Uncle Bill

RIP

William John Foley

March 1923 - October 2008

Olympets 2008

HONG KONG (AFP) - As athletes from around the world sweat it out in Beijing, Hong Kong's pampered pets are being put though their paces in their own version of the Olympic Games.
From rabbit hurdles and parrot rope-climbing to cat agility contests, a Hong Kong pet shop has organised 10 weeks' worth of events to try to promote sport for animals.

Organiser Howard Cheung, who runs the city-centre PetMAX store, said he was inspired by the Beijing Games, but also wanted to help owners keep their animals healthy.

"Pets need to exercise and they don't have much space in Hong Kong. So we are trying to promote exercise and stimulate owners to exercise their pets," he said.

Most of Hong Kong's seven million people live in tiny cramped apartments and dogs are banned from many city parks.

Nevertheless, pets have become a must-have accessory and are treated accordingly -- grooming parlours abound, and the city even has a bakery dedicated to making cakes for animals.

Cheung said the so-called "Olympets" had proved popular, with 400 animals taking part in the heats held so far.

An awards presentation will be held at the end of August, using pet-sized medals the store has had specially made for the event.

But Cheung admitted the prospect of winning gold was not always enough to inspire the animals.

"Of course for some of the events you have to use treats so they will try harder," he said. "The parrots do have a tendency to climb up the rope anyway, but a treat at the top helps."

Australia’s alleged “fat bomb”

AUSTRALIA has become the fattest nation in the world, with more than 9 million adults now rated as obese or overweight, according to an alarming new report. The most definitive picture of the national obesity crisis to date has found that Australians now outweigh Americans and face a future “fat bomb” that could cause 123,000 premature deaths over the next two decades. If the crisis is not averted, obesity experts have warned, health costs could top $6 billion and an extra 700,000 people will be admitted to hospital for heart attacks, strokes and blood clots caused by excess weight.

The latest figures show 4 million Australians — or 26% of the adult population — are now obese compared to an estimated 25% of Americans. A further 5 million Australians are considered overweight. The report, Australia’s Future ‘Fat Bomb’, from Melbourne’s Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute, will be presented at the Federal Government’s inquiry into obesity, which comes to Melbourne today.

A grim picture is painted of expanding waistlines fueled by a boom in fast food and a decline in physical activity, turning us into a nation of sedentary couch potatoes. Those most at risk of premature death are the middle-aged, with 70% of men and 60% of women aged 45 to 64 now classed as obese.

But some weight specialists have questioned the tool used to measure obesity, saying “entire rugby teams” would be classified as obese if their body mass index (BMI) was calculated. BMI is measured by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared. A BMI of over 25 is considered overweight while more than 30 is obese. But the tool does not distinguish between muscle and fat, prompting calls for the BMI overweight limit to be raised to 28.

However, even leading nutritionist Jenny O’Dea from the University of Sydney — who recently claimed Australia’s childhood obesity epidemic had been exaggerated — has backed the new figures, which suggest that the crisis for adults has been drastically underestimated. Professor O’Dea said that while being fat was not necessarily a health risk for everyone, there was no doubt obesity was taking its toll on the nation.

It was previously thought that around 3 million adults were obese. But many past surveys were seen as unreliable as they often required participants to guess their own weight. The latest data was based on more than 14,000 people at 100 rural and metropolitan sites in every Australian state and territory. Each had their BMI recorded by having their weight, height and waist measured as part of a national blood pressure screening day last year.

The report’s lead author, Simon Stewart, said that even allowing for the BMI’s potential failings, the best case scenario was that 3.6 million adults were battling obesity. “We could fill the MCG 40 times over with the number of obese Australians now, then you can double that if you look at the people who are also overweight — those are amazing figures,” Professor Stewart said. “And in terms of a public health crisis, there is nothing to rival this. If we ran a fat Olympics we’d be gold medal winners as the fattest people on earth at the moment,” he said. “We’ve heard of AIDS orphans in Africa, we’re looking at this time bomb going off where parents have to think about this carefully,” Professor Steward said. “They’re having children at an older age, if you’re obese and you have a child do you really want to miss out on their wedding? “Do you want to miss out on the key events in their life? Yes you will if you don’t do something about your weight now.”

The obesity inquiry in Melbourne will be told that a national strategy encouraging overweight Australians to lose five kilograms in five months could reduce heart-related hospital admissions by 27% and cut deaths by 34% over the next 20 years. Among the radical solutions proposed in the report is a plan to make fat towns compete for “healthy” status in national weight loss contests tied to Federal Government funding. Towns that lost the most weight would be given cash to build sports centres and swimming pools. And like the “Tidy Towns” program, communities would have to meet targets to be eligible for a share of the funding pool.

Other suggestions from Professor Stewart’s report include subsidised gym memberships, personal training sessions for heavier people and restricting weight loss surgery to those who show they can lose some weight on their own first.

