Prayers please

my son lives in the town near this volcano.
And yes, that is Colombia, not the Philippines.
My family is international.

Measles

People don't realize that Measles is a killer of children.
And measles Vaccine is expensive.

The linked report is about eradicating Measles in Nepal. Reminds me of my days in Africa.

To spare readers from another long post, my comment are HERE....

Chickenhawks?

Since I was a Captain in the National Guard, I don't really qualify as a chickenhawk, but I have added their blogroll on the side along with Homespun bloggers.

Despite the rhetoric (which is merely babyboomers trying to relive their glory days) there is a very real danger of terrorists spreading dangerous technology to other home grown terror groups...and many of these "terror groups" and the infrastructure that support this type of thinking are funded by certain countries.

I cringe when I hear "Sadam Hussein didn't support terrorism"...no, he only funded suicide bombers killing Israelis, and gave free medical care and safe houses to AlQada, etc...not to mention causing trouble here in the Philippines...

And you don't even need a "direct" connection. For example, the 50 year old civil war in Colombia was "about" land reform...but you see connections with Marxist groups but also IRA and now Arab terrorists are down there...

And at a time when many Moros want peace, you have abusayyaf trying to make things worse...
Iraq, for better or worse, sends a "headsup" to murderous dictators.....when newspapers spout all the bad new about Iraq, they don't bother to put such things into perspective...

Headlines of the day

Rewrite the history books: The Olive tree says your dating is off... they are dating the Thera explosion that destroyed many civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean...one of my areas of interest...

Stolen body parts causing disease? LINK
Usually these things are not "stolen" but removed with family's permission...but why weren't they screened for obvious disease? Again, an interest for me since Oklahoma had a rabies case from a Texas transplant...

The Katrina report is out...read the whole thing ((Big Lizard's summary is HERE if you like to play "pin the tail on the donkey" blame games, like the AP did)...
Actually the report is fair, and not a blame game but it actually notes the difference between incompetency, normal chaotic situations where people did their best, and normal "SNAFUs" with praise for what went right...

And the American Lung Assocation has a clean air report:“...Our report shows real improvement in the air quality in much of the nation. ..."
It's Bush's fault...

Air pollution is down in Manila also....Arroyo claims it's down by 15%...no, it's not due to the Clean Air act (as the article points out, most people find it cheaper to bribe than to fix their cars) but probably because the economy is in shambles and the price of gasoline and diesel is going up and up...

Good news: Congressmen arrested in anti war demonstration... Tom Lantos, James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas and Jim Moran of Virginia.
No, not Iraq, but the genocide in Dafur...Lantos is a concentration camp survivor...

WAPO coveres the planned Sunday rally HERE

Dustbury says, if you're traveling to Boston, Don't leave home without one....

Well, did he ever return,
No he never returned
And his fate is still unlearned
He may ride forever
'neath the streets of Boston
He's the man who never returned


finally: Spreading American culture all over the world: Mongolian HipHop...

Circumcision (adult content alert)

the American Academy of Pediatrics has been trying to outlaw circumcision for twenty years.
Now it seems that it decreases HIV transmission. Duh.
Hate to get into this in a family blog, but certain cancers (now known to be due to viruses) are also lower where men or their consorts are circumcized.
However, here in the Philippines, they use a dorsal slit...

LINK by a pc group that was trying to outlaw it. This group claims the Catholic church forbids it, which was news to me and other docs who trained at Catholic hospitals. Catholics forbid mutilation, not thing done for social customs (e.g. tatoos, ear piercing) or for theraputic reasons (hysterectomy, mastectomy, amputation).
The PC call it mutilation, similar to the campaign against female circumcision...however, most female circumcisions are much more extensive and dangerous.

LINK2 is by a Filippino......usually the pre pubescent boys get together and arrange it on their own ...but at the farm, Lolo just did one for the oldest boy...who had planned to go with the local boys, but the mom was worried about infection and when she found out asked Lolo to do it.
The government also arranges "free" clinics for this.

In Africa, some tribes do it at puberty, mostly Muslims...but also the pagans in the Chibi area near our hospital did it, but not those in Chilimanzi, where I worked. So we saw a lot of balanitis.
Once you've seen balanitis and other problems, you can see why "primitive" people in dry climates "invented" the procedure...

However, as a female doc, I don't usually see such things unless I'm the only one around...

Family News

It is dry season, so after a year here and several episodes of bad leaking, Chano finally decided it's time to fix the roof of our house.
So, of course, it rained.
This is the second time. So this time, at least, we had a tarp.
Alas, it was a thunderstorm and large downpour, and the tarp filled with water and broke the rope attached to the piller, so we had floods in the bedroom again.
So at midnight, after the storm stopped and the larger puddles were cleaned up, we went to the farm to sleep, since our bed was soaked.
After two days at the farm, our bed is dry, so we are back for the fiesta tomorrow.
Since the roof is not fully repaired, the men will work today, Sunday, to fix it.
Fiesta starts tomorrow, which means dancing and partying in the square all night.

Gas price jokes

Grouchy old cripple blog has lots of high price gas cartoons.

here in the Philippines, the price is already high, and there is talk that it goes higher on Sunday...
Biodiesel fuel is being discussed...

It's coconut oil
Biodiesel even has it's own blog....
with links. It's outside my range of expertise...

Don't get appendicitis in Tripoli

Victor DavisHanson was visiting Tripoli and got appendicitis...surgery went well, but they don't use pain killers post op. Interesting story.

At least if my appendix ruptures, Angi would give me post op meds...and when I was in Africa, we gave them for the first day...

BBC reports on Milblogs

Austen Bay gave the Keynote address....and Smash us mentioned....if you check his website, he has a downloadable discussion by the biggest names in Milblogs...

Oh by the way

The headlines haven't changed, so here are a bunch of trivia that aren't in the headlines.

Did you know 200 000 Israelis visited the Sinai Bedouin last Passover? Michael Totten's reports on Kurdistan and the Middle East had lots of eye opening stuff not on CNNI...

Interested in the HolyGrail? Some scholars have a blog/website...

The next step in Euthanasia: Hospitals removing life support because it is "futile" ...even though the patient is not in a coma and the family want to continue it...because some committee decides preserving your life is not ethical...no, it's not NYC, it's Texas.
Update: Family is moving her to Illinois...at their own expense...

Here in the Philippines, it's the hot and dry season.
We got back from the farm this afternoon because it is the time for fiestas...ours will be Saturday and Sunday although the religious parade was Wednesday...
However, May 1st is Labour Day, so they are expecting demonstrations in Manila...and there's alot of news about bombs being found in a safe house, and also that a granade was thrown at a business.
However, the way people drive here, dying in an accident is probably more dangerous than living here...

