had attempted a "mass dispersal," behavior associated with "ballooning" (when spiderlings release strands of silk into the air and float away to a new location).

Meanwhile, news of the web broke August 29 in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Quickly, other print and broadcast media from across the country - and around the world - jumped on the story. Reporters as well as curious visitors streamed into the park; staff fielded relentless inquiries by phone. Over Labor Day weekend, more than 3,300 people hiked the trail to see the web, damaged by recent rains but still active with spiders.

Spiders collected

The media frenzy had slowed only slightly by the time Mike Quinn and I arrived Friday, August 31. A newspaper reporter who'd made the quarter-mile trek (one way) numerous times led the way. He escorted us down the dirt trail, which cut across a small grassy prairie, then through thick woods. The path continued across a clearing; from there, we could see Lake Tawakoni. We rounded a clump of shrubs, then joined a small group of people standing beneath an eerie canopy. Around us, foliage drooped beneath dark gauze littered with debris and bug bodies. Brown and deteriorated, some long, thick webs hung like Spanish moss. Sunshine filtered through holes and tears in the webs, casting a hazy light on the strange scene.

Beneath hackberries, junipers and post oaks that reached at least 25 feet high, more webs covered saplings, vines, grass and fallen limbs. The musty odor of decay permeated the hot, humid air. "This is like nothing I've seen before!" Quinn declared. Then he and Joe Lapp, a spider enthusiast from Austin, examined web after web, identifying spiders and insects as they worked. "The predominant species is definitely a long-jawed orbweaver," Quinn concluded.

Indeed, countless numbers of tetragnathids - a long-legged spider with an elongated body - clustered within inches of one another in the dense webs. I looked up and saw more on loose, tangled webs strung high between branches and from tree to tree. Many were folded in a characteristic lengthwise position, their bodies silhouetted against the blue sky.

Typically, tetragnathids singularly spin and catch prey in round "orb" webs, often built horizontally near water and in close proximity to other long-jawed orbweavers. As its name suggests, this species has a long pair of jaws (chelicerae) equipped with fangs that inject venom to paralyze insects. (Only the venom of black widows and brown recluses is harmful - but not fatal - to humans.)

At Lake Tawakoni, though, tetragnathids had changed their behavior. Very few had built normal orb webs. Why? Experts would later try to answer that question and more.

"There's certainly a lot of food here," Lapp observed as he peered at one tangled web.

"Look, that jumping spider got a cricket!" Everywhere, carcasses of grasshoppers, mosquitoes, gnat-like midges and other insects - including live ones and dead spiders, too - stuck to the webs. Excessive rains had evidently caused an explosion in mosquito and midge populations.

Other spiders inhabited the area, too. In some poison ivy, I spotted a female wolf spider carrying a mass of tiny spiderlings on her back. Within a jungle of high weeds, a yellow garden spider hung upside down on her orb web. Tubular-shaped webs on tree limbs indicated the presence of funnel weaver spiders. Numerous species of jumping spiders - which stalk their prey like a cat - lurked nearly everywhere.

Experts weigh in

After several hours, I headed home, exhausted. Quinn and Lapp, though, stayed until well past dark, collecting spiders and observing their behavior. On Saturday, Quinn delivered 250 specimens to Allen Dean, a research assistant in the Texas A&M University Insect Collection. Dean, who specializes in spider taxonomy, spent most of the next day analyzing spiders under a microscope. His findings: tetragnathids - specifically Tetragnatha guatemalensis - comprised 60 percent of the sampling. Jumping spiders accounted for 18.4 percent and orbweavers, 7.6 percent. In all, Dean identified 12 different families and at least 16 genera.

"Since the world was waiting to find out what spiders were there, I took my time because I had to be certain of the identifications," says Dean, who later visited the webs in September. "Once you release a list, you can't make corrections." By Monday (Labor Day), Garde had hard data to share with reporters and visitors alike.

Solving the mystery

Bolstered by the identifications and activity reports from the site, experts could better explain Lake Tawakoni's giant web. According to John Jackman, professor and extension entomology specialist at Texas A&M, a bumper crop of bugs can trigger massive webbing and even affect spider behavior.

"It seems to be documented in the literature that if you have an abundance of food, spiders throw out additional webbing and even crawl into each other's webs," says Jackman, author of A Field Guide to Spiders and Scorpions of Texas. "Then they just sit there and eat the abundant food, so they're not regulating each other by feeding on spiders. We've had other reports similar to this, and they seem to occur near a lake or a light."

Norman Horner, emeritus biology professor and spider expert at Midwestern State University, visited the state park September 14 with assistant biology professor Roy Vogtsberger. Like Jackman, Horner believes that food plays a key role in understanding spider dynamics at Lake Tawakoni.

First of all, ample food at the start of a spider's life cycle can lead to higher spider numbers. That's because females lay hundreds of eggs within a sac, but only a few survive, Horner says. In nature, they're eaten by one another or by larger spiders and other predators. If there are more food sources to go around, then more spiderlings survive and molt into adults (spiders "grow" by shedding their hard exoskeletons).

High survival rates coupled with still abundant food kept long-jawed orbweavers (and other species) busily spinning at Lake Tawakoni. "Normally, tetragnathids are a solitary spider that will get in close association to one another but not share a web," Horner says.

"Spiders will feed on one another, even if they're the same species. But we didn't notice any cannibalism there at all. Based on what I saw, these tetragnathids have moved from a solitary existence into a semi-social communal web."

Another observation: "Interestingly enough, it appeared that the spiders at the state park were not using the webs to trap prey but to grab it as it came by," Horner says.

Worldwide attention

Quinn - who posted and regularly updated a Web site on the giant spiderweb - was not only intrigued by the rare phenomenon but also how the story and related photographs fascinated the entire world. Media called and e-mailed from Australia, England, Norway, Germany, China and even the Middle East. American markets ranged from Time, Today Show, CNN and National Public Radio to Ranger Rick, Scholastic News and Martha Stewart's TV show. On the New York Times Web site (August 31), the Texas web ranked "number one e-mailed story of the day."

In subsequent weeks, other researchers, too, spent long hours at Lake Tawakoni. Though the spiders and web have since died off, forthcoming documentary programs, scientific papers and magazine articles will keep interest stirred. "I love how this is bringing a lot more data into the scientific community," Garde says. "And the publicity for our park has been incredible."

How unique was the Texas web?

"That was a big question people asked," Quinn reflects. "The fact that the story went wall to wall (around the world) and few reports came back on similar occurrences, well, that says something!"

As for the future, "It will be interesting to see what happens next summer," Horner muses. "Nature has a way of bringing things back in line."

Epilogue

The saga continued October 1 when reports came of similar webs spread across trees at Wind Point Park across Lake Tawakoni. While surveying the state park site that day, Joe Lapp and Hank Guarisco (adjunct curator of arachnids at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas) drove to the privately owned park. There they found mostly long-jawed orbweavers but also social cobweb spiders, too.

Three days later, Lapp confirmed another large tetragnathid web - this one near Lake Travis. For a detailed timeline, and ongoing updates, visit texasento.net/Social_Spider.htm. For more information about this web and similar webs around Texas, see a multimedia journal at Joe Lapp's Web site, www.SpiderJoe.com.

On the Night Watch

Spiders became more aggressive - even cannibalistic - after dark.

I spent about 10 days camping in Lake Tawakoni State Park during September and October, observing the giant web and its resident spiders. The main actor in this somewhat surrealistic arachnid play was a species of long-jawed spider (Tetragnatha guatemalensis), which was often found in great numbers resting in the web during the day.

Although I saw mating and prey capture during the day, the real action on the giant spiderweb began after the sun went down. After dark, three supporting actors - other species of orbweaving spiders that remained hidden while resting in the vegetation during the day (Larinioides cornutus, Metazygia wittfeldae and Neoscona crucifera) - came on stage and joined in the hurried web-building activity of the female long-jawed spiders. Each spider built a circular orb web to catch the hordes of small flies that rose into the trees after sunset. Space was limited, so the spiders attached their webs to any available structure, including their neighbors' webs. Under normal conditions, they are very protective of their personal space, but with the almost unlimited food supply, they became much more tolerant of one another.

As male long-jawed spiders wandered in search of food and females, they frequently invaded the outer edges of newly constructed orbs without triggering aggressive reactions from their owners, which were usually too busy eating to mind the disturbance. As food became scarcer, however, this arachnid play took a darker turn. The densely packed long-jawed spiders became very aggressive and scenes of cannibalism became commonplace on the giant web. Females attacked other females, males and juveniles. Spiders became an important part of their diet at this stage.

One of the three supporting actors (Neoscona crucifera) was responsible for some of the large silk streamers suspended among the trees. This spider built large orb webs in open spaces between trees that are often 15 to 20 feet apart. Before sunrise, the spider ate its own orb web but left the framework of silk suspended between the trees. Long-jawed spiders and others traveled across this silken "super highway," laying down their own dragline silk as they went. Eventually, the heavy traffic created a wide silk band between the trees.

- Hank Guarisco

India Asteroid - Cause Deccan Traps-Final Dino Demise?

2009-10-20T23:32:00.005-05:00

india asteroid - caused deccan traops??

http://news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2009/10/091016-asteroid-impact-india-dinosaurs.html?sms_ss=email

India Asteroid Killed Dinosaurs, Made Largest Crater?

Ker Than
for National Geographic News

October 16, 2009

The dinosaurs' demise may have been due to an asteroid double-whammy—two giant space rocks that struck near Mexico and India a few hundred thousand years apart, scientists say.

For decades one of the more popular theories for what killed the dinosaurs has focused on a single asteroid impact 65 million years ago.

Enlarge Photo

A six-mile-wide (ten-kilometer-wide) asteroid is thought to have carved out the Chicxulub crater off Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, triggering worldwide climate changes that led to the mass extinction.

But the controversial new theory says the dinosaurs were actually finished off by another 25-mile-wide (40-kilometer-wide) asteroid. That space rock slammed into the planet off the western coast of India about 300,000 years after Chicxulub, experts say.

"The dinosaurs were really unlucky," said study co-author Sankar Chatterjee, a paleontologist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

Chatterjee thinks this second asteroid impact created a 300-mile-wide (500-kilometer-wide) depression on the Indian Ocean seafloor, which his team began exploring in 1996.

His team has dubbed this depression the Shiva crater, after the Hindu god of destruction and renewal.

"If we are correct," Chatterjee said, "this is the largest crater known on Earth."

Dinosaur-Killer Asteroid Boosted Volcanoes?

The Shiva asteroid impact was powerful enough to vaporize Earth's crust where it struck, allowing the much hotter mantle to well up and create the crater's tall, jagged rim, Chatterjee estimates.

What's more, his team thinks the impact caused a piece of the Indian subcontinent to break off and drift toward Africa, creating what are now the Seychelles islands (see map).

The Shiva impact may also have enhanced volcanic eruptions that were already occurring in what is now western India, Chatterjee added.

Some scientists have speculated that the noxious gases released by the Indian volcanoes, called the Deccan Traps, were crucial factors in the dinosaurs' extinction.

"It's very tempting to think that the impact actually triggered the volcanism," Chatterjee said.

"But that may not be true. It looks like the volcanism was already happening, and the [Shiva] impact just made it worse."

Research to be presented next week at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Portland, Oregon.

