Katrina.... 9 years later.

We had a blast yesterday.  Dennis and Chris came over, and we realized that it was the 9th anniversary of Katrina.  (We were all together here when the eye of the hurricane passed over us).  We spent DAYS together.

Spent hours drinking beer and reminiscing, laughing and telling tales.

I made Trout Amandine for dinner.  (Speckled trout from my Cajun pal, Vickie).  Martinis flowed.... what a day/night!

Big fun!  It was so nice to have my 3 favorite boys together!

(I sure wish that we would have taken pictures nine years ago....but maybe not!)

Some Vietnam Vets Left to Wonder Whether Agent Orange Made Them Sick

More than four decades ago, the U.S. military blanketed Vietnam with Agent Orange and researchers continue to find ways the toxic herbicide has sickened the nation's veterans.

 Jim Gumm of Milwaukee served in Vietnam, and believes his exposure to Agent Orange caused a skin condition.

The U.S. military used Agent Orange to deforest land during the Vietnam War.

To date, researchers blame Agent Orange for causing 14 illnesses in veterans, who are eligible for federal compensation and health care.

But some Vietnam vets are sick with conditions not on the official list, but insist Agent Orange is the cause.

However for many purported connections, there is no proof, at least so far.

Jim Gumm lives in the small house he grew up in on the west side of Milwaukee. Photographs of his parents dot the living room walls. His old dog tags hang over one frame.

Forty-five-years ago, Gumm was stationed at a small air base tucked between rice paddies in southwestern Vietnam. He recalls U.S. transport planes spraying Agent Orange around the base, to defoliate the land.

“This was not gentle stuff and you know, we had to walk through it. And you didn’t know what it was. That’s the problem. Some people got boils, some people got sick,” Gumm says.

Agent Orange is named for the color of a band painted around barrels that stored the herbicide. The military claimed it would not hurt humans. That turned out to be dead wrong – for Vietnam, where hundreds of thousands of children have had severe birth defects. And for U.S. servicemen and women.

Gumm says after walking through areas sprayed with Agent Orange, his pants would be soaked, and his legs became dry and itchy. They got worse over the next 45 years.

“The color of my flesh has changed. The skin does not grow properly. It dries out and flakes. Sometimes I lose feeling in my feet. You get up and you go, Whoa! It itches, can be painful,” Gumm says.


Jim Gumm says skin problems on his legs started in Vietnam and have gotten worse over the past 45 years.

He pulls up his pant leg, revealing purplish, scaly skin from his knee down to his ankle. Gumm says doctors blame old age.

“I think personally it’s chemical related. What else could it be? The rest of my body’s fine,” he says.

Unless Gumm can prove a direct correlation between his ailment and Agent Orange, he doesn’t qualify for disability benefits.

Right now, the list of 14 so-called “presumptive” illnesses includes Type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, such as lung and prostate, and a skin disease called chloracne. The secretary of the VA decides whether to add new conditions based on biennial reports from the Institute of Medicine, an independent agency that advises the government.

Brad Flohr of the VA says the federal government itself also studies the health of those who served in Vietnam.

“Developing information as to particular types of diseases they’re experiencing, which may not be on the list of the 14 Agent Orange presumptives. But going down in years from now, should there be an increase of some significance in this category of veterans, then VA could potentially take some action based on those studies,” Flohr says.

Flohr says veterans with conditions not on the list can submit evidence from doctors or scientific journals that indicate a link.

“And we have granted, I don’t know the numbers, but we have granted claims like that,” Flohr says.

Flohr assures vets that the potential cost of compensating them is never a factor in declaring new, presumptive diseases.

But John Margowski is skeptical. He was a young airman in the early 70s and says he was exposed to Agent Orange while serving on a base in Thailand.

“I guess I have to say we were probably pretty ignorant about it,” Margowski says.

Margowski points out that 25 years ago, the Reagan administration blocked a federal study on the health effects of Agent Orange fearing a potential, extraordinary cost of compensation. And, recently, revelations rocked the VA about vets waiting months and even years for health care and disability payments.

Margowski is an officer with Vietnam Veterans of America. It wants the U.S. to fund an independent commission that would take over Agent Orange research.

“Where they would look at all the studies that have been done internationally for dioxin exposure, and let’s really try to medically find out what’s going on,” Margowski says.

