Amateur Video Shows Gunman Open Fire on Iranian Protesters

The events of this latest outburst in Iran coincided with commemorations of the Shi'ite Ashura festival and the seventh day of mourning for leading dissident cleric Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who died one week ago at the age of 87

This is alleged amateur video in Iran that shows a gunman (who is said to be a plainclothes security official) opening fire on demonstrators during recent protests against the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad' IRI (Islamic Republic of Iran) regime. The video is reportedly from a December 27, 2009 protest.

In spite of the severe suppression of the people by the security forces, Iranian protestors fought back, killed a number of security forces, injured a great number of security forces and burned or destroyed many motorcycles, jeeps and other vehicles belonging to the police, anti riot police and Basij Militia forces.

The state Press TV said eight people died in violence in Tehran and police said more than 300 people were arrested.

Those reported killed in the capital included a nephew of former opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Musavi.

All the while the MSM keeps silent! The Obama administration is determined to press on with efforts to engage the Iranian government," The New York Times cited senior officials as having said Saturday, "despite misgivings about irregularities in the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

Where will this revolution take this country? Will it lead to a country with more freedom for its citizens, especially its women? Who will rise up to fill the vacuum? How will that be decided? How long will the IRI allow this to go on? What can they do to crush this revolution? How many more will die? Have the powerful cries of the December 27 uprising has awakened United States & EU governments ?

Sylvia Browne Predicts That 2010 Is The Year of the Alien And More

New Years Day is coming fast upon us. It's time for all those beloved holiday traditions. We will have Hoppin' Johns for our first meal of the new Year for maximum good luck.

Some people will gather in the homes of friends, drink too much, talk too loud, and wake up the next morning nursing a hangover. Hopefully they will not drive home. Still others will spend outrageous amounts of money to go to a local bar where they will receive a "FREE" noise maker and ridiculous little paper hat to wear while drinking over priced drinks. There of course will be those who lie on the couch that night trying to stay awake to watch the ball drop at Times Square, alone.

New Years Day is the day we vow to lose weight, get control of our finances, quit drinking, quit smoking, or find our soul mate. Maybe they will vow all of these things but often the vow is soon forgotten.

There are always those among us who want it all spelled out for us. What will happen this year? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? Who will be the next American Idol? This is why there are people who turn to psychics. We are all looking for answers and "knowing" what lay in store helps us feel less vulverable.

Enter Sylvia Browne. There is almost a cottage industry out there of people who hate Sylvia Browne but I will admit that I was a fan of the Montel Williams Show and I did not turn the channel when Syvlia came on his show. As a matter of fact his Syvlia Browne prediction show became a part of our New Year's tradition, if only because I wanted to make sure that Montel's ratings stayed high.

It turns out that we have much to look forward to this year. You see according to Sylvia Browne aliens will begin to show themselves in the year 2010, they will not harm us, they simply want to see what we are doing to this planet. They will teach us how to use anti-gravity devices again, such as they did for the pyramids.

Having spent the past two days being forced to watch episode after episode about UFOs with my father-in-law I'm certain at least one of us will be very happy.

Beware of Right Wingers. They're all "CRAZY". Sylvia predicts that between 2010 and 2016, FBI, CIA & Secret Service & Others will be working towards apprehending key members of three separate anti-govt extremist organization within the US. One group will be centered in Montana, one in the Deep South and one in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

They'll use God and 1st Amendment as excuses for a series of murders and computer virus that saturates hard drives and airwaves with supremacist propaganda. A few elected govt officials will be exposed as members

After all groups like ELF (Earth Liberation Front) The ELF was classified as the top domestic terror threat in the United States by the FBI in March 2001 mean no harm. Oh but I digress.

I do wonder if this prediction from Sylvia Browne puts her on the watch list:

A president elected sometime after 2008 will die in office of a heart attack.
The vice president in line to finish his term will have the unpopular and terribly mistaken intent to declare war on North Korea, which by then will have wmd's.

MY GOD! I hope nothing, I mean nothing even as bad as a paper cut EVER happens to the President. He was elected to serve as President and he should be allowed to faithfully serve the people of the United States. In 2012 people should feel free to either re-elect him or vote him out of office.


*******************************UPDATE*****************************************

I have discovered that Sylvia Browne has changed her position about the President that will die in office. Turns out she's tweeked that predition:

I predict the President elected sometime between 2008 and 2020 will die in office from a heart attack. The Vice President who will finish their term will have an unpopular and mistaken intention to declare war on North Korea. By that time, North Korea will have weapons of mass destruction. In the middle of efforts to declare war, I predict the Vice President will be assassinated.

So maybe it's Obama, maybe it's not. On this prediction she gets a twofer because the Vice President also dies in this scenario.

******************************************************************************

Sylvia is not the only Psychic out there so I thought I'd let you, and my Father-in-law know that yet another physic predicts that a physical UFO like craft will be found by 2010. I found this out on the World Psychic Prediction site.

I've also included a video from Bob Hickman:



Please do not get me wrong. I do believe that people often have hunches that turn out correct. I believe that some people do have a better handle on reading situations or people. Does that mean that I then have to fall in line to say unequivocally that ALL Psychics are without reproach or that they are all fakes. Do I feel that there are people out there who exploit those who are desperately seeking answers? ABSOLUTELY!

If you are a psychic I'd love to hear from you. Perhaps you could give me your side. Maybe you would like to post your predictions here.

In the meantime, have a Happy New Year.

Tragic End To The Search For Sarah Foxwell

Sadly the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office announced the tragic end to a 3-day search for missing 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell at a press conference late today.

Police acknowledge that they found the 11-year old's body late Friday afternoon near Melson Road in Delmar.

Officials are asking citizens to refrain from traveling near the area of Rum Ridge Road and Melson Road.

Community To Help With Search For Sarah Foxwell

Police estimate about 3,000 volunteers reported to Arthur W. Perdue Stadium Christmas morning to assist in the search for Sarah Foxwell, who was abducted from her bedroom this week. Hundreds more continue to show up throughout the day.

Hats off to the good people at Shore Water and Canada Dry showed up almost immediately in trucks to deliver bottled water for the searchers.

The search will cover all 496 square miles of Wicomico County and other communities if necessary.

Meanwhile, according to charging documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun, a juvenile witness awakened to see Sarah leaving with "Tommy," with whom she was familiar. Leggs knew the family kept a spare key under a pot on the porch of the residence, records show.

The suspect posted bond two months ago and was released from the Worcester County Detention Center on two counts of malicious destruction of property over $500 and fourth-degree burglary, charges stemming from a September incident, according to court records.

There are at least a dozen sex offense convictions against Leggs in Maryland, most of them not prosecuted, according to data by the Maryland Judiciary Web site. Records show that some were dismissed.

A press conference has been scheduled for 6 PM at Perdue stadium.

How devastating that on this, one of the holiest days, a day that celebrates family, a little girl is missing. When will we as a nation value our children enough to pass and enforce laws that will protect our children from people like this?

Forum Whores

You know her don't you? Perhaps she corners you at a cocktail party or maybe she shares your cubical at work. It begins innocently enough. She chats with you and perhaps you share a few laughs. In pretty quick order she violates many of the standard TMI boundaries. Before you know it you are looking for the nearest exit door so you can flee from her latest drama.

If you are like me, and tend to reach out to others its easy to find yourself sucked up into their troubled little world. Their conversations routinely involve criticizing others. In her own little universe she is Queen even as she confides in you how she is often the helpless hapless victim of others. There are frequent incidents in which like Kanye West, she launches into unwarranted incoherent outbursts centered around their personal trivial matters.

It seems I often attract people like this. No I suppose, it might be more accurate to say I tend to collect them. While some people seem to have the ability to shake such people lose pretty quickly, I tend to continue reaching out long past the time that most reasonable people will. I feel guilty because I often suspect, no scratch that, I know that I am the one person that they have in their life who will listen to them. Then again, maybe it's more accurate to say I have a little bit of rubber neck in me as I hear the train speeding down the track headed straight into the train coming in the opposite direction.

