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Home » Posts tagged 'Bob Barker'
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Woodland Park Zoo vs Bunny the Elephant from Tennessee Sanctuary
The Story of Bunny from Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary
The Hypocrisy and Corruption of the USDA
The following is a summary from the USDA regarding the death of Bunny the elephant at Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary and the USDA's subsequent clearing of TES of any wrong doing, judge for yourself.
On May 14, 2009, an elephant named Bunny died at The Elephant Sanctuary (TES), located in Hohenwald, Tennessee. Bunny was a fifty-seven year old, female, Asian elephant that arrived at TES in September of 1999. Bunny had a long history of foot problems prior to arriving at TES which subsided during her stay at TES. Her foot problems and the discovery of arthritis in her hind hip during her necropsy may have contributed to her downfall. Bunny went down on May 2, 2009 recovered even when she was hoisted to her feet with a back hoe. –(name redacted)–(name redacted) and the staff at TES continually discussed the option of euthanasia but decided against it as in their opinion the elephant was not suffering due to the pain medications she was receiving. Bunny was kept from exposure of the elements by stretching a tarp above her and covering her with blankets when necessary. The necropsy on Bunny was led by. University of Georgia, Veterinarian, (name redacted) who stated that she would not be able to give me any kind of statement until the cultures were finished incubating, and the dean and general counsel of the university approved her statement. I do not expect her statement until January of 2010.
*(Note how they qualify Bunny's health issues by reminding everyone that her problems occurred before she arrived and of course got better afterwards however I am certain no zoo or circus would have allowed any animal to lie under a tarp outside and die for 12 days)
**( No statement from this veterinarian on the resulting cultures seems to be publically available)
Check out this little gem pulled off the net a few years ago where Sofranko cites work as a veterinarian at TES on her resume.
Perhaps Dr. Sofranko can explain what is happening to these elephants at TES? How can this NOT be a CONFLICT OF INTEREST? She worked there and now she is allowed to write up inspection reports? Do you really think she is reporting fairly, honestly and without without bias? If you answered yes I sincerely hope you enjoy taking your Unicorn for a walk this evening because you are either a naive child or a crazy person.
A Freedom of Information request was made last year to the USDA inquiring about any tuberculosis at the facility. The report came back with zero information about TB. That was odd considering we all know there are elephants with TB there. Just a few months after that FOI response the sanctuary announced a case of tuberculosis in one of their elephants, funny how the USDA FOI request mentioned nothing about TB.
In a final note a little shout out to Bob Barker, Mind your own backyard buddy. While you are sending letters to Seattle City Council promoting your private zoo at PAWS and sanctuaries like TES citing in your non expert opinions alleged unhappy and unhealthy elephants in zoos like Woodland Park, why the hell dont you do something about this at TES? Or Thika at PAWS living alone and away from her family herd? Or Annie likely dying from TB at PAWS?
You sir are the greatest hypocrite of all.
Liar Liar Pants on Fire!
It is the most common comment we get here at Zoos Matter and see on social media, you are liars. Yes that's right we have spent 3 years carefully doctoring official government documents (lol) and posted them as facts without any legal repercussions. Of course the army of blind faith animal rights followers wilfully avert their minds from rational thinking and we are the bad guys for exposing truths.
This comes as no surprise to us, it is the reason animal rights organizations like PETA rake in 25+ million dollars a years despite being exposed for the militant vegan movement it is and the deaths of 90% of the animals they take in, despite the Humane Society of United States being exposed for spending more money on lawyers and lobbying than actual animal welfare, less than 1% of what is donated. People just avoid those little truths so as to maintain their commitment to their personal self definitions as the chosen superior saviours of animals. Meanwhile corporate animal rights groups have destroyed the animal welfare movement, a more reasonable and realistic approach to helping animals. By raking in those millions every year and diverting donations to themselves with slick ad campaigns HSUS, PETA and others have destroyed small animal rescue organizations which do the real work at ground level. But that is ok right? Because the big organizations have celebrities! OMG that is so much better than rolling up your sleeves with a bunch of nobody schmoes and really contributing. Faithfully reporting their propaganda online is much more effective and personally rewarding, right? More effective at giving you a sense of belonging to a cause with like minded people. We get called many names, they amuse us. AZA Black Ops is a personal favourite.
Who are Zoos Matter? We get asked this a lot. We are not one person and we are not Toronto Zoo keepers as the ARA set would have people believe. The core of this 300+ organization is a research team of over 30 people from around the world, regular people with regular jobs, zoological experts, animal care experts, people from sanctuaries, zoos, animal welfare advocates and scientists. You see Zoos Matter is a cooperative, we do not have or follow one leader. We work cooperatively to research evaluate and analyse information. We have members who submit Freedom of Information requests, members who scour social media for information members, who scour the net for news stories and we have more who collect research papers facts and data and we have members who write blog posts. We don't take money from people, we do this voluntarily and we are part of a growing coalition and opposition to animal rights propaganda which takes advantage of YOUR media illiteracy. You want names? Well that would be ludicrous now wouldn't it? No one needs to be harassed by angry animal rights members. And yes that is what they do, harass you and try to intimidate you to shut up, to stop posting a differing opinions than their own or challenging their belief systems, the intolerance is astronomical. We are Zoos Matter, we and we work together for a common goal, the truth. We don't care what you call us because we have news for you, we are adults and we surpassed the insecurity caused by ignorant bullies a very long time ago and these constant insults in lieu of intellect are less than juvenile, they are infantile. Our rational and truth based approach has the power to open minds and we are committed to this endeavour for as long as it takes for the truth to be known. The reputations of large corporate animal rights groups are dropping like flies out there, finally after years of dominating the media without vocal opposition the tide is changing. HSUS being exposed for misappropriation and misrepresentation of their donations, PETA for their extremists ties and general stupidity and hypocrisy and now Feld Entertainment (Ringling Brothers) is going to bring down more of them including Animal Protection Institute (Born Free USA) ASPCA and others. Their recent legal request for donors lists if accepted by the courts could be the final straw fr these organizations, that is of course of a $25 million payout doesn't break them first. These animal rights groups are seeking a protection order, you can review the legal documents here. The exposure of these donors will be very telling indeed and we hope the courts comply with Feld's request as it is a RICO case it is important to know where the money flows.
We have multiple FOI request in currently and will post the results as they come in. We will continue to follow PAWS and the Toronto Zoo 3 and challenge the lies which are being spread about the Toronto Zoo and the care they gave these elephants prior to transfer to PAWS. We will not allow PAWS or Zoocheck to blame the zoo for the current health condition of these elephants in an effort to alleviate responsibility and to exploit our elephants for their anti zoo causes nor will we allow their supporters to do the same. Responsibility for what you ask? For forcing a 71hr road transport which was deemed by multiple zoological experts to be inhumane and a threat to the elephants health and well being, and it appears their concerns were not unfounded.
PAWS is claiming the Tzoo3 have low vitamin E. This is in fact common amongst captive elephants and I dare PAWS to post their own elephants vitamin E reports. The Toronto Zoo elephants were given supplements for Vitamin E for years and received injections prior to transport, their Vitamin levels were and are public record and PAWS and Zoocheck had this information long before road transport became what they claim was their only option. You see low vitamin E can contribute to white muscle diseases in transport, and it can also be mistaken for Capture Myopathy, a muscle exertion disease which can happen as a result of trauma due to transport. It is not surprising PAWS made this public statement as the Toronto Elephants are not looking well, in particular Thika the youngest elephant. We predicted they would look for something they could blame as an underlying cause for their condition, something they could use to throw back blame on to the zoo and deflect from the possibility that TRANSPORT caused their current state of health. Thika seems to have suffered the most and PAWS supporters seem to think this condition, her gaunt dehydrated appearance was her condition prior to transport. Of course just as these same activists cannot FOI the same documents we have in the past to prove we have not doctored a thing cannot also simply search pictures of the girls prior to transport and see that they were healthy robust elephants, not the withering elephants they are today.
But let's get to the point of logic. We know this is a tough area for many PAWS supporters, logic and rational thinking so bear with us if the statement is oversimplified.
If the Toronto Zoo 3 were suffering from Vitamin E deficiency to a point that their health could be compromised during the inhumane long transport which was opposed by the Toronto Zoo vets and 5 vets from CFIA why then did the Oakland Zoo vets hired by PAWS to override the Tzoo vets sign on their health certificates for transport? They reviewed the elephant's medical histories and they approved their health for transport. It was PAWS and Zoocheck who said it was ok to transport the girls 70hrs by truck despite their claims now that a vitamin deficiency is the cause of their current condition. But they took the risk anyway and now wish to blame the zoo? Or captivity in general we suppose. The zoo said NO. The zoo told all of you this was a risk and all of you chose to ignore these concerns convinced by propaganda that these vets were acting on behalf of the AZA or CAZA and not based on their professional ethics and concern for these animals, because as we know only you and sanctuaries truly care about animals. But you didn't care, all of you ignored the rational science based facts which evidence and supported the concerns about long distance road transport. All of you allowed Bob Barker to renege on his promise of air transport. Once again you were convinced it was the zoo's fault somehow that air transport was not possible. Of course recently Mila from New Zealand was transported by air in the same plane and same modified crate designs which Zoocheck and PAWS rejected for the Toronto Zoo elephants and still you allow this without question, without scrutiny. If they had been flown would these elephants have suffered as they did over 71hrs on the road? If PAWS and Zoocheck were aware of the elephant's health conditions literally years prior to transport and the Oakland vets reviewed current and past health records just weeks and days prior why on earth did they approve this transport knowing full well there was a health risk? Are they so arrogant that they think they can do no harm? If they are this arrogant it is because YOU the blind faith supporter never question, all you do is follow orders. Did Vitamin E deficiency contribute to capture myopathy in the Toronto Zoo elephants or did transport alone, 71hrs on the road and 84hrs in crates cause this? Either way, either or the Toronto Zoo vets opposed the road transport. They never faltered from their professional ethics.
If you truly care about animals then think for yourself and ask questions. Why did these organizations force this transfer by road knowing full well the medical risks involved?
And to those who believe they have pinpointed who each and everyone of us is, we are everywhere and we are everyone. And NO we will not approve your asinine commentary such as "you are liars" or "you will burn in hell", if you have an intelligent fact based comment to make then make it otherwise take your commentary to one of the many groups you are a member of and continue to live in the dark, we are the light.
Fifth Estate – taxpayer funded propaganda?
Seems the Fifth Estate continues to live up to it's anti zoo ideology by telling people that PAWS was the only facility which met all the criteria of the Toronto Zoo board.
Hmmm, well first of all that was a statement made by Zoocheck's Julie Woodyer based on an outdated and misleading list of the status of Zoos with elephants in North America. Her list was missing the very important factor of what zoos were in fact upgrading and expanding their exhibits and the numbers of available spots for African elephants in North American zoos as per the Elephant Managers Association's recent reports, there were many facilities which met the criteria by the way. Well it is not like we expect Zoocheck to be honest but you do expect a taxpayer funded television network to attempt some semblance of impartiality, or at the very least do some sort of actual research. Or even further simply read the research provided to them by citizens who spent 2 years gathering factual evidence.