One of Australia’s leading obesity experts, Boyd Swinburn, will tell the inquiry in his own submission that a crackdown on junk food marketing to children is paramount in the fight against the epidemic. With the fastest growing rate of childhood obesity in the world, Australia must make radical changes to the way unhealthy food is promoted if the rate is to be reduced, his submission reads. Professor Swinburn, director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Obesity Prevention at Deakin University, will argue that better nutritional labeling and more funding for effective treatments such as weight-loss surgery are also necessary. “We’ve got a huge problem here and we can’t bury our head in the sand any more,” Professor Swinburn will tell the inquiry. “The previous federal government blamed parents and individuals and told them to pull up their socks … that’s not going to achieve anything but make us fatter as a nation. “It’s good to see the Rudd Government take obesity seriously with this parliamentary inquiry and the preventative health strategy but that has to be turned into proper policy, regulation and funding.”

Ian Caterson, director of the Institute of Obesity, Nutrition and Exercise at the University of Sydney, said innovative government “thinking outside the square” policies were necessary because, “as we get fatter and older as a nation things are just going to get worse.”

Auntie Barb

R I P
Barbara Alice Goodridge

(Nee Foley)

February 1916 - April 2008

Growing Old Or Growing Older

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, 'Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?'

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me a giant squeeze.

'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I asked.
She jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids...'

'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

'I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!' she told me..

After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake.

We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made
friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know..'

As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, '! We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams,
you die.

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.

If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.

Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets.

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.'

She concluded her speech by courageously singing 'The Rose.'

She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.

Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family,
they'll really enjoy it!

These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a
Living by what we get, We make a Life by what we give.

God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it..
'Good friends are like stars........You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.'

We need some Good Small Banks and Bankers

Banks and Credit Unions Dirty little secret; Small Banks could of prevented the recent lending practice; Big banks need to be prohibited from buying small banks so easily.

Banks have historically not loved the poor, but they never actively abused them. Recent events in the home mortgage industry show us all too clearly how big banks and their agents simply care less about people as individuals and humans.

A few years ago I spoke with a fellow who is a top VP with a bank in Oklahoma and in that state they allow small individual banks and in fact they flourish. He told me that banking was incredibly lucrative and there were so many ways to make money at it. Even from the standpoint of a small neighborhood bank. So why are they gone and disappeared from our cities. At one time these types of banks and credit unions were the back bone of small neighborhoods, ask your parents or grandparents.

There was a time when you could walk in a bank and get a loan without anyone looking at your credit rating or examining your assets. The bankers there knew your family and your history and trusted your judgment to run your affairs.

They haven’t disappeared because they cant make money, but they have disappeared because large banks buy them at insanely over market prices because they recognize that gaining access to a neighborhoods finances is the key to pretty much owning it, similar to a old mafia family might. Their goals, allowed by law and supported by confused republicans and free traders, are simply profit and nothing else.

I say that is wrong and a wrong headed way of making our economy strong. If we had had more small banks that exercised judgment that people trusted for their loans for homes instead of banks people had to go to without one single person that knew them or they knew in the bank by name. Complete dehumanization, and the entire process antiseptic of void judgment. In a world with more small banks we would be far safer.

A small bank would never do those abusive bank loans that we saw these last few years, and they would never of loaned people who are not ready for a loan the money. However, that is not to say they would not of helped them get a home, just perhaps a smaller one or a condo.

There is so much evidence of how banks care less to little than less for the poor people in our society. For instance, have you ever wondered what group of people pays the overdraft fee of $30 on the average at their bank, the poor and weakest in our society? It’s a short term loan in disguise. Its impossible to get a checking account where they wont let you overdraft it from 100 to 1000 dollars and then the bank charges you huge fees for every over drafted check. And, if you are poor, you use this feature often, perhaps every month, and pay disgustingly high interest.

This is just the same business as the payday advance loan business which is completely over the top in its fees. At least however, they are separate and not ingrained in your daily activities.

I say these things can be fixed. Banks must stop providing secret wink and a nod over drafting at $30 a pop to the poor and never closing those accounts as start to stop paying checks when the balance is less than 0, and not charged the customer 30 dollars if someone presents a check or debit charge if the account is too low.

Look at PayPal. You make a PayPal account and move your money to it from your checking account and then if you happen to charge or try to use your debit card and you don’t have enough in your account, the debit card is simply denied. No fuss no muss no abuse.

If you do the same thing with a normal checking account, the bank pays the charge, lets say on April 1, $119 renewal to your XM radio service you forgot was going to hit. Okay now suddenly you are over drafted 119 for a service that don’t matter a lot plus add 30 to that, 149 overdraft. This happens unknown to you and you deposit your paycheck on the morning of April 2 at the night deposit box. And as you arrive home write the rent check for 1,050 and put it in the manager’s mailbox. Now this deposit of $1,100 raises your account to $950.

