THE TEA PARTY.... WHAT A JOKE!

Illustration, Tea Party from Alice in Wonderland

I know and understand that we need a fresh start from the republican and democrat way of doing things in this country. As a matter of fact i honestly feel that most if not all members of congress should in fact be voted out and replaced. I like a lot of Americans do not feel that congress represents us the way they should.I have often felt as if our law makers have forgotten that they indeed do work for us the American people and, they also seem to feel that they need to vote party almost every time they gather to vote on a bill. Take the health care reform bill that was just passed. NOT one republican voted for it. There were some republican law makers that liked the health care reform bill but, they would NOT dare vote against their party. Believe me when I tell you that when congress acts like this, it is never a good thing for the American citizen no matter what bill is being voted on. Never should anyone ever vote a party line because when that happens then whoever is voting cares not about the people they serve. All that law maker cares about is his/her political party and not the good of the American people.

Now we have a new group on the scene. This group calls themselves The tea party. Now the idea of the tea party is not a bad idea at all. There are some very knowledgeable and caring people involved with the so called tea Party. However, I as well as many others are in no way convinced that the tea party is the answer to any of this country's problems. In fact I feel that the tea party might is some ways be very dangerous to the well being of this country. I myself feel that Sarah Palin is a danger to this country (That however is a different blog )You all might not like to hear that but that is my opinion.

Allow me to share with you what just a few of the samples I have collected with regular Americans thoughts on the tea party. I have removed the person's name and city for privacy reasons. Below are a few of real Americans thoughts on the tea party

1 They may be grassroots people, but they suddenly have $250,000 in ad money to defeat U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak? They have a caravan of big buses bearing entertainers, and they lack no amount of professionally printed signs and placards to wave at TV cameras. They have a fairy godmother named Sarah who, for a five-figure fee, will show up, mouth the banalities they want to hear and wink as necessary.

Such a sophisticated array requires money, planning and a leadership that can quickly generate a target and elicit a fast response. Where did these good sincere folk acquire such money and style? Who in the background turns them on and out?

They scream socialism, evidently not knowing that under a socialistic government, they would first be herded into a concentration camp. No socialistic government would tolerate them or their invisible leaders.

Our great need now is to be united. Rabble-rousing divisiveness is what we can least afford.

2 think people are getting riled up by a political party that wants to be back in control so they can continue their grand old lifestyles and those who don't have won't get.

3 So Tea Party activists believe that national health care is another government handout that they don't want any part of? Really? Are Tea Party activists paying taxes on their employer-provided health care benefits? Aren't these benefits income that is not being taxed? Isn't that a government subsidy of their health care benefits? Why aren't these Tea Party activists complaining about their own government-subsidized health care? When will these Tea Party activists stop accepting such government handouts? When will these Tea Party activists really embrace free market capitalism?

4 Where were all the Tea Party people when George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, et.al, were lying through their teeth to get us into Iraq, losing billions of American dollars, lives, minds and limbs? Generations of future Americans will be paying for that hideous mistake for years to come. The money spent on that fiasco could have paid for a national health care program and fixed our infrastructure. The one constant of the Republicans, neoconservatives, conservatives and nut cases like the Tea Partyers is their hypocrisy. All along, the people screaming opposition to health care reform have been those who have health care, including those on Medicare, a national health care system

5 If we are to believe the prevailing wisdom, we are to assume that these Tea Party people are good, solid, down-home style Americans suddenly angered and patriotically aroused. Instantly gifted with the infallible power to assess every nuance of government, they see only corruption, deviousness, lies and threats.

Now I myself feel that the tea party has no laid out goal as to where they want to be. They make issues out of everything because they have no one thing that they think should be addressed first or foremost. They say they want no more taxes. Well I hate to tell you this people but this country is in bad finical shape right now and, no matter how it git that way or who is to blame it will NOT get much better without some sort of new tax or at least an increase in taxes we already have.

