text:
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /wɒt͡ʃ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /wɔt͡ʃ/
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ɒtʃ
Etymology 1Edit
As a noun, from Middle English wacche, from Old English wæċċe. See below for verb form.
watch (plural watches)
- A portable or wearable timepiece.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 2, in The Celebrity:
- Sunning himself on the board steps, I saw for the first time Mr. Farquhar Fenelon Cooke. […] A silver snaffle on a heavy leather watch guard which connected the pockets of his corduroy waistcoat, together with a huge gold stirrup in his Ascot tie, sufficiently proclaimed his tastes.
- More people today carry a watch on their wrists than in their pockets.
- The act of guarding and observing someone or something.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
- shepherds keeping watch by night
- (Can we date this quote?) Addison
- All the long night their mournful watch they keep.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
- A particular time period when guarding is kept.
- The second watch of the night began at midnight.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- I did stand my watch upon the hill.
- (Can we date this quote?) John Milton
- Might we but hear […] / Or whistle from the lodge, or village cock / Count the night watches to his feathery dames.
- A person or group of people who guard.
- The watch stopped the travelers at the city gates.
- Bible, Matthew xxvii. 65
- Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch; go your way, make it as sure as ye can.
- The post or office of a watchman; also, the place where a watchman is posted, or where a guard is kept.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- He upbraids Iago, that he made him / Brave me upon the watch.
- (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare
- (nautical) A group of sailors and officers aboard a ship or shore station with a common period of duty: starboard watch, port watch.
- (nautical) A period of time on duty, usually four hours in length; the officers and crew who tend the working of a vessel during the same watch. (FM 55–501).
- The act of seeing, or viewing, for a period of time.
- 2004, Charles P. Nemeth, Criminal law
- A quick watch of Stanley Kubrick's Clockwork Orange sends this reality home fast. Amoral, vacuous, cold-blooded, unsympathetic, and chillingly evil describe only parts of the story.
- 2016, Andrew Bullock, David Brent REVIEW: Life on the Road goes from painfully funny to just plain painful. Ouch (in Sunday Express, 11 August)
- The first third of the film is laugh after laugh; […] But half an hour in and this movie gets unnervingly dark and is an uncomfortable watch at times.
- 2004, Charles P. Nemeth, Criminal law
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from the noun "watch"
portable or wearable timepiece
the act of guarding
particular time period
person or group of people who guard
place where a watchman is posted
group of sailors and officers
period of time on duty
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
Etymology 2Edit
As a verb, from Middle English wacchen, from Old English wæċċan (from the same root as its synonym and doublet wacian, which led to wake in modern English), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wakōną, *wakjaną. Cognate with West Frisian weitsje ("to wake, watch"), Dutch waken ("to wake, watch"), German wachen ("to wake, watch").
watch (third-person singular simple present watches, present participle watching, simple past and past participle watched)
- (transitive) To look at, see, or view for a period of time.
- Watching the clock will not make time go faster.
- I'm tired of watching TV.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.
- (transitive) To observe over a period of time; to notice or pay attention.
- Watch this!
- Put a little baking soda in some vinegar and watch what happens.
- (transitive) To mind, attend, or guard.
- Please watch my suitcase for a minute.
- He has to watch the kids that afternoon.
- 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:
- […] (it was the town's humour to be always gassing of phantom investors who were likely to come any moment and pay a thousand prices for everything) — "[…] Them rich fellers, they don't make no bad breaks with their money. They watch it all th' time b'cause they know blame well there ain't hardly room fer their feet fer th' pikers an' tin-horns an' thimble-riggers what are layin' fer 'em. […]"
- (transitive) To be wary or cautious of.
- You should watch that guy. He has a reputation for lying.
- (transitive) To attend to dangers to or regarding.
- watch your head; watch your step
- Watch yourself when you talk to him.
- Watch what you say.
- (intransitive) To remain awake with a sick or dying person; to maintain a vigil.
- (intransitive) To be vigilant or on one's guard.
- For some must watch, while some must sleep: So runs the world away.
- (intransitive) To act as a lookout.
- (nautical, of a buoy) To serve the purpose of a watchman by floating properly in its place.
- (obsolete, intransitive) To be awake.
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:
- So on the morne Sir Trystram, Sir Gareth and Sir Dynadan arose early and went unto Sir Palomydes chambir, and there they founde hym faste aslepe, for he had all nyght wacched [...].
- 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book X:
Usage notesEdit
- When used transitively to mean look at something, there is an implication that the direct object is something which is capable of changing.
Derived termsEdit
Terms derived from the verb "watch"
to look at for a period of time
to observe
to attend or guard
to be wary
to be vigilant
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked


text:
In 2013, when the vast majority of music fans have Spotify and iTunes and the average listener's taste is so schizophrenic that they're into both Taylor Swift and Metallica, it's getting harder and harder to define a person's personal likes and dislikes purely by what bands they like. Thankfully there's a new website that seeks to answer some of those questions—or at least what band's fans are more likely to be conservative or pick their noses when no one's looking.
Stereotype.fm attempts to determine personality traits of a band's fans by compiling data from more than 100,000 surveys conducted on sister site Tastebuds.fm. While some of the results are less than surprising—Hilary Duff fans are least like to have ever smoked weed, for example—others shine a light on the broad-based fandom of some of today's more polarizing or underappreciated bands. Who would have guessed, for instance, that 22% of Alanis Morissette fans have had a threesome?
More fun facts: Fugazi fans are fairly likely to have attended a private school, while Bonnie "Prince" Billy boasts a wealth of Atheist fans. But Fun and Mumford & Sons have a healthy conservative fanbase, though somewhat hearteningly, only 8% of Tastebuds users surveyed identified themselves as leaning to the far right.
Plug some band names into the search engine and play around with the system for a few minutes. The results might just be surprising. [via Buzzfeed]

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Scripps Announces Upcoming Changes to the Board of Directors
CINCINNATI – The E.W. Scripps Co. has announced a number of changes to the composition of the board of directors that will be elected at the annual meeting of shareholders on May 1, 2013.
Nackey E. Scagliotti, a great-granddaughter of the founder, a director since 1999 and the chair since 2008, has notified the board that she will retire from service as a director after the annual meeting and will not stand for re-election.
The board's nominating committee has recommended that Rich Boehne, who has been the chief executive officer and a director since 2008, replace Scagliotti as the board's chair. With the CEO serving as chair, the board will select a lead independent director from among the directors elected in May.
The board also announced that Kelly Conlin, the chairman and chief executive officer of NameMedia, has been nominated as a director and will stand for election by the Common Voting shareholders at the May 1 meeting.


