Class Documentary

I had to do a documentary for my Video Production I class for me degree program (professional photographer). I'm not much of a fan of video but it's a required subject. So I finally finished the video and my bottom line assessment is......at least it doesn't suck.

www.youtube.com/watch

Animal quackers in my soup....

Current mood: pleased

Ok well not in the soup yet (and perhaps never). BUT they are in the dining room for the time being.

Yes there have been a few additions to Casa De Loco. We picked up 6 Mallard Ducks and 6 chicks the other day.

Sadly we lost 4 of the Mallard's (I suspect they may have gotten too wet before they should have from playing in the waterer, can't seem to keep them out of it) but the other 2 are doing well and are starting to feather.

As for the chicks, they were doing well for a while and then something happened and we lost all 6 of them within an hour start to finish. Not really sure why but suspect some sort of toxic thing because they went so quick after being healthy the whole time.
SO we've started over with a second batch (3 amber sex links and 3 golden comets) and so far so good with them. We'll keep fingers crossed and hope for the best while taking active protection measures. Meanwhile I've got a chicken coop to build along with all the other fun things here that scream to be done. LOL

The dogs are doing as best they can be. Lacey is getting on in age and has started having trouble hearing I think and her eyes have started to really cloud up a bit as well as her getting much more lumpy with time. Dog is still dog. FAT and lazy. Tough for him to get around these days but he still manages to pretty well.

The cats, well they are the cats. LOL

The horse made it through yet another winter! I wasn't too sure this year at all. I've been wary the last couple years but I really thought this might be the year. BUT despite being 36 years old and starting to have weight loss problems she continues to act like a 2 year old philly at times.

The deer continue to get braver, last week one was in the back yard about 20 feet from the house (about 12-14 roaming the pasture from what I've spotted).

Like the old reliables they are the bats are back this year and seem to be doing well (so far none in the house).

I lost one bee hive over the winter but the other seems to be doing well and they are out and about.

The pond is still full of turtles but I'm hoping to do something about that this year, or at least start to.

The beaver seems to have moved on to greener pastures and hasn't been spotted this year.

All the other incidental animals (groundhogs, raccoons, birds, foxes, ants, wasps, ticks, etc) are of course thriving as usual.

In addition we added two more dogs over the winter, Blizzard (an american bulldog) and Nikita (a lab/pit mix).

On the plant side of the spectrum the second (longer) grape arbor has been cleared and fixed, the grapes on both arbors are growing like mad, and I'll be forcing jelly on people again this year I suspect.

I'm slowly working on saving the cherry trees from the ravenous honey suckle vines so we should have a decent crop this year.

The pear trees seem to be doing ok, even the ones in the back yard seem to be recovering from long term neglect and vine strangulation.

Got some raspberries in the ground (gold and red but the red ones bit the dust while the gold ones have flourished).

Put a blueberry bush in and might even get a couple small berries from it this year.

Sunk a plum tree into the front yard but the jury is still out on that one, doesn't seem to be any growth yet but the branches are still "elastic" and have buds so I'm hoping.

In the process of resurrecting the second grape arbor I took down one of the two mulberry trees in the back yard but it was pretty bad off with disease and vine damage so it was an acceptable loss. The other one is doing well despite some disease damage and I've found what I suspect are a couple of others at the edge of the pasture that I'll be keeping an eye on.

Despite my best efforts at eradication (well attempts to bring them under control actually) the blackberries are doing well as always.

The green apple tree in the front yard is still going strong even though it looks like a pin cushion from the wood peckers and I expect it will fruit again this year. An added pleasant surprise is that the other apple tree in the front yard that I thought had died and cut all the limbs off of in order to pull out has sprouted all kinds of new growth, so I will watch it closely to see what it decides to do.

Things continue to get done around here. Brush is getting cleared. Fences are being mended. The yards are being reclaimed. Boxes and sheds and vehicles and trailers are being gone through and things donated, rescued, or gotten rid of. The house is getting worked on and cleaned and the like.

The kids now have their learners permits and I'm a nervous wreck sitting in the passenger seat.

Me, I'm finally looking at going back to school and getting a degree in professional photography (I'm hoping to take advantage of the new post 911 GI bill).

So all in all things are progressing I guess and Casa De Loco continues to improve. Day by day. I'll try and get some new pictures up when I can.

HR-875 NAIS's crazy abusive older brother!

Current mood: angry
(I pulled this from one of the discussion groups I’m on)

United States Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has proposed legislation, H.R. 875, which would literally prohibit Americans from raising food for themselves, their families, or even for their animals, without the uber alles national government’s permission! Extreme statement? NOT! H.R. 875 makes Americans serfs on their own land! Read on; this one bill could wipe the United States, as a free nation, from the face of the Earth! We urgently need your help to kill this extremely dangerous bill!

