Reaping what they sow

With the wingnut mouthpieces calling for riots Denver and killing Liberals on Hate Radio is it any wonder this happened?
There are just enough wackos listening to those spewing troglodytes to take them at their word.
What is notable is one of these bozos in named Adolf ... does that strike you as odd, too?

*****

Federal authorities are looking into reports that a man arrested with rifles, ammunition and drugs in his truck may have made threats against Barack Obama, officials said Monday.

Two other men were arrested in the case."It's premature to say that it was a valid threat or that these folks have the ability to carry it out," said a U.S. government official familiar with the investigation.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Obama will be in Denver later this week to accept the Democratic nomination for president.

FBI spokeswoman Kathy Wright confirmed the FBI was investigating the reports but declined to elaborate.
The Joint Information Center - a command set up by Denver, state and federal authorities to field media inquiries during the Democratic convention - said it had no immediate comment.

Tharin Gartrell, 28, was arrested during a traffic stop early Sunday by police in the eastern Denver suburb of Aurora. In his truck, officers found two rifles, including one with a scope; a bulletproof vest; boxes of ammunition; walkie-talkies; and suspected narcotics, said Aurora police Detective Marcus Dudley.

Police alerted federal authorities, who soon arrested Nathan Johnson, 32, at a hotel in Denver, Dudley said.
A third man, Shawn Robert Adolf, 33, was arrested at a suburban Glendale hotel, Dudley said.
Adolf allegedly tried to escape officers by jumping from a sixth-floor window.
He was hospitalized and was being held on $1 million bond for several outstanding warrants involving drug charges.
Johnson also was being held on drug charges and his bond was unknown, Dudley said.

It wasn't known if the three men had attorneys, Dudley said.
Dudley didn't say what tied the men together but that more arrests were possible.

One of the rifles was stolen, and authorities had traced it to Kansas, Dudley said.
He declined to say to whom it belonged.

Aurora police alerted federal officials because of heightened security surrounding the Democratic convention, Dudley said.
"Clearly we found there are federal implications - otherwise we would not have notified them," he said.
"The weapons clearly would cause great concern."

U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said the case was under investigation.
"We're absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado," Eid said in a statement.

Officials with the FBI, Secret Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Aurora police set a news conference for this (Tuesday) afternoon.
Authorities in Denver are trying to find out whether the reported threats to Obama were valid.
"It could also turn out that these were nothing but a bunch of knuckleheads, meth-heads," the U.S. government official said.

And I Quote

Whiskey is by far the most popular of all remedies that won't cure a cold.

~ Jerry Vale

Marijuana Grow House Found In Mall Of The Americas

The Drug Enforcement Administration discovered something unexpected in the Mall of the Americas.

DEA agents found a hydroponics lab with more than 200 marijuana plants, standing 3 to 6 feet tall in the air and worth millions of dollars, in a storage area on the second floor of the mall.

Authorities said the electricity that powered the lab was diverted from the mall's main power supply.

No arrests have been made. Authorities said officials with the Mall of the Americas are cooperating with the investigation.

Check out the details here.

Mother Jones interactive military presence map

Mother Jones launched an interactive map that shows US military presence around the world from 1950 to 2007. It's based on worldwide troop data from the Pentagon.

From Mother Jones:

These numbers are often fuzzy: Some deployments are classified, others are temporary, and just because the Defense Department claims 30 US troops in Indonesia last year doesn't mean 1,500 didn't pass through on training missions. Even so, the map, and the associated research, should give you a good feel for what the Pentagon is up to around the world.

Mission Creep: US Military Presence Worldwide

We need more stories like this

We need more stories like this:

Raccoon's courthouse crime spree ends with capture

The evidence in his office gave the judge pause: a half-eaten apple and some very distinctive footprints.
Federal bankruptcy Judge Paul W. Bonapfel reported the break-in last week at the Richard B. Russell Federal Building in downtown Atlanta.

The intruder made no effort to cover his tracks across a stack of federal memos in the 14th-floor office.
When the judge called in his staff and others to examine the scene, the evidence was conclusive: The perpetrator was a raccoon.

In the following days, judges and staff who work in the building reported other thefts - chocolate chip cookies stolen from a 10th-floor desk, a sandwich on the 9th floor, and a packet of dried soup purloined from the 23rd floor.

A court clerk created a "wanted" poster, and Bonapfel's staff posted a "raccoon crossing" sign on the judge's door.
Workers from a company that specializes in catching wildlife placed a trap in the ceiling over a judge's office and baited it with tuna.

The wait ended Monday when a judicial assistant heard a noise overhead.
Two workers removed the ceiling tiles and grabbed the suspect.

Office workers named the raccoon "Russell," in honor of the building's namesake.

The General Services Administration, which manages the building, theorizes that Russell wriggled into the heating system from outside.
"We're going to see if we can get him turned loose on a farm somewhere," said Robert Perkins, the building's manager. "We're going to take him a long way from this building."

*****

With all the hate, crime and scandal dominating the 'news' we really do need more stories like this one.

Earthquake!

The U.S. Geological Survey says a 6.3-magnitude earthquake has hit China's western region of Tibet.
No casualties were reported after the Monday night quake, state media reported.

The official Xinhua News Agency said, however, it was felt strongly and cracks appeared in some buildings in Zhongba county, the quake's epicenter.
Xinhua put the magnitude at 6.8.

On May 12, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake in China's Sichuan province killed 70,000 people and left 5 million homeless.

Carolina Naturally is read in ...

All around the United States in:
Missoula, Ithaca, Fountain Valley, Royal Oak, Sylmer,
Falls Church, Marion, Idaho Falls, Gadsen, Cambridge,
Lake Wales, Amherst, Corona, Poughkeepsie, Wahiawa,
and Livermore.

Across North and South Carolina in:
Central, Sanford, Greensboro, Shelby,
Charlotte, Asheville, Boone, Cullowhee,
Due West, Darlington, Rockingham,
Hot House and Manteo.

Carolina Panthers 2008 Schedule

Date	Opponent	Time	Network
Sunday, September 7	@ San Diego	4:15 PM EST	FOX
Sunday, September 14	Vs Chicago	1:00 PM EST	FOX
Sunday, September 21	@ Minnesota	1:00 PM EST	FOX
Sunday, September 28	Vs Atlanta	1:00 PM EST	FOX
Sunday, October 5	Vs Kansas City	1:00 PM EST	CBS
Sunday, October 12	@ Tampa Bay	1:00 PM EST	FOX
Sunday, October 19	Vs New Orleans	1:00 PM EST	FOX
Sunday, October 26	Vs Arizona	1:00 PM EST	FOX
Sunday, November 9	@ Oakland	4:05 PM EST	FOX
Sunday, November 16	Vs Detroit	1:00 PM EST *	FOX
Sunday, November 23	@ Atlanta	1:00 PM EST *	FOX
Sunday, November 30	@ Green Bay	1:00 PM EST *	FOX
Monday, December 8	Vs Tampa Bay	8:30 PM EST	ESPN
Sunday, December 14	Vs Denver	1:00 PM EST *	CBS
Sunday, December 21	@ New York Giants	1:00 PM EST *	FOX
Sunday, December 28	@ New Orleans	1:00 PM EST *	FOX

They ignored her cries for help

This is inexcusable. Self-centered, lazy, uncaring: all the things they have their well deserved reputation for ... these New York City dwellers need to be horsewhipped publicly!

Investigators say neighbors waited more than a half hour to call police after hearing a woman's screams for help as she was being stabbed to death at a New York City apartment.

Police found 21-year-old Ebony Garcia lying in a pool of blood at about 2:10 a.m Saturday.
She was stabbed about a dozen times and died two hours later at a local hospital.

