Mankind: Earth's Greatest Threat

Green House gases, toxins polluting our water, extinction of entire species of animals and who is to blame for the downward spiral facing planet Earth today? Human beings. Greed, power and neglect are ultimately leading the human population into a grim future of our own. People need to start putting aside their petty differences and wake up to the rationale that we are currently staring down the barrel of a fully loaded, double-barrel shotgun. If we do not start acting responsibly and taking care of our only true home, we may soon be facing extinction ourselves.

PARIS: The human population is living far beyond its means and inflicting damage on the environment that could pass points of no return, according to a major report issued Thursday by the United Nations.

Climate change, the rate of extinction of species and the challenge of feeding a growing population are among the threats putting humanity at risk, the UN Environment Program said in its fourth Global Environmental Outlook since 1997.

"The human population is now so large that the amount of resources needed to sustain it exceeds what is available at current consumption patterns," Achim Steiner, the executive director of the program, said in a telephone interview. Efficient use of resources and reducing waste now are "among the greatest challenges at the beginning of 21st century," he said.

White House Literally Asleep at the Wheel

In a show of true concern for the people and state of California, Vice-President Dick Cheney was seen sleeping during an emergency cabinet meeting to coordinate efforts in battling the California wildfires.

That a boy Dick! I bet if those wildfires were oil wells burning you'd be acting like you had just been on a 3 day coke bender. You wouldn't be able to sleep for days if you saw that all that oil been incinerated in front of your very eyes.

It sure is nice to see what STRONG leaders are all about and how they deal with National Emergencies. ZZZZZZ!

Simply Amazing Picture

This picture was shot from space and shows the amount of smoke and area it covers from the wildfires in California. Look how far off shore into the Pacific Ocean the smoke is carrying.

How to make no news into...well faux news.

What a surprise for Fox News to make something out of nothing. For a "news" organization that touts itself as "Fair & Balanced" and that also boasts a nit-wit commentator that offers a "No Spin Zone", this story is stuffed with nothing more than SPIN. How bad does your news coverage become when you have to turn a wildfire story into a wild charade about a terrorist plot to burn California. This is truly another pathetic attempt to relate this to the "War on Terror".

For the second straight day, Fox News stood virtually alone in advancing thinly supported speculation to raise fears that the wildfires ravaging California are not the result of a confluence of arid heat and high winds but were set deliberately by al Qaeda terrorists bent on destroying America.

Fox & Friends, the conservative cable channel, was panned Wednesday for breathlessly reporting a sketchy, four-year-old FBI memo as if it offered new information linking America's enemies in the "Global War on Terror" with a plot to burn down southern California.

The morning team was back at it Thursday, as anchor Alisyn Camerota introduced a segment on the fires that again mischaracterized and over-inflated warnings from a 2003 interview with an al Qaeda detainee.

Good job Faux News. Keep up the good work. And remember the Spin Starts here!

Alabama's New State Motto: Cancer Won't Kill Ya…We Will!

Alabama pushes to kill inmate before cancer does

Even though most US executions have been postponed due to a debate about lethal injection, the state of Alabama intends to execute Daniel Siebert on Thursday because of concerns that pancreatic cancer might kill him first.

Siebert, 53, was put on death row for the 1986 murder of two young women and two children aged four and five.

A fifth murder conviction was added later, a Siebert has admitted that he has killed before, according to Alabama Governor Rob Riley.

The execution is scheduled for late Thursday, but lawyers for the inmate have asked for a stay until the Supreme Court rules on lethal injection, which the court agreed to consider last month.

Meanwhile, Governor Riley has already said he will do nothing to stop the execution.

"I would in essence be commuting his sentence to life in prison and that is not the sentence he was given by a jury," Riley said. "His crimes were monstrous, brutal and ghastly."

Republican hopeful takes Elmer Fudd approach

When do you need Bin Laden? Election time! He's the big, bad boogie man that all of our Presidential hopefuls will remind you many, many times of how scary he is.

Yet our current President, who went to ground zero and announced that "we will hunt those people responsible down and kill 'em" often admits that he does not think about Bin Laden.

