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Petitionsite FAQ
Signing Petitions
Do online petitions really make a difference?
Yes! A number of factors influence the effectiveness of a petition. The more the individual or organization you're targeting is accountable to public opinion, the more effective your petition will be.
In addition, ThePetitionSite enhances the credibility of online petitions by centralizing signature collection, regulating signature data collection and output and by using fraud-reduction technology. The effect of a petition goes far beyond the actual list of signatures. Journalists write stories about petitions, signers get inspired to take additional action and other potential targets conform their behavior to avoid being a target. Check out examples of successful petitions on Care2 Causes. -
Who will see my signature information?
Certain fields will be displayed on the public signature page for all to see -- generally your full name, your state, and the date and time at which you signed the petition. Your email address, street address and telephone number are never displayed on this page. You are always given the option to check a box to hide your name, and replace it with the word "anonymous."
At the close of the petition, we provide all of the signature information to the petition author with the exception of your email address, street address and telephone number. These fields of information will only be used on a case by case basis to verify the validity of your signature. Your privacy is important to us! ThePetitionSite.com and Care2.com believe in protecting personal privacy online.
To this end, we are a member of the independent watchdog group, Truste.org. Please see our full privacy statement here. - Why do I have to input all that information? We know we ask for a lot of info -- but we promise it's important. Many officials (including members of the U.S. Congress) don't accept a letter or comment unless they have your full name, including a prefix. We need the address to make sure we can match your signature to your representatives. Unless you give us permission, we don't use this information for anything other than matching you with advocacy opportunities and targets.
- Does Care2 only allow signatures from the United States? Definitely not! Care2 is a global community with members, readers and activists from every country on earth. We aim to empower citizens everywhere to speak out on the issues they care about. When signing a petition, make sure to set your country in the drop-down menu. When you do, the fields should automatically change to correspond to the address information required where you live.
- Does it matter if I do not live in the state/country the petition is addressing? Each petition on our site is different. Some are for anyone of any nation or state, while others are targeted specifically to certain countries, or certain U.S. states. The truth is, many officials only accept letters from their constituents. However, that doesn't mean that your signature will go to waste. Petitions with lots of signatures get better media coverage, targets pay attention to the magnitude of engagement and many petition authors appreciate knowing that their issue resonated with a lot of people. When in doubt, it never hurts to sign, even if it's just in solidarity.
- How can I have my personal information automatically entered on the petition? If you are logged into your free Care2 account, your saved information automatically populates the fields. Do you have heightened security enabled on your Care2 account? This will prevent the fields from auto-populating your information. You can change your Care2 security settings here.
- Why do I need to leave a comment when signing a petition? Comments add weight to the petition and make your signature unique. Some offices get thousands of letters a day. You want to make sure the official and her staffers pay attention to you, and the best way to do that is by personalizing your letter with a comment. Additionally, some government organizations have decided that all identical letters (sometimes thousands) will count as one public comment and not more, thus invalidating the individual signatures. To make sure your signature counts, we ask that you add a unique comment at the end of the letter. This ensures that the target reads each letter that we collect.
- I made a mistake in my signature, how can I change it? You can only sign once. Because petition letters are often sent to the target immediately upon signing, you cannot edit your signature information once it has been submitted. But, you can remove your signature after the fact by clicking the link that says "You can use this link to remove your signature" in the thank you email that you receive after you sign a petition.
- How do I contact the petition owner? To contact the sponsor of any petition on our site, click on the sponsor's name listed under the target. The sponsor will receive your message, and will be given your email address, so that they may respond to your feedback.
- How can I keep track of the petitions that I have signed? In order to track the petitions you have signed, click on the "My PetitionSite" link in the upper right corner of the PetitionSite homepage and most other pages on PetitionSite.com. You can also hover over "My Care2" in the upper right corner of any page on Care2, and choose "My PetitionSite" from that menu. Then, click on the "Petitions I Signed" tab to see your signatures all in one place. In addition, every time you sign, you will receive a confirmation email. You can file these emails in a mail folder in order to keep your own record of signed petitions.
- Who can create a petition? Anyone can create a petition. All you need is a desire to make a difference. Once you have published your petition, people can start signing. You must have a Care2 account in order to host a petition on The Petition Site. However, if you do not already have a Care2 account, you'll be given a chance to create one as you write your petition. You can get started here.
- How much does it cost to start a petition? It's free! We have created The PetitionSite to be a free community of people taking action and garnering support for their concerns. We encourage anyone and everyone to get involved and take a swing at sponsoring a petition. It is also completely free to sign a petition, and we encourage people to send petitions on to their friends and family. Every petition has buttons to automatically share the petition on Facebook and Twitter, email the petition to your friends and get code for a widget that you can put on your blog or website.
- What petition topics are acceptable? ThePetitionSite.com is a non-partisan tool for people working on a variety of issues and causes. What's in it for us? By driving traffic to ThePetitionSite.com, we hope to build community around important causes, support the democratic process, and help organizations we support as well. Petitions on all sides of an issue are welcome. All you need is an issue and a desire to make a difference. We accept petitions on any subject, but please, no advertisements or petitions designed specifically to get Butterfly Rewards. We reserve the right to remove petitions found to be excessively offensive by our users or editorial staff, and petitions that violate our Terms of Service. Please see our Terms of Service for more information.
What makes a good petition?
Each petition has 5 things that make it effective:
1) A clear target who has the power to act on what you're asking him/her to do.
2) An eye-catching title that tells people exactly what you want them to do and why. i.e. "Tell the Interior Department to Protect Habitat for Endangered Wolves."
3) A brief summary of the issue with a call to action -- no more than 2-3 paragraphs to give people context about the issue and make a pitch for their support.
4) An actual petition or letter -- this is the text you'll actually be sending to the target (if you have one). Make sure it's clear and forceful, yet respectful. You want your target to understand your passion, but also take you seriously.
5) A compelling photo -- Photos aren't always easy to find, but, like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. If you don't own a photo, try looking online for Creative Commons-licensed photos. These are images photographers have decided to share for free. Just make sure to attribute them!
- What should my signature goal be? It would be great if every petition got 1 million signatures, but when you're starting out, you want to set your sights on a reachable target. First, think about whom you're targeting. Is it a town official? Federal representative? The president? If you're trying to change something in your community, start with a few hundred signatures. If it's a national issue, you could make the goal several thousand. And, keep in mind, you can always increase your goal once you hit it!
- How can I add a photo to my petition? Images are very important for increasing the appeal of your petition, so we really encourage you to include a photo on your petition. After you create it, you can add a photo through the edit function. On the My PetitionSite page, click on the "manage" button next to the petition you want to add a photo to. Then, click the "edit petition" link. On this page, you should see a box highlighted in orange that allows you to search for an image on your desktop and add it to the petition. Select the image you want to use, and then click "upload." Then, on the main edit page, click the "save" button.
- How do I get signatures on my petition? We know that once you've reached out to your friends and family, coming up with new ways to get your issue out there can be tough. But there are lots of ways you can get your petition to interested people and make change. Promote it on discussion boards, send it to your friends, tell people about it. Popular petitions, at the discretion of The PetitionSite staff, may be promoted on the category pages, or even on the The PetitionSite home page. The more support you have, the greater the impact you will have! Feel free to get in touch if you would like some help with promotion, but keep in mind we get a lot of submissions, so please be patient.
- How can I embed my petition on my website or friends' websites? We want you to be able to share your petition everywhere! Once your petition is created, click on the "Get the Widget" button on the petition's main page. A window will pop up that will allow you to decide on the size, shape, and color of the widget you'd like to embed. Make all the changes you want, then copy the "embed code" provided and paste it where you'd like on your or your friend's site.
- How do I share my petition with my friends? You can do this from your petition directly, or from your petition's manage page. To get to your manage page, go to My PetitionSite, click the "petitions I started" tab, and click the "manage" button next to the petition you want to share. On this page, if your petition is live, you will see four buttons that allow you to share your petition with one click! You can share it on Facebook or Twitter, message your friends about it with our easy email tool, or grab a widget to embed on your website or blog.
- What information will I receive about the signers of my petition? In order to deliver your signature, you'll receive signers' names, city, state, country and their comments, but to protect the privacy of activists we cannot share contact information such as street address or email address.
- Can I update the signers of the petition? To respect the privacy of signers, we cannot give petition creators access to their contact information. But chances are, people will check back on your petition page to see what's going on. You can always update the summary text on your petition as circumstances change. If the issue you're petitioning has resolved, you can disable or close your petition and update the message that is displayed on closed petitions. Do this by going to My PetitionSite, selecting the "petitions I started" tab, clicking the "manage" button for the petition you want to close, and then selecting "Close Petition & Share the Results."
- How do I edit or manage my petition? Every petition you create has a dashboard, where you can edit your petition's content, download signature reports, and remove offensive signatures. The petitions you've created are listed on your My PetitionSite page, under the "petitions I started" heading. Find the title of the petition you'd like to manage, then click the "manage" button to go to that petition's dashboard.
- How will my petition be submitted to the target? It is your responsibility to deliver the petition to the target. The PetitionSite provides tools to export your signatures. When you are finished collecting signatures, go to My PetitionSite, select the "petitions I started" tab, click the "manage" button for the petition you want to close, and then select "Close Petition & Share the Results." Here you can download an excel spreadsheet or PDF of the signatures on your petition. If you have trouble, you can always email us.
How do I collect all the signatures on my petition to send them to the target?
In order to send your petition, you first need to get all the signatures from our database. Follow these steps:
1. Go to The PetitionSite.
2. Log in as the user who created the petition.
3. Go to your My PetitionSite page.
4. Make sure you are on the "petitions I started" tab.
5. Click on the button to the left of the petition in question. This button will be labeled differently depending on the status of your petition.
6. This takes you to your petition dashboard where you'll be able to generate a signature report to deliver to your target. Near the bottom, click on the link that says, "Deliver petition to target" or (if your petition is still open) "Close Petition & Share the Results."
7. Choose your preferred format for the signature report and click "Create Document."
8. The signature report will be generated by our system and will be available for pickup on the same page after a couple hours. You will receive an email when the report is ready for pickup. - My petition isn't relevant anymore. Can I delete it? Every petition on our site is part of someone's activist record. Once people have signed your petition, it's our policy to keep a copy of it on the site so people can reference that text they signed. You can, however, close the petition to more signatures and leave a note about how the issue worked out. To do this, go to My PetitionSite, select the "petitions I started" tab, click the "manage" button for the petition you want to close, and then select "Close Petition & Share the Results." Under special circumstances, a petition can be totally removed. If you're worried about any consequences of having the petition on Care2, please email us.
- My petition is about to expire. How do I keep it open? To keep your petition open, simply change the petition end date. To do this, go to My PetitionSite, select the "petitions I started" tab, and click the "manage" button for the petition you want to extend. Then click the "edit petition" link, scroll to the bottom, and change the petition end date to a date in the future. Then click the "save" button.
- What if I want to pay for help promoting my petition? Care2 does not offer any paid options for petition promotion, but there are many other ways we can help you. If you do want to put your own money behind your campaign, you can pay for ads to appear on Facebook or other social media sites, although that is something you would have to pursue on your own and not through Care2.
- What web browsers do you support? Care2.com supports only the latest versions of following the following browsers: Firefox, IE, Safari and Chrome. If you are not using one of those browsers, you may have trouble experiencing the full functionality of the site. Make sure that your browser is updated to the latest version.
- I keep getting strange characters in my petition. What is happening? If you copied and pasted your message from Microsoft Word, there is likely extra embedded code which is keeping your message from being displayed properly. If you want to draft your petition first, try using a plain text document, such as TextEdit or Notepad, and make sure that you've selected a "make plain text" option.
- I signed a petition, why can't I see my signature yet? Rest assured -- your signature will be added! With such a large community, our servers have to process a lot of signatures, and sometimes they get a little behind. But don't worry, your signature is saved. You should get an email from us confirming that your signature was received the same day you sign.
- The page isn't loading correctly, what's going on? Is your browser up-to-date? It sounds simple, but this is the most common problem people run into. It's important to use the most recent version of your internet browser. Things change fast on the internet and many sites -- not just Care2 -- are optimized for the latest and most efficient programs. Care2 supports Firefox, IE, Safari and Chrome, so make sure you're using one of those browsers. Already updated? Let us know where you're seeing problems so we can investigate.
Seeing other funky behavior?
Care2.com supports only the latest versions of following the following browsers: Firefox, IE, Safari and Chrome. If you're not using one of those browsers, you may have trouble experiencing the full functionality of the site. Here are some things to double check if you're seeing anything strange:
- Make sure that your browser is updated to the latest version.
- Be sure that your browser's pop-up and script blockers allow Care2.com and ThePetitionsite.com.
- Try clearing your browser's cache and cookies.
- Can I see the information you have about me?