And in fiesta time, the food is great...LINK....LINK2...or LechonBaboy!
wash down with THIS...

Sago MIne disaster: Orndinay men risked their lives for each other

Sago Mine disaster: Oxygen packs didn't work.

The most moving part of the story:

McCloy said the miners' first action was to don their air packs. He shared his with Groves, while his co-workers shared theirs with others.

The miners returned to their rail car in hopes of escaping along the track, but had to abandon the effort because of bad air. They then retreated, hung a curtain to keep out the poisonous gases and tried to signal their location by beating on roof bolts and plates.

"We found a sledgehammer, and for a long time, we took turns pounding away," McCloy wrote. "We never heard a responsive blast or shot from the surface."

Martin "Junior" Toler, 51, and Tom Anderson, 39, tried to find a way out but were turned back by heavy smoke and fumes, McCloy said.

"We were worried and afraid, but we began to accept our fate," he wrote. "Junior Toler led us all in the Sinners Prayer" — a prayer for salvation of one's soul.

"Some drifted off into what appeared to be a deep sleep, and one person sitting near me collapsed and fell off his bucket, not moving. It was clear that there was nothing I could do to help him," McCloy wrote.

Doctors have been unable to pinpoint why McCloy, 27, was the only who survived the 41 hours it took rescuers to find the crew. He left the mine battered and comatose and spent months in the hospital. He suffered brain damage that affects his ability to hold a conversation.

"I cannot begin to express my sorrow for my lost friends and my sympathy for those they left behind," he wrote. "I hope that my words will offer some solace to the miners' families and friends who have endured what no one should ever have to endure."

Headlines of the day

I'll just post a few headlines before we go to the farm to get away from the house so they can put a new roof on it.

Your headline of the day: a parody of "See the softer side of Sears"...

Video shows another side of al-Zarqaw
CAIRO, Egypt - Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's new video marks a shift by the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq toward a less radical image, ..... The Sunni Muslim extremist, 39, looks youthful and healthy in the springtime desert...."It's a departure from the past. There's no strident anti-Shiite rhetoric and no beheadings," said Joost Hiltermann,

I guess, the blood from the beheading clashed with his new outfits and the spring flowers...nothing new here, folks, just move along.

Then we have: Dow ends at six year high...it's Bush's fault...

And Blogfather has links to lots of stuff, but my favorite is:

ALTERNATIVE-FUEL-O-RAMA: Popular Mechanics crunches the numbers on various alt-energy schemes.. Mr. Bingley asks: "Is it me, or has Popular Mechanics quietly become the most respected news service in the country? My goodness, they do great in-depth research and present the facts on a variety of issues." It's a novel approach, but hey -- maybe it'll catch on!

And your medical headline of the day:

Dirt pills may help to ease kids' asthma

Dr. Angi and the Msgr and doctors

By the time the "san Lorenzo" float went by, it was getting dark.

Dr. Angi was there with some of the doctors and the Pastor of Three Kings parish.

Then we went in and ate and ate.

Go to the Philippines for fiesta, gain ten pounds...
Oh well... 

And pretty boys

Some of the dance groups were mixed boys and girls... 

Flowers and pretty girls.

 

I love a parade

Then the parade that started in front of the church was going down the street.

People from every barangay (neighborhood) had a statue of their patron saint on a float, with flowers.

And some dancing groups with music followed their neighborhood group. 

Lolo

Waiting for the Lechon to be served.

Lechon is barbecued suckling pig. 

Showing off the new house

 

Traditional costumes

After the mass, the dancing started at the church...here are some girls showing off their costumes.
Afterward, we went Emy's

new house for food.

This IS the Philippines, you know. Food for every fiesta. 

Lolo, Emy, and Florina outside

After the ceremony, we went outside. They had street dancing...lots of people in traditional costumes and a band dancing in front of the church. 

Fiesta time: Divina Pastora

There are lots of festivals here in the Philippines.
Our town has the shrine of the Divina Pastora, the Holy Shepherdess...
History HERE.
The statue is Mary dressed like a traditional shepherdess, with a cloak, a staff, a huge straw hat, and some sheep.
The idea is the same as the "good shepherd", that Mary will guard her people and get you back to heaven if you stray.

The fiesta started today with Mass and the crowning of Mary...Lolo and Dr. Angie supplied the staff in the ceremony, and this is a poor photo of this.

The bishop came in for the ceremony too.

Extreme Ironing!

Wikipedia link HERE

Ipod commercial....Ratz Rocks

Educational game of the day....

Imagine ourselves, women...

Yahoo thinks women's issues mean...the same thing as you find in Harlequin romances: fairy tales where rich attractive women find handsome lovers in exotic locations...

Upper middle class women talking about deciding to be a novelist...Token Asian is a reporter who travels all around the world complains about balancing work and friendships....Actress discussing getting started in Hollywood...very basic practical financial advice (save $100 a week) for fluff heads... Let's imagine ourselves, women...don't work hard, don't study, merely imagine your wish and it will come true...

Hmmm...wonder if Michele Malkin knows about this....

But maybe they should try articles on problems women face in real world...

for example, try finding a D cups in China...or the Philippines.

And remember how your teachers told you not to chew gum? Well, if you thought SHE was strict, read THIS...

And for all you women who have to clean the house, try imagining your very own housekeeper, here ....Caution not work friendly....via DaveBarry of course.

And when you travel to exotic places like the Mall of America, watch out for potentially dangerous food like Popcorn... Oh my...LINK2 actually, it's quite a nasty disease...wonder why it took them so long to notice these "clusters" since it's not a common disease...

Of course, most women are religious in one way or another. But after a night on the town, it's hard to attend mass with a hangover...So try Two Beer Bible Study...yup. sounds good to me...

And don't forget, spilling McDonald's hot coffee on yourself when you drive is SOOOOO passe...spill hot expresso instead...

Yup....

Choose a Ninja Burger Career at the
Ninja Burger website.

The Lembas Diet

Your link of the week from TOLKIENGEEK.

Green mini car? Right...

Another hot shot "green mini car"....bet it costs as much as a used pickup...
Well, it might work in Europe, but somehow it doesn't look like it would be very good on the back roads of Oklahoma...
Does it have air conditioning for when it's 39 degrees?
How about snow tires?
And what happens when an 18 wheeler comes around the corner?
Is it easier to see than a motorcycle?

And it's fine if you are a single commuter in a city...but even in a city, unless you can afford a second car, you have a problem. How do you drop the kids off on the way to work? Where do you put the groceries? The baby seat?

