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DeeDee

There is only One True God

STICKY POST

Bible Studies

I have a new group called Bible Studies if any one is interested!
http://my.opera.com/superArlin2/blog/

3-month-old's cries save him from tornado wreckage

EPSOM, New Hampshire (AP) -- The cries of a baby led rescuers to him in the wreckage of a home flattened by a tornado that killed his grandmother and blew his grandfather into the yard, officials said Friday.



Brenda Stevens, 57, and her 3-month-old grandson were trapped between the collapsed home's first and second stories, authorities said.

The woman's husband, Harley, had headed downstairs before noon Thursday because he was worried by the heavy black clouds rolling in, said Deerfield Fire Chief Mark Tibbetts.

"No more than he got downstairs and it started throwing him from side to side and rotating him around the house," Tibbetts said.

Stevens "was blown out the side of the building and found in the side yard," state Fire Marshal William Degnan said.

Brenda Stevens was pronounced dead at the scene, but the infant's cries led firefighters to him in the rubble. The baby was admitted to Concord Hospital, but a spokesman said the family requested no information would be released.

Concord Hospital said Harley Stevens was released after being examined in its emergency room.

The couple had been watching the boy while his parents were at work, neighbors said.

The National Weather Service on Friday confirmed that a tornado struck Deerfield. Officials said the violent storm left an intermittent path of destruction stretching about 20 miles from Epsom to New Durham.

A half-dozen homes were destroyed and many more seriously damaged, officials estimated. The storms snapped off thick trees, toppling many onto homes. Thousands remained without power, though utility crews were whittling down the number.

In Barnstead, which also saw widespread damage, a resident was injured Friday morning while clearing debris. Deputy Fire Chief Shawn Mulcahy said the man was knocked out when a falling tree limb hit him in the head.

FUTURISTIC!!!

here's one for dennis



future cars





the future, waste?

and my pc is dyin again! oh crap!!!

posting new pics!!!










































Hey Good Lookin!

Hey, hey, good lookin',
Whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?
Hey, sweet baby,
Don't you think maybe
We could find us a brand new recipe?
I got a hot-rod Ford and a two-dollar bill
And I know a spot right over the hill.
There's soda pop and the dancin's free,
So if you wanna have fun come along with me.
Hey, good lookin',
Whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?

I'm free and ready,
So we can go steady.
How's about savin' all your time for me?
No more lookin',
I know I've been tooken [sic].
How's about keepin' steady company?

I'm gonna throw my date-book over the fence
And find me one for five or ten cents.
I'll keep it 'til it's covered with age
'Cause I'm writin' your name down on every page.
Hey, good lookin',
Whatcha got cookin'?
How's about cookin' somethin' up with me?

Road Trip!

I am writing to say that I am going to be moving and tomorrow, when we get the trucks, we are packing and gearin for the road! lol. I am plum scared out of my witts here! I am going to be riding with a very nervous driver (i don't think she needs to be driving in the first place) i will be praying all the way there! i hope i can bug her enough to allow my husband to drive though. well, good night. and hopefully, i will only be offline for a couple of weeks max! lol.

World's most obese man vies for different record


By Robin Emmott
MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters Life!) - Mexico's Manuel Uribe, once the world's most obese man, is now vying for a different record: the human who has lost the most weight.

Uribe, who weighed as much as a small truck at more than half a tonne, is dieting while confined to a reinforced bed that he has not left for the past six years because he is so heavy.

He has lost 518 pounds since March 2006 on a diet of grapefruits, egg-white only omelets, fish, chicken, vegetables and peanuts.

















Now weighing 717 pounds -- the size of three hefty men -- Uribe is still unable to move his swollen legs but hopes to get out of the house next month for only the third time in six years to celebrate his 43rd birthday.

He will still be in bed, hauled onto a tow truck for a trip to the mountainous countryside outside his home city of Monterrey in northern Mexico. It will be a rerun of a failed attempt in March that was thwarted when his bed hit an overpass.

"It's a miracle I've got this far. I was going to kill myself two years ago when my wife left me, but God sent me excellent doctors," said Uribe, his torso still huge with flaps of puffy white skin and sagging, fatty bulges.

Uribe spent the 1990s eating pizzas and burgers in the United States where he worked as a computer repairman. Addicted to junk food, he eventually tipped the scales at 1,235 pounds back in Mexico, bingeing on greasy tacos.

His bulk made him the world's heaviest man and won him a place in the 2008 edition of the Guinness World Records. Photos of his time in Florida and Texas show the transformation of a once chubby man to a bloated, whale-like figure.