And, you just wrote a check for your rent. The rent check arrives at the bank on the 4th of the month and the account

This rent check hits your bank and the bank may or may not pay it. Probably they will if you haven’t done something foolish like buy a loaf of bread or something. And you are now over drafted $104 (assume you had $25 to start, subtract the xm and the overdraft fee, $149, add your deposit $1,100, subtract the rent $1,050 and the fee for the check needing to be force paid.).

Now this person who is working and struggling is $162 short of having the money to pay their rent and add $50 to that and 5 per day, so say they can pay it by the 10th or 7 days at 5 or 35 dollars. The rent due now is up to 1060 plus 50 plus 35 or 1145, they have 898 in the bank, so they are 247 dollars short, and 5 to 10 days from being served eviction papers and 40 days or so from being homeless.

This is their dirty secret. Dressed in posh clothing of old trusted bank, they are predatory with no, none, zero concern for people or communities. It does not matter how many people suffer or fail to them as long as they can collect these fees for services with no value to anyone. They create nothing of worth.

It does not ever help poor consumers to have bank accounts over drafted and a fee added to them. Also, it’s patently unfair to charge $30 dollars to just get denied. My god the entire bank does is look at your balance and say, not enough money. Charge you $30 for that? It’s beyond inhumane.

Assume if the bank had just denied the XM radio charge. No big deal. The rather innocent mistake this person made of forgetting to set aside money for that renewal does not start the cascade of brutality that banks impose on the poor.

In every case Banks take the moral high ground and say they are doing customers a favor by paying these over drafts and it’s a disincentive from people over drafting. Perhaps in a time when verification was not instantaneous it would be, but it isn’t any longer.

Another practice banks have started. In the old days they used to run all deposits to your account first, then the checks before finding and charging overdraft fees. Suppose you wrote a check for groceries on Thursday night and you get paid Friday and it’s deposited. The bank has no regard for the fact that they did not pay or in fact were not presented with your check till Friday. They use modeling tools to maximize their fees. So, the bank will in these so called modern times charge you that $30 fee even though they were not presented the check because they wont run the deposits first on Friday before the debits to your account. In old times it was considered respectful and a courtesy to always run your transactions this way. But there is more money in abusing the poor and the banks do it.

If you are moderately well off or at minimum have good cash flow, you are unaware of these practices. But the poor who receive say a $870 disability checks and write just a few checks if any each month, these types of fees can render them homeless with just a couple of innocent mistakes.

Bring back the small banks. Yes its okay to have a few big giant ones for the huge companies that need them. But mostly we don’t need every bank to be giant huge and impersonal and they can definitely make money as small banks, if the Government would just enforce the anti trust laws on the books.

Will anyone ever look out for the regular poor people again?

Are there any people willing to go into banking as a career and not sell out to big banks and help local neighborhoods? It’s very lucrative, even if you are kind and don’t take every predatory practice.

Segway inventor Dean Kamen meets Colbert

I watched the Colbert report last night and as usual found it funny and enlightening. I am posting this as a footnote to myself to not forget that we have many inventions in-the-bag that can be enormously helpful to the world.

Dean Kamen has invented a devise that cleans 1000 liters of water a day for nearly no cost. This could help eliminate nearly all disease in certain parts of the world at an extremely low cost.

Watch Colbert show it off with his special humor at this link.

http://gizmodo.com/370698/colbert-first-vid-of-dean-kamens-miracle-water-distiller

I found it interesting the idea of spying on oneself.

I found the concept of spying on yourself to see what others see from your cookies an interesting idea. I haven't used the software yet, but I am downloading it to get an idea of how much my privacy is compromised by cookies. So far, this only works on Firefox or Flog.

It would be nice to see some discussion on this. The subject line above links to the site which tells more about this:

http://attentiontrust.org/

Perhaps losing ones privacy is a silly idea, maybe we already have lost it and nobody has told us.

A Little Humour

It makes a nice change to receive an email with true sentiment, and not the usual ones where you're threatened with ill luck if you don't pass it on

Five lessons about the way we treat people

1 - First Important Lesson - Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student and had breezed through the questions until I read the last one:
'What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?' Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the cleaning woman several times. She was tall, dark-haired and in her 50s, but how would I know her name?
I handed in my paper, leaving the last question blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if the last question would count toward our quiz grade.
'Absolutely,' said the professor. 'In your careers, you will meet many people. All are significant. They deserve your attention and care, even if all you do is smile and say 'hello.'
I've never forgotten that lesson. I also learned her name was Dorothy.

2 - Second Important Lesson - Pickup in the Rain.

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway trying to endure a lashing rain storm her car had broken down and she desperately needed a ride. Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car. A young white man stopped to help her, generally unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960's. The man took her to safety, helped her get assistance and put her into a taxicab.
She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his address and thanked him. Even days went by and a knock came on the man's door. To his surprise, a giant console color TV was delivered to his home. A special note was attached.
It read: 'Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway the other night. The rain drenched not only my clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along. Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying husband's bedside just before he passed away... God bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.'
Sincerely,
Mrs. Nat King Cole.

