THE BIRDS

I predict that if you ask any Millenial what "The Birds" is - they will answer "a type of flu"

It was one of the best movies of the 1960s - I remember my Ma telling me I couldn't stay in the room when it came on television -- it was way too scary ....

I suggest the ORIGINAL Hitchcock version with Tippy Headron - it was a great movie ...

Even better, find a recording of the radio version - but be ready for a few bad dreams ... remember, you can only dream about things you've already seen .... but this one will screw things up!

Back to the Bird Flu ... there has been 1 official death to the Bird Flu in the USA ....

DON'T PANIC ...

The man was 65 yrs old .... and he had other health issues .... which simply means - ANY FLU likely would have caused him to die as well.

There has been 1 case, so far, reported of a cow being infected by Bird Flu as well -- now how the heck this happened is any one's guess ...

Unlike the last illness which shut the country down ... you know, the one we aren't supposed to talk about ... eye roll here ... unlike that one, Bird Flu does NOT mutate ...

This means, if they find a cure or an "innoculation" or, more than likely, the mRNA version of a immunization (m stands for "mutated") - they will not have to keep updating it ...

It is a "stable" little bugger ... and - yes - it was first reported in China ... but it has taken a long time for it to show up in the United States.

I do not know very much about the disease - but I know that if you own chickens, you are supposed to keep them away from other wild life, especially birds, who might carry the illness wihout you knowing about it.

But ... DON'T PANIC!!!

SENTENCE IS IN: 10 YEARthe faS

Wow - I cannot believe how many times I have written and re-writen this ... I didn't realize how touched I am from this story ... but I will try to keep it on point.

The PARENTS of the SHOOTER of 4 STUDENTS - classmates - in Michigan ... have EACH been given a sentence of 

10 to 15 years

And I'm sure the parents of the VICTIMS are feeling .... ITS NOT ENOUGH ...

And they are correct ... they lost heir children, and for many of them, this was their ONLY child.

Losing a child is a horrid thing -- my mother nearly lost her mind when my brother drowned at 20 years old ... She had to be meicated to make it through the funeral, and for quite a while after that ...

When my nephew was born, and they named the baby after him ... my mom lost it again.  But it helped to begin the healing.

The shooter had a separate trial ... he got LIFE in prison ... makes sense to me.

He was of an age where he should have known better, he knew the consequences of his actions.

But - until THIS CASE, we haven't seen PARENTS of a shooter go on trial, much less being sentenced, for the crime their child commited ...

I'm wondering if, perhaps, this was an OVER REACH by the courts ...

We will have to see ...

You know this isn't over yet.

Likely, this will go all the way to he Supreme Court ... and its a sticky situation.

I do believe these two are guilty of CHILD NEGLECT by not taking him to get evaluated ...

but then the SCHOOL COUNSELOR should also be held accountable for not telling them to TAKE  the child IMMEDIATELY from the meeting to get EVALUATED for mental illness.

After all, there were clear signs -- which the counselor brought up in the meeting -- especially a drawing of a body on the floor and notes he had written on papers he handed into teachers -- which CLEARLY showed he was having an issue.

And while a parent might dismiss them as "a phase" or "its part of a song" or "he's just fooling around" ... the COUNSELOR must have had the EDUCATIONAL TRAINING to spot these issues ...

Maybe its yet to come ...

I just hope, they don't get a promotion ... like the gal who covered for me when I went on maternity leave for my oldest daughter .... she allowed the kids to run around during lunch, and one of the 3 year olds choked on her hot dog to the point where the Hiemlich maneuver had to be used to dislodge it ... she got promoted, when her actions/inactions were what allowed it to happen in the first place!!

Yeah, I'm still really upset by that ... 

=================

UPDATE:

When will I learn to watch a sory completely before typing up a post?

Later in the story a reporter mentioned a couple items which definately turn this into the PROPER sentence ... and I could see a few other charges coming as well concerning how THEY treated their CHILD ... but let's get to the facts I just became aware of ...

THREE WEEKS before the shooting, the SHOOTER had texted to a friend the following:'

        "I actually asked my dad to take (me) to the Doctor yesterday but he just gave me some pills and told me to 'suck it up' "

My question - why kind of pills were they?  Who's pills were they? I understood that the shooter had never been seen by anyone for his problems ...

