Peace in Afghanistan is a Priority, not War. The USA is not the 'bad guy.'

The German Base in Afghanistan called for the air strike. Why? Because their lives were in danger.

Just that simple. The Taliban stole two fuel tankers and were probably headed for the German Base to kill them. There isn't anything else to understand. I don't care if the tankers were sinking in mud, the people that came to assist the Taliban criminals were as guilty as the thieves themselves.

The USA and NATO want this war to be over more than the people of Afghanistan do evidently. What are they doing anywhere near the Taliban? Were they pressured into service at the end of a gun muzzle? Then they need to come to terms with their need for a strong military and police to stop the victimization of the people of their nation.


Victims of the Taliban's plot to kill German soldiers being cared for in a hospital in Kabul.

Afghan airstrike triggers German opposition outcry (click title to entry)
By MELISSA EDDY
Associated Press
2009-09-06 01:48 AM
A German-ordered airstrike in Afghanistan triggered an outcry from the opposition Saturday, even as the nation's foreign minister called for a thorough investigation.

The attack was ordered early Friday after the Taliban hijacked two fuel tankers in northern Afghanistan where German troops are stationed. Germany will hold parliamentary elections Sept. 27 and the incident could put Chancellor Angela Merkel's comfortable lead in the polls under pressure.

Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung, a member of Merkel's Christian Democrats, insisted in comments to the Bild am Sonntag weekly that officials have no information indicating that civilians had been killed in the strike, ordered by a German officer and carried out by U.S. planes.

"Based on the information I have at this time, only Taliban terrorists were killed in the strikes," Jung was quoted as saying in comments released Saturday.

I realize Afghanistan has been in dire conditions for a long time. It is due to the instability in the region caused by The Taliban and the international criminals they protect.I don't want to hear complaints about our military anymore. We don't want them there, but, they are carrying out the responsibility to the people of the USA, Europe and other allies. The USA is seeking to end the suffering of the people of Afghanistan while securing that region from any further possibility of instability.

I don't believe there is a choice in being in Afghanistan to finish the goal of the invasion. In realizing how close the Taliban and possibly al Qaeda came to possessing nuclear capacity under the Musharraf dictatorship, there really is little choice in completing the mission.

The USA military is held responsible when they cause harm to innocent people where there are operations AND the actions are deliberate. Where killing innocent people was unnecessary and cruel. The military has a long history of holding officers and enlisted soldiers responsible for actions that are unlawful. The actions of the USA military in destroying two tankers full of fuel was a necessary act to protect German soldiers and stop the aggressions of Taliban criminals.

I refuse to allow the morals of our country and that of our military to become 'a strategy' to defame their good works and be used as propaganda within the nation of Afghanistan. There is a war being fought in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan military needs to take on the role of defending their country. The leadership of Afghanistan has to stand for morality and admirable acts within an economy that is peaceful, bringing dignity to their people.

The bombs dropped by the USA was appropriate and necessary. The Taliban and their international criminal allies were the target. There isn't anything else necessary to understand or debate. I admire the leadership of the USA military for seeking ever increasing improvements in methodologies to protect innocent civilians, but, at the same time the people of Afghanistan and their leadership need to do their part as well.

Okay. President Karzai needs to let the people of Afghanistan know when they cooperate with enemy targets they can suffer consequences.

This is an outrage that Afghan civilians were supporting the insurgency of Taliban by purchasing stolen fuel that will eventually kill NATO and/or Afghan soldiers. I don't have sympathy for people if they are 'accepting' the Taliban as merchants of stolen goods.

The 'warlord' culture has to end. It cannot continue. When military supplies are stolen there should not be a market for them at the next 'hide out.'

Thievery of fuel supplies belonging to NATO troops is an 'underground.' The people of Afghanistan can't have it both ways. They can't seek to have a country free of hardship while at the same time prolonging the war. Assisting the Taliban by purchasing stolen supplies needs to be seen as a crime as much as the acts of violence by the Taliban. The Taliban would have used the fuel and the monies obtained from its sale to kill Afghan troops. That doesn't mean anything to the people of Afghanistan?

The civilians need to remove themselves from the Taliban culture and seek for success for their military. This is an antiquated 'warlord' culture that can't be tolerated anymore. The civilians have to remove themselves from the 'war theater.' A stolen NATO supply tanker is a part of the 'war theater.' There are consequences to being a part of that 'underground' culture.

...Afghan and NATO officials say that Taliban insurgents in the northern Kunduz province were driving two hijacked fuel trucks to an unknown destination when fighter planes located them on a river bank and bombed them.

NATO officials say the pre-dawn strike destroyed the fuel trucks and killed a large number of militants. Villagers, however, say locals had also gathered around the hijacked trucks to collect fuel from them when the attack occurred. It caused a huge fireball, they say, that instantly burned most of the people alive....

The statement by UN Special Representative Galbraith shows concern for the civilians of Afghanistan and rightly so, but, it also shows concern for the fact the civilians involved were indeterminable by the military fighting the war to stop the insurgency.

Statement by the Deputy UN Special Representative, Peter Galbraith on Kunduz airstrike (click here)
Kabul, 4 September 2009 - I am very concerned by the reports we have seen this morning of casualties among civilians from an air strike against stolen trucks in Aliabad district of Kunduz province.
As an immediate priority, everything possible must be done to ensure that people wounded by this attack are being properly cared for, and that families of the deceased are getting all the help they need.Steps must also be taken to examine what happened and why an air strike was employed in circumstances where it was hard to determine with certainty that civilians were not present. UNAMA is sending a team to look into the situation.

The United Nations has been 'in the trenches' with the Afghan people since the beginnings of the war in 2001. They can make a difference if they begin to speak in a 'reasonable' tone that 'instructs' the Afghan people of cooperating with Taliban criminals.

These Taliban stole the fuel. They were more than willing to break Afghan law and use the fuel for purposes of killing more people, be it Afghan civilians in car bombing or suicide bombing or Afghan military personnel or NATO troops. That is criminal activity. They understand it and they can comprehend what is right and best for them and what isn't.

The PROBLEM is the tolerance of The Taliban/Warlord culture. It was tolerated by President Karzai to attempt to maintain control of some semblance of government. It has to stop. There is a 'right' and a 'wrong' and this act of aggression by the Taliban that involved so many innocent Afghans was wrong !

Thursday, 15 November, 2001, 17:13 GMT
UN aid shipment reaches Afghanistan (click here)

The first substantial United Nations aid shipment has crossed the river from Uzbekistan into northern Afghanistan.

A barge carrying 200 tonnes of wheat flour crossed from the Uzbek port of Termez to Hairaton, 18 km (11.2 miles) away on the Afghan side of the river.
The aid arrived as relief agencies warned that a humanitarian disaster was imminent, with 3.4m Afghans dependent on aid to survive through the harsh winter.
Meanwhile, a senior US official visiting northern Afghanistan has pledged more than $5m to aid agencies in the region....

The United Nations has perspective on this insurgency and the horrible treatment the people of Afghanistan are rendered under their power. The UN knows the nightmare of civilization in the reality of international criminals that bomb infrastructure killing innocent people. The UN is well vested in this action.

It is time to stop the 'permission' given to criminals. According to the USA military leadership we are facing a rough road for the next year to eighteen months until the insurgency is brought under control.

The Afghan people have to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem by allowing themselves to be involved with criminals that seek to destroy their government and enslave the Afghan people. I know they don't want the 'dark days' of Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar back again. I know they don't.