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FAI Focussing on Animal Welfare Outcome Measures
UK - Carly Scott is a researcher at FAI farms in Oxford. Here she explains the principles behind welfare outcome measures and the work her and the Science Team are doing in this field.What are welfare outcome measures?
Welfare outcome measures are simple metrics that describe how an animal has experienced the environment in which it has lived. Outcome measures cover the lifespan of the animal and are collected both on-farm and at slaughter by directly observing the animal. They include both physical and behavioural metrics that focus on attributes associated with good quality of life. Some measures are common to all species, such as mobility or disease incidence, and others are species-specific, for example feather cover in laying hens.
Is this system widely used throughout the industry?
Key welfare outcome measures for each species have been developed and validated by the European Welfare Quality Consortium (2009). Many are already recorded by farmers and processors for production and management purposes and are therefore widely collected throughout industry using standard measuring procedures. This makes data collection practical and cost-effective and provides robust information about the welfare of animals across the supply base.
Why do producers and retailers collect data on welfare outcome measures?
Traditionally, 'input' measures have been used to inform how farmers should provide for good welfare, for example through the type of feed given or the size of housing space, etc. Although these measures are important in managing livestock systems, they do not directly measure the experience of the individual animal and often fail to capture the full effect of a system upon the animal's welfare.
Welfare outcome measures provide an objective tool to measure welfare, regardless of the production system, breed, climate, and so on. The data can be used to benchmark across farming operations, locate best practice and identify areas that can be improved within supply. This information provides valuable feedback for farmers to improve the welfare and profitability of their animals.
How do the results you collect impact on producers?
Most farms and sectors have areas where improvement can be made. Outcome measures can highlight these opportunities and provide a measure of progress where solutions are put in place. Importantly, due to the nature of livestock farming, improvements in animal welfare can lead to direct increases in farm profitability and the long-term sustainability of the business.
This approach is about providing robust information about what's happening on farm, not about telling farmers how they should farm. Unlike input based systems, outcome measures allow farmers to develop their own solutions and innovations that best suit their farming system. This flexibility and creativity is crucial for tackling some of the long-standing challenges to sustainable food production.
Looking to the future, are welfare outcome measures an important part of creating sustainable supply chains?
We define sustainable supply chains as those that are environmentally, economically and ethically – for people and animals – sound. To work towards building farming systems that meet these principles, we must know how they perform across all these criteria.
Sustainability outcome measures include environmental (e.g. water and energy consumption per kilogram liveweight produced), ethical (e.g. community and staff wellbeing) and economic measures (i.e. profitability).
TheCattleSite News Desk

subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome to the forum pages of our beloved faction Victorius from Heaven's Tear server in Perfect World International! Hope you enjoy them and be very active. :)
faction, victorius, beloved, heaven's, #tear, server, perfect, world, international!, hope, enjoy, active
Konoha Faction of Heavens Tear Server Perfect World International
Free forum : Welcome to CrmsnDrgn's forum page. We are a small faction on Perfect World International's Heaven's Tear server.
faction, crimson, dragon, perfect, world, free, small, international's, heaven's, #tear, server
Free forum : A private forum for the Aesir Faction of Heaven's Tear
Where the borders of day and night are blurred, light can dawn with burning fright and shadows dance with soothing delight. Come see the solace of twisted reality.
fantasy, roleplay, magic, magick, role, play, vampire, werewolf, troll, #tear, human, angel, demon, element, fire, water, earth, thunder, shadow, light, wind, elves
Insomnia Guild forums for Order and Chaos on tear coast server
Unison Guild Forum. Perfect World International Heavens Tear Server.
An ermine's an animal you can hold in your hand. But, if you let it to do so, it will tear out that hand... without stop beeing adorable.
erminea, ermine's, animal, hold, your, hand, will, #tear, that, without, stop, beeing, adorable
Forum for Tarondar Faction on Heaven's Tear Server
Perfect World Level 3 Faction - Server - Heavens Tear
akatosh, perfect, world, level, faction, server, heavens, #tear
You can be a good player, fighter, tear hunter or grail builder, but you won't win if you're not with us : D Let them try!
A tyrant has taken over the North and a brave group of refugees has decided to make the South their own as tumultuous politics threaten to tear Pern's Weyrs apart.
hollow, mountain, weyr, noncanon, drop, tyrant, taken, over, north, brave, group, refugees, decided, make, south, their, tumultuous, politics
An RPG site made specifically for two people, Amanda and James, to RP on because I couldn't be bothered to find one for us to join and go through the drama of getting the Admin to let us
Tear Sh!t Up
#tear, shit, sh!t, gaming, multigaming, racing, shooting, driving, simulation, shooter, funky, epic, pwnage, owned, pwned, pink, supra, anxiety, waster, floyd, pinkfloyd, nipples
Elusive is a Perfect World guild on the Heaven's tear Server.
Solution for all migers! Hop. Hope@mig33. com&tear. of. love@mig33. com
mig33, forums, soglam, tear.of.love, aria, help, admins, miglevel, merchants, hop.hope, pain.0f.love
Demigods have choices to make: Become a hero and please the Olympians, or help the Titans tear Olympus down brick-by-brick: A Percy Jackson RPG
Free forum : Forum for the Koukishin Faction from the Perfect World Entertainment game Perfect World International on the Heaven's Tear server.
free, koukishin, faction, forum, from, perfect, world, entertainment, game, international, heaven's, #tear, server
KoolAid is a new and growing faction on the Heaven's Tear server of Perfect World International. We are a group of friends looking to expand our player base. We run several instances together and are
kool-aid, heavens, #tear, koolaid, growing, faction, heaven's, server, perfect, world, international, group, friends, looking, expand


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How Your Family History Affects Your Vision
You may have inherited more than your hair color and height from your parents. The tendency to develop nearsightedness, glaucoma, lazy eye and other conditions can also be passed from generation to generation.
Exploring the Way Inheritance Affects Your Eyes
Eye diseases can be passed on through recessive, dominant, or X-linked inheritance. Both parents must pass along copies of a faulty gene if a disease is inherited through recessive inheritance, while only one parent must carry the gene in dominant inheritance. In X-linked inheritance, diseases are passed from mothers to sons.
You may also inherit certain physical characteristics that increase your risk of eye issues or make it more likely that you'll need glasses. The shape of your eyeball affects your ability to see near and far objects clearly. In hyperopia, the eyeball is too short, which makes it difficult to see near objects clearly. A longer-than-normal eyeball is the cause of myopia (nearsightedness), which causes blurry vision when you look at distant vision. If your parents have myopia or hyperopia, you may be at increased risk for developing these vision problems, known as refractive errors.
Just because your parent has a refractive error, doesn't necessarily mean you'll develop one. Many factors are involved in vision issues. For example, exposure to sunlight and the amount of time spent reading or focusing on near objects during childhood may also play a role in myopia.
Do You Know Your Family Eye History?
Although refractive errors are easily corrected with eyeglasses or contact lenses, other vision problems may not be so easy to treat. Learning about the eye conditions and diseases that run in your family can help you protect your vision. Eye diseases don't always cause symptoms in the early stages. Unfortunately, despite the absence of symptoms, permanent damage may occur if you don't notice any changes in your vision or don't see your optometrist for regular vision exams.
Families often know information about relatives with cancer, high blood pressure, or heart disease but forget about eye diseases and conditions. The next time you attend a family gathering, ask if any of your relatives have had any of these inherited conditions and diseases:
- Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD). AMD currently affects approximately 15 million people in the U.S., many of them older Americans, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The disease causes blurriness or blind spots in the central part of your vision.
- Glaucoma. Increased pressure inside your eye and damages your optic nerve, causing permanent vision loss if you have glaucoma. According to the Glaucoma Research Foundation, your risk of developing primary open-angle glaucoma increases by four to nine times if a close family member has this form of glaucoma.
- Cataracts. You may be more likely to develop cataracts if other family members have them. Cataracts occur when the normally clear lenses inside your eyes become clouded.
- Diabetic Retinopathy. Although diabetic retinopathy itself isn't inherited, type 1 diabetes, and in some cases, type 2 diabetes, can be passed on through the genes. Diabetic retinopathy damages your vision when blood vessels leak or abnormal blood vessels form in the retina. The retina, the light-sensing layer of cells at the back of your eye, sends images to your brain for processing.
- Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). RP is an inherited eye disorder that causes gradual loss of peripheral vision and night blindness.
- Color Blindness. Color blindness can also be inherited. People who are color blind have difficulty recognizing certain colors. Some have trouble recognizing red and green, while others can't see blue or yellow shades.
- Strabismus. Also called "crossed eyes," strabismus occurs when the eyes aren't properly aligned. As a result, the brain receives conflicting images from the eyes. Strabismus can cause blurred or double vision and depth perception issues.
- Amblyopia. Ambylopia, or "lazy eye," occurs when the brain ignores the information it receives from one of the eyes. You may be more likely to develop amblyopia if you don't receive treatment for strabismus.
Do you have a family history of eye disease? Regular comprehensive vision examinations can help you protect your vision and ensure you receive prompt treatment if you develop a disease or condition. Contact our office to schedule your exam.


