God answers prayers!

Good Night!

Why, Eva--what did you do?!!?

LOL!

To Phooey and Paget (and all my friends here):

(Ribbet!)

Good morning, Ponders! I love you guys so much--especially my Phooey and Paget; I read the Klatch early this morning and saw the comments and ensuing rock-throw... (Oooooh! TweetyBirdscowl--"Sissy up now and she mad!" HAHAHAHAHA! )

Here is her post to Gerty, in case it gets removed:

"Not willing to take any more abuse and subjugation to exploitation"--HUH? Gerts, my sister Donal did not comment about YOU. As usual, YOU introduced the first nasty comment about HER. You've brought more negativity to the Klatch with your petty infighting than anyone else here--you think she didn't read your verbal snipes to me all the time? You think we don't all see them for ourselves? Just stop. My dear, as you profess to be nominally Christian, you need to step up your game!

Hi, Phooey--and yes I am still eating my peanutbutter and pickle sandwich!--Gerty's words do not hurt my sister. Gerty is not kind enough to hurt her; they are not on the same level. She sees an obvious impairment there and has much sympathy for it (she's sorry she did not recognize it sooner). She prays for Gerty everyday. Thank you and our dear Paget for your wonderful, brave support. We both loves ya! 

P.S. Mrs. Cow, you needn't have to 'play the game' at all. You, too, could talk to the both of us on the phone; my sister would love to hear from you ;-)

I am so glad Kaniah is home and Magdalene is doing well; the news made Froggy smile. Have a great Thanksgiving all!

Yowza, she is wonderful, LOL! You know, I am so sorry I got involved in that whole mess--but it sure is nice for someone to have my back (and 'Woggy always has).  I don't go over there and read too much; it just makes me want to join in, and I guess I did enough of that, all the way 'round ;-) But I can't believe some of those gals just want to keep it up!

Sissy's right; I DO recognize some... um... difficulties going on with a couple of them--so I am sympathetic. There's a little too much feeling like a victim, feeling put upon--and there's some of that paranoid vibe going on... sigh. Such, I guess, is what we fall prey to as we get older. I hope despite the varying degrees of my health and medications that I can accurately, and more kindly, figure it out. My religion helps a lot!

I'm not immune from making too big a deal out of something, myself--because, in our house, everything was a big deal--but someone who is ill is ill  and someone whose capacities are diminishing is impaired. I don't know if Gerty always had an unkind heart, but for her and Straitpath, myMag and EC (an anyone else who may have enmity towards me) I always wanted to be friends, and I want them to know that, even if I lacked the ability to make it so. It does take two people with some minimum self-awareness. I hope I have that back; my illness has taken a lot away... and God only knows what's going to go next!

Thank you to all the understanding, great people that I know--I love you dearly, friends! I'm still capable of getting a mad-on and calling Gerty a Snipe--which she is--but I hope I can shrug a bit more of that off now that I'm not so involved. In the meantime, I'm not the only one Mama taught how to write, ha! 'Woggy can hold a stylish pen when she scrapes up the effort and I love her for it--now, I have to go and make her French toast!

Have a nice evening, Ponders!

Good Morning, Pond People!

Good Nite, friends...

"He doesn't like us. He really doesn't like us."

Image by Dale of Out of Order, the Blog

Partz Iz Partz!

I love my Ponders!

You have to share!!!

Joe "Pa", indeed...

Joe Paterno and the Act that Dare Not Speak Its Name

By Bernie Reeves

The Penn State scandal has several dimensions beyond the disgusting alleged outrages by former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky.  The most newsworthy item to the average person so far has been the termination of football coach Joe Paterno at age 85, who broke the NCAA Division 1 record for most wins in his last game for the Nittany Lions the Saturday before the story broke.

Paterno is accused of not following up on a report he received in 2002 that Sandusky was observed having sex with a male adolescent in the football team's locker room.  Paterno did pass on the information to members of the athletic department but, according to investigators, did not act more aggressively to pursue the matter.  Paterno is not listed as a criminal suspect in the case, but his fabled career received the death sentence.  Now the outrage over Sandusky's crimes has created additional fallout, contaminating all who were involved.  But what was going on in Paterno's mind that caused him not to track down and expose Sandusky?

Back when my boys were young, a single, mid-20s, hale fellow, well-met, dedicated himself to youth sports.  He coached city-league and YMCA sports teams and displayed a great interest in kids a father could not replicate while maintaining a career and a family.  The young "coach," and the others like him, set an example of involvement perceived as a paragon of parenting.