They need leadership they have come to trust to 'instruct' them on behavior that will facilitate their safety and bring peace to their country quicker than any military can. They have to limit their 'economy' to what any country would view as 'legal.' What occurred today was criminality that increased the danger to civilians (other than the ones at the tanker site), Afghan military and NATO troops. They know better than this. The Afghan citizens aren't acting out of anger in cooperation of the Taliban, they are acting out of permission to participate in an 'underground' culture.

"...over the last fifteen years, the price of health insurance is crippling us...."

"No body has explained how it is going to be paid for?"

Perhaps no one of Murdock's tribe can explain how the new Health Insurance Reform Bill will pay for ITSELF, but, most of the rest of us actually HEARD for ourselves how President Obama explained how it would be paid for. Goes to show the folks watching and listening to Murdock's news don't get ALL the information in the way the rest of us do.



HMO claims-rejection rates triggers state investigation (click title to entry - thank you)
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown is joining state regulators in scrutinizing the payment practices of seven major health plans in response to complaints from physicians and hospitals.
By Lisa Girion
September 4, 2009
California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown is joining state regulators in scrutinizing how HMOs review and pay insurance claims submitted by doctors, hospitals and other medical providers.
His announcement came Thursday as regulators said they had stepped up scrutiny of the payment practices of the state's seven largest health plans in response to complaints from physicians and hospitals.
The increased attention also comes on the heels of a first-of-its-kind report issued this week that said the California health insurers reject 1 in 5 medical claims....

Returning to The House Health Insurance Reform Bill, on page 355, lines 21 through 25 and Page 356, lines 1 through 6 regarding changes in Medicare, Part D, Prescription Drug Program.

‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For each year beginning with 2011, the Secretary shall consistent with this paragraph progressively increase the initial coverage limit (described in subsection (b)(3)) and decrease the annual out-of-pocket threshold from the amounts otherwise computed until there is a continuation of coverage from the initial coverage limit for expenditures incurred through the total amount of expenditures at which benefits are available under paragraph (4).

This is about closing the 'Donut Hole.' Every year the coverage limit increase while the out-of-pocket expenditures decrease. By gradually changing the ratios it can be discerned to the effectiveness of the provision. The concern here is that once those covered by Part D run out of coverage they stop taking medications or selectively take medications of which opens up the possibility of re-hospitalization or hospitalization for a worsening disease. The cost to health insurance goes up for every hospital admission. If re-admissions can be avoided with adequate coverage for perscriptions the cost effectiveness will be incredible.

Any content not mentioned previous to Page 355, Line 21 continued to return control from Medicare Advantage (MA) to the consumer of Medicare.

Page 358, line 11 is the beginning of a very interesting provision. This provision requires drug manufacturers that give drug rebates to the Secretary for persons with full eligibility under the new 'Donut Hole' law. Wow. Who would ever consider this as an issue to bring down the cost of perscriptions issued through Medicare Part D. I'll be darn. This bill has been 'in the works' for a long time. This level of scrutiny of the USA health care system and its relationship to Medicare Part D didn't take place in a couple of weeks. These legislators have been compiling this information and initiative for quite some time. Probably since the passage of the bill creating Medicare Part D under the previous administration. Well. Leave no stone unturned.

Page 359, lines 3 through 18.

‘‘(2) REBATE AGREEMENT.—A rebate agreement under this subsection shall require the manufacturer to provide to the Secretary a rebate for each rebate period (as defined in paragraph (6)(B)) ending after December 31, 2010, in the amount specified in paragraph (3) for any covered part D drug of the manufacturer dispensed after December 31, 2010, to any full-benefit dual eligible individual (as defined in paragraph (6)(A)) for which payment was made by a PDP sponsor under part D or a MA organization under part C for such period. Such rebate shall be paid by the manufacturer to the Secretary not later than 30 days after the date of receipt of the information described in section 1860D–12(b)(7), including as such section is applied under section 1857(f)(3).

The Bill goes on from there providing terminology, definitions, oversight, penalites for non-compliance, how the new law will be instituted and the high degree of confidentiality accompanying this law.

Page 370, lines 1 through 8 introduces the same level of government reimbursement for drugs with a discount. I guess so.

‘‘(g) REQUIREMENT FOR MANUFACTURER DISCOUNT AGREEMENT FOR CERTAIN QUALIFYING DRUGS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this part, the term ‘covered part D drug’ does not include any drug or biologic that is manufactured by a manufacturer that has not entered into and have in effect for all qualifying drugs (as defined in paragraph (5)(A)) a discount agreement described in paragraph (2).

Here again The Bill discusses the definitons, etc. that accompanies such a provision. It also has scrutinized the 'discount' when it appears as a supplement to 'out-of-pocket' expenses. Everyone has an angel I suppose. The House didn't miss a trick.

Go, House Membership, Go !

Page 375, line 1 begins an entire provision in regard to perscription drug coverage under Part D as it applies to dispensed medications by Nursing Homes. Anything else?

Yep.

Page 375, line 1 begins to discuss the provisions for medications provided by special programs for HIV/AIDS (Properly entitled AIDS Drug Assistance Program - which actually falls under Medicare - Part B) and for medications utilized by Native American Indian.

Page 377, starting with line 21 prohibits changes in any medication formulary eligible for Part D from being removed or cost changes that would increase subscribers out of pocket costs. These insurance companies are so tricky. They don't care for nobody. They want their money and that is all they want.


‘‘(F) CHANGE IN FORMULARY RESULTING N INCREASE IN COST-SHARING.—
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in clause (ii), in the case of an individual enrolled in a prescription drug plan (or MA–PD plan) who has been prescribed and is using a covered part D drug while so enrolled, if the formulary of the plan is materially changed (other than at the end of a contract year) so to reduce the coverage (or increase the cost-sharing) of the drug under the plan.

Well, all right now. I think we have some very engaged legislators.

Page 379, line 8 starts to add the concept of 'Telehealth Services' to an expanding role to enhance health care.

Page 380, lines 6 through 17.

‘‘(c) TELEHEALTH ADVISORY COMMITTEE.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall appoint a Telehealth Advisory Committee (in this subsection referred to as the ‘Advisory Committee’) to make recommendations to the Secretary on policies of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services regarding telehealth services as established under section 1834(m), including the appropriate addition or deletion of services (and HCPCS codes) to those specified in paragraphs (4)(F)(i) and (4)(F)(ii) of such section and for authorized payment under paragraph (1) of such section.

Telehealth delivery (click here) could be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone, or as sophisticated as using videoconferencing between providers at facilities in two countries, or even as complex as robotic technology. It is my understanding that Robotic Technology is used in long distance surgery when a physician specialized in any discipline not widely practiced cannot be 'in the surgical suite' to personally perform the surgery. There is a surgeon attending the patient at all times that guides the robotics. This is used in health clinics in Africa.

Telehealth helps Bristol GP practice improve care for chronic heart failure patients (click here)
3 September 2009
GPs at The Orchard Medical Centre in Bristol have reported on the success of telehealth in improving care for patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), keeping them independent and out of emergency care, and promoting greater self-management.
The Bristol-based practice has successfully integrated telehealth into its CHF service, to provide more preventative support within the community setting, help avoid hospital admissions and reduce some of the burden on secondary care providers whilst providing a cost-effective model of care for the management of the condition....

