WTF?!!! Are they nuts?  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/12/03/60minutes/main658994.shtml

Rick Howell also thought a mistake had been made when he received his notification last August. He’s 47 and disabled from an accident he suffered in the military.

"I can’t run anymore. If somebody was shooting at me and chasing me I couldn’t run away from them. I can’t, you know, if I lift anything more than 30 or 40 pounds, I literally, the rod in my arm tingles," says Howell.

He joined the Army in 1981, and became a helicopter pilot. He flew along the DMZ in Korea. Finally, in 1997, after almost 16 years of active service, he retired.

"My goal was to move back and get that life that I never had because for 16 years the Army," says Howell. "I mean, I gave the Army my life. Of course, you know, I wanted a family, you know. I wanted to marry someone and to settle down and to have a home."

And so he did. His son was born two months ago. Going back into the Army would be a major inconvenience, to say the least.

But Howell says he’s willing to do it if he can serve in the United States, which he put in the form of a prayer on Thanksgiving this year.

This past week, the Army rejected Howell’s offer and sent him a letter saying his exemption has been disapproved, and he has to report for duty early next year. But Howell intends to keep fighting.

What is he going to do if he has to go to Iraq?

"I don’t have a choice. They’re going to have to come and get me. I mean literally," says Howell. "They’re going to have to come get me. And at that point in time, if they come get me, I don’t have a choice. They’ll have to drag me away and make me go."

Isn't it bad enough that the 'powers that be' have been extending enlistments of soldiers just months from legitimate retirement? Now they're calling up former soldiers in their 50s & Disabled Veterans to boot? Have they lost their collective minds?

Here's a thought... reinstate George W Bush to Active Duty. That asswipe never fulfilled his obligation to begin with! Now he wants elderly to serve who haven't been keeping up with training? These people served their time & didn't stay in the Active Reserves!

What I think may be partially behind this is that the 'powers that be' are thinking these elderly & disabled veterans would be 'cannon fodder.' This way, the families would get paid the one-time death benefit, rather than the months & years of retirement &/or disability pensions these soldiers may be getting should they live out a normal lifespan.

At this rate, I could even receive notice. Can you see me going back into the Navy, with all of my disabilities that the VA is refusing to acknowledge? One in this story was seriously obese! Good thing I was Navy, not Army... They seem to only be calling up grunts.

I caught the last hour or so of a movie on TV (Lifetime) called "Damaged Care." I wish I had seen it from the beginning. I know about issues with managed health care & originally thought this was a fictionalized expose about managed care, but got to thinking toward the end that it was factual. It is. The doctor depicted in the movie who has fought hard to get changes to our managed health care system is real.

I did a search for her name & came up with multiple sites that published her speech before a Congressional hearing as well as other talks she's given since. I also found her personal site, which had her email address. I wrote to her, praising her for her gallant fight in the face of adversity & the smear & eventual loss of her marriage due to the exposure of her husband's infidelity at the hands of her repressors (those who wanted her to shut up!).

I also brought up some of the other problems in US health care, especially that of major pharmaceutical companies. These companies knowingly push detrimental drugs into the market & down patients' throats. The prime example of this is Vioxx, a drug pushed on people with the conditions of osteoarthritis & rheumatoid arthritis, such as I have, which Merck has known at least since 1996 causes severe heart problems in too great a number of those taking the drug. They withheld this information long enough for them to make $billions... more than enough to cover the ensuing lawsuits now being filed that they knew would come.

I mentioned as well my findings about tamoxifen, which the pharmaceutical company is pushing on women who are 'at risk' of getting breast cancer. Doctors are prescribing this drug prophylactically to women who have the BCRA 1 or 2 gene or with first-degree relatives who've had breast cancer. Ladies, this drug not only doesn't prevent breast cancer (less than 10% over a placebo) but it causes uterine cancer... a more deadly kind of female cancer! It also exacerbates osteoporosis, causes hot-flashes, heart problems & blood clots! Breast cancer is treatable through surgery. Found early enough, recurrence numbers are very low. Found too late... no current conventional treatment is adequate & I believe many actually cause recurrence (chemo & radiation). These treatments only stand to profit the drug companies & do little, if anything, to help patients.

Lastly, I mentioned to her my concerns about where health care is headed under Bush. I feel the fight for patients' rights will only get worse with him at the helm.

Shortly after sending her the email, I got one back from her! She agrees with me about the drug companies & Bush & said she's printing out my email 'to digest.' She's going out of town for a few days but will write me again in length. I really didn't expect to hear back from her, knowing how busy she must be & considering the influx of emails she'd probably get with others like me finding her email address & Lifetime showing her movie again today! I must have struck a cord.

I could have said more in my email to her, but tried to keep it as succinct as I know how. As people who know me know, I can go on & on about things like this that I feel strongly about. I am truly grateful for advocates & watchdogs such as Dr. Linda Peeno!

Most everyone has heard about the Haunted Railroad Tracks
just outside of San Antonio, Texas.
I've experienced them first-hand!

