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Energizer Battery Charger Comes with a Software Backdoor
If you've bought the Energizer DUO USB battery charger, you might want to uninstall the software immediately. Why? Because it comes pre-loaded with a backdoor that can let someone remotely access your computer.
The United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) has warned that the software included in the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a backdoor that allows unauthorized remote system access. In an advisory, the US-CERT warned that he installer for the Energizer DUO software places the file UsbCharger.dll in the application's directory and Arucer.dll in the Windows system32 directory. An attacker is able to remotely control a system, including the ability to list directories, send and receive files, and execute programs. The backdoor operates with the privileges of the logged-on user.
What the fuck, Energizer? You've gotta wonder how something like this happens. At least when Sony installed rootkits on people's computers they were doing so in the name of DRM. There's not even a poorly-justified excuse for this. [ZDnet via Make]
Send an email to Adam Frucci, the author of this post, at adam@gizmodo.com.
I'll bet that energizer didn't even know this.
They probably hired some guy to code the program for them, and he also inserted a backdoor trojan so he can access thousands of computers. Reply
TailsNZ approved this comment
TailsNZ 03/09/10
@ApacheStudio: Agreed, I imagine this is the first energizer have heard of it too. For a company that hasn't needed PC software for customers in the past, chances are they just hired someone to whip up a quick program. Reply
See 1 reply Hide 1 reply
DeadWriter 03/09/10
It can't be that much of an issue for Energizer. They state nothing on their website about it. Reply
See 0 reply Hide 0 reply
Jamesdavidmorris 03/09/10
I don't think you guys realize what's going on in the black world recently. there are all sorts of malware being purposely put in software and even in hardware/firmware. The chinese gained access to some military computers with viruses on usb drives, prompting the current ban. I have no proof of this accusation, but I suspect the Government of China cooperated with these companies to make that happen, just like the USA teams up with lots of local corporations to develop new spy gear. Why do you think the Chinese want to manufacture their own CPUs now (google it) . Either we have sold them a few modified CPUs with spyware, or they plan to do that to us. This shouldn't shock you, Intel CPUs nowdays have special functions to block malicious code, so it would be easy to inject it also.
when robots start to kill and take over, it will not be because of self awareness, but because of activation of malicious processors, a true botnet!! While we reduce nuclear arms, we steadily build up capabilities at least as leathal, and when china or whoever suddenly activates all the malicious code in their processors, and the US rataliates with theirs, well, you better have a bunker full of guns and a hacker kid to start reprogramming the best looking robots Reply
PaddyDugan promoted this comment
PaddyDugan 03/09/10
@Jamesdavidmorris:"you better have a bunker full of guns and a hacker kid to start reprogramming the best looking robots"
Got that... Reply
See 1 reply Hide 1 reply
AreWeThereYeti 03/09/10
You know how bunnies are. Drop the soap, and you're in trouble. Reply
See 0 reply Hide 0 reply
Lord_Data 03/09/10
Wait, what? Why would a Battery Charger need software? Reply
FredicvsMaximvs promoted this comment
See 0 reply Hide 0 reply
aec007 03/09/10
? So let me get this straight.... you need software to charge a battery from a USB port that already supplies 500 mA at 5VDC without any software...
YES !!!!... It makes perfect sense! Reply
http://gizmodo.com/5489413/energizer-battery-charger-comes-with-a-software-backdoor
Energizer Battery Charger Comes with a Software Backdoor
If you've bought the Energizer DUO USB battery charger, you might want to uninstall the software immediately. Why? Because it comes pre-loaded with a backdoor that can let someone remotely access your computer.
The United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT) has warned that the software included in the Energizer DUO USB battery charger contains a backdoor that allows unauthorized remote system access. In an advisory, the US-CERT warned that he installer for the Energizer DUO software places the file UsbCharger.dll in the application's directory and Arucer.dll in the Windows system32 directory. An attacker is able to remotely control a system, including the ability to list directories, send and receive files, and execute programs. The backdoor operates with the privileges of the logged-on user.
What the fuck, Energizer? You've gotta wonder how something like this happens. At least when Sony installed rootkits on people's computers they were doing so in the name of DRM. There's not even a poorly-justified excuse for this. [ZDnet via Make]
Send an email to Adam Frucci, the author of this post, at adam@gizmodo.com.
I'll bet that energizer didn't even know this.
They probably hired some guy to code the program for them, and he also inserted a backdoor trojan so he can access thousands of computers. Reply
TailsNZ approved this comment
TailsNZ 03/09/10
@ApacheStudio: Agreed, I imagine this is the first energizer have heard of it too. For a company that hasn't needed PC software for customers in the past, chances are they just hired someone to whip up a quick program. Reply
See 1 reply Hide 1 reply
DeadWriter 03/09/10
It can't be that much of an issue for Energizer. They state nothing on their website about it. Reply
See 0 reply Hide 0 reply
Jamesdavidmorris 03/09/10
I don't think you guys realize what's going on in the black world recently. there are all sorts of malware being purposely put in software and even in hardware/firmware. The chinese gained access to some military computers with viruses on usb drives, prompting the current ban. I have no proof of this accusation, but I suspect the Government of China cooperated with these companies to make that happen, just like the USA teams up with lots of local corporations to develop new spy gear. Why do you think the Chinese want to manufacture their own CPUs now (google it) . Either we have sold them a few modified CPUs with spyware, or they plan to do that to us. This shouldn't shock you, Intel CPUs nowdays have special functions to block malicious code, so it would be easy to inject it also.
when robots start to kill and take over, it will not be because of self awareness, but because of activation of malicious processors, a true botnet!! While we reduce nuclear arms, we steadily build up capabilities at least as leathal, and when china or whoever suddenly activates all the malicious code in their processors, and the US rataliates with theirs, well, you better have a bunker full of guns and a hacker kid to start reprogramming the best looking robots Reply
PaddyDugan promoted this comment
PaddyDugan 03/09/10
@Jamesdavidmorris:"you better have a bunker full of guns and a hacker kid to start reprogramming the best looking robots"
Got that... Reply
See 1 reply Hide 1 reply
AreWeThereYeti 03/09/10
You know how bunnies are. Drop the soap, and you're in trouble. Reply
See 0 reply Hide 0 reply
Lord_Data 03/09/10
Wait, what? Why would a Battery Charger need software? Reply
FredicvsMaximvs promoted this comment
See 0 reply Hide 0 reply
aec007 03/09/10
? So let me get this straight.... you need software to charge a battery from a USB port that already supplies 500 mA at 5VDC without any software...
YES !!!!... It makes perfect sense! Reply
http://gizmodo.com/5489413/energizer-battery-charger-comes-with-a-software-backdoor
Todd, I know I remember somewhere on here you posting about a 'remedy' for pancreatic cancer. I've tried to find it and don't seem to be able to. Do you happen to remember what it was or where I can find it?
Vaccines 'are making our dogs sick as vets cash in'
By Alison Smith Squire
Last updated at 1:20 AM on 06th March 2010
Comments (59)
Aggressive: Charlie the spaniel with owner Niki Davis
Vaccines given to dogs are making them ill, a pet charity claimed yesterday.
Profit-hungry drug companies and vets are 'frightening' dog owners into inoculating their pets more often than necessary, according to Canine Health Concern.
Some puppies have developed conditions including autism and epilepsy after a raft of injections, it warns.
Catherine O'Driscoll, from the charity, said: 'We are not anti-vaccination. What we are saying is that currently our pets are receiving far too many.
'The latest scientific research shows that after the first course of injections as a puppy most dogs are immune against these diseases for at least seven years, if not for life.
'Every year pet vaccination companies hold National Vaccination Month, a national campaign when pet owners whose boosters have lapsed by 18 months or more are terrified into having their pet jabbed.
'While the vast majority of vets might simply not be aware of the latest scientific research, we are concerned that for a few undoubtedly doing multiple jabs is a way of making more money from worried pet owners.'
Puppies are vaccinated against distemper, hepatitis, parvovirus, leptospirosis and parainfluenza up to three times by the age of four months.
They may also be immunised against coronavirus, rabies, Lyme disease and bordetella or kennel cough. Booster shots are given every year or every three or four years.
But some have suffered dramatic changes in behaviour or been diagnosed with cancer within months of the injections, Canine Health Concern says.
In a letter backed by 17 vets and other pet experts, the charity has called on the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, which monitors animal vaccines, to issue new advice on their use.
Mrs O'Driscoll, who believes cats and rabbits could also be at risk, added that a simple blood test would determine whether an animal needed a booster shot.
Richard Allport, a Hertfordshire vet who has signed the letter to the VMD, said he was 'constantly' seeing animals that had developed 'worrying symptoms' after vaccination.
But other animal charities said vaccination was vital. The Dogs Trust said all jabs were thoroughly tested for safety and warned that blood tests were not completely reliable. Its veterinary director, Chris Laurence, said a study looking for a connection between jabs and sudden ill-health failed to find a link.
Professor Steve Dean, chief executive of the VMD, said: 'Many veterinary surgeons can remember the devastating effects these once common-diseases had on our pets, their owners and families, and the huge benefit vaccines have had on improving the health and welfare of the canine population should be recognised.'
A spokesman added that the 80million-plus doses of vaccine since 1985 had generated fewer than 7,000 reports of side effects.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255863/Vaccines-making-dogs-sick-vets-cash-in.html#ixzz0hhsU7H4K
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255863/Vaccines-making-dogs-sick-vets-cash-in.html
The end of the road for Barack Obama?
