SomedayQuilter: News and politics

Bill's weird people

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 21:40:42 GMT

This is a copy of the e-mail I sent Bill. Afterall, why write something twice. ;-)

Bill,

Those weird people you're always running into sometimes know what they're talking about! This was on the front page of the Oregonian yesterday and there was a follow up in today's paper.

Oregon sleuth solves E. coli mystery

An expert in food-borne disease traces an out break to spinach while doing phone surveys

E. coli outbreak

Oregon was the first state to pinpoint bagged spinach as the source of a nationwide outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7. Altogether 114 cases in 21 states were confirmed as of Monday.

The follow up today says 131 cases have now been identified and one death (77 year old woman in Wisconsin). The FDA is swarming all over the spinach fields in Salinas, CA and the packing facilities. Farmers are plowing under their fields and laying off workers. There's normally another month to the season, but some are already plowing it under and getting ready to plant broccoli, cabbage, etc.

I guess Popeye's favorite isn't going to get eaten much for awhile.

SomedayQuilter

Steve Irwin dead at 44

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 16:49:03 GMT

My sympthathies go out to his wife, children and close friends. They have lost someone they knew and loved deeply.

The world at large also mourns for we have lost a larger than life personality that deeply believed in what he was doing. His commitment and compassion for animals and the environment along with his hyperactive antics certainly made his documentaries entertaining to watch and made him a household name as "The Crocodile Hunter". He is probably Austraila's best known figure and will be sorely missed by all, but especially by those at the Austraila Zoo in Queensland.

He was filming a new documentary or series on deadly sea creatures when he was stung by a stingray. The news has said that the stingray's barb went into Steve's chest and his heart and that he probably died instantly. His friends and co-workers tried desperately to revive him, but to no avail. Yes, he took risks, but that's what you do when you live life large and believe in what you do. He accomplished a lot, we just wish he could have been around a little longer.

Talking about Shut the f**k up and start helping!

Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:38:23 GMT

I know you don't normally see political/world affairs stuff or offensive language on my space, but this is short, to the point and right on. It was written by Wes of Altered Spaces, someone you see referenced on my space a lot because of his blogs on help with spaces.

Quote

Shut the f**k up and start helping!

Yesterday I read an article written by Lord Stevens, former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, about the current terrorism crisis in the UK. In his article he calls for "Passenger Profiling" for airline passengers and states that airport chaos could be cut by more rigorous checks for "young Muslim men".

Then today, I read an article in the Independent stating that Muhammad Abdul Bari, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, had responded to Lord Stevens by stating: "This is an extreme form of stereotyping."

Whether Muhammad Abdul Bari was complaining about Lord Stevens suggestion or not, his statement about stereotyping is correct. However, it's not stereotyping we need to worry about, because that's a secondary concern. Planes falling out of the sky and innocent people dying needs to be our priority!

I can understand the concerns of the Muslim community, really I can, but they need to acknowledge one simple fact. These "terrorists" who continue to attempt to commit mass murder of innocent people, and who are willing to die in order to achieve that goal, are claiming to do so in the name of Allah. Not only that, but the majority just so happen to be young Muslim men.

So how do we police this threat? Should the police be bugging the local Catholic Church? Should the airport staff be performing detailed rectal examination of Mormons? No, don't be bloody silly, they should be paying special attention to the Muslim community (and specifically young Muslim men), this is where the threat exists and that is where the police will find their "terrorists".

So rather than moaning to the world about how your community is being unfairly stereotyped and attempting to shift blame onto the government for all your woes, how about the Muslim community get's off it's a** and starts doing something to root out this evil?