SOURCES AND RELATED WEB SITES

Sharing a few Minutes of Beauty

2009-10-12T01:13:00.009-05:00

Taking a break from all the bad news with which we are bombarded daily. Sharing a page from the blog of one of our fellows. I recommend reading his Round Circle blog for interesting pages from his life story. Earlier posts were fascinating accounts of his travels that I experienced by proxy, now that my wings are clipped and I am grounded.
......................................
julie andrews - sound of music.

..........................................
Some Good In World

From Spadoman's blog: "Round Circle". A post from an email he received.

"This video was made in the Antwerp , Belgium Central (Train) Station on the 23rd of March 2009.
. . . with no warning to the passengers passing through the station at 08:00 am a recording of Julie Andrews singing 'Do, Re, Mi' begins to play on the public address system.

As the bemused passengers watch in amazement, some 200 dancers begin to appear from the crowd and station entrances.

They created this amazing stunt with just two rehearsals!"

COMMENTS:

GDAEman said...

Nice to be nudged out of the daily routine.

Thursday, October 15, 2009 6:30:00 AM

The Subversive Librarian said...

I love this video!

Thursday, October 15, 2009 9:20:00 PM

Worried American said...

I'm glad you enjoyed it, GDAEman and Subversive Librarian. I get tired of the same old bad news. It is good to stop and smell the roses sometimes and access the beauty in this home planet of ours.

Friday, October 16, 2009 1:26:00 AM

Democracy and Conquest

2009-10-09T17:47:00.004-05:00

This video was made as a campaign ad when Ron Paul was running for president. But the bits about our founding fathers are right one! Bush claimed we invaded Iraq to spread democracy and to protect our freedoms. Bull crap! Democracy isn't spread by bombs and tanks and civilian slaughter. The Iraqi War was a war of conquest, pure and simple, to get control of their oil. The US can claim it wasn't conquest but the installation of the Iraqi government is a puppet government, basically run by US and allies.

Cheney- Scaremongering

2009-09-30T02:44:00.011-05:00

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/27705.html

Generals: Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney are scaremongering

cheney - hype about closing gitmo

By JOSH GERSTEIN | 9/29/09 3:39 PM

: Guards watch over Guantanamo Bay detention facility. Retired generals and admirals say Dick Cheney and Liz Cheney are trying to instill fear about Gitmo closing. Photo: AP

About a dozen retired generals and admirals, trying to add momentum to President Barack Obama’s effort to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, are accusing former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz of scaremongering about the dangers of closing it.

“It’s up to all of us to say these arguments advanced by Cheney and his acolytes are nonsense and that really what they’re doing is undermining our national security by delaying the date at which Guantanamo is closed,” retired Brig. Gen. James Cullen, a former chief judge of the Army’s Court of Criminal Appeals, told POLITICO Tuesday.

“Some of the fear issues that are being raised in this are really unfortunate. It gets people excited about things they shouldn’t be excited about and impedes doing what is critical to this country. Get that damn symbol off the table,” said retired Gen. David Maddox, a former Army commander-in-chief for Europe. “We take a setback every time somebody, whether it’s the vice president or his daughter comes out and says the things that they say….We have to get out there again and just keep pounding.”

The former vice president and his daughter declined comment on the criticism.

The former military officers, whose Washington visit was organized by Human Rights First, argued rather bitterly that the Cheneys have exaggerated the risks of bringing Guantanamo prisoners from Cuba to the United States.

“Can you imagine getting a terrorist from Guantanamo convicted and put in a federal penitentiary in your town?” Maddox asked. “Have you ever checked who the hell’s in there already? Have any of them gotten out? The person who we’re putting in is probably a heck of lot less dangerous than most of them who are already in there.”

Administration officials recently acknowledged that Guantanamo may not be closed by Obama’s deadline of Jan. 22. But retired Army Maj. Gen. Tony Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq, said the president was smart to set a mark.

“It forces us to have an end state,” Taguba said. “It cannot be open in perpetuity because we’re having this so called long war against terrorism.”

The retired officers met Monday with Attorney General Eric Holder and planned to confer later with Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn.

Holder gave no indication of when the administration might settle on a U.S. site to relocate Guantanamo prisoners, the former military leaders said.

Obama announced the one-year-closure plan on his second full day in office. But the administration lost control of the legislative process in April when the Senate voted 90-6 against funding for the closure. Democrats joined Republicans, who argued that it was a foolish risk to bring suspected terrorists into the United States.

“Closing Guantanamo is of a strategic value,” Taguba said. “Seeing people in orange jumpsuits and whatever have you creates such an excitement for people to be jihadists and terrorists…It’s not helping us.”

COMMENTS:

The Subversive Librarian said...

I'm glad you all are still at it. I'm now blogging regularly. For the moment, anyway. Great post!

Monday, October 05, 2009 7:55:00 PM

Gadfly said...

Thank you for stopping by for a visit. You're always welcome. It's great that you're back online. Best of luck!!

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 1:18:00 PM

What is a Veteran

2009-09-26T20:17:00.006-05:00

Granny, Gadfly and I don't get many comments on our posts these days but I do still get emails from readers now and then. The following is from an email I received.

What Is a Veteran?

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.

What is a vet?
He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for 12 solid months in DaNang.
He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor that has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.
He is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs. He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.
Author Unknown
.........................................................................
Excerpt from "Sacrificed For Empire", march, 2007
Veterans Day 2004 - World War II veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor, Houston James, emotionally embracing Iraq War veteran, Marine Sgt. Mark Graunke, Jr., who lost a hand, leg, and eye when defusing a bomb in 2003.

"I have posted the above photo before and will probably post it again. It is a poignant reminder of the cost of war and what we as a nation owe our warriors. This old veteran of WWII Pearl Harbor and the young Iraqi War marine symbolize the generations of men and women who have gone off to war at the behest of our government, served honorably and well, and all too often were ignored once their service was completed."

Comments:

Farnsworth68 said...

Thank you.

Sunday, September 27, 2009 1:16:00 PM

Worried American said...

You are very welcome, Farnsworth. And THANK YOU!!

Monday, September 28, 2009 12:12:00 AM

Spadoman said...

Thanks.

Monday, September 28, 2009 5:32:00 AM

Worried American said...

Spadoman; thank you for visiting us and Thank You. I have commented on your blog. I don't visit you often but always enjoy your traveling narratives.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 8:26:00 PM

Spadoman; thank you for visiting us and Thank You. I have commented on your blog. I don't visit you often but always enjoy your traveling narratives.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 8:26:00 PM

Spadoman said...

No, Thanks to you.

Remember THIS

Saturday, October 03, 2009 5:15:00 AM

Worried: Do check out Spadoman's link above. Excellent piece.

Our Constitution

2009-09-19T00:37:00.001-05:00

Our Constitution means little to some people, including our former President who called it a "god damn piece of paper", but I think it means a lot to most Americans. Some might not even know what it says but it is meaningful to them anyway. I'm suspicious and distrustful of most of our elected leaders but I love my country, warts and all, and would like for it to be a decent nation once again. I can be a mean assed old bitch but I honor the Constitution. It means something to me.
.........................................................................................

Excerpt from:

http://open.salon.com/blog/saturn_smith/2009/09/17/happy_constitution_day
by Saturn Smith

[...] (Sept. 17) is of special import for me. It's Constitution Day. Two hundred and twenty-two years ago, on September 17, 1787, the new Constitution of the United States of America was adopted by the Constitutional Convention, signed by the 39 delegates, and sent out to the states for ratification. The National Archives, where the original text still lives, headlines it as "a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise," and that has continued to be true throughout its history. We may not agree upon its meaning, always, or its deployment, but Americans almost to a person seem to agree upon its value. Our stability as a country -- and we are a shockingly stable union -- rests most firmly upon the survival of this document.

That's not to say that the Constitution is a stony, implacable thing. In fact, for all the stability it's inspired, it's hard to mark even a concrete date of its birth. It would take another three years before the Bill of Rights were added, in 1791, and it's been amended another 17 times since then. Even now, there are several proposals for amendment before Congress, and 11,000 amendments have been proposed over time. Sure, it's been used for good and for ill, to justify moments of greatness and horrible errors, but it's still there, binding us to a common set of purposes. Is it outdated? Moldy in language and, certainly, in its descriptions of who should be a citizen? Absolutely. But what do you expect from the oldest written national constitution in the world? Perfection? No -- never in our Constitution. It is a document notable for its mistakes, but also for its ability to rise above them, to amend its own content without changing its real purpose. It is a truly American thing.

So -- go forth and celebrate like it's 1787. Lift an ale (Sam Adams, maybe?), try the Which Founding Father Are You? quiz (I'm James Madison), take a stroll about your free and enduring country, and meditate on the meaning of the document still holding us together:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Remember 9/11 2001

2009-09-11T00:05:00.019-05:00

Please read Granny's post below. Readers may post on comments their experiences and thoughts on September 11, 2001. If you wrote about it on your blog, please leave your url to your post and we will publish all comments.

I am a night owl and often sleep late in the mornings. On September 11, 2001 I was awakened to the hysterical, terrorized screams of my youngest daughter and the loud cries of fear, grief and rage from my eldest. I leaped from my bed and turned on the TV. All day I watched the repeated broadcasts, answered the constantly ringing phone and attempted to calm and comfort my children, even as I, too, wept in grief and horror. To people of my generation it was a reminder of Pearl Harbor. The dastardly, sneak attack, the murder of thousands of innocents, the desperate heroism, the senseless destruction.

Today I taped a small American flag to my apartment door above a little black wreath and mentally dared Management to chastise me for violating their rule against flammable objects on our doors. I asked Management to lower our flag to halfmast in the circle of the driveway in honor of the ones who perished. It was all I could do to answer civilly when the receptionist gave me a puzzzled look and asked, "Why?" How can any American forget?

My eldest daughter and I support Firemen and Police. Her favorite photos of 9/11 are the following of the young fireman mounting the stairs of the WTC as civilians are fleeing downward.
and the famous photo of the firemen raising our flag at ground zero.

Lest we forget....

Comments:
(These comments properly added to Granny's post below.)

Merle said...

Dear Ann ~~ Great posts and videos
about that awful time. I think I cried for a week, glued to the TV.
I hope you and Ray are keeping well
and the girls visit often.
Much love, dear friend, Take care,
Merle.

Friday, September 11, 2009 8:07:00 AM

audrey` said...

The pictures of 9/11 are still very fresh in my memory. SAD! So many innocent lives were lost on that tragic day.

Take care, my dear friend (((HUGS))) Ann.

Sunday, September 13, 2009 8:37:00 AM

Spadoman said...

9/11, a terrible act wrought upon America. I also am remembering the carnage wrought upon the world in Iraq and Afghanistan, as if killing more people changes anything.

Check out this moving post about the individual lives of those lost at the WTC on that fateful day.

http://katherine-claire.blogspot.com/

Peace.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 4:53:00 AM

Worried American said...

Merle and Audrey: Thank you for your comments. I have posted them here and also on Granny's post below.

Spadoman: So good to hear from you. You are so welcomed. Thank you for stopping by.

I have been offline for awhile since I had a small stroke and now post rarely. Gadfly has been carrying the burden of keeping the blog going, for the most part. Do come by again. I will check out the url you left us.

Friday, September 18, 2009 10:29:00 PM

September 11, 2001

2009-09-10T08:12:00.006-05:00

I probably would have let tomorrow's date go unremarked but then I read my first non-political blog of the day. My friend Chris at Rude Cactus who lives near Washington, DC, said what stays with him is how blue the sky was that day.

