Monday, April 30
Saturday, April 28
Natural Balance Pet Foods recalls Venison Dog and Cat Food Products
Pet :: Natural Balance Pet Foods recalls Venison Dog and Cat Food Products
Natural Balance, Pacoima, CA, is issuing a voluntary nationwide recall for all of its Venison dog products and the dry Venison cat food only, regardless of date codes.
The recalled products include Venison and Brown Rice canned and bagged dog foods, Venison and Brown Rice dog treats, and Venison and Green Pea dry cat food.
Recent laboratory results show that the products contain melamine. We believe the source of the melamine is a rice protein concentrate. Natural Balance has confirmed this morning that some production batches of these products may contain melamine.
The recall was prompted by consumer complaints received by Natural Balance involving a small number of cats and dogs that developed kidney failure after eating the affected product.
Dogs or cats who have consumed the suspect food and show signs of kidney failure (such as loss of appetite, lethargy and vomiting) should be seen by a veterinarian. We recommend our customers immediately stop feeding our recalled venison products regardless of date code and return unused product to their retailer for a full refund.
The products are packaged in bags, cans and zip lock treat bags and sold in pet specialty stores and PetCo nationally.
No other Natural Balance products are involved in this voluntary recall as none of our other formulas include the rice protein concentrate.
Although the problems seem to be focused on a particular production period of the venison products, over the last four days we have notified our distributors and retailers by phone and e-mail to immediately stop selling and return all recalled Venison dog foods and treats and the Venison dry cat food. Venison canned cat food is not involved.
The source of the melamine appears to be a rice protein concentrate, which was recently added to the dry venison formulas. Natural Balance does not use wheat gluten, which was associated with the previous melamine contamination.
None of Natural Balance's other dry formulas, none of our other canned or roll products and none of our other treats are involved with this voluntary recall.
Consumers with questions may contact the company at 1-800-829-4493.
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Tags: natural balance, pet food, recall, recalls, dog, cat, venison
Wednesday, April 25
Deep thoughts, animal give aways, scooters, tomatoes
The last two evenings I have thought of some really *deep* thoughts to write in my blogs, but the next day those thoughts are gone. *sigh* And the sad thing is, no matter how much I try to revive those thoughts, they are just GONE, poof, bye-bye. LOL.
We gave our male duck away via Freecycle, to a guy who took some duck eggs from us several months ago. He said that of the eggs we gave him, 90% of them hatched, so he was happy with that. *smile* But now Mr. Drake (not his official name because we never named him) has got some lady friends to hang-out with. YAY!
Emailed with a guy that we gave our goats to last year, and he says that they're all doing well. He had to give away the female alpha goat (Star) because she became too much of a bully. Other than that, he's had several babies out of the other females we gave him, and they're all doing well. COOL! :-)
We're still trying to figure out a way for my wife to be able to afford that gas to drive back and forth to work without just working for gas money. We went and looked at a couple of scooters yesterday. Turns out if we go that route, we'll need to get one with a 125 CC engine because they'll go closer to highway speeds. They get around 80-100 MPG. *Much* better than the 10 MPG that our van gets. The shop was/is having a sale where we could probably get the scooter for $39 a month. We're *strongly* considering that. But who knows for sure, we still need to figure out if we can afford helmets, rain gear, and a wind-screen. Plus Rain has never learned how to ride a scooter or motorcycle, and you need a motorcycle license to operate one. For her a scooter would be best because they have automatic transmissions. The only real problem she has is with the hand brakes, she's just not good with them, even on bikes. The guy told us what you do is go and take the *written* test, get the permit, go home and practice, then go back and get a license when you feel comfortable.
A couple of days ago we got some tomato plants from the grocery store. We planted them on Monday, so the rain yesterday was definitely welcome. It was raining so hard last night that we worried about them getting flooded, but they didn't :-) Prior to planting them, we put another level of fencing around the compost bin where the chickens were flying right between the pickets I put on a couple of weeks ago. So far, so good :-)
Tags: Deep thoughts, animal give aways, scooters, tomatoes
Statement by Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General
Statement by Ramsey Clark, Former U.S. Attorney General: "The winds of impeachment are sweeping the country."
