December 31, 2011

A Great Quote from a Great Lady..

Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.

-Eleanor Roosevelt-

December 30, 2011

U.S gas and diesel exports, exceed imports...(about refined products, not oil)

NPR
by Jeff Brady


http://www.npr.org/2011/12/29/144155269/gas-pains-u-s-diesel-gas-exports-surpass-imports

For the first time in more than six decades, the United States is exporting more gasoline and diesel than it imports.

To be clear, we're talking about finished petroleum products, not crude oil. The U.S. still imports about half the crude it consumes.

Refineries are touting this new export statistic — after all, gasoline and diesel are manufactured products. They say a boost in exports keeps more manufacturing jobs in the U.S. But one reason exports are increasing is that demand for gas in this country is declining.

People like Rachel Ezekiel-Fishbein of Elkins Park, Pa., are choosing to drive more efficient cars and consuming less gas. She stopped driving a Honda Odyssey minivan that gets about 14 miles per gallon in the city. Now, she drives a red Prius hybrid that's getting about 40 mpg.

In the process, Ezekiel-Fishbein is saving more than $2,000 a year and buying 700 fewer gallons of gasoline. And she's not alone. Department of Energy statistics show Americans are using less gasoline these days. Consumption peaked in 2007 and has been declining since.
_______________________________________________________________________________________

We are driving less, and using less gasoline. This is a good thing in my opinion.

December 30, 2011

A joke about driving too slow #10

Sitting on the side of the highway waiting to catch speeding drivers, a state
police officer sees a car puttering along at 22 mph. He thinks to himself, "This
driver is just as dangerous as a speeder!" So he turns on his lights and pulls
the driver over.

Approaching the car, he notices that there are five little old ladies-two in the front seat and three in the back-wide eyed and white as ghosts. The driver, obviously confused, says to him, "Officer, I don't understand. I was doing exactly the speed limit! What seems to be the problem?" "Ma'am," the officer replies, "you weren't speeding, but you should know that
driving slower than the speed limit can also be a
danger to other drivers"

"Slower than the speed limit? No sir! I was doing the speed limit exactly twenty-two miles an hour!" the old woman says quite proudly. The state police officer, trying to contain a chuckle, explains to her that "22" was the route number, not the speed limit. A bit embarrassed, the woman grinned sheepishly and thanked the officer for pointing out her error. "But before I let you go, ma'am, I have to ask...is everyone in this car OK? These women seem awfully shaken, and they haven't muttered a single peep this whole time," the officer says with concern.

"Oh, they'll be all right in a minute, Officer. We just got off Route 119."

December 30, 2011

K and R...for those that want an incredible read... "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"

Dee Brown
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

New York
Holt Reinhart Winston
Publication date

1970

Media type

Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages

487
ISBN

0030853222
OCLC Number

110210
Dewey Decimal

970.5
LC Classification

E81 .B75 1971


___________________________________________________________________________________

The truth is I couldn't finish reading it..
.I got to the events at "Sand Creek" and couldn't take any more..
I should add this, I am embarrassed too....but it was 25 years ago....

I assigned this to students to read, (in a high school) and put together a list ot 50 questions on the first 300 pages..up to Sand Creek, then
I faild to list more questions from the last part of the book..Oh well, at least I assigned the book..

December 30, 2011

10 Most Dangerous Prescription drugs in America ..

Alter Net

from:
The Fix/Kevin Gray

http://www.alternet.org/story/153576/the_10_most_dangerous_meds_driving_america%27s_pill_crisis?akid=8073.37525.zmi2LV&rd=1&t=5

For the first time in nearly a century, automobile accidents are no longer the nation’s leading cause of accidental deaths, according to a major report released Tuesday by the National Center for Health Statistics. The new number one killer is drugs—not smack, crystal meth or any other stepped-on menace sold in urban alleyways or trailer parks, but bright, shiny pills prescribed by doctors, approved by the government, manufactured by pharmaceutical companies and sold to the consumer as “medicine.” Yet of the billions of legit pills Americans pop every year for medical conditions serious and otherwise, the vast majority of lives are claimed by only a select few classes—painkillers, sedatives and stimulants—that all share a common characteristic: they promote abuse, dependence and addiction.

This list of brand name and generic drugs was compiled from the Drug Abuse Warning Network's (DAWN's) database of emergency room visits in 2009, including drug poisonings that lead to both deaths and survivals.

