As a puppy he had big feet and a small body, the wife kept trying to tell me he was going to be a big dog, to which I replied he isn't any bigger than my two hands. I visioned a medium sized dog weighing in about 60 pounds or so.
Chance was quite intelligent for his age as he took to training outside quite easily, figured out the pecking order in the household with the other animals and tried his best to protect the kids from trips and falls.
As he grew older I became quite aggressive with him during play time and the rougher I got the more aggressive he would become towards me. When it was time for the wife or the kids to play with him he played at their level and not the one I had brought out in him. He was a completely different dog around the kids, he was a buddy, protector, and playmate.
At that time we were a one income family and my work hours varied so Chance became the defender of the household when I was gone. Our neighbor Terry, who was a mechanic, would occasionally come over to the house to pick up his two daughters that Janine watched while Terry and his wife were at work. It is at this point Chance seemed like he was possessed, he would stand beside Janine in the living room snarling, bearing his rather sharp white teeth as if he was going to rip Terry to pieces. His body would quiver and he would rear back on his haunches as if to launch an attack. He would do this even if I were home so there must have been something he didn't like about Terry. At first I though it might be the smell of his work being on his clothing or on his body, but no matter what Terry was wearing Chance would sense some evil or something in this man.
During the weekends when I was home I would spend as much time as possible with our two boys playing and rough housing of which Chance would join in on the play time. Chance never had any formal training, but picked up on most behaviors quite easily. Leash training took no time to accomplish nor did having him stay in the front yard even without a fence. Chance had known his role in our family and he would even correct me if I played with the kids a little two rough by grabbing the back of my arm and biting me hard enough just to let me know I was probably getting to rough with the kids.
He was still a well mannered dog and even with other additions to the family such as other pets he would take to them just as if they were in the family as long as he was. As time goes on, and as we watch Chance dying from the inside out it is time to recollect our memories for our long time companion four legged family member.
Chance has many tumors on the inside of his body, that when they first developed we were told it was nothing but fatty deposits and they wouldn't harm him. These tumors have grown to the point where they are intermingled with muscle tissue and ligaments which are causing him much pain in relieving himself and just in general walking.
We are going to have to put him down as a means to prevent him from going into even further pain, but breaking the bonds of which have been built for almost 15 years seem quite difficult. He still has that look in his eye as when I first brought him home, the protective demeanor which made him a valued family member knowing he was always on sentry duty, however age has taken its toll as he doesn't hear that well any long, he is partially blind, and has developed doggy Alzheimer´s Disease as he walks to the front door to go out and once the door is open he forgets why he went to the door.
It has become quite disheartening watching this once proud dog fall into the throes of what happens to people when they hit 80 or so. I'm sorry to say I feel more compassion for this dog then I do most people, since most people can control the outcome of their lives while animals are quite dependent on us. We have done everything imaginable to prolong the life of Chance barring putting him into more pain trying to accomplish this. I will imagine in June we will send Chance to his final resting place and it will be a very hurtful day for our family.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
we named him Chance part II
we named him Chance
It was a HOT muggy night in Cupertino, CA the night that I was asked if I knew of someone that could provide a home for soon to be named Chance and his sister. I informed my co-worker that I would look into it after our shift was over.
We were working the late shift at a Lucky's Grocery Store removing flooring tiles and the mastic glue on the concrete floors down the corridors where they were placing new shelving units. This was quite an easy task and we had multiple work areas that I was responsible for. The work went off without a hitch and after an eight hour shift we all were on our way home. I stopped by Tim's house to see the puppies that he described as being part Rottweiler and Queensland Heeler. There was a female and a male of which I took the male home with me as we have never had very good luck with female dogs.
He fit in both my hands and was probably not even old enough to be weened from his mother, but sending this cute little fluff ball to the pound was not an option. Upon arriving at my house I put him in a dog kennel in my sons room and headed off to bed. I didn't need the baby monitor to hear the whimpering of this new addition to the family and it occurred to me if I couldn't get him to quiet down that the baby would be awakened which would mean I would have two problems on my hands. A baby needing fed and I'm not equipped in that manner, and a puppy that just wasn't familiar with the new surroundings.
I laid on the floor of the babies room and put my fingers through the kennel door to keep the newest addition of the family quiet which allowed the wife to sleep soundly through the night.