3 - Third Important Lesson - Always remember those who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.
'How much is an ice cream sundae?' he asked.
'Fifty cents,' replied the waitress.
The little boy pulled is hand out of his pocket and studied the coins in it.
'Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?' he inquired.
By now more people were waiting for a table and the waitress was growing impatient.
'Thirty-five cents,' she brusquely replied.
The little boy again counted his coins.
'I'll have the plain ice cream,' he said.
The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away the boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and left. When the waitress came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies. You see, he couldn’t' have the sundae, because he had to have enough left to leave her a tip.

4 - Fourth Important Lesson - The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.
Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables… Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the King indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand!
Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition and could be a blessing in disguise, no matter how serious.

5 - Fifth Important Lesson - Giving When it Counts.

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only chance of recovery appeared to be a blood transfusion from her 5-year old brother, who had miraculously survived the same disease and had developed the antibodies needed to combat the illness. The doctor explained the situation to her little brother, and asked the little boy if he would be willing to give his blood to his sister.
I saw him hesitate for only a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, 'Yes I'll do it, if it will save her.' As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing the color returning to her cheek. Then his face grew pale and his smile faded.
He looked up at the doctor and asked with a trembling voice, 'Will I start to die right away.'
Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his sister all of his blood in order to save her.


Work like you don't need the money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like you do when nobody's watching. Somebody loves you, even if it seems not to be the case. Treat and love others the same way you want to be loved and treated, because this is the way to be wonderfully blessed!

A different way of looking at old age

The following is an email I received today from my good friend Annie.

Old age I decided is a gift

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometimes despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don't agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, and my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I've aged, I've become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself. I've become my own friend.

I don't chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn't need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60 & 70's, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love... I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.
They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody's beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don't question myself anymore. I've even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat a dessert every single day (If I feel like it)

The Plight Of Unwanted Anilmals

Vietnam has launched a crackdown on hamsters, a wildly popular pet here in the current lunar Year of the Rat, fearing an influx of the foreign-bred rodent fur balls could spread disease and destroy crops.

Why oh why do us humans never learn? Whose fault is it? Not the hamsters for sure! Did they ask to be taken from the desert and bred for captivity? NO!



We can learn so much from animals and the world would be a far better place if we did! Us humans think we're so superior but, truth be known animals are far more intelligent!

Do animals go to war? NO!

Are animals responsible for climate change? NO!

Animals need our help!

Hamsters are cute little creatures and make great pets. Their bred for the purpose for adults and kids the world over, to give loving homes to. Then in so many cases the novelty wears off and they become a nuisance! The feeding and the cleaning out become tiresome, and the poor little hamsters are left neglected and uncared for!

In some cases owners in there ignorance don't separate their hamsters, and this can lead to fights between the pets, resulting in injury and sometimes even death! On the other hand if the hamsters do get along and indulge in the mating ritual, two hamsters can soon become four or six! So what started out as two little pets can soon multiply into an entire family!

Ignorance is a terrible thing and you should never get a pet unless you've truly thought it through!

The little puppy or kitten doesn't stay that way forever, they grow up into adults! They need care and attention and not just when you feel like it and can be bothered!
Pets are a pleasure, they give you unconditional love 365 days a year, and all they ask for in return is to be cared for!

I've had the the honour and privilege of three wonderful cats which I had from kittens. Scruffy (whose mum was a feral cat) I got from a friend. Tish and Tosh I got from a pet shop. They all had long and happy lives.

When I decided about a year ago, it was time for me to get another cat I stopped and thought about it. Why not get an adult cat this time, one who needed re-homeing? There are so many unwanted pets looking for good homes!
So I contacted the Basildon and Brentwood Cat Protection League.

They did a home visit and I was accepted as suitable to adopt. Two weeks later I got Sooty and Whiskey.
They've made my life complete and I've been honoured and privileged once again! I couldn't wish for two better companions!

So where is all this leading?

There are thousands of animals the world over who desperately need our help!
They need a good homes. Organisations like the RSPCA, The Cat Protection League and The Humane Society (to name but three) are constantly looking for people to adopt unwanted animals!

All I'm asking is if you're thinking about getting a pet please, please consider going through an animal organisation. Pet shops are all very well, but there's no comparison when it comes to knowledge of a pet.
These people get to know an animals temperament and can give valuable advice! Plus they are always there if you have any problems. They keep in touch and you can depend on them! How many pet shops offer such a service? Their responsibility ends once you've handed them your money!

Sue CNN, Sue MSNC, Sue Fox, Jail for reporters

Someone needs to sue these cable stations for attempting to disrupt the presidential elections. They are engaged in several tactics that affect the outcome. To drive up ratings they want to extend the races so they talk badly about the front runner and dig up dirt on them.