Another reason the tea party is a joke is simply that they have no leader. I think we all know that for any organization to be successful that organization must have a leader who shows real leadership and I also believe that the tea party down the road somewhere will produce a leader or someone who is the head of their so called organization. I think at this point the tea party could be dangerous to this country simply because well, I think Bill Clinton described itbest so here is a link to a video as to how he described it. And also, on the same page Rush Limbaugh responds to Mr. Clinton words on this. I am not overly concerned with what Rush has to say because I think he is out of touch with so many issue we face today.

Until next tie my friends take care and stay healthy

Immigration Reform

Now that President Obama has health care reform behind him and out of the way I feel safe in my thinking that the President's next big overhaul will be immigration reform. Now, I do not mind telling you that I was and still am all for the health care reform bill that was passed and is now the law of the land. However, I do think that the immigration reform is NOT what a lot of people think it will be. I say this because of a little bill that was voted down and did not make it into the law books called the amnesty bill. Now this bill would indeed be reform of the immigrant policy and system however, I do not think it is what most Americans would want. I will let you take a look at the video and then you can decide if you would want this to be happening to you and your fellow Americans. Below is a news story about the amnesty bill.

The amnesty bill was defeated and did not pass. However, I would think that any immigration bill would indeed have most if not all parts of the amnesty bill in the reform bill it's self. There are a few really worrisome parts in the amnesty bill and if any of those parts are put in the immigration reform bill then, every American will take a slap in the face from our government. I am not the only one who is worried about what any immigration bill would contain. Many other Americans are adamant about the immigration issue in this country.

Michael Cutler: How Amnesty would overwhelm DHS and let terrorists and other criminals in. Family security matters, breaks down the lies behind promises that amnesty legislation would protect America's security by bringing illegal aliens "out of the shadows." "We have been told that aliens who would participate in Comprehensive Immigration Reform would be fingerprinted and they would be subject to a 'Security Check.' This is more smoke and mirrors. If a terrorist or transnational gang member managed to not be fingerprinted by American law enforcement and used a false name, they would all but be guaranteed a pathway to US citizenship with a brand new name to boot.

If you want America the way America should be then we have to make it our country, we have to take our country back!. I have nothing against anyone coming into the United States as long as they are willing to do it legally and then once they are here they need to be willing to live in this country and follow OUR laws.

The one thing I really get tired of hearing is this! "Oh but they come here and they do the dirty jobs that us Americans refuse to do". That is such crap. Now I am sure there are a few that do come here and do some sort of job. I can remember a few companies that got fined by the federal government a few years back for hiring undocumented workers. Most of them come here and live off of Mr. and Mrs. tax payer. They get on welfare and get very low rent, food stamps, free education and free health care. if you are like a lot of Americans and you don't like what is going on then please contact the white house and your congressman / woman and tell them NO Immigration reform. Do it now before it is too late.

Until next time my friends, stay healthy and take care.

Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

In this country we have always had the privilege of going to the doctor when we get sick and if we had any kind of bacteria infection at all, the doctor would prescribe an antibiotic and we would take them as directed and in a few days all would be well again. The antibiotic the doctor prescribed usually worked very well and if it didn't the doctor would either adjust the dosage or give us another kind of antibiotic.

Now the problem is that the kinds of bacterial infections that are on the raise have become resistant to the drugs we have available for our use. Not to mention the new strains of bacterial infections that keep popping up one such germ is Acinetobacter baumannii. This bacteria kills thousands of patients in hospitals each year in this country and yet it seems that there is not much if anything at all that we can do about it. Another bacteria that is drug resisant and starting to cause problems is methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA for short. MRSA is a bacteria that can be found in pork and yes it has been found in 3% of pork that has been bought in some grocery stores in this country. Now if pork is cooked thoroughly it will kill the mars bacteria. The problem is that you can become infected with MRSA simply by touching pork that has the bacteria on it. MRSA kills more people per year then AIDS.