Barack Obama seems unable to face up to America's problems, writes Simon Heffer in New York.
By Simon Heffer
Published: 8:16AM GMT 08 Mar 2010
Comments 785 | Comment on this article
The once mighty Detroit seems on the verge of being abandoned Photo: Jeffrey Sauger
It is a universal political truth that administrations do not begin to fragment when things are going well: it only happens when they go badly, and those who think they know better begin to attack those who manifestly do not. The descent of Barack Obama's regime, characterised now by factionalism in the Democratic Party and talk of his being set to emulate Jimmy Carter as a one-term president, has been swift and precipitate. It was just 16 months ago that weeping men and women celebrated his victory over John McCain in the American presidential election. If they weep now, a year and six weeks into his rule, it is for different reasons.
Despite the efforts of some sections of opinion to talk the place up, America is mired in unhappiness, all the worse for the height from which Obamania has fallen. The economy remains troublesome. There is growth – a good last quarter suggested an annual rate of as high as six per cent, but that figure is probably not reliable – and the latest unemployment figures, last Friday, showed a levelling off. Yet 15 million Americans, or 9.7 per cent of the workforce, have no job. Many millions more are reduced to working part-time. Whole areas of the country, notably in the north and on the eastern seaboard, are industrial wastelands. The once mighty motor city of Detroit appears slowly to be being abandoned, becoming a Jurassic Park of the mid-20th century; unemployment among black people in Mr Obama's own city of Chicago is estimated at between 20 and 25 per cent. One senior black politician – a Democrat and a supporter of the President – told me of the wrath in his community that a black president appeared to be unable to solve the economic problem among his own people. Cities in the east such as Newark and Baltimore now have drug-dealing as their principal commercial activity: The Wire is only just fictional.
When will Barack Obama stop fudging it?Last Thursday the House of Representatives passed a jobs Bill, costing $15 billion, which would give tax breaks to firms hiring new staff and, through state sponsorship of construction projects, create thousands of jobs too. The Senate is trying to approve a Bill that would provide a further $150 billion of tax incentives to employers. Yet there is a sense of desperation in the Administration, a sense that nothing can be as efficacious at the moment as a sticking plaster. Edward B Montgomery, deputy labour secretary in the Clinton administration, now spends his time on day trips to decaying towns that used to have a car industry, not so much advising them on how to do something else as facilitating those communities' access to federal funds. For a land without a welfare state, America starts to do an effective impersonation of a country with one. This massive state spending gives rise to accusations by Republicans, and people too angry even to be Republicans, that America is now controlled by "Leftists" and being turned into a socialist state.
"Obama's big problem," a senior Democrat told me, "is that four times as many people watch Fox News as watch CNN." The Fox network is a remarkable cultural phenomenon which almost shocks those of us from a country where a technical rule of impartiality is applied in the broadcast media. With little rest, it pours out rage 24 hours a day: its message is of the construction of the socialist state, the hijacking of America by "progressives" who now dominate institutions, the indoctrination of children, the undermining of religion and the expropriation of public money for these nefarious projects. The public loves it, and it is manifestly stirring up political activism against Mr Obama, and also against those in the Republican Party who are not deemed conservatives. However, it is arguable whether the now-reorganising Right is half as effective in its assault on the President as some of Mr Obama's own party are.
Mr Obama benefited in his campaign from an idiotic level of idolatry, in which most of the media participated with an astonishing suspension of cynicism. The sound of the squealing of brakes is now audible all over the American press; but the attack is being directed not at the leader himself, but at those around him. There was much unconditional love a year or so ago of Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama's Chief of Staff; oleaginous profiles of this Chicago political hack, a veteran of that unlovely team that polluted the Clinton White House, appeared in otherwise respectable journals, praising the combination of his religious devotion, his family-man image, his ruthless operating technique and his command of the vocabulary of profanity. Now, supporters of the President are blaming Mr Emanuel for the failure of the Obama project, not least for his inability to construct a deal on health care.
This went down badly with friends of Mr Emanuel, notably with Mr Emanuel himself. His partisans, apparently taking dictation from him, have filled newspaper columns and blogs with uplifting accounts of the Wonder of Rahm: as one of them put it, "Emanuel is the only person preventing Obama from becoming Jimmy Carter". They attack other Obama "sycophants", such as David Axelrod, his campaign guru, and Valerie Jarret, a long-time friend of Mrs Obama and a fixer from the office of Mayor Daley of Chicago who now manages – or tries to manage – the President's image. These "sycophants" have, they argue, tried to keep the President above politics, letting Congress run away with the agenda, and gainsaying Mr Emanuel's advice to Mr Obama to get tough with his internal opponents. This naïve act of manipulation has brought its own counter-counterattack, with an anti-Emanuel pundit drawing a comparison with our own Prime Minister and ridiculing the idea that Mr Obama should start bullying people too.
The root of the problem seems to be the management of expectations. The magnificent campaign created the notion that Mr Obama could walk on water. Oddly enough, he can't. That was more Mr Axelrod's fault than Mr Emanuel's. And, to be fair to Mr Emanuel, any advice he has been giving the President to impose his will on Congress is probably well founded. The $783 billion stimulus package of a year ago was used to further the re-election prospects of many congressmen, not to do good for the country. America's politics remain corrupt, populated by nonentities whose main concern once elected is to stay elected; it seems to be the same the whole world over. Even this self-interested use of the stimulus package appears to have failed, however. Every day, it seems, another Democrat congressman announces that he will not be fighting the mid-term elections scheduled for November 2. The health care Bill, apparently so humane in intent, is being "scrubbed" (to use the terminology of one Republican) by its opponents, to the joy of millions of middle Americans who see it as a means to waste more public money and entrench socialism. For the moment, this is a country vibrant with anger.
A thrashing of the Democrats in the mid-terms would not necessarily be the beginning of the end for Mr Obama: Bill Clinton was re-elected two years after the Republicans swept the House and the Senate in November 1994. But Mr Clinton was an operator in a way Mr Obama patently is not. His lack of experience, his dependence on rhetoric rather than action, his disconnection from the lives of many millions of Americans all handicap him heavily. It is not about whose advice he is taking: it is about him grasping what is wrong with America, and finding the will to put it right. That wasted first year, however, is another boulder hanging from his neck: what is wrong needs time to put right. The country's multi-trillion dollar debt is barely being addressed; and a country engaged in costly foreign wars has a President who seems obsessed with anything but foreign policy – as a disregarded Britain is beginning to realise.
There are lessons from the stumbling of Mr Obama for our own country as we approach a general election. Vacuous promises of change are hostages to fortune if they cannot be delivered upon to improve the living conditions of a people. The slickness of campaigning that comes from a combination of heavy funding and public relations expertise does not inevitably translate into an ability to govern. There is no point a nation's having the audacity of hope unless it also has the sophistication and the will to turn it into action. As things stand, Barack Obama and America under his leadership do not.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/7396358/The-end-of-the-road-for-Barack-Obama.html
I have lots nastier words, but that one will do too.
This will be the worst destruction and fallout from GMO's so far. That's if it's not already too late and if the spread isn't too bad just from the fields that they've already tested. But it more than likely is.
About the only thing they haven't destroyed yet is just plain old grass. I'm waiting for that one....
The end of the road for Barack Obama?
Barack Obama seems unable to face up to America's problems, writes Simon Heffer in New York.
By Simon Heffer
Published: 8:16AM GMT 08 Mar 2010
Comments 785 | Comment on this article
The once mighty Detroit seems on the verge of being abandoned Photo: Jeffrey Sauger
It is a universal political truth that administrations do not begin to fragment when things are going well: it only happens when they go badly, and those who think they know better begin to attack those who manifestly do not. The descent of Barack Obama's regime, characterised now by factionalism in the Democratic Party and talk of his being set to emulate Jimmy Carter as a one-term president, has been swift and precipitate. It was just 16 months ago that weeping men and women celebrated his victory over John McCain in the American presidential election. If they weep now, a year and six weeks into his rule, it is for different reasons.
Despite the efforts of some sections of opinion to talk the place up, America is mired in unhappiness, all the worse for the height from which Obamania has fallen. The economy remains troublesome. There is growth – a good last quarter suggested an annual rate of as high as six per cent, but that figure is probably not reliable – and the latest unemployment figures, last Friday, showed a levelling off. Yet 15 million Americans, or 9.7 per cent of the workforce, have no job. Many millions more are reduced to working part-time. Whole areas of the country, notably in the north and on the eastern seaboard, are industrial wastelands. The once mighty motor city of Detroit appears slowly to be being abandoned, becoming a Jurassic Park of the mid-20th century; unemployment among black people in Mr Obama's own city of Chicago is estimated at between 20 and 25 per cent. One senior black politician – a Democrat and a supporter of the President – told me of the wrath in his community that a black president appeared to be unable to solve the economic problem among his own people. Cities in the east such as Newark and Baltimore now have drug-dealing as their principal commercial activity: The Wire is only just fictional.
When will Barack Obama stop fudging it?Last Thursday the House of Representatives passed a jobs Bill, costing $15 billion, which would give tax breaks to firms hiring new staff and, through state sponsorship of construction projects, create thousands of jobs too. The Senate is trying to approve a Bill that would provide a further $150 billion of tax incentives to employers. Yet there is a sense of desperation in the Administration, a sense that nothing can be as efficacious at the moment as a sticking plaster. Edward B Montgomery, deputy labour secretary in the Clinton administration, now spends his time on day trips to decaying towns that used to have a car industry, not so much advising them on how to do something else as facilitating those communities' access to federal funds. For a land without a welfare state, America starts to do an effective impersonation of a country with one. This massive state spending gives rise to accusations by Republicans, and people too angry even to be Republicans, that America is now controlled by "Leftists" and being turned into a socialist state.
