respublica

Hurricane aid, how you can help

Many agencies will be gearing up to help those in the gulf coast recover from the devastation of hurricane Katrina and most understand the importance of the initial response of water and food and dry clothes.  If anyone is looking for a place to send relief money I can recommend the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod World Relief and Human Care agency.  They have excellent history of being on the ground immediately when horror hits with aid and they stay beyond the initial stages in order to help the rebuilding process.   

At first glance...

My first reaction on seeing this photo over at Florida Cracker was "oh, thank goodness the dog is ok and not flooded out."  Turns out, however, its more than a little maddening to find out the owner kept him chained to his doghouse the entire time the hurricane whirled through.  The aftermath of the hurricane in New Orleans is almost beyond belief to those of us sitting safe and dry in the midwest.  There is no metaphor that can begin to explain it.  Prayers ascend for all.

Collinsville Unit 10 negotiation update

The Collinsville school board will meet tonight to discuss the latest salary offer from the teacher's union.  It appears as though there is some movement and some effort to find a compromise between the 3 percent raise offered by the district and the 7 percent asked for by the teachers.  From what I have been hearing, agreement is getting closer and the parties are cautiously hopeful .  If the board rejects the latest offer, teachers could take a strike vote after the long holiday weekend.

Stratford v Shiner in 05?

These two west Texas towns played the championship game in the Texas 1A bracket last December with Shiner, home of the famous Shiner beers, winning.  As everyone who follows sports knows, Texas is a fanatical football state, but it wasn't until I blogged the 1A playoffs last year did I realize how closely people down there follow high school football.  Who'd a' thought an Illinois blogger would be getting read by them.  And, during this past week I noticed my blog stats showing more than a few internet searchers finding this site when looking for Shiner or Stratford football.  Everyone from down there who wrote me was gracious and informative about what it is like to be a part of Texas high school football and I thank them.

So...I decided to take a look at the early season rankings for these two teams in order to see if there might be a chance they will meet again in December.  After the first week of play both Shiner and Stratford are ranked, 5th and 6th respectively.  The Stratford Elks laid into West Texas on Saturday winning 54-0.   Can't find a first game result for Shiner, but I would bet they won if they are still ranked ahead of Stratford after one week.  Could be a repeat of 2004 come the end of the season. 

Previous posts from there can be found here and here and here and here.

Poor thing

Belleville Humane Society officials found a squirrel with an arrow through its head and although still alive, appeared to be quite weak.  They took it away in a carrier and were hoping to find a veterinarian who could help the poor thing.  A Humane Society spokesman said he believes this inhumane treatment was likely caused by someone tired of squirrels in his yard.  Photo is gruesome, but I think it needs to be shown.

via the Belleville News-Democrat

How do you want that veggie burger cooked?

Another indication that those looking out for us just can't quit finding things wrong with what we eat.  This time a study shows that grilled chicken, steak, pork, and skin on salmon become infested with the cancer causing heterocyclic amines, or HCA for short.  Seems the HCA's are formed at high levels the longer and hotter meat is cooked.  So I guess we want that steak rare and we should take a chance on undercooking chicken in order to avoid this?  No, what is suggested is we switch to "veggie burgers" and vegetable kabobs.  Will the bar b que grill industsry take a hit now?  Nah.  We Americans like our meat cooked outside over a hot fire.  Here's hoping some of these studies find their way to the dusty back shelf.

This news comes right in time for all of our Labor Day cook-outs.  How divine.

Quiet signing - saving lives

On August 12 Governor Blagojevich signed the "Born Alive Infants Protection Act into law" with little or no press fanfare.  According to the Illinois Leader most of the governor's signings are done during much bally-hooed press conferences, but not this one. 

The Act itself, sponsored by state Senator Bill Haine, D-Alton and state Representative Brandon Phelps, D-Harrisburg, now defines babies who are born alive, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, as human beings under Illinois law.  In effect what this means is a baby who survives an abortion will now be considered a real person and must be allowed to live. 