That discussion goes on upto page 390 and with line 12 The Bill begins provisions to Eliminate Barriers to Enrollement

SEC. 1203. ELIMINATING BARRIERS TO ENROLLMENT (a) ADMINISTRATIVE VERIFICATION OF INCOME AND RESOURCES UNDER THE LOW-INCOME SUBSIDY PROGRAM.—

It authorizes the sharing of income tax returns to validate ineligibilty of those earning too much to receive the benefit. It also allows for retroactive payment of medications when a citizen is found eligible. There are exceptions for enrollees for RFP plan. They cannot be enrolled in both. Those provisions continue with technical explanations upto page 401, which starts the provisions for Subtitle B - Reducing Health Disparities. I'll end it there and pick up there later.

Perry leads secession movement and practices "Censorship." Another UN-American moment for the Right Wing.

..."What we've got right now on the right is, they didn't get back into office and they're into a take-no-prisoners strategy," said Curtis Gans, director of the Center for the Study of the American Electorate at American University.
This wasn't how it played in 1991 – a speech that the Obama team has pointed to repeatedly in the last two days as it sought to blunt the attacks....

It is just simply UN-American !

United States v. State of Texas (click here)

In 1970, the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Texas ordered the State of Texas and nine school districts to remedy past discrimination that continued to harm the educational achievement of minority students in the State. MALDEF intervened with the court on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the American GI Forum of Texas to hold the state responsible for providing equal educational opportunities to Latinos and English language learners (ELLs) and to remedy past de jure discrimination against Latino students.
In 1981, the District Court found that the State had failed to help ELLs overcome language barriers. Following the decision and while the case was on appeal, the State of Texas passed a law expanding bilingual education to grades K-6 and providing for English as a Second Language (ESL) programs for middle and high schools.
In February 2006, MALDEF filed a Motion for Further Relief against the State for failing to monitor and supervise the State’s bilingual and ESL programs. On July 30, 2007, U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice issued a Memorandum Opinion and Judgment denying all the relief MALDEF requested. However, a year later, in the most comprehensive legal decision concerning the civil rights of English language learners in the last 25 years, Judge Justice threw out his earlier opinion in its entirety and found that Texas had violated the rights of ELLs under the Equal Educational Opportunities Act. Among the violations that he noted were that the Texas Education Agency under-identifies ELLs and that the achievement standards for intervention are arbitrary and not based upon equal educational opportunity. He also noted that the State’s intervention monitors lacks bilingual and ESL certifications, thus leading to the “blind leading the blind”; and the system monitors only at the district-level, as opposed to the campus-level, thus allowing for failing ESL programs in secondary schools to be masked by successful bilingual programs in elementary schools. The Court ordered the State Defendants to submit a new monitoring plan and a new or modified language program for secondary ELLs by the end of January 2009.
Roger Rice and Jenni Lopez of META are co-counsel in the case, which seeks to ensure that all students are given the opportunity to learn regardless of language ability.

"The Handbook for Texas" (click here)

EDUCATION FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS

...In 1871, Texas organized a public school system. The succeeding system, formed under the Constitution of 1876,qv reestablished the segregation of races but make impartial provision for each. Between 1873 and 1893 at black state conventions,qv African Americans from all sections of the state met to express their opinions, to delineate their needs, and to shape educational policies. Most significant were the Waco and Brenham conventions and the first meeting at Austin in 1884 of the Colored Teachers Association....

...The early 1950s marked several changes. These included improvements in school buildings and facilities, equalization of teachers' salaries, and an increase in funds for classroom instruction and libraries. The Texas Association of New Farmers of America, the African-American equivalent of Future Farmers of America, had chartered chapters in 178 high schools, with a membership of more than 9,000 high school boys studying vocational agriculture....

...The United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) outlawed segregated education and consequently had tremendous influence on programs of education for African Americans. Texas was one of the leaders in desegregation throughout the South. Two black students had been admitted to previously all-white schools in Fiona, Texas, before the 1954 decision. Shortly after the 1954 decision, the San Antonio school district became one of the first districts nationwide to comply. San Antonio had the advantages of good race relations and an articulate policy statement. This desegregation process began in September of the 1955-56 school year. Though San Antonio's desegregation of its schools moved quite smoothly, other school districts, such as Houston's, were amazingly slow. In 1964 Texas accounted for about 60 percent of the desegregated school districts in the South and for more than half of all African-American students attending integrated schools in the South....

...Although black students overall have greater difficulty than white students with the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test, many educators attribute the problem to poverty and lack of educational resources. Legislation in the 1990s equalizing school financing may mitigate the problem. Another issue is that in many urban areas of Texas, resegregation appears to be occurring. In 1989, 63 percent of black students in Texas still attended predominantly black schools; this was exactly the national average (only ten states had higher percentages). It is impossible at the moment to assess the long-term consequences of this phenomenon.

Over crowded prisons with majority being African American. Why?

At midyear 2008 (click here), there were 4,777 black male inmates per 100,000 black males held in state and federal prisons and local jails, compared to 1,760 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males and 727 white male inmates per 100,000 white males.

College Enrollments of Recent Black High School Graduates Are on the Rise
Article from:
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education
Article date:
July 1, 2005
Author: Anonymous

CH II Publishers, Inc. Summer 2005.

Provided by ProQuest LLC.
In recent years, more African-American high school graduates have been enrolling in college. But blacks still trail whites by a large margin in full-time enrollments at four-year colleges and universities.
Anew report from the Census Bureau reveals that recent black high school graduates are narrowing the gap with whites in college enrollments. The data shows that of the 333,000 African Americans who graduated from high school in 2003, 194,000, or 58.3 percent, had enrolled in college by the fall of that year. For whites, 66.2 percent of the 2003 high school graduates went on to enroll in college that fall.

More African-Americans going to college; fewer graduating

Townes, Glenn
New York Amsterdam News; 11/8/2007, Vol. 98 Issue 46, p33-33, 1/3p

The article focuses on the current state of education of African Americans. According to a recently released report from the "Journal of Blacks in Higher Education," the number of African American students enrolling in college is at record levels, but fewer are graduating with higher education degrees. It is viewed that viable and consistent increases in the number of African American students successfully earning and completing college remains a public issue as much as an individual one.

Foundation launches plan to double number of minority college graduates

Townes, Glenn
New York Amsterdam News; 1/1/2009, Vol. 100 Issue 1, p32-32, 1/3p

The article reports that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will give $69.8 million worth of grants to groups in the U.S. that will increase the number of minority students who attend college and graduate. A statement from Allan Golston, president of the Gates Foundation's U.S. Program, about education in the U.S. It cites several researches such as "The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education's" statistics on African-Americans with college degree.

Fewer Low-Income Students Attending Yale

Martineau, Kim
Hartford Courant, The (CT); 01/22/2008

Jan. 22--The number of low-income students at Yale is declining, a new study shows, even as Harvard and some top-ranked public institutions, including the University of Connecticut, have made gains in admitting more students from the bottom of the economic ladder.
As income inequality grows, prestigious schools across the country are scrambling to become less elitist and admit more low-income students, especially as their multibillion-dollar endowments climb to record highs.
In recent years, Harvard and Yale universities, and others, have boosted financial aid and expanded recruiting to draw more students of modest means.
A study by Iowa scholar Tom Mortenson indicates mixed results. Many of the universities rated "best" by U.S. News and World Report showed a declining enrollment of students with federal Pell grants -- need-based grants to promote access to postsecondary education....