Witnesses say neighbors ignored the woman's screams for more than 30 minutes before someone called the police.
One neighbor says she ignored the cries because she thought the victim had been drinking.

Police want to question Garcia's boyfriend.
She had obtained a restraining order against him.

Mickey Mouse bridges the culture war when teaching evolution to evangelical students

Teacher David Campbell managed to slip evolution into the high-school science curriculum in the conservative Florida town where he teaches -- by using images of Mickey Mouse through the years to illustrate the principle:

On the projector, Campbell placed slides of the cartoon icon: one at his skinny genesis in 1928, one from his 1940 turn as the impish "Sorcerer's Apprentice," and one of the rounded, ingratiating charmer of Mouse Club fame.

"How," he asked his students, "has Mickey changed?"

Natives of Disney World's home state, they waved their hands and called out answers.

"His tail gets shorter," Bryce volunteered.

"Bigger eyes!" someone else shouted.

"He looks happier," one girl observed. "And cuter."

Campbell smiled. "Mickey evolved," he said. "And Mickey gets cuter because Walt Disney makes more money that way. That is 'selection.' "

Teacher shows that science, religion don't have to clash

This is hilarious and sad at the same time ... You got to laugh at the ignorance that breeds the climate wherein a cartoon character has to be used to educate our youth - not that using cartoon characters is wrong, just funny you HAVE to use them - and it is very sad that you have to use them at the same time ... it is a very sorry state of affairs when they are required to be used due to ignorance and blind dogma.

Kids can't "go out and play" anymore

This story from the LA Times about the lack of free, unstructured outdoor play and movement for kids really hits mark: young kids are just not allowed to "go outside and play" and we treat older kids who do as potential threats to life and property to be run off as quickly as possible:

But today, for most middle-class American children, "going out to play" has gone the way of the dodo, the typewriter and the eight-track tape. From 1981 to 1997, for instance, University of Michigan time-use studies show that 3- to 5-year-olds lost an average of 501 minutes of unstructured playtime each week; 6- to 8-year-olds lost an average of 228 minutes. (On the other hand, kids now do more organized activities and have more homework, the lucky devils!) And forget about walking to school alone. Today's kids don't walk much at all (adding to the childhood obesity problem).

Increasingly, American children are in a lose-lose situation. They're forced, prematurely, to do all the un-fun kinds of things adults do (Be over-scheduled! Have no downtime! Study! Work!). But they don't get any of the privileges of adult life: autonomy, the ability to make their own choices, use their own judgment, maybe even get interestingly lost now and then.

Read the entire article: Remember 'go outside and play?'

Medical Humerus

Who says medical personnel don't have a sense of humor?

These are actual writings from various hospital charts.

1.The patient refused an autopsy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. The patient has no previous history of suicides.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she was very hot in bed last night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5 Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. On the second day, the knee was better, and on the third day it disappeared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to be depressed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
9. Discharge status: Alive but without permission.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
10. Healthy appearing decrepit 69-year old male, mentally alert but forgetful.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
11. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
12. She is numb from her toes down.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
13. While in ER, she was examined, x-rated, and sent home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
14. The skin was moist and dry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15 Occasional, constant infrequent headaches.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
16. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
17. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
18. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
19. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical therapy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
20. Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
21. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
22. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
23. Skin: somewhat pale but present
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
24. The pelvis exam will be done later on the floor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
25. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

(Did anyone happen to catch the medical joke above?)

Daily Funny

Paddy was in New York He was patiently waiting and watching the traffic cop on a busy street crossing.
The cop stopped the flow of traffic and shouted, 'Okay, pedestrians.'
Then he'd allow the traffic to pass.
He'd done this several times, and Paddy still stood on the sidewalk.
After the cop had shouted, 'Pedestrians!' for the tenth time, Paddy went over to
him and said, 'Is it not about time ye let the Catholics across?'

Question

What is the meaning of life and why does it involve green tea and fried tomatoes?

Catch up musing

Things have been hectic around the farm and library the last few weeks and the heat of summer has been a pain for the animals.
Luckily for them the aquifer under the farm has been extra gracious in coming out of the natural well at a faster rate than normal (there is still more than enough for better than a hundred years at the current rate, so my bottled water business will continue to do well), and they have had plenty of water even with the water restrictions my neighbors have had to deal with.
There are benefits to owning your own water.

The Renaissance fair is fast approaching so a busy fall is in the offing.

The Carolina Panthers are showing some good things for the upcoming season and should make for some good game day parties.

My leatherworking business is hopping right now as it does every year when the Fair rolls around and all the Rennies want or need something made or repaired - and to think I started it eight years or so ago as a hobby ... even have branched out into tailoring costumes - who says a man can't sew - and the ladies who do sew costumes and such for a living come to me for any work that deals with the heavier fabrics for help and advise because I work with leather and they all know I can handle the heavier stuff, the delicate stuff is another story all together.
The one problem is I do too good with my work and I have yet to have had any repair work on any of my pieces (I have repaired other's work) other than replace a screw or two that did not set when I glued it (inserted glue on the grooved cylinder to hold is from undoing itself).

Lamentations for the demise of a vibrant, dynamic place are being voiced.
Now, as to them being heard ...
Cryptic enough for you?
I know some who will think it is referencing them - sorry, but no it is not.

*****

Live by this simple mantra ... Smile - it confuses people ... and you will be happy.

Mauled, I tell you, mauled

The Carolina Panthers mauled the Washington Redskins last night to the tune of 47 to 3 in NFL action.

Traditionally a good indication of how the regular season is going to be - the third game of the pre-season was a night to remember for the Panthers and one the Redskins would like to forget.

It looks like it is going to be a long season for Carolina Panther opponents.

Thought for the Day

What is scary is that this is reality today ...

Insightful commentary on surveillance from webcomic Boy on a Stick and Slither.
For more comics in the series check out the link below.

Boy on a Stick and Slither

Klingon knife scares the crap out of dumb British scandal-sheet

That pitiful excuse for a newspaper that scandal-sheet rag The Daily Mail has a hilariously breathless account of a giant stainless steel Klingon fighting-knife received by police during a knife-amnesty; to hear them tell of it hooded thugs are roaming the streets with Klingon dueling swords looking for little old ladies to terrorize.

A spokesman for police in Gloucester, where it was surrendered, said: "It is a particularly nasty weapon that can, literally, take someone's head off. We are very glad it is off the streets and we want more weapons handed in."

The blade is believed to be a stainless-steel copy of a Klingon weapon used in the science fiction series Star Trek. "It's an extremely dangerous weapon," said a martial arts expert last night.

Lethal Star Trek blade seized in knives amnesty

You got to love it! Imagine the reaction to Phasers!

Alice In Wonderland from 1903

Alice In Wonderland - 1903

Restored the very rare, first film version of Alice In Wonderland, made in England by Cecil Hepworth in 1903 (this versatile director also plays Frog in the film).

The original negative is severely damaged, and much of the film has deteriorated. No known prints survive anywhere so restoration is next to impossible.

The music you will recognize as Claude Debussy's "Prelude To The Afternoon Of A Faun."

The BBC have rescued this film from obscurity by releasing it as an extra, with commentary, on their DVD for the 1966 Jonathan Miller production of Alice in Wonderland.

*****

Thanks to Milk and Cookies for the link.

Magazine ads from 1904

The 1904 magazine features ads for horse carriages, but by 1909 the ads are for automobiles.

This cool ad and more can be found at getrichslowly.org using the link below.

Marvelous Magazine Ads from 1904

In case you haven't heard ...

Senator Barack Obama has selected Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his running mate, according to his official Web site and a text message the campaign sent to supporters on Saturday.

