David Drake

"Home Decor, Trophy mounts are showing up in more homes, even those of nonhunters"

Long confined to log cabins and lodges, stuffed animals - or mounts as taxidermists call them - are an increasingly popular decorating accessory. Taxidermy shops in New York say more pieces are going to nonhunters with deer heads fetching $450 and zebras $25,000.

[...]

[Tom Ball displays seven white-tailed deer he shot and preserved himself]. Ball displayed them in his family room but moved the mounts to his basement because he is selling his house. Not everyone prefers to see dead animals displayed on a family room wall, but that, too, is changing.

"Done right, it really is a form of art," he said.

Animal rights activists, notable People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, disagree, frowning on using mounted animals for decoration.

"In the cities where department stores sell these macabre adornments, it can be all too easy to forget these were living, feeling beings, "PETA said in a statement.

PETA's concerns may be white noise to the legions of nonhunters who have embraced a decorating trend dubbed "hunting-lodge chic." Call it what you want, but deer heads, polished antlers and tanned hides are making their way of of basements and into living rooms across the country.

Obama has written about his drug use in his memoir, "Dreams from My Father."

"Junkie. Pothead. That's where I'd been headed: the final fatal role of the young would be black man," Obama wrote. Mostly he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol, Obama wrote, but occasionally he would snort cocaine when he could afford it.

Drugs, Obama wrote, were a way he "could push questions of who I was out of my mind, something that could flatten out the landscape of my heart, blur the edges of my memory."

If I knew it would be the last time that I'd see you fall asleep, I would tuck you in more tightly, and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time that I see you walk out the door, I would give you a hug and kiss, and call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise, I would video tape each word, so I could play them back day after day.

If I knew it would be the last time, I could spare an extra minute or two to stop and say "I love you," instead of assuming you would KNOW I do.

If I knew it would be the last time, I would be there to share your day, well I'm sure you'll have so many more, so I can let just this one slip away.

For surely there's always tomorrow to make up for an oversight, and we always get a second chance to make everything right.

There will always be another day to say our "I love you," And certainly there's another chance to say our "Anything I can do?"

But just in case I might be wrong, and today is all I get, I'd like to say how much I love you and I
hope we never forget.

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, young or old alike And today may be the last chance you get to hold your loved one tight...

So if you're waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today? For if tomorrow never comes, you'll surely regret the day...

...That you didn't take that extra time for a smile, a hug, or a kiss and you were too busy to grant someone, what turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today, whisper in their ear, Tell them how much you love them and that you'll always hold them dear.

Take time to say "I'm sorry," "please forgive me." "thank you" or "it's okay." And if tomorrow never comes, you'll have no regrets about today.

News just in from those sensitive folks over at the Science and Public Policy Institute in Pennsylvania. Yep, as we were warned earlier this year, Tamara Mariea (a "certified clinical nutritionist"), and the redoubtable Dr George Carlo [...] have finally published their "groundbreaking scientific study" showing that Wi-Fi causes autism.

From their press release:

"The autistic children followed specific detoxification protocols in an environment that was mitigated with regard to sources of EMR including mobile phones and WiFi 3. Heavy metal excretions were monitored from hair, urine and feces over periods ranging from several weeks to several months. The researchers found that with protocols administered in the mitigated environment, heavy metals were cleared from the children's bodies in a pattern dependent on time and molecular weight. The heaviest metals, such as mercury and uranium, cleared last. In many of the children, the decrease in metals was concomitant with symptom amelioration.

Tamara Mariea, said: "These findings give us very important clues to solving some of the enigmas we see in the autism literature regarding the efficacy of detoxification. And, we are extremely pleased with the results we are now seeing in these children. Our protocols are working."

Dr. Carlo said, "These findings tie in with other studies showing adverse cell-membrane responses and disruptions of normal cell physiology. The EMR apparently causes the metals to be trapped in cells, slowing clearance and accelerating the onset of symptoms... Our data offer a reasonable mechanistic explanation for a connection between autism and wireless technology."