That morning when she did arise she came in to Jesse's room to find me asleep on the floor with the baby still asleep and Chance licking my fingers trying to wake me up.
The month was September in the year of 1993, which puts the birth of Chance in August. Chance has become quite a very large dog weighing in at about 110 pounds with the stocky build of the heeler breed and the coloring of his Rottweiler heritage along with the face, muzzle area, the chest cavity. We have been fortunate to have this very loyal family member around for this long, but I'm afraid his days are numbered, but that is the makings of another blog.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Texas seizure of polygamist-sect kids thrown out
An the state of TX is run by which political party ??? Taking children away from their parents without PROOF of abuse SHAME SHAME.
They'll still use the slogan "its for the children"Texas seizure of polygamist-sect kids thrown out
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) — A Texas appeals court said Thursday that the state had no right to take more than 400 children from a polygamist sect's ranch, a ruling that could unravel one of the biggest child-custody cases in U.S. history.
The Third Court of Appeals in Austin ruled that the state offered "legally and factually insufficient" grounds for the "extreme" measure of removing all children from the ranch, from babies to teenagers.
The state never provided evidence that the children were in any immediate danger, the only grounds in Texas law for taking children from their parents without court approval, the appeals court said.
It also failed to show evidence that more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and never alleged any sexual or physical abuse against the other children, the court said.
It was not immediately clear whether the children scattered across foster facilities statewide might soon be reunited with parents. The ruling gave Texas District Judge Barbara Walther 10 days to vacate her custody order, and the state could appeal.
FLDS spokesman Rod Parker said sect members feel validated, having argued from the beginning that they were being persecuted for their beliefs.
"They're very thrilled. They're looking forward to seeing the children returned," he said.
The appellate decision technically applies only to 38 of the roughly 200 parents who challenged the seizure. But their lawyer, Julie Balovich of Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, said she expected attorneys for all the other parents to seek to join the ruling.
"It's a great day for Texas justice. This was the right decision," said Balovich, who was joined by several smiling mothers who nonetheless declined to comment at a news conference outside the courthouse here.
Every child at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado was taken into state custody more than six weeks ago, after Child Protective Services officials argued that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints pushed underage girls into marriage and sex and groomed boys to become adult perpetrators. Only a few dozen of the roughly 440 children seized are teenage girls; half were under 5.
The appeals court said the state was wrong to consider the entire ranch as an individual household and that the state couldn't take all the children from a community on the notion that some parents in the community might be abusers.
"The existence of the FLDS belief system as described by the department's witnesses, by itself, does not put children of FLDS parents in physical danger," the court said in its ruling.
The court said that although five girls had become pregnant at age 15 or 16, the state gave no evidence about the circumstances of the pregnancies. It noted that minors as young as 16 can wed in Texas with parental consent, and even younger children can marry if a court approves it.
Balovich said the appeals court "has stood up for the legal rights of these families and given these mothers hope that their families will be brought back together."
CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said department attorneys had just received the ruling and would make any decision about an appeal later.
"We are trying to assess the impact that this may have on our case," he said.
Even before Thursday's ruling, the state's allegations of teenage girls being pushed into sex appeared to be deflating.
Of the 31 sect members CPS once said were underage mothers, 15 have been reclassified as adults — one was 27 years old — and an attorney for a 14-year-old girl said in court that she had no children and was not pregnant, as officials previously asserted.
Five judges in San Angelo, about 40 miles north of Eldorado, have been hearing CPS's plans for the parents seeking to regain custody. Those hearings, which began Monday, were suspended after the appellate ruling Thursday.
The custody case has been chaotic from the beginning. The hearing in which Walther ruled that the children should all enter state custody ran two days.
Hundreds of lawyers crammed into a courtroom and nearby auditorium, queuing up to voice objections or ask questions on behalf of the mothers who were there in their trademark prairie dresses and braided hair.
CPS has struggled with even the identities of the children for weeks and scattered them across foster facilities all over the sprawling state, with some siblings separated by as much as 600 miles.
The sect children were removed en masse during a raid that began April 3 after someone called a domestic abuse hot line claiming to be a pregnant abused teenage wife. The girl has not been found and authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.