The FDA and CDC at this point have no real plans for testing store bought pork to detect for pork containing MRSA. We also have bacteria that at one time were very treatable with antibiotics. Now it is somewhat a different story. It seems that with time bacteria can and become drug resistant. At one time strains of Escherichia coli commonly known as E. Coli, and strains of the Staphylococcus bacteria were very easily treated with antibiotics. Today these bacteria's do show strong signs of having drug resistant strains. there are also many others that are becoming more difficult to treat with the antibiotics we have available today.

Part of the reason for this lack of antibiotics that work on the infections that we get are

the drug makers no longer put a lot of effort into making new antibiotics because it is not very profitable any more for them o do so . Most patients that come down with a bacterial infection take the prescribed antibiotic for only a week or two and then they are cured. so it is not very profitable any more for the drug companies to make the effort to develop new, stronger , antibiotics. It is sad but true that the all mighty dollar and profit is considered more then our health and well being.

Another reason for antibiotics not working as well as they once did is the miss use of them. Doctors prescribe them to their patients even at tie when antibiotics are not needed to treat an infection. I would think this is because some antibiotics can and are used to treat other conditions. However, I do think that doctors have to be very careful in doing this because of the chance of becoming immune to the antibiotic . One more reason that our antibiotics have become less effective when we take them is the simple fact that for years now a lot of people would run to their doctor and demand a course of antibiotics for a simple scratch on their finger or arm or even if they fell and skinned their knee. You might find that hard to swallow but, I have known a few people in my life time that have done just that.

Still, another reason for our antibiotics not doing the good job they used to do is very simple. In the United States farmers all across the country ad antibiotics to the feed of beef, chicken and, pork. this not only helps make the animal itself immune to antibiotics but when we eat that meat we also digest whatever antibiotic that was fed to that animal. Thus we get even more antibiotics in our bodies. Several government agencies such as the American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations are fighting to have this unhealthy practice stopped.

It makes sense that we should only use antibiotics under a doctors supervision and the doctor should only prescribe antibiotics to patients only when the use of an antibiotic is warranted. it may surprise a lot of people to learn that a few antibiotics are also made illegally to be sold on the streets and in back alleys just as drugs such as Oxycodone, Vicodin and, a host of other drugs that really have no antibiotic value but just the same can be bought on the streets of almost any city in this country.

In closing I am including a link to a well written and very informative article by Richard J. Whitley, titled "Saving-Antibiotics-so-Antibiotics Can Save Us".

Until next time take care and stay healthy

The cause and dangers of Tsunamis

Santorini, Greece

A number of natural phenomena's can cause tsunamis among these: underwater avalanches, like the Storegga avalanche and the tsunami it caused outside the coast of Norway in 6100BC, meteors and comets striking water, explosive submarine volcanic eruptions and most commonly earthquake tsunamis like the 8.1 earthquake Tsunami of 2009 in American Samoa, the strongest ever recorded 9.6 quake of 1960 tsunami and the 8.8 quake of 2010 tsunami both in Chile, to compare the 2nd strongest quake recorded was at 9.3 of 2004 in Indonesian water, this was the one that caused the great tsunamis of december 2004 which is the most devastating one in modern times.

Underwater and costal avalanche slides

That avalanches could cause major tsunamis is still fairly unknown among most people, this type of tsunami could also be harder to detect since the avalanches could be triggered by minor tremors which then cause the avalanches, this is also why tsunamis could be so dangerous, since the size of a quake does not tell you what it has triggered of small and large underwater avalanches, thus proving this natural phenomena's erratic nature. One of the largest known tsunamis known in fairly recent time is the Storegga avalanche tsunami outside the coast of Norway dated to 6100BC, this tsunami was caused when a submerged landmass the size of Iceland slid into deeper water causing some of the largest tsunami waves in the last 10000 years and it's effect is still found if one know what to look for in the British isles, Ireland, Scotland, Shetland, Iceland, Norway, and Greenland.