Drop in enrollment of black students at USC

Recruitment & Retention in Higher Education; May2008, Vol. 22 Issue 5, p5-5, 1/9p

The article focuses on the report of the University of South Carolina's student newspaper "The Daily Gamecock," that the number of black freshmen entering the university dropped by 32 percent between 2000 and 2007. The University of South Carolina was identified by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education as having the highest black student enrollment of any flagship university in the nation, but a downward trend has occurred since then. Dennis Pruitt, vice president of student affairs, has said that because overall freshman enrollment has increased, the number of African-Americans is not properly represented in these percentages.

The Instigators and proudly so. Murdock's FOX brags about their ability to increase social dissonance.

"BACK TO SCHOOL" for FOX means vicious politicking at any age.

What Murdock does is 'create' the news by aggitating dissonance. How does it feel as a consumer of the news to be a 'target' of a news agency.

Feel a little like a puppet on a string?

"...to defeat al Qaeda...security is the mother of all progress." Admiral Mike Mullens

The New York Times has 34 minutes and 19 seconds of the news conference regarding Afghanistan (click title to entry - thank you).

It is my belief the military leadership exhibits an honest assessment rather than a 'calculate' assessment. I believe the military with President Obama as Commander and Chief is more open and seeks solutions rather than 'just war.' I believe the 34 minutes and 19 seconds of the news conference reflect that reality. It is my belief that Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullens, within the context of this news conference, reflect men that see the Afghan 'engagement' in relation to a regional and global capacity for stability. I believe they consider every soldier and every military family as important, vital, valued and irreplaceable.

That said, I value their words regarding Afghanistan as truthful, important and confident. I don't know how a military can sustain their mission if they aren't operating under FACTS and integrity. I do believe the USA's military has integrity in Afghanistan. I believe the people of Afghanistan regard the USA military with integrity.

I 'KNOW' the war in Afghanistan is not one easily abandoned. I 'KNOW' the people of Afghanistan are 'in need' of our military and that of our allies. I 'KNOW' the economic reality of Afghanistan is as much an enemy to our military as is the Taliban.

On September 11, 2001 the USA suffered an unthinkable act of barbarism. That act was intended to cripple the USA and its 'Westernized' economic 'stratgies.' The act was conceived and deployed from a very distant place, completely obscure from any potential of imagineering in the absense of 'law,' except for faux religious precepts that served barbaric men called Taliban as was guaranteed in their protection of Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and the al Qaeda network.

Basically, here we are 8 days away from the 8th year since those attacks and the enemy is still 'operating' at a capacity within 'the region' that sustains deaths and destruction. It is incredible to realize this could have been 'ended' a long time ago, but, was diverted.

I am as disgusted as anyone else. I am weary as anyone else. I hate war more than anyone else. But. I find myself asking questions regarding the 'security' of our nation as it will be left to our children and I find a huge gap of confidence.

I cannot turn my back on the fact Osama bin Laden and his 'hopes' to destroy my country along with its allies is still alive. The question as to his whereabouts and his viability is nearly mute from the standpoint of where we go from here. The region that is Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Iran, Iraq and Turkey is not stable. It includes places such as Kashmir. When one reflects on the 'governments' of the region there is only one country that dearly lacks a stable government and that is Afghanistan. Due to that reality it acts as a vacuum to international criminal elements.

Pakistan was slipping rapidly into a state of instability while Musharraf lived within his illusion. The Taliban entrenched themselves in Pakistan and literally re-established a 'power.' The region cannot be abandoned to 'chance.' I believe al Qaeda and bin Laden are still in the mountains shared by Pakistan and Afghanistan. I believe there are regions such as Swat needing vigilance for a long time. I also believe sustaining a 'warring profile' for any of those people does not solve the ultimate goal of stabilizing a very questionable region of the world.

The USA has options. It can withdraw from Afghanistan and leave the future to chance or it can carry out a strategy as set down by a new President that bases decisions in 'reality' and 'realistic outcomes.'

If the USA withdraws from Afghanistan that does not mean NATO will and our commitment will be required due to our obligation to that alliance. In lesser numbers, but, no more safer. If the USA realizes its obligations and wants to end this war while stabilizing a country that lends itself to chaos, anarchy and international criminals, the decision to accept the advise of our military leadership is a foregone conclusion.

The people of Afghanistan are learned enough to know who their enemy is and whom it is not. It is for that reason Secretary Gates finds 'the USA military footprint' far more fluid in these efforts than in a place such as Iraq.

I also believe the demographics of Afghanistan lends itself to 'loyalty' and that loyalty can be garnered into productivity and sophistication. I find the Afghan people very sophisticated and it is why they have a difficult time accepting the cruelty and inhumanity of The Taliban. The people of Afghanistan are 'survivors' for the years the Taliban have dominated their country. I also believe they do not want those years back. They do not want the reality that nurtured the attacks of September 11, 2001.

There is a change in the economics of Afghanistan occurring. The 'Poppy Culture' is diminishing. The opium is being replaced with crops. The reason that is stated is a fall in the global demand for opium. I guess. But, the reality that opium crops are being replaced for other agricultural commodities has a 'ring of sophistication' and 'status' to a country long regarded as incapable of having any international status. If Afghanistan were rich with oil this essay wouldn't even be necessary, but, it isn't. It is a mountainous country that struggles to feed and educate its people. It lacks 'cities' and 'resort' areas that support other methodologies to an economy. Even Iraq has a tourist trade within the understanding of 'pilgramages.'

At one time Afghanistan was regarded for its great 'natural' beauty and for that reason it invited travel to engage the challenges of its land and geography. That can no longer happen because of the impoverishment of the people as facilitated by al Qaeda as hosted by The Taliban.

There is no reward for 'The West' in abandoning Afghanistan. In doing so will open possibilities of greater danger to civilization and any ? peace ? due to lack of engagement of the criminals of the region will be short lived. So, therefore, what kind of world are we leaving to our children if we turn our backs on 'the reality' brought to us by President Obama and the current military leadership? The answer is simple. An insecure world with uncertain outcomes.

Will the people of Afghanistan prove to be another Vietnam and turn on the very presence of the USA? Will they determine our presence is more the enemy than the 'entities' we term our enemies? Will they consider 'our' enemies equally 'their' enemies? Will this be a huge and expensive mistake?

If I thought the culture of Afghanistan would seek to sustain The Taliban over decency and opportunity to remove such elements. If Pakistan was growing ever more in disarray. If India wasn't seeking peaceful means to achieving justice with 'elements' of the Pakistani populous. If Kashmir wasn't beginning to seek politics as an answer to its violent turmoil with demands for independance. If I thought Russia didn't have a vested interest in 'the region' and its stability. If I thought there wasn't a 'snowballs chance in hell' we would be successful regardless of the decisions of NATO. If I didn't believe we needed to secure our allies in Europe as much as ourselves.

Then.

And only then.

Would I believe the USA would be more in danger in the hands of our military than not.

I believed the invasion into Iraq was wrong. I still do. I believe our presence there, even today, is wrong and has inflamed and continues to inflame extremism in that country and in Iran. I never believed acting to defeat an enemy was wrong by sending our military into Afghanistan.

I don't want to be a 'starry-eyed' nation builder. I don't believe in nation building. I do believe remote areas of the world where international criminals can find 'safe havens' is wrong. I do believe the people of Afghanistan want their country to be a nation whereby their lives are honorable and not 'damning' to all of civilization. I do believe the Afghan people seek peace. They seek better lives. And. Where they can be 'empowered' to redefine their lives with sophistication, they will.