H.R. 875, the so-called Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (FSMA) sounds innocent enough at first blush, with language purporting to "protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination, and for other purposes." In reality, the FSMA is an extensive and all-controlling abomination that must be stopped!

The FSMA mandates registration of every "food production facility," which the bill defines as "any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation;" and every "food establishment," which the bill defines as "a slaughterhouse..., factory, warehouse, or facility owned or operated by a person located in any State that processes food or a facility that holds, stores, or transports food or food ingredients."

H.R. 875 makes NAIS look tame. This bill will not just sweep up commercial food operations. The fine print of the FSMA will subject hobby gardeners, home canners, anyone with a few chickens, or anyone who "holds, stores, or transports food" - including mushrooms or wild berries gathered in the wild - to registration, extensive management, and inspection by a huge new bureaucracy, the Food Safety Administration (FSA)- even if the food items will only be consumed personally. And registration must be via "an electronic portal," which will be costly and difficult for those without computers.

H.R. 875 exponentially advances the "Foodborne Disease Surveillance Systems" required of member states of the World Health Organization (WHO), which includes the United States. "Food establishments" will be required to adopt preventive process controls, including implementing recordkeeping and labeling of all food and food ingredients to facilitate their identification and traceability, including instructions for handling and preparation for consumption. This might sound rather reasonable... until you remember the definition of a "food establishment" above.

Immensely telling of how seriously this bill does not take "food safety," though, is Section 204(2)(C), which promises the Administrator will identify the "5 most significant (food) contaminants", and "not later than 3 years after a contaminant is so identified, the Administrator shall promulgate a performance standard..." Gee whiz, what’s the rush?

Perhaps the Administrator’s promulgation timetable has little to do with acting quickly and decisively to protect U.S. citizens (or even "all people in the United States" as required by the FSMA) and much, much more to do with the World Health Organization’s stated desire in its 2004 report entitled "FOODBORNE DISEASE MONITORING AND SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS" that "the objectives and strategies (of food borne disease surveillance systems) established by each country should be acceptable to all member countries (www.fao.org/docrep/meeting...81e.htm)," which doubtless would take time.

Perhaps it is because "studies linking pathogens in food to the disease in humans would help quantify the risk of food borne diseases." In other words, no entity, not the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and not the WHO, can prove a significant problem exists in the United States.

The FSMA will not even quickly implement protections for Americans from contaminated foreign foodstuffs. The bill states, "(n)ot later than 2 years after the date of the enactment of this Act" imported food products shall be certified safe "by the accredited foreign government (think CHINA!) or by an accredited certifying agent..." Again, what’s the rush?

Maddeningly, the FSMA expects Congress to again approve a far-reaching bill without knowing the details. In this case, Congress will find out much later:

what federal resources would be dedicated to foodborne illness and food safety research;
what transfer of agencies, personnel, assets, obligations, and consolidation, reorganization, or streamlining of agencies will be involved; and
the details of regulations the new Food Czar (Administrator of the FSA) will promulgate after enactment of the Act.


Among the statutory foundations the FSMA claims for guidance and authority is the National Animal Identification System, which HAS NEVER BEEN ENACTED INTO LAW BY CONGRESS!

But beyond the mandated violations of our civil liberties in the FSMA - registration, traceability, inspections, seizures, etc. (all without court orders or search warrants), - the truly chilling language lays out civil and criminal penalties of up to $1 million per day, per infraction, and imprisonment of five or ten years, or both, depending how serious the violation(s).

Additionally, "(a)n order assessing a civil penalty against a person... shall be a final order unless the person-- (A) not later than 30 days after the effective date of the order, files a petition for judicial review of the order in the United States court of appeals... (and) (t)he findings of the Administrator relating to the order shall be set aside only if found to be unsupported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole." The FSMA is so over-the-top in its overreach that the bill’s language states, "(t)he validity and appropriateness of the order of the Administrator assessing the civil penalty shall not be subject to judicial review."

And if you’re by now thinking this is about as outrageous as this bill can be, you’d be very wrong. Section 406 clearly states, "(i)n any action to enforce the requirements of the food safety law, the connection with interstate commerce required for jurisdiction SHALL BE PRESUMED TO EXIST."

Now, for those who noticed, and questioned, why "foodborne" is spelled as if we reside "on the Continent," and why the United States government is attempting to implement a "solution" wanting for a "problem" - you guessed it - "Foodborne Disease Monitoring and Surveillance Systems" are a priority with the World Health Organization, to which our national government has committed US through its membership.

The 53rd World Health Assembly (a branch of the WHO) in the year 2000 adopted a resolution to recognize food safety as an essential public health function and called for the development of a Global Strategy for reduction of the burden of food borne diseases. The resolution (WHA 53.15) encouraged member states "to implement and keep national, and when appropriate, regional mechanisms for food borne diseases surveillance." All this, despite the WHO admission in a 2004 report (www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/006/j2381e.htm) that "(t)he true dimension of the burden of food borne diseases is still unknown..."