"At the Big n' Tall store in Dallas, they no longer had my size. Then I got tailor-made pants and I grew out of those too," said Uribe from his bed by the open door at street level, where he likes to chat with his neighbors to stop the boredom.

TEARFUL TV APPEAL

In Mexico, Uribe underwent a tummy tuck operation but it caused massive, permanent swelling, and did not reduce his weight.

Abandoned by his wife, his health failing and with no income, Uribe pleaded for help on Mexican television, stirring up intense international interest.

Uribe, cared for by his mother Otilia, turned down offers of gastric bypass surgery in Italy. Instead he took free medical help from U.S. doctor Barry Sears. He lost weight following the Zone Diet, which is high in protein and low in carbohydrates.

"I was impotent before, but now everything's working again. Ask my girlfriend," he said happily, his Guinness World Records certificate hanging on the wall.

Uribe, who relies on his family's small wholesale clothes business and the generosity of friends to survive, said people at Guinness have spoken to him about his rapid weight loss and could eventually put him in the record books.

Rosalie Bradford, an American woman who died in 2006, recorded the greatest weight loss for a female after she shed 907 pounds. The record for a man is held by Jon Brower Minnoch who lost 924 pounds, according to Guinness World Records.

Uribe, who became an Evangelical Christian during his weight loss drive, said his goal is to weigh 285 pounds by 2010, meaning he would have lost 950 pounds.

Records aside, Uribe just wants to get out of bed and make a living from preaching the benefits of healthy eating.

"I get lots of e-mails from people saying they are inspired by my progress and I want to get the word out about healthy eating. I'm not against people who sell junk food, but you've got to be informed not to eat it," he said.

Sexy orchids do more than embarrass wasps?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Orchids that mimic female wasps may not only waste the time of the male wasps they lure into spreading their pollen -- they also seduce them into wasting valuable sperm, Australian researchers reported on Wednesday.

And the flowers benefit twice -- getting help in their own reproduction, and perhaps indirectly producing more male pollinators in the process.

Some of the most exotic orchids are known to have evolved their convoluted shapes to attract insects, who unwittingly collect and transfer pollen as they try to mate with the flowers.



"The effect of deception on pollinators has been considered negligible, but we show that pollinators may suffer considerable costs," Anne Gaskett of Macquarie University in Sydney and colleagues reported.

"Insects pollinating Australian tongue orchids (Cryptostylis species) frequently ejaculate and waste copious sperm," they wrote in a report in The American Naturalist.

It is not harmless to the wasps, who may suffer more than an inconvenience. "Male pollinators can prefer orchids to real females, prematurely end a copulation with a real female to visit an orchid, or be unable to find real female mates among false orchid signals," the researchers wrote.

"Unquestionably, producing sperm, ejaculate, or seminal fluids is costly for many animals. The energetic demands of sperm production can result in reduced body mass, a shortened life span, or limited lifetime sperm production," they added.

But this arms race of sexual trickery works in more than one way for the flower. "We also show that orchid species provoking such extreme pollinator behavior have the highest pollination success," they added.

"How can deception persist, given the costs to pollinators?"

They found that the wasps who frequent these flowers are haplodiploid species. Like bees, ants and similar species, offspring produced by sexual unions are female, while females can also produce males asexually.

"Therefore, female insects deprived of matings by orchid deception could still produce male offspring, which may even enhance orchid pollination," the researchers wrote.

Gaskett's team examined flowers after wasps visited them and found the hoodwinked males did eventually learn their lesson.

"With experience, male Lissopimpla excelsa wasps become less likely to copulate with and pollinate sexually deceptive Cryptostylis orchids," they wrote.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by Eric Beech)

You want fries with that? YES!!!!



By Mark Ledsom

BERNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - The Swiss government has agreed to ease restrictions on the importation of potatoes following fears that Euro 2008 soccer fans could face a shortage of French fries next month.

A spokesman for the country's department of agriculture told national radio on Wednesday that the government would allow an additional 5,000 tonnes of potatoes to be brought in.

The decision follows a request by Swiss potato industry association Swisspatat who warned that supplies were already running low in the buildup to the June tournament.

The association has estimated that 3,000 additional tonnes will be needed to make chips for foreign supporters, with the remaining 2,000 used for other forms of potato.

Switzerland has already been fretting over dwindling supplies of its beloved 'cervelat' sausage following a European Union ban on the Brazilian cows' intestines traditionally used to encase the meat.

Economics minister Doris Leuthard, who is also responsible for agriculture, told the national parliament in March there were enough cervelats in reserve to last at least through Euro 2008.

The tournament runs from June 7 to 29 and will be co-hosted by Switzerland and neighboring Austria.