The tracks stories have made national TV on more than one occasion.
I've caught reports about it on Discovery History Channel
in shows about hauntings.
I've also seen it aired in the show Urban Legends.
Each state that the roadway leading to the tracks have been professionally measured for its level.
They have proven that it does decline by GPS
& other surveying equipment, by approximately 2 degrees.
The appearance of it inclining to the tracks surface
is an optical illusion.

Even so, I doubt seriously that's enough of a decline
to cause an immobile, 2 ton object to move without a push!

I personally took my car, a 1968 Pontiac Firebird convertible,
over those tracks perhaps a dozen times.
I dusted the back with baby powder once,
when my car had been cleaned recently.
The back, after going over the tracks,
was covered in small handprints,
in whole or part, all across the trunk & bumper.
Not only that, there was one large pair of handprints...
perhaps the bus driver?

The legends say that a school bus full of children
stalled on the tracks in the mid 1900s,
killing all of the passengers.
The passengers of that doomed bus
don't want the same to happen to others.
The myth-busters refute the claims,
saying there's no news report
in the area papers' morgues to back up that story,
but there was a similar incident reported
in one local paper that happened elsewhere.

Why do I say the San Antonio tracks really are haunted?
Let me tell you of one particular day
that I took a few others with me to the tracks to test them out.

I don't remember the date,
but it would have had to have taken place sometime in 1977.
I had my husband & one of his friends with me,
along with 2 parakeets I had just bought,
in a cage on the back seat.
They had been chittering & chirping amongst themselves
during our entire ride to the tracks, very happy.

Upon arriving at the area of the tracks
& staging my car at the recommended starting point,
suddenly, the birds got quiet.
When I looked at them, they'd fluffed their feathers out
as if they were cold
& dropped their heads into whatever birds have for shoulders.
I felt an electricity surge through my body... a tingling.
Then the car started moving!

I had shut the engine off & put the transmission in neutral,
like they tell you to do.
Believe me,
I know how hard it is to move that car by pushing it!
It had never rolled on its own
even with a greater decline on a smooth paved road.
It always took an extra shove,
even if it was only with my left foot stuck out the door
while I sat behind the wheel to steer it.

My husband's friend was freaked!
He wanted nothing less than for us to get the hell out of there!
I was ready to go again & so was my husband,
so I turned the car around to go back in line again.
We watched as other cars took the haunted tracks test
& waited our turn again.

One car, a gold colored full-sized Lincoln Continental Mark III,
took the plunge.
There was commotion in the car
as the back seat passenger argued with the driver,
accusing him of making the car move.
We watched as the driver restaged his car,
& he & his wife got out.
He told the back seat passenger to go ahead
& sit behind the wheel himself,
so the back seat passenger obliged,
to prove his point.

Within seconds, the car began to move.
No one was touching it & only the one person was inside.
He started screaming in Spanish & English
& stomped on the brakes.
The car continued on to the tracks & over them,
despite everything the person tried to get the car to stop!
He looked as if he was trying to tear out the steering wheel
at the same time as he pushed so hard
that his back was smashing into the seat!

Once the car went over the tracks
& around the sharp turn
at the bottom of a short hill they sit on,
he was finally able to get the car to stop.
He lunged out of the car,
still screaming in both languages.
I clearly heard him demand
that the driver take him back to his hotel.
He vowed never to come back!

I talked to the driver of the car.
They had just met the passenger in town,
& all were tourists who had just heard about the ghost tracks.
He & his wife took the incident in stride.
The tourist from Mexico was definitely terrified!

This experience is something I'll never forget! I may live in Hawaii now, but it's a part of Texas that will stay with me forever.

This, like my spooky story last Halloween, is not made up. The only real difference in this story is that I actually experienced it for myself, whereas last year's was told to me by those who experienced the paranormal phenomena.

This is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Please go here:  http://www.thebreastcancersite.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/CTDSites & click on the Fund Free Mammograms button to help get this much needed service available to more ladies!

My breast cancer was NOT detectable by touch. It was the mammogram that found it. Had I not had this valuable diagnostic service, I'm sure that my Stage I DCIS would have become a less treatable stage. One thing that ladies need to understand is that once they or the doctor can actually feel the lump, their survival rate has diminished exponentially. It also means the prescribed treatment is much more aggressive. My cancer was small & encapsulated... no metastasis, so no radiation or chemo was recommended, because I had all my breast tissue removed (except the nipple).

With what I've learned about the results of radiation & the chemo treatments they currently use, I don't think I'd have agreed to have either done anyway. I know of a man with throat cancer who was told with treatment, he'd live another 2 years, but with a poor quality of life because of the chemo. They told him he'd die in about 7 months without the chemo. Well, it's been 2 years, a couple of surgeries to remove the cancer in his throat, no chemo or radiation & he's still very much alive & has an excellent quality of life!

Chemo kills! It destroys the body's immune system, allowing for other illnesses to take hold. It makes a person extremely weak & sick. So sick that many give up, feeling they'd rather die than live feeling as poorly as they do. Also, other forms of cancer set in. One lady here ended up with brain cancer months after her chemo. One_in_Eight & Windsong87 gave up, dying within 2 years of their initial diagnosis of breast cancer.

