We had a Blow today around here.
The water on the lake even had white caps rushing over the interstate at one point this afternoon from being stirred up by the wind.
This on top of last nights torrential rains made a day of it for everyone.
They say we're to have a sunny day tomorrow ... but they say a lot of things.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Alabama sheriff arrested over jail food
A federal judge ordered an Alabama sheriff locked up in his own jail Wednesday after holding him in contempt for failing to adequately feed inmates while profiting from the skimpy meals.
U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon had court security arrest Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett at the end of a hearing that produced dramatic testimony from skinny prisoners about paper-thin bologna and cold grits.
Bartlett had no comment as he was led from the courtroom.
His attorney, Donald Rhead, said he believes the sheriff will be kept away from other inmates and hopes he will be quickly released.
The sheriff, who showed no emotion when his arrest was ordered, had testified that he legally pocketed about $212,000 over three years with surplus meal money but denied that inmates were improperly fed.
Clemon, however, said the sheriff would be jailed until he comes up with a plan to provide the 300 jail inmates with nutrionally adequate meals, as required by a 2001 court order.
Rhea said a plan may be drawn up Wednesday night and sent to the judge.
Clemon said the Alabama law allowing sheriffs to take home surplus meal money is "probably unconstitutional," but his ruling was limited to the finding that the court order was violated.
It didn't address whether the law should be overturned.
"He makes money by failing to spend the allocated funds for food for inmates," Clemon said.
An attorney representing the inmates, Melanie Velez of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, called Clemon's order to take the sheriff into custody "extraodinary."
She said she was shocked to learn how much meal money Bartlett was taking home.
Sheriffs in 55 of Alabama's 67 counties operate under the system allowing them to make money operating their jail kitchens.
The law pays sheriffs $1.75 a day for each prisoner they house and lets the elected officers pocket any profit they can generate.
The law doesn't require the money to be spent at the jail or within the department; sheriffs can keep it as personal income.
They historically have provided little information about profits, so the hearing offered a rare look into a practice that dates back to the Depression.
At the hearing, 10 prisoners told Clemon meals are so small that they're forced to buy snacks from a for-profit store the jailers operate.
Most of the inmates appeared thin, with baggy jail coveralls hanging off their frames.
Some testified they spent hundreds of dollars a month at the store, which Bartlett said generates profits used for training and equipment.
Inmates told of getting half an egg, a spoonful of oatmeal and one piece of toast most days at their 3 a.m. daily breakfast.
Lunch is usually a handful of chips and two sandwiches with barely enough peanut butter to taste.
"It looks like it was sprayed on with an aerosol can," testified Demetrius Hines, adding he's lost at least 35 pounds in five months since his arrest on drug charges.
Most prisoners said they supplement the meals by spending $20 a week or more on chips, oatmeal pies and other junk food at the jailhouse store.
But Sheriff Bartlett testified that he monitors the jail kitchen and occasionally eats there.
He said he's certain he's meeting nutrition requirements under the settlement of a federal lawsuit regarding conditions at the jail.
Two nutritionists testifying on behalf of the sheriff said the jailhouse menu was proper, and they said some prisoners gain weight in jail.
Bartlett said he made about $95,000 last year feeding inmates after also receiving money from the county and the U.S. government for housing federal prisoners.
Despite rising food costs, Bartlett said he made a $62,000 profit in 2007 and $55,000 in 2006.
Bartlett said he uses donations and special deals to make money.
As an example, Bartlett said he and a neighboring sheriff recently split the $1,000 cost for an 18-wheeler full of corn dogs.
Prisoners testified they ate corn dogs twice a day for weeks.
Prisoners said they are almost always hungry after meals in the Morgan County jail, but the head of the Alabama Sheriff's Association said such a complaint is common around the state.
"You're never going to be able to satisfy them," said Bobby Timmons, the executive director of the association.
If he is skimping on the meals he needs to be on the receiving end of them for a long time.
If you want to keep repeat offenders out of jail you can serve their 'three hots' nutritionally and tasteless and they won't be back for 'seconds' like they are now.
If you are running a slipshod operation to line your pockets then there are a set of wonderful steel bracelets with you name on them, waiting for you.
U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon had court security arrest Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett at the end of a hearing that produced dramatic testimony from skinny prisoners about paper-thin bologna and cold grits.
Bartlett had no comment as he was led from the courtroom.
His attorney, Donald Rhead, said he believes the sheriff will be kept away from other inmates and hopes he will be quickly released.
The sheriff, who showed no emotion when his arrest was ordered, had testified that he legally pocketed about $212,000 over three years with surplus meal money but denied that inmates were improperly fed.
Clemon, however, said the sheriff would be jailed until he comes up with a plan to provide the 300 jail inmates with nutrionally adequate meals, as required by a 2001 court order.
Rhea said a plan may be drawn up Wednesday night and sent to the judge.
Clemon said the Alabama law allowing sheriffs to take home surplus meal money is "probably unconstitutional," but his ruling was limited to the finding that the court order was violated.
It didn't address whether the law should be overturned.
"He makes money by failing to spend the allocated funds for food for inmates," Clemon said.
An attorney representing the inmates, Melanie Velez of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, called Clemon's order to take the sheriff into custody "extraodinary."
She said she was shocked to learn how much meal money Bartlett was taking home.
Sheriffs in 55 of Alabama's 67 counties operate under the system allowing them to make money operating their jail kitchens.
The law pays sheriffs $1.75 a day for each prisoner they house and lets the elected officers pocket any profit they can generate.
The law doesn't require the money to be spent at the jail or within the department; sheriffs can keep it as personal income.
They historically have provided little information about profits, so the hearing offered a rare look into a practice that dates back to the Depression.
At the hearing, 10 prisoners told Clemon meals are so small that they're forced to buy snacks from a for-profit store the jailers operate.
Most of the inmates appeared thin, with baggy jail coveralls hanging off their frames.
Some testified they spent hundreds of dollars a month at the store, which Bartlett said generates profits used for training and equipment.
Inmates told of getting half an egg, a spoonful of oatmeal and one piece of toast most days at their 3 a.m. daily breakfast.
Lunch is usually a handful of chips and two sandwiches with barely enough peanut butter to taste.
"It looks like it was sprayed on with an aerosol can," testified Demetrius Hines, adding he's lost at least 35 pounds in five months since his arrest on drug charges.
Most prisoners said they supplement the meals by spending $20 a week or more on chips, oatmeal pies and other junk food at the jailhouse store.
But Sheriff Bartlett testified that he monitors the jail kitchen and occasionally eats there.
He said he's certain he's meeting nutrition requirements under the settlement of a federal lawsuit regarding conditions at the jail.
Two nutritionists testifying on behalf of the sheriff said the jailhouse menu was proper, and they said some prisoners gain weight in jail.
Bartlett said he made about $95,000 last year feeding inmates after also receiving money from the county and the U.S. government for housing federal prisoners.
Despite rising food costs, Bartlett said he made a $62,000 profit in 2007 and $55,000 in 2006.
Bartlett said he uses donations and special deals to make money.
As an example, Bartlett said he and a neighboring sheriff recently split the $1,000 cost for an 18-wheeler full of corn dogs.
Prisoners testified they ate corn dogs twice a day for weeks.
Prisoners said they are almost always hungry after meals in the Morgan County jail, but the head of the Alabama Sheriff's Association said such a complaint is common around the state.
"You're never going to be able to satisfy them," said Bobby Timmons, the executive director of the association.
*****
If he is skimping on the meals he needs to be on the receiving end of them for a long time.
If you want to keep repeat offenders out of jail you can serve their 'three hots' nutritionally and tasteless and they won't be back for 'seconds' like they are now.
If you are running a slipshod operation to line your pockets then there are a set of wonderful steel bracelets with you name on them, waiting for you.
Our Readers
Readers in:
India, Switzerland, Bahrain, the Netherlands, Panama, Ghana, Australia, England, Albania, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Estonia, Romania, Japan, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Turkey, Argentina, Finland, Pakistan and the United States
have stopped by Carolina Naturally today.
India, Switzerland, Bahrain, the Netherlands, Panama, Ghana, Australia, England, Albania, Canada, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Estonia, Romania, Japan, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Turkey, Argentina, Finland, Pakistan and the United States
have stopped by Carolina Naturally today.
Heavy rain causing flooding across South
Heavy rain across the South on Wednesday caused flooding, school and road closures and a landslide that destroyed a home in North Carolina.
Thousands of people lost power across the Carolinas as a cold front swept the region with wind and rain, and a landslide destroyed a home in the mountains of western North Carolina.
One home in Haywood County was destroyed, but its occupants escaped with only minor injuries, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.
Emergency crews evacuated eight other homes in the Maggie Valley area.
"I'm just glad no one was killed," said neighbor Carolyn Phillips.
Utility companies have said nearly 20,000 customers had lost power in North Carolina and South Carolina by mid-morning and crews scrambled to restore service.
Most outages were in North Carolina and were concentrated in central counties.
People in about 25 homes in eastern Tennessee were encouraged to evacuate in the face of rising waters.
The rain also closed roads and caused two small rock slides.
Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky and West Virginia were also experiencing flooding.
In addition to rain, a wind advisory issued for most of Georgia called for gusts ranging from 20 mph to 30 mph.
In West Virginia, the state's major electric utilities, Allegheny Energy and Appalachian Power, reported there were thousands without power.
As skies cleared in Alabama, parts of the state still struggled with scattered flooding from a lengthy deluge that led to rescue operations earlier in the week when cars were engulfed in water.
Emergency crews evacuated about 70 people Monday night from a bingo hall in a low-lying area between Jasper and Sumiton.
Crews returned Tuesday with a boat to reach employees who stayed behind.
The local weather gurus are claiming the sun will appear again tomorrow - we're crossing our soggy fingers they're right this time!
Thousands of people lost power across the Carolinas as a cold front swept the region with wind and rain, and a landslide destroyed a home in the mountains of western North Carolina.
One home in Haywood County was destroyed, but its occupants escaped with only minor injuries, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.
Emergency crews evacuated eight other homes in the Maggie Valley area.
"I'm just glad no one was killed," said neighbor Carolyn Phillips.
Utility companies have said nearly 20,000 customers had lost power in North Carolina and South Carolina by mid-morning and crews scrambled to restore service.