"Obama's big problem," a senior Democrat told me, "is that four times as many people watch Fox News as watch CNN." The Fox network is a remarkable cultural phenomenon which almost shocks those of us from a country where a technical rule of impartiality is applied in the broadcast media. With little rest, it pours out rage 24 hours a day: its message is of the construction of the socialist state, the hijacking of America by "progressives" who now dominate institutions, the indoctrination of children, the undermining of religion and the expropriation of public money for these nefarious projects. The public loves it, and it is manifestly stirring up political activism against Mr Obama, and also against those in the Republican Party who are not deemed conservatives. However, it is arguable whether the now-reorganising Right is half as effective in its assault on the President as some of Mr Obama's own party are.
Mr Obama benefited in his campaign from an idiotic level of idolatry, in which most of the media participated with an astonishing suspension of cynicism. The sound of the squealing of brakes is now audible all over the American press; but the attack is being directed not at the leader himself, but at those around him. There was much unconditional love a year or so ago of Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama's Chief of Staff; oleaginous profiles of this Chicago political hack, a veteran of that unlovely team that polluted the Clinton White House, appeared in otherwise respectable journals, praising the combination of his religious devotion, his family-man image, his ruthless operating technique and his command of the vocabulary of profanity. Now, supporters of the President are blaming Mr Emanuel for the failure of the Obama project, not least for his inability to construct a deal on health care.
This went down badly with friends of Mr Emanuel, notably with Mr Emanuel himself. His partisans, apparently taking dictation from him, have filled newspaper columns and blogs with uplifting accounts of the Wonder of Rahm: as one of them put it, "Emanuel is the only person preventing Obama from becoming Jimmy Carter". They attack other Obama "sycophants", such as David Axelrod, his campaign guru, and Valerie Jarret, a long-time friend of Mrs Obama and a fixer from the office of Mayor Daley of Chicago who now manages – or tries to manage – the President's image. These "sycophants" have, they argue, tried to keep the President above politics, letting Congress run away with the agenda, and gainsaying Mr Emanuel's advice to Mr Obama to get tough with his internal opponents. This naïve act of manipulation has brought its own counter-counterattack, with an anti-Emanuel pundit drawing a comparison with our own Prime Minister and ridiculing the idea that Mr Obama should start bullying people too.
The root of the problem seems to be the management of expectations. The magnificent campaign created the notion that Mr Obama could walk on water. Oddly enough, he can't. That was more Mr Axelrod's fault than Mr Emanuel's. And, to be fair to Mr Emanuel, any advice he has been giving the President to impose his will on Congress is probably well founded. The $783 billion stimulus package of a year ago was used to further the re-election prospects of many congressmen, not to do good for the country. America's politics remain corrupt, populated by nonentities whose main concern once elected is to stay elected; it seems to be the same the whole world over. Even this self-interested use of the stimulus package appears to have failed, however. Every day, it seems, another Democrat congressman announces that he will not be fighting the mid-term elections scheduled for November 2. The health care Bill, apparently so humane in intent, is being "scrubbed" (to use the terminology of one Republican) by its opponents, to the joy of millions of middle Americans who see it as a means to waste more public money and entrench socialism. For the moment, this is a country vibrant with anger.
A thrashing of the Democrats in the mid-terms would not necessarily be the beginning of the end for Mr Obama: Bill Clinton was re-elected two years after the Republicans swept the House and the Senate in November 1994. But Mr Clinton was an operator in a way Mr Obama patently is not. His lack of experience, his dependence on rhetoric rather than action, his disconnection from the lives of many millions of Americans all handicap him heavily. It is not about whose advice he is taking: it is about him grasping what is wrong with America, and finding the will to put it right. That wasted first year, however, is another boulder hanging from his neck: what is wrong needs time to put right. The country's multi-trillion dollar debt is barely being addressed; and a country engaged in costly foreign wars has a President who seems obsessed with anything but foreign policy – as a disregarded Britain is beginning to realise.
There are lessons from the stumbling of Mr Obama for our own country as we approach a general election. Vacuous promises of change are hostages to fortune if they cannot be delivered upon to improve the living conditions of a people. The slickness of campaigning that comes from a combination of heavy funding and public relations expertise does not inevitably translate into an ability to govern. There is no point a nation's having the audacity of hope unless it also has the sophistication and the will to turn it into action. As things stand, Barack Obama and America under his leadership do not.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/7396358/The-end-of-the-road-for-Barack-Obama.html
Attack of the GMOs: GMO Alfalfa Will Make Organic Dairy Impossible
By Ellen Brown (about the author)
opednews.com
For OpEdNews: Ellen Brown - Writer
The USDA and Secretary Vilsack, in collaboration with Monsanto, are about to lift a court-ordered ban on Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) "Roundup Ready" alfalfa. This GMO would have disastrous effects on US and global agriculture. Genetically engineered alfalfa would be the first perennial GM crop, and would result in a huge increase of toxic RoundUp in the environment. It would widely expose livestock to both genetically-engineered genes and pesticide residues. It would especially affect cows and horses - their health, their reproduction, and their byproducts, particularly milk.
Alfalfa pollen is carried far and wide by the wind and bees, so the presence of GM alfalfa in the environment would contaminate organic alfalfa, rendering organic dairy impossible. Consumers who eat alfalfa sprouts would be exposed directly, as well as those who eat meat.
This is the most serious GMO threat yet to your health, as it creates a legal precedent at the Supreme Court level for GMO contamination to be acceptable for any crop, with the support of the USDA (see Background below).
To prevent this, action needs to be taken before the Wednesday, March 3 deadline. Steps you can take:
1. Follow the directions in the True Food Network page pasted below to conveniently call your Senators and Representatives on Monday and Tuesday, and tell them that they should not support the commercialization of GM-alfalfa. This will have a strong impact, as there have not been enough comments to date.
2. Follow this link: http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14469696 to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) where you can send the OCA email letter by clicking "take action now." This will take only about 2 minutes and can be done on the weekend.
3. Submit comments directly to the USDA at: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480a6b7a1. You can write your own comments from the points below and above, or copy and paste the letter found at the OCA link: http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14469696 , in the "Take Action Now" section. This will take you 4-5 minutes and can be done on the weekend, and will have a strong impact.
". . . Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the U.S. and a key source of dairy forage. The first perennial crop to be genetically engineered, GE alfalfa can regenerate itself from its root-stock. It is open-pollinated by bees, which can cross-pollinate at distances of several miles, spreading the patented, foreign DNA to conventional and organic crops. GMO-contamination of organic alfalfa is inevitable if the Obama Administration successfully commercializes Monsanto's GM alfalfa. Consumers who ingest Roundup Ready alfalfa genes are risking their health; according to the Environmental Impact Study, "acute toxicity in mice was observed.'"
Read more here:
http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14469696
Attack of the GMOs: GMO Alfalfa Will Make Organic Dairy Impossible
By Ellen Brown (about the author)
opednews.com
For OpEdNews: Ellen Brown - Writer
The USDA and Secretary Vilsack, in collaboration with Monsanto, are about to lift a court-ordered ban on Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) "Roundup Ready" alfalfa. This GMO would have disastrous effects on US and global agriculture. Genetically engineered alfalfa would be the first perennial GM crop, and would result in a huge increase of toxic RoundUp in the environment. It would widely expose livestock to both genetically-engineered genes and pesticide residues. It would especially affect cows and horses - their health, their reproduction, and their byproducts, particularly milk.
Alfalfa pollen is carried far and wide by the wind and bees, so the presence of GM alfalfa in the environment would contaminate organic alfalfa, rendering organic dairy impossible. Consumers who eat alfalfa sprouts would be exposed directly, as well as those who eat meat.
This is the most serious GMO threat yet to your health, as it creates a legal precedent at the Supreme Court level for GMO contamination to be acceptable for any crop, with the support of the USDA (see Background below).
To prevent this, action needs to be taken before the Wednesday, March 3 deadline. Steps you can take:
1. Follow the directions in the True Food Network page pasted below to conveniently call your Senators and Representatives on Monday and Tuesday, and tell them that they should not support the commercialization of GM-alfalfa. This will have a strong impact, as there have not been enough comments to date.
2. Follow this link: http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14469696 to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) where you can send the OCA email letter by clicking "take action now." This will take only about 2 minutes and can be done on the weekend.
3. Submit comments directly to the USDA at: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480a6b7a1. You can write your own comments from the points below and above, or copy and paste the letter found at the OCA link: http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14469696 , in the "Take Action Now" section. This will take you 4-5 minutes and can be done on the weekend, and will have a strong impact.
". . . Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the U.S. and a key source of dairy forage. The first perennial crop to be genetically engineered, GE alfalfa can regenerate itself from its root-stock. It is open-pollinated by bees, which can cross-pollinate at distances of several miles, spreading the patented, foreign DNA to conventional and organic crops. GMO-contamination of organic alfalfa is inevitable if the Obama Administration successfully commercializes Monsanto's GM alfalfa. Consumers who ingest Roundup Ready alfalfa genes are risking their health; according to the Environmental Impact Study, "acute toxicity in mice was observed.'"
