Friday, February 29, 2008

Great Day

It was a great day. Well okay, it really started for me in the afternoon, I've
been in nightowl mode again and sleeping in when I can.

However, that aside, I was invited to a Chinese New Year celebration held at
Bethany Care Center today. It was originally supposed to be on the 7th of
February, but the entertainment they wanted was all booked up, and the only time
they could get them was this week. That's why so late. The celebrations
apparently run from the 7th to the 25th of February. But better late than never.

We were treated to Chinese dancing, singing, and and a tai chi demonstration,
done to music on a zither. Cool!

The singing was wonderful too, I'm always fascinated at how different the styles
of singing and other music in cultures I'm not so familiar with.

The snacks were good, though distinctly western. Hehe. These wafer things that
had a waffle design, you can buy them at stores but these must've been home made
or at least gotten from some other supplier, because man they were good! The
sponge cake with the buttery coconut toping was also wonderful.

Everyone was given little bags with Chinese writing on them and a flowery
picture/design, and inside each bag was a chocolate coin. Coolness!

The entertainers also put on some western dances, such as "My Achy Breaky Heart"
and believe it or not the Macarena! Lol! Keep in mind this place is a care
center, so, mostly seniors, and they loved it, even the Macarena got tons of
whoops and applause. Lol!

After that, I went to A&W for a quick bite before going to work. I hadn't eaten
anything before going to the celebration and new I wouldn't last all through
work on just sponge cake and a wafer.

Akina came along with me and behaved herself all through the celebration. She
did growl quite a bit from there to the mall, I have no idea why she seems to
want to growl when in the car or at my work place. She doesn't have to, she's
been in the car and at work enough times that she shouldn't feel threatened or
even annoyed by those surroundings any more. I think it's just become somewhat
of a habit for her, and I'm doing what I can to get her to break it. Now that
we're getting much much closer and I've been handling her extensively, she will
eventually stop trying to show us how much she likes the sound of her voice in a
car or at the ballet studio.

She behaved at work too, growling only a little and very seldom. But she did get
the attention of some students in the last class who got to see her. Some of
them petted her and she licked their fingers. The girls ooed and awed, really,
people are so darn cute themselves when they gush over a cute animal, it's just
adorable! Lol!

Akina has licked the heck out of me today as well, and she's been starting to do
that more and more, now that I'm finally letting her since she's no longer
trying to nibble and nip. She is fast becoming another Mia, and she's got her
whole life ahead of her yet. I hope it's as long - preferably longer than Mia's
was. We will have a lot of time to enjoy each other and she will charm a lot of
people just like Mia did.

So that's about it for now.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Another great article - ConsumerFreedom "Organics" Fiction Exposed (Again)

 
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Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 10:39 AM
Subject: ConsumerFreedom "Organics" Fiction Exposed (Again)


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Organic Activists February 25, 2008
 
 
Organics Fiction Exposed (Again)

Organics Fiction Exposed (Again)

Over the past decade, organic foods have soared in popularity. But it's important to note that "popular" doesn't mean "safer" or even "more healthful." Researchers at Kings College London announced over the weekend that "organic food has no higher nutritional value compared to conventional food." The study, which echoes the findings of previous research, demonstrates that price is the only real difference between organics and ordinary food.

There is an overwhelming scientific consensus on this issue. Government agencies also maintain this position, explicitly noting that organic food is "not significantly different... from food produced conventionally." Some scientists have even found evidence suggesting that "natural" consumers often get less bang for their buck. One of these researchers told today's Daily Mirror: "Indeed, my research has found that vegans and vegetarians who tend to favor organic food are more likely to have diets deficient in iron, vitamin B12 and vitamin D."

Nutrient deficiency isn't the only problem. During the same period during which organics have boomed, thousands of consumers have fallen ill. The cause: natural bacteria and toxins commonly found in organic and natural foods. Many of these victims have suffered permanent damage to their livers, kidneys or eyesight. A few have even died. That's a big price to pay for something that already carries a hefty price tag.

Bottom line? If you must have that $6 bunch of carrots, it's entirely your choice. But if you believe you're getting extra bang for your buck, well ... you're not. And despite the trendy cachet of organic-only eating promoted by some environmental groups, the United Nations now says that organic agriculture's comparatively poor per-acre "yield" makes it a lousy tool for feeding the planet's growing population. If farmers are limited only to organic agriculture, says the head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, "you cannot feed six billion people today and nine billion in 2050."