Then he asked us what we remembered and I started writing. Here's what I said:

========

"It's been 8 years now and it's still, in some ways, like yesterday. We never forget where we were and what we were doing.

It was just after dawn on the west coast and I had begun getting the great-granddaughters ready for school when I heard the first report. It didn't seem that serious - they said it was a small plane. A few minutes later we all knew what was happening. I called my sons (oldest in Army National Guard) and continued watching it become more unreal. By then I'd decided to keep the girls out of school for the day. It wasn't fear as much as it was wanting them close.

I don't think there was anyone who wasn't affected in some way. The company I retired from (sort of - it was bought after I retired by a larger company located in the WTC) lost over 300 people.

And it's trivial compared to the deaths and the destruction but it was the day my then 6 year old great-granddaughter became afraid of the planes she'd previously loved. She's over most of it but still cringes once in a while.

I thought I'd lived through the worst with the assassinations and attempted assassinations of the 60's and 70's. Events have proven me wrong."

========

And events continue to do so and yet I still hope for a brighter future; if not for me, then for that same great-granddaughter and all the other kids of the world.

COMMENTS:

Merle said...

Friday, September 11, 2009 8:07:00 AM

audrey` said...

The pictures of 9/11 are still very fresh in my memory. SAD! So many innocent lives were lost on that tragic day.

Take care, my dear friend (((HUGS))) Ann.

Sunday, September 13, 2009 8:37:00 AM

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,337

2009-08-31T11:29:00.014-05:00

Bush's Wars, now Obama's, have pretty much taken a back seat to the economy, repossessed homes, lost jobs, swine flu maybe becoming a pandemic, possible forced vaccinations, etc. etc. and people have too much to worry about to fret about the wars. But It ain't over and our military are still dying or getting wounded. So they're going to start bringing them home. Yeh--after they send and keep on sending them to Afghanistan and other hot spots on the globe instead of home to the US. Oh yeh, they'll send SOME home so people can see "our troops are coming home" but more will be transferred to hot spots.

The U.S. must keep up its efforts to be Master of the World, the Military Industrial Complex must keep on raking in billions and mega corps like Haliburton et al also must maintain their billions in profits from wars.... and the OIL, ofcourse.

But people, don't forget the sons and daughters of America dying and wounded for money and power of the above.
http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2009/08/30/us_military_deaths_in_iraq_war_at_4337/?s_campaign=8315

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,337
By The Associated Press
August 30,2009

As of Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, at least 4,337 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action. At least 3,466 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.
The AP count is equal to the Defense Department's tally, last updated Friday at 10 a.m. EDT.
The British military has reported 179 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand and Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and South Korea, one death each.

------
On the Net:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/

COMMENTS:

The Future Was Yesterday said...

"Bringing them home", only to rest for two weeks, then it's off to another war. Of course, the fawning press ignores that part. Obama is Bush from another angle, a.k.a "more of the same."

Sunday, September 06, 2009 1:58:00 AM

Gadfly said...

Yes, and even those mentally wounded, suicidal, suffering from PTSD and other mind wounds are being declared fit for duty and being deployed to Afghanistan. The more things "change" (a la Obama), the more they stay the same.

Monday, September 07, 2009 7:15:00

Spadoman said...

Seems like years since I've been around here. I'm sorry about that. But I made the journey in these wee hours. I am sleepless for the very reason you wrote about, the fact that people are putting the war aside in the midst of all the other problems.

I honestly believe that if we solve the war problem, we'll solve a lot of other problems along with it. Many are about money and the war eats up money faster than anything.

I'm not sure what I'll be doing about it directly, but I did start blogging on the Ashland Peace Blog again. Remember, I started a peace vigil in my hometown, then moved to another town, but I didn't do anything. I kept the blog, and now I am searching my soul for a way to work for peace, again.

Your blog is still on my side bar. I'll try to get over here more often. It's been a busy life these days with Grandkids and family, some road tripping in there too this past summer.

Hope all is good with you folks.

Peace to all.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009 4:03:00 AM

____________________________________________________________

Danger! -Don't Run With Sharp, Pointed Objects

2009-08-23T07:30:00.006-05:00

COMMENTS:
Dusty Rose said...
OMG! That is terrible! Poor baby - I hope he and his mother learned a lesson - I learned that mama isn't just taking away your fun when she says don't run, don't jump on the bed, & don't play with matches! Didn't realize how smart parents are until your children become parents, then you see why mom said what she did. The old saying "you should learn from your mistakes" to "you should learn from your mama's mistakes"! Then we don't have to go thru everything mama went thru!
Thursday, August 27, 2009 4:34:00 PM
Dusty Rose said...
Yikes! Never run in the house! Hmmm? Isn't that what Mama said? Wonder why!
Thursday, August 27, 2009 4:36:00 PM
Gadfly said...
Thank you, Dusty Rose. Isn't it amazing how smart your parents get as you get older?
Saturday, August 29, 2009 12:54:00 AM

Brazilian Wandering Spider

2009-08-20T19:46:00.010-05:00

[WARNING: arachnophobes beware; this article contains images of a spider.]

I was reading where global warming was causing critters from down south to migrate to the US.
The Brazilian Wandering Spider (who lives in central and south America) doesn't have to wander here. It gets a free ride on produce imported from the southern climes, namely stalks of bananas and such.. If it finds our climate favorable, it might begin to reproduce.

Just what you wanted to hear. I don't like spiders or snakes! unlike old Worried who is tolerant of most (not all) the nasty things.

Excerpt from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_wandering_spider

Toxicity

P. nigriventer venom contains a potent neurotoxin [...]. At deadly concentrations, this neurotoxin causes loss of muscle control and breathing problems, resulting in paralysis and eventual asphyxiation. In addition, the venom causes intense pain and inflammation following an attack [...].

Aside from causing intense pain, the venom of the spider can also cause priapism (prolonged erections) in humans. Erections resulting from the bite are uncomfortable (painful as hell), can last for many hours and can lead to impotence. A component of the venom (Tx2-6) is being studied for use in erectile dysfunction treatments.^[5]

It is huge. It has one of the most painful bites in the spider world. It is the most deadly spider; forget the funnel web spider – this thing is dangerous. It has the highest human kill rate in the world. To make things even worse, a bite from this spider causes an erection that lasts for hours. No – this is not a subtle ad for viagra; it really is a side-effect of a wandering spider bite. Emergency room staff are able to immediately recognize a person suffering from a bite. Needless to say, the venom is being studied for possible medical uses for people suffering erectile disfunction. [Youtube Clip]
(Video below)

Spam?

2009-08-02T11:53:00.006-05:00

I don't know what Is America Burning post they were on but suddenly about a dozen comments appeared in my email in some unrecognizable (to me anyhow)language. I would have thought it a fluke except yesterday the same thing happened to an online friend in Scotland.

How odd.

COMMENTS:

2 Comments

Gadfly said...

I dunno, Granny. Blogger/Google as well as Yahoo has been doing crazy crap now and then lately. Pisses me off. I don't mess with it. You know what happens to the blog when I stick my fingers in it. I leave it to Old Woman. She bitches but usually can't change it - just waits til it goes away. Right now I don't pester her with problems. She's still not up to par. I remember long time ago IAB got some foreign language comments. According to the counter doodad IAB gets search hits from countries all over the world. Maybe a foreign searcher pulled up something on a post in the past and commented on it.

Monday, August 03, 2009 2:06:00 AM

Gadfly said...

Hey Granny; I just checked the post below about Jupiter for comments and sure enough there was one. Is this your mystery commenter? I darn sure can't read it but glad he stopped by.

Monday, August 03, 2009 2:21:00 AM

Granny said...

My friend in Scotland says it's spam. She deletes them; they come right back.

I don't think there's much you can do about it.

Hope WA is feeling better soon. Give her my best. I don't want to clutter up her email any more than it already is.

Monday, August 03, 2009 7:44:00 AM

Kvatch said...

I don't get spam anymore since switching my blogging to Wordpress. Great spam control, but more learning curve.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 3:54:00 PM

fjb said...

Yup, looks like you gals got yourselves some regular type spam. Nothing to worry about, but I wouldn't be clicking on any links. Give Worried my best, too Gadfly.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 10:45:00 PM

Gadfly: Thanks Granny and fjb. I'll pass on your concern to Worried.

Hi, our multicolored frog! Good to hear from you. Getting rid of spam would be great but I don't think I can handle anything that requires a greater learning curve than Blogger. I still haven't figured out a fraction of using Blogger and especially its new "template" stuff. I can't even figure out template!

fkb: So glad to have you stop by. I won't click on any links! After some of the messes I've made on this blog, I just post and that's IT!

Jupiter collision a warning call to Earth |

2009-07-29T09:26:00.009-05:00

This detail image shows a large impact shown on the bottom left on Jupiter's south polar region captured on July 20, by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Infrared Telescope Facility/Handout/JPL/NASA/Reuters

Jupiter collision a warning call to Earth

The list of cosmic objects that could hit Earth is growing. Scientists study satellite 'tractors' and nuclear weapons as ways to divert asteroids headed our way.

By Peter N. Spotts | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the July 21, 2009 edition

When an object smacked into Jupiter over the weekend, giving astronomers their best cosmic-collision show since the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994, the giant gas ball of a planet took the poke like the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

For all its scientific interest, however, the collision also serves as a stark reminder that the solar system remains a shooting gallery – with Earth, as well as Jupiter, on the wrong side of the firing line.

The object's signature on Jupiter's cloud tops initially was discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley as he gathered digital images of the giant planet through his 14.5-inch telescope. After alerting other astronomers to what appeared to be a "scar" in the cloud tops similar to those generated by the pieces of Shoemaker-Levy 9, NASA scientists trained a 3-meter (9.8-foot) infrared telescope on the planet and got a good look at the scar.

"It could be the impact of a comet," according to Glenn Orton, a scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., in a statement yesterday. "But we don't know for sure yet."

When it comes to objects Earthlings should keep an eye on, the catalog scientists have amassed is swelling.

Since 1995, astronomers associated with 10 search projects have discovered more than 6,200 near-Earth asteroids of all sizes, according to data from JPL. Some 784 are at least a kilometer (0.62 miles) across or larger. Just over 1,000 of the total have been deemed "potentially hazardous" – those that pass Earth at a distance of less than 4.7 million miles.

And while the biggest ones have the potential to inflict the most damage, scientists are gaining a new appreciation of the punch even small ones can deliver.

Two and a half years ago, scientists at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., conducted advanced supercomputer simulations of the June 1908 event over Siberia that flattened and scorched trees over a region 30 miles across. Estimates put the explosive clout of the air burst from either a meteor or comet fragment at between 10 and 20 megatons.

The good news: Calculations on Sandia's supercomputer, in 3-D, push that explosive yield down to between three and five megatons. The bad news: The calculations also indicated that the asteroid or comet fragment was much smaller than previously estimated. There are more small asteroids hurtling around us than large ones.

Sometimes they can seem to come out of nowhere.

Last October, astronomers detected an asteroid an estimated two to five meters across. Some 21 hours later, it entered the atmosphere over northern Sudan sprinkling the Nubian desert with meteorites. The object's blast was estimated at roughly 1,000 tons of TNT.