The zoo also said NO facilities on the West Coat due to the logistics and inhumane distance for travel.
The zoo also said no facilities with current or past issues with tuberculosis.
Oh I guess that answers the burning question as to why it took citizens accessing Freedom of Information documents to prove there had been a tuberculosis outbreak and two documented TB related deaths at the sanctuary rather than PAWS and Zoocheck telling the truth about that from the get go. Why the truth had to be dragged out of them tooth and nail. Yes that's right the entire time Zoocheck, PAWS and Councillors were claiming there was no TB and that there had been no TB deaths at PAWS they knew full well that was NOT TRUE and that Rebecca died TB+ in January of 2011.
The CEO of the zoo had also been given a letter from PAWS ally and Director of the Detroit Zoo admitting there had been TB on site. On site transmission, not some elephant with an old infection which could be blamed on someone else ( for PAWS it is always someone else's fault) . Annie got TB on site at PAWS when Rebecca was TB+ and the sanctuary had no idea of that positive status until after she died. She was able to expose her herd mates and one is STATPAK reactive and another, Annie TB+. Annie got Tuberculosis AT PAWS! Yes that is correct citizens of Toronto you were lied to and the zoo was censored and threatened with job losses if they dare tell you the truth.
I guess that is why one of the criteria laid out by the zoo and board was not to send our elephants to a facility with past or present issues with tuberculosis. Had PAWS told the truth about their tuberculosis issues they would have been fairly and justly ruled out as a potential home for our elephants. But abuse of political power and abuse of media power managed to disguise the truth, twist it and has allowed emotional dogma to override true animal welfare. They would all rather risk our elephants lives to a deadly disease than send them to the beautiful National Elephant Center in Florida.
It may seem like just three elephants to some but I ask you, do you want to be lied to by your elected officials? Do you want to be lied to by a taxpayer funded broadcast corporation? If they served their self interest ideologies on this issue what else will they lie to us about? What is next? Our pets? Our farmers? What we serve for dinner? Our democratic rights and freedoms? Should a handful of extreme liberals drenched in their own narcissistic ideologies socially engineer our lives as free thinking Canadians? Think about it.
Delay at start of Toronto Zoo Elephant transport
Of course this will be a controversy, whose fault was it?
Lets review what we know shall we.
Zoocheck and PAWS were responsible for organizing the move. It would be on their orders when the elephants would be crated. This happened at about 8am despite the fact that Zoocheck and Active Environments( the transport company) knew there was to be a CFIA inspection at 8:30am. What was the rush Zoocheck? A responsible transporter would wait until the inspection was complete before crating the animals.Knowing they had been given several compliances by CFIA which needed to be met before being allowed to transport you would think common sense would dictate and they would wait for the CFIA officials to arrive. The zoo staff were to train the elephants to go into their crates and to load them when ordered to, the orders would come from those legally contracted to handle the move, Zoocheck and Active Environments.
The trucks transporting the elephants did not arrive on site at the elephant house until the afternoon. We know because we were there.
Why load the elephants at 8am if the trucks were not even on site yet?
As far as we know there was an issue with CFIA which is a Federal Government Agency, their inspection was scheduled. It was not the zoo staff or vets which caused the delays. Zoocheck had already brought in outside vets to override the Toronto vets to sign off on health certificates for transport. The Toronto Zoo vets were not comfortable with the health of an elephant on such a long transport. We know Zoocheck has claimed it would take just 50hrs with stops but we also know now that at this time, 7:45pm on October 20th, 2013 the elephants have been in their crates for just over 80hrs with over 67hrs of road time.
The zoo did not cause a delay, they would not risk more time in the crates for these elephants they are the ones who felt road transport over 4200km was inhumane remember? People are so quick to blame the zoo based on their personal anti zoo beliefs. Perhaps people thought they could leave before CFIA arrived? I mean if you are going to have such nefarious thoughts then at least be fair and consider motive for both parties involved. PAWS had their annual fundraising event, The Grape Stomp on Saturday October 19, 2013. If they had left at 9am from the zoo there would have been a grande entrance of the three Toronto girls right in the middle of the event.
The CBC's 5th Estate claims they will prove it was the zoo's fault. Well why dont we first find out what the delay actually was about before hurling accusations. Based on the biased anti zoo documentary they just did and the fact that this program has an exclusive legal contract with PAWS to film the move how much freedom or even desire do you think they have to portray this move and the events surrounding it impartially?
We have evidence of our own. And once we know our elephants are safely off the crates we will put together some information of our which shows how Zoocheck and Active Environments bungled this whole transport and made mistakes which added hours of extra time on to this move. Even without the 10hrs delay the elephants would have been in the crates for 70hrs with 57hrs of road time and counting because they still have not arrived. Perhaps if Zoocheck had hired a transportation company which had actually transported animals before it would have taken less time? Or maybe if they had actually gone to the right port of entry into the USA, the one where animals being transported are inspected? That might have saved some time. Did you really think it took 7hrs to get from Toronto to Sarnia? With a full police escort? Ah yes but as always there is so much more to this than meets the eye.
All in due time my friends, all in due time.
Toronto Zoo patrons and members – you have been lied to by Toronto City Council
Time for Action! Please read the quick review below. More detailed explanations and discussion can be found in other blog posts.
As we prepare for our elephants to leave it is important for the people of Toronto to know a few things which have thus far been missing from any media reports. The media are clearly hesitant to use freedom of information documents which they themselves did not acquire. The zoo veterinary staff and others at the zoo were censored by City Council and prevented from sharing officially with the media why they had concerns about tuberculosis at PAWS. You have only been given the Pro PAWS side of the story. This is how council wanted it.
As citizens and rightful owners of the Toronto Zoo elephants we had a right to know what the vets concerns were and why. Council ensured that the legal rights of PAWS were catered to while ours were denied. We still own these elephants. PAWS claimed legal obligations to previous owners of the deceased elephants in question to aid in the censorship of this information.
Our vets reviewed the necropsy reports of the 2 most recently deceased African elephants at PAWS, Ruby and 71. They found anomalies on both reports. In particular Ruby had a bronchial mass on one of her lungs. As tuberculosis would be found predominantly on the lungs at time of death the vets asked PAWS for tissue culture reports on these two elephants. PAWS and Zoocheck claimed they had given the zoo everything and had nothing more and at this time those reports are still outstanding. At that point there were some public legal threats from the PAWS/Zoocheck team. We conducted an extensive freedom of information search of all the USA agencies which would have these tissue cultures be they negative or positive for disease, USDA, California Fish and wildlife and California State Health Department. There was nothing. To the best of our knowledge these cultures were never done. As a result of council catering to PAWS needs only and ignoring the democratic rights of the people of this city you were never given an opportunity to review the vets findings. The findings which convinced them along with stacks of documented evidence that there is a risk for tuberculosis at PAWS. You were disallowed from knowing the truth and without an official statement or release of information from the zoo the media could not report on this. We had the facts. We did a reverse FOI to the University of Calgary. We were investigating the independent bio security report that Zoocheck commissioned and which council adopted over the due diligence of the Toronto Zoo. In that foi zoo vets explained to the individual who wrote the report. a Dr. Susan Cork (it was paid advocacy) about their necropsy findings for the African elephants. Without those tissue cultures we cannot be certain of the disease status of that herd. The diagnostics which PAWS claims clears that herd of disease failed to diagnose active TB in their Asian herd; tuberculosis which killed one elephant and infected two others one of which is now TB+. The African elephant with the bronchial mass at time of death had a high risk history of exposure to this disease having lived with an Asian elephant previously at the LA Zoo which had lived with two other Asians, both of which died from TB. She was treated as a precautionary measure at the LA Zoo. Then she went on to live at PAWS in a shared barn where both Asians and elephants lived together for over five years before a second barn was built in 2009. She died March 2011.
The Dr. Cork Bio Security report which was commissioned by Zoocheck Canada failed to include very important information. There were multiple missing trunk wash results in particular for the deceased African elephant Ruby but more importantly it failed to indicate that there had been human transmission of the disease at the sanctuary. Yes, someone got it and converted to the active form of the disease in the spring of 2012. When we did a FOI to access the genotyping for active cases of TB in Calaveras county (PAWS county) we received the two results. Both had the same genotype. The genotype actually matched another elephant other than the documented TB strains at PAWS. the elephant was Calle who had never lived at PAWS. It was clear and evident through logical deduction that one of the cases of human tuberculosis in the county was the case at PAWS evidenced in our FOI of emal correspondence between th PAWS vet and California State health. Calle (deceased TB+) did live with two Asian elephants, one died from TB and the other was the Asian Gita which went on to live with Ruby at the LA Zoo and then Ruby went on to live at PAWs and when she died PAWS did not have tissue cultures done on a bronchial mass found on her lung at time of necropsy. Are you getting it yet?
Consider these factors:
Three months before the zoo announces it is phasing out the elephant exhibit the source Asian elephant in PAWS outbreak dies. They indicate in foi that they had no idea she was even TB+ until after she dies and as a result wore no protective gear.
Three months after this death the African Ruby dies and it appears PAWS chooses not to have important tissue cultures done on a bronchial mass found on her lung
They knew full well they would be lobbying for the Toronto Zoo elephants at this time in fact their lobby began around 2009. Instead of having tissue cultures done to ensure the African herd is 100% clear of disease they choose not to? Why?
By summer of 2011 PAWS knows that two other Asians have been exposed and they show reactions on an early detector test called the STATPAK.
In the summer of 2011 a visiting sanctuary owner from Thailand notes in his blog that he witnessed masks and gloves being used in the barn for an Asian bull named Sabu indicating full quarantine. Sabu dies in January of 2013. PAWS and Zoocheck claim he died from euthanasia due to arthritis. Despite USDA documents which say he was TB+ at time of death they still make this claim.
In the Fall of 2011 Toronto Council seizes control of our elephants and make claims that there is no TB at PAWS
Councillors, PAWS and Zoocheck claim in the media that there is no TB at PAWS and that no elephant has ever died from TB at PAWS even though they know full well Rebecca died TB+ the previous January.
In the Fall of 2011 the director of the Detroit Zoo sends a letter of support for PAWS to the Zoo's CEO, in it he indicates that there was on site transmission of TB at PAWS in 2011. This information is never made public. The zoo CEO knew about a tuberculosis outbreak and either refused to share this information with the public or was ordered not to by Councillors.
So at a time when animal rights activists and Councillors were attacking our zoo and maligning staff for opposing PAWS on the grounds of tuberculosis Council had evidence that the zoo staff concerns were not unfounded, that it was true.
In April of 2012 citizens accessed Freedom of Information Documents (FOI) proving here had been an outbreak of disease at the sanctuary and proving that all those involved with supporting PAWS had lied about it.
Our Freedom of Information evidence from Toronto City Hall indicates that Councillors DeBaeremaker and Berardinetti colluded with Zoocheck to malign and disparage the staff in the media. Zoocheck would spoon feed Councillors statements to make about the staff. They also were fed statements to malign the AZA when we lost our accreditation.