In the "real world" the Attention whore is the person who will call you in the middle of the night to hold the following conversation with you:

AW: "My world is over!"

You: "What's wrong? Are you OK?"

FW: "I just went through my boyfriend Bubba's wallet and found a woman's phone number in it."

You: "You went through his wallet?"

AW: "Of course I went through his wallet. We have been dating for two and a half weeks now and we have no secrets between the two of us."

You, as you glance over at the clock on your dresser noticing that it was 2 am and you have to be up in three hours.: "Well what did he say when you asked him about it?"

AW: "What did he say? What did he say" She says almost shrieking into the phone. "Of course he tried to deny the whole thing. He said that he didn't know how long that number had been in his phone. Well that's when I informed him that I went through his cellphone."

You: "You went through his cell phone? Well what did he say about that?"

AW: "He must have known I was going to go through his phone because I didn't see any suspicious numbers in there."

You "So you are angry because you don't have proof that he called this woman?"

AW: "Damn straight! He probably just met that little whore. I could only take so much of his denials. Then he yelled and screamed at me. Called me a nosy bitch. I asked him what his status on MysSpace was and he went ballistic. I'm sure it's because he's hiding something. I'm on the computer right now, nope he hasn't changed his status yet but I now know why he never gave me his MySpace password. As soon as I get off this phone I'm going to call him. I am going to demand that he come clean."

You, as you listen to her sob desperately into the phone, "Well look, it's almost three in the morning and I really don't think it's a good idea to call this guy at three in the morning."

AW as she slams the phone closed: "So you're on his fucking side."

Now Attention Whores have gone virtual and because they seem to wrack up the forum posts I call them Forum Whores.

On every forum, no matter what the subject matter, I always seem to encounter some sort of Forum Whore. What first brings them to my attention is when others on a forum begin to attack her.

At first I feel for her because I don't always know her history. I see others being harsh with her and some even treating her contemptuously. I don't get involved, not at first. I remind myself that I don't know the whole story but at the same time I am worried about the almost pack mentality that begins to erupt.

Sometimes the Forum Whore has a little group of loyal followers but eventually she begins to lose them one by one. Sometimes because she gets angry with them for not defending her forcefully enough and sometimes because they tire of the histrionics.

This is the person who reminds me of that old Vaudeville joke in which a man said he went to the doctor because every time he does a certain thing and the doctor tells him "Stop doing that then." The problem is the Forum Whore seems unable to take such basic advise.

The Forum Whore demands your attention but claims she was never looking for the unwanted attention.

I decided to write this post after a recent incident on online-sweepstakes. I've been so busy being involved with my blog, school, moving, etc. that I haven't been too involved in the forums.

I stumbled upon a post of a young woman who was angry about how her boyfriend was being treated during his probationary period at work. She was beside herself with moral outrage that her boyfriend was counseled by his boss because he was late to work twice during his probationary period at his new job. Oh and did I mention that he wasn't late by just a couple of minutes, he was late by an hour or more each time? She was also upset because he was given a list of other things that he needed to do in order to keep his job, including but not limited to: not taking an hour off for lunch, wearing appropriate attire for work, and telling his boss that he was taking some heavy duty medications that make it difficult for him to wake up in the morning making it difficult to always come to work when he was scheduled to do so. Keep in mind this guy is new to the job and is on probation there.

Some 30 or more pages were used in the forum to address past posts of hers that included how she wanted to "trick" her boyfriend into getting her pregnant, how she was collecting welfare benefits and not informing her caseworker of under the table income she was earning or the fact that her live-in boyfriend was making $50,000.

This Forum Whore couldn't seem to get past the fact that there are people who are really hurting right now. There are people who would love to have a job and that there are people who resent her collecting benefits fraudulently.

All the while she seemed confused as to why people were attacking her. On this particular thread she personally addressed each and every person who attacked her. I was being sucked down the rabbit hole as I read the posts. At one point I decided to join in but not because I wanted to pile on but because I wanted to have a Susan Powter moment yelling "Stop the Insanity."

Someone had just attacked her about the fact that she had said that they had no food in the house and that she won a $250 Visa gift card. Instead of using it to buy food she was using it to buy a ring for her boyfriend for Christmas.

Now wait a minute, you have no food in your house but you have money to buy your boyfriend a ring? Each and every day I wind up feeding at least four kids at school. They come to school without having had anything to eat so I know how this effects a child. I tried to find the nicest way possible that her child should be the most important thing in her life. Not some boyfriend and not some ring. This of course got her upset because she wanted me to know that her child wasn't starving because there was "poor people food" in the house and it had been three weeks since she had gone out to eat.

This was not the story she originally had. She claimed no food whatsoever now she had "poor people food." Oh and the not eating out thing? Turns out on her blog she just recently took a friend out to eat at her local Olive Garden. Of course she did what most forum whores do, she attacked me for "attacking her." Eventually this thread, like many of her others were pulled.

It's obvious that a forum whore is starving for attention in real life. All the attention she garners, good and bad compensate for her shortcomings. Every post says "Look at me! Look at me! I am important!"

You swear to yourself that you will ignore her future posts. You hope that she eventually gets banned. In the end it seems that the Forum Whore eventually tires of her current stomping grounds and finally follows through with her threats of leaving for brighter pastures.

Sportscaster George Michael dies at 70

As you may know I grew up in DC. So George Michael's long running Redskin Report was a staple in our sport-loving home.

He worked at Washington's WRC-TV for 28 years until his resignation in 2008. He was criticized during his career for getting too close to the subjects he covered like wearing Redskins paraphernalia while covering the Super Bowl during the 1982 season and sitting on the team's float during the victory parade. For Redskin fans like us it only made him more endearing.

Michael died from complications of chronic lymphocytic leukemia at Sibley Memorial Hospital.

Here are some George Michael memories. Perhaps you'll see why he will be missed.

Ric Flare takes on George Michael



Wayne Gretzky with George Michael

Sarah Haley Foxwell Is Missing

A massive search is underway for Sarah Haley Foxwell, (her aunt calls her haley bug) who was last seen by family wearing fuzzy red pajama bottoms with Christmas trees on them and a pink John Deere T-shirt.

Sarah lives with her aunt and several brothers and sisters on Maryland's Eastern Shore. She said the girl had gone to bed Tuesday night and was discovered missing Wednesday morning. There was no evidence of forced entry into the residence.

Registered sex offender, Thomas James Leggs,is in custody and has been charged with kidnapping and burglary.

Thomas James Leggs,is listed on both the Maryland and Delaware sex offender registries. The Maryland listing notes that he is a child sex offender, but details about his conviction in Maryland were not immediately available.

He was convicted in 2001 in Delaware of rape for having sex with a victim who was 16 or 17 years old, according to the Delaware registry. The registry describes his risk level as "high" and notes he is unemployed.

Wicomico County sheriff's officials said law enforcement agencies from across the state have offered to help in the search. They ask that anyone with information about Sarah's disappearance call the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office at 410-548-4891. You can also contact the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)

Please, if you have any information whatsoever, please contact the Sheriff's office right away.

Save The Elves - Build A Bear Update

Here is the update of the story I published yesterday. When we last met the elves and polar bears were on the verge of annihilation. Santa would soon lose his home and little boys and girls across the country put aside their dreams of sugar plumbs and lay awake at night worried about where Santa and the elves will live after global warming destroys their home.

Maxine Clark, founder of Build-A-Bear said, “Our intention with the Polar Bear story was to inspire children, through the voices of our animal characters, to make a difference in their own individual ways. We did not intend to politicize the topic of global climate change or offend anyone in any way.”

Here is the complete text that appeared on their website:

Letter from Maxine Clark Regarding Online Webisodes

December 22, 2009

We have received inquiries regarding our online webisodes and would like to provide you with the following information.