In short, it's useful for only one thing: Communting for one person only in a city for short distances when the weather is nice.

Maybe instead you should buy one of these. These are motorcycles with sidecars.
Theoretically, they hold two people, the driver and one passenger.

Ah, but in reality, they do more.

On hot days, kids will pool their money and hire a tricycle to go home from school. Since the fare is 10 to 20 pesos (20 to 50cents) even the kids in our farm village will so it sometimes. Two will sit behind the driver, three or four inside, and sometimes one hanging on the back.

And you will see them in the farms carrying several 50 kg bags of rice inside, and one on top...
On Palenke day, local shopkeepers bring in supplies in a similar manner, and moms will sit inside with a kid and a sack of groceries, with large loads tied on the top and back, and often a kid behind the driver....

Of course, it's hot and dusty. But convenient for short hops.

The Prayer of Jabez vs the prayer of Jeb

Left:The prayer of Jabez:

Right: The Prayer of Jeb

Oh my, three Hail Mary's penance for me...

Your clone joke of the day

Two clones meet on a roof.
The first clone is offended by the vulgarity of the second and pushes him off the roof.
The surviving clone is arrested and charged with ....

making an "obscene clone fall".

When vulgarity reigns

Today Lileks links to THIS as an example of how language deteriorates.

But his commentary is a continuation of Friday's Bleat:

I am amused by smart people who defend uncouthness on the grounds that it’s honest. (Hypocrisy, after all, is a cardinal sin. Or would be if there were such things.) Dennis Prager was talking today about a dance troupe whose work is mostly base and gross, complete with naughty shocking words and on-stage wanking. They were lauded by critics for their honesty, of course. (The entire cultural top-tier crew, at least in the media, has the values of a Playmate. Turn-offs: Phony people.) I have no problem with the artists, since I don’t expect much from them anymore; those who add to the sum of ugliness are welcome to do so, but they have made themselves irrelevant. I do have a problem with the critics who applaud breaking taboos and stepping over lines, because it’s the cultural establishment – whatever that is – that has celebrated and enabled the decline of art in the 20th century.
No artistic standard, once erased, as has ever been replaced by a more technically demanding one.
Unless you believe that it is harder for a layman to fake a later DeKooning than a J-L David.
Anyway. It’s not so much the redefinition of standards that bothers me as the glee with which the old standards are trashed, and the sense that the arts have become unmoored from the larger culture.
This all sounds like some joyless pinch-arsed mini-me-sized Cotton Mather looking for people who are enjoying themselves so he can wallow in his own righteous bile, eh? I’m just suggesting people govern their tongues in public, and consider that the aesthetic pleasures and artistic merit of a play with some hairy naked dude engaging in self-frottage are less than those provided by “Swan Lake.” The old Keatsian equation. Truth in beauty, and in beauty, truth.
-------------------------------------------------------
The Good news: Dustbury points out that Erica Carter can still write aesthetic poetry..
Bad news: She is a computer.
Good news: at her web site, you too can write poetry HERE...

WONDERFUL

Which "Natural Wonder" are you?

viaUrsi

I know it's around here somewhere

Did you know that the European Union mislayed 67 million Euros and can't find it?

they must be taking lessons from Imelda...

Oysters at fifty meters

No, don't ask me what it's about.

But the good news is the Manolo now has a food blog.

Mousebreaker

Your timewaster of the day from Ursi...

Don't know much about History

I usually peruse Pajama Media...and ran across the above link, that was annoyed at someone who compared Robespierre with Hitler...because only a couple thousand were guillitines in Paris...

What Iglesias doesn't seem to know is about the mass murders in the Vendee ( 100,000 dead) and smaller ones in Lyon and Marsailles...

WIKIPEDIA TO THE RESCUE!

Your headlines of the day

Osama declares war on...Muslims... AustinBay asks: The peacekeeping mission is meant to protect Muslims, so once again Al Qaeda is promoting the murder of Muslims–(There are, of course, complex ethnic, tribal, and political factors in play, but the Muslim on Muslim mass murder is a fact.)

And the war is spreading to Chad, the Congo, and Ethiopia...LINK

TigerHawk notes what was NOT mentioned in the speech: Iraq....

Ah, but if you really want to convert the MadMullahs of the Taliban, try RAP
“This one mullah came to me — he used to be in the Taleban and he was telling me what I was doing was bad. I let him try on some of my clothes and rapped to him, and he was won over.”

If 20,000 people demonstrate and the press doesn't cover it, does it count? Maybe, if Blogfather mentions it...

Your quote of the day: "Hollywood doesn't just have a problem with people of color having sex on-screen," Mr. Singleton said. "It's uptight about anybody having sex."

On the other hand, some people might see" a sequence that finds the nearly nude Ms. Ricci chained in Mr. Jackson's kitchen" as a bit inflammatory.... Birth of a Nation, anyone?

Note: the film is "authentic" about the South because the writer came from...Chicago...and grew up in California...Yup...a real southerner...

And how do politically correct boys become MANLY?

Well, you might try going on a trip with Nicolas Kristof...MichaelKinsley says: No Thank you tongue in cheek...

Or you might try....paying a couple thousand bucks for survival school...

... Harvey Mansfield (said):" Young men sign up for extreme survival courses, he said, because "they are as embarrassed about patriotism as they are about manliness, and to go into the military may seem too conventional."

Nope. Couldn't be "conventional" and sign up for the military...our PC friends would be scandalized...
(bias note: I was Army National Guard).

finally, the NYTimes discovers Australian wine...
When the rightwing of the bloggosphere boycotted France, they encouraged each other to turn to Australian wine, and found it was good...no mention of that in the article...

So, mates, don't forget: Hug An Australian day is April 26...and toast them with Yellowtail...

SuperMario: Communist Infiltrator?

This LINK say SuperMario is communist!

But aside from the slightly racist stereotyping of Mario and Luigi as food loving, NY fat bodies with ridiculous Italian accents, was there anything really insidious behind the scenes? The staff here at Murderize.com has found something more, something…sinister…lurking behind the mustached countenances of Mario and Luigi. We don't have enough evidence to prove anything, just a sparse trail of bread crumbs to follow. And this trail begins with the game that started it all, Super Mario Bros. Beware brainwashed fools, for this stunning expose will change the way you look at your favorite Nintendo hero forever. No longer the innocent Brooklyn plumbers, it now appears Mario and Luigi are nothing more than communist puppets engineered to program, oh so subtly, Marxist ideals into our impressionable minds!

And if you scroll down on the top TechRepublic link, you will find comments on Colonoscopies...I'm not sure what they have to do with CommunistMario, but they are hilarious, but R Rated and this is a family blog...