Earthquake tsunamis

Earthquake is by far the most common cause of tsunamis, often the earthquake trigger submarine slides which could cause massive tsunamis even stronger than one expected from the raw Earthquake itself, other times the forces of the Earthquake itself causes minor tsunamis or only very local tsunamis like the quake outside of Chile in 2010, this earthquake even though it was a 8.8 caused massive tsunami waves in Chile but only minor waves across the rest of The Pacific Ocean, like in Hawaii which was put on a tsunami warning, closed down stores, highways and evacuated people from small buildings and in high rises below 4th floor. The 9.5 Chile earthquake of May 22, 1960 on the other hand caused massive damages in Hawaii, wiping out the beach line of Hilo on the island of Hawaii.

Below are some video footage from the tsunami that struck American Samoa after it was struck by a 8.1 earthquake, 29th of September 2009.

American Samoa tsunami footage

Helicopter view of American Samoa tsunami damages

first person footage from American Samoa

Submarine volcanoes and volcanic isles

Another very destructive type of force that cause tsunamis is pyroclastic eruptions of submarine volcanoes, usually submarine volcanoes or even volcanic islands are stable and calm but sometimes if they build up a caldera and store up kinetic energy they could suddenly without warning erupt causing tsunamis even more destructive than those caused by earthquakes. One example of this is when the Greek island Thera erupted violently in 1500BC which caused the end of the Minoan culture, and even possible was the mythical Atlantis, Thera is now known under the name Santorini.

The crater caused by the volcanic eruption of 1500BC is still visible today as on this landsat satellite image of the island of Santorini, Greece.

Tsunamis caused by Meteors and Comets

With out a doubt these have would be the most devastating types of tsunamis, if a large meteor or comet hit the open oceans, which it most likely would due to the fact that about 71% of earth is covered by oceans, it would actually be far worse for meteors or comets to hit the oceans rather than if it hit a large continental land mass because of the direct destructional force caused by having the kinetic energy transfered in the sea. Luckily most meteors that hit Earth are too small to cause damage, and there is actually something our governments could do to take preventative measures against major comets and asteroids becoming extinction event class meteor strikes.

When Calling 911 Fails

I think we all have had a time or two when we needed to call for emergency help. In most cases that is done by simply calling 911 from any phone. Usually within a a few minutes help has arrived. In overall I think the 911 service in this country is a great asset for people and I think most 911 calls are handled very professionally. Please believe me when I say that the 911 operators are usually skilled and very well trained professionals and they do their jobs very well.

Most times when a 911 call is not handled in the correct fashion it is usually due to a misunderstanding due to the fact that the caller is very frantic and does not or is unable to give the 911 operator the correct information. Other reasons can include bad connections, not being able to hear what is said clearly and some cell phones do not automatically let the 911 operator know the location of the caller if the call would happen to be terminated with out the caller location not being able to be given to the operator. We all should check our cell phone to make sure that the cell location service is on at all times and if not have it put on in the settings of the phone. This would allow the 911 operators and emergency personal to tell what location the call is being made from and then they can send the proper help that is needed.

Sometimes the 911 operators do receive prank calls, my thoughts on 911 prank calls is that whoever knowingly and willingly makes a 911 prank call should be thrown in jail and have the jail cell keys thrown away. There is No reason in the world why a prank 911 call should be tolerated. Below is a some links dealing with all the reasons a 911 call can go bad. The links give information on cell phones and what is the proper way to do a 911 call I hope you find them useful.

9-1-1 and Citizens

0. Public Awareness Campaigns 0. Not All Phones Tell 9-1-1 Your Location 0. Know Your Phone Video (English) 0. Know Your Phone Video (Spanish) 0. Know Your Location 0. When a Life is on the Line! 0. Facts 0. What is 9-1-1 & Enhanced 9-1-1 0. When to Call 9-1-1 0. Non-English Speaking Callers 0. Deaf and Hearing Impaired Callers 0. Cell Phones and 9-1-1 0. Critical Cell Facts 0. Tips for Cell Phone Users 0. FCC Requirements 0. Location Technologies 0. Wireless 9-1-1 Statistics 0. Internet/Digital Phones (VoIP) 0. About Internet/Digital Phones 0. Tips for Internet/Digital Phones 0. 911voip.org Campaign 0. Kids

Now, the flip side of this coin is this. Over the past few tears we all have heard about the 911 operators in some places not being professional in any way while handling a call for emergency help. This is the situation where a woman was calling requesting help with an out of control 12 year old. I myself think the 911 operator who handled this call should have been fired on the spot. I do not know what became of this situation however, I would have done the same as this lady and filed a formal complaint.

