I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

ananda8

Having wild raccoons in one's house is a real health hazard.  They carry a parasite that is fatal to humans.  The parasite is deposited in the feces of the raccoon.  Wildlife rehabbers who care for raccoons are specialists in handling this species and in cleaning raccoon cages.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/volunteer/janfeb02/fn_raccoon.html

A parasite common to raccoons killed two Minnesota children within the past five years and poses a threat to others who play where raccoons feed and defecate, warns a Twin Cities medical researcher who played a key role in ascertaining the cause of death of the two children.

The parasitic nematode lives harmlessly in the brains of about 50 percent of the raccoons in Minnesota and perhaps as many as 75 percent in some other parts of the country, says Moertel. The worm can pass into people who touch raccoon feces and then touch their mouth or food. The nematode "has to be introduced into the intestinal tract so it can hatch," Moertel said. Children are susceptible because they play on the ground and often put their hands in their mouth.

The first known Minnesota victim was an Onamia boy whose family kept a pet raccoon. He contracted the disease about five years ago and died about two years ago when he was 5. The second state victim may have become infected from playing in the back yard or in a nearby park when the family lived in Richfield, a Minneapolis suburb. He contracted the disease when about 18 months old and died three years ago when he was 3. In both cases, over a period of months, the victim began to stumble and fall and eventually slipped into a coma before dying, says Moertel.

1Athena1

Lion cub and dog:

Wabbit

Linda ... WOW no wonder they were trying to push this whole bill through in a rush with no debate.

No competitive bids - no oversight approval?  Whether selling them is a good idea or not this is way out of line with anything I have ever seen before.  Did Wisconsin elect a governor or a wanna be dictator ... yeeesh.  Campaign contributions are never given for nothing are they?

I love my doggie but I'd have to say that I'm more of a cat person - 2 kitties live here too.  Wouldn't want to do without either so guess I'm an equal opportunity adopter.

Love your kitty picture Barbara ... what beautiful markings Lucy has and she is so engrossed in that show    Bengals are pretty active aren't they?  Are they the ones that like water? 

Bren's possum picture makes the little critter actually look cute!  We have possums and raccoons wandering around here too.  When I was making friends with a stray kitty by feeding him on my front porch it was not unusual to peek out and see either cat / possum or cat / raccoon sharing the porch.  The cat never challenged either of them for the food but they seemed to co-exist just fine.  The kitty in question eventually enjoyed his new life as a spoiled housecat by the way  

The problem with raccoons is that they are so smart ... and adept at using those little hands of theirs to do whatever they need to do.

We also have rabbits hanging around.  Before we let the dog out at night we have to go out first and make sure there are no rabbits inside the fence. 

Love those critters ... all kinds!  

1Athena1

So expensive, no bid contracts and losss of state monies by pennies-on-the-dollar sales are essentially allowed by this supposedly budget-conscious governor....

The more one reads, the more Walker looks to be one of the dirtiest politicians around. Not good for the clean cut image the Tea Party likes to project.

IronJawedBCAngel

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/20/ravitch.teachers.blamed/index.html?hpt=C1      

  An interesting read, and verifies what I knew, states with teachers' unions are ranked higher than "right to work" states in regards to education.

No surprise about Walker and the Koch brothers, makes sense as to why they are pouring so much money into Tea Party campaigns.

Possums are tolerable but only when they don't crawl into my metal feedbin resulting in surprising me and causing me to scream like an ax murderer was after me.  An embarrassing moment trying to explain that to the neighbor who came running to my aid.

I have an almost permanent tumor on my keyboard in the form of my daughter's ragdoll. It makes for many typos and mistakenly sent emails when he rolls across the computer.  We took him in in 2004 until she finished school, etc.  I have come to the conclusion that he will die here as I don't see her coming home from S. Korea soon in light of the direction our country is going in.  She may bypass the States completely and focus her job search in Canada.  My husband hates long haired cats specifically, so Mr. Mistophelees is a source of discord in our household.  The Jack Russell senses my husband's disapproval of the cat, gangs up on him, and then looks to my husband for his reward.  Mr. M does not watch tv, but Chandler loves to.

We haven't had any possums or raccoons in our yard now that we are living in the city, so Chandler's favorite entertainment is chasing the squirrels that come onto the deck to eat at the birdfeeder.

IronJawedBCAngel

Anne,

I really enjoyed the program, especially considering that Chris Matthews used to eviscerate Clinton for dessert, and ten years later, it looked like a love fest.  I'd be surprised if it is not repeated or available online.