The FSMA is a "government solution" in seek of a problem! In the year 1900 at least some cases in two of the ten leading causes of death might have been food related (diarrhea/enteritis, liver disease). But the twin leading causes were pneumonia, followed closely by tuberculosis.

In 2002, WHO listed the leading cause of death in the U.S. (www.who.int/whosis/mort/pr.../mort_amro_usa_
unitedstatesofamerica.pdf) as ischaemic heart disease, killing ~ 514,000 people. The second greatest cause was cerebrovascular disease (stroke), killing ~ 163,000. None of the top ten causes bore any relation to foodborne illness.

In apparent support of all this brazen, strong-arm command and control attempt, the CDC reports its estimate that every year in the United States sees approximately 76 million cases of foodborne illness (www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/fro...oodborne.html), with 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths (which equates to one death out of every 15,200 who become ill). Admittedly those 5,000 deaths are significant, and devastating to all those involved, but this figure must be put in perspective. We must consider the larger picture long before we even consider such draconian measures as those mandated by the FSMA.

Perhaps too little is known of reports that "iatrogenic events" - medical errors - kill almost 800,000 in the U.S. each year (www.whale.to/a/null9.html...enic_Events_). That’s the equivalent of six jumbo jets falling out the sky each and every day. Those who track these events believe as few as 5% and no more than 20% of these deaths are ever reported.

Clearly deaths resulting from foodborne disease are exponentially lower than these other major causes, which begs an obvious question: If Congress is so very concerned about our health, why haven’t they felt inclined to tackle the much more significant incidence of iatrogenic deaths in this nation? Hmmm?

One need only consider the "Healthy People 2010" goals (www.healthypeople.gov/About/goals.htm) to understand the true (A)genda behind this initiative.

ACTION TO TAKE

The FSMA is an extremely dangerous bill. We recommend a multi-prong attack, as the more salvos we throw at the FSMA the better chance we have of killing this abomination.

Contact House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, via phone: (202) 225-0100, or email: speaker.house.gov/contact/.


Contact the House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, via phone: 202.225.3130, or email: www.majorityleader.gov/email_an..._leader/.


Contact the House Republican Leader John Boehner, via phone: (202) 225-4000, fax: (202) 225-5117, or email: republicanleader.house.gov/Contact/.


On March 11th Congress will hold its first hearing in many years on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), conducted by the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Subcommittee. It is vitally important you contact all the committees below.

Contact the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Subcommittee members listed below. If one of the Subcommittee members is from your state, call that member.

Mike Rogers (R-AL)
Phone: 202-225-3261
Fax: 202-226-8485

Dennis Cardoza (D-CA)
Phone: 202-225-6131
Fax: 202-225-0819

Jim Costa (D-CA)
Phone: 202-225-3341
Fax: 202-225-9308

Joe Baca (D-CA)
Phone: 202-225-6161
Fax: 202-225-8671

Betsy Markey (D-CO)
Phone: 202-225-4676
Fax: 202-225-5870

David Scott (Chair), (D-GA)
Phone: 202-225-2939
Fax: 202-225-4628

Leonard Boswell (D-IA)
Phone: 202-225-3806
Fax: 202-225-5608

Steve King (R-IA)
Phone: 202-225-4426
Fax: 202-225-3193

Walt Minnick (D-ID)
Phone: 202-225-6611
Fax: 202-225-3029

Frank Kratovil, Jr. (D-MD)
Phone: 202-225-5311
Fax: 202-225-0254

Adrian Smith (R-NE)
Phone: 202-225-6435
Fax: 202-225-0207

Tim Holden (D-PA)
Phone: 202-225-5546
Fax: 202-226-0996

David P. Roe (R-TN)
Phone: 202-225-6356
Fax: 202-225-5714

K. Michael Conaway (R-TX)
Phone: 202-225-3605 or 866-882-381
Fax: 202-225-1783

Randy Neugebauer, Ranking Minority Member (R-TX)
Phone: 202-225-4005 or 888-763-1611
Fax: 202-225-9615

Bob Goodlatte (R-VA)
Phone: 202-225-5431
Fax: 202-225-9681

Steve Kagen (D-WI)
Phone: 202-225-5665
Fax: 202-225-5729
Contact your own Representative and ask him or her to approach the Subcommittee member to urge them to oppose NAIS.

If you’re not sure who represents you, click here: www.congress.org/.

We strongly recommend that you make at least your initial contact by telephone.