According to nurse Jill Stanek, Concerned Women for America (CWA) of Illinois’ Pro-Life Coordinator, "After forced premature delivery abortions at Christ Hospital, babies were often born alive and left to die, sometimes in a soiled utility room."

The law's language does not speak to any definition of human being before birth and further nothing in the legislation must be interpreted to "affirm, deny, expand or contract any legal status or legal right to any infant at any point prior to being born alive."

In other words, up until the moment of birth there will be no discussion of whether the baby is a human being or not.  But the child must be allowed to live if, when it is born, it is alive.  Compromise among legislators is a fact of life.  But kudos to Haine and Phelps for this sponsoring this bill. 

All eyes on the eye

With Hurricane Katrina wreaking havoc all over the southeast and Gulf coast, Florida Cracker has a good round up of up to date information.  Much of her news is the kind you don't get other places, and since she is a veteran of last year's Florida hurricanes, she knows of what she speaks.

Talk do not run

The MAtH (man about the house) and I are amazed at Dianne Isbell's Monday Etiquette column this morning because she just machine guns out the questions and answers.  Bing bang boom.

Me:  Dianne's column leaves me almost breathless today.  I can picture her in her home office ripping open envelopes, reading the question and banging out an answer on her electric typewriter.

MAtH:  Now be nice, Dianne probably has a computer.

Me:  Anyway question one comes from a woman who is getting tired of a couple of friends who dominate conversations and never let the others get a word in.  She asks Dianne:  "My mother says there is a famous quote and it is something about listening and not talking. Do you know it? Should I really say it?"

MAtH:  Of course there is a famous quote, which one did Dianne pick?

Me:  Bwahahahahahahahaha...Ok, listen to her answer...Perhaps your mother is thinking of the social satirist, Fran Lebowitz, who said, "The opposite of talking is not listening. The opposite of talking is waiting." It is a great quote but it may be lost if you use it on your ill-mannered friends because they may not understand it.

MAtH:  The social satirist who?  I have never heard of Fran Lebowitz.  And I don't understand the quote at all.

Me:  This is so amazing.  Not only does the quote make no sense at all, but who would ever have guessed Dianne Isbell would even know who Fran Lebowitz is?

MAtH:  Well, who is Fran Lebowitz?  I thought she'd find a quote from Proverbs or something.

Me:  Me too, but Lebowitz wrote Metropolitan Life and the Preppy Handbook back in the 80's.

MAtH:  Must have missed it.  Social satirist?  whew

Me:  Anyhow, the other questions and answers are so funny and so bizarre there must have been a full moon when this column was written.

MAtH:  I liked the one about the after dinner drinks.  "How many kinds of after-dinner drinks or liqueurs do you think one should have available when hosting a dinner party for eight people?"

Me:  And she recommends? 

MAtH:  Not more than four or five.  But who has 4 or five kinds of after dinner drinks? 

Me:  Who even has one?

MAtH:  After dinner drinks should be coffee or tea.

Me:  Which brings us to another question.

MAtH:  Oh, boy, really It's getting late. 

Me:  Ok, but you have to hear this one.  Some asks her:  "Which is correct: restroom or bathroom?"

MAtH:  Now we know she just makes these things up.  Who would take the time to write such a thing?

Me:  Before you leave today, here is the definitive answer to this nagging question: "Restroom is the term for facilities in public places or anywhere outside the home. Bathroom is the term for facilities in your or someone else's home."

MAtH:  In a strange way this makes sense.  You wouldn't be taking a bath in a public facility. 

Me:  On that note, don't you have to get going?

MAtH:  On to our "bathroom" to get ready for work. 

Barack Obama finally gets out of Siberia

Senators Barack Obama and Richard Lugar R-Indiana were held up by Russian authorities today as they tried to fly out of Perm, a city in Siberia.  The two had been visiting sites in Russia for three days, sites which once stocked weapons of mass destruction in the form of warheads.  Their leaving was held up several hours and it was not until discussions took place between U.S. and Russian officials that they boarded the plane and got the heck out of there.  No one seemed to know exactly what the nature of the dispute was.   Illinois will probably look pretty good to Senator Obama today.