Another Ribeye On The Grill

The WHO (World Health Organization) just released a report saying that red and processed meats have the potential to cause cancer in humans.  The WHO cited studies that conclude there is strong evidence to support a link between eating too much meat and the onset of colorectal cancer, the third-most common type world-wide.

In response cattle futures markets dropped.  At 10 a.m. Monday, all live cattle and feeder cattle contracts traded at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were sharply lower. The meat industries were quick to condemn the report as “not supported by science.” The meat industries criticized the process because after seven days of deliberation a group of 22 experts in the field of cancer research were unable to reach a consensus agreement. As a result, the IARC settled for a “majority” agreement instead.

So, who (no pun intended) are we to believe?

At this stage in my life I’m not so much concerned as a younger person would or should be.  We’ve cut back on eating meat, opting instead for more chicken.  Since we are on a 5 year schedule for colon cancer screening, I’m also less concerned.  I also wonder if some of it isn’t from the chemicals in processed meat.  

This report should concern young families.  As for us old folks…  time to slap another ribeye on the grill.

Just one day more… 

Article VI, paragraph 3

Last night we watched a program on 60 minutes about the upcoming elections in Burma.  As part of the article they mentioned the religious strife and how the majority Buddhists are trying to rid the country of Muslims.

I just don’t get it.  I had a hard enough time getting past “manifest destiny” which nearly wiped out the American Indians. 

More wars and oppression in the name of religion.  How many countries are killing in the name of religion? 

All the more reason the U.S. needs to keep religion and government separate.  Any candidate for public office who injects religion in their campaign should be reminded that Article VI, paragraph 3 of the U.S. Constitution prohibits any religious test for public office.      

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Tombstone Part Two

A couple of days ago I commented about the reenactment shooting Sunday in Tombstone as reported by the local news.






We've heard from a retired teacher friend of ours who lives with his wife in Tombstone.

"Yes, we were there--at Doc's two doors down from where the woman was hit by the Birdcage.  It hit her across her chest, but not serious.  The guy was hit point blank from about 5 feet away.  It is amazing that the second bullet traveled 700 feet before it hit anything or anyone.  The street was full of people all the way down to the Bird Cage.  It wasn't in front of OK corral.  It as a block down from there closer to Kate's.  I guess putting the OK Corral in the story makes it better!!  They've suspended street shows until they are done investigating.  The other shows are still going on that are privately owned.  It sounded like a cannon went off when he shot---much louder than the usual gun shot.  The editor of the Sierra Vista paper had an interesting take.  He said maybe it's time to emphasize the founders and miners of the town who made it a town instead of the people who actually were a negative part of history."

According to the news reports of the incident the actor who fired the live rounds was using a .45 calibre gun.  No wonder our friend said it sounded like a cannon.  Makes me wonder why the guy continued firing after the first round with that loud noise and recoil - certainly nothing like firing blanks.  Officials are considering filing charges against him.

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Just Give Me That Countryside

There are always projects that need doing here on the farm.  Today we took care of a couple of them.  We head out in the morning and by 1:00 we are worn out.  Seems like we had more stamina years back, but we’re retired, so take it as it comes.

We trimmed the low hanging branches on the trees so they don’t whap us in the face when we mow around them.  It also makes the trees look nicer.

We also seeded an area which was mostly dirt and put grass clippings over it before watering.  The forecast is for warm days and that should help the seed get a start.

While we were working on that project the nice neighbor’s cows decided they should check out what we were doing.  Likely they thought they were going to get some supplement cubes like the nice neighbor farmer gives them occasionally.  The surprise lone calf is also doing good.

Fall is a perfect time to catch up on projects and is part of the good life on the farm.  

Like Oliver Douglas from the TV show Green Acres said, “Farm living is the life for me; land spreading out so far and wide; keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.” 

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Tombstone: It Was Bound To Happen

Here's one for fellow RV'ers who have taken in the sights of Tombstone:

TOMBSTONE- A reenactment actor is being treated at a Tucson hospital Sunday night after he was accidentally shot by another actor in his upper thigh.