text:
Disulfiram Interactions With HIV Medications: Clinical Implications
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00878306
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : April 8, 2009
Last Update Posted : May 6, 2014
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|HIV Infections Drug Abuse
|Drug: Disulfiram Drug: Disulfiram + Efavirenz Drug: Disulfiram + Atazanavir Drug: Disulfiram + Ritonavir
|Phase 1
Cocaine and alcohol abuse are strongly linked to HIV infection and transmission of the virus. Disulfiram has long been approved by the US FDA for the treatment of alcohol and recent data shows it to be effective in reducing cocaine abuse. Disulfiram and antiretroviral medications (ARV) are metabolized by cytochrome P450 3A and concomitant use of these drugs could potentially produce adverse drug interactions underscoring the need to identify and understand the clinical implications of these drug interactions in order to more effectively treat individuals with both HIV disease and cocaine and/or alcohol use disorders. This will be accomplished by conducting studies aimed at identifying whether pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic drug interactions of importance occur between disulfiram and medications frequently utilized in those with HIV/AIDS.
Abuse of cocaine and/or alcohol has been shown to be a significant risk factor for HIV infections as a result of high risk sexual and drug use behaviors occurring in the context of use of these substances. Those with HIV infection and untreated cocaine and/or alcohol dependence are also at a high risk of transmitting HIV to others. Moreover, those with HIV disease and substance dependence often experience poor clinical outcomes as a result of nonadherence to HIV treatment regimens.
Disulfiram (DIS) is an inhibitor of ALDH and has been reported to alter hepatic cytochrome P450 enzyme function important to metabolism of many drugs frequently used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Although approved for the treatment of alcohol dependence, DIS has been studied as a treatment for cocaine addiction in recent years. DIS at the standard 250 mg daily dose has been associated with significant reductions in cocaine use as well as alcohol use in those with histories of concomitant cocaine-alcohol abuse. DIS 250 mg daily has been shown to have a significant pharmacokinetic interaction with cocaine resulting in delayed cocaine clearance. In order to more fully access possible use of DIS treatment for cocaine and/or alcohol dependence in this population, it is important to determine if any excess risk is conveyed as a result of drug interactions that might occur between DIS and the ARV medications.
This study will be using a standard clinical pharmacology study design using a within-subject design examining the two drug interaction studies between DIS (250 mg daily) and the following medications:
- Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, efavirenz 600 mg daily for 10 days
Protease inhibitors atazanavir 400 mg daily for 8 days or ritonavir 200 mg daily for 8 days
Additional data will be collected and analyzed including:
- Clinical data on effects of these medications alone and in combination on cardiac conduction, hepatic function, and serum lipids will be obtained
- The safety of co-administration of alcohol containing HIV preparations (ritonavir) with DIS will be determined
- The effect of ARV on DIS function as determined by ALDH activity and DIS and metabolite concentrations will be determined using a control sample within-subject design (DIS doses of 62.5 mg and 250 mg daily) and between subjects design.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|40 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Single Group Assignment
|None (Open Label)
|Official Title:
|Disulfiram Interactions With HIV Medications: Clinical Implications
|Study Start Date :
|November 2008
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|April 2013
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|April 2013
Active Comparator: Disulfiram
Drug: Disulfiram
62.5 mg daily x3 days, then 250 mg daily x3 days
Other Name: Antabuse
Experimental: Disulfiram + Efavirenz
Efavirenz alone, then in addition with Disulfiram
Drug: Disulfiram + Efavirenz
Efavirenz 600 mg daily x10 days, then in addition with 62.5 mg daily x3 days, then Disulfiram 250 mg daily x3 days
Experimental: Disulfiram + Atazanavir
Atazanavir alone, then in addition with Disulfiram
Drug: Disulfiram + Atazanavir
Atazanavir 400 mg daily x8 days, then in addition with 62.5 mg daily x3 days, then Disulfiram 250 mg daily x3 days
Experimental: Disulfiram + Ritonavir
Ritonavir alone, then in addition with Disulfiram
Drug: Disulfiram + Ritonavir
Ritonavir 200 mg daily x8 days, then in addition with 62.5 mg daily x3 days, then Disulfiram 250 mg daily x3 days
- The effect of disulfiram on the pharmacokinetics of each of the antiretroviral medications to be studied [ Time Frame: Measured at Day 15 ]
- The effect of the antiretroviral medications on disulfiram measured by ALDH activity and disulfiram pharmacokinetics [ Time Frame: Measured at Day 0, Day 4, and Day 8 ]
- Cardiac Conduction [ Time Frame: Measured at screening and during pharmacokinetic studies ]
- Hepatic Function [ Time Frame: Measured at screening and during pharmacokinetic studies ]
- Serum Lipids [ Time Frame: Measured at screening and during pharmacokinetic studies ]
- Safety of co-administration of alcohol containing HIV preparations (ritonavir) and Disulfiram [ Time Frame: Measured at day 11- day 15 ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Good health and without clinical findings that require medical or psychiatric intervention as determined by a physical and mental status examination and screening laboratory tests, urinalysis, and ECG
- 18 years of age or older
- Willing to abstain from alcohol during the study and for two weeks afterward
Exclusion Criteria:
- Patients who are receiving concurrently other drugs that are inducers or inhibitors of hepatic microsomal enzymes
- Patients with a known sensitivity to the HIV therapeutics to be studied
- Pregnant or nursing mothers
- Current major affective or psychotic illnesses or suicidality
- Clinically active hepatitis
- Diabetes, hyperlipidemia, coagulation disorders, or renal disease will be excluded
- Those meeting criteria for current alcohol or drug dependence (other than nicotine)
- HIV infection
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00878306
|United States, California
|San Francisco General Hospital
|San Francisco, California, United States, 94110
|Principal Investigator:
|Elinore F McCance-Katz, M.D., Ph.D
|University of California, San Francisco
|Responsible Party:
|University of California, San Francisco
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00878306 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
R01DA024982 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
R01DA024982 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
|First Posted:
|April 8, 2009 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|May 6, 2014
|Last Verified:
|May 2014
Treatment of drug dependency with HIV medications
Substance-Related Disorders
Chemically-Induced Disorders
Mental Disorders
Atazanavir Sulfate
HIV Protease Inhibitors
Protease Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Anti-HIV Agents
Anti-Retroviral Agents
Antiviral Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inhibitors
Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors
Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C9 Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C19 Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2B6 Inducers
Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inducers
Cytochrome P-450 CYP3A Inducers
Alcohol Deterrents
Acetaldehyde Dehydrogenase Inhibitors


text:
By Ed Harris
Senator Richard Blumenthal discussed the sequester and partisan gridlock, amongst other topics, during an appearance at a recent Southington Chamber of Commerce Celebrity Breakfast.
Blumenthal argued that there are cuts that are needed, but argued that the sequester was taking a toll on the economy.
"All of these cuts have an impact on our economy," Blumenthal said. "We can make smart cuts."
Some of the areas that Blumenthal felt cuts should be made included military bases abroad and closing tax loopholes, including farms subsidies.
Blumenthal said the economy was starting to look up, but said the state of Connecticut was a little behind the trend.
"Signs are pointing up," the senator said.
When it came to the partisan deadlock, Blumenthal, a Democrat, laid the blame on the filibuster and the House of Representatives, which has a Republican majority. Blumenthal said the Senate acted bipartisan in some aspects, but said everything stalled once it got to the house. He further stated that Ohioan Republican John Boehner, the speaker of the house, had a policy that would only allow items to be voted on if there was a majority of Republicans backing it.
Blumenthal was quick to denounce the filibuster, stating that it must come to an end. To override a filibuster a supermajority, or 60 votes in the Senate is needed. Blumenthal said ending the filibuster would help alleviate the partisan gridlock.
"That is a way to end some of the gridlock," Blumenthal said. "It'll force the two parties to come together."
During a brief question and answer segment, Blumenthal also answered questions on the ongoing violence in Iraq, energy and the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
In introducing Blumenthal, Southington Chamber of Commerce Chairman Tony Sheffy noted Blumenthal's 20 years as the attorney general for Connecticut.
"You've had 20 years as an advocate for the state of Connecticut," Sheffy said."You're a fighter."
Senator Blumenthal talks partisan gridlock
By Ed Harris


text:
Search results
- Services
- Information
For further information see:
- East Sussex County Council - Learning Disability
- Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust - Learning Disability Teams
- BBC - Ouch: Disability Talk. Disability from a fresh angle featuring interviews, discussion and the occasional quiz.
- East Sussex County Council - If you can't get to your library due to ill-health, disability or caring responsibilities the Home Library Service can come to you, and it's free.
- East Sussex County Council - Register a disability
- GOV.UK - Get help at work if you're disabled
Order by: relevance
Showing results 1 to 1 of 1
Adelfi Homecare Ltd
Personal care and support with household tasks for those needing additional support at home.
Help at home and help to live independently
Refine your search
Filter your results
Currently viewing
Health and Wellbeing and Life Events (1)
Personal Care (1)
Service Type
Postcode Area
Meals / Food preparation / Shopping
- Healthy eating (1)


text:
good chemistry is complicated,
and a little bit messy -LW
Re^3: What operator should perl5porters use for safe dereferencing?by cavac (Curate)
|on Jun 17, 2012 at 18:23 UTC ( #976676=note: print w/replies, xml )
|Need Help??
I agree,
Depending on the font (and you can not always choose the one you like, especially online), you really have to look hard. I pretty much guarantee that code audits as well as helping out on SoPW will get a lot harder.
As for the typing effort, a character more or less really doesn't matter. Those of us who use non-english keyboards (so, most of us really) already have a hard time coding Perl and other programming languages. Some examples from my german keyboard:
In effect, a lot of the "standard" metacharacters require awkward right-hand-only acrobatics. I thought about using an english/american keyboard, but since i also require german umlauts that would just shift the problem. Just changing the keyboard layout in software is also a bit awkward, since then the printing on the keys does not match what i type (which i find rather confusing).
In short, i don't care if i have to type two or three characters, since something like ?-> is easier to read and harder to overlook (and in this case actually easier to type on my german keyboard as well).
And, from my personal view, i always associate ~ operations with some kind of regular expression stuff, whereas ? does not.
"You have reached the Monastery. All our helpdesk monks are busy at the moment. Please press "1" to instantly donate 10 currency units for a good cause or press "2" to hang up. Or you can dial "12" to get connected directly to second level support."
In Section Past Polls


text:
The Rock City Crew is City Climb Gym's competitive climbing team. Our coach, Matt Ferrara and assistant coach, Jon Chen, teach our climbers the technical skills and physical endurance needed to excel in competition. Along with climbing technique, team members learn about physical fitness, diet, injury prevention and teammwork.
Back to All Events
Earlier Event: June 6Open Climb
Later Event: June 9Kids Climbing Club


text:
Coastal states� congressional delegations have been working behind closed doors in hope of finding a way to deal with rising concerns about increases in National Flood Insurance Program premiums.
Coastal states� congressional delegations have been working behind closed doors in hope of finding a way to deal with rising concerns about increases in National Flood Insurance Program premiums.
A bipartisan plan to delay the program may reach the floor of the Senate soon.
Let�s hope our members of Congress develop a solid strategy for stemming the tide of dramatic hikes in some premiums. After all, although the insurance program benefits millions of Americans from coast to coast, the stability of its premium rates are vital to North Carolinians and the state�s economy.
The Biggert-Waters Flood Reform Act of 2012 has a well-intended aim � to reduce a $24 billion deficit in the federal program.
The act calls for premiums for residential property to rise nationwide to market rates. In other words, the law seeks to reduce the subsidization of policies.
Yearly premiums for current homeowners would rise over the next five years, but new buyers of those homes would have to pay market rates immediately.
While flood-insurance rates in some cases could triple or quadruple for some older, low-lying properties, the number of homes affected will be relatively small in the near term.
Yet the effects of the act are already being felt. Some real estate professionals � including surveyors, who determine the elevations of properties for insurance purposes � say transactions have already been affected by concerns over unaffordable premiums. At the least, there appears to be a growing sense of uncertainty over the impacts of premium increases.
The economic effects of the Biggert-Waters bill were supposed to be assessed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in an �affordability study.�
Completion of the study was not mandated before the first round of rate hikes went into effect. That was a mistake. In light of the size of the increases and the widespread utilization of federal flood insurance � most mortgage companies require that borrowers obtain the coverage � it makes abundant sense for Congress to know the real-world impacts of the act.
Members of Congress are seeking temporary relief in two ways.
In the Senate, there�s legislation that would delay the rate hikes for four years and require FEMA to complete the study before rate hikes are approved.
In the House, representatives are supporting a bill that calls for delaying rate hikes for the owners of primary households that were placed in a greater risk category by new flood maps.
During the past two decades, FEMA and state and local governments have improved the accuracy of their maps and provided incentives for owners to make their homes less susceptible to flooding. Those efforts should continue.
But the nationwide reliance on federal flood insurance is too great for implementation of sweeping changes without consideration of their economic impacts. Delay the premium increases until Congress has the data needed to make an informed decision.
A version of this editorial first appeared in The Lakeland Ledger, a Halifax Media Group newspaper in Florida.