It infuriates me that the National Cancer Institute has sat on a CURE for cancer since 1976! They & the research companies involved with those studies on an herb cannot duplicate the effectiveness through synthesis of the chemicals the plant produces. Since natural biologicals cannot be patented, they can't make a profit off this cure, so have withheld the results from publication, effectively killing tens of thousands over these nearly 30 years since with drugs they can profit from!

The herbal cancer cure? Graviola, or soursop as it's known to most people. Read about this wonderful herb here:  http://www.rain-tree.com/graviola.htm In glancing through this article again, since it's been awhile, I noticed that they've added some information to this page. It seems that some docs ARE helping their patients by recommending this herb's leaf & stem to their patients. BRAVO! Why wait for the long term process for drug companies to complete their research of synthetics that DON'T work, dying in the process, when they can consume this herb & be CURED in virtually hours?! The entire plant is medicinal, without 'side'-effects, with different parts used for different health problems. In countries where soursop grows naturally, the natives have been using this plant for hundreds of years. I think there's enough 'proof' there!

I have 2 soursop plants. I bought one a couple years ago, not realizing that I already had one in my yard. I had mis-identified one small tree, until I saw the very odd flowers, which I had no idea what it could be then. When the fruit finally formed, I knew instantly what it was & watched as it matured. I have collected the seed from the fruit to send to my sister in Texas, who has a friend with a small nursery. I'm sure they'll be glad to get the seed of this wonderful plant! I'm currently awaiting the appearance of more fruit, since it's been continually blooming for the past 3 months or so.

This is a branch on my soursop plant. If you look carefully, you'll see a flower near the uppermost right of the picture.

Here is a closeup of one of the branches, giving you a better idea of what the leaves look like. It's these & the stems that research scientists have proven time & again kills cancer cells without affecting normal cells... without the devastating 'side'-effects of conventional chemo drugs.

Weird flower, eh? It's as tough as it appears with its thick bracts. This is about as much as it opens as well. It also has a pungent fragrance.

I didn't get shots of the fruit my tree had. When it produces fruit the next time, I'll be sure to get some shots of them. In the meantime, the Raintree site has wonderful pictures of the fruit. The link to their pics is in their upper left module.

The fruit is mildly sweet. The seeds are fairly large (about the size of beans & about the same shape) & are contained within fruit segments, which are wedge shaped, white & very juicy. This fruit is often made into smoothies & has its own medicinal use.

I recommend that everyone gets a soursop tree. Although it's a tropical plant, I feel it's hardy enough to survive indoors during the winter with enough light & moisture. My plant is on the east side of my property, so I speculate that it does well with morning light. It would make a wonderful plant for a bright corner of living rooms. Then you'll always have a supply of a great herbal remedy!

Now, it's my second irritating commercial exposed:

Kellogg's Raisin Bran: The crunchiness is supposedly so good that the employee can't hear his boss telling him he's fired... everyday! Give me a break! This commercial alludes to poor work habits by employees. So poor that when they're on the clock, they're eating. Also, that they're discourteous enough not to stop eating when the boss is speaking to them. Another thing that bugs me is does this guy do nothing but eat the Raisin Bran, so that there's no time the boss can speak to him without him having a mouthful of cereal? Granted, there are far too many poor employees in the workforce, but this is outrageous!

Flu shot concerns. Generally, the flu shot is something I had avoided whenever I could. When I was in the Navy, this avoidance could have gotten me sent to Captain's Mast for disobeying a lawful order. But I did. Why? Because they usually made me ill & yet not enough so that I could be excused from work. They expected us to go to work after receiving the shot in all cases but those showing severe reactions. Low grade fevers, etc, weren't enough.

But in recent years, I had been asking for the flu shot. I've gotten it for the past 2 or 3 years. This year? When I went to the VA clinic last week, my doctor's nurse said I wasn't eligible by the standards they had set for this vaccine shortage. When I sat in the waiting area after getting my vitals checked, I saw the guidelines poster they had on the clinic door. It specifically mentioned CANCER, among other needs. I questioned the nurse's denial of this preventative treatment... but then only in my head.

On Tuesday, I had another appointment at the clinic. I went to see the rheumatologist for my multiple conditions that fall under her specialty. There's a different nurse for the visiting specialists who come over from the VA clinic on Oahu. I mentioned the madhouse that had ensued the previous week of Veterans signing up for services just to get the shot, resulting from a front page article in our local paper. I learned when I came in that the clinic would only be providing the vaccine to patients already registered, since they only received enough to cover those already in the system who are qualified under their restricted guidelines. That's unfortunate for those who had hoped to get the vaccine but hadn't previously registered for clinic services.

The nurse asked me about my getting the shot. I told her what the other nurse had said along with my concerns regarding their guidelines & my having auto-immune disorders. She said I definitely qualify! BUT... I had a fever. 99.6° when my normal temp is 96.8°. Damn! (No, my normal temp is not a dyslexic type-o... that's what it normally is... or at least was until menopause, so when I had a 'normal' temp, it was actually a fever! My son's the same way!) So, when I return to the clinic on Monday for another appointment, if my temp's 'normal,' I get the flu shot. Blech!