Most outages were in North Carolina and were concentrated in central counties.
People in about 25 homes in eastern Tennessee were encouraged to evacuate in the face of rising waters.
The rain also closed roads and caused two small rock slides.
Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky and West Virginia were also experiencing flooding.
In addition to rain, a wind advisory issued for most of Georgia called for gusts ranging from 20 mph to 30 mph.
In West Virginia, the state's major electric utilities, Allegheny Energy and Appalachian Power, reported there were thousands without power.
As skies cleared in Alabama, parts of the state still struggled with scattered flooding from a lengthy deluge that led to rescue operations earlier in the week when cars were engulfed in water.
Emergency crews evacuated about 70 people Monday night from a bingo hall in a low-lying area between Jasper and Sumiton.
Crews returned Tuesday with a boat to reach employees who stayed behind.
*****
The local weather gurus are claiming the sun will appear again tomorrow - we're crossing our soggy fingers they're right this time!
Three New Yorkers charged in election bias attacks
Three morons you mean ...
Three New York teenagers have been charged with federal civil rights charges in connection with election night racial violence in which attackers shouted "Obama."
The three youths were charged with conspiracy to interfere with voting rights in an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court today, and scheduled to be arraigned later today.
The indictment says the defendants - Ralph Nicoletti, Michael Contreras and Brian Carranza - "did knowingly and intentionally conspire to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate African American citizens of Staten Island..." of their constitutional rights.
Authorities say the most serious of the Staten Island attacks was on a 17-year-old Liberian native.
He was bludgeoned with a pipe and an expandable police baton, while the attackers yelled "Obama!"
I need a new drug ...
Sorry that Huey Lewis and the News song just popped into my head while reading this blurb:
An evaluation by the Food and Drug Administration released Wednesday says the medication works and its safety is acceptable.
Called ATryn, the drug is intended to help people with a rare hereditary disorder that makes them vulnerable to life-threatening blood clots.
Its approval would be a major step toward new kinds of medications made not from chemicals, but from living organisms genetically manipulated by scientists.
Similar drugs could be available in the next few years for a range of human ailments, including hemophilia.
Damn, now that song is going to drive me nuts all day!
Drug from genetically engineered goats a first
In a scientific first, an anti-clotting drug made from the milk of genetically engineered goats is moving closer to government approval for humans.An evaluation by the Food and Drug Administration released Wednesday says the medication works and its safety is acceptable.
Called ATryn, the drug is intended to help people with a rare hereditary disorder that makes them vulnerable to life-threatening blood clots.
Its approval would be a major step toward new kinds of medications made not from chemicals, but from living organisms genetically manipulated by scientists.
Similar drugs could be available in the next few years for a range of human ailments, including hemophilia.
*****
Damn, now that song is going to drive me nuts all day!
"Citizen videos" spread online showing BART police officer shooting unarmed man to death
(Warning, explicit content: the video below shows a man being shot to death).
In the early hours of New Year's Day, 27-year-old BART police officer Johannes Mehserle shot and killed 22-year old Oscar Grant. A number of people who were riding the BART train that night witnessed the shooting, and shot video or photos on handheld cameras or phones.
The victim's family filed a lawsuit for $25 million.
Five days after the shooting, the accused officer still has not given a statement. He is said to be have received death threats and authorities are apparently moving him from place to place to protect him from harm.
Some people are speculating the shooting may have been an accident -- the officer may have grabbed his gun by mistake because he thought he was instead grabbing a Taser device. That argument is quite hard to understand. The weapons are so different.
From SF Chronicle article, to that point:
[Use-of-force training and research firm founder Bruce Siddle] said changes in how the brain processes information in a stressful situation might have led the officer to mistake the butt of his service weapon for the Taser. But other experts found the idea that the shooting resulted from such a mix-up hard to believe.The fact that so many videos and images are surfacing in this case is significant, because each set of images provides a different view of the killing, with different visual information."That's as reflexive as you getting in on the driver's side of the car (instead of) the passenger side if you want to drive it," [Florida criminologist George] Kirkham said. "There's no remote similarity to a conventional firearm. ... The Taser is just like apples and oranges."
From that same SF Chronicle article:
Roy Bedard, who has trained police officers around the world, advanced a different theory after his first viewing of the video: that the shooting was a pure accident, a trigger pulled because of a loss of balance or a loud noise.Other places this story is showing up: BART Police (in Oakland) murdered a man on NYE.But in an indication of how the videos might move the investigation, Bedard reached a different conclusion after viewing the shooting from a different angle.
"Looking at it, I hate to say this, it looks like an execution to me," he said. "It really looks bad for the officer. ... We have to get inside his head and figure out what he was thinking when he fired the shot."
Here is one video (nsa.org).
Here is another released by a Bay Area CBS affiliate -- first, we see the entire, raw footage a 19 year old eyewitness shot on her camcorder, then we hear her explain what she saw and experienced -- she says a female BART police officer tried to forcibly confiscate her camcorder.
Here is still another video (YouTube).
Obama wax figure free for Yanks in London
On January 2oth that is ...
Stuck in Britain on Inauguration Day?
Stuck in Britain on Inauguration Day?
Madame Tussauds, the London waxwork museum, is offering U.S. tourists the chance to see their new president up close for free.
The museum says Americans need to bring proof of citizenship.
The offer is intended to celebrate the inauguration of the museum's new attraction - a Barack Obama waxwork - on January 20th.
Sculptors are still adding the finishing touches, but the museum said Wednesday that Obama would be shown in an informal and relaxed pose, smiling with arms folded amid a reproduction of the White House Oval Office.
Museum spokeswoman Liz Edwards declined to say how many people she thought would show up for the free viewing.
The museum typically charges 25 pounds ($38) at the door.
Japan wants anti-whaling ship barred from ports
Radical conservationists who have been chasing Japanese whalers in the Antarctic Ocean said Wednesday they were heading to Australia to refuel their ship, a day after Japan argued they were pirates who should be barred from refueling.
Renegade activist Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd's ship, said he doubted Australia would block his boat - the Steve Irwin - when it lands in Hobart, Tasmania, sometime next week.
Japan said Tuesday it plans to ask Australia to bar the ship from its ports, though Australian officials said they have received no formal request.
Protesters aboard the ship, named after the late Australian conservationist and TV personality Steve Irwin, have chased Japan's whaling fleet for 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) and last month lobbed bottles of rancid butter at the whalers.
They are currently about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) southeast of Hobart.
"I can't see Australia banning a ship called the 'Steve Irwin,'" Watson said.
"Japan is being extremely arrogant in making such a demand."
Renegade activist Paul Watson, captain of the Sea Shepherd's ship, said he doubted Australia would block his boat - the Steve Irwin - when it lands in Hobart, Tasmania, sometime next week.
Japan said Tuesday it plans to ask Australia to bar the ship from its ports, though Australian officials said they have received no formal request.
Protesters aboard the ship, named after the late Australian conservationist and TV personality Steve Irwin, have chased Japan's whaling fleet for 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) and last month lobbed bottles of rancid butter at the whalers.
They are currently about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) southeast of Hobart.
"I can't see Australia banning a ship called the 'Steve Irwin,'" Watson said.
"Japan is being extremely arrogant in making such a demand."
Illegal exports endanger box turtles in Malaysia
The box turtle is disappearing across Malaysia because of increased illegal hunting for its meat and use in traditional Chinese medicine, wildlife activists said earlier today.
TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network, said in a new report that the Malayan Box Turtle "is in peril due to overexploitation" despite a Malaysian government ban on its export since 2005.
Since the ban, export of turtles for the pet trade in Japan, Europe and the United States ceased, but TRAFFIC found widespread evidence of continuing illegal export, mainly to Hong Kong, China and to a lesser extent Singapore.
Exotic meats from wildlife are much sought after by the Chinese, who also use body parts of animals for traditional medicines including aphrodisiacs.
There is no commercial breeding of the animal in Malaysia or elsewhere because it is expensive and time-consuming.
"To meet demand, animals are being taken from the wild at an unsustainable rate, which has to be addressed or they will disappear from the Malaysian countryside," said Sabine Schoppe, the author of the report.
The report said a survey of stock at two traders in Selangor state found 385 box turtles in a 38 day period.
Multiplying by the number of known illegal suppliers of turtles gives a conservative estimate of almost 22,000 animals illegally exported per year from Malaysia, Schoppe said.
"Simple maths leads you to the obvious conclusion: stop the over-exploitation of Malayan Box Turtles, before we lose them," she said.
She said the vast majority of the illegally exported Malayan Box Turtles - distinguished by three yellow stripes on the head and a dark olive carpace - are adults.
This is especially dangerous because the species has a slow reproductive cycle and produces a limited number of eggs in its life span of 30 to 35 years.
A typical adult is about 20 cms (8 inches) long.
The Asian Box Turtle, which includes a range of box turtles including the Malayan variety, was listed as vulnerable to extinction by IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in 2000.
TRAFFIC, a joint program of IUCN and WWF, urged Malaysia to strictly implement the export ban for one generation to allow numbers to recover.
It also called for better regional cooperation in controlling illegal wildlife trade, particularly at border crossings.
Misliah Mohamed Basir, deputy director of Malaysia's wildlife department, said it was difficult to stamp out the illegal trade.
Smugglers, if even convicted, often get away with a fine.
"We try our best to curb this, but it's not an easy job," she said.
TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitoring network, said in a new report that the Malayan Box Turtle "is in peril due to overexploitation" despite a Malaysian government ban on its export since 2005.
Since the ban, export of turtles for the pet trade in Japan, Europe and the United States ceased, but TRAFFIC found widespread evidence of continuing illegal export, mainly to Hong Kong, China and to a lesser extent Singapore.
Exotic meats from wildlife are much sought after by the Chinese, who also use body parts of animals for traditional medicines including aphrodisiacs.
There is no commercial breeding of the animal in Malaysia or elsewhere because it is expensive and time-consuming.
"To meet demand, animals are being taken from the wild at an unsustainable rate, which has to be addressed or they will disappear from the Malaysian countryside," said Sabine Schoppe, the author of the report.
The report said a survey of stock at two traders in Selangor state found 385 box turtles in a 38 day period.
Multiplying by the number of known illegal suppliers of turtles gives a conservative estimate of almost 22,000 animals illegally exported per year from Malaysia, Schoppe said.