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The following is a press release sent to the national and international media by ImpeachBush.org. The second half of the press release includes a statement from Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General.
A nationwide grassroots movement to impeach George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and other high officials was launched on January 18, 2003. Ramsey Clark called for the impeachment of President that day when he addressed a crowd estimated to be nearly a half million strong on the Mall in Washington D.C., in what the Washington Post described as the largest anti-war protest since the end of the Vietnam War.
As President Bush and Vice President Cheney were actively deceiving the country with false propaganda aimed at justifying an unprovoked war of aggression, Mr. Clark on January 18 announced the formation of the VoteToImpeach.org and ImpeachBush.org web sites He stated that the active preparation for the launch of a war of aggression against Iraq constituted an impeachable offense. He asked people to join an on-line referendum.
As of today, nearly 900,000 people have voted for impeachment with ImpeachBush.org web site.
The impeachment movement that Mr. Clark started has evolved into one of the most dynamic grassroots movements in recent U.S. history.
On April 23, 2007 the Vermont State Senate voted in support of the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. One week earlier, elected officials in Vermont said the impeachment resolution didn't stand a chance. Then their offices were flooded with emails, faxes, and phone calls, and the tide turned.
Scores of cities around the country have witnessed impeachment resolutions carry in the City Council.
On April 28, impeachment actions will be taking place from New York City to San Francisco and every place in between.
Polls taken by Zogby have indicated that 52% of the American people support the impeachment of Bush if he lied to Congress about the reasons for going to war in Iraq.
The ImpeachBush.org movement has placed full page newspaper ads in the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe and many other newspapers. When President Bush speaks at the Coast Guard Graduation on May 23 in New London, Ct. there will be a large crowd of protesters calling for his impeachment. When Dick Cheney speaks three days later at the West Point Graduation Ceremony he will be met too by a big crowd calling for his impeachment along with that of President Bush.
Today as the rumblings for impeachment are starting to reverberate inside the House of Representatives, the only place where Articles for Impeachment can set the impeachment process into motion, Ramsey Clark issued the following statement.
Ramsey Clark's statement to the media
"We have seen that Congress can be moved. The Bush Administration is reeling from its own wrongdoing. The horror its war of aggression has wreaked on the people of Iraq and thousands of U.S. service members must trouble the sleep of every sentient American. The Surge is only adding to the death and destruction.
"All over the country supporters of impeachment are intensifying their efforts. Our focus must be on Congress, and the priorities of full troop withdrawal and the impeachment of President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other culpable officials within the Administration.
"In recent weeks, tens of thousands of people have sent letters or called their elected representatives in Congress. On the statewide and local level people have been demanding local officials take a stand. Large scale pro-Impeachment demonstrations took place on March 17 at the Pentagon and in more than 1,000 other protests marking the 4th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war.
"The crimes committed by President Bush and Vice President Cheney are numerous. The Bush Administration's war of aggression, its assault on human dignity at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, demeaning the Geneva Conventions and Habeas Corpus, invading the privacy of any American it chooses, corrupting the rule of law in the Department of Justice and others.
"President Bush and Vice President Cheney should be held accountable as it is proscribed in the Constitution, Article II, Section 4: The President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office or impeachment for and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.
"The authors of the Constitution were serious about impeachment and intended that the carefully prescribed procedures and principles of impeachment written into the text be faithfully executed. We, the growing impeachment movement that is sweeping this country from one end to the other, will make the members of the House of Representatives become as serious and courageous about impeachment as the Founding Fathers were."
Monday, April 23
Vermont Senate Calls for Impeachment of Bush, Cheney
* I just hope that impeachment of both Bush AND Cheney gets introduced and the ball gets started rolling... and FAST!