The nurse said she already got it & it made her ill this time. I wonder what viral forms it is this time if it's that bad? I hadn't felt any effects from the ones I have taken over the past few years, except achiness about a week or so after last year's. I took my son to a clinic early last week because he hadn't been feeling well & had a sore throat. The nurse practitioner said he didn't have strep (my real concern, but I could see his throat was red, but didn't have the tell-tale white bumps that come with strep) & that it was probably the flu. The VA nurse thinks that my exposure to my son's illness is why I had that fever. It never progressed to full-blown flu. I must be doing something right! Perhaps it's the shiitake mushrooms I've been adding to my cooking lately. It may also be the herbal tablets I've been taking since last summer that's helped me in other ways, recommended by a Chinese herbalist.

My visit with the rheumatologist went along the same lines. I showed her the soft lump that had materialized on the back of my right hand between my middle finger & ring finger knuckles just a couple days after my last appointment with her a couple months ago. Also another that had shown up only a couple days before on the left hand, between my fore & middle finger knuckles. When I had shown the first to the regular doc, she really couldn't see it & dismissed it as perhaps from a ruptured vein. Not according to the rheumatologist! She verified it's my RA. I also told her that since the temperature has gotten cooler, I've been having more pain in my hands, etc.

Again, she spoke to me about prescribing one of a class of antibiotics now used to treat early stages of RA. She went over what they are & the possible 'side'-effects, & explained that they're no longer prescribed as antibiotics since they don't work against bacteria anymore. One is a derivative of quinine, once used to treat malaria (which it no longer works for), called Plaquenil (hydroxychloroquine). This is the least 'offensive' of the drugs used to treat RA. Here's what the mayoclinic.com has to say about possible 'side'-effects:

Precautions While Using This Medicine

Check with your doctor immediately if blurred vision, difficulty in reading, or any other change in vision occurs during or after long-term treatment . Your doctor may want you to have your eyes checked by an ophthalmologist (eye doctor).

If your symptoms do not improve within a few days (or a few weeks or months for arthritis), or if they become worse, check with your doctor.

Hydroxychloroquine may cause blurred vision, difficulty in reading, or other change in vision. It may also cause some people to become dizzy or lightheaded. Make sure you know how you react to this medicine before you drive, use machines, or do anything else that could be dangerous if you are dizzy or are not alert or able to see well . If these reactions are especially bothersome, check with your doctor.

Check with your doctor immediately if any of the following side effects occur:

Less common

Blurred vision or any other change in vision—this side effect may also occur or get worse after you stop taking this medicine.

Rare

Convulsions (seizures); increased muscle weakness; mood or other mental changes; ringing or buzzing in ears or any loss of hearing; sore throat and fever; unusual bleeding or bruising; unusual tiredness; weakness.

More common

Diarrhea; difficulty in seeing to read; headache; itching (more common in black patients); loss of appetite; nausea or vomiting; stomach cramps or pain.

Less common

Bleaching of hair or increased hair loss; blue-black discoloration of skin, fingernails, or inside of mouth; dizziness or lightheadedness; nervousness or restlessness; skin rash.

Other side effects not listed above may also occur in some patients. If you notice any other effects, check with your doctor.

Here's what the PDR online says about this drug:

Side effects of treatment for lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis may include:
Abdominal cramps, abnormal eye pigmentation, acne, anemia, bleaching of hair, blind spots, blisters in mouth and eyes, blood disorders, blurred vision, convulsions, decreased vision, diarrhea, difficulty focusing the eyes, diminished reflexes, dizziness, emotional changes, excessive coloring of the skin, eye muscle paralysis, "foggy vision," halos around lights, headache, hearing loss, heart problems, hives, involuntary eyeball movement, irritability, itching, light flashes and streaks, light intolerance, liver problems or failure, loss of hair, loss or lack of appetite, muscle paralysis, muscle weakness and wasting, nausea, nervousness, nightmares, psoriasis (dry, scaly, red skin patches), reading difficulties, ringing in the ears, skin eruptions, skin inflammation and scaling, skin rash, vertigo, vomiting, weariness, weight loss

Ok... so I should take this drug to prevent further destruction of my joints. But here's the kicker... I have blurriness of vision generally (besides my myopia) on occassion & for an hour or so after I wake up every morning, I can't read text very well. I also get foggy vision occasionally & virtually always see 'halos' around lights (especially flourescent & halogen). Another issue... I have tinnitis, in BOTH ears, BAD! I also have spastic colon, thanks to the fibromyalgia, so don't need diarrhea from a drug. Involuntary eye movement? Shoot! I have issues with that already in that when I try to read, my eyes sometimes jump back & forth. Irritability? Ask my son about that! Light intolerance? Already have serious issues with that one! Big time! I can't stand flourescent lighting or quartz halogen lights. I also can't read on white paper & get blinded by sunlight reflected off chrome or glass. Lose my hair?! Shit! I like my hair & don't like how much turns up in my brush as it is! Muscle weakness? The fibromyalgia's already got that one. I already have tinnitis & occassional vertigo. I'm also easily exhausted.