I believe we have a 'chance' in Afghanistan to stabilize an 'entire region.' I believe it is in our best interest to pursue that. I believe our children will have allies in Afghanistan 'at the end of the venture.'

What lies ahead isn't 'speculative' if the commitment is met with a strategy Admiral Mullens believes is a successful strategy. He and Secretary Gates state they have only begun to deploy a method of defeating the criminals of September 11, 2001. I don't know how the USA can honestly assess success in such a short period of time.

What troubles me are the increased deaths of our soldiers and that of our allies. Canada and Great Britain have sustained painful numbers of dead. Yet. They aren't withdrawing from the war. They view it as a necessary purpose to stop any possibility of future attacks by criminals that have proven their ability to cripple civilization.

It is my estimation the increase in the number of casualities in Afghanistan is in part due to the very successful campaign by the government of Pakistan. It is part due to some degree of 'incompleteness' in the new deployed strategy of the USA. It is part due to the desperation of The Taliban and al Qaeda in their realization of their fate.

There is a 'tipping point' that was a reality when the newly elected government of Pakistan was able to make a resolve to confront the Taliban when they became aggressive in defiance of the agreement they reached with the Pakistani government. That 'tipping point' may never be repeated if we turn away from its reality as it exists now. We may never again have the opportunity we are now faced with if Pakistan once again falls into the hands of coup leaders and criminals. There is a 'dynamic' to the region that has not existed before and it would be completely foolish to ignore it and even more dangerous to not exploit it.

I believe we have to listen to our military and 'expect' advances in stability. I also believe we have to continue to focus on the well being of our soldiers and their families and the importance of them returning home alive, healthy with their 'psyche' intact.

I believe there is reason to expect to find an answer to the chaos that lead to the attacks of September 11, 2001 and vanquish it. There is a 'difference' today we cannot ignore in realizing the sacrifice the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan 'are paying' in 'reasonable' patience for a hope to a stable country where they can achieve sustainable lives in peace. I believe there are reasons to 'keep trying' that shows how dramatically we should have persevered without diversion into another conflict. If the 'dynamics' of the region were different I would never 'entertain' further involvement with Afghanistan.

I wait to hear the decisions of President Obama who was 'in it' to secure elections.

While NATO can't seem to move toward peace with Russia, Prime Minister Putin is extending a hand in peaceful intent.

Russia's PM Putin makes a speech at Westerplatte, during ceremonies marking the anniversary of Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland Photo: REUTERS

If one recalls the first International Olympic Games was in Germany under the Hitler regime. The Nazis had a facade while it reconstituted a military that would seek to dominate an entire planet.

Russia was not alone in believing the deception, many a NATO country acted in friendship with a reborn Germany.

Russia never allied with Hitler. Russia ultimately found the first of the 'Death Camps' of Nazi Germany. Russia secured a complete war front alone from Hitler and enabled the beginnings of the Allied victory.

...Mr Putin supplied the context as he saw it. Poland struck a pact with Germany five years before the USSR cosied up to Hitler, he recalled. And of course Great Britain and France concluded the now notorious Munich Agreement. All this, he explained, meant plans for a European anti-Nazi alliance were sunk. In a tight spot, the USSR concluded a pact Mr Putin admits was immoral. But then who didn't?...

It is time to end The Cold War.

Putin extols Poland's World War II bravery (click here)

Published: Sept. 3, 2009 at 12:33 PM
SOPOT, Poland, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin marked World War II's 70th anniversary in Poland by praising Polish soldiers and citizens for their wartime bravery.
"Russia has always respected the bravery and heroism of the Polish people, soldiers and officers, who stood up first against Nazism in 1939," Putin said during a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in the Baltic Sea resort town of Sopot.
Tusk said Putin's visit reflected a growing spirit of cooperation despite remaining differences....

There is precious little tropospheric water vapor to power these storms.

Weather aids firefighters, but some flanks of fire have lethal potential (click here)
Higher humidity and a bit lower temperatures help crews battling the Station fire in the Angeles National Forest. But the northern and southeastern fronts could re-erupt, officials said.
By Louis Sahagun, Corina Knoll and Joe Mozingo
September 2, 2009
Higher humidity and slightly lower temperatures helped firefighters inch closer to subduing the monstrous fire that has lashed about the San Gabriel Mountains for a week, but they were scrambling late Tuesday in gusty winds to keep it from overrunning Mt. Wilson.The reprieve from extremely dry weather had fire crews feverishly setting back fires and cutting fire lines throughout the day, raising the blaze's containment to 22% in the evening, up from 5% the night before. Southwest winds largely pushed the fire deeper into the forest....

There is a huge absence of water vapor directly west of Jimena. The storm will effect some changes to California climate. The desending cold air mass coming into the center of North America might keep Jimena traking straight north. Southern California might see some rain yet.

September 2, 2009

1330z

UNISYS Water Vapor GOES West Satellite (click title for 12 hour loop)

Mexico Evacuates Thousands as Hurricane Jimena Nears (Update1) (click here)

By Brian K. Sullivan and Alex Morales
Sept. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico prepared for Hurricane Jimena to make landfall on the Baja California peninsula today, after evacuating thousands of residents and putting Pacific Ocean resort areas on red alert.
Jimena’s maximum sustained winds weakened to 169 kilometers (105 miles) per hour, from as high as 250 kph early yesterday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on its Web site at about 6 a.m. Los Cabos time. The hurricane was centered 50 kilometers south of Cabo San Lazaro and moving north-northwest at 20 kph.
“The core of Jimena will be near or just offshore the west coast of the southern Baja California peninsula today and near or over the central Baja California peninsula on Thursday,” the center said. “A dangerous storm surge along with large and dangerous battering waves will produce significant coastal flooding along the Baja California peninsula.”
Forecasters also are monitoring an Atlantic system, Tropical Storm Erika, which was about 255 kilometers east- southeast of the northern Leeward Islands. The storm was moving west-northwest at 11 kph and maximum winds decreased to 75 kph from 85 kph earlier today, the center said in an advisory at about 8 a.m. Miami time....

She doesn't believe she has done anything wrong. Her family was compliments of a pedophile that committed adultery.

She has been manipulated by her spouse to believe he was giving her a family. And she allowed the belief system to exist. She is as guilty as he is.

It is all demented. That doesn't mean she is crazy, just demented. She enabled the pedophilia to please her husband. I don't know what her dependency was? Drugs? Alcohol? Financial dependency? Sexual perversion herself?

Lawyer: Calif. kidnapper's wife misses children (click title to entry - thank you)

She needs MAJOR 'deprogramming' and some 'profound reality orientation.' When she wakes up from this funk she'll know how screwed up she really is ! They aren't even her children. None of them are.

NO VISITING RIGHTS WITH THE CHILDREN. EVER !