That is until the elections roll around. Here is more evidence that the great terror leader is nothing more than a pawn in helping candidates win votes.

McCain says he wants to shoot Osama

ROCHESTER, N.H. -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain told workers of a small weapons factory that he not only wants to catch Osama Bin Laden if elected, but said he "will shoot him with your products".

"I will follow Osama Bin Laden to the gates of hell and I will shoot him with your products," McCain said.

McCain told reporters afterward he was joking when he made the comment at Thompson Center Arms in Rochester.

"I certainly didn't mean I would actually shoot him. I am certainly angry at him, but I was only speaking in a way that was trying to emphasize my point," McCain said. "I would not shoot him myself."

Oh wait John...did I hear some flip-flopping going on in your statement. I will shoot him but I was actually joking about that.

Possibly one of the funniest commercials…EVER!

swear_jar_300k.wmv

The Plight to Vote

It’s not even 2008 and already we are being barraged by political campaigns. No matter where you turn all you see is another candidate. Radio, TV, mail…no matter where you go, you are surrounded and I am starting to wish I could crawl into a hole and have somebody wake me up when it is over.

I love it when I am watching TV and it seems like the commercial breaks are being drug out even longer so I can watch 10 different political commercials. That to me is torture in itself. I also love when the phone rings and I get the recorded voice from some politician reminding me what day to go out and vote and then they throw in the lovely “remember me when you are at the poll”. The one place you think you can get away from it is in the car but no...I turn on the radio to hear the ad that I just watched on TV from the same politician whose campaign flyer is in my mailbox and who I just received a pre-recorded message from over the phone. At this point I am about to lose it completely.

Another portion of campaigning I can't tolerate is the over abused use of mud slinging. I don’t care to hear about how awful the other candidate is for 50 seconds and then 10 seconds about how you are planning on making America safer. That to me makes me want to vote for the other person. At least I know what they are doing and you are telling me nothing about what you stand for or what you have done.

One favor I should ask of the candidates is to save a tree and stop mailing me crap because you are taking away valuable trash bag space with your full color, card stock flyer that folds out 15 times. I don't need your pretty little newsletter letting me know what is happening at your campaign headquarters. Also, again reiterating my previous point, stop filling up my mailbox with propaganda material about how terrible for this country the other candidate is.

All of these politicians are so invasive that I am almost waiting for the day when I come home to find a life size cardboard cutout of the candidate at my door giving the thumbs up and wearing his/her ultra-patriotic American flag lapel pin.

That’s another thing that really irritates me. When did wearing an American flag lapel pin become the symbol of a true patriot? Stop it already, please. That is the dumbest thing I have heard. Now, what we wear on our suit dictates how strongly we support our country. Give that one a rest. I was unfortunately watching Hannity & Colmes one night and Barack Obama was being ripped apart for not showing his patriotism because he did not have an American flag lapel pin on. Give me a break. That is the best you can come up with...his lapel pin.

I love it also when someone says another candidate is weak on keeping America safe from Terrorists. What does that mean? The only politician that has shot anyone is Dick Cheney.

At this point I am looking at all the candidates and wishing I could fast forward to 2 days after Election Day and get it over with already. We still have a long way to go and even more ways of having political campaigns shoved down our throat.

The thing that most people fail to realize is the candidates are doing nothing more than buttering you up. They say what you want to hear but they act on whom got them elected. If you truly want to find out what they stand for, find out who is financing their multi-million dollar campaigns. When you start seeing where the money is coming from, you can start seeing what side they will take on an issue regardless of what they said on the campaign trail.

Anyhow somebody wake me up when it is all said and done.

The Way of the Gun

At what point do we all as Americans stand up and say enough is enough and demand more stringent gun control policies. How many more school shootings are required before guns become unpopular? How high does the murder rate in Philadelphia have to climb before people change their thoughts on guns? How many more innocent bystanders have to get caught in the crossfire? I understand that we have “The Right to Bear Arms”, but how many more people have to die as a result of gun violence before we as a society act.

