Dog Food Recall Goes International: 5,000+ Brands of Pet Food Now Affected

The pet food recall nightmare is continuing to unfold, and it has gotten worse and worse.

A careful review of all the current brands under recall at the FDA web site shows that over 5,000 individual brands of pet food have been recalled.

Now word is getting out that other countries have the same problem that we do: contaminated wheat gluten was exported overseas; it may have been fed to other animals, such as pigs, cows and other farm animals, which made it possible for contagions to enter into the human food chain as well.

The Chinese clearly aren't up to manufacturing food products for export; our FDA also isn't up to intercepting inbound poisons that made their way into the food chain from countries like China.

I think this shows that while we should be concerned about avian flu, we should be more worried about contaminated food, which has the ability to knock down many more people than bird flu would/does...and much faster too.

This definitely needs more attention from the government.

Airing of Killer's Rants Leads to Backlash Against Media

The Virginia Tech community reacted with outrage at the airing of a series of disturbing videos, photos and writings of the perpetrator of Monday's massacre on the VT campus. Some families pulled out of appearing on the Today Show to protest the callous airing of the rant.

And ALL the news organizations played parts of the video; shame on ALL of them for giving this killer air time.

I'm in total agreement with Dr. Michael Warner, who said in an interview "...just listen, if you can take Imus off the air, you can certainly keep [Cho] from having his own morning show."

All these analysts should close their mouths and quit trying to analyze this lunatic killer. They're just adding insult to injury when they play back parts of the trash he mailed to the media to help explain why this evil human being did what he did.

This really sucks.

Virginia Tech Massacre: Remembering the Lost and the Injured

Memorial services were held today for students and professors who lost their lives in yesterday's mind-blowing and horrific attack on the Virginia Tech community.

All of this brings memories of Columbine back anew.

It's all so sad and meaningless. Thirty-two people were murdered by a madman; it emerged that a fellow Virginia Tech student was responsible for the heavy loss of life.

Thinking of all the victims and their families, as well as everyone at VT. May God be with them all.

USS Pueblo Still Intact and Being Used By North Korea for Anti-American Propaganda Purposes

North Korean officials took a surprised U.S. delegation aboard a captured U.S. Navy spy ship on Monday, saying it represented "...continued U.S. aggression against North Korea."

Governor Bill Richardson said it was a pure propaganda move on the part of the North Koreans.

The USS Pueblo was captured in January 1968; it's crew was held for eleven months before being released by North Korea. They kept the ship and have used it for "anti-American education" ever since.

North Korea has dangled returning the ship to the U.S. Navy in exchange for a high-level visit from the U.S. Secretary of State, but that has been flatly refused by the U.S. government. The U.S. Navy still has the Pueblo on the books as an active unit, and does want it back, but the current level of tension between the U.S. and North Korea has made it impossible to facilitate a transfer.

The Pueblo is the only U.S. warship under the control of a foreign power, and was the first ship to be captured since 1941, when invading Japanese forces captured the USS Wake in Shanghai's harbor.

Duke Rape Case Dropped: Critical Mistakes by Former Prosecutor Plus Witness Changing Story Guaranteed This Outcome

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

The Duke lacrosse rape case totally (and finally) collapsed today when the North Carolina Attorney General dropped all charges against three lacrosse players from Duke University, clearing the way for the formerly accused to get their lives back on track.

This case should never have been brought.

The former prosecutor didn't interview the "victim", released statements to the media which looked like he was prosecuting the case on TV, violated police line-up procedures, ignored DNA evidence which pointed away from the accused players, and ignored the victim changing her story repeatedly.

The former prosecutor is facing disciplinary action from the state bar related to his conduct during this case. They need to make an example out of him to discourage other "borderline" prosecutors from this kind of conduct.

Prosecuting someone for political gain and not for breaking the law is a terrible abuse of power.

Powers That Be Announce That Gas Will Be $2.75 Per Gallon Over Summer: THANKS FOR NOTHING!

The powers that be in the oil industry have delivered news from on high that gas prices will be $2.75 per gallon over the summer. Some are saying it will be much higher than that.

Oh, joy of joys.

39,000 Pets Get Sick or Die From Food Contamination

It's much worse than many thought.

According to a major chain of veterinary clinics, some 39,000 dogs and cats have gotten sick or died from eating recalled pet foods across the nation.

And every day, it seems like there are updates on the FDA and Menu Foods web sites announcing more and more recalls.