River_Rat

Lindasa, that is an interesting piece.  I hope that this gets some mainstream media coverage.

molly52

Never seen a possum until Bren's picture.   Lots of racoons in the neighbourhood.  They can eat air vents on the roof and open garage doors.  Amazing.  I have two rescue cats, both sweet and cuddly.  The youngest has a lot of moxy and she can look a lot like Athena's lion.

YramAL

Congratulations on making it through the long holiday weekend with no deletions that I can see. I got deleted on another thread for interacting with someone who popped in here briefly, but I don't think she's a troll, just someone with strong opinions. 

On the subject of pets-one of the nicest pets I have ever had, and one of the smartest, was a rat.

Mary 

worldwatcher

I just thought I'd drop back in for a look at the thread, and to provide some food (not palatable) for thought. A little more of the "hope and change" that has brilliantly affected our country and the world.

DRILL, BABY DRILL!!

Oil prices rise 9% in one day.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Libyan-turmoil-hits-stocks-as-apf-1471605558.html?x=0&.v=13

With so much uncertainty surrounding a large chunk of the world's daily oil production, market prices surged. Benchmark crude for March delivery was up $4.80 a barrel, or 5.6 percent, at $92.55 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, it had it had been even higher above $94 a barrel.

Rising crude prices are a particular worry for investors as they reinforce fears of inflation and raw materials costs. They also stoke worries of a big drop in global demand levels, as experienced in previous oil price shocks in 1973-4, 1979 and 2008.

"Until uncertainty in the Middle East fades, the oil price is unlikely to decline, with the concomitant threat to inflation, and margins," said Derek Mitchell, a fund manager at Royal London Asset Management

 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110222/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_medvedevSpeaking at a security meeting in the Caucasus city of Vladikavkaz, Medvedev didn't name countries, but he was referring to the crisis in the Middle East and North Africa - which has brought down governments in Tunisia and Egypt and sparked protests in Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Iran, Morocco and Jordan."These states are difficult, and it is quite probable that hard times are ahead, including the arrival at power of fanatics. This will mean fires for decades and the spread of extremism," Medvedev said in televised comments.

Bren-2007

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/22/AR2011022203412.html?hpid=opinionsbox1

Wisconsin .. it's about democracy.

Wisconsin faces budget deficits in the wake of the Great Recession, although not nearly as severe as in many states. In the 2010 election, Republicans captured control of the statehouse and both houses of the legislature. Scott Walker, the newly elected, self-declared "Tea Party" governor, signed off on tax cuts for businesses and then demanded harsh concessions from public employees, forcing them to pay more for pensions and health care. He coupled this with a direct attack on teacher and public employee unions, seeking to ram through legislation curtailing their right to bargain collectively, limiting any pay raise to the increase in the cost of living, and requiring an annual vote of members to continue the union. These measures aren't about the budget crisis; they are about eliminating the unions. And to make the power grab blatant, Walker exempted those unions - police and firefighters - that supported him in the last election. This is straight ugly, folks.

worldwatcher

U.S. in Contempt Over Gulf Drill Ban, Judge Rules

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-03/u-s-administration-in-contempt-over-gulf-drill-ban-judge-rules.html

By Laurel Brubaker Calkins - Feb 3, 2011 12:53 PM MT

The Obama Administration acted in contempt by continuing its deepwater-drilling moratorium after the policy was struck down, a New Orleans judge ruled.

-SNIP-

"President Obama claims to have lifted the Gulf moratorium, yet not a single deepwater permit has been issued in nine months," Jim Adams, the association's president, said in a release after the ruling. "As a result, thousands of workers are out of jobs, Americans are paying more for gasoline and heating oil, and our nation is becoming even more dependent on unstable nations for our energy needs."

No "Drill, baby drill" here....."

"While the ban was applauded by many environmental groups, the industry estimates the decision could cost at least 46,000 jobs -- mostly around the hard-hit Gulf Coast region.

A company that hauls workers and supplies to offshore rigs sued the federal government over the ban in a New Orleans U.S. District Court this week.

And the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that shipbuilders and others in the city's once-busy port could cut thousands of jobs as a result of the drilling ban.

"The moratorium will cost us more jobs and economic devastation, on top of the repercussions of the spill itself, as energy companies move their businesses away from the coast," said Republican Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana. "This administration's policies aren't helping Louisianians -- they are shutting down huge parts of our economy."