I asked her how long I'd have to take drugs for the RA. Her answer? For the rest of my life!!! The way she explained it is that 'we' would try one drug for awhile. If I develop 'side'-effects or it doesn't work or loses effectiveness, she'll change me to another, & so on & so on. Hell of stuff to look forward to. She's also starting me out on a low dosage, to increase it if needed. I wonder how long it takes before she determines that the dosage is too low to be effective? From what I read about the drug, it takes weeks to months to show any effectiveness against RA. It can also lose its effectiveness within 6 months. Sheesh!

She had looked over my x-rays of my hands & feet. She said they showed signs of the osteoarthritis, but not the RA... yet. OA doesn't cause swelling in the synovial tissues like I'm now experiencing... RA does. Both cause degeneration of the joints, however, from what I learned off mayoclinic's website.

Why am I allowing the medication? Because I'd have to consume alot of the flaxseed to prevent progression of the disease... enough to give me a constant case of the runs. The herbalist said I'd need to consume about 4 tablespoons of flaxseed oil every day or about 4 times that of ground flaxseed! It would also get expensive! The best source of omega-3 fatty acids that our bodies need is cold water fatty sea fish. I can't eat that, because I'm allergic to them. The omega-3 in these fish is already converted into the type of amino acid that our bodies can utilize directly.

One doctor I recently saw thinks my alergy may be shellfish. Yet, I've experienced reactions when eating local foods that contain such things as cod liver oil or bonito oil. That's NOT shellfish! I guess the best thing to do is ask them to do an allergy test on me. Or try to eat some fish when I'm close enough to medical care so that I can be helped if I get ill & be able to document my allergy. Frankly, I avoid eating anything that comes from the ocean, concerned that I may also be allergic to shellfish.

If the plaquenil doesn't work, the next drug in line is minocyclin (tetracycline), with even more 'side'-effects. Sigh!

Anyway... Here's the first in my list of irritating commercials:

Enzyte. The commercials for this 'male enhancement' non-prescription erectile dysfunction remedy are particularly annoying. The grins are attrocious. The allusions to men's nicknames for their third leg anatomy are insidious. The clothing, hair & makeup are out of the 1950s. It took me awhile to figure out why they did that. I theorize that the ad agency is using appearance styles out of that generation to alude to the 'perfect families' as portrayed on TV during the 1950s in shows such as "Leave it to Beaver" & "Ozzie & Harriet." In other words, that the men went out to earn a living while wives stayed home to take care of the children & home ("man's home is his CASTLE"). GET A LIFE! It's only TV... entertainment... which has little to do with REAL LIFE! Not many women are (or were) content with being a 'housewife' (they're not married to the house!). It resulted in alot of alcoholic women & addicts (tranquilizers), along with various forms of depression. It's also the reason for things such as that woman who drowned all her children in the bath tub not so long ago. She was a 'stay-at-home' mom, under her husband's rule. She cracked.

Women AREN'T servants! Norman Lear showed that when he portrayed role reversals in his sit-com "All that Glitters." Men take heed! Stop being selfish. Kinda strange that these prescription & over-the-counter drugs are doing so well, isn't it? What's the matter men, can't get it up? Try fixing your stress problems first!

Incidentally, I got a call yesterday from that nurse who said I didn't qualify for the flu shot. It was to remind me of my Monday appointment. But first, she started off with APOLOGIZING for disallowing me to get the flu shot! Apparently, the other nurse reprimanded her & reminded her about my auto-immune disorders, which qualify me for the shot.

This is the first apology I've ever gotten from her! She's the one who ignored my cat bite infection that had me the next day with a red streak all the way up my arm when I had to fly to Oahu for an appointment at Tripler. I was also feverish, nauseated & weak while there. I never got an apology for her ignoring my health issue when I had pointed it out to her. My finger was badly swollen & red when I showed it to her! I give credit where it's due. She's gotten very little from me over the years I've seen her. Maybe she's finally wizening up? We AREN'T there to serve HER... it's the other way around! She acts like we Veterans are nothing more than an imposition on her. If not for us, she wouldn't be there.

Over the past few days, we've been getting some much needed rain here in East Hawaii. When I buried the last kitty killed by a hit-and-run driver, I noticed that the soil below an inch was bone dry. This was in a very shady spot, where the loss of soil moisture would only be caused by gravitational drainage, plant absorption & slow heat evaporation over a long period of time without replenishment. We've received so little rain over the summer that soil under foliage had become dust.

The temperature has also cooled considerably. Where it had been running close to 90 degrees every day inland such as I am, it's now in the mid to upper 70s. This is how I like it! Cool & rainy!

My son came to me recently & asked me if there was a way that PMS can be fixed. Apparently, he's having trouble with his long-distance girlfriend every month about the same time. He says he's tried talking happy stuff to her, but she keeps changing the subject back to argumentative depressing topics.

I tried to explain to him about the effects of hormones in humans, including males. I used the euphemism about roosters when explaining that even males get moody or temperamental. He came back with how he's able to control his anger; that he doesn't get into fights or hit others. Problem is, he DOES hit things, which I pointed out to him. He punches the wall or whatever inanimate object's around, or does stuff like throwing his skateboard down or against something. I asked him what that got him, as in the destruction it could cause & the pain to his hand. He says he 'feels good' after hitting something. It's still a loss of control. He's better with it than the average kid, but it's still there.