Read more here:
http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14469696
Attack of the GMOs: GMO Alfalfa Will Make Organic Dairy Impossible
By Ellen Brown (about the author)
opednews.com
For OpEdNews: Ellen Brown - Writer
The USDA and Secretary Vilsack, in collaboration with Monsanto, are about to lift a court-ordered ban on Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) "Roundup Ready" alfalfa. This GMO would have disastrous effects on US and global agriculture. Genetically engineered alfalfa would be the first perennial GM crop, and would result in a huge increase of toxic RoundUp in the environment. It would widely expose livestock to both genetically-engineered genes and pesticide residues. It would especially affect cows and horses - their health, their reproduction, and their byproducts, particularly milk.
Alfalfa pollen is carried far and wide by the wind and bees, so the presence of GM alfalfa in the environment would contaminate organic alfalfa, rendering organic dairy impossible. Consumers who eat alfalfa sprouts would be exposed directly, as well as those who eat meat.
This is the most serious GMO threat yet to your health, as it creates a legal precedent at the Supreme Court level for GMO contamination to be acceptable for any crop, with the support of the USDA (see Background below).
To prevent this, action needs to be taken before the Wednesday, March 3 deadline. Steps you can take:
1. Follow the directions in the True Food Network page pasted below to conveniently call your Senators and Representatives on Monday and Tuesday, and tell them that they should not support the commercialization of GM-alfalfa. This will have a strong impact, as there have not been enough comments to date.
2. Follow this link: http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14469696 to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA) where you can send the OCA email letter by clicking "take action now." This will take only about 2 minutes and can be done on the weekend.
3. Submit comments directly to the USDA at: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=0900006480a6b7a1. You can write your own comments from the points below and above, or copy and paste the letter found at the OCA link: http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14469696 , in the "Take Action Now" section. This will take you 4-5 minutes and can be done on the weekend, and will have a strong impact.
". . . Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the U.S. and a key source of dairy forage. The first perennial crop to be genetically engineered, GE alfalfa can regenerate itself from its root-stock. It is open-pollinated by bees, which can cross-pollinate at distances of several miles, spreading the patented, foreign DNA to conventional and organic crops. GMO-contamination of organic alfalfa is inevitable if the Obama Administration successfully commercializes Monsanto's GM alfalfa. Consumers who ingest Roundup Ready alfalfa genes are risking their health; according to the Environmental Impact Study, "acute toxicity in mice was observed.'"
Read more here:
http://capwiz.com/grassrootsnetroots/issues/alert/?alertid=14469696
US currency soon to be radically altered
6:00 am March 5, 2010, by Bob Barr
Reach into your wallet for a five dollar bill in the near future, and you will likely pull out a much-downsized, multi-colored version of the venerable green bill with the visage of Abraham Lincoln printed thereon. You will soon have to search in vain for uniformly-sized and colored tens, twenties, fifties or hundreds. Is this dramatic change the result of Congress having passed a law requiring new designs for all currency bills larger than one dollar? Nope. It’s because of a special-interest lawsuit.
A little over three years ago, a federal court ordered the Treasury Department to begin the process of radically changing all US currency above the denomination of $1. That decision was subsequently affirmed in 2008 by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. All this judicial decision-making is based on a 1970s-era federal law, the “Rehabilitation Act,” that was intended to extend civil rights to disabled individuals. While this law had been employed in a number of areas to remove barriers to disabled persons seeking employment and access to various facilities and services, in 2002 an advocacy group – the American Council of the Blind (ACB) — filed a lawsuit interpreting the Act as requiring the government to design its currency in such a way as to be easily identifiable by the blind and the visually-impaired.
That lawsuit has now become the vehicle forcing a multi-hundred million dollar change in US currency. Uniformly-sized and -designed US currency, which has served America well for so many decades, will soon be a relic of the past — but not because of action by the Congress or the President of the United States as representatives of the citizenry. This change is being forced on the American people because of creative advocacy by a special-interest organization which was able to convince a handful of unelected federal appeals court judges to expansively interpret a federal statute, that arguably was not even intended to reach an issue such as currency design.
The federal judges apparently were swayed also by the fact that many nations other than the United States already have switched to multi-sized paper currency incorporating all manner of visual and tactile identifiers. The judges’ decision was arrived at notwithstanding that the number of people in the country who are actually blind is less than one-tenth of one percent of the US population of nearly 309 million, and even though other organizations advocating for the blind (such as the National Federation of the Blind) did not support the approach taken by the ACB.
In short, this is another example of important public policy matters being decided not by the people’s representatives, but by shrewd advocacy groups and federal judges eager to interpret federal laws expansively and to leave their imprimatur far beyond the confines of the courtroom. In the near future, when you search in vain for the uniquely American currency of uniform and professional size and design, and you find only oddly-shaped, multi-colored and highly-textured bills that are little different from bills circulated by other countries, remember you have a couple of unelected judges and powerful special interest groups to thank.
http://blogs.ajc.com/bob-barr-blog/2010/03/05/us-currency-soon-to-be-radically-altered/?cxntfid=blogs_bob_barr_blog
US currency soon to be radically altered
6:00 am March 5, 2010, by Bob Barr
Reach into your wallet for a five dollar bill in the near future, and you will likely pull out a much-downsized, multi-colored version of the venerable green bill with the visage of Abraham Lincoln printed thereon. You will soon have to search in vain for uniformly-sized and colored tens, twenties, fifties or hundreds. Is this dramatic change the result of Congress having passed a law requiring new designs for all currency bills larger than one dollar? Nope. It’s because of a special-interest lawsuit.
A little over three years ago, a federal court ordered the Treasury Department to begin the process of radically changing all US currency above the denomination of $1. That decision was subsequently affirmed in 2008 by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. All this judicial decision-making is based on a 1970s-era federal law, the “Rehabilitation Act,” that was intended to extend civil rights to disabled individuals. While this law had been employed in a number of areas to remove barriers to disabled persons seeking employment and access to various facilities and services, in 2002 an advocacy group – the American Council of the Blind (ACB) — filed a lawsuit interpreting the Act as requiring the government to design its currency in such a way as to be easily identifiable by the blind and the visually-impaired.
That lawsuit has now become the vehicle forcing a multi-hundred million dollar change in US currency. Uniformly-sized and -designed US currency, which has served America well for so many decades, will soon be a relic of the past — but not because of action by the Congress or the President of the United States as representatives of the citizenry. This change is being forced on the American people because of creative advocacy by a special-interest organization which was able to convince a handful of unelected federal appeals court judges to expansively interpret a federal statute, that arguably was not even intended to reach an issue such as currency design.
The federal judges apparently were swayed also by the fact that many nations other than the United States already have switched to multi-sized paper currency incorporating all manner of visual and tactile identifiers. The judges’ decision was arrived at notwithstanding that the number of people in the country who are actually blind is less than one-tenth of one percent of the US population of nearly 309 million, and even though other organizations advocating for the blind (such as the National Federation of the Blind) did not support the approach taken by the ACB.
In short, this is another example of important public policy matters being decided not by the people’s representatives, but by shrewd advocacy groups and federal judges eager to interpret federal laws expansively and to leave their imprimatur far beyond the confines of the courtroom. In the near future, when you search in vain for the uniquely American currency of uniform and professional size and design, and you find only oddly-shaped, multi-colored and highly-textured bills that are little different from bills circulated by other countries, remember you have a couple of unelected judges and powerful special interest groups to thank.
http://blogs.ajc.com/bob-barr-blog/2010/03/05/us-currency-soon-to-be-radically-altered/?cxntfid=blogs_bob_barr_blog
I can see I'm going to have to look into this a little further since there seems to be differing opions offered. Or perhaps there is a loophole in the medicare payment/charge that allows billing for the difference.
Thanks for the answer. I kind of thought it was legal to bill for the difference.
I don't know. Maybe someone else can answer that. But I do know several doctors that do charge the patient the difference.
Maybe they get away with it by saying that the patients 'extended' medicare insurance didn't pick up the cost.
Yes, but the doctors will just bill the patient for the difference lost. That is mostly what they do now anyway.
That said, this is just another example of the way the gov. now thinks. Cut benefits and tax like crazy so they can continue to spend.
This entire fiasco that calls itself gov. is going to end very badly.
Whatever happened to figuring your income revenue and Then creating a budget from that instead of what we have now, which is create a huge budget and then tax more to meet it.
These last few years have been truly painful to watch.
Indian Law Would Make Criticizing GM Crops an Imprisonable Offense
{Makes you wonder when/if they will try this here?}
Posted by gestroud on Feb 26, 2010
http://666survival.com/news-views/2010/02/indian-law-would-make-criticizing-gm-crops-an-imprisonable-offense.html
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Criticising GM crops may land you in jail
expressbuzz.?com | Feb 26, 2010
by Imran Khan
BANGALORE: Criticising Genetically Modified (GM) products could land you in jail — if the draconian draft Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill (BRAB) of 2009, which will be tabled in the current session of the parliament by the UPA government, is passed.
In an unprecedented muzzle on the right to freedom of speech of the citizen, Chapter 13 section 63 of the draft bill says, “Whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the organisms and products…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year and with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.” The BRAI Bill drafted by the department of bio-?technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology comes on the heels of a moratorium on Bt Brinjal announced by the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
“What they are doing is much worse than what Hitler or Mussolini did. Through this bill, they want to take absolute authority. They are behaving like a vendor instead of a regulator,” Pushpa M Bhargava, a member of the Supreme Court appointed Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) said.
There are also other provisions in this bill which are disconcerting.