The FLDS, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven, is a breakaway of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago. Members contend they are being persecuted by state officials for their religious beliefs.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
The most telling quote in this whole article is this "Vioxx was taken off the market in 2004, five years after it was introduced and deemed safe by the FDA". You'll notice the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT APPROVED the sale of this drug, which in any court of law should make the government accomplices in the crime. Careful what you ask for you just might get it. This is why my family practices "preventative" health care instead of reactionary.
By the way all cost associated with preventative health care comes out of our pocket since the mean evil insurance companies won't cover the cost. (ROFLMAO) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 2:32 PM CDT
Texas wins $4 million in Vioxx settlement from Merck
Austin Business Journal
Texas and 28 other states will share a $58 million payment from pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., which resolves longstanding claims that the company downplayed risks related to Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory drug that was linked to thousands of heart attack deaths.
Texas' portion of the settlement will exceed $4 million, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.
In addition to the payments to the 29 states and the District of Columbia involved in the settlement, Merck (NYSE: MRK) now must forward all its direct-to-consumer advertisements to the Food and Drug Administration for approval before airing them.
The settlement also prohibits the company from using pro-Merck "ghost writers" to author articles and medical studies and using "promotional speakers" at medical education events if the speakers' relationship with the company presents a conflict of interest.
Vioxx was taken off the market in 2004, five years after it was introduced and deemed safe by the FDA.
Several thousand heart attacks and strokes were linked to the drug, causing Merck to voluntarily pull the drug off the market.
The state of Texas has an active Vioxx-related case in Travis County District Court. In that 2005 case, the attorney general charged Merck with suppressing critical information to physicians, patients and the Texas Medicaid program.
According to court documents filed by the state, Merck failed to disclose the health risks associated with Vioxx. During the time period covered by the state's enforcement action, Texas spent more than $72 million on Vioxx prescriptions for Medicaid recipients.
Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck is not admitting any wrongdoing under the settlement. Company officials said Tuesday they believe "Merck acted in good faith and that the company's activities in support of Vioxx were intended to fully comply with relevant regulations."
The "agreement enables Merck to put this matter behind us and focus on what Merck does best, developing new medicines," Bruce Kuhlik, executive vice president and general counsel for Merck, says in a statement.
Merck says it took a $55 million pretax charge in the first quarter "in anticipation of this settlement."
Merck also has allocated $4.5 billion to settle the tens of thousands of private lawsuits filed against the company by people who used the drug.
Web site: www.merck.com
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
YES, I was RIGHT
"Kennedy has been treated at Massachusetts General Hospital for what doctors now say is a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe. Malignant gliomas are diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year; in general, half of all patients die within a year".
A couple of days ago I was chastised for saying people will breathe a "sigh of relief" when Ted passes on. My main point of contention was the ONLY reason this is even a story is because the news media have made the Kennedy's into America's Royal family.
Close to or over 9,000 people are diagnosed with this same ailment every year and just because this one is a leach on the taxpayer somehow we should "feel" compelled to be remorseful for the family and Ted himself.
He has lived a long life and death is something that happens to us all eventually. Death needs to be looked at in the manner of which is a passing onto something greater or worse depending on your beliefs.
Kennedy being released from hospital, returning to Cape Cod
BOSTON (AP) — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is being released from the hospital, one day after being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor that experts say is almost certainly fatal.
Doctors said Wednesday the Massachusetts Democrat "has recovered remarkably quickly" from a biopsy conducted after he suffered a seizure last weekend at his home on Cape Cod.
The doctors say he will await further test results and treatment options while convalescing at his home over the Memorial Day weekend.
Kennedy has been treated at Massachusetts General Hospital for what doctors now say is a malignant glioma in his left parietal lobe. Malignant gliomas are diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year; in general, half of all patients die within a year.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BOSTON (AP) — The grim diagnosis that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has an almost certainly fatal brain tumor was "a real curveball" that left his family stunned even as he joked and laughed with them, his wife told her friends.
In her first public comments on her husband's diagnosis, Vicki Kennedy expressed pride in how well her husband of 15 years was handling the news.
"Teddy is leading us all, as usual, with his calm approach to getting the best information possible," she wrote in an e-mail Tuesday to friends.
"He's also making me crazy (and making me laugh) by pushing to race in the Figawi this weekend," she wrote, referring to the annual sailing race from Cape Cod to Nantucket.
