Daily Archives: June 6, 2011

Dog Bless You – Facebook “LIKE” Dog Bless You and Support Our Vets! 2

Activism, All, Dogs Cats and Other Pets • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

DOG BLESS USA

From Memorial Day through July 4th, Explore.org will pair up to 100 companion and service dogs, valued at $500,000, with veterans who live with PTSD.  For every 5,000 “Likes” on their Facebook page, a vet will receive a service dog.

Currently, the “Like” count is at 206,908.

The Facebook page:  Dog Bless You – Join Dog Bless You and Support Our Vets!

Joining is simply clicking on the “Like” button. Nothing more.  No forms, no emails, no verifications, etc.  Just click “Like”… cannot be any more simple that that.

“The mission of explore.org is to champion the selfless acts of others, to create a portal into the soul of humanity and to inspire life long learning. The most important thing for me is to create a portal into the soul. What is the easiest way to do this? Through dogs – they see our soul like no other. That is why as we build dog bless you, I believe that it’s mission should be to “champion the selfless acts of animals.”

The initiative aims to spread awareness about the healing role dogs can play in the lives of those suffering from PTSD.

Dog Bless You was founded by filmmaker Charles Annenberg Weingarten, a trustee of the Annenberg Foundation and also the founder of Explore.org. Partners in this effort include the IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America)and other veteran and service dog organizations.

More…

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Albuquerque NM completely engulfed in smoke from the massive AZ fires 1

All, Natural Disasters, News: US • Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

UPDATE:  JUNE 7, 2011

I have never seen such a red sun before when this high in the sky. No filter was used. This is the actual color tonight, Tues. June 7th 2011. You can see the smoke in front of the sun when zoomed in. These are not clouds – today was a cloudless day – just completely covered with smoke off and on all day.

 

Here is a still shot I took as well.

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JUNE 6, 2011

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) – That thick, smoky haze is going to be in New Mexico for a while and it has caused the Environmental Health Department to issue another health advisory.

The smoke from a massive wildfire in eastern Arizona, as well as periodic dust storms across New Mexico, could cause people to have difficulty breathing.

Officials said the elderly, infants, people who have asthma or heart disease and even healthy people may also be affected by the haze.

Officials with the national weather service many other parts of the state are experiencing high the haze much worse then in Albuquerque.

“If you think it’s going to be bad in Albuquerque go just 50 miles to the west and in some areas can just be really extreme,” Kerry Jones said. “So unfortunately the pattern is just not going to be working in our favor in the coming days.”

Haze levels which substantially compromise visibility warrant an Air Quality Health Advisory. San Juan Basin Health Department advises that individuals in our community, particular those identified above, take health precautions when they notice the following condition:

  • If visibility is less than 5 miles in your neighborhood due to a wildfire or controlled burn, smoke has reached levels that are potentially unhealthy.  ** CURRENTLY, VISIBILITY IS 3 MILES IN ABQ NM ***

Here is some footage I just took at 6:30 pm and 6:45 pm tonight:

CCA’s involvement with SCOTUS ruling to release CA prisoners 3

All, Koch Bros and ALEC, News: US, Politics - US, Private Prisons • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

On May 23rd, 2011, SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the US) ruled in Brown v. Plata that California must reduce its prison population by over 30,000 prisoners. Why? Because their system was so severely overcrowded that the medical neglect prisoners were facing amounted to a violation of their 8th Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. That’s some mightily deficient medical care.

California has been facing a crisis in its prison system for decades, as the sentencing reforms that came as a result of the War on Drugs and other initiatives have steered an ever-increasing segment of the populace into prison. Arguably most impactful in this regard is California’s “Three Strikes” laws, which mandate a life sentence for anyone convicted of a third felony charge, whether that charge be for murder or larceny, rape or possession of a controlled substance. California’s prison population has grown dramatically under this legislation. More…

6-month-old pup literally sucked from MA home by tornado – Found alive and well Reply

All, Dogs Cats and Other Pets, Natural Disasters • Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Shadow had a bad day last week. A tornado sucked the 6-month-old Shar-Pei-Chow mix right out of his home, and then he went AWOL for a few days.

His owners were able to scramble to the safety of their basement with their other dog before the tornado severely damaged their house. After days of searching, sign posting, and internet hunting, the heartbroken family came to the sad conclusion that Shadow had perished.

More…

Death by Kleenex Reply

All, Lighter side of life, She speaks..., Wildlife • Tags: , ,

Last night, I’m lying in bed, watching the Joplin MO tornado footage on the news, when in the light cast from the TV, crawling up my wall, is this enormous “thing.”

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Now, I am not one prone to be easily frightened. In fact, my ex-husband was the tough-guy persona on the outside, but at even a whisper of an insect, spider, or snake, he would have been the first one up on a chair squealing like a baby. So, by default, I was always the insect-eradicator in our household.

Although I may not have much fear of creepy crawly critters, this does not necessarily mean I wish to share my bedroom with them (I know what you’re thinking – don’t go there). Autopilot ON… grab tissue box (closest item within reach)… here’s the windup, and there’s the pitch… a line drive up the middle with a LEFT-handed throw (which being right-handed is rather amazing)… and off the wall this three-inch creature from a B-rated horror movie plummets.

I poke my head over the foot of the bed, and there it lies. Still. Dead. I MUST have a picture of this monster. Ever so carefully, I pick it up with a tissue from it’s own death-mobile, very meticulously laying it out for it’s post-mortem portraits. Took three shots and decided I wanted some close-ups of those terrifying jaws it so proudly boasts. I am in the process of repositioning it in the light when it unexpectedly twitches.

*&$@!#%@*!!

I immediately jump back to protect myself from this horrific alien attack, but not realizing my two large dogs had crept up behind me, I trip over them. Pinwheeling arms in an attempt to stop the fall, hanging for a moment in mid-air like a scene out of Matrix, when gravity takes over and off to the ground I go. Flat on my ass. My head hits my chest-of-drawers, rocking it, and like a domino-effect, down upon my noggin’ comes my carefully folded piles of freshly laundered clothes, amongst a plethora of other not-so-soft items.

I spring up, madder than a hornet. How dare that alien creature bring ME to the ground. So I grab that damn tissue box – to hell with the pictures – and like Thor’s hammer I bring it down and officially return that demon back to the bowels of hell in whence it came.

Death by Kleenex

(post note: This is what is known as a Wind Scorpian – google it if you want more info)