Article 27 (1) of the bill seeks to keep the information related to the research, approval and science of the GM Products out of the purview of the Right to Information ( RTI) Act.
In other words, farmers, NGO’s and Environmental groups that have been on the forefront of the campaign against BT Brinjal and other genetically modified crops, can no longer obtain information about it.
Not only that, the three member experts of the Department of Biotechnology will override any existing legislation about GM technology in the states.
The draft bill also states that the BRAI will set up its own appellate tribunal which will have the jurisdiction to hear arguments on the issues concerning biotechnology. In case of any disputes, petitioners can only approach the Supreme Court of India.
“The BRAI bill is more draconian than what the nation faced during the Emergency ‘’ says Devinder Sharma, writer and Food Policy Analyst. “If the Bill was already in force, I would have been in jail.
Jairam Ramesh too would have been in jail for challenging the health and environmental claims of the company developing Bt Brinjal,” he said. The bill demonstrates the extraordinary hold the multinational companies have over the UPA government, he added. Kavitha Kurugunti of Kheti Virasat Mission said that this bill is just a way to silence the voices who are opposed to GM technology.
Indian Law Would Make Criticizing GM Crops an Imprisonable Offense
Posted by gestroud on Feb 26, 2010 | 1 views | Print | Email
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http://666survival.com/news-views/2010/02/indian-law-would-make-criticizing-gm-crops-an-imprisonable-offense.html
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Criticising GM crops may land you in jail
expressbuzz.?com | Feb 26, 2010
by Imran Khan
BANGALORE: Criticising Genetically Modified (GM) products could land you in jail — if the draconian draft Biotechnology Regulatory Authority Bill (BRAB) of 2009, which will be tabled in the current session of the parliament by the UPA government, is passed.
In an unprecedented muzzle on the right to freedom of speech of the citizen, Chapter 13 section 63 of the draft bill says, “Whoever, without any evidence or scientific record misleads the public about the safety of the organisms and products…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that shall not be less than six months but which may extend to one year and with fine which may extend to two lakh rupees or with both.” The BRAI Bill drafted by the department of bio-?technology under the Ministry of Science and Technology comes on the heels of a moratorium on Bt Brinjal announced by the Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.
“What they are doing is much worse than what Hitler or Mussolini did. Through this bill, they want to take absolute authority. They are behaving like a vendor instead of a regulator,” Pushpa M Bhargava, a member of the Supreme Court appointed Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) said.
There are also other provisions in this bill which are disconcerting.
Article 27 (1) of the bill seeks to keep the information related to the research, approval and science of the GM Products out of the purview of the Right to Information ( RTI) Act.
In other words, farmers, NGO’s and Environmental groups that have been on the forefront of the campaign against BT Brinjal and other genetically modified crops, can no longer obtain information about it.
Not only that, the three member experts of the Department of Biotechnology will override any existing legislation about GM technology in the states.
The draft bill also states that the BRAI will set up its own appellate tribunal which will have the jurisdiction to hear arguments on the issues concerning biotechnology. In case of any disputes, petitioners can only approach the Supreme Court of India.
“The BRAI bill is more draconian than what the nation faced during the Emergency ‘’ says Devinder Sharma, writer and Food Policy Analyst. “If the Bill was already in force, I would have been in jail.
Jairam Ramesh too would have been in jail for challenging the health and environmental claims of the company developing Bt Brinjal,” he said. The bill demonstrates the extraordinary hold the multinational companies have over the UPA government, he added. Kavitha Kurugunti of Kheti Virasat Mission said that this bill is just a way to silence the voices who are opposed to GM technology.
COMEX Gold and Silver Inventory Data Reveal an ALARMING Trend
Go to link for chart
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/20414/COMEX_Gold_and_Silver_Inventory_Data_Reveal_an_ALARMING_Trend.html
Contributed by Market Force Analysis (Reporter)
Friday, February 26, 2010 12:41
More stories from this contributorThis story has been viewed 276 times
By Adrian Douglas
For more than 6 months I have been gathering data released daily by the COMEX concerning delivery notices and inventory levels of gold and silver. This data must be captured and recorded each day as there is no database of historical data available to the general public.
Studying data on a daily basis is not conducive to seeing the big picture so I have just completed a study of what can be discerned by looking at the entire 6 months of data. The results are very revealing.
First of all for those who are not familiar with the delivery process of the COMEX I will summarize some key information.
Only a small fraction of the contracts, less than 1%, that are bought or sold on COMEX ever go into the delivery process. The contracts are typically terminated by rolling them to a future month or by closing out the position (either selling a long contract or covering a short contract).
If a long contract is held into the delivery month then the contract holder is said to be “standing for delivery”. The holders of the short interest are then obliged to issue delivery notices to the longs between the first notice day and the last notice day. Anyone receiving such notice must pay in full for the contract. The long will then receive a numbered warehouse delivery receipt via the clearing house. The rules of the COMEX are that the shorts must honor the warehouse delivery receipts by delivering bullion that is in a form that meets the contract specifications and that the delivery must take place through a COMEX licensed warehouse facility. There is a possibility that the long could re-tender his warehouse receipt for cash settlement. Removal or deposit of metal into or out of the warehouse may occur days or weeks after the issuance of the delivery notice. So while day to day reconciliation of delivery notices and metal inventory movements is impossible over a long period of time reconciliation should be meaningful, provided that cash settlement is not very common.
The inventory held in the COMEX warehouses is split into two categories which are “registered” and “eligible”. The registered category is metal that is available to be delivered against warehouse receipts. This is essentially inventory belonging to the commercial dealers. There are many traders on the COMEX who sell gold or silver short but much of this is for speculative or hedging purposes; they are not doing it because they have gold or silver to sell. However, there are investors who buy long contracts and want to take delivery. It is, therefore, the commercial dealers, the bullion banks, who provide delivery against such long contracts.
The “eligible” category is inventory that is not available for delivery against futures contracts. It is being stored in the COMEX warehouses by its owners. Although some of this inventory may belong to the dealers for simplicity I refer to it as “customer inventory”.
Table 1: SUMMARY OF COMEX WAREHOUSE ACTIVITY
Table 1 summarizes the data collected from August 6, 2009 to February 12, 2010.
What is immediately clear is that the cumulative withdrawals from the “registered” category (the dealers) are inferior to the amount of silver and gold obligations implied by the delivery notices.
In silver the equivalent of 33.5 Mozs of delivery notices were issued yet only 16.3 Mozs (49%) of silver bullion left the registered inventory over the same period. In gold, 2.8 Mozs of delivery notices were issued and only 2.04 Mozs (73%) of gold left the registered inventory. What happened to the difference? There are a few possibilities
1) the delivery receipts were re-tendered for cash
2) the deliveries have not been made yet
3) metal was leased from the customers (eligible inventory) and so the difference, therefore, appears included in the total withdrawals from the customer inventory
4) there were large deliveries between dealers not requiring any movement of metal in the registered category
Of these possibilities (4) seems the least likely. Why would a dealer stand for delivery only to leave the metal on the exchange?
Option (3) is a distinct possibility because the cumulative withdrawals from both eligible and registered categories in silver are 38.9 Mozs and in gold 2.47 Mozs which are very comparable to the delivery notice totals of 33.5 Mozs and 2.8 Mozs for silver and gold respectively. If the dealers are leasing metal to meet delivery this would be extremely bullish.
Options (1) and (2) are also possibilities.
So the conclusion that can be drawn from this data is that the metal being delivered from the registered category is not on its own high enough by a substantial margin to meet the obligations represented by the delivery notices. It is not, however, possible to say where the balance has come from.
But what is more important is that the data reveals a very shocking trend. That is that the registered (dealer) inventory is being drawn down at a phenomenal rate. In silver the inventory has dropped by 24% in 6 months while in gold it has dropped an eye-popping 41% in 6 months! The withdrawal to deposit ratio for registered silver is 14:1 and in gold it is 5:1. If this rate of drawdown continues the registered inventory of silver will be exhausted in 18.8 months and in just 8.5 months for gold!
This inventory drawdown is very revealing. Over the same period the open interest in gold increased 15% while in silver it increased 19%. By way of an analogy one would not expect a company with increasing orders to decrease its stock levels! Why would the inventory not be replenished when Open Interest is increasing? The most likely reason is a growing shortage of bullion.
This rapidly shrinking inventory is coherent with other indications of a growing shortage of precious metals. During the last two years the US mint has periodically suspended production of gold and silver eagles due to shortages of bullion, the COMEX futures have displayed contracting contango and/or mild backwardation, which is indicative of physical market stress. There is anecdotal evidence of the LBMA OTC market in London having difficulties in making deliveries and requiring central bank gold to do so. There are also rumors of large premiums being offered for cash settlement in lieu of the bullion. Sources active in the London market tell us it is difficult to find bullion in size. The Central Banks have stopped selling and have become net buyers of gold. Furthermore, the politically connected Barrick Gold announced a panicked buying back of its hedges at the end of last year.
Investors should make sure they own physical bullion and not a paper substitute. When the music stops, and it looks like it could be soon, paper promises will not be honored with bullion. When a shortage becomes obvious to investors the price of bullion will be multiples of its current price. But those holding paper promises will not benefit. At best they will be paid in fiat currency and probably after months or years of legal wrangles, and most likely at the price on the day of default, not at the price on the day of settlement. Why accept anything but physical bullion?
