Bee parasite's genome sequenced - USA Today

** Scientists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have sequenced the genome of a bee parasite suspected of contributing to colony collapse disorder -- the mysterious disease that has been killing large numbers of honeybees since 2006. The study appears in the journal in PLoS Pathogens. *** The parasite, Nosema ceranae, causes a fungal disease, infecting honeybees first through their digestive tract. It then spreads to other tissue and organs in the bees, including their brains and salivary glands. *** Understanding the genetic makeup of the parasite could allow researchers to trace its lineage, determine if there are different variants of the parasite, understand how it infects and causes disease in honeybees. Ultimately, they be be able to discover its role is in colony collapse disorder. **

Trust on Issues - Voters Now Trust Republicans More than Democrats on Economic Issues - Rasmussen Reports

Voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats on six out of 10 key issues, including the top issue of the economy.

** The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 45% now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues, while 39% trust Democrats more. *** This is the first time in over two years of polling that the GOP has held the advantage on this issue. The parties were close in May, with the Democrats holding a modest 44% to 43% edge. The latest survey was taken just after General Motors announced it was going into bankruptcy as part of a deal brokered by the Obama administration that gives the government majority ownership of the failing automaker. *** Voters not affiliated with either party now trust the GOP more to handle economic issues by a two-to-one margin. *** Republicans also now hold a six-point lead on the issue of government ethics and corruption, the second most important issue to all voters and the top issue among unaffiliated voters. That shows a large shift from May, when Democrats held an 11-point lead on the issue. **

Last week I was driving home listening to President Obama's speech on the General Motors bankruptcy, and I heard the full emergence of a note that had been sounded only occasionally in the two-plus years since the announcement of his candidacy. It was the note of imperial possession, the accents and cadences of a man supremely aware of his authority and more than comfortable with its exercise.

I was reminded of the last scene of "Godfather I," when Michael Corleone, who begins the film as a young idealistic patriot, ends it by striking the pose of a Roman emperor as subordinates kiss his ring. Obama is still idealistic and a patriot, but he is now also an emperor and his speech shows it. "Language," Ben Jonson says in Discoveries, "shows a man; speak that I may see thee."

What Obama's language showed when he began his campaign in February 2007 was a commitment to a project larger than his personal ambitions: "It's humbling to see a crowd like this, but in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me." He acknowledges that "there is a certain presumptuousness" to his candidacy and in the body of the speech he begins sentence after sentence (the rhetorical figure is "anaphora") with this inclusive construction "Let us be the generation": "Let us be the generation that reshapes our economy"; "Let us be the generation that ends poverty." Later, he insists that "this campaign can't only be about me; it must be about us."

For the rest of this article, click here.

From the broadside Tea destroyed by Indians: (1773)

"Bostonian's SONS keep up your Courage good, And sink all Tyrants in their GUILTY BLOOD."

Calling all patriots to the TEA Party Planning meeting in Chico tomorrow night (Tuesday) at Logan's Roadhouse, 7pm in the back room. *** If you are interested in helping out or just learning more about the TEA Party scheduled for the 4th of July, this meeting is open to everyone and you should feel welcome to attend. The person conducting the meeting is Cynthia Van Auken.

Steve Thompson, Chairman, Butte County Republican Party

"Unemployment numbers may be worse than you think," Posted by Two Cents Editors, CNN Blog