"Simple maths leads you to the obvious conclusion: stop the over-exploitation of Malayan Box Turtles, before we lose them," she said.
She said the vast majority of the illegally exported Malayan Box Turtles - distinguished by three yellow stripes on the head and a dark olive carpace - are adults.
This is especially dangerous because the species has a slow reproductive cycle and produces a limited number of eggs in its life span of 30 to 35 years.
A typical adult is about 20 cms (8 inches) long.
The Asian Box Turtle, which includes a range of box turtles including the Malayan variety, was listed as vulnerable to extinction by IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, in 2000.
TRAFFIC, a joint program of IUCN and WWF, urged Malaysia to strictly implement the export ban for one generation to allow numbers to recover.
It also called for better regional cooperation in controlling illegal wildlife trade, particularly at border crossings.
Misliah Mohamed Basir, deputy director of Malaysia's wildlife department, said it was difficult to stamp out the illegal trade.
Smugglers, if even convicted, often get away with a fine.
"We try our best to curb this, but it's not an easy job," she said.
Cambodia marks Khmer Rouge fall
Thousands of Cambodians celebrated earlier Wednesday the fall of the murderous Khmer Rouge regime 30 years ago as a UN-backed tribunal prepared to finally try some of its key leaders for crimes against humanity.
More than 40,000 people packed Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium for speeches and a parade to mark the day Vietnamese forces entered the capital to oust the ultra-communists from power.
Despite the deaths of 1.7 million or more Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule, none of the surviving leaders have yet faced justice.
One of the accused - Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge's largest torture center - is expected to take the stand in March, said co-prosecutor Robert Petit, adding that the trial is expected to take three to four months.
But the other four, all of them aging and ailing, probably won't be tried until 2010 or later.
Tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said Tuesday that they would hold a procedural meeting next week.
Although this year's celebration - dubbed "Victory over Genocide" - was the largest ever, keynote speaker and Senate President Chea Sim made no mention of the tribunal.
The Cambodian government, whose top leaders served in the Khmer Rouge ranks before defecting, has been accused of foot-dragging on the trial.
"After 30 years, no one has been tried, convicted or sentenced for the crimes of one of the bloodiest regimes of the 20th century," the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a release Monday.
"This is no accident. For more than a decade, China and the United States blocked efforts at accountability, and for the past decade (Prime Minister) Hun Sen has done his best to thwart justice," it said.
China was a key supporter of the Khmer Rouge and then the United States backed a post-1979 insurgency, which included Khmer Rouge guerrillas who fought the Vietnamese-installed government in Phnom Penh.
The Khmer Rouge finally fell apart in 1998 after the death of its leader Pol Pot.
Chea Sim said that the legacy of the Khmer Rouge era has yet to be erased in Cambodia, where peace, nonviolence and a sense of self-confidence were still needed.
He also noted that 30 percent of the people were still living below the poverty line.
"I am happy to join in the ceremony today because on January 7th my second life began," said a 59-year-old farmer, Im Oun.
She said her father and sister both died of starvation during the Khmer Rouge period, when the country was turned into a vast slave labor camp.
"I want to see Khmer Rouge leaders prosecuted as soon as possible because they are getting old now," she said.
More than 40,000 people packed Phnom Penh's Olympic Stadium for speeches and a parade to mark the day Vietnamese forces entered the capital to oust the ultra-communists from power.
Despite the deaths of 1.7 million or more Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule, none of the surviving leaders have yet faced justice.
One of the accused - Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge's largest torture center - is expected to take the stand in March, said co-prosecutor Robert Petit, adding that the trial is expected to take three to four months.
But the other four, all of them aging and ailing, probably won't be tried until 2010 or later.
Tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said Tuesday that they would hold a procedural meeting next week.
Although this year's celebration - dubbed "Victory over Genocide" - was the largest ever, keynote speaker and Senate President Chea Sim made no mention of the tribunal.
The Cambodian government, whose top leaders served in the Khmer Rouge ranks before defecting, has been accused of foot-dragging on the trial.
"After 30 years, no one has been tried, convicted or sentenced for the crimes of one of the bloodiest regimes of the 20th century," the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a release Monday.
"This is no accident. For more than a decade, China and the United States blocked efforts at accountability, and for the past decade (Prime Minister) Hun Sen has done his best to thwart justice," it said.
China was a key supporter of the Khmer Rouge and then the United States backed a post-1979 insurgency, which included Khmer Rouge guerrillas who fought the Vietnamese-installed government in Phnom Penh.
The Khmer Rouge finally fell apart in 1998 after the death of its leader Pol Pot.
Chea Sim said that the legacy of the Khmer Rouge era has yet to be erased in Cambodia, where peace, nonviolence and a sense of self-confidence were still needed.
He also noted that 30 percent of the people were still living below the poverty line.
"I am happy to join in the ceremony today because on January 7th my second life began," said a 59-year-old farmer, Im Oun.
She said her father and sister both died of starvation during the Khmer Rouge period, when the country was turned into a vast slave labor camp.
"I want to see Khmer Rouge leaders prosecuted as soon as possible because they are getting old now," she said.
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as well as the states of
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(that's 28 of the 50 states - over half the United States reading this lil' ol'blog at the same time ... wow!)
are enjoying Carolina Naturally.
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
No whining! No, you can't buy everything you want the first minute you want it. Another illusion shattered! You didn't like this one much, anyway.
Oh, Well!
No whining! No, you can't buy everything you want the first minute you want it. Another illusion shattered! You didn't like this one much, anyway.
Oh, Well!
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Obama's wheels
As a candidate, Barack Obama promoted hybrid cars.
As president, he'll be handed the keys to one.
Well, sort of.
Well, sort of.
Shortly after taking the oath of office, Obama will climb into the Mother of All Hybrids -- part car, part truck and, from the looks of it, part tank.
In keeping with recent tradition, the Secret Service will place a brand-new presidential limousine into service January 20 to drive the new president on the 2-mile jaunt down Pennsylvania Avenue during the inaugural parade.
Already, spy photos of the limo -- with patches of gray primer -- have leaked out.
And already, the reviews are in:
"Ugly as sin," says one car enthusiast on an auto Web site. "Can't we make a hotter ride for our pres?"
"Sheesh," says another, "why don't they just transport the president around in an Abrams tank."
One news agency, noting its 8-inch-thick doors, says the limo can withstand a "direct hit from an asteroid."
But GM spokeswoman Joanne K. Krell laughed off the comments. "And it will fix you a latte if you ask," she jokes.
In truth, the new presidential limo is a Cadillac, Krell said, although it is "not a direct extension of any single model."
"The presidential vehicle is built to precise and special specifications, undergoes extreme testing and development, and also incorporates many of the top aspects of Cadillac's 'regular' cars -- such as signature design, hand-cut-and-sewn interiors, etc.," Krell said.
"Cadillac is honored to serve and renew this great tradition," she said. "And it is entirely appropriate that an American president has at his service a great American vehicle."
For much of the country's history, the Secret Service didn't even drive the president, evidently oblivious to the dangers of asteroids and other universal bodies.
In the post-Lincoln horse-and-buggy era, it was customary for a security detail to closely trail the president, according to a Secret Service history.
With the advent of automobiles, the Secret Service acquired a 1907 H. White Steamer to follow Theodore Roosevelt's horse-drawn carriage.
White House chauffeurs drove later presidents, until the Secret Service assumed many of the driving responsibilities after Franklin Roosevelt's death in 1945.
In 1965, Lyndon Johnson was the first president to ride in a bulletproof limo in an inaugural parade, less than two years after his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, was shot and killed while riding in an open car.
Cut off from the world
Obama should expect two seemingly contradictory feelings when riding in the presidential limousine, said Joe Funk, a retired Secret Service agent who was President Bill Clinton's driver during part of his career.
"I think he will be surprised about how when he's in the limo, it's a cocoon," Funk said. "The everyday noises will be gone, and he will be totally isolated in this protective envelope."
"At the same time, I think he will be surprised at the communication capabilities, how the phones, the satellites, the Internet -- everything is at his fingertips," he said. "So at one end, you are totally removed from society. The other side of the coin is that he can have any communications worldwide at a moment's touch."
Funk says presidents sometimes chat with the agents, and sometimes don't.
"Every day is different, just like every person," he said. "Sometimes they get in the car and they have a lot on their mind. They're involved in reading material, they're involved in the newspaper, they're talking to local dignitaries or they are talking to Cabinet-level.
"Other times, they are interested in sporting events, in doing the crossword puzzle, interested in the feedback they get from talking to the agents -- primarily the supervisor that sits in the front seat," Funk said.
While the government spares no expense for the presidential limo, the weight of the car makes it less maneuverable and more sluggish than comparable sport utility vehicles, Funk said. And the door and window frames, which accommodate thick ballistic glass, create large blind spots, he said.
Funk's own experience driving Clinton was uneventful, he says, which is a good thing, considering his line of business.
"I was very lucky. We didn't have any close calls," he says. "Everything was very smooth."
But he still considers the experience a career highlight.
"At the end of the day, if you had a good driving day, you do kind of sit back with a certain amount of pride and say, 'I had the president of the United States in the car with me for an hour, two hours, and I got him from point A to point B safely in conjunction with all the other team members,' " he said. "When it's done, you can sit back and take some pride in knowing that you pulled it off."
Available in any color, as long as it's black
One Internet wag, adding to the rampant speculation about the new car, made this prediction: It will be painted black. But environmentalists may ask, will it be green?
Not likely. Car enthusiasts believe the overweight vehicle burns diesel and will have low mileage. And with diesel costing about $2.40 a gallon Monday, versus $1.67 for gasoline, this new limo can't be called an economy vehicle.
"The limousines of yesteryear were designed just well enough to provide protection to get the president out of the situation," says Ken Lucci, CEO of Ambassador Limousine Inc. and owner of two Reagan-era limos. "In today's case, they [the Secret Service] expect a prolonged attack, and they expect an attack that is a lot more violent than [with] a weapon you can hold in you hand."
"It literally is a rolling bunker," he says. "It just happens to have wheels on it."
And it's not a bad vehicle for someone whose job is to fix the economy, even if it won't brew coffee on command.
Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder
6- 10 million Americans are afflicted with BPD
By Ethan Elgin
I don’t know how many times I’ve heard a psych nurse say, “Oh man, we're getting another borderline.” To the layperson, this would make absolutely no sense, but to me, I knew what it meant. It meant a war within the hospital staff. A war of treatment and an uncertain outcome for the patient.
Let’s face it; one of the most controversial and potentially stigmatizing psychiatric disorders is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). First introduced in 1994 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, (DSM IV) mental health workers have strived for common ground on how to treat patients with this diagnosis.
More info on BPD criteria can be found here.
Often times, the divide, even among particular staff in hospitals, is so great that they debate the validity and even the existence of such a disorder. This can ultimately lead to doing greater harm than good in such a patient who exists in this grey area of stigma.
In an inpatient setting, what makes this most difficult for staff and doctors to get around is the fact that many times these patients engage in self destructive behavior as a direct result of staff interaction (however self-interpreted by the patient). Meaning, to test how much one cares about their current given situation. This is displayed usually by such acts as cutting, head-banging, staff splitting (pitting one staff member against another), or destruction of property.
All of this culminates in looking past the fact that these patients are typically terrified of being in a locked unit, probably waited more than eleven hours in the ER to be seen, have a significant history of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse, and many times can, in fact, be truly suicidal.
As a society, we tend to overlook the histrionics of an individual as “attention seeking” and especially in an emergency room setting where decisions are, in fact, life or death, these actions usually displayed by a person with BPD are often overlooked; and, in my experience, sometimes to the detriment of the patient.
What I would hope to see happen, in this day and age where personality disorders are increasingly becoming a deep staple of mental illness, is that doctors and intake personnel at hospitals read the literature more carefully; that they begin to hold in-services and take charge of a greater understanding of that which cannot be physically seen, but only heard by an often times cynical ear.
In recent years, steps have begun to be taken to recognize and take more seriously Axis II disorders, but speaking from one who has worked in that setting, it takes far more than simply going through the motions of setting up a care program at the responsibility of people afflicted with this disorder. It takes putting aside the cynicism and stepping up the compassion; in time you’ll notice that even the smallest bit of validation can go a long way towards saving a life.What does healthy food mean?
What does healthy food mean?
by Leigh Peele
by Leigh Peele
Healthy
healthy - adjective, healthier, healthiest.
1. possessing or enjoying good health or a sound and vigorous mentality: a healthy body; a healthy mind.
2. pertaining to or characteristic of good health, or a sound and vigorous mind: a healthy appearance; healthy attitudes.
3. conducive to good health; healthful: healthy recreations.
4. prosperous or sound: a healthy business.
5. Informal. fairly large: I bought a healthy number of books.
So what in reality constitutes healthy food?
I think our best focus here would be definition option #3: “conducive to good health.”: Good eating habits are conducive to good health. That is what dictionary.com says anyways, but who decides what is healthy and what is not? What does an item of food have to have in order to be deemed a “healthy food?”
It would seem by the current standards it’s a bit objective. You could come up with a food rating system based on what is conducive to good health based upon each food item. Since our bodies are made up of things that need vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates it seems like making a list of foods that are healthy isn’t really that much of a challenge.
The reverse, “unhealthy,” would mean a detriment to good health. : Bad eating habits are detrimental to good health.
What goes into determining when a food is detrimental to your health? What really are unhealthy foods?
Common sense would tell us that unhealthy foods are foods that provide little to no nutrients, vitamins, or minerals.
Sugar Free Jello Pudding
Low Carb ice cream
100 calories snack packs
None of the above is real food. Low calorie perhaps, but it provide no nutritional content. Obviously, you can have a little of this stuff here and there but if your entire day’s meals were made up of this stuff you might not feel so well after a while.
A loaf of whole grain bread is full of…wait, that has nutrients.
Well a hearty granola and organic cereal full of all those vitamins and minerals is…wait, that isn’t bad for you either.
A hamburger! There you go a lean ground beef hamburger on a whole grain sesame seed bun is…. full of protein, grains, iron.
Potatoes
Carrots
Beans
Oats
Wait!
How come all these foods are becoming blacklisted? How come all these foods are in a category that is detrimental for your health all of a sudden? Is it because they carry those scary things called -gasp- carbohydrates? Is it possible that what is detrimental to your health is the continuing misunderstanding of the difference between what is healthy QUANTITY and what is excessive QUANTITY?
Is it possible that the government and our society of cutting corners in all aspect of life, movement, and activity are the problem? It isn’t carbohydrates, it never has been. It is society’s continuous movements towards laziness and technology. The only fix is in education in the aspect of energy need and usage for one’s body.
Instead of trying to worry about remaking a food pyramid and giving a call to low carbohydrate arms, we need to come up with a solution to save our society from evolving into a couch cushion.
*****
Hear, Hear! I don't want to evolve in to a couch cushion. So, I best get on with the healthier life I have been working on.
A Utah woman spends day stuck headfirst down vent
You want to talk about deep cleaning!
A woman was recovering after spending more than a day lodged inside a vent at her home after falling in while vacuuming it.
Ogden police Lt. Scott Sangberg said they came to the 55-year-old woman's house after family members called police to say they hadn't heard from her in more than a day.
Police entered the home and found the woman stuck headfirst down a large cold air return vent, The Salt Lake Tribune reported in its online edition Tuesday.
Ogden fire Deputy Chief Chad Tucker said the woman was vacuuming vents when saw something inside one, reached for it and fell in.
The woman had cuts and abrasions and was recovering in the hospital Tuesday.
Police say the woman's family hadn't heard from her in about 30 hours.
*****
Just how big are the vents in her house then?
Mexican woman in wheelchair flees on foot
From the "Oops, I screwed up, big time" Department:
Police say a woman who begged from a wheelchair was caught running from a crime scene on foot in Monterrey, Mexico.
Police spokeswoman Sidlayin Robles says 30-year-old Ana Victoria Perez fled on foot after she and her husband allegedly threw a stone through the front window of a furniture store.
Perez was a regular fixture along a main Monterrey road, asking for change from motorists as she sat in a wheelchair pushed by her husband.
Robles said Monday that the couple apparently planned to rob the furniture store but were scared off by a security guard. They have been charged with vandalism.
Police arrested the couple when they returned for the wheelchair.
Believe it or not: The top lies of 2008
The Burlington Liars Club in Burlington, Wisconsin, revealed its 2008 Champion Lie on Monday as part of an annual contest.
The Winner:
- "My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it." - Garth Seehawer of Oconto Falls, Wisconsin.
The Runners-up, in random order:
- "On a recent flight from New York to LA, we were watching the in-flight movie called Cocoon. It was during a pool scene that we encountered some very violent turbulence. It was so rough that the water in the pool in the movie splashed out onto the passengers and an onboard life raft inflated!! The flight crew had to hand out towels to dry us all off!!" - Jim Kubath of Palm Springs, California.
- "It used to be in the winter when I walked into my house my glasses would fog up. But now, at the cost of fuel, I have my temperature down so low that when I go outside my glasses fog up." - Jerry Olson of Bonduel, Wisconsin.
- "I knew I had to lose weight when both the automatic in and out doors opened when I entered the grocery store." - Michael E. Peters, of Fox Point, Wisconsin.
- "When my uncle wakes up in the morning he often yawns and says, 'I could stretch a mile.' Of course, he never does since he's too lazy to walk back." by Ellen Everts of New London, Wisconsin.
- "This summer with gas at $4.25 per gallon, I drove up to a prepay gas station and asked the lady clerk for $5 worth of gas. She (broke wind) and handed me a receipt!" Gene C. Lasch of Shawano, Wisconsin.
- "I have three German shepherds, outside dogs. This morning, it was SO cold outside that one of my dogs was trying to 'jump start' the other!!!!!!!" - Richard Bosanko of Bristol, Wisconsin.
Lou the mule credited with saving woman from fire
Jolene Solomon is beginning the new year with her life, her mule named Lou and little else.
The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention.
Solomon, 63, who lived alone, stepped outside, she saw her house was on fire.
She called 911 and as she waited for firefighters, her home and everything in it burned to the ground.
She said her father bought Lou years ago to help her and her late sister, Blue, around the farm. It took Lou months to get over the loss of her sister.
Solomon said she has 'lost it all', but credits Lou with saving her life.
Jolene is staying with family members and plans to rebuild her home.
The home was built by her grandfather and she had lived there all her life.
The Southern Standard in McMinnville reported Solomon had just finished eating supper on New Year's Day when Lou's braying and acting up got her attention.
Solomon, 63, who lived alone, stepped outside, she saw her house was on fire.
She called 911 and as she waited for firefighters, her home and everything in it burned to the ground.
She said her father bought Lou years ago to help her and her late sister, Blue, around the farm. It took Lou months to get over the loss of her sister.
Solomon said she has 'lost it all', but credits Lou with saving her life.
Jolene is staying with family members and plans to rebuild her home.
The home was built by her grandfather and she had lived there all her life.
Scorned ex posts vandalism photo on MySpace
From the "I'm such an idiot" Department:
A scorned 21-year-old in St. Paul, Minnesota, told her ex-boyfriend that he couldn't prove she was the one who vandalized his apartment on three occasions - but then, police said, she posted a picture of the damage on MySpace.
The woman was charged with two felonies for the vandalism.
A scorned 21-year-old in St. Paul, Minnesota, told her ex-boyfriend that he couldn't prove she was the one who vandalized his apartment on three occasions - but then, police said, she posted a picture of the damage on MySpace.
The woman was charged with two felonies for the vandalism.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County last week, she doused the inside of his house with paint - splashing it on the walls, toilet, washing machine, computer and other furniture.
She also allegedly filled the house with trash, impaled a teddy bear on a pole with a knife through its head, and caused other damage.
The woman was still on the lam Tuesday.
The complaint doesn't say why she might have wanted revenge, but it says she found out the man had been seeing another woman when he broke up with her.
The Brothers Golberg
The four Goldberg brothers, Lowell, Norman, Hiram, and Max, invented and developed the first automobile air-conditioner.
On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees.
The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that four gentlemen were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter.
Henry was curious and invited them into his office.
They refused and instead asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car.
They persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned on the air conditioner, and cooled the car off immediately.
The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he offered them $3 million for the patent.
The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million, but they wanted the recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner,' on the dashboard of each car in which it was installed.