This morning I woke up and was watching the news as they recapped yet another school shooting. This time the shooting was in Cleveland and a 14 year-old boy shot 4 people and then took his own life. As I was watching the coverage on Fox 29 of this story BREAKING NEWS came in. The broadcaster broke in with details that today a 14-year-old boy in Plymouth-Whitemarsh Township had his house raided after police discovered his plans to mimic a “Columbine Style” attack. From what the news coverage had to say, the police discovered a nine-millimeter assault rifle, numerous air guns, and a quantity of black explosive powder. In addition, members of the bomb squad discovered four hand grenades (one was operational, three were under construction). The boy was home schooled but had previously attended the school he was planning on attacking. He apparently was removed from the school because he had been bullied.

How are the kids in the country getting their hands on all these guns? Are the parents of these kids simply leaving guns carelessly leaving guns lying around the house? I thought we had laws and safe checks to prevent guns from getting into the hands of the wrong people. In the wake of yet another school shooting, are more and more parents starting to live in fear that their children may not make it home one day because somebody with a vendetta is going to walk into school and open fire. It is a sad sight to see so many peoples lives ruined because of our fascination with the power of wielding a gun. I feel it is time for our lawmakers to act in what is in the best interest of the country.

I am having a hard time at pinpointing how guns are beneficial to society? I guess some people take old guns and make them into lamps but other than that I can’t think of any true benefits to guns.

I almost forgot the one real upside side to guns, they do help as attractive decorative pieces. Think of how out of style people would be without gun racks. Could you imagine trying to “Pimp” your ride without a gun rack. Another way they help spruce up your crib is when you get all those little creatures stuffed and mounted you shot. There is no better decorative piece than having a quail mounted on your wall as if it is flying off, or a deer head above the fireplace or even an animal stuffed and mounted as if it is attacking.

Why are people so quick to defend guns? One popular rebuttal to more gun control laws is “Guns don’t kill, bullets do.” Maybe we should then ban bullets. Would that decrease the amount of gun violence we have in this country? My other personal favorite is “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” and to that I say, and the preferred weapon of killing people is…that’s right it is the gun.

I am curious as to why President Bush allowed the assault weapon ban to lapse (NRA). I could not seem to come up with a definitive answer (NRA). Why would you need a weapon that sprays 50 rounds a minute to go deer hunting (NRA)? If you can’t shoot a deer with a shotgun or by using a bow & arrow, maybe it is time to consider a new hobby. Then it hit me, who was probably a major contributor to President Bush’s campaign in 2000 and his re-election campaign in 2004, The National Rifle Association. Those lobbyists, they only think about what’s best for the country, not a way to increase their own profits. Guns that shoot that fast are a good thing. I think we should even the playing field for “Man versus Deer” and all go out hunting with AK-47’s. You know how those deer are packing heat themselves.



TAKE THAT YOU WASCAWWY WABBIT!

This link I have provided show a list of worldwide school shootings from 1996 to the Virginia Tech shooting on April 16, 2007. I am truly astonished at the number of innocent teachers and students who have died as a result of getting an education.

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html

I know people have varying opinions on guns, gun control and gun laws. I am sure the people who act responsibly will feel as if they are being punished if there are stricter rules and policies in place. The real question to that becomes how do you decrease the amount of gun violence without toughening gun laws?

Let me also clarify that I am not advocating taking away guns from people who are trained on proper use of a firearm like our military personnel, law enforcement officials, etc. I want to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not posses them. (Drug dealers, people with mental illness, 14-year-old kids, etc)

S.T.D. (Stop Texting & Driving)

The other day I was reading through the blog "By Chance" when I came upon the posting for "Drivers can be a menace." I was amazed at the story of the driver who showed a total lack of respect for himself and the other motorist on the road. Then I got to thinking what is the one thing other people do when they drive that annoys me to no end and then it hit me.

Thanks Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and every other major wireless carrier for adding another feature that makes people a little worse at driving. Enter the world of the text message and the age off people who spend more time staring at their 2"x 2.5" screen making sure that they hit the number 6 the correct amount of times and got an n and not on o, rather than watching the road ahead.