Apparently this groundbreaking paper was "published this week in the peer-reviewed Australasian Journal of Clinical Environmental Medicine".

According to a study by Dr. George Carlo in Australasian Journal of Clinical Environmental Medicine, the signals emitted by Wi-Fi routers cause metals to be trapped in brain cells, thereby accelerating the onset of autism.

While this news is stirring around in the metals in your brain, also understand that Dr. Kenneth Foster, another researcher stated:

“Health agencies such as the World Health Organisation have repeatedly examined the scientific evidence and concluded that there is no convincing evidence for hazard from radiofrequency energy at levels below these international guidelines.”

Dick Wilson, the actor and pitchman who played the uptight grocer begging customers "Please, don't squeeze the Charmin," died Monday. He was 91.

The man famous as TV's "Mr. Whipple" died of natural causes at the Motion Picture & Television Fund Hospital in Woodland Hills, said his daughter Melanie Wilson, who is known for her role as a flight attendant on the ABC sitcom "Perfect Strangers."

Over 21 years, Wilson made more than 500 commercials as Mr. George Whipple, a man consumed with keeping bubbly housewives from fondling the soft toilet paper. The punch line of most spots was that Whipple himself was a closeted Charmin-squeezer.

Wilson also played a drunk on several episodes of "Bewitched," as appeared as various characters on "Hogan's Heroes," "The Bob Newhart Show," and Walt Disney productions.

The first of his Charmin commercials aired in 1964 and by the time the campaign ended in 1985, the tag line and Wilson were pop culture touchstones.

"Everybody says, 'Where did they find you?' I say I was never lost. I've been an actor for 55 years," Wilson told the San Francisco Examiner in 1985.

Though Wilson said he initially resisted commercial work, he learned to appreciate its nuance.

"It's the hardest thing to do in the entire acting realm. You've got 24 seconds to introduce yourself, introduce the product, say something nice about it and get off gracefully."

[...]

After Wilson retired, he continued to do occasional guest appearances for the brand and act on television. He declared himself not impressed with modern cinema.

"The kind of pictures they're making today, I'll stick with toilet paper," he told The Associated Press in 1985.

Procter & Gamble eventually replaced the Whipple ads with cartoon bears, but brought Wilson (as Whipple) back for an encore in 1999. The ad showed Wilson "coming out of retirement" against the advice of his golfing and poker buddies for one more chance to sell Charmin.

"He is part of the culture," his daughter said. "He was still funny to the very end. That's his legacy."

He was born in England in 1916, the son of a vaudeville entertainer and a singer. He moved to Canada as a child, serving in the Canadian Air Force during World War II, and became a U.S. citizen in 1954, he told the AP.

Three recipients of controversial 11th-hour pardons issued by former President Bill Clinton in January 2001 have donated thousands of dollars to the presidential campaign of his wife, Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., according to campaign finance records examined by ABC News, in what some good government groups said created an appearance of impropriety.

"It's not illegal," Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told ABC News. "But, of course, it's inappropriate and she should return the money. It does raise the appearance that this is payback.

"One can only hope that she wasn't yet aware of who made the donations," said Sloan.

[...]

One of the pardonees who has become a donor to Sen. Clinton is David Herdlinger, a former prosecutor in Springdale, Ark., who, according to press accounts at the time of his pardon pleaded guilty in 1986 to mail fraud after taking bribes to reduce or drop charges against defendants charged with drunken driving offenses.

Now a life and business coach in Georgia, Herdlinger was pardoned by President Clinton in January 2001; he donated $1,000 to Sen. Clinton's presidential campaign in August.

Insurance agent Alfredo Regalado, who gave Hillary Clinton $2,000, was pardoned by her husband for failing to "report the transportation of currency in excess of $10,000 into the United States," according to the Department of Justice.

John Deutch is a different case, having served as President Clinton's CIA director.

Pardoned by President Clinton for charges he had mishandled government secrets -- but before the Department of Justice could file the proper paperwork against him -- Deutch, now a professor at MIT, gave Sen. Clinton the maximum allowable donation, $2,300.