Now, old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the Goldberg's name on two million Fords.
They haggled back and forth for about two hours, and finally agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be shown.
And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max on the controls.
So, now you know...
P.S. Don't lose your sense of humor during these challenging times!
On July 17, 1946, the temperature in Detroit was 97 degrees.
The four brothers walked into old man Henry Ford's office and sweet-talked his secretary into telling him that four gentlemen were there with the most exciting innovation in the auto industry since the electric starter.
Henry was curious and invited them into his office.
They refused and instead asked that he come out to the parking lot to their car.
They persuaded him to get into the car, which was about 130 degrees, turned on the air conditioner, and cooled the car off immediately.
The old man got very excited and invited them back to the office, where he offered them $3 million for the patent.
The brothers refused, saying they would settle for $2 million, but they wanted the recognition by having a label, 'The Goldberg Air-Conditioner,' on the dashboard of each car in which it was installed.
Now, old man Ford was more than just a little anti-Semitic, and there was no way he was going to put the Goldberg's name on two million Fords.
They haggled back and forth for about two hours, and finally agreed on $4 million and that just their first names would be shown.
And so to this day, all Ford air conditioners show Lo, Norm, Hi, and Max on the controls.
So, now you know...
P.S. Don't lose your sense of humor during these challenging times!
State unemployment claim systems overwhelmed
In just another 'legacy' from the shrub and the cabal ...
Electronic unemployment filing systems have crashed in at least three states in recent days amid an unprecedented crush of thousands of newly jobless Americans seeking benefits, and other states were adjusting their systems to avoid being next.
About 4.5 million Americans are collecting jobless benefits, a 26-year high, so the Web sites and phone systems now commonly used to file for benefits are being tested like never before.
Even those that are holding up under the strain are in many cases leaving filers on the line for hours, or kissing them off with an "all circuits are busy" message.
Agencies have been scrambling to hire hundreds more workers to handle the calls.
Systems in New York, North Carolina and Ohio were shut down completely by technical glitches and heavy volume, and labor officials in several other states are reporting higher-than-normal use.
Electronic unemployment filing systems have crashed in at least three states in recent days amid an unprecedented crush of thousands of newly jobless Americans seeking benefits, and other states were adjusting their systems to avoid being next.
About 4.5 million Americans are collecting jobless benefits, a 26-year high, so the Web sites and phone systems now commonly used to file for benefits are being tested like never before.
Even those that are holding up under the strain are in many cases leaving filers on the line for hours, or kissing them off with an "all circuits are busy" message.
Agencies have been scrambling to hire hundreds more workers to handle the calls.
Systems in New York, North Carolina and Ohio were shut down completely by technical glitches and heavy volume, and labor officials in several other states are reporting higher-than-normal use.
Why America Is Still Awesome
For someone who describes himself as a right wing pinko, a militant centrist, a control freak anarchist he makes some sense.
Why America is still Awesome
By John Devore
By John Devore
First things first: Don't freak out about the title. I know things look bleak. You're stocking up on shotgun shells and Dinty Moore Beef Stew, dreading the day you inevitably have to pitchfork-fight a hobo over the last piece of firewood in the Hooverville. Hell, you might even be thinking that Kanye West was wrong for once: maybe "The Good Life" isn't all that. Maybe the mass pursuit of diamond-spackled grills, champagne Jacuzzis and McMansions the size of Vatican City was not actually the happiness we totally had the right to pursue.
This past year, we learned that karma is a bitch. That Wall Street is run by Hamburglars. The government is basically too many pigs at too small a trough. That we're broke, at war(s) and, instead of dealing with it, we've chosen to watch celebrities dance, dance, dance for the bloodthirsty hordes. We torture to make ourselves feel safer, cheat each other to make ourselves richer and have generally behaved like raging assholes.
I get all that, and still I say with total and utter conviction: America is awesome. And we're awesome because we are batshit, out of our minds crazy. The French are intellectuals, the Russians are brooders and the Chinese are hard workers. Americans are crazy. Our optimism, ambition, and self-interest verges on the manic.
America.
Think about it - we're a country of over 300 million people, and each of us is told, and honestly, earnestly believes that we're special. That we have a right to pursue happiness. There's no guarantee that happiness will ever happen. We're just cleared to chase, lunge and claw after that happiness, like an eternal dangling carrot. Our dreams matter. This is pounded into us. It is part of our collective DNA. Everyone is special. We believe it, even if it isn't true.
When we succeed, we succeed big (see: the Empire State Building, Moon landing, cheese-stuffed pizza crust). When we fail, we fail big (see: the Great Depression, Slavery, Spider-man 3). We lurch and strive and aspire to greatness. Other countries fear us (not just because we have over 7,000 tactical nukes, though how utterly crazy is that?). They fear us, mainly, because we are an experiment, and experiments can explode. Or they can go on a rampage, like Frankenstein's monster.
Frankenstein might actually be the closest cultural predecessor. America isn't a democracy where majority rules. We're an anti-tyranny-ocracy. We're terrified of tyranny, no matter what form it takes: the government, the free market, your neighbors. The mob can never fully be trusted. Don't tread on me. Get off my lawn. The forefathers had total faith in two things: "freedom" and "people are jerks." They knew that power corrupts, and so they created a system where power is like a bacon-grease slathered football: slippery.
Checks and balances, filibusters and the rule of law. Eventually, the person who's got the power will drop it. And then there's a madcap, sometimes vicious scramble. Then someone has the football again. Repeat.
I like to think of myself as a Patriot. I know that's kind of cheesy, but I've OD'd on snark recently. Sorry internet, but pure, uncut ironic disaffection has become an inadequate coping mechanism. I am not a bible-thumping, jingoistic redneck with the stars and stripes tattooed over generous man boobs. Nor am I an effete, pseudo-intellectual hipster with smooth, manicured hands who blames America for inventing cancer, earthquakes and human vices. But I am a Patriot, because this country gives me the right to be off my rocker.
Let me define my Patriotism: I think America is awesome the way the Whos in Whoville think Christmas is awesome. A Grinch can steal all the accouterments of patrio-eroticism --the flag, the eagle, the Statue of Liberty. And like the Whos, who didn't require gifts or a tree to celebrate Christmas, I will happily salute the idea that defines "America."
And that idea is basically that I get to say this: I am John DeVore and you are not. I am a right wing pinko, a militant centrist, a control freak anarchist. I believe in gun rights and gay rights. I want gays to experience the joys of divorce, and I want them to be well armed. I am a Texan, which means I'm the American equivalent of a Klingon. But I live in Queens, New York, one of the most ethnically diverse places on Earth. My local dive bar is the United Nations. I'm a half-Mexican/half-redneck, who was raised both a Catholic and a Baptist. How many countries does that happen in? It happens here like ... all the time. I'm not even the weirdest multicultural mutt out there - we elected one for president.
I have dreams, and I work my ass off stumbling in the general direction of those dreams. And all I ask is this: If I tell you to get off my lawn, get off my lawn. If I don't tell you to get off my lawn, come on in! Let's drink beer and play Xbox. I am one of approximately 301,139,947 other people who all think they are special. Are we all really special? Who knows. Probably not. It's a savage world and life is cheap. But we think we are. That's what counts.
I'm not excusing our excesses and mistakes. Actions have consequences, and even America is not immune to that fundamental fact of nature. We all go down together. But we're still awesome, not down for the count. It is a dark time for the rebel alliance. But our adaptability and individuality will succeed. Each of us will succeed, alone and together. We can't count on politicians because, let's face it, they are glorified sanitation workers. Count, instead, on the Awesomeness of America: our pursuit will not be deterred or delayed. Don't call it a comeback.
Winston Churchill once wrote "Always count on America to do the right thing, after they've exhausted every other option." Well we've done everything except the right thing for a nice long stretch of time and we're, if nothing else, exhausted. Looks like we're well on our way ladies and gents!
*****
Makes you think a bit doesn't he?
It's easy to fix the economy
You want to economy to be fixed?
Then you want President Obama to reinstate and re-enforce our basic 'economic rights' that FDR first enunciated in his Economic Bill of Rights speech
Franklin D. Roosevelt, delivered his Economic Bill of Rights speech on January 11, 1944, during the Second World War, which included:
Then you want President Obama to reinstate and re-enforce our basic 'economic rights' that FDR first enunciated in his Economic Bill of Rights speech
Franklin D. Roosevelt, delivered his Economic Bill of Rights speech on January 11, 1944, during the Second World War, which included:
The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;
The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
The right of every family to a decent home;
The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
The right to a good education.
As FDR concluded: “All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being.
“America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.”
If we truly had these rights again - they have been stripped from us by the repugicans one by one ever since Roosevelt first bespoke them in 1944 ... especially in the last eight years - the economy would take take of itself.
And I Quote
"Senator Al Franken ... Has a nice, drive-the-wingnuts crazy ring to it."
~ David Neiwert
~ David Neiwert
How to add 1 billion points to the global I.Q. cheaply and easily
Almost one-third of the world’s people don’t get enough iodine from food and water. The result in extreme cases is large goiters that swell their necks, or other obvious impairments such as dwarfism or cretinism. But far more common is mental slowness.
When a pregnant woman doesn’t have enough iodine in her body, her child may suffer irreversible brain damage and could have an I.Q. that is 10 to 15 points lower than it would otherwise be. An educated guess is that iodine deficiency results in a needless loss of more than 1 billion I.Q. points around the world. […]
“Probably no other technology,” the World Bank said of micronutrients, “offers as large an opportunity to improve lives … at such low cost and in such a short time.”
Yet the strategy hasn’t been fully put in place, partly because micronutrients have zero glamour. There are no starlets embracing iodine. And guess which country has taken the lead in this area by sponsoring the Micronutrient Initiative? Hint: It’s earnest and dull, just like micronutrients themselves.
Ta-da — Canada!
Full Storyin the New York Times
Personally, I think Canada is not earnest and dull. I have enjoyed being in that country every time I have been there.Law professor wants to webcast RIAA lawsuit
Campaigning law professor Charlie Nesson wants the whole world to see how the RIAA shakes down students, so he's asked for the proceedings to be webcast.
