Mad Cow Disease
I'm borrowing the following links concerning CJD/BSE (aka Mad Cow Disease) in Americans from a fairly odd message board topic. The issue of debate was whether Mad Cow exists in America and has it killed any of us. It does and it has. Check out these links:
Conn. woman had signs of human mad cow
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040326-121100-6776r
CJD Cluster in NJ--Is Mad Cow Striking Down Americans?
http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/njcjd032904.cfm
Did Seven NJ Residents Die Of Mad Cow?
http://www.rense.com/general47/smde.htm
"It suggests that [mad cow disease] can sometimes look like sporadic CJD," said Laura Manuelides, section chief of surgery in the neuropathology department at Yale.
Possible CJD cases tied to southern N.J.
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20040309-015553-4975r.htm
The U.S. May Face Mad-Cow Exposure Despite Assurances From Government
http://www.organicconsumers.org/madcow/face112801.cfm
Mad Cow Causes BOTH 'Sporadic' CJD and vCJD
http://www.rense.com/general47/spor.htm
Mad cow time bomb is still ticking
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/02/1064988306667.html?from=storyrhs
"Variant CJD has also emerged in Canada, the US and Hong Kong, among people who have spent long periods of time in Britain."
Mad Cow Threat to U.S. Blood Supply
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a6536705f85.htm
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Hawai'i
You know how annoying it is when someone tells you that Budapest is pronounced "Buda-pesHt" or that Laos is pronounced "Lau," well I felt the same way about the apostrophe in Hawai'i. Not anymore. I just returned from a trip to Kauai, a beautiful place, and the Hawaiians couldn't have been nicer. The only dicks I met were a couple of mainlander waiters. The Hawaiians operate on a mellow vibe. (the ones not zonked to the gills on ice and meth).
Life is good over there. The weather is pleasant, the views are soothing and relaxing, and their island paradise's only real enemy is continued development. True, there are areas that are simply filthy with surfrat idiots who will steal your cigarette butts to pay for another day (somehow) in Hawai'i, but they are not the true Hawaiians. Next time someone says something derogatory about America or Americans, remind them that Hawaii is part of America. That should shut them up. Why so many people assume that Americans are like Pat Robertson and George Bush, is a mystery. It was a welcome respite to get away from the drumbeats of war and the fear-mongering preached from the White House pulpit.
I think another action item we Americans could do is to teach Hawaiian in schools as our official second language. There is a lot of resistance to teaching Spanish. It's as if we are capitulating to Mexico if we teach our kids Spanish and practically putting out a Welcome mat for all those (perceived) filthy, promiscuous, thieving tribes south of the border down all the way to the South Pole. However, it helps your understanding of the world to be fluent in another language, so I propose Hawaiian. Why not? Everything has a nice flutey musical quality to it in Hawaiian. Write your congressman at the usual address.
A close friend from college got married to his longtime girlfriend on Baby Beach, Kauai, and it was a really poignant ceremony. Good luck to Jeff and Lisa, not that they'll need it because they are totally cool and committed to each other. Good Hawaiian vibes, then. Aloha.
You know how annoying it is when someone tells you that Budapest is pronounced "Buda-pesHt" or that Laos is pronounced "Lau," well I felt the same way about the apostrophe in Hawai'i. Not anymore. I just returned from a trip to Kauai, a beautiful place, and the Hawaiians couldn't have been nicer. The only dicks I met were a couple of mainlander waiters. The Hawaiians operate on a mellow vibe. (the ones not zonked to the gills on ice and meth).
Life is good over there. The weather is pleasant, the views are soothing and relaxing, and their island paradise's only real enemy is continued development. True, there are areas that are simply filthy with surfrat idiots who will steal your cigarette butts to pay for another day (somehow) in Hawai'i, but they are not the true Hawaiians. Next time someone says something derogatory about America or Americans, remind them that Hawaii is part of America. That should shut them up. Why so many people assume that Americans are like Pat Robertson and George Bush, is a mystery. It was a welcome respite to get away from the drumbeats of war and the fear-mongering preached from the White House pulpit.
I think another action item we Americans could do is to teach Hawaiian in schools as our official second language. There is a lot of resistance to teaching Spanish. It's as if we are capitulating to Mexico if we teach our kids Spanish and practically putting out a Welcome mat for all those (perceived) filthy, promiscuous, thieving tribes south of the border down all the way to the South Pole. However, it helps your understanding of the world to be fluent in another language, so I propose Hawaiian. Why not? Everything has a nice flutey musical quality to it in Hawaiian. Write your congressman at the usual address.
