Video: A Sunday Laugh

Hey, it's a Sunday. A little laugh never hurt. Click on the image below to watch funny cats video. Via YouTube:

Runtime: 01:38

Avian Flu---Time's A-Tickin'...Part 7

This is our 7th posting in a series to help share information about Avian flu. Information provided is taken from international and national experts from the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and US Department of Health and Human Services. Some information may be concern provoking.

Vaccine Status Updates

March 2006 Reports

The World Health Organization (WHO) 3/06:

"Influenza vaccines are an integral part of a global response to an influenza pandemic. Considerable efforts are ongoing to develop and evaluate candidate pandemic vaccines based on existing and licensed technologies. However, it would be desirable to have processes that can provide pandemic vaccines in large quantities and more quickly than current approaches."

Because the rate of vaccine manufacturing is limited in the current process, WHO is sponsoring meetings in April and May with representatives from national regulatory agencies for both human and veterinary influenza vaccines and the producers to discuss and review issues on the technical feasibility of using veterinary facilities to produce human influenza pandemic vaccines.


National Institutes of Health-NIH 3/23/06 news release:

Fast-track recruitment has begun for a trial to investigate the safety of a vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced today.
This Phase I trial will test the vaccine's safety and ability to generate an immune response in 450 healthy adults aged 18 to 64. If the vaccine is shown to be safe in adults, there are plans to test it in other populations, such as the elderly and children.

Next Week: How a Hospital Might Plan for an Increase in Patients-- Surge Planning

Angelina Jolie For ‘No Child Left Behind’ to the Whole World

When Angelina Jolie explains public policy the way she did on this one, I don’t mind eating crow on celebrity and Hollywood.

Good read.

Gas Price Relief: The Art Of Looking Like You’re Doing Something

John Hinderaker over at Power Line blog, razor sharp as usual, goes through the components of Senate Republicans’ “Gas Price Relief and Rebate Act of 2006” one by one. Not a pretty sight.

He gives this humdinger of a close to the posting titled Wasn’t There A Time When Republicans Knew Something About Economics?:

Look at it this way: if the oil companies agreed among themselves not to drill for oil in new locations like ANWR, and not to build new refineries, …to limit the supply of oil and thereby drive prices higher, it would be illegal; indeed, it would be the greatest price-fixing conspiracy in American history. But it isn't the oil companies that have conspired to limit supply and thereby drive prices higher. It is our government...

Read the whole thing.

Hinderaker makes a very good point commenting that the Republican Senators’ proposal does nothing. Other than the ANWR drilling, it does not acknowledge supply and demand rules that govern prices. It is pretty much just crude pandering that we have gotten used to expect from Democrats, not Republicans.

Take That! ...Uh-Oh

Showdown in Guinea Bissau.

Mission Network News’ mnnonline.org posted this neat bit of news on April 24, 2006. It opens:

Guinea Bissau (MNN) -- Guinea Bissau is a place of intense spiritual battles. Where Christian work expands, the enemy tries to oppose.

Recently, more than 50 shaman (religious leaders in animism) placed a curse on Bible translation and Christian work there. The shaman's plan backfired, and instead of the believers getting sick and dying, the shaman began to get sick and die.

Wycliffe Associates' Bruce Smith says the power of Truth has made people much more responsive to the Gospel.

Read the whole story. It's titled, Bible translation by nationals is moving forward dramatically.

Nothing like an Old Testament-style showdown to buoy the efforts of Wycliffe Bible Translators in Guinea Bissau.

6th US Circuit Court of Appeals to ACLU: Nice Try

Last Monday, by a 19-5 vote by the full court, the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals judges refused to rehear the case of ACLU v Mercer County, Kentucky. The appeals court rejected arguments by the American Civil Liberties Union (sic) that the Mercer County Courthouse's display of the Ten Commandments violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The decision upholds a prior ruling of a three-judge panel allowing the Ten Commandments to remain on display at Kentucky’s Mercer County Courthouse.

You will remember that last December, the Sixth Circuit panel unanimously ruled that the Mercer County Ten Commandments display is constitutional. According to the court, the county’s purpose for the display is historical rather than religious. The Sixth Circuit’s jurisdiction covers Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.

In a story posted at the Agape Press.org’s Headlines page by Jenni Parker dated April 25, 2006 titled, Ten Commandments Ruling Hailed as Evidence of Tide Turning Against ACLU, an Associated Press report was cited pointing out that the December 2005 ruling made mention of the fact that the courthouse’s biblical laws are displayed alongside replicas of nine other historic documents, including the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. Even the size of the fonts being the same for all the documents was referred to, saying further that no attempt was made to put the religious document at a higher level.

Some excerpts from the Agape Press report:

(AgapePress) - Pro-family attorneys are hailing the decision of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a three-judge panel's prior ruling allowing the Ten Commandments to remain on display at Kentucky's Mercer County Courthouse.

And in reference to Mathew D. Staver, Liberty Counsel's president and general counsel, who hails the Sixth Circuit's decision as a great victory that has begun to "turn the tide against the ACLU":

The Liberty Counsel spokesman believes federal courts are beginning to reject extreme notions of the so-called separation of church and state. After all, he notes, the Sixth Circuit expressly rejected the ACLU's "repeated reference" to the Establishment Clause, saying that this "extra-constitutional construct has grown tiresome" and noting, "The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state."

Read the whole report.

Give God praise and thanks. The victory is His. Continue to pray for and support Jay Sekulow and the American Center for Law and Justice and Matt Staver of Liberty Counsel.