* Rambleman
Published on ImpeachPAC (http://impeachpac.org)
Vermont Senate Calls for Impeachment of Bush, Cheney
By Shay Totten, Vermont Guardian [1]
MONTPELIER — The Vermont Senate this morning approved by a 16-9 margin a resolution calling on the U.S. House to launch impeachment proceedings of Pres. George W. Bush and Vice Pres. Dick Cheney.
The move comes just days after nearly 150 people from around Vermont converged on Montpelier to urge lawmakers to pass such a resolution out of the House and Senate. The emotionally-charged, 40-minute meeting left backers hopeful that something could happen this session.
Today’s resolution was introduced by Senate Pres. Pro Tem Peter Shumlin, D-Windham, and Sen. Jeannette White, D-Windham. The process began last night when Senate Majority Leader Dick McCormick, D-Windsor, introduced a resolution. However, his resolution did not include Cheney. The resolution by Shumlin and White did include Cheney.
Rep. Dave Zuckerman, P-Burlington, will spend today and Tuesday collecting signatures from House members to introduce an identical resolution in the chamber.
“We will take the same language the Senate passed today, collect signatures today and Tuesday, and turn it in Tuesday afternoon, which gives people around the state time to call their representatives and ask them to sign it; we would then have it on the calendar for Wednesday and the speaker will either let it be voted on or have it sent to committee,” said Zuckerman. “In respect to the senate action, many of us are quite pleased they took the vote, but it’s clear that it only happened because citizens got involved.”
Impeachment backers were thrilled with the move, and now turn their attention to the House, where an impeachment resolution has been sitting in the House Judiciary Committee for weeks.
“I think what impressed the legislators [at Tuesday’s meeting] was the critical importance of stepping up to the plate at this moment in history,” said Barry Aleshenick of Guilford, who attended Tuesday’s meeting. “We need the House to follow suit, because the entire nation has its hopes in a state like Vermont to lead the nation in this incredible historical moment and to have the moral imperative to get us out of what we’ve been in. For the Senate to take the first step this morning is just wonderful.”
All eyes are now on the House, where House Speaker Gaye Symington has not been willing to have the resolution taken up because it would distract lawmakers from more important work on education funding, health care, among other issues.
Currently, a resolution with 20 co-sponsors remains in the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. William Lippert, D-Hinesburg, and has yet to receive a hearing despite more than 100 calls in favor.
At Tuesday’s meeting with impeachment backers, Symington reiterated her steadfast belief that a resolution supporting impeachment was not the solution when asked what could change her mind. “I don’t disagree with your goals, but I don’t believe that this is the way to achieve them,” she said.
Rop Roper, chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, was pleased that the GOP contingent in the Senate stood together, but believes the move will only distract legislators from more pressing matters.
“I’m very proud to say that all of our Republican senators held together and did not support the resolution,” said Roper. “Peter Shumlin has caved into a small, vocal minority of the population that is way out of the mainstream. All this is going to do is divide and distract our legislators when they need to be finishing up some very important business at the State House.”
The nation’s eyes have been turning to Vermont since Town Meeting Day, when 38 towns passed resolutions calling for Congress to introduce articles of impeachment against Bush and Cheney. Since then, supporters have been urging state lawmakers to pass a similar measure. Recently, the popular comic strip Doonesbury profiled Vermont’s impeachment efforts during a six-day run.
Shumlin has been also facing increased pressure from his county constituents, many of whom have sparked the impeachment movement in Vermont.
At the meeting with impeachment supporters Shumlin said, “I would welcome anyone to introduce the resolution and I will vote for it.”
That is a different position than Shumlin took earlier this year in public statements, including in statements at a monthly meeting of the state committee of the Vermont Democratic Party. He said earlier that if the resolution made it to the Senate it would receive immediate hearings; however, all of those statements were made before Legislative Counsel said that the resolution did not have to start in the House.