You have not been told the truth. The evidence which supports the Zoo vets concerns about tuberculosis has been purposefully censored by City Council in an effort to expedite the transfer of our elephants to what experts believe in an inappropriate facility which represents a risk to their health and welfare. As a citizen, zoo patron or zoo member you had a right to that information. Council chose the rights of PAWS over your rights! Because they knew you would support the scientific evidence and zoological expertise. They have the world convinced that this was nothing more than the AZA bullying a poor little sanctuary. Well that poor little sanctuary is aligned with an animal rights coalition which represents millions and millions of dollars. You were not told the truth and there is a risk of tuberculosis in the African herd at PAWS.
Rebecca and Sabu both had active TB 10 years before it recrudesced and they died. It took ten years for the disease to secretly eat away at their bodies. Latent TB is hard to diagnose and once an animal has it despite treatment they have it for life. It can reappear at any time. Another elephant which was documented in our research died at another facility 8 years after initial diagnosis and treatment. This disease has a 1-20 year incubation period. Why are we taking this risk with our elephants? Because you didn't know the truth and if you had been told the truth you would have fought this transfer.
There is a high risk for tuberculosis exposure within the African herd at PAWS. And council chose to cater to their anti-zoo animal rights ideology over the true health and welfare of our elephants. They can no longer be trusted to make decisions about the health and welfare of animals at our zoo and Councillor DeBaeremaker as a zoo board member has betrayed us all. He must be removed from our board and the only way to make this happen is with your active support and you voice!
A few more important factors to note:
2009 IDA claim Toronto Zoo is one of the worst zoos for elephants in North America (IDA's former director now works for PAWS)
2009 – PAWS also makes statements publicly about Toronto Zoo elephants
their campaign for our elephants had begun
Fall 2010
John Tracogna is hired as new CEO of Toronto Zoo
His first order of business is to hire a consulting firm to assess the long term viability of the African elephant exhibit at the zoo. Multiple deaths had occurred at the zoo in recent years and facility upgrades were badly needed.
Comparatively 6 elephants died at PAWS sanctuary in 4 years.
January 2011
PAWS ARK2000 – Rebecca a female Asian elephant dies
Lab reports sent after necropsy show she was TB+
FOI indicates that the sanctuary staff and vet team did not know she was TB+ until after she died
No protective gear was worn by staff
Three other Asian females are exposed
March 2011
PAWS ARK2000 – Ruby a female African elephant dies
No cause of death is ever determined. Ruby had high risk history of exposure to TB at all her former facility homes including the LA Zoo where she had been treated as a precautionary measure due to exposure to a female Asian elephant whose two former herd mates had both died of tuberculosis. No tissue samples are sent to be cultured for disease. USDA TB Management Guideline strongly suggest that all deceased elephants have cultures done at time of death. Claiming to have the best disease protocols in the world why wouldn't PAWS have these cultures done?
May 2011
Toronto Zoo board decides to phase out its elephant exhibit and re-home their elephants. They lay out a series of criteria including no facilities which use elephant hooks or free contact and no facilities on the west coast due to the logistics for transport AND no facilities with previous or current issues with tuberculosis. The Tennessee Sanctuary is ruled out early on due to their past history with a TB outbreak in 2009. Council then chooses to maintain adversity to limited use of elephant hook at National Elephant Centre (used in calving to protect calves) but is willing to overlook disease and inhumane transport. They were willing to do anything to continue to cater to their anti zoo ideology.
By June of 2011 Two of the Asian female elephants exposed to Rebecca's TB test positive on early TB detector test STATPAK. At the time this information had not been made public
July 2011 A visiting sanctuary owner Karl Cullen (now deceased) writes in his blog about his trip to PAWS. He indicates that the PAWS staff was wearing full protective gear, masks and gloves when working a bull Asian elephant named Sabu. This would indicate the presence of disease. Sabu tested positive and was treated for TB in 1999-2001. He came from Ringling Brothers Circus as a result of a legal settlement between PAWS and RLB.
August 2011 City councillors MB and Cho visit PAWS
Sanctuary councillors and Zoocheck Canada deny the presence of any TB or TB deaths at the sanctuary when zoo staff and citizens raise concerns about tuberculosis
October 2011 Toronto City council rules in a motion without notice that the elephants are city assets and seize control over decision making regarding their future home. Without any due diligence or official expert site visits they choose PAWS over the zoos choice the yet to be built but now completed National Elephant Centre. Council cites the limited use of elephant hooks for breeding and calving as their reasons for opposition against TNEC.
Fall 2011 Detroit zoo director sends letter of recommendation for PAWS to Zoo CEO and indicates in his letter that there had been on site transmission of tuberculosis at PAWS in 2011. CEO does not make this public
December 2011 Zoo staff visit the sanctuary, their site visit report is never made public FOI accessed the report in the summer of 2013. Report indicates multiple concerns about bio security protocols and zoo staff are only allowed to review 2 out of the 5 barns
January 2012
Sabu the bull elephant at PAWS dies. PAWS claims he dies from severe arthritis, euthanasia due to severe arthritis actually.
February 2012 Zoo signs legal agreement with PAW sanctuary despite the zoo vets concerns over TB at PAWS.
April 2012
FOI is made public includes necropsy reports and lab reports for Sabu and Rebecca confirming they died TB+. Sanctuary Councillors and Zoocheck claim they had "old" TB infections which were not contagious
More FOI is accessed which proves that there was on site transmission, Rebecca infected two other elephants. One of those is Annie with no previous history of exposure to TB except at PAWS. She converts to active TB June 2012.
The PAWS coalition claims African herd is safe but zoo vets demand to review health records of deceased African elephants. PAWS objects but finally relinquishes the medical documents but claim legal agreements with previous owners so that the findings cannot be made public.
FOI with the University of Calgary eventually accesses the Toronto zoo vets findings in those reports. One observation they found was that the deceased African elephants Ruby and 71 had no tissue cultures done upon necropsy. Ruby's necropsy indicates she had a bronchial mass on her lung at time of death, 71 had…? The vets ask for the tissue cultures and PAWS claims they have no more medical documents to give. FOI requests done by citizens confirms that the tissue cultures do not exist and were never done.
Zoo vets consider the due diligence to be incomplete. The Executive Committee makes recommendation to send the vote back to council to determine if PAWS is the best facility for the elephants.
Zoocheck Canada hires Dr Susan Cork from the University of Calgary to do an independent infectious disease report on the PAWS sanctuary. FOI indicates she is financially compensated for her work. The report relies solely on the information provided to her by PAWS. Zoocheck claims to Dr Cork that the report is on behalf of Toronto City council, no record exists of any official request from any councillor or city of Toronto official for this report.
Councillor Berardinetti submits the report to Nov 25, 2012 council meeting one hr prior to discussions on the elephant transfer issue. Zoo staff is given less than 45 minutes to review the report. The report is misrepresented to council as entirely the work of Dr Susan Cork, eventual foi and a public statement from the University of Calgary indicate that in fact multiple pages inserted into the report were not the work of Dr Cork or anyone at the university of Calgary
Toronto Council adopts this report over the due diligence of the Toronto zoo despite evidence in the report of multiple missing trunk wash data results for both Asians and Africans at paws just prior to and during the time of their outbreak. Report fails to include the case of human transmission of the disease at PAWS, actually claims there was none.
All of the above statements are evidenced in our Freedom of information documents. As citizens of this city and zoo members we have no motive other than the health and welfare of our elephants. We have committed our time and our own money to fight this and to gather this information for the people of Toronto. We have no reasons to lie to you. This is the truth as we have documented it.
Demand that the information that has been censored about tuberculosis concerns be made public. It is our right to know the truth, these are our elephants and this is our zoo!
Councillor Doug Ford supports this transfer and could care less about the risks to our elephant's lives. He sees the zoo as gravy and supports allowing animal rights groups to dismantle our zoo. tell him how you feel about that.
The Zoo CEO and Zoo Board chair said nothing, did nothing to defend the zoo and its staff and they did not fight to have the truth about vets TB concerns made public. They in fact aided in withholding information from YOU. Tell them how you feel about that
Zoo Board email address. Your concerns will be made public record
These Councillors led the charge in favour of PAWS Sanctuary and the recent motions at council to allow animal rights groups to dictate the future of our zoo. Let them know how you feel about this!
Ask the media why they never published the evidence indicated in official FOI documents so that the people of this city could know the truth! You can find your councillor's contact information here And ask why City Councillors and Zoocheck were never called out for their LIES!
Feel free to publish your emails at https://www.facebook.com/HelpTorontoZoo
Look into their eyes – Elephant Psychics?
One of the favourite battle cries of the anti zoo army "look into their eyes!"
Look into their eyes and you will see….what?
Above is a series of photos of elephant eyes, taken from pics of wild, captive zoo, circus and sanctuary elephants.
Can you tell who is who just by looking into their eyes? Assuming that by doing so you can tell which animal is happy and which animal is sad?
It is amusing when I hear people chant this little ditty. How many times do you look at your cat or your dog and project your own human perception of emotion onto them? Yes we can sometimes tell when our pets are feeling happy, sad or scared; but by merely by gazing into their eyes? Sometimes my cat, while lying with his head down in a relaxed cat pose looks sad. But he isn't sad, his body posture and the tilt of his head give him a sort of adorable appearance that inspires an emotional reaction from me. I start to think human thoughts, is he hungry? is he sick? did something happen? Or is it perhaps that he is just a cat, lazing about with thoughts I will never actually be able to fully know or understand…maybe he is just content thinking his cat thoughts. It is outlined a little more in detail in this interesting blog post http://melissaasmith.hubpages.com/hub/sad-zoo-animals and I tend to agree with the writer.
As humans we tend to relate everything we experience back to our own emotional experiences and this includes how we perceive others as well as animals. To me it is a bit narcissistic bordering on speciest to gage the emotions of living creatures against our own human emotions as if ours were the standard by which all life on earth should be compared to. They say they are the voice for the voiceless. To me this is kind of like an aggressive and unsolicited offer to interpret for a deaf person when you don't know the first thing about sign language. Yes it is rooted in compassion and caring to want to be a voice for animals but when human advantage and motive begin to take centre stage that voice becomes your own, not one for animals. And the human species is rarely a purely selfless creature no matter how kind or good you might think you are. Ego is ever present, be it the ego which pats yourself on the back for doing what it considers to be an act of kindness to the ego that wants to compete, to win, perhaps to win a campaign for a cause. Personal motivation can be sly and covert even an unconscious parasitic crippler of good deeds. If one is not aware enough to recognize that they do not have super magic Dr. Doolittle powers of animal telepathy what are the odds that they are self aware enough to assess the influence their personal ego might have over their actions and words?
Perhaps there are many voices for the voiceless. Who decides whose voice is the right one? Surely being the loudest does not simply make you right.
"As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have the
least wit are the greatest blabbers."
Guide to Captive Elephant Emotions for Animal Rights Activists
No happy, content or actively curious emotions are noted as no activist would ever admit a captive elephant can be happy unless it is in one of the sanctuaries they support. Because it makes sense that other than being poisoned or shot and then having their faces hacked off with machetes in the wild the only two places in the entire world where and elephant can be happy is at a sanctuary.