Then they change focus if the lead changes. Their only goal is in extending the races and interfering in the elctorial process.

Someone definately needs to organize a class action suit against these stations. At first it seemed all in good fun to have a bunch of blow hards running the cable news networks and allowing profit to drive everything. But, now their motivations are not to diseminate the news but to make the races longer and distorting the news to do so.

This type of thing could destroy this democracy. If the cable stations mess up Obamas run for office, and 60% of the democratic and independants supporting him get disaffected, who is gonna take the blame? Is the electorate going to take the short end again?

I really think someone needs to sue them to stop manipulating the news by exposing the parts of the news most frequently that will result in extending the race. This type of total corporate greed is a new animal on the horizon of ways the people get cheated out of their vote.

If its not the lobbiests companys running scare ads, or the politians lying, or the any of another 100 things that ruin the chances of candidates to get a fair chance or the public to vote in a somewhat fair environment.

This year watching the TV stations filled with gree over the huge profits they are making from the extended primary season and how they are trying to make the Democrats go to the convention could result in them losing the national election due to the infighting they must uncessarily endure because the news channels grossly put their FAT finger on the scales of the news before each primary.

It would not be so bad if they were simply bias, because you could realize that this person is right wing or left wing, but they aren't. They are pro underdog and anti leader so as to force more money to be spent on their advertising they sell during this type of coverage. This is reality TV perverted and the news people participating willfully should be forced to pay fines and go to jail.

Summary of Consent Requirements for Taping Telephone Conversations.

If you live in a state that allows telephones to be recorded with the consent of only one party to the conversation, you always run the risk of the other person recording the call and might use against you in some way in court.

If one of you live in a one party consent state and one live in a two party consent state, then usually you fall under the two party consent laws.

So, for people that live in a one party consent state they always need to keep this in mind when talking to someone in their own state. But, if you talk to someone outside of your state, arguably you are safer than talking to someone in your own state if that person lives in a two party consent state. Logically neither of you can record the phone call and therefore are safer.

My head is spinning, isn't yours? Well, I include a link below that you should print and keep on hand if you live in a one party consent law. In a world where things are all equal, you are better off having only long distance, share all my secrets type friends, in two party consent law states because they can’t tape your conversation and use it against you in any legal proceeding.

Here is the link Click Here.

I realize that this is much nuanced and might not seem very important, but I am of the firm belief these complex times, we do ourselves service to learn one or two simple tricks a day to protect ourselves. This is just one piece that I feel is pretty easy to understand for the dull wit person like myself.

And, the lesson here is if you live in a one person consent state, only make long distance friends or have long distance affairs with people in two person consent states such as California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Washington and Illinois.

This is non authoritative of course and just a guideline, and before you start sharing with your wives best friend in Texas about your affair with the brides maid. Check the actual law.

I knew it, Astro can count!

"A variety of animals, including pigeons, parrots, raccoons, ferrets, rats, monkeys and apes are to varying degrees capable of either counting, adding or subtracting numbers."

My little male syrian hamster Astro, and his sister Princess and step brother Paddy paws are my current companions. I had for years considered Hamsters for kids and not very fun. However, my friend Alison convinced me one day when I was a bit bored and perhaps feeling a little lonely that I needed a pet. I am alergic to cats and with my disability having a dog would be hard for the dog since I could not walk him as much or fast as he or she might deserve.

Then hamsters came to mind and I rescued mine from the shelter. I am simply overwhelmed daily by their amazing nature, individual personalitys and endless compassion and kindness. They know my mood and know how to communicate theirs to me. Astro for instance likes to yawn at me with his mouth wide open when he rests on my hand. I am convinced its a high sign of comfort and affection. Princess comes to the edge of her palace to greet me when I walk over to get clothes from my drawers and Paddy Paws knows my voice intonation and knows before I hide his food where I am thinking of putting it and waits for me.

I think we too often forget how wonderful these creatures placed among us are. Regretfully, we don't treat many of them fairly and do so much harm to their habitats. The article in the italic link above spurned this for me since I had always known animals were very intelligent and its nice to see someone took the time to quantify it in a way that can't be argued with.

However, anyone that holds or visits or watches these creatures knows this. Perhaps they are one of the most humanizing elements we come across each day in this pretty human eat human world.

Toy that I want! Bigliodromi

Its called a Bigliodromi, they are made in Italy and they are hard to find. Its an engineering toy and usually made by the person that wants one. The photo to above and left shows Anthony Hopkins in the movie Fracture, with the rolling glass marbles. This particular one was a design of the Dutch artist Mark Bischof. It takes Bischof sometimes six years to build a maze. The cost is undisclosed so you can imagine the cost. Lowball estimates of this type of toy are in the $150,000 range.

Below are some links to discuss and study it in more depth.

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I love this kinda stuff!