Margowski says he understands good research takes time, but vets such as Jim Gumm don’t know if they have that luxury.

“I’ll probably be dead by then but you never know,” Gumm says.

Some vets are also worried about decades into the future. They wonder whether their exposure to Agent Orange was the cause of health problems in their children or grandchildren. Right now, the government provides compensation for offspring with specific birth defects that resulted in a permanent physical or mental disability.

Who's Spoiling My Raccoon Kids Now? Potato Chips!

My, how things have changed.  Dom used to gripe a little bit that I was spoiling the raccoons.

When I checked out his camera I found these (taken while I was at the condo):

This little fella is the friendliest one.  The moment we open up the door, he comes running to us.

Yesterday, Dom was hand feeding him crackers.

Not to be outdone, I cooked up a pound of liver for them today.  Although we are now co-parenting, I'm still the favorite parent!

Eating GMOs? You May be Playing Roulette With Your Life

What’s Wrong With GMOs?
“Round-Up Ready” is the name given to soy and corn that was developed by Monsanto and involves the pesticide Round Up being integrated right into the seeds before they are planted. The theory they are trying to sell is that this will require less pesticides to be sprayed, but according to experts at Cornell University, this practice has ended up requiring a more intense use of pesticides as the plants around the corn and soy (and the corn and soy themselves) grow resistant to the Round Up. Mistake?

Coincidence?

Don’t be naive.

It gets worse with GM corn. When an insect eats GMO corn, their stomachs, for lack of a better description, explode. At first, studies showed us that there was no impact on human health. Now studies reveal that tiny tears in the cells of human intestines occur when we eat GMO food. The result is a rise in leaky gut, which leads to a rise in food allergies and auto-immune disorders. This is terrifying stuff. The documentary ‘Genetic Roulette’ by Jeffrey Smith, one of the world’s leading consumer advocates should make you sit up and take notice…and never question whether or not to buy organic again.

And these are just two of the thousands of genetically modified foods being mixed into the ingredients in many foods today.

Messing With Mother Nature
Genetic modification also allows for cross-breeding that is far removed from natural hybridization, although manufacturers of these products would have you believe otherwise with their propaganda. The theory behind GMOs is simple. Scientists select specific genes from one organism and introduce them into another to confer a specific trait. This technology can be used to create new varieties of plants and animals more quickly than conventional methods and produce traits not possible through traditional, natural techniques. The mad scientists behind GMOs would have you believe that their process is just like mixing red and yellow peppers’ DNA to create an orange pepper, but it isn’t. For example, genetic material from salmon can be injected into strawberries to make them more resistant to cold weather. That’s messing with Mother Nature in the most unnatural way.

Look at it this way. Two peppers, even of different colors, would hit on each other in a bar, date, and mate. But a strawberry and a salmon, well, not so much. The consequences of this work are alarming with ramifications we cannot begin to imagine.

While marketers try to sell us on the concept of GMOs as foods that improve yields, are more nourishing for developing countries struggling with famine, and require less use of toxins to grow them, nothing could be further from the truth. While Monsanto and other chemical giants continue to promote these false ideas, there has been no independent proof to support their claims. Only studies conducted within their companies have shown the results they market in their public relations campaigns.

There is, however, increasing concern among independent scientists about the safety of these crops and the resulting foods. The spread of pesticide-resistant plants, the possible toxicity to natural habitats and the species that thrive there, and the impact on human health all remain unanswered questions and are of paramount concern to experts.

Who Benefits From GMOs?
So why do these companies do this? Why take such risks with the collective health of humanity and the planet?

GMO crops and foods would give companies like Monsanto and DuPont the ultimate control over human life . . . the control of food. They have already changed the way commercial farmers farm; this is just the next step to world domination, in the sense of food.

Do you think that the chemical executives sitting in their high-rise glass-walled offices with spectacular views care for one moment about the health of populations in developing countries? Or in the industrialized world, for that matter?

How Did We Get Here?
With more than 167 million acres of GMO crops planted in the United States, making our farmers the largest producers of these crops, there is solid reason for concern. The United States accounts for more than all GMO crops grown around the world. And if you are thinking it’s just about corn and soybeans, here is the laundry list of crops now grown using GMO technology (and don’t you think it’s weird to even use the word “technology” when talking about growing food?): corn, cotton, soybeans, canola, squash, sugar beets, rice, dairy products, farm-raised salmon, papaya, and alfalfa, to name a few. GMO ingredients play a role in more than 70 percent of our food overall.

