Part One: Bob the Cat's Amazing Adventure and New Life

Good Day World!

His name is Bob (photo).

They said he was un-adoptable at the cat sanctuary because he would go ballistic if you tried to pick him up.

Tales of his aversion to being touched were passed on to visitors. Some said he was feral. 

Bob's chances of adoption were so poor that management was even considering turning him loose in the streets because of the need for more space.

Then Bob's luck changed. His story got to me via my sister Linda. She already had three cats, and didn't want a fourth one, but she wanted to rescue Bob.

Linda called me and pointed out (quite rightly) that I only had two cats, and that I would be saving Bob's life.

I live in Oregon. Linda lives in Southern California. So I flew down with my wife, Shirley, and we got all the necessary paperwork to allow Bob to fly back with us from a veterinarian.

We bought a cat carrier and Shirley picked Bob up with no problems. She talked to him for a moment then put him in the carrier.

This was a surprise after hearing how crazy he was capable of being. Things went well...at first. 

We arrived at the airport with Bob in tow, and passed through security. At one point Shirley had to take Bob out of the carrier so they could inspect it for a bomb.

Then she had her photo taken by a PR person from the airline who said they may use it to show how pet-friendly they are.

We boarded the plane with no incident. Five minutes after take-off the terror started! 

Somehow, Bob had chewed away a corner of the brand new carrier - situated beneath the seat - and a desperate paw was swatting at Shirley's feet!

SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN TOMORROW'S POST

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Results in for Latest Episode of Who is the Biggest Liar?

                                   Good Day World!

Let's take a look at last weeks episode of "Who is the Biggest Liar?" aka, the latest Republican debate.

Picking right up on the theme that has run throughout the primaries, the Republican candidates didn't hestitate to pounce upon one another in their quest to see whose pants burned up first!

Ted Cruz rang the bullshit bell when asked about loans from two large banks totaling as much as $1 million that fueled his 2012 Senate campaign. He admitted he failed to disclose the loans to the Federal Election Commission saying, "Yes I made a paperwork error." 

FACT: 
Citing a mere "paperwork error" in failing to report to the FEC glossed over the fact that the law requires candidates to make such reports to the election regulators.

To compound his "little error" he never addressed the fact that a large chunk came from Goldman Sachs, where his wife works as an executive, and whether that might have made the loan possible.

Ben Carson's claim that Islamic State militants are smoking cigars and sitting around in chairs at our expense is patently false.

If Ben would have done his homework he'd know that IS fighters not only don't smoke anything(!), but also impose draconian fines on people who they catch smoking.

Donald Trump tried to deny he ever said anything about favoring a 45% tax on Chinese goods. "That's wrong. They're wrong," he sniveled.

FACT:
Trump began wriggling out of his idea for a massive tax on Chinese goods soon after he told the Associated Press last week that he would impose one and that "the tax should be 45 percent."

Sorry Donald, but it's in print, and you know you said it.

Jeb Bush, Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio all played the same fiddle when they claimed "Every American weapon system has been gutted." 

FACT:
These broadsides were stated in sweeping terms that reflect defense budget cuts approved by a Republican-controlled Congress and signed into law by Obama.

Actually some key elements of the military have expanded, including the special operations forces.

The defense budget problem has been worsened by repeated partisan conflicts over "sequestration," or automatic budget cuts that resulted from the 2011 budget control agreement between the White House and the Congress. (Information gathered from AP reports)

And the winner of Who is the Biggest Liar is...(drum roll) Donald Trump! (Doubling down on a proven fact gave him the edge in this next-to-last episode.)

Until next time.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Notes from 'Diary Of A Dog Walker'

Good Day World!

I've been working on a book lately - tentatively titled Diary of A Dog Walker.

Here's a few notes on the project:

Taking a walk with a dog is a divine experience. My pug, Molly (photo), is a happy walker! She loves going to the park near our house and walking the perimeter.

"Today, I sparked up a strain of marijuana called Dawg Walker. Perfect! I really zoned in on the trees everywhere, and the great views of the mountains that surround us in Medford."

At my age (65) walking is highly recommended (at least 20 minutes day). Walking with a dog takes the exercise out of walking, and transforms it into a peaceful experience where you can commune with nature.

"Molly likes to chase birds. A flock suddenly took flight as we passed the children's playground and Molly lunged, only to be abruptly halted by the length of her leash. 

She barked at them in frustration, while I wondered what she'd really do if confronted with some birds up close and personal?

Molly is not shy when it comes to meeting other dogs. The meetings go well 99% of the time. I'm always amazed at how size doesn't intimidate her (she weighs all of 16 pounds). I think it's true that little dogs don't know they're little."

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Updated List of Clickbaiters and Fake News Sites Available

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Thanks to Snopes.com, here's a list of clickbaiters, and fake news sites. 

It's a trip that will take you down an alley where social media exploits the dark side of things.

Have you ever wondered where the flotsam floating around the internet comes from? Well this field guide will set you straight.