For asteroid specialists, this was a live-fire test of protocols they'd developed to alert astronomers to monitor the object to refine orbital and impact-location estimates – and to alert national authorities that a direct hit was on the way.

The incident "underscored the successful evolution of the Near-Earth Object Program's discovery and orbit-prediction process," wrote JPL scientists Steve Chesley, Paul Chodas, and Don Yeomans in a post-event report on the incident.

The goal, of course, is to spot these objects and produce highly refined orbit estimates in time to take defensive action, if necessary.

And what might that action look like?

In a lengthy analysis of options that earned him a newly-minted PhD in aeronautical engineering from the University of Glasgow, Joan Pau Sanchez Cuartielles sorts through several approaches ranging from detonating a small nuclear bomb near an asteroid to using a modest-sized satellite as a kind of tractor that tugs the asteroid into a less dangerous orbit, connected to the asteroid by their mutual gravity.

The stand-off nuclear option (with an explosive yield tailored to the mass and density of the asteroid) turned out to be the most effective, although politically troublesome. The gravity tug could be effective with long lead times, or if the goal is to nudge an asteroid just enough to ensure it avoids a gravitational sweet spot, or keyhole, that would put it on a collision course with Earth decades into the future.

-----

COMMENTS:

2 Comments

小貓咪 said...

Sunday, August 02, 2009 8:11:00 AM

Gadfly said...

Don't know who you are as I can't read your language but thanks for stopping by.

Monday, August 03, 2009 2:17:00 AM

More Backstabbings of Seniors by Politicians???

2009-07-15T01:14:00.004-05:00

I got this in an email. I can't attest to its accuracy. But if it's tru, I'm pissed as hell for all our older citizens.
,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

This is an insult and a kick in the butt to all of us...

Get mad and pass it on - I don't know how, but maybe some good

will come of this travesty.

If the immigrant is over 65, they can apply for SSI and Medicaid and get

more than a woman on Social Security, who worked from 1944 until 2004.

She is only getting $791= per month because she was born in 1924 and

there's a 'catch 22'.

It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee

with a monthly allowance of $1,890. Each can also obtain an

additional $580 in social assistance, for a total of $2,470 a month.

This compares to a single pensioner, who after contributing to

the growth and development of America for 40 to 50 years, can only

receive a monthly maximum of $1,012 in old age pension and

Guaranteed Income Supplement.

Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees!

Consider sending this to all your American friends, so we can all be

ticked off and maybe get the refugees cut back to $1,012 and the

pensioners up to $2,470. Then we can enjoy some of the money we were

forced to submit to the Government over the last 40 or 50 or 60 years.

Please forward to every American to expose what our elected politicians

have been doing over the past 11 years - to the over-taxed American.

SEND THIS TO EVERY AMERICAN TAXPAYER YOU KNOW

Worried Off Blog Again

2009-07-09T01:01:00.008-05:00

Worried American will be offline for awhile. Her mother died and she may post on her death when she returns to blogging. The last few weeks have been very hard on her emotionally and physically.

Also she has been struck with a debilitating illness and has been in the hospital the past few days. Her doctors and her children have ordered her to rest. She may post sporadically but will not be blogging regularly for some time. Everyone who loves her is very worried about her health.

Have good thoughts for her.

COMMENTS:

Kvatch said...

[sniff] Sorry to hear that and our condolences to Worried. The Frogette and I will keep her in our thoughts.

Thursday, July 09, 2009 7:34:00 PM

Granny said...

Even when something is not unexpected, it's still hard.

WA, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. I hope you will get the rest you've needed and will be feeling better soon.

Much love,

Ann

Thursday, July 09, 2009 8:40:00 PM

Progressive Traditionalist said...

Hello, Woried American.
Wishing you a speedy recovery.

Friday, July 10, 2009 3:12:00 PM

fjb said...

Take care of yourself Worried. My thoughts and best wishes are with you.

Tuesday, August 04, 2009 10:43:00 PM

Kids! -- 1

2009-07-09T00:20:00.017-05:00

Children's innocent curiosity is amusing to adults.
.................................................................................................

"I can aim as good as the soldier."
....................................................................................................
"Good shot! I hit the cell phone just right!"
....................................................................................
"Daddy's tire makes a good target."
............................................................................
."Now watch closely. This is how you do it!"
........................................................................................

"What's she wearing under there?"
......................................................................................

"Why're they all wearing black panties?"
.........................................................................................
"She broke hers off! How's she gonna pee?"
.........................................................................................
"What's Mommy got behind her skirt?"
...........................................................................
"Holy Crap! She broke hers off too!"
..........................................................................................

Dwight Eisenhower Vision

2009-06-13T01:17:00.007-05:00

Ike's vision now key to US military thinking

By JOHN MILBURN, Associated Press Writer John Milburn, Associated Press Writer – Sat Jun 6, 3:55 am ET

ABILENE, Kan. – When Dwight Eisenhower planned the World War II invasion that wrested Europe from Hitler's hands, he believed — as many strategists do today — that victory and a lasting peace required more than military might.

Sixty-five years after D-Day, Eisenhower's thinking underpins military doctrine of the U.S. and its allies facing new conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"He had seen the slaughter of World War II and took personally the death of every Allied soldier," said Jim Leyerzapf, staff archivist at Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, which holds a vast record of Eisenhower's thinking both during and after the war. "He had to honor the sacrifices of those who died by doing all he could to keep America engaged in the world."

The modern doctrine of using more than military strength to stabilize fragile nations like Iraq and Afghanistan — relying on economic aid, diplomacy and information as well — has roots in a long forgotten speech Eisenhower gave in July 1951 at a dinner in London.

With American support, Eisenhower said, Europe could unify its economies and governments behind common goals, providing no fertile soil for communism to take hold and create instability.

"The hand of the aggressor is stayed by strength and strength alone!" Eisenhower asserted. A copy of the text, with editing marks, is in the library's archives.

When he led the troops during World War II, Eisenhower projected confidence, believing that exuding optimism was as important as the planning he did for battle, papers in his library show.

But privately, Eisenhower worried about the Normandy invasion's success, consuming coffee and cigarettes, but getting little sleep, as he planned the operations.

He even scribbled a note on a slip of paper the night of June 5 as troops began crossing the English Channel, taking full responsibility in the event of failure. He ordered it destroyed, but the note survives at his museum.

Leading up to the invasion, Eisenhower had to work at convincing British Prime Minister Winston Churchill that the operation would succeed, going so far as to promise to be in Germany by Christmas.

"He said his mother told him 'God deals the cards, but you play them,'" Leyerzapf said.

D-Day opened a second front in Europe, which Eisenhower hoped would force Germany's surrender by the end of 1944. He wasn't far off the mark: The actual surrender came in May 1945.

Eisenhower was aware that the battle and the ensuing peace would restore the nations that had been under Nazi control and lead to a divided Germany, papers in the library show.

After the war, he became Army chief of staff, then commander of NATO, the new alliance formed to protect Europe from future conflict and Soviet aggression.

Allan Millett, director of the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans, said that as president from 1953-61, Eisenhower understood what would be the cost of another major conflict in Europe.

Eisenhower said the price of military success could never be fully measured.

"But I do know this," he said in June 1954 meeting with news correspondents, according to a transcript. "That out of it all, the people who know war, those that experienced it — you writers, the fighting men — I believe we are the most earnest advocates of peace in the world."

He continued: "I believe these people who talk about peace academically but who never had to dive in a ditch when a Messerschmitt 109 came over, they really don't know what it is."

___

On the Net:

Eisenhower Center: http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov

WWII Love Remembered - D-Day Anniversary

2009-06-04T05:10:00.006-05:00

Saturday June 6 is the 65th anniversay of D-Day 1944 during WWII.

D-Day

Features, links, and an introduction to the history of Operation Overlord, the Allied invasion of occupied Europe that began on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

www.worldwar2history.info/D-Day -

...................................................................................................................................................................

Thursday, Jun 04 2009

On the eve of the D-Day anniversary, the achingly poignant story of the love a Nazi sniper's bullet could not kill

By Frances Hardy
Last updated at 8:25 AM on 04th June 2009

They met at the rollerskating rink in Swindon, a social hub for wartime teenagers where the more accomplished could dance on their skates.

The young American soldier strode up to Monica Tovey and said: 'Hi honey. May I take you on the skating floor for a waltz?'

'He was tall, charming and wellspoken,' she recalls. 'We'd heard the accent on films, of course, but for all we knew of America then, he could have come from the moon.'

Wartime romance: Monica Tovey was just 16 when she became engaged to paratrooper Martin Collins

Monica accepted the invitation - and began a sweetly innocent love affair that would end in tragedy, but bring her golden memories for the rest of her life.

On Saturday, Monica Tovey will place a posy of bright flowers in a hedge that skirts a Wiltshire field as she has done on the anniversary of D-Day for the past 65 years.

She will say a silent prayer for the first man she ever loved, who died in action on that day. And in this small, private act of remembrance she will replicate the sorrow and pride of countless others bereaved in the Second World War.

To read the rest of this remarkable love story, still strong after 65 years, click on:

WWII Love Remembered

video-normandy-june6,1944

We'll Be Friends Till the End But It Might Be The End, My Friend.

2009-06-03T08:09:00.011-05:00

..........................................................................................................

Text reprinted below cartoon.

As the two friends wandered through the snow on their way home, Piglet grinned to himself, thinking how lucky he was to have a best friend like Pooh.

Pooh thought to himself, "If the pig sneezes, he's fucken dead!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Swine Flu Spreads:
According to U.S. health officials, swine flu cases have now been reported in all 50 states. As of June 1, 10,053 people were infected with the illness; 17 people have died from it. Click here to learn more about the virus from the CDC Website.

Anal Poisoning? A Pandemic Looming on the Horizon -

2009-05-29T01:56:00.009-05:00

An Epidemic of Anal Poisoning
MAY 20, 2009 5:29PM
Anal Poisoning. An Epidemic

Cross posted at http://usinchaos.blogspot.com/2009/05/epidemic-of-anal-poisoning.html

Last Friday, I was blissfully reading an article by one of my favorite columnists, Joan Walsh at Salon.com, when I came across the name of a disease that I hadn’t heard of before. Obviously quite a serious disease as apparently many people are going to die of it.

The disease is “anal poisoning.”

Since English is an acquired language to me, I wrote it off to unfamiliarity with the language and asked my doctor friend, a pathologist, about it. He had never observed this phenomenon in his “patients,” nor was he familiar with the term, although he mentioned that mercury or arsenic when inserted into the proper place might produce such results.

Well, my next place for such research was, of course, Google.
And, lo and behold, there were 15,000 references for “anal poisoning.”

I thought that I had hit the mother lode on this perilous medical condition. But to my surprise, every one of the references I looked at—I stopped after about the 400th entry—was somehow related to that famous entertainer (some refer to him as the de facto leader of the GOP), Rush Limbaugh.

Finish laughing at http://the-rest-is-here.blogspot.com/2009/05/anal-poisoning-epidemic.html

Generations of Valor - A Tribute to our Veterans

2009-05-24T06:59:00.002-05:00

This photograph is one of my favorite pictures of our veterans. One is an old WWII veteran of Pearl Harbor; the other is a veteran of the Iraqi War. Generations of Valor.