(Editing by Clare Lovell)


© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

Woman fired for giving 16-cent treat to toddler



TORONTO (Reuters) - An attendant at a Canadian restaurant who was sacked for giving a bite-sized doughnut, worth 16 cents, to an agitated toddler was given her job back on Thursday after the case received wide media attention.

Nicole Lilliman, a single mother, said she was dismissed from a London, Ontario, outlet of the Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut chain after video cameras captured the 27-year-old giving a Timbit to a toddler.

"It was just out of my heart, she (the toddler) was pointing and going 'ah, ah...' I should have gone to my purse and got the change, but it was busy," Lilliman told the Toronto Star newspaper.

Tim Hortons said on Thursday that the firing was a mistake.

"It was the unfortunate action of one manager who unfortunately made an overzealous decision, and thankfully we were able to rectify the situation," said company spokeswoman Rachel Douglas.

Douglas said the company, a Canadian icon with stores on virtually every high street across the country, told Lilliman that she could have her job back, and Lilliman had accepted.

A single Timbit sells for 16 Canadian cents (16 U.S. cents), but most shoppers buy boxes of 10, 20 or 40 of the deep-fried goodies, which come in a variety of flavors.

Douglas said Tim Hortons had received a number of complaints. "Thankfully we're able to go back to them and say we were able to fix the situation," she said.

(Reporting by Claire Sibonney; editing by Janet Guttsman and Peter Galloway)


© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

Investigators: TeXXXting Teachers

Reported by: Aaron Keller
Email: keller@nbcactionnews.com
Last Update: 5/08 9:10 am



We like to think of schools as protected and safe. But what happens after the closing bell rings and students and teachers engage in extracurricular activities?

In Missouri, officials say the law doesn’t provide enough guidance on what is appropriate student-teacher conduct.

NBC Action News Investigator Aaron Keller examined three recent cases where educators have not faced prosecution, despite sexual online chats with students and in some cases for going even further. School administrators raised concerns and police investigated but no one faced criminal charges. The question is “Why?”

Text messaging between teacher Christina Stranghoener and a student started out innocent.

“She texted him asking for directions," parent Laura White said. "That’s how she first got his cell phone number and first started texting him.”

But within three months the messages became sexually explicit, shocking parents as well as the student involved.

“He said, ‘Mom, it’s gross. If I say it’s gross, you know it’s gross,” Laura White remembers her son saying.

School administrators reported the incident to social services, and Warrensburg police investigated. Police reports show Stranghoener sent text messages to several students that are so graphic, we couldn’t air them on television or display them on the Internet.

Stranghoener resigned but she was never charged with a crime

"It just appalls me that something like this can happen," David White said. “Someone can slide out the back door and not be charged.”

In Kansas City’s Center School District, teacher Cory Kite stood accused of sending more than 100 sexually explicit text messages to a middle school girl. Records show those messages included “[D]o I make u horny?”, “U masturbate?" and "Ever think of me?”

Kansas City Police investigated but again, prosecutors never filed charges. Parents are wondering how does it happen?

Missouri law does not set standards for electronic communication specifically between students and teachers. The law does say a person can be charged with enticing a child if the adult uses the internet or any electronic communication for purposes of engaging in sexual conduct. In Missouri, that law only applies if the child is under 15 years of age.

Johnson County, Mo. Prosecutor Lynn Stoppy says, “As a prosecutor, there are many situations where we do feel helpless, because the statutes…don't allow us to do the things that perhaps as humans we think should be appropriate.”

In Excelsior Springs, prosecutors did not file charges against another teacher after examining the teacher's two-hour internet chat with a girl at his middle school. In that chat, the teacher gets the student to explain whether she has had any sexual experiences and even gets her to describe what she's wearing to bed.

The prosecutor who reviewed the report said there is not enough evidence of a crime. The Excelsior Springs School District said the teacher wants to resign. The school board has the right to take other action.

"You're talking about two different contexts, criminal context versus an educational environment," Shellie Guinn, attorney for the district, said, “The district isn't tied to the same standard a prosecutor would be tied to in a criminal context."

Some parents say these cases point to a need for new laws covering teacher-student contact to help keep students protected.

Remember teacher Christina Stranghoener? Police reports show her conduct went far beyond text messages.

“All of a sudden my son's at a party with friends, and receives a text message showing her breasts on his cell phone,” David White said.

In the police report, Stranghoener admits sending texts and pictures to several students. In that same report, she also admits to having sex with one of those students on two separate occasions. David White says, “We’re talking about a teacher serving the public and a student who’s still in high school.”

Prosecutors said Stranghoener did not commit a crime because in Missouri it is legal for students and teachers to have sex if it happens off school property and as long as they are both over 17, which is the age of consent.