The latest expansion of the recall was announced just before Easter; contaminated wheat gluten is suspected of being the culprit. It's hard to believe that this recall has affected over a hundred brands of pet food; that it's taken this long for these companies to react to a critical situation isn't helping at all.

This has been going on for over a friggin' month now. And there are STILL no answers. China announced that it was looking into the contamination on it's end, but the damage is already done, leaving families heartbroken.

Too little, too late.

MSNBC's Don Imus in Big Trouble: So What Else is New?

Many of the news channels have been following the antics of Don Imus today, for calling a women's basketball team a racist term, which I will not post here.

CBS and MSNBC announced that they were suspending the Imus show for two weeks as a disciplinary action.

I have a question...why did CBS and MSNBC have this man on the air at all, given his prior controversies? He's been referred to as the "Howard Stern of intelligent people," though he's had a public feud with Stern for years--in particular a vicious exchange on the air in 2003.

The man is a lightning rod for controversy.

Yet the two companies had him on both radio and on TV in simulcast.

Imus went on Rev. Al Sharpton's radio program this morning (a huge mistake), but made little headway in calming the raging inferno, as Sharpton's thirst for revenge neutralized his efforts. Sharpton's now calling for a boycott of all advertisers who advertise on the Imus show.

Later on in the day, the networks suspended Imus.

Imus's comments WERE way over the line, but Sharpton's handling of the situation on his show made the situation worse; what happened to forgiveness of others?

All Sharpton wanted was to get Imus fired, or better yet, to have Imus sign a resignation letter in his presence and on the air. It didn't happen, so he decided to add his two cents (and more) to the controversy.

There's no winner in this controversy; not CBS, MSNBC, Imus, Sharpton, or the people who were insulted by the racist comments that Imus made.

Congress Keeps Overstepping It's Constitutional Boundaries: Pelosi Trip Was Most Recent Example

The shredding of the Constitution continues.

Now that the Bush Administration has been forced to stop doing it, Congress has started doing it themselves.

Congress needs to be reminded that the White House is in charge of day-to-day diplomacy with foreign nations. There is one branch of government that carries on diplomacy with other nations--not two with 536 Presidents (535 in Congress plus the real one in the White House).

Congress can ratify or reject treaties, vote on foreign aid appropriations and regulate commerce with other governments. There is no provision in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution for Congress to conduct foreign relations.

Article 2 Section 3 of the Constitution provides for the President to receive Ambassadors of foreign nations (and to conduct diplomacy) on behalf of the entire nation.

Pelosi's trip violated the spirit of the Constitution; but all it really did was showcase her grandstanding. If the Democrats want their foreign policy to be paramount, they have to win the Presidency in an election first. Not before.

Pelosi Made a Fool Out of Herself on Her Mideast Trip: Her Lack of Understanding of Israeli/Syrian Relations Really Showed

I am of the opinion that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent trip to the Middle East was a unmitigated fiasco.

House Speaker Pelosi not only carried our nasty internal politics onto the world stage for all to see, but her short-lived foray into international relations proved that she needs to practice her listening skills, her sensitivity to the needs of our allies, and the way she expresses her views to foreign leaders.

Not only did she misunderstand Israel's point of view, but she didn't listen to them, then misrepresented their views (publicly) to the Syrian government. She did make a clarification later on, but it was too little, too late.

Israeli Prime Minister Olmert issued a statement and corrected our wayward goodwill ambassador.

Nice going, Speaker Pelosi. Next time, stay home and run the House--as you were elected to do. And that goes for Congressional Republicans, too, who have met with Syria's leadership on less-publicized trips recently.

O'Reilly and Rivera GO AT IT Over Illegal Immigration and Drunk Driving

WOW!!

Bill O'Reilly and Geraldo Rivera really went at it on the O'Reilly Factor during Thursday's edition. Rivera was insisting that the story at hand was about drunk driving, while O'Reilly felt that the subject was illegal aliens breaking laws.

It turned into an all-out SCREAMING match. Both feel very strongly about their positions, and both said that there were no hard feelings afterward.

Spectacular, and sad.

I do think that Rivera was more correct about it being a drunk driving case, though O'Reilly's position on illegal aliens breaking laws and officials turning a blind eye was also valid.

Drunk driving cuts across all ethnic lines, and two teenagers are dead because someone (who happened to be a drunk illegal alien) got behind the wheel of a car who had no business doing so. What a mess.

Iranian President Should Have Apologized to British Navy Members For Waylaying Them, Not The Other Way Around: SICKENING

News hit this morning that Iran was releasing it's hostages that it had taken nearly two weeks ago in the Persian Gulf, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was shown receiving the gratitude of the captive British sailors and marines, one at a time. It was a SICKENING display of manipulation on international television.