Still Winning Salutes

Flag-saving moment still winning salutes, is USA Today writer Bob Nightengale's story posted today at USA Today.com, in the Sports section’s Baseball page. It tells of Rick Monday, playing outfielder for the Chicago Cubs at the Dodger Stadium in L.A. in April 25, 1976, when two people jumped over the railing in left field and tried to burn the American flag on the turf. Running from center field, Monday grabbed the flag and carried it to safety.

Nightengale begins his account:

The hand was trembling, the voice was quivering…tears were running down his face.

The World War II soldier, who survived the Pearl Harbor attack, looked Rick Monday in the eyes, slowly raised his right arm, and saluted him.

"Thank you," Monday recalls the soldier telling him last year. "And thank you from all of my shipmates."

Thirty years ago today, Monday became an American hero.

It was the day he saved the American flag.

Read the whole story.

Monday’s act was voted recently by the Hall of Fame as one of the 100 classic moments in the history of the game.

Burning But Not Consumed

Natan Sharansky authors today's featured article in the Editorial Page of the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com website. Titled, Dissident President George W. Bush has the courage to speak out for freedom, (italics supplied) Mr. Sharansky writes:

Political leaders make the rarest of dissidents. In a democracy, a leader's lifeline is the electorate's pulse. Failure to be in tune with public sentiment can cripple any administration and undermine any political agenda...

That is why President George W. Bush is such an exception. He is a man fired by a deep belief in the universal appeal of freedom, its transformative power, and its critical connection to international peace and stability...

Used with permission from OpinionJournal.com, a web site from Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Read the whole article.

In the scurrilous heat of the mainstream media's relentless assault on this president's character, it is refreshing to read from someone who has been through fire himself and is able to see clearly inspite of the billowing, odious smoke of lies and distortions.

Natan Sharansky was a political prisoner in the Soviet gulag for nine years.

Orcar's Gone To The Dogs, So Why Shouldn't The Pulitzer?

An opinion piece today at the New York Post's Online Edition titled No Oscar For Claudia opens this way:

The Pulitzer Prizes, the Academy Awards of journalism, were announced last week; The Washington Post and The New York Times scored heavily, as always.

What a bore.

What a joke, actually.

Because any journalism award committee that didn't automatically hand top honors to Claudia Rosett, a journalist-in-residence for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the columnist who has explained to the world the appalling United Nations' Oil-for-Food scandal, is trafficking in hollow honors.

Very rich. Read the whole thing.

LA Times Gets It Right On This One

Who says the LA Times can't get the story straight every now and then?

Watch this really good news from Iraq posted today at the LATimes.com World News page titled, Iraq Breaks Impasse on Government, by Times staff writers Borzou Daragahi and Bruce Wallace. Some quotes:

BAGHDAD — With a hint of hope and more than a bit of relief, Iraq's parliament finally met Saturday to endorse a deal among rival factions to name a prime minister and get the first permanent government of the post-Saddam Hussein era off the ground.

…266 legislators who met in a sweltering Baghdad convention center ended a four-month wait that followed national elections in December. …distributed top political jobs, … among Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish parties.

Kinda makes one think, what happened to the MSM's pronouncements just weeks ago that Iraq was "on the brink" of a civil war? Really makes one wary whenever the MSM uses terms like "on the brink". Doesn't it grab you more like the MSM's wishful thinking rather than news?

Of course, no one is discounting Iraq's hundreds of years of sectarian and religious culture compounded by distortion and exploitation. No one is dreaming that Iraq will suddenly emerge as the glowing bastion of democracy in the Middle East when the sun rises tomorrow.

Still, when one considers what these democratically elected leaders have done, thankless as it is, they do appear to be participating more as statesmen rather than opportunistic politicians.

Go to Iraq The Model blog for a step-by-step account of the history-making parliamentary session.

Let's hope the Iraqi leaders give the Iraqi people, who long for freeedom, the government that they need. The brave---and voting---Iraqi people deserve no less.

Far too long has Iraq lived in an insane obsession with death. It's time to look ahead at life.

As to the LA Times, kudos on a well-written piece.

One At A Time Does It

Foxnews.com's World page posted today an Associated Press story titled, Militant Slain in Pakistan ID'd as Senior Al Qaeda Operative. Some quotes:

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A suspect slain in a shootout with Pakistani agents this week was a senior Al Qaeda operative from Syria behind militant attacks in Pakistan's tribal regions and against U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan, …

Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao identified the suspect as Marwan Hadid al-Suri,... He died in a gunbattle Thursday after agents acting on tip-off stopped him at a roadblock at Khar, a town near the northwestern tribal region of Bajur.

Read the whole story.

The words, "agents acting on tip-off" say a lot.

We're getting there.

Technical Difficulties

We apologize for our lack of a post for most of the day. We've been offline for a number of hours due to connectivity issues with our internet service provider. And when we were finally back online, only the background of this website could be accessed. The rest seems to have disappeared. We have resolved the issues and should be able to resume blogging as usual.

Thank you for bearing with us.

Avian Flu---Time's A-Tickin'...Part 6

This is our sixth posting in a series to help share information about Avian flu. Information provided is taken from international and national experts from the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and US Department of Health and Human Services. Some information may be concern provoking.

In a pandemic, healthcare organizations and hospitals may be overwhelmed by the sudden surge in demand for their resources and services.

