Who is in Charge if an Avian Flu Epidemic Hits the USA?

Jerome M. Hauer used to be the Ass't Sec. for Public Health Emergency Preparedness. He developed the country's first bioterrorism response plans while serving as Director of Emergency Management for New York City. He graduated from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and is now director of the Response to Emergencies and Disasters Institute at The George Washington University.

Who is in charge now? Why a Mr. Stewart Simonson, a lawyer, not a medical expert. Simonson is a crony of HHS Sec. Tommy Thompson and was his legal counsel when Tommy was governor of Wisconsin. Let's hope he is more capable than 'Heck of a job' Brownie. BTW, avian flu has killed 50% of the people in China that have been diagnosed with avian flu infection. Recently, Spanish flu, which killed millions in the early 1900's, has been identified as an avian flu strain. Wish ourselves luck.

Duped Pro-Lifers

Have pro-life voters been duped yet again? Republican, conservative, Christian fundie voters have spent the last 40 years doing anything that needed to be done to gain control of the federal government. They only wanted one thing: a supreme court that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Five years ago they finally got their wish - W. Bush was elected along with right wing majorities in both houses of congress. These voters were willing to support George W. through thick and thin. Lies, war, run amok government growth, out of control spending, torture, spit on the bill of rights, cronyism, swift boat veterans...you name it, the pro-lifers were willing to support it or look the other way. So how are they repaid? Harriet Miers nominated by 'W' for a supreme court judge slot. Now they are howling and who can blame them? They are finally getting what 'W' has been giving the opposition for 5 years. Republicans have been getting the support of pro-lifers for years and years. How much longer will they continue to fall for the lie that Republicans want to overturn Roe v Wade?

Now remember a few weeks ago when Roberts was being questioned by the Senate? Republicans were saying, hey...the President deserves to appoint who he wants without a lot of in depth questioning by the opposition. I won't even debate whether they had a point or not. But now, with a new candidate for Supreme Court Justice, the Republicans are saying...what to hell? Where did 'W' find this unqualified person? We are going to have to question her VERY closely and she better answer every question! Ah these are amusing times.

Harriet Miers for Supreme Court?

She says George W. Bush is the 'most brilliant man she has ever met'. Does she only hang around idiots? I'm really not sure what to make of that statement. Supposedly, in a White House where everyone kisses 'W's ass, she takes it to the whole next level of zeal. Oh yeah, she is also the person who investigated Bush's National Guard record and determined that he saved the free world from Communism.

Climbing Cascade Mt - In Retrospect Not a Great Idea

Saturday we climbed Cascade Mt. The trail is about 2.7 miles long and a climb of about 2000 ft in elevation. The trail is extremely eroded and basically strewn with 1-2 ft size boulders that you have to step on or around. Because of the condition of the trail the climb back down also took 3 hrs. I've posted a few pictures.



Here is the mountain from the 'bottom' which starts at about 2000 ft. Notice all the cars. I'd guess well over 100 people made the climb that day.



Here is one view from the top looking down on Rt. 73. Unfortunately, you cannot see the two cascade lakes which are hidden by the forest. The top of the mountain is bare, bald rock; very windy; and quite chilly.



Whiteface Mt from the top of Cascade Mt. See the ski trails and the 'castle' on top.



A view more to the West North West. If you know where to look you can see part of the Olympic Bobsled and Luge run.

Friday Instrument Blogging - A DIVA?

Need to book weeks in advance to use. Must admit to liking Neil Diamond to use this instrument.

Kodak Sports Park - aerial ski launching ramps

This is part of the McKenzie-Intervale Ski Jumping complex, also known as Kodak Sports Park. The ramps are called 'kickers' and the jumpers use these to train themselves to do tricky aerial moves. They land in a 750,000 gallon heated pool that has an aeration system to make the landings softer. You can see the bubbles coming up in the picture. That happens just before the jumper takes off.

John Brown - Freedom Fighter or Terrorist?

Visited John Brown's farm with some tourist friends. Later we up the top of the 120 meter ski jump. This is a picture of the Brown farm taken on the elevator ride up the jump tower. In the very center (big tree) is where John Brown's body lies a mouldering along with several of his sons and supporters. The farm house is just to the right of the grave yard and the barn is in the background. Brown purchased several hundred acres here for ex-slaves to farm. The farming wasn't too good, only potatoes would grow. Oddly enough, Cornell Cooperative Extension has a huge seed potato field and research facilities adjacent to the Brown property. Want to know more about John Brown? Look it up for yourselves.