That is leaving parents like David White outraged.

“If that was to happen on school grounds, not on school grounds, she’s still a teacher," David White said. "I don’t care what statute, or what book, but something needs to be changed.”

None of the teachers we contacted would comment about their conduct, but the Excelsior Springs teacher told police he was trying to mentor the girl he was messaging.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) said they had no idea about the Warrensburg case until we called to inquire about the status of Stranghoener’s teaching license. Ten days after our call, the district asked the state to revoke her license.

Wednesday, the Missouri Senate gutted a bill that could have made this type of communication against the law.

***Should the state of Missouri set legal standards restricting electronic communication specifically between teachers and students in grades K – 12?

Yes, teachers and students should not be allowed to communicate electronically in any way
(30.4%)
Yes, students and teachers should be limited in the ways they communicate electronically
(53.6%)
No, there should be no legal limitations on students and teachers electronically communicating
(16.0%)
***Should the Missouri law regarding sex between teachers and students in grades K-12 change?

Yes, K-12 student-teacher sex should not be legal regardless of age
(73.1%)
Yes, K-12 student-teacher sex should only be legal if the teacher is no longer the student's teacher
(8.3%)
No, if both are over the age of consent, there is nothing wrong
(18.6%)

Child falls 10 feet from deck



ROELAND PARK, Kan. – A toddler was in serious condition Wedensday after taking a nasty fall from a deck.

Paramedics said a 3-year-old boy climbed onto a table at a home at 5151 Buena Vista in Roeland Park.

When he leaned over the deck's railing, he fell eight to 10 feet onto his head, authorities said.

After the fall, the boy was initially breathing but unresponsive. He reportedly came to as he rushed to an area hospital.

Last Update: 5/07 10:45 pm

i'm still looking for an update.

Non-stick chewing gum firm raises $20 million



LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A British company developing a non-stick chewing gum that can be easily removed from pavements and shoes has raised 10 million pounds ($20 million) to help bring its product to market.

The new financing comes from institutional and private investors, with IP Group -- an early backer -- chipping in an additional 800,000 pounds, the firm said on Wednesday.

Revolymer's new Clean Gum is the result of polymer research at the University of Bristol, where the company was created as a research spin-out in 2005.

Today's chewing gums are made from synthetic latex, which is resistant to the weather and is strongly adhesive. Clean Gum adds a special polymer to modify its properties, making it far less sticky.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Quentin Bryar)


© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved

Georgia set to execute first inmate since court ruling

ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) -- Georgia moved forward with preparations to execute a convicted killer, who on Tuesday night could become the first inmate put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a three-drug lethal injection procedure.
Barring a last-minute reprieve from the courts, William Earl Lynd will be put to death at 7 p.m. Tuesday, making him the first prisoner executed since September, when the high court took up a challenge to lethal injection and effectively halted all executions nationwide for seven months.

The Supreme Court ruled last month in a Kentucky case that the state's method of executing inmates with a three-drug cocktail did not violate the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Roughly three dozen states, including Georgia, use a similar method.

Prosecutors in several of those states quickly moved to schedule executions that had been delayed by the court's review. Besides Georgia, Mississippi on Monday scheduled an execution for later this month, while Texas announced plans to put a Mexican-born prisoner to death in August.



Lynd has an appeal pending before the Georgia Supreme Court asking for a stay to consider new forensic medical evidence. His lawyer, Tom Dunn, said he will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court if the Georgia justices rule against him.

Lynd has selected his final meal: two pepper jack barbecue burgers with crisp onions; two baked potatoes with sour cream, bacon and cheese; and a strawberry milkshake.

Death penalty opponents planned vigils around Georgia on Tuesday.

"In light of the many well-documented problems with our death penalty system, it is disturbing that Georgia is rushing to lead the country in resuming the death penalty machinery," said Laura Moye, chairwoman of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Lynd, now 53, was sentenced to die for kidnapping and shooting his live-in girlfriend, Ginger Moore, 26, in south Georgia in 1988, after the two consumed Valium, marijuana and alcohol. Prosecutors said she suffered a slow, agonizing death, regaining consciousness twice after being shot in the head.

The five-member Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles on Monday rejected Lynd's clemency appeal without comment.

Texas conducted the nation's last execution, putting Michael Richard to death on September 25, 2007, the same day the Supreme Court agreed to consider the Kentucky case, brought by two prisoners who claimed the lethal injection method violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

On Monday, a Texas judge set an August 5 lethal injection date for Jose Medellin, 33, for his participation in the gang rape and strangulation deaths of two teenage girls when they stumbled upon a gang initiation rite 15 years ago in Houston.