The ability to deliver quality health care depends on adequate staffing and optimum health of that staff. Healthcare staff themselves may be concerned about coming to work if---or when---a pandemic flu or a different disaster occurs. Healthcare organizations and hospitals may organize mechanisms to protect staff at work in the event of a pandemic flu.

A pandemic flu plan may include:

• Refresher education on infection control practices, N95 masks (respiratory protective devices with a filter efficiency of 95%) and PAPR (Purified Air Personal Respirator) use. Computer presentations and DVDs are ideal media to develop for wide dissemination.

• Building an emergency stock of personal protective equipment (PPE). Thousands of N95 masks may be needed, extra PAPRs, and face shields. It will be good to review new technology for emergency use.

• Development of a plan for all employees to be screened for flu symptoms prior to coming into buildings or hospitals.

• A staff designated entrance to a hospital and a different single entrance point for patients will be good so staff is not exposed to ill patients when they enter the work place.

• Education for staff and employees on how to protect their family from secondary occupational exposure when they go home from work.

• How a designated department/clinic will provide mass vaccinations when the flu vaccine is available and is recommended by the state health department. Recommendations for use of antivirals should be monitored and mass dispensation clinics should be provided if indicated.

• If staff/employees stay for multiple shifts, how are they provided areas for rest? Food?

• Help for staff/employees to prepare at home. Purchasing, Safety and Employee Health are examples of departments that may work together to provide opportunity for staff/employees to purchase the majority of disaster supplies through their organization or hospital at organization/hospital cost. Supply Fairs are good vehicles for this.

Teams of people and millions of dollars are committed to continue to plan at the federal, state, regional, local and system levels.

Hundreds of issues are being addressed and the search continues for additional mechanisms to ensure healthcare workers’ health and safety.


Next Week:

Vaccine Status Update

Signs of The Times

Chart from TimesWatch.org

Growing up, I’ve always believed that the news I read in the papers was just that: an account of what happened. The facts were carefully gathered and written together into a story that’s printed in the papers as a report. They called the people that did this “reporters”, didn’t they? My teachers taught me this. My parents told me the same.

I’ve always understood that if I wanted the paper’s view on the news, I could always go to the “Editorials” or the “Opinion” page.

In this arrangement, my own ability to decide for myself how I want to look at the news is respected. This way, I am free to think for myself.

Mess with this arrangement and my freedom to think for myself is gone. Someone else is deciding for me how I should look at the “news”. My ability to form my own views is insulted.

Call it propaganda, slant, bias, call it anything but it isn’t news.

Take for example the New York Times’ coverage of NY (D) Sen. Hillary Clinton. To quote the TimesWatch:

The American Conservative Union, which tracks the voting records of all congressmen and rates them on their faithfulness to conservative principles, awards Sen. Hillary Clinton a lifetime rating of 9 out of a possible 100.

Yet far from accurately terming Clinton a liberal, the Times has actually insisted that she is in some respects a conservative.

Clay Waters, in his posting today at humaneventsonline.com titled, Hillary: At Home With New York Times, finds:

Since Election Day 2004, the Times has assisted Clinton by falsely positioning her as a political centrist, sliming her Senate opponents, and downplaying her most controversial anti-Republican comments.

...a Nexis search of 641 news stories in the Times from November 2004 through March 2006 found a mere three direct labels of Clinton as liberal by the Times.

In fact, the paper spent as much time specifically dismissing accusations of Clinton's liberalism as "caricature,"

Let's grant, for the sake of discussion, that the Times has a right to conduct their reporting the way they want it. Is it good business policy?

The New York Times published yesterday a story by Katharine Q. Seelye titled, 28% of Votes Are Withheld at Times Company Meeting (You may be asked to register first to access the page). Here are some excerpts:

Investors holding more than a quarter of the shares of The New York Times Company withheld their votes for directors at the annual meeting yesterday, registering their dissatisfaction with how the company is performing.

Since January 2004, the company shares have fallen 47 percent; an index of industry stocks has fallen 35.8 percent. In the same period, stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500 index have climbed more than 17 percent.

Read the whole story.

Now, there's a saying that what goes around comes around. But I need to be objective so I should say that perhaps news like the one posted today by the Binghamton News Channel 34 website titled, NY Times Website Crashes for Four Hours, is probably purely coincidental.

Or could it just be one of the signs of the Times?

If It Quacks...It Probably Lays An Egg Too

Seems like ducks struck it rich these days they have developed a taste for high end hotels to make their nests at. At least, that's what it seems to two mama ducks hatching their eggs at the Ritz-Carlton hotels at Georgetown and St. Louis.

I kid you not. These classy hotels known for attracting celebrities and VIP's have been hosting Very Important Ducks.

They're so important the chef at the Fahrenheit Restaurant in the Georgetown site has removed the duck breast entree from the menu.

And the hotel isn't missing a beat promoting its feathered guest:

Bartenders at Degrees, the hotel's bar, have created a special cocktail called the "Duck Duck Goose" with Grey Goose L'Orange vodka, pineapple juice, a splash of Grenadine and a splash of Sprite.

Hotel guests now get a small Ritz-Carlton rubber ducky at evening turn down, and the hotel has set up an "Everything's Just Ducky" package… available until April 30. …deal includes a room, Duck Duck Goose cocktails…traditional butler-drawn bubble bath with a rubber ducky.

And chocolate milk and homemade cookies for all guests.

Read the whole thing.