Also, 

        "Like its at the point where I am asking to go to (sic) the doctor.  My mom laughed when I told her."

Yeah .... they KNEW there were some issues there.

I was under the impression that it was a rifle which he had used -- but it is said he took it to school in his BACKPACK ... so it had to have been a HANDGUN ... 

There was also testimony during one of the impact statements that the mom of the SHOOTER had texted him either before or after the shooting saying  "Don't do it"

Yeah .... these two are guilty ... without a doubt.

It kind of makes you feel a little sorry for the shooter, actually - he tried to get help from his parents and BOTH ignored him, or worse, made fun of him ...

Parents -- listen to your kids ... not just what they are saying, but also to what they AREN'T saying ...

GUILTY!!!!

 25 year sentence

Yup, you read that correctly ,... 25 years behind bars .... but it's no where near the 110 year sentence so many were hoping for

Even though they tried o claim he had a mental illness and medications.

With him being only 32 years old, he will be 57 when he should be released .... however, expect a much shorter sentence, since they rarely stay in for the full time anymore.

Oh did you think I was talking about some one else?

I am speaking of Sam Bankman-Fried ...

Who did YOU think I was speaking about???

He will serve his sentence in a Medium Security Prison, in San Francisco, CA ..,
Yeah, he won't be spending the full sentence in California ...
In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to learn if he collects money from the taxpayer's while in prison ...

Yeah - they say during the trial he never took or admitted responsiblitly ONCE for what happened ... Even the Enron guy did that much.

Its is also being said that this big of a sentence was a warning to the cyber currency group out there ...
Yeah -- if that were the case - I'm pretty sure they would have went with the 110 year sentence ....

Hopefully, this guy will LEARN that OTHERS matter MORE than he does, in the long run.

POWER HAS GONE OUT ... NOW WHAT DO YOU DO???

 Okay - so its 5am local time (I'm not feeling the best, so I'm up) watching Doc Martin (its an UK tv show that is being shown in repeats) when this commercial comes on ... 

Basically its a food kit commercial ... that's against food kits ... but very pro-Toaster over by the looks of it.

Here's the thing that gets me ...

With a "food kit" they send you most of the stuff you need to make your meals ... including the instructions so if you want to later on, you can easily purchase the items needed and then cook the same meal again by yourself .... very important, that bit.

This commercial was saying how awful meal kits are because you have to actually cook a meal ... oh no ... but the big feature of this particular meal kit was you simply have to scan in the code on the meal package and the toaster oven will automatically cook it for you!!

Okay - on the business side, it's genious ... the ONY way the meals will scan is with their cooker ... it did not say anything about being able to scan with any sort of app, so I'm assuming you will have to purchase the cooker with the built-in scanner.

On the consumer side though, it really stinks!

The problem is ... COST ... you know that toaster oven is going to be as expensive as heck ... and the meals -- since they are all pre-made you do not have a choice if you wish more wihout having to cook another meal (and we all know that proportion sizes are always too small) 

But it will still suffer from the same problems that other meal plans do:

    You have to hope your food has been kept at a proper temperature during delivery soyou don't catch some food borne illness.
    You have to wonder if there is anything in the meal you might be allergic too - so many things do not have to be declared if they are simply used for seasoning, but you can still have a highly allergic reaction to.    
        Cost of product used to make the meal ... they say they use the "best ingredients they can find" but you know its within a certain budget range ... I mean, they aren't going to cut into their profit so you get the best cuts of meat ... and chances are even greater that you will be able to find the ingredients cheaper in your area.
    Then there's storage of the food ... many meals I've seen have things split up by the meal - meat, veg, components in a single package OR all the meat in one container, all the veg in another, all the other componens sorted ... this set up has, well "tv dinner" type packages - ala Lean Cuisine type ... looks like its a single container.
But still - does it go in the cabinet? Refridge? Freezer?

To me ... it seems like MORE effort than its worth.

But this still is not the problem I have wih it ...

Its the electricity that the toaster oven needs.

Suppose you have all your meals in this thing ... or a microwave ... or even an electric stove/oven, for that matter ... and you lose power ...

Now What do you do??

How do you eat?

Why does our society want to dummy down our kids??

I used to work with a woman who, at the age of 30+ yrs, still did not know how to use neither the oven nor the stove in her apartment!!

I just cannot imagine that.

I have taught all my kids how to use the stove AND the oven AND the microwave AND hubby taught them about the grill AND how to cook over a campfire.

