Archive for April, 2008
There was and still is a lot of political flap over Barack Obama’s comments over people who are bitter. But I have a few simple questions to ask you.
* Are you happy that your job and industry has been lost to overseas trade agreements?
* Are you happy that you or so many good American families are facing foreclosure on their homes?
* Are you happy that gas and food prices have skyrocketed and it is barely affordable to drive to work or feed the family?
* Are you happy that we are in a war that appears to have no end in sight or a way to win it?
* Are you happy that we never caught the ones that perpetrated 9-11?
* Are you happy that we as a country are going broke and owe so much to China?
Are you maybe a little bit angry? Could it be that you are bitter? I myself can easily see why you would be.
The Senate holds a hearing today in its Environment Committee to review the process that has changed the way the EPA is able to screen chemicals for cancer and other health risks. The undermining of the EPA’s ability to determine health issues by the Bush administration has increased the steps required before the EPA can stop the use of certain chemicals by years in some cases. They have decreased the ability to determine health dangers by letting non scientists have a bigger – sometimes secret – role in a chemicals determination. They have doubled the number of steps required and have risk assessments way behind, sometimes by years. Extensive involvement by the White House and EPA managers has eroded the independence of the EPA scientists who determine the health risks posed by chemicals. Multiple government agencies -who could be affected by the findings – are now allowed to participate at every step of the investigation into the chemicals they use. If the EPA were to find against them or their contractors they would face serious restrictions and cleanup requirements. “By law the EPA must protect our families from dangerous chemicals,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., the Senate committee’s chairman. “Instead, they’re protecting the chemical companies.” Hopefully she and the other Senators can get to the bottom of this and get the EPA back on track and not being run by people with a vested interest in the outcomes of investigations.
I have found a great website for those of you who like me enjoy the outdoors such as hunting and fishing. The clothing, especially the pants at BDU are what you need for an outdoor outing. Military style garments with their multiple pockets work great. Even if you are not a policeman or in the military. I love being able to carry enough on me that I do not need a pack or pouch to carry it.
It seems like just a few days have passed since we updated our WordPress installation to version 2.5 and we already have an update to version 2.51. That one went off without a hitch and I am wondering about your blog and it’s back ups. Do you use the MySql panel through your web host to back up the data base or have you tried out the WP-DB-Backup plugin? The plug in worked great once it was installed and set up properly. It was supposed to have made a folder in my wp-content folder to write backups to long enough to download to your computer or email it to yourself. It works great but you need to set it up or at least I did. Once installed and activated from the plugins page you can go to Manage then Backup. It then gave me an error with the url to the folder it had not created but needed for it to work. The message will be something like this; blog/wp-content/backup-3bd9e/. What now needs to be done is to open up your ftp and create a new folder in your?wp-content folder. It needs to be named exactly like the name your set up generates. Each installation will generate a unique folder name so be careful writing it down or do it the easy way, copy and paste.
Once we have the new folder created we still are not through quite yet. We need to change the permissions on your new folder. By default it is probably set to 755 and needs to be set to 777 with the CHMOD command. It should be there with the properties in your FTP’s commands. Once that is done you are all set to go.
Go back to Manage, then Backup, then you can select whether to do an instant backup to download to your computer or email to yourself. Or set it to automatically backup your files and email them to yourself at set intervals. The plugin works great and is very easy to use. It just takes a little work to set up the first time. If your ftp client does not allow you to CHMOD files and folders then you can download ?Staff-FTP. It is free and works almost as good as CuteFTP that I use.
Today on Earth Day I thought I might share a little of what is going on right here in my own backyard nearly. In the next county over from me, Spartanburg SC, county officials with the Wellford Landfill have made a partnership with the Milliken company to provide methane gas from the landfill to the Dewey Chemical Plant in Inman. Methane gas is a naturally generated by product of the landfills decomposition. Milliken is the worlds largest privately held textile and chemical company and one of the few that has not abandoned the United States in favor of greener pastures in China or somewhere else. Millikens environmental initiatives go back as far as the early 1900′s when they were looking for alternative uses for some of their manufacturing wastes. This is the second major methane gas project in Spartanburg county. The BMW plant in Greer already uses methane from the Palmetto Landfill that is operated by Waste Management. It all starts with one step either by us as individuals recycling or big corporations doing the right thing and is a step forward for our planet.
With only a few more days until the Pennsylvania elections the race between Clinton and Obama has tightened up. The analysts still claim Hillary is solidly out in front but Obama has closed the gap considerably despite what seems to be miss steps on his part. It seems that the Democratic party is solidly split between the two candidates as are the voters who are to vote Tuesday.
I am beginning to hear the rumblings from party high ups who are coming out with what I have been saying for the past year or more. A ticket with both of them on it is unbeatable in the fall irregardless of which one is going to be president and which one would be vice president. This ticket could result in a landslide of epic proportions. As it it right now the two of them are fighting each other and helping McCains chances in the fall. I think the country is ready for a change and what a change that would be.