One Friday afternoon, my son said he had been invited with four or five other kids his age to spend the night with their coach and mentor.  The plan was to go bowling and return to the coach's home to watch movies.  I said no.  My son exploded with anger and hurt feelings.  He reeled off four close friends who were going, sputtering with outrage that if his pals could go, why couldn't he?  He would be stuck at home while his compatriots were having a great time -- and making friends with an older person who treated them as equals.  I stood my ground, but I could not find the words to explain exactly why to my son.

Thinking back, there were reasons beyond my reluctance to label the youth coach a potential pedophile, an opinion I held but could not prove.  I was fearful to explain just what sexual predators actually did.  My son and I hadn't even discussed the birds and the bees, much less homoerotic acts that were beyond my ability to dwell on even briefly.  I did not want to imply that all youth sports coaches preyed on children.  And I feared the uncomfortable process involved that would require that I prove my suspicions.  I knew the coach's behavior was suspect, and I wanted to protect my son.  But that's as far I could go.

But even if I had attempted to explain my fear and stain the reputation of the young coach, my son would not be able to restrain himself from telling everyone the explosive news.  I would then be in the position of defending my comments, which in turn would unleash a firestorm drawing in hundreds of people.  The coach would sue, demanding proof.  The media would naturally become interested, and the accusation would go viral.  I would be mobbed by media wanting to know how I knew this about the coach.  And if I were wrong, the potential for defamation damages against me would be ruinous.  The drama would never die.

Joe Paterno dealt with the same issues, even though graduate assistant Mike McQueary (who since moved up to assistant coach until he was suspended last week) offered an eyewitness report back in 2002.  To his credit, Joepa reported the incident to officials in PSU's athletic department.  But his termination is reportedly based on his inaction from that point forward.  What should he have done to save him from ignominy at the end of one of the greatest careers in American sports?  Should he have confronted Sandusky and accused him of serial pederasty?  Contacted the athletic director and demanded action?  That's easy to say in retrospect but, based on the unmentionable nature of the crimes, a very difficult thing to say out loud. Read more at...

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/joe_paterno_and_the_act_that_dare_not_speak_its_name.html

(Ribbet!)

You protected your son twice, in some sense--one, by not allowing him into a possible occassion of victimization and, two, by not intoducing him to the hard realities of the world too soon when their mere description would've likely broken his illusions about life and traumatised him. That is your main duty, as a father.

Joe Patero, however, was in a much larger position. His silence about, and possible 'unwillingness to name', ghastly predatory acts may have protected the school, Coach Sandusky, the money, and sports etc., but it allowed multiple--unending--victimization of others not in a position to protect themselves, to go on--and that is not acceptable.

Any adult involved in schools, programs, and with such influence--for which he certainly gets paid the big bucks, too--and children, HAS to be able to speak about such things. They HAVE to be able to sacrifice their own comfort and position in order to protect those whom they serve who are in a subordinate, vulnerable position, or they DO NOT deserve their jobs.

Stop making excuses for the man! Quit mewing about how 'maybe Joe was uncertain' or that such things were 'unmentionable', 'hard'--or that Joe didn't know for 100% sure. Of course Joe knew! Why else would he have quietly ushered Sandusky out of his job? Why did he refuse to have him as his next-in-line? Who do you think put the word out to other colleges so that he wasn't hired by any other school once he left Penn State? Do you think we're stupid?

I don't give a damn if Joe'd be in a 'difficult' position; somebody has to take a stand against something! Somebody has to hold their moral responsibility as more dear than any job, perq, or influence they may have. People in authority have to do the right thing, for there to be right things, come what may.

Did Joe Paterno even try to handle this thing adequately? Did he go to the kids and young adults to ask them about it himself? Did he gather evidence from them? Did he contact their parents? Did he suggest they take their raped kids to a hospital in which to gather definitive proof (and get some treatment for the victim)? Did he file any charges with the police himself? Did he go to the NCAA? Did he discuss this with the college president and board? Did he speak to the board members of the Second Mile foundation? Absent his ability to do any of these things, did he, at minimum, ask anyone else for help in dealing with this matter? Did he develop a protocol for handling sexual abuse accusations against his staff?

Did he call in Sandusky, read him the riot act, and tell him if ONE more child is EVER hurt, that he'd go to every official and media outlet in the land--and then prepare to do so? Did he tell him he'd mail the evidence to every single family who had a child in the athletic programs at Penn State and tell them what was going on and to protect their kids? Did he fire him to his face and tell him he better give up the 'Second Mile' club and work in a car factory or something, or all of this would break bad, real bad?

Did he provide even minimal supervision of the man, once he knew what he was doing? Did he curtail the recruiting trips, high school 'scouting', and his 'fundraising-for-favors? Did he take away Sandusky's hall passes, building access, and the damned keys to the shower room? Did he ever even take him behind the gym and beat the shit out of him?

