When My husband came home from work tonight, he told Me a large trucking company had shut down. He can't remember the name. But He said it was long distance trucking, so they went all over the country. But with things the way they are now, they had to shut down. This is just the beginning, i think.
I'll try to find out the name of the company, if he ever remembers.
I'm getting more anxious by the day. It's always- what next?

JustMe, what do you think of him? Just an add, or the truth?

Veterinarian Confesses Pet Food Kills Pets
 
Dogs and cats fed a processed foods diet suffer similar ailments as humans who consume chemical food additives.

For 15 years after he graduated from the Royal Veterinary College, University of London, Dr. Tom Lonsdale followed conventional veterinary 'wisdom' when he assured pet owners that "giant pet food manufacturers understand the science and have the resources to ensure the best possible fare for your pet."

Today, Dr. Lonsdale has a confession to make. "Oh, how I cringe. How culpably, horribly wrong I have been! As varied as my patients were in size, species, age, sex and breed, the one common uniting feature was their junk food diet. And almost without exception this was why the animals needed my services."

These and other revelations come in the Oct./Nov. 2007 issue of Nexus Magazine, published in Australia.

Junk food marketed to pet owners is laden with synthetic colorants, preservatives, "and a raft of other strange chemical additives, none with any nutritive value and all toxic to varying degrees," says Dr. Lonsdale. These chemicals depress animal immune systems and support toxin-producing bacteria in their bowels. "Pets worn down by the toxic effects of a junk food diet are at greater risk of succumbing to diseases."

Why don't more veterinarians and animal groups speak out about this toxic threat to animal health that masquerades as quality wet and dry food? It's because of the "cozy relationship between the pet food manufacturers and the veterinary profession." It's a relationship similar to that between pharmaceutical companies and the medical profession, in which physicians financially benefit from prescribing drugs to their patients. Deals behind the scenes are made between junk food makers and the veterinary profession, which includes veterinary associations, veterinary schools, research institutes, etc.

Two international chocolate manufacturers --Mars and Nestle-- dominate the pet junk food market. Other conglomerates such as Colgate Palmolive and Procter & Gamble, Heinz and Del Monte also hold huge shares of the pet food market.

Companies are Exposed as Climate Change Profiteers
ETC Group, May 13, 2008
Straight to the Source


Gene Giants Grab "Climate Genes" Amid Global Food Crisis, Biotech Companies are Exposed as Climate Change Profiteers

A report released today by Canadian-based civil society organization, ETC Group, reveals that the world's largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses associated with climate change - including drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more. ETC Group's report warns that - rather than a solution for confronting climate change - the promise of so-called "climate-ready" crops will be used to drive farmers and governments onto a proprietary biotech platform.

"In the face of climate chaos and a deepening world food crisis, the Gene Giants are gearing up for a PR offensive to re-brand themselves as climate saviours," says Hope Shand, Research Director of ETC Group. "The companies hope to convince governments and reluctant consumers that genetic engineering is the essential adaptation strategy to insure agricultural productivity. Monopoly control of crop genes is a bad idea under any circumstances - but during a global food emergency with climate change looming - it's unacceptable and must be challenged."

According to ETC Group's report, Patenting "Climate Genes"...And Capturing the Climate Agenda, Monsanto, BASF, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer and Dow - along with biotech partners such as Mendel, Ceres, Evogene and more - have filed 532 patent documents on genes related to environmental stress tolerance at patent offices around the world. A list of 55 patent families (subsuming the 532 patent grants and applications) is appended to the report.

"The emphasis on genetically engineered, so-called 'climate-ready' crops will divert resources from affordable, decentralized approaches to cope with changing climate. Patents will concentrate corporate power, drive up costs, inhibit independent research and further undermine the rights of farmers to save and exchange seeds," explains Shand. "Globally, the top 10 seed corporations already control 57% of commercial seed sales. This is a bid to capture as much of the rest of the market as possible."

ETC Group calls on governments at the UN Biodiversity Convention (CBD) in Bonn, Germany (May 12-30) to suspend immediately all patents on so- called "climate ready" crop genes and traits. We also call for a full investigation, including the social and environmental impacts of these new, un-tested varieties. Further, governments meeting in Bonn should identify and eliminate policies such as restrictive seed laws, intellectual property regimes, contracts and trade agreements that are barriers to farmer plant breeding, seed-saving and exchange. "The world has already recognized that we are in a food crisis and a climate 'state of emergency,'" notes Pat Mooney, ETC Group's Executive Director. "In this 'state of emergency' farmers must be given all the freedom and resources they need to get us through this crisis," Mooney adds.

According to ETC Group, many of the patent claims are unprecedented in scope because a single patent may claim several different environmental (abiotic) stress traits. In addition, some patent claims extend not just to abiotic stress tolerance in a single engineered plant species - but also to a substantially similar genetic sequence in virtually all engineered food crops. The corporate grab extends beyond the U.S. and Europe. Patent offices in major food producing countries such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico and South Africa are also swamped with patent filings. Monsanto (the world's largest seed company) and BASF (the world's largest chemical firm) have entered into a colossal $1.5 billion partnership to engineer stress tolerant plants. "Together," adds Kathy Jo Wetter of ETC Group, "the two companies account for nearly half of the patent families related to engineered stress tolerance identified by ETC Group.  If we include their smaller biotech partners like Ceres and Mendel, Monsanto and BASF have a part in almost two-thirds of the so- called 'climate-ready' germplasm."