Another bad situation was a 17 year old girl calling 911 for a ambulance and help for her father who was just 3 weeks out of the hospital where he underwent brain surgery and was suffering a seizure at home. help was not sent because this 17 year old used the (F) word on the call. No matter what word she used it was because she was very afraid for her father and the call was not handled in a professional matter. Her father's life was put on the line of this 911 operator.

Finally just last month a man who lived in PA died even though there were several calls made to 911 that this man needed emergency help and the caller was told that help was on the way but help never arrived until it was way to late.

As I stated earlier, most 911 calls are handled by the 911 operator in a professional manner and when they tell you help is on the way it usually is on the way. However, I do feel that the 911 operators should have more training and be held accountable for their actions when mess ups are made and if it is the 911 operator's fault.

Country Music then and now

I think it is safe to assume that during our lives or at least during some point of our lives music play a vital role in each of our lives. No matter what type of music you are into music plays a vital role in each life. I myself have always liked several types of music. From pop to easy soft sounds all the way to heavy metal and long hair metal, jazz and soul music have always been good for me also.

back in the 60's my mother and older sister took me to a country music show. Now back then I was only a small child but still I was thrilled and totally in awe of a singer by the name of Jean Shepard. This lady had me memorized at her stage presence and her style. Since that point I knew I would love country music forever

A little background for you on the birth of country music. The first commercial recording of what was considered country music was "Sallie Gooden" by fiddlist A.C. (Eck) Robertson in 1922 for Victor Records. Columbia Records began issuing records with "hillbilly" music (series 15000D "Old Familiar Tunes") as early as 1924.

Country music back then was pretty simple and straight forward . Through out the years country music evolved into a music of the people real people with real lives and country music was a music the folks could identify with because it was a music filled with hopes and dreams and tragedy just like the lives of the people who listened to it and bought the recordings of country.

Country music grew so much in such a short time that a radio show was started called the Grand Ole Opryin 1925 on radio station WSM am out of Nashville Tenn. As country went on to continue to gain much popularity it found a permanent home in the Ryan Auditorium or the mother church of country music also in Nashville.

Country music continued to grow and grow in popularity and for many years drums were not allowed on the Grand Ole Opry as thet were considered to make to much noise and not to be pure as the country sound was considered to be. Then in the early 40's drums were finally brought to the Opry stage for the first time. Still, country music stayed fairly simple and straight forward.

As time went on and now into the 1950's Country Music simply exploded and we now had such artis such as Kitty Wells, Buck Owens and, jean Shepard on the opry and Jean as well as Kitty Wells opened the door for many other female country music artist because up until Kitty Wells and Jean Shepard country music was very much a man's world. These two ladies are still very active and still tour bringing real Country Music to people all over the world. Just a few of the other artist that can be said to have helped Country Music come as far as it has are artist like Buck Owens, Charlie Poole,

Roy Acuff, Minnie pearl, Grandpa Jones, Earnest Tubb, Patsy Cline. These are just to name a few and if it were not for these artist Coutry Music would not be what it is today and artist such as Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette , Garth Brooks and Clint Black may not have had the chances they had to be in Country Music or at least may not have achieved the great success that they have enjoyed.

today's Country Music is not what it was back in the 50's and 60's when Country Music was exploding but, if you listen carefully you can still hear the country sounds of yesteryear . You will still hear the fiddle and banjo and that good old down home country sounds that will always be part of Country Music.

Now I will share with you 3 links to You Tube videos of Jean Shepard. if you watch these videos you see how Country Music has changed and you will also see a Country Music artist that has been a part of the grand ole opry for over 55 years and how she has always been able to wrap a song around her finger to make that great country music

From the 60's

From the 70's

From the 80's