(And, no I wasn't awake at 3am to read the text message on my machine when it came - I do need my beauty sleep, how else will I stay so handsome)

It's in the record books

Tropical Storm Fay crossed into the Florida Panhandle on Saturday, becoming the first storm of its kind in recorded history to hit the state four different times.
Fay's center made landfall around 1 a.m. EDT about 15 miles north-northeast of Apalachicola, Fla., according to the National Weather Service's National Hurricane Center.
Fay was expected to skirt across the Panhandle's coast Saturday and the coast of Mississippi and Alabama on Sunday, forecasters said.
Although Fay never materialized into a hurricane, its zigzagging downpours have been punishing and deadly.

A Grizzly Encounter

One moment Howard Hawkins Jr. was driving to get an early morning cup of coffee and the next he hit a large grizzly bear running at a full gallop across one of Anchorage's busiest streets.

"It is just unreal," Hawkins said Friday, less than 12 hours after his 2002 Land Rover struck the bear.
"I didn't have time to react. I wasn't even able to hit my brakes or anything.
What stopped the forward motion of the car is that I ran into a big bear."
Hawkins, 57, plowed into the bear shortly before 4 a.m. in what is the latest in a summer of close encounters between human and bruin in Alaska's largest city.

The male bear came out of the woods from one of Anchorage's many greenbelts.
It was struck on a four-lane highway near a large car dealership and RV campground.
The collision pushed in the front end of Hawkins' Land Rover.
The vehicle's air bags deployed but Hawkins was uninjured.
He called 911 and got out of his car to await police.
The bear, angry and in a lot of pain with a broken leg, was behind the Land Rover stumbling around, roaring and growling.

Officers arrived within minutes and advised Hawkins to get back in his vehicle; which he did.
At one point, the bear charged the officers, police spokesman Paul Honeman said.
The grizzly made its way off the road and back into the woods, where officers found it and killed it.

The bear was a 15-year-old grizzly that was part of a state Fish and Game research study to determine how many bears there are in Anchorage.
The bear was trapped in 2006 and fitted with a global positioning collar that showed it stayed mostly in one of two areas, including Far North Bicentennial Park where there have been two bear maulings and several encounters with grizzlies this summer.

One of the bears, a sow with two cubs that was believed to be responsible for much of the trouble, was shot and killed Tuesday.
DNA showed that bear was not the one responsible for the most serious attack, on a 15-year-old bicyclist.

The grizzlies come into Anchorage in the summer to feed on salmon and moose, said Sean Farley, a Fish and Game research biologist who conducted the study that showed residents share the city with at least 20 grizzlies.

So far this summer, 18 black bears and one grizzly have been shot in the municipality in defense of life or property.
That's a higher number than normal, said Jessy Coltrane, an assistant area wildlife biologist.
Last year, that total was about 10 black bears and one grizzly, she said.
Coltrane attributes the higher number this summer to a "social reaction" among city residents.
When there are maulings, people are less tolerant, she said.

****

Met a black bear or two over the years myself ... it always has been an 'interesting' experience.

Canada confirms 4th death in listeriosis outbreak

A third death has been confirmed in a nationwide listeriosis outbreak that might be linked to tainted meat products, Canadian health officials said Friday.
They said the latest confirmed death from the bacterial infection was a woman who died in June at a retirement home in St. Catharine's, Ontario.
"In Ontario, there are three confirmed deaths at this point linked to the investigation," said Robert Clarke of the Public Health Agency of Canada.
A fourth death British Columbia has been linked to the investigation.

Listeriosis is a kind of food poisoning that can be dangerous to the elderly, newborns, pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea

Officials said there are 17 known cases in Canada, including the three deaths, with the same strain of listeria bacteria: 13 in Ontario, two in British Columbia, one in Saskatchewan and one in Quebec.
More cases are expected to be found, officials said.
An additional 16 samples from suspected cases are currently being tested to confirm if they are related to the outbreak are related to the outbreak, Clarke said.

Health officials are studying whether there is any connection between the 17 cases and the recall of nearly two dozen types of processed meats manufactured at a Toronto plant owned by Maple Leaf Foods.
Officials said they have positively identified the bacteria in 18 food samples representing six different types of the meat products, but had yet to determine whether the meat was responsible for the outbreak.

While the cause of the contamination at the Toronto plant has yet to be determined, the plant was undergoing three separate sanitation processes, all under the watch of a microbiologist and a sanitation expert.

Officials announced Wednesday that an elderly woman from Ontario was the first fatality to be positively linked to the listeriosis outbreak.
Earlier Friday, officials announced that another elderly woman, also from Ontario, had died from listeriosis.
Health officials grappling with the outbreak have said they expect to see more cases of the disease.

Let's hope health officials are incorrect and they do not see more cases.

SC sex offender gets 25 years for gun charge

A man acquitted last year of charges he raped two girls in an underground dungeon has been sentenced to 25 years on a federal gun charge.

A U.S. District Court judge in South Carolina said Kenneth Glenn Hinson's criminal history led to the lengthy sentence on a charge of being a felon in possession of a weapon.

Authorities said they found the 49-year-old man with a gun when he was arrested in 2006.

Two teenage girls had said Hinson raped them in an underground room behind his home and left them for dead.

He was acquitted last year on those charges.

Hinson previously served nine years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl.

Carbs kill cells that regulate appetite

This could explain alot ....

Carbohydrates don't just screw up your blood-sugar: they release free radicals that kill appetite-suppressing cells. The research is from a Nature article by Dr Zane Andrews, a neuroendocrinologist with Monash University's Department of Physiology.

"The more carbs and sugars you eat, the more your appetite-control cells are damaged, and potentially you consume more," Dr Andrews said.

Dr Andrews said the attack on appetite suppressing cells creates a cellular imbalance between our need to eat and the message to the brain to stop eating.

"People in the age group of 25 to 50 are most at risk. The neurons that tell people in the crucial age range not to over-eat are being killed-off.

Killer Carbs: Scientist Finds Key To Overeating As We Age

Thought for the Day

Hard work spotlights the character of people;

some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all.

Comments, comments, comments

Spot on!
I wonder if the self-righteous know when they are skewered.
I learn more about America from your blog than from your news media.
Yes!
Positive, honest and doesn't play favorites.
Funny and subtle as a sledge hammer.
Local, regional, state, national and international news all in one place.
Makes my day.

****

To be fair here are some comments from some of those 'skewered' herein:

You should be ashamed of calling our president a shrub.
That's McCain.
America love it or leave it!

The rest of those comments are too vulgar and bile-filled for me to post - Yes, I DO have standards despite some of the aforementioned 'skewered's' rants and railings to the contrary.

In response to the comments posted above:

Ashamed .... Nope, I call it as it is -
it's McPain -
I have bled for America how many of you have?

Thanks for the positive comments they are always a pleasure to receive and to read. As for the rest ... keep'em coming, you make it so easy.

Student killed in shooting at Tennessee school

A student fatally shot a 15-year-old classmate Thursday at a high school, police said, as other teenagers watched in horror as the victim clutched his chest and fell to the floor.

Police identified the victim as Ryan McDonald, a sophomore who lived with his grandmother and had alopecia, a condition that left him bald since he was 3 and the target of endless teasing as a child.
"He tried to have a tough exterior, like a shield, to fit in," his uncle Roger McDonald said.
"He was a good kid ... who was dealt some bad cards in life."

The shooting happened shortly after 8 a.m. at the Central High School cafeteria, Deputy Chief Bill Roehl said, and the suspected shooter was taken into custody six minutes later on a nearby street.
The suspect and victim knew each other, Knox County School System Superintendent Jim McIntyre said.