Our WWII veterans, called the Greatest Generation, are dying at a rate of up to 2,000 per day. Our Korean War Vets and Vietnam War vets are now grey haired grandparents. Our Gulf War Vets are growing older and a new generation of Iraq War and Afghanistan War vets are swelling the ranks.

These are my favorite videos offering tribute to our veterans. I have purchased the DVDs but I may not download from the website. Click on the pictures or the link between them to start the videos. One is a tribute to WWII and Korean War vets; the other is for Vietnam vets. Both videos have the same lyrics but different slide photos. Each is titled "Before You Go". To access the entire webpage with links to other parts, click on to Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band. The story of how these tributes came to be is interesting.

............................
http://www.beforeyougo.us/
Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band

The original "Before You Go" Dedicated to the veterans of WWII and the veterans of the Korean War which preserved that victory.

The original version of "Before You Go" has been seen and heard from this website more than 20 Million times.

The long awaited release Dedicated to veterans of The Vietnam War!

Power Brokers International - Bilderberg Group

2009-05-20T00:11:00.005-05:00

Cross posted at U.S. In Chaos. I can barely keep up with the b.s. in American politics and power schemes, much less on an international level. But if 10% is true of what I (tried) to read in the material on them and their buds in Old Woman's archives, they're a sneaky bunch of s.o.b.'s dead set on Globilization and dominating the world's resources, money and power. If 1% is true and not a load of paranoid wingnut conspiracy theories, getting rid of the world's hard core poor that is a drain on societies, forcing the middle class into poverty to provide a skilled, educated, cheap work force, aided by immigrants for lowly manual labor, the elite can get richer and more powerful. And screw the common man.

Leaked Agenda: Bilderberg Group Plans Economic Depression

Elitists divided on whether to quickly sink economy and replace it with new world order, or set in motion long, agonizing depression

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, May 6, 2009

On the eve of the 2009 Bilderberg Group conference, which is due to be held May 14-17 at the 5 star Nafsika Astir Palace Hotel in Vouliagmeni, Greece, investigative reporter Daniel Estulin has uncovered shocking details of what the elitists plan to do with the economy over the course of the next year.

The Bilderberg Group meeting is an annual confab of around 150 of the world’s most influential powerbrokers in government, industry, banking, media, academia and the military-industrial complex. The secretive group operates under “Chatham House rules,” meaning that no details of what is discussed can ever be leaked to the media, despite editors of the world’s biggest newspapers, the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Financial Times, being present at the meeting.

According to Estulin’s sources, which have been proven highly accurate in the past, Bilderberg is divided on whether to put into motion, “Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline and poverty … or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.”

The information takes on added weight when one considers the fact that Estulin’s previous economic forecasts, which were based on leaks from the same sources, have proven deadly accurate. Estulin correctly predicted the housing crash and the 2008 financial meltdown as a result of what his sources inside Bilderberg told him the elite were planning based on what was said at their 2006 meeting in Canada and the 2007 conference in Turkey.

MORE: http://the-rest-is-here.blogspot.com/2009/05/bilderberg-agenda-cont.html#links

Did You Know? _Taxes and Law

2009-05-19T05:18:00.003-05:00

Vids a little slow to load - just wait a minute. If text scrolls too fast, hit pause button 'till you're through reading, then hit play arrow. Little known facts about Taxes and Law.

Video - taxes

Did You Know: Taxes - Watch more Did You Know

.......................

Video - Law

video - law

DID YOU KNOW: LAW - Watch more Funny Videos

Pale Blue Dot

2009-05-14T03:25:00.020-05:00

[Mulvaney's photo below emphasizes how small our home world is in the galaxy's environs. So tiny and fragile. WA]

Pale Blue Dot

From Discovery.com
April 22, 2009
Kieran Mulvaney

It is one of the most powerful images I have ever seen. And yet, at first glance, it shows nothing.

But you see that narrow band of light on the right? Follow it a little more than halfway down, and you'll notice a tiny little dot. It isn't a smudge on the monitor. Go ahead, scratch it just to be sure. It isn't something on the camera lens. It isn't an insect, or a microbe, or a fleck of dust.

[WA: Look carefully. It is tiny and dim, hard to see.]

It's us.

It's all of us.

Everyone, everything, that we know to have ever lived, has lived its life on that tiny speck.

That dot - that pale blue dot - is Earth, photographed in 1990 by Voyager 1, at a distance of more than 3.7 billion miles.

The idea of taking the image came from the late Carl Sagan, who suggested that the spacecraft turn around and photograph the place whence it came, on its way out of the solar system.

I first saw the picture several years ago, when I picked up a copy of Sagan's book Pale Blue Dot, which features the image as its frontispiece, and discusses its provenance and significance in the first chapter.

In that chapter, Sagan wrote:

"The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena ...The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand."

Words to remember, I think. And live by. And not just today. Every day. - Kieran Mulvaney

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[Remember -- especially now as we, collectively, busily do our best to destroy it. Remember, and now do our best to try to save it. WA]

COMMENTS:

Kvatch said...

Dot looks yellow to me. Must be all the smog. [sigh]

Thursday, May 14, 2009 6:24:00 PM

Worried American said...

Maybe so, Kvatch. Our atmosphere blocks a great deal of our vision into outer space, and the level of smog no doubt blocks even more. But smog doesn't extend that many billions of miles into space. So maybe that little pixel got fogged up as it homed in on earth. :-)Darn that smog!

Glad to have you drop by, our multicolored frog.

Thursday, May 14, 2009 8:25:00 PM

The Future Was Yesterday said...

I often think of all the fighting going on; in Families, between individuals; between States; wars around the globe and I think to myself; "one day, all of us that are fighting will be part of the earth we're now fighting on."

Saturday, May 16, 2009 1:24:00 AM

Worried American said...

Dan'l, As we near extinction, perhaps some people will realize that all the fighting was stupid and unnecessary. The energies and resources would have been employed much better in protecting and conserving our planetary home and all its life forms.

Some people are so arrogant that they think the human race is too important or superior to become extinct. We can, and probably as a result of our own wrongdoing. We, too, can meet a fate of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" and in some far future archaeologists of the then dominant species will dig up our fossilized bones and wonder about us. Will they write papers about us as the "greedy, selfish, intelligent dumbasses"?

Saturday, May 16, 2009 2:13:00 AM

And The Hate Goes On - Against LGBT War Dead

2009-05-07T04:37:00.010-05:00

On May 1st Granny Ann posted cant-sink-much-lower-than-this about North Carolina Representative Virginia Foxx speaking against the hate crimes bill named after Matthew Shepard. What she had to say was very low indeed.

Farnsworth of One Pissed Off Vet has published a post about a person named "Bill" whose scurrilous statements and action probably qualifies as even lower than that of Rep. Virginia Foxx. "Bill" freely defames veterans who support LGBT veterans as sodomites and dishonorably discharged but also includes Pedophiles in naming the sexual orientation of the LGBT (emphasis mine) ; he is such a cowardly liar that he fails to identify himself except by the one word "Bill". Apparently he does not have the courage of his hateful conviction that it is a "desecration" to have those LGBT military personnel who gave their lives for their country given a memorial , but also that their vet suppporters were dishonorably discharged.

Farnsworth, a Vietnam Veteran, speaks eloquently about this hater in his blog post
Arizona Memorial to LGBT Veterans a Desecration? published Wednesday, May 06, 2009, in which Farnsworth said, "Which I thought was a terrific way to honor the sacrifice of those soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who had given their lives for a country that wasn't ready to accept them even though they were willing to sacrifice themselves for it."
............................
Excerpts of "Bill's" hate rant: (emphasis mine)
"National cemeteries were established as national shrines in tribute to the gallant dead who have served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America." [WA:Does sexual orientation have anything to do with the gallantry of those who died for their country?]

"In 2001 a group of Dishonorably discharged sodomites the Arizona Rainbow Veterans with the help of corrupt Government officials in direct violation of The National Cemetery Regulations Title 36 and NPS 61 erected a Memorial to all gay, lesbian, Pedophile, bisexual and trans-gender veterans. This repugnant horror now sits on sacred ground along Purple heart drive in founders plaza only yards from the original flagpole from the main deck of the battleship Arizona were 1,177 men died in action on Dec 7th 1941." [WA: And how does this hate spewer know whether or not any of the Arizona's crew were GBT's? Do our heroic war dead bear bias against those comrades who served and died with them? ]

"Demand the immediate removal of the Gay, Lesbian, Pedophile, Bisexual,and Trans gender monument. The cemetery should be used to honor the dead not glorify or even mention someones sexual practices. What's next a monument for those that practice bestiality, fecalphilia, necrophilia?" [WA: This statement alone reveals the depth of "Bill's" filthy, depraved mind set of hate]

End of excerpt.
..........................
LGBT Memorial
Thanks to the efforts of the Arizona Rainbow Veterans, the first memorial that includes gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered veterans has been placed in a National Cemetery. The officials in the National Cemetery Association accepted the design and authorized the donation of this memorial for GLBT Veterans of the US Armed Forces. This memorial is now located in the National Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona. The boulder-shaped monument of rainbow granite bears the original GLBVA logo. Dedication of the monument took place on Veterans' Day, 11 November, 2000.

Charge of Remembrance Nov. 11, 2000.
........................

Click here for Photos of Palm Springs Memorial Service 2001 .

COMMENTS:

Farnsworth68 said...

Thanks for the story and the link. It's nice to know that we're all still kicking.
--The F Man

Thursday, May 07, 2009 10:13:00 PM

WA: You are quite welcome, Farnsworth. Thank YOU for your timely post.

Gadfly said...

Good post Farnsworth. You too, Worried.

I see that depraved pervert "Bill" lumps pedophiles in with Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders. He's either stupid or ignorant or he'd know that statistically the majority of pedophiles are HETEROSEXUALS !

He must be stupid. Ignorance can be cured by education; there's nothing that can be done to remedy stupidity.

Friday, May 08, 2009 12:06:00 AM

gfid said...
hello, granny-no-fiddle! nice of you to drop by my place! great to see you in the thick of things again! i too thought it a bit odd that pedophiles were lumped in with the gay/lesbian/transgender crowd... and wondered where that came from..... ignorance or deliberate stupidity. cheers. been thinking of you with the California fires so much in the news again. be well.
Sunday, May 10, 2009 2:42:00 PM
The Future Was Yesterday said...
Two great posts by two great writers.I'm at a loss to explain, or even try to understand, the wrong wing's absolute hatred of this particular group. Perhaps because so many of them are qualified for membership?
Monday, May 11, 2009 1:45:00 AM
Gadfly said...
Some "experts" claim many homophobes are suppressed homosexuals. Maybe so. People's sex lives should be a private matter, and who gives a damn what consenting ADULTS do in private? I am not interested in peeking into other people's bedrooms! How in hell does anybody's private sexual orientation interfere with doing their public jobs or fighting for their country?
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 3:26:00 AM

He's Home!!

2009-05-04T12:33:00.007-05:00

Tim and Jonathan

Jim, Melissa, and Zachary

Back Row: Jim, Zachary, Me, Juan, Tim
From Row: Melissa (Jim's wife), and Jonathan.

Just a brief personal note.

Sorry the pictures are a little dark but it you click on them they will probably be better. The originals looked fine.

Jim came in late Friday evening from Ft Dix. He'll be home for a while at least until the VA determines the extent of his disability. He said he felt guilty at Walter Reed among the seriously injured men and women. Nevertheless, the injury to his right arm is permanent. It probably won't keep him out of the service but the use is limited and it still hurts. Still don't know how it happened and probably never will.