1. Xanax (alprazolam) 112,552 (benzodiazepine class)

2. OxyContin (and other oxycodone drugs) 105,214 (opiate class)

3. Vicodin (and other hydrocodone drugs) 86,258 (opiate class)

4. Methadone 63,031 (opiate class)

5. Klonopin (clonazepam) 57,633 (benzodiazepine class)

6. Ativan (lorazepam) 36,582 (benzodiazepine class)

7. Morphine drugs 31,731 (opiate class)

8. Seroquel (quetiapine) 29,436 (antipsychotic class)

9. Ambien (zolpidem) 29,127 (sedative class)

10. Valium (diazepam) 25,150 (benzodiazepine)

December 30, 2011

They are here...from the Heritage Foundation and Cato... ..What do you think?

They are here..hard to believe, but I think they come here to study us, so they can attack us better.
They read the best of our ideas, and formulate their attacks based on some of what we say?

I believe it is true. No, I am not a conspiracy nut..

Why? it is a cheap, easy, efficient, way of finding out what the opponents think?

What do you think ?

December 30, 2011

Fox Apologizes to Jews for Jesus Facebook Poll..(in Argentina)

Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/29/fox-apologizes-to-jews-jesus-facebook-poll_n_1175267.html

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Fox Latin America has apologized for a poll on whether Jews killed Jesus Christ that one of its staffers put on a Facebook page promoting the National Geographic Channel's Christmas special.

The poll asked readers who they think is responsible for the death of Christ: Pontius Pilate, The Jewish People or the High Priests.

The Simon Weisenthal Center in Buenos Aires calls it a defamatory reference to Vatican propaganda that "resulted in the persecution and murder of Jews for two millennia."

The Jewish group says it's outraged that Fox would perpetuate an idea that the Vatican annulled back in 1965.

December 30, 2011

NYT Editorial: Justice and Prosecutorial Misconduct

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/opinion/justice-and-prosecutorial-misconduct.html?_r=1&hp

Justice and Prosecutorial Misconduct


Published: December 28, 2011

Michael Morton was exonerated by DNA evidence this month after being wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife and serving nearly 25 years in prison in Texas. In seeking to prove Mr. Morton’s innocence, his lawyers found in recently unsealed court records evidence that the prosecutor in the original trial, Ken Anderson, had withheld critical evidence that may have helped Mr. Morton.


The judge reviewing the case allowed Mr. Morton’s lawyers, including those from the Innocence Project, which represents prisoners seeking exoneration through DNA evidence, to gather facts about the prosecutor’s conduct. The Innocence Project’s report makes a compelling case that Mr. Anderson, now a state judge, disobeyed “a direct order from the trial court to produce the exculpatory police reports from the lead investigator” in the case

Mr. Morton’s lawyers have asked that the judge recommend a “court of inquiry” to investigate whether Mr. Anderson violated the law and should be charged in a criminal proceeding. While this process is an urgent matter for Mr. Morton, it is also a test of American justice — whether a prosecutor who flouts his duty under the Constitution to disclose crucial evidence to a defendant is subject to any meaningful sanction.

December 29, 2011

From somewhere on the internet...maybe here..Do You Remember When???

Remember when teachers unions, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR, PBS. and OWS ..
crashed the stock market, ruined home values, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in bonuses, formed a coalition to invade Iraq, and paid no taxes?

Yeah... I can't remember that. Can You??"

no, don't remember who said it...pass it on...

December 29, 2011

A Joke about Tom's scrotum....an old one..#9

And it was at the church that this happened...


The pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express praise for answered prayers. Suzie Smith stood and walked to the podium. She said, "I have a praise. Two months ago, my husband, Tom, had a terrible bicycle wreck and his scrotum was completely crushed. The pain was excruciating and the doctors didn't know if they could help him." You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagine the pain that poor Tom must have experienced. "Tom was unable to hold me or the children," she went on, "and every move caused him terrible pain." We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and it turned out they were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Tom's scrotum, and wrap wire around it to hold it in place." Again, the men in the congregation cringed and squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Tom. "Now," she announced in a quivering voice, "thank the Lord, Tom is out of the hospital and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should recover completely." All the men sighed with unified relief. The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say.

A man stood up and walked slowly to the podium.

He said, "I'm Tom Smith." The entire congregation held its breath. "I just want to tell my wife the word is sternum, not scrotum ."