We love you, Rosie.

Kelli O'Donnell and Rosie O'Donnell host a group of gay parents and their children on a cruise ship in the HBO special 'All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise.'

Rosie's Broadway Kids (click here)

Her detractors are morally corrupt people. One is Donald Trump whom has some profound personal, deep seated problems. Does 'The Don' have a child's program? No. He has a Miss Universe Program. Hello?

Traverse Film Festival is a permanent fixture on the American Reality. Go, Michael, Go !!

Michael Moore Down With Love PremiereTribeca Film Festival, 5/6/2003Photo: RJ Capak, Wireimage.com

Dear Friends of the Traverse City Film Festival,

I have some very good news for you. Yesterday at 10 a.m., I signed thepapers that make the Traverse City Film Festival the new owner of thehistoric State Theatre in downtown Traverse City! That's right -- the filmfestival not only now has a permanent home, we are going to re-open theState Theatre as a year-round, state-of-the-art film theater showing thebest of American independent, classic, and foreign cinema.

This resurrection of the State has been made possible through the generosityof Rotary Charities of Traverse City -- until Tuesday, the owner of thebuilding. They have "sold" it to us for a performance-based mortgage whichstates that the $600,000 "cost" of the theater is forgiven if we keep itopen a certain number of days for at least five years. If we do, themortgage is torn up and the theater is ours for free.

In order to bring the State back to life, it will take the activeinvolvement of our area's very large group of movie lovers -- namely, you!Those of you who live in the Traverse City area know about the long historyof a variety of groups trying to re-open the State. Each group attempted amajor fundraising campaign to restore the theater. Sadly, their goals werenot met, and the darkened theater changed hands a number of times.

In taking ownership of the theater (after a negotiation process that took 20months), we have decided not to conduct such a major fundraising campaign.We decided that we just needed to open the theater once and for all. At lastyear's founders party, I announced that I would personally be responsiblefor the $150,000 worth of projection and sound equipment needed to make theState a world-class theater. I then asked for one "angel" in the communityto step forward and match me. Within 10 minutes, Buzz Wilson, one of thefestival's chief film sponsors, said he would pay for the improvements to building up to code -- and a big new popcorn popper. Between what Buzz and I\u003cbr /\>will do, the State can open this year.the roof, a new handicap restroom, various other repairs to bring thebuilding up to code -- and a big new popcorn popper. Between what Buzz and Iwill do, the State can open this year.

But for the State to stay open -- and to serve as the anchor of our belovedfilm festival -- it will require the active participation of our friendsgroup and anyone else who would love to see the State's lights stay on forgood.

In the coming weeks, we will announce the grand re-opening date and what wewill need to sustain this wonderful, old movie palace. It will be staffed byvolunteers and it will be supported by the small donations from what we hopewill be the thousands of the State Theater's new "members." And if there isanother angel or two who can help us repair the marquee or put airconditioning in the lobby, then please let us know who you are!

We'll have much more to share with you next month as we get closer to thefestival. For now, I and my fellow festival board members -- John RobertWilliams, Doug Stanton, Terry George and Larry Charles -- and our festivalmanager, Deb Lake, wanted to let you hear the good news before it hits themedia in a few hours. All of you, through your hard work and financialsupport, have made the festival what it has become -- and you have broughtus to this day where we now have a permanent home for all of those who lovethis art form we call the movies.

Thank you again for being part of something special.

Yours,

Michael Moore

President, Traverse City Film Festival

PS. If you're free at 9:30 this morning (Wednesday), come on down to the State for the big announcement.

New York Times Review - I wish Al would reclaim his stolen presidency. Please.

Hail Piles Up 4 Inches Deep in Denver

Upto 4 inches in of hail in Denver, Colorado. Regardless of all the 'happy-slappy' commercial television media, life ain't all that for most Americans.

May 28, 2007

Round Rock, Texas

Photographer states :: More flash flooding - The Memorial Day holiday brought sustained heavy rains to Central Texas, bringing more flooding and flash flooding to the area. At least six Texans lost their lives over this period of sustained rainfall, most if not all from attempting to cross flooded roadways. These photos show water cresting the low water bridge at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock. The Round Rock Police were notified before these photos were taken and the gates to this crossing were then locked, preventing any problems as the water continued to rise. Remember, when faced with water over the roadway, "turn around, don't drown."