The sharp increase in popularity of social media networks (primarily Facebook) has created a predatory secondary market among online publishers seeking to profitably exploit the large reach of those networks and their huge customer bases by spreading fake news and outlandish rumors. 

 Competition for social media’s large supply of willing eyeballs is fierce, and a number of frequent offenders regularly fabricate salacious and attention-grabbing tales simply to drive traffic (and revenue) to their sites.

Take a few minutes and GO HERE to get the full scoop.

While the myriad sites referenced above represent only a small sample of the overall “satire” nuisance on social media, many widely-dispersed fake news claims have originated with them. 

All of the above-mentioned sites exist solely to spread false information, and none can be trusted as legitimate sources, no matter how compelling their claims might be.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Extremist Anti-Obama March Organizers Get Drunk - One Shoots the Other Between the Eyes!

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It doesn't look like there's going to be a Paul Revere 2016 Final March to Restore America.

Planning for a cross-country march to “restore America” — which is related to the Oregon bird sanctuary standoff — appears to have hit a snag when one of its organizers shot the other co-founder Monday afternoon during a drunken argument over a gun.

While authorities have been vague about the shooting, social media posts by right-wing “patriots” associated with militants occupying an Oregon bird sanctuary identified the victim and shooter as one of the organizers of a planned anti-Obama march.

His name was Charles Carter.

Bill Williamson, a right-wing “patriot” associated with the Oregon militants, said Carter was drunk and pulled Smith’s gun from its holster, but Smith drew a “spare gun” and shot his friend in the head (between the eyes to be exact).

Think about that. These two gun-toting extremists were hoping to put together a coalition of crazies to travel across the country in a quest worthy of Don Quixote.

Their goal? To make Obama step down from his job prior to the November elections. What on God's green earth makes those idiots even think something like that was possible?

Vincent Smith, the guy who shot Carter, hasn't announced if the march is still on yet. I suspect he's lost any credibility he might have had among the "super patriots" and "3%'s." 

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Dangerous Precedent: Why We Have To Look at How We Deal With Domestic Terrorists

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While there's good reason to be concerned about foreign terrorist attacks in the USA, the real threat to the homeland is from domestic terrorists.


(Oregon domestic terrorists state their demands photo via Google Images)


Here's a list of domestic terrorist groups and notable terrorist attacks.

The Federal government is currently setting a bad precedent on how to deal with domestic terrorists. I refer to the armed standoff at Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Shortly after the militia members occupied the refuge on January 2, the local sheriff, Dave Ward, called on them to go home. They have refused to leave, and the Federal authorities have not forced them to heed Ward's demand.

Locals want them gone and have made that plain, but the situation at the sanctuary continues to worsen.

Oregon Sheriff Accuses Armed Protesters of Intimidation, Harassment

People are asking why these men have been allowed to seize government property (from trucks to paperwork) with such impunity? 

Word is that the feds don't want another Waco or Ruby Ridge. But does that mean there's no other answer than to wait until the protesters decide to leave, and to let them get away with breaking dozens of laws?

There has to be another answer. The obvious answer has been ignored by the feds:
Shut off the power to the building, turn off the water and block the road coming, and going. Don't let food or supplies get in.

With the snow and freezing temperatures working as a reason to leave,the terrorists will end their siege themselves.

Yet, no one has done this. I've read the comments to the news article on this standoff and the answer is clear to most people - just not to the feds.

The protestors plan to hold a community meeting on Friday to explain why they took over a building there and when they will leave.

LaVoy Finicum, one of the protesters at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, announced the meeting Tuesday, the eleventh day since the group took over a federal building there and demanded the government turn over federal land to local control.

The mishandling of this illegal occupation is setting a dangerous precedent. What if other hate groups start using this method to get their demands met?

Oh yea, and just imagine if the next illegal takeover is done by a group of armed African-Americans with their own agenda? What do you think the chances are of it ending in a bloody shoot out?

That's right. Anarchy in America.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Why Do Republicans Always Misquote Adolf Hitler?

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Why do Republicans like to misquote Adolf Hitler so often?

You'd think if they were going to use historical quotes to make an important point that they'd at least fact check them.

But nooooo......

Let me give you two prime examples of what I'm talking about:

#1 Adolf Hitler didn't say that the best way to control a people is to "take a little of their freedom at a time." He didn't even think that.

Aside from the fact that this quotation does not reflect something Hitler ever said or wrote, it's also false if simply considered as a shorthand version of what Hitler thought and/or did. 

These words reflect a misperception that Hitler's political maneuvers on his way to seizing dictatorial control over Germany were akin to the legend of the boiled frog, that Hitler supposedly made a series of small, gradual changes in German law and government that chipped away at the rights of the citizenry over an extended period of time, avoiding any single large changes that might provoke resistance from the people until it was too late for them to effectively oppose him.

In fact, this is the historical opposite of what happened. Once he gained a position of political authority in Germany, Hitler quickly headed down the road of consolidating power by making very large changes in a short period of time.