text:
Y=York County program
A=Adams County program
WellSpan's Vision for Health Care
- Gettysburg Hospital's New Emergency Department (A)
- Health Care Trends in Adams County and WellSpan's Response (A)
- Performance Improvement Activities at Gettysburg Hospital (A)
- Services at the new Aspers Health Center (A)
- Specialty Outpatient Care at the Adams Health Center (A)
- WellSpan Surgery & Rehabilitation Hospital (Y)
- WellSpan Neuroscience & Pain Center (Y)
WellSpan Health & You
- Complexities in Health Care Procurement (A)
- Health Care Reform and What It Means to You (Y)
- How Do We Operate? What Makes Us Tick? (Y, A)
- A Patient-Centered Approach to Health Care (Y, A)
- Performance Improvement Activities at Gettysburg Hospital (A)
- Quality and What It Means To You (Y, A)
- Services We Can Provide for Your Business (A)
- The Uninsured: It Knows No Favorites (Y, A)
- WellSpan: A Non-Profit Organization (Y, A)
Health Care for Women
- Exercises for Bladder Control (A)
- Facts of Midlife (Y, A)
- Prenatal and Postpartum Exercise (A)
- Osteoporosis/Bone Health (Y)
- Women's Health Through the Life Stages (Y, A)
- Caregiver Issues for Parkinson's Disease and Dementia (Y)
- Essential Tremor (Y)
- Exercise for the Parkinson's Patient (Y, A)
- Footwear for Spine Health (Y)
- Headache (A)
- Management of Herniated Disc (Y)
- Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery (Y, A)
- Movement Disorders (Y,A)
- Overview of Neurosurgical bionics - including deep brain stimulators, vagus nerve stimulator, SCS, Pump) (Y)
- Pediatric epilepsy, headache, concussion and most other pediatric neurology topics (Y, A)
- Restless Leg Syndrome (Y)
- Spine (Y,A)
- Spine Care for Shopping (Y)
- Spine Health for Golf Lovers (Y)
- Spine Health for Pregnancy and Childbirth (Y)
- Spine Health for Women (Y)
- Spine Health and Osteoporosis (Y)
- Sports-related Head Injury/Concussion (Y,A)
- Stroke (Y,A)
- Seizures (Y,A)
- Surgical Options for Epilepsy (Y, A)
- Yoga and Spine Health (Y)
Orthopedics & Rehabilitation
- Arthritis (Y)
- Coaching Clinics (Y)
- Common Hand Injuries and Treatment (Y)
- Exercise and Fitness (Y)
- Exercise: It's Easier than You Think (Y)
- Exercises for Bladder Control (Y)
- Fall Prevention (Y)
- Fracture Care (Y)
- General Stretching (Y)
- Joint Replacement (Y, A)
- Prenatal and Postpartum Exercise (Y)
- Rehabilitation Wellness Program (A)
- Shoulder Injuries, Treatment and Rehabilitation (Y)
- Sports Injury Among Females (Y, A)
- Sports Injury Prevention (Y)
- Sports Injury Prevention for Youth (Y, A)
- Sports Injuries (Y)
- Throwing Athlete (Y)
Heart Health
- Heart Disease (Y,A)
- The Latest Trends in Heart Surgery (Y,A)
- Nutrition and Heart Disease (Y,A)
- Women and Heart Disease (Y,A)
Cancer Care & Prevention
- Coping with Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment (Y,A)
- Grief of Cancer (A)
- Ovarian Cancer (A)
- Survivorship of Cancer (Y,A)
- WellSpan's Seamless System of Cancer Care (A)
Palliative Care
- Advance Directives
- Bereavement, Grief and Loss
- Palliative Care
- Planning Ahead when You Have a Chronic Disease
- Spirituality of Grief
General Topics
- Tips for Growing Healthy Kids (Y)
- Diabetes Education (A)
- Nutrition (A)
- Importance of Immunizations (A)
- Tobacco Cessation (A)
In addition to WellSpan topics, you can choose from a variety of programs offered by Hospice Community Care.