Additionally, H.R. 875 has been assigned to the committees on Energy and Commerce, and Agriculture.
Contact members of the Energy and Commerce Committee via phone: (202) 225-2927, or email: energycommerce.house.gov/index.php
content&task=view&id=1313&Itemid=1.
Contact members of the Agriculture Committee via phone: 202-225-2171, fax: 202-225-8510, or email: agriculture@mail.house.gov. Committee members are listed here: agriculture.house.gov/inside/...rs.html.

Make as many contacts as possible. Be polite, but firm.
Tell them Americans will not stand for this unwarranted and unconstitutional abrogation of our liberty!
Tell them THIS BILL NEEDS TO DIE IN COMMITTEE!!!
Visit the American Policy Center website

SEND THIS MESSAGE TO AT LEAST TEN MORE PEOPLE! APC is now offering you a quick and easy way to multiply your efforts and help win more battles! Simply click here to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends! It’s fast, it’s easy and most of all, it’s extremely effective in KILLING OPPRESSIVE POLICIES!
www.americanpolicy.org

Constitution? 1st amendment? 4th amendment? Who needs them?

Current mood: pissed off

Not the Bush administration apparently.

www.youtube.com/watch

Yet another example of why our government is so screwed up and taking our country down with it

Current mood: pissed off

Ok so I guess we don't waste enough tax dollars as it is. So lets pay dumb-assed legislators to propose asinine laws!!!!!!!! This one ranks right up there with the legislator who proposed a law to ban plastic testicles on vehicles.

WAKE UP ASSHOLES!!!!! YOU'VE GOT BETTER THINGS TO BE DOING WITH MY TIME AND MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29508066/

Ditch the doll? Lawmaker out to outlaw Barbie
West Virginia state delegate says iconic toy overemphasizes beauty to girls

Barbie could get an unwelcome present for her 50th birthday: outlawed in West Virginia.

A state lawmaker proposed a bill Tuesday to ban sales of the iconic Mattel doll and others like her.

The Barbie Ban Bill, proposed by Democratic Delegate Jeff Eldridge (D) Lincoln County, says such toys influence girls to place too much importance on physical beauty, at the expense of their intellectual and emotional development.

"I just hate the image that we give to our kids that if you're beautiful, you're beautiful and you don't have to be smart," Eldridge told West Virginia news station WOWK.

The delegate concedes that the chances of getting the bill passed are slim, but adds that he stands behind it.

"I knew a lot of people were going to joke about it and poke fun at me," Eldridge said. "I couldn't get anybody to sign on the bill with me but I said I'm still going to introduce it."

A Mattel spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. The Barbie doll officially turns 50 on March 9, and the toy maker has made big plans this year to mark the anniversary.

Barbie has had her foes over that half-century. Critics say the doll promotes materialism and an unnatural body image.

The bill has been sent to the House Judiciary Committee.

How will you be remembered?

Current mood: bummed

I think the story speaks for itself. No words necessary.

www.baltimoresun.com/media/p...4084.jpg
Diplomas and certificates testifying to his academic career were found in Eldridge's home in Northeast Baltimore. (Baltimore Sun photo by Chiaki Kawajiri / February 6, 2009)

A lifetime of service ends in despair

www.baltimoresun.com/news/lo...08.story

By Peter Hermann
February 9, 2009

Edward William Eldridge Jr. took his own life at the age of 62.

He lived alone in a small semidetached, red-brick house on Daywalt Avenue in Northeast Baltimore. He had no wife, no known children, no brothers, no sisters, and his parents died years ago. He listed his only aunt as a beneficiary, but she, too, had passed away.

He had no friends, at least none close enough or willing enough to stay with him at the hospital for a few hours so he could undergo the arthroscopic knee surgery he was scheduled to have on the day he died. He had nobody he could talk to or who could help him when he lost $100,000 of his retirement savings to the faltering stock market.

Now Eldridge's body lies at Ruck Funeral Home in Towson - a viewing is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow, memorial service at 11 a.m. Wednesday - his earthly remains saved from becoming a ward of the state and from a pauper's grave by the Baltimore homicide detective who got the case, went to the house and recognized the dead man as a colleague and an old acquaintance. He had "shot the breeze" with Eldridge years ago when the detective walked a foot post and the now-dead officer was the Police Department's Central District wagon man.

His name, with rank attached, was Agent Edward William Eldridge Jr. He joined the Baltimore Police Department on Aug. 4, 1972, and retired Aug. 6, 1998. He had earned a degree in business and public administration from the University of Maryland, was drafted into the Army and sent to Okinawa to guard underground missile silos.

"He served his country for two years and he served this city for 26 years," Detective Randy Wynn said after he claimed the body at the morgue. "At the very least he deserves a proper send-off."

The detective is trying to get current and retired police officers to come to services for Eldridge, and he plans to display nearly two dozen certificates and commendations he found after spending days digging through boxes and bags at the house where Eldridge grew up and died.