When the power goes out ... my kids will be prepared.
Our oldest, sad to say, took an incredibly long time to learn though - never thught I'd see a kid over cook french fries ... but his came out looking like crunchy, brown worms.  And let's not get into the egg rolls that he microwaved for 20 minutes - he said he followed the conventional oven directions, because its a "microwave oven" ... okay, he could benefit from a power outage.

Okay, let's blend This Week (ABC) and Fox News Sunday (KMSP-FOX, local station) because both took a look at the general events surrunding the report the same way ... although Fox News Sunday did have a panel that was less sympathetic towards Mr. Biden, looking at the text of what was said.

Both shows had guests who said that the report was obviously political because it mentioned Mr. Biden's age (neither one really focused on the fact that it actually said he was having issues, not that he was old) ... 

Both shows had someone say thatt Mr. Biden was Exonerated because he did not mean to take the documents.

Wait - I swear it said that charges weren't being brought because they didn't think they could find a jury who would find him guilty beyond reasonable doubt - and that his memory issues could be seen as a reasonable doubt .... and that he may not be able to assist in his own defense.

Anyways ... it is quite surprising that the Special Counselor is getting all this blame ... after all - as one panelist on Face the Nation (CBS) had said, he had to include instances in the report to support why charges should not be brought - even the Special Counselor came out and said he thought the Justice Department head would have redacted those particular statements .... granted they were on page 207/208 (depending on who's couning) .... so technically, it was the Justice Department head who should be in trouble here for not reading the entire thing, or for, as they have said, used the report for pure political reasons.

The head of the Justice Department is appointed by the current President, btw ... and it was the dept. head who chose the person to be Special Counselor ... hmmmm.

Interesting.

Actually the most interesting thing I thought was the hostility that Mr. Biden came out with over the questioning of his age and memory ... especially that of when his son died.
If you know anyone who lost a child, either to a prolonged illness or unexpectantly, they will always remember the day their child died .... ALWAYS .... No matter how far they've gone ... they may not remember what the current date is, but they never forget that day.

ITS ALMOST LIKE ITS ... UM ... WINTER!!!!!

 So the CDC is putting out warnings again for "Respitory Illness"

There has been an uptick in hospitalizations/ER trips for coughs & fever ... but they do not break it down into how many of these were simply people panicking after the C-19 lockdown ... or if these were actual cases of the Big 3 issues they say we should look out for.

C-19 ... while there are a MULTITUDE of varients ou there, you never know which you might get ... if you get it ... when the hoopla was going on, I found that the death rate from the disease was less than 1% of the US population.  And, yes, my family did get hit - my husband and my youngest daughter caught it.  She had more of the "cold" type symptoms (nasally stuff) while hubby had more of the "flu" type symptoms (out both ends) ... but both had the yucky food taste symptom.

Flu - Still a "crap shoot" (pardon the pun) as to which strain will hit.  Since so many doses have to be prepared, hey have to GUESS if the strain will be Flu A, B, or C ... btw, "Swine Flu" or H1N1 is a varient of Flu A - it got to the point where many states (mine included) simply called ALL Flu A cases "Swine Flu" and reported those numbers, very little lab work went on to designate which were/weren't actually Swine Flu.  I remember when they first started worrying about this in the 70's -- clearly they knew it wasn't going to be too bad.

RSV - many people have never heard of this before ... because it has been faily UNcommon .... usually it hit the very young or those with underlying conditions.  One of my nieces caught this shrtly after being sent home after being born. It was described as bacsically being a bad cold but neither pnuemonia nor bronchitis ... It can be deadly for those with poor lung development.  But why has it suddenly seen such an UPRISE in contangibility? Now that's the question that needs to be answered.  I've got my ideas, but I have no proof.

So ... this winter when every one is abou to catch COLDS, COUGHS, SORE THROATS, ETC. please

DO NOT

PANIC!!!

Chances are - its will simply run its course - if you have a concern, wait and see your regular physician unless you are having an obvious emergency -- lets not plug ERs and/or thow off the statistics.

WHOA!!! THIS SOUNDS SLIGHTLY ILLEGAL ...

CHECK OUT THE SECOND STORY

Basically, this makes it sound like Dr. Fauci REWARDED some scientists for backing his view of the origins of the current "mass illness" going around the World ... I ain't saying the words ... I ain't gonna get blocked ... although I probably already am.