Now that is one thing that just about makes me want to find some object in my car (preferably a milkshake), roll down the window and fire it at the window of the idiot driving down the road next to me, whose sight line is below the steering wheel and pressing the tiny little buttons on their new Moto Razr. I am thinking to myself are you that gifted or just that stupid. You are doing 40 miles an hour down 309 and you are seeing more of the emblem embedded on your steering wheel than you are that upcoming red light.

I can't imagine what that text message has to offer that is so important that it is worth putting your own life and the lives of others at risk. I can almost see it now as your are messaging back to your bff, to tell her about your new bf and that u will c her later lol…and then BOOM, you plow into the side of a mini van that is turning because they have a green light. How would you feel when you find out that the 3 kids in to van are D.O.A. (Texting often uses acronyms, so I could not resist)

I am not trying to sound like only teenage girls are texting their friends while driving either. I have seen people of all age groups with their phone in hand working the tiny keypad while thoughtlessly driving down the road. I have a family member who does this all the time and it makes me nuts if I am in the car with this person while they are driving. I just want to slap them upside the head and say thanks for putting my life at risk.

There are a lot of things asinine drivers do that set me off, like thinking the blinker is optional or riding my bumper (when I am doing the speed limit) thinking it will make me go faster, but nothing infuriates me more than seeing some moronic person behind the wheel of a half ton automobile, who is in la-la-land and paying more attention to this device than they are the road ahead of them.

If your text message is that important then pull your car off the road into a parking lot, stop the vehicle and then send your text message. The even safer alternative is just leaving your phone off until you get where you are going.

Our lawmakers can't act fast enough to make texting while driving illegal.

Dude, Where's My Bombs?

A couple of weeks ago I was alarmed when I saw the story about a U.S. AirForce B-52 bomber that was loaded with 6 nuclear warheads that flew from Minot Air Force Base, N.D., to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana and sat on the tarmac for 10 hours undetected. I could not believe that nobody realized when they were loading the plane up that the one box marked ³NUCLEAR WEAPON - DO NOT SHAKE² did not alert anyone. How did the U.S. Air Force put 6 nuclear warheads in cargo that went unnoticed.

At first I kind of chuckled thinking that Gomer Pyle must be calling the shots now. Then I started becoming unnerved about how 6 nuclear war heads would just have "accidentally" flown over the central portion of the United States for a matter of 3 hours or so. Then I started thinking more about what actually had occurred and wondered how all of this could have happened. Especially in the world we live in today where Al Qaida is actively pursuing nuclear capabilities, how could someone just by "accident" place 6 nuclear warheads on a B-52 bomber. That is no small task to accomplish. It's not like oops I forgot the milk at the grocery store.

As I was scratching my head pondering this humongous mistake, I went back online and read the article again. Then I realized the MAJOR portion of the story I had missed. The nuclear warheads weren't inside the plane...they were attached to missiles on the wings of the plane. That is when it hit me, Holy Crap, what is going on here. It sounds like obtaining a nuclear weapon from the military would be as easy as buying a case of beer from a beerdistributor.

Now I was even more dumfounded. I return to the fact that in today¹s world, would we not have the utmost protection in place for safe guarding the United States nuclear weapon stock pile. Is this not a major concern of Homeland Security, to prevent outside forces who want to topple this country, from getting inside this country with such a destructive weapon. Or even worse was the what if factor. What if that plane had crashed. That probably would have been all she wrote for the heartland of America, if not complete annihilation of our country. This was just too big of a blooper to be an "accident."

This story was here and gone by tomorrow. This story rolled out faster than yesterdays newspaper. The only bit you heard was that a high ranking Air Force official was fired for this "accident." I am sure that the U.S.government played no role in burying this story as fast as they could. I think it is funny that Lindsey Lohan's rehab trips and Britney Spears custody battle receive more attention than how close we could have come to blowing ourselves off the map.

Apparently someone else shared my sentiment about this story and a buddy of mine emailed me a story today that is a follow-up to the original. I thought I would share it and let you the reader form your own opinion on what happened.

Navy veteran questions why six nuclear missiles were flown on combataircraft to staging area for Middle East
John Byrne
Published: Monday October 8, 2007
A retired lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve who served with the Navy's Supervisor of Salvage questioned in a little-noticed editorial Sunday why six active nuclear armed cruise missiles were being transferred to an active bomber base that "just happens to be the staging area for Middle Eastern operations."