"Technological silver bullets - especially patented ones - will not provide the adaptation strategies that small farmers need to survive in the face of climate change," says ETC Group's Jim Thomas. Climate scientists predict that marginalized farming communities in the global South - those who have contributed least to global greenhouse emissions - are among the most severely threatened by climate chaos created by the world's richest countries.

"The South is already being trampled by the North's super-sized carbon footprint. Will farming communities now be stampeded by the Gene Giants' climate change profiteering?" asks Thomas.

For the Gene Giants, the focus on "climate genes" is a golden opportunity to push genetically engineered crops as "green" and climate-friendly. Biotech seeds will no longer be marketed as a choice, but as a necessity. Given the state of emergency in food and agriculture, governments will be pressured to overlook biosafety regulations and to accept dangerous technologies such as Terminator that have been rejected by the international community. (Despite a U.N. moratorium on Terminator seeds, the biotech industry argues that genetic seed sterilization will make biotech crops safer by containing gene flow from engineered crops and trees.)

"There's a danger that governments will give corporate Gene Giants carte blanche to use genetically engineered, 'climate-ready' Terminator seeds as the best shot and last resort for surviving climate change," adds ETC's Kathy Jo Wetter, "rather than fund alternative research that supports breeding work with under-utilized crops, and encourage farm-based conservation, breeding and exchange of germplasm."

The Secretary-General of the United Nations hopes to have a comprehensive plan to tackle the global food crisis by the beginning of June when an emergency meeting of prime ministers, agriculture ministers, and the heads of major agencies will meet in Rome June 3-5.  Pat Mooney of ETC Group points out that indigenous and local farming communities have developed, managed and conserved crop diversity for generations. "Farmers' leadership in developing strategies for climate change survival and adaptation must be recognized, strengthened and protected by governments," said Mooney, who will be attending the conference.

JustMe, I dought if it was coincidence

Gas just went up again today. It's now 3.99 a gallon.

Sorry Fizzy1  But it's good to hear that you are alright. the tornado I saw on the news looked huge.
you will probably have more info later.
Thanks, and Take Care

 Dangers of mainland disease lab debated at hearing By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - One of the nation's oldest farm groups said Thursday a proposed foot-and-mouth disease research laboratory on the U.S. mainland, near livestock, could be an inviting target for terrorists. Commercial livestock representatives and the Bush administration insisted it would be safe to move an island lab to sites near animals.
 
Testimony at a House hearing showed deep divisions between farmers and ranchers over where to conduct research on the most infectious animal-only disease in the world.

Such work now is confined to the 840-acre Plum Island, N.Y., off the northeastern tip of Long Island. The administration has spent time and money to announce five finalist sites on the mainland for a new lab. A new facility on Plum Island to replace the current, outmoded lab remains a possibility.

All sides agreed that the wrong decision would bring an economic catastrophe if a new lab failed to contain the virus within the facility. An epidemic could ruin farmers and ranchers as well as related industries in feed, transportation, exports and retail.

Leroy Watson, legislative director of the National Grange, which was founded in 1867, raised the terrorism danger in testimony opposing moving the lab to the mainland.

The location of a new laboratory near livestock "would provide an inviting vicinity for the release of FMD (foot-and-mouth disease) by terrorist or criminal elements that would be looking to maximize not only the economic damage ... but also the social and political confusion and fallout," Watson said.

Domestic groups opposed to animal research also could target a new lab, he said.

Foot-and-mouth disease has been classified as a national security issue at least since 2003, when the Homeland Security Department took control of the island from the Agriculture Department, which had run it since the mid-1950s.

Gary Voogt, president-elect of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, said his group did not oppose the move.

"Plum Island is not the fortress some people may contend," he said. "The island has long had a problem with wildlife swimming over from the mainland at low tide, and there have been numerous reports of how close boaters can get to the island without any warning or consequences."

Like other witnesses who support a move, he said modern virus containment methods would make a new lab secure.

Jay Cohen, a homeland undersecretary, said, "I have every reason to believe that the assessments will show that, from a biosecurity and public safety perspective, siting the (new laboratory) on the U.S. mainland is a viable alternative."

Rep. John Dingell, the House Energy and Commerce Committee chairman, accused Cohen of withholding documents from the committee.

"It sounds rather arrogant to me," said Dingell, D-Mich.

Cohen responded, "It sounds arrogant to me" that congressional investigators failed to "show me the courtesy to contact me" about the documents.

Dingell: "I will see to it we will lay subpoenas on you."

Cohen: "I have nothing to hide here."