How can this be? How did these potentially disastrous organisms get into our food in such a high concentration? Public relations would have you believe that the FDA approved GMOs after rigorous testing and long-term studies. Nope. In fact, there are no safety testing requirements, according to their own website. The only testing done on GMOs is done by the companies themselves and are meticulously designed to avoid problems: this, according to Dr. Arpad Pusztai, the leading researcher in this field. (When Dr. Pusztai expressed his concern over GMO issues, he was fired from his job after thirty-five years at a biotech plant.)

The FDA, under the first President George Bush, was specifically directed to promote the research of biotechnology and not ironically, the person in charge of developing the policy was the former attorney to the biotech giant Monsanto, who later became their vice president. The results of his policy showed that GMO crops were not different from traditional crops in “any meaningful or uniform way.” Therefore, testing was not required.

It didn’t stop there. The outrage was perpetrated on Mother Nature came under the Obama administration. In one week, this administration deregulated two very important crops that can affect our future: alfalfa and sugar beets. Deregulation of alfalfa, the nation’s fourth largest crop and a prodigious pollinator, could spell disaster for natural crops. Used mainly in animal feed, GMO alfalfa would contaminate not only soil and crops, but the meat you eat as well. In January of 2011, this important crop was completely deregulated, meaning that there are no restrictions on the growing of GMO, Round-Up Ready alfalfa by Monsanto and no labeling is required . . . so you, the consumer will have no idea. This deregulation also removed what are known as “buffer zones,” specific distances designed to prevent the contamination of organic alfalfa crops by GMO crops, making it virtually impossible to produce organic alfalfa. Indirectly, this means that it could become impossible to produce organic meat and dairy products since alfalfa is such a big part of their feed.

And the hits continued! In February 2011, sugar beets were deregulated allowing for GMO sugar beet crops to be grown without restriction or labeling requirements to avoid “a sugar shortage,” according to Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture for the Obama administration. God, forbid we should consider using a wee bit less sugar. We’d rather screw up the natural order to feed the hungry mouths of business and lobby groups!

We Need GMO Labeling
Tom Vilsack says that to regulate GMO crops would be “burdensome” to business, but whose business? The deregulation of these crops and the resulting contamination puts an unreasonable burden on all those dedicated farmers and business people working hard to produce and create organic foods. The deregulation of these crops significantly threatens the ability to produce certified organic products, according to Senator Patrick Leahy (author of the original Organic Foods Prodution Act). The biotechnology industry has declared war on the organic food industry and through shrewd lobbying has won a decisive victory . . . and will continue unopposed with the onslaught of genetically modified foods that are controlled by only a handful of multinational corporations.

Are you mad as hell yet? It gets better.

Scientists who worked for the FDA came to the overwhelming consensus that GMOs were distinctly different from other crops and could lead to unpredictable and hard-to-detect toxins, allergens, new diseases, and nutritional problems. They urged their superiors to conduct long-term studies.

They were ignored.

As a result, only one in four Americans knows that they have eaten or are eating GMO foods. The Campaign for Healthier Eating is committed to educating Americans about what is really in their food. One of the goals is to change the regulations so that GMO ingredients in food must be listed as such. The labeling is voluntary now.

What You Can Do
Read labels, when you can find them, and work to understand them. Begin with your produce. You know those pesky little stickers that are so hard to remove from everything we buy? They could turn out to be your best pals.

If produce is grown with GMO influence, the little stickers will show a 5-digit number beginning with “8.” If the produce is organically produced, the stickers will show a 5-digit number beginning with “9,” and conventionally produced veggies and fruits will have stickers with a 4-digit number. But don’t get your hopes too high that you’ll beat them at their own game. With voluntary labeling you have no idea what you are getting most of the time unless it’s certified organic.

With processed foods, there is no way to tell what GMOs may be lurking in your food, well, foodlike substances. GMO ingredients are widespread and well-hidden. Even some so-called natural food companies employ GMO ingredients so you really have to know the players to win at this game . . . unless you are buying certified organic foods. And with all of the deregulation going on around us, certified organic could become a moot point. At this time, there is only one organization dedicated to rooting out GMOs and letting the consumer know if the products they are using contain GMOs, whether the product is organic or not. The Non-GMO Project’s mission is simple: They are “committed to preserving and building sources of non-GMO products, educating consumers, and providing verified non-GMO sources.”