"The United States also does not transport nuclear weapons meant for elimination attached to their launch vehicles under the wings of a combat aircraft," Navy veteran Robert Stormer wrote in the Texas-based Star-Telegram.

"The procedure is to separate the warhead from the missile, encase the warhead and transport it by military cargo aircraft to arepository -- not an operational bomber base that just happens to be the staging area for Middle Eastern operations."

Six nuclear W80 nuclear-armed cruise missiles were flown to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana where they sat for ten hours undetected.

"Press reports initially cited the Air Force mistake of flying nuclear weapons over the United States in violation of Air Force standing orders and international treaties, while completely missing the more important majorissues, such as how six nuclear cruise missiles got loose to begin with," writes Stormer.

"Let me be very clear here: We are not talking about paintball cartridges or pellet gun ammo. We are talking nuclear weapons."

Stormer doesn't buy reports that the missiles were simply lost. The title of his piece is "Nuke transportation story has explosive implications."

"There is a strict chain of custody for all such weapons," he said. "Nuclear weapons handling is spelled out in great detail in Air Force regulations, to the credit of that service. Every person who orders the movement of these weapons, handles them, breaks seals or moves any nuclear weapon must signoff for tracking purposes."

"All security forces assigned are authorized "to use deadly force to protect the weapons from any threat. Nor does anyone quickly move a 1-ton cruisemissile -- or forget about six of them, as reported by some news outlets, especially cruise missiles loaded with high explosives.

"This is about how six nuclear advanced cruise missiles got out of their bunkers and onto a combat aircraft without notice of the wing commander,squadron commander, munitions maintenance squadron (MMS), the B-52H's crew chief and command pilot and onto another Air Force base tarmac without notice of that air base's chain of command -- for 10 hours."

At the end of his editorial, he poses the following questions. The questions that must be answered:
1. Why, and for what ostensible purpose, were these nuclear weapons taken to Barksdale?
2. How long was it before the error was discovered?
3. How many mistakes and errors were made, and how many needed to be made,for this to happen?
4. How many and which security protocols were overlooked?
5. How many and which safety procedures were bypassed or ignored?
6. How many other nuclear command and control non-observations of procedurehave there been?
7. What is Congress going to do to better oversee U.S. nuclear command andcontrol?
8. How does this incident relate to concern for reliability of control overnuclear weapons and nuclear materials in Russia, Pakistan and elsewhere?
9. Does the Bush administration, as some news reports suggest, have plans to attack Iran with nuclear weapons?
10. If this was an accident, have we degraded our military to a point wherewe are now making critical mistakes with our nuclear arsenal? If so, how dowe correct this?

Listen I am not in any way belittling the men and women who serve our country with great honor. I have a lot of respect and admiration for those people. I do however, have an issue with what took place and it starts at the TOP. Thank God that nothing did happen or this story, which everyone in the world would have read about, might be talking about the large amount of Americans who died because of this "accident."
After reading this I think the word "accident" should be removed from the original story.

Coultergeist Strikes Again!

SHOCKER ALERT - Ann Coulter makes a stupid comment...again. It was no surprise to me to hear that the ultra right wing, extremely conservative Faux News Channel mouthpiece had made a completely bone-headed comment on the air. The gender confused columnist was asked about women’s rights. Coulter (a self proclaimed woman) began speaking about women’s voting rights and had this to say:

“If we took away women’s right to vote, we’d never have to worry about another Democrat president. It’s kind of a pipe dream, it’s a personal fantasy of mine, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.

“It also makes the point, it is kind of embarrassing,the Democratic Party ought to be hanging its head in shame, that it has so much difficulty getting men to vote for it. I mean, you do see it’s the party of women and ‘We’ll pay for health care and tuition and day care — and here, what else can we give you, soccer moms?"