Let me know if you read my posts -- either leave a COMMENT or SHARE it.

HEALTH WARNING: Illness Linked To Vaping

On Tuesday our local news had a story about 4 Mpls kids who were admitted to the hospital with symptoms they think are linked to vaping.

My oldest daughter (27 ... wow, where has the time gone?) vapes, my youngest daughter boyfriend vapes (not my kid, and my youngest has been trying to get him to stop) ... so this story hits home ...

The illness presents itself very much like a normal virus -- cough, low grade fever, a Chinese in joints, shortness of breath ... then suddenly it worsens and BOOM you're in the hospital.

One of the four kids hospitalized is in the ICU, their symptoms are so bad!

But by the sounds of it they are not the only ones in the nation ...

The Department of Health thinks it's linked to DRUGS being used in the vaping device ... the DOCTORS however (from what the local report said) think it has more to do with the chemicals in the vaping device or the dosage of the chemicals in the vaping device, no mention of drugs at all.

The Department of Health also said that some of those infected were using USED/second-hand vaping tools ... what do we call those things?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

A couple weeks ago the Mpls police chief gave his report to the Mpls city council - his biggest concern was that while they didn't have all the equipment they needed, what they really need is more officers.

It's not Musial for cops to have to leave one 911 call to answer another ... the increase in calls have to deal with overdoses & mental illness.

He said, based on the increase in 911 calls before he took over to now, he was going to need at the very least 400 new officers over the next 5 years ...

The mayor heard him ... put it  Not his budget for the city next year ...

But instead of 75 or 1000 ... he budgeted for JUST 14!!!!!

14 .... that's it .



The public was in a tizzy- protesting him at every moment they could -- even getting so loud that the mayor could not be heard!

But they were protesting because they DO NOT WANT more officers!!

Wait, WHAT??

This is nuts -- they claim it's because they can't "trust" the police, but what they don't realize is that many hands makes light work -- less stressed officers make happier officers ... happier officers are more trust-worthy.

Actually, it makes me wonder what they are really hiding -- and if they have ever TRIED to call 911 for help.

It's awful in Mpls!
I called once when a car flipped over on a residential street ... not my car, I was in my fathers kitchen looking out the window at the ttime me and saw it all.
Sat on the RINGER for about 10 minutes, then had to sit on HOLD for another 5 minutes, just to told I didn't have enough information for them ...
Never mind the fact that (a)the car was on it roof, (b)the driver did not get out yet and (c)i knew the exact address where it occurred!!!
But that wasn't enough information.

We've all ran into bad officers, just let ken you've run the not bad customer service people, bad cashiers - after aall they are just PEOPLE TOO

Numerology Class

So what will be the impact of Obamacare on your wallet? I mean really ...

Everyone says it will be a better thing for everyone to have insurance and the prices will get lower because more people will have it ... Right????

WRONG 

Here are some examples:

In Nashville, TN

Cost of healthcare

27 yr old, NONsmoker

NOW _________ After CHC 

$41/month_____$114/month

(This does not include the increase of Out-of-pocket or deductibles)

In CA

DEDUCTIBLES (what you have to pay first before insurance kicks in)

Silver-tier plan (mid level and expected to be the most popular)

$2000/per

Bronze-tier plan

$5000/year

PLUS co-pay to visit dr

Large chunk of cost of emergency room

§§§§§§

Emergency room doctors expect an increase of people using the emergency rooms as their clinics as people begin to figure it would be cheaper to drop insurance and pay the penalty by the government ... Or people who sign up but still don't have time to take their kids into the doctor during the day ...

School systems are afraid that FEWER kids will be getting proper medical care for these same reasons ...

In general - <u>I'm</u> afraid that we will have a medical system like Canada or Great Britain ... Tons of forms ... 3 week wait for a dr appt ... Government deciding if you <i>really</i> need that treatment to save your life or eye sight or limb or whatever ...

While I agree that universal healthcare would be nice ... How being able to get treated for an illness is the best for everyone ... THIS PLAN will NOT work ... It will make things WORSE

This plan DEPENDS on young adults (18-35yrs old) signing up ... It DEPENDS on the rich using the upper tier plans ... It DEPENDS on companies carrying coverage for their workers ...

Here's what's gonna happen ...