In recent weeks, Shumlin has said that there is not enough time remaining in the legislative session to take up the resolution.
“He had to do something because he was facing a lot of pressure in his county,” said Rep. Darryl Pillsbury, I-Brattleboro, and a cosponsor of an impeachment resolution in the House. “I was very surprised by the vote as it came up pretty quickly, and I didn’t even know about it. I’m very happy though.”
Pillsbury and Zuckerman said if the new resolution is sent to committee again, it is likely that they would ask the House to pull it out and put it to a floor vote.
Impeachment backers hope the Senate resolution, coupled with a measure from the House, would send a message to the nation.
“We’re not standing here as Vermonters and impeaching the president, be we are sending a message and denouncing the actions of this administration,” said Aleshenick. “It’s a matter of getting the ball rolling and that’s what I said on Tuesday and then see where it goes.”
http://impeachpac.org/node/3426
Friday, April 20
Pruning trees, yardwork, and a find
Another successful day... so far. Spent most of the afternoon outside doing yardwork. I got broken branches that were still attached to trees, cut off and hauled to the wildlife sanctuary (aka: brush pile). The very first one I did almost caused some personal injury. Suffice it to say that I now know why you should not be standing on a ladder cutting a branch off of a tree with a chainsaw. *grin* When I cut the branch it of course fell down a little ways onto the part that has a bunch of smaller branches. The small ones hit the ground and the part I cut close to the tree came back towards me, about knee level and right next to the ladder. Well, I didn't really have anywhere to go, so I *quickly* looked down to see how far it was and kind of hopped off the ladder holding the chainsaw. As I was jumping off the ladder I let go of the chainsaw and when I hit the ground (feet first) I went away from the tree, and luckily enough from the falling chainsaw, which I somehow managed to push the safety bar on top forward and the chain stopped. Afterwards I came in to gather myself and get some water. The next two trees that I cut branches off of while I was on the ladder were done using a hand saw. *grin* While I was pulling the branches that were tied to the back of the mower, to the sanctuary, I ran the mower blades. Which was a good thing because not only did I get some grass mowed, but my wife was able to talk the kids into racking up the grass and bringing it to her to use as mulch in a couple of tires. So in those tires she put grass and compost in alternating layers until the tires were filled. 
While I was moving some rocks that were near one of the trees close to the trunk, I found something. Know what it is?
Maybe this will give you a clue.
Did you guess a cow's tooth? Then you were correct!
Thursday, April 19
Park day, clothes line
We had a good day yesterday. We went to the park and played with a few other families who're home educating. Played some frisbee, whacked tennis balls with the appropriate rackets, spun a kid on a watchamacallit (spinny thingy), and visited. As far as I know, all the kids had a good time. Yay! *smile*
Then today, after the first load of laundry was dried in the dryer, I put a 2nd one in only to find out, after a 60-min cycle and 2 30-minute ones that the heating element quit working. So what did we do? Well, we broke-down and put up a clothes line using the cable from our dog's 'run' that she rarely used anyway. In other words, we were strongly pulled to the energy saving way to dry laundry. *smile*
After getting help from my wife and daughter and then resting for a while, I went out to the wood-shed and split several more oak logs into quarters and halves.
Blackwater/Republican Guard *BOO!*
Meet the contracted militia/mercenaries in Iraq & Afghanistan comprising of about 1:1 with the U.S. Military
Blackwater USA, one of the largest private military contractors in the world, has proposed "Blackwater West" to be built in a valley just north of the small town of Potrero, in East San Diego County. The facility will comprise 824 acres, and includes a portion of the Cleveland National Forest. The valley is one of a chain of valleys starting in Descanso, part of the original two-million acre preserve originally designated by Teddy Roosevelt. Since then, it has been reduced to 650K acres, and swiss-cheesed with private ownership. This valley has been used as a chicken ranch.