The RIAA wants to hide under a rock:
The RIAA wants to hide under a rock:
A Harvard Law professor representing some students sued by the recording industry for illegally downloading music has filed a motion to broadcast online the proceedings of two cases being heard by the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts.The professor, Charles R. Nesson, argues in the motion that to stream the court proceedings over the Internet — or as the students put it in their request, 'admit the Internet into the courtroom' — would help the public understand the legal issues at play in the industry’s lawsuits against thousands of computer users, many of whom are college students.
The plaintiff, the Recording Industry Association of America, which announced last month that it would stop bringing new cases against students in favor of working with Internet Service Providers to take action against repeat offenders, has described its lawsuits as an educational effort focused on illuminating the consequences of illegally sharing music — something Mr. Nesson takes a jab at in the motion.
'Surely education is the purpose of the Digital Deterrence Act of 1999, the constitutionality of which we are challenging,' the motion reads. 'How can RIAA object? Yet they do, fear of sunlight shone upon them.'
Speed camera pranksters
Some high school students in Maryland are reportedly taping fake license plates to their cars, then speeding past speed cameras so that owners of the cars with the real license plates get fined.
Students from Richard Montgomery High School dubbed the prank the Speed Camera "Pimping" game, according to a parent of a student enrolled at one of the high schools.Originating from Wootton High School, the parent said, students duplicate the license plates by printing plate numbers on glossy photo paper, using fonts from certain websites that "mimic" those on Maryland license plates. They tape the duplicate plate over the existing plate on the back of their car and purposefully speed through a speed camera, the parent said. The victim then receives a citation in the mail days later.
Students are even obtaining vehicles from their friends that are similar or identical to the make and model of the car owned by the targeted victim, according to the parent.
U.S. household debt down for first time since tracking began in 1952
The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. citizens have suddenly become quite thrifty.
Hard-Hit Families Finally Start Saving, Aggravating Nation's Economic WoesUsually, frugality is good for individuals and for the economy. Savings serve as a reservoir of capital that can be used to finance investment, which helps raise a nation's standard of living. But in a recession, increased saving -- or its flip side, decreased spending -- can exacerbate the economy's woes. It's what economists call the "paradox of thrift."
U.S. household debt, which has been growing steadily since the Federal Reserve began tracking it in 1952, declined for the first time in the third quarter of 2008. In the same quarter, U.S. consumer spending growth declined for the first time in 17 years.
Hacker offers gas
Someone hacked into President-elect Barack Obama's Twitter account and sent out false "tweets" offering $500 worth of free gas in exchange for filling out a questionnaire.
Twitter is a social networking service that allows users to keep in touch with people through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to the question: What are you doing today?
More than 155,000 users follow Obama's updates and received the following questionnaire: "What is your opinion on Barack Obama? Take the survey and possibly win $500 in free gas."
The site, which allows users only 140 characters per post, addressed the hacking situation in the following statement: "A number of high-profile Twitter accounts were compromised this morning, and fake/spam updates were sent on their behalf. We have identified the cause and blocked it. We are working to restore compromised accounts."
View Obama's Twitter page here: http://twitter.com/BarackObama.
Did you know ...
By law the shrub's Secret Service protection ends in ten years, and he's the first President to "face" such a cut-off of Secret Service protection.
But assuming he's alive and well in ten years, the shrub will still be the most despised person in American politics, and he'll still be the subject of a parade of death threats from nuts in America and abroad, and his Secret Service protection will be quietly extended to last for life.
But assuming he's alive and well in ten years, the shrub will still be the most despised person in American politics, and he'll still be the subject of a parade of death threats from nuts in America and abroad, and his Secret Service protection will be quietly extended to last for life.
Check out the McClatchy Newspapers for more.
Senator Al Franken
Minnesota election officials have certified Al Franken's victory in the Senate race there.
Now the incumbent Senator, Norm Coleman, will file several lawsuits, repugicans will (and are) lie loudly and repeatedly about the performance of election officials, and over the next few weeks it'll become "common knowledge" that Franken stole the election (which of course, he didn't).
As you may remember but he won't, Coleman said shortly after the election -- when he was ahead by a couple of hundred votes, instead of behind by a couple hundred votes -- that Franken should ask the state to skip the mandatory recount, because that's what he (Coleman) would do if he was behind.
Now the incumbent Senator, Norm Coleman, will file several lawsuits, repugicans will (and are) lie loudly and repeatedly about the performance of election officials, and over the next few weeks it'll become "common knowledge" that Franken stole the election (which of course, he didn't).
As you may remember but he won't, Coleman said shortly after the election -- when he was ahead by a couple of hundred votes, instead of behind by a couple hundred votes -- that Franken should ask the state to skip the mandatory recount, because that's what he (Coleman) would do if he was behind.
Read more from the Associated Press
Like, Duh, Dude
Don't you just love it ...
Apparently a high school diploma is needed to work as an apprentice and guess who doesn't have one.
Levi Johnston, the boyfriend of governor Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, has quit his north slope oil field job over questions about his eligibility to work in an electrical apprenticeship program, Johnston's father said Monday.
Read more in the Anchorage Daily News
Apparently a high school diploma is needed to work as an apprentice and guess who doesn't have one.
Financial Woes
German billionaire Adolf Merckle, whose investment company was renegotiating its bank debt, died after he was hit by a train and may have committed suicide, Die Welt reported.
The shrub's fucking of the world's economy is having many after-effects and in places one may not expect them as well.
Read more at Bloomberg
The shrub's fucking of the world's economy is having many after-effects and in places one may not expect them as well.
Crops absorb livestock antibiotics
Consumers have long been exposed to antibiotics in meat and milk. now, new research shows that they also may be ingesting them from vegetables, even ones grown on organic farms.
For half a century, meat producers have fed antibiotics to farm animals to increase their growth and stave off infections. now scientists have discovered that those drugs are sprouting up in unexpected places.
Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the university of Minnesota.
Vegetables such as corn, potatoes and lettuce absorb antibiotics when grown in soil fertilized with livestock manure, according to tests conducted at the university of Minnesota.
Read more at Environmental Health News
Our Readers in Real Time
Right now readers in:
Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Poland, Indonesia, Hungary, India, Mexico, Turkey, England, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Singapore, Taiwan, South Africa, Israel, Australia and the United States
are enjoying Carolina Naturally.
Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Poland, Indonesia, Hungary, India, Mexico, Turkey, England, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Singapore, Taiwan, South Africa, Israel, Australia and the United States
are enjoying Carolina Naturally.
JetBlue and TSA pay $240,000 to man refused boarding because of Arabic writing on shirt
JetBlue and the TSA have settled a lawsuit brought by a man who was refused boarding on an airplane because he was wearing a shirt with Arabic writing on it (the TSA said that this was like "wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, 'I am a robber.'"). They've paid him $240,000.
The lawsuit claimed Jarrar, 30, invoked the First Amendment but acquiesced after it became clear to him that he would not be allowed to fly if he did not cover his shirt with one given to him by JetBlue officials."All people in this country have the right to be free of discrimination and to express their own opinions," Jarrar wrote on his blog. "With this outcome, I am hopeful that TSA and airlines officials will think twice before practicing illegal discrimination and that other travelers will be spared the treatment I endured."
The shirt in question: 
"I am not a terrorist"
"I am not a terrorist"What a difference a year makes
We ended 2008 averaging 421 readers a day here at Carolina Naturally and so far 672 readers a day stopped in to read in 2009.
We must be doing something right.
We must be doing something right.
Angry Ohio boy, 4, shoots baby sitter
This is why stricter gun regulations need to be in place in the US.
Police say an angry 4-year-old Jackson, Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter.
Eighteen-year-old Nathan Beavers was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack.
Police say another teen was also injured.
Witnesses told police the child was angry because Beavers accidentally stepped on his foot.
Beavers was watching the child at a mobile home in Jackson with several other teenagers and several other children.
Jackson County Sheriff John Shashteen says authorities are investigating.
The child has not been charged.
Police say an angry 4-year-old Jackson, Ohio boy grabbed a gun from a closet and shot his baby sitter.
Eighteen-year-old Nathan Beavers was hospitalized Sunday with minor wounds to his arm and side after the shotgun attack.
Police say another teen was also injured.
Witnesses told police the child was angry because Beavers accidentally stepped on his foot.
Beavers was watching the child at a mobile home in Jackson with several other teenagers and several other children.
Jackson County Sheriff John Shashteen says authorities are investigating.
The child has not been charged.
*****
The child does need his backside tanned in the woodshed though and the idiot who left the shotgun where the 4-year-old could get to it should be jailed for an extremely long period of time.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Alaska trooper says politics slowed drug arrest
A drug investigator says authorities delayed the arrest of a woman tied to governor Sarah Palin's family until after the November election, in which Palin was the repugican vice presidential candidate.
Sherry Johnston - whose son Levi Johnston is engaged to Palin's daughter, Bristol - was arrested December 18, 2008, on six felony drug counts.
She is accused of selling Oxycontin, a strong prescription painkiller, and pleaded not guilty Monday.
Investigator Kyle Young sent an e-mail to the Public Safety Employees Association saying the search warrant of Johnston's house was delayed for political reasons -"It was not allowed to progress in a normal fashion, the search warrant WAS delayed because of the pending election and the Mat Su Drug Unit and the case officer were not the ones calling the shots," Young wrote in the December 30, 2008, e-mail.
Sherry Johnston - whose son Levi Johnston is engaged to Palin's daughter, Bristol - was arrested December 18, 2008, on six felony drug counts.
She is accused of selling Oxycontin, a strong prescription painkiller, and pleaded not guilty Monday.
Investigator Kyle Young sent an e-mail to the Public Safety Employees Association saying the search warrant of Johnston's house was delayed for political reasons -"It was not allowed to progress in a normal fashion, the search warrant WAS delayed because of the pending election and the Mat Su Drug Unit and the case officer were not the ones calling the shots," Young wrote in the December 30, 2008, e-mail.
Today's readers
Today readers in:
Mexico, Canada, England, Turkey, Germany, Scotland, Sweden, Hungary, Singapore, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, Israel, Finland, Japan and the United States
have stopped by Carolina Naturally.
And over at our sister blog readers in:
England, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Brazil, Italy, the Czech Republic, France, Belgium, Russia, Ukraine, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Egypt, Iraq and the United States
have stopped by The Naked, The Nude and The Nekkid.