Medical tourism, anyone?

Awhile back, I posted a link about a celebrity getting his heart fixed at a Bankok hospital...well, the hospital now had a link on some blog, and I post it above. I AM NOT RECOMMENDING IT. I post for information only.
Their "blog" is HERE....

There are a lot of CLINICAL TRIALS in the USA using stem cells to repair hearts...for example, here is a news release from Chicago's Rush Medical Center about it...funded by THIS COMPANY...who has several clinical trials going not only for heart disase but also Crohn's disease, and bad knees...all using ADULT stem cells.

The treatment for bad hearts is still experimental...some studies say it works, but most of the articles are in research journals or about research...
What needs to be done, of course, is compare if it works better than, say, beta blockers, ACE blockers, implantable defibrillators etc...in keeping people alive and improving their ejection fraction (EF tells you how well the heart pumps).
We'll know that it works better when Dick Cheyney gets injected...

But a second reason I posted this link is that there is a dirty little secret that you can get your plastic surgery done cheaper in Asia...and now the Philippines is trying to get into attracting health care tourists.

Most of these procedures are for things that insurance companies won't pay for, such as sex change surgery or various types of plastic surgery. But now this Thai hospital is trying to attract customers for experimental treatment...(which also would not be covered by most insurance companies).

Medical tourism is also done for transplants.....there are rumors about paying people to donate kidneys or worse, but I don't know of any cases here...

Singapore is where a lot of people here go for surgery because their standards are higher than Manila, and it's much cheaper than Chicago. But now the Philippines is trying to get into medical tourism...

And for approved treatments, some US insurance companies will pay for it in Manila...and if you are on a long NHS waiting list, you should keep it in mind.

Asian Films...duh

Moved to my Screedblog...

Summary: NYTimes thinks a NewYorker from Queens who happens to have asian ancestry is wonderful, because he makes "Asian" films about twisted people and perverts.

Actually, the big story is Korean soap operas such as THIS...

Marxist quotes

A man is as old as the women he feels.

Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot.

Here's to our wives and girlfriends... May they never meet.

She got her looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon.

Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.

Paying alimony is like feeding hay to a dead horse.

Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

I worked myself up from nothing to a state of extreme poverty.

Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.

Why should I care about posterity? What's posterity ever done for me?

I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it.

Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.

Rats one, landmines zero

Headsup from QuentaNarwenion

Keep your antenna warm

Also stopsigns, door handles etc.

Headsup from BoingBoing

Politics in the CIA?

Lots of blogosphere ripples about the CIA person caught passing secrets to the press...

What I find interesting is her relationship with Sandy Burger, who recently lost his security clearance for putting secret papers down his pants...
-------------------
Update: Ex Spook worries:The "leak" of classified information may cause a media tempest for a few days (and political ramifications for a season), but the ultimate, security impact is measured in compromised programs, blown sources, heightened enemy deception efforts and decreased collection through our intel sources and methods....

April 26 is National Hug an Australian Day!

 

Bullying

Heh...
Poor dears. They should have tried to become a doctor when only 5% of the profession was female.

MOO TUBE!

(Headsup from Davebarryblog)

Just what you've been waiting for...

Lego Starwars screensavers


Headsup From Cakeeaterscrhonicals.

He's the very model of a secretary General

Dr. Sanity's latest parody

YUM! Sardine Flavoured Ice Cream!

You might be a Hobbit Redneck if...

You might be a Redneck Hobbit if...
Your maps and rhune-documents have Miller stains on them.
The "precious" that was really in your pocket was a confederate flag cigarette lighter.
Your mithril is rusted from your arm pit sweat.
Your traveling songs that you and your companions sing are about dragons, elves and monster truck rallies.
Your dwarf friends have tobacco stains in their beards.
You lost the Ring in in your wifes back hair.
You drive around in your pick-up truck and beat up Stoors on the
weekends.
The Nazgul refuse to pursue you because they don't like to associate with "those kinds of people."
You saw a preview of the WWF Wrestling Championship in Galadriel's mirror.
You knocked the Barrow Wight out by hurling your dentures at his face.
You ask the singing Elves at Rivendell if they know any Merle Haggard.
The garden gnome on your front lawn is really a statue of your father.
You swear to Gandalf that you will only use the Ring for beer runs.
You just had to paint flames on the sides of Bill Ferny's pony. You told Strider, "It might cheer up the poor creature."
At the feast at Elrond's house you make a toast, "The Shire will rise
again!"
You use the mirror of Galadriel as a spittoon.
You don't understand why everyone dislikes Gollum so.
When the old wizard pulls up with a wagon full of packages, you think they're marked "G" for "grits."
Your mailbox is shot through with so many holes that the Shire Post hobbit just wedges your letters between the crossbow bolts.
You've used the pin on your elven brooch as a toothpick.
You've ever hogtied a person with elven rope.
As a practical joke, your buddy keeps calling you "goblinslayer" when you are captured by Uruks.
You've ever used lembas as bait.
Your wife chained your pony to a post to keep you from going drinking at the Green Dragon, but she forgot about your old pet deer.
You've had to ask a wizard to help you open your back door because you got home at 2am and locked yourself out.
You get along really, really well with Beornings.
You weren't afraid to take a barrel down the River Running because you and your cousins used to go white water rafting on the Brandywine.
There's a wain up on cinder blocks in front of your family smial.
Your idea of an "ornamental waistcoat" is any T-shirt without any holes in the armpits.
You can describe the difference between fox and thrush... by taste.
You've ever read comic books by the light of an Elvish blade.
You've ever had to pawn one of Bilbo's birthday presents to bail one of your relatives out of the Lockholes.
Your bar tab at the Prancing Pony goes back three or more generations.
At the Hall of Fire in Rivendell, your song is the only one that Elves can clearly distinguish from that of other mortals.
An Ent tried to stomp you even AFTER he heard you talking.
You tried to build a moonshine still using some ruined equipment at Isengard.
Saruman calls the House of Eorl "a thatched barn where brigands drink in the reek, and their brats roll on the floor amid the dogs"... and you can't figure out why that's an insult.
Some Big Folk who've met you sent King Elessar a thank-you note for banning them from the Shire.
When Wormtongue almost beaned you with the Palantir, you tried to charge the pitcher's mound.
After being rescued from Mount Doom, you pulled a few of Gwaihir's tail feathers as souvenirs for your family.
You're the wiseguy who sneaked out in the dead of night to affix the bumpersticker that reads "I Brake for Balrogs" on the back of Gandalf's cart.
You get tears in your eyes when you hear a Nazgûl scream because its voice reminds you of Mom.
You call Boromir "Bo".
The trailer park where you live is situated in the Dead Marshes.
Orcs are offended by your language.
Saruman refused to use you as breeding stock.
You like the the Orcs' homebrew.
You took a little rock of Mount Doom with you as a souvenir.
You used insect repellent on Shelob.
You put on the Ring occasionally just to annoy Gandalf.
You take a swim in the pool around Orthanc.
You playingly swept an axe at Fangorn and made it out just in time.
You offer plant food to Fangorn on a regular basis and giggle hysterically every time.
You offer the Ring to Galadriel again and this time you have your camera ready.
As a practical joke, you slip the Ring around Sam's finger when he's sleeping
You have a bumper sticker that reads:
"I give away my Barrow-blade when Nazgul give their Morgul-blades"
"Morgul-blades don't kill hobbits; Nazgul do."
"My wizard can beat up your wizard."
"Warning: waggon protected by pit bull with Black Breath."
You have a mithril belt buckle as big as the hand of one of the Big Folk.
Your ancestors' greatest claim to fame is that they adapted Ol' Toby into chaw.
Your granpappy's eleventy-first birthday party was attended by seven or more generations of hobbitry.
You've ever shouted "As Eru is mah witness, ah'll nevah go hungry agin!!"
You've got a bow rack on the back of your haywain.
You don't trust hifalutin' types like Ghân-buri-ghân with all their fancy airs.
You distrust Bill Ferny because of his "fancy accent".
You get voted Shirriff because everybody in the township is related to you.
You find orcdraughs rather bland tasting.
You got lost in Fangorn while searching for Treebeard's still
You think The Mouth of Sauron would make a fine
announcer for the TV rasslin shows.