Later, he asked me to get online with MSN Messenger, so he could send me a link. It was to a site that has loads of funny things that he & his girlfriend were sharing. The first thing he had me look at was a Flash one about nukes & what would happen if one country lobbed them at another, etc. Another link he sent was to a cute kitty, singing "You're better than ice cream!" http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/ice_cream.htm Adorable!

Listening to that song, it's obvious that it's speeded up from the original. I suspect that it's originally done by a local performer. I can recognize ukulele accompaniment.  I'm curious as to who it really is. If I think about it at the right time, I should call the local 'all Hawaiian, all the time' radio station to see if they know.

For those of you in Washington state, it appears that Mt St Helens is actually erupting! No, there's no lava... yet. But they said on TheWeatherChannel this evening that there's a fair amount of steam & ASH. The latter is definitely a part of an eruption. Fortunately, since it's last eruption wasn't very long ago in geological terms, the cap hasn't had the chance to plug the crater back up, which would result in another explosive eruption as occurred in 1980. What Washingtonians will get the chance to view is a large scale eruption much like we have had here on the island of Hawaii. Look out below with the lava flows! At least they'll have time to get out of the way this time!

On another subject... There are commercials I find VERY irritating! I've made a list of the most irritating commercials I've noticed in recent days. I'm still adding to it as I see another or remember one I've forgotten to list. In the meantime, I'd like YOUR input on commercials you find irritating. I'll post my list in my next blog & compare it with what you've come up with. Commercials anyone?

Lately, there has been quite a bit of advertising for a 'World Trade Center Commemorative Dollar.' The way the ad is worded makes a potential buyer think that the coin is legal tender. It isn't!

The ad states that it is a government authorized issue. Not the US Government, that's for sure! The US Mint is the only authorized striker of US coinage & it isn't their material. I took a brief look at the National Collectors Mint website, who are selling this coin. I clicked on the 'About Us' link, which only gave me 'testimonials' of past purchasers of their products. Just who are they anyway?

Who's capitalizing on the horror of that day? I can state who I think it is, but I'd just piss off a bunch of people.

I had run a search for the seller, which also turned up the website for the online newspaper for the teritory who's supposedly minting this coin. Their article about it leads me to believe that it ISN'T coming from them at all! http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=40282

Silver extracted from a bank vault under the World Trade Center, as per their ad? I think NOT! They'd play hell getting anything that valuable from Ground Zero. There's alot of bureaucratic red-tape involved with ANYTHING removed from that site!

Caveat emptor... BUYER BEWARE!

As per the US Mint's website:  http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/index.cfm?action=consumer

"Does a "certificate of authenticity" ensure that the product that I have purchased is a genuine U.S. coin?

No.  Some businesses that manufacture and sell coin replicas of U.S. coinage create their own "certificates of authenticity" with their replica products.  Thus, consumers wishing to purchase genuine U.S. coins will need to look very carefully at the Certificate of Authenticity accompanying the product.  A United States Mint Certificate of Authenticity bears the signature of the current or former Director of the United States Mint and contains an image of the official U.S. Government seal and/or the United States Mint seal.  If you are still unsure, you should contact a reputable coin dealer or coin grading service before you purchase the product."

Incidentally, the last I heard, they STILL haven't selected the replacement buildings architecture Every time they think they have a 'winner,' the public of NYC shoots it down. Most feel it should remain barren, except for a simple memorial, as a park. Nothing can ever replace WTCs 1,2 & 7.

I'm wide awake now, at nearly 1:30 in the morning, when I could hardly keep my eyes open this evening.

My son went into Hilo Saturday morning with some friends to skateboard. I didn't hear from him all day & he wasn't clear about when he'd come back to Pahoa for me to pick him up, so when I hadn't heard from him by 9 PM, I call & leave a message on his cell phone (it was turned off). During one of my nod-offs, he calls me back to say he'd be coming back with one friend who would be getting off work in about 15 minutes, but would probably want to get something to eat before leaving Hilo & they'd be dropping another off at his home on the way, which would be about 7-8 miles out of the way.

About 11:15, he calls again, saying for me to leave to pick him up in 10 minutes. So a bit later, I go out to the car & find out the parking lights had been left on! My fault. I had turned them on during my trip back from dropping him off, thinking they were the emergency flashers when I stopped up the road to pick some guavas (sweet & crunchy!). I had wondered at the time how come my flashers weren't working. I forgot to turn them off & didn't notice them on when I got out. My car is a 1997 Subaru Legacy. In Subarus, if you leave the headlights on when you turn off the ignition, they turn off. Now I know that the switch I used was for the PARKING LIGHTS, which by-pass the ignition! Shit... my battery was too low to start the car!

So I come back inside & call my son's cell... it rings but he doesn't answer. If it goes straight to his voicemail without ringing, the phone is off. If it rings & the voicemail picks up, he either isn't hearing it or he's on a call & didn't bother to answer with the call-waiting. I kept dialing & dialing, hoping I could get him to hear the phone & pick up. I do leave a message on his voicemail about the car problem. Then I call the 7-11 where he was going to be dropped off at to find out if he was there yet & leave a message with the clerk. The clerks at that store have been wonderful every time I've called in regard to my son!