Tim and Juan came in from Fresno later and we all went out for a late lunch or early dinner. I brought a plate home to Ray. Those little boys are now 1-1/2 and almost 3 and are an adorable handful.

COMMENTS:

Scarlet W. Blue said...

Hi, Gran. Sounds like a lovely gathering despite the injury. I wish Jim well.

Tuesday, May 05, 2009 3:13:00 PM

Worried American said...

I am so happy for you and your family. Thank God your son is home safe. You have a wonderful family, Ann.

Thursday, May 07, 2009 4:42:00 AM

Worried American said...

Scarlet: So GOOD to have you back!

Thursday, May 07, 2009 4:43:00 AM

Is the Sky Falling or Are We Being Stampeded?

2009-05-03T23:25:00.010-05:00

Many people are weary of the media beating the fear drum about swine flu. The Gadfly has a good post on it here that offers a flip side of the swine flu situation. A reasoned opinion follows the cartoon on this post.

You can skip the (interesting) history lesson and scroll down to the part that concerns the swine flu:

"Pandemic pandemonium"
We can let the mere idea of a possible swine flu plague create chaos, or we can settle down and fight it with vigilance and reason.
By Mary Beth Crain

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/05/02/swine_flu/index.html

COMMENTS:

Kvatch said...
I'm most distressed by the morons who are calling for a vaccine. This is a virus, if it's already in the population then... IT'S TOO LATE!"Wash those hands and don't touch your eyes," is a better strategy at this point.
Monday, May 04, 2009 9:13:00 AM
Granny said...
We have a couple of cases here in the Valley but we're not too concerned.I've been doing what I usually do but my local friend did cancel her planned week in SF. She'd be staying at hostels, going on crowded tours, etc. and thought she'd be tempting fate a little much. She and I will have our usual coffee tomorrow instead.(She just returned from Mexico but was 800 miles away from both flu epicenter and the earthquake. Nevertheless, I was glad to see her return safely.) I think the media may be short on news and are running this for all it's worth. In the beginning, though, we were damned if we did and damned if we didn't. I can just imagine the reaction if we'd had a bunch of fatalities and the gov't had remained silent.The 24 hour news cycle must leave all these commentators with not much to do at times. They must fill the silence even when they have nothing much to say.

Can't Sink Much Lower Than This

2009-05-01T10:26:00.014-05:00

The Matthew Shepard bill cleared the House of Representatives by a wide margin in spite of the very best efforts of North Carolina Representative Virginia Foxx.

Here's what she had to say on the floor of the House with Matthew Shepard's mother, Judy, in attendance.

“The hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard Bill [sic] is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed. But we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. The bill was named for him, the hate crimes bill was named for him, but it’s, it’s really a hoax, that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”

An "unfortunate incident"? Matthew was lured to a desolate area, beaten, and hung on a fence to die. He may have been robbed but only as an afterthought. The motive was hate. At the moment I'm not sure which I think is worse; the monsters who committed the hate crime or the monster in Washington DC who encouraged the commission of more hate crimes with her lies.

I'm sure she considers herself a Christian. She must have missed the Commandment that says "thou shall not bear false witness" or Jesus saying "love one another".

She's since issued a non-apology apology. It's not nearly enough.

COMMENTS:

Worried American said...

That's a dirty, rotten shame, Granny. Some people simply do not want a hate crime bill. I don't know why. Some say the prosecution and penalties for murder, robbery, and other violent crimes is sufficient. Motivation for committing the crime should be taken into account. Murdering an innocent person simply because the victim is of a different race or orientation is NOT the same as murder in the heat of passion (people fighting, jealousy, domestic violence), murder because of different gang affiliations, murder during actual robbery, etc.. These crimes carry heavy penalties but hate crimes should require stronger prosecution.

If accused of a gay hate crime, all too often the perpetrator will whine, "he made a pass at me". Well tucky dove!! If women beat or murdered every man that made a pass at them, there'd be far fewer men walking the streets today and the women's prisons would be full to overflowing! Cry babies. Their crimes are motivated by hate, pure and simple, and should be prosecuted as such with stronger penalties.

Friday, May 01, 2009 11:29:00 AM

Granny said...

WA, the primary importance of a Federal "hate crimes" statute is to enable the Feds to step in if the specific state either won't or can't act.

It's much like the KKK who flourished with virtual immunity until federal acts were passed and the perps could be prosecuted in a Federal court. (See Mississippi Burning).

Of course, another thing (remember our email discussion) is that we can't very well hold ourselves up as an example to the part of the world who still behaves abominably until we clean our own house.

Friday, May 01, 2009 12:34:00 PM

Worried American said...

Yes, Granny. I understand the importance of a federal hate crimes law. However, many state prosecutors in various areas oppose it. They are citizens and voters also and can petition their reps to oppose it.

Cleaning our own house is of primary importance. We cannot object to the horrendous torture deaths of gays in Iraq when our own reputation is so tarnished.

Friday, May 01, 2009 4:24:00 PM

Scarlet W. Blue said...

Tied. To. An. Effing. Fencepost. Left to die. WTF? If that's not hate, WTF is IT?

Sunday, May 03, 2009 5:56:00 PM

Worried American said...

It is HATE, that's all there was to it! IF the (bleepers) who committed this heinous crime did rob him, it was secondary, an after thought. I cannot image what his mother thought when that dingbat made such stupid comments. Hate crimes should be prosecuted as such.

Sunday, May 03, 2009 10:11:00 PM

Washington Photo Op Flyby Over Ny Terrorizes Citizens.

2009-04-30T13:00:00.011-05:00

Gadfly has her dander up in spades and still foaming at the mouth over that stupid photo-op flyby over Manhatten that scared the bejesus out of citizens, making them think it was a 9/11 repeat. She posts on Dan'l's blog. Check out her rant and the news at http://thefuturewasyesterday.blogspot.com/2009/04/vicious-cruelty-to-our-fellow-citizens.html

Here are a few excerpts from her post:
...............

Smart power: White House freaks out New York with low altitude fly-by; Video: Panicked NYers run in the streets; Update: Obama “furious”Video-AF1 fly by of Goldman Sachs building, NYNY. "alleged "Photo Op:

.......................

COMMENTS:

The Future Was Yesterday said...

I think a lot of politicians in Wasteington should be very, very grateful ole Gad doesn't know how to fly a plane, or she'd be showing them what a low flyover really looked like - looking up from the bags of shit she dropped on them!:)

Friday, May 01, 2009 2:39:00 AM

ThomasLB said...

I don't know what they were up to, but I don't believe for a minute that it was a "photo op."

If all they wanted was a picture of a plane next to the Statue of Liberty, they could have done it in 30 seconds with PhotoShop, and it wouldn't have cost them a dime.

Friday, May 01, 2009 6:10:00 AM

Worried American said...

Dan'l: You are so-o-o right! She's really fired up about that mess.

Thomas:The public so far has not been given a reasonable reply to that question. People have a lot of suspicions about the true motive, however, and NONE are "photo-op". I doubt that we'll ever know why it was done.

Friday, May 01, 2009 10:00:00 AM

My Lesson About a Pandemic

2009-04-27T02:05:00.023-05:00

I often post my age as "nine years older than God" but actually I did not exist at the time of the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemenic. I was born and reared rurally on the flat coastal plain bordering the Gulf of Mexico. Country born and country reared, I knew little of city life at that stage of my life. But I was country wise and capable of safely navigating the woods and country areas.

One year I went to the central Texas Hill Country to spend the summer and one school semester with my maternal grand parents at their farm, their first retirement home. The hills were rocky and heavily wooded; the area was sparsely settled and small villages were few and far between. Attending school required about a 20 0r 25 mile bus ride to the nearest real town. I spent happy days horseback riding or roaming the hills with a small .22 rifle and our big dog. Those days were an education in themselves, sometimes quiet and uneventful, sometimes filled with exciting discoveries.

I chanced upon an old abandoned cemetery with tombstones dating back into the previous century and probably back to the time of the early settlers to that part of Texas. Some of the tombstones were professionally made but some were merely slabs of flat rock that someone had chiseled names and dates into them. Some were so old and weathered that the inscriptions were not discernible. The cemetery was overgrown with hard scrabble weeds and some of the tombstones were leaning precipitously. I felt sorry for the little neglected piece of history and began hauling a shovel, hoe and rake up there to do cleanup. I enjoyed the hot, sweaty labor and had a tremendous feeling of accomplishment as I finally surveyed the clean, neat cemetery.

I noted that a disproportionate number of the stones were death dated in 1918 or 1919. Even though history says that the hardest hit by the pandemic were young adults, people of all ages succumbed to the disease. There were many graves of babies and children. The area was sparsely settled at my time and I knew the population had to be even smaller and more isolated in the 1900s. So why so many deaths at one time? [ Even in the census of 2007, the population of Belton, the largest town to which country children were bussed to school,was only17,330.]

I was aware of death; death by disease - whooping cough, diptheria, even measles (one of my uncles almost died in a measles epidemic (NOT pandemic) that scourged the countryside when I was a child); death by accidents - drownings, farm accidents, bull goring, snake bites, infections, etc.. But I had no knowledge of mass deaths outside of war. I asked my Grandmother about so many, many deaths in 1918-1919. As was the wont of old people back then, she began with, "well, Honey, back in nineteen and eighteen..." and she told me about the terrible number of people who perished in the influenza pandemenic. I knew of how a disease could flash through the countryside as in the measles epidemic, but such losses as in a pandemic was incomprehensible to me.

Also I puzzled over how the disease was transmitted so readily, especially in a population so sparse and scattered back in the Texas Hill Country in that era. In 1918 the town was scarcely more than a village. ["Belton was founded in 1850, and in early years grew as a rustic trading center for nearby farms and ranches. The first merchant sold goods from his wagon before any stores were built; first “saloon” was a barrel of whiskey and a tin cup under a shade tree. A stagecoach line served the village, and cowboys herding longhorns up to the Chisholm Trail enjoyed rest stops in Belton."] One source of contagion may have been the children bussed to the town school where they became infected. Country men (and rarely the women) might go to town a few times a month via horse and wagon where they would be exposed to large number of people, many from outside the area; all could bring contagion with them. And ofcourse, members of the little hill country churches congregated on Sundays and other days of worship and social events, passing the disease around. The Influenza virus was virulent and easily transmitted as witnessed by the number of dead in an isolated part of the country with a low number of population.

If a pandemic arises today, just think of the contagion in today's multi-thousand or million population cities and the number of people entering and leaving every day. Schools can be closed, sporting events, movie houses and other places where people tend to congregate can be closed. But still, people have to work in order to draw paychecks to live on. Foodstuffs and supplies must be purchased. We can't barricade ourselves in an ivory tower.

Mexico is hardest hit so far. It isn't mentioned in the news yet (that I have heard) but can we discount the possibility of frightened Mexicans fleeing their country to United States to take refuge with family or friends here --and bringing the virus with them? It is human nature to flee danger and to try to protect their families. We feel compassion for them but can we risk possible contagion? Also, other illegal immigrants from further south must pass through Mexico to enter our country -- and pick up the virus on their way down and bring it to us?