Jamar Siler, 15, was charged with one count of first-degree murder and was being held in a juvenile detention facility, police spokesman Darrell DeBusk said.
Siler had an initial appearance in Juvenile Court late Thursday and was being held without bond. His lawyer, public defender Mark Stephens, refused to discuss the case.

"This wasn't a shooting that was a random act," Roehl said. "It was an individual directing his aggression toward another individual, not the school or the students inside the school."
At a news conference late Thursday, McIntyre said the school will reopen Friday, though more for counseling than for classes.
"I want to assure parents and others in this community that despite this tragic ... and isolated incident that our schools are safe," the superintendent of the 52,000-student system said.
Those not attending would get an excused absence.

The cafeteria was a popular place to gather before classes started at 8:30 a.m., students said. Chad Griffin, 15, and Josh Matthews, 14, said that they were sitting about 10 feet away from the victim and talking when they heard a sharp noise.
Griffin at first thought someone had dropped a book and then looked around.
"He got shot and started walking and he was holding his chest. There was blood everywhere. And then he fell and his arm hit me," Griffin said.
Matthews said he thought it was a fake at first but then realized the shooting was real.
"I took off running and ran outside and called my mom," Matthews said.

Students in the cafeteria began crying and scrambling to leave, while others tried to get in the room, thinking they had missed a fight, witnesses said.
Students began to gather around the victim, said freshman Jared Wohlford, 14.
"Everybody started running out real fast saying, 'He got shot,'" he said.

The school, which has about 1,400 students, was placed on lockdown after the shooting.
Classes were dismissed and students were bused to a nearby church so they could be picked up by their parents.

*****

Dammit, it is about time we put a stop to such as this ...
Way Past Time!
Start in your neighborhood!
When we all do we will end this reign of terror our kids have been living under for for too damned long now.

Grand jury issues 3 indictments in polygamist case

A grand jury issued three new felony indictments Thursday against members of a polygamist sect raided in April.

Schleicher County Clerk Peggy Williams confirmed the grand jury issued indictments against three individuals.
She would not say who was indicted or what the indictments allege, other than that they are felonies.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, which is handling the prosecution of the case, also declined to comment on what the indictments allege or who the accused are.

The indictments, which followed a day of women in prairie dresses again filing in and out of the grand jury meeting room, were the second set issued since the grand jury began meeting in June on the case.

Six indictments were issued last month.

*****

Fun and sun in Texas as the soap opera continues ...

Mayor shuts down home produce stand operated by kids

From the "You've got to be joking department":

Clayton, California Mayor Gregg Manning is punishing two little kids for taking the initiative to sell their own garden produce from a card table in front of their house.

Manning ordered police to raid their operation because the neighborhood isn't zoned for commerce, and because it constituted an imaginary traffic hazard.

Clayton Mayor Gregg Manning ... wonders what Katie and Sabrina might do with that produce stand if the zoning laws weren't enforced.

"They may start out with a little card-table and selling a couple of things, but then who is to say what else they have. Is all the produce made there, do they make it themselves? Are they going to have eggs and chickens for sale next," said Manning.

Eggs and chickens? Oh, The horror!

Young girls fight produce stand closure

Texas man convicted for role in child sex club

A 41-year-old auto body shop worker was convicted Thursday of grooming children as young as 5 to perform in sex shows at a small-town swingers club.

Patrick "Booger Red" Kelly showed no emotion after the verdict.

Jurors deliberated about two hours before finding him guilty of engaging in organized criminal activity, a conviction that could send him to prison for life.

Prosecutors alleged Kelly was a member of the so-called Mineola Swinger's Club, though Kelly has testified he is innocent.
They contended Kelly helped set up a "kindergarten" where young children learned to dance provocatively.
To help perform at the club, prosecutors say the children were given Vicodin-like drugs the adults passed off as "silly pills."

ADDENDUM:

Kelly received a life sentence in prison in a swift sentence hearing this afternoon immediately following the return of the guilty verdict.

Ah, the joys of living in Florida

As if a fourth straight day of rain from Tropical Storm Fay wasn't enough, weary residents are now dealing with quintessentially Floridian fallout: alligators, snakes and other critters driven from their swampy lairs into flooded streets, backyards and doorsteps.

National Guardsman Steve Johnson was wading through hip-deep water Wednesday night when his flashlight revealed an alligator drifting through a neighborhood of flooded mobile homes."I said, 'The heck is that?' and there was an alligator floating by," Johnson said. "I took my flashlight and was like, 'You've got to be kidding me, a big old alligator swimming around here.'"

The erratic and stubborn storm has dumped more than 2 feet of rain along parts of Florida's low-lying central Atlantic coast this week.
The system continued its slow, wet march Thursday by curving back from the ocean to hit the state for a third time.

Alligators live in all 67 Florida counties, and state officials say they receive more than 18,000 alligator-related complaints each year.
But the floodwaters heighten the risk of an encounter with people because the creatures search for a safe place to wait out the storm.
"They are trying to find dry land, someplace to hide," said officer Lenny Salberg of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission.

The threat of alligators, snakes and other creatures is one more problem confronting weary residents as they clean up their waterlogged homes.
At least two alligators were captured in residential neighborhoods, and several others were spotted near homes.
In Carla Viotto's backyard in Indialantic, outside of Melbourne, snakes were swimming around in 4 inches of water."It looked just like a junk yard," she said.

Flooding was especially acute along the Atlantic coast from Port St. Lucie to Cape Canaveral, with water reaching depths of 5 feet in some neighborhoods.
Gov. Charlie Crist visited the area Thursday and had asked the Bush administration to declare a federal disaster to help with the storm's costs.
"This is the worst I've absolutely ever seen it," said Mike White, 57, who was rescued by the National Guard as water crept up to the door of his mobile home.

Fay, which was responsible for at least 20 deaths in the Caribbean, is just the fourth storm in recorded history to hit the Florida peninsula with tropical storm intensity three separate times.
The most recent was Hurricane Donna in 1960, according to Daniel Brown, a specialist at the National Hurricane Center.

Flooding was also possible in Georgia, where the southern half of the state's Atlantic coastline was under a tropical storm warning.
Some parts of Georgia could get up to 6 inches of rain.
In the town of St. Marys, Mary Neff watched the rain from the Spencer House Inn, which she owns with her husband.
"We're pulling in our plants and porch furniture, making sure we have our supplies and gas for the generator," said Neff, who had three couples cancel weekend reservations.
"I still think we all need to stay on our toes."

Fay hovered for hours just off the Florida coast Thursday.
At 2 p.m. EDT, the center was near Flagler Beach.
Maximum sustained winds were 60 mph, and the storm was expected to weaken as it swirled across the state and into the Panhandle by Saturday.
With the rain moving to the north, the sun began to dry out some Florida neighborhoods hit by floods earlier in the week.

The mood was considerably brighter for many residents who were finally able to get out of their homes.
"I'm ready to get back to work. This is insane. It'll drive you nuts being stuck like this," said Barry Johnson, 44, of Port St. Lucie.

*****

While I have sympathy for the residents of Florida I hope they keep the rain, we have had enough around here for the time being.

Question of the Day

What's up with teenagers?

Found this question on a parenting forum. I thought it was comical and remembered that I didn't understand them either so I can relate to all the posters about being totally clueless about teenagers.

Bureaucracies live forever.

Just to show that Bureaucracies live forever.

Railroad tracks.

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches.

That’s an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used?

Because that’s the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that?

Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramway's, and that’s the gauge they used.

Why did they’ use that gauge then?

Because the people who built the tramway's used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing?

Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England because that’s the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads?

Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England ) for their legions.The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads?

Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing.

Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.