Nancy Garrido is seen with her court appointed attorney, Gilbert Maines, during her arraignment on 29 felony counts stemming from the 1991 abduction of Jaycee Dugard,11, of South Lake Tahoe, in the El Dorado Superior Court in Placerville, Calif., Friday, Aug. 28, 2009. Garrido, and her husband Phillip Garrido, pleaded not guilty on charges including forcible abduction, rape, sexual assault and false imprisonment. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) (Rich Pedroncelli - AP)

Zoos

Big Cat Rescue (click title to entry - thank you)

They have a campaign to stop the proliferation of White Tigers (click here)



Debate rages over the fate of Lucy the elephant at Edmonton's zoo
By Sandra Farias (CP) – 2 days ago
EDMONTON — In a hilly field filled with shrubs and trees in an undeveloped part of the zoo, a massive creature plays hide-and-seek with her keepers.
Slowly walking around a pathway the animal remembers well, she soaks up the sun and breeze while cavorting with its human friends.
"She loves grazing on the grass up here," says head zookeeper Wade Krasnow, who has been caring for the animal for almost two decades.
"She" is Lucy, a beloved Asian elephant who has been a fixture at Edmonton's Valley Zoo for the last 32 years.
Lucy is at the centre of a long-standing and escalating debate between the city-owned zoo and a growing group of high-profile animal rights advocates over how the animal should spend her remaining years.
Advocates say the Valley Zoo is too small for Lucy and that she would be happier and healthier in a larger refuge with other elephants....

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5jfeoaAMQ-CMIdTvLNnV2zjDGOjGw


'Tango in the Jungle' set to raise funds for Miller Park Zoo (click here)
By Scott Richardson
srichardson@pantagraph.com
Posted: Sunday, August 30, 2009 12:00 am
BLOOMINGTON -- Zoos do more than offer personal encounters with animals most people don't see anywhere else. The upcoming Zoo-Do fundraiser at Miller Park Zoo will help expand a local program that's part of a worldwide effort to save critically endangered species.
Money collected during the Sept. 12 evening of food, music, and auctions will go toward establishing the Bloomington zoo as a breeding site for Sumatran tigers. At present, fewer than 400 of the animals live on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, which gives the subspecies its name. Despite game preserves and strict regulations, illegal poaching reduces their number by about 10 percent each year.
Currently, Miller Park Zoo has two male Sumatran tigers, long-time resident Besar and Rojo, a new arrival from Akron, Ohio....


Girl gorillas go ape for French pinup hunk (click here)
August 29th, 2009
By Nick Hunt – CNN
LONDON, England (CNN) — You don’t want to monkey around on a blind date, especially if your friends are also taking an interest in the same dark, handsome stranger.
So when three female gorillas at London Zoo heard that they would soon be visited by a brooding French hunk — well, they went a bit bananas.
The latest development in Anglo-French relations sees Yeboah, a 20-stone 12-year-old, leave his current home at La Boissiere Du Dore Zoo, Pays de la Loire, northwest France and head for the British capital by the end of the year....


Scientists Work To Repopulate Colombia's Skies With Condors (click here)
Andean condors were once hunted to near extinction. Now teams feed and track the giant carrion-eaters, brought from U.S. zoos, and have increased their numbers tenfold. Tourism also benefits.Reporting from Sogamoso, Colombia - In ancient times, they were revered as messengers of the gods. Later, they proudly soared on the Colombian coat of arms. But at this moment, two young condors just wanted their dinner.
And so it was that peasant "condor keepers" this month placed a cow fetus on a desolate rain-swept cliff here in the Colombian Andes, the weekly ration for Iraka and Ogonta, two females released this year in a repopulation program sponsored by the San Diego Zoo.
Donated by a local slaughterhouse, the carcasses are the ideal diet for the monumental birds -- "good-quality rotting food," as the zoo's Alan Lieberman described it.
The Andean condors are the latest of 70 birds released in Colombia since 1989 after being hatched and raised in 20 U.S. zoos, most often at the San Diego Zoo.
The reintroduction program has helped push Colombia's condor population to about 150 birds, said Orlando Feliciano, a Bogota-based veterinarian who has worked with the San Diego Zoo on the project since its inception.
In the mid-1980s, condors in Colombia numbered no more than 15, he said.For centuries condors were killed by people who either thought, mistakenly, that the carrion birds attacked their livestock or that their feathers or bones had magical or medicinal power.
"They were virtually extinct, as they are today in Venezuela," Feliciano said.


Animals and animalrights in the media worldwide: (click here)
In Amerikaanse dierentuinen opgegroeide condors naar Andes in Colombia voor toename populatie reuzen roofvogels
август 29th, 2009
The alleged star of the costly program, which parallels a program in the direction of the California condor, bespeaks the economic and personnel commitment of the U.S. The raising, transportation and outfitting of each condor with an implanted phone costs “thousands of dollars” per bird, said Michael Mace, San Diego Zoo’s curator of birds. The two condors released in February brought to 11 the total number selection untie in Boyaca glory since 2004.
“We do it because we can, as stewards of the planet, and mindful of our durability to assess as keep an eye open for down of the ecosystem and the wildlife within it,” said Lieberman, who directs the San Diego Zoo’s area programs and who has desire conducted area investigation in Colombia. (Two be preserved died, verse killed to hand a huntsman, another electrocuted on a extraordinary power on the infinitesimal catalogue for.)The glory surroundings apportion, Corpoboyaca, and a village nongovernmental organizing known as Fundetropico inculcate village schoolchildren and peasants that, adverse to stereotypical poise, condors do not effect livestock or postulate a portent to humans, but break bread exclusive carrion. The tutoring programs sell the condors’ impersonation in cleaning up the surroundings and their cultural idea....


Three Newly Acquired African Lions Will Soon Be Exhibited at Oregon Zoo (click here)
Sat, 8/29/2009 - 2:29 PM
By Bill Lamarche
Portland, OR - Three newly acquired African lions - Zawadi Mungu, Kya and Neka - got a clean bill of health this morning in preparation for their move into the Oregon Zoo's much anticipated Predators of the Serengeti exhibit, opening Sept. 12. However, acquiring these enormous felines was no small feat.
Zawadi Mungu, meaning "gift of God," is the male of the zoo's new lion pride. He is 1 year and 2 months old, and will join Kya and Neka, two females of the same age, in the zoo's new exhibit.
The lions were acquired from different zoos as part of the Oregon Zoo's new breeding program designed to help ensure the longevity of the African lion. Zawadi Mungu was acquired from the San Diego Wild Animal Park and the females came from Wisconsin's Racine Zoo and the Virginia Zoo....


A GREAT thing to do in Chicago…..and you can bring your kids! PART I (click here)
The Lincoln Park Zoo is located near the lake in Lincoln Park and is FREE every day of the year, one of the only free zoos in the country. Its small and makes a wonderful landscape for a casual stroll. It is equally conducive to a romantic stroll or the kids running around to let off steam.
The Brookfield Zoo is a more traditional zoo, sprawling and with all the exotic animals you could hope for. To be honest, my memories of zoos when I was a child ere mixed–I loved the animals and being there but I always remember being exhausted and having to walk FOREVER. Lincoln Park solves that problem because the whole zoo is small enough to walk comfortably–even if you are a kid. Brookfield is pretty well laid out and you can rent some pretty nifty conveyances if you don’t want to lug your own–strollers, wagons with shades, you name it, you can rent it....


Zoo docents fading from landscape (click here)
Mary Schmich
August 30, 2009
Jack Gelfond laid a hand across the two little metal elephants on the pocket of his safari shirt.
"It hurts me," he said. We were standing outside the Lincoln Park Zoo. He looked like he might cry. "This really hurts me."
Almost every Tuesday for 14 years, since he retired as a nationally celebrated salesman, Gelfond, a robust 78, has put on his safari shirt and headed to his docent's job.
Tuesday after Tuesday, with a vaudevillian verve, he has told visitors the length of a giraffe's tongue (18 inches) and the size of a polar bear's baby (the palm of his hand). Nothing makes him happier than persuading a scared kid to pet a snake.
Then one August day, he and the 200 or so other docents learned news that felt to many like a shot in the heart: The 38-year-old docent program would vanish on Oct. 31....