The proposed use will substantially develop the property and utilize it for target practice using pistols and carbines, a two-mile race track for emergency vehicle training, an 18,000 sqft armory, dormitories, mess hall, etc. The intention is to service 300 students each week with 60 staff in residence on site.
Learn more...(Enter wiki site)
Wednesday, April 18
News headlines
Chomsky and Zinn on Patriotism in America
Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
An interview with two of America's leading dissidents on how the highest act of patriotism would be opposing the war in Iraq and calling for a withdrawal of our troops.
Here's a hot-button issue, just for the fun of it. *snicker* I can understand reasoning that you should probably not have a "partial-birth" abortion UNLESS the mother's life depends on it. Otherwise, I think it's a no-no. Not sure that the government should have ANY say though, it's a medical decision, not a political one.
Rambleman
Supreme Court Upholds Late Abortion Ban: Right-wing Judicial Activism Run Amok
Last year, in defending his decision to vote for the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, Senator Bill Nelson (D-NE) said that it was based, in part, on Alito's "pledge that he would not bring a political agenda to the court."
Today, Nelson and the 18 other Democratic Senators who voted against the attempted filibuster of Alito reaped what they sowed. The new court -- the first in American history made up of a majority of conservative Catholics -- upheld the 2003 ban on so-called "partial birth" abortions, a made-up term that's become a hot-button issue for social conservatives, but is largely based on junk science and flies in the face of medical "best practices." It will go down as a text-book case of right-wing judicial activism, with the justices essentially overruling the medical community.
Global Warming Hits Southwest
Mike Davis, TheNation.com
EnviroHealth: The Arctic is not the only theater of unequivocal climate change and polar bears aren't the only heralds of a new age of chaos. Global warming is already affecting the U.S.
Human Trafficking in Mississippi
Lindsay Beyerstein, Larisa Alexandrovna, Raw Story
Indian guest workers are paid up to $18.50 an hour, but are crammed into windowless trailers and threatened with deportation if they report abuses.
U.S. Attorneys and Voting Rights: The New Watergate
Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet
Rights and Liberties: The attorney scandal is a cover-up revolving around efforts by the Bush administration to disenfranchise African-American voters in communities where the vote is close.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry's Dangerous Database
Jake Bernstein, Texas Observer
Rights and Liberties: Texas is amassing an unprecedented amount of information on its citizens.
Tags: news, alternet, politics, global warming, abortion, rights, liberties, liberty, gonzales, bush, right-wing, conseration, supreme court
Monday, April 16
Monday, Monday. Virginia tech school shooting
We had a pretty good day. Got some stuff done. What's that? What exactly did we get done? Well, I decided around noon that I would get some mowing done. After all the sun has been out for a couple of days and thus the grass was dry enough. But before I really got into mowing, I went and grabbed the heavy duty twig loppers and cut down and cut the roots of a few Poplar babies that've been growing since last summer. You see, we've decided we don't really like them because they're messy, and not only that, they're invasive. Meaning that they grow root sprouts all along their roots (hence the name. *grin*). There are two right by the pool that drop leaves into it all summer long, because when Poplars (ours at least) get heat stressed they drop their leaves. Anyway, we'll be downing those two... eventually. Speaking of downing trees, we went out a couple of evenings ago because we didn't have any more dry wood in the wood-shed and we knew that we had (still have) a few dead Sassafras trees that could be turned into firewood. The tree we decided would suit our needs was out in an area where it was surrounded by other dead trees and the Oak. Couldn't have it falling one way because then it would've fell into the power lines, couldn't fall to the sides because, well, there were trees on each side. It had to fall precisely in between the Oak tree and the other ones. And I was able to cut it *just* right and it indeed fell in the direction I wanted it too. *smile* I've never been all that good at doing that, so I was pretty proud of myself. *grin* Back to today, I got the areas where we had removed brush from where the grass was still high, mowed. I also hooked a rope to the back of the mower and pulled 3 large branches that'd fallen off of the Ash tree, and towed them to the big brush pile. While I was doing all that other stuff, Rain started racking some of the grass, putting it into the wagon, and putting it into a garden area as mulch. She eventually got the kids outside to help her, so at least they got some fresh air. Looks like we're going to have to buy *another* filter pump for the pool because ours crapped out (we had to buy a new one last summer too). *sigh*
Okay, enough about me. I was watching the Simpsons earlier when I saw a new bulletin scrolling of the bottom of the screen about some "situation" that would be followed and was being told about on other stations. So I flipped to another station on a commercial break and saw that their had been a shooting at Virginia tech. Here's an except from an article that described what happened...