The young will take the penalty and sign up at the time they need care because it will be cheaper

The Rich will get the cheaper insurance because they can afford the copays/deductibles and it will still be cheaper for them

Companies will DROP insurance in most cases because it is cheaper to pay the penalty for not having insurance for people

If people get money from their company to buy insurance, they I'll pocket the money and wait until they need the insurance  ... Some for those low-income families who will get a subsidy from the government - the money will go to pay for rent/food/etc instead of the insurance it was intended for

This is SOOOOOOOOOOO screwed up ...

In our state we have a comprehensive insurance program for people who can't afford insurance - my mother was on it for quite some time - if you didn't have insurance or if you had an insurance that didn't cover much you could get on it and it took a fairly large bite out of the bills ... Granted she was also getting Medicare but not always.

THAT is the type of thing that the Feds should be requiring each STATE to do - come up with a plan which protects those who do not have insurance or inadequate insurance .... Not FORCING people to buy something they may OT wish 

THAT is the EXTENT of their power UNDER THE CONSTITUTION 

That's it ... That's all

They can not make you buy car insurance ,,, they can not make you buy a car seat for your kids ... They can not make you drive a certain speed on the highway ...

THAT'S ALL ON THE STATE LEVEL

They CAN hold back funding from states if they do not have laws concerning these things, they can even tie a maximum speed you can drive on interstates to get road funding BUT they can NOT pass laws that effect those things outright ...

Don't Lose Your Heads

Let get this straight ....

It was NOT the weapons that killed these people in Aurora, CO ...

It was not the full body armor ...

It was not the online weapon shops ...

It was not taking kids to the midnight showings of movies that killed that 6 year old little girl ...

It was NOT the NRA that did it ...

It was not cartoon characters, nor the comic book industry ...

It wasn't even the violence in movies ...

It was a MAN - a man who had issues which no one realized was there ...

A person who showed no signs of his illness to the outside world ...

A person who was intelligent ...

A person who seemed to be on his way to a dream career although he apparently COULD NOT FIND A JOB

BUT it was no his inability to find a job which caused this ...

It was a MAN who NEEDED help but may not have even realized it HIMSELF that there was something going on ...

Make no mistake ... This WILL take away our Constitutional Rights which guarantees us the right to bear arms - not just to hunt or protect ourselves from ourselves but also to protect ourselves from Enemies both FORIEGN and domestic ...

Do not ... Do NOT allow them to take away your right to protect yourselves or your families!

Do not let them cloud this issue ...

This was NOT a case of GUNS taking innocent lives - guns have no motion of their own - this is a case of ONE LONE PERSON killing people

Had one person been in that theater been allowed a weapon that shot armor piercing bullets ... We would be saved the cost of a trial ... although it would not guarantee that any of the lives would have been saved ... But he would have been taken out ...

The View: "End of Illness"

Today on The View they had a doctor (Dr david Agus) who - quite frankly - was a nutcase and I don't know why he was on

Here's why I think he's a nutcase ... Well ok, just plain mistaken

• he wants EVERYONE on staten drugs - these are meant to lower cholesterol

• he sights a study where they said that people on statins can delay heart attack and stroke by almost a decade -- no how the heck would he know EHEN a person would have had that HA or stroke to begin with? Maybe they would never have had one of they HADN'T been on the staten at all ... I hate statements like this

• he wants people to eat the SAME TIME EVERY DAY and if you don't he says your body will stress out ... He used the example of if our kids lunches are 1/2 hr late they cry - well no they don't! What kind of brats did he have? Even as babies they don't eat at the same time everyday - it varies ... Most doctors will tell you - eat when your hungry, drink when your not

• he says high heels are going to shorten your life because they cause your feet to hurt

• He also says that people need to go to bed and get up the same time EVERYDAY as well - and that you should sleep for 10 1/2 hrs

he says that ANY inflammation - he is using it instead of the word "stress" - even catching the flu will take years off your life ...

REALLY?

He is against taking vitamins of any kind - he spouted a bunch of stats about people who took certain vitamins caused certain diseases being increased ...

Here's how the study was done - "do you take a multi vitamin? Does it contain this mineral?" okay that is this much of the population, and this many on the population gets this cancer - therefore there is a correlation.

If you think they kept an eye on people for 20 years and was able to control all the outside influences on heir lives - I've got a bridge I can sell you!