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subset: commoncrawl


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"Base Tan" in a Tanning Booth
Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"
Does a tanning booth give you a base tan so you won't burn in the sun?
Carolyn Vachani RN, MSN, AOCN, OncoLink's Nurse Educator, responds:
Absolutely not! You can still burn even after getting tan in a tanning bed. Tanning bed companies promote their products as using UVA rays and falsely say that this type of exposure is safe. Actually, tanning beds emit UVA and UVB radiation. UVA rays are less likely to cause a sunburn than UVB rays. However, UVA rays cause deeper skin damage, are thought to damage the immune system. In addition, tanning beds can cause eye damage, including cataracts and melanoma of the eye.
The bottom line is, the amount of radiation produced by a tanning bed is similar to the natural sun and in some cases may be stronger.
This question and answer was part of the OncoLink Brown Bag Chat Series: Sun Safety and Skin Cancer Prevention Webchat. View the entire transcript on sun safety.


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Your browser does not support iframes.
To the editor:
To the editor:
Open Letter to the Levy County Commission, the Levy County Sheriff, and the people of Levy County:
The Levy County Commission and the Levy County Sheriff have an opportunity to take a courageous and historic stand against the Feral (Federal) tyranny that has emanated from Babylon on the Potomac since at least 1860.
I just read Carolyn Ten Broeck's article about lining up to pet Manatees. I would like you to inform Ms. Ten Broeck that this behavior of petting Manatees is not one of love, but negligence.
For many years the city of Williston has enjoyed the privilege of having a top notch, up-to-date library.
I, along with many, many others, have made good use of this facility.
It is warm in décor, peaceful and beautifully managed. It enhances the city and surrounding areas.
Sad to know that library head Michelle Traylor and Mary Read are going to leave the system after 26 years of superb management.
Copyright © 2019
The Williston Pioneer is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Levy County and Williston, Fl, and the surrounding area.


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is there a playoff pool here?
hey burg u still have the arcade here?
Just in case...(lots of baby appts that day) Happy Birthday!!
rofl...i love quagmire...and thanks for cleaning it up i tried but it wouldnt let me...its a realllllly long story & i'm not gonna post it all on ur profile
i just had to tell u...i love the quagmire icon lol...
Well Burg, the funny thing is, I asked the Count about JR in PM, but the Count, being the Count, had to answer in public....
Honestly, sometimes he's a 3 year old.
Even though I wrote it on your message board, Six, I'll post it here too. Heh...
That Homer Simpson avatar was the one I used for the last few years. I only recently started changing them up in the last year or so... but, I always come back to Homer.
Love the new avatar BURG!
Ha, I had that Batman movie in French....it's even cheesier in French....
Mod Squad
1st Liner
AHL Veteran
Draft Choice
Kings Moderator


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The bees have it
Escape with Eddie
Well, a new box of bees was obtained Saturday. My oh my, they are busy little bees. By the time Donald and I arrived back home and it was time to introduce the bees to their new hive, they were quite agitated. However, by the time Donald got suited up and went out to feed a marshmallow to the queen, and empty the drones into the hive, things were kind of buzzy. When Donald returned to the back deck, he had to sweep honey bees off his suit. Still a few of them thought they would just come into the house for a little exploration. A couple were quite upset, but one was docile and let me take him outside in the palm of my hand.
Bees really get used to the people who take care of them. Then, there are those folks who bees seem to love and they will literally cover the person with their bodies, but will not sting them. It's quite amazing. I am not ready to find out if I am one of those people. I have a healthy regard for the humble honeybee and I have no wish to cause any ripples in their pond of contentment.
The hive was placed out by our compost area. This is adjacent to the vegetable garden and offers a large variety of pollen and flowers to the discriminating bee. My flower beds are not too far away, so I expect to see some really stellar pollenization. Don noticed our plum trees have a lot of blossoms on them. We are hoping the honeybees will make a difference in this year's crop. I'm already planning the plum jam for Christmas presents.
I never realized how many people are interested in beekeeping. Mann's, the largest bee supply company in the U.S. is located in Minnesota.
They offer any kind of supply known to the beekeeping community. Some interesting facts about bees add to their reputations. One of the little known facts is that bee stings can alleviate pain from arthritis. Eating honey that is produced in your local area can help your immune system. By far, though, is the wonderful difference a bee hive can make in your garden. Plants will propagate due to your very own bees flitting plant to plant.
One of the other things I have noticed is how much clover grows in the fields around our place. Honeybees love clover. It creates one of the tastiest types of honey. Now I know one hive will not produce gallons of honey, but I do have some ideas for the first batch. I'm going to add minced apricots to the honey. This is a combination I discovered when I bought Honey Acres honey in Wisconsin. It is a delightful combination for adding to your morning hot cereal, such as oatmeal. Most people like sugar on oatmeal, I like jams and apricot honey.
I remember my mother-in-law, Eva, eating honey combs. She grew up on a farm in Wisconsin and loved honey in that form. When my granddaughter, Erica, was little, she liked to eat honey combs with Eva. The two of them would smear it on toast and lick their lips. I mean, really, who doesn't love honey?
As I wrote two weeks ago, our first batch of bees arrived on April 17, along with high winds and a drop in temperature. Naturally, they did not survive. This batch, there are about 3,000 to 3,500 of them out and about scouting for the best sites for nectar. What a difference two weeks can make.
Last evening, I was putting the final touches on two large batches of baked beans. As I added a significant amount of honey, along with maple syrup, brown sugar, cane syrup, and dry mustard, I realized that soon, one of these batches of beans I'll be adding our own honey. The secret to really awesome baked beans is a blend of these different types of liquid flavor. I order my cane syrup from a Louisiana company, Steen's Cane Syrup. Oh yes, I produced two quarts and 13 pints of Boston baked beans. Scrumptious!