Wynn found a neighbor who told him Eldridge fixed bicycles for the kids - there were parts scattered in his basement - and gave them money for candy. There were 40 names in Eldridge's address book, and Wynn called them all. Every single number went to a business where people had dealt with Eldridge but didn't really know him. Only his retired accountant thought Eldridge's demeanor had soured - "that he didn't seem the way he used to be," Wynn said.

He had lost contact with the cops he had worked with, most recently in the Northeast District.

He was so alone that he worried nobody would find his body after he died - maybe they wouldn't care enough to even look.

It was Jan. 29, a Thursday, at 9:09 in the morning, the day his surgery was scheduled, that he called 911 and told an operator, "Ma'am, I'm planning to shoot myself."

His voice was as steady and cavalier as someone ordering a pizza. He was polite, not a trace of urgency or hesitation. "I don't want the body to stink up the neighbor's house," he said into the phone.

The operator asked whether he had any weapons, and he said he had two. She asked where he was, and he told her he was in his upstairs back bedroom, and that he had left the front door unlocked so officers could get inside.

He had a .40-caliber Glock and a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver.

Eldridge chose the Glock - the kind of gun carried by city police - to end his life. The operator was still on the line when he pulled the trigger.

It's hard to imagine being so alone, and the extent and reason for whatever emotions caused him to take his life may never be fully known or understood. For Detective Wynn, who gets paid to immerse himself in this city's overabundance of death and despair, this case is a stark reminder that people need to help each other and ask for help for themselves.

Wynn could have shoved this file aside, written a perfunctory report and moved on. But he is driven to get others to care about a man who should not have been allowed to die as he lived - without family, without friends, without someone knowing even a little about him.

For the detective, who has spent 40 years on the city force, it's a lesson to get friends outside the job. "When you're in uniform, everybody knows who you are," he said. "Then all of a sudden you retire, and nobody knows who you are. After being in his house and reading his stuff for 12 hours, I realized he didn't have a friend in the world."

Eldridge was born June 27, 1946, at Union Memorial Hospital and grew up on Daywalt Avenue. His parents were both from Philadelphia; his father worked as a clerk at Sparrows Point. He graduated from Polytechnic Institute in 1964 and headed off to the University of Maryland.

Wynn made a list of Eldridge's varied and prodigious studies: introduction to business; introduction to philosophy; public speaking; introduction to world literature; general chemistry; Western civilization; social psychology; principles of government and politics; accounting; marketing principles and organization; auditing theory; income tax accounting; business statistics; and civil rights law.

The Army drafted him the year he graduated, 1968, but he was spared Vietnam and sent to train for a year at Fort Bragg in North Carolina and the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, where he earned a marksman's badge for the M-16 before heading off to Japan. While on duty there, he had a security clearance, studied the Japanese language, attended a law enforcement program and rose to the rank of sergeant.

Wynn found Eldridge's honorable discharge papers, dated June 14, 1971, along with two letters of appreciation signed by President Richard M. Nixon and Army Gen. William C. Westmoreland.

He returned to Baltimore, bought a house on Homestead Street in Better Waverly and joined the police force.

Eight years ago, he moved back to Daywalt Avenue to take care of his sick mother. Neighbors said they rarely saw him and that he kept his windows covered. Wynn found piles of books, Western movies and boxes filled with documents that shed some light on Eldridge's personality, and how he kept meticulous records of the most mundane chores.

There was a log of "every gallon of gas he ever bought," Wynn said. Curiously, it appears that Eldridge kept the records for records' sake and not to track mileage. He kept a similar list of visits for Halloween and how much money he spent on the small candy bars he handed out.

In 2000, 52 kids came to his door; in 2001 it was 18, a year later 31 and a year after that 52. It topped 61 in 2005 and dropped to "only eight children" last year. He spent between $94 and $159 on candy each year.

Why he compiled these lists might remain as mysterious as why he took his life. In a suicide note found at the foot of his bed, neatly written in cursive and taking up a full page of notebook paper, Eldridge went on at length about his surgery, scheduled for that day at 2 p.m. at Franklin Square Hospital Center. He had saved the doctor's instructions reminding him not to eat that day, and had written notes to himself about what time to call a taxi to take him to the hospital.

He had later made arrangements with officers at the Northeastern District to give him a ride to and from Franklin Square, but he had nobody to stay with him during the procedure, a requirement. He wrote that he was afraid he would be sent home, and that doctors might learn his backup plan was suicide. He was afraid of being committed.

Eldridge, fully clothed, lay on his back on his bed and called 911.

The final sound on the tape is a gunshot followed by the operator's scream.
Wynn said Eldridge actually shot himself twice, the first time through his right jaw, then in a split second he turned his head and shot himself above the left ear. His Glock was still in his right hand when police arrived.

The detective has played the tape for his colleagues.