#2  Adolf Hitler never said, "To conquer a nation, you must first disarm its citizens." 

This purported quote from Adolf Hitler about the disarming of citizens being essential to "conquering a nation" is frequently cited by Republicans (and the NRA) in discussions about gun control in the United States, but... 

No one has ever turned up a source  documenting that Hitler literally said this (or something very similar). 

Despite the fact that both of these quotes are patently false they've been circulating for years. The only thing I can think of is no one using these quotes ever bothers to verify them.

Like propaganda sound bytes, these Hitler quotes aren't meant to convey reality, but only to further political aims.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Imagine a place where it rains diamonds!

                                                          

YouTube video: Raining Diamonds on Saturn

                                  Good Day World!

They say diamonds are a girl's best friend. If that's the case then women should stop associating themselves with Venus and switch to Saturn.

It rains diamonds there. No, really...

New atmospheric data for Saturn (and possibly Jupiter) indicates that carbon is abundant in its dazzling crystal form, according to Dr Kevin Baines, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Lightning storms turn methane into soot (carbon) which as it falls hardens into chunks of graphite and then diamond.

Baines presented his unpublished findings at the annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society in Denver, Colorado, alongside his co-author Mona Delitsky, from California Speciality Engineering.

The findings are yet to be peer reviewed, but other planetary experts contacted by BBC News said the possibility of diamond rain "cannot be dismissed".

Two More Planets?

"The idea that there is a depth range within the atmospheres of Jupiter and (even more so) Saturn within which carbon would be stable as diamond does seem sensible," says Prof Raymond Jeanloz, one of the team who first predicted diamonds on Uranus and Neptune.

Imagine that? It's raining diamonds on Saturn, Jupiter, and even Uranus and Neptune.

Why bother going to Mars when any of these four planets could be a harvesting bonanza for diamonds?

Just a thought.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

BUSTED! El Chapo's Downfall Was Vanity

Good Day World!

When Carly Simon sang her hit song, "You're So Vain" it could have been about anyone.

Even the world's most powerful drug lord, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman. (photo via Rueters)

After escaping from prison and eluding Mexican and American authorities since last July, El Chapo's vanity proved to be his falling.

NBC News has learned from multiple U.S. sources that Hollywood producers seeking to turn the Sinaloa cartel chieftain's life story into a movie notified U.S. officials that they were working on the biopic and were headed to Mexico for research.

At least one source says the information gleaned through the Hollywood contacts may have helped lead to Guzman's recapture.

During a press conference after his capture, Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez Gonzalez said that an "important element in determining Chapo's whereabouts was finding out that he wanted to film an autobiographical film."

It's safe to say more than one man has been brought to his knees due to his vanity. Maybe El Chapo can get Carly Simon to sing it to him in jail if he gets transferred to the US!

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Exploring the Fine Line Between Propaganda and Public Relations

Good Day World!

Public relations and propaganda are not that far apart. Sometimes the two are so intertwined it's impossible to know where one starts and the other leaves off.

Definitions

Propaganda: information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Public Relations: is the practice of managing the spread of information between an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) and the public.
(source Wikipedia)

Examples:

After the Nazi Seizure of Power in 1933, Joseph Goebbels' Propaganda Ministry quickly gained and exerted controlling supervision over the news media, arts, and information in Germany.

What resulted was pure propaganda.

Today America is the home of more lobbying firms than any other country on the earth. Even more troubling;

U.S. lobbying, PR firms give human rights abusers a friendly face

A Center for Public Integrity review of records disclosed to the Justice Department reveals that the 50 countries with the worst human rights violation records have spent $168 million on American lobbyists and public relations specialists since 2010.

The result? Propaganda, or Public Relations? It seems pretty clear cut to me, but apparently these companies get away with mixing the two for big money.

What’s more, the number of active contracts for representing countries with poor human rights records has climbed by 40 percent from 2013 to 2015.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Army Food Cookbook? Things sure have changed since I served 47 years ago...

Good Day World! 

Back when I was in the Army the last thing it was known for was good food. 
Army food was a bad joke.
(Photo: Rian Castillo/Flickr)

From my basic training at Ft. Ord, California (1969), to my tour of duty in Vietnam (1970), the food was crap. No other way to put it.

It seemed like our government didn't think "good food" was a priority back then. I certainly wasn't a fan of our MREs (Meals, Ready-to-Eat).

Interestingly enough, I did like some of the WWII rations that still made the rounds like Beans & Franks. Put some McILHENNY's Tabasco sauce on them, and I was a happy guy.

Back to the present.

The US Army Institute of Environmental Medicine is currently investigating how military food rations affect gut health. That's got to be a first!

The Institute is actively recruiting volunteers for a 21-day study to determine if there's enough good gut bacteria in the military diet.

And get this, Army dietitians have even devised a cookbook that utilizes MRE foods! Hard to believe. Forgive my skepticism, but until I try these new MREs (which frankly isn't likely) I'll reserve judgement on how good they taste.

Time for me to walk on down the road...