Our goal is to entertain and engage the imagination of children with our stuffed animals, our store environment, and online. Our intention with the Polar Bear story was to inspire children, through the voices of our animal characters, to make a difference in their own individual ways. We did not intend to politicize the topic of global climate change or offend anyone in any way. The webisodes concluded this week with Santa successfully leaving on his journey to deliver gifts around the world. The webisodes will no longer be available on the site.

I started Build-A-Bear Workshop as a place for families and children to come for a fun experience combining imagination, creativity and empowerment. I have always placed great value in the trust that our Guests have in our brand.

At Build-A-Bear Workshop we also strive to encourage kids to help others by participating in their communities. We listen to parents and kids about topics that they are interested in and care about. We especially value the input of parents. We are listening and taking all points of view into consideration for the future.

If you have questions, please contact us:

Guests with questions should contact:
Guest services
314-423-8000
866-232-7269
Guestcomments@buildabear.com

Media with questions should contact:
Jill Saunders
314-423-8000 ext. 5293
314-422-4523 (cell)
JillS@buildabear.com

Investors with Questions should contact:
Investor Relations
314-423-8000 ext.5353
Invest@buildabear.com

Sincerely,


Maxine Clark
Founder and Chief Executive Bear
Build-A-Bear Workshop


Perhaps next year Maxine can make a video addressing the mass killing of baby seals just in time for the holidays. She could have those cute little polar bears crushing their little seal skulls. That ought to put kids in the holiday spirit. Since Maxine wants to address topics that parents are interested in and encourage kids to help others by participating in their communities she might want to begin work on that video for next year. After all kids are mature enough to understand complex topics like global warming and they certainly have the maturity to distinguish between reality and make believe.

Does this mean that the elves and polar bears now have a place to live? Will Santa have to relocate? will Maxine Clark begin making her products here in the United States? Does Maxine feel that her products actually add to the problem of global warming because they aer manufactured in China? After all one-third of China’s emissions come from factories that make products to export to the West. These are questions you shouldn't trouble your pretty little heads about. After all the Nanny state is looking out for you. All is well. All is well.

Twitter Post About Son's Drowning Sparks UPROAR

I can still remember giving my oldest son his very first bath. Back then I didn't have the money for fancy little tubs that allowed your child to recline on a foam mat. Instead I had to use one of those old fashioned plastic tubs that sat on the counter while you clutched you very wet, very slippery little baby.

My mother was there and I remember her saying to me, "Cathy I hope that you will always remember that there is never, ever, a phone call that is worth you leaving your child in the tub alone to answer the phone."

Now, while my Mom is definitely a strange bird, and no phone was ringing when I was washing my slippery angel, she did have a very good point. The job of parent is filled with peril and something as innocuous as a phone call could rob you of your most precious gift.

Children drowning in bathtubs account for about two-thirds of the 459 reported drowning deaths in the home. The majority of these bathtub deaths occur when the caregiver is not present. In the time it takes to step out of the room to get a towel or answer the phone, a young child can drown. Never leave a child alone in the bathtub for even a minute.

As my mother often pointed out, "Grieving mothers always say that they were only gone for a minute." It is in that one minute that your life can change.

Becoming a parent makes you acutely aware of all the dangers you never knew existed until you had a small child. For example I, like many parents and caregivers never realized the danger buckets pose. From 1996 through 1999, CPSC received reports of 58 children under age 5 who drowned in 5-gallon buckets. Even a small amount of liquid can be deadly.

Most people are aware that swimming pools can be dangerous for children who are left unsupervised. It only takes a minute for your life to change. I think that one of the reasons that the story of Bryson Ross hits home for so many of us is that we know that there but for the grace of God....

This week I had three wisdom teeth pulled. That's right three of them so I guess I'm really not so smart any more. I was still groggy and out of it lying on the couch when I first heard about the mother who "Twittered after her son drowned".

I was certain that I heard the story wrong. What does that mean exactly? I blamed the pain medication for causing me to hear the story wrong. I then said I would check out the story the next day when I could actually put two coherent thoughts together.

Two days later I've finally gotten around to doing some background on the story.

Friends of Shellie Ross call the 37-year-old a caring, devoted mom. Ross has two other sons, 18-year-old Cody and 11-year-old Kris. Sadly a mother grieves for her son Bryson. Her life changed in a moment that I am certain she wishes she could have back.

This is the story as I understand it to be. If I am wrong it is only because I am obviously not privy to all the facts. I only know what has been posted out in the blogosphere. In a way I am almost reluctant to post the story because on one hand I wonder if there is reason for me to add to the family's pain by posting yet another story on their tragedy.

On the other hand, I'm also aware that there has been a campaign taken on by friends and associates of Shellie's to attack people who are asking questions. I've decided to ask questions and see where the answers take me.

Ross is an established personality in the online world, with her own blog (http://blog4mom.com) and Twitter account (http://twitter.com/Military_Mom). More than 5,300 people follow her Twitter posts.

On Monday, Shellie tweeted throughout the day about what was going on in her life, including decorating the family’s Christmas tree in a house they had just moved into on Dec. 1. At 5:22 p.m. Monday, she tweeted about the rare fog that rolled over Brevard County as she worked in her chicken coop.

According to 9-1-1 records, a phone call from Ross came in at 5:38 p.m. that she had found her son at the bottom of their screened-in swimming pool.

She posted a tweet at 6:12 p.m.: “Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool.”

There is nothing in Ross’ posts that indicate she was on the computer or cell phone at the time of the tragedy.

Shellie Ross, posted on Twitter.com about his accident a half-hour after she called paramedics — and then was attacked by strangers nationwide in follow-up tweets and blogs for doing so.

The people who attacked Shellie point to this Twitter Timeline which they feel points to a mother far more concerned with twittering than with watching her children:

Timeline

This is a timeline of events on Dec. 14 surrounding the death of 2-year-old Bryson Ross, according to Brevard County Sheriff’s Homicide Investigator Joe Martin and timestamps on Shellie Ross’ Twitter account:

5:17 p.m., 5:18 p.m., 5:19 p.m., and 5:21 p.m. – Shellie Ross twittered about her chickens in the far backyard.

5: 22 p.m. - “Fog is rolling in thick scared the birds back in the coop

5:23 p.m. - Kris Ross, 11, called 9-1-1 to report that his 2-year-old brother was found in the pool and not breathing

5:24 p.m. – The call was entered into the command center’s log.

5:25 p.m. - A deputy was dispatched to the home on Pintail Drive.

5:27 p.m. – Dispatchers sent Brevard County Fire Rescue personnel to the home.

5:30 p.m. – The deputy arrived on the scene.

5:32 p.m. – Brevard County Fire Rescue arrived at the home to find Bryson in cardiac arrest.

5:41 p.m. – The ambulance left the home for the hospital. CPR was performed during the 14 minute ride.

5:55 p.m. – The ambulance arrived at Cape Canaveral Hospital.

6:00 p.m. – Doctors pronounced Bryson dead in the emergency room, while his mother sat in the waiting room with a Brevard County Sheriff’s Office Victim’s Advocate and a hospital chaplain.

6:12 p.m. – Ross twittered: “Please pray like never before, my 2 yr old fell in the pool”

6:31 p.m. – Doctors told Ross that her son died.

In a tweet posted Tuesday morning, Ross wrote, “I was outside with him and it took two seconds for him to slip away.”


According to the the police, Ms. Ross and her two sons had been cleaning out the Merrit Island, Fla., family's chicken coop when she instructed the two boys to turn off the hose inside the house, said Lt. Bruce Barnett of the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. When the elder son returned without Bryson, Ms. Ross searched for the boy around the house before finding him face-down in the family's pool.

She administered CPR as her other son dialed 911.

The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office called it an accidental drowning. Tragically, about 350 children under age 5 drown in swimming pools each year.

For now, the Ross family simply wants to be left alone to grieve. Here is a statement from her site:

Media outlets: Please leave us alone, stop trespassing onto our property. Yes this includes the private drive you have to turn down to get of our home. Stop calling me my family and friends for comments. WE ARENT GIVING ANY, PERIOD, END OF STORY FOR YOU. Stop posting my information, photos of my home and address.