"Everyone up here who has heard it has never heard anything like that," he said. "Ever."

Tell the President. Get on the WHO bus and lead by example!

www. thewhofarm. org

www.youtube.com/watch

Will you think twice before helping someone?

Current mood: thoughtful


You can bet I sure will. Sure I feel bad for the woman and perhaps what was done wasn't the right thing to do, but the intent was for all the right reasons. But you can count on this having a chilling effect on anyone helping anyone else in a time of need. Expect to see more people just standing by while someone does. That's my prediction.


Calif. Court: Would-be Good Samaritan can be sued

By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press Writer Paul Elias, Associated Press Writer – Thu Dec 18, 6:22 pm ET

LOS ANGELES – Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, the state's high court on Thursday said a would-be Good Samaritan accused of rendering her friend paraplegic by pulling her from a wrecked car "like a rag doll" can be sued.

California's Supreme Court ruled that the state's Good Samaritan law only protects people from liability if the are administering emergency medical care, and that Lisa Torti's attempted rescue of her friend didn't qualify.

Justice Carlos Moreno wrote for a unanimous court that a person is not obligated to come to someone's aid.

"If, however, a person elects to come to someone's aid, he or she has a duty to exercise due care," he wrote.

Torti had argued that she should still be protected from a lawsuit because she was giving "medical care" when she pulled her friend from a car wreck.

Alexandra Van Horn was in the front passenger seat of a car that slammed into a light pole at 45 mph on Nov. 1, 2004, according to her negligence lawsuit.

Torti was a passenger in a car that was following behind the vehicle and stopped after the crash. Torti said when she came across the wreck she feared the car was going to explode and pulled Van Horn out. Van Horn testified that Torti pulled her out of the wreckage "like a rag doll." Van Horn blamed her friend for her paralysis.

Whether Torti is ultimately liable is still to be determined, but Van Horn's lawsuit can go forward, the Supreme Court ruled.

Beverly Hills lawyer Robert Hutchinson, who represented Van Horn, said he's pleased with the ruling.

Torti's attorney, Ronald Kent, of Los Angeles didn't immediately return a telephone call.

Vagina: It's NOT a clown car

Current mood: vexed

Unfortunately some people seem to think it is cause they just had another one. Oh wait, it gets better.

THEY WANT MORE!!!!!!!

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28053565/

Who knows. Maybe her insides will eventually fall out. Then maybe they'll buy a clue.....I doubt it though.

Unconstitutional food?

Current mood: hungry


I've been a bit busy of late and haven't posted much here so sorry about that. Today though I ran across the attached article and found it to be interesting and thought that it raised some good questions in my mind the might be interesting to discuss.

First question is just how bad IS Nutraloaf anyway? Well maybe we shall see. If I have some time down the road maybe I'll try it out.

Second question is even if it is kind of bad, if you are in prison and you are enough of a problem inmate to rate this food then so hat? Don't you deserve what you get? I think so.

Third question is how bad is TOO bad? I've eaten some pretty nasty stuff, some of it being my own creation, so it's gotta be pretty bad before bad taste is going to overcome bad hunger IMO.

Attached at the bottom are the recipes for various forms of Nutraloaf in case you are interested.

www.slate.com/id/2193538/

Taste-Testing NutraloafThe prison food that just might be unconstitutionally bad.
By Arin Greenwood
Posted Tuesday, June 24, 2008, at 8:07 AM ET

Nobody thinks prison food is haute cuisine, but could it be so bad it's unconstitutional? The question comes up more often than you might think, and there's one dish in particular that so offends the palates of America's prisoners that it's repeatedly been the subject of lawsuits: Nutraloaf.

Nutraloaf (sometimes called Nutri-loaf, sometimes just "the loaf") is served in state prisons around the country. It's not part of the regular menu but is prescribed for inmates who have misbehaved in various ways—usually by proving untrustworthy with their utensils. The loaf provides a full day's nutrients, and it's finger food—no fork necessary.

Prisoners sue over Nutraloaf with some regularity, usually arguing either that their due process rights have been violated (because they are served the punitive loaves without a hearing) or that the dish is so disgusting as to make it cruel and unusual and thus a violation of the Eighth Amendment. Typical of these suits is the 1992 case LeMaire v. Maass. Samuel LeMaire slit a man's throat before going to state prison and attacked his prison guards and fellow prisoners with sharpened poles, feces, and a homemade knife once inside. LeMaire was then put in a Nutraloaf-serving disciplinary unit. Among other complaints about the accommodations there, LeMaire argued that Nutraloaf was cruel and unusual and thus violated his 8th Amendment rights.

A lower court agreed with LeMaire and ordered the prison to serve him something more delicious. The 9th Circuit, however, overturned the lower court's decision, holding that while Nutraloaf may be unappetizing, "The Eighth Amendment requires only that prisoners receive food that is adequate to maintain health; it need not be tasty or aesthetically pleasing."