Thirty-one people, including the gunman, were killed at Norris Hall, bringing the total death toll to 33. Fifteen more were being treated at area hospitals. The suspect was reportedly carrying two handguns including at least one 9mm handgun equipped with several clips holding 15 bullets apiece. He carried no identification and has not been identified, police said. http://tinyurl.com/3bmuse
Tags: virginia tech, school shooting, poplar, lopper, filter pump, mower
Saturday, April 14
Cats picture. Snow. Politics
Rain asked me just a few minutes minutes ago, "What're you doing, bloggin?" To which I replied, "No, I don't have anything to say!" And that's still true, although it appears as though I am saying something. *smile*
I took this picture last night of just a "few" of our cats that were on the sofa with me. I was watching TV and looked over because I was bored and thought, "Hmm... I should take a picture!" So I did. Actually, I took two, but the other one was almost identical so I deleted it and saved this one.
Like I said though, not much to report. Although I guess that since it's April and we don't normally get snow, that's something to mention. Although I didn't see it, my wife told me while she was trying to get me out of bed, that this morning it started out raining while they were out feeding the birds, then not long afterward it turned to sleet, then small flakes, then LARGE flakes of snow. Snow!? It's frikkin' April, man! *smile* But the ground is so warm (albeit wet from 2 days of rain), that the snow pretty much melted as soon as it hit. YAY!
Other than that, just doing humdrum sort of days, especially the last 2, and now today because it's STILL overcast and gloomy outside :-( I really hope SPRING becomes more obvious soon. I miss the sun.
You may have noticed that I been posting political stuff more than usual, that's because I don't have much of a life myself that's "news worthy", so I'm posting "information" hoping that someone with authority that can't do something about that stuff and make all the hate and killing stop before the United States falls apart socially, economically, and democratically (it's looking more and more UNlike a 'Democracy' in my opinion).
Friday, April 13
The Unthinkable: The US- Israeli Nuclear War on Iran
The Unthinkable: The US- Israeli Nuclear War on Iran. Read the article at http://tinyurl.com/ys8olu
"I fully understand that they [the Congress] could try to stop me from doing it. But I’ve made my decision. And we’re going forward." President George W. Bush, (in an interview broadcast on CBS 60 Minutes, Jan. 14, 2007)
What is needed is to break the conspiracy of silence, expose the media lies and distortions, confront the criminal nature of the US Administration and of those governments which support it, its war agenda as well as its so-called "Homeland Security agenda" which has already defined the contours of a police State.
Thursday, April 12
Help defund war. Arnold and 'tree huggers'
Hang Up on War: Get a Tax Refund
War on Iraq: If you are upset that Congress won't defund the war in Iraq, there's something you can do: Take the IRS up on its offer for a war tax refund.
Schwarzenegger Urges Environmentalists To Shed Past As "Serious Tree Huggers"
Posted on April 12, 2007 at 8:21 AM.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged environmentalists to shed their past image as "serious tree huggers" and begin a new movement that doesn't make people feel guilty for driving their SUVs, but instead focuses on building more fuel-efficient SUVs.
"For too long the environmental movement has been powered by guilt," Schwarzenegger said in a keynote speech Wednesday at a global warming conference at Georgetown University.