Ahmadinejad should have been the one apologizing for invading Iraqi waters and waylaying a British boarding party that was doing it's job under a United Nations mandate.

Sick and wrong.

British/Iranian Crisis is Latest Excuse for Oil Prices to Increase: Oil Speculators At It Again

Let's see where increased oil prices fit into this latest Persian Gulf controversy:

1. British Navy intercepts cargo ship to inspect it in disputed Iraqi/Iranian waters...
2. Iran seizes 15 British sailors and marines who were the boarding party and take them to Tehran for questioning....
3. Britain and Iran exchange angry words....
4. Reports of U.S. and Iranian troops exchanging fire inside Iraqi territory. U.S. troops retreat out of fear of being taken hostage....
5. Iran is isolated from the international community...again.
6. Bush, Blair and Iran's terrorist president start the blame game anew.
   

How much has the oil supply fallen as the result of the British/Iranian row? NOT A DROP.

Has the Strait of Hormuz been closed to international shipping? NOPE.

Has the Strait been mined? NOPE.

Has Iran threatened to sink any tankers? NOPE.

Any refineries set ablaze? NOPE.

Any oil production facilities damaged or destroyed, leading to a drop in oil production? NOPE.

Any net effect whatsoever on the available oil supply? NONE.

Any tidal waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, or other natural disasters that could explain the price increases? NOPE.

Hmmm....

Are the oil speculators worried? Yep.

So, in spite of the fact that there is no decrease in oil output from the ongoing feud between Britain and Iran, and the oil supply is unaffected, the price for a barrel of oil has gone way up again.

The oil speculators and oil companies should pay for the artificial increases that they've created WITHOUT charging more at the pump. The British/Iranian issues are irrelevant to the cost of a barrel of oil, unless the missiles start to fly. Enough of the excuses, already!

Pet Food Recall News: Web Site Reports Nearly 2,000 Dogs and Cats Die From Contaminated Pet Food

Menu Foods is reporting the deaths of sixteen pets from contaminated pet food that was recalled on March 16th, but this number may be vastly under-reported.

One web site is reporting that nearly 2,000 pets are now deceased and base that number on the number of people who have registered with their web site and who have filed complaints with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Another report said 845 pets were deceased and over a thousand were sickened.

I'm sensing a cover-up here. If it isn't a cover-up, it's a severe misunderstanding of what's really going on in the veterinary clinics and animal hospitals on the part of Menu Foods.

My dad's neighbor up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula just lost his beloved dog after feeding it a can of Science Diet dog food, which he didn't realize was under recall. The dog suffered apparent kidney and pancreatic failure and died overnight while under the care of the vet.

The vet reported that there may have been another issue going on, but the timing between the dog eating the can of recalled dog food and it's death within 48 hours was too strange to be something else. It's possible, but the timing is highly suspicious.

Someone at Menu Foods needs to get out in front and take charge. And why the hell didn't their own chemists and scientists pinpoint the cause of the deaths before New York health officials did??! They should have lead the charge, instead of issuing this idiotic statement expressing relief that New York health officials had done Menu Foods' J-O-B in discovering why their product was killing dogs and cats! MORONS!

Menu Foods Recall is Troubling: Rat Poison Discovered in Wet Dog and Cat Foods

The Menu Foods recall of dozens of varieties of cat and dog food is very troubling. Rat poison contamination of pet food was discovered as the culprit in the deaths of an unknown number of cats and dogs.

Of particular concern to me is the recall of several types of Nutro dog food, specifically. I feed my dog Nutro Natural Choices Lamb Meal with Rice Formula, which he enjoys a great deal. It's a dry dog food, which are not part of this recall.

But it hasn't stopped me from checking the Menu Foods web site daily, to see if this problem gets any worse. They've recalled several varieties of the wet version of my dog's food.

I've already had a scare with the Diamond dog food recall, which was more than a little responsible for my switching my Jack Russell Terrier over to Nutro. They initially recalled Diamond dog foods in Michigan as well but later canceled it upon finding out where the foods from the affected plants were sent.

Upon hearing about the Diamond recall at work, I hurried home and checked the label to see if the bag was under recall--(it wasn't).

Now Nutro is under a cloud. Though this recall doesn't affect my dog's food (yet), I'm not a happy camper.