Prisoners in Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia, among other states, have sued over Nutraloaf or its equivalent. The latest court to hear a Nutraloaf case is the Vermont Supreme Court, where prisoners argued that Vermont's use of the loaf violated their due process rights. (In Vermont, the punishment is one loaf, served at normal meal times, for up to a week.) Oral arguments (MP3) were heard in March, and a decision is expected to come down by the end of the year. But it doesn't look good for the prisoners. The lawyer representing the prisoners noted that "Nutraloaf has been found to be uniformly unappetizing to everyone who has been served it." To which one justice replied: "Counsel, I've eaten Nutraloaf. And it isn't tasty. But many things I've eaten aren't tasty."

Even unsympathetic courts seem willing to concede that Nutraloaf is pretty disgusting, but after reading through the court filings in these cases, I couldn't shake a nagging question—just how bad is it? Nutraloaf is made differently in different prisons. Vermont's penal cookbook calls for a combination of vegetables, beans, bread, cheese, and raisins. I recently spent $15 on a nearly identical dish at a vegan cafe in New York—and it didn't even have raisins. In a spirit of legal and culinary adventurousness, I decided to make some Nutraloaf of my own.

I chose three test recipes that seemed representative of the various loaves served in prisons across the land: a vegan Nutraloaf from Illinois that is heavy on processed ingredients (and has been the subject of lawsuits); a meat recipe from California that favors fresh, natural ingredients (which has not been challenged in court); and the Nutraloaf from Vermont, the one most recently at issue before a court.

I started with Illinois. I mixed canned spinach in with baked beans, tomato paste, margarine, applesauce, bread crumbs, and garlic powder. Together the ingredients became a thick, odorous, brown paste, which I spread into a loaf pan and put in the oven. After 40 minutes, I took the loaf out of the oven and sliced some off. It was dense and dry and tasted like falafel gone wrong. But instead of it making me feel pleasantly sated like falafel does, even the small test slice I sampled gave me a stomachache.

I cooked up Vermont next, wondering what I'd gotten myself into. Vermont was like Illinois but with raisins and nondairy cheese. I'm a vegetarian, so my sister-in-law Lori volunteered to cook the California loaf, which includes ground beef. As she mixed up the chopped cabbage, diced carrots, cubed potatoes, whole wheat flour, and beans, I realized that what she was making looked delicious, at least compared with the first two loaves. Lori kindly offered to make two California loaves—one with meat and one without, our only deviation from the Nutraloaf recipes.

To test the loaves, I invited friends and relatives over for what I promised would be an educational dinner party. This being Washington, D.C., more than half the adults were lawyers, which I thought gave our experiment a nice jurisprudential twist. To keep the Nutraloaf test authentic, I mandated that my guests eat with their hands; plus, after sneaking in that taste of Illinois earlier in the day, I was worried someone might stab me if I let them use utensils.

I thought I'd start out easy with the loaf that hasn't inspired a lawsuit—yet. California looked nice on the plate, though it didn't quite hold together as a loaf. I picked some off my plate with my fingers. It tasted a bit like vegetarian chili. Not bad. My cousin Steve, a mortgage broker who had sampled the California loaf with meat, disagreed. "It's what you imagine Alpo tastes like," he said. Lori said she liked it and said she'd even consider making it again, though she'd use more spices. Lee, a lawyer and her husband, asked her not to.

Next came Illinois. I couldn't bear to try another piece; the others were divided about whether it was cruel or merely unusual. Lee described Illinois as "absolutely detestable." David, a lawyer, liked it and willingly ate a second piece. Steve summed up Illinois generously: "I think if you like baked beans, you like Illinois. I like baked beans. I wouldn't think it's fair to sue anyone over it."

Last came Vermont. It looked the best of the three—it was moist—and the nondairy cheese and canned carrots gave it a fetching orange color. But it tasted terrible. Mike, a computer guy at NASA, said the raisins were disconcerting; you couldn't tell if they were supposed to be in there or not. Steve said he hated it, but it wasn't the worst thing he'd ever eaten. I asked him what was the worst thing he'd ever eaten. "Cat," he said. "But I didn't know it was cat." David, meanwhile, helped himself to another slice of Illinois, a decision he later came to regret. "The third slice sits a little heavy," he said.

As the night went on, and wine washed away the taste of loaves, we discussed the Eighth Amendment and how bad food would actually have to be in order to be unconstitutional. Kim, a lawyer who works in asylum law and knows a human rights violation when she sees one, said the loaves would have to be extremely bad—considerably worse than any of the food we'd just eaten. Courts have nearly all found that prison food can be unappetizing, cold, and even contain foreign objects, and still not be unconstitutional.