In a letter to Obama, Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal said, "The last thing we need is to enact public policies that will certainly destroy thousands of existing jobs while preventing the creation of thousands more."

It's a potent argument for the Obama administration, which previously vowed to make a priority of Gulf Coast recovery post-Hurricane Katrina, and also faces significant pressure to preserve and create jobs in a tough economy.

Another key concern is how the ban could drive up oil prices -- an eventuality on which the industry and some economists have sounded warnings.

"We live by the oil and we die by the oil," New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu told CNN.

"If you look at it from the rest of the nation's view, maybe it's a fight between big oil and the ecosystem, but for people that live down here, both of those things have lived together," Landrieu said.
 

 http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/white-house/obama-under-pressure-oil-drilling-ban#ixzz1Ei5b2sUY

1Athena1

Oil price increases since 1987. Notice spike in rises during the Bush administration (2001-2008):

1Athena1

Butneither Bush nor Obama are responsible for that behavior in oil prices. Coincidence is not causation. Worldwatcher, your article and others attribute recent rises to instability in the Middle East - NOT to Obama. The rise in prices during the Bush administration was due to many things. His Iraq policies played a strong role at given points (and Cheney and Hallibuton were very happy), but so did the glut in supply worldwide and the fact that fewer refineries were being built.

Also, a weak dollar had an effect....and there are several oil markets....but it gets ridiculously complicated... 

Anonymous

http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/29395934.html

Worse than I thought.  graduation rate in inner city - under 50%  Statewide graduation rate 82%

Graduation charter schools in worst part of inner city - 98.5%

The teachers that con't give a crap and blame parents and everything else, are condemning these poor children to a life of poverty and crime.  What kind of job can you get it you are a HS dropout?

70% of the WI prison population is Black.

Schools do not teach proper English.  in fact Milwaukee wanted to re-write tests in "Ebonics"

You can easily find out other facts your self

I would rather talk about opossums

Alpal

Once again, Erica, what is the difference between Milwaukee and the rest of the state?

worldwatcher

1Athena1

If the progressives, and I use that term lightly, hadn't shut down all the exploration and drilling they have over the past decades the US wouldn't BE dependendent on the middle east.."your article and others attribute recent rises to instability in the Middle East"

BinVA

The article you posted was written by Katrina Vanden Heuvil,  

Katrina vanden Heuvel has been The Nation's editor since 1995 and its publisher since 2005.

She is the co-editor of Taking Back America-And Taking Down the Radical Right (Nation Books, 2004) and editor of The Dictionary of Republicanisms (NationBooks, 2005)..

Hardly a "neutral" voice in this matter, LOL!

Coincidentally she also wrote this article for the WAPO...."Obama: On the way to a failed presidency?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/06/AR2010120606022.html

In which article, she states:

"Forget about electoral mandates or campaign promises. This president has a historic mandate. Just as Abraham Lincoln had to lead the nation from slavery and Franklin Roosevelt from the Depression, this president must lead the nation from the calamitous failures of three decades of conservative dominance. This requires beginning to reverse the perverse tax policies that have contributed to gilded-age inequality and starved the government of resources needed for vital investments. This demands correcting destabilizing global imbalances, laying a new foundation for reviving American manufacturing and shackling financial speculation. It means ensuring the United States leads rather than lags in the green industrial revolution. And it requires unwinding the self-destructive military adventures abroad. The president must strengthen America's basic social contract in a global economy, not weaken it.

This daunting project is not a matter of ambition or appetite - or even unconscious Kenyan socialism. It is the necessary function of a progressive president elected in the wake of calamitous conservative misrule. Every entrenched corporate and financial interest stands in the way; it is easier to take a less confrontational path. President Bill Clinton, for example, found it convenient to join in the conservative project of corporately defined trade, financial deregulation and social welfare constriction. From NAFTA to the repeal of welfare and the failure of labor law reform, to deregulating derivatives and repealing Glass-Steagall, he got his agenda wrong. He was seduced far more by Wall Street's Robert Rubin than by Monica Lewinsky.

Now Obama faces the same challenge. This isn't about conventional politics. This is simply about the fate and future of our country. This president has a clear and imperative historic mandate. If he shirks it, he risks more than failing to get reelected. He risks a failed presidency"

I have avoided posting from rabidly conservative sites for this very reason, instead spending time finding as neutral a source as possible. 