(Your joke of the day from Col.Thermal Updraft...)

Your headlines of the day

Good news: Gloria stopped executions of everyone here on death row...given the sad state of the courts, it is probably a good move. Besides, it will get her support from the Bishops of the Catholic church, and of course, the European Union is delighted about it...(Hint to EU: Send money)..

Bad news: What is almost missing from a google of the news, however, is any story on the executions of political activists and student leaders in Iran...and GayPatriotBlog reports on the persecution of gays including executions in that country...

The Good News: Vanna White now hasa star on the Hollywood Hall of Fame...PinkisthenewBlog asks: UMM... Why?
The Bad News: She will be remembered in muscial history for this SONG...

Bad News: LATimes has a sunny article about "outsourcing" to surrogate mothers in India...
Claims one doctor involved,"You're not losing any organ," Patel said. "This is physiological, pregnancy and delivery. When you remove a kidney, it becomes pathological." Actually, most women would rather lose a kidney than a baby they have carried for nine months...and just because the women are poor and powerless doesn't mean they don't care...

Good News: a merry Russian Easter to all of you! Kulich recipe HERE...

The good news: Bush's press secretary, the one who always looked like a deer caught in the headlights, resigned.
The Bad news:This is his replacement (heads up from GayPatriot)

Oh yes: DaveBarryBlog on 24 HERE...

Why thin young men drown

Medical news: The Drowning rate is highest in young Black males..."It's not clear why young African Americans, males in particular, are more likely than other racial groups to drown. But the new findings point to the places where prevention efforts are most needed, according to the investigators, led by Dr. Gitanjali Saluja of the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development."

Attention Dr. Salujah: Ask the Marines. The problem is boyancy. If you have less body fat, you don't float as well...and for young males, the percentage of body fat is highest in Hispanics, and lowest in Blacks...(LINK2 full article)

As a doc in the National Guard we did a lot of fat checks...and they kept switching how to do it...you see, a lot of the very muscular guys were overweight, but had little fat, so we had to revise how to measure body fat.

And one problem with low body fat is that you don't float. Your specific gravity is heavier than water, so you go under.

Five to Ten percent of Marines, mostly black males, lack body fat and therefore taking the swimming test (staying afloat for 15 minutes) was dangerous.

So the answer is partly genetic.

One suspects that lack of inner city swimming programs also contributes to this, but I do not have data on that aspect of the problem.

And, of course, the drowning rate is higher in young men of all races because they tend to be risk takers...

Family News

We are back from the farm.
Joy is at a tradefair in Manila. She is coughing badly. But because of construction of our roof, it is very dusty here and the minute we get home we start coughing badly too...so I told her that she would probably feel better in the polluted air of Manila.

Chano is still in bed with his backache. Won't take medicine, won't get physical therapy.
Still like a "rebellious teenager" who refuses any modern medicine because he was a doctor's kid...

On the other hand, Lolo and I are fine...

Got Buttons?

Another reason to be an athiest

My stepson has a pamphlet about "church stengthening Minsistries" that are "equipping the saints" and "reaching the world"...

One of the seminars is cat and dog theology...(PDF CHAP ONE HERE)

AGGHHHH!

I hate to tell them, but we EAT dogs here...

Francis Thompson, call your office, these bozos need to learn about suffering and that God's love will find them in humility, not self satisfaction...

Headlines of the day

The Good news:
U.N.: Number of Refugees at 25-Year Low
It's Bush's fault (also Clinton's fault)...
The agency report said the resolution of conflicts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Liberia and Afghanistan contributed to the drop in the number of refugees.
The Bad News:Last year, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo accounted for about 7.5 million of the world's internally displaced people.

The Good news: Schools that train elite scientists don't bother to have sports teams
The Bad News: They go out big for pranks...

Caltech students launched the prank-off with MIT during MIT's weekend for prospective freshman last year.
They distributed MIT T-shirts to visitors, who noticed much later that the shirts said, ''Because not everyone can go to Caltech" on the back.
Caltech students also designed a laser that projected the word Caltech on the side of an MIT building.LINK WebsiteLINK HERE

The Bad news: New Bird flu hype: It's a risk to biodiversity...
The Good news: We're going to die of global warming anyway, so why worry?
Or maybe not: The BBC climate program has an error in it...

And finally:
The Bad news: Ferrets carry the plague
The good news: If you dress them up like a bunny rabbit, they'll still carry plague, but look cuter when they bite you...
(headsup from Cuteoverload)

Arnold S. call your office...your ferret is here.

,

,

,

A very Brief history of Art

Here is one classic painting:
Sunday avec une pomme de terre:

Headsup from ItComesInPints
blog

My neice Alice keeping her balance

Your video of the day

From Improbable research

Crocs Wants to Take Its Odd Shoe to New Heights

Your headline of the day
(headsup from FARK)

Your quote of the day

from Lileks:
"....Peeved that the usual niceties of diplomatic lingo are being ignored, Annan has also asked Iran to dial down the blowtorch rhetoric. Enough with the "death to America"; perhaps something along the lines of "a persistent rash to America, not entirely explained away as contact dermatitis" or "a broken arm to America, easily set but requiring it to spend the summer in an itchy cast."