Hailstorm Batters Denver (click here)
Heavy Rain Also Soaks Plains States

DENVER -- A strong cold front nosed into northern Colorado early Tuesday, bringing with it much cooler temperatures, gusty north winds, rain, hail and tornado warnings.
Residents in Denver were startled by grape-sized hail on Tuesday.
Small, pea-sized hail fell so fast in places that storm drains became clogged, prompting minor street-flooding. The hail made it seem as if a fresh blanket of snow had fallen in the area.
Brazil Redd was outside when the rain and hail began to fall. She said, "It hurt. I probably got bruises. It was huge."
Motorists scurried under bridges or into garages and pedestrians scrambled for cover to avoid being pelted. Up to 4 inches of hail fell at an area amusement park.
Heavy rain also soaked the Plains states from Colorado up to Minnesota on Tuesday, causing minor flooding in some places.
The National Weather Service has issued tornado warnings for areas southeast of Denver and for parts of Nebraska.

They're back. Click here for 12 hour loop. The 'chronic' vortices that were noted at lower latitudes a week or so ago are back in 'maximum.'

May 30, 2007
0030z
UNISYS water vapor 'north' and 'east' hemisphere satellite



May 30, 2007
1130z
UNISYS water vapor 'north' and 'west' hemisphere satellite

The sun is traversing north and the 'air dynamics' of the troposphere is somewhat 'fixed.' The small vortices that were 'fixed' in the lower latitudes in small diameter circulation are reaching maximum with higher heat content. The 'weather' pattern is somewhat the same only worse over North America. Noted are small vortices over the Atlantic, east of the Carribean, these may manifest into hurricanes. That potential is matched with systems within the equatorial air over the Pacific. THAT combination always spelled hurricane potential in the past three years.

So much for Homeland Security ! (click here for WHO link)

The administration in DC is again scrambling to 'find a way' to handle an exposure issue with Multi-Drug Resistant TB. It's amazing.

The airlines don't have contact information on the people on the flights?

Yeah they do.

They don't have police force across the USA that can locate the folks that may have been exposed?

Yeah they do.

I suppose announcing it over the airwaves is marginally effective, but, I would think there would be a far more EFFECTIVE Homeland Security mechanism for an exposure such as this. What would prevent a jihadist from entering the USA with a highly contageous disease such as this and expose the nation to that danger?

NOTHING.

Is there? NO !

Bush wants one hundred billion dollars (US) for war but has absolutely no way of protecting the USA from a simple exposure of a seriously significant disease.

People are actually voting Republican?

WHY?

The year was 1993. I was an Registered Nurse at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. I was the 'Union Rep' to the unit I-Blue. I reported on to work and began to receive 'report' from an off going RN. We had received a female patient, age 45 years old. Nice lady. The diagnosis was new to me, but, that was never unusual at UMDNJ. We received all kinds of disease issues on this cutting edge cardiac telemetry/step-down/medical/surgical floor. We received the first two cases of that Mouse Virus in New Jersey, it was a retrovirus. The virus was so virulent it was killing people in NYC and this was a man with a high rate tachycardia due to the virus and fever. We got him through it. His daughter was on Peds and she survived it as well. He stated, there was a mouse in the apartment the day before and it must have been in the kitchen.

But, that day in 1993, the patient was a woman and the diagnosis was Multi-Drug Resistant TB. I looked at the reporting nurse and said, what? MTB he said. Multi-Drug Resistance TB. She was in a room without negative pressure and the diagnosis alone required a 'stand' by the floor's Union Rep. Evidently, the admitting physicians saw no reason to place her in an Anti-Room where there were several layers of isolation. I didn't waste time and called the Vice President of Nursing and simply stated, we had a serious TB case and there was insufficient mechanism to protect the staff. She personally got up from her desk as this was the hospital's first extremely resistant TB case, and went to Unit H-Yellow taking one of their 'micro' filtration machines. It was a large square unit that provided a filtration of viruses as well as a negative pressure. She gowned and gloved and put it in the room herself and started the filtrations. It was her responsiblity to protect the staff and it was my place to make sure it happened. That's all.
This bacteria is well known to the medical profession. It is a serious form of TB, very difficult to treat but it is somewhat treatable if the patient takes all their medications, but, in some instances the medicines are as bad as the bacteria if there are co-morbid issues. I remember assessing this woman's lungs. There were irreversible cavities in her lungs because of the bacteria. She sounded cavernous when she breathed.

Yep.

1993. This bacteria is NOT that unknown to the USA. Rare? Depends the city you live. It was not that rare in Newark after we discovered the first case. Oh, well, that is the Bush World of the Culture of Fear.

I guess Bush is trying to prove he knows more about 'health threats' to the American people than those revealed in "Sicko." Ah, but, Georgie, what do you care?