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Saturday, February 23, 2008

Semantics and Rhetoric

Excellent article, all except for the corn syrup part.
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 1:53 AM
Subject: dog_anti-rescue_anti-peta_new FWD Semantics and Rhetoric


-------- Original Message --------

Semantics and Rhetoric
by Anka Andrews

Increasingly, in my various reading of dog related articles, I find myself
referred to as 'pet parent' or 'pet guardian'. I don't care for that.

I'm a woman. I am not my dogs' mother, I'm not their parent. I'm not some
freak of Nature, haven't given birth to dogs or cats or any other pets.
While they do have parents, I am not one of them. Their fathers know nothing
of their existence, having been no more than sperm donors. Their mothers
would not only not recognize them if they saw them but would quite possibly
offer to mate with them, or fight them for food. While all of this may be de
rigeur in some strata of human society it does not fit into commonly
accepted human norms. To be designated 'pet
parent' diminishes the concept of parenthood.

I am not a pet guardian. Guardianship implies oversight by someone else, a
third party who sets rules of conduct and care with which I have to comply.
I make my own decisions about my dealings with my dogs according to my
conscience and the values I hold which govern my interactions with living
things. I guard my dogs' welfare to the very high standards I've set but I
am not their guardian.

I am their owner. They are my property. I can sell them at will. I can store
them in crates. I can sterilize them, or not. I can show them off. I can
treat them and feed them any way I chose to.

Parenthood and guardianship bestow rights to that which is being parented or
guarded. The guardian of an estate, for instance, has to make sure that the
contractual provisions of the estate, its rights, are being met. Parents
speak for their children in defense and support of those children's rights.

Dogs don't have rights; neither do trees or rocks or crocodiles. Rights are
a human concept. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: Those are the
basic human rights. Dog ownership requires of moral people that we do all we
can to protect our animals' lives, offer them as much liberty as is safe for
them, and do what we can to help them be happy.

By allowing ourselves to be called pet parents and pet guardians we are
giving consent to abide by a standard of conduct set for us by others.
Animal Rights groups and politicians are queuing up everywhere to limit our
rights as property owners. They tell us that we must neuter our pets. That
we may not keep them confined in kennels and crates. They limit where and
how we can travel with our property. They make demands on and regulate our
ownership and thusly whittle away at our rights.

Primary cultural change is often insidious. It seeps into our consciousness
gently, slowly and with great subtlety until we've bought into it without
ever having noticed. Like high fructose corn syrup, it pervades. We do it,
here, on our e-mail list. We talk about our fur kids, mommy and daddy doing
this or that with them, we proclaim that they're our children. They are not.
They're our dogs. We are their owners.

It's time for a reality check.


=======================



Ginger Cleary
Abusus no tolit usum.
Rome, GA http://www.rihadin.com/
Member GSDCA
Member Sawnee Mtn Kennel Club
GA Director Responsible Dog Owners of the Eastern States.

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The ultimate goal of our enemies: "Save animals from humans by not allowing
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Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Gore is wrong

 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 5:33 PM
Subject: dog_anti-rescue_anti-peta_new OT--Gore is wrong

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/global_warming_or_cooling/2008/02/19/73798.html?s=al&promo_code=457E-1 
 

Global Warming? New Data Shows Ice Is Back




Are the world's ice caps melting because of climate change, or are the reports just a lot of scare mongering by the advocates of the global warming theory?
 

Scare mongering appears to be the case, according to reports from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that reveal that almost all the allegedly "lost" ice has come back. A NOAA report shows that ice levels which had shrunk from 5 million square miles in January 2007 to just 1.5 million square miles in October, are almost back to their original levels.
 

Moreover, a Feb. 18 report in the London Daily Express showed that there is nearly a third more ice in Antarctica than usual, challenging the global warming crusaders and buttressing arguments of skeptics who deny that the world is undergoing global warming.
 

The Daily express recalls the photograph of polar bears clinging on to a melting iceberg which has been widely hailed as proof of the need to fight climate change and has been used by former Vice President Al Gore during his "Inconvenient Truth" lectures about mankind's alleged impact on the global climate.
 

Gore fails to mention that the photograph was taken in the month of August when melting is normal. Or that the polar bear population has soared in recent years.
 

As winter roars in across the Northern Hemisphere, Mother Nature seems to have joined the ranks of the skeptics.
 

As the Express notes, scientists are saying the northern Hemisphere has endured its coldest winter in decades, adding that snow cover across the area is at its greatest since 1966. The newspaper cites the one exception — Western Europe, which had, until the weekend when temperatures plunged to as low as -10 C in some places, been basking in unseasonably warm weather.
 