It happened in front of the O.K. Corral around 2 p.m. Sunday. The shooting was a part of the stunt show at Helldorado Days.

An investigation by the Tombstone Marshal's Office revealed the actor, Tom Carter, was late to the show and his weapon was not checked before the reenactment. He fired a live round during the gunfight and hit Ken Curtis, who is another actor.

The show was immediately stopped to care for Curtis. He is undergoing surgery Sunday night to remove the bullet.

Carter's weapon was checked after the incident. Investigators found that there was one live round in the cylinder with five expended casing, which indicates the gun had held six live round before the reenactment.

They later learned, at least two live rounds hit businesses. One of them hit a woman standing in front of the Bird Cage Theater, which is almost 700 feet away from where the shooting happened.

(KVOA Tucson)

It was bound to happen.  Or was it?

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Here On The Farm

Fall is in the air and that means we scouted out six surrounding garden centers for discounts on bushes and trees.  Those who want to liquidate the left over product will deal, even beyond current promotions.  I'm a bonafide cheapskate, so I make offers.  In the past week we have picked up six 10' - 12' trees and a number of shrubs for a hedge.  Lots of holes to dig.

In the six years we have been on the farm we have planted over 150 trees and hedges. The hedges we planted last year are doing great.

The nice neighbor farmer's heifers are thriving in the pasture.

Plenty of trees, shrubs and the nice neighbor farmer's cows is all part of making life better here on the farm.  

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It's Simple - Gouge

Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli, the weasel who raised the price for the medication Daraprim from $13.50 a pill to $750 a pill, donated $2700 to Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) presidential campaign.  Sanders, who has been critical of drug companies greed, told Shkreli to go pound sand.

Shkreli said he made the donation because he wanted to meet with Sanders privately and “explain” how pharmaceutical companies set their prices.  Sanders’ campaign has indicated that the Democratic presidential hopeful will not meet with Shkreli.

Sander's campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said Sanders won’t keep the money. Instead, the campaign will make a $2,700 donation to the Whitman-Walker health clinic in Washington. “We are not keeping the money from this poster boy for drug company greed,” Briggs said.

I say good for Bernie.  Shkreli doesn’t need to “explain” how pharmaceutical companies set their prices.  It’s simple - gouge. 

Night Is Falling

A few nights ago, before I went to bed, I checked the guide of upcoming programs on the television.  One show that was going to be broadcast in the middle of the night was, “Night Will Fall,” a recently discovered 1945 documentary by Sidney Berstein and Alfred Hitchcock that covered the British military liberating Nazi concentration camps.  Being the documentary hound that I am, I decided to record the program.  

What is unique about this documentary is the fact that the tapes were never put into production.  Director Berstein later stated, “Government priorities shifted [in Britain]. What seemed like a good idea in 1945 became a problem by June and July. The British needed the German people to rebuild their country, and the film would not have contributed to that.” 

Further leading to the shelving of the unfinished production was the problem of what to do with the survivors of the concentration camps.  Many countries, including the United States, set quotas on the number of refugees they would accept.  (Sound familiar? - Syrian refugees).  It wasn’t until last year that the “lost” films were put into a documentary production.

It was troublesome to watch.  Rather than a traditional narrated film, it clearly showed what Berstein and Hitchcock were trying to communicate - man’s inhumanity to man. Documentaries about the holocaust are frightening.  It is hard to understand how these terrible acts could have been committed.  

My family heritage, both maternal and paternal, is German, only three generations past.  My father was in the Navy during WWII.  His two bothers were in the Army and Navy. 

My mother’s uncles were in the Army, including one who was killed in action.

The parents of these family members, and in some cases as infants themselves, were immigrants from Germany.  Notwithstanding that, they served in the U.S. military against the government who had taken over their homeland.  I can only imagine what they thought of the atrocities that were committed in Germany.