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Saturday, October 17, 2009
Waitin' on news
With the Jays on the sidelines (newsflash!), there are still small joys to be found, and I'm wringing every last ounce possible out of the season. It might not result in the same level of enjoyment as, say, a Travis Snider opposite-field shot, but getting the opportunity to yell "SUCK IT, JETER!" as the Captain grounds into a (bogus) double play is still something. Like methadone, I guess.
Yes, the baseball fan in me is still religiously glued to the set as we march towards crowning a new (or repeat?) World Champion, but the raging lunatic Jays fan in me still scours the usual sources for news. And I'm still looking. And waiting.
I seem to recall freshly minted GM Anthopoulos hinting strongly that news on direction would come sooner rather than later, but I suppose it's only prudent to hold the line until Beeston names his successor (if there is one to name). Stop me if you've heard that before.
And so we wait. The guess here is that we're about to embark on a r-r-r-r-r-rebuild (I stutter when I say it), as the young GM looks to rework the franchise in his own mould. I could be wrong (it's happened before). Maybe the front office and ownership really does come through with this magical pile of money we are continually told is there to spend. But honestly, I have my doubts, friends.
I don't want to consider just what that might entail - until I'm forced to.
Grinding axes
Honestly, his body isn't even cold yet, and Griff still feels the need to plant his boot in JP's ribs.
Now, to be fair, Griffin makes several salient and entirely defensible points within his latest mailbag....and I understand that ol' Rich was never a Ricciardi supporter (newsflash pt II!).... but this latest salvo was way over the top.
And I mean, way over, man. Like, past the bounds of decency:
"Not to be overly simplistic, but the difference for the Jays between the Ricciardi regime past and the Anthopoulos years to come is like the difference between two countries - one governed by a dictatorship and another by a parliamentary system. Yes, the Ricciardi statue in the village square has been toppled and democracy takes over, signaling the dawn of a new Blue Jays day."
I've laid down my fair share of outrageous innuendo here in the blogosphere.....but - in my humble opinion - Griff really crossed the lines of good taste just to work another shot in at the deposed GM.
And, uh, about that analogy? Let's hope things work out a little better in "the dawn of a new Blue Jays day" than the "real-life" scenario alluded to.
14 comments:
So....Griff's newest beef with JP is that he didn't embrace the principles of democracy during his 8 year reign of (t)error? He failed because he wasn't democratic enough? I guess that may be the case, but being 'democratic' may be the least of a GM's worries when the Yankees and Red Sox are rolling tanks into Griff's idyllic and hypothetical town square.
I suppose what Griff is in a way trying to say is that if you are GM of the Jays and plan on ruling with an iron fist, then at least have the audacity to be a genius (or model yourself after the Twins). If not, then you will only fail, irrespective of what division you play in.
I imagine Griff thinks that valuing input from others is a sign of 'democracy', but ultimately AA has to make the final decision and no amount of rationality can predict if it will work out in the future (this concept seems to escape some sports writers who lean too heavily on their hindsight vision). Theoretically, AA can have a legion of idiotic sycophants working underneath him and yet if they are given input to what he should do, then in theory he can democratically come to bad decisions.
Maybe Griff shouldn't play fast and loose with analogies he doesn't understand so well.
- October 18, 2009 at 10:28 AM
- The Ack said...
You nailed it to the wall there anon.
To call Griff's analogy "clumsy at best" would be overly generous, even from a theoretical standpoint (if you can even get that far) - never mind the imagery it conjures.
Maybe I'm over-reacting or reading more into it than intended, but I found it to be in extremely poor taste.
- October 18, 2009 at 10:51 AM
- Tao of Stieb said...
I've got a feeling that Griff's last dig at JP will come sometime around when someone is looking for the details in his living will.
"Do you want us to unplug you and let you go, Griff?"
"J.P. was a tyrant!"
- October 18, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Fuck off Parkes
- October 18, 2009 at 1:46 PM
- Ty said...
I'm really interested to see what Griff's writing will be like next season now that JP's gone. I mean, I'm sure he'll still find space to take the occasional dig at him, but really, pretty much all of his articles and opinions centred around JP's supposed incompetence. Do you think we'll see a new, happier Griff? Or is he just going to find somebody else to shit on all the time?
- October 18, 2009 at 2:04 PM
- Tao of Stieb said...
Griff is going to spend a lot of time attributing every one of the team's shortcomings to JP, and all of their successes to AA.
There's still another five years for Dick to rip into the old GM.
- October 18, 2009 at 2:50 PM
- Kevin said...
With the young talent that's here and on the cusp, I prefer to think of the Jays next couple of years as a "reload" rather than a "rebuild". It makes me feel slightly better.
- October 18, 2009 at 7:28 PM
MLBTR has an article up from the The Boston Globe suggesting that Stephen Drew of the Diamondbacks might be available in the right trade. I realize his stats compare pretty closely to Scutaro's Career year, but Drew is also only 26 and the Dbacks have a crushing need for pitching depth.
- October 18, 2009 at 11:33 PM
- Peter D said...
I'd look into aquiring Drew, Hardy or Brandon Wood.
As for rebuiding, I think it would be a mistake to try and compete, that is the sure way to ensure mediocrity and the main reason the Jays have never been able to get over the hump. Just look at the Leafs.
This team needs to trade every piece that is not part of the long term plan which has value. This includes Halladay, Downs, Frasor, Encarnacion, Bautista, etc. Stock the system with young talent and then when this talent develops and it looks like they are close to being seriously competitive, only then do you spend the money to add the missing pieces.
This does not necessarily mean a total rebuild, this team can add pieces that are close, or young enough, like a Hardy, Drew, Gamel, Wood, Smoak, Baumgartner, etc.
Also, I would target a few free agents willing to sign one year deals (like Abreu this season) who will have value come the trade deadline who I can either trade for more pieces or offer arbitration at the end of the year for more draft picks.
- October 19, 2009 at 9:16 AM
- October 19, 2009 at 9:21 AM
I wonder if Griff has a five year plan to rip on JP?
- October 19, 2009 at 1:09 PM
There really needs to be a pool on when Griff will write his first negative article about AA.
- October 19, 2009 at 2:23 PM
The day after AA is fired.
- October 19, 2009 at 3:01 PM
- Peter D said...
AA has identified he hopes to resign both Scutaro and Barajas, which leads me to believe one of the two conclusions to be true:
1) This is a posturing move to save face in front of fans in order to make it look like they tried there darndest to bring back these guys, when in reality they had no intention on resigning them whatsoever.
2) AA believes the best strategy is to bring back last years team exactly. He feels that what prevented them from winning last year was that they were not making enough money. Therefore if he pays everyone more, that will put them over the top.
- October 19, 2009 at 3:56 PM