Hat tip:
Mama Duck returns to do the Ritz
By Michael Hunsberger
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
April 18, 2006

Facts Only, Please

Many have read the book, "The Da Vinci Code", enjoyed the story side of it and then became curious later, to say the least, to find that what initially presents itself as a murder mystery novel claims to be based on facts. Christians especially perceive that the so-called facts assault the core of Christianity itself.

This is the subject today of a posting at the WorldNetDaily.com website titled, "Experts to fact check the 'Da Vinci Code'":

Author and television pastor Dr. D. James Kennedy announced yesterday he will host a one-hour TV documentary next month meant to "fact check" the popular book "The Da Vinci Code" just before release of the movie version of the story.

According to a statement from Kennedy's Coral Ridge Ministries, the show, entitled "The Da Vinci Delusion," "enlists a band of scholars, theologians, and authors to fact check" the book's assertions "against evidence from history and the Bible."

"The Da Vinci Delusion" will air on May 13 and 14 on "The coral Ridge Hour". For local times and stations, go to davincidelusion.org.

Meanwhile, Grizzly Adams Productions, a major documentary maker, has released a two-hour DVD critique of "The Da Vinci Code" ahead of the Hollywood movie's release. Called "Breaking the Da Vinci Code", the new documentary was created for an anticipated television airing later this spring by Grizzly Adams Productions.

Marketed exclusively through ShopNetDaily, the documentary explodes myths perpetuated by the novel and the upcoming movie. Included are interviews with authors and leading world experts in archaelogy, theology, art history, philosophy and science.

The Rising Asian Giant

What's China got to do with your life? Where it hits close to home, try gas prices. The ascending power of the Chinese economy demands Gargantuan resources for energy. Their draw on the world's oil resources has a correlation to higher prices at our local pumps.

The US-Chinese trade relationship continues to deepen but the prospects of a rising China, along with its authoritarian communist government, raise concern among ordinary Americans. China continues to score poorly in the yearly State Department human rights assessments around the globe. And while there seems to be no immediate threat to its security, China is building up its military, buying arms at a large and expansive scale.

From a report today from CNSNews.com titled, US-China Differences Go Way Beyond Protocol for Hu's Visit, by Patrick Goodenough, posted at the Crosswalk.com website, the following excerpts:

Eager to expand sources of energy supplies to feed its galloping economy, Beijing is pursuing ever closer ties with countries in the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, some of which - such as Sudan and Venezuela - have problematic relations with the U.S.

"Chinese policies are endangering U.S. goals by supporting African dictatorships, hindering economic development, and exacerbating conflicts and human rights abuses in troubled countries such as Sudan and Zimbabwe,"

Read the whole report.

Blogs Confounding The MSM? They Haven't Seen VBlogging Yet

Granted, this is old news if you're an avid follower of rapid developments in the web. But just in case you missed this February 22, 2006 article in the TCSDAILY.com website, we're featuring it here. Titled, Will Video Kill The Blogosphere Star?, Silicon Valley writer and fellow blogger Ed Driscoll (see his bio here) describes one more powerful tool "new media mavens of the Blogosphere" might add to their amazing kits that just continue to tear apart the traditional way we interact with media, news and opinion.

Driscoll calls the new tool, videoblogging, or vblogging for short. In its most developed form, he compares it to a "one-man TV network."

Here are some of the ways vblogging has already made an impact and what it could become:

In some cases...you'd simply like to spice-up an otherwise static blog with a few clips....At a meeting of bloggers and US senators in November of 2005, blogger Justin Hart used his cell phone's video camera to record video of Senator Majority Leader Bill Frist, and upload it instantly to his Weblog.

...just as numerous text-oriented bloggers have made the jump to op-eds and articles, a professional-appearing vblog could be a powerful "audition reel"

Factors fueling the gathering momentum of vblogging are the "skyrocketing efforts to bring TV to the web", as Driscoll puts it, the affordable prices today of DV cameras and the "near-ubiquitous bandwidth availability", according to documentarian and blogger Evan Coyne Maloney.

Read the whole article.

I confess. I'm excited. And it's because here's one more force that strikes deep into how we look at news and how truth is disseminated. To quote Driscoll:

But just as newspapers learned after 9/11, TV networks are discovering that the Web allows anyone to end-run mass media.

I Serve A Risen Savior

Jesus Christ rose from the dead.













Need I say more?



















Have a joyous easter!

Avian Flu---Time's A-Tickin'...Part 5

This is our fifth posting in a series to help share information about Avian flu. Information provided is taken from international and national experts from the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and US Department of Health and Human Services. Some information may be concern provoking.

How Does Seasonal Flu Differ From Pandemic Flu?

Seasonal Flu: Outbreaks follow predictable seasonal patterns; occurs annually, usually in winter, in temperate climates.
Pandemic Flu: Occurs rarely (three times in 20th century - last in 1968).

Seasonal Flu: Usually some immunity built up from previous exposure.
Pandemic Flu: No previous exposure; little or no pre-existing immunity.

Seasonal Flu: Healthy adults usually not at risk for serious complications; the very young, the elderly and those with certain underlying health conditions at increased risk for serious complications.
Pandemic Flu: Healthy people may be at increased risk for serious complications.

Seasonal Flu: Health systems can usually meet public and patient needs.
Pandemic Flu: Health systems may be overwhelmed.

Seasonal Flu: Vaccine developed based on known flu strains and available for annual flu season.
Pandemic Flu: Vaccine probably would not be available in the early stages of a pandemic.

Seasonal Flu: Adequate supplies of antivirals are usually available.
Pandemic Flu: Effective antivirals may be in limited supply.