The world could live with that .."

Language map of the USA

Caution: tells you not to use Firefox...but my firefox works fine.

I checked Tagalog, and sure enough. We were there...

Polyhedra!

Ursi links to polyhedra designs.

LINK2

This is a small_ditrigonal_icosidodecahedron

But they also have decorated ones on the web page...

Isn't Math interesting?

MOOOI !

LINK2
Headsup from Gizmodo...


Your avant guard furniture design page...

I'm sure you'll order two or three...

Inventions of the day

Only the lonely... sounds like something out of SLEEPER

And, if you actually use one, in nine months THIS is what happens...

It's the oil, stupid

Tony Blair has been trying to get sanctions to pressure Sudan into stopping the Dafur Genocide.....but China and Russia blocked even the mild sanctions that were proposed...
China is after Sudan's oil...

Want to bet there are no demonstrations in the streets of Europe about this?

Medical Headlines of the day

Bubonic plague in Los Angeles...CDC link HERE.
Nope, not bioterror; probably picked up from a squirrel.
People don' t realize that plague is endemic not only in Asia (e.g. VietNam) but in the deserts of the SouthWest...every year docs on the Navajo reservation see a few cases...although I didn't see any when I worked with the Apache we always worried about it when someone came in with big lymph nodes and a fever.
The main danger is if a doc uses Penicillin or a Quinolone, which are commonly used for staph/strep that cause large lymph nodes in the groin instead of Tetracycline or Gentamycin/Streptomycin. Penicillin and Cipro won't work.

A lady opened her refrigerator

Follow link
Your Easter Joke from Grouchy Old Cripple

Blogging Tolkien

I used to check Tolkiengeek's blog once in awhile. He was bloggging chapter by chapter.
He is now finished, and has links to the entire commentary.

Family News

We'll be going to the farm tomorrow so they can fix our roof.
After several floods when we had a dry season storm, the roofers have finally come. Alas, it will be dusty and noisy, so we're out of here...
Blogging will resume Friday.

Chano is istll flat on his back with backaches.
The dogs caught a stray kitten, and Fred took it from them and took it home..alas, it died after an hour...so now the dogs are in the doghouse...
-----------------------------------------
Update: Lolo gave the dogs a bath.
That should slow them down a bit.
We leave for the farm in an hour.

We had a bunch of pastors here for some reason last Saturday...some sort of meeting. Now we have lots of books left over that weren't sold.

New Italian member of parliement

LInk 2
She's a heck of a lot better looking than Newt Gingrich...

The night of the Iguana

Sounds like tribbles, doesn't it...except these guys aren't cute...

Eva Longoria take three

Maxim magazine celebrated its 100th issue by building a 75-by-110-foot billboard featuring its cover image of Eva Longoria, billed as "TV's Sexiest Earthling." The billboard doesn't tower over a highway, however. It's flat on the ground so that it can be seen from a satellite.

And TechRepublic also has an article on worst tech of 2006...so far...
Worst name for a product: walkman Bean?
Is that Coffee bean or Mr. Bean?

Rowan Adkins, call your office...teddy is on line

Chicken a la lava

Someone put an extra zero into the cooking instructions.
This and the below photo via FARK

Fairy Penguin Sweaters...

Mormon women in New South Wales are knitting sweaters for penguins. Doll size, tight-fitting wool sweaters keep this breed of "fairy" penguins warm as they recover from exposure to oil spills off coastal Australia, dramatically raising their survival rate. (Photo courtesy of the LDS Church )

So a Buddhist, a Mormon & a Jew walk into a diner...

I love the headline!
It's actually an article on food laws of various religions.

YUM! Seal Flippers!

Locals one, Elite outside activists Zero...

Your headlines of the day

Good News:The Archbishop of Canterbury gives a sermon about Love of God, noting that those following Jesus still promote peace even to the point of being martyred.
The BBC website even has this story of a modern Christian martyr...
The bad news is that the press rarely notices such Christians, prefering to promote elaborate conspiracy theories:
Rowan comments: So that the modern response to the proclamation, ‘Christ is risen!’ is likely to be, ‘Ah, but you would say that, wouldn’t you? Now, what’s the real agenda?’.

The Good news: the WaPost actually found that some people actually believe that Jesus rose from the dead...(63 percent of Americans were "absolutely certain" Jesus physically rose from the dead).
The Bad News: the only "Catholic" quoted in the aritcle is ex priest . Note to WaPost: Catholics believe that Christ rose from the dead...and one or two of this sect are rumored to actually live in the Washington DC area...

The Good news: THIS link tells you how to defend yourself against anti American bullies:..."Of course! Of course I am! I'm against all forms of war. That's why I condemn the war between Eritrea and Ethiopia (100,000-200,000 dead), and... the Congo (3 million dead)." ...then ask them, innocently, why you've never heard them, or seen them, demonstrate against the blood-letting in Zimbabwe...
The Bad news: As long as THIS GROUP continues their NEFARIOUS ACTIVITIES, Tim Blair says that Anti Americanism will probably continue...

The good news: At least one Aussie had the guts to do actually protest the blood letting in Zimbabwe....(headsup TimBlair)

Bias alert: I knew many people martyred because they chose to stay to treat the sick because they were following Jesus...and many of them were African and even Zimbabwean...

The good news: the CDC/HHS has released the Pandemic Flu plan...
The BadNews: the WAPO article spins the plan as politics: political reporter CeciConnelly even includes the urban legend about the poor Katrina response...
The problem is that the plan is not political: it was done by professionals who were there before Bush and will be still be there when Hillary takes over...

But don't worry about the world ending...Dr.Who is back...

And finally, your Science Headline of the day:
Yummy mummy feeds young its skin

It's a BIG AD

Headsup from the bloody bloggers at the Corner....

Sanity Required

The Iranian plan is simple: playing the diplomatic game for another two years until Bush becomes a "lame-duck", unable to take military action against the mullahs, while continuing to develop nuclear weapons......

O dear...The guy in charge of Iran thinks he's sent by God...and has a plan to consolidate the middle East under his form of Islam...No, the above is not a right wing wacko site. It's from the UK Telegraph, and the writer a well known Iranian journalist...Scary, isn't it, that the only thing standing in the way of their "plan" is evilchimpyBush?

The cartoon is via Dr. Sanity, who is publishing a series on rhetoric and psychological denial...

Easter sermon from Dappledthingsblog

Fashionable philosophy in the modern world denies that there is any ultimate meaning to the world. The only meaning that can exist is meaning that man invents and personally imposes upon the outside.