Oklahoma City Zoo approves updates to new children’s exhibit (click here)
August 29th, 2009
BY CARRIE COPPERNOLL – News OK
The Oklahoma City Zoo Trust on Wednesday approved $105,000 in changes to the zoo’s new children’s exhibit.
The additional cost is a compilation of necessary changes to the Children’s Zoo, said Tommy Bryant, zoo director of building and grounds.
The changes include rock repairs, wall expansion, cage upgrades and additional soil, pavement, drains and gates.
The changes also will improve handicap accessibility....



Monday, Aug. 31, 2009
Columbia's Riverbanks Zoo runs with the big dogs (click here)
By Joey Holleman - McClatchy Newspapers
COLUMBIA -- Riverbanks Zoo and Garden drew more visitors last year than the major zoos in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Fla., and New Orleans.
How has a zoo in the middle of a relatively poor state, in a small metropolitan area, managed to compete with the big cities? Tourism officials say it's a combination of geography, smart marketing and visionary management. It also helps that local residents have an affection for the 35-year-old facility on the banks of the Saluda River.
"Riverbanks has established themselves as a destination zoo in a place that isn't always seen as a destination city," said Dave Zunker, former vice president of the Midlands visitors bureau and now president of the Saratoga (N.Y.) Convention and Tourism Bureau. "When you go to Columbia, you go to the zoo. Most cities that size have sort of lame zoos."...


Zoo setting for Many Cultures (click here)
International Institute celebrates world theme full of entertainment
By Betty O'Neill-Roderick Special to the Beacon Journal
Published on Monday, Aug 31, 2009
The Akron Zoo's penguins wore their best tuxedos as they greeted guests at One World, Many Cultures Friday evening. Flags of many nations decorated the Zoo's Komodo Kingdom, where the fundraiser for the International Institute took place.
Executive Director Debbie May-Johnson said the institute welcomes foreign-born residents from around the world and helps them assimilate. Howard Tuber and Donna Early, who volunteer with the refugee resettlement program at the institute, said they are currently helping refugees from Nepal....


Ban for Australian zoo that sold antelope to hunter (click here)
(AFP) – 2 days ago
SYDNEY — An Australian zoo that sold endangered antelope to a hunting enthusiast has been barred from trading in animals until an investigation into the incident is completed, a media report said Monday.
The Sydney Morning Herald said authorities in New South Wales state imposed the ban after the Western Plains Zoo sold 16 blackbuck antelope to Bob McComb, who owns a property he wants to turn into a game reserve.
Blackbuck antelope, which are listed as threatened in India and Nepal, are prized by hunters for their large spiral horns.
The Herald said McComb, a member of pro-hunting political group called The Shooters Party, was part of a push to allow trophy hunting on specially designated game reserves, including his own property, the Dongadale Deer Park and Stud....

Team releases eagle at sanitation plant (click here)
BY KAYLEE HUGHES
Commercial-News
DANVILLE — On Tuesday at dawn, a 1-year-old bald eagle, Sewey, was released at the Danville Sanitary District where it had been found.
Sewey was discovered in a pond near the sanitary district. Steve Brewer called in the report to the conservation officers at Forest Glen Preserve.
"We get calls about birds all the time,” said Amy Steeples, programming secretary for the Forest Glen. “So we were a little skeptical that it was an eagle. But we knew the people out here have seen quite a few birds and knew what they were talking about.”
"It was huge! I remember thinking we should have brought a bigger net," said Susan Biggs Warner, who also works at Forest Glen.
Gary Wilford, Warner and Steeples arrived at the sanitary district to find Sewey close to the shore of the pond, but covered with sludge....

Zollman Zoo celebrates 40 years (click here)
8/30/2009 4:15:02 PM
By John Weiss
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
BYRON -- For most of the Zollman Zoo's 40-year existence, the cute little prairie dogs and big lumbering black bear have reigned as the top attractions.
Then, along came the otters. Sleek, playful, with their funny whiskers, they also made it to the most-watched list. A recent expansion of their enclosure, including a glass-sided tank so people can observe them swimming underwater, helped boost their popularity.
Today, the zoo's newest additions, two wolf pups, are a strong draw for visitors, said Kevin Crilly, director of the zoo, which is in Oxbow Park.
On Saturday, the Zollman celebrated its 40th anniversary with a Friends of Oxbow party that attracted several hundred people....

Three Azur Tiger Cubs Born at Utah's Hogle Zoo (click here)

Utah's Hogle Zoo recently announced that three critically endangered male Amur tiger cubs have been born. The Amur tigers, formerly known as Siberian tigers, are part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) Tiger Species Survival Plan (SSP). The Hogle Zoo reports that the mother Basha is doing an excellent job taking care of the three male cubs.
For the past couple of months these tiger brothers have become increasingly active and Basha is kept busy nursing and caring for her three active and playful cubs. Although this is first litter for her, she is proving to be an excellent mother. "With first-time moms we prepare ourselves to deal with the unknown. But Basha took on the three cubs like she was a natural; she was an extremely caring, protective, great mom from day one," says Hogle Zoo feline keeper Jill VanMilligen. She adds, "Basha was one of three cubs born at Hogle Zoo in 2003 and now watching her become a mom herself is incredible." This is the first time that Kazek, who arrived at Hogle Zoo in 2006 from the Buffalo Zoo, has sired a litter.

The cubs are absolutely adorable and they are going to get much bigger. Hogle Zoo says Amur tigers are the largest of all the cat species. Adult males can grow to be 11 feet long and weigh 400 to 650 pounds.

Burrowing Owl Chicks Hatch at Smithsonian's National Zoo for the First Time in 30 Years (click here)

Fri, 8/28/2009 - 2:26 PM

By Enica R. Thompson
Washington, DC - The Smithsonian’s National Zoo welcomed two burrowing owl chicks Aug. 2—the first hatching of this species at the Zoo in 30 years. The chicks’ parents, a 5-year-old male and 4-year-old female, have been at the Zoo since June 2006.
The last time burrowing owls successfully bred at the National Zoo was in the late 1970s. A recent population-management plan recommended breeding the Zoo’s current adult pair. The chicks are with their parents in the Zoo’s Bird House. Currently, there is semi-transparent filter paper covering their exhibit, providing the chicks with privacy. As they become more comfortable with their new surroundings, the paper will slowly be removed.
Burrowing owls are named for their habit of living in underground burrows. The Zuni Indians called these owls the “priest of the prairie dogs” because they often nest and roost in empty prairie dog burrows. At the Zoo, the owls are provided with tunnels and underground nest boxes....

Zoo theft kingpin flees as cops doze on train (click here)

TNN

31 August 2009, 10:40pm

KOLKATA
SAMBALPUR: Raj Saikia, the kingpin of the theft of Brazilian marmosets from Alipore zoo on August 9, gave dozing policemen the slip on

Monday while being brought from Chhattisgarh to Kolkata in an AC 2-tier coach of Ahmedabad Express....