Then I try the home of one that they were dropping off... busy, busy, busy. Shit! Back to trying his cell. Still no answer. Go back & try the car again. Still no starter engaging. Damn, damn, DAMN! Come back inside & try the cell again & again. His voicemail picks up right away, so I leave a message on it again... "Didn't you get the message?" Try again, then think maybe I should just wait for him to call back, that tying up the phone by dialing could block him from getting through, since the call-waiting feature doesn't work when the phone is in the dialing process & I was speed redialing. I hold the receiver in my hand for a few minutes, holding down the hookswitch button, then finally set it in its cradle. In just a few more minutes, it rings. My son tells me that the friend driving decided he was too tired to run everyone home, which would add at least a half hour to his trip, so they're all going to his house for the night, in Kapoho.

Grrrrr!

I go outside & grab the extension cord I had already dug out during my second trip to see if the car would accidentally start. I begin to unroll it, unplug a household extension cord that has a nightlight plugged in over my deep freezer under the house, plug in the outdoor extension cord & finish unrolling it on the way to my car. I had already popped the hood on the second trip, so only had to prop it open. I take the charger off the driver's seat where I had set it earlier, planning to set it up in the morning, & place it in the engine compartment, pop open the battery cells covers & clamp the leads onto the battery posts, then plug it in. It zipps to almost the full 6 amps charge. But at least when I need to go to the farmers market late morning, it will be charged.

Because it's been raining (yay!... we've been TOO dry this summer!), sometimes very heavily, I couldn't leave the hood propped open, so I stick a 2" x 4" on its edge near the latch & let the hood down on it. This way, the hood's not directly touching the charger & it won't get wet & possibly short out.

Incidentally, my son's in the doghouse. He has a girlfriend he met online in Colorado & over the summer, ran the phone bill up with long distance calls as well as his cell phone bill with text-messaging. He's grounded for 2 months plus from using my car & I'm taking his SS money away until they're all paid up. The long distance on his part for 2 months so far is over $425! I pay his cell phone bill every month with his money. I don't think all his long distance calls have showed up yet. And my long distance rate's only 5¢/minute! He had one call for over 6 hours straight!

It's now 2 AM & I'm still awake. My rooster's crowing. SHUT UP! My TV's set to TheWeatherChannel & I'm watching the stuff about Hurricane Jeanne. They've changed its path several times, from zipping up from the eastern Bahamas, missing Florida, with US landfall near Charlotte NC to skirting along the eastern Florida coastline & on up along Georgia, Alabama, then South & North Carolina, to making landfall near Port St Lucie & continuing up the centers of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, South & North Carolina. The latest projection is for the center to make it to the Gulf Coast of Florida & tracking through the centers of Georgia, Alabama, South & North Carolina.

Personally, I think that Jeanne will track across Florida & into the Gulf of Mexico, regain strength & head toward Texas. (UPDATE evening 26 Sep 04: It appears I'm wrong on this. It must have been wishfull thinking, not wanting Jeanne to track into areas already badly affected by Charley, Frances & Ivan. Plus, I don't want Jeanne to go into Cheryl's back yard.)

Jeanne's hurricane & gale-force winds extend out double the distance they had when she went over Haiti. She also was only a cat-1 storm then, but was a cat-3 when she hit Florida. Another thing... she's given the US plenty of time to get ready, since she made a complete loop in the Caribbean AFTER hitting Haiti. Most understand that a hurricane gains strength if it spends time over open warm waters, which is what she did before heading for Florida. I'm sure people got tired of waiting for this storm. She surely took her time getting to land once they labled her a tropical depression.

Some tips for you who live in areas where you can lose power, no matter the cause (in addition to those you're constantly barraged with):

1. Be sure to have a corded phone. Once power goes out, the base to a cordless has NO power to transmit your phone signal! When my personal phone quit last week, my son asked me why I didn't buy a cordless to replace it with. I told him that if we lost power, we wouldn't have any phone service with 2 cordless phones!
   
2. Once power's out, don't flush the toilet. If you thought to fill your bathtub with water, you can scoop about a gallon out with a bucket to use, pouring the water directly into the bowl to force the contents out. With extensive power outages, pumps are out that carry water back up into water towers, so there's no water pressure to homes & businesses once the reservoir tanks drain. Collect as much water as you can in jugs, bottles, extra ice chests & plastic tote boxes. Have enough bottled water to last at least a week for everyone (a gallon per day per person). Don't forget to have water enough for your pets!
   
3. Power outages from severe storms can take days to weeks to fix, due to the number of lines broken & utility poles knocked down. Hurricane Iwa in Hawaii caused a loss of power for a week on Oahu, when Iwa's eye hit Kauai! Some areas of Kauai were without power for months! For refrigeration, buy block ice. This lasts longer than cubes & will work in your refrigerator (don't forget to put an additional block in the freezer compartment!) & deep freezer like old-fashioned 'ice boxes.' Place the block in a plastic tub just large enough for it to keep from having water ruin your food. Place it near the top, since cool air sinks. Reduce the number ot times you open the refridgerator or freezer to keep the cool air from escaping. Place frequently accessed stuff like beverages in ice chests with your cubed ice. Contrary to what I've often heard, stuff solidly frozen in the freezer or deep freezer will stay frozen for several days, as long as the door/lid isn't opened more than once or twice in a day very briefly.
   