Canada says 1 dead, 16 ill in listeriosis outbreak

An outbreak of listeriosis has killed one person and sickened at least 16 others, Canadian public health officials said today (Wednesday), as a food company suspended production at a Toronto plant and expanded a recall of nearly two dozen types of packaged meats.

The Public Health Agency of Canada said it was working with officials in four provinces to establish any link between the outbreak and the affected products recalled by Maple Leaf Foods.

Listeriosis is a kind of food poisoning that can be dangerous to the elderly, newborns, pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions.
Symptoms include fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

On Sunday, the company announced it had discovered listeria bacteria in roast beef and corned beef made at the Toronto facility.
It increased the recall on Wednesday to a total of 23 products, including a variety of turkey, smoked meat and roast beef.

Maple Leaf said that the recall covered all products prepared at the plant since June 2 and that it was temporarily closing the facility to re-evaluate food safety procedures.

*****

Listeriosis ain't no joke but isn't as well known as 'Sam and Ella' (salmonella) so many will dismiss it until it is too late.
I am glad to see our friends to the north are going after the bacteria and actually suspending commercial operations at the plant to fix the problem and to prevent future outbreaks.
Now imagine the same thing happening south of that border - you can't because it wouldn't be ... not until people were dead in at least double digit numbers.
And suspending commercial operations, you've got to be kidding.

Lying ... it is in their nature

I just received an e-mail from a friend wherein they relayed a forum post from some individual claiming to be a 'marine' and chastising a real Marine for being left-wing in his politics though he was trying to pass himself off as a 'moderate' ... while also claiming most Marines are right-wing politically.

Well, first off the 'moderate' in question has ever claimed to be left-wing and a goodly way from center all along so right there shows the accuser for what he is - a LIAR.

Second, most Marines are most definitely Left-wing politically including this one - and I am the one more to the center but was accused of being too far left by those of the accuser's ilk on that same forum until I left to pursue this and my other blogs (subsequently I found that I had been 'banned' form that forum after I announced my leaving here ... I guess they had their little snit; some just cannot handle differences).

But back to the Marines leaning left politically: Of the five branches of the military, the Marines are the most left leaning followed by the Air Force, Navy, Army and Coast Guard in that order and all are above 65% left leaning - a far cry from the myth the right-wing wants you to believe ... actually they need you to believe.

You see a Marine embodies the ideals of the left - the ideals of the nation. The ones we were founded on, not the ones the right-wing falsely claims are our nation's ideals - especially christian, which is the biggest lie.

This election year is focusing a glaring light on those lies and exposing them to more than just military personnel and the liars are getting more and more desperate to keep the lie going.

Earlier this month I posted about the clearest example and the easiest to understand - Money - and where it was going when military personnel gave it to a political candidate for their campaign.
Better than 60% went to the left wing candidates, while 25% went to 'moderate' candidates leaving 15% between the right-wing and radicals.

In the presidential race Obama was given money at a rate of 6 to 1 over McPain by those supposedly 'right-wing' military personnel which is sort of odd given that Obama is the 'Most Liberal Left Winger' in the Senate according to the right-wing smear machine.
Funny, but they said the same thing about John Kerry four years ago and he is still in the Senate.
Oh, well I guess they cannot help themselves from lying, it is their nature.

Bluff collapses at a San Diego beach killing a man

A stretch of oceanside bluff below the Torrey Pines Golf Course collapsed and killed a man today (Wednesday), authorities said.
The man, whose identity was not released, suffered severe head trauma when he was struck by the falling rocks, said San Diego police spokesman Gary Hassen.
The victim was in his 50s and visiting from Las Vegas, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue spokesman Maurice Luque.
The 30-foot-wide section of cliff gave way several hundred feet below the golf course, which hosted the U.S. Open in June.

Carolina naturally is read in ...

110 different countries have visited this site!

Seekers of the truth in Turkey; Monaco; Switzerland; Nepal; Germany; the United Kingdom; the United States; Canada; South Korea; the Netherlands and Australia have stopped by today.

Cops drive 4000+ miles to arrest wrong man

And here you thought the reputation of those in Kentucky couldn't get any more 'hick' ... to say nothing of the 'space cadet' reputation of those in California

A Kentucky sheriff and deputy drove all the way to California to nab a man who had jumped bail after being charged with a misdemeanor of DWI and a minor felony of attempting to evade police. After returning from their 4100 roundtrip that included some sight-seeing and souvenir shopping, mugshot and fingerprint comparisons proved that they had picked up the wrong guy. Apparently, the man, Joel Oros III, had told them all along that he wasn't who they thought he was. From the Kentucky Enquirer:

Embarrassed by the mistake, the county swiftly put Oros on a plane back to California.

"We decided with our attorneys that the best thing to do was get him back home as quick as we could," said Butler Judge-Executive David Fields.

But the cross-country jaunt may prove to cost the county a little more than the expense of a plane ticket.

As he was being freed, Oros ran into a helpful Kentucky lawyer who agreed to sue Butler County and the state of California, if necessary, to try to get extra compensation for the 2,000 miles he rode in shackles....

Other than the handcuffs locked tightly around his wrists, Oros said he enjoyed the 30-hour ride to Kentucky -- his first chance to states outside California.

"They fed me good," he said. "They were entirely nice people."

He also said he had no problem with Gaddie and Deputy Mitchell Russ doing a little souvenir hunting along the way.

"Praise God, let them shop," Oros said.

4,100 Miles For An Arrest That Just Goes Busy

Daily Funny

FARM KID (NOW AT San Diego MARINE CORPS RECRUIT TRAINING)

Dear Ma and Pa,

I am well. Hope you are. Tell Brother Walt and Brother Elmer the Marine
Corps beats working for old man Minch by a mile. Tell them to join up quick
before all of the places are filled.

I was restless at first because you got to stay in bed till nearly 6 a.m.
But I am getting so I like to sleep late. Tell Walt and Elmer all you do
before breakfast is smooth your cot, and shine some things. No hogs to slop, feed to pitch, mash to mix, wood to split, fire to lay. Practically nothing.

Men got to shave but it is not so bad, there's warm water. Breakfast is
strong on trimmings like fruit juice, cereal, eggs, bacon, etc., but kind of
weak on chops, potatoes, ham, steak, fried eggplant, pie and other regular food, but tell Walt and Elmer you can always sit by the two city boys that live on coffee. Their food, plus yours, holds you until noon when you get fed again. It's no wonder these city boys can't walk much.

We go on 'route marches,' which the platoon sergeant says are long walks to harden us. If he thinks so, it's not my place to tell him different. A
'route march' is about as far as to our mailbox at home. Then the city guys get sore feet and we all ride back in trucks.

The sergeant is like a school teacher. He nags a lot. The Captain is like
the school board. Majors and colonels just ride around and frown. They don't bother you none.

This next will kill Walt and Elmer with laughing. I keep getting medals for
shooting. I don't know why. The bulls-eye is near as big as a chipmunk head and don't move, and it ain't shooting at you like the Higgett boys at home. All you got to do is lie there all comfortable and hit it. You don't even load your own cartridges. They come in boxes.

Then we have what they call hand-to-hand combat training. You get to wrestle with them city boys. I have to be real careful though, they break real easy. It ain't like fighting with that ole bull at home. I'm about the best they got in this except for that Tug Jordan from over in Silver Lake ... I only beat him once. He joined up the same time as me, but I'm only 5'6' and 130 pounds and he's 6'8' and near 300 pounds dry.

Be sure to tell Walt and Elmer to hurry and join before other fellers get
onto this setup and come stampeding in.

Your loving daughter, Alice

****

Thanks goes to usmc1 for bringing this one to our attention - reminds me of the enjoyable day in Paris ... Island that is.