The death sentence for the Mexican-born Medellin set off an international dispute and a U.S. Supreme Court rebuke of the White House after the high court in March refused to hear his appeal, saying President Bush overstepped his authority by ordering Texas to reopen his case and the cases of 50 other Mexican nationals condemned for murders in the United States.

In Mississippi, the state Supreme Court scheduled a May 21 execution for Earl Wesley Berry, convicted of kidnapping Mary Bounds from the parking lot of the First Baptist Church in Houston on November 29, 1987. He beat her viciously then dumped her body in the woods.

Attorney General Jim Hood had requested that Berry be executed Monday, his 49th birthday. However, the court set the date for later this month after rejecting arguments from Berry's lawyers that he should be spared because he is mentally disabled and that the method of lethal injection is unconstitutional.

The U.S. Supreme Court had blocked Berry's last scheduled execution on October 30, 2007, to consider the Kentucky case.

Don't Miss
Georgia killer's clemency plea falls short
States ready to resume executions
Supreme court upholds lethal injection method

Myanmar cyclone death toll exceeds 22,000





Story Highlights
More than 22,000 killed and 41,000 missing, Myanmar radio reports
3.6-meter storm surge leaves more than 100,000 homeless in one area
U.N. estimates that up to a million people could be left homeless
U.S. President George Bush says Navy is ready to help if asked

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- A Myanmar government radio station said Tuesday that more than 22,000 people are dead and 41,000 missing after the catastrophic cyclone that battered the country.

A news broadcast on the state-run station said Tuesday that 22,464 people had been confirmed dead after Cyclone Nargis. The broadcast added that 41,000 more were missing.

The U.N. estimated up to a million could be homeless.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency, quoting officials, reported a death toll of 10,000 alone in the township of Bogalay, where bodies were being dumped into the river.

CNN's Dan Rivers, the first Western journalist in Bogalay, said destroyed homes could be seen for 30 kilometer stretches.

In one area only four homes remained from a total of 369.

Rivers said people were now sheltering under canvas covers. They had little food bar a small amount of eggs and rice. The area's rice had been destroyed, leaving Bogalay with a five-day supply. Water pumps were also ruined, and fuel was scarce. Watch family huddle in ruined home »

Rivers had seen the army and Red Cross in the area, but the weather remained awful and conditions were miserable.

The aftermath has pushed Myanmar's normally secretive ruling military junta to ask for aid and release details of the devastation. However, the U.N. said its aid workers were still waiting for visas to enter the country. It, the Red Cross and other aid organizations have been gathering supplies to ship to the country.

U.S. President George Bush Tuesday called on the military junta to allow it to help with disaster assistance.

Bush, who made the comments while signing legislation awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Myanmar democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, said the U.S. was ready to "come and help." iReporter documents the destruction. »

"The United States has made an initial aid contribution, but we want to do a lot more," Bush said.

"We are prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, and help stabilize the situation. But in order to do so, the military Junta must allow our disaster assessment teams into the country."

The U.S. Navy is making preparations to respond to any requests for assistance, U.S. military officials told CNN. The Navy has calculated it would take its nearest ships four days sailing time to get to the affected area.

Maung Maung Swe, Myanmar's social welfare minister, earlier told reporters that the country needed aid now, The Associated Press reported.

"Instead of waiting for figures on casualties and damage, it will be practical to send humanitarian aid to victims as soon as possible," Swe said.

He revealed that that 95 percent of the homes in Bogalay -- a city of 190,000 -- had been destroyed, AFP reported. Watch how the cyclone crippled Yangon »

"Many people were killed in a 12-foot tidal wave," Swe said.

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP), which was preparing to fly in food supplies, offered a grim assessment of the destruction: up to a million people possibly homeless, some villages almost totally destroyed and vast rice-growing areas wiped out, AP reported.

"We hope to fly in more assistance within the next 48 hours," WFP spokesman Paul Risley said from Bangkok. "The challenge will be getting to the affected areas with road blockages everywhere."

Based on a satellite map made available by the U.N., the storm's damage was concentrated over about a 30,000 square-kilometer area along the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Martaban coastlines, which is home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar's 57 million people.

Kyi Minn, of the international aid group World Vision, told CNN that the situation was bleak.

"It could be worse than [the] tsunami," Minn said, comparing the cyclone's impact on Myanmar to the damage caused following the tsunami that struck the region in late 2004. The tsunami was triggered by a a massive earthquake off the coast of Indonesia and killed more than 150,000 across the region.

Minn said clean drinking water, food, medicine and shelter were all at a premium. Watch the cyclone hammer Yangon »

Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar, told CNN that urgent help was needed.