The twentieth century, in a particular way, was marked by deep, existential sadness, an anguish that sprang from the belief that the universe is empty of any meaning that lasts. The only credible response to that sense of futility is the mystery that we are worshipping tonight.

Throughout the world, hundreds of millions of people will be flocking to Mass this weekend, singing Alleluia, Christ has risen from the dead. Thousands of non-Catholics will be received into the Holy Church, saying Credo, I believe, that He rose from the dead.

The Gospel that you heard, written two thousand years ago by another Catholic who believed, will be sung and said in countless places, in all the languages of man, in the midst of peace and of war, in poverty and in wealth, and will be heard by people in every condition of life imaginable.

Even people who have fallen far from the Church will come back tonight, drawn by the faith of their baptism, in the belief that what we are celebrating is true. This is the night when we reaffirm that faith and, regardless of our failings of the past, pledge ourselves to live out that faith in every aspect of our lives. Followers of Jesus Who lives again, disciples that cling to Him as our only hope for a meaning that doesn't end. Amen.

Attention Hillary

PDF here

Engineer Jokes

To the optimist, the glass is half full. ! To the pessimist, the glass is
half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
-----------------------------

What is the difference between mechanical engineers and civil engineers?
Mechanical engineers build weapons and civil engineers build targets.
---------------------------------------
The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?"
The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work?"
The graduate with an accounting degree asks, "How much will it cost?"
The graduate with an arts political science degree asks, "Do you want fries with that?"

Your headlines of the day

Book ridiculed belief in Resurrection of Christ...even UK TIMES notes that they are plagerizing 3rd century arguments.

British Royal society of Medicine got into the anti Christian bashing by saying Christians don't know any facts about Christ's crucifixion.
RogueClassicism blog says that even first century graffiti artists confirmed the gospel details...

Why all this fuss deconstructing religion every Easter?

Is it diabolic? Or is it just "follow the money"? This Vatican writer quotes scholar Raymond Brown:

People who would never bother reading a responsible analysis of the traditions about how Jesus was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead are fascinated by the report of some ‘new insight’ to the effect he was not crucified or did not die, especially if the subsequent career involved running off with Mary Magdalene to India … These theories demonstrate that in relation to the Passion of Jesus, despite the popular maxim, fiction is stranger than fact – and often, intentionally or not, more profitable” [2].

Follow the money here too:
This article complains we need to stop spending money on little old ladies.....
Now, how exactly will we do that?
Well, this article shows a Swiss group plans to open a chain of clinics that will offer suicides to non terminally ill people... that should settle the question of what to do with all those little old ladies.

Finally,an LA Times Story , confirms rumors about outsiders trying to destablize Iraq...it's about a non Iraqi behind an Iraqi carbomb....who was handcuffed to the steering wheel and forced to drive the car (which was probably exploded by remote control).
But if you read carefully on page three, one finds out that this bozo tried to reenter the USA, but was stopped by a lowly homeland security agent who sensed a problem with his visa and sent him back to Jordan.

HOMELAND SECURITY ONE, JIHADIS ZERO...

WAY TO GO FELLAHS/GALS.

Molly is free

After 14 days of being stuck in the walls, Molly the cat is free....

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Gregorian chant

Lots of links to places that let you download free mp3's of chant, both Byzantine and Gregorian chant.

For those who hate the trite, poorly written music that passes for modern hymns, here are other sites to peruse...
HaugenHaas !

A Total Eclipse of the Heart

Headlines of the day: Saturday 4-15-06

Smash reports that the SanDiego immigration rally had the usual suspects trying to use it for their anti American agenda...but these small groups were overwhelmed by normal people...organized " by a coalition of big labor, big religion, and a handful of big-name politicians"...
Yup...and if they let in Filippinos, there'd be even more American flags...

Mugabe backs Iran...
Isn't it wonderful how murderous dictators support other murderous dictators?

Iranian Christian group forbidden by a the government to place a poster to advertise a Passion play in a public Library...it might upset non Christians was the explanation given...
Nope, it's not the Mullahs being asinine again, it occured in Yorkshire...

The Pope condemns murder in the name of God...well, good for him.
This week, we saw attacks on churches, mosques, and temples, so filippinos will continue to be alert to terrorist attacks at church or on public transportation...( bus/jeepney, ferry, and airlines have been bombed by terrorists in the past). Of course, here (and in Nepal) some of the terrorists are Communists...Did you know we Filippinos had a 30 year civil war going on here, at least according to the BBC? Hmmm. the things you find out on line...

The Mullahs are busy insisting that Israel will be destroyed, while getting an atomic bomb under the eyes of the European Union and UN, who haven't even been able to agree to send them a "wery nasty letter"...
So what does the UN do? Let them head the Asian nations committee for international disarmament.
Way to go, fellahs. (headsup from LGF)

On the other hand, Reuters says that the latest speech shows a "slight" improvement over previous speeches against Israel, ...causing Roger Simon to comment: "Sounds actually worse to me, but you know Reuters - always looking for the bright side where reactionary tyrants are concerned."

But the heck with all this.
If you really want to be scared, read THIS....
BE AFRAID BE VERY AFRAID...

Frank Drebin, call your office...the Zuckers are at it again...

EWTN has a kid's page

Terisita's room has an angel cloud hop game...

Headlines for the day

A new film "Eloquently weaves the science of global warming with Al Gore’s personal history"
Yup... just what we always wanted to see: Al Gore's personal history...
Gee, I thought we already saw that in Love Story.

NYTimes reports the money shenanigans behind the Judas Gospel, but the lady behind the "discovery" insists it wasn't the 2.2 million dollar profit but religious motivations that inspired her: "I think I was chosen by Judas to rehabilitate him."
Judas' lawyers, who are filing a suit for a cut in the profits, could not be reached for comment.

And speaking of religion, FARK asked his readers to photoshop JackChick...NOT WORKPLACE FRIENDLY.
(for the uninitiated, Chick publishes rabid antiCatholic comic books.)

Well, in the UK, weird religion is alive and well...we have a Goth vicar, a Rock Passion play and a Toyshop for Christian adults...

St. Peggy opines on immigration...and illegal workers.
I say open the borders and let in a couple million Filippinos to work as maids, gardners, and caretakers...

The New Atlantis has an article worrying about those enamoured of living forever...(see this article on the "the religion of science").
"Lured by a compassionate drive to assist those in need, we find ourselves switched to a morality of “me, me, me!” Promised that technology will satisfy our desires and free us of “master narratives,” we find ourselves at the mercy of our own unconstrained desires and potentially subject to our neighbors’ more powerfully restless wills."
Think: Brave New World...or the more nuanced approach of Cordwainer Smith...