A vacation flight that wasn't

An airliner (Spanair flight JK5022) bound for the Canary Islands swerved off the runway during takeoff from the Madrid airport today (Wednesday) and caught fire, Spain's national airport authority said, killing 149 people on board.

There were only 26 survivors in the mid-afternoon crash, said Spanish Development Minister Magdalena Alvarez, whose department is in charge of civil aviation.

It was Spain's deadliest air disaster in more than 20 years.

Spanair flight JK5022 was bound for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, a popular vacation spot off West Africa, the company said.

An official with the Madrid emergency rescue service SAMUR said crews were removing injured people and bodies from the plane.
"It is a certain catastrophe," a SAMUR official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give his name.

At the airport, helicopters and fire trucks poured water on the plane, which ended up in a lower, wooded area at the end of the runway at Terminal 4.

Officials at Barajas Airport said the crash may have been caused by an engine on the Spanish budget airline jet catching fire.

According to aviation analyst John Strickland the MD-80 is known as a reliable aircraft with a good safety record.

The Red Cross in Spain has set up a field hospital at the airport to treat the injured.

Spanish journalist Carlota Fomina said she had spoken to one of the passengers who had been on board the plane at the time of the crash who described an explosion and fire.

Spanair, owned by Scandinavian airline SAS, is one of Spain's three major private carriers.

TSA inspector breaks airplanes by climbing on them using instruments as handholds

Another one from the morons at the TSA

A TSA inspector decided to get a closer look at some American Eagle jets at O'Hare, so he climbed up on them, using a fragile, vital instrument (the Total Air Temperature probes) as handholds. He damaged the craft so badly that the regular maintenance crew grounded them -- and if they hadn't noticed, the lives of everyone on-board could have been endangered. Remember, folks, the "S" in TSA stands for "Security."

Citing sources within the aviation industry, ABC News reports an overzealous TSA employee attempted to gain access to the parked aircraft by climbing up the fuselage... reportedly using the Total Air Temperature (TAT) probes mounted to the planes' noses as handholds.

"The brilliant employees used an instrument located just below the cockpit window that is critical to the operation of the onboard computers," one pilot wrote on an American Eagle internet forum. "They decided this instrument, the TAT probe, would be adequate to use as a ladder."

Commuter Flights Grounded Thanks To Bumbling TSA Inspector

TSA puts commercial pilots on no-fly and terrorist watch lists

Nice to see all is as it should be with these folks ... all f@#k%d up

Here are a couple of accounts of commercial airline pilots, one of whom has been put on the TSA's no-fly list and the other is on the terrorist watch-list, for reasons that no one will disclose.

A Gulf War veteran and his wife say they've been unfairly placed on a federal list that limits their commercial flight access and threatens his job as a commercial pilot. To fight back, the couple, who are Muslim, filed a lawsuit today against a host of U.S. government agencies. "We don't know why they're on the list. They don't know why they're on the list. The government won't tell us why they're on the list," said Amy Foerster, an attorney with Saul Ewing, who is providing pro bono counsel and working with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania and the Schuylkill County couple on the case, which was filed in U.S. district court...

James Robinson is a retired Air National Guard brigadier general and a commercial pilot for a major airline who flies passenger planes around the country. James Robinson is a retired brigadier general and a commercial pilot. His name is on the terrorist "watch list."

He has even been certified by the Transportation Security Administration to carry a weapon into the cockpit as part of the government's defense program should a terrorist try to commandeer a plane.

But there's one problem: James Robinson, the pilot, has difficulty even getting to his plane because his name is on the government's terrorist "watch list."

Robinson is one of many James Robinsons on the list, including a 5-year-old. Good news, though -- all you need to do to avoid the secondary screening is fly under your initials, rather than name. Better hope the terrorists never figure that out. Ho ho ho.

Airline captain, lawyer, child on terror 'watch list', Grounded pilot, wife sue over 'no-fly' list

63-year-old woman sues AARP for age discrimination

AARP, the national advocacy group for older Americans, is being accused of age discrimination.

Bonita Brady, a 63-year-old from Michigan, says the group passed her over for a series of jobs because she was too old, despite excellent job reviews.

She joined AARP in Chicago in 1996 as a health representative.
She also worked for AARP in Washington before moving to the Lansing office in 2007.

Brady says she lost her job in a reorganization and was passed over for nine vacancies.

She sued last week in federal court in Michigan and is seeking more than $25,000.

Now that is a fine 'How do you do' isn't it!

North Carolina man dies after waiting 22 hours at hospital

A mental patient died after workers at a North Carolina hospital left him in a chair for 22 hours without feeding him or helping him use the bathroom, said federal officials who have threatened to cut off the facility's funding.

The state sent a team Tuesday to help Cherry Hospital in Goldsboro draft new procedures to ensure patients receive proper care.

An investigator's report released Monday found that 50-year-old Steven Sabock died in April after he at one point choked on medication and had been left sitting in a chair for close to a day at the facility about 50 miles southeast of Raleigh.

Surveillance video showed hospital staff watching television and playing cards just a few feet away.

It was not clear from the report exactly how Sabock died.

The report states that he was in a hospital bed and later found unresponsive.

A phone call placed after business hours to the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner rang unanswered Tuesday.

Federal officials have threatened to cut off funding because of Sabock's death and a report that a physician punched a patient after the teen bit the doctor.

Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Tom Lawrence said the state team also may investigate what, if any, disciplinary action should be taken following Sabock's death.

Lawrence said the Sabock incident is isolated but that officials are concerned."It's not the kind of thing that we in our wildest dreams would expect to happen in our hospitals - in our wildest nightmares, I guess," Lawrence said.

Sabock's father, Nicholas, declined comment when reached by telephone Tuesday evening.
A man who answered the phone listed for Susan Sabock, Steven's wife, hung up without commenting.

The investigation released Monday said Sabock died in April after Cherry Hospital nurses left him unattended in a chair and did not feed him or help him to the bathroom.
The report said Sabock sat, unattended, in the room for four work shifts.
The report also found that Sabock, formerly of Roanoke Rapids, ate nothing the day he died and had little food in the three days preceding his death.

The 47-page report also said workers were supposed to be closely monitoring Sabock's condition and may have forged documents that said they had.
The state has until Aug. 23 to file a report with the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services detailing what changes officials are making, Lawrence said.
If the center rejects the report, federal funds will be cut off beginning Sept. 1, Lawrence said.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton said in a statement that nurses may be reassigned to provide more patient supervision.
Officials are also considering better ways to manage staff resources, he said.

A patient in New York died in June after she waited in a hospital's mental ward waiting area for nearly 24 hours.
Security video showed her writhing on the floor.
It was nearly an hour before someone else flagged down a staff member who got help for the unresponsive woman.

Soliloquy

To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.

Now, who out there needs me to point out just who is attributed with the authorship of the soliloquy quoted above? You should have paid some attention in Lit class, bet you wish you did now!

Help

It’s interesting to contemplate John Lennon writing these lyrics at the peak of his fame and success:

When I was younger, so much younger than today,
I never needed anybody’s help in any way.
But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured,
Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate you being ‘round.
Help me get my feet back on the ground,
Won’t you please, please help me.

Sex offender pleads guilty in 'Bikini Killing'

A convicted sex offender admitted Tuesday that he strangled a 20-year-old South Carolina college student two years ago, leaving her body in her off-campus apartment with her bikini top still wrapped around her neck.

Jerry Buck Inman, 37, pleaded guilty to robbing, kidnapping, raping and murdering Tiffany Marie Souers of Ladue, Mo.

Inman could face the death penalty when he is sentenced Sept. 8, and a defense psychiatrist testified that was what he wants."He wishes to die for what he's done," Dr. Donna Schwartz-Watts said. "He has consistently stated that."