"The situation is very bad and not getting better," said Villarosa

Villarosa said many in the international community wanted to help but were still waiting for the Myanmar government to grant their relief teams visa.

Nargis pummeled Yangon for more than 10 hours from Friday night into Saturday, with 20 inches of rain and winds above 240 km/hr.

While Myanmar's ruling military junta has been accused by U.S. first lady Laura Bush of not warning the public about the approaching cyclone, witnesses say state media did report the storm -- it just came too late.

"We did get a warning, but it seems the military warned at a late stage," an Australian witness in Yangon told CNN, adding there was no time for people to evacuate or buy emergency supplies.

She also said that perhaps "a lot of Burmese didn't take it as seriously as they could have."

MRTV disputed media accounts of insufficient warnings ahead of the storm.

"Timely weather reports were announced and aired" on TV and radio two to three days in advance to keep people "safe and secure," an MRTV anchor reported.

Video from the scene showed residents in some areas hacking their way through downed trees and trudging through knee-deep, swirling brown water. Thousands of tropical trees had been ripped up and thrown down, some into roadways.

Terje Skavdal, of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs, called it a "major crisis."

"It is a major undertaking to get it right for the government," Skavdal told CNN in an interview from Bangkok, Thailand. "There is a major job ahead of us."

As the international community prepared a response, survivors faced the chaos the disaster caused.

Most telephone and cell phone service was down in Yangon, a city of about 6.5 million people, Rivers said earlier Tuesday before traveling to Bogalay.

In some places, the price of fuel had quadrupled to $10 a gallon in the wake of the storm, he said. Even with that price lines for gas stretched around the block and some were turning to the black market.

The price of eggs had doubled, the main water supply had been cut in many areas and power lines were down, Rivers said.

"No food. No water," an exasperated man told him. "So you have to find everything." See photos of the destruction »

Residents of one small community told Rivers that the army had been through to clear the main road but had not helped with recovery efforts.

A U.N. humanitarian official told CNN a five-person disaster assistance coordination team had arrived in Bangkok, but they would not know until later on Tuesday when they could enter Myanmar.

Another U.N. group said that simply getting visas for aid workers to enter Myanmar was a challenge. Visas were only available through the foreign ministry in Myanmar's main city Yangon, the United Nations Joint Logistics Centre said.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had released $190,000 to help with the aftermath of the storm, the European Commission has pledged $3.1 million, Canada $2 million, China $1 million in aid including relief materials worth $500,000 and Thailand $100,000.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar has issued a "disaster declaration" in the country and authorized the release of $250,000 for cyclone relief efforts, Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said. A disaster relief team was on standby, he said, but the Myanmar government had not given permission for the team to enter the country. Listen to Irrawaddy journalist discuss the situation in Myanmar »

The State Department issued a travel warning Monday night, authorizing the departure of non-emergency U.S. personnel at the embassy and warning American citizens to "strongly consider" departing Myanmar.

The country's state radio said Saturday's vote on a military-backed draft constitution would be delayed until May 24 in 40 of 45 townships in the Yangon area and seven in the Irrawaddy delta, AP reported.

The constitutional referendum is referred to in the state-run media as the fourth step of a "seven-step road map to democracy."

The government has said elections will be held in 2010 to choose a representative government to replace the military junta.

Myanmar, traditionally known as Burma, last held multi-party elections in 1990, when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy handily won. The military junta ignored the results. Learn more about Myanmar »

The regime has come under intense international pressure, especially after using force last year to suppress a pro-democracy movement.

--CNN Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

China: Hand, foot and mouth spreading



A child stricken with the intestinal virus, identified as enterovirus 71 or EV-71, rest at a hospital in Fuyang, central China's Anhui province, Sunday, May 4, 2008. A highly infectious virus that has killed 24 children in China is unlikely to be a threat to the Beijing Olympics, although it is too early to tell whether it has peaked, the World Health Organization said Sunday. (AP Photo)

BEIJING (AP) — China reported a jump Monday in the number of children sickened with hand, foot and mouth disease, saying more than 11,900 cases have been reported.

At least 24 deaths in the central province of Anhui and Guangdong province in the south have been blamed on enterovirus 71, one of several viruses that cause the disease, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Two other children — one in Guangdong and another in the coastal province of Zhejiang — have also died of hand, foot and mouth disease but it wasn't immediately clear which strain of virus killed them, it said.

Xinhua said 10,212 children had been reported infected in the hardest-hit areas, including the provinces of Anhui, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and the capital Beijing. All were below the age of 6 and the majority were under the age of 2, it said.

The total number of infections reported nationwide by Monday was 11,905, Xinhua said, with smaller outbreaks in Hebei, Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Jiangxi and Henan provinces and in the city of Chongqing.