Seasonal Flu: Average U.S. deaths approximately 36,000 per year.
Pandemic Flu: Number of deaths would be quite high (e.g., U.S. 1918 death toll approximately 500,000).

Seasonal Flu: Symptoms: fever, cough, runny nose, muscle pain. Deaths often caused by complications, such as pneumonia.
Pandemic Flu: Symptoms may be more severe and complications more frequent.

Seasonal Flu: Generally causes modest impact on society (e.g., some school closing, encouragement of people who are sick to stay home).
Pandemic Flu: May cause major impact on society (e.g., widespread restrictions on travel, closings of schools and businesses, cancellation of large public gatherings).

Seasonal Flu: Manageable impact on domestic and world economy.
Pandemic Flu: Potential for severe impact on domestic and world economy.

Taken from website: pandemicflu.gov

Be informed. Be prepared.

Next week: How a healthcare organization or hospital might prepare for pandemic flu.

Top Cat

"Narnia" video roars to No. 1 on DVD sales chart.

That's Thomas K. Arnold's Entertainment News report for Reuters featured today at Entertainment Weekly's EW.com website.

Here's an excerpt:

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" easily topped the national DVD sales chart for the week ending April 9, while the previous week's top seller, "King Kong," notched a second round atop the rental chart.
"Brokeback Mountain" finished a distant second…"Brokeback" distributor Universal said the gay cowboy romance sold 1.4 million DVDs its first day in stores, while first-day sales for Disney's "Narnia" were pegged at 4 million units.

Read the whole report.

Hollyweird could split hair all year long about niche movies and audience size not necessarily being a good gauge of the success of a movie. And that if a low budget movie makes money, no matter how small by today's going rate, it's a good movie.

I wonder if Hollyweird denizens could spell C-L-U-E-L-E-S-S?

Top Down

Top Al-Qaeda Operative in Iraq Killed Near Baquba, U.S. Says, that's Caroline Alexander's story today in the Top Worldwide page of the Bloomberg.com website.

Some excerpts:

A senior al-Qaeda operative in Iraq was killed by U.S. forces near Baquba, a city northeast of Baghdad, the U.S. military said today. Rafid Ibrahim Fattah, also known as Abu Umar al-Kurdi, visited Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Iran during the past 15 years…

“The…al-Qaeda Ambassador…established liason between terrorist networks.”

More than 115 top leaders of the al-Qaeda network, including Abu Umar,''have been taken out over the past several months''

Read the whole story.

One at a time is fine. We’re getting the job done. That’s not to guarantee that there will not be setbacks (good news for the MSM and their liberal cohorts). Hey, that’s life. But let’s not lose sight of the goal. And the brave men and women of the US military who are in harm’s way so we won’t have to be.

(Tee-Hee) Nothing Like Laughter To Keep The Sanity

Can't help it. You gotta ask, "Has the world finally gone to the dogs?" I mean, in the Cold War, for all the nuclear firepower East versus West packed, what everything went down to was a game of chicken. All that posturing turned out to be just that: posturing. Today, in the War on Terror, with an Iran defiantly brandishing its nukes, and the proven propensity of its ilk to rush beyond posturing to their "Gardens of Felicity", and liberals among us willing to bet their chips, in their psychotic quest to regain power, on a chance that savages might behave rationally, one cannot help but think that maybe this time the world's finally bought it.

Oh, well, if it's time to say bye-bye world, might as well say it with a guffaw. So how about a little satire on the Iran deal? You'll find it right here.

Now, how about those immigrant demo's? Sheez. Only in America. Illegal alien rights? Since when did violating the law become a right? Oh, well, don't we call murder the right to choose? Don't we call perversion an alternative lifestyle? Don't we say the Ten Commandments is dangerous? Don't we say Merry Christmas is offensive?

Don't we say right is wrong and good is bad?

I could really use a chill pill. Care for some? Here's one on the illegal immigrant protests (!?).

Hat Tip: Scrappleface.

Among The Noblest Things We Have Ever Done As A Country

That’s how Maj. Kevin Kelly of Philadelphia, an F-16 fighter pilot with the New Jersey Air National Guard deployed in Iraq, puts what the USA has done in Iraq and what we are doing there now.

In a commentary titled, In Iraq, brave troops and a noble cause, posted today at the Philadelphia Inquirer website, philly.com, Maj. Kelly states:

The vast majority of Iraqi people are incredibly grateful to the United States for saving them from a bloody and brutal dictatorship. There are, granted, those who do not share this same gratitude, namely the former regime and those who benefited from it, as well as foreign militant Islamists who see Iraq as the battleground for their extremism. That's who we're fighting, not the majority of the people of Iraq.

He contradicts what US media plays up as “civil war”, saying there is no such thing as he flies over every inch of Iraq both day and night. Read the whole article.

Contrast that with this story yesterday from the Washington Post by staff writer Thomas E. Ricks. The headline reads, "Military Plays Up Role of Zarqawi -- Jordanian Painted As Foreign Threat to Iraq's Stability."

It is so galling I don’t even want to dignify it by quoting what it says here. You could follow the link above at your own peril (barf alert).

Sample how Powerline blog’s Paul Mirengoff dismantles the WaPo on its not-so-veiled infatuation with America’s wartime enemies:

This is the Post at its worst, trying to portray perfectly legitimate action by our government in a bad light. The U.S. should be emphasizing Zarqawi's role in Iraq by "painting" him for what he is -- a "foreign threat to Iraq's stability."...As the Post grudgingly acknowledges, some tribal insurgents have attacked Zarqawi loyalists. Every time Iraqis attack Zarqawi loyalists or provide information about their whereabouts, our troops become safer.