The committee wants documents assessing the risk and benefits of locating a new lab on the mainland near animals, and the potential environment impact on each proposed location. Cohen said he would provide all the documents he has, but that a draft environmental statement would not be finished until mid-June.

Not long after the earlier exchange Dingell launched another tirade, facetiously comparing the Homeland Security Department's handling of the Plum Island matter to its well-documented mistakes after Hurricane Katrina.

"You already have a fine record on Katrina and I want to see that you don't have a fine record on foot-and-mouth," Dingell said.

Cohen said the committee would get more information "with honey than with vinegar."

"We're going to use the nice way or the nasty way," Dingell said.

Dr. Larry Barrett, director of the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, said the advantage of a mainland site would be the proximity to veterinary schools and medical research facilities, where homes were affordable.

Barrett said that Plum Island has attracted top researchers, but housing costs on Long Island and Connecticut — where workers live — are too expensive for lower-paid employees including dozens of animal handlers.

While the disease does not sicken humans, an outbreak on the U.S. mainland — avoided since 1929 — could lead to slaughter of millions of animals, a halt in U.S. livestock movements, a ban on exports and severe losses in the production of meat and milk.

To avoid an epidemic, foot-and-mouth research has been confined since 1955 to Plum Island. The facility will be replaced by a National Bio-and-Agro-Defense Facility that also will study diseases that can be transferred from animals to humans.

The finalist sites are Flora, Miss.; Athens, Ga.; Manhattan, Kan.; Butner, N.C.; and San Antonio. One Homeland Security study found the numbers of livestock in the counties and surrounding areas of the finalists ranged from 542,507 in Kansas to 132,900 in Georgia.

OMG, that's way too much. I am in N.C. and I have to go to Maine and see My Dad soon. He;s not well, and I don't know when i'll get to see him again.
this will cost us everything we have, if we can even get up that much money, when you figure gas, and tolls.

If this does happen, i think We'll all have to quit our jobs. Then what will they do?

This is what i just found. I'm sure when Fizzy1 comes back on, he'll have more info.

 Tornado rips through N. Colorado; 1 killed
 


WINDSOR, Colo. - A large tornado tore through several northern Colorado towns on Thursday, flipping over tractor-trailers, ripping roofs off buildings and killing at least one person.
 
The Weld County coroner's office confirmed one person was killed in the storm, which struck about 50 miles north of Denver. The office declined to provide details about how or where the person was killed.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning just after noon, and The Associated Press began fielding calls about a tornado touchdown soon afterward. The storm moved north-northwestward through or near the towns of Platteville, Milliken, Greeley and Windsor. Television footage showed homes and buildings with roofs missing and farm irrigation equipment crumpled.

Emergency personnel were trying to determine how many people were hurt, and how badly.

"We have every type of injury, broken bones, cuts, bruises, from everything from falling trees to broken glass hitting them," said Jolene Schneider, spokeswoman for the Windsor Fire Department. "Only thing we are trying to figure out now is how many and how severe."

Windsor, a farm town of about 16,000, appeared the hardest hit. Video footage showed a dark gray funnel perhaps a quarter-mile wide near the town with heavy hail and rain. At least one residential neighborhood in Windsor appeared to have suffered heavy damage.

"It passed right over us like a big, white monster," said 87-year-old Windsor resident Thomas Coupe.

Splintered wood, mangled metal and other debris cluttered roads, yards and agricultural fields. About 130 children at a daycare center in Windsor were reported safe after the storm passed through; playground equipment outside the center was damaged.

"My house is gone," said Pete Ambrose, a caretaker at a Weld County campground outside Greeley. "I lost my dog. I lost my cats. I lost my camper. I lost everything."

Windsor resident Liz Meyer, 65, said she heard thunder and hail and rushed with her dog into her basement. Her house wasn't damaged, but a 60-foot tree was uprooted from two blocks away and dumped near her home. "And look. It went into the street instead of into my house," Meyer said.

Parts of Interstate 25, the state's main north-south highway, and state Highway 85, an alternate route, were closed to traffic. The American Red Cross was setting up a shelter at the Windsor Community Center.

Some 60,000 customers lost power in the area, according to XCel energy.

A tornado warning also was issued for an area about 100 miles northeast of Denver, but there were no reported tornadoes. A funnel cloud was spotted near Longmont, about 30 miles north of Denver, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning Thursday afternoon for southeastern Wyoming.

State troopers responded to reports of vehicles turned over on Interstate 80 in Laramie, a dispatcher with the Wyoming Highway Patrol said.

On its Web site, the Wyoming Department of Transportation Web posted video showing a tractor trailer on its side and a boat that apparently had been blown off of a flatbed trailer on the interstate.

The Laramie Fire Department said it had received no reports of a tornadoes touching down in the area.

I just heard about this on one of my cat lists.
Take Care, and be very careful. At least you have a basement. I just have a hallway.
I'm so sorry for those who in the way of this.

Don't You agree that We are already in a ression?
And it is getting worse and worse.

JJ, We can't satisfy that in a year either. It so stupid to think We could afford this.
and We don't even have dental ins.

Thanks, I guess that ones out.