Mexico, Canada, England, Turkey, Germany, Scotland, Sweden, Hungary, Singapore, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, Israel, Finland, Japan and the United States
have stopped by Carolina Naturally.
And over at our sister blog readers in:
England, Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Brazil, Italy, the Czech Republic, France, Belgium, Russia, Ukraine, Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Egypt, Iraq and the United States
have stopped by The Naked, The Nude and The Nekkid.
Five Surgeons
Five Surgeons in England playing the 'up-man -ship' game
The first, a Manchester surgeon, says: 'I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered.'
The second, a Liverpool surgeon, responds: 'Yeah, but you should try electricians! Everything inside them is color coded.'
The third, a Newcastle surgeon, says: 'No, I really think librarians are the best; everything inside them is in alphabetical order.'
The fourth, a Birmingham surgeon, chimes in: 'You know, I like construction workers...those guys always understand when you have a few parts left over.
But the fifth, a London surgeon, shuts them all up when he observed: You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on.
There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine, and the head and the arse are interchangeable
But the fifth, a London surgeon, shuts them all up when he observed: You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest to operate on.
There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine, and the head and the arse are interchangeable
Timber company drops road deal with Forest Service
From the "Maybe, they saw the writing on the wall" Department:
The nation's largest owner of timberland disclosed Monday that it will no longer pursue changes in agreements governing its use of U.S. Forest Service roads - changes that critics complained could transform forests into housing subdivisions.
Critics of the proposed changes had included President Barack Obama and Montana's junior senator.
Changes in the agreements would benefit the public, but "given the lack of receptivity, we have decided not to go forward," Plum Creek Timber Co. Chief Executive Officer Rick Holley wrote in a letter to Missoula County, which opposed altering the agreements.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey indicated as recently as last week that the changes negotiated privately by the Forest Service and Plum Creek would become final before he leaves office when the Bush administration ends this month.
Rey, a former lobbyist for the timber industry, said the company's decision is "not good news for the federal government or the public at large."
He had maintained the changes secured new benefits for the government rather than for Plum Creek.
Rey declined to comment further.
Critics argued that the changes sought by Plum Creek would have allowed it to pave Forest Service roads and make it easier for the company to develop vacation homes in Montana's mountain forests.
Such housing tracts could saddle local governments with costly services such as fire protection in remote places, they said.
Soon after a Montana campaign appearance, Obama said in July that the planned changes would further jeopardize public access to hunting and fishing areas.
Plum Creek owns more than 7 million acres nationwide, of which about 1 million acres are in Montana.
Company spokeswoman Kathy Budinick said the decision to drop its support for changing the agreements would have little impact beyond Montana because company's use of national forest roads is not widespread outside the state.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., had focused his criticism on the private nature of the negotiations between Plum Creek and the Forest Service and instigated a review of the talks by the federal General Accountability Office.
"This is about transparency in government and making sure everyone impacted is at the table so they have their piece heard," he said. "This is, after all, public land."
Tester and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, have asked the Agriculture Department's inspector general to investigate the private negotiations.
That request remained pending when Seattle-based Plum Creek sent its letter.
Missoula County officials were "as surprised as anyone" by Plum Creek's letter, said Jean Curtiss, a county commissioner.
"Our concern was that Rey was going to sign this at the last minute, as a "here's what you get as I go out the door' kind of thing," Curtiss said.
The nation's largest owner of timberland disclosed Monday that it will no longer pursue changes in agreements governing its use of U.S. Forest Service roads - changes that critics complained could transform forests into housing subdivisions.
Critics of the proposed changes had included President Barack Obama and Montana's junior senator.
Changes in the agreements would benefit the public, but "given the lack of receptivity, we have decided not to go forward," Plum Creek Timber Co. Chief Executive Officer Rick Holley wrote in a letter to Missoula County, which opposed altering the agreements.
Agriculture Undersecretary Mark Rey indicated as recently as last week that the changes negotiated privately by the Forest Service and Plum Creek would become final before he leaves office when the Bush administration ends this month.
Rey, a former lobbyist for the timber industry, said the company's decision is "not good news for the federal government or the public at large."
He had maintained the changes secured new benefits for the government rather than for Plum Creek.
Rey declined to comment further.
Critics argued that the changes sought by Plum Creek would have allowed it to pave Forest Service roads and make it easier for the company to develop vacation homes in Montana's mountain forests.
Such housing tracts could saddle local governments with costly services such as fire protection in remote places, they said.
Soon after a Montana campaign appearance, Obama said in July that the planned changes would further jeopardize public access to hunting and fishing areas.
Plum Creek owns more than 7 million acres nationwide, of which about 1 million acres are in Montana.
Company spokeswoman Kathy Budinick said the decision to drop its support for changing the agreements would have little impact beyond Montana because company's use of national forest roads is not widespread outside the state.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., had focused his criticism on the private nature of the negotiations between Plum Creek and the Forest Service and instigated a review of the talks by the federal General Accountability Office.
"This is about transparency in government and making sure everyone impacted is at the table so they have their piece heard," he said. "This is, after all, public land."
Tester and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, have asked the Agriculture Department's inspector general to investigate the private negotiations.
That request remained pending when Seattle-based Plum Creek sent its letter.
Missoula County officials were "as surprised as anyone" by Plum Creek's letter, said Jean Curtiss, a county commissioner.
"Our concern was that Rey was going to sign this at the last minute, as a "here's what you get as I go out the door' kind of thing," Curtiss said.
Testing Bio-Fuel
Air New Zealand, along with Boeing, Rolls-Royce, and Honeywell, retooled one of the four Rolls-Royce RB211 engines on a Boeing 747-400 to run on an unusually fruity blend of half Jet A1 fuel and half jatropha oil, according to Air New Zealand.
Read the rest here.
Just in case you missed it ...
... as the global financial crisis grew more severe this summer, foreigners sold almost $90 billion of U.S. securities — the greatest quarterly fire sale by overseas investors since the government began keeping track in 1960.
Full story here
Golf can be bad for your hearing
Golfers using a certain kind of titanium clubs are apparently at risk of hearing loss.
According to a study in the British Medical Journal, golfers using "thin-faced titanium drivers" should probably wear earplugs.
From the BBC News:
According to a study in the British Medical Journal, golfers using "thin-faced titanium drivers" should probably wear earplugs.
From the BBC News:
"There has been a tendency to make booming clubs for drivers," (said sports equipment engineering expert Dr Martin Strangwood at the University of Birmingham.) But if this were a problem it would be easy to remedy by filling the head of the club with foam to reduce the sound."
He said wearing earplugs was another solution, but said players use the noise as feedback to assess how they are playing and how well their equipment is performing. "So it might not work for all."
Thor Scares Thief
A would be burglar in Edinburgh, Scotland got a little closer to a deity than he really wanted to when he tried to burgle one particular home New Year's Eve.
The home's owner, Torvald Alexander, 38, returned from a New Year's party dressed as the Norse god of thunder and surprised the thief.
From The Telegraph:
The home's owner, Torvald Alexander, 38, returned from a New Year's party dressed as the Norse god of thunder and surprised the thief.
From The Telegraph:
Mr Alexander said: "As soon as he saw me his eyes went wide with terror.
"He looked like he had had a few drinks and decided to do a late night break in, but he hadn't counted on the God of Thunder living here."
He added: "I had just got back from a fancy dress New Year's party and because I have a Norwegian name I decided to go as Thor.
"It took ages making the cape, helmet and breast plate, and I must admit it was a bit chilly walking home, but when I saw that guy I just went mad and charged at him, my cape flying behind me.
And I Quote
The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness.
You have to catch it yourself.
~ Ben Franklin.
You have to catch it yourself.
~ Ben Franklin.
Daily Horoscope
Today's horoscope says:
You're getting luckier financially, but this is not a blank check.
Interesting.
You're getting luckier financially, but this is not a blank check.
Interesting.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Chicken and Corn Chowder
A quick and easy recipe for a chilly evening.
Take:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped garlic
1 red pepper diced
1 16-1/2-ounce can cream-style corn
1 14-1/2-ounce can chicken broth
2 5-ounce cans or one 12-1/2-ounce can chunk-style chicken
1 cup loose-pack frozen crinkle-cut carrots
2 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 cups fat free milk
Stir into hot saucepan sprinkling flour over top
Take:
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1/2 cup chopped garlic
1 red pepper diced
1 16-1/2-ounce can cream-style corn
1 14-1/2-ounce can chicken broth
2 5-ounce cans or one 12-1/2-ounce can chunk-style chicken
1 cup loose-pack frozen crinkle-cut carrots
2 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 cups fat free milk
Stir into hot saucepan sprinkling flour over top
Veteran actor Pat Hingle dies at 84 in NC home
Pat Hingle, a veteran actor whose career included a recurring role as Commissioner Gordon in several Batman movies in the 1990s, has died after battling blood cancer.
He was 84.
Family friend Michele Seidman says Hingle died at his home in Carolina Beach shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday.
Seidman says he decided to settle in the coastal town after shooting the movie "Maximum Overdrive" in the area in 1986.
He lived there for more than 15 years.
Family spokeswoman Lynn Heritage says Hingle was diagnosed with Myelodysplasia in November 2006.
His career in movies and television spanned six decades, and he was also nominated for a Tony Award in 1958.
Hingle's last movie was "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which was released in 2006.
He was 84.
Family friend Michele Seidman says Hingle died at his home in Carolina Beach shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday.
Seidman says he decided to settle in the coastal town after shooting the movie "Maximum Overdrive" in the area in 1986.
He lived there for more than 15 years.
Family spokeswoman Lynn Heritage says Hingle was diagnosed with Myelodysplasia in November 2006.
His career in movies and television spanned six decades, and he was also nominated for a Tony Award in 1958.
Hingle's last movie was "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which was released in 2006.
How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?
Q: How much sleep is ideal?
A: Studies show that people who sleep between 6.5 hr. and 7.5 hr. a night, as they report, live the longest. And people who sleep 8 hr. or more, or less than 6.5 hr., they don’t live quite as long. There is just as much risk associated with sleeping too long as with sleeping too short. The big surprise is that long sleep seems to start at 8 hr. Sleeping 8.5 hr. might really be a little worse than sleeping 5 hr.
Read more: How Much Sleep Do You Really Need?
Earthquakes increasing
The Earth seems to be shaking at the prospects of the damages the shrub and the cabal will do to it in the last days of their junta by convulsing everywhere ...
Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone National Park.
Hundreds of earthquakes have hit Yellowstone National Park, raising fears of a more powerful volcanic eruption.
The earthquake swarm, the biggest in more than 20 years, is being closely monitored by scientists and emergency authorities. - Timesonline
In the last eight days, there have been more than 400 earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park — where the volcanic system powers the geysers, mudpots and steam vents. - NPR
Yellowstone National Park sits atop a supervolcano. The entire park is the depression of a caldera more than twice the size of Oahu that is the result of an unimaginably large eruption some 600,000 years ago.
By comparison, the caldera left by the explosion of Mount Saint Helens in 1980 is about the size of downtown Honolulu. - Honolulu Star Bulletin
Indonesia
A series of powerful earthquakes have killed at least four people and injured dozens more in remote eastern Indonesia, cutting power lines and destroying buildings.
One of the quakes - a 7.3-magnitude tremor - sent small tsunamis into Japan's south-eastern coast, but there were no reports of damage there and no tsunami in Indonesia's impoverished Papua area. - Australia Herald Sun
Afghanistan
A moderate earthquake shook northeastern Afghanistan Sunday, sending people running from their homes, but there were no immediate reports of damage, witnesses and officials said.
The 5.9-magnitude quake struck at 12:53 am (2023 gmt Saturday), around 255 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of the capital Kabul and near the border with pakistan, the us geological survey said. - AFP
Timber lobbyist masquerading as head of Forest Service
In yet another potential last minute rule change, “the Bush administration appears poised to push through a change in u.s. forest service agreements that would make it far easier for mountain forests to be converted to housing subdivisions.”
Though president Obama has opposed the move, Mark E. Rey, the former timber lobbyist who heads the forest service, has signaled that he intends to finalize the plan before Obama’s inauguration.
As a presidential candidate, Obama vocally criticized Rey’s plan while campaigning in Montana, calling it “outrageous.”
Though president Obama has opposed the move, Mark E. Rey, the former timber lobbyist who heads the forest service, has signaled that he intends to finalize the plan before Obama’s inauguration.
As a presidential candidate, Obama vocally criticized Rey’s plan while campaigning in Montana, calling it “outrageous.”
Read more at Think Progress
US blocks UN Security Council action on Gaza
The United States late Saturday blocked approval of a U.N. Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel and expressing concern at the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas.
While statements don't mean a hill o'beans, they mean everything!
The events in Gaza are to be condemned by all and that condemnation is for all 'sides'.
By blocking approval the US shows the rest of the world its tacit approval for the events in Gaza ... be it reality or just a perception - that is what the world sees.
For the American public it is a fallacy ... we condemn the events (all the events).
As for the cabal it is hardcore truth ... they wholeheartedly embrace the events from one 'side'.
They have never represented the American public in anything - always standing against the wishes of the public in the interest of special interests and is such the case here.
Hamas firing mortars and rockets into Israel is wrong.
Israel responding with a full scale invasion of Gaza is wrong.
There is an old adage that says: Two wrongs do not make a right.
The events in Gaza (and elsewhere around the planet) re-prove that adage over and over again.
Someday we will learn it ...
Soon, I hope.
*****
While statements don't mean a hill o'beans, they mean everything!
The events in Gaza are to be condemned by all and that condemnation is for all 'sides'.
By blocking approval the US shows the rest of the world its tacit approval for the events in Gaza ... be it reality or just a perception - that is what the world sees.
For the American public it is a fallacy ... we condemn the events (all the events).
As for the cabal it is hardcore truth ... they wholeheartedly embrace the events from one 'side'.
They have never represented the American public in anything - always standing against the wishes of the public in the interest of special interests and is such the case here.
Hamas firing mortars and rockets into Israel is wrong.
Israel responding with a full scale invasion of Gaza is wrong.
There is an old adage that says: Two wrongs do not make a right.
The events in Gaza (and elsewhere around the planet) re-prove that adage over and over again.
Someday we will learn it ...
Soon, I hope.
President Obama's Weekly Address
Remarks of President-elect Barack Obama
Weekly Address
January 3, 2009
Weekly Address
January 3, 2009
As the holiday season comes to end, we are thankful for family and friends and all the blessings that make life worth living. But as we mark the beginning of a new year, we also know that America faces great and growing challenges—challenges that threaten our nation’s economy and our dreams for the future. Nearly two million Americans have lost their jobs this past year—and millions more are working harder in jobs that pay less and come with fewer benefits. For too many families, this new year brings new unease and uncertainty as bills pile up, debts continue to mount and parents worry that their children won’t have the same opportunities they had.
However we got here, the problems we face today are not Democratic problems or Republican problems. The dreams of putting a child through college, or staying in your home, or retiring with dignity and security know no boundaries of party or ideology.
These are America’s problems, and we must come together as Americans to meet them with the urgency this moment demands. Economists from across the political spectrum agree that if we don’t act swiftly and boldly, we could see a much deeper economic downturn that could lead to double digit unemployment and the American Dream slipping further and further out of reach.
That’s why we need an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that not only creates jobs in the short-term but spurs economic growth and competitiveness in the long-term. And this plan must be designed in a new way—we can’t just fall into the old Washington habit of throwing money at the problem. We must make strategic investments that will serve as a down payment on our long-term economic future. We must demand vigorous oversight and strict accountability for achieving results. And we must restore fiscal responsibility and make the tough choices so that as the economy recovers, the deficit starts to come down. That is how we will achieve the number one goal of my plan—which is to create three million new jobs, more than eighty percent of them in the private sector.
To put people back to work today and reduce our dependence on foreign oil tomorrow, we will double renewable energy production and renovate public buildings to make them more energy efficient. To build a 21st century economy, we must engage contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, and schools. To save not only jobs, but money and lives, we will update and computerize our health care system to cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help reduce health care costs by billions of dollars each year. To make America, and our children, a success in this new global economy, we will build 21st century classrooms, labs, and libraries. And to put more money into the pockets of hardworking families, we will provide direct tax relief to 95 percent of American workers.
I look forward to meeting next week in Washington with leaders from both parties to discuss this plan. I am optimistic that if we come together to seek solutions that advance not the interests of any party, or the agenda of any one group, but the aspirations of all Americans, then we will meet the challenges of our time just as previous generations have met the challenges of theirs.
There is no reason we can’t do this. We are a people of boundless industry and ingenuity. We are innovators and entrepreneurs and have the most dedicated and productive workers in the world. And we have always triumphed in moments of trial by drawing on that great American spirit—that perseverance, determination and unyielding commitment to opportunity on which our nation was founded. And in this new year, let us resolve to do so once again. Thank you.
Religion aside, monkey meat needs permit
A federal judge in Brooklyn has rejected a Liberian woman's religious reasons for smuggling endangered monkey meat into the country.
U.S. District Judge Raymond J. Dearie ruled Wednesday that Mamie Manneh's faith didn't preclude her from applying for permits to import exotic food or explain why she misled officials.
Manneh was charged with smuggling the meat three years ago after customs agents seized a shipment of primate parts as it passed through Kennedy Airport on the way to her home in Staten Island.
Manneh's lawyers claimed a First Amendment right, arguing that some Liberian Christians eat monkey meat for spiritual reasons.
She faces up to five years in prison and deportation if convicted.
Have the right answer about doing the right thing?
A tricky question of morality is this year's brainteaser in the annual philosophy competition called the Great American Think-Off.
"Is it ever wrong to do the right thing?" is the theme of the 2009 Think-Off.
The event is organized by Minnesota's New York Mills Regional Cultural Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the cultural and creative opportunities of rural Americans.
Anyone can enter by submitting an essay of 750 words or less. Four finalists will be chosen to debate the question on June 13 before a live audience.
Last year's question was whether immigration strengthens or threatens the United States. The audience decided Craig Allen, of West Linn, Ore., was most convincing with his argument that the system of immigration and immigration policy is broken, that it encourages illegal immigration and poses a threat to the country.
New York Mills is a farming town of some 1,200 people in central Minnesota, about 170 miles northwest of Minneapolis.
'Hello 911? I'm driving drunk'
Police get calls about drunken drivers all the time, but rarely do they come from the alleged offender.
A 17-year-old girl in Bismarck called 911 on New Year's Eve "to report herself driving under the influence," police Lt. Randy Ziegler said. "I've never heard of such a thing happening, and neither has anyone here."
The girl told authorities her location shortly before midnight Wednesday and officers found her in a parked car near downtown, Ziegler said. She failed a sobriety test and was arrested for failing to have control of her vehicle while intoxicated.
The girl, whose name was not released because of her age, was not cited for drunken driving, Ziegler said.
"Her keys were in her purse and she was parked," Ziegler said. "She did tell us that she had been driving around for hours."
The call probably was a plea for help, he said.
"She told us her life was spiraling out of control, and she had spent the majority of time drinking over the past two weeks," Ziegler said.
The girl was released to her parents Thursday.
*****
They might ought to have found out why the girl was drinking for the better part of two weeks before releasing her. At least one would think.
Man shot, then ends up in jail
Sometimes it's just not your day
A man who police said was shot by his stepfather ended up in the same jail with him after officers discovered outstanding arrest warrants against the victim.
Police in Jacksonville, North Carolina, said that 37-year-old Richard Hayes shot his stepson Thursday night.
Authorities say 21-year-old Michael Bass was holding a bloody towel to his abdomen when paramedics arrived, saying his stepfather shot him.
Deputies then discovered Bass had outstanding warrants for failing to appear in court and took him to jail after he was treated and released from the hospital.
Police say Hayes told investigators he has a bad neck and shot his stepson because he thought Bass wanted to fight him.
Both men remain in jail.
*****
Idiocy runs in families it seems.
Jury finds SC man not guilty of murder
A man who was the subject of a massive manhunt after he was released from a state prison instead of being sent to a Darlington County jail to face a murder charge has been acquitted.
A Darlington County jury found Mardrall Addison not guilty of murder in the June 2007 killing of Wildrikus Hough.
Addison was mistakenly released from a state prison in December 2007 after serving his time for a probation violation. He was supposed to be sent to the Darlington County jail to await trial instead and spent four days free before turning himself in.
At the time, county officials said their workers failed to thoroughly check paperwork and told the state prison to release Addison.
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