The Clemson University engineering student's body was discovered May, 26, 2006.

Authorities said Inman's DNA matched samples taken from Souers' apartment, and he was arrested near his mother's home in Dandridge, Tenn., about two weeks after Souers' body was found.

Inman, a tattooed man who still appears menacing in court despite handcuffs and shackles, stared straight ahead during much of the court hearing, answering yes or no to some basic questions.

He spent about 18 years in prison in North Carolina and Florida for rapes committed in those states as a teenager.
He was free for about nine months before his June 2006 arrest.

He also faces charges in the attempted rape of a 24-year-old woman in Rainsville, Ala., and in the rape of a 28-year-old woman in Sevierville, Tenn.
Authorities have said those crimes occurred in the days leading up to Souers' death.

Chatter

The most chatter today on the web forums has been about Same Sex Marriage, with the typical rants from the usual sources and the more studied points from the usual sources as well.

So what, if those of similar ilk wish to marry, so be it.

As many have pointed out such marriages will not cause the world to end or affect my marriage is any way, shape or form so let them get 'hitched' if they want to - lord knows they can be miserable along with the rest of us (just kidding ... maybe?! ... yeah, just kidding).

Several comedians have said "everyone who is married knows it's the same sex anyway"!

Now, if we can actually discuss something of real importance ... like butterfly poo, the world would be in better shape than it is right now.

Fifty-five men netted in 8-month California child porn probe

Well I guess this means the shenanigans in Texas dealing with child pornography and sex with children will be booted from our collective gnat sized fore-brains now ....

Authorities say a California sheriff's deputy and an attorney were among 55 men charged with possessing child pornography after an eight-month investigation.

The U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles says the suspects used peer-to-peer networks to exchange graphic images and videos, then stored the files.

U.S. attorney's office spokesman Thom Mrozek said San Luis Obispo County Deputy Bryan Jon Goossens and attorney Thomas Merdzinski of San Bernardino are among those charged.

Some men were also charged with production of child pornography and committing crimes while registered sex offenders.

Damn, where do this people come from!?

Wal-Mart invents classroom-specific back-to-school lists and adds contraband to them

You knew this beforehand, right!?

Wal-Mart's class-specific lists of "Back to School" supplies that local teachers want kids to show up with on day one are pure fabrications -- and they include items that are prohibited on school-grounds:

When we noticed the local Wal-Mart had shopping lists not only specific to school and grade level, but to teacher, we were thrilled. We started tossing items in the cart to spend, spend, spend.

Weren’t we a little surprised to learn afterwards that Wal-Mart invented those lists. Not only were we a bit surprised to learn they did not, in fact, base the lists on anything remotely suggested by the school. Wal-Mart, in fact, put items on the list that are BANNED from being brought to school.

Our daughter’s school said Wal-Mart makes up those lists on their own, and a number of items (such as crayons) are on a list from the school. A list of items parents are specifically told not to have their child bring to school. Seriously?

Truth About Wal-Mart Back to School Lists

How To Make a Viking spoon

In this great little Instructable, Morfmir shows you how to make a "Viking spoon," using only handmade, historically accurate viking hand-tools.

You need:
Axe: any small hand axe will do fine. It just needs to be sharp. A good hand axe weighs around 500-600g
hammer: you need a heavy hammer. If it is to small it will not have enough force to split the wood.
wedge: A heavy iron wedge made for splitting firewood will work fine. Alternatively use a old axe and hammer it through the log. Don't use you good axe for that. You ruin the axe that way.
Knife: a small sharp knife will do.
Spoon knife: You need a spoonknife, in my book there are no alternatives. You will probably not find it in you local hardwarestore, but you can buy it online. The best are handforged made by S. Djärv but you can also go after the cheap ones made by Frost Sweden.

How to make a wooden spoon, the viking way

Half of overweight adults may be heart-healthy

You can look great in a swimsuit and still be a heart attack waiting to happen.
And you can also be overweight and otherwise healthy.
A new study suggests that a surprising number of overweight people - about half - have normal blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while an equally startling number of trim people suffer from some of the ills associated with obesity.

The first national estimate of its kind bolsters the argument that you can be hefty but still healthy, or at least healthier than has been believed.
The results also show that stereotypes about body size can be misleading, and that even "less voluptuous" people can have risk factors commonly associated with obesity, said study author MaryFran Sowers, a University of Michigan obesity researcher."We're really talking about taking a look with a very different lens" at weight and health risks, Sowers said.

In the study, about 51 percent of overweight adults, or roughly 36 million people nationwide, had mostly normal levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, blood fats called triglycerides and blood sugar.
Almost one-third of obese adults, or nearly 20 million people, also were in this healthy range, meaning that none or only one of those measures was abnormal.
Yet about a fourth of adults in the recommended-weight range had unhealthy levels of at least two of these measures.
That means some 16 million of them are at risk for heart problems.
It's no secret that thin people can develop heart-related problems and that fat people often do not.
But that millions defy the stereotypes will come as a surprise to many people, Sowers said.

Even so, there's growing debate about the accuracy of the standard method of calculating whether someone is overweight.
Health officials rely on the body mass index, a weight-height ratio that does not distinguish between fat and lean tissue.
The limits of that method were highlighted a few years ago when it was reported that the system would put nearly half of NBA players in the overweight category.
A number of experts say waist size is a more accurate way of determining someone's health risks, and the study results support that argument.
Dr. Robert Eckel, a former American Heart Association president and professor of medicine at the University of Colorado, said the new research may help dismiss some of the generalizations that are sometimes made about weight and health.

Study co-author Judith Wylie-Rosett emphasized that the study shouldn't send the message "that we don't need to worry about weight."
That's because half of overweight people do face elevated risks for heart disease, explained Wylie-Rosett, a nutrition researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York
But, for those without elevated risks, losing weight "might be important only from a cosmetic perspective," she said.

To arrive at the estimates, scientists analyzed nationally representative government surveys involving 5,440 people age 20 and over, and extrapolated to calculate nationwide figures.
The new study, appearing in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, used government surveys from 1999 to 2004 that included lab tests and height and weight measurements.
Participants reported on habits including smoking and physical activity.
In all weight categories, risk factors for heart problems were generally more common in older people, smokers and inactive people.
Among obese people who were 50 to 64, just 20 percent were considered healthy compared with half of younger obese people.
The results underscore how important exercise is for staying healthy, even for people of healthy weight, Wylie-Rosett said.

The authors noted that fat tissue releases hormones and other substances that affect things like blood vessels, cholesterol and blood sugar.
The results suggest this interaction varies among overweight and obese people, the authors said.
The results also add to mounting evidence that thick waists are linked with heart risks.
Among people of healthy weight in the study, elevated blood pressure, cholesterol and other factors were more common for people with larger waists or potbellies.
This often signals internal fat deposits surrounding abdominal organs, which previous research has shown can be especially risky.
Similarly, among overweight and obese adults, those in the "healthy" category tended to have smaller waists than those with at least two risk factors.
Dr. Lewis Landsberg, a Northwestern University obesity expert, noted that the research didn't look at heart disease, and that not everyone with high risk factors develops heart problems.
Still, he said, the study shows that waist measurements can help assess health.

*****

Never went too much for stereotypes anyway and this really isn't anything new to me.
I have been skewing and screwing the 'numbers' all my life.
I have always been heavier than I looked - muscles tend to do that for you - had a low heart rate and blood pressure and a respiration rate half of what a 'normal' person has, yet I was disqualified for several jobs because I weighed too much for the 'charts' said my height made my weight to be (always pushed the envelope in the Corps, too).