This is a serious danger to our people and to the nation. Everyone should read and heed the advice disseminated by the CDC and the government. Be as safe as possible and hope this threat fizzles out like the Bird Flu did.

Article below in next post.

Swine Flu - the Big One or a Fizzle?

2009-04-27T01:39:00.006-05:00

Bush established dictatorial powers for the presidency including declaring Martial Law in case of emergencies, forcing citizens to remain in certain areas up to and including isolating them in camps. A Pandemenic is an emergency, quarantining is necessary, preventing carrying the virus to other areas is needful -- would Obama exercise the powers set up by Bush in order to protect the nation?? Would he relinquich the powers once the emergency was over?

...........................................................................................................

Is swine flu 'the big one' or a flu that fizzles?

Play Video CBS 2 New York – Tips To Protect Yourself From Swine Flu

AP – People wear surgical masks as a precaution against infection inside a subway in Mexico City, Friday, …

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe, Ap Medical Writer – Sun Apr 26, 8:03 pm ET

ATLANTA – As reports of a unique form of swine flu erupt around the world, the inevitable question arises: Is this the big one?

Is this the next big global flu epidemic that public health experts have long anticipated and worried about? Is this the novel virus that will kill millions around the world, as pandemics did in 1918, 1957 and 1968?

The short answer is it's too soon to tell.

"What makes this so difficult is we may be somewhere between an important but yet still uneventful public health occurrence here — with something that could literally die out over the next couple of weeks and never show up again — or this could be the opening act of a full-fledged influenza pandemic," said Michael Osterholm, a prominent expert on global flu outbreaks with the University of Minnesota.

"We have no clue right now where we are between those two extremes. That's the problem," he said.

Health officials want to take every step to prevent an outbreak from spiraling into mass casualties. Predicting influenza is a dicey endeavor, with the U.S. government famously guessing wrong in 1976 about a swine flu pandemic that never materialized.

"The first lesson is anyone who tries to predict influenza often goes down in flames," said Dr. Richard Wenzel, the immediate past president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases.

But health officials are being asked to make such predictions, as panic began to set in over the weekend.

The epicenter was Mexico, where the virus is blamed for 86 deaths and an estimated 1,400 cases in the country since April 13. Schools were closed, church services canceled and Mexican President Felipe Calderon assumed new powers to isolate people infected with the swine flu virus.

International concern magnified as health officials across the world on Sunday said they were investigating suspected cases in people who traveled to Mexico and come back with flu-like illnesses. Among the nations reporting confirmed cases or investigations were Canada, France, Israel and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, in the United States, there were no deaths and all patients had either recovered or were recovering. But the confirmed cases around the nation rose from eight on Saturday morning to 20 by Sunday afternoon, including eight high school kids in New York City — a national media center. The New York Post's front page headline on Sunday was "Pig Flu Panic."

The concern level rose even more when federal officials on Sunday declared a public health emergency — a procedural step, they said, to mobilize antiviral medicine and other resources and be ready if the U.S. situation gets worse.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials say that so far swine flu cases in this country have been mild. But they also say more cases are likely to be reported, at least partly because doctors and health officials across the country are looking intensively for suspicious cases.

And, troublingly, more severe cases are also likely, said Dr. Richard Besser, the CDC's acting director, in a Sunday news conference.

"As we continue to look for cases, we are going to see a broader spectrum of disease," he predicted. "We're going to see more severe disease in this country."

Besser also repeated what health officials have said since the beginning — they don't understand why the illnesses in Mexico have been more numerous and severe than in the United States. In fact, it's not even certain that new infections are occurring. The numbers could be rising simply because everyone's on the lookout.

He also said comparison to past pandemics are difficult.

"Every outbreak is unique," Besser said.

The new virus is called a swine flu, though it contains genetic segments from humans and birds viruses as well as from pigs from North America, Europe and Asia. Health officials had seen combinations of bird, pig and human virus before — but never such an intercontinental mix, including more than one pig virus.

More disturbing, this virus seems to spread among people more easily than past swine flus that have sometimes jumped from pigs to people.

There's a historical cause for people to worry.

Flu pandemics have been occurring with some regularity since at least the 1500s, but the frame of reference for health officials is the catastrophe of 1918-19. That one killed an estimated 20 to 50 million people worldwide.

Disease testing and tracking were far less sophisticated then, but the virus appeared in humans and pigs at about the same time and it was known as both Spanish flu and swine flu. Experts since then have said the deadly germ actually originated in birds.

But pigs may have made it worse. That pandemic began with a wave of mild illness that hit in the spring of 1918, followed by a far deadlier wave in the fall which was most lethal to young, healthy adults. Scientists have speculated that something happened to the virus after the first wave — one theory held that it infected pigs or other animals and mutated there — before revisiting humans in a deadlier form.

Pigs are considered particularly susceptible to both bird and human viruses and a likely place where the kind of genetic reassortment can take place that might lead to a new form of deadly, easily spread flu, scientists believe.

Such concern triggered public health alarm in 1976, when soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J., became sick with an unusual form of swine flu.

Federal officials vaccinated 40 million Americans. The pandemic never materialized, but thousands who got the shots filed injury claims, saying they suffered a paralyzing condition and other side effects from the vaccinations.

To this day, health officials don't know why the 1976 virus petered out.

Flu shots have been offered in the United States since the 1940s, but new types of flu viruses have remained a threat. Global outbreaks occurred again in 1957 and 1968, though the main victims were the elderly and chronically ill.

In the last several years, experts have been focused on a form of bird flu that was first reported in Asia. It's a highly deadly strain that has killed more than 250 people worldwide since 2003. Health officials around the world have taken steps to prepare for the possibility of that becoming a global outbreak, but to date that virus has not gained the ability to spread easily from person to person.

Bea Arthur Passed Away Saturday

2009-04-25T23:30:00.006-05:00

I am not a TV Junkie but I do watch certain programs and occasionally a few series, two of which were "Maude" and "The Golden Girls". I liked Bea Arthur and am sorry she has passed away. The members of this blog have another interest in her shows: Dan'l at http://thefuturewasyesterday.blogspot.com dubbed us "The Golden Girls", which pleased and amused us three elderly woman.
.......................

Saturday, April 25, 2009 17:32 PDT

Remembering Bea Arthur, feminist TV pioneer

AP Photo/Reed Saxon

Beatrice Arthur accepts an Emmy award for "The Golden Girls" in 1988.

There are lots of reasons to take a moment this weekend to mark the passing of Bea Arthur, who died on Saturday at age 86 in her home in Los Angeles. The most obvious was that she was talented and hilarious, and that if you are over the age of 30 in this country, there's a good chance that she made you laugh on a semi-regular basis at some point in your life.

But it's also important to remember that before "Dollhouse," before "Sex and the City," there was "Maude." The "All in the Family" spin-off, which ran from 1972 to 1978, starred Arthur as Maude Findlay, the Democratic-voting, women's liberation-supporting, four times married cousin of Edith Bunker. The program, created by television visionary Norman Lear, made the news early in its run for featuring prime time's first abortion, in a two-part episode that aired two months before Roe v. Wade made abortion legal across the country.

Seven years after "Maude," Arthur starred in "The Golden Girls" as Dorothy Zbornak, the divorced retiree who shared a home in Florida with three other women, including her aged mother. It's remarkable to think, given how young, glossy and pneumatic network television has become, that less than 20 years ago, the airwaves were given over to four older women who talked about sex and ex-husbands and ate cheesecake.

Many others have observed that "The Golden Girls" was "Sex and the City" before "Sex and the City," or alternately that the "Sex and the City" ladies were only a few decades away from drinks on the lanai themselves. The show was one of the most female-friendly and respectful looks at the experience of aging while female ever broadcast on national airwaves, simply by showing women -- living, talking, having sex, making friends, cracking wise, living full lives together with energy and engagement. And if you happen to catch one of the reruns that still air, chances are good you'll laugh your ass off.

So here's to Bea Arthur, one of television's finest and funniest feminists.

― Rebecca Traister

I Love the Internet

2009-04-20T23:07:00.006-05:00

What a great new look over here!!

Son Tim went surfacing Face Book a week or so ago and discovered a cousin he hadn't seen in years. That led to another cousin and then to my favorite relative by marriage, my sister-in-law. We've been out of touch since we were both in our 30's.

We, of course, were overjoyed. They'd been searching for us but both Tim's and my last name are so common, it was almost impossible. Anyhow, my sil and I are now corresponding and she just sent me this lovely poem. I hope my two co-writers (hi WA and Gadfly) and the rest of you enjoy it.

(I just finally updated "granny", complete with pictures.)

Congratulations to TFWA on the birth of his beautiful little girl and best wishes to all. I can now be found hanging out on Face Book and Twitter and I'll try to get back here a little more often. I'm still involved in local politics of course but have slowed down a little since the elections.

We are, of course, plotting our next move while awaiting the CA state supreme court decision re Proposition 8. I can't believe Iowa got there ahead of California but it's been a fun couple of weeks watching the barriers fall, one by one. There may come a day when folks will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about and why the government ever found it necessary to decide who we can love.

Son Jim safely back in states but detained at Ft Dix while they investigate nerve damage (???) in his arm. He's seeing a specialist at Walter Reed.

I got sidetracked. Here's the poem from my "sister in love".

Halleluiah

Everyone should be born into this world happy
and loving everything.
But in truth it rarely works that way.
For myself, I have spent my life clamoring toward it.
Halleluiah, anyway I'm not where I started!

And have you too been trudging like that, sometimes
almost forgetting how wondrous the world is
and how miraculously kind some people can be?
And have you too decided that probably nothing important
is ever easy?
Not, say, for the first sixty years.

Halleluiah, I'm sixty now, and even a little more,
and some days I feel I have wings.

~ Mary Oliver ~
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
COMMENTS:

Worried American said...

Lovely poem, Granny.

How wonderful to connect with long lost relatives! I am happy for you.

I had commenters on two of my other blogs that were not relatives but friends from years gone by. One was from California (formerly from Texas) who attended the same church as my family when I was a child and she knew my grandmother and maternal uncles. It's been a long, long time since I was a child; that commenter must be older than dirt!!

The other knew one of my maternal uncles from several decades ago and was aware of his history and recent death. It is pleasing to hear such kind and admiring words from strangers.

As annoying as the internet can be, it is also wonderful.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 11:01:00 PM

SheaNC said...

Well, I'm back too, finally :)

For a long time I couldn't access your site easily. Everything seems to be working fine now, though. Glad to see it!

Thursday, April 23, 2009 1:09:00 AM

The Future Was Yesterday said...

Wow!! Somebody has been working some hard overtime over here!! Thanks for the congratulations. "Grandpa and Grandma" arrived today escaping from the 100 degree weather on the left coast to the high 70'S here, and I think the three of them (Gran, Granp & Mommyj) are in competition to see who can sound the dumbest the longest.:)

Re the issues and political B.S.: If only people could mind their own business, just ONCE!!!

Thursday, April 23, 2009 1:18:00 AM

Worried American said...

SheaNC: Welcome back! You have been missed. You must have Internet Explorer as a browser. Not even I could access this blog with it, even though it worked fine on most other blogs. I do not know why. Several of our other former readers emailed to tell me they were unable to access IAB, either. I maintain IE but use my second browser almost exclusively - Mozilla Firefox,

Dan'l, Thanks. I decided on a change for a change. :-) Subject to change again at any time. Got tired of the same-o same-o.
Glad your in-laws have made it. As a grandmama many times over, I dare say your mother-in-law was in a stew to get there soonest.