If I was a man, I might have... As a woman, I would have brought him into my office and said 'it stops now, it stops today, or I will ruin every single aspect of your life to get this halted' (and I would have). I wouldn't have cared what happened to my job. Who in the hell is thinking about those boys?

Have a lovely day, Ponders!

Good Night! All the birdies have gone to bed!

Pond Picnic cat!

Reality show cat!

Here's your Daily Cat!

Good Morning, Pond People!

Tufties For Tuesday!

Have a lovely evening, friends!

I was reading over at Lucianne's Faith Wall tonight... Straitpath and Gerty, bless your hearts--I'm gonna pray for you both. 

I know others will join me... ;-)

It's like having a radar dish on your head...!

(Isn't he cute?! ;-)

Sfc Billy Honey's message for Occupiers ;-)

("I have a steady job with a regular paycheck, great benefits, and lots of room for promotion. Next year, I will be paid to go to college and graduate with a guaranteed position making a decent salary. I am the 1% of the 99% that decided hard work and sacrifice were more prudent than complaining about how life is too hard and I'm not getting any free handouts.")

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/11/sfc_billy_honeys_message_for_occupiers.html

MORNING! I feel like a floor knot--HALP!

Ow-rowr!

Good Night from...

...Frogs and 'Wogs!

Tikkun Olam From Israel and the Jews! (Google it!)

Breakthrough: Israel Develops Cancer Vaccine

By Rivka Borochov

Vaxil’s groundbreaking therapeutic vaccine, developed in Israel, could keep about 90 percent of cancers from coming back.

As the world’s population lives longer than ever, if we don’t succumb to heart disease, strokes or accidents, it is more likely that cancer will get us one way or another. Cancer is tough to fight, as the body learns how to outsmart medical approaches that often kill normal cells while targeting the malignant ones.

In a breakthrough development, the Israeli company Vaxil BioTherapeutics has formulated a therapeutic cancer vaccine, now in clinical trials at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem. If all goes well, the vaccine could be available about six years down the road, to administer on a regular basis not only to help treat cancer but in order to keep the disease from recurring.

The vaccine is being tested against a type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma. If the substance works as hoped — and it looks like all arrows are pointing that way — its platform technology VaxHit could be applied to 90 percent of all known cancers, including prostate and breast cancer, solid and non-solid tumors.

“In cancer, the body knows something is not quite right but the immune system doesn’t know how to protect itself against the tumor like it does against an infection or virus. This is because cancer cells are the body’s own cells gone wrong,” says Julian Levy, the company’s CFO. “Coupled with that, a cancer patient has a depressed immune system, caused both by the illness and by the treatment.”

The trick is to activate a compromised immune system to mobilize against the threat.

A Vaccine that Works Like a Drug

A traditional vaccine helps the body’s immune system fend off foreign invaders such as bacteria or viruses, and is administered to people who have not yet had the ailment. Therapeutic vaccines, like the one Vaxil has developed, are given to sick people, and work more like a drug.

Vaxil’s lead product, ImMucin, activates the immune system by “training” T-cells –– the immune cells that protect the body by searching out and destroying cells that display a specific molecule (or marker) called MUC1. MUC1 is typically found only on cancer cells and not on healthy cells. The T-cells don’t attack any cells without MUC1, meaning there are no side effects unlike traditional cancer treatments. More than 90% of different cancers have MUC1 on their cells, which indicates the potential for this vaccine.

“It’s a really big thing,” says Levy, a biotechnology entrepreneur who was formerly CEO for Biokine Therapeutics. “If you give chemo, apart from the really nasty side effects, what often happens is that cancer becomes immune [to it]. The tumor likes to mutate and develops an ability to hide from the treatment. Our vaccines are also designed to overcome that problem.”

For cancers in an advanced stage, treatments like chemo or surgery to remove a large tumor will still be needed, but if the cancer can be brought down to scale, the body is then able to deal with it, Levy explains. ImMucin is foreseen as a long-term strategy — a shot every few months, with no side effects — to stop the cancer from reoccurring after initial treatments, by ensuring that the patient’s own immune system keeps it under control.

In parallel, the company is also working on a vaccine that treats tuberculosis, a disease that’s increasing worldwide, including in the developed world, and for which the current vaccine is often ineffective and treatment is problematic.

Based in Ness Ziona, Vaxil was founded in 2006 by Dr. Lior Carmon, a biotechnology entrepreneur with a doctorate in immunology from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot. In June, Vaxil signed a memorandum of understanding to merge its activities into Sheldonco, a company traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

http://unitedwithisrael.org/israel-develops-cancer-vaccine/

Here's your Daily Cats!

Catolicks!

