Back To School

As most of you know, Matt is leaving his job on August 31 and going back to school (September 6) to become a Dispensing Optician. We are having a little party for him this Saturday (I wish you all could be here!).

So, here is some back to school music for Matt, and lady red, and Noah, and Wendy (Sojourner):

All in all it's just what you expect! I love this song. Even though it's completely alien to my beliefs, my politics, and my philosophy. Go figure.



Sam Cooke:

Oh
My
My
My

Sam Cooke, he be delicious:



And now, the required Canadian content! The Beau-Marks with "Class Mates"



Finally, Bobby Curtola with "Three Rows Over"



ENJOY!!!

A Problem To Solve

Shortages of critical drugs have been impacting the health care of thousands of sick people, and the problem may grow into an outright crisis that will touch the lives of all of us.

Record shortages of prescription drugs in the United States are forcing pharmacists and doctors to scramble to find medications for their patients or to delay potentially lifesaving treatments.

Medical professionals say they've been able to blunt the impact by turning to alternative drugs or reserving supplies of vital medications for patients who need them most.

They caution that the problem is reaching a crisis point.

Several issues are driving this, but good information is scarce because the drug industry and the FDA are rather tight-lipped. There are a few manufacturing plants that have been shut down due to contamination. Drug companies don't make the enormous profits on generics (or even take a loss), so some have simply stopped producing these life-saving drugs, to the detriment of patients who desperately need them to survive.

The NYT has an op-ed piece calling for "more government!" to tackle the shortages. Shocka.

Beyond limited responses, like using the F.D.A.’s discretionary powers to expedite temporary imports of drugs that are sold overseas but not here, there are very few ways to ease the crisis. For the longer term, bipartisan bills in Congress would require drug makers to give the F.D.A. six months’ warning of problems that might disrupt supplies. For that to work, the penalties for noncompliance would need to be stiff.

Other proposals include a national stockpile of critically important drugs, incentives to encourage the manufacture of generic drugs, and broader powers and additional resources for the F.D.A. to head off looming shortages. Some, perhaps many, Congressional Republicans will inevitably oppose an expansion of the F.D.A.’s regulatory authority. This cannot and must not be a fight over ideology. For many Americans, it is a fight for their lives.

Anytime a progressive says "this is not about idealogy" a red flag goes up; in this case, it means they're proposing to ram new government regulations up the hindquarters of private businesses and citizens, or outright nationalize another industry.

The drug shortages are a problem that must be solved. Any ideas?

Wednesday Morning Earthquake Humououour

RIP Jerry Leiber and Nick Ashford

Two of America's great songwriters. Thank you for the music.

Jerry Leiber 25 April 1933 - 22 August 2011

Probably better known for numerous Elvis hits such as Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock, I prefer the softer sounds...





Nick Ashford 4 May 1941 - 22 August 2011

Here are two of his Motown hits (featuring the always delicous Marvin Gaye):

Glenn Beck: Restoring Courage

Annie caught me this morning just as I was walking out the door with these awesome links to Glenn Beck's Restoring Courage event.

From IsraellyCool:

I don’t really know how more clear Glenn Beck could make his intentions than what he said last night. I’ll paraphrase: he loves Jews AS Jews in Israel and has no desire to convert us. Clear enough? Anybody who still doesn’t believe him is malicious or completely incapable of taking honest people at their word.

MyRightWord:

Fears of sneak proselyzting or missionary work were not only unfounded but dashed. I think the Christian speakers were more pro-Jewish than the Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, in a sense.

Haaretz:

The evening's opening act, a dissection of Israel's significance that felt more like a news channel studio debate than a live show, was followed by video footage of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he vowed that "Jerusalem must never be divided." This statement won the first of many raucous rounds of applause of the night.

It seems Beck is a smash hit with our Jewish friends, and I'm tickled to see it. Go Glenn!

Global Warming Runs Out Of Gas

From Rex Murphy, the only good thing, ever, to come out of the CBC:

Mr. Gore is not a happy Jeremiah. You hear him on the tape near rage, repeatedly shouting “bulls–t” over the arguments of his critics. He raves about conspiracy — a rebirth of the tactics of the dreaded tobacco industry of a few decades back. He blames “media manipulation” for the refusal of people to take up his gloomy summons. He hisses at “volcanoes and sunspots” as having much or anything to do with climate. “Bulls–!” he cries over and over — perhaps it’s the methane content that has him mesmerized with the word. Listen to this aria: “They pay pseudo-scientists to pretend to be scientists to put out the message: ‘This climate thing, it’s nonsense. Man-made CO2 doesn’t trap heat. It may be volcanoes.’ Bulls–t! ‘It may be sun spots.’ Bulls–t! ‘It’s not getting warmer.’ Bulls–t!”