Tags: war tax, defund war, environmentalism, taxes, Iraq war, Schwarzenegger
Wednesday, April 11
Crumbling Empire. Global Warming. Czar of war
Thirty-Six Sure-Fire Signs That Your Empire Is Crumbling
"You know your empire's crumbling when it's considered an achievement to pretend that you've halved the rate at which you're adding to the massive mountain of debt you've already accumulated." by David Michael Green
Global Warming Hysteria to Further North American Union?
Vivelecanada
Tuesday April 10, 2007
According to a recent article in the American Free Press (March 24, 'GLOBALISTS GATHER IN BRUSSELS') at a recent Trilateral Commission meeting, members of the government and the corporate elite have come up with an innovative solution to the global warming problem. With all the resources available to this group of individuals; government studies, climate reports, and taxpayer dollars; we can all rest assured that the most effective and informed decision was made. What is this wonderful, radical solution that will adequately deal with the threat of global warming? Another tax of course.
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White House Seeks "Czar" To Oversee Wars
Reuters
Wednesday April 11, 2007
The White House wants to appoint a high-profile overseer to manage the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but has had trouble finding someone to take the job, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
At least three retired four-star generals approached by the White House in recent weeks have turned down the position, the report said.
Tags: empire, global warming, war, czar
Fish, T-shirts, and gifts
You may have noticed this picture at the top of my page. Well, in case you were wondering where I got it, I got a link from a friend on my homeschool group that takes you too the "Darwin Fish and Friends" site where you can see many more. Enjoy! :-)
Another good site to find Pagan t-shirts and gifts, and possible ideas for signature lines can be found at Cafepress.com.
Tuesday, April 10
Coming to a Dead End in Iraq
When Saddam was ousted from power, one corrupt state was replaced with another. In that sense, we lost the war before it had begun.
"The corroded and corrupt state of Saddam was replaced by the corroded, inefficient, incompetent and corrupt state of the new order," writes Allawi. According to a review of the study by the Associated Press, Allawi contends it was the "monumental ignorance" of those in Washington, people without "the fadea of Iraq's realities" who are to blame for the current state of affairs.
Accelerator. Rain. War
I have spent *most* of the afternoon trying to get the Centurytel "Propel Accelerator" to run through diagnostics without error. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling. Prior to doing that though, I noticed that we were downloading automatic updates from Microsoft, so I waited for that to finish in case that was causing problems. The download finished and installed, after which time I restarted the computer. Still got the error :-( I did the reinstall at that point, ran a diagnostics session but still got an error. I went to the Centurytel on-line customer support, only to be told I needed to call a number and talk to them about my problem. I just don't see any point in having on-line support if they can't actually help you! :-( I talked to a guy who told me that it's a problem with the makers (Propel) of the software in that their server isn't authorizing the ping (my word). Should be fixed no later than tomorrow, although he really couldn't be sure. It sure would be nice to have DSL, but you all know I can't convince Centurytel to even try to get service in my area. I've been nagging them for *FIVE* years without success. *grr*
Other than that, we haven't been up to much. Yesterday it was SUCH a nice afternoon that I decided it would probably be the same today, so I was going to mow. After all, the forecast only called for "possible" showers, and a low percentage of a chance at that. Well guess what, it's been raining ALL DAY. *sigh* Obviously I couldn't mow, and now I'm thinking that part of the yard I mowed last week will probably need to be done again and the back yard will be twice as high. The last few mornings (Friday through yesterday morning) we were said to be in "freeze warnings". Didn't really affect us as far as gardening goes, so it was no big deal. The only thing is that we've had to start fires in the mornings to take the chill off of the house, which kind of sucks because we're now *scrounging* to find dry enough wood to burn, but we have found enough so far. Anyway, because I could not mow, I decided to get some laundry done. I've gotten one load folded and put away, and now the second dryer load just finished. One more load is done washing and will need to be switched with the dry clothes in the dryer. Then I'm DONE... for this time. Except I just remember I forgot to get my sons dirty clothes out of his room. Ah well, maybe next time. *snicker*
I heard on the news that one of the Democratic Senators said they won't be withholding funds for the Iraq war. Damn, the power of the purse is the only way to stop this frikkin' war, and they're letting us American people down big time! They're more worried about being re-elected in 2008 than they are about doing the right thing. Assholes! In fact, they've gave the wannabe dictators in the whitehouse more money and only put in "non-binding" resolutions :-( What a waste of time. Sure, they say they're trying to put a time-table in that'll bring the troops home in 2008, but THAT'S TOO LATE! The bastards!! On a brighter note, another Dem has brought up the impeachment thing :-) Somehow I doubt it'll happen though :-(
Tags: Iraq, war, impeachment, democracy, democrats
Sunday, April 8
Our weekend
It was a pretty good weekend. We went and visited some friends of our who we hadn't seen in *several* months. These are the same friends we want to move closer to once we sell our house. We mostly just spent all day talking, eating, and drinking soda-pop :-) We were there all day. In fact, we ended up staying an hour later than we had intended because to the one and a half our drive home. But we did manage to get home before it became totally dark, so it's all good.