Neither Herdlinger nor Regalado nor Deutch could be reached for comment.

A team of NASA and university scientists has detected an ongoing reversal in Arctic Ocean circulation triggered by atmospheric circulation changes that vary on decade-long time scales. The results suggest not all the large changes seen in Arctic climate in recent years are a result of long-term trends associated with global warming.

[...]

They measured changes in the weight of columns of Arctic Ocean water, from the surface to the ocean bottom. That weight is influenced by factors such as the height of the ocean's surface, and its salinity. A saltier ocean is heavier and circulates differently than one with less salt.

[...]

...the authors attribute the reversal to a weakened Arctic Oscillation, a major atmospheric circulation pattern in the northern hemisphere. The weakening reduced the salinity of the upper ocean near the North Pole, decreasing its weight and changing its circulation.

"Our study confirms many changes seen in upper Arctic Ocean circulation in the 1990s were mostly decadal in nature, rather than trends caused by global warming," said [James Morison of the University of Washington's Polar Science Center Applied Physics Laboratory who led the study].

"While some 1990s climate trends, such as declines in Arctic sea ice extent, have continued, these results suggest at least for the 'wet' part of the Arctic -- the Arctic Ocean -- circulation reverted to conditions like those prevalent before the 1990s," he added.

Recent dramatic changes in the Arctic climate - melting sea ice, warmer ocean, green fields in place of icy wilderness, etc - might not all be directly related to global warming.

The more clement Arctic climate of recent years could have been triggered by shorter term circulation changes in the oceans and atmosphere.

A single word has taken the campaign for the presidency to a new level, as a woman at a South Carolina political event for Sen. John McCain asked the Arizona Republican, "How do we beat the bitch?"

The question was an apparent reference to New York Democrat Hillary Clinton and drew an instant outburst of laughter from those attending the event...

[...]

"May I give the translation?" McCain clowned as he began his response. "That's an excellent question. I respect Senator Clinton. I respect anyone who gets the nomination of the Democrat Party."

"There was a poll yesterday," he continued, "that shows me three points ahead of Senator Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. I respect Mrs. Clinton."

OK.. yesterday A WOMAN! asked Sen. John McCain … “How do we beat the B..tch?”

A WOMAN ASKED THAT QUESTION.

Whether you like her or hate her, don’t you think it’s amazing that a woman would refer to her as the B word?

We are in an amazing presidential race in 2008. A black man and a woman are vying for the top job in the country. It doesn’t have to be white men all the time. That’s amazing.

And what do we get from our sisters? “How do we beat the B..tch?”

Depressing.
Posted by Pat Walker at 11:31 am

1. that is a completely sexist and insulting post. it should be equally depressing to you if a man said it. or it shouldnt be depressing at all. this is still america…we are all entitled to our opinions. Comment by: mrs werth - 11.14.2007 at 11:35 am

2. Now how do we beat the bastard Rudy Giuliani? Comment by: Terry - 11.14.2007 at 11:41 am

On Tuesday, CNN's Rick Sanchez raised the question of whether McCain should have admonished the woman, and McCain's campaign criticized that criticism on Wednesday.

"Most people who have seen it are looking at it as a real mistake on his part in terms of the way he handled it," Sanchez said on the cable network's "Out in the Open."

McCain's South Carolina campaign manager, Buzz Jacobs, said in a statement Wednesday: "It not only reflects poorly on him, but on CNN. If Mr. Sanchez had even the faintest perspective on the race for the White House, he would know that Senator McCain has expressed his utmost respect for Senator Clinton numerous times on the campaign trail, as he did at Monday's event in Hilton Head."

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: You know, this could be real bad for John McCain. I want you to watch this that we're about to show you. You will probably see its first pass here, and then I have a feeling you will be seeing it a lot.

Producer comes in early in the morning today to my office and shows me this video. You are going to hear a McCain supporter. She refers to Hillary Clinton using really what is a horrible word that is used to do nothing but demean women.