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2010, astrology, astrology predictions, astrology signs, Beatles Abbey Road Studios, Chris Jones Esquire article Roger Ebert, Dalai Lama meeting with Barack Obama, Esquire Magazine, golf, horoscope, Jupiter in Pisces, PGA Tour, Pope Benedicct's Sex Abuse Summit, Queen Mary 2 voyage to china, Roger Ebert cancer battle, Tiger Woods public apology 2010, Venus conjunct Jupiter in Pisces, Venus in Pisces, Walgreens buys Duane Reade Holdings, zodiac, zodiacal signs
The much-awaited, fairy tale betrothal of Love Goddess Venus to Lucky Lord Jupiter in Pisces, this week, did not disappoint. And, while the full legacy of this union may not really be known for years, their magical conjunction in Pisces has already spawned for us a rich testament of different layers of the Piscean experience to sift through and reflect upon.
In astrology, Venus and Jupiter are both considered benefic influences. Venus, the relationship planet, rules our power of attraction and Jupiter is our expansive urge. When the two are conjoined together in a sign, there seems to be more of a natural abundance, especially for the specific affairs of the zodiacal sign in which the conjunction occurs in.
Also, due to the intrinsic, expansive nature of Jupiter, the events and persons involved with this planet, often seem to revolve around, or are centered around, colossal deals or big iconic names. Jupiter never does anything small, especially when it is paired with the powerful attracting principle of Venus.
Prior to this past week, the last time Venus and Jupiter were aligned together in Pisces was in 1998. (Please refer to my earlier blogs this week for more information here.)
Also, to briefly recap here the meaning of Pisces, the sign of the fishes, so as to better understand how this Venus Jupiter conjunction impacts us. Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac. It represents a state of our consciousness in which we seek to reflect upon the sum total and importance of all of our previous experiences on the earth plane.
Whereas the other signs are generally about our reaching outwardly into the physical world for our self-expression and personal growth, the Pisces experience is more about submerging ourselves into the discovery of our own inner personal worlds, and focusing our attention on the realm of our spirituality and the matter of our immortality.
In Neptune-ruled Pisces, we develop and channel our own inner creativity and imagination, while simultaneously pondering our link to the Divine. We become less focused on our own needs and more focused on the needs of the people and the world around us.
Ideally, we start to manifest more of a divine compassion and wisdom. We are more willing and inspired to forgive and forget transgressions against us, as well as to overlook imperfections in others. We also become more aware of and focus on our own limitations and shortcomings, and correspondingly seek to find ways to escape from whatever confines or ails us.
Pisces specifically rules the following areas: Creative self-expression, such as films, music, art, dance, poetry, writing; matters pertaining to religion, our spirituality, our confessions and atonement; drugs, as a way to relieve our suffering, as well as purveyors of drugs, including pharmacies; all places of confinement and rehab treatment centers, such as prisons, shelters, and hospitals; all addictions; our dreams, fantasies, and idealism; and, anything to do with the sea and water-related, as Neptune, the ruler of Pisces, rules the sea.
So here's some of what Venus and Jupiter bequeathed to us in Pisces, this past week, February 15th – 19th, 2010:
Monday and Tuesday: Pope Benedict, the head of the catholic church, holds his unprecedented "sex abuse summit" with Irish bishops. This event demonstrates the spiritual and rehabilitative nature of Pisces, trying to come to terms with all manner of human flaws, imperfections, and addictions, and the weaknesses and limitations of the flesh, and the matter of atonement.
Tuesday: EMI places Abbey Road Studios in St. John's Wood, London, up for sale. Of course, Abbey Road is the famous recording studio all of us baby-boomers in the Western hemisphere know about. It was where the Beatles, the most significant rock group of all time, as well as other legendary bands like Pink Floyd, recorded their Piscean musical masterpieces in the 60s and 70s.
Tuesday: Queen Mary 2, the largest ocean-liner ever built, another manifestation of the Jupiter oversize principle at work, makes her first port of call in China since her maiden voyage in 2004
Tuesday: Chris Jones' deeply moving Esquire piece on Roger Ebert, America's top film critic, about Roger's heroic and inspiring battle with cancer. What was perhaps most memorable and unforgettable here was the photograph of the face of Roger Ebert, and how cancer has changed it. Pisces rules images and photography. It also rules cancer. Venus and Jupiter in Pisces is wisely and abundantly revealing to all of us here that, while the disease of cancer may have reconfigured Roger's face to the degree that we no longer physically recognize him, he is really more beautiful than ever, for as we gaze upon Roger's photo, we know that surely his masterful inner being and soul have triumphed over the ravages of his fragile physical body.
Wednesday: Walgreen Co. the largest drug store chain in the U.S., announced it was buying Duane Reade Holdings Inc. and 257 of its drugstores
Wednesday: PGA Tour announces on Twitter the golfing world's biggest star, Tiger Woods, would be giving a public statement on Friday
Thursday: U.S. President Barack Obama meets with exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, Dalai Lama at the White House.
Friday: The Super Bowl of Piscean confessions: Tiger Woods delivers his televised apology speech and for 14 minutes, much of the world stood still.
Written by Patricia Thompson, Astrologer
copyright 2010
Source Notes:
Pope Benedict: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_events
Queen Mary 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_events
EMI selling Abbey Road Studios: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_events
Roger Ebert Esquire Interview 2010: http://www.esquire.com/features/roger-ebert-0310-4
Roger Ebert's Journal: http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/02/roger_eberts_last_words_cont.html
Dalai Lama meeting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_events
Tiger Woods public apology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_events
Walgreens purchase: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_events
Free Beatles pic courtesy of beatlesnumber9.com
For entertainment purposes only. The information and data contained on and through this site is to be treated purely for your entertainment purposes only. Any prediction or other message that you receive is not a substitute for advice, programs, or treatment that you would normally receive from a licensed professional such as a doctor, lawyer, mental health professional, or financial advisor. Cosmic Life Coach Astrology Blog and Patricia Thompson provides no guarantees, implied warranties, or assurances of any kind, and will not be responsible for any interpretation made or use by the recipient of the information and data mentioned above.


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I saw the show yesterday here in Finland.
For me it was the first time that I witnessed the show and I was positively surprised!
The first thing that popped in to my head during the show was that why the hell the bands nowadays don't
try to be more versatile and explore new areas with different sounds?
Compared to Queen's music performed live, almost majority of the bands today seem to be performing one song only.
Well the parallels with my ranting and the story in the musical are quite obvious.
But anyway, the songs themselves translated perfectly to the musical medium and , for me, it breathed new life to them because of my repeated viewings of the Queen's 80's "Hard-rock" setlist gigs (The Magic tour), the songs had been
a bit weared down in my mind.
That's why I too am waiting for the 70's era live on dvd, because my only experience of Queen's live thing is starting from Montreal and onwards.
The cast were really good, especially the guy who played the whacky Shaqileo.
There were moments in the songs where you realised that you are listening a trained professional doing his thing
and singing his/hers heart out and still can't get to the heights or capture the gold that Freddie did, But it still rocked.
It just shows more how unique Freddie was as a singer.
But yeah the british humor worked and the songs were great and the story was camp enough for Queen!
More of this!
It would be great to hear renditions of the more unknown material translated in to this spectacle thing.
But one can always dream.
And it would be great to see reviews from this tour, to be posted here from different publications and your opinions as well!
I try and find reviews from these finnish shows, if they are written in english.
There were couple of May/Taylor/Elton interviews that they had given on the eve of this tour, but they are all in finnish, so maybe they are from a press meeting where the english reporters were also present?
They talked about the birth of the musical and Elton talked about the accusations of him selling out.
Also they talked about the Freddie musical that had been written before Elton came onboard and said that it was really sad, depressing and tragic story and they thought that it's just not Queen.
And the first story covered AIDS, death and the last years of Freddie.
And they wanted a writer who understands the 'british way of life'
And the first version of the musical was "too USA".


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Paul Ryan RNC speech (text, video)
The GOP vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan's convention speech, as prepared for delivery.
"Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored by the support of this convention for vice president of the United States.
Story Continued Below
I accept the duty to help lead our nation out of a jobs crisis and back to prosperity – and I know we can do this.
I accept the calling of my generation to give our children the America that was given to us, with opportunity for the young and security for the old – and I know that we are ready.
Our nominee is sure ready. His whole life has prepared him for this moment – to meet serious challenges in a serious way, without excuses and idle words. After four years of getting the run-around, America needs a turnaround, and the man for the job is Governor Mitt Romney.
I'm the newcomer to the campaign, so let me share a first impression. I have never seen opponents so silent about their record, and so desperate to keep their power.
They've run out of ideas. Their moment came and went. Fear and division are all they've got left.
With all their attack ads, the president is just throwing away money – and he's pretty experienced at that. You see, some people can't be dragged down by the usual cheap tactics, because their ability, character, and plain decency are so obvious – and ladies and gentlemen, that is Mitt Romney.
For my part, your nomination is an unexpected turn. It certainly came as news to my family, and I'd like you to meet them: My wife Janna, our daughter Liza, and our boys Charlie and Sam.
The kids are happy to see their grandma, who lives in Florida. There she is – my Mom, Betty.
My Dad, a small-town lawyer, was also named Paul. Until we lost him when I was 16, he was a gentle presence in my life. I like to think he'd be proud of me and my sister and brothers, because I'm sure proud of him and of where I come from, Janesville, Wisconsin.
I live on the same block where I grew up. We belong to the same parish where I was baptized. Janesville is that kind of place.
The people of Wisconsin have been good to me. I've tried to live up to their trust. And now I ask those hardworking men and women, and millions like them across America, to join our cause and get this country working again.
When Governor Romney asked me to join the ticket, I said, "Let's get this done" – and that is exactly, what we're going to do.
President Barack Obama came to office during an economic crisis, as he has reminded us a time or two. Those were very tough days, and any fair measure of his record has to take that into account. My home state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it, especially in Janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory.
A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: "I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years." That's what he said in 2008.
Well, as it turned out, that plant didn't last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. And that's how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight.
Right now, 23 million men and women are struggling to find work. Twenty-three million people, unemployed or underemployed. Nearly one in six Americans is living in poverty. Millions of young Americans have graduated from college during the Obama presidency, ready to use their gifts and get moving in life. Half of them can't find the work they studied for, or any work at all.
So here's the question: Without a change in leadership, why would the next four years be any different from the last four years?
The first troubling sign came with the stimulus. It was President Obama's first and best shot at fixing the economy, at a time when he got everything he wanted under one-party rule. It cost $831 billion – the largest one-time expenditure ever by our federal government.
It went to companies like Solyndra, with their gold-plated connections, subsidized jobs, and make-believe markets. The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst. You, the working men and women of this country, were cut out of the deal.
What did the taxpayers get out of the Obama stimulus? More debt. That money wasn't just spent and wasted – it was borrowed, spent, and wasted.
Maybe the greatest waste of all was time. Here we were, faced with a massive job crisis – so deep that if everyone out of work stood in single file, that unemployment line would stretch the length of the entire American continent. You would think that any president, whatever his party, would make job creation, and nothing else, his first order of economic business.
But this president didn't do that. Instead, we got a long, divisive, all-or-nothing attempt to put the federal government in charge of health care.
Obamacare comes to more than two thousand pages of rules, mandates, taxes, fees, and fines that have no place in a free country.
The president has declared that the debate over government-controlled health care is over. That will come as news to the millions of Americans who will elect Mitt Romney so we can repeal Obamacare.
And the biggest, coldest power play of all in Obamacare came at the expense of the elderly.
You see, even with all the hidden taxes to pay for the health care takeover, even with new taxes on nearly a million small businesses, the planners in Washington still didn't have enough money. They needed more. They needed hundreds of billions more. So, they just took it all away from Medicare. Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama. An obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed, all to pay for a new entitlement we didn't even ask for. The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we're going to stop it."