Re:Issues and politics : ALWAYS a hassle.

Thursday, April 23, 2009 6:28:00 AM

audrey` said...

Yeah! You're on Twitter too, Ann =)

May I know your username on Twitter? Mine is audreyin.

See you on Facebook and Twitter, Ann =)

Saturday, April 25, 2009 2:10:00 AM

Chemicals et al Poison Our Water

2009-04-20T00:15:00.012-05:00

What effect do these contaminants have on the growth, health and developement of our children? What are the long term effects? Conventional methods of cleaning our drinking water by water treatment plants do not usually remove chemicals, drugs and other types of contaminants. Children are especially vulnerable to the effects of even trace elements when exposed or ingested. At home, parents often mix powdered formula with tap water to feed their babies.
Major industries dump their waste with impunity into our waters.

AP IMPACT: Tons of released drugs taint US water

AP – In this photo taken on Feb. 26, 2009, aeration basins are seen in operation at the Wilmington Wastewater …

By JEFF DONN, MARTHA MENDOZA and JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press Writers Jeff Donn, Martha Mendoza And Justin Pritchard, Associated Press Writers –

U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water — contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press investigation.

Hundreds of active pharmaceutical ingredients are used in a variety of manufacturing, including drugmaking: For example, lithium is used to make ceramics and treat bipolar disorder; nitroglycerin is a heart drug and also used in explosives; copper shows up in everything from pipes to contraceptives.

Federal and industry officials say they don't know the extent to which pharmaceuticals are released by U.S. manufacturers because no one tracks them —as drugs.

Click on link above to read rest of article
.........................................
Related Articles:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0404-nanotechnology__cleaning_up_our_water.htm

Excerpt:

WHAT IS HAZARDOUS WASTE? In the U.S., hazardous waste is defined as any discarded solid or liquid that is highly corrosive, toxic, reactive enough to release toxic fumes, or easily ignited. It can include solvents, pesticides, and spilled chemicals -- including acids, ammonia, chlorine bleach and other industrial cleaning agents -- as well as most heavy metals. Long-term exposure to hazardous waste can lead to chronic respiratory diseases such as asthma, damaged liver and kidneys, or cancer. Poisoning and chemical burns can result from contact with even small amounts of toxic chemical waste. Even brief exposure can cause headaches, dizziness, and nausea.

WHERE THAT GLASS OF WATER COMES FROM: Drinking water can come from either ground water sources, via wells, or surface water sources, such as rivers, lakes and streams. Most U.S. water systems in small and rural areas use a ground water source, while large metropolitan areas tend to rely on surface water. Causes of contamination can range from agricultural runoff to improper use of household chemicals.

.................................

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/0303-small_fish_detect_big_problems.htm

site: article and video how changes in small fish detect contaminated water .

COMMENTS:

The Future Was Yesterday said...

It used to be that if you had a deep, flowing spring well, you were envied for the purity and the sweetness of the water. Now, there is no such thing as pure water....in a 60 ft well or a city water system.

Monday, April 20, 2009 2:36:00 AM

Worried American said...

I heard on the TV tonight that the massive aquifer under California is contaminated!

Monday, April 20, 2009 10:56:00 PM

Companies Who Buy Products From China to Sell To US

2009-04-19T06:20:00.005-05:00

This page lists U.S. Companies that buy Chinese goods. By doing so, they not only support Communism BUT also cooperate with China in selling shoddy and dangerous products to the American public. They are as guilty as China is in screwing over us, robbing us of jobs. When we buy Chinese products, we also collaborate and cooperate with them, to our own detriment.

This article copied and excerpted from "BOYCOTT CHINA"
http://www.spacepub.com/users/china/

edited for length

Boycott all items from China.....

If our government won't say NO to China, then we can. The junk coming from there is of low quality anyway.

Keep our jobs by refusing to buy from Communist countries.

The following U.S.A. companies sell the stuff from CHINA. They sell other items that are not from China so remember to look at the tags before buying.

Also let them know that you don't like them buying the junk from China. If you find out that something you bought came from China, take it back and tell them the reason you are bringing it back is because you don't want to buy anything from China and they should not be promoting Communism.

Check back because the list is growing all the time.

These merchants have been identified to carry Chinese goods.

These places Directly Support communism by buying and selling China goods.

Gateway Computers

Ridley's

Dell computers

Kestrel Bicycles

www.kestrelbicycles.com - they have recently begun having their bicycles

made in China.

Corningware

DSI toys

Uneeda toys

Motormax toys

Irwin toys

Excite toys

Hasbro toys

Realtoy

Totsy toys

Gigo toys

Little tikes toys

Redbox toys

Tyco toys

Windmere toys

Sunbeam

COOPER INDUSTRIES (aka) Cooper Menvier, Cooper Power Systems, Cooper Lighting, Cooper Crouse-Hinds, Cooper Tools and Cooper Bussmann. Home office Chase Tower 600 Travis, Suite 5800 Houston, Texas 77002-1001

Hi-Tec Shoes

Spiegel

Wards

Toys R Us

J C Penney Company

Albertsons stores

Paul's Markets

Wal-Mart (A very high percentage of their goods)

Kmart (A very high percentage of their goods)

Sears

Costco

Rite Aid (A very high percentage of their goods)

Target (A very high percentage of their goods)

Dillards

Sam's

America Online Inc

MyWeb Inc.com

Safeway

Pier 1

Ultimate Electronics

Play School products

Mattel toys

Dr. Scholl's shoes

Home Depot

Almost all tennis shoes... Check before buying

Lucas Arts Check all of their products
Check the Star Wars toys before buying, most are made in China. If ordering online, make sure you ask if its made in China before ordering or return it.

Shoes on the web company at http://www.shoesontheweb.com/

SageSport.com at http://sagesport.com/index.html

And I am finding more all the time. If you find one please email to

boycottchina@spacepub.com

Don't buy Chinese goods. Boycott China. Remember Tiananmen Square

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
COMMENTS:

Kvatch said...

I'd love to give up Dell computers, except that my employers keep buying them for me.

Sunday, April 19, 2009 10:36:00 PM

Screwed Again!

2009-04-12T21:59:00.024-05:00

Thanks to our government trade deals with a corrupt China who hates our guts, our citizens have been royally screwed again. How many more tainted or poisonous products have been foisted off on Americans through the crooked trade deals? How many more victims of catastrophes will be found to be affected and suffer even more? How much of new construction will be found to have used poison products from China? And why in blazes does our government allow this crappy trade to continue with trade deals from a nation even more corrupt than ours?

From China we've been sold poison pet food, poisoned candy, bad pharmaceutical products, etc. Yet trade with China continues. WHY? Our government panders to businesses. Greed rules.

Tainted Chinese drywall shows up in Katrina homes

By CAIN BURDEAU, Associated Press Writer Cain Burdeau, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 28 mins ago

CHALMETTE, La. – Thomas Stone and his wife rebuilt after their home was flooded by six feet of water during Hurricane Katrina, never dreaming they would face the agony of tearing it apart all over again.

They tapped Lauren Stone's 401(k) retirement savings and saved $1,000 by installing Chinese-made drywall throughout their two-story home. Now the Stones are among hundreds of Katrina victims facing another, this time unnatural, disaster.

Sulfur-emitting wallboard from China is wreaking havoc in homes, charring electrical wires, eating away at jewelry, silverware and other valuables, and possibly even sickening families.

"The bathroom upstairs has a corroded shower-head, the door hinges are rusting out," said 50-year-old Thomas Stone, the longtime fire chief of St. Bernard Parish, outside New Orleans. And then there's the stench, like rotten eggs, that seems to get worse with the heat and humidity.

"It makes me wish there would be another flood to wash it out," said his wife Lauren, 49.

Chinese manufacturers flooded the U.S. market with more than 500 million pounds of drywall around the same time Katrina was flooding New Orleans, an Associated Press review of shipping records has found.

The rest of this scandal is found HERE. Read it and get pissed.

A FEW OTHER POISONINGS:

http://isamericaburning.blogspot.com/2007/12/buying-toys-for-christmas-gifts-beware.html
See link below:

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN25614478
Chinese substituted poisonous chemical for safe glue in manufacturing toys-"the (toys) contained an adhesive solvent called "1,4 butylene glycol," which can simulate the so-called date-rape drug gamma hydroxy butyrate when ingested, causing seizures, coma or death. Cake decorations were also poisoned.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSWEN594320070330?feedType=RSS
poison in wheat gluten from china sold to manufacturers of pet food. Thousands of pets die

http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/003
tainted pharmaceuticals from china sold to us. Cancer meds, blood thinners...some medicines were actually fake

http://www.cabiz.net/vincent/chinapoison.htm
Tainted products for baby formula manufacture imported to U.S. from china. Babies in China die and over 1,000 hospitalized, 53,000 ill.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20080924-1357-as-china-taintedmilk.html
Global recalls of products made with the Chinese toxic milk - suspected=Oreo cookies, Snickers bars and M&M chocolate candies, yogurt, rice balls.. Only a few brands found poisoned in U.S..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070706/china-tainted-products
The orders add to the lengthening list of recent U.S. government actions to ban, recall or restrict Chinese imports _ from juice to toothpaste _ because they are suspected of containing high levels of toxins.

overview
http://health.yahoo.com/experts/healthnews/13855/health-threat-products-from-china

Unfortunately, the list goes on and on. In view of the history of Chinese imports, why do our businesses continue to import manufactured goods and manufacturing supplies from China? GREED! Cheaper to buy, more profits to sell. And to hell with the American consumer.

COMMENTS:

Dusty Rose said...

Our government screws us in more ways than by allowing trade partners to sell us inferior, dangerous or even deadly products. In the first place they offshored so much manufacturing and other businesses that reduced the enterprises here and caused Americans workers to lose their jobs.

American businesses in turn ordered materials for their manufacturing plants from foreigners, since the American plants that previously made those materials were out of business. Or they ordered finished products from foreign manufacturers because they could get them cheaper and so making their profits bigger when they sold them here.

Our government, partly thanks to Bush and his "destroy America, make the rich richer policies", makes these trade deals to kiss up to business and screw the American public. Like you said, greed rules.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 5:50:00 AM

Tor Hershman said...

Is America burning?
Heck, all humans ARE burning; respiration is a form of internal combustion.

Here's some Atheist humor that burns some folk up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m6qC6FCiY0

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 9:58:00 AM

Worried American said...

Hello, Tor. Thank you for visiting us and leaving your comment. You are correct that respiration is a form of internal combustion.Fortunately for us, we do not usually destruct as a result and are able to continue our lives in the manner to which we are accustomed (barring unforeseen circumstances). If the burning (destruction) of America as we know it occurs, our lives will be drastically changed and the future of our country and our way of life will be negatively altered.
I have posted the video you suggested. Again, you are right--that will piss a lot of people off, especially the Fundies and the more rabid members of other religions. Hmmm! You're not acquainted with Dan'l, are you? :-)

Tuesday, April 14, 2009 10:34:00 PM

The Future Was Yesterday said...

China is dumping their inferior products on us, and daring us to say a word.

"Yet trade with China continues. WHY?"Because China owns us, lock, stock, and barrel.

Thursday, April 16, 2009 11:02:00 PM

WA: Something else we can thank BushCo for.

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