A Day in the Life

The heartland of the last uncontacted Indians south of the Amazon basin is at imminent risk of destruction. Powerful landowning companies are trying to have injunctions protecting the Indians' territory lifted. The injunctions are currently the only protection for the last remaining forests of the Ayoreo-Totobiegosode Indians, although these have been flouted too, and long tracks have already been bulldozed into the forest. Much of the Indians' territory is owned by a Paraguayan company called Jaguarete Pora SA, a merger of the previous landowning companies known as Luna Park International Ltda. and Itakyry SRL. Under Paraguayan law all this area, as a small remaining part of the Ayoreo's forest homeland, should have been titled to the Indians years ago. But Jaguarete is instead trying to get permission to bulldoze much of the forest and introduce cattle, a process that has already devastated vast areas of the Ayoreo's territory. Although most of the Ayoreo tribe, inclu...

Ganked from Brian's blog ... From Think Progress : Medical experts speak out about the court’s ruling upholding what the right wing terms “partial birth” abortion: At Bellevue’s Reproductive Choice Unit, for example, unnerved residents circulated stories about the hospital’s sordid past, when floors were once full of women who attempted termination on their own. “I don’t think many of us know what partial birth is — it’s not a medical term at all,” said Kiran Chawal, a third-year resident there. “We’ve all looked it up to figure out what they’re talking about. It’s difficult to understand or interpret.” The legislation of medicine is what angers doctors most, regardless of their political leanings. “It’s not a pro-choice issue as much as it is a medical issue,” says Chawal. “You’re telling doctors how to perform a procedure. Are they going to tell me next week that I can’t use a speculum to do a Pap smear?” Jessica Salas, one of the chief OB residents at Bellevue, doesn’t perform ...

Thanks to Brian for sending this along to me...what a victory this is! :) The Bush administration will allow Wiccans to choose the pentacle, the symbol of their faith, for inscription on government-issued memorial markers for deceased veterans, it was announced today. Officials dragged their feet on the request for years (and were finally sued) but in the interim approved the symbols of six other religions and belief systems, like the Sikh emblem approved in only a few weeks. Wicca is a nature-based religion grounded in pre-Christian beliefs that honors the Divine as both Mother and Father, encompasses love of Nature and its cycles, and encourages harmony among all humans. ( Green Bay Press ) Related is a June 13, 2006 GNN story , Christianity Today Stands Behind Wiccan Widow.

Home Depot is honoring Earth Day this year by giving away Compact Fluorescent Bulbs today! They can help reduce your electricity bill, and are so efficient they are better for the environment. You can't beat free, so stop by and get one if you can. And while you're there, buy a few more! (details here and here ) If you're interested in attending an Earth Day event today, check out this link: Earth Day Events in the DFW Metroplex

Please everyone go support a woman's right to choose what happens with her body! Fyi, here is what Obama had to say on the subject: Obama Response to Supreme Court Decision | April 18, 2007 Chicago, IL-- Senator Barack Obama today made the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding abortion. "I strongly disagree with today's Supreme Court ruling, which dramatically departs from previous precedents safeguarding the health of pregnant women. As Justice Ginsburg emphasized in her dissenting opinion, this ruling signals an alarming willingness on the part of the conservative majority to disregard its prior rulings respecting a woman's medical concerns and the very personal decisions between a doctor and patient. I am extremely concerned that this ruling will embolden state legislatures to enact further measures to restrict a woman's right to choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court justices will look for other opportunities to e...

This falls into the sad but true category. Ganked from multiple bulletins on myspace... See What 50 Years Will Do? Scenario: Jack pulls into school parking lot with rifle in gun rack. 1956 - Vice Principal comes over, takes a look at Jack's rifle, goes to his car and gets his to show Jack. 2006 - School goes into lockdown, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers. ++++++++++++++++++++++ Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school. 1956 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends. Nobody goes to jail, nobody arrested, nobody expelled. 2006 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Scenario: Jeffrey won't be still in class, disrupts other students. 1956 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by Principal....