Well, at the time, it was a supporter who said that. It wasn't until later on, when we watched the whole tape, which is what you are about to see, that you see McCain's reaction, or lack thereof, that we decided that this is both relevant and newsworthy, and important information to this campaign.

All right. Let me set it up for you. He's campaigning in South Carolina yesterday when suddenly this happened. Obviously, the word that is used here is very offensive. We will let you listen to the entire thing so you can decide for yourself. Here it is.

SANCHEZ: "That's an excellent question," [McCain] says.

This is a fellow senator that he's talking about. No matter what you think of Hillary Clinton, is John McCain done as a result of this? Is this going to become a viral video? This is the kind of questions that we got to examine at this point. We're going to be looking at a lot of these issues.

[...]

SANCHEZ: Hold on. No, no, no. He said he has respect for Senator Clinton. And then he went on to say that he has respect for anyone who wins the Democratic ticket. Translation: If Mr. Magoo wins the Democratic ticket, he would have respect for him, too.

Larry Patterson, Clinton bodyguard from 1986 to 1993, says, among others including Dick Morris, that he often heard her use the words "N-gger", "Jew Motherf-cker, "Jew Boy", "Jew Bastard". Source

Paul Fray, who ran Bill Clinton's failed 1974 congressional campaign in Arkansas, told Fox News Channel, "Sure, she did," when asked if Hillary called him a "f---ing Jew bastard." Source.

Dick Morris, who used to be thisclose with the Clintons confirms that Hillary used these words.

...the Clinton campaign also denied the practice of planting. “It’s not a practice of our campaign to ask people to ask specific questions,” said Mark Daley, Clinton’s Iowa Communications Director. Daley said that when an event is focusing on a specific topic, such as health care or Iraq, “people are encouraged to ask questions in these regards,” but denied that they are given specific questions.

But when directly asked if his statements meant that planting does not occur in the Hillary campaign, Daley could only say, “to the best of my knowledge.”

“[Planting] is not something that is encouraged in our campaign,” he said.

The college student who was told what question to ask at one of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign events said "voters have the right to know what happened" and she wasn't the only one who was planted.

[...]

[Gallo-Chasanoff] said a senior Clinton staffer asked if she'd like to ask the senator a question after an energy speech the Democratic presidential hopeful gave in Newton, Iowa, on November 6.

"I sort of thought about it, and I said 'Yeah, can I ask how her energy plan compares to the other candidates' energy plans?'" Gallo-Chasanoff said Monday night.

According to Gallo-Chasanoff, the staffer said, " 'I don't think that's a good idea, because I don't know how familiar she is with their plans.'"

He then opened a binder to a page that, according to Gallo-Chasanoff, had about eight questions on it.

"The top one was planned specifically for a college student," she added. "It said 'college student' in brackets and then the question."

Topping that sheet of paper was the following: "As a young person, I'm worried about the long-term effects of global warming. How does your plan combat climate change?"

[...]

"After the event," she said, "I heard another man ... talking about the question he asked, and he said that the campaign had asked him to ask that question."

The man she referenced prefaced his question by saying that it probably didn't have anything to do with energy, and then posed the following: "I wonder what you propose to do to create jobs for the middle-class person, such as here in Newton where we lost Maytag."

[Gallo-Chasanoff] said the "head of publicity for the campaign," a man whose name she could not recall, had no factual disputes with the story. But, she added, a Clinton intern spoke to her to say the campaign requested she not talk about the story to any more media outlets and that if she did she should inform a staffer.

And another individual says he was a plant in the audience:

A second person has a story similar to Gallo-Chasanoff's. Geoffrey Mitchell of Hamilton, Illinois, on the Iowa border, said the Clinton campaign wanted him to ask a certain question at an Iowa event in April.

"He asked me if I would ask Sen. Clinton about ways she was going to confront the president on the war in Iraq, specifically war funding," said Geoffrey Mitchell, a supporter of Sen. BarackObama, D-Illinois. "I told him it was not a question I felt comfortable with."

A report from Matt Drudge appears to suggest that the democratic frontrunner is still reeling so much from her disastrous performance at the last Democratic presidential debate that her camp is reaching out in what sounds like a threatening way to CNN and their host Wolf Blizter.