text:
Would You Buy A Gun?
Buffy Martin Tarbox is a hip, smart public relations professional in San Francisco. She volunteers for the local AIDS Foundation, and on weekends she scoots around the Bay Area in her baby-blue VW bug helping rescue wounded wildlife. She once registered as a Green Party voter, and she has done political consulting work for Planned Parenthood.
She is also armed.
Tarbox, who bought her Smith & Wesson handgun six years ago, at age 34, says it's just like any other modern accessory in her life, along with her designer heels and handbag. "My personal satisfaction is that I can take care of myself," she says. "I don't need to rely on a man to protect me." She grew up around guns, but they made her nervous; her father had instilled a healthy respect for the damage a gun could do if handled carelessly. Once out on her own, Tarbox was shocked to learn some of her girlfriends had guns. These were her spa buddies—professional women like her who said a gun made them feel safer living alone. Out of curiosity, she enrolled in a gun-safety class. To her surprise, she was an excellent shot.
"It did feel empowering," she remembers. She's out of practice these days, but she's pretty sure that, if threatened, she could shoot to kill. "You hope your instincts of survival would kick in. If it came down to them or me, I hope I would choose me," she says. "If I'm home alone, it's peace of mind."
But is Tarbox, or any woman, truly safer because she has a gun? Pro-gun forces want us to think so: They have aggressively promoted the idea that guns level the playing field against a stronger foe. Manufacturers have made weapons lighter and barrels shorter so they're easier for smaller hands to shoot—or to tuck into a purse or stylish holster. Sellers have customized handguns and rifles with pastel colors and glittery accents. The women buying all these pink guns might not be who you think they are, says Laura Browder, Ph.D., professor of American studies at the University of Richmond and author of Her Best Shot: Women and Guns in America. "American identity is closely tied to guns and gun rights, and it cuts across political lines," she says.
A confident woman protecting herself—it is a tantalizing image, reinforced by dramatic headlines about women like Sarah McKinley, who last New Year's Eve leveled a 12-gauge shotgun at an intruder and killed him as he burst through her door. The teenaged mom and widow became an overnight celebrity, invited on national talk shows and lauded as a hero by no less than Sarah Palin, who said, "I love that young woman. I'm all in favor of girls with guns who know their purpose."
Men own the vast majority of the nation's nearly 300 million guns. But whether women are catching up to them has become a topic of debate. Women are the fastest-growing demographic of gun buyers, says Stephanie Samford, a spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association. Enrollment in women-only NRA shooting clinics grew from about 500 participants in 2000 to more than 9,500 in 2011. The number of women target shooting jumped by more than 50 percent during roughly the same period, reports the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms and ammunition trade group in Newton, Connecticut.
Gun-control advocates and researchers, however, say that sales to women are steady and that the "new feminism" hype is a way to try to stimulate sales in an untapped market. It's hard to know for sure because Congress has forbidden the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to track gun sales. The Federal Bureau of Investigation counts the background checks it runs, but that's all—it doesn't ask the sex of buyers or how many guns they stockpile.
Regardless, the question of whether guns keep women safe is settled—at least according to doctors, who insist they're life-threatening, not life-protecting. "To say that guns don't pose health risks runs directly contrary to all of the evidence," says James Bailey, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. He is the lead author of a watershed study that established the health risks to women who have guns in the house. Last year, an analysis of decades of studies published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine reiterated the message: Having a gun generally makes women and their families less safe.
Living in a home with a gun doubles your risk both of being murdered and of committing suicide, evidence from the 2011 analysis indicates. Living in one of the states with the highest rates of household gun ownership makes you and your kids seven times more likely to die in a gun accident. And merely living in the United States makes you 11 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than women in the other 25 highest-income nations.
Gun violence is one of the biggest health risks that young women and their families face today, says David Hemenway, Ph.D., director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center at the Harvard School of Public Health and author of the 2011 research analysis. "This is not a constitutional issue. This is not about politics. The danger that guns pose to women is a public health issue," he says. "A gun in the home is killing far more women than it is actually protecting."
Tarbox has read all about the dangers. "I know the statistics," she says. "But to suggest women are too weak and feebleminded to be around guns is incredibly sexist." Although she lives in a safe neighborhood and has never been a crime victim, she likes the idea of being prepared. "I'm 4 feet 11 inches tall. I can't protect myself with a hunting knife, but I can with a gun," she says.
But the belief that women need to arm themselves against strangers breaking into their home or attacking them on the street turns out to be largely a myth. More than 90 percent of women murdered in the United States are killed by someone they know, usually a husband, a boyfriend or an ex, an analysis of FBI crime data by the gun-control group the Violence Policy Center found. Cases like McKinley's, in which a woman kills someone in justifiable self-defense, are rare in the extreme. It happened exactly 24 times in 2010, out of 8,775 gun killings by men and women nationwide, according to the most recent FBI figures available.
Still, gun proponents defend the notion that you need a firearm handy to keep the bad guys at bay. They point to a 1996 study by Gary Kleck, Ph.D., criminology and criminal justice professor at Florida State University, who surveyed 5,000 adults and deduced that Americans used guns defensively—firing them or threatening to—about 2.5 million times per year. As many as 46 percent of those uses were by women, Kleck says. (He notes that the true percentage is probably lower because women tend to be more willing than men to share information.) If there is a break-in, pulling out a gun rarely leads to injury, Kleck's other data suggests; stalling, struggling or screaming are all more dangerous. "There is strong empirical evidence: Defensive gun use is effective in preventing injury and property loss," he states.
Hemenway's 2011 analysis of dozens of gun studies concluded differently—that having a firearm in the home does not deter burglary. In fact, it makes robberies more likely, as guns are attractive loot to criminals. Also, even if pulling a gun is safer than other forms of resistance, Hemenway says, using the same data Kleck looked at, the best "self-defense" of all seems to be simply running away or calling 911.
"The sad fact of it is, whether you feel safer with a gun has nothing to do with whether you actually are safer," says Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center. We imagine we would react like Sarah McKinley, whose steady hand saved her and her newborn baby. But women are more likely to find themselves in the shoes of Angelique Trono, a mother of four in an upscale neighborhood of Bend, Oregon. Her story didn't turn her into a national celebrity.
Trono had been the victim of an assault at a New Year's Eve party in 2009, and the random crime had traumatized her. Her husband, Stephen Trono, bought her a .38 special, saying he thought it would make her feel safer. "We signed up for a weapons class but never took it," he says.
On July 29, 2010, the family's first night in a new home, Angelique awoke with a start around midnight, Stephen recounts. There was a noise; Angelique sneaked into the living room, where Stephen had crashed on the couch. "Wake up!" she hissed.
Stephen, groggy after having taken a sleeping pill, grabbed a baseball bat and went outside to investigate. Angelique returned to the bedroom, felt under the mattress and retrieved her gun. She reached to her nightstand and found the bullets she kept there.
As she waited inside, gun loaded and ready, Angelique saw someone nearing the house. "Stephen" Is that you?? she called out softly. Then she said it again, more firmly. But the figure didn't respond, and he wasn't carrying the bat Stephen had left with. Whoever was there was moving toward her. Terrified, she fired.
"To shoot someone, whether you think your life is in danger or not, is a very, very difficult thing to do," she said in an interview with local TV station KTVZ. "It took everything I had to pull that trigger." When the man didn't fall to the ground, she worried the gun wasn't working—and fired off every bullet.
Through the darkness, she heard a calm voice: "Honey, I think you shot me." Stephen, shot in the abdomen and the hand, amazingly survived after three months in a coma and nearly two years of surgeries and rehabilitation. But his wife endured a police investigation (the district attorney's office did not file charges) as well as whispers from strangers that the shooting had been deliberate. Her kids got so much harassment, the family ended up moving. "It's a heavy burden for her to carry," Stephen says. "She feels as though she's 40 years old, and this is who she is on the Internet. She's the crazy woman who shot her husband."
"I don't want any other women, families and kids to go through this," Stephen adds. "I'm not against people's right to bear arms, but it has to be carefully thought out. Women, and men, too, need to have tremendous training if you want to be armed. And if you're psychologically unfit, don't have a gun. This is not Bonnie and Clyde. This is real life."
Unfortunately, it is rarely the case that the general population is skilled and calm enough under extreme circumstances to use a gun safely and accurately,? says Margot Bennett, executive director of Women Against Gun Violence in Los Angeles. As a result, women "often become the victim of their own weapon." About 691 Americans are killed in gun accidents yearly, estimates the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, and guns send people to the emergency department 16,652 times.
Even those who are highly trained in weaponry, like soldiers and law-enforcement officers, can experience changes in perception at the moment of shooting, such as muted hearing and a narrowed field of vision, finds research by former police officer David Klinger, Ph.D., associate professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. Stacy Lim, a 49-year-old sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department, experienced it herself when she shot and killed a carjacker in 1990. "I never saw his face," she says. "I had tunnel vision, and time seemed to slow down." Lim now counsels other officers who are involved in shootings and at risk for insomnia or nightmares. She worries about any woman who buys a gun, even if she gets training, but isn't frequently firing it. "If you don't practice regularly, your motor skills diminish under stress," she says. "You could miss or hit an innocent bystander."
That's a particular concern during a chaotic mass shooting: During the 2011 shooting outside a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona, that killed six and wounded 13 others, including former Representative Gabrielle Giffords, an armed bystander nearly shot the person who had just disarmed the suspect. Yet scary events may move Americans to buy guns. After the movie-theater massacre last summer in Aurora, Colorado, the Denver FBI office saw a jump of 41 percent in people applying for concealed-carry permits.
"It's always possible that an armed civilian might abort a mass shooting that otherwise would continue. But it's also possible that increasing the number of shooters will simply increase the number of casualties," says Garen Wintemute, M.D., an emergency physician and director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California in Davis. "More broadly," Dr. Wintemute adds, "increasing the number of armed civilians, given that we do such a poor job of screening who goes armed, makes it likely that shootings, injuries and deaths will increase."
Dr. Wintemute urges potential gun buyers spooked by recent events to take the long view: "That gun you buy is going to be part of your life. The question is not, Can you stop the next Aurora" It is, What will the impact of this gun be on the rest of my life? In most cases, my risk for homicide will increase. My risk for suicide will increase. Is that what I want??
Charlene Hill gets frustrated, too, when she hears women talk tough. A 55-year-old from Richmond, Texas, she is one of the few women in this country to have shot and killed someone with a gun in self-defense—not a stranger but her husband, Danny Hill.
Charlene says Danny abused her for years. In the middle of a fight on November 14, 2006, Danny turned on her in a fury—sparked, ironically, by the suspicion that someone had removed his gun safe from a storage unit. Charlene is forbidden by the court to discuss that night, but police records and her attorney describe a harrowing scene. More than a foot taller than his wife, Danny cornered her in the bedroom, blocking the door, and threatened to kill her. When he made a move toward Charlene, she shot him three times with the gun she kept in a bedroom drawer. "I never imagined, ever, I would use a gun to take another person's life," she says.
Hill's first trial ended in a split jury; a second one was cut short last year when she pleaded guilty to murder at the last second. The judge took the unusual step of deferring sentence for 10 years. If Hill stays out of trouble, the charge will be dismissed.
Although Hill's lawyer and friends call hers a "him or me" moment—and say that she embodies the argument that owning a gun can save a woman's life—she cannot let herself off the hook so easily. "You have nightmares forever," she says. "I haven't been able to get past it. The ramifications have been ungodly."
Immediately after her arrest, Hill was so dazed and despondent, her lawyer feared she would take her own life. Six years later, she's still in therapy. She doesn't sleep, and thoughts of suicide haunt her. "I have good days and bad days. Lately, the bad days are getting less bad."
Hill is OK with other women owning guns; many of her girlfriends do. But she urges any woman thinking of buying a gun for safety reasons to consider non-deadly options like stun guns or tasers, or at least get serious training. "I tell my friends, if they pull a gun, they'd better be ready to use it. Which is ugly. The thing they don't tell you," she says, "is when you start firing a gun, you just don't know what's going to happen next."
Despite warnings from health experts, lawmakers across the country are loosening restrictions on guns. This year alone, 16 states considered bills to allow carrying concealed weapons on college campuses, versus only three states that sought to ban the practice. Already, Colorado, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah and Wisconsin require campuses to allow some guns. Utah also allows concealed weapons on K—12 school property.
In Congress, Senator John Thune (R—SD) has introduced a bill that would let people who carry concealed weapons in their home state carry them everywhere else, too (except Illinois and the District of Columbia, which don't permit concealed guns). Yet a state like California, for instance, has strict rules for who can carry a concealed gun whereas, say, Vermont allows anyone to.
Hemenway worries about what some gun owners describe as a heightened sense of vigilance when they have a gun with them. "If you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail," he says. Yet 24 states now have laws that allow people to use deadly force to defend themselves if they feel threatened.
At the same time state and federal lawmakers are trying to make it easier to carry a weapon, they are also making it harder to learn about the health risks. In 2011, Congress barred military superiors from asking soldiers who live off-base about personal gun ownership, despite a spike in suicides among returning soldiers. The link between suicide and gun ownership is well documented. Suicide is the overall leading cause of death among purchasers in the first year after buying a handgun, Dr. Wintemute says. Among women 21 to 44 years old who bought weapons, half of deaths were suicides using guns.
Also last year, Florida became the first state to prohibit physicians from asking patients about gun ownership. Under the first-of-its-kind law, any doctor who raises the topic can lose her medical license and may pay up to $10,000. The law stemmed from an incident when a pediatrician asked a 26-year-old mother if there was a gun in her house. When the mom refused to answer, the physician said she needed to find a new doctor. "Whether I have a gun has nothing to do with the health of my child," the woman told a local newspaper. (A federal court blocked the law on the grounds that gagging doctors violated their First Amendment rights, but the governor has vowed to fight for the law on appeal.)
"A law that says you can't discuss a safety issue is crazy," says Louis St. Petery, M.D., a pediatrician in Tallahassee, Florida, and spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics. "Pediatrics is all about prevention—that's why kids get checkups." Among Americans younger than 20, firearms are more deadly than cancer, birth defects and infections. That's why Dr. St. Petery advises gun-owning patients to lock weapons in a cabinet, keep ammunition separate and employ child-safe trigger locks. "It's not about getting rid of guns—it's about storing them safely," says the pediatrician, who is a gun owner himself.
Gun-control advocates at the Brady Campaign argue for laws, like one in California, that require child-safety locks to be sold with every handgun. But NRA spokeswoman Samford says parenting decisions shouldn't be legislated. "Trigger locks can give gun owners a false sense of security," she says, adding that parents are already doing such a good job that safety laws are unnecessary: She notes that the number of accidental shootings has been dropping in recent years. "Gun safety is the NRA's bread and butter," she says.
The intractability of gun politics disappoints Hemenway. "I try to be a scientist, to look at the data," he says. "There is no question that you can find anecdotes where a gun in the home was beneficial. You can also find anecdotes when an airbag was detrimental or a motorcycle helmet caused a neck injury. But the evidence shows that, overall, a gun in the home increases the risk for injury. For most people, you can have a gun and nothing bad will happen. All public health is trying to do is help reduce the risk." That risk is real. Whether or not you buy a gun depends on how willing you are to live with it.
Photo Credit: Graeme Montgomery