The following article is long BUT important. There is a deadline of April 30th for us all to respond. Please do. Please spread the word. And most importantly... please act. Check out the following article link... (it's also typed out below) http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4803.cfm FDA Attempting to Regulate Supplements, Herbs and Juices as Drugs" Health freedom action alert: FDA attempting to regulate supplements, herbs and juices as "drugs" By Mike Adams NewsTarget/Truth Publishing, April 11, 2007 Straight to the Source When it comes to health freedom, this is the FDA's end game. A new FDA "guidance" document, published on the FDA's website, reveals plans to reclassify virtually all vitamins, supplements, herbs and even vegetable juices as FDA-regulated drugs. Massage oils and massage rocks will be classified as "medical devices" and require FDA approval. The document is called Docket No. 2006D-0480. Draft Guidance for I...

We watched every single episode of last season and LOVE this show. If you're not watching it, you're missing out! Friday April 13th, marks the launch of Season 2 of "The Henry Rollins Show" on IFC. This jam-packed first half-hour features a completely uncensored interview with Marilyn Manson, a hilarious editorial featuring Janeane Garofalo in her NYC apartment and the television performance debut from rock star Peaches. You don't want to miss this. The season starts tonight on IFC at 11pm EST and 8pm PST. The special, "Henry Rollins: Uncut from Israel" will be shown at 9:30 EST and 6:30pm PST. www.ifc.com/henry www.myspace.com/henryrollinsshow Set Your Tivo Season Pass!

I'm hoping to be able to go to the event tomorrow but probably won't be able to make the Saturday stuff. Be active and exercise your right to free speech, it's the only way there's any little chance for change. Anyone else with me?

And for the last joke post today, here's a classic from the Sperm Donor. LOL! Two elderly friends, Bill and Sam, met in the park every day to feed the pigeons, watch the squirrels and discuss world problems. One day Bill didn't show up. Sam didn't think much about it and figured maybe he had a cold or something. But after Bill hadn't shown up for a week or so, Sam really got worried. However, since the only time they ever got together was at the park, Sam didn't know where Bill lived, so he was unable to find out what had happened to him. A month had passed, and Sam figured he had seen the last of Bill, but one day, Sam approached the park and -- lo and behold! --there sat Bill! Sam was very excited and happy to see him and told him so. Then he said, "For crying out loud Bill, what in the world happened to you?" Bill replied, "I have been in jail." "Jail?" cried Sam. "What in the world for?" "Well," Bill said, ...

Here's one I got from Sweetie Chris and I couldn't help sharing...too funny and hopefully not true! :) HEADLINES FROM THE YEAR 2029 Ozone created by electric cars now killing millions in the seventh largest country in the world, Mexifornia, formerly known as California. White minorities still trying to have English recognized as Mexifornia's third language. Spotted owl plague threatens northwestern United States crops and livestock. Baby conceived naturally. Scientists stumped. Couple petitions court to reinstate heterosexual marriage. Last remaining Fundamentalist Muslim dies in the American Territory of the Middle East (formerly known as Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon). Iran still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least 10 more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels. France pleads for global help after being taken over by Jamaica. Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally, but President Chelsea Clinton has b...

Here's one from my Hippie Mama that was too good not to share... :) Zen Sarcasm 1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone. 2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt. 3. It's always darkest just before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it. 4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted. 5. Always remember that you're unique. Just like everyone else. 6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet. 7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try missing a couple of car payments. 8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes. 9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you. 10. Give a man a fish and he w...

Got this one from Fae Faerie and thought it was worth sharing...how true, how true! :) 01. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE. "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning." 02. My mother taught me RELIGION. "You better pray that will come out of the carpet." 03. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL. "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!" 04. My mother taught me LOGIC. "Because I said so, that's why." 05. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC. "If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me." 06. My mother taught me FORESIGHT. "Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident." 07. My mother taught me IRONY. "Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry about." 08. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS. "Shut your mouth and eat y...