A close friend from college got married to his longtime girlfriend on Baby Beach, Kauai, and it was a really poignant ceremony. Good luck to Jeff and Lisa, not that they'll need it because they are totally cool and committed to each other. Good Hawaiian vibes, then. Aloha.
Guns Really Do Kill People
The chain goes: Culture Bunker got the link from Buzzflash who got the link from Gun Guys who got the story from the Middletown, Ohio Journal. This editorial refreshingly calls for the elimination of gun violence through --- eliminating guns! You can kill someone with nearly anything, a hammer from your garage, a box of rat poison, bleach in their coffee, a baseball bat, tying a garden hose around their neck, and so on, so how come so many homicides are gun related? Humans are animals, and particularly aggressive/shortsighted/stupid/self-centered animals at that, and maybe allowing these animals to carry Instant Death Gizmos is not such a hot idea. We get angry too easily and all those shaved-headed little pussies out there cruising around in their Fast 'n' Furious cars wouldn't be such shit-talkers if they had to actually back up any of their actions with their fists instead of their concealed guns. Get rid of the gun.
Here's a grab:
The fuel is the idea that guns deter crime; but as the FBI reports, the reality is that there were only 163 cases of justifiable self-defense out of more than 30,000 gun deaths in 2003.
The chain goes: Culture Bunker got the link from Buzzflash who got the link from Gun Guys who got the story from the Middletown, Ohio Journal. This editorial refreshingly calls for the elimination of gun violence through --- eliminating guns! You can kill someone with nearly anything, a hammer from your garage, a box of rat poison, bleach in their coffee, a baseball bat, tying a garden hose around their neck, and so on, so how come so many homicides are gun related? Humans are animals, and particularly aggressive/shortsighted/stupid/self-centered animals at that, and maybe allowing these animals to carry Instant Death Gizmos is not such a hot idea. We get angry too easily and all those shaved-headed little pussies out there cruising around in their Fast 'n' Furious cars wouldn't be such shit-talkers if they had to actually back up any of their actions with their fists instead of their concealed guns. Get rid of the gun.
Here's a grab:
The fuel is the idea that guns deter crime; but as the FBI reports, the reality is that there were only 163 cases of justifiable self-defense out of more than 30,000 gun deaths in 2003.
Abramoff Investigation In the White House
This article by Jean Cummings in The Wall Street Journal details how the heat is still on, despite furious attempts by Bush & Co to change the subject. Former White House aide David Safavian is caught up in the probe, former Interior Dept. official J. Steven Griles is denying he favored Abramoff clients, and so on. Read it. The Journal might have a raving gang of lunatics writing their Editorials, but it's good to read the "business" news and see how the Republicans view world events.
GOP Representative Heather Wilson Calls for Wiretap Inquiry
The chairwoman of the House Intelligence Committee has called for a full Congressional inquiry into the illegal wiretapping program. Read it here in the New York Times. Why this is so newsworthy is that Wilson is a Republican who heads the committee, and only under her power could an investigation ever get off the ground. This is a major breakthrough, in that she has broken with the Bushies. Amazing. This sort of thing might give one a bit of faith that there are Repubs out there who are not secretly planning concentration camps for us Lefties. You go, girl!
This article by Jean Cummings in The Wall Street Journal details how the heat is still on, despite furious attempts by Bush & Co to change the subject. Former White House aide David Safavian is caught up in the probe, former Interior Dept. official J. Steven Griles is denying he favored Abramoff clients, and so on. Read it. The Journal might have a raving gang of lunatics writing their Editorials, but it's good to read the "business" news and see how the Republicans view world events.
GOP Representative Heather Wilson Calls for Wiretap Inquiry
The chairwoman of the House Intelligence Committee has called for a full Congressional inquiry into the illegal wiretapping program. Read it here in the New York Times. Why this is so newsworthy is that Wilson is a Republican who heads the committee, and only under her power could an investigation ever get off the ground. This is a major breakthrough, in that she has broken with the Bushies. Amazing. This sort of thing might give one a bit of faith that there are Repubs out there who are not secretly planning concentration camps for us Lefties. You go, girl!