While the bravenewWorld of regrowing body parts is being touted in the news, it is nice to know that LINK some people are finally getting old fashioned limbs and wheelchairs...

This being the Philippines, the identification between the suffering of Jesus and one's own suffering is part of our society...
The final word is that in embracing the cross, Jesus embraced all human suffering, transforming it so that the love of God would be revealed. In Jesus, God made a powerful statement – suffering and death are transformed into a triumph of justice and divine love. That is what Christians around the world remember today.

but, being the Philippines, we include humor in our sermons...
A flagellant was told by a doctor that whipping his body with little spikes and blades may cause infection by tetanus. So he advised him to get antitetanus injections. Flagellant replied: "Doc, I can’t stand the pain of injections."

Alternative energy home

I am still googling to find out how to get rid of the garbage dump across our street.
The mayor and the barangay captain are supposed to arrange it, but no luck so far for at least the year since I arrived...

Usually what happens is people dump garbage in vacant lots. The poor, especially the kids, search the garbage for recycling...The stray dogs search and eat all the edible food, as do the rats...The cats eat the rats...And finally, when it gets large enough, and it hasn't rained for a day or two, someone gets tired of the sight and smell, and burns it...

At this point, I take a puff of Albuterol and stay indoors with the aircon fan on (to filter the air)...

Popular mechanics has a blog by a guy into alternative energy.

When I read it, I'm amused...for lots of the stuff he uses are actually high tech gadgets.

He even refers to a fancy company to buy solar panels to heat his hot water...Sigh. What I need are simple designs...I know they are simple, because in Africa thirty years ago, we had solar heating panels we made on the hospital roof which supplied all our hot water (if you needed hot water at night, you boiled it).

Although this is interesting (personally, I'd never spend a winter in Vermont without a generator running) it has little to do with the third world. For example, he discusses low tech washers, and about "vacuuming" his house.

Here our "low electricity" washer is a servant who does the laundry and the dishes by hand, and hangs them out to dry (or indoors when it rains). Even when we use the washer, it is mainly to use the spin cycle (the hardest part is not washing but wringing out the heavy sheets etc.)
No vacuum...merely a broom and dustpan (no rugs). As for refrigerators, we have them...But we mainly have our cook buy fresh food daily at the local palenke, and then keep the food covered. We eat it, the staff eats it, and anything left over gets recycled home with the cook, or given to the dogs. (When we used to come on vacation, our cook made huge amounts of food, but I never ate leftovers. When I asked my husband why all that leftover food was thrown out, he laughed and said: It's not thrown out...the cook has six kids).

LINK is a better place with low technology lists...but the PDF files won't download. LINK also has stuff...Again, selling them for money...Despite the "ain't I a goody two shoes for helping poor inferior peasants" tone of their webpages...

Or you can go to Backwoods magazine and get the same ideas with rightwing paranoia...

Oh well, maybe I should start a new blog: How to live in a low tech small third world town that has broadband but no garbage disposal, reliable water, and has constant blackouts"...but cheap servants...

headlines of the day

First they came for the Christians, then the Shiites,...And now, Playboy
Gatewaypundit has photos
And you thought Jerry Falwell was bad...

Guess who has the latest STAR on Hollywood Blvd?
Fark comments: Old celebrity attends own Walk of Fame ceremony in nothing but a red T-Shirt....Manolo comments: "Ayyyyyy! Look out behind you! It’s the Thomas Kinkade!"

Also from Fark: The weird headline of the day: ATF rids Univ. of Ninja threat...
He was leaving a "pirate vs ninja" event...no reports of any pirates being arrested.

And, speaking of Ninjas, it's cherry blossom time in Japan...here is a craft project for your kids...or, if your kids are like mine, try THESE origami projects...or, if you want to have ideas for your kids to celebrate Passover or Easter, here are some suggestions, including recipes and craft projects.

The UKSpectator (reg required) asks VIP's if Jesus actually rose from the dead....both the Archbishop of Canterberry and Tony Blair refused to comment...

And, Jawa Report reports on exciting research "We wanted to do something different, something with a lot of impact," Chacon-Madrid said. "This is something that could definitely help out.."

And finally, Make Love, not war....

Ah, idealism in action...
and how was YOUR day?

WMD propaganda

John Hughes, at the CSMonitor, notes that the charges Bush lied about WMD are untrue, and lists numerous sources behind Bush's claims...

Two interesting things in this article.

One: "...(Sadam Hussein) did not take seriously a military threat from the US because he believed France and Russia would block the US diplomatically at the UN..."
Translation: this is where the huge oil for food scandal via the UN essentially bribed the governments of these countries to stop any US attempt to remove S.H...

Two:"According to "Cobra II," Tariq Aziz, Iraq's deputy prime minister..." huh? Was he a spy?
Background: SH killed his son.

One reason that I believed that nerve gas was was a real threat, not a lie, is the fact that the soldiers had to be prepared to wear protective clothing during the war LINK LINK2 (and the Iraqi soldiers had similar protective gear stored for use near the front lines).
"Hussein had convinced his generals that it was the threat of WMD that had enabled him to stop the Americans moving on Baghdad after the 1991 war..."

This is another little thing that is rarely mentioned when people criticize BushSr. for not going all the way to Baghdad...the estimate was 40,000 dead American soldiers back then.

Soldiers face death, but there is something very frightening about nerve gas...and the dirty little secret is that, although there are protective suits that work for a few hours, when it is very hot, you can't wear them: You end up too hot, and your sweat can make you more likely to absorb any nerve gas around.

That is one reason for the "rush to war", and why the UN was finally abandoned...because if they waited much longer, our soldiers would have lacked the ability to wear the protective clothing in the heat...

All the rhetoric on the left about war for oil forgets that China has a huge and growing demand for oil, and that most of the oil from the middle East goes to Europe and China, not the USA.
(if the US really wanted to start a war for oil, they'd invade Alberta, Canada)...

All this is something to keep in mind as we watch the EU and Russia and China block any realistic action against Iran...or against Sudan for the Dafur genocide...these countries would prefer to buy oil from murderous dictatorships than worry about a terrorism, which they figure their police can handle...

So you Can argue that other means besides war could protect us against terrorist attacks, but you cannot argue that the war was based on lies...

Which is why I am hoping that Lieberman runs as an independent in the next election, or that Hillary starts to grow balls against those who have hijacked my Democratic party...

Kitty Cat Dance

headsup from Ragemonkey...

Lord of the Peeps

The Fellowship of the Peeps...done by peeps, of course...