text:
Copyright 2005 by Truth Publishing International, Ltd. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. CAT 212501 For information regarding this and other Truth Publishing books, please contact Truth Publishing International, Ltd: 1-520-232-9300 or email@example.com.
Table of Contents
How to end cruelty to people, animals and nature, and create a world without war and environmental destruction ...........................................................................................1 Cruelty to Animals ......................................................................................................................3 Cruelty to Nature ........................................................................................................................4 There is no them, only us .........................................................................................................6
How to end cruelty to people, animals and nature, and create a world without war and environmental destruction
What is cruelty? It is any harmful action taken against another living entity that disregards its consciousness or awareness. In this essay, well explore some of the levels of cruelty: how it happens, how its dened, and what we can do to help end cruelty and enhance compassion in the world. Cruelty exists in three distinct realms: cruelty against mankind, cruelty against animals, and nally, cruelty against nature. Lets start with cruelty against mankind, in which one individual may be cruel to another for a variety of reasons, usually relating to gaining personal control over resources (food, money, etc.) or other people. This concept of personal gain is an important factor in understanding human cruelty, since individuals are usually only cruel to others because they gain something from it. In fact, this is designed into our behavior and has been carried through our ancestry for hundreds of thousands of years. Picture this: two cavemen are sitting around a re at the end of the day. One spent hours gathering berries, and the other has nothing. The caveman with nothing can attack the caveman with the berries, take his fruit, and be all the more successful for it, at least in terms of survival and control of resources. From an anthropological point of view, there is an incentive for deceit, theft, and even harming other individuals, as long as it results in some sort of personal gain. In fact, we see this across virtually all species, but especially in those that are most closely related to humans, such as primates. Today, we see the very same thing happening when one nation attacks another nation in order to control its resources. Attacking a nation to take control of its oil supply is essentially the same as beating a caveman over the head and stealing his berries. It just goes to show how little weve actually advanced over the years. This brings us to a salient point: ending cruelty requires moving past our ancestral roots, and past the behaviors that are programmed into us because they once helped us succeed in an uncivilized world. Today we have to recognize that cruelty is not acceptable in the international community. It is not acceptable to attack and kill other human beings for any reason, and certainly not to take control of their resources in order to enrich ourselves. Likewise, it is not acceptable to exploit poverty-wage labor in third-world countries in order to enrich corporations and their CEOs in developed nations. But this is no anti-trade rant: free trade is essential for lifting poor nations out of poverty, but only when combined with mechanisms that respect the sanctity of human life such as safe working conditions, living wages, and a system of recognizing private property ownership for the poor. Read The Mystery of Capital by Hernando DeSoto, which is among the most important economic books of the last 100 years, to learn the real reasons why free trade has failed to provide economic freedoms for underdeveloped nations (and what we can do to change that).
Beyond war and economics, we also see cruelty in the world of medicine. Conventional medicine has a long and sordid history of using human beings for medical experiments, even right here in the United States. In fact, news recently surfaced about a hospital that had been using retarded children in radiation experiments. Click here for a Google search on this topic. This and many other medical experiments have been conducted on living, breathing people right here in the United States. This is one of the most egregious forms of cruelty, in that it is a harmful action taken against these people, and that it refuses to recognize the consciousness, spirit or awareness of these individuals. Just because someone cannot speak in words that we understand, or communicate with us in the manner in which we are used to communicating, doesnt mean that they dont feel pain, fear, pleasure or love. Thus, these medical experiments are a horrifying form of cruelty, and many continue to this day (behind closed doors, of course). In the realm of war, we see examples of cruelty as ofcial policy. In the United States military, for example, cruelty against Iraqi prisoners has become a global scandal. We have seen photographs and heard testimony from individuals who were engaged in all manner of cruelty against Iraqi prisoners, many of whom were innocent civilians. These people were subjected to appalling acts, including sexual torture, humiliation, and execution (as was actually caught on tape). Notably, it appears that the American soldiers engaged in this activity rather enjoyed it. In the United States, we increasingly nd a culture that supports cruelty. Much as we saw in 1939 Nazi Germany, this mindset often accompanies nationalism and pride in ones country. It goes hand in hand with the fervor surrounding fear-based propaganda typically orchestrated by a national leader in response to some sort of military attack. In Germany, it was the Reichstag. In the U.S., its 9/11. Regardless of the justication for military action, the apparent military goal seems to be little more than control of resources, which once again likens us to cavemen in my earlier example. Except in this case, we dont have to look at the faces of those we kill because it is all censored out of the press. The Pentagon even banned the lming of ag-draped cofns carrying our own (dead) soldiers back from Iraq. So what does it take to stop cruelty against fellow human beings? First, it requires teaching compassion. We must understanding that other human beings have souls and consciousness, and that is it not right to ignore those souls for personal gain, be it power, control of resources or some kind of nancial gain. This is a lesson that isnt being taught in American culture. Its not taught in our public schools, its not an element of free-market capitalism, it isnt something propagated by the press, and it certainly isnt practiced by the current government administration. As a population, we dont seem to understand that compassion is important. The next step toward ending cruelty is to stop meeting violence with more violence. If the problem is violence, then solving it will require a different approach, such as compassion, negotiation, or even an apology. The predominant mindset in response to terrorist attacks, for example, continues to be revenge. This revenge is propped up by the media and the war-mongering rhetoric of the current administration. But when we act on revenge, we simply create more hatred and more violence. We take out one Saddam Hussein, but we create 40 more who believe they have even more justication to attack the United States and kill even more Americans in future terrorist
attacks. It is a Medusa: kill one snake, and two more appear in its place. This is nothing but an escalation of violence, and it can lead only to more war, pain, suffering and death. Of course, all the U.S. companies that manufacture military hardware prot handsomely. The war industry in this country not depends on war for its economic survival. The way to stop this escalating cycle of violence is to adopt humility and compassion rather than ego and cruelty. Again, that stance does not seem acceptable by most of the American population, who continue to boast bumper stickers that read, These colors dont run, or American Pride. My favorite is God bless America, which implies two rather bizarre ideas: 1) that God blesses war, and 2) God shouldnt bless anybody else. I dont claim to know the mind of God, but I doubt the atrocities being committed against the Iraqi people in the name of the United States today are worthy of any divine blessing. To name just one such atrocity, the widespread use of depleted uranium in ordinance used by the U.S. military in Iraq is, itself, a weapon of mass destruction that is being used in clear violation of the Geneva Convention, and that will create lingering radiation throughout the Iraqi nation for generations to come. Depleted uranium is not at all selective in who it radiates. By its very nature, it is a weapon of mass destruction. Its all the more ironic, it seems, since Bushs promised WMDs never showed up in Iraq in the rst place -- so the U.S. military decided to bring its own and use them against the very nation it attacked on the premise that Iraq might someday develop WMDs and use them on other nations. To end these cruelties, we must move past the caveman mentality that tells us to take revenge on the caveman who beat us up and stole our berries. Unfortunately, thats the mindset we are operating with today, which brings into question whether we are correct in calling modern civilization advanced at all. We really havent advanced that far. We still act on the same basic emotions and stimuli as our ancestors.
Cruelty to Animals
Moving on, lets discuss the highly controversial subject of animal cruelty. Lets start with the premise that animals have souls and consciousness, and that they can feel pain. We now know that even simple-minded creatures such as sh can sense and feel real pain. Click here for a Google search about new research on sh and pain perception. And yet animal cruelty continues. Many think of animal cruelty as limited to people treating their dogs unfairly, or beating their pets out of anger. But as serious as that is, it is the least of the animal cruelty concerns. I believe that the greatest animal cruelty happening right now is in the food industry, where we are growing living beings and harvesting their esh in order to feed a nation beef and other meats. The conditions under which these animals are raised and harvested are atrocious. I believe it is cruelty at its worst to put a chicken in a cage so small it can barely turn around, and cut off its beak so that it cant kill another chicken or pluck out its own feathers. Cattle feeding practices in the United States right now are also a form of cruelty, since matter such as dead animals and chicken excrement are ground up and fed to cows. This is a standard, USDA-approved feeding practice in the cattle industry, by the way. Click here to search Google and see for yourself.
I also believe that the very practice of raising animals in conned environments, subjecting them to atrocious feeding habits and killing them in inhumane ways in order to harvest their esh and turn a prot is an outrageous form of cruelty to animals. I believe that in any advanced society such practices would be outlawed entirely. I nd no justication in this society to harvest the organs of animals for the consumption of human beings. People ask, What about the protein needs? and How will we feed the world if we dont harvest cattle? Actually, they have it backwards: if we dont switch to plant sources of protein, well never have enough land to feed the world. Harvesting and growing spirulina, for example, takes 1/100th of the acreage required by cattle for the same amount of digestible protein. And raising soybeans only takes 1/10th the acreage of raising cattle. Spirulina, by the way, has twelve times the digestible protein of beef, ounce for ounce. Raising cattle is one of the least efcient ways to feed the world. As long as people demand beef, though, an improvement over current cattle industry practices would be to mandate organic free-range practices, in which animals are still raised for food, but they live healthy, sane lives, and are given free access to the outdoors. They should have sunlight and clean water and the ability to live out a relatively normal, healthy life. And when they are slaughtered, it should be conducted in the most humane manner possible -- one that respects the life of each creature and how that creature is giving up its esh for the purpose of sustaining the life of a human being. That is slightly better approach to creating meat for consumption by human beings, and it is practiced by a few small organic and Kosher beef producers. Organic, free-range meats are available in the United States, but they dont make up the majority of meats available at grocery stores today. Another form of cruelty to animals is using them in experiments, which is often done by the cosmetic industry, the food industry, and to some extent by the U.S. military. Animals are routinely used in painful experiments, which I nd to be an unacceptable practice. These are living, breathing, conscious creatures, and just like human beings, they should not be subjected to cruel treatments if we are to call ourselves an advanced civilization of any kind. These animals feel the pain of these experiments. If a research worker is giving a pig third-degree burns so it can test burn-recovery drugs, that is cruel and unnecessary, and should be outlawed.
Cruelty to Nature
Lastly, we must discuss cruelty to nature. This is a phrase thats not often used in popular culture. To explain this concept, we must rst recognize that plants are also living, breathing beings. They have a nervous system, a structural system and a circulatory system. They are very much alive, although not in the same way that mammals or human beings are alive. Plants are indeed living creatures, and we need to recognize that and start looking at trees, for example, as tree-shaped beings. By and large, we fail to do that today, and through this failure, we as a species allow ourselves to commit outrageous acts of cruelty towards nature.
Some of the ways we express that cruelty is by polluting the rivers, streams and air with industrial wastes. We are killing the oceans through sound pollution and military sonar buoys (which is one reason why so many dolphins and whales are turning up on beaches these days). We are killing the coral by dumping toxic metals onto our crops, which creates toxic runoff that empties into the rivers, streams, and oceans. We are cutting down rainforests and systematically destroying the natural ecosystem of the planet. Little by little we are destroying nature here on Planet Earth, but this is not just an environmental issue: its an issue of cruelty. It is cruel to destroy an ecosystem, because doing so simultaneously destroys the life that depends on that ecosystem. Too often, those of us in western society think of plants as inanimate objects. However, if we could see them on time-lapse photography, we would recognize that they are living, breathing, moving creatures. On a slow scale of time, populations of trees actually migrate. A sunower will track the sun as it moves across the sky, minute by minute, so that its always getting the maximum sunlight possible. Flowers open and close in response to the cycles of daylight. These are not just automatic, machine-like reactions, as some might argue. These are the conscious actions of living, breathing creatures that deserve to be treated humanely. If we fail to recognize this in nature and continue to behave cruelly toward it, we will nd that there are terrible, devastating, natural results of our actions. Nature will eventually return to a state of balance, but nding that balance may involve some dramatic and unpleasant changes in the world around us. Nature can do just ne without human beings, and if we continue on our current path of cruelty towards nature, I have no doubt that we will be setting in motion a chain of events that will result in the sharp reduction of human population on this planet. I believe this will occur through so-called natural disasters, such as climate change or pandemics of infectious disease (the bird u virus is a strong candidate). This is not natures revenge. This is simply cause and effect of our cruelty to nature. Its a reection of our own cruelty to nature, coming back to haunt us. When we are cruel to animals, they cant ght back. But nature is resilient when we are cruel to it. Nature doesnt ght back; it overcomes. If we were to wipe out every single tree, uproot every blade of grass and kill every plant on the planet tomorrow, we might think we had conquered nature. But within a few short years, humanity would be wiped out due to climate changes and the devastation of the food supply. And a few short years after that, nature would return in full force, with far greater health and biodiversity without mankind. The wildlife, rivers and streams would, in time, return to their pristine, original state, and life in the oceans would again become abundant. All without man. I only hope that our civilization can nd ways to put an end to this cruelty without having to be wiped out by nature. I hope that we can nd a way to live in balance with nature. But to do that, we must put a stop to our cruelty. This means changing the way we live in harmony with our surrounding environment and taking an honest look at how we pollute the rivers and streams, oceans, airways, and the entire planet.
Take Back Your Health Power! Would you like to change your health outcome? Would you like to live the rest of your live in a painfree body, free from disease, full of energy, blessed with lucidity and vibrancy? Thousands of other people are achieving this right now by applying the information revealed in this manual... For more information visit http://www.TruthPublishing.com/TakeBackHealthPower.html
Copyright 2005 by Truth Publishing International, Ltd. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.