Reposting from Punky's myspace bulletin...this is SO wrong! :-( Recently, a very serious problem has been brought to the attention of several members of cafemom. It is a very heinous website called www.puellula.com . This website is a safe haven for pedophiles. The heading on their main page reads, "A Celebration of the Splendor of Little Girls". This website includes links to pictures, or "art" as they call it, of little girls, confessional blogs, a directory of resources for pedophiles (for "both boylovers and girl lovers, as well as anybody else looking for information about pedophilia and consensual child love"), as well as many other links. This site has a manifesto, stating demands to the government to legalize pedophilia. The most disturbing, though, is a link to a page title Sugar and Spice that is specifically for little girls who have "fallen in love" with a pedophile. This site is set up to draw in little girls. It looks like any o...

FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company. This listserv covers mainly Class I (life-threatening) recalls. A complete listing of recalls can be found in the FDA Enforcement Report at: http://www.fda.gov/opacom/Enforce.html Menu Foods Voluntarily Recalls Additional Pet Food made with ChemNutra Wheat Gluten Contact: Menu Foods, 1-866-895-2708 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- TORONTO, April 10, 2007 -- Prompted by reports from the US Food and Drug Administration as to the presence of melamine in cans of cuts and gravy pet food produced in Menu Foods' Canadian production facility, Menu Foods undertook an accounting of all recalled wheat gluten supplied by ChemNutra Inc. to Menu Foods in the United States. As the result of that review, Menu Foods has identified a single interplant transfer of the ChemNutra supplied ...

There is more discomforting news this week regarding the pet food crisis. The Tuesday, April 10, Toronto Globe and Mail included an article, by Keith McArthur, headed "Pet food insider sold shares before recall; CFO calls sale a 'coincidence'." (pg B1) The article opens: "The chief financial officer of Menu Foods Income Fund says it's a 'horrible coincidence' that he sold nearly half his units in the troubled pet food maker less than three weeks before a massive recall of tainted pet food. "Insider trading reports show that Mark Wiens sold 14,000 units for $102,900 on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27. Those shares would be worth $62,440 today, based on yesterday's close of $4.46 a unit. "That represented 45 per cent of Mr. Wiens's units..." We read: "Mr. Wiens said the first reports of illnesses and deaths related to Menu Foods products came in to the company's toll-free customer relations line in late February. But he said he did n...

Okay this was too wierd not to share. Thanks to Thia for posting this on a myspace bulletin! :) My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Milady the Right Reverend Jenni the Perplexed of Much Moulding upon Carpet Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Got this one from the Sperm Donor and couldn't help sharing it. This is some funny shit right here! :) The North has Bloomingdales, The South has Dollar General The North has coffee houses, The South has Waffle Houses. The North has dating services, The South has family reunions. The North has switchblade knives, The South has Lee Press-on Nails. The North has double last names, The South has double first names. The North has Indy car races, The South has stock car races. North has Cream of Wheat, The South has grits. The North has green salads, The South has collard greens. The North has lobsters, The South has crawfish. The North has the rust belt, The South has the Bible Belt. FOR NORTHERNERS MOVING SOUTH . . . In the South: -- If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for. Don't be surprised to find movie...

LOL! Now this is some funny shit, right here... ALL GRANDPAS, HEED THIS WARNING Do NOT lose your grandkids in the mall! A small boy was lost at a large shopping mall. He approached a uniformed policeman and said, "I've lost my Grandpa!" The cop asked, "What's he like?" The little boy hesitated for a moment and then replied, "Crown Royal and women with big tits."

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell! Seventh Level of Hell ------------------------------------------------------------------- Guarded by the Minotaur, who snarls in fury, and encircled within the river Phlegethon, filled with boiling blood, is the Seventh Level of Hell. The violent, the assasins, the tyrants, and the war-mongers lament their pitiless mischiefs in the river, while centaurs armed with bows and arrows shoot those who try to escape their punishment. The stench here is overpowering. This level is also home to the wood of the suicides- stunted and gnarled trees with twisting branches and poisoned fruit. At the time of final judgement, their bodies will hang from their branches. In those branches the Harpies, foul birdlike creatures with human faces, make their nests. Beyond the wood is scorching sand where those who committed violence against God and nature are showered with flakes of fire that rain down against their naked bodies. Bla...