And, after the way ObamaCare was rammed through the congress and down the throats of Americans, I have to laugh at her term  "seeking to ram through legislation curtailing their right to bargain collectively"....plus what kind of president makes a remark like this, when he supposedly is the President of the WHOLE country?

"Some of what I've heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you're just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally, seems like more of an assault on unions,"

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/02/17/obama_on_wisconsin_collective_bargaining_law_an_assault_on_unions.html

That's not presidential, by any stretch of the imagination in my opinion. 

I know that there are no minds that can be changed on this thread, but  I choose to weigh in just once in a while when the liberal rhetoric just gets totally ridiculous. 

BTW, how do you feel about thousands of union members being bussed into Wisconsin to protest when this is a STATE matter?  And have you all seen the "civil" signs that are being used by these guys?  Oh, that's right....these are the same people that thought that demonizing George W, Bush for eight years was just fine and dandy.  Double standard, anyone?

ananda8

How to get a possum out of a feed bin or a dumpster, or whatever.

If you want to move a possum without dealing with those 50 teeth, put on some heavy gardening gloves, throw a blanket or sheet over the possum and pick her up but the torso while gently holding the base of the tail.  Place the possum on the ground and she will just walk away.  Do not pick up a possum by the tail.  You risk being bitten and injuring the possum.  Possums do not hang by their tails.

Alpal

Exactly the same way I feel about TP'ers being bussed into Wisconsin when it is a STATE matter.

Alpal

I'm not touching a possum!

Anonymous

Most of the protesters are being bused in and some are being paid by George Soros - as are the dimwits who are in ILL hiding (ACT BLUE - quoted in most articles -google it)

 I have been feeding a opossum since Nov.  This is the northern end of their territory and most do not make it through the winter.  I can't find how to post a picture here.  He/she is the sweetest little thing.

Cats and Dogs are responsible for most opossums deaths.  If you have a stray cat, you MUST take it to the humane society.  A cat that is not neutered can produce hundreds of cats.  If you do not take it to the Humane Society you are part of the problem

Need to go and clear snow for my opossum

BYE

1Athena1

I'm still hurt that nobody commented on the sweet lion cub and dog. I do love all creatures, though. Bren's possum is adorable, but I think I will follow Alpal's advice.

Worldwatcher, the glut in supply and refineries has been worldwide, not just in the US. There is no such thing as "progressives" shutting down "all exploration and drilling." Furthermore, the Obama administration has angered liberals by supporting off-shore drilling. And even if such a bogeyman and bogey-action existed, it still wouldn't explain oil price mega-spikes in the Bush years.

Alpal

Oh, I was under the impression that most of the protesters were those lazy teachers. My bad.

GG27

Athena, I loved the picture, but I only lurk here as I don't have anything to add to the debate.

BarbaraA

I loved it, too, Athena.

worldwatcher

THOUSANDS of Tea Party Patriots turned out today in Madison, Wisconsin, in support of "Republican Governor Scott Walker and his plans to correct the state's financial future. It was an amazing turnout considering the Saturday rally was only announced on Friday morning.
Oh... And we paid our own way."

http://gatewaypundit.rightnetwork.com/2011/02/amazing-tea-party-movement-brings-in-15000-protesters-to-madison-with-24-hour-notice-embarrassing-left/

The AP today estimated that 70,000 protesters turned out in Madison today. If that number is accurate then at least 15,000 were Walker supporters.
This was a huge embarrassment to the left.

15,000 vs. 70,000....while the liberals turned out tens of thousands day after day....but the TP's had to go back to work, no fake sick leave excuses for them.   

Breitbart Gets a Doctor's Note in Madison

http://www.breitbart.tv/breitbart-gets-a-doctors-note-in-madison/

worldwatcher

Athena

Worldwatcher, the glut in supply and refineries has been worldwide, not just in the US. There is no such thing as "progressives" shutting down "all exploration and drilling." Furthermore, the Obama administration has angered liberals by supporting off-shore drilling. And even if such a bogeyman and bogey-action existed, it still wouldn't explain oil price mega-spikes in the Bush years.

Sources?

1Athena1

Thank you, Barbara and Mfrog!

worldwatcher

It's been fun ladies, but I have other fish to fry....will leave this thread to those who have more invested in ideology than in truth...or in the future of the US.

1Athena1

Worldwatcher:

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=18890.0

http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~nroubini/papers/OilShockRoubiniSetser.pdf

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/aeo_2010analysispapers/woprices.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703561604575282431741413848.html