Terry Chenier

In the Mojave Desert is a cross.

This was erected in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars to commemorate

veterans of World War 1. It was later designated a national war memorial, one

of almost 50 so-recognized by the U.S. Congress.

One National Park Service employee, Buono,

(with perhaps a little too much time on his hands),

brought a legal suit contending that the cross is inappropriate

as it only represents those of Christian faith. and as it was on

Federal land, violated the First Amendment's

"separation of State and church" clause.

The American Civil Liberties Union is representing Buono

and it's winding its way through the legal system to the Supreme Court.

In the meantime, the cross is covered with plywood.

Wouldn't want someone's sensibilities ruffled would we?

Is it just me, or is this just "political correctness" gone mad?

Ontario has finally passed the law banning driving while

texting and calling on a cell phone unless hands-free.

British Columbia is not far behind apparently.

Personally, I totally support this law.

In the past, I've had several near misses with idiots

yapping away on their cell phones, not paying attention

and drifting over the line into my lane.

The other ones that get me are the cell phone talkers

who are concentrating on their call so much that

they creep along at half the speed limit.

Me? I'm one of the rare breed that actually pulls

over when I get a call. My GPS, which I use a lot, I

don't look at. I listen to the audible instructions.

Anything that cuts down on this sort of thing...I'm all for.

IN 2010, VANCOUVER WILL HOST THE OLYMPIC GAMES.

THE LOGO FOR THESE GAMES IS THE INUIT

ICON CALLED INUKSHUK.

If you look at

the structure of

this post, you will

see that the over-all construction has a resemblence

to Inukshuk or Ilanaaq is the Eskimo, (or, Inuit), practice of placing

stones one atop each other to form a humanoid figure. These figures are

scattered all over the

north in Canada. I read some-

where that it meant, "We were here".

Officially, for the Olympic games

it means, friendship and peace and friends.

I did a post on Halloween marketing,

and a few people wanted to see my pumpkins,

so, here they are. OOPs, didn't have quite

fifty words, so I've added some. Ha!

I'm not brilliant with a camera, but you get the idea.

Lots of hysteria has been in the news recently regarding Swine Flu.

Symptoms of H1N1 Influenza include:

Fever, headache, cough, sore throat, runny of stuffy nose,

fatigue, muscle aches. nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Deaths:

5,382 worldwide in 160 countries

2,659 in South America.

So what are the odds?

Death by...

Assault: 331:1

Falling: 250:1

Firearm: 325:1

Poison: 1,400:1

Car crash: 5,000:1

Choking on food: 5,000:1

Drowning: 9,000:1

Murder: 20,000:1

Lightning: 71,000:1

Dog attack: 137,000:1

Bathtub: 807,000:1

Flood: 713,000:1

Terrorist attack: 6,000,000:1

Based on current world populations and reported deaths:

H1N1: 1,900,000:1

That's right, you're at greater risk

killing yourself by slipping in a bath tub.

Here's some other facts:

Regular run-on-the-mill influenza kills 35,000 Americans each year.

Bird Flu, which was supposed to wipe us out, killed 262.

SARS was supposed to kill millions; it killed 167 up to 2003.

A friend of mine, (a physicist), and his wife (who has a Masters degree in medicine),

twigged me on to a natural remedy for the Swine Flu.

This is wild oregano.

Studies in Georgetown, Cornell and Tennessee to name a few

have been testing the benefits of oregano, and have found it

to be a potent antimicrobial, antifungal and antiviral.

Apparently, it rivals antibiotics such as

Streptomycin, Penicillin and Vacnomycin.

This is not your garden-variety oregano though,

it must be wild mountain oregano oil

grown in the Mediterranean.

I WAS going to get the vaccine,

now I'm re-thinking that.

There's a second part to this, which I'll post next week.

It's called "Who Profits?"