Those who do not know me, us our family: Find a hobby, get a job, get a clue please. You do not know me us or him. You do not have the right to speak or type his name. He was better than you in every way. Stop slandering my name, stop disrespecting my son and husband with your pitiful pathetic mouths.

There have been NO interviews granted by myself, my husband or my family. There will be no interviews granted, period end of story. So for those who have “covered” this tragedy without learning the facts, and who have miss spoken and have not gotten it right, gee thanks. If it were not for you I could mourn in peace. Let’s try this why don’t we, leave me alone, find your next victim and let my sons memory be one of good and peace and strength.

LEAVE US ALONE

Who could possibly imagine the pain of losing your child unless you have lost your child? Should she be castigated for reaching out to others for prayer in her moment of need? Was it ‘inappropriate’ for her to share her grief on Twitter?

I do know that we all deal with grief in different ways and on different schedules. Have we not seen mothers try to throw themselves into the grave with their only child as they scream for God to take them instead? I have a difficult time believing that Mrs. Ross is not wracked with guilt and anguish. In her mind she probably wonders what, if anything she could have done differently? I would venture to say that she wishes for that moment back with each breath she takes.

One decision is now a consequence that can't be changed. That is the harsh reality of life. It was a simple request for the kids to turn off the water. How could you fortell that it would have such an outcome?

Her life is forever changed. The life of her remaining children will never be the same. The reality is that having surviving children doesn't lessen the pain of losing children. Her marriage will be tested as is often the case when a child dies. One-fourth to one-third of parents who lose a child report that their marriage suffers strains that sometimes prove irreparable.

While she and her family will never "get over" this tragic loss I hope they will find a way to heal and learn to reach out to each others. Maybe even reach out through her tweets and blogs to make others aware of the dangers of childhood drownings.

What lessons can be learned from this tragic incident? Learn CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) -- it can be a lifesaver when seconds count. Drowning can happen in seconds! You are your child's last line of defense.


Bryson funeral was held December 22nd.

Forget The Polar Bears...Where Will The Elves Live?

Remember the politics of fear. Those evil conservatives trying to frighten people. Certainly it would be wrong to frighten the children. I mean politics is something for people who are mature right?

Well I guess I'm wrong again. The people at Build-a-Bear want your kids to know that global warming is real. Well actually they want to indoctrinate your children into the Church of Global Warming? I didn't realize that the North Pole will be melted in just two days!!!! Help Al Gore HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you really think a children's toy should have a political message? Isn't it Ironic that they decided to call the video "An Uplifting Christmas Story." Should this be part of a holiday message? Wouldn't an uplifting Christmas story be something about helping the hungry or the homeless? Maybe the polar bears could realize that they have hidden strengths they never knew they had.

Keep in mind that the scientific basis for global warming projections is now under scrutiny as never before. The principal source of these projections is produced by a small group of scientists at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU), affiliated to the University of East Anglia.

I mean what if George Bush had used flawed projections and lost and/or destroyed data to justify a war? People wouldn't tolerate it. Hey wait. Don't some people say that George Bush did exactly that. Weren't they outraged? Yet these same people are perfectly OK with defending global warming.

Doesn't it bother you that (a) the scientists have been manipulating the raw temperature figures to show a relentlessly rising global warming trend; (b) they have consistently refused outsiders access to the raw data; (c) the scientists have been trying to avoid freedom of information requests; and (d) they have been discussing ways to prevent papers by dissenting scientists being published in learned journals.

If you are one to follow the money, are you not bothered that Al Gore and many others in the Global Warming crowd stand to make a HUGE amount of money once Cap and Trade laws are passed? Are you aware that Carbon trading is a potential TRILLION dollar business and you need only look as far back as Enron to understand what is going on with this scam.

It appears one key player is Sir Maurice Strong is on the board of directors of the Chicago Climate Exchange, Wikipedia-described as “the world’s first and North America’s only legally binding greenhouse gas emission registry reduction system for emission sources and offset projects in North America and Brazil.”.

in March 1996, corporate officers concluded that the federal cash cow was about to run dry, they took action: Between that date and October 1996, seven corporate officers–including Maurice strong–sold off $15.3 million in personal shares in the company, at top market value. On Oct. 20, 1996–a Sunday–the company issued a press release, announcing for the first time, that DOE funding would be vastly scaled back, and reported the bad news on a conference call with stockbrokers.

By early 1997, furious stockholders had filed a class action suit against the company and its directors. Ironically, one of the class action lawyers had tangled with Maurice strong in another insider trading case, involving a Swiss company called AZL Resources, chaired by Strong, who was also a lead shareholder. The AZL case closely mirrored Molten Metal, and in the end, Strong and the other AZL partners agreed to pay $5 million to dodge a jury verdict, when eyewitness evidence surfaced of Strong’s role in scamming the value of the company stock up into the stratosphere, before selling it off.

So let me get this straight, these are the people I need to TRUST? Just to keep your answer honest how about substituting Bush's name for Al Gore's name and see how certain you would be that we are doing the right thing.


You be the judge. Do you think it's OK to bring children into a debate that is beyond their ability to understand? Children that age lack the maturity to deal with such complex issues and can be easily manipulated. Are you OK with that?



There is a movement a foot to boycott the company. Too bad because I actually like the Build-a-bear bears. If you believe in something strongly enough then you should be willing to risk everything. Obviously the people at Build-A-Bear feel strongly about global warming I just wished they had manifested their belief in a different way. Perhaps they could show their commitment by using only organic and/or recycled material for all their products. Of course this would add to the cost of their products but it would show their commitment to the cause.

Perhaps it might be nice for the Build-a-Bear people to commit to making their products here in America rather than China. After all China is the world’s largest emitter of CO2. Try naming a U.S. city whose air quality is even remotely as bad as Beijing’s, or an American river as polluted as the Han. Then again if Build-a-Bear products were produced here in the United States they would cost more AND they would have to provide health care to their employees.

Merry Christmas

I really love this woman's Christmas spirit! We should all carry the joy and youthful enthusiasm of today with us every day.

I'd like to take a few moments to with that the timeless message of Christmas fill your heart and home with joy today and throughout the coming year.

Thank you for stopping by my blog.

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightening

I can't help it. I love my hometown. Washington, DC is beautiful almost every day of the week even with a blanket of snow. Unfortunately it doesn't take much snow to close down the city. Unfortunately for the current residents, the record-breaking snow buried the area, For those not familiar with what that means to people in the MD/DC/VA area let me explain. Metro will be suspending most public transportation, and closing just about everything else. Schools are already announcing that they are closed for inclement weather and the Virginia National Guard has been called up.

So what are the SNOW TOTALS as of now?(in INCHES)

District of Columbia received 16.0 and nearby Rockville, MD measured 21.0.
Centreville, VA (which is about 15 miles or so from where my parents live) has 23.0 and Arlington has 20.5
Waldorf (where I lived when I was 16 years old) got 13.5 and Ashburn received 19.0

One interesting incident that happened with the snow event was an off duty police detective after kids pelted his Hummer with snowballs at 14th and U Streets NW. The veteran detective got out of his car and eventually grabbed for his gun, displaying it to the crowd. He did not immediately identify himself as a police officer.



The Detective Baylor admits he pulled a gun because he was hit by a snowball. Some witnesses say that at one point the detective ran into the crowd and grabbed man whom he thought might have thrown a snowball at him. The detective then allegedly put the individual next to his Hummer. Cops grabbed two others. All three were given warnings



Meanwhile, down in Richmond (where I lived for about 5 years) up to twelve inches of snow fell. People are urged to use extreme caution when driving. personally I think they should avoid driving if at all possible. Just like in the DC area there are school and event closings so you should check your local paper to find out more.

I also checked the Hampton Roads area where I lived for five years. They avoided the huge snow falls but did have rain and flurries. Slippery conditions have led to multiple crashes. Officials have closed several bridges in the Oceanfront and Chesapeake Bay areas due to ice.