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Working with Stackless Python and Microthreads
If you got the chance to improve the performance and capacity of your favorite programming language for free—by just dropping in a replacement interpreter and a few additional libraries—wouldn't you jump at it? Such a chance exists for Python. By installing the so-called "stackless" variant of Python instead of the vanilla flavor, you get access to microthreads, a version of threading that allows you an order of magnitude or two more threads on your machine than standard Python. Apart from that, there is the very advanced and interesting possibility of using co-routines and continuations.
Stackless Python was written by Christian Tismer and is available from www.stackless.com. The main difference from standard Python, as its name implies, is that Stackless Python doesn't use the C stack. Standard Python, which is written in C, uses this rather limited memory area to store the call stack (the stack of Python functions that are being called from each other) and the function frames (the representation of the state a certain function has reached) between thread switches. In Stackless Python, these vital data structures are stored on the heap—the potentially limitless area of memory in which all objects are created.
Essentially (and much simplified), this makes it possible to treat the state that a function is in when calling another (the execution frame) as a Python object, and this is immensely powerful. Continuations, co-routines, and generators are within arms' reach, even if using them is a bit hairy. To make it easier to benefit from the advantages of Stackless Python, Will Ware, Just van Rossum, and Christian Tismer have written the uthread Python module, which builds microthreads on top of continuations. This module is just as easy to use as standard Python threads—perhaps even a little easier.
Note that Stackless Python is not compatible with Jython—the version of Python that runs in a Java Virtual Machine (JVM). In fact, it's impossible to implement microthreads efficiently in Java. The basis of Stackless Python is the removal of the use of the C stack in the Python Virtual Machine. If you want to have the same kind of power in Java, you'd have to patch the Java Virtual Machine to avoid the C stack. Not impossible, but extremely difficult because of the wide variety of JVM implementations. The only way of giving applications access to more than a few threads on Java is to write your own cooperative scheduler in Java, and let your "threads" run on top of that. This scheme, however, is incompatible with Jython. You can run microthread-based applications on Jython, since it includes a small compatibility mode with system-level threading, but don't expect to get too much performance out of it.


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Critical Mass has no leaders and no one is entitled to make any announcement on its behalf. If there ever is any, the correct response to such an announcement would be for people to ignore it and make up their own minds.
We loved the London Critical Mass ride. It's definitely one for every cyclists calendar!
We left from Waterloo and went around the city. It was great!
If you want a better report, posts yours to firstname.lastname@example.com or to the list http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/cm-london otherwise every one will be turning to reports or comments from face book to keep informed!


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Capital Goods – September 2011
You don't have to look hard to find a business owner, be it a big-time developer or a small retailer, with a story about unwanted government regulation. A good friend of mine, a Raleigh restaurant owner, has complained for years about the equipment requirements for his eatery — heavy-duty industrial refrigerators when a residential fridge would do; a one-piece, stainless-steel sink when a three-piece one used to be the norm.
After winning historic legislative majorities, Republicans came to Raleigh in January pledging to respond to complaints such as my friend's. It took six months, but GOP lawmakers finally claimed their first victory on that front by overturning Gov. Beverly Perdue's veto of the Regulatory Reform Act of 2011 in July. The sweeping legislation requires state agencies to, among other things, adopt only rules mandated by the federal or state government, review statutes annually to repeal outdated regulations and to cut any that overlaps those of another agency. But overall, its language is complicated and vague, leaving gaping holes for differing interpretations. And it may take years to figure out whether this victory causes more problems, lives up to expectations or has no effect at all. The reasons: No one is sure how the bill will work in practice, how state and federal agencies will respond or if any lawsuits will be filed against it.
Supporters say it will reduce redundant state regulations and make clearer the requirements for businesses when they build, expand or otherwise interact with government regulators. "We're just trying to make this process friendlier, clearer, so you understand what [the rules] are and can abide by them," state Sen. Harry Brown, a Jacksonville Republican, said when the legislation cleared his chamber in June. Environmentalists, however, predict calamity. "State agencies have been handcuffed from fulfilling their statutory obligation to create effective safeguards to protect North Carolina families and communities," Molly Diggins, director of the Sierra Club's North Carolina chapter, said after Perdue's veto was overturned.
The governor's veto didn't have much to do with either of these arguments or the wider purposes of the legislation. She said the bill, in some cases, would take authority away from state agencies and give it to the Office of Administrative Hearings, the state's administrative-law agency, which she labeled as unconstitutional. That's a bit of a stretch. But it will impede her turf.
The meat of the regulatory reform bill lies elsewhere, in language that calls for state agencies to end overlapping rules, to conduct those annual reviews and to quantify the costs of any new ones. One provision will require agencies to develop at least two alternative possibilities if a proposed rule has a "substantial economic impact" — whatever that means.
Sounds fine, but how will that play in the real world? Back in the spring, Republican legislators went around the state holding public hearings as they prepared to unveil the 22-page bill. They heard an interesting complaint from proponents of regulatory reform. For the regulated, the problem isn't always the regulation; it's the uneven interpretation by government employees charged with enforcing it. Brown says the changes will make rules more static.
Legislators also got an earful from environmentalists, who were organizing to try to stop the changes. Their chief worry is that, by creating more hurdles and a lengthier rule-making process, it prevents state agencies from responding quickly when new safety and environmental threats arise. Derb Carter, director of the Southern Environmental Law Center, predicted that the changes would "grind rule-making to a halt."
State officials aren't sure much will change at all. One told me that his agency had no plans to alter its basic approach to adopting rules — a long-established process of public hearings and board review that takes several months each year. For instance, the bill says new state rules shouldn't institute environmental standards greater than any imposed by the federal government. There are a few caveats, including rules required by acts of the General Assembly, court actions or new federal rules changes. But plenty of agency heads would say they never adopt rules that aren't required by state or federal law. Plus, there's already a Rules Review Commission, which was created by legislators in 1986 to provide a second level of review before state agencies could put new rules in place.
It's ironic that even the bill created to simplify government isn't exempt from legislative vagary. Like so much of government rule-making, it's all in the interpretation.
Scott Mooneyham is the editor of The Insider, www.ncinsider.com.


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If you're a new mom or about to be one, you're likely already used to putting your needs second to the needs of this beautiful new little person in your life – but maintaining good oral hygiene is still important for keeping you and your baby in tip-top shape. If something happens and you need dental work, it shouldn't prevent you from breastfeeding regularly, or from seeking the dental treatment you need. Dr. Lisa Piontek is our experienced dentist at Crystal River Dental and can explain how prioritizing your own health needs is safe and important during this stage of a woman's life.
Dental Procedures Safe for Breastfeeding
You shouldn't be surprised to hear that regular brushing and flossing is safe for breastfeeding mothers. In fact, it's probably never felt more luxurious! Especially as you're likely eating everything in sight (and perhaps indulging in sweet treats, too), it's a good idea to keep those pearly whites as clean and healthy as possible. We know how difficult it is to take care of yourself with a new baby – but you deserve to be healthy, and a healthy mom is a better mom. Proactive measures are protective and important as your body goes through major hormonal changes. Not to mention, what mom has time for a lengthy dental procedure? Be proactive about your dental health right now to prevent complications later. If you are a breastfeeding mother in need of dental work, you'll be happy to know most procedures won't affect your milk or your baby. You will only need to pause breastfeeding for the short duration of your dental visits, and the following dental treatments are still safe while breastfeeding:
- X-rays
- Wisdom teeth extraction
- Root canals
- Fillings
- Teeth whitening
- Routine cleaning
Dental Drugs Safe for Breastfeeding
Your body does an excellent job of processing medicine and other substances before they get to the baby via your milk, and the old practice of pump-and-dump is rarely recommended anymore. Most effects of drugs used in dentistry should wear off as soon as your procedure is over anyway, and you can be back to nursing your bub as soon as you're home. The following drugs common in dental work are all safe for breastfeeding mothers:
- Novocain
- Valium
- Local anesthetic
- Nitrous oxide (laughing gas)
- General anesthesia
- Antibiotics
More Information
Dr. Thomas Hale's book "Medication and Mother's Milk" is a great resource for more information on drug safety while breastfeeding. You should always share your full health history with your dentist and get your own pediatrician's approval before receiving any dental treatment. Most dental work is totally compatible with a breastfeeding lifestyle. In fact, relaxing in the dentist chair may be the most quality alone time you get all week! Just remember, taking care of your own dental needs is essential for the overall health of you and your baby. Call us today at (715) 258-8200 to make an appointment for any regular cleanings or special dental treatment you need.