Inmates hoping for relief from the courts for their Nutraloaf punishments aren't likely to get it from the courts. They won't likely get it from the prison cooks, either. When the Vermont prison's lawyer was asked during oral arguments why Nutraloaf couldn't be made more appetizing, he answered that if it were tastier, then prisoners would act up for the privilege of getting Nutraloaf. Hardly a ringing endorsement for the rest of the prison menu.





ILLINOIS

Single Meal Loaf Recipe

This recipe must be followed without substitution or variation in procedure. Any such change could effect the nutrient content.


2 oz Ground Beef
Brown off in kettle and drain thoroughly

4 oz Canned, Chopped Spinach
4 oz Canned Carrots, Diced
4 oz Vegetarian Beans
Open and drain all vegetables well

4 oz Applesauce
1 oz Tomato Paste
1/2 cup Potato Flakes
1 cup Bread Crumbs
2 oz Dry Milk Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder or Flakes


Combine beef and vegetables. Gradually blend in remaining ingredients until well combined. Mixture should be stiff but moist enough to spread. Each loaf should weigh 1 1/2 pounds precooked weight and be scaled to insure proper weight. Place mixture into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with pan release and lined with filter paper.

Each loaf should bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit in convection/steam oven for approximately 40 minutes or until the loaf reaches 155 degrees internal temperature.


Vegan Recipe

4 oz Canned, Chopped Spinach
4 oz Canned Carrots, Diced
8 oz Vegetarian Beans

Open and drain all vegetables well

4 oz Applesauce
1 oz Tomato Paste
1/2 cup Potato Flakes
1 cup Bread Crumbs
1 T Margarine
1 tsp Garlic Powder or Flakes

Combine drained vegetables. Gradually and gently blend in remaining ingredients until well combined but do not over beat. Mixture should be stiff but moist enough to spread. Each loaf should weigh 1 1/2 pounds precooked weight and be scaled to insure proper weight. Place mixture into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with pan release and lined with filter paper.

Each loaf should bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit in convection/steam oven for approximately 40 minutes or until the loaf reaches 155 degrees internal temperature.



Maryland

Special Management Meal
Yield - Three Loaves

• 6 slices whole wheat bread, finely chopped
• 4 ounces imitation cheddar cheese, finely grated
• 4 ounces raw carrots, finely grated
• 12 ounces spinach, canned, drained
• 2 cups dried Great Northern Beans, soaked,
cooked and drained
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 ounces potato flakes, dehydrated
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 8 ounces powdered skim milk
• 4 ounces raisins

Mix all ingredients in a 12-quart mixing bowl. Make sure all wet items are drained. Mix until stiff, just moist enough to spread. Form three loaves in glazed bread pans. Place loaf pans in the oven on a sheet pan filled with water, to keep the bottom of the loaves from burning. Bake at 325 degrees in a convection oven for approximately 45 minutes. The loaf will start to pull away from the sides of the bread pan when done.





California

2-1/2 oz. nonfat dry milk
4-1/2 oz. raw grated potato
3 oz. raw carrots, chopped or grated fine
1-1/2 oz. tomato juice or puree
4-1/2 oz. raw cabbage, chopped fine
7 oz. lean ground beef, turkey or rehydrated, canned, or frozen Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP)
2-1/2 fl. oz. oil
1-1/2 oz. whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. raw onion, chopped
1 egg
6 oz. dry red beans, pre-cooked before baking (or 16 oz. canned or cooked red kidney beans)
4 tsp. chili powder

Shape into a loaf and bake at 350-375 degrees for 50-70 minutes.



Vermont

NUTRALOAF MEAL Makes 3 loaves, providing 1 loaf per meal.


Contains 996 calories, for a total of 2988 calories per day


INGREDIENTS:


6 Slices of Whole Wheat Bread, finely chopped


4 Ounces of Non-Dairy Cheese, finely grated


4 Ounces of Raw Carrots, finely grated


12 Ounces of Spinach, canned, drained


4 Ounces of Seedless Raisins


2 Cups of Great Northern Beans, cooked and drained


4 Tablespoons of Vegetable Oil


6 Ounces of Tomato Paste


8 Ounces of Milk, powdered, instant, non-fat/skim


6 Ounces of Potato Flakes, dehydrated


PREPARATION


In a 12-quart stainless steel mixing bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Make sure all wet items are drained. Ingredients may be kneaded with hands (wearing plastic gloves) or mixed with a spoon. The mixture should be stiff and just moist enough to spread. Form loaf in glazed bread pan. It is suggested that the loaf pan be placed in the oven on a sheet pan containing water. This will help keep the bottom of the loaf from burning. Bake at 325 degrees for approximately 45 minutes, until each loaf reaches an internal temperature of 155 degrees. The loaf will start to pull away from the side of the bread pan when baking is completed.