Sylvia Browne's preditions for 2010

And now boys and girls, let's find out what will happen next year. Just kidding.

I remember watching Sylvia Browne's appearances on the Montel Williams show. He seemed to have enough faith in her to bring her back again and again.

Just how spot on is Sylvia?

When Shawn Hornbeck was abducted his parents where frantic just like any other parent would be. There were thousands searching for him for literally years. They were given the chance on national TV to hear her prediction for Shawn and she told them that Shawn had passed over and was no longer with us. No one knows how that effected especially his mother. Five years later Shawn was found alive.



Always one to help grieving parents Sylvia informed the parents of Ryan Katcher that he had been murdered and could be found in an iron mine shaft a few miles away from the Katcher home. In truth he was found in his truck in a pond in Illinois and had died of drowning



Here's her manager taking up for her:



There is of course the case of the Sago Miners. On January 3, 2006, Browne was a guest on the U.S. radio program Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. At the start of the broadcast it was believed that 12 of 13 miners trapped by the Sago Mine disaster had been found alive. When Noory asked Browne if she had had any psychic premonitions regarding the men -- if she had felt "that this was a very gloomy moment -- and that they might have all died?" she replied, "No, I knew they were going to be found." Later in the program it was revealed that the earlier news reports had been in error, and only one of the men was believed to have survived. At this point Browne was alleged to have contradicted her earlier statement, stating that "I don't really think there's anybody alive", and, "How crazy for them to report that they were alive when they weren’t!" Browne later argued that she had never specifically stated that the miners would be found alive, only that they would be found, and that she was referring to the bodies of the dead miners being found.

Here are my predictions:

1. The weather will change, sometimes on a daily basis. There will be rain, snow, drought, tornadoes, and hurricanes at various locations around the world.
2. There will be violent crimes against women.
3. The President will sign bills that will make some people angry.
4. Some politicians will lose their seats in elections this year.
5. Finally, I predict, that there will be children born throughout the world on a daily basis.

So enjoy Sylvia's predictions. Just because I might be a doubting Thomas doesn't mean you can't believe. I've given her a fair chance, read her books (checked out from the library in an effort to be fair and balanced) and I'm sorry I am just not a believer

I will check back to see how I did. What are your predictions for the new year?

Oh No it's SNOW

Snow fall projections for my home hown of DC is 12-24 inches. Even Richmond might be getting 8 inches. It's been awhile since I've been thought that kind of snow storm.

Needless to say it is ironic that one of the most famous DC residents will be returning from the "Global Warming" conference to a record breakingsnow storm. Then again, all that global warming makes for lots of snow.

A state of emergency has been declared by the Virginia governor's office urging people to "prepare to be on their own for up to 72 hours." The District also issued a snow emergency that begins at 7 a.m. Saturday. All vehicles must be removed from the city's snow routes or they will be ticketed and towed.

Washington D.C.'s greatest December snowfall on record (since the late 1800s) occurred on December 17, 1932 when 12" fell. This storm has the potential to break that long-standing record. I'd place odds at 50/50.

Here are the record December snows for some other regional reporting stations:

Baltimore: 14.1", December 11-12, 1960
Richmond: 17.2", December 22-23, 1908

Police Obtain Court Order For Husband's DNA

When the police begin taking DNA samples its seldom a good sign. I believe it signifies that the police realize that this is not a case of a wife who left her husband of her own vallition.

Josh Powell, Susan's husband, is now being labeled a person of interest and police believe foul play was involved in the disappearance of a Utah mother of two

Josh maintains that he took his kids camping. It was raining, snowing, and was only 10 to 15 degrees the night he took his kids camping and that's pretty significant.

If you are a mother and your husband said, "Honey, I'd like to take the kids camping tonight. I really have a craving for some S'Mores." What Mom in her right mind would say "Sure pack up the kids and take them out at this late hour. I realize it's raining and cold outside but gosh darn the kids would sure love to do that." I'm sorry but there is just no way I can imagine a woman who loved her children would have allowed her husband to take her kids camping under those conditions.

Several sources told the Deseret News that Susan kept a notebook in her desk at work regarding the relationship she had with her husband. One source said the notebook contained detailed information about threats that were allegedly made against Susan about a year ago.

Anyone with information regarding Susan Powell's whereabouts or her disappearance is urged to call the West Valley City Police Dept. at 801-840-4000.

Al Gore Reveals All He Knows About Global Warming

Then again, maybe he doesn't. Once again he avoids inconvenient questions from Journalist and filmmaker Phelim McAleer. I would think that Al would put Phelim's "silly little questions" to rest. After all, polar bears are dying. We saw the photos, they are floating away on icebergs to their death. Then again, didn't I just read the TRUTH about those photos.

Just a little problem though. In several recent interviews the former vice president said that the Climategate emails were "sound and fury signifying nothing...the most recent one is more than 10 years old." The truth however, is that the most recent email from Climategate is less than two months old

Doesn't matter though. Al is of course the inventor of the Internet and all, so he must know just about EVERYTHING wouldn't you say? Then again, didn't his own climatologist just publicly correct him? My bad Al. Perhaps you aren't omniscient after all.

Still Al should just shut that "flat-earther" up. Answer his questions. Tell us why a scientist, any scientist would destroy data.

Oh and Al don't you worry there are people out there who have your back. That's why when they disagree with what someone says they throw things at them. Very mature don't you know. Those crazy right wing loons, why they are tossing things like pies in the faces of liberal politicians that speak on college campuses. Those scary conservatives they throw fruit at people who have a different point of view. They must be afraid of hearing the truth......Ah wait a minute. Scratch all that. I just learned that it is not conservatives who do those sort of things. Would you believe it's those intellectually curious progressives? Who would have thunk it?

The Arctic Ice Free Within Five To Seven Years

Oh my God! What will the polar bears do?

Fear not our furry little white bear friend. It appears our savior, Al Gore may be, well, way off base on this claim.

In his speech, Gore told the conference: "Some of the models suggest to Dr. [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years."

As we all know "the debate is finally over" and so Al Gore must be right, unless of course he is wrong because he is manufacturing facts. You see Dr. Maslowski, climatologist, said. "I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this."

Gore's office later admitted that the 75 percent figure was one used by Dr. Maslowski as a "ballpark figure" several years ago in a conversation with Gore.

Oh an one of those flat earther guys, Richard Lindzen, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who does not believe that global warming is largely caused by man, said: “He’s just extrapolated from 2007, when there was a big retreat, and got zero.”

Well I am shocked. After all I have never known Al to be wrong about any of his data before. After all he's very precise, not a moron like George Bush. I mean just last month he told us that the core of the earth is "several million degrees."

Again am I ignorant to the fact that we are dumping hazardous waste into the atmosphere? No. Do I feel we need to do something about that? Yes but please let's be honest about what's going on. Don't point to a pony and tell me it's an elephant.

In September of 2007, there was a 25 percent reduction to the usual minimum ice cover. In the two years since, nearly all of the ice has returned.

A study of George VI Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula is the first to show that this currently ‘healthy’ ice shelf experienced an extensive retreat about 9500 years ago, more than anything seen in recent years. The retreat coincided with a shift in ocean currents that occurred after a long period of warmth.

The only empirical fact in this that the mean planetary temperature for the last ten years is 0.4 degrees C warmer than the 150 year average. CO2 is essential for almost every life form on the planet and now I'm told that this is the reason that the world is warming. Why not say pollutant X or pollutant Y is contaminating our rivers and streams? Instead we say something essential for life is killing the earth, killig us all.

In the meantime Al Gore and GE stand to get rich on the backs of polar bears. Run polar bears run.

Utah police Are Planning A Second Interview Monday With The Husband of Missing Woman

Just yesterday I read Susan's father's Chuck Cox said, "I'm kind of concerned that all the focus is on him at the present. I mean he’s told his story - believable or not - and I don’t see him as capable of harming her,and the more time spent on him, the less time there is looking at other possibilities.”