The title of the recently released documentary came from a line in the 1945 documentary: “Unless the world learns the lesson these pictures teach, night will fall.”  

Today, I fear the world has not learned the lesson and night is falling.

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Inmates In Charge Of The Asylum

President Obama was in Roseburg, Oregon today for a memorial for students assassinated and the gun crazies showed up.

How sad, that in this country crazies like this value guns more than human life.

Here you go gun crazies, little ones killed in Sandy Hook.  Do you crazies have any little ones you care to sacrifice?

  

The inmates are in charge of the asylum.

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Offshore

The 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid U.S. taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in U.S. taxes if they repatriated the funds, according to a study released on Tuesday.

Technology firm Apple was holding $181.1 billion offshore, more than any other U.S. company, and would owe an estimated $59.2 billion in U.S. taxes if it tried to bring the money back to the United States from its three overseas tax havens, the study said.

The conglomerate General Electric has booked $119 billion offshore in 18 tax havens, software firm Microsoft is holding $108.3 billion in five tax haven subsidiaries and drug company Pfizer is holding $74 billion in 151 subsidiaries, the study said.

"At least 358 companies, nearly 72 percent of the Fortune 500, operate subsidiaries in tax haven jurisdictions as of the end of 2014," the study said. "All told these 358 companies maintain at least 7,622 tax haven subsidiaries."  (Bloomberg)

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Not A Joiner

We are back in Minnesota visiting our daughter and her family.  Our grandson is growing and still has the receding hairline with lotsa forehead, just like his grandpa.  No doubt it won't be long until his hair fills in and I'll be the only one in the family with that problem.

While here we have been spending the days seeing more sights and places of interest, such as the local craft brewery.

  

Mankato brewery is only a few years old and is owned by a couple of "30-something" young guys and managed by an even younger "20-something" manager.

They are fortunate to have a brewmaster who knows what he is doing and the beers were on par with other craft breweries.  Unfortunately, they are still working out the kinks and that was evident when we were there.  There was a small event going on and there was only one employee running the taps, leading to long waits to get a beer.  It wasn't until later that the "20-something" manager got behind the bar to help.  

We are staying at the same campground as in past visits and the owner is a nice guy who now knows us a regulars.  When I phone in reservations he no longer requires a deposit or payment and just says, "pay when you get here."

There are three other Hitchhiker RV's here, which is not a common site to have four Hitchhikers at the same small RV park.  The owner said they were part of a group that started out to be six, however several weren't able to make it.  They are members of a club from Iowa.

What I find interesting is that individuals who may have little else in common join in a group based on the brand of RV they own.  We see that in Quartzsite each year when owners of brands of RV's group up.  We've been so busy with family activities that we haven't taken time to meet these folks.  But, I'm not a club "joiner", so I doubt I could add anything to their camping experience.

Just one day more...

Again

After Sandy Hook

Again, after Sandy Hook

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The United States of the NRA

Nine people were killed today and seven were injured when a lone, 26-year-old gunman opened fire in a classroom at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Ore.  The gunman was shot and killed during an exchange of gunfire with officers.

Since the December 2012 shooting in Newtown, CT, there have been at least 142 school shootings in America — an average of nearly one a week.  (everytown.org)

All the while the spineless members of Congress - pawns of the NRA - do nothing to pass realistic gun regulations and innocents continue to die.  Worthless bastards. 

We have become “The United States of the NRA.”

Update: As this story develops the Sheriff in Roseburg has been getting screen time.  Now, the rest of the story:

The sheriff overseeing the investigation of an Oregon college shooting has been vocal in opposing state and federal gun-control legislation.

Douglas County Sheriff John Hanlin registered his opposition this year as state lawmakers considered requiring background checks on private, person-to-person gun sales.

Hanlin also sent a letter to Vice President Joe Biden in 2013, after the shooting at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school. Hanlin said he and his deputies would refuse to enforce new gun-control restrictions “offending the constitutional rights of my citizens.”  (Q13 News, Seattle)

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