I have previously written articles discussing how much “paper gold” has been sold, principally through the unallocated accounts of the LBMA although there are other vehicles that achieve the same end such as pool accounts, unbacked ETF’s, futures, and derivatives etc.
www.gata.org/node/7911
www.gata.org/node/7908
I estimate that as much as 50,000 tonnes of gold has been sold that does not exist. That is equivalent to all the gold reserves in the world that are yet to be mined, or put another way, 25 years of gold production. That is the grand-daddy of all short positions! As physical market shortages lead inevitably to exposing this scandal there will be the grand-daddy of all short squeezes and the grand-daddy of a bull market in precious metals….but only in REAL physical precious metals and quality mining equities, not in paper promises for physical metals. It would be a tragedy for an investor to have correctly identified the huge investment potential to wind up with nothing. It would be like winning the lottery only to discover that someone sold you a counterfeit lottery ticket!
Adrian Douglas
February 25, 2010
www.marketforceanalysis.com
Market Force Analysis is a unique analysis method which provides reliable indications of market turning points and when is a good time to enter, take some profits or exit a market. Subscribers receive bi-weekly bulletins on the markets to which they subscribe.
from an email
This is rather long, but it tells the ugly story of the takeover of Austria in 1938. There are similarities to what is happening today in our country, and it is frightening!!
1938 Austria
"After America , There is No Place to Go"
The author of this article lives in South Dakota and is very active in attempting to maintain our freedom. I encourage everybody to read this article and pass it along. I see so many parallels in this country–are we going to sit by and watch it happen? Spread the word; also contact your congressional reps; vote them out if they don’t do what they should. If you don’t want to be bothered, then you’re part of the problem! Google Kitty Werthmann and you will see articles and videos.
America truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away
By: Kitty Werthmann
What I am about to tell you is something you've probably never heard or will ever read in history books.
I believe that I am an eyewitness to history. I cannot tell you that Hitler took Austria by tanks and guns; it would distort history. We elected him by a landslide - 98% of the vote. I've never read that in any American publications. Everyone thinks that Hitler just rolled in with his tanks and took Austria by force.
In 1938, Austria was in deep Depression. Nearly one-third of our workforce was unemployed. We had 25% inflation and 25% bank loan interest rates. Farmers and business people were declaring bankruptcy daily. Young people were going from house to house begging for food. Not that they didn't want to work; there simply weren't any jobs. My mother was a Christian woman and believed in helping people in need. Every day we cooked a big kettle of soup and baked bread to feed those poor, hungry people - about 30 daily.
The Communist Party and the National Socialist Party were fighting each other. Blocks and blocks of cities like Vienna , Linz , and Graz were destroyed. The people became desperate and petitioned the government to let them decide what kind of government they wanted. We looked to our neighbor on the north, Germany , where Hitler had been in power since 1933. We had been told that they didn't have unemployment or crime, and they had a high standard of living. Nothing was ever said about persecution of any group -- Jewish or otherwise. We were led to believe that everyone was happy. We wanted the same way of life in Austria . We were promised that a vote for Hitler would mean the end of unemployment and help for the family. Hitler also said that businesses would be assisted, and farmers would get their farms back. Ninety-eight percent of the population voted to annex Austria to Germany and have Hitler for our ruler.
We were overjoyed, and for three days we danced in the streets and had candlelight parades. The new government opened up big field kitchens and everyone was fed. After the election, German officials were appointed, and like a miracle, we suddenly had law and order. Three or four weeks later, everyone was employed. The government made sure that a lot of work was created through the Public Work Service.
Hitler decided we should have equal rights for women. Before this, it was a custom that married Austrian women did not work outside the home. An able-bodied husband would be looked down on if he couldn't support his family. Many women in the teaching profession were elated that they could retain the jobs they previously had been required to give up for marriage.
Hitler Targets Education - Eliminates Religious Instruction for Children:
Our education was nationalized. I attended a very good public school. The population was predominantly Catholic, so we had religion in our schools. The day we elected Hitler (March 13, 1938), I walked into my schoolroom to find the crucifix replaced by Hitler's picture hanging next to a Nazi flag. Our teacher, a very devout woman, stood up and told the class we wouldn't pray or have religion anymore. Instead, we sang "Deutschland, Deutschland, Uber Alles," and had physical education. Sunday became National Youth Day with compulsory attendance. Parents were not pleased about the sudden change in curriculum. They were told that if they did not send us, they would receive a stiff letter of warning the first time. The second time they would be fined the equivalent of $300, and the third time they would be subject to jail. The first two hours consisted of political indoctrination. The rest of the day we had sports. As time went along, we loved it. Oh, we had so much fun and got our sports equipment free. We would go home and gleefully tell our parents about the wonderful time we had.
My mother was very unhappy. When the next term started, she took me out of public school and put me in a convent. I told her she couldn't do that and she told me that someday when I grew up, I would be grateful. There was a very good curriculum, but hardly any fun - no sports, and no political indoctrination. I hated it at first but felt I could tolerate it. Every once in a while, on holidays, I went home. I would go back to my old friends and ask what was going on and what they were doing. Their loose lifestyle was very alarming to me. They lived without religion. By that time unwed mothers were glorified for having a baby for Hitler. It seemed strange to me that our society changed so suddenly. As time went along, I realized what a great deed my mother did so that I wasn't exposed to that kind of humanistic philosophy.
Equal Rights Hits Home:
In 1939, the war started and a food bank was established. All food was rationed and could only be purchased using food stamps. At the same time, a full-employment law was passed which meant if you didn't work, you didn't get a ration card, and if you didn't have a card, you starved to death. Women who stayed home to raise their families didn't have any marketable skills and often had to take jobs more suited for men. Soon after this, the draft was implemented. It was compulsory for young people, male and female, to give one year to the labor corps. During the day, the girls worked on the farms, and at night they returned to their barracks for military training just like the boys. They were trained to be anti-aircraft gunners and participated in the signal corps. After the labor corps, they were not discharged but were used in the front lines. When I go back to Austria to visit my family and friends, most of these women are emotional cripples because they just were not equipped to handle the horrors of combat. Three months before I turned 18, I was severely injured in an air raid attack. I nearly had a leg amputated, so I was spared having to go into the labor corps and into military service.
Hitler Restructured the Family Through Daycare:
When the mothers had to go out into the work force, the government immediately established child care centers. You could take your children ages 4 weeks to school age and leave them there around-the-clock, 7 days a week, under the total care of the government. The state raised a whole generation of children.. There were no motherly women to take care of the children, just people highly trained in child psychology. By this time, no one talked about equal rights. We knew we had been had.
Health Care and Small Business Suffer Under Government Controls:
Before Hitler, we had very good medical care. Many American doctors trained at the University of Vienna . After Hitler, health care was socialized, free for everyone. Doctors were salaried by the government. The problem was, since it was free, the people were going to the doctors for everything. When the good doctor arrived at his office at 8 a.m., 40 people were already waiting and, at the same time, the hospitals were full. If you needed elective surgery, you had to wait a year or two for your turn. There was no money for research as it was poured into socialized medicine. Research at the medical schools literally stopped, so the best doctors left Austria and emigrated to other countries. As for healthcare, our tax rates went up to 80% of our income. Newlyweds immediately received a $1,000 loan from the government to establish a household. We had big programs for families. All day care and education were free. High schools were taken over by the government and college tuition was subsidized. Everyone was entitled to free handouts, such as food stamps, clothing, and housing.
We had another agency designed to monitor business. My brother-in-law owned a restaurant that had square tables. Government officials told him he had to replace them with round tables because people might bump themselves on the corners. Then they said he had to have additional bathroom facilities. It was just a small dairy business with a snack bar. He couldn't meet all the demands. Soon, he went out of business. If the government owned the large businesses and not many small ones existed, it could be in control. We had consumer protection. We were told how to shop and what to buy. Free enterprise was essentially abolished. We had a planning agency specially designed for farmers. The agents would go to the farms, count the live-stock, then tell the farmers what to produce, and how to produce it.
"Mercy Killing" Redefined:
In 1944, I was a student teacher in a small village in the Alps . The villagers were surrounded by mountain passes which, in the winter, were closed off with snow, causing people to be isolated. So people intermarried and offspring were sometimes retarded. When I arrived, I was told there were 15 mentally retarded adults, but they were all useful and did good manual work. I knew one, named Vincent, very well. He was a janitor of the school. One day I looked out the window and saw Vincent and others getting into a van. I asked my superior where they were going. She said to an institution where the State Health Department would teach them a trade, and to read and write. The families were required to sign papers with a little clause that they could not visit for 6 months. They were told visits would interfere with the program and might cause homesickness. As time passed, letters started to dribble back saying these people died a natural, merciful death. The villagers were not fooled. We suspected what was happening. Those people left in excellent physical health and all died within 6 months. We called this euthanasia.
The Final Steps - Gun Laws:
Next came gun registration.. People were getting injured by guns. Hitler said that the real way to catch criminals (we still had a few) was by matching serial numbers on guns. Most citizens were law abiding and dutifully marched to the police station to register their firearms. Not long after-wards, the police said that it was best for everyone to turn in their guns. The authorities already knew who had them, so it was futile not to comply voluntarily. No more freedom of speech. Anyone who said something against the government was taken away. We knew many people who were arrested, not only Jews, but also priests and ministers who spoke up.
Totalitarianism didn't come quickly, it took 5 years from 1938 until 1943, to realize full dictatorship in Austria . Had it happened overnight, my countrymen would have fought to the last breath. Instead, we had creeping gradualism. Now, our only weapons were broom handles. The whole idea sounds almost unbelievable that the state, little by little eroded our freedom.