Ralph Naders blood soaked hands

Few people in the history of civilization sleep in a bed of blood as big as Ralph Nader.

Nader ran in the 2000 presidential election and siphoned enough votes off Vice-President Gore causing George Bush to be elected. Freedom and peace loving people across the United States begged him not to run or to withdrawal, but his warped perspective of America allowed him to continue on seemingly enjoying interfering in the political process.

Liberals and Libertarians have a soft spot for Ralph Nader in their hearts because he is credited with being Instrumental in forming the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and his followers, Nader’s Raiders have an impressive list of accomplishments to help improve government.

However, Ralph Nader keeps justifying that he runs for office because he says it does not matter which party you vote for, Democratic or Republican it does not make any difference. This cynical view trivializes all the efforts of thousands of good people of many stripes who work within the system as elected officials.

Nader definitely caused George Bush to win the vote in Florida, which was won on as few as 500 votes in 2000. And, Florida resulted in George Bush being elected and ultimately invading Iraq after the 911 attack. Based on reasons never fully understood, President Bush attacked Iraq instead of going into Afghanistan and Pakistan to find the terrorists that actually killed our USA citizens. Many hold the view that Al Gore would never of invaded Iraq and concocted the weapons of mass destruction justification for its invasion.

And it follows that the 4,000 US soldiers that have died in the war is an enormous tragedy.

So based on this logic Ralph Nader has the blood of all innocent Iraqi citizens killed during the Iraq war. Numbers vary on what the number is varying from tens of thousands to as high as several hundred thousand. I posted 200,000 as a kind of average number to represent the enormity of his impact on death in this new century we have started.

Nader seems irreverent and blind of the hurtful impact his running for office has had on the of the innocent civilians around the world.

Hatred of the political parties for which Nader is emblematic has spurned him to run for the Presidency in 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004. He claims its a way to get topics into the public discussion that otherwise would not find it there. And, that is certainly true, but typically candidates withdrawal from the election before the final election letting the will of the people decide the outcome, and not have it siphon votes from the Party closest to his position.

Yes, I do think Ralph Nader has come to run every four years for office for self aggrandizement and to remind them more of HIM than to actually promote interesting discussion in the public debates. Where was he during the primary process?

How does he sleep at night with all that blood on his hands? Perhaps seeing his name on TV everynight helps.

Cherries for Change from AP News

Ben & Jerry's Founders Endorse Obama
By LISA RATHKE Associated Press Writer
The founders of Ben & Jerry's endorsed Barack Obama on Monday, and lent his Vermont campaign two "ObamaMobiles" that will tour the state and give away scoops of "Cherries for Change" ice cream.

"If there was ever a need for real change, and if there ever was a candidate to inspire us and make that happen, it's now," said Ben Cohen.

Added Jerry Greenfield: "Barack is showing that when you lead with your values and follow what you have inside that good things will happen."

Echoing Obama, Greenfield said he and Cohen succeeded when they opened their ice cream shop 30 years ago in Burlington by doing things differently, instead of copying the "tired ways" of doing business.

"What we saw is that when you want real change it's not a marketing slogan. You have to do things differently. And that is not going to be done by someone who's been involved in the system for years and years," Greenfield said. "It needs to come from inside and Barack Obama has it."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and his wife joined the ice cream duo to announce their radio campaign backing the Illinois senator.

Cohen initially supported John Edwards, who dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Rob Hill, director of the Vermonters for Obama campaign, said he looked forward to getting behind the wheel of one of the two ObamaMobiles _ retrofitted Honda Elements.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

Don't miss the wonderful Ontario Red Tart Cherry Banana Smoothie recipe behind the Cherries photo at top.

Shame on Glenn Beck and more shame on America

Clearly news is driven by advertiser revenue which is driven by viewership. The amazing thing is that we show more by our viewership than by what we actually say. For instance, Glenn Beck for a very long time has been decried by nearly everyone as an idiot, moron, loser and dozens of other pejorative terms. Yet he has a prime time show in CNN, the world's biggest Cable TV news network. We crucified Don Imus over a few remarks over the years that were born of his insensitivity and self described license based on the huge amount of good work he has done for children with cancer and other causes. Why are we giving Glenn Beck a pass?

The only answer can be is that we watch him as a nation. I must admit tuning into his show when absolutely nothing is on the air for a few moments and in every case can't stand him for more than a few comments and must tune out. I always feel dirty and disgusted that his voice is on the air. This week he again proved he is simply not worthy of having a voice and we should always everytime he comes on tune him out, perhaps we should watch other news channels.

Myself I have started watching MSNBC because I just never want to see him.

He is the very definition of a bottom sucking bottom dweller, actually lower than attorneys. Attorneys are far far higher on the food chain. I hope more people protest against CNN by tuning them out till this creatin is taken off the air.

Example of his latest stupidity:

Click on photos at top above for photo credit.

Barack Obama for President

Hamster Bath Time - I don't think so!