You are right Annie or is it Andy, your pipe dream is not ever going to happen because the woman in this country have had to work incredibly hard to get the rights they have today. They are not about to have their rights stripped by some arrogant, pompous bimbo with as much intelligence as a sack of marbles. Are you not a single woman yourself Ann? So when you bash women (who are single and who vote) are you including yourself in the mix? As a self proclaimed woman and political columnist (who is single) do you not want to participate in the election process. I guess ignorance is truly bliss because you seem to revel in this little tiny bubble of a world you live in.

Coulter, who never ceases to amaze me at the filth that flies when her lips flap, is just another pawn in the Faux News World. What she does is no different than Howard Stern. Coulter is the “shock jock” for politics and I would have a hard time believing that she backs ever single statement she makes. That is what her role is, to be the outspoken woman for the right. Some of her moronic comments do make me chuckle at their complete lack of intelligent thought, while others make me cringe as I think did she hear what she just said.

Isn't it ironic that a female political columnists dream is to take away a woman's right to vote.

The only question I am left with is are there people out there who follow what she says, besides Rush, O'Reilly and Hannity?

SuperPill

Quitting smoking is probably one of the worst experiences for a smoker. First you have the short-tempered powder keg of a personality followed by the I am a bottom-less pit of an eating machine. It seems like a downward cycle that is actually more dangerous than just the harmful effects of smoking. I say this not because I am a person who studies product labels or some person that reads WebMD on ways to influence people to quit smoking, I say this because I like many others, am a slave to the Tobacco Industry Giant.

Yes, for many years I have lit up and savored the flavor and feeling I got from my Marlboro Lights in the Flip-Top box. I would enjoy my morning coffee and smoke, the after lunch cigarette and last but not least my after dinner one.

Since having a daughter a year and a half ago, I have started to think more about my health and what I can do to ensure her that she has a father for many years to come. I also want to do what is in her best interest to prevent her from the nicotine addiction. The hardest part is not saying I am going to quit...it actually is the quitting part.

It is so hard when you are having a hard nicotine fit not to throw in the towel and go bum a smoke. I get this feeling in my chest as if it is going to explode. My head is throbbing and the little voice in the back of my head is saying "you know you want just one." The internal conflict is enough to drive someone insane. When I am around my wife at this point, she is begging me to please just have a cigarette. She hates when I quit smoking because I am a ticking time bomb waiting for that one moment when my hair-pin trigger is pulled and then booom.

But there is hope. I have seen it with my own eyes and thought I would share it. Hope comes in the form of a pill, called Chantix. IT REALLY WORKS! I have been taking it for about 2 weeks now and I can already see an amazing difference. My nicotine cravings aren't even that noticeable. This evening was the first night at work where I have not had or wanted to smoke. I know another person I work with who is taking it and says that they are very pleased with what they are seeing and feel that they will be able to kick the habit this time.

It is quite an amazing drug. I have noticed that cigarettes are starting to taste awful. My mouth feels like it is coated in chemicals when I smoke (I guess now I can actually taste all the chemicals and additives in the tobacco). I don't sit and think all day and night about having a cigarette. I feel like I don't even need one. I would recommend this to anyone who has tried and tried to kick the habit but has been unsuccessful.

The downside – I am a conspiracy theorists in sorts and I strongly believe that the Tobacco Industry lobbyists are working with the insurance companies to make sure that this drug is a premium. It is not covered by insurance which means I paid a little over $100 for a months supply but think of how much you would spend in a month on cigarettes. I firmly believe the Tobacco Industry, who manufactures the nicotine supplement products, does not want the American people to have the ability to buy this medication because it really works. The Tobacco Industry probably know that as this drug becomes more known and popular they are going to be losing customers left and right. Isn't that ironic, the Tobacco Industry worrying about losing customers.

The medication itself has been used in Europe and Canada for about the past 10-20 years and has shown great results. My brother in law used it to kick the habit and after seeing him do it I decided it was time for me to. The only really weird side effect are the dreams. I have done some intense dreaming since I have been taking the medication.

Anyhow if anyone thinks that this may be right for you, call your physician and talk to them more in depth.

When you start seeing the commercials about how dangerous Chantix is keep in mind who doesn't want you to quit smoking.

For anyone who decides to try Chantix, I wish you the best of luck. I think you may surprise yourself with the results.