An Associated Press photographer who was given access to the senator on Tuesday captured Kennedy, dressed in a gray sweater and dark slacks, joking and laughing with family members as he sat at a table in a family room at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Doctors discovered the cancerous tumor after the 76-year-old senator suffered a seizure over the weekend. Outside experts predicted he had no more than three years — and perhaps far less — to live.
"He's a fighter," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., on ABC's "Good Morning America" Wednesday. "I wouldn't want to be that tumor. With Teddy Kennedy fighting back, you're in trouble."
Family members with suitcases bunked with Kennedy overnight. Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., was determined not to leave until doctors settled on a treatment plan.
"Obviously it's tough news for any son to hear," said Robin Costello, a spokeswoman for Patrick Kennedy. "He's comforted by the fact that his dad is such a fighter, and if anyone can get through something as challenging as this, it would be his father."
The diagnosis cast a pall over Capitol Hill, where the Massachusetts Democrat has served since 1962, and came as a shock to a family all too accustomed to sudden, calamitous news.
"He's had a biopsy, and we don't yet have final pathology or a plan or course of treatment. But I have to be honest, we've been pitched a real curveball," Vicki Kennedy wrote.
Doctors said the senator had a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe, a region of the brain that helps govern sensation, movement and language. Malignant gliomas are diagnosed in about 9,000 Americans a year; in general, half of all patients die within a year.
"It's treatable but not curable. You can put it into remission for a while but it's not a curable tumor," said Dr. Suriya Jeyapalan, a neuroncologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
The doctors said Kennedy will remain in the hospital for the next couple of days as they consider chemotherapy and radiation. They did not mention surgery, a possible indication the tumor is inoperable.
In a statement Tuesday, Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of neurology at Massachusetts General, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy's primary physician, said the senator "remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital."
"He remains in good spirits and full of energy," the physicians said.
Senators of both parties heard about his condition during their weekly, closed-door policy lunches, and some looked drawn or misty-eyed as they emerged.
Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., the longest-serving member of the Senate, wept as he prayed for "my dear, dear friend, dear friend, Ted Kennedy" during a speech on the Senate floor.
"Keep Ted here for us and for America," said the 90-year-old Byrd, who is in a wheelchair. He added: "Ted, Ted, my dear friend, I love you and I miss you."
In a statement, President Bush saluted Kennedy as "a man of tremendous courage, remarkable strength and powerful spirit." He added: "We join our fellow Americans in praying for his full recovery."
Kennedy has been active for his age, maintaining an aggressive schedule on Capitol Hill and across Massachusetts. He has made several campaign appearances for Sen. Barack Obama.
"He fights for what he thinks is right. And we want to make sure that he's fighting this illness," Obama said Tuesday. "And it's our job now to support him in the way that he has supported us for so many years."
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said: "Ted Kennedy's courage and resolve are unmatched, and they have made him one of the greatest legislators in Senate history. Our thoughts are with him and Vicki and we are praying for a quick and full recovery."
Kennedy has left his stamp on a raft of health care, pension and immigration legislation during four decades in the Senate. In 1980, Kennedy unsuccessfully challenged Jimmy Carter for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Kennedy family has been struck by tragedy over and over. Kennedy's eldest brother, Joseph, died in a World War II plane crash; President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963; and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968.
Ted Kennedy shocked the nation in 1969 when he drove his car off a bridge to Massachusetts' Chappaquiddick Island and a young female campaign worker drowned. Kennedy, who did not call authorities until the next day, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and received a suspended two-month jail sentence.
Kennedy, the Senate's second-longest serving member, was re-elected in 2006 and is not up for election again until 2012. Were he to resign or die in office, state law requires a special election for the seat 145 to 160 days afterward.
Associated Press writer Lauran Neergaard contributed to this report from Washington.
Want to buy a turnpike?
| Pennsylvania | 50.7 | 63.6 |
|---|
HARRISBURG -- Private companies and contractors who might want to buy or lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike will have to start crunching the numbers quickly.
Gov. Ed Rendell, who wants to know how much he can get for the nation's first superhighway, is giving interested parties until Dec. 22 to submit their proposals.
Mr. Rendell said yesterday that preliminary estimates of what the road is worth vary widely -- anywhere from $2 billion to $30 billion.
The sale or lease of the turnpike is one way the state may generate some of the $1.7 billion a year it needs to repair hundreds of state-owned roads and bridges and put mass transit systems on a firmer financial footing.