Brookfield Zoo dolphins head north, to return in spring (click here)
August 31, 2009 10:42 AM
Brookfield Zoo has moved its three resident dolphins to the Minnesota Zoo until next spring in order to reline the facility's pools and update the 20-year-old building.
The three dolphins, Tapeko, 27, Noelani, 5 and Allison, 3, flew out to Minneosota Sunday. They arrived safely and were placed in a pool separate from that zoo's four resident dolphins, three females and a male. Once they are acclimated to their new surroundings, the Brookfield dolphins will join with the Minnesota dolphins, zoo officials said....

State Taking Applications for New N.C. Zoo License Plates (click here)
Staff Writer
August 31, 2009

ASHEBORO, N.C. - The state Division of Motor Vehicles is accepting applications for the new "Support the N.C. Zoo" license plate. It costs $30 extra, with $20 going back to the N.C. Zoo Society.The DMV will begin making the plates once 300 people sign up and pay.Zoo officials say supporters can buy the plates by calling the society or visiting its Web site. Plate applications will also be available at the zoo's gift shop.

Pair of bears finally freed from grizzly zoo conditions (click here)

By Patrick Galey Daily Star staff

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

BEIRUT: At the end of a summer in which more than a million tourists flocked to Leba­non, Emirates flight EK 954 to Istanbul on Sunday night saw two rather unusual passengers leave the country – a pair of female brown bears. The animals were flown to Turkey before being transported to the Karakabey bear sanctuary, the last stop on a journey that started nine months ago, inside a rusty iron cage.
The pair, named Kira and Big Mama, had been locked inside a neglected zoo for 15 years before a Lebanese animal sanctuary came across the enclosure, in the Dbayye area, and removed 40 animals, including monkeys, turtles, a vulture, a porcupine and a jackal....

Zoo animal deaths scrutinized (click here)

By James Carlson
Created September 1, 2009 at 8:00pm
Updated September 2, 2009 at 12:52am
Animals in the wild operate with stealth.
To some extent, the same can be said about the operation of the Topeka Zoo.
Revelations in an Aug. 12 federal inspection report highlight how the zoo selectively disclosed information to the public and to the government's regulatory agency about animals that have died at the zoo in the past three years.
Since news surfaced last week about a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspection report that cited the zoo for serious noncompliance items involving the deaths of animals, zoo director Mike Coker conceded openness at the zoo can be improved....

Oregon Zoo back in an uproar, thanks to new lions (click here)

By Bill Roberson
PORTLAND, Ore. – The Oregon Zoo’s new African lions have moved into their new enclosure at the Predators of Serengeti exhibit and are making themselves at home, said zoo staff. “Our three lions are adjusting well to their new home,” said Mike Keele, the zoo’s acting director. “The roar is officially back at the Oregon Zoo.”Zawadi Mungu, the male lion, came from the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The female lions, Neka and Kya, came from the Virginia Zoo and the Racine Zoo in Wisconsin....

Brevard County Zoo seeks businesses to host treat stations at 'Boo at the Zoo' (click here)
By staff report

Originally published 04:25 p.m., September 1, 2009Updated 04:25 p.m., September 1, 2009

BREVARD COUNTY — Brevard Zoo’s annual spooky spectacular Boo at the Zoo still has space available for businesses to host a treat station.
The 13th annual Halloween event is Oct. 16 through18; 23 through 25; and Oct. 30 from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.
The zoo expects 10,000 to 12,000 people in attendance over seven nights. For treat station sponsorship information, call (321) 254-9453, ext. 235 or send an e-mail to bgray@brevardzoo.org.
Tickets are available for purchase after Sept. 22. The first weekend, admission will be $8 per person. The second weekend and Oct. 30, admission will be $10 per person.

Labor Day events at the San Francisco Zoo for babies, toddlers and preschoolers (click here)
September 1, 10:34 AM

The San Francisco Zoo is featuring "Baby Bonanza - bring your baby to meet our babies" now through Labor Day, in celebration of the Zoo's summer births. Baby Bonanza is featuring a gorilla, giraffe calves, a howler monkey, kangaroos and even more babies. Participants will receive a free activity book to take home filled with games and animal facts. The Little Puffer Miniature Steam Train will be running daily 10:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. through Labor Day. Train fee is $4. Children may also enjoy the Carousel and Talking Storybooks and Zoo Keys.
Toddlers and Preschoolers will also be kept busy at the Zoo, as an array of classes are scheduled for toddlers and preschoolers throughout the month of September....

Ore. sea lions making their mark in the art world (click here)
August 31st, 2009

LORI TOBIASThe Associated Press
(AP) — NEWPORT, Ore. – When marine mammalogist Jen DeGroot decided to teach Lea, a sea lion, to make flipper art, she was merely looking for ways to keep the Oregon Coast Aquarium resident from getting bored.
She never imagined Lea would develop her own following. But that’s exactly what happened when fellow workers at the aquarium learned of the work and began requesting their own custom prints. Before long, DeGroot and her colleagues were having trouble keeping up with the demand.
“We thought, ‘This is a popular thing. We can make money for the animals,’” says DeGroot....

Zoo euthanizes tiger Holly (click here)
19-year-old animal suffered seizures
By Karen Smith Welch

karen.welch@amarillo.com
A Bengal tiger acquired to signify bold changes for the Amarillo Zoo died last weekend after suffering steadily worsening seizures.
Consulting veterinarian Dr. Merton Pearson euthanized the 225-pound tiger, Holly, on Saturday after it was determined her condition would continue to decline, Zoo Curator Rhonda Votino said.
"It was a very difficult decision, but her quality of life had deteriorated to a point where we felt it was the most humane alternative," Votino said....

Little River Zoo’s animals take a turn at politickingProgram to help tackle funding issue (click here)
BY JENNIFER GRISWOLD
Published: September 1, 2009Modified: August 31, 2009 at 4:45 pm
NORMAN — The race for a local mayor’s position has turned into a real zoo.

Ten candidates are vying for the top position at Little River Zoo. Campaign officials admit the candidates are acting like a bunch of animals, but that’s because they are animals.
Little River Zoo launched a new fundraising program in August to help support the animals at the zoo.
They are asking people to get involved with the zoo by voting for the Official Little River Zoo Mayor each month.
People can go to www.littleriverzoo.com and cast their votes by clicking on Little River Zoo for Life Fund link. Zoo officials are asking for a minimum $1 donation per vote....

Zoo Enrichment Techniques
How Zoos Keep Animals Happy, Healthy, and Busy (click here)

Environmental enrichment, also known as behavioral enrichment, is defined by the Honolulu Zoo website as techniques that "improve or enhance zoo environments for animals, stimulating them to investigate and interact with their surroundings." Basically, zoos know that wild animals are healthier when kept in an environment that simulates their natural habitat, and happier when they can use their skills and abilities....

Zoo’s roar is back as lions return to exhibit (click here)
Pamplin Media Group, Sep 2, 2009

The Oregon Zoo has some new tenants. Three African lions moved recently into their new enclosure that is part of the Predators of the Serengeti exhibit.
The 2.5-acre exhibit that opens Sept. 12 offers a simulated “natural” environment for a variety of African predators, including cheetahs, African wild dogs and red-billed hornbills.
The exhibit also marks the return of lions to the Oregon Zoo. In 1998, lions left the zoo to make room for a new exhibit. After people began asking about the lions and their possible return, the zoo embarked on its “Bring Back the Roar” campaign to build the new exhibit and return the animals to the zoo....

end