What was the most galling about some of those disqualifications was the fact that the ones 'disqualifying' me were sick puppies (and not just mentally, either) - there were high blood pressure sufferers (2), metabolic disorders (5) and a nervous condition (some were combinations) - while I was healthier than a horse!

Carolina Naturally is read in ...

Berlin, Hanover, Bad Vilbel, and Frankfurt, Germany
Sidney and Canberra, Australia
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Singapore
Jakarta, Indonesia
Brampton, Ontario
Cuidad de Mexico, Mexico

As of this moment ...

500
Brave men and women are dead in Afghanistan
4143
Brave men and women are dead in Iraq

And these are only OUR troops, not counting the civilian and allied dead in these needless wars!

Support OUR troops ... Bring them home now!

Carolina Naturally is number 1

Carolina Naturally is ranked Number One on one of the biggest search engines and shows up at the top of the list of 22,000 blogs on that engine. Its sister blog comes in a Number Six.

Wow! Two blogs in the top ten.

And to think there were some that said it couldn't be done, especially by a blog that did not kowtow to the right-wing dogma and neo-con agenda like theirs.

Amazing what an independent mind and the truth can do, isn't it.

Thanks to all the readers who have those independent minds and know the truth when they see it for making this blog Number One.

And if you will excuse a moment of Childishness: Pfffffft to all you naysayers ... naner, naner, naner, naner.

Miniature cattle - family pets that provide milk

The Times Online reports on the Dexter cattle breed, “the world’s most efficient, cutest and tastiest cows."

For between £200 and £2,000, people can buy a cow that stands no taller than a large German shepherd dog, gives 16 pints of milk a day that can be drunk unpasteurised, keeps the grass “mown” and will be a family pet for years before ending up in the freezer.

The Dexter, a mountain breed from Ireland, is perfect for cattle-keeping on a small scale, but other breeds are being artificially created to compete with it, including the Mini-Hereford and the Lowline Angus, which has been developed by the Australian government to stand no more than 39in high but produce 70% of the steak of a cow twice its size.

Just right for the garden: a mini-cow

Bumpersticker of the week

Honk!
If you like peace and quiet.

Ten Things

We've all seen those 'ten things about you' on Myspace. I have been tagged twice for them recently so here they are:

The Original Ten.

1. I like walking in the rain ... naked and in the jungle is even better while doing so.

2. I want to travel to all the places around the world I have lived in again ... at least the places I didn't leave too many bodies in

3. I used to wear glasses before the retna surgeries - thick ones too.

4. I have never drank or smoked or taken drugs and I still can party'em under the table just ask the Paris Police or the Rome Police or the Rio Police or ...

5. I am a voracious reader and have several thousand tomes on every subject imaginable (and yes, those, too), in my library.

6. I have memorized the lyrics to practically every song I have ever heard, but can't recite them without the music playing except for a couple of Beatles tunes.

7. I want to get back on stage this year - dramatic or comedic. I can do both. Maybe I just might take MaryBeth up on one if her offers - I mean three women at one time sounds nice doesn't it.

8. I have some wild and crazy friends. Some might say some are warped.

9. I like to find the little roadside hole-in-the-wall places be they cafes, junk shops or something else and try them out. Found some of my best friends that way.

10. I have been nose to nose with a skunk at 4AM on a mountainside and was so charming I came away unsprayed.

The Next Ten

1. I can cook and do so very well.

2. I can be quite comical, though the authorities in Frankfort didn't it think of it that way at the time.

3. I played soccer internationally as a teenager and this was before most Americans knew what soccer was. I played in France for the town of Bafleur in Normandy.

4. I can take the right wing off a fly resting on a horse's tail from a mile away and not touch the rest of the fly or the horse's tail with a rifle.

5. I cannot/will not abide stupidity.

6. I like to swim at night.

7. I love tea ... all kinds of tea.

8. I have seen an orange woman naked ... and yes, I do mean orange.

9. I like flowers and gardening.

10. I will always defend the defenseless.

Paying the Bills

From the you never really know, do you files:

Being a Greek Philosopher didn't really help Socrates pay the bills.
He was trained in the trade of stonecutting, which helped him earn a living

Inside the Hash House Harriers

When the name “Hash House Harriers” is brought up in general conversation, images of the drug-addled sitting around a house feeding their addiction often are conjured in the minds of the uninitiated. The fact of the matter, though, is that the Hash House Harriers is a global group of runners with their minds set on running, social networking and light-hearted frivolity.

The Hash House Harrier roots extend back to the old English schoolboy game of "Hares and Hounds," in which some players, called "hounds," chase others, called "hares," who have left a trail of paper scraps along their route across fields, hedges, streams, bogs, and hills. One of the earliest Hares and Hounds events on record was the "Crick Run" at Rugby School in Warwickshire, England, first held in 1837.

Hare and Hounds as an adult sport began in the fall of 1867 with a group of London oarsmen who wanted to keep fit during the winter. Also called "Paper Chasing" or the "Paper Chase," the game became very popular after its introduction on Wimbledon Common in 1868 by the Thames Hare and Hounds. Early clubs called themselves "Hare and Hounds" or simply "Harriers."

A.S.I., "G" Gispert (1903-1942)

The Hash House Harriers, as it is known, today was founded in Malaya (now Malaysia) by Albert Stephen Ignatius Gispert, an English chartered accountant.

It was sometime during 1937 when Gispert (or simply "G" as he was known to his friends) acquired a taste for the paper chase with the Springgit Harriers in Malacca (also in Malaya). Shortly after being transferred by his accounting firm to Kuala Lumpur he gathered together a number of fellow expatriate businessmen to form a harrier group. The first run was held in December 1938 and the founding members included Cecil H. Lee, Frederick "Horse" Thomson, Eric Galvin, H.M. Doig, and Ronald "Torch" Bennet.

The group's name came about primarily because local authorities required legal registration of clubs and organizations. While the "Kuala Lumpur Harriers" would have appeared a logical choice, "G" decided instead to use the nickname for the Selangor Club where a number of the local harriers both lived and took their meals. It seems that due to its lackluster food, the dining room was commonly referred to as the "Hash House."

The Original "Hash House," Kuala Lumpur, circa 1938

The philosophy of the original Hash House Harriers from the 1938 charter:

» To promote physical fitness among our members
» To get rid of weekend hangovers
» To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
» To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel

Hashing in Kuala Lumpur was suspended during the World War II occupation by Japanese forces, but then reestablished after peace returned. It wasn't too long before the hash began slowly spreading around the world. Former members of the original Hash House Harriers started a hash in 1947 near Milan, Italy, but it wasn't until 1962 that the next group was formed in Singapore. The Singapore Hash was gradually followed by others until in 1973 there were approximately 35 hashes in 14 countries.

Subsequently, the hash began spreading like wildfire and the number of hashes soon climbed into the hundreds by the early 1980s. Today there are thousands of active hashes in over 180 countries, including over 500 in the United States.

Hashers are from a wide array of ages, running abilities and demographic backgrounds. Modern hares now mark the trails they lay with informative symbols and simple blobs of more eco-friendly flour and chalk rather than scraps of paper. The paths they follow range from simple, short street running to grueling cross-country tests of will and endurance. The harriers follow the laid path in a group effort to catch the hare, shouting "On! On!" to let other harriers know that they have found and are following the trail.

Hashers world-wide take a great deal of pride as they describe their organization (with tongue firmly planted in cheek) "a drinking club with a running problem". Hashes subscribe to the philosophy that the more participants the merrier and welcome all comers.

*****

Interesting isn't it?!

Just in case you missed it ...

... A Solar eclipse occurred between 3:35 a.m. and 6:44 a.m., yesterday(Sunday) morning.