Iranian Capture of 15 British Troops is a Repeated Violation of the Iraqi Border: Iranian Troops Captured in Recent Months Were in Iraqi Territory Too

A lot of people are waiting for the British Navy to sink the entire Iranian Navy in reprisal for the seizure of 15 British sailors and marines in Iraqi waters by the Iranian Navy.

They apparently roared in on their gunboats and took an entire British boarding party prisoner while still on the Iraqi side of the maritime border.

The British were carrying out a U.N.-mandated inspection of a seagoing vessel when they were captured.

Iran apparently has a great deal of trouble determining where the Iran/Iraq border actually is. Members of their Revolutionary Guard have been caught aiding insurgents on the Iraqi side of the border--some of them as far into Iraq as Baghdad itself.

So it should come as no surprise that Iran is continuing to violate the sovereignty of Iraq's borders. But this hostage-taking maneuver is highly unusual. They were probably hoping that the men (and woman) that they seized were Americans to put pressure on Washington to release Iranian terror operatives who were captured in Iraq or "disappeared" while in third countries.

Should be interesting to see what comes of this.

Al Gore Just Doesn't Get It: His Climate Models Are All Wrong

Al Gore testified before Congress this morning, and continued to pretend that global warming never happened in the past. He's also ignoring billions of years of additional climate modeling which show that cold periods and warm periods in the Earth's past come and go; here's a sample of the research that he is wishing would go away.

And this was LONG before humanity came along, too.

Gore needs to shift gears and start talking about what we should be doing to prepare for the changes that will come with a warming period, and quit trying to defeat Mother Nature. She'll win, EVERY single time.

Gore fails to mention that climate change is going to happen even if we eliminated ALL sources of pollution and greenhouse gases immediately. His pretentious assertion that we can "stop" global warming is a boatload of crap.

Great News: Missing North Carolina Boy Scout Found After Three Days in the Wilderness

A story that had gripped not only the Scouting community but the nation came to a happy ending this morning when searchers found a missing 12-year-old Boy Scout in the mountains of North Carolina. He went missing three days ago and a massive search had been underway since Saturday afternoon.

Finally, some happy news on a disappearance. It appears that his Boy Scout wilderness survival training helped to save his life.

It all boiled down to a lot of prayers, hundreds of searchers, and a tracking dog named Gandalf. Thanks be to God for all of them.

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is Reckless

I did not realize the tactics that the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society employed when I wrote about their acid attack on a Japanese whaler earlier this evening.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what's going on here. Their web site is full of news stories of their aggressiveness on the high seas--aggressive even to the point of hazarding both their ships and the Japanese whaling fleet during their confrontations. And hazarding dozens of human lives as well. And they openly admit to ramming whalers in the past to stop them.

I'm no fan of whaling, but for a group to take to causing accidents on the high seas and endangering human lives to disrupt an activity they don't like is more unacceptable than their opponents killing a FISH.

There are much better ways to deal with Japanese violations of international whaling law than engaging in eco-terrorism. The SSCS is no better than Earth First! blowing up buildings, cars and people.

Ingrates: Protestors Launch Acid Attack on Japanese Vessel That Rescued Them

Talk about no decency.

Two anti-whaling activists planned to disrupt a Japanese whaling ship in the Ross Sea by throwing glass bottles full of acid onto the ship's deck last month. But instead, they got lost in fog and bad weather that rolled in. They were forced to await rescue.

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which the protesters were a part of, sent out a mayday on their behalf after they failed to return to their command ship on time, and vessels all over the region joined in the search for the missing protesters, including the Japanese whaler.

The whaler ended up spotting them and rescued them, providing them with warmth, food and shelter (according to one account). After a time, the protesters returned to their dinghy and went on their "way."

They began pursuing the vessel that had just rescued them, and proceeded to throw bottles of acid onto the deck of the whaler. Two Japanese nationals were injured in the attack.

The Japanese obeyed the law of the sea and provided humanitarian assistance to the distressed protesters. And their act of kindness and mercy was rewarded with an acid attack by the same people that they had just rescued.

No arrests were made.

If the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society doesn't denounce tactics like this, they should be added to the nation's foreign terrorist organization list. Some of their members are clearly out of control and willing to use extraordinary means to achieve their goals. Check out the criteria pertaining to what constitutes a terrorist act and the means of carrying them out after the list of current terror groups (Items III and V).

I don't like whaling, but I like terrorism even less. And I especially don't like it when someone goes out of their way to help a stranger and then gets hurt by the stranger who USES ACID on their rescuers. It doesn't matter how weak the acid was; people got hurt for no good reason.