French Women Don't Get Fat and Do Get Lucky

Below is a post about women and how Americans who eat and live for nutrician and often forget about enjoying life. Plus our prudish ways seems to give no solice to our lonely hearts does it and French women seem to know this ever so well. Makes you wonder if in the end if its not the women who are the true sex winners of enjoying a full life (wipes tear off male cheek). Alas, while this singularly is one of our biggest downfalls. Healthwise and otherwise we would be wise to listen to this interesting article by Pamela. She is a fine writer at the Washington Post I occasionally find time to read. Of course the advise would serve men equally well and while she does seem to feel thinness is terribly important and it is, she is ever so correct to point out that zest for life simply trumps all other factors. Viva Pamela!

Henry

By Pamela Druckerman
Sunday, February 10, 2008

PARIS

If I have to get old, I want to do it in Paris.

It's not because of the dank weather, the constant personal snubs or a fetish for unpasteurized cheese. It's because, quite frankly, I'd like to keep having sex.

In the United States, my odds would be grim. Through our 40s, we American women manage to arrange romps on a fairly regular basis. But the latest national statistics show that by our 50s, a third of us haven't had sex in the last year. By our 60s, nearly half have gone sexless in the previous year. Once we hit our 70s, most of us might as well hang up an "out of business" sign. (Needless to say, men fare much better.)

So much for the gym-bodied baby boomers who promised to make 60 the new 40, using Botox as an aphrodisiac. Among today's 50-plus women, the problem of sexlessness is as bad or worse than it was for older women two decades ago.

But not in France. Frenchwomen simply don't suffer from the same dramatic, post-40s slide into sexual obsolescence. Just 15 percent of Frenchwomen in their 50s and 27 percent in their 60s haven't had any sex in the past year, according to a 2004 national survey by France's Regional Health Observatory. Another national survey being released next month will report that cohabiting Frenchwomen over 50 are having more sex now than they did in the early 1990s.

Try not to hate them: Frenchwomen don't get fat, and they do get lucky.

The idea that older women are desirable goes right to the top. Before Nicolas Sarkozy hooked up with his new bride, 40-year-old Carla Bruni, a French magazine suggested some matches for the newly divorced president, including 50-ish TV presenters, writers and an extremely buff sailing champion. After all, Sarkozy, 53, had just been dumped by his then 49-year-old wife Cecilia, who had famously obsessed him and who had had no trouble finding other suitors.

This post-menopausal sexiness is palpable here. In the lingerie section of an upscale department store, I recently watched a gray-haired man earnestly inspecting the black lace bra and panties that his similarly aged companion had just picked out. "That's just what's needed," he clucked, handing his credit card to the clerk.

So why are older American women sitting around feeling bad about their necks, while their sisters across the ocean -- craggy necks or not -- are off being seduced?

For starters, Frenchwomen d'un certain âge have much better role models. Sure, Hollywood still employs a handful of preternaturally preserved actresses in their 50s and above. But even these women, such as Susan Sarandon, tend to be famous precisely because they've defied the laws of aging. And they're mostly denied unfiltered close-ups and romantic leads.

French cinema, however, is in the throes of a revival for 50-ish actresses, many of whom got their starts as fresh-faced teenagers in the early 1970s. These women aren't all airbrushed versions of their former selves, nor does the interest in them seem to be mostly nostalgic. "They have roles not as old women but as women. Which means they're still considered to be desirable," says Danièle Laufer, author of the book "50 Ans? Vous Ne Les Faites Pas" ("50 Years Old? You Don't Look It"). "Fifteen or 20 years ago, you wouldn't have seen this. I think they refuse to give up power."

The actress Nathalie Baye, who's 59 and looks it, has made some 20 films in the past decade, including romantic roles. She told an interviewer that at the 2003 César awards (France's version of the Oscars), Meryl Streep asked her whether "things were as difficult in France as in the U.S. for actresses of a certain age. I told her that thankfully, French cinema is very faithful to its women."

These French actresses are products of the generation of '68, France's sexual and social revolution. But in the French version, women weren't expected to forgo high heels and chivalry in exchange for equality. So it's not surprising here when successful women retain their charms. In the United States, the two can seem mutually exclusive. The right-wing talk-show host Rush Limbaugh felt free to question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy in December by sneering, "Will Americans want to watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?"

Of course, things aren't all rosy in French bedrooms. France has its share of lonely widows and divorcees. All the Frenchwomen I spoke to also stressed that older women must keep up their looks to stay appealing. Liftees are becoming a more frequent sight.

In the United States, men tend to treat older women who've done age-erasing work with either horrific awe or chaste respect. France is more sanguine. Last year, Paris Match magazine put a photo on its cover of a topless 50-something Arielle Dombasle -- looking like a reengineered 16- year-old -- to celebrate her new cabaret act.