The item on the front page of the Drudge Report has this: "CNN's Wolf Blitzer has been warned not to focus Thursday's Dem debate on Hillary (Clinton). 'This campaign is about issues, not on who we can bring down and destroy,' (a) top Clinton insider explains, according to the report that is now posted.

"Blitzer should not go down to the levels of character attack and pull 'a Russert.'' (Camp Hillary believed that NBC's Meet the Press host Tim Russert was too tough on Hillary by asking her direct questions). Blitzer is set to moderate (a CNN) debate from Las Vegas, with questions also being posed by Suzanne Malveaux, the report notes.

...in defense of his wife against political critics, Bill Clinton cited the "swift boat" television ads of the 2004 presidential campaign that questioned John Kerry's patriotism and the campaign commercials in 2002 that suggested Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia was soft on terrorism.

ANNOUNCER: From NBC News, this is THE NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS.

WILLIAMS: Good evening.

We have a lot to tell you about tonight, beginning with what had become a whisper campaign of late, and it went like this: After what turned into a somewhat disastrous trip to the Middle East and with polls showing she should not run, Hillary Rodham Clinton just might pull out of the race for Senate from New York. Well, today, the first lady, responding to a planted question at a Teachers Union event made it clear she is in the race for the US Senate.

The aggressive Yale-educated lawyer is most certainly in for the fight of her life. But today was about looking ahead to all that she says she plans to do for New York and its residents. Part of today's announcement, however, was somewhat overlooked and that is, the first lady will soon begin living apart from the president. The White House will be without a first lady, while the president's wife moves to New York and runs for office. She does so without the blessing of some New York Democrats. We'll hear from one in just a moment.

First here tonight, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell on the woman who says she's in it to win it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDREA MITCHELL, NBC CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): Brian, today's events were as carefully choreographed as the New York City Ballet.

(voice-over): Under pressure to either get in or get out, Hillary Clinton finally makes it official by answering a prearranged question from a friendly union leader.

QUESTION: So, is it yes, or is it no?

HILLARY CLINTON, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe that if we work together, we really can make a difference for the children and families of New York. So the answer is yes, I intend to run.

Georg Apenes, director of the inspectorate known as Datatilsynet, told newspaper Aftenposten on Monday that the revealing scans are "an affront to one's decency."

[...]

Readers called the scanners, which reveal literally stripped-down images of their subjects, everything from "unacceptable" to another step towards total surveillance.

PET, the domestic intelligence agency, the 22-year-old suspect has links to two men arrested on 4 September on suspicion that they were preparing explosives for use in a terror attack.

The clash occurred as a group of neo-Nazis were holding a ceremony honoring German soldiers who were stationed and died in Norway during the Nazi occupation of World War II.

Their ceremony was held at a German cemetery in Oslo's Alfaset district Sunday evening. Suddenly, another group proving to be left-wing extremists turned up, after their right-wing counterparts had lit torches on the German graves.

The left-wing extremists were all wearing vests featuring reflector tape, but police couldn't immediately identify any of them or attach them to any anti-Nazi group.

They reportedly attacked the neo-Nazis when they were in the process of laying down a wreath. That sparked a fight involving more than 20 persons and wooden clubs.

The Link Sat LS-900 now in the market here is likely to aggravate what the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) already says is a "very serious problem" of signal piracy in Saudi Arabia.

The nondescript little silver satellite signal receiver and decoder costs SR750 and is a steal for what it does.
It unlocks paid television channels such as Showtime, ART and allows access to dozens of porn channels as well.

Showtime and ART representatives say those using the LS-900 are "Stealing not only from us but from all other satellite television service providers as well."

[...]

The number of channels you get for free with this decoder is worth SR8,000 a year," Khan, a satellite television technician, said.

[...]

Within seconds, the decoder had scanned the Internet and found the unlock codes for hundreds of pay channels, allowing illegal access.