So you might ask yourself why does the father want the focus off of Josh. Does he reallybelieve that Josh does not play a part in what happened? Does Susan's father really belive that Josh is incapable of hurting his daughter?

I believe at some level, Mr. Cox wants to believe that his daughter is OK. He wants to believe she will be coming home to those who love her. To admit to himself or even out loud that perhaps Josh is capable of hurting Susan is tantamount to believing that there is a real possibility that Josh did just that.

Hope causes us to blind ourselves to possibilities that what we want so desperately do not want to believe. My heart aches for Susan's father because I can't imagine what it would be like to lose your child. I too would love to believe that this was all a terrible misunderstanding. I think one of the most difficult thing about a missing child is that you are always waiting for the phone to ring. Unfortunately the odds against such an occurance happen hope springs eternal.

Recently the West Valley City Forensic's were at the house for two days removing a lot of objects, small and very large. Obviously they don't see this case as ending well. Notice the father still speaks of his daughter in the present tense.

Not surprisingly, husband Josh, has lawyered up. He has retained the services of attorney Scott Williams. In case his attorney's name sounds familiar it should be. His recent clients include Wanda Barzee, who has pleaded guilty in the 2002 kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart.

Many of her family members and friends were fasting, and praying for her return. I hope their prayers will be answered soon. In the meantime if you have any information on this case please contact the West Valley City Police at (801) 840-4000.

Susan Powell Is Still Missing

Friends and family of a 28-year-old mother who disappeared nearly a week ago are fasting and praying for her safe return as volunteers post thousands of fliers with her image on it. In addition they have set up a Facebook Account in hopes it will help to locate this missing mom.

About 30 detectives have been assigned to find out what happened to Susan Powell. West Valley City Police Capt. Tom McLachlan says police haven't been able to verify Josh Powell's story because snow had covered the spot along The Pony Express Trail where he said he took the children. It is the snow itself that's impeding the search for Susan Powell.

Please, if you have any information about this case contact the West Valley Police Department at 801-840-4000.

Utah Mom Mysterious Disappearance

To say the story of missing Mom, Susan Powell is suspicious is like saying Tiger Woods is experiencing some marital difficulties.

Here are the facts as I see them,

* The husband and wife are having marital difficulties. That of course in itself does not mean that something happened to Susan but it does make you wonder in light of the other facts.
* Powell failed to show up at her job at Wells Fargo Financial on Monday. Her purse, cell phone and car all were left behind at her home in West Valley City, a suburb of Salt Lake City. Again, a lawyer might argue that with her marriage in a state of disarray perhaps she just took off to get some time alone. Time to decide what she wanted to do with her life. EXCEPT no one who knows her could EVER imagine that she would leave her children behind for ANYTHING.
* Susan Powell "left items at the house that you would normally associate if you were going on a trip or going somewhere." Susan Powell's father, Chuck Cox, said his daughter's purse and cell phone were still at the home.
* Here's something interesting, Her husband, Joshua Powell, also was missing from work Monday after an alleged weekend camping trip. Isn't that interesting?
* Josh Powell told the Deseret News he returned home Monday night after the trip to Tooele County to find a front window had been broken out. He said his wife wasn't home, but he didn't notice anything odd. I know what you mean. When I come home and I see our front window broken out I often think, "Nothing Wrong Here!" Actually the police had busted in the window because family members had couldn't reach either Susan or Josh. Officers went to the Powells' home. When no one came to the door, they broke a window and went inside, fearing a case of carbon monoxide poisoning.
"When they broke the window and got in the house, they found my daughter's purse and cell phone on the bed, a wet spot on the floor dried by two fans," said Cox. "And the family was gone." Really? Fans? Wonder what's up with the fans.
* Josh had to rush out and buy a new quilt. I gues it could be a gift but it probably isn't.
* What's really odd is her husband's reaction to his wife's missing.

Watch his flat affect when speaking of the missing mother of his two children. His fake choking back the tears?

What is important is that there is a woman missing and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that something is wrong, very wrong with Josh's story.

Sadly, police say weather hampered their search of the location where the husband of a missing West Valley woman says he took the couple's young sons camping on the night she was last seen.

Susan Powell is 5 feet 4 inches, 130 pounds, with long, brown hair and blue eyes. Anyone with information about Susan Powell should call the West Valley police at 801-840-4000.

One Child ONLY - Which Child Do I Give Up?

It always goes back to when I was young doesn't it? This time let's travel back to when I was twelve. A movie came out that I would love to have the opportunity to watch again as an adult.

It was called "The Last Child" It was an ABC Movie of the Week and it was produced by none other than Aaron Spelling. It starred Michael Cole, Van Heflin, Janet Margolin

The Last Child takes place in America in 1994, a time in which a massive, chronic overpopulation crisis has resulted in the passage of Draconian laws, declaring that no couple can have more than one child, and that nobody over the age of 65 can receive any but the most superficial medical treatment. Hey wait that kind of sounds like the not to distant future.

I can still remember one of the opening scenes in which you happen to catch a glimpse of the the young mother's baby bump and that's where the trouble begins. You see the government is able to view her records to discover she had actually had a baby previously. The baby had died not too long after it was born but it had outlived the government mandated time. The obvious solution for the "problem" is to abort the baby. The rest of the movie involves the couple's attempt to flee the United States towards Canada where the laws were less harsh.

I was about eleven or twelve at the time and I remember having nightmares but my Mom assured me that this short of thing could NEVER happen.

It appears that the UN's Copenhagen conference is pondering if the "Population Bomb" may be going off and the whole world needs to adopt China's one-child policy. As a matter of fact I just discovered that Canada's national newspaper is in favor of this solution.

Sorry Mom but you might be wrong when you use the term NEVER.

The world's other species, vegetation, resources, oceans, arable land, water supplies and atmosphere are being destroyed and pushed out of existence as a result of humanity's soaring reproduction rate.

-If only one child per female was born as of now, the world's population would drop from its current 6.5 billion to 5.5 billion by 2050, according to a study done for scientific academy Vienna Institute of Demography.

-By 2075, there would be 3.43 billion humans on the planet. This would have immediate positive effects on the world's forests, other species, the oceans, atmospheric quality and living standards.

-Doing nothing, by contrast, will result in an unsustainable population of nine billion by 2050.

Note to self: I have to read the Population Bomb. I've been meaning to do that for years because it warned of the mass starvation of humans in 1970's and 1980s due to overpopulation and advocated immediate action to limit population growth. Guess the fact that global cooling didn't kill me in the eighties and I didn't die when the Population Bomb went off made me feel I had more time to get around to reading the book.

So which child do I give up? You see I have two sons and they are both fine and wonderful men. Which one should never have been born. Since I have three grandkids which two should never have been born?

Perhaps Obama needs to appoint a czar. Then again maybe such decisions will be made by the EPA because after all every child you selfish Americans have is just destroying the earth. Talk about fear mongering.

Oh and did you know that Canadian journalist Diane Francis, who suggests WE should only have ONE child is the mother of two. (How many polar bears does her extra child kill?)

Quick save the polar bears from global warming caused by over population by humans or should we save the armadillos from global cooling.

What's Going On At Tiger's House?

A woman was rushed to the hospital from Tiger Wood's house. As if ten mistresses were not enough problems at Tiger Woods home.

Firefighters responded to an emergency call at 2:36 a.m. EST. “A radio log showed an adult female was transported to Health Central Hospital. The log also showed a patient refusal and then an advanced life support patient.”

Reports say that the woman appears to have grey hair and may be in her fifties. As you know Tiger's Mom and his Mother-in-Law had both been visiting when the accident happened last week.

As I write this there is no news as to whom was rushed to the hospital but once I find out I will let you know.

-UPDATE-

The person rushed to the hospital early this morning was Tiger's Mother-in-law. She has already been released from the hospital.