By that same token - even of this guy is right ...

WHO WANTS TO LIVE TO 100?

I mean who wants to see all their family and friends die before them? I feel outbid place when I get around a group of my kids friends I couldn't imagine being around a group of my great-grand kids friends

NatGeo Preppers facts

Episode 4

(as an aside - I think it's interesting that the truck driver in this episode is a retired police officer, yet he says he hates the police - what's up with that?)

Most grocery stores would be empty in 3 days if there was a stoppage of trucks

In a recent survey, 45% of Americans say they collect and store canned food in preparation for a potential catastrophe

Diesel engines average 30% better gas mileage than their gasoline counter parts, and are made to withstand more punishment and last longer

A semi weighs around 105,000 lbs

The defense industry is developing "active camouflage" that detects and projects a vehicles surroundings onto its exterior, rendering it invisible

In 1920's Germany, hyperinflation devalued the currency so much that a wheelbarrow filled with cash wasn't enough to purchase a newspaper

There are 2 million truckers ... There are 2 million prisoners in the US ... Hmm

At 65 mph a semi is bigger and faster than a military tank, but it's weakness is in turns when it must slow down and has a very wide turn radius - 2 cars parked could stop it

In 2009, 859 truckloads were high jacked on American roads - worth almost $500million

(another side note here - they've done studies that have shown you have a better immune system if you do NOT have an immaculate home. Your immune system will already be active and ready. They also found kids who were allowed to eat dirt tend to have less illness growing up because their bodies fought off those germs at an early age and already had an immunity to it - as opposed to kids who were constantly washing their hands nd keeping clean)

Over half a billion passengers flew on US carriers in 2011 well I'm sure that it was only around half this number since one could assume that most of those people were making round-trips and would have been counted twice, if not more for frequent fliers

It would take less than 24 hours for a single infected passenger on a commercial airline to spread the disease to every populated continent of the world (this lets out Antarctica, since there is no native population there)

40% of Americans say they are not prepared for a catastrophe because they can't afford to stock up on certain supplies

The CDC estimates that a pandemic flu outbreak could last up to 8 weeks, infect over 100 million people, and cause death in 1 million of them

When fitted properly N95 masks can filter out 95% of small particles in the air, and are 75% effective against flu germs

80% of infectious diseases, including the common cold, are spread by physical contact

Flu germs can survive for as long as 48 hours or more on some surfaces

According to a recent study, 29% of Americans say they think a pandemic might happen in the US over the next 25 years

For much of geologic history FL was actually under water my brother used to install fences in FL - he says that houses do not have basements there nor do they dig down to set their posts for fences in cement because most of the state is either at sea level or below ... This also explains why hurricane do such big time damage to it

Rice has a shelf life of 2 years when stored properly in air tight containers, in a cool dry place

According to industry sources, 200,000 US homes use some form of solar technology

Obama Time

ANOTHER ONE?????

Man - does this guy ever work more than 3 days in a row?

Obama Heads North, Not South for Weekend Vacation « Row 2, Seat 4: "When President Obama sat among local officials at a snack bar in Pensacola, Florida last month, he emphasized that the Sunshine State's beaches were 'open for business' and vowed to do everything his administration could to help those in the region. Well, maybe not everything. When the president and his family go away later this week for a mini-vacation, they'll be traveling almost 2,000 miles away from the oil spill, escaping the heat in Washington for the cooler weather up north at Mount Desert Island, Maine." The main focus of the story was that if the President was going to take a vacation he should be doing it down where they are being effected by the oil spill ...

They skim over the fact that this is the THIRD vacation in 80 days!!!

Either they need to stop calling these things "vacations" or the President needs to keep his @ss in DC and - oh I don't know - FIX SOME SHIT!

You have to wonder if Obama isn't taking all these vacations, at tax payers expense (not just flight/secret service, but also for staffing & sweeping of staff at the property ... people to go out and sweep ahead of his arrival ... vetting sites ... etc - and then there's the stuff that goes on after he leaves, if you think once he goes that's the end your wrong) -- oops slipped away there -- if he isn't taking them as "extra compensation" for the loss of income from when he was a Senator ... or else he is just so used to all those 'breaks' that the congress takes that he just can't get his mind wrapped around having an actual FULL TIME (plus) JOB ... he seems to hate over-time.

You just know Reagan and Nixon are rolling in their graves over this one ....