Can a person win the Nobel Peace prize twice? I surely hope so, for this is the E=mc² moment of our green time.

Read it all, you know you want to.

Happy Birthday Magic Fayre!

Our lovely Fay is celebrating her 29th birthday! We've baked her a chocolate cake as elegant as she is!

Fay, we hope you can find time in your busy schedule to enjoy your special day. You're a frequent-flyer businesswoman...

...and a wonderful chef...

Tonight, may you trip the light fantastic with your handsome hubby Matt..

Or enjoy the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra!

We all chipped in for lovely necklace for a lovely lady. You do like diamonds and emeralds, don't you?

More Wasteful Spending

When I read this story in the newspaper about an airport I'd never heard of, I had to investigate further. From the paper:

U.S. Rep. Mike Ross and U.S. Sens. John Boozman (BOHZ'-man) and Mark Pryor say Grant County will receive more than $312,000 to make improvements at Sheridan Municipal Airport.

The men announced Friday that the $312,607 grant is from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The money will be used to deter unauthorized persons and vehicles from entering onto the airfield.

Ross says the investment at the airport will make it safer and stronger for its passengers and the surrounding communities.

Boozman and Pryor both say the improvements are important for economic development.

We need to deter unauthorized persons and vehicles from THIS airfield? Really? Should people from Idaho and North Carolina and Michigan shell out $312,607 of their hard earned money for THIS?

Stats:

Control Tower: No
Wind Indicator: Yes, Not Lighted
Lighting Schedule: DUSK-DAWN
Single Engine Aircraft Based on Field: 11
Multi-Engine Aircraft Based on Field: 1
Jet Aircraft Based on Field: none
Helicopters Based on Field: none
Military Aircraft Based on Field: none
Annual Commercial Operations: none
Annual Commuter Operations: none
Annual Air Taxi Operations: none
Annual Military Operations: 400
Annual GA Local Operations: 3400
Annual GA Itinerant Operations: 5000

I thought the "powers that be" were going to crack down on these idiotic airport expenditures? It looks to me like politics as usual.

Weirdness Abounds

I saw an odd story on the TV news last night...I wasn't sure I'd heard it correctly. Here's the print version:

Students in the town of Joplin, Mo., returned to school yesterday as the city continues its attempt at a return to normalcy following the devastating EF-5 tornado that ravaged the town on May 22. What isn't normal, however, is the renovated department store in a local mall that has temporarily become the Joplin Public Schools' new high school.

Greg Boyd, Joplin High School's assistant principal, told The Associated Press that school officials expect to call North Park Mall the school's home for the next three years.

Interestingly, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Embassy in Washington, D.C. has offered to donate up to $1 million toward the new school building and the purchase of new laptop computers for all of the high school's students.

The embassy's initial $500,000 donation will go toward Joplin Public Schools' “One-to-One” initiative, which established the goal of providing laptops for each of the high school's 2,200 students. The UAE will also match any other outside donations toward the initiative up to $500,000, for a total of $1 million.

I never thought I would ever say this, but thank you United Arab Emirates. Your kindness in a time of great tragedy is appreciated, and will be remembered.

Bunny Wunny

From the pen of John Kass at the Chicago Tribune:

Is President Barack Obama on the verge of being attacked by a bunny wabbit?

Absolutely.

All the signs suggest that Obama is in immediate danger of a rabbit attack. It would ruin what's left of his presidency. And it would horrify Democrats by ushering in, say, a President Bachmann.

It might happen while he's on that ridiculous vacation of his. Obama is chilling at some exclusive multimillion-dollar estate on Martha's Vineyard, even as thousands more Americans hit the unemployment lines, and as Republicans like Michele Bachmann make wild-eyed, crazed claims about bringing back $2 per gallon gas.

"I think it's a little too early yet for the president to be attacked by a rabbit," cautioned a veteran Chicago Democrat wise in the ways of Obama. "But it's close. Real close."

Read it all here.

H/T: Zip