After World War II, Russian troops occupied Austria . Women were raped, preteen to elderly. The press never wrote about this either. When the Soviets left in 1955, they took everything that they could, dismantling whole factories in the process. They sawed down whole orchards of fruit, and what they couldn't destroy, they burned.. We called it The Burned Earth. Most of the population barricaded themselves in their houses. Women hid in their cellars for 6 weeks as the troops mobilized. Those who couldn't, paid the price. There is a monument in Vienna today, dedicated to those women who were massacred by the Russians. This is an eye witness account.
"It's true..those of us who sailed past the Statue of Liberty came to a country of unbelievable freedom and opportunity.
America Truly is the Greatest Country in the World. Don't Let Freedom Slip Away
After America , There is No Place to Go"
Yum, these look delicious! Think I'll have to give them a try.
'Gigante 3' San Marzano:
The whole GM issue is out of control worldwide. They should be destroyed completely and totally. No reason at all to have them around except for profit to Monsanto.
From the article, this is the 'duh' moment..
According to Preslav Borissov, deputy minister for agriculture and foods, banning GM crops in Bulgaria would hurt the country’s competitiveness, as other European countries are already making considerable progress with GM food production. "I also do not want my children to eat GM foods, but I do not think this is a reason to stop GM foods," he added in a statement to the Bulgarian news agency BTA.
Wonder who's paying him off?
Farmers, Others Sue USDA Over Monsanto GMO Alfalfa
Date: 17-Feb-06
Country: USA
Author: Carey Gillam
Opening another front in the battle over genetically modified crops, the lawsuit contends that the US Department of Agriculture improperly is allowing Monsanto Co to sell an herbicide-resistant alfalfa seed while failing to analyse the public health, environmental, and economic consequences of that action.
"The USDA failed to do a full environmental review when they deregulated this genetically engineered alfalfa," said Will Rastov, an attorney for Center for Food Safety, one of the plaintiffs. "They're going to wreak untold dangers into the environment."
The lawsuit asks the federal court in San Francisco to rescind the USDA's decision until a full environmental review has been completed.
The suit asserts that the genetically modified alfalfa will probably contaminate conventionally grown alfalfa at a fast pace, ultimately forcing farmers to pay for Monsanto's patented gene technology whether they want the technology or not.
The group says biotech alfalfa would also hurt production of organic dairy and beef products as alfalfa is a key cattle feed. And the suit claims farmers could lose export business, valued at an estimated $480 million per year, because buyers in Japan and South Korea, major importers of US alfalfa, have indicated they would avoid buying US alfalfa once the genetically engineered variety is released.
Plaintiffs also said Monsanto is marketing the herbicide-tolerant crop in a way that encourages far greater applications of chemicals than alfalfa typically requires.
Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the United States, behind corn, soybeans, and wheat.
South Dakota alfalfa farmer Pat Trask, one of the plaintiffs, said Monsanto's biotech alfalfa would ruin his conventional alfalfa seed business because it was certain his 9,000 acres would be contaminated by the biotech genes.
Alfalfa is very easily cross-pollinated by bees and by wind. The plant is also perennial, meaning GMO plants could live on for years.
"The way this spreads so far and wide, it will eliminate the conventional alfalfa industry," said Trask. "Monsanto will own the entire alfalfa industry."
Monsanto has a policy of filing lawsuits or taking other legal actions against farmers who harvest crops that show the presence of the company's patented gene technology. It has sued farmers even when they have tried to keep their own fields free from contamination by biotech plants on neighbouring farms.
"It's the desire of Monsanto to pursue global control and total control over the American alfalfa seed industry," said Trask.
Monsanto spokeswoman Mica DeLong said the company had no comment on the issue and referred inquires to USDA. Monsanto received regulatory clearance to begin selling the biotech alfalfa last summer.
The suit names Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Administrator Ron Dehaven and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Steve Johnson as defendants.
APHIS spokeswoman Karen Eggert said the agency had no immediate comment. EPA also declined to comment and a spokeswoman for USDA could not be reached immediately.
In addition to the Center for Food Safety and the Trask family, the plaintiffs include the National Family Farm Coalition, Sierra Club, Dakota Resources Council, and other farm, environmental and consumer groups.
© Thomson Reuters 2006 All rights reserved
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35154/story.htm
Farmers, Others Sue USDA Over Monsanto GMO Alfalfa
Date: 17-Feb-06
Country: USA
Author: Carey Gillam
Opening another front in the battle over genetically modified crops, the lawsuit contends that the US Department of Agriculture improperly is allowing Monsanto Co to sell an herbicide-resistant alfalfa seed while failing to analyse the public health, environmental, and economic consequences of that action.
"The USDA failed to do a full environmental review when they deregulated this genetically engineered alfalfa," said Will Rastov, an attorney for Center for Food Safety, one of the plaintiffs. "They're going to wreak untold dangers into the environment."
The lawsuit asks the federal court in San Francisco to rescind the USDA's decision until a full environmental review has been completed.
The suit asserts that the genetically modified alfalfa will probably contaminate conventionally grown alfalfa at a fast pace, ultimately forcing farmers to pay for Monsanto's patented gene technology whether they want the technology or not.
The group says biotech alfalfa would also hurt production of organic dairy and beef products as alfalfa is a key cattle feed. And the suit claims farmers could lose export business, valued at an estimated $480 million per year, because buyers in Japan and South Korea, major importers of US alfalfa, have indicated they would avoid buying US alfalfa once the genetically engineered variety is released.
Plaintiffs also said Monsanto is marketing the herbicide-tolerant crop in a way that encourages far greater applications of chemicals than alfalfa typically requires.
Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the United States, behind corn, soybeans, and wheat.
South Dakota alfalfa farmer Pat Trask, one of the plaintiffs, said Monsanto's biotech alfalfa would ruin his conventional alfalfa seed business because it was certain his 9,000 acres would be contaminated by the biotech genes.
Alfalfa is very easily cross-pollinated by bees and by wind. The plant is also perennial, meaning GMO plants could live on for years.
"The way this spreads so far and wide, it will eliminate the conventional alfalfa industry," said Trask. "Monsanto will own the entire alfalfa industry."
Monsanto has a policy of filing lawsuits or taking other legal actions against farmers who harvest crops that show the presence of the company's patented gene technology. It has sued farmers even when they have tried to keep their own fields free from contamination by biotech plants on neighbouring farms.
"It's the desire of Monsanto to pursue global control and total control over the American alfalfa seed industry," said Trask.
Monsanto spokeswoman Mica DeLong said the company had no comment on the issue and referred inquires to USDA. Monsanto received regulatory clearance to begin selling the biotech alfalfa last summer.
The suit names Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Administrator Ron Dehaven and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Steve Johnson as defendants.
APHIS spokeswoman Karen Eggert said the agency had no immediate comment. EPA also declined to comment and a spokeswoman for USDA could not be reached immediately.
In addition to the Center for Food Safety and the Trask family, the plaintiffs include the National Family Farm Coalition, Sierra Club, Dakota Resources Council, and other farm, environmental and consumer groups.
© Thomson Reuters 2006 All rights reserved
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35154/story.htm
Farmers, Others Sue USDA Over Monsanto GMO Alfalfa
Date: 17-Feb-06
Country: USA
Author: Carey Gillam
Opening another front in the battle over genetically modified crops, the lawsuit contends that the US Department of Agriculture improperly is allowing Monsanto Co to sell an herbicide-resistant alfalfa seed while failing to analyse the public health, environmental, and economic consequences of that action.
"The USDA failed to do a full environmental review when they deregulated this genetically engineered alfalfa," said Will Rastov, an attorney for Center for Food Safety, one of the plaintiffs. "They're going to wreak untold dangers into the environment."
The lawsuit asks the federal court in San Francisco to rescind the USDA's decision until a full environmental review has been completed.
The suit asserts that the genetically modified alfalfa will probably contaminate conventionally grown alfalfa at a fast pace, ultimately forcing farmers to pay for Monsanto's patented gene technology whether they want the technology or not.
The group says biotech alfalfa would also hurt production of organic dairy and beef products as alfalfa is a key cattle feed. And the suit claims farmers could lose export business, valued at an estimated $480 million per year, because buyers in Japan and South Korea, major importers of US alfalfa, have indicated they would avoid buying US alfalfa once the genetically engineered variety is released.
Plaintiffs also said Monsanto is marketing the herbicide-tolerant crop in a way that encourages far greater applications of chemicals than alfalfa typically requires.
Alfalfa is the fourth most widely grown crop in the United States, behind corn, soybeans, and wheat.
South Dakota alfalfa farmer Pat Trask, one of the plaintiffs, said Monsanto's biotech alfalfa would ruin his conventional alfalfa seed business because it was certain his 9,000 acres would be contaminated by the biotech genes.
Alfalfa is very easily cross-pollinated by bees and by wind. The plant is also perennial, meaning GMO plants could live on for years.
"The way this spreads so far and wide, it will eliminate the conventional alfalfa industry," said Trask. "Monsanto will own the entire alfalfa industry."
Monsanto has a policy of filing lawsuits or taking other legal actions against farmers who harvest crops that show the presence of the company's patented gene technology. It has sued farmers even when they have tried to keep their own fields free from contamination by biotech plants on neighbouring farms.
"It's the desire of Monsanto to pursue global control and total control over the American alfalfa seed industry," said Trask.
Monsanto spokeswoman Mica DeLong said the company had no comment on the issue and referred inquires to USDA. Monsanto received regulatory clearance to begin selling the biotech alfalfa last summer.