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7th Judicial District
Decisions of Interest - September 2006 - June 2007
Nalge Nunc International Corp. v. Warren
Index #2006/11195 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. October 2, 2006)
Preliminary Injunction denied; restrictive covenant declared unreasonable; vocation not learned profession nor was employee unique or extraordinary; although trade secret CD disk misappropriated, undisputed that it was destroyed and not shared; severance and partial enforcement denied; misappropriation claim requires both possession and use or likely threatened use.
The Plastic Surgery Group of Rochester LLC v. Evangelisti
Index #2005/04911 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. September 5, 2006).
No common law accountant's or taxpayer's privilege; disclosure not limited by price fixing standard provided by stockholder's agreement; price-fixing standard may be a legally enforceable determinant but does not preclude discovery when the accountant's report is directly challenged; waiver of attorney-client privilege by reason of use of the privileged material offensively to obtain summary judgment.
Carroll v. Abaie
Index #2002/06732 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. October 11, 2006).
Partnership dissolution; partnership was formed, not employment contract, because express agreement to share in both profits and losses; written trial partnership for a term transformed into oral one at will; claimed oral dissolution agreement failed for want of proof; parties cannot revert to default dissolution provisions of prior written trial partnership agreement because those provisions now impossible of performance; repayment of capital contribution limited to proportion of partner's contribution even if profits and losses are divided in equal shares under Partnership Law §40(1)(first clause).
Lippman v. Shaffer
Index #2003/10180 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. October 26, 2006).
Business Judgment Rule does not protect interested directors' decision, taken outside their authority to make under by laws or existing corporate contracts, to approve disproportionate cash distributions, denominated severance payments, when the termination provisions of the director's employment contracts were not triggered. Nor can the director's tax avoidance objective bring such distributions within the ambit of the business judgment rule when no corresponding corporate obligation to make the payments exists; unequal treatment of stockholders by gift of corporate assets; director self-interested transaction does not by itself establish liability, but non-moving party raised no issue of fact on the "entire fairness" issue.
Birnbaum v. ROHM Services Corp., Inc.
Index #2001/12235 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. December 4, 2006).
Accounting action dismissed because plaintiff had full knowledge of challenged transactions, had received a comprehensive review of all fees challenged and knew of the formula involved, never demanded an accounting, never was denied one, himself signed the checks in question; and otherwise waived his claims by failing timely to object.
Amyell Dev . Corp. v. IKON Office Solutions, Inc.
Index #2005/01087 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. December 13, 2006).
Commercial lease; surrender or acceptance implied by operation of law from assignment of lease by tenant to third party and landlord's subsequent and separate agreement between landlord and assignee; new agreement between landlord and assignee made without notice to original tenant and which materially altered and changed terms of original lease, by extending term for additional year, obligating assignee to lease 3,900 square feet of additional space and which called for $100,000 of additional improvements to the premises, all of which created substantial additional liabilities of the assignee that the original tenant did not consent to or have notice of; consent of landlord to original tenant's assignment not necessary to imply surrender by operation of law.
Petereit v. Battaglia
Index #2006/09097 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. January 11, 2007).
Shareholder Agreement providing for remaining shareholders' right of first refusal to purchase employee's 10% stake upon termination by the corporation held not to entitle dismissed employee to compel purchase of his shares by unwilling owners; dismissed shareholder/employee's suit against remaining owner/shareholder/director/officer insufficiently separate from alleged wrong that would otherwise be brought derivatively against the corporation to support a private cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty.
Commissioners of State Insurance Fund v. Cruz Constr. of Rochester, Inc., et al
Index #2003/10412 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. January 22, 2007).
Vacate default judgment under CPLR 5015(a)(1), 5015(a)(3) and inherent power of court under Woodson v. Mendon Leasing Corporation, 100 N.Y.2d 62 (2003) on ground of misconduct of third party not a party or co-party to the action, i.e., a lawyer jointly and concurrently representing adverse co-defendants controlled by one which obligated the moving party moving to joint and several liability on plaintiff's claims for non-payment of premiums; controlling defendant sold the stock of the moving party while retaining its assets without disclosing to the new owner the joint and several liability imposed.
Evolution Impressions, Inc. v. Lewandowski
Index #2005/06051 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. January 25, 2007).
Motion to vacate order granting summary judgment denied on the ground of excusable default, but original motion was improperly granted summarily by reason of non-appearance, so determination must be made on motion to vacate whether initial showing on summary judgment motion was sufficient to entitle moving party to relief; accounting required on claim for damages under faithless servant doctrine.
Rochester Linoleum & Carpet Center, Inc. v. Homestead Development Corp.
Index #2006/01874 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. January 30, 2007).
Construction contract; owner not liable to subcontractor not in privity with owner, either in breach of contract or unjust enrichment, in the absence of an agreement by owner to pay or circumstances giving rise to such an obligation; events subsequent to performance of work by sub cannot overcome this presumptive rule because owner can become liable only when owner prompts sub to undertake or continue work upon promise to pay; sub's invoices unilaterally listing owner as obligor cannot create liability for account stated where no liability was established before.
Five Star Equipment, Inc. v. M.P. Lones Companies
Index #2006/09043 (Sup. Ct. January 30, 2007).
Vacate default judgment on ground that affidavit by party of facts not provided on prior motion for default and nor was verified complaint provided, CPLR 3215(f); follows 4th Department precedent declaring such a judgment a "nullity" and declines to follow 2d Dept. authority holding that the omission is a "procedural failure" thus permitting the party moving to vacate to show excusable default and meritorious defense.
Cadlerock Joint Venture, L.P. v. Kleen Brite Laboratories
Index #2003/12091 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. January 31, 2007).
Reargument granted of order directing trial of damages following default and forced liquidation of secured collateral; secured creditor under Article 9 has no duty to mitigate independent of the standard of commercial reasonableness under Article 9; duty to mitigate coterminous with standard of commercial reasonableness, and in any event, under the UCC, duty to mitigate is generally a limitation on consequential damages, which were not claimed.
D'Angelo v. Leone
Index #2005/09815 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. February 13, 2007).
Buy-sell agreement of the Texas shoot-out or Russian-Roulette variety; summary judgment declaring such deadlock provision invoked not precluded by claim that moving party looted corporation and therefore had unclean hands; unclean hands doctrine only precludes equitable relief where the moving party has dealt unjustly in the very transaction of which he complains; the moving party here is not seeking to enforce a contractual duty (entered into long before defendant's alleged wrongdoing) against which illegibility could be argued; claims between the parties may be dealt with as set-offs to the accounting.
Matter of Atkin v. Bd. of Assessors Town of Greece
Index #02/08757; 03/08677; 03/08659; 03/08678; 04/08407; 04/08404; 04/08405.
Tax Cert. valuation must take account of contamination clean-up costs of property that is the subject of a DEC voluntary clean-up agreement (VCA); DEC oversight of the three parcel site as a single economic unit permitted petitioner's appraiser to value site as a whole because clean-up costs well exceeded the value as clean figure, a result that could not be sustained if there was any remaining value to the parcels which would have to be allocated to the individual parcels via a separate appraisal for each.
Pramco v. Partners Trust Bank
Index #2006/02318 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. February 23, 2007).
Summary judgment rescinding distress loan sale at auction, on the ground of failure to keep bid documents relating to collateral valuation up to date, denied; bid was not irrevocable for all purposes under governing bid procedures; questions of fact presented from a breach of warranty perspective whether the breach was so substantial and fundamental as to strongly tend to defeat the object of the parties, especially because the truth of the contents of the bid document review files was expressly not warranted; the non-disclosure of updated collateral valuation reduction must be considered in light of the other disclosures in the bid documents showing the same thing; viewed as a non-occurrence of a condition precedent, question of fact presented whether non-occurrence may be excused to avoid disproportionate forfeiture and whether, in the context, the particular non-occurrence of the condition was a material part of the agreed exchange.
Lee v. Tetra Tech, Inc.
Index #2006/07131 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. February 28, 2007)
Summary judgment declaring plaintiff-employees not subject to written employment agreement containing a restructure covenant granted; employer unilaterally changed employee's status to at-will the following year and had employee sign new restrictive covenant geared from the date of signing, not the date of termination; elements of fraud, estoppel, and mistake do not create issue of fact whether the remedy of reformation should be ordered; alleged admissions of employee during negotiations are precluded by the parole evidence rule and raise no issue of fact - - contract documents unambiguous.
Frontier Telephone of Rochester v. City of Rochester Assessor
Index ## 2004/07127; 2005/05573; 2006/06008 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. March 16, 2007).
Tax Cert. - Intra Building Network Cable within customer buildings is not exempt "station connections" within the meaning of Real Property Tax Law §102(12)(d) and (i); such cable was never de-tariffed by the FCC during partial deregulation in the 1980's and remains the property of Frontier; distinguishes the concept of inside or customer premises wiring on the customer's side of the demarcation point.
Security Mortgage Group LLC v. Oak Hill Family Park LLC
Index #2006/11718 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. March 22, 2007)
Question of fact whether entitlement to brokerage fee was conditioned upon closing or consummation of transaction; contract language ambiguous on the point; long-arm jurisdiction supported by two years worth of negotiations by Massachusetts firm, once lapsed and then resumed at the foreign firms' initiative, and use of a New York bank for financing; individual defendant did not sign in personal capacity.
The Pike Co., Inc. v. Oneida Indian Nation
Index #2006/05958 (Sup. Ct. Monroe Co. March 28, 2007)
Breach of Notice of Termination Clause; summary ejectment of contractor from site in violation of 7 day notice of termination clause precludes owner's post-termination completion cost claim; summary judgment on liability awarded contractor on its breach of the notice of termination clause because contractor established as a matter of law that it did not repudiate contract or otherwise abandon performance.