text:
Terms and Conditions
The terms and conditions apply to the use of the BlueRockLiving.com website. By placing an subscription/order with us, you are agreeing to accept these terms and conditions (Conditions).
Please note, these Conditions are subject to change at any time and without notice, and it is your responsibility to check these Conditions regularly before ordering products in case there are any changes. If you do not agree with the Conditions set out below, you should not use or access this website. Your use of our website constitutes your agreement to follow and be bound by these Conditions.
If you have any queries relating to the Conditions, please contact the customer service team before placing an order.
General Information
BlueRockLiving.com is the website of BlueRock which is the trading name of BlueRock Products Ltd, 70, Wendover Road, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP21 9LW, United Kingdom. These Conditions will apply between you and BlueRock Products Ltd, when you set up a subscription or buy an item from BlueRockLiving.com.
The Conditions do not affect the rights you may have under any relevant statutory law.
- Your contract for purchases made through BlueRockLiving.com is with BlueRock Products Ltd. You represent and agree that all goods ordered by you are for your own private and domestic use only and are not for resale.
- You must be eighteen years old or older to use this site. If you are under eighteen, you may only use this site with the agreement of, and under the supervision of, a parent or guardian. If you do not qualify, please do not use this site.
- You warrant that all details you provide to BlueRockLiving.com for the purpose of ordering or purchasing goods are true, accurate, current and complete in all respects; and that the credit or debit card you are using is your own and that there are sufficient funds in your account to cover payment of the product(s) ordered.
- You agree that email can be used as a means of communication, notification and billing between us. Please be advised that we will never ask for personal details or information via email. If you receive an email asking for your personal information, username or password, or payment information, please do not respond and contact our customer service team straight away.
- During the sign up and account creation process, your account is held under your chosen email address when you make a purchase. You are responsible for all actions taken under that email address and must only purchase from BlueRockLiving.com under your own chosen email address. If you think someone else might have access to it, you must change it. If there are any changes to the details supplied by you, it is your responsibility to inform BlueRock Products Ltd as soon as possible.
- You warrant that you will not use a false name or a known invalid credit card to order. Anyone caught deliberately entering an incorrect or fictitious /subscription order, or using a known invalid credit card will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. BlueRock Products Ltd reserves the right to end our agreement with you and to suspend or terminate your access to the site immediately and without notice to you if:
you fail to make payment to us when due;
or you breach any of these Conditions;
or when requested by us to do so, you fail to provide within a reasonable time, enough information to enable us to check the accuracy and validity of any information supplied by you, or your identity;
or we suspect you have engaged, or are about to engage, or are connected to or otherwise have way of being involved in fraudulent or illegal activity on BlueRockLiving.com
Your responsibilities if you break these Conditions;
You agree that if you break these Conditions, or any liabilities are incurred arising out of your use of this website, you will be responsible for the costs and expenses that we or our officers, directors, employees, agents and suppliers incur as a result of the breach, including reasonable legal fees (if applicable). You will remain liable if someone else uses your shopping account and/or personal information unless you can prove that such use was fraudulent.
Subscribing and Ordering
When making a subscription or placing an order, you agree that any and all information given is accurate and complete.
All subscriptions and orders are subject to acceptance by us and product availability.
For business purposes, each item requested counts as an individual order. Wherever possible, we will attempt to combine multiple orders in one shipment and on one invoice. Due to business requirements, however, orders may be shipped over several days in multiple packages. Subscription plan delivery items will be delivered together, this is not guaranteed for more than one subscription plan due to designated delivery dates.
Merchandise available for sale changes on a frequent basis. We reserve the right to make changes in our merchandise without notice. Availability information for products is listed on each individual product description. Some of our products may be available only in limited quantities, so we cannot guarantee that a product displayed on a previous visit to our website may still be available when you visit again. An item may be out of stock temporarily or permanently, or discontinued from our product line. When an item is no longer available, we take reasonable steps to remove it from the website as soon as we can. If BlueRockLiving.com does not have stock to deliver the goods you have ordered, we will not charge your credit or debit card until the items are back in stock and ready to be shipped.
We reserve the right at any time to modify or discontinue the Service (or any part or content thereof) without notice at any time.
We shall not be liable to you or to any third-party for any modification, price change, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.
We take great care to ensure that all information about our products, our subscription plans including prices, set forth on BlueRockProducts.com is up-to-date, accurate and reliable. However, there may be occasions when information contained on our site may contain incomplete data, typographical errors, inaccuracies as to merchandise price, size, colour or other matters, or an item that is no longer in stock. We do not warrant that the information accessible via this website is accurate, complete or current. Any errors are unintentional and we apologize if any information on the site is inaccurate. We reserve the right to correct errors and to update product information at any time, including after you have placed your order. We reserve the right to change prices of any product at any time.
The prices displayed on this website are quoted in British currency and are valid only in the United Kingdom. Prices are subject to change at any time. Relevant sales taxes, if any, shall be applied at checkout.
No contract for the sale of any product will exist between you and BlueRockLiving.com until we accept your order by shipping the product to you. The price of any item is not guaranteed until the item has been shipped to you. When this happens, we will confirm our acceptance of your order by sending you an email. If the price of a product you have ordered should change prior to shipment, you will be notified by email that your order has not been accepted by us and will not ship. You may re-order the item at the adjusted price if you wish.
This confirmation email will be sent to the email address given in your order form and will detail products ordered, payment method, cost and usual delivery times. You must check that all the details on this confirmation email are correct and contact us as soon as possible if any details are incorrect. If your order has not been accepted, you will receive an explanatory email from us detailing the reasons why.
BlueRockLiving.com accept most major credit/debit cards including: VISA and Mastercard via Stripe.
All credit and debit cardholders are subject to validation checks and authorization by the card issuer. If the issuer of your payment card refuses to authorize payment to us, we will not be liable for any delay or non-delivery. In the event that the items you have ordered are out of stock, your order will be cancelled and you will be refunded immediately.
The stated delivery period within which you will receive your order is approximate. Goods will be sent to the address given by you in your order.
These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with UK law and exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts in the event of a dispute.
Promoter: BlueRock is the trading name of BlueRock Products Ltd, company number 10822945 . The registered office is: C/O Clark Howes, 11 Bell Business Park, Smeaton Close, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP19 8JR, United Kingdom
Due to obvious hygiene reasons we do not accept returns of our toothbrushes..
Incorrect/Faulty/Defective Goods: we take great care in the despatch and packaging of our items. In the unlikely event of faults with, or damage to, the Products or if you have received an incorrect Product please contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com. If you notify us that you have received an incorrect or faulty Product, we will ask you to return the Product to us and once, acting reasonably, we have examined the Product and confirmed it is an incorrect or faulty Product, we will (at your option) replace the Product or provide you with a refund.
Items received that are not in perfect condition, or are not deemed faulty, will be returned to you, at your cost. Money will only be refunded once we have received the item.
Privacy Policy
We will never ask for personal details via email. If you receive an unsolicited email asking you for your BlueRock log in details, please contact our customer service team immediately.
We try to respond promptly to email messages from customers and visitors to our site.
However, we are under no obligation to respond to such messages, to maintain such messages in confidence, or to pay for such comments or submissions. Please be advised that all emails, comments, feedback, suggestions, ideas and other information disclosed or submitted to us will become our property. By submitting any email or correspondence to us, you thereby release all proprietary claims and intellectual or other property rights therein.
You agree that we may use and/or disclose information about you, such as demographics or your use of this site, in any way without revealing your personal information or identity. By taking part in promotions, contests or sweepstakes offered on the site, or by requesting promotional information or product updates, you agree that we may use your information for marketing and promotional purposes.
You are responsible for your communications and all consequences of their submission to us. Please do not: transmit to us material that is copyrighted by a third party, without that party's permission; send material that reveals trade secrets without permission of the owner of those trade secrets; send material that infringes on any third party's intellectual property rights without that party's permission; send material that is threatening, harassing, defamatory, obscene, hateful, abusive, defamatory or embarrassing to any other party; send sexually explicit images; send advertisements or solicitations; send chain letters or pyramid schemes; or impersonate another person. If you violate these provisions, or if we think you have violated them, we reserve the right to expel you from the site and prevent your future use of the site.
We do not accept liability (except as set out below) for any errors and/or omissions contained in our website and reserve the right to change information, prices, specifications and descriptions of listed goods, products and services at any time and without notice.
If an error is discovered in the price of the goods that you have ordered, we will inform you as soon as possible. We shall be under no obligation to fulfil an order for a product that was advertised at an incorrect price. In the event that you order an item and the price published on BlueRockLiving.com is incorrect for any reason, we will email you to inform you that we have not accepted your order, and that your order has been cancelled. You will be advised of the correct price of the subject product. You may re-order it if you wish. If you have already paid for the goods in the circumstances described in this clause, we shall refund the full amount within 30 days of the date of order. Should you choose to re-order at the correct price, a separate transaction will be posted to your credit card.
In the unlikely event that you receive goods which were not what you ordered or which are damaged or defective, or are of a different quantity to that stated on your order form, we shall make good any shortage or non-delivery, replace or repair any damaged or defective goods, or refund to you the amount you paid for the goods in question provided that you notify us of the problem in writing at the address stated in the confirmation email within 10 working days of delivery of the goods plus return the goods to us, unless we inform you that return is not necessary. This provision does not affect your statutory rights.
We have taken great care to provide accurate product images for each product for sale on the site. However, the colours we use, as well as the display and colour capabilities of your particular computer monitor, will affect the colours you actually see on the screen. We are not responsible for the limitations of your monitor and cannot guarantee that your monitor's display of any colour, texture or detail of merchandise will be accurate. Images that display toothbrushes for subscription plans are examples only, colours may vary. Although we strive to make sure all toothbrushes in the same order have different bristle colours to each other, this is not guaranteed.
The products sold on www.bluerockliving.com are provided for private domestic and consumer use only. Accordingly, we do not accept liability for any indirect loss, consequential loss, loss of data, loss of income or profit, loss of damage to property and/or loss from claims of third parties arising out of the use of the site or for any products or services purchased from BlueRockLiving.com.
We have taken great care to prevent internet fraud and to ensure that any data collected from you is stored securely and safely. However, we cannot be held liable in the unlikely event of a breach in our secure computer servers.
We shall have no liability to you for any delay in the delivery of products ordered or any other matters to the extent that the delay is due to any event outside our reasonable control, including but not limited to acts war, flood, fire, labour disputes, strikes, lock-outs, riots, civil commotion, malicious damage, explosion, governmental actions and any other similar events.
We make no warranty that the website will meet your requirements or will be uninterrupted, timely or error-free, that defects will be corrected, or that the site or the server that makes it available are free of viruses or other harmful material or represents the full functionality, accuracy, or reliability of the website. We will not be responsible or liable to you for any loss of content or material uploaded or transmitted through the website. If your use of the website or the site's material results in any costs or expenses, including without limitation, the need for services or replacement of equipment or data, we shall not be liable for those costs or expenses.
This website and its material are provided on as "as is" basis without warranties of any kind. To the fullest extent provided by law, we disclaim warranties, whether express or implied, including those of merchantability, non-infringement of third parties' rights, and of fitness for particular purpose. We make no warranties about the accuracy, reliability, completeness or timeliness of the site's material, services, software, test, graphics and links. This does not affect your statutory rights as a consumer, nor does it affect your right to cancel an order or return or exchange a product as provided herein.
We will not be liable, in contract, tort (including, without limitation, negligence), pre-contract or other representations (other than fraudulent or negligent misrepresentations) or otherwise out of or in connection with the Conditions for:
Any economic losses (including without limitation loss of revenues, profits, contracts, business or anticipated savings); or
Any loss of goodwill or reputation; or
Any special or indirect losses suffered or incurred by that party arising out of or in connection with the provisions of any matter under the Conditions.
Site Contents Ownership
This site is expressly owned and operated by Blue Rock Products Ltd. Unless otherwise noted, the design and content featured on this website, including illustrations, and other product details, icons, navigational buttons, images, artwork, graphics, photography, text, audio and video clips or content, software and the like, are owned by BlueRock Products Ltd. This website, as a whole, is protected by copyright, trademark, intellectual property and other applicable laws. All worldwide rights are reserved.
Third Party Information
We are not responsible for material displayed on third party websites or any other written material. The only prices that apply for BlueRock products are those stated on the BlueRock material. We cannot vouch for the reliability of prices stated on shopping directories or through any other third party. This website may contain links to sites owned and operated by third parties. These links are provided as a convenience to you and are not an endorsement by us of the products or materials on those sites. We are not responsible for the content of those sites and make no representation regarding the truth, quality or accuracy of same. Visiting the linked sites is at your own risk.
These Conditions are effective unless and until terminated by either party. If, in our sole discretion, we determine that you have failed to abide by any of these Condition, we may terminate your access to our website, upon which termination, you must destroy all materials downloaded or obtained from the site and copies of those materials, whether made under the terms of these Conditions or otherwise.
No waiver by us of any of these Conditions on any single or multiple occasion(s) shall be construed as a waiver of any preceding or subsequent breach of any of the Conditions.
Each provision of the Conditions shall be construed as separately applying and surviving even if for any reason one or another of these Conditions is held to be inapplicable or unenforceable in certain circumstances.
These Conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and by using this website you irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.