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Lockheed Martin will manufacture additional AN/TPQ-53 counterfire radar systems for the U.S. Army under a $1.6 billion order-dependent contract. The Q-53 radar system supports troops in combat by detecting, classifying, tracking and identifying the location of enemy indirect fire in either 360- or 90-degree modes.
Lockheed Martin completed the 100th Q-53 radar system for the Army in January and is manufacturing multiple Q-53 radar systems per month. Since Lockheed Martin won the development contract for the Q-53 radar in 2007, the company has won five additional contracts for a total of more than 100 radar systems, 95 systems have been delivered to the Army. With this full-rate production contract award, the Army's complement of Q-53 radar systems will total more than 170.
"The Q-53 system helps troops know what is going on around them in an increasingly complicated world," said Rick Herodes, director of Lockheed Martin's Q-53 radar program. "What's so special about the Q-53 radar system is the inherent flexibility of its software controlled active electronically scanned array (AESA). Our engineers can adjust the Q-53's software to address emerging threats. Having control in the software allows quick reaction to whatever comes next – so the first Q-53 radar system off the line could be quickly updated to be just as capable as the 170th Q-53 radar system."
Lockheed Martin is the only company producing active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars for the Army.
Over the last 10 years new threats have emerged including unmanned aerial systems (UAS). Thanks to the flexibility of open architecture designs, simple software modifications can be made to adjust radar systems, including the Q-53 radar, to meet various missions. The U.S. Army awarded Lockheed Martin a $28 million contract in November for "quick reaction capability to add counter-unmanned aerial system to the AN/TPQ-53 radar system" simultaneous with its core counterfire mission.
The Q-53 radar can be readily adapted to provide both air surveillance and counterfire target acquisition in one tactical sensor. The radar system demonstrated its multimission radar (MMR) capability by identifying and tracking aerial systems and passing that information to a command and control node, a key capability as the battlespace rapidly becomes more crowded with emerging air threats.
The Q-53 supports counter-insurgency missions as well as high-intensity combat operations. The system is highly mobile on the battlefield; it can be set up in five minutes, taken down in two minutes and supports two-man operation.
Work on the Q-53 radars is performed at Lockheed Martin facilities in Syracuse and Owego, New York, Moorestown, New Jersey, and Clearwater, Florida.
Headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs approximately 97,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services.


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IP audio and control specialist Barix has promoted Frank Frederiksen to COO following a successful 15 months as vice president of product marketing and strategy.
- His promotion, effective immediately, represents part of the strategic process at Barix to build a strong management team that will lead the company to new growth. Frederiksen reports directly to Barix CEO Ronni Guggenheim.
- Since coming to Barix, Frank has focused on enhancing the user experience for customers through streamlined solutions that simplify ease of use and installation. He oversaw the development and rollout of Barix's recently-introduced IP Paging ecosystem, which eliminates complex configuration processes in favor of a plug-and-play solution where Barix devices self-configure automatically.
- Frank will continue to oversee product management at Barix while working to enhance company operations, with an emphasis on improved logistics, manufacturing and fulfillment to more effectively meet customer demand. As a result, he expects Barix to strengthen its focus on complete solutions and better vertical integration.
- "IP streaming has entered the mainstream, and many of our customers need more than capable hardware devices; they need a complementary environment around those devices to control, manage and monitor their entire systems," said Frederiksen. "We have simplified interfaces and improved ease of use over the past year so that our customers don't need to be IT experts. And there are exciting developments on the horizon that will better position Barix as a complete IP solutions provider."
- Barix's global product management and logistics/fulfillment teams will report to Frank, and he expects to leverage this opportunity to build a more flexible production environment. "I look forward to establishing a stronger link between defining products and bringing them to market," he said. "The combination of overseeing products and production responsibilities is a good basis for driving operations and budget."