** Friday's news that the official unemployment rate is now at a 26-year high of 9.4% is actually a rosy spin on what is really happening. *** The official unemployment stat that gets the headline treatment, the BLS' U-3 data set, doesn't count all sorts of folks who are unemployed and underemployed. To get a more comprehensive snapshot of the labor picture you need to focus on the less well-known U-6 data set known as "alternative measures of labor utilization." *** The U-6 includes folks counted in U-3 plus " all marginally attached workers" as well as people who aren't working full-time but wish they were (i.e., the underemployed.) Marginally employed covers "persons who currently are neither working nor looking for work but indicate that they want and are available for a job and have looked for work sometime in the recent past." *** And when you add up U-3 and all the underutilized workers the official U-6 rate for May 2009 is 16.4%. That's an official BLS-generated stat that no one really wants to talk about: One out of every six members of the civilian labor force is either out of work or not fully employed. (And that doesn't even account for the rising ranks of workers coping with furloughs.) *** Okay, so exactly how bad is that from a historical perspective? Pretty bad. The BLS began reporting U-6 in 1994; in January 1994 the U-6 rate was 11.8% and then steadily declined before reaching an all-time low in October 2000 of 6.8%. During the ensuing recession/bear market U-6 peaked at 10.4% (Sept 2003) until the credit crisis took hold in 2008. The U-6 rate hit 10.9% in August 2008 and has been on a rapid climb ever since; over the past year it has shot from 9.8% to today's 16.4%. It sure makes it hard to buy into the green shoots theory just yet. - -Carla Fried, CNN **

Independent contractors. such as Realtors for instance, don't show up in regular unemployment figures. I don't know if the BLS takes these workers into account or not but if not it may be even worse than 16.4%.

"I'll do whatever they want," Moore said. "But I won't jump through no more of those $491 hoops. Those are getting expensive.

Killing this man's entrepreneurial spirit would be bad enough but the chance that it could also kill his human spirit in the process is even more appalling. That's BIG government for you,,,cold, autocratic and unreasonable:

"Bureaucrat scuffs dream of homeless shoe shiner," by .- C. W. Nevius - SF Gate

** He sleeps under a bridge, washes in a public bathroom and was panhandling for booze money 11 months ago, but now Larry Moore is the best-dressed shoeshine man in the city. When he gets up from his cardboard mattress, he puts on a coat and tie. It's a reminder of how he has turned things around. *** In fact, until last week it looked like Moore was going to have saved enough money to rent a room and get off the street for the first time in six years. But then, in a breathtakingly clueless move, an official for the Department of Public Works told Moore that he has to fork over the money he saved for his first month's rent to purchase a $491 sidewalk vendor permit. *** "I had $573 ready to go," Moore said, who needs $600 for the rent. "This tore that up. But I've been homeless for six years. Another six weeks isn't going to kill me." *** The bureaucrat told Moore that she found out about his business after reading about his success in this paper. **

Please click on the following link that will take you to U-Tube. You will see a video that explains in easy to understand terms how our national debt has grown and who we can thank. It's very entertaining too... now, get ready, fasten your seat belts and prepare for a fast ride. THE NATIONS DEBT

Brussels - Europe leaned to the right Sunday as tens of millions of people voted in European Parliament elections, with conservative parties leading or favored in many countries amid a global economic crisis. Opinion surveys and exit polls showed right-leaning governments edging the opposition in Germany, Italy, France, Belgium and elsewhere. Conservative opposition parties were tied or ahead in Britain, Spain and some smaller countries. - AP

Well at least some free people in this world are beginning to get that liberal spending policies won't work. When you consider the added threat that terrorism represents, weak and failing economies spell total disaster...wake up America. Killing the private sector and spending and printing money is not going to work.

Does history repeat?

"Betrayal of the Democratic Party," by George Joyce - American Thinker

** ...many Democrats tried to pin the "treason" label on Al Smith for his stand against the New Deal legislation the dubious moniker had trouble sticking. Growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Smith dropped out of school at 14 in order to support his family after his father's untimely death a year earlier. Smith never made it to high school or college but he did manage to develop sensitivity to life on the street while working at a local fish market and at other odd jobs. *** When he ran for New York State Assembly at age 30 Smith was known as a spokesman for the working-class immigrant and as a man of the people. During his political career in New York Smith was known as a staunch progressive who championed workers' rights, women's rights, and child labor protections. **

A very clever journalist in Naples kick-started my research on the similarities between President George W. Bush's words regarding the Middle East and President Barack H. Obama's words from his Cairo speech. The article is pretty remarkable, but to set the stage lets look at a few words from the press regarding President Obama's remarks in Cairo and a sampling of the remarks often made about Bush:

Echoing a Cold War-era speech by President Kennedy, Obama noted that "the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart." - NPR (The significance of the Kennedy reference will become apparent as we go along)

In a brilliant speech, Obama extended the American dream to include the world's Muslims and put Iran on the defensive... - The Atlantic

President Barack Obama delivered a message of hope and called for mutual respect as he addressed the Islamic world Thursday in a speech in Cairo... CBS4 (South Florida)

The Nation - "It's a mistake to see President Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo merely as a repudiation of George W. Bush's wrecking-ball approach to the Middle East."