The suit names Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service Administrator Ron Dehaven and Environmental Protection Agency administrator Steve Johnson as defendants.
APHIS spokeswoman Karen Eggert said the agency had no immediate comment. EPA also declined to comment and a spokeswoman for USDA could not be reached immediately.
In addition to the Center for Food Safety and the Trask family, the plaintiffs include the National Family Farm Coalition, Sierra Club, Dakota Resources Council, and other farm, environmental and consumer groups.
© Thomson Reuters 2006 All rights reserved
http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/35154/story.htm
CDC Panel Calls for Flu Vaccine for All
Experts Recommend Yearly Flu Vaccine for All Americans, Not Just Those at High Risk
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MDFeb. 24, 2010 -- Everybody, not just those at risk of complications, should get a yearly flu shot, the CDC's immunization advisory panel says.
The CDC almost certainly will make universal flu vaccination official U.S. policy for this fall's 2010-2011 flu season, as it consistently follows the advice of the panel of outside experts, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
Now flu vaccination will be advised even for healthy adults ages 19 to 49 who do not come into contact with infants or elderly people, who are at highest risk of flu complications.
That's only 15% of the U.S. population. But the ACIP say the effect of the universal recommendation will affect far more people. That's because a lot of people for whom the flu vaccine already is recommended don't think of themselves as being at high risk.
Moreover, the universal recommendation simplifies the extremely complicated current recommendations that create confusion about who should and should not be vaccinated. And it makes it likely that insurers will cover flu shots for all healthy adults.
ACIP members also said that the universal recommendation would assure Americans that the nation's public health experts are fully confident in the safety and effectiveness of the flu vaccine -- particularly the H1N1 swine flu vaccine.
The 2010-2011 seasonal flu vaccine will include the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, as the pandemic virus appears to have replaced the seasonal H1N1 virus covered by previous vaccines. The new seasonal vaccine will also include protection against the predominant "Perth" H3N2 type A and "Brisbane" type B flus.
http://www.webmd.com/cold-and-flu/news/20100224/cdc-panel-calls-for-flu-vaccine-for-all
Some funnies. At this point in time I figure we can use all we can get!
An elderly Floridian called 911 on her cell phone to report
that her car has been broken into. She is hysterical as she
explains her situation to the dispatcher: 'They've
stolen the stereo, the steering wheel, the brake pedal and
even the accelerator!' she cried. The dispatcher said,
'Stay calm. An officer is on the way.' A few minutes
later, the officer radios in 'Disregard.' He says.
'She got in the back-seat by mistake.'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!
________________________________________________________________________
Three sisters, ages 92, 94 and 96, live in a house
together. One night the 96-year-old draws a bath. She puts
her foot in and pauses. She yells to the other sisters,
'Was I getting in or out of the bath?' The
94-year-old yells back, 'I don't know. I'll come
up and see.' She starts up the stairs and pauses
'Was I going up the stairs or down? The 92-year-old is
sitting at the kitchen table having tea listening to her
sisters, she shakes her head and says, 'I sure hope I
never get that forgetful, knock on wood.' She then
yells, 'I'll come up and help both of you as soon as
I see who's at the door.'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
________________________________________________________________________
'I CAN HEAR JUST FINE!'
Three retirees, each with a hearing loss, were playing golf
one fine March day. One remarked to the other, 'Windy,
isn't it?' 'No,' the second man replied,
'it's Thursday.' And the third man chimed in,
'So am I. Let's have a beer.'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
_______________________________________________________________________
A little old lady was running up and down the halls in a
nursing home. As she walked, she would flip up the hem of
her nightgown and say 'Supersex.' She walked up to
an elderly man in a wheelchair.. Flipping her gown at him,
she said, 'Supersex.' He sat silently for a moment
or two and finally answered, 'I'll take the
soup.'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
____________________________________________________________________
Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over
the years, they had shared all kinds of activities and
adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to
meeting a few times a week to play cards.
One day, they were playing cards when one looked at the
other and said, 'Now don't get mad at me ... I know
we've been friends for a long time, but I just can't
think of your name! I've thought And thought, but I
can't remember it. Please tell me what your name is..
Her friend glared at her for at least three minutes she
just stared and glared at her. Finally she said, 'How
soon do you need to know?'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
_______________________________________________________________________
SENIOR DRIVING
As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car
phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice
urgently warning him, 'Herman, I just heard on the news
that there's a car going the wrong way on Interstate 77.
Please be careful!' 'Heck,' said Herman,
'It's not just one car. It's hundreds of them!'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
_________________________________________________________________
DRIVING
Two elderly women were out driving in a large car - both
could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising
along, they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red,
but they just went on through. The woman in the passenger
seat thought to herself 'I must be losing it. I could
have sworn we just went Through a red light.'
After a few more minutes, they came to another intersection
and the light was red. Again, they went right through. The
woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light
had been red but was really concerned that she was losing
it. She was getting nervous.
At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was red
and they went on through. So, She turned to the other woman
and said, 'Mildred, did you know that we just ran
through three red lights in a row? You could have killed us
both!'
Mildred turned to her and said, 'Oh, crap, am I driving?'
An elderly Floridian called 911 on her cell phone to report
that her car has been broken into. She is hysterical as she
explains her situation to the dispatcher: 'They've
stolen the stereo, the steering wheel, the brake pedal and
even the accelerator!' she cried. The dispatcher said,
'Stay calm. An officer is on the way.' A few minutes
later, the officer radios in 'Disregard.' He says.
'She got in the back-seat by mistake.'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!
________________________________________________________________________
Three sisters, ages 92, 94 and 96, live in a house
together. One night the 96-year-old draws a bath. She puts
her foot in and pauses. She yells to the other sisters,
'Was I getting in or out of the bath?' The
94-year-old yells back, 'I don't know. I'll come
up and see.' She starts up the stairs and pauses
'Was I going up the stairs or down? The 92-year-old is
sitting at the kitchen table having tea listening to her
sisters, she shakes her head and says, 'I sure hope I
never get that forgetful, knock on wood.' She then
yells, 'I'll come up and help both of you as soon as
I see who's at the door.'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
________________________________________________________________________
'I CAN HEAR JUST FINE!'
Three retirees, each with a hearing loss, were playing golf
one fine March day. One remarked to the other, 'Windy,
isn't it?' 'No,' the second man replied,
'it's Thursday.' And the third man chimed in,
'So am I. Let's have a beer.'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
_______________________________________________________________________
A little old lady was running up and down the halls in a
nursing home. As she walked, she would flip up the hem of
her nightgown and say 'Supersex.' She walked up to
an elderly man in a wheelchair.. Flipping her gown at him,
she said, 'Supersex.' He sat silently for a moment
or two and finally answered, 'I'll take the
soup.'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
____________________________________________________________________
Two elderly ladies had been friends for many decades. Over
the years, they had shared all kinds of activities and
adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to
meeting a few times a week to play cards.
One day, they were playing cards when one looked at the
other and said, 'Now don't get mad at me ... I know
we've been friends for a long time, but I just can't
think of your name! I've thought And thought, but I
can't remember it. Please tell me what your name is..
Her friend glared at her for at least three minutes she
just stared and glared at her. Finally she said, 'How
soon do you need to know?'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
_______________________________________________________________________
SENIOR DRIVING
As a senior citizen was driving down the freeway, his car
phone rang. Answering, he heard his wife's voice
urgently warning him, 'Herman, I just heard on the news
that there's a car going the wrong way on Interstate 77.
Please be careful!' 'Heck,' said Herman,
'It's not just one car. It's hundreds of them!'
TELL ME THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO US !!!!
_________________________________________________________________
DRIVING
Two elderly women were out driving in a large car - both
could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising
along, they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red,
but they just went on through. The woman in the passenger
seat thought to herself 'I must be losing it. I could
have sworn we just went Through a red light.'
After a few more minutes, they came to another intersection
and the light was red. Again, they went right through. The
woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light
had been red but was really concerned that she was losing
it. She was getting nervous.
At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was red
and they went on through. So, She turned to the other woman
and said, 'Mildred, did you know that we just ran
through three red lights in a row? You could have killed us
both!'
Mildred turned to her and said, 'Oh, crap, am I driving?'
Yes, I read it when it came out and enjoyed it tremendously. Great read. His blend of fact and fiction is always interesting and stimulates a few of the brain cells to look in odd corners.
We've gotten a couple of inches that has stuck on the sidewalks and driveway. Snowing lightly all day here too.
But later tonight is supposed to be the main show so we'll see. They are still calling for 14 to 18" here.
We've got quite a bit left on the ground too. The rest has magically turned to Mud. Will wonders never cease. lol
Sheesh, I should've realized that. Wow, got to head to bed myself here. Long day tomorrow shoveling snow!
By climactic insults do you perhaps mean more snow to make snowmen with? And more snow to play in? Smiles.
I hope something works for him. Maybe an old towel or something of yours in the meantime? At this point he's miserable, so...
Aw, kids are great. Laugh at just about anything.
I will! Janice the turtle, now that's certainly unique. <grin>
Ugh. Don't you have anything around that hasn't been washed with the new detergent? That you could put in there for him and see if it makes a difference. More than likely you've tried this already...
Ok then, how about some baking soda diluted in water and a few drops of Lavender to wipe down the cage?
Well we'll have to name one of them after you then! I'm a Taurus through and through. lol
Poor Petey! Maybe a quick wipe down of his cage with some orange peels to take out the smell from the Windex?