Mirengoff correctly points out that it would be scandalous for the US military not to highlight Zarqawi’s role and status as a foreigner. Read the whole thing.

So when we hear it said that Americans deeply resent the main stream media’s (MSM) negative---even traitorous---slant on news about Iraq, can the MSM help it if we find reason to believe it to be true?

Wish Some Will Just Do The Math

Sure, Iraq and everything that the mainstream media (MSM) could find wrong with it, and the immigration rallies tend to be 'spectacular' and probably sell paper, apart from being useful and easy to spin as fodder against the MSM's favorite conservative political leaders. (Yawn)

But this is why I am so grateful for the internet where I am free to find refreshing positive news which otherwise is denied me by merely relying on antique media stuck on business-as-usual self-glory, deciding still, they think, for America and the world what should be "news" and what is not.

Sample a quote from a post in The Christian Science Monitor website, csmonitor.com, by Mark Trumbull, titled US economy's latest output: better jobs:

The US economy isn't just producing jobs these days, it's also producing good jobs.

The story defines "good jobs" as:

...the kinds that can keep American living standards rising.

Here's one example of numbers Trumbull cites in his report:

The economy added 211,000 jobs in March, according to a Labor Department report Friday - a solid showing about on par with expectations. The unemployment rate fell a notch, to 4.7 percent.

Or take this quote from a story today in the Dallas Morning News site, dallasnews.com, by Kim Horner, titled Homeless numbers fall 3.3% (You might be asked to register first to access the page):

The number of people sleeping in homeless shelters and on the streets in Dallas County decreased 3.3 percent from a year ago, to 5,704, according to a new count being released today.
The drop was much sharper for longtime homeless people with mental or physical disabilities, who are considered chronically homeless. That number fell 26 percent, to 733, according to the annual count by the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and the city of Dallas

There is much good going on out there that the MSM will simply not report, or will report but bury in some obscure place in their papers, or will feature prominently but with their leftist bias spinning it beyond recognition.

It is said that numbers do not lie. It does make one wish that some people will just do the math so the MSM's editorializing can be seen for what it really is---just their warped view on things.

Still, the MSM has a way to spin numbers, too, by using surveys with cleverly constructed questions that heavily favor answers they want to get in the first place.

So, go figure.

Never Thought ‘Hacker’ Could Be A Good Word

Apparently, if there is “friendly” fire as opposed to enemy fire, we could also say that there are good hackers and bad hackers.

Over at ynetnews.com today, Dudi Goldman posts a story titled ‘Haredi sex commando’ targets porn sites:

A group of ultra-orthodox hackers, shocked by the obscenity of some porn sites, has launched an internet campaign in a bid to cause such sites to crash. The hackers, already named at some internet forums the "ultra-orthodox sex commando," or the "ultra-orthodox electronic underground," focus their efforts at this point on Hebrew sites.

I could already hear the “freedom of speech” purists crying ‘foul’. Hey, no one’s infringing on anyone’s freedom to express what they want, even if it is offensive to some. All the “ultra-orthodox electronic underground” is doing is also exercising their own freedom to oppose what their conscience also deems as foul. Now if governments and enforcement agencies are too shy to do it for them, I say they’ve been left with not too many options.

We can’t be free to go one way and then not free to go the other. If our actions reap a storm of backlashes, part of freedom is the responsibility to own up to the consequences. If you offend, there will be consequences. Hiding behind self-serving extensions of well-intentioned concepts like “freedom of speech” notwithstanding.

Hackers may have been monsters lurking in the shadows of cyberspace bent on lunging at every opportunity to do damage. But if such skills can be put to at least exerting some “push back” at destructive content in what is otherwise a very useful tool as the internet, I say more power to them.

Rough Stretch

I just hit a turbulent stretch in my schedule. Been extremely busy with meetings the past couple nights. And looking forward to three all day long and well into the night tomorrow. I'm just forced to blog very lightly.

But, hey, why let meetings get in the way of fun?

Here's my must reading for you this week. Call it the undressing of the Democrats' scheme to slander and then cut down Bush's presidency (in a rabid pursuit to get even on the Clinton impeachment). I tell you, is David Limbaugh sharp or what? With people like him (and John Hinderaker and Hugh Hewitt and Michelle Malkin and Michael Yon, etc.) and websites like Lucianne.com, America just could not be duped anymore by the left and their parroting mouthpiece, the mainstream media (MSM).

Speaking of the MSM, here are two pieces, although a day old now, that make fine examples of why the dinosaur media just don't get any respect any more:

Michelle Malkin on NBC's news-staging (are they getting desperate to create their kind of news) at a NASCAR event, baiting fans to respond negatively to NBC-paid Muslim poseurs.

Mark Tapscott piques our interest on this wonderful post by Amy Ridenour in her National Center Blog. Tapscott opens:

Amy Ridenour administers a devastating left-right-left combination to the glass jaw of Baldemar Velasquez, head of the AFL-CIO's Farm Labor Organizing Committee, who told Time magazine that the cause of illegal aliens in this country has become a civil rights issue.

He also claimed Mexicans - not Americans - named Los Angeles, San Antonio and San Francisco and that "the whole West was part of Mexico" before 170 years ago.

Velasquez is...totally wrong.

And for some fun weekend reading, here's a fine Israeli invention that's about to give humans the ability to breathe like fish.