text:
How to IM in a Job Search
Use instant messaging (IM) services as a job search tool to receive real-time or near real-time job postings. An IM service enables you to send resumes and messages to anyone on your buddy list or contact list (the IM version of an address book), as long as that person is online.
What's IM?
IM is a quicker-than-e-mail alternative for online communication. IM enables you to chat online with another person in real time by typing messages back and forth. With an instant messaging service, you can see when others (who are also subscribed to the same service, generally for free) are online.
Examples of IM messages you might send to your buddy list include these:
I'm looking for a sales job. Not retail. Here's a resume. Can anyone push it around?
I'm trying to get hired in accounting by XYZ Corp. Know anyone inside who could walk my resume to HR or acct. mgr?
Have you seen any great job postings for insurance claims adjusters? Pls advise.
Who just interviewed for job you don't want? Maybe I do. Try me.
If you're ready to use IM as a job search tool, consider these tips:
Adopt a professional-sounding IM screen name. If you already have a goofy IM screen name (like nocrapola, 60isnew40, or girlgonewild), set up a new IM account used only for job searching with a no-nonsense moniker.
Add your IM information to your job search account at online job sites, social or business networks, and job referral services that support the technology.
Hacking is a dark side of computer security problems like worms, viruses, and other Internet ills that already plague e-mail. The number of "poisoned" instant messages is exploding, in part because of trust expectations. Although smart computer users know not to open suspicious e-mail, they're more trusting of a message sent from someone on their IM buddy list. Solution: Install antivirus software designed specifically for IM programs.
Getting started with IM
When you're ready to start with instant messaging, use these steps to download an instant messaging program:
Choose one or more of the more popular instant messaging services:
The more technically minded IMer who wants to be in several IM spaces at once can use free or inexpensive software, such as Trillian or Pidgin to help you keep it all straight.
Add buddies to your buddy list.
For job search purposes, the more the merrier.
Begin chatting away and building your network.