Though nearly all the deaths have been blamed on enterovirus 71, also known as EV-71, it was not immediately clear how many of the overall infections were traced to the virus.

Zhejiang's provincial health bureau said on its Web site that only nine of its 1,198 cases had tested positive for EV-71. Chongqing said none of its 42 infections have been confirmed to be cause by EV-71.

Xinhua said the jump in cases was due in part to a new regulation from the Ministry of Health classifying hand, foot and mouth disease among those that have to be reported to the central government.

The agency said a majority of the cases were reported in Anhui province, where 5,840 cases were reported, nearly all of them in the fast-growing city of Fuyang.

On Monday, the Anhui government punished 10 people, including five officials and four doctors, in the province for failing to properly tackle the disease, Xinhua said. The Taihe county officials had not helped spread knowledge about the disease, it said.

The report said two doctors had made money by selling injections of an immune globulin, made up of antibodies from blood, that they said could cure enterovirus 71. One of the doctors in Taihe county had injected it into 17 children, Xinhua said.

Two doctors in Fuyang, were given demerits for failing to properly examine a patient after the patient came in with a fever and vomiting, Xinhua said. The patient was given an intravenous drip and not transferred to another hospital.

Enterovirus causes a severe form of hand, foot and mouth disease with symptoms including fever, mouth sores and rashes with blisters. It is easily spread by sneezing or coughing. The viruses mainly strike children ages 10 and younger. Some cases can lead to fatal swelling of the brain.

The illness is not related to foot and mouth disease, which afflicts livestock.

There is no vaccine or specific treatment, but most children affected by mild forms of the disease typically recover quickly without problems.

The World Health Organization says the virus normally peaks in June and July so there could still be an increase in infections as the weather warms.

The outbreak is another headache for China's Communist government as it prepares to host this summer's Olympic Games, already tarnished by unrest among Tibetans in western China and an international torch relay disrupted by protests.

WHO's China representative, Hans Troedsson, said the disease was not a threat to the Beijing Olympics because the disease mostly sickens young children.

China's Health Ministry has sent teams to Anhui to coordinate treatment of the disease and prevent its spread.

news 2007 Shocking Revelation: Late-Abortions Given So Women Could Go To Rock Concerts

“I saw no file that justified abortions,� says Psychiatry Expert.


Wichita, KS – A Pschiatrist who has examined over thirty medical records subpoenaed from abortionist George R. Tiller, says women were given late-term abortions on viable babies so they would not have to miss rock concerts and sporting events.

Dr. Paul McHugh revealed last week that he examined medical records that showed women who were 26 to 30 weeks into their pregnancies were being given abortions by Tiller for “trivialâ€? birth control reasons under the guise of “mental health” concerns that could not be substantiated by the records.

Dr. McHugh is a Harvard educated psychologist who headed the Department of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Hospital for 26 years and serves on the President’s Council on Bioethics. He was asked to review the abortion records by former Attorney General Phill Kline to determine if the mental health diagnoses were psychiatrically justified.

Dr. McHugh stated that the records “highlighted certain kinds of things, which…were sometimes of a most trivial sort, from saying that, ‘I won’t be able to go to concerts,’ or ‘I won’t be able to take part in sports,’ to more serious ones, such as, ‘I don’t want to give my child up for adoption.’�

Of Tiller’s psychiatric diagnoses, Dr. McHugh stated, “He had mostly social reasons for thinking that the late-term abortions were suitable…Again, these ideas that he was suggesting – these were not psychiatric ideas, these were social ideas that he is proposing. And by the way, again, there was nothing to back these things up in a substantial way.�

When asked if Dr. McHugh could find even one file that justified a late-term abortion by demonstrating that the woman would suffer substantial and irreversible harm as required by Kansas law, he responded emphatically, “I saw no file that justified abortion on that basis.�

“The people of Kansas have written these laws. Viable fetuses should not be aborted unless there’s a substantial and irreversible condition that the pregnancy will produce. Well, when a psychiatric diagnosis is brought forth, I think that people should understand that that requires a heck of a lot more than I found in these records,” Dr. McHugh said.

“It doesn’t take a Harvard education to understand that missing a rock concert doesn’t ‘substantially and irreversibly’ impair a woman, physically or mentally,â€? said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “It is clear that Tiller is breaking the law at the cost of innocent lives. The public must rise up and say that enough is enough!â€?

Please continue to contact Attorney General Paul Morrison and ask him to charge Tiller for committing illegal late-term abortions.