Members of the opposition in the House of Representatives walked out of Monday’s hearing on an impeachment complaint against President Gloria Arroyo that was filed by a lawyer in October.

House Deputy Minority Leader Roilo Golez of Parañaque City led the boycott, as he called the hearing on the Roel Pulido complaint a “sham.”

“I don’t think it would be useful and meaningful [for the minority congressmen] to participate in [this hearing], ” Golez told the House Committee on Justice hearing the Pulido complaint.

Delbert Mann, who transformed Paddy Chayefsky's classic teleplays "Marty" and "The Bachelor Party" into big-screen triumphs and helped bring TV techniques to the film world, died Sunday. He was 87.

Mann died of pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

[...]

Mann's 1955 feature version of "Marty" won four Oscars: best picture and director, best actor for Ernest Borgnine and best screenplay for Chayefsky. The low-budget film with mostly little-known actors told the stark, poignant story of Borgnine's 34-year-old Brooklyn butcher who felt he was too ugly to find love. His life is changed when he meets an equally shy but sweet woman played by Betsy Blair.

"I knew we had a good story because I had already done it on television," Mann once told The Associated Press. "But I certainly never expected it to be the hit that it turned out to be."

Using techniques he brought from television, Mann took a mere 16 days to shoot the film version of "Marty," plus an additional three days for retakes. This compared with 45 days for typical features of that time, with epic pictures running far beyond that.

[...]

Mann's other feature credits include "Desire Under the Elms" (1957), "Separate Tables" (1958), "Middle of the Night" (1959), "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (1960), "The Outsider" (1961), "That Touch of Mink" (1962), "A Gathering of Eagles" (1963), "Dear Heart" (1964), "Fitzwilly" (1967), "Kidnapped" (1971), "Night Crossing" (1982) and "Bronte" (1983).

[...]

"I missed the excitement and concentration that live TV gave us in the old days," Mann said at the time. "I was able to achieve the artistic freedom I can't get in films."

A leading Australian nutritionist has urged airlines to charge obese passengers more for their seats.

Dr John Tickell believes a "fat tax" would highlight his country's obesity crisis and make commercial sense, as heavier loads increase fuel costs.

But health groups have warned that to single out people with weight problems could cause them emotional stress.

[...]

He said that Australian airlines should impose charges on their overweight clients, as they do for excess baggage, because heavier loads increase fuel costs.

"I fly Sydney to Perth - five hours - and being totally disadvantaged by some huge person next to me literally flopping over into my seat. Why should I pay the same as them?" he asked.

"If you are going to charge for excess baggage, then charge fat people for excess weight," he told The Sunday Telegraph.

"Airlines are buying fuel, and if you are carrying a heavy weight on a plane you have to pay more for it.

"But, instead, the rest of the public is paying for it. It's got to be restricted."

Budget airline Jetstar has fitted extra-wide seats to cater for the expanding size of customers, who have the option of buying two seats, or upgrading, if the space is too small.

"Flight attendants in the US have to go down the aisle handing extension seatbelts out like headphones," Dr Tickell added.

"And it's starting to happen here, too."

Dr Tickell told of being charged $100 to check-in golf clubs on a flight, despite an obese passenger outweighing him and his golf clubs.

Airlines are being forced to revise their projected passenger loads to calculate extra fuel needs.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority bans obese people from sitting in emergency exit rows on flights, as they could block other passengers from evacuating in an emergency.

The Minnesota Department of Public Safety reports that 88 percent of Minnesotans are wearing their seat belts. That’s a high percentage, up from 83 percent last year, and should produce a corresponding decrease in traffic fatalities and serious injuries. But let’s not declare “mission accomplished” too soon. There’s one more step that needs to be taken: passage of a primary seat-belt law. In Minnesota, and in 25 other states, police can’t pull over drivers who aren’t wearing seat belts unless they first commit some other violation. This is an unusual statute; in fact, the seat-belt law is the only “secondary” traffic law on Minnesota’s books. In May, the Legislature came close to changing this, but a primary seat-belt bill didn’t make the final cut in the Omnibus Transportation Bill.