Around the world, vast areas have been buried under some of the heaviest snowfalls in decades. Central and southern China, the United States, and Canada were hit hard by snowstorms. In China, snowfall was so heavy that over 100,000 houses collapsed under the weight of snow.
 

Jerusalem, Damascus, Amman, and northern Saudi Arabia report the heaviest falls in years and below-zero temperatures. In Afghanistan, snow and freezing weather killed 120 people. Even Baghdad had a snowstorm, the first in the memory of most residents.
 

AFP news reports icy temperatures have just swept through south China, stranding 180,000 people and leading to widespread power cuts just as the area was recovering from the worst weather in 50 years, the government said Monday. The latest cold snap has taken a severe toll in usually temperate Yunnan province, which has been struck by heavy snowfalls since Thursday, a government official from the provincial disaster relief office told AFP.
 

Twelve people have died there, state Xinhua news agency reported, and four remained missing as of Saturday.
 

An ongoing record-long spell of cold weather in Vietnam's northern region, which started on Jan. 14, has killed nearly 60,000 cattle, mainly bull and buffalo calves, local press reported Monday. By Feb. 17, the spell had killed a total of 59,962 cattle in the region, including 7,349 in the Ha Giang province, 6,400 in Lao Cai, and 5,571 in Bac Can province, said Hoang Kim Giao, director of the Animal Husbandry Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, according to the Pioneer newspaper.
 

In Britain the temperatures plunged to -10 C in central England, according to the Express, which reports that experts say that February could end up as one of the coldest in Britain in the past 10 years with the freezing night-time conditions expected to stay around a frigid -8 C until at least the middle of the week. And the BBC reports that a bus company's efforts to cut global warming emissions have led to services being disrupted by cold weather.
 

Meanwhile Athens News reports that a raging snow storm that blanketed most of Greece over the weekend and continued into the early morning hours on Monday, plunging the country into sub-zero temperatures. The agency reported that public transport buses were at a standstill on Monday in the wider Athens area, while ships remained in ports, public services remained closed, and schools and courthouses in the more severely-stricken prefectures were also closed.
 

Scores of villages, mainly on the island of Crete, and in the prefectures of Evia, Argolida, Arcadia, Lakonia, Viotia, and the Cyclades islands were snowed in.
 

More than 100 villages were snowed-in on the island of Crete and temperatures in Athens dropped to -6 C before dawn, while the coldest temperatures were recorded in Kozani, Grevena, Kastoria and Florina, where they plunged to -12 C.
 

Temperatures in Athens dropped to -6 C before dawn, while the coldest temperatures were recorded in Kozani, Grevena, Kastoria and Florina, where they plunged to -12 C.
 

If global warming gets any worse we'll all freeze to death.
 














© 2008 Newsmax. All rights reserved.



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In The Nutty World Of Animal Rights

The Humane Society of the US is as nuts as Peta, they just know how to try looking less wacko in the public eye.
 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 11:45 AM
Subject: ConsumerFreedom New In The Nutty World Of Animal Rights


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Animal Rights February 19, 2008
Four Legs Good...

Four Legs Good...

Nuttiness is hardly unusual in the animal rights world, but last week our cup runneth over. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) president Ingrid Newkirk has fired off a letter to Velupillai Prabhakaran, an international thug wanted by Interpol for terrorism, murder, organized crime, and terrorism conspiracy. Prabhakaran leads the infamous "Tamil Tiger" militants in Sri Lanka. The violent separatists launched grenades near a zoo on February 5, wounding four people and zero animals. Newkirk begged him "to leave animals out of this conflict" without noting that Prabhakaran's rebels have already killed more than 90 civilians this year. (Click here for one chilling example.)

This isn't the first time Newkirk has reached out to violent leaders. And we're not talking about the ones her own group has directly funded (click here, here, here, and here).

In January 2003, Palestinian militants detonated a bomb near Jerusalem as a bus-load full of Israelis passed by. The bomb was carried by a donkey (which didn't survive). Newkirk faxed then-Palestinian-leader Yasser Arafat a plea to "leave animals out of this conflict." Public outrage ensued. When asked by The Washington Post whether she considered asking Arafat to persuade his people to stop blowing up Israelis as well, she replied: "It's not my business to inject myself into human wars."


Meat



The Elephants In HSUS's Living Room

The Elephants In HSUS's Living Room

As fallout from the nation's largest beef recall continues to float through newsrooms and school districts, Americans have begun to ask hard questions about the safety of our beef supply and the character of the people who bring it to market. We have a few questions of our own.