Attorney General Paul Morrison
Phone: (785) 296-2215; Fax: (785) 296-6296
E-mail: general@ksag.org

View full 44-min. interview with Dr. McHugh and transcript.
Sign the petition asking for charges against Tiller

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 9:45 am and is filed under Press Releases, Tiller Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

8 Responses to “Shocking Revelation: Late-Abortions Given So Women Could Go To Rock Concerts”
Christina Says:

June 21st, 2007 at 6:18 am
People who are in emotional stress don’t think clearly. I can’t count the number of post-abortion women who’se stories I’ve come across who “chose” abortion under pressure, in a state of panic, just as a “fight or flight” response to their situations, only to come to their senses afterward.

And Dr. McHugh addresses this issue — that the women are in a lot of immediate distress, and that nobody’s doing anything to help clarify their thought processes to keep them from running headlong into something they’ll regret later. They’re just rubber stamping the paperwork. Which is highly irresponsible and — frankly — unconstitional under Roe, which puts the responsibility on the abortionist for verifying that abortion is “necessary” for each patient before proceeding.

Mike Says:

June 21st, 2007 at 11:06 pm
No one is doing anything to clear these women’s thought processes in their times of stress, because THEY DON’T CARE . All they want is the MONEY for the late term abortion…BIG BUCKS.

The almighty dollar is now, and always has been, the driving force behind ALL abortions.

Frank Says:

June 22nd, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Sad to say, Mike is probably right in lots of ways.

One issue, though: I think it’s much more complex than to say $$ is behind all abortions. I think what’s “behind” abortion depends upon one’s role in the transaction:

1. For the providers, it IS money, plain & simple. For example, what’s intriguing is the number of times Tiller signed off on women’s health, vs. the number of time he didn’t (apparently, never).

2. For the politicians, it’s political power. That’s more disturbing. There are lots of pols who knuckle under rather than do what’s right, because they like the trappings of power.

3. Worst of all, for the moms, it seems like the motivator is convenience. Too many sites — like Imnotsorry.net, have all these truly horrific stories of moms who aborted because they were in school, or didn’t have much $$, or who felt pressured…and who now don’t feel sorry for doing what they did…basically, because it was convenient for them to do so. Horrific. Just horrific.

4. Of course, as to what’s “behind” abortion at the end of the day, I think there IS ONE “item,” which is “Satan,” but that’s another story…

jtm Says:

June 23rd, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Don’t forget the social agenda, to reduce the population to “sustainable mass”…whatever that actually is. Funny how the population control freaks always want someone ELSE to exit the “overcrowded” planet…

Dallas Says:

June 24th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
This shows how cheap human life is to the abortionists. This is the logical result of a philosophy that separates human life from “legal person”. In Roe vs Wade The Supreme Court ruled that legal person hood is a result of recognition by society. This arbitrary definition of person hood allows society to butcher anyone they don’t want to live by saying that the are not a legal person. Roe vs Wade could be applied to justify the Nazi holocaust. Roe vs Wade has implications that go way beyond abortion that endanger all of our liberties.

Compare the sandy foundation of Roe vs Wade to the Biblical teaching that each individual human life is created in God’s image.Each person is therefore endowed with inalienable rights. The sanctity of human life was so important that God ordained government for the purpose of protecting human life by mandating capital punishment for murder.

God not only commands governments to defend human life but each individual. We are to rescue those innocent who are being led away to death Because respect for the sanctity and dignity of each human life is absolutely essential to a free and civil society. .Respect for the sanctity and dignity of each human life is the cornerstone of America’s freedom.

Now is the time for us to seek the Lord in solemn assembly. We must ask God to spare our land. The blood guilt of 50 million innocent babies and complicity in the murder of over 1 billion human lives is about to draw God’s vengeance.

4life Says:

June 28th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
These women need to be held accountable too. SELFISH PIGS!!

Natalie Says:

June 29th, 2007 at 8:29 pm
What a crazy world. “No, I dont want to give my child up for adoption”…What, you’d rather KILL IT?? Why not give it to a family who will love it like their own.

DALLAS, good point on the Roe vs. Wade!!

DALLAS SAID “The Supreme Court ruled that legal person hood is a result of recognition by society. This arbitrary definition of person hood allows society to butcher anyone they don’t want to live by saying that they are not a legal person. Roe vs Wade could be applied to justify the Nazi holocaust.”

Very true! I’m sure Hitler didn’t consider Jews human. Does that mean the Holocaust was okay? In that case, why don’t we just have a clinic that legally kills Jews?

God save us all.

Alayna Staggers (Nurse) Says:

July 2nd, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Dr. Paul McHugh’s professional observations of Tiller’s medical records cannot be ignored, as he was the appointed expert to investigate the validity of these documents. As a respected psychiatritist his opinion must be acknowledged as a factual presentation to be considered in the prosecution of Tiller.

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