text:
Port Neches man struggles to get wife back from Mexico
Rocky Russell has a nice three-bedroom home in Port Neches that he recently finished remodeling, and the plan was for him, his wife Lupita and their son Estevan to enjoy the refreshed digs. The family of three's life wasn't unusual; Russell works as a contractor for the refineries, his wife took care of the family and Estevan was a student in the PN-G school district.
But all that's been put on hold since last summer, and right now, Lupita and Estevan are 1,100 miles away in Jalisco, Mexico, and Russell has rented out rooms in his remodeled house to cover expenses as he deals with one of the most trying ordeals of his life — how to get his wife back into the United States.
Lupita, 32, came to the United States illegally in 2000 and has been back in Mexico since the middle of 2010. She returned then, along with Estevan, to see her family and wait for Russell to petition the immigration department and secure her visa so the family could reunite and live happily ever after in Southeast Texas.
"The lawyer told me he could have her home by Christmas," said Russell, who met with an immigration law firm, Steven P. Mock and Associates out of Houston. This meeting took place in August 2010. $4,000 and 14 months later, not only is Lupita not back in Texas, she won't be home by this Christmas and she's banned from re-entering the country.
After several failed petitions, the plan was to apply for a waiver to get Lupita back into the country.
"The hardest part was telling my wife," said Russell, who broke the news to his wife over the phone when he found out this past July that they could not apply for a waiver to get her back in the states. "Telling her that everything we've tried to do for the last 10 years, going back and forth, trying to get the paperwork done, meeting with the lawyers, all of it. And I had to tell her, it's not going to happen."
Russell, 47, said he's upset that his country, where he's paid his taxes, can't do anything to help him get his wife back in the country.
"I support my wife, my family, she's not here taking anybody's job," said Russell, who's been married to Lupita since 2001. The couple met in Port Arthur the year prior while Russell was working with her brothers.
"I told my boss the day I saw her, 'I'm going to marry her,' and I did," Russell said.
He's written letters to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and Rep. Ted Poe to see if their offices can help. Hutchison's responded a few weeks later and said there wasn't anything they could do to help with a ban from the country. Poe's office has not responded.
The ban stemmed from 2007, when, while waiting for the immigration department to rule on whether or not they would grant his wife a visa to enter the country, Russell drove to Mexico and picked his wife up and attempted to bring her back across the border. He said he didn't try anything illegal, and when stopped at the Laredo border crossing, border agents asked to see his wife's documentation. Russell told them he was petitioning for her citizenship. The agents told Russell the paperwork wasn't going to work and she was told to return to Jalisco, but was not deported.
Four years later, the immigration department issued the ban because they said that Russell had said his wife was a citizen, and that led to the permanent ban.
"That's not what happened; I told them we were petitioning for her citizenship," Russell said.
Unfortunately, Russell not only got wronged by the border agents, according to his story, but he also received questionable legal advice, said Ojay Grace, an immigration attorney out of Houston, which happens all too often in the extremely complicated world of immigration law.
"It's very prevalent," said John Valdez, who oversees the immigration department for Garg and Associates, which has offices in Texas, California and New Mexico. "There are so many cases like (Lupita's) and we turn away people every week because there's no reason to take their money."
A phone call to Steven P. Mock and Associates was not returned by press time.
Valdez, 55, who's been practicing immigration law for the better part of 16 years, said Lupita's case sounds like it has "all sorts of problems."
"There's the unlawful presence ban, if you're in the U.S. for more than a year without status, you're banned from coming back to the country for more than 10 years, and she made multiple reentries in violation of that ban, and there really isn't a waiver for that ban. So, I don't know why the (lawyer) even took any money; I don't see where there was any relief available to her."
According to Valdez, barring a congressional miracle where they vote to let her in the country and grant her citizenship, there's no way for Russell's wife to get back into the country legally for the next 10 years.
"She's a high priority to keep out of the country, according to the government," Valdez said in a phone interview from his office in California. "There's no relief available. The only thing I can think of is a private bill, where Congress votes on it and makes her a citizen. What are the chances that's going to happen? I don't think that's going to happen."
"She's not in a good position, any way you look at it," said Valdez, "I don't give her any chance of getting back into this country until she's been outside of it for at least 10 years, starting from the last time she left the country."
"I wouldn't take the case," Valdez added.
As for Russell, he's got plenty to worry about as the countdown to heading to Mexico to see his wife and son nears. "Right now, I'm working on getting my bills caught up, just getting some other things caught up, and I figure by Christmas, get my money situated and head on down there."
The long-time laborer isn't sure what he's going to do yet about work when he gets to Mexico. "I don't know," he said with a nervous chuckle. Russell, who makes a good living working for the refineries, has no illusions about making that kind of money in Mexico.
"The average income down there is about $50 a week. I'm hoping I go down there, stay for a few months, keep an e-mail and just search for jobs here and just come back and forth between here and there."
Regardless of what he does, the time has come for him to see his family, especially his 10-year-old son, a U.S. citizen born in Texas.
"I can't leave them by themselves any more. It's become too much. It's too much on our marriage, too much on our son; he's having a lot of behavioral issues over there now. It's been rough and really hard for him. I haven't spent the night with my wife in five or six months."
The ordeal has also changed the way he views immigration into the United States.
"Most people on the outside, here in the South anyway, there's a stigma that these people are here and want to use our stuff and parasite off of our country. But we were just born to receive the rights from this country; these people risk their lives, some even die, just to get over here and get a job so they can take care of their family. And yeah, they put themselves in that position, but they're after a better way of life."
And while there are plenty that argue illegal immigration is hurting the country, the Federation for Immigration Reform estimated in 2010 that illegal immigration cost the U.S. taxpayers $113 billion, Russell said it's time to start documenting immigrants and put them on the tax rolls.
"We've opened the gates; let's document these people and give them Social Security numbers," said Russell. "Then they have to pay taxes for the work that they do. It seems like an obvious solution. If you're worried about drug cartels and criminals, start documenting these people coming in. That way you've got more Social Security numbers, more identification and all that, and then if they're here, I know who they are."
Ultimately though, Russell said it comes down to one thing – money.
"It's a racket, I don't care what anybody says. Immigration charges $500 and down, just for a document."
And while he's spent close to $10,000 in legal fees with no result, Russell is resigning himself to the fact that he's going to have to sell his home, all of his possessions, and risk the dangers of cartel violence to reunite with his family.
"I feel kind of powerless," he said over the inability to bring his family back. "I just don't understand — my country, my home, where I'm from, there's nothing anybody can do. Nothing?"


text:
Psycadelik Thoughtz
Tighter Slim Fit T-Shirt
Beautiful Girl Gold Plated Necklace
This is the best commercial that they made for Pepsi Audibles. Good job B.o.B
Bob I love the football cameos and songs. This is tight. Keep repping the Falcons, they need Love in route to the SB. You should do something for them Clemson Tigers because they need some love too...
I dont watch football at all but i must watch this game juxx 2 see my baby B.o.B!!!!


text:
Explore the help topics, and if you can't find your answer or just want to say 'hi', please come by the forums (which are filled with friendly folk, we promise!) or email us.
Top questions
Getting system status...
Visit status for more updates
Quick question?
Tweet @rememberthemilk
How do I add the gadget to Google Calendar?
Please see the Remember The Milk for Google Calendar page to get started.
Still need help? Contact a human


text:
Charles Rennie Mackintosh "Studio Roundel" design sterling silver brooch measuring 29mm (1.1″) diameter.
- The Charles Rennie Mackintosh Brooch Collection
- Sterling silver with additional Cairn TM "Rhodium" tarnish resistance treatment so your product will remain bright and fresh and you won't have to spend time doing the tedious job of cleaning and polishing.
- Cairn stands behind its products with an unconditional manufacturer's defect full one year guarantee by repairing or replacing any product with no cost to the customer. With its unique style and quality, Charles Rennie Mackintosh Jewellery by Cairn celebrates natural form today as in days gone by. The leaders in their field, it is this legacy that has inspired Cairn's gorgeous range of fine sterling silver and gold jewellery.
Fabulous Quality Designer Scottish Jewellery.
This brooch benefits from the addition of the Cairn Rhodium anti-tarnish treatment which vastly reduces the tarnishing which is so often an issue with standard sterling silver, so cleaning and polishing will virtually be a thing of the past!
Dedicated jewellery presentation box included. Delivered fast from stock.