Veterans. Nelson Mandela. GMO Ban. WebMD Pockets Millions. Vit D, Not Flu Shot! Coal Ash Disaster. Heirloom Seeds. Pearl Harbor. Pet Dental Care.

 

For "Summary Saturday", or News, Some Old, Some New:

 

On the anniversary of Pearl Harbor: 

They Stood Up for Us – Now Stand Up for Veterans.

 

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      ·  Learn About The Veterans Site
      ·  Send a Free E-Card!

 

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Lone Marine has been doing this since 2002, even with a broken wrist.

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Nelson Mandela - Man of Peace, by Darris McNeely

Source: Flickr/sagoodnews.co.za

"Nelson Mandela was a rare man. He managed to hold together conflicting forces and forge a workable nation at a time when most thought open civil war would break out. For that singular feat he should be remembered with respect.

I did not know much about Mandela when he was released from a South African prison in 1990. What I did know was biased and ill-informed. An imprisoned black man in far off South Africa was little noticed by most. Though the world had begun to focus on the despicable apartheid policies and was bringing pressure on the minority white government to end this system forever, still, Mandela and his country was far away.

Then, in 2000, I traveled to South Africa and heard a comment that made me take notice about Nelson Mandela. I visited a white farmer in Kwa-Zulu Natal who had large holdings of tea and sugar cane. He employed many black workers and managed to survive and thrive within the changing cultural and economic landscape.

Once he told me he even narrowly avoided a planned ambush by extremists, laid specifically for him. “If not for Mandela”, he said, “we (whites) would have all been killed in 1994 when majority rule came. Mandela held back the anger that wanted to bring the country to riots and chaos”. That made me think deeply about what one man’s actions can do prevent violence and division.

Mandela had spent his years in prison thinking deeply about his enemy. He learned the difficult Afrikaans language. He studied the ways of the unique Anglo-Dutch culture. When he was released he had come to point where he realized reconciliation was a better path forward than continued resentment that would lead to anarchy for his people. Mandela chose cooperation. He enters history as a man who changed and worked to bring together diverse people divided by race, language and culture. His example is frankly a classic study in reconciliation. All of us would do well to study Mandela’s life and example.

Christ said, ‘blessed are the peacemakers”. May God bless the efforts of any who work for peace between all men."  From:  http://www.ucg.org/blog/nelson-mandela-man-peace/

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Hawaii's GMO Ban Is Now Official! Mayor Kenoi Signs Bill 113

 

"Mayor Billy Kenoi signed Bill 113 into law on Thursday, Dec. 6th, prohibiting biotech companies from operating on the Big Island and banning farmers from growing any new genetically altered crops." Learn More

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WebMD Pockets Millions to Stimulate $1 Trillion in Drug Sales

"WebMD has received a $4.8 million government contract to educate doctors about the Affordable Care Act. Lack of transparency has raised questions about potential conflicts of interest.

WebMD has positioned itself as a primary source of independent and science-backed health information yet is financially dependent on pharmaceutical companies, and now the US government.

In 2010, WebMD was found to have created a depression screening test in which 100 percent of quiz-takers ended up having a “high likelihood of major depression,” and were asked to discuss available drug treatment.

Global expenditure for prescription drugs is estimated to hit $1 trillion next year, and as high as $1.2 trillion in 2017.

The main driver of increased drug sales is increased access to medical care across the world. In the US, the Affordable Care Act will likely lead to major spending increases."  More at: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/12/04/webmd-obamacare.aspx

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Take vitamin D3 Not the flu Shot!

"Research into vitamin d3 health benefits. Do not get a flu shot EVER!"

Vitamin D is better than ANY vaccine and increases the immune system

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No EPA Progress on Anniversary of Coal Ash Disaster

Unregulated danger lurks in more than 1,400 coal ash sites.

The massive coal ash spill in Tennessee in 2008. (TVA)

"It was early October, but the trees were still a vibrant green. Fall had not yet arrived and winter was still a distant concern in Kingston, TN. Fishing boats and jet skis were tied to docks along the Clinch River, and even though it was a Thursday morning it was obvious that folks in this small community were already gearing up for weekend fun.

This was the scene a few weeks ago when I arrived in Kingston with a group of about 40 journalists and activists to tour the ongoing cleanup of one of the biggest environmental disasters in our nation’s history.

Five years before at 1 a.m., Dec. 22, 2008, as the town slept, a coal ash dumpsite at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston power plant burst through a poorly constructed levee, releasing more than a billion gallons of toxic waste onto the sleeping town. A rumbling flood of contaminated waste rushed nearly six miles downstream. Donna Lisenby, of Waterkeeper Alliance, canoed down the rivers among giant “ashbergs,” 12-foot tall mounds of wet coal ash, as she tested waters shortly after the disaster.