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Commander (CDR) , RN, an officer in the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps, doesn't sugarcoat what it took to reach officer rank in three different branches of the military, obtain two post-graduate degrees with plans to get a doctorate, and be awarded the Purple Heart for her service in Iraq, all while remaining a dedicated wife and mother. "It took hard work, determination and support from my family to get where I am today," she declares.
Before entering the military, Langlais worked as a civilian nurse after graduating from Villanova University College of Nursing in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Her career path as a military nurse began in the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps in 1988 and has followed a uniquely winding course over the past 17 years. Langlais served four years in the Air Force, five years in the Army and has been in the Navy for eight years.
"I've been blessed to be able to take my skills and use them in the military," she says. "I wanted to travel and use my nursing skills, so I have the best of both worlds. The pay and educational opportunities in the military were [vastly superior to what was available in] the civilian sector. The military trained me and gave me the opportunity to utilize my training in a proper setting."
CDR Langlais believes her family and faith have been paramount in her success, including her recent service in Iraq as a combat nurse. The mother of five children, including six-year-old twins, Langlais explains that her family supports her career without hesitancy. "My husband is a Navy engineer, so he has a clear understanding of what [this life is like]. He is retiring in January 2007 and I will complete my service in 2011."
During her long and varied career in the military, Langlais has worked in many areas of nursing, including the ER, oncology, critical care and combat trauma units. Today she draws on her experience as both a civilian nurse and a military nurse to help other Navy nurses make the transition back to civilian life. "I'm on a core staff that assists nurses and helps them use the skills and experiences they have from being in the Navy in the 'real world,'" she says.
In the Line of Fire
In February 2006 CDR Langlais went to Iraq, where she found herself serving as the only African American senior combat nurse in the town of Al Taqaddum, on the outskirts of Al Fallujah. During her five-and-a half months there, she worked in combat trauma care, serving many severely wounded patients.
"I saw a lot of people die. I saw a lot of severe injuries. That's what happens in wars," she says matter-of-factly. "There is a difference between witnessing trauma as a civilian nurse and as a combat nurse. Civilian nurses will see patients come in with gunshot wounds, and it's hard. But in a war you see wounds from explosions, and human bodies so damaged. Our medical technology hasn't advanced far enough to keep up with these types of injuries. I prayed to God for guidance on how to care for these people."
On April 7, CDR Langlais was coming out of the galley when she was hit by the second of four rounds of mortar blasts. "The base I was on was very close to Habbaniyah and it was very busy with insurgents day and night," she says. "Through intelligence, the insurgents learned that the base was highly populated." Fortunately, she survived the blast and no other military personnel were injured.
Although she has now recovered from her injury, she still feels its lingering effects. "I have damage to my face," she explains. "The injury is from my cheekbone down past my chin and neck. I went through exploratory surgery after the attack. I have no feeling at all on the right side of my face due to nerve damage. Whether or not I ever recover feeling depends on if the nerves regenerate."
In a remarkable display of bravery and dedication to her duty as a combat nurse, CDR Langlais refused to leave work after she was injured in the blast. "There were too many junior nurses there who needed me," she recounts. "The night of my injury, we had a patient who was having an allergic reaction to medication and I gave him care to help him breathe. They weren't too happy with me for continuing to work, but I wasn't going to let him die in front of me."
She stayed on in Iraq for three months after her injury. "I was treated and recovered in a combat zone. I came home two months early and experienced a lot of guilt because of that."
People who know Lenora Langlais say this dedication to putting the needs of others before her own is typical of her. "She is an inspiration simply because she cares," says Chaplain Terrell Byrd, who served with CDR Langlais in Iraq. "She cares about people, her job, her profession and her family. She is an inspiration because she came to Iraq as a volunteer. She didn't have to at her level, but she chose to be at the front of the fight. As a wife and mother of five, I can only imagine her difficulty in making that decision. Even when she was wounded she decided to stay to set an example [of courage] for her young corpsmen."
A Humble Hero
Despite everything, CDR Langlais feels that "overall, being in Iraq was a wonderful experience." Does she consider herself a hero? "No," she says simply. "I consider myself a naval officer who is a nurse."
But that's not what the Navy thought. Upon returning home to Camp Pendleton, Calif., CDR Langlais was awarded the Purple Heart for her courage under fire.
The Purple Heart is a combat decoration awarded under the name of the President of the United States to members of the Armed Forces who have been wounded or killed by "an instrument of war in the hands of the enemy." It is the oldest military decoration currently used in the world and it was the first to be made available to common soldiers. The Purple Heart originated in 1782 during the Revolutionary War and was reestablished by the War Department in the 1930s. The idea of honoring American soldiers for bravery in the face of war is credited to the nation's first President, George Washington, who wrote: "Not only instances of unusual gallantry but also of extraordinary fidelity and essential service in any way shall meet with due reward."
That description is a perfect fit for CDR Langlais. "While deployed and in her personal time she rendered the personal touch," Chaplain Byrd says. "In Al Taqaddum, during her tenure, I don't know of anyone who did not know her name. There were those who would stop to say 'thank you' to her for the time she took with an injured soldier, sailor, marine or airman. During very difficult and long medical procedures she took time to explain what was happening to the military member. CDR Langlais is a natural leader who embodies all that is best of the naval service and the healing arts."
Through it all, she remains humble. "I am blessed," she says. "God was watching my back that day. My head could have been blown off. But I survived my injury, I can speak and my face is fine. I served my country, took one for the country and lived to talk about it. I'm grateful for that."
Despite being wounded, CDR Langlais is still willing to return to Iraq if she were to receive the call. "I would go back," she declares. "I'd pray about it and discuss it with my family, but I am willing to serve my country again."
The Face of Diversity
When the U.S. Navy is looking for a nurse who embodies dedication and hard work, they turn to someone like CDR Langlais. She was chosen in 2005 to be featured in the Navy's recruitment advertising campaign to be the face of the Navy Nurse Corps.
"It was a selection process that included quite a few candidates," she explains. "They picked me because they thought I had the most appealing personality and smile and I was truly living what the ad represents."
CDR Langlais is a model in every sense of the word–not only in the Navy ads, but also a role model for others who hope to follow in her footsteps. She travels to universities around the country to recruit other minority applicants into Navy nursing. "I'm hoping that my presence is helping to make a difference, and it does hold people accountable. I lead by example," she says. "Unfortunately, minorities still experience the glass ceiling. We see where we can go, but we can't always get there."
The road to personal and professional success is often paved with adversity, and CDR Langlais has been no exception. As an African American woman she has felt the pain of discrimination. But by continuing to reach higher in educational and professional pursuits, as well as serving her country, she has literally become the picture of success.
"Being the only African American nurse and female officer on the entire base came with a price," she says of her service in Iraq. "It was a challenge for people to be open-minded enough to take leadership guidance from me. I was labeled as confrontational and mean. If you're anything other than [the stereotype of] a video vixen or basketball star, they can't handle you. In their mind you're being confrontational. But other people's small-mindedness is not my problem. I never allow those issues to interfere with my patient care."
What advice does CDR Langlais have for other minority nurses who are considering a career as a military nurse? First, she recommends that you "really do your research" on the nursing profession as well as on the particular branch of the military that you're interested in. "Interview recruiters and ask lots and lots of questions," she says. "And then ask more questions and keep asking questions again and again. Check out the recruitment office after hours when they're not expecting you to be there."
Her next piece of advice is: Figure out for yourself what you really want from your career and your life and then set goals accordingly. Because she knows firsthand that minorities entering the field often face barriers and obstacles that their white counterparts don't, she stresses the importance of developing a strong support network. "Your mentor doesn't always have to look like you," she adds, "but it sure does help."
She also emphasizes the crucial role that professional education has played in her success. "Education and training has been paramount in my development as an officer and a nurse. As a teacher, I love to help patients understand the importance of health care. I love seeing that light go on in people when they 'get it.'"
Ask her Navy colleagues what kind of a role model CDR Lenora Langlais is and their faces light up, too. "There is no greater example of dignity, honor and compassion I can think of than her," Chaplain Byrd says. "To aspiring nurses she illustrates what it means to be a perfectionist. She gives to them the pride that can only come from a professional with a 17-year career of service. CDR Langlais challenges them and others to not settle for good, but to strive for great. By example, she teaches them to excel in their educational, professional and personal goals."
- Providing Cultural Competency Training for Your Nursing Staff - February 15, 2016
- Cultural Competence from the Patient's Perspective - February 11, 2016
- Careers in Nephrology Nursing - February 10, 2016


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Is Motor Mouth ( of MotorMouth news import ) a bounty hunter after the heads of anonymous and occupiers?
WAIT A SECOND. Is MotorMouth a GOD DAMN REAL LIFE SUPERHERO?
A pastebin alone may raise the question, but research has the answer. [EDITOR'S NOTE ELFWAX EDITION: PASTEBIN EXTRAS: BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR JAMIE CORNE'S TRADEMARK INSANITY IN THIS WEEK'S PASTEBIN OF THE WEEK WITH JACKALANON ]
"And the answer is, quite frankly, yes. He is all of those things."
– Old Brutus, head of the chronicle.su research department.
Motor Mouth (pictured) has been involved with various Occupy movements, but not as you might expect.
As the pieces fall into place, more anons have come forward to discuss sightings of the figure within hacktivist culture around Occupy Wall Street events, but there are suspicions he is working with police.
Interestingly enough
There is a real life superhero calling himself MotorMouth, who also happens to have a questionable involvement in political demonstrations. MotorMouth news, on the other hand, has been involved with Occupy Wall Street events, leading to questions surrounding his involvement with authority. He is part of a group of real life superheroes that could only exist if legally sanctioned by the D.C. police department – which means cooperation with law enforcement agencies.
MotorMouth News has a torrid history, to say the least, with the underground hacktivist culture – his website bearing a shallow and incomplete portrayal of anonymous activity – and his involvement with the above ground occupy movement is said to be wrought with distrust.
If true, it would reveal a fascination with masks and disguises paired with a desire to be on the winning team – that is, the fascists controlling America.
On his website, Motor Mouth, the real-life superhero, claims to have been involved in 'riots' but does not specify which; additionally, he listed a "racially-charged political incident" but does not specify which side he stood up to protect, though he does claim to have stood up for something. The case is about a piece of shit assassin cop who pretty much got off the hook for manslaughter – and at MotorMouth the superhero's website, there is no indication that the superhero was standing up for the death of an innocent black man.
Lead correspondent Tyler Bass of chronicle.su explained the issue is hardly divisive. "White cop, dead black guy," he said, "case motherfucking closed. 'Controversial' doesn't begin to describe how fucked up that was."
So remember anons, if you see this man, do not divulge information to him. He could be a bounty hunter hooking up crooked cops, so better safe than sorry. Like we used to say back in the World War II days: "Loose Lips Sink Ships!"
Good luck out there.