Does that refer to me or you?

(7 Jun 09, one hour ago a two hour gun battle left 16 dead in Acapulco...")

Everyone knows that narco-terrorism is rampant throughout Mexico. The corruption and greed from the money made from selling drugs to stupid Gringos is legendary. North Americans have earned a reputation of having an insatiable appetite for illegal drugs. I guess this means we also have too much disposable cash. A real bad combination for people living in the fast lane. It leads to bad news splashed across the headlines every day.

Now the Mexican drug lords have made hundreds of billions of dollars filling that need and an industry of narco-crime and gangs was born. It has morphed into an unprecedented underworld power of competing drug gangs and their tennacles reach deep into every facet of Mexican life and politics.

Frivolous American users don't want to think that stuff. They don't want to hear about what their purchases of cocaine, heroin and even the so-called harmless marijuana have done to the lives of so many people caught up in the gangs or in the crossfire of warring drug gangs. They don't want to think that it is their bad habit is directly linked to police corruption or that it has contributed to the murders of thousands in a bloody rampage of kidnappings, assassinations, beheadings, car bombings and gun fights that make the days of Al Capone look mild by comparison.

Our new Obama government and our liberal avant-guard tell us our drug users and even petty street dealers shouldn't be locked up in our already overcrowded prisons, they deserve diversion in the form of medical help or counseling.

Okay, I'll go with that if you also take the next step and legalized drugs!

Yesterday around 8:20 a.m. marked the Invasion of Normandy (D-Day) some 65 years ago by the greatest naval armada the world has ever seen. It was also a milestone in my own military odessy that began in way back in 1966 and sporadically found me in a military uniform until the present day where I'm still in uniform, but not for long!

On this particular day I was part of a small security detail for an event that hosted eight general officers (6 still actively serving) and numerous staff and field grade officers representing most branches of service. They were attending the promotion cermony of a Colonel to Brigadier General, a significant and rare occurance for military folks. The HQ of the CAARNG arranged the event and hosted the three hundred plus guests that included many dignitaries, friends and family of Col. being promoted.

by OneVike

When a person thinks about light, usually the first thing that will come to mind is the sun. We have been taught that the sun is the center of the solar system and thus it is the light of the world. This ball of fire that life on earth depends upon, is so massive in size that it contains 99.85% of all the matter in the Solar System, or 332,800 times that of earth. The distance from earth to the sun is 93,000,000 miles, which would take you 71 years to travel going 150 mph. The sun creates energy by burning several hundred million tons of hydrogen per second, converting it to helium by nuclear fusion. This process causes the surface temperature to be about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and scientists have calculated that there is nothing which can stop the light emitted by this fireball from expanding outwards forever. So taking all these factors and other information into consideration you would think that the sun is the light of the world but that is not what the Scriptures tell us.

In Genesis we learn that God created light on the first day, (Genesis 1:4-5) but he did not create the sun until the fourth day. (Genesis 1:16-17) Now I could argue with scientists and cosmologists over their understanding of creation and my understanding of the Bible, but that is not the subject of today's message. Today's message is about Jesus being the "Light of the World" and how His followers should be a reflection of His light for the world to see. We know the bible says that light was created on the first day, but then we read in John's Gospel that Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness, and that light comes from God, and the light is God. (John 1:1-5) Later in John's Gospel we read that Jesus Himself declares that He is "Light of the World", and that whoever follows Him shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. (John 8:12) He also said that as believers, we are to be the light of the world. (Matthew 5:14) Let us consider what Jesus meant when He said he was "The Light". Well, He certainly did not mean that He was a glowing light bulb walking around like some illuminated spirit. Remember, while Jesus walked and taught among His disciples 2000 years ago, He was as John testified, a real man. (1 John 1:1-3)