Have a blessed weekend.

Avian Flu---Time's A-Tickin'...Part 4

This is our fourth posting in a series to help share information about Avian flu. Information provided is taken from international and national experts from the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and US Department of Health and Human Services. Some information may be concern provoking.

Excerpts from:

Pandemic Influenza Planning

A Guide for Individuals and Families
US Department of Health and Human Services
January 2006

As you plan, it is important to think about the challenges that you might face, particularly if a pandemic is severe. It may take time to find the answers to these challenges. Below are some situations that could be caused by a severe pandemic and possible ways to address them.

Schools May Be Closed for an Extended Period of Time
If you have children at home, plan home learning activities and exercises. Have materials, such as books, on hand. Also plan recreational activities that your children can do at home.

During a Pandemic You May Not Be Able to Get to a Store.
Stock a supply of water and food. Even if you can get to a store, it may be out of supplies. Public waterworks services may also be interrupted. Stocking supplies can be useful in other types of emergencies, such as power outages and disasters.

Store foods that:

• Are nonperishable (will keep for a long time) and don't require refrigeration. Most canned/boxed grocery items have an expiration date on the container. Look for this date and purchase those things that have the longest shelf life. Plan to rotate those supplies into your everyday grocery use as the expiration date nears. But, remember to resupply your emergency stock.

• Are easy to prepare in case you are unable to cook

• Require little or no water, so you can conserve water for drinking

You can prepare for an influenza pandemic now.
You should know both the magnitude of what can happen during a pandemic outbreak and what actions you can take to help lessen the impact of an influenza pandemic on you and your family. This checklist will help you gather the information and resources you may need in case of a flu pandemic.

To plan for a pandemic:

• Store a supply of water and food. During a pandemic, if you cannot get to a store, or if stores are out of supplies, it will be important for you to have extra supplies on hand. This can be useful in other types of emergencies, such as power outages and disasters.

• Ask your doctor and insurance company if you can get an extra supply of your regular prescription drugs.

• Have any nonprescription drugs and other health supplies on hand, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes, and vitamins.

• Talk with family members and loved ones about how they would be cared for if they got sick, or what will be needed to care for them in your home.

• Volunteer with local groups to prepare and assist with emergency response.

• Get involved in your community as it works to prepare for influenza pandemic.

To limit the spread of germs and prevent infection:

• Teach your children to wash hands frequently with soap and water, and model the correct behavior.

• Teach your children to cover coughs and sneezes with tissues, and be sure to model that behavior.

• Teach your children to stay away from others as much as possible if they are sick. Stay home from work and school if sick.

Items to have on hand for an extended stay at home:

Examples of food and non-perishables

Ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits, vegetables, and soups
Protein or fruit bars
Dry cereal or granola
Peanut butter or nuts
Dried fruit
Crackers
Canned juices
Bottled water
Canned or jarred baby food and formula
Pet food

Examples of medical, health, and emergency supplies

Prescribed medical supplies such as glucose and blood-pressure monitoring equipment
Soap and water, or alcohol-based hand wash
Medicines for fever, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen
Thermometer
Anti-diarrheal medication
Vitamins
Fluids with electrolytes
Cleansing agent/soap
Flashlight
Batteries
Portable radio
Manual can opener
Garbage bags
Tissues, toilet paper, disposable diapers



Next week: How Does Seasonal Flu Differ From Pandemic Flu?


Be Informed. Be Prepared.

Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie (Wake Up, My Beloved, Or Die)

"This is who we are. …today, Western Civilization is under siege. …under attack from Radical Islam – that’s the War on Terrorism. We are under attack from those within the US itself who seek to destroy our traditional culture and our moral values – from those who believe the State is more important than the family or the individual. And we ourselves are acting in a way that will leave our children with a bleak economic future."

That's a quote from the website of Herb Meyer's fast taking off DVD, The Siege of Western Civilization.

If you are like me, you follow with concern what is going on in our country, the threats to its security from outside and inside, its economy, the crassness of Hollywood, the duplicity of mainstream media, the ACLU's opposition to anything that is good, God-ly and American, the shocking infantility of liberalism, the lameness and stupidity of public education.

If you are like me, you are nauseated by TV talking heads in yelling matches and media bias and would like to be addressed with some respect and expectation of arriving at solutions.

If so, as you will find its website promising, this 42-minute international bestseller of a documentary is for you.

Vasko Kohlmayer of the American Thinker says in his review of the DVD today:

Isolating three currents that are undercutting the foundation of our civilization, Mr. Meyer traces their origins and explains their insidiousness. You may be surprised to learn…only one of them is external…the other two have their roots within. Each one has the potential to bring us down on its own, but their combined force can only have one result. Mr. Meyer’s explanation of how this would happen is as cogent as it is sobering.

Back in 1982, while serving as Special Assistant to the Director of Central Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the National Intelligence Council, Herb Meyer was first on record predicting the demise of the Soviet Union. Most high-level US officials shied away from such pronouncements given the seeming formidability of the “Iron Curtain” at the time. Needless to say, Herb Meyer’s assessment was treated with unbelief and criticism.

History showed he was right.

Someone who has worked hands on with information that carried influence in directions that nations take, and who has proven himself to be keen in tying this knowledge together to make vitally relevant observations, deserves our utmost consideration.

Ignore Herb Meyer at your own risk.

Liberalism, A Mental Disorder

I wish I could have come up with the title myself but no, it's not my original. It is the title of today's post, Liberalism As A Mental Disorder by Klaus Rohrich at the canadafreepress.com website.