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Tin Roofing
Tin roofing dates back from centuries ago. Its popularity never waned mainly perhaps it is the most affordable roofing material. The material is also lightweight, durable, relatively resistant to corrosion and give exceptional formation capacities. It also absorbs heat easily so it can melt down snow and protect ice damming. Tin is a competitive material for weatherproofing.
Choosing tin roofing over any other metal roofing material like, lead, copper, aluminum, zinc, and galvanized iron or other roofing material rubber and cedar shake will be an excellent choice for those who have tight budget. Tin roofing is easy to install and its maintenance is manageable. It is the widely used material in mass housing program in US. The life span of tin is comparable with that of other metal roofing.
The common problem encountered by homeowners with regard to tin roofing is accumulation of dirt and stain. Overtime this will damage the roof if not attended to at once. Signs of corrosion may start appearing on roof surfaces. During the installation of the tin roofs, some punctured surfaces were left unsealed. These holes will leak when rain comes. Immediate care should be done right after the leaks were located. Leaking roofs are commonly present in valleys, roof-to-walls connections, and the steepness of slope. These parts of the roof should be carefully checked for unsightly stains and dirt and possible leaks.
Coatings can remedy possible damage that rust brings to your roof. Likewise sealants can help in stopping water to seep through leaks. There are many available sealants and coatings in the market. Electrometric coating material is a commonplace among homeowners.
Painting your roof will add beauty and touch of class to your roof. Paint should not be mistaken as a coating substance, though it might serve the purpose for a while. Paint hides the unsightly patches made by sealants and coatings. It also gives new look to rather old looking roofs. A well-painted roof is a well-maintained roof.
Tin roofing is easy to clean even with water alone. Strong chemicals are no longer needed specially if the roofs are new. Washing the roofs should be done regularly to avoid accumulation of dirt which host microorganism that might destroy the roofs. If there is stubborn dirt, mild chemicals should be used so that the color of the paint will be preserved and chipping off is prevented.
Tin roofing is truly affordable and durable which gives you more savings. You can even get your money's worth if utmost care to your roof is well considered.


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Asian Breeze is an Asian Fusion Restaurant with a difference. We have TWO menus…one with all of your usual favorite Chinese and Japanese dishes. Our second SPECIAL MENU offers you new tastes of AUTHENTIC CUISINE from China, Korea, and Japan not found in other restaurants.
Our chefs have over sixty years combined experience preparing unique Asian Cuisine. We will surprise you with classic favorites such as Chinese Hot Pot, Korean Spicy Stew, Japanese noodles with grilled salmon, and many other dishes which you may never have tried before!
We are ready to surprise you. If you are not sure what to try, ask us to help you pick from the best we have to offer. We feature a Sushi Bar with the freshest sushi, sashimi, and Special Sushi Rolls made to order.
We know we can satisfy you and your guests with the freshness of Asian Breeze.
Be sure to look at our full menu for more delicious options.
Asian Breeze
Copyright © 2023 Asian Breeze - All Rights Reserved.
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Patriarchal theology establishes hate as the basis of physics, of the natural world, and of life choices, disguising the actual innate core of physics, of Gaia's realm, and of healthy decisions: love and magic. And thus are people disempowered.
Note: God in this blog refers to my Goddess. When I refer to Her, assume I'm also referring to my God because He always stands next to Her. I'll also use God to refer to the Biblical God a few times; such times will be obvious.Love is magic. Magic is love. God is love. Magic is God. Those four sentences are not just pretty words or metaphors to me.
Acts of love create miracles. An atom is made up of particles of love. The spaces between particles are love. God is manifest in all things—every particle, bit of energy, empty space—and thus is magic God incarnate.
Through its theology that establishes hate as the basis of physics, the natural world, and life choices, patriarchy disempowers people. The theology of hate disguises love and magic as innately the core of physics, Gaia's realm, and healthy decisions, and thereby robs people of their power.
Example: an angry punishing God throws people into the eternal torture of hell. God's subjecting countless people to everlasting torment surely is surely His being against them. His followers follow His example and polarize against others. Their mindset becomes either/or—"It's me or them," so a model of scarcity prevails, with its dog-eat-dog hateful greed. And it's "Me against nature—evil wild nature. I'll tame and maim nature to take what I want from it; it's against me, so I must fight it to get my needs met." The hell myth, by building a foundation of hate that snowballs into an entire societal norm, obscures that love is the essence of God and of atoms, and is the innate foundation of our lives.
Patriarchal religious myths are an intricately woven fabric of lies that seem tailored to hide God's loving magic.
Another example is the biblical God outside of nature, standing far apart from us, harshly frowning as He judges our every act. I have no use for a God Who lives far away, withholding love. My God is in nature, in its greenery, luscious food, nurturing peace, uplifting beauty, and joyful sensuality. My God is in nature, and magic permeates nature. It is the biblical God, not magic, that is supernatural—outside what is of natural. Magic is in nature.
My God is incarnate in love and magic.
My belief that love is everything does not mean I'm a pacifist, doormat, or person who buries her head in the sand about oppression. I believe, for example, it is possible to stop someone who is robbing others of their rights, and still try to have an attitude of love for that person. (I do not expect to be anywhere near perfectly free of anger in this lifetime. I'm a human being.)
My belief that love is everything does not mean I can forsake my moral sense of right and wrong, or my responsibility to stop what is wrong.
My belief that love is everything does not mean that, if I reason in a loving manner with a Nazi long enough, he's inevitably going to change his heart and behavior. Just because I'm feeling love doesn't mean he will. He might only change when forced to. But my hate will not help me force that change. The ways to force it, at least for me, are things like voting, campaigning for candidates, signing petitions, civil disobedience and, as my stepfather did in World War II, signing up for the military—these can all be acts of love.
And a belief that magic is everything cannot be an excuse to forsake concrete acts of love, such as civil disobedience.
Love is magic. Magic is love. God is love. Magic is God.
Dear reader, social media algorithms lean toward counterculture being filtered from your feed. E.g., if one of my posts has a link to my site, good chance Facebook will block the post from your feed. But my newsletter can connect you and I in ways social media won't allow. Click the bar below to subscribe for free. Rock on!


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KB Winters is the author of the brand new Billionaire Romance Series, Plush. She has an addiction to caffeine and hard-bodied alpha males. The men in her books are very sexy, protective and sometimes bossy, her ladies are...well...bossier!
Living in sunny Southern California, this hopeless romantic writes every chance she gets!