American women seem to have internalized the message that wrinkles aren't sexy. A 2006 study called "Sex After 40?" led by Laura Carpenter at Vanderbilt University concludes that middle-aged women who live alone have trouble seeing themselves -- and others -- as potential sex partners. And then there's the famous demographic bottleneck: Men die sooner, and many of the ones left standing prefer younger women. Impotence can leave even married couples sexless.

All that happens in France, too, of course. But when the French writer Elisabeth Weissman interviewed dozens of older Frenchmen for the book "Un Âge Nommé Désir" ("An Age Named Desire"), she found that "they see in maturity a form of eroticism." French Playboy's photo spread on the 43-year-old Juliette Binoche in November carried text that gushed, "The more time passes, the more her inner beauty glows." Wisdom -- combined with regular exfoliation -- is sexy here.

Another reason older Frenchwomen have an easier time is that they're apparently less choosy about their bedmates. A study of older Americans published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine found that 88 percent of sexually inactive women ages 57 to 64 had actually met a willing partner. But about half the women said that they hadn't met the right person.

This isn't just a matter of taste. The Vanderbilt study also found that middle-aged, unmarried men and women in the United States suffer from "sexual conservatism," even if they've been married before. For many women, the study notes, "disapproval of sex before marriage applies to every marriage."

Older Frenchwomen seem open not just to non-marital sex but also to the extramarital variety. Overall self-reported levels of infidelity are practically identical in France and the United States. But because the taboo on cheating is weaker in France, what would be guilty flings in the United States can blossom into long love affairs over here. "When [French] people have multiple partners, they have stable partners, and not one-night stands. This is not the case in the U.S.," says the French researcher Alain Giami, who co-authored a paper on French and American sexual habits.

None of the Frenchwomen I spoke to thought that married men made ideal companions. But all of them said that they could be a reasonable compromise until the "right" fellow comes along. "It saves your life, you live like a woman," says Nathalie Samson, 50, who dated a married man for six years until she met her current boyfriend. (He was single.)

Samson, who co-owns a boutique in Paris, isn't the lithe Frenchwoman of the American imagination. But she's wearing a stretchy black dress with a plunging neckline and flipping through pictures from her recent birthday party, in which her 52-year-old boyfriend gazes at her with obvious rapture. She describes this period of her life -- post-divorce, her three kids out of the house -- as her most uncomplicatedly sexy one. "Now there's just the seduction between a man and a woman," she says.

Older women in Paris don't actually look any better than the ones in New York. The difference is that the French typically don't see sex as a privilege for the young and beautiful. They see it as one of life's most basic pleasures -- something women or men would not give up without a fight . . . or in my case, perhaps a second passport.

FUNNY HAMSTERS Collection

What did the mother hamster say to her children when they wanted a bedtime story?

I don't have a tale! (Contributed by Jake, age 8, U.S, Texas)

What kind of a dam does a hamster build?

A Hamster dam! (Contributed by Laura, age 12, Lincolnton, N.C.)

Where do hamsters come from?

Hamsterdam (Contributed by Mary Sue, 10 years old, Chino, California)

What do you call a hamster that can pick up an elephant?

Sir! (Contributed by David, 8 years old, Florence, Italy)

What is small, furry and smells like bacon?

A hamster! (Contributed by Nicky, age 8, Austin, TX)

What's gray and furry on the inside and white on the outside?

A hamster sandwich! (Contributed by Greg, age 9, Cleveland)

When does a hamster take a bath?

When no one's looking! (Contributed by Natalie, age 10, Mesa, AZ)

A shady looking man walks into a bar and orders a drink. The bartender says, "No way, pal. I don't think you can pay for it." "You're right," the guy says. "I don't have any money, but if I show you something you haven't seen before, will you give me a drink?" "You have a deal, my friend," says the bartender. The guy reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a hamster. He puts the hamster on the bar and it runs to the end of the bar, down the side of the bar, across the room, up the piano, onto the keyboard and starts playing classical music. The hamster can really play..."You're right... I've never seen anything like that before," says the bartender. "That hamster is really gifted." The guy downs the drink and asks the bartender for another. "Will that be cash or another miracle, pal?" asks the bartender. "Watch this,"replies the guy. Again, he reaches into his coat again and pulls out a frog. He puts the frog onto the bar, and the frog starts to sing. The frog has a marvelous voice and great pitch. A fine singer. A stranger from the other end of the bar runs over to the guy and offers him £500 for the frog. "It's a deal," says the guy. He takes the money and gives the stranger the frog. The stranger runs out of the bar. "Are you some kind of nut?" asks the bartender. "You sold a singing frog for £500? It could have been worth millions. You must be crazy." "Not so,"says the guy.

"The hamster is a ventriloquist." (Contributed by anonymous)

Alison compiled a wonderful set of Hamster and Animal in action thumbs

Alison is getting so salty on the computer, she sent me these pics today and I just had to post them here in an album to share with everyone.

Take a look you will love them.

Click here to see them.