Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
That's too bad. I wonder why he feels the need to trash conservatives? Doesn't he want them buying his books, or does he consider their money tainted?
I guess I am still an idealist at heart.
At least they could have warned us from the description on the back of the case. Instead you were smacked up side the head with it after you'd had a chance to get into the movie.
At least we didn't pay any money to see it. Well, other than the portion of our property taxes that went to fund the library which bought it.
Because he's a jerk. Being part of the Left means you want to trash not only conservatives, but also all the traditions of individual freedom on which the country was founded.
Seems unbelievable to me, yet almost the entire media (including most "creative" people) and education establishment are on this bandwagon.
Story is online here.
http://www.timesdaily.com/news/stories/21195newsstories.html
West Nile virus spreads through state
By Dennis Sherer
Staff Writer
July 18, 2002
Email this story.
Birds infected with the West Nile virus have now been found in Alabama from the Tennessee border all they way to the Gulf of Mexico.
Alabama Department of Public Health officials announced last week that a dead blue jay found in Waterloo on July 1 was infected with the disease that is transmitted by mosquitoes.
State health officials are urging Shoals residents to not panic about the virus that can be transmitted to humans. But they are asking residents to take precautions to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.
In rare instances, West Nile virus can be fatal in humans.
There have been no reports of humans in the Shoals being infected with the virus.
At the opposite end of the state, Mobile County health officials are urging residents there to be cautious after 11 dead blue jays tested positive for West Nile virus last week.
No humans in the Mobile area have been infected, but the latest confirmations brought to 13 the number of birds in the county to test positive for the mosquito-borne virus, which first arrived in the United States in 1999.
"The best thing to do is to take simple precautions to limit exposure to mosquitoes,'' said Dr. Bert Eichold, Mobile County health officer.
Entomologist Kelly Michar, head of the county Health Department's Vector Control Division, said the sudden sharp increase does not indicate that the danger to humans has increased by an equal amount.
"The birds are just a very, very good indication that the virus is circulating between the birds and the mosquitoes,'' Michar said.
The disease cannot be transmitted directly from birds to humans or humans to humans.
It can only be transmitted by mosquitoes.
The Tennessee Valley Authority collects mosquitoes throughout the Valley and sends them to a laboratory to be tested for West Nile virus and other diseases.
The mosquitoes are sent to TVA's Environmental Research Center in Muscle Shoals to be separated into species known to transmit diseases to humans and those that do not.
Since collection began in June, none of the mosquitoes sent from the Muscle Shoals facility have tested positive for West Nile virus or other diseases, said TVA spokesman Terry Johnson.
To cut down on the risk of infection, people were urged to remove standing water where mosquitoes breed, wear insect repellent containing DEET, halt use of perfumed and scented cosmetics and toiletries, and stay indoors at dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active.
Health officials said only about 1 percent of mosquitoes are infected with West Nile virus. Less than 1 percent of the people bitten by the infected mosquitoes will contract West Nile virus.
Healthy adults will probably not realize they have been infected with the virus, said TVA entomologist Ken Tennessen.
Symptoms of the virus in mild cases include body aches and could be mistaken for the flu. In serious cases, the symptoms include a headache and neck stiffness.
Alabama is not the only state where West Nile virus has been discovered. It has been found from Connecticut all the way to Texas.
A dead blue jay found in southeast Missouri was infected with the West Nile virus - the first confirmed case of the disease in Missouri this year, the state health department said Wednesday.
To date, there have been no confirmed cases of people contracting the mosquito-spread virus in Missouri, although people elsewhere have been infected.
"It just confirms what we have been expecting to see - continued expansion of the range of this disease,'' said Howard Pue, chief of communicable disease control and veterinary public health for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
The virus was first discovered in the United States in 1999 in New York City. It spread west and south.
Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.
PRODUCTS WITH DEET - In commercial use since 1957, DEET is the most widely used insect repellent, estimated to have been applied to more than 5 billion people.
- It poses no significant health threat if used properly, but should not be used on children under 2, pregnant women or on children's bedding.
- Concentrations of less than 10 percent should be used on children under age 12; for adults, the maximum concentration should be no higher than 30 percent.
- Don't apply the repellent to the hands of small children, near wounds or scratches, or close to the eyes and mouth of anyone. n The chemical can be toxic if ingested, and in rare instances, people have had skin reactions ranging from blisters to nerve damage.
- Wash the repellent off with soap and water when returning indoors. If there is a suspected reaction to the chemical, wash the area quickly and seek medical attention.
Sources: Scripps Howard News Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, American Academy of Pediatrics, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
A question that could well be asked of Alec Baldwin, or any of the Hollywood crazies who insult us all at the Academy Awards. I do not remember if you were watching how LOTR did on Oscar night, but it was pretty revolting for those of us who were watching (and not just because we lost Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor, and had to watch Gandalf making a spectacle of himself in the audience.)
Finding a dead bird like that would have creeped me out.
Because of the unusual amount of rain down here, we've had more mosquitoes than usual. And, earlier in the year there were radio ads from the state Vetinary Council warning ranchers to vaccinate horses against West Nile, so it's definately present here.
Since no one else has mentioned it yet... it sounds like you had a murder of crows last night!
Well CAV, it is too late for that!
I didn't have gloves on when I picked it up. I was too surprised to see it there to think of going to get them. I did wash up real well with the bleach when I was cleaning the buckets out. If I start to develop strange symptoms, call a medic!
My horse is now afraid of the water buckets. He thinks something is going to leap out at them. Great.
As I remember it this is true of the entire crow familiy: Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays. You probably know that they are almost as good at imitating the human voice as the parrot family.
I wouldn't want to drink out of something that had had a dead body in it, either.
We've had the same warnings too.
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