Could you imagine the fodder that the press would have had if this were going on during the administrations of Ford, or Eisenhower, or Kennedy?

Bush got raked royally for his breaks to go down to Crawford Tx - to his home - on weekends ...

where is the outrage from the media over Obama's absence??? Other than Fox News, you really don't hear about it at all.

I ran across this link on a story looking at Bush's vacation record compared to other Presidents on the History News Network ... here are some facts which they had posted:

• James Madison took a 4 month long vacation - normally his lasted only 3 months long
• John Adams stayed at his home for 7 months when his wife, Abigail, took ill
• Thomas Jefferson, mid-july to october he was away from his presidential seat
• Chester Arthur traveled most of his last year in office (but he was trying to hide the fact that he had a fatal illness)
• Grover Cleveland used his first vacation to have a secret operation on a yacht - to remove a cancerous tumor!
• Bill Clinton used polls to pick his vacation spots (they say it only happened once, but I don't know)
• Ronald Reagan spent 335 days over 8 yrs at his CA ranch == that's an average of 41days/yr
• Jimmy Carter only took 80 days vacation during his whole 4-yr term!

Or I wonder if they are trying to keep the President moving so that they can't track him down for the Blago trial ... although my understanding is that he can't be compelled to testify while he is in office.

The View: On Prayer

I can't believe I'm about to do this ... but I have to stick up for Joy Behar.

Today they were talking about Julia Gullaughable's statements about prayer ... or rather the President's call for people to pray for the Gulf Coast ... on Joy's other program (lets face it, the only opinion that ever gets heard on The View is Joy's really) ...

The conversation had turned to whether Julia had meant for it to sound like she meant 'if you pray, you aren't smart' ... although knowing her and her statements of the past, she could have, but I will give her the benefit of the doubt here.

Joy said "When prayer takes the place of logical thinking then I think its dangerous"

Elisabeth shot back "prayers not illogical"

Joy buried herself with "it takes the place of thinking"

"no it doesn't" Elisabeth countered with a followup "that is a completely bigotted statement to say that when I'm praying I'm not thinking"

Well now - Joy original statement about Prayerr not taking the place of logical thinking I have no problem with - in fact I agree with it. Prayer can not fix an illness and its not going to help much in solving the issue in the Gulf, at least not directly.

It may help to pray for inspiration for them to find a way to fix the leak -- but then wouldn't it be amazing if God did show up to fix it? what would people do?

But lets face it -- prayer, on the general, is done by the masses in times of panic/worry/desperation ... so yeah - at THAT point it does tend to lead to a pause in 'logical' thinking .... logical being thinking of the problem and only the problem and its solutions.

man --

that leaves a terrible taste in my mouth.

((Joy should NOT be allowed to plug her other show though in my opinion! I have to wonder if Elisabeth got a gig on Fox News, if they would let her do it)

Limbo

I am in limbo ....

I feel like I am gloating between projects waiting for the next thing to happen.

I have finished my partner's socks for the HSS6 but am holding off until I hear she is ready to send her box to me - which is on hold as she is helping a friend complete obligations due to a serious illness.

I have finished my 'toes' for the ODD socks round robin socks - we have the list of our fellow knitters, but have received no address for the person we are supposed to send our projects to ... each of us working just a part of the sock pair but by the end we have completed the stitching for 1 pair of socks although in reality 5 pr were made.

I have swatched for the Mr. Greenjeans sweater from knitty.com for the Kat's Sweater KAL for the "Eastwich Stitchers" on Ravelry. It begins tomorrow ... but still I'm waiting very anxiously. Looking over the pattern today I see that by the time I get to the bottom of the sweater I will be knitting over 300 sts ... I have a feeling its going to drive me batty - although working it as a group it should add some motivation and keep me on track. Hopefully I will have the proper amount of yarn (I forgot to take into consideration the yarn needed for the swatches)

ah -- and then there are the socks for Becca's graduation which for some reason I can get back to -- I have lost my place in the pattern and misplaced the second hank of yarn for it ...

Presidential Grade

Bio-Attack: F

Obama Adm not done enough to prevent and attack in a report by a bipartisan committee.

But it also chastized the three previous adm (Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2) for simularly not taking it serious enough and being too slow at implimenting procedures to defend.