The Kingston coal ash spill. (TVA)

Miraculously, no one was injured. But two dozen houses were damaged or destroyed and more than 300 acres of shoreline and rivers were polluted. The plant operators have been cleaning up the mess ever since and are nearing completion. The disaster catapulted coal ash to the front pages. People asked,“What is coal ash?” and the answer was not pretty. The ash remaining from burning coal at power plants is often full of toxic metals like arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium and more.

The event sparked a national effort to establish the first ever federal safeguards for coal ash, which is dumped at more than 1,400 sites across the country. But five years later there still are no federal protections. Despite the size and severity of the Kingston spill, the EPA has continued to drag its feet. Polluters have seized on the delay, turning to their supporters in Congress to repeatedly introduce legislation that would prohibit the EPA from ever setting federal regulations for coal ash."  More at: http://earthjustice.org/blog/2013-november/no-epa-progress-on-anniversary-of-coal-ash-disaster

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Why it Matters to Buy Heirloom Plants and Seeds

"The loss of genetic seed diversity facing us today may lead to a catastrophe far beyond our imagining. The Irish potato famine, which led to the death or displacement of two and a half million people in the 1840s, is an example of what can happen when farmers rely on only a few plant species as crop cornerstones.

One blight wiped out the single potato type that came from deep in the Andes mountains; it did not have the necessary resistance. If the Irish had planted different varieties of potatoes, one type would have most likely resisted the blight.

We can help save heirloom seeds by learning how to buy and save these genetically diverse jewels ourselves.

ABOUT SEEDS
One kind of seed, called First generation hybrids (F1 hybrids), have been hand-pollinated, and are patented, often sterile, genetically identical within food types, and sold from multinational seed companies.

A second kind of seeds are genetically engineered. Bioengineered seeds are fast contaminating the global seed supply on a wholesale level, and threatening the purity of seeds everywhere. The DNA of the plant has been changed. A cold water fish gene could be spliced into a tomato to make the plant more resistant to frost, for example.

A third kind of seeds are called heirloom or open-pollinated, genetically diverse jewels that have been passed on from generation to generation.  With heirloom seeds there are 10,000 varieties of apples, compared to the very few F1 hybrid apple types.

The Mayan word “gene” means “spiral of life.” The genes in heirloom seeds give life to our future. Unless the 100 million backyard gardeners and organic farmers keep these seeds alive, they will disappear altogether. This is truly an instance where one person–a lone gardener in a backyard vegetable garden–can potentially make all the difference in the world.

Here are two sources for finding heirloom seeds from seed saving organizations. These organizations represent a movement of several thousand backyard gardeners who are searching the countryside for endangered vegetables, fruits and grains."  More at: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/why-buy-heirloom-plants-seeds.html

10 Best Heirloom Seed Companies as Selected By Readers:

http://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/10-best-seed-companies-selected-by-readers.html

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On This Day

Pearl Harbor bombed, Dec 7, 1941:

"At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, a Japanese dive bomber bearing the red symbol of the Rising Sun of Japan on its wings appears out of the clouds above the island of Oahu. A swarm of 360 Japanese warplanes followed, descending on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in a ferocious assault. The surprise attack struck a critical blow against the U.S. Pacific fleet and drew the United States irrevocably into World War II.

The day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, President Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress and declared, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941--a date which will live in infamy--the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."

Three days later, Germany and Italy declared war against the United States, and the U.S. government responded in kind.

The American contribution to the successful Allied war effort spanned four long years and cost more than 400,000 American lives."

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Yesterday:

If you read yesterday's post, you know that I was up really early with one of my doggie boarders, Punkie.  She is old, (though two years younger than Misty), and arrived in terrible condition.  She is just a skeleton of her former self.  I fed her small amounts of canned Wellness every few hours, and I drove into town to buy her some electrolyte liquid and NutriCal.  So far she is holding her own, but is very confused and disorientated.  I hope I can keep her going till her Mom gets home, though if she were mine, I would have her PTS.

I have a theory after all my 70 years of animal care, that it is Punkie's rotten teeth which are making her so sick.  If dogs don't get proper dental care and teeth cleaning at a vet, their teeth get very bad and infected.  That was what was wrong with my Misty, who was so sick and skinny when I got her.  The infection in her teeth had spread to her sinuses, and then it goes into the brain.  We had all of Misty's bad teeth out before it got to her brain, had her on antibiotics for the infected sinuses, so she got better.  It is too late for Punkie, I think the infection is already in her brain.

It was cold, in the low 30's-40s, so I had to put coats on all 6 dogs before we could go out.  It was really cold and windy in the back yard on the north side of my house.  All day, the USA and TX flags across the street were flying so hard that they nearly bent the pole.

Tending to old Punkie, and the other dogs and cats took up most of my day.