4. If you find a store suddenly overcharging for hurricane relief supplies, report them. It is against the law! Since Hurricane Andrew's devastation & resulting price-gouging, a Federal law was enacted to prevent this from happening again. But people are greedy & prey upon the needy. If you have extra stuff, help out a neighbor.

Bush wants to privatize Social Security (incidentally, an agency about which he stated: "The Social Security Administration is NOT a Federal Agency" when stepping off a plane during his first campaign! I'm guessing with his proposal that he's trying to make his false statement then into TRUTH now!). Here's what a non-scientific poll on MSNBC currently says about what PEOPLE want in regard to privatizing Social Security:

Live Vote
Where do you stand on privatizing Social Security?   * 23152 responses None at all. 60% Up to a fourth of my Social Security withholdings should be under my control. 8% Up to half my Social Security withholdings should be under my control. 15% Social Security should go completely private. 17%

Guess what I chose! The Social Security changes implimented recently have already swung large amounts of YOUR Social Security monies into privatization. It's taking control away from those on Social Security/Medicare. To receive $5250 worth of prescription medication, it costs the patient about $4175, including their prescription benefit premium. Hardly a savings to those of very limited incomes! This is because when someone gets to a certain dollar figure in Medicare covered prescriptions, Medicare STOPS PAYING, until they go over the figure I mentioned above. Each year after the first, the Medicare-paid cutoff is lowered & reinstated paying raised! Again... What help is this really? I don't know anyone relying solely on Social Security who can afford over $4k for meds, on top of the deductible for the doctors/hospitals & co-pay. Do you? Something has to not get paid & most of the time, this is FOOD!

Also... the way they worded the poll is misleading, saying "under MY control." That would hardly be the case! It WOULDN'T be under the individual's control. It would be like an HMO, in which you're forced to go to one of few selected providers. Ask anyone who's stuck with an HMO through work how they feel about their health care. I'd bet most are less than satisfied! I know my sister's thoroughly disgusted with her family's, under the Texas Blue Cross - Blue Shield as a state employee (her husband)!

I had been watching the storms roll through the Caribbean & on into the US in the different areas over the past few weeks. I finally stopped for a few days, only catching brief updates off TheWeatherChannel on TV & local news. It is very dismaying to hear about the devastation that has occurred, not only to property, but also the toll in human life. Hurricane Jeanne has so far killed more people than all the others combined this season. And that's just in the Caribbean... particularly Haiti!

I'm back to running the GOES infrared satellite loops in one browser to keep watch. I don't like what I'm seeing. I've already noticed that Hurricane Karl has come further west than what the meteorologists at NOAA had predicted when I stopped monitoring the storms' progress. Currently, their 5-day track prediction has it curling north from its 5PM EST position, to carry on north & east, away from the continent. I hope they're right. Hurricane Jeanne is currently tracking to the southwest, not as their track prediction states of west-northwest.

Incidentally, the GOES links I put in an earlier blog are RAM hogs. Don't leave the browser on the java loop page for long. Also, the main tropical storms page meta-refreshes (it refreshes itself at certain time intervals), so you can't leave the browser there either. The java loop images will eventually lock-up the browser. (I've had it happen several times.) When that's happened, I hit ctrl/alt/del to open up Windows' Task Manager, to the "Processes" tab. I noticed one IE browser listed utilizing over 125 MEG memory (I had 4 GOES loop pages in the browser history along with the main tropical storms advisory page & one or two storm information pages)! So should you have an issue such as that where a browser locks up, once you get the Task Manager open to that tab, select that application & click the "End Task" button. You'll get the warning stating that closing an application may cause errors... just ignore that warning, clicking ok. You'll have to reboot your computer afterwards to free up the memory again, but once you do, everything should run fine.

The former hurricane, downgraded days ago to tropical storm, Ivan, is another matter. After Ivan made landfall, farther west than their original predictions, I checked where they predicted it'd go & found they thought it was going to go only as far north as Tennessee, then curl back to the south-southeast, through the Carolinas. From what I heard in the weather reports, Ivan kept going north, into Maine. BUT... it's made its way back south again, into the Gulf of Mexico. Where's Ivan headed right now? BACK INTO THE DEVASTATION AREA WHERE IT FIRST MADE US LANDFALL!!! The last thing the people of these areas of Louisiana, Alabama & the Florida panhandle need is MORE RAIN & the 'lesser' winds of a tropical depression (up to 38 mph sustained, with gusts of 50+)! NOAA forecast has the remnants of Ivan going into Texas. HAH!!!

One thing I've often wondered... what if 2 deadly storms like these come together & join up? Is there such a possibility? What would the combined storm be called; a Super Hurricane? Is it possible for a storm to develop higher than a cat-5 Saffier/Simpson?

For those in the eastern & southern continental US who've suffered tragic losses, either property or life/health, my heart is with you. My thoughts focus on keeping the current storms out of your lives. You seem to be getting the rains we in Hawaii are lacking.