In the meantime, Gatorade has dropped Tiger Woods' sports drink. Frankly I'm a bit surprised that he has been dropped by any of his sponsors but now I wonder how many more of his sponsors will follow suit.

Woods has endorsement agreements with Accenture Plc, Nike Inc., PepsiCo Inc.’s Gatorade, Tag Heuer International SA watches, Electronic Arts Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co.’s Gillette brand. Now try to wrap your head around this, he makes $10 million per year in endorsements. He was ranked as the fourth highest paid celebrity last year.

Oh and by the way, there are rumors that photos of a naked Tiger are out there. Playgirl is just waiting for authentication.

I'd still like to know more about the golf club. My other burning question, just how does one authenticate naked photos of Tiger?

Take The Bus

I feel kind of like I did when I lived in DC. I didn't have my driver's license until I was 25 years old. That's because I walked, rode a bike, took the bus or subway anywhere and everywhere I wanted to go. You see I cared about cutting back the pollution that my car might cause.

It appears that these world leaders and/or their representatives are skipping the bus. Why? Don't they care about the polar bears? Is it that their Co2 doesn't stink?

Besides loving any excuse to listen to the Beatles, I thought the video of the empty bus was very telling. Sort of like Al Gore and his private jet. Can we say sanctimonious?

In the meantime the debate lingers on. What debate you ask? I'm sorry didn't you hear the debate is over? Guess those scientists at the UN didn't get the memo. Maybe those scientists are flat earthers. Maybe they just don't care about the polar bears like we do. I mean after all if I want to prove something I ALWAYS use tricks don't you?



Has science really gotten into bed with advocacy? If it turns it back on global warming does that mean that science is in bed with big industry? I mean if I wanted to prove that there was abuse going on at Gitmo would I accept the fact that they "threw away all the data" thereby saying that the debate must now be over? Certainly no card carrying Liberal or Progressive would accept that but I wonder why using trickery, smoke, and mirrors would mean that there is no need to look at the man behind the curtain.

You see the method they were using, tree rings went OK until the sixties and then something happened. It sort of went horribly wrong for reasons that there are lots of papers on and we don't need to go into. (Wonder if any of those reasons involve global cooling)



Is there a manufactured consensus?

"THE Coming Of The New Ice Age."

Back on April 28, 1975 Newsweek did a cover issue warning us of global cooling. I can still remember reading that article and wondering if it was already too late for us all. Then just before I entered my senior year of high school The New York Times, (Aug. 14, 1976) reported "many signs that Earth may be headed for another ice age."

How could we possibly question all the "scientific facts"? Our world was heading for an ice age and humans were not only headed for destruction but were ultimately the cause of the cooling. It's a wonder I bothered graduating from high school because the world was teetering on the brink. After all according to the scientific predictions were only ten years away from self destruction. Who needs a diploma if that's the future you are looking at.

Fortunately for me I not only completed my diploma but went on to get my degree. Oh and by the way, the earth did not end. Oh it felt like it did a few times but last I checked the human race is still alive. Could it be that science was, well wrong?

OK, OK you say, those were just media people and they must have gotten their facts wrong. Actually, In 1974, the National Science Board announced: "During the last 20 to 30 years, world temperature has fallen, irregularly at first but more sharply over the last decade. Judging from the record of the past interglacial ages, the present time of high temperatures should be drawing to an end…leading into the next ice age."

“The world has been chilling sharply for about twenty years. If present trends continue, the world will be about four degrees colder for the global mean temperature in 1990, but eleven degrees colder in the year 2000. This is about twice what it would take to put us into an ice age.” • Kenneth Watt, Ecologist

“Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….” • Life Magazine, January 1970

“Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions….By the year 2000, thirty years from now, the entire world, with the exception of Western Europe, North America, and Australia, will be in famine.” • Peter Gunter, professor, North Texas State University (Notice that pesky word unanimously. Think "the debate is over")

Back then polar bears were not the harbinger of the end of times, no it was the humble armadillo. You see The Christian Science Monitor observed that armadillos were retreating south from Nebraska to escape the "global cooling" in its Aug. 27, 1974 issue.



Were the scientists just wrong? Did they manipulate the data? If we follow the money would we learn that scientists were seeking out grant money? Is the real question if you don't believe in global cooling then you are a flat earther? Are armadillos flat earthers?

But wait! Forget those pesky armadillos! Polar Bears are dying! I think this claim is the one that gets to me the most. Who doesn't love looking at those beautiful white bears, from a distance of course. If I say that I think there may be reason to question global warming does that mean I want polar bears to die?

Gore says a scientific study shows that polar bears are being killed swimming long distances to find ice that has melted away because of “global warming.” They are not. The study, by Monnett & Gleason (2005), mentioned just four dead bears. They had died in an exceptional storm, with high winds and waves in the Beaufort Sea. The amount of sea ice in the Beaufort Sea has grown over the past 30 years. A report for the World Wide Fund for Nature shows that polar bears, which are warm-blooded, have grown in numbers where temperature has increased, and have become fewer where temperature has fallen.

Polar bears evolved from brown bears 200,000 years ago, and survived the last interglacial period, when global temperature was 5 degrees Celsius warmer than the present and there was probably no Arctic ice-cap at all. The real threat to polar bears is not “global warming” but hunting. In 1940, there were just 5,000 polar bears worldwide. Now that hunting is controlled, there are 25,000

Let's do something about what's really killing polar bears, hunting. Many of us are appalled by the clubbing of seals but do you hear much about the killing of polar bears by hunters? Why not?

Yes let's save the polar bears Mr. Gore. Instead of buying carbon credits, get out there and tell people about this brutal slaughtering of polar bears.



My question is what happened to global cooling? One day it was all over the news and the next thing you know, you never heard about it. This hypothesis never had significant scientific support, but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of press reports that did not accurately reflect the scientific understanding of ice age cycles, and a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s.

Hmmm. Sounds kind of familiar doesn't it?

Two Academy Members Want Al Gore To Give Back His Oscar

This is pretty serious. Well not serious like hey our unemployment rate is ONLY 10%, not hey economy is in a free fall serious, but I'm certain it's a wee bit serious to the Man Who Would Be President, Al Gore.

In the church of Al Gore we worship at the altar of global warming and now there is even more reason to question the truth on Global Warming.

Two members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have called on the group to take back the Oscar awarded to ex-Vice President Al Gore for the documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

Imagine, an academy award for a college lecture? Maybe I could get me one of those man-lift things and film one of my high school business lectures like the one about how you can't spend money you don't have.

In the mean time the United Nations climate change will meet in Copenhagen. That's right, 16,500 people from 192 countries will fly in using private jets, consume 200,000 meals and produce an estimated 41,000 tons of carbon dioxide, roughly the same as the carbon emissions of Morocco in 2006. Think about all those polar bears.



I would think if we were at crisis level with global warming they might try Go To Meeting instead of all this jetting off to Copenhagen. They should take a page out of Al Gore's book. After all he has cancelled his trip there. Then again, maybe Al Gore cancelled his trip for other reasons.

Too bad because Al Gore stood to make some real money at the event. here's the announcement at VisitCopenhagen.com:

Have you ever shaken hands with an American vice president? If not, now is your chance. Meet Al Gore in Copenhagen during the UN Climate Change Conference in December 2009.

VIP meeting with Al Gore

This is the book, on which Al Gore will base his lecture, when he invites Copenhageners and visitors to hear him speak about what can be done to solve the serious problems of climate change.

Tickets are available in different price ranges for the event. If you want it all, you can purchase a VIP ticket, where you get a chance to shake hands with Al Gore, get a copy of Our Choice and have your picture taken with him. The VIP event costs DKK 5,999 and includes drinks and a light snack.

If you do not want to spend that much money, but still want to hear Al Gore speak about his latest book about climate challenges, you can purchase general tickets, ranging in price from DKK 199 - 1,499 depending on where in the room you want to sit. There will be large screens, so that everyone will get a good view.

How much is DKK 5,999?