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The magazine publishes the blacklists of the 25 January revolution and 30 June revolution enemies and members of the fifth column. The cover includes a group of photos for public figures; some of them are Muslim brotherhood supporters and some of them are not Muslim brotherhood supporters but rather democracy supporters.
Among the photos and the names featured in that blacklist : Mohamed ElBaradei "yeah ElBaradei is from the enemies of the revolution !!" , Amr Hamzawy , columnist Balel Fadl and singer Hamza Namira !!
I have not read the rest of the names as it seems that it has not been published online yet but you can say it is a mix between the Islamists and Pro-Democracy faces in Egypt including the faces that criticized publicly the policies of the current regime. ElBaradei's resignation because of the use of force in dispersing the Raba'a and Nahdaa sit it , Hamzawy's criticism to the dispersal as well the McCarthyism in Egypt and Balel Fadl's recent firing op-eds in Al Shorouk warning from any future dictatorship "Here is a translated example for one of his latest op-eds" earned them a spot in the blacklist !!
They even included Mohamed Abu Tarika because he supports the Muslim brotherhood !!
The state-owned magazine publishes a blacklist for public figures as fifth column and as enemies for the revolutions of January and June. This means something for sure if you connect the dots to that campaign working perfectly in the media to defame 25 January revolution.
There is even an active hashtag on twitter called "Fifth_Column" in Arabic where people share the names of those agents sabotaging Egypt and its army from public figures and human rights activists.
The list of the fifth column that works against the nation and the army for the sake of the Muslim brotherhood and United State include the following : Mohamed ElBaradei , Amr Hamzawy , Reem Magued, Yosri Fouda , Wael Ghonim , Mahmoud Saad "He returned back to air recently on the same channel" , Mona Seif, Alaa Seif , April 6 Youth movement members , Israa Adel Fatah , Wael Abbas , Asmaa Mahfouz and revolutionary socialists. These are the primary 25 January suspects in Egypt.
According to the people who are keeping this hashtag active , the fifth column agent is anyone who dares to speak about his rejection to human rights abuse and state of emergency as well to that "War against terrorism" rhetoric and military trials and above them military/police state !! Of course in their view all these points mean that you are against the army thus you are a fifth column that wants to bring the Egyptian state down after the fall of Syria and Iraq.
Ironically most of these names "except Wael Abbas" supported the 30 June and called for it.
In short these names are those who supported the original 25 January revolution and stood against the violations of SCAF. Of course there are other similar hash tags now on twitter like "The January Setback" as people buy more of the conspiracy talk.
Sadly enough this McCarthyism flourishing in Egypt is forcing to people to rethink their positions and even fear to express their opinions freely online or offline as before for fear of the backlash.
Reem Mageud's TV show is stopped on ONTV for no apparent reason , of course I can not imagine someone like her appearing in the channel now. Wael Ghonim does not update Kolena Khaled Said Facebook page , in fact he does not update his own Facebook page for God sake !!
All this makes the youth that believes in the revolution disappointed and desperate , their voices are not heard because the people will attack anyone who say anything different. Some young people I know unfortunately believe that the deep state of Mubarak has won and there is no other option except to leave the country.
Of course it is a long road but you can not blame them when all the media whether TV or radio or press or even social media is full of Ultra-nationalism,McCarthyism and old ugly faces from Mubarak's era returning back. People are affected by this extensive propaganda.
It is a long road but you not blame them because they are now trapped between two hells with no third road to escape , with no hope , with no true leadership that can inspire and unit them once again. They want to revive their hope once again.
ElBaradei has left Egypt and is back to the blacklist of the State owned media after being the Vice president of Egypt. Unfortunately that old man was the one that used to give young people hope for true change.
We need a new hope.


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Comix At Foxwoods Welcomes Julian McCullough, 3/21
Currently starring in the new hit E! series, "Love You Mean It," with Whitney Cummings, Julian McCullough has proven himself to be a force in comedic circles. This March, McCullough revisits Comix for four highly-anticipated shows beginning on Thursday, Mar. 21 at 8 p.m., with additional shows on Friday, Mar. 22 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Mar. 23 at 8 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. The final show will be one not for the faint of heart or easily offended, as fans will be welcomed to witness a "Nasty Show with Julian McCullough." Lines will be crossed and common decency will be left at the door during this final uproarious performance.
Tickets are on sale now and are $20 for general advance admission ($30 the day of), while VIP advance admission tickets are $40 ($50 the day of). A two-drink minimum applies to all tickets. The show is 21+ and is for mature audiences only.
Adding to his entertainment credits, McCullough has performed on NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and NPR's "This American Life, and formerly held the coveted spot of warm-up comedian for the popular show, "The Colbert Report." He also starred in his own half hour special on Comedy Central that was released in March 2012, appeared on MTV2's hit series, "Guy Code" and can be seen serving as host of TBS' "Very Funny News."
McCullough has been featured on the hit IFC show, "Z-ROCK," as well as a multitude of programs on MTV, while contributing to countless pop culture talking head shows. He has also hosted three standalone specials for VH1. In 2007, he performed as part of the Montreal Comedy Festival's "New Faces" showcase, and in 2008, he took home top honors at the New York City Comedy Festival.
Tickets are available online at www.comixatfoxwoods.com; by calling the Foxwoods Box Office at 800-200-2882; or in person at the Comix, Fox Theater or MGM Grand Theater Box Offices. Please contact the Comix Comedy Club at 860-312-5050 for additional information or with questions regarding group sales or private parties.


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Cassidy takes plea deal on drink-drive charge
Seventies heart-throb David Cassidy has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of driving while intoxicated in upstate New York.
Cassidy was charged last summer in the town of Schodack, near Albany.
He pleaded guilty on Wednesday in exchange for a tentative sentence of a conditional discharge that includes 50 hours of community service in Florida, his home state.
Sentencing was set for November 5 and depends on a pre-sentence report.
In March, a judge in Los Angeles sentenced Cassidy to three months in rehab and five years of probation in a drunken-driving case stemming from a January arrest for an illegal turn.
Cassidy's role on TV's The Partridge Family launched a singing career. He spends time in New York during the summer at Saratoga Race Course, 40 miles north of Schodack.


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Just across the Great Canal is the neighborhood known as Watertown, so named because it is surrounded on all sides by water. Here there are also many canals and waterways, but it is a bit more working-class and industrial than Canal-City. There are numerous warehouses and small factories of various sorts and the waters a little more polluted. Today I ventured there by water taxi to see something I read about in a guidebook.
In the center of Watertown is a small but well-known market called "The Mechanized Market". It is found in a wide, but fairly dank and lightless alley that stretches about half a mile. Here, there are no merchants standing behind stalls or in tents, calling out to you to buy their wares. Nope, here all the selling is done by machines... vending machines of a sort. And everything is for sale, and I do mean everything.
The market got its start a long time ago during a period of uncommon prosperity. Merchants found themselves with an overflow of stock, and often could not sell many items because they did not have room to display them. So an enterprising young merchant named Kilao built a machine that would sell his overflow stock (usually shoes and umbrellas) for him. Customers put a coin in a slot, turned a knob, and out popped the desired merchandise. He called it a "Personless Merchant". He chose a well-travelled alleyway that saw a lot of daily foot-traffic and soon it became a great success.
Other merchants took notice and followed suit with their own machines, all of varying designs, and all custom-built to sell specific items: toys, flowers, live animals, dead animals, animal skulls, music-boxes, spectacles, newspapers, postcards, snacks, wigs, clothing of all types, alcoholic beverages, glass eyes, vegetables, spices, magical trinkets, wands, baubles, fabric, daggers, maps, watches, raw meat, and even small boats!
According to some locals, there was once a vending machine that sold corpses of recently deceased folk who made no arrangements for their interment. This machine had appeared very suddenly overnight and was the subject of much scandal and shock. The owner, a secretive mortician from Tower City named Cornelius Crane, defended his machine, noting that there were many legitimate uses for fresh corpses. But the city council saw the matter differently, and ordered the machine removed, which also began a new era of regulation and taxation on the machines.
Today, the alleyway is still busy with activity, but perhaps not as much as in its heyday. There is still an impressive variety of "Personless Merchants" here today, but one also notes the many long-unused machines, or some which are in serious disrepair, barely working and often guilty of stealing coin or vending expired merchandise.


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The Maternity Center at Methodist South Hospital provides a safe, comfortable, family-centered environment for you and your baby.
Quality & Comfort
At Methodist South, you'll find:
- Large, comfortable birthing rooms with room enough for mom and two support people.
- A level-II neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) offering specialty newborn care for babies greater than 32 weeks gestation.
- Board-certified neonatologists available 24/7.
- A nursery to help care for your baby.
You are also encouraged to have your baby stay in the room with you, so you can get comfortable taking care of your newborn.
Classes & Coaching
We offer classes to prepare you before and after your child's birth.
- Prenatal classes teach you how to prepare your body for labor and care for your baby.
- Lactation specialists coach you through breastfeeding and help prepare you to return to work.
To learn more or register for a class at Methodist South call 901-516-3475.
Pre-registration & Insurance Questions
Call 901-516-3705 or Complete Maternity Pre-registration Online