The Lovely Slum of Kibera

Julia, and another student, Suzi are on their urban homestay for the next two weeks. They are staying with Esther and George and their two large german shepherd guard dogs in a Nairobi suburb. They visited Kibera for their health class. 800,000 people on 600 acres. No water, no sewage, no electricity, no government.

Julia's Excellent Adventure in Tanzania

My daughter Julia just returned to Kenya after a two week stay in Tanzania. I want to relate some of her adventures. She spent a couple days living with the Hadza people. Ok, what follows, in italics, I stole from the internet.

The Hadza still live in bands, hunting with bows and arrows, gathering roots, tubers and wild fruits, as man lived 10,000 years ago. About thirty years ago, the Tanzanian government tried to change the lifestyle of the last remaining bands of bushmen who inhabited the inhospitable region of the Lake Eyasi basin. They forced the bushmen to settle down, gave them livestock, grain and tools, and left them to cultivate the land. The settling program was a failure as the Hadza, who had always been hunters, lacked the knowledge or inclination to be successful at agriculture. Once the livestock and grain were gone, they returned to the bush, and regained their primitive status as free people.
Today they are still there, although fighting a losing battle against the progress that will eventually force the extinction of a life style which has been almost unchanged since the Paleolithic. The Hadza speak a click-language, they don't have chiefs, houses, or a political system, and they roam the land in small bands with little sense of tribe. Bali may be a dialect. They hunt baboons, gazelles, and dik diks (small antelope-like creatures) which are still available today. They share their land with another remarkable tribe, the Barabaig or Datoga. They are located quite a distance northwest of the Sandawe, southeast of Lake Victoria, Singida, Arusha, and Shinyanga regions, in the Lake Eyasi region. However, pressures from outside are resulting in less land, food and more disease. They are quite possibly the last hunter gatherers.

Julia and some of her classmates went out hunting with a couple of Hadza guides. They spent about 2 hrs trekking through the savannah without finding anything to shoot. So the Hadza decided they should look for honey. They followed a bird to a tree that was filled with honeycomb. They (the Hadza I presume) built a fire using a stick and their hands. They smoked the bees out of the tree and scooped out handfuls of honeycomb to munch on. Afterwards they proceeded to hunt some more. However, the Hadza guides had the girls stay put on some rocks while they went off alone. As Julia related to me "....they went scampering around and then they got really excited and we heard the snap of a bow, and then they yelled for us to come to them (oh by the way they only spoke Swahili, so we had minimal communication with them), when we rounded the corner coming down from the rocks we saw a huge porcupine dead and a little baby that was also dead, the Hadza were psyched. Then they found another baby porcupine alive and took that too. They built a fire and butchered the porcupine, with our help of course, well we were kind of minimal help, but we pulled some quills out of it and then each took a turn using a wooden stick to beat some quills off of the mother porcupine. Then the Hadza gave us each a taste of porcupine which was pretty gross..."

What a girl!

I'm A Socialist - Who Would Have Guessed It?

You are a Social Liberal (65% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (16% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid

Friday Scientific Instrument Blogging

I'm pretty sure no one else has a Friday scientific instrument blog, so here goes the first (I hope). See if you can identify them. I'll start with an easy one.

Facism Anyone?

1.) Powerful and Continuing Nationalism (sorta like the kind we have now?)

2.) Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights (like removing sanctions from Saudi Arabi concerning the sex slave trafficing)

3.) Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause (look over there! a gay muslim!)

4.) Supremacy of the Military (the only role for government is the military)

5.) Rampant Sexism (gay marriage will result in the end of the world)

6.) Controlled Mass Media (the liberal mass media that is)

7.) Obsession with National Security (as long as it doesn't cover natural disasters and helping poor people)

8.) Religion and Government are Intertwined (ok, as long it is a Christian G_d)

9.) Corporate Power is Protected (will Bill Frist go to jail over selling stock with insider info?)

10.) Labor Power is Suppressed (well if we pay laborers in NO the prevailing wage, won't it cost lot's more than $200 billion?)