Well, according to TheMoneyConverter.com, a Danish Krone is currently worth 20.22 cents.

That means 5,999 Krones is about $1,213. Nice work if you can get it.

Today's Global Warming Word Problem

Amid the Climatage Scandal in which the director of East Anglia University CRU, Phil Jones, openly admitted that the material found by hackers was genuine,I have a word problem for you to solve.

If an average European flight produces over 400 kg of greenhouse gases for every passenger, how many 400 kg adult polar bears does Al Gore kill when he flies his private plane?

The correct answer is: "It doesn't matter how many polar bears Al Gore kills. What matters is that you not question the science of "Global Warming."

If you are one of those "flat earther, global warming deniers" you might not be surprised to find out that the debate is NOT over in the Science of Gobal Warming.

Enter the current political "gate", Climategate, which involves hacked emails. I find it interesting that Sarah Palin's hacked yahoo email account brought such great interest despite not revealing anything of a criminal nature. Sarah's packer was considered a hero. Certainly we don't want the government hacking our email, but random people of a political bent out to bring down a politician, they are heroes.

Which brings us to the current hacker. Even the word hacker brings about images of a swarmy guy sitting in his mother's basement in his underwear staring vacantly at his computer screen. This time a hacker has hit the mother lode and the data he has discovered is not welcome. It makes some feel, well, uncomfortable.

Do you remember this polar bear moment with Al Gore?



Interestingly enough Al Gore was a tad bit wrong about the court's findings about his movie. On October 2, 2007 a British court found Al Gore's film, An Inconvenient Truth, to be politically biased, and it ruled teachers must warn students of that bias before showing the film.

The director of Britain’s leading Climate Research Unit, Phil Jones, has told investigative that their emails were indeed hacked and does not deny the contents of these emails. As a matter of fact Professor Phil Jones, who heads the climate research unit (CRU) at the UEA, announced that he would step down while the university launches an independent inquiry into allegations of misconduct.

This is an open admission by Jones, who thus admits fully that his system was hacked and that what was contained in the ‘leaked’ material was true! He did not attempt to deny what the contents of 1072 emails and 72 documents were about. Andrew Bolt says of this fact that is was “a scandal involving most of the most prominent scientists pushing the man-made warming theory – a scandal that is one of the greatest in modern science.”

Some of the proxy measurements include tree rings and satellite data. In particular tree rings of one tree were preferred over those of a larger section of rings from a tree that did not manage to support the pro-warming findings! There are a number of problems with using satellite measurements, too – such as each full sweep of the earth is accompanied by a degeneration in the satellite’s orbital height! There are other problems.

Jones sent an email (Nov 1999) to Mann et al, saying:

“Once Tim’s got a diagram here we’ll send that either later today or first thing tomorrow. I’ve just completed Mike’s (Ed. Michael Mann) trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years… and from 1961 for Keith’s to hide the decline…”

Another tree-ring scientist, Gary Funkhouser, in an email to ‘Keith’, thought it was funny how he managed to deceive by fiddling data: “I pulled every trick out of my sleeve trying to milk something out of that” and “I don’t think it would be productive to try and juggle the chronology statistics any more than I already have.”

Phil Jones, in another email, admits that money drives his agenda. He said:

“If anything, I would like to see the climate change happen, so the science could be proved right, regardless of the consequences. This isn’t being political, it is being selfish.”

Sounds a bit like fuzzy math to me.

Now am I denying that our earth has been polluted, that our lakes, streams, rivers, and oceans have had dangerous chemicals dumped into them? NO and something needs to be done about that. Am I saying that it's OK to keep throwing out pollutants into our atmosphere? Again the answer is a resounding NO. However, do I think Carbon Credits is going to be the answer? ABSOLUTELY NOT.

What people who demand that we go after greedy, evil corporations by taxing them forget is that corporations PASS THESE taxes on in HIGHER prices to you the consumer. Obama knows that. He's honest about it.



This must be serious because even Jon Steward is talking about it. Jon must be one of those crazy, backward, flat-earther, global warming deniers.



I am for nuclear energy. It's a cleaner source of power. I am for hydro-energy. I think that these venues can and should be explored.

What I'd like to know is what do you think the answer to the pollution problem? Does the news of these recently released emails and the manipulation of the data give you cause to doubt global warming?

Is Maurice Clemmons Mike Huckabee's Willie Horton

Let's begin by clarifying I am NOT Sylvia Browne, but then again is she really psychic?



For all I know Obama will be re-elected and maybe the Republicans will just sit this one out. Then again, with Obama's popularity polls dropping, perhaps the Republicans do have a dog in this game. The question is, just who will the Republicans run against Mr. Charisma? The Democrats have their new JFK their Super-Star. Who then can the Republicans run against him in 2012 and expect to win? Let's face it, they have to have someone with charisma or they will be in the same situation they were when Bob Dole ran against Bill Clinton.

The Republicans expect to win? Wait a minute, isn't Obama the darling of the media? Isn't he Hope and Change? Oh and don't forget the number of disenfranchised Republicans who feel their party has used them, abused them, and left them in the dust. They had voted for a party of smaller government and watched government and spending grow at a frightening rate.

Even as I sit here right now, I know that there are some on the left who are extremely upset at Obama's plans to double down in Afghanistan. These people voted for Obama on his promise to get us out of the war, close down Guantanamo in one year. Others on the left are upset about the new health care legislation because it doesn't include a public option. Even Michael Moore, one of Obama's biggest supporters is upset.



What could, and I say could be a death blow to his Presidency could actually be the economy. While I realize that unemployment is a lagging indicator I think some people are putting too much faith on the artificial upticks in consumer spending. I say this because the government manipulated these numbers by making government money available towards this end. When the money dried up the uptick stagnated.

What could really hurt him would be a double dip recession, not to mention runaway inflation. People will stop asking who started the recession and ask "Why didn't you stop it?"



So does that mean that I think that 2012 will be a cake walk in 2012? No! Not by any means. Just who would the Republicans run for office? Sarah Palin? I doubt it. The media has done everything they can to make her a joke. Oh sure we could find quotes that she made that sure don't help her case. Believe it or not it's not too difficult to find such quotes from EVERY politician and with google they can easily be found.

Well what about Mike Huckabee. After all he has his own show now. He's doing everything possible to seem approachable including a bus tour and a book about Christmas.

"What about MIKE?" my father-in-law asks.

"Dave," I say, "don't you realize that he's a fundamentalist Christian? He talks openly and often about his faith. He will be branded by the media as a flat earther who hates women. I don't believe he will ever get the nomination." I said that wondering for the millionth time what's wrong with being Christian and why is it OK for Barack Obama to say he is Christian and he is not painted with the same brush. No I just didn't see Huckabee as being the Republican Superstar.

Then came this awful shooting in Washington. What does this have to do with Mike Huckabee? The ex-governor issued an unusually high number of paroles and commutations during his time in office, a practice that became an issue in the 2008 race.

Huckabee said he granted Clemmons' clemency request -- one of 1,200 that crossed his desk annually -- because of Clemmons' young age at the time of his conviction and the severity of his sentence. He said prosecutors never contacted him, though they did lodge a protest with the state parole board.

I truly believe that Maurice Clemmons is the final nail in Huckabees Presidential aspirations. Don't believe it think about what happened to Michael Dukakis when this Willie Horton Ad was run.



This ad drove home the point that Dukakis was soft on crime.

How then do you believe voters will perceive a man who not only granted Clemmons clemency but also granted it to DuMond, who claimed he was born again in prison. Huckabee never formally pardoned the convicted rapist, but met privately with the parole board. Shortly afterward, the board voted to free Wayne DuMond, 25 years before his sentence was to expire.

DuMond moved to Missouri and, two years after his release, was convicted of raping and murdering a 39-year-old woman. He died in prison as prosecutors were preparing to charge him with the rape and murder of another woman as well.

So do the Republicans have a rock star to go toe to toe with Obama right now? The Magic Eight Ball says no or at least not Mike Huckabee.