Rohrich is responding to a thinly-populated (some 100 subjects) study by Jack Block, professor emeritus at the University of California at Berkeley (aha!), entitled "Nursery school personality and political orientation two decades later" recently published in the Journal of Research in Personality.

Observing how those who have taken on a liberal ideology do not miss every chance to present themselves as being, as he puts it, "the chosen," and explaining the difficulty that---as Block finds---"indecisive, vacillating, shy, fearful, easily victimized and anxious" conservatives have in taking them, Rohric points to inherent contradictions in liberalism :

…liberals tend to ask people to do as they say not as they do. Barbra Streisand is really concerned about the environment, but that doesn’t stop her from taking a gas-guzzling, fume-spewing private jet anywhere she may want to... Bill Clinton proclaims that the Dubai Ports World deal would threaten the security of the United States, but doesn’t tell anyone that Dubai Ports World has hired him as a lobbyist to make the deal work.

There's plenty more of these nuggets where they came from...

Enjoy!

Homeschooling Growing In Popularity---Wouldn't You Know It

This doesn't surprise me. My kids are homeschooled.

The sun-herald.com website has a great write up on it today.

It tells of some of the surprises homeschoolers find such as how much their children support each other. "They all get excited when one of them gets a difficult concept or does something spectacular," was one comment.

Sample some of the goodies you'll find:

" I (felt) that the guidance counselors favored the bullies more than the ones being bullied," McKay said. Instead, the North Porter opted for homeschooling.
Leslie Valeska said she first started homeschooling when she found her son, now 14, was not being challenged enough in public schools.
"He was bored and the classes were not intense enough for him," she said. "Now I've been homeschooling him for four years, along with my three other children."

Read here about the increased quality time homeschooling families enjoy. And how the standard criticism of "professional" teachers that kids do not get enough socialization skills through homeschooling is really unfounded. In my opinion, these so-called teachers are merely trying to preserve the status quo as they find that education itself is in flux and business-as-usual simply isn't acceptable anymore.

For far too long, education has grown more and more absurd in this country, teaching children to discount the authority of their parents, moving them away from any knowledge of, or relationship with, their Creator, and brainwashing them towards an immoral heart- and mind-set.

To the educational elites and the teachers' union: No More!

Avian Flu---Time's A-Tickin'...Part 3

On March 9, 2006, you may have seen the national news with reports that the Avian Flu will be brought to the US via the migratory bird paths. This has been the speculation for several months and the federal government has increased surveillance of the migratory birds to monitor for bird deaths and the presence of the H5N1 virus in live birds. The top UN health official speculates that the virus will reach the US in the next 6 to 12 months, but he cautions that his speculations have been in error before. It could be sooner-

Scientists already had been watching for the strain in wild birds in Alaska and North American migratory flyways. But the effort is being dramatically stepped up this year.

Begin To Prepare

The Avian Flu virus will be food borne, air borne and spread by contact. What can you do now to prepare for each of these types of transmission?

Contact transmission:

Just as the seasonal flu is extremely easy to catch by breathing in droplets (created by coughing, sneezing, speaking, etc.), or by touching the droplets after they land on surfaces so will the avian-human flu. When you touch items such as furniture, doorknobs, hand rails, telephones, skin, clothes, soiled tissues, etc. and then touch your mouth, nose or eyes, you could be exposed to the virus. So, a primary prevention is WASHING YOUR HANDS. Don't touch your mouth, nose or eyes unless you have just washed your hands. Keep alcohol based hand sanitizer in your car, purse, backpack. You get the idea. Be able to wash your hands in any enviornment you find yourself.

Reduce possible airborne exposure: Avoid close contact with people who have the flu or show symptoms of respiratory illness. Avoid crowds and remain several feet away from individuals who are coughing. Wear procedure masks when in crowds or when caring for person with a cough or flu symptoms.

If you don't feel well, prevent others from getting ill by using strict respiratory etiquette: Individuals with a fever and respiratory symptoms should 1) cough or sneeze into a tissue, 2) dispose of soiled tissue and 3) immediately wash hands or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. To prevent the spread of potentially infectious aerosolized droplets, wear a mask when it is necessary to be near other people.

Food borne Prevention

Food preparation:

Poultry. There is no evidence that properly cooked poultry (170 F°; 77 C°) can be a source for infection. Eggs should be cooked thoroughly. However, it is very important to properly clean surfaces and wash hands after handling uncooked poultry and prior to preparing any food that will not be subsequently cooked to the target temperature. Fortunately, disinfection with most common disinfectants is very effective in killing the influenza virus. See the list under the section on Cleaning and Disinfection.

Pork. Avian flu has been isolated in infected pigs in other countries. It is not known at this time whether food preparation activities of infected pork can spread the infection. Because the heat required to cook pork adequately kills flu virus, there should be no possibility of the survival of infective influenza virus - avian or otherwise. The same attention to hand washing and surface cleaning applies to pork as it does to poultry, and should be followed in the preparation of any meat, fish or poultry products at any time regardless of the threat of infection.

Cleaning and surface disinfection:
* Detergents
* 70% alcohol
* Sodium hypochlorite: dilute household bleach, which is 5% hypochlorite, by adding 1 part bleach into 4 parts clean water.

Based on these recommendations, start your preparedness plan for home,
purchase:
* Bleach
* Alcohol based hand cleaner
* 70% alcohol
* Masks
* Extra facial tissue

Next: More family preparedness tips from the US Department of Health and Human Services