But tax increases of some sort -- gasoline tax, sales tax, personal income tax or realty transfer tax -- might also be needed, the governor cautioned.
"Pennsylvania has been enduring a transportation funding crisis with no feasible, comprehensive solution," Mr. Rendell said at a news conference held in Philadelphia with state Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler.
As a first step toward resolving the crisis, he's looking into a "public-private partnership" regarding the turnpike. He said Indiana and Illinois have sold roads or bridges to private operators, deals that could serve as models for Pennsylvania.
He admitted that Dec. 22 is an aggressive deadline for companies to meet. But he said the turnpike-sale concept has been aired publicly for several months and some interested firms have already started the evaluation process.
The turnpike sale idea was also proposed in a report last month by a transportation funding panel headed by Mr. Biehler.
Mr. Rendell wants to know how much he can get so he can prepare a transportation funding proposal for the General Assembly by late January.
If the state got, say, $10 billion for the turnpike, that money would be put into interest-bearing investments. At an 8 percent rate, he said, it would generate $800 million a year for transportation needs. But if the state got only $2 billion from the sale, it would earn only $160 million a year in interest, which "wouldn't scratch the surface of our funding problems," Mr. Rendell said.
The target of $1.7 billion a year is what Mr. Biehler's study panel estimated was necessary to bring state-owned highways, bridges and mass transit up to a safe, reliable status.
"Raising this amount of funding won't be easy," the governor said. If a turnpike sale raised $800 million a year in interest income, the state would still need an additional $900 million a year to fix the transportation problems. Some sort of tax or fee increase would likely be needed.
The Biehler panel report listed possibilities as a 12.5-cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax, which is now 31 cents a gallon; higher vehicle registration fees; or increasing the 6 percent sales tax, the 3.07 percent personal income tax, or the realty transfer tax paid on home sales.
"We are looking at all options. Nothing is off the table," Mr. Rendell said. He didn't specify which taxes he might seek to increase. The only option he won't consider is "doing nothing."
If the turnpike is sold, the governor said there would be some protections for the toll takers and other turnpike employees, who might lose their jobs under a private takeover. But he didn't say exactly what the protections would be or how long they might last.
He also said motorists would be protected from excessive toll increases, such as by limiting future increases to an inflation rate.
Mr. Rendell hasn't said who might buy the road, but one interested company is Macquarie Infrastructure Group, based in Australia. It has already taken control of a toll road in Indiana for 75 years and the Chicago Skyway bridge for 99 years.
When the Legislature begins its new session next month, Rep. Rick Geist, R-Altoona, plans to introduce a bill to allow private ownership of state highways.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Sen. Kennedy Has Malignant Brain Tumor
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy , D-Mass., hospitalized Saturday after suffering a seizure at his home on Cape Cod, has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Kennedy, 76, has been undergoing tests at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston since he suffered the seizure May 17. “Some of the tests we had performed were inconclusive, particularly in light of the fact that the senator had severe narrowing of the left carotid artery and underwent surgery just 6 months ago,” said a statement issued by Dr. Lee Schwamm, vice chairman of the neurology department at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Kennedy’s primary care physician. “However, preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe. The usual course of treatment includes combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy,” the statement said. The doctors said that decisions on specific treatment for Kennedy would “be determined after further testing and analysis.” Kennedy will remain at Mass General for several more days for the additional testing, the doctors said. “He remains in good spirits and full of energy.” Malignant gliomas are the most common form of primary brain tumors, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. The median survival rate for patients diagnosed with moderately severe forms of malignant gliomas is three to five years; for those with aggressive forms, the median survival rate is less than a year. Kennedy, first elected in 1962 to the seat previously held by his brother, President John F. Kennedy, is the Senate’s second longest-serving member, behind Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert C. Byrd , D-W.Va. News of the tumor diagnosis brought expressions of concern and prayers from his colleagues. “Ted Kennedy has spent his life caring for those in need,” said Senate Majority Whip Richard J. Durbin , D-Ill. “Now it’s time for those who love Ted and his family to care for them and join in prayer to give them strength.” For a full version of this story and the latest coverage, please visit CQ Politics.For those that have made their living off of the backs of the hard working people they supposedly represent, there will be a sigh of relief to have this weight lifted from our shoulders.
Sen. Kennedy Has Malignant Brain Tumor