A wonderful story: the Chinese Schlindler

Miracle Man: How One Chinese Diplomat Saved Thousands of Jews From the Death Camps

By Joe O'Connor

Eric Goldstaub curses, spits out a stream of naughty words and then abruptly apologizes for having uttered them. He can’t help himself, he says. It was a long time ago, a lifetime, but when he thinks back to the Vienna he once knew and all the doors that he knocked on — and all the doors that were shut in his face — his temper sparks.

“I went to every goddamn consulate there ever was in Vienna. Vienna, as the Austrian capital, had all the consulates,” the 89-year-old growls. “I wanted to get visas for my parents and for my relatives. I had 20 relatives. My family, we were 20. And I was going from one bloody consulate to the other. ”

He was a Viennese Jew, and this was his beloved Vienna in 1938, after the Austrians had welcomed Hitler and his Nazi thugs with straight-armed salutes and a campaign of Jewish persecution that would escalate into the Holocaust.

Mr. Goldstaub was a teenager from an influential Jewish family, with a trench coat, a fedora, kind-looking eyes and a talent for dancing.

His fruitless waltz around the city district housing international embassies ended when he visited the Chinese consulate and was met there by Dr. Feng Shan Ho, the Consul General.
“It was a warm reception, and he said bring your passports tomorrow and we will give you all visas,” Mr. Goldstaub says.

“I didn’t believe my eyes, my ears. It was like a miracle that he would say that and, sure enough, I went back the following day and brought all the family’s passports and he sent me away with visas for Shanghai, China.

“And I didn’t even know where the hell China was.”

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/01/miracle-man-how-one-chinese-diplomat-saved-thousands-of-jews-from-the-death-camps/

Jewish humor ;-)

ABSOLUTELY MUST READ AND LISTEN TO!

Apollo and Dionysius Meet Again

By Mike Razar

In a lame attempt to counter the refreshing grass roots spontaneity of the Tea Party, the leftist AstroTurf machine of head puppeteer George Soros has spewed forth a toxic brew of anarchists, communists, fascists, criminals, and aging hippies.  In the former shadow of the World Trade Center, they gather to compete in anti-Semitic poster art and self-serving demands for handouts. These ignorant slobs don't even realize that their odd mixture of leftist philosophy and Sharia-inspired racism is old hat. Nobody did it better than Goering last century or than the Islamists do today.

Does history really repeat itself?  Do prophets really exist?  Or, are some people just gifted with an ability to see through the forest to identify the important trees? No modern philosopher has been more ridiculed and despised by mainstream intellectuals than Ayn Rand. Indeed, they barely concede that she was a philosopher. They have no problem with Kant, Marx, and Nietzsche. That evil triumvirate has been poisoning young minds for centuries.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Miss Rand gave some inspiring lectures at Ford Hall in Boston in the 1960s. Luckily, they were recorded and can be heard online. My two favorites are:

The Fascist New Frontier (1961)  

Apollo and Dionysius (1969)

In FNF, she compares the platform of Kennedy's new frontier to the Nazi party platform in Germany from the 1920s. In less than an hour she manages to dissect both documents and shows them to be nearly identical. Jonah Goldberg's well-researched book, Liberal Fascism", which makes much the same point, shows that it is a constantly recurring theme in modern politics.

Her lecture Apollo and Dionysius could have been comparing the Tea Party gatherings to the occupying mobs but for the fact that it preceded those gatherings by half a century. Instead, she compares the enormous well-behaved crowds and orderly traffic jams in or near Cape Kennedy for the Apollo moon landing of Neil Armstrong, to the dirty and undisciplined mob at Woodstock later that summer.

People came to Cape Kennedy to witness an event unique in human history, a symbol of all that humankind can achieve with reason and cooperation. Those who came to Woodstock wanted sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. Her incisive analysis of the two crowds exposes the stark difference between men and women as creatures of reason or as blobs of emotion detached from reality. Her words remain powerful and relevant to this day.

Are you not convinced? Imagine polling Tea Partiers and OWSers as to which of those events from the 1960s they would have attended. Not much question, is there?

READ MORE AT:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/apollo_and_dionysius_meet_again.html

Hello, Pond People!

Good Morning!

Have a beautiful Sunday! I have recently redone the music section (and I'm adding to it) to make it easier, and more enjoyable,  to use.  I'd like to draw your attention to the 'Hatikva' sung at Bergen-Belsen at the camp's liberation--and I ask you to please listen to it.

I know some who wouldn't do that... but I am asking you to make it your prayer today. If they were brave enough to survive to sing it, we should be brave enough to listen to it--and I thank you, friends, for this kindness. Look at the beautiful Magen David and thank God for Israel ;-)