11.) Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts ((art-smart), no one was ever saved by a painting, and we all know intellectuals are commies. Give me a dumb, plain speakin feller like 'W')

12.) Obsession with Crime and Punishment (the death penalty is too good for most criminals, we should kill them, re-animate them and then kill them again. That would be the super-duper death penalty)

13.) Rampant Cronyism and Corruption (this really is ok as long as I am the crony)

14. Fraudulent Elections (look, Bush won and has a mandate, get over it)

Just remember, the world changed on Sept 11th

Geese Flying South

Yesterday morning I saw the first small group of geese heading South. This morning I heard a much larger group but could not spot them. Their honking scared my rabbit though and he started with the stomping with his hind feet. It is an amazingly loud sound sometimes accompanied with a small noise from his mouth. Last evening bunny caught the notice of a chipmunk. For whatever reason, chipmunk-brain decided to investigate. He ignored me, came right up onto the porch and was within two feet of bunny-brain before I decided to scoot the munker away. I'm not sure if Javier even noticed him, but if he did it didn't seem to concern him much. More in the life of a rabbit and his owner in the near future.

Friday Rabbit Bloggin

Do you think Friday rabbit blogging could ever catch on?

If the Shoe Fits....

Comment from foreign government (and a strong ally at that):

Katrina revealed a hollowed superpower . . . a country that is not a country at all, but atomised, segmented individuals living parallel lives as far apart as possible

George Bush the uniter

Have We Finally Figured It Out?

More people than not, hopefully, now realize that G. W. Bush is incompetent. Bush's idea of government simply does not work. He is a self-indulgent, detached person who is reported to yell at his minions if they bring him bad news. It is becoming obvious that this administration lied when it said that it could protect us better than a Democratic administration. The man is simply not in touch with average Americans. Proposing to privatize social security has proven that. He believes we have a wonderful economy. Prove that to an everday working stiff. Four million people have slipped into poverty on his watch. He has given 2.2 trillion dollars in tax cuts and is asking for more cuts. The Federal budget is a mess! 200 billion dollars thus far on Iraq (at least), 530 billion dollar medicare drug bill that specifically does not allow price negotiation with drug companies, a 286 billion dollar, pork filled, transportation bill, 14.5 billion energy bill that he proudly admits will do nothing to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. What will the next 3 years bring? Will moderate Republicans finally have the guts to stand up to this man who I sincerely believe is destroying the USA? Are you finally waking up? If we are still fooled by this man, I guess we deserve it.



Funny photoshopped picture of 'W', but it really says it all.

Tanzania

Julia leaves for two weeks in Tanzania tomorrow. They will 'hang' out in Arusha for 3 days before heading out on safari for 10 days. Arusha is a town in the northeastern Tanzania (commonly known as the little Geneva of Tanzania) is nestled in the shadow of Mount Meru with commanding views of the roof of Africa, the mighty Kilimanjaro mountain. Arusha is visited by thousands of tourists every year as it happens to be the gateway to the famous northern safari circuit proud of its unique world-renowned national parks. One third of Tanzania is a National Park including the great Serengeti plain and Mt. Kilimanjaro.





Can't wait to see the pictures Julia takes because she is an awesome photographer.

Just received an email from my daughter Julia. She is spending the semester in Kenya. They just got back to Karen after climbing Mt. Longonot. It's an extinct volcano that is part of the Rift Valley. Julia walked all around the crater. On the walk back down the Mt. their driver Njuo had to guide the students past a troop of baboons. A couple picts of the Mt. I found on the internet.





Julia is having a great time in spite of having to spend last Sat. night in the Nairob i hospital. The results of her rural homestay. She loved the experience of the rural homestay however.

Chapel Island and Autumn Leaves

Went to visit some visiting cousins last Sunday. They were vacationing on Upper Saranac Lake in one of the buildings of the old Sekon Lodge that was sold off several decades ago. Pictured is Chapel Island and if you look very carefully you will see a group of people standing around a cross outside the church. It's non-denominational and you show up on shore at a certain time to catch the boat out to the island for the service.


Yes the leaves are beginning to change. Not surprising given the shorter days. However, this tree in my yard always is a week or two ahead of all the others. Nevertheless, in about 4 weeks we will be at the height of 'leaf peeping' season.

Illegal Burning

This is for my friend Brandon so he will have the goods on me just like I have on him. Notice I also believe in using chemicals on my lawn!





This hastily constructed firepit is left over from my daughters 21st B'day/Going away to Africa party with about 20 of her college friends. I'm now putting it to better use.