In a stunning admission to ABC news Friday night, President Bush declared that he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details of the CIA’s use of torture. Bush reportedly told ABC, “I’m aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved.” Bush also defended the use of waterboarding.
We need to be calling on Congress to demand an independent prosecutor to investigate possible violations by the Bush administration of laws including the War Crimes Act, the federal Anti-Torture Act, and federal assault laws.
We must be above all this type of treatment. We need to be a nation of laws. We need to open up the tribunals for the ones suspected of masterminding the attacks on September 11th. We must remain true to our core beliefs – even in the most trying of times – and our forefathers vision of what this country would become. America does not stand for trials that rely on torture to gain confessions, or on secret evidence that a defendant cannot rebut, or on hearsay evidence.
One of our greatest spring vacations is going to Atlanta Georgia. It is not very far for us and there is so much to do. A great place to start and our families favorite was Stone Mountain Park. whether your favorite is the scenic train ride that carries you around the mountain, enabling you to get a very good view of the worlds largest high-relief sculpture in the world. Riding in the sky ride all the way to the summit of the mountain. There are live shows that take place in the town of Crossroads which is made up to look like an eighteen seventies village. There is so much to do you can spend the day there and not see it all or get bored with any of the attractions. And if daddy doesn’t care for the park there are some real nice golf courses nearby, but you would miss out on watching your youngsters enjoying the park as ours did when they were small. The world class light show is something to behold with its spectacle of lasers cutting into the night air. You will be astounded and glad you stayed for the show. There is a very good web site called Trusted Tours. You can even get discount tickets to sightseeing tours through them. Of course that is not the only place they can get you discounts from in Atlanta or other great locations to visit. Decide on what to do on your next vacation like this Things to do in Boston. or twenty three other gtreat cities with their attractions
And of course this is the month of April and guess what that means? The big boys of the IHRA come to the Atlanta drag way for thrilling side by side action. When the nitrous mixed cars fire up they actually make the grandstands rumble with the vibrations. My son and I loved visiting every spring for the Spring Nationals. I would love for him to be home again to go. I know we can never go back to the way it was when he was young but it would be a nice thing to do once more.
And don’t worry about getting lost either. Trusted Tours is giving you a chance to win a hand held GPS simply by signing up for their newsletter. Check them out they offer discounts to great attractions at a multitude of great cities. If you are planning on a vacation this spring or any other time they would be a great place to start planning from.
Ninety six years ago today the Titanic slipped beneath the waves of the north Atlantic carrying one thousand five hundred and seventeen souls to their demise. It still ranks today as one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters of all time and is by far the most famous. During her maiden voyage on the fourteenth of April she struck an iceberg and sank on the fifteenth, a little over two and one half hours later. At the time the Titanic with its advanced design was thought to be unsinkable. It came as a great shock to those who believed that the advanced technology and experienced crew could save her from any disaster. It has since been proven that there was a design flaw along with steel and rivets that were inadequate even by the time led to the sinking. The Titanic was discovered after over seventy years beneath the waves by a team led by Robert Ballard. That coupled with the legends and the movie have kept it famous in the years since.
This morning I have been trying to get my computer back to where I had it before the lightning got it. My new motherboard came in Thursday and I was up late putting it back together. Actually I had it together before supper but ran into a snag. As soon as I hooked my main hard drive up to it the board quit and would not display video any longer. The fans came on but no video. I was quite upset to say the least as this was the second board from them. But I went to eat supper and came back with a fresh persective and attitude. Sometimes that is what you need to do in life. Take a few steps back and clear your head before you let issues over come yuo and cloud your judgement. Well any way I was in a better frame of mind when I called the company and got hold of tech support. I explained my problems and he was knowledgeable in it as the first thing he asked was about the power supply and I told him I had a brand new supply as the new board takes a 24 pin power supply where the old one was only 20. Then he asked me had I checked the ram. Duh! A light came on like the old Ford commercials. I had not checked it simply going on the fact that the two chips were brand new. Thats what it was he then gave me a RMA number to return the one ram chip for replacement and after getting off the phone with him and a very close friend in Ohio that I was chatting with with Yahoo voice I got started. Even with the one chip it was still very fast and installed XP in about fourty minutes. I still have more to get right and am having issues with my email but those are from my web host. I am so thankful that I went back and got treatment again for my bipolar. Before then and the new meds they put me on I would have been a menace when I ran into a snag with the new board. I went for years with my problems untreated and caused myself and those around me to be miserable. If anyone of you have issues I am praying that you won’t be as stubborn as I was and seek help. Life is so much better for me without the wild mood swings. If you are having trouble coping and want to talk just drop me a message. As I said I am having trouble with email but anticipate having that fixed soon.