They went on to predict a bio-attack by the end of 2013 (most likely the second half)

They based it also on the lack of stockpiled antidotes, and the way that the H1N1 virus situation was handled ... in fact the Vice-Chair of the WMD commision (Jim Talent) said that the CDC can't give anyone updated numbers on current cases or outbreaks because they had no real way to measure it. (see previous posts for H1N1 statistic issues, key words H1N1, Swine Flu, or Illness)

another problems was that there was no real, is no real, way to effectively distribute the meds even if they had them ... again look to the Swine Flu -- you never knew who was going to get it when or who was going to be allowed to get the actual shot when there was meds there.

we should alll be scared

Obama: 'Now's the Time to Finish the Job' on Health Care Reform

President Obama urged the House on Saturday to "finish the job" in passing its version of a sweeping health care overhaul after he met privately with Democrats.
"This is our moment to live up to the trust that the American people has placed in us, even when it's hard -- especially when it's hard," he said from the Rose Garden of the White House. "This is our moment to deliver."

Okay - so now they are all push push push ... (and I have to say I'm a bit put aback by the comment of 'finish the job' ... it sounds so omnimous)

As much as I would love to have 'free' health insurance for everyone (you know it ain't really free, right?) ... I don't want the situation I heard of Rav ... a woman there was saying that their health system is so different that they wait until there is something seriously wrong with you before they will do anything ...

this means you have to get sicker ... to the point to where you could die ... before giving the medicine becomes 'cost effective'.

Take the flu ... after the initial illness, many people are finding themselves with a horrid cough some of those are developing in bronchitis - an illness treatable with antibiotics, but it can either cure on its own or turn into pnuemonia without them ...

pnuemonia is unlikely to clear on its won with out antibiotics so that is where they focus the antibiotics. it is only then when you might likely die that you get the help you need -- if you can get it on time.

Look - I didn't ask for this from this person ... nor did they say it because they are against the Presidents health care plan ....

they volunteered the info ....

and this is the system we want to go to???

You know those antibiotics you get when your child has an ear infection? forget it until the drum ruptures ...

or the yearly flu shots so many people get now? well those are possible because of the current American health system - its not because of other countries ... its the research & funding provided by American companies and corporations.

This is why when the American labs fell behind in their production of the flu shots this year the whole world felt the deficit ... why would we give that up?

why?

Litigical society at its "best" ...

Widow of First New York City Man to Die From H1N1 Flu Plans to Sue City for $40 Million:

"Wiener was the assistant principal of Intermediate School 236 in Hollis in the New York borough of Queens. The school was one of several city schools to be shuttered after the illness afflicted students and staff members.

In a notice of claim filed on Tuesday, Wiener's widow, Bonnie Wiener, accused the city of failing to adequately control the H1N1 outbreak and failing to inform Wiener that he had come in contact with individuals who tested positive for the H1N1 flu."

Somebody explain how its the city's fault that this guy got the flu? I'm not going to say that she doesn't have a case - because i don't know all the wherefore's and as-to's .... but how can you blame the city because the guy got hit by a pandemic?

I mean - he was in a position where personale are exposed to diseases all the time ... and it is part of the risk of the job ... and its not like they hadn't had warning that it could happen.

I just don't see where she has a case ... and if she wins - it will open a whole kettle of fish!

My plans? First reported case of swine flu will have my kids staying at home, and I'm afraid of the shot - I think they are pushing thru these shots too fast these days. I'm afraid they haven't done a thorough enough research study on it all.

I even heard that the shots we got from the last mass hysteria aren't even good anymore ... I just hope the school system doesn't require it, then i don't know what I'll do.

They Don't Get it

Celebrity Gossip Entertainment News Celebrity News TMZ.com:

"Ryan said it was 'fantastic' to have son Redmond out of jail for the service, but when we asked him how he was feeling, Ryan only said 'I don't know yet. It's hard to believe.'"

Okay so TMZ seems totally confused by Ryan O'Neils answer ...

Let me explain...

when you have someone dying of cancer ...

when they finally go ... as much as you miss them ... as much as they leave a whole in your life ... you still feel a bit of relief that they are finally done with the pain.

it sounds strange I know .... but there was likely even a time during her illness, towards the end likely, where he would have prayed that she would just go, and have it done with. Pray that her pain would end.

C'mon guys --- back off. He's got a lot to deal with .... and he has to wrap his mind & heart around it without your cameras getting in his face.