The rest of the weekend, Sunday, was spent watching basketball on my part, napping, watching television, and working on splitting some wood.
Tags: friends, weekend, Sunday, basketball, NBA
Thursday, April 5
Absence. Mowing. Wildlife refuge building. Wal-Mart spying
The reason for my absence from my e-peeps is that I don't feel that I have anything to say that means much. Thus I'm just doing what the saying says and not saying anything because I have nothing good to say. Plus this is my week to get up early, which means I am more tired and less talkative, even in real life. And of course there's a lot less computer time because I have to share with 3 other people and the kids have found an on-line game recently. :-)
I spent most of today mowing since we got gas for the mower after we went to the park on Wednesday. After we got home it was too windy so I decided I would do mow today. I didn't get all the grass that needed to be mowed, mown, just the front yard.
While I was mowing, my wife and the kids picked-up branches that were stacked waiting to be cut or were stacks of smaller branches that'd been cut off of bigger ones, and put them in the brush pile. There are still several piles that need to be moved to this one, so it's going to be quite a large wildlife refuge. Already the chickens and cats love it. We fear (not really) that a chicken is going to lay eggs underneath and we're going to "suddenly" have a batch of chicks one day. *grin* I guess that would be cool.
Other than that, haven't been up to much. It's been cold enough the last 2 mornings that I've started a fire to take the chill off. Actually, I also made a fire last evening because it was getting quite chilly. Right now we're in a freeze warning from tomorrow morning until Sunday morning. What the hell happened to spring?! *grr* Well, hopefully this'll be the last cold-spell we go through this year. *crossing fingers*
In other news:
Wal-Mart Accused of Infiltrating Anti-Wal-Mart Group; Spying on Critics
A former worker at Wal-Mart is claiming the company is running a sophisticated surveillance operation that targets employees, journalists, stockholders and critics of the company. The claims were made by Bruce Gabbard who was fired last month for intercepting and recording phone calls to and from a New York Times reporter. Gabbard told the Wall Street Journal he was part of a broader surveillance operation run out of Wal-Mart's Arkansas headquarters. Gabbard also revealed that Wal-Mart infiltrated the group Up Against the Wal last year by sending a long-haired employee wearing a wireless microphone to one of the group's meetings. A Wal-Mart surveillance van was stationed outside the meeting in order to listen in to what was happening. Wal-Mart also reportedly closely monitored the Internet and phone usage of employees at work. Managers received a list of email addresses and phone numbers with which their employees have communicated, and a list of Web sites visited. Wal-Mart also developed a system to read the personal emails of workers sent or received from private accounts such as Hotmail or Gmail. http://tinyurl.com/3yq5tk
Monday, April 2
Trippy picture
This is "Trippy" relaxing on the sofa. The reason I took this picture was because of the way he's laying. Wonder what it would be like to be able to be SO limber? *smile*