First, why did the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) sit on its shock-value video for several months? The group has claimed that it spent six weeks "investigating" a Chino, California slaughterhouse and two more weeks looking at the videotapes before giving authorities "extra time" to weigh their options. HSUS also insists that it "is the last entity that would ever want to sit on the results; we had no incentive to do so. We were methodical in how we handled the investigation, and how we publicized it, too."

We're not buying it. An organization interested in the welfare of cattle would have taken the very first example of animal abuse it found, the very day it was filmed, and showed it to the plant manager. "Clean up your act today and fire these few employees," a responsible advocate would have said, "or the Sheriff will be our next stop."

The drawback of this approach for HSUS, of course, is that no fundraising bonanza would result. (How's that for an "incentive" for being "methodical" instead of acting with urgency?) And Californians wouldn't have been politically sensitized to the issues wrapped up in a coming ballot initiative to ban farm-animal-handling practices HSUS doesn't like. (HSUS has already put over $1.4 million into the effort).

Reacting immediately might not have helped HSUS, but the animals going through that slaughterhouse in the last few months would certainly have been much better off. Remember them, HSUS? The animals?

One other nagging question. HSUS president Wayne Pacelle told the Associated Press yesterday that he chose this particular slaughterhouse at random. What he hasn't said, though, is how many facilities his workers had to infiltrate before they found one with a problem worth videotaping.

Could it be that HSUS has been planting employees inside California meatpackers since June 2003, when the group first floated the idea of an animal-rights ballot initiative in the Golden State? Inquiring minds want to know. Especially since it now looks like the current problem was the exception—not the rule.


Breaking News

Here's a sampling of other stories that have caught our interest today. To see a one-week archive of these items, click here.


Past Headlines
Cartoons

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Saturday, February 9, 2008

Heads Up - New Hoaxes Afoot

Argh - there are some people who shouldn't be allowed on the net.
 
The site medicaladoptions.com/ is a hoax and in very bad taste. It claims to be selling children from the third world to be adopted as organ donors. It contains fake testimonies and fake child profiles.
 
The only good news is that it is as bogus as it is tasteless. The pranksters who came up with this sick idea of a joke should be ashamed of themselves.
 
Here is the Snopes link debunking it.
 
 
There is also a hoax about a child named Chad Carter, who is said to be bankrupting the Make A Wish foundation with endless wishes by wishing for more wishes.
The story was cooked up by the *snicker* illustrious folks at theonion.com
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/child_bankrupts_make_a_wish_0 which is a BS site containing farce/spoof news. In other words, well, BS., but it's designed to look real.
 
Snopes link:
 
So, if anyone ever sends you chain letters about these, believing them, you can let them know these stories are bogus and I hope this saves anyone reading this message from possible upset should they get these stories from needlessly distressed friends..

Friday, February 8, 2008

CSPI Against Soda Tax

 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 10:27 AM
Subject: ConsumerFreedom CSPI Against Soda Tax


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Food Police February 8, 2008
 
 
CSPI Against Soda Tax

CSPI Against Soda Tax

It's amusing to see food cops suddenly aghast when their own arguments are taken to their logical conclusion. Earlier this week, notorious food cop Michael Jacobson—known for bragging that his organization "could envision taxes on butter, potato chips, whole milk, cheeses, [and] meat"—came out in opposition to San Francisco's proposed soda tax and Mississippi's proposed ban on restaurant service to obese customers.

Jacobson told USA TODAY the Mississippi legislators sponsoring the bill "should be ashamed of themselves." And his group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, dismissed the notion that drinks with high fructose corn syrup affected the body any differently than sugar as nothing more than an "urban myth."

Ironically, these policies follow the very same government-knows-best mentality that CSPI and other radical activists have been promoting for decades.

CSPI continues to push taxes on soft drinks and other treats, despite the fact that research shows "Twinkie" taxes wouldn't work. One 2005 study calculated that even a 20 percent tax on potato chips would result in a weight loss of only one quarter of a pound over a whole year for a potato-chip eater. And the UDSA reported in 2007 that "Such research shows that simply manipulating food prices is not likely to induce significant improvements in American consumers' diets."

You don't need a Ph.D in economics to know that 0.25 pounds is not a lot of fat. On the other hand, physical activity is not only more effective, it's free and doesn't come with a government mandate. By vacuuming for a mere five minutes each day, an individual could lose almost 3 pounds annually.



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