Most important, you can get involved. Go to www.carighttoknow.org and support the cause in any way that you can. And vote with your dollar. Cornucopia Institute has information on who is doing what with this most important campaign. Use your dollar to tell these companies we will settle for no less than the truth. Finally, get your hands on a copy of the documentary, Genetic Roulette and watch it with friends and family. Genetically modified foods and other toxic additives in our foods should scare us witless and have us all mad as hell.

JUMP for links

GMOs Proven Harmful To Human Health

Do you ever wonder why “pro gmo” people simply refuse to acknowledge the science?  The truth is, we don’t know enough about GMOs to deem them safe for human consumption. Believe it or not the very first commercial sale of them was only twenty years ago. There is no possible way that our health authorities can test all possible combinations on a large enough population, over a long enough period of time to be able to say with absolute certainty that they are harmless.

“GM Crop Production is Lowering US Yields and Increasing Pesticide Use…There is no reason GM foods should be approved safe for consumption, we just don’t know enough about them. We could easily feed the planet through organic, GMO-free methods, so there is absolutely no reason we need GM foods around… the current approval of glyphosate and Roundup is deeply flawed and unreliable…Because humans that’ve been exposed to glyphosate have a drop in amino acid tryptophan levels, they do not have the necessary active signalling of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is associated with weight gain, depression and Alzheimer’s disease.“

GMOs Prove Harmful To Humans In These Ten Scientific Studies :

15 GMO Safety Studies LINKS HERE

Soy vey! Monsanto just lost its GM permit in Mexico

A judge in Mexico has revoked Monsanto’s permit to plant genetically engineered soy in that country.

The permit authorised Monsanto to plant its seeds in seven states, over more than 253,000 hectares (625,000 acres), despite protests from thousands of Mayan farmers and beekeepers, Greenpeace, the Mexican National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity, the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas and the National Institute of Ecology.

In withdrawing the permit, the judge was convinced by the scientific evidence presented about the threats posed by GM soy crops to honey production in the Yucatán peninsula, which includes Campeche, Quintana Roo and Yucatán states. Co-existence between honey production and GM soybeans is not possible, the judge ruled.

The judge wrote that the soy posed a threat to the honey industry of the Yucatan because the presence of pollen from GM plants would make it much harder to sell honey in Europe. The honey producers of the Yucatan sell almost exclusively to the E.U., according to the Guardian’s Nina Lakhani.


Honey from wildflowers sounds delicious, as does buckwheat, but soy honey? Hmm. Maybe it’s just as well.

LINK

Fun With My PCB Gang ..... again!

Had another great 2 weeks on the beach.  This time around, pal Patricia drove in from Tennessee.

Just as she arrived, Keith and Lauren came over.....we had great fun playing ladder golf, swimming in our crystal-clear water, and having a grand time.

The highlight of the night was launching 7 or 8 "trance lanterns" .  The crowd went wild.  They were a big hit.  I just ordered twenty more.  (as well as an Amazon Fire TV, now that we finally have a good strong internet connection!)

During her visit, we were joined by my pal Jamison....a bartender across the street at Beach Bar and Package.

We hung out at the usual haunts.... Dee's Hangout is our favorite.  Had a wonderful dinner, as usual.  I finally snagged a picture of the owner, Brenda.  She's an absolute doll, as is her husband Dee.  Dee's Hangout  I can't recommend this place enough!

I was given a gift certificate for a sushi restaurant.  We had a delicious meal.  I was absolutely uncomfortably full from my spicy tuna roll.  Our charming waiter asked if we would like dessert.  I groaned, and said, "no more room, honey".  He smiled and walked away.

A few minutes later he said that he had just gotten a shipment of delicious oranges and put a plate down in front of me.  Yep..... Miss Piggy polished it off!

Ketana Thai Restaurant

After Patty went home, I stuck around another 4 days and enjoyed the water.  I was so pleased..... other years, mid July and August brought alot of seaweed.  Not this year.  It was very minimal, and was just at the shoreline.

As much as it pained me to leave, I had to get home for Dom's birthday.  We had wonderful filets, mushrooms and baked potatoes.  Along with a visit from this little girl...... first time we've seen her without her mother.  My raccoon buddies are getting jealous!