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Bankers Trust International (Updated)
This notice is issued by the Financial Supervision Commission ("the Commission") in accordance with the powers conferred upon it under Section 22 of the Financial Supervision Act 1988.
Bankers Trust International
The Commission has recently become aware of the above website, which claims to represent the above entity.
The website contains statements alleging that the above entity has, inter alia, "offshore operations in the Isle of Man".
The above entity is not a company incorporated within the jurisdiction of the Isle of Man. It is not registered as a foreign company having established a place of business on the Isle of Man. It is not registered as a business name on the Isle of Man.
The above entity is not licensed by us to undertake Banking or any other regulated activity in, on or from the Isle of Man.
A list of all institutions licensed by the Commission is available on our website at www.fsc.gov.im
The Commission has established no association between the above entity and any genuine Isle of Man companies.
The Commission has established no genuine links between the above entity and the Isle of Man.
The Commission has issued two previous Public Warnings in relation to a purported entity by the name of Bankers Trust International falsely claiming an Isle of Man presence. Those earlier Public Warnings may be read on the following links:
Under the circumstances, the Commission would strongly urge persons considering dealing with the above entity to exercise the greatest possible caution before proceeding, bearing in mind the contents of this public notice.
Any persons who are already involved in any dealings with the above entity and have concerns should contact the Enforcement Division on +44 1624 689313 or by email to email@example.com.
Any persons who have paid funds to the above entity should consider contacting their local Police Fraud Unit without delay.
FSC Reference: JPM/55/2006
Updated to include additional URL


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This blog post is dedicated to Juno, whose passing helped inspire some extra love for our own two seniors, Simon (13+) and Sally (almost 12). Every morning that one of these two creatures noses me awake sets one small corner of the Universe right for the day. I can't bear the thought that a dog's natural lifespan is so short - fourteen years if you're damn lucky - but since we've been out-voted by Nature's plan, a lot of mine and Tim's energy has switched from keeping our feisty duo out of trouble to keeping them healthy and happy. We've learned so much from other dog owners; I thought I'd list out some of the tips we've picked up in hopes that it helps other soon-to-be-senior dogs grow old with grace...
Creature Comforts. It was a revelation to me that not all dogs know to seek out softer surfaces for their boney old joints. (Really?) I had to condition the stoic Simon to give up his favorite spot on the hard floor for a layer of cush, and only did so after realizing that his elbows were getting pressure sores from taking the brunt of a stiffer posture. Crap! Bed sores = Bad news.
Keep an eye on your dog's joints as his body changes and plan early to get him hooked on soft resting habits so you don't have to feel as guilty as I did once those sores go from red to raw. You can pay bucks for special padded brace thingys, but if you have it in your power: Prevent, prevent pressure sores. (He's healed now, but it was a lot of work!)
Keep it in motion. We all need to move our joints in order to, well, keep them moving. Regulate an arthritic dog's exercise so they don't overdue it and become discouraged by their pain...Two shorter walks a day for them is perfect. Extra stiff bones will appreciate a wake-up massage to warm up the tissues that tighten overnight. It's become a morning ritual for Simon to nudge up on the bed at sunrise and ask for his massage - and we both love waking up this way.
Plan for the inevitable loss of hearing by reinforcing eye-contact ("Watch me") early on and by incorporating a few important hand signs into your daily conversations with your dogs. I didn't realize how much influence signing for our fully-deaf boy Honky Tonk would have on our hearing dogs until they started going deaf too. What do you know? They already understood many of his signs!
Fight dis-ease, including cancers, by boosting that immune system. Start by reducing the number of vaccines you give your dog. Instead, fill his body with the best diet you can afford. A big group of BR people have their dogs on a raw meat diet. Yes, that means raw chicken bones, too. Raw feeders are pretty much obsessed with listing the benefits, so be careful before you get one of us started. We could talk all day about why it's the best thing we've ever done for our dogs, or how many of our foster dogs have gone from immuno-disasters to glowing examples of well muscled, shiney-haired health, but that gets obnoxious...
So, onto the next best diet tip... Grizzly Salmon Oil. Our dogs have been salmon oil junkies since our pit bull Sally was diagnosed with mast cell cancer nearly five years ago. It's an anti-inflammatory, so helps with joint issues while helping the body grow a soft, lush coat. We buy ours from KV Vet Supply for cheap with their 10-bucks-off coupons. Cod liver oil is an alternative to salmon oil, especially as we learn more about the contaminants that are showing up in fish. (WAH!) Most people already know about giving their dog glucosamine for curbing osteoarthritis. Start young, stay consistent. Trader Joe's sells it for dogs for nine bucks a bottle.
Bladder control. This is one of the best tips EVA, offered by the inimitable Susi Ming, who cares for seniors through the Bully Haven project. Powdered corn silk tablets (cheap, cheap!) are like a wizard's magic trick for strengthening leaky bladders. Two tabs sprinkled on each meal, and my dog's old once-leaky pisser is back to young-dog-mark-the-whole-neighborhood normal. I'm so relieved.
Yeah, we're told it works for people bladders too. Hallelujah - maybe our dogs can show us how we can get old with dry pants!
Despite every remedy, the best way we can hold off the inevitable whiplash of losing our pets is to enjoy the hec out of them every single day. Many thanks to Juno for the necessary reminder. Godspeed, little darlin.'
More info on Senior Dogs: srdog.com


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South African Court Submissions Expose Lies and Deceptive Tactics Used to Perpetuate MTI Bitcoin Ponzi Scheme – Regulation Bitcoin News
New submissions by a South African regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) and liquidators have exposed the web of lies and deceptive tactics that were used by Mirror Trading International (MTI) CEO Johann Steynberg and others to perpetuate the Ponzi scheme.
Undeclared Losses
In its report filed with the South African court, the regulator also exposes the true extent of losses that were incurred by the bitcoin investment company. For instance, in what the FSCA calls the "first period," MTI had a "total of nearly 51 bitcoin (that) were deposited with Belize-based forex broker FXChoice, but 22 — or 43% — of these coins were lost by the traders." However, at this point there was "no multi-level marketing involved."
Nevertheless, this would change in the second period "when Steynberg purportedly introduced a computerized trading bot" that falsely guaranteed returns of 10% each day. The report explained:
FX Choice reported to the FSCA that 1,846 bitcoin were deposited with it between January and June 2020, but of this 566 bitcoin (about 30%) were lost. These trading results were completely at odds with the wild claims of success being promoted on social media by MTI. FX Choice subsequently froze the remaining 1,280 bitcoin.
In the last period, Steynberg claimed all investors' bitcoin had been transferred to a new broker, Trade 300. Still, when the FSCA investigated this claim, "it concluded that Trade 300 was a fraudulent creation of Steynberg's and does not exist as a bona fide brokerage," according to a report by Moneyweb.
MTI Shareholding Structure
Meanwhile, MTI liquidators have similarly submitted "evidence" that exposes the bitcoin investment company's actual shareholding structure. The liquidators' position is paraphrased by the Moneyweb report: "Based on the evidence provided by the liquidators, MTI was owned 50-50 by Steynberg and Clynton Marks, who would divvy up 10% of the profits between them every Monday."
However, the liquidators still concede that Steynberg seems to have been the only individual in MTI dealing with a broker in Belize and an India-based server team. "He would supply trading results from the broker to the server team for capture into the back-office system," the report notes.
Nepotism Allegations
In the meantime, another director of MTI, Cheri Marks, is facing accusations of using her position in the organization to reward her associates. For instance, Marks is accused of appointing Monica Coetzee to the position of marketing director despite her lack of required qualifications. In addition, Marks is accused of bumping Coetzee's salary from just over $1000 per month to one BTC per month.
Following these proceedings, a Western Cape High Court is now expected to hear arguments by those that want a final liquidation to be granted and those against it. According to a report, these proceedings are scheduled to be heard in the third week of June 2021.
What are your thoughts on the latest revelations about MTI's huge losses and its shareholding structure? Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
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