If you aren't into world news and political events, then this is definitely news for you!
President Bush and his administration, now have the power, [courtesy of our "Democratic leaders”] to SPY on AMERICANS without court order! Yes, you read this correctly! And the "person" Bush is leaving to the collecting of any and all information to, is his Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales.
And I quote from the e-mail I received today from the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union):
"Democratic “leaders” have crossed the line and betrayed the will of the majority who put them in power in 2006. This week, a timid Congress caved in to President Bush and his demand for more out-of-control authority to spy on Americans
The FISA gutting legislation voted on last weekend allows for massive, untargeted collection of Americans’ international communications without court order. The law allows for no meaningful oversight by either Congress or the courts and leaves decisions about the collection, mining and use of American information up to the Bush Administration’s Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales."
"And it never had to happen if leaders in the House and Senate had had the courage to take a stand and say, "no, no more” to the Bush administration."
Source: All " ", ACLU email I received today, August 8, 2007
So, earlier today, the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) "filed an unprecedented demand with the Foreign intelligence Surveillance Court, seeking the disclosure of court records cited by supporters of the president's horrendous FISA overhaul."
"These are secret documents, which played a pivotal role in the undoing of legal safeguards that have stood for three decades". Why and how has this happened, you ask? There are many reasons [or excuses] why the American people weren't, or didn't care, to be informed. I too, am guilty of this as well, until this president Bush took office, since I did not vote for him.
Source: All " ", ACLU email I received today, August 8th, 2007
We need to stand with the ACLU to tell both Senate Majority Leader, Senator Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that we are tired of of our rights not being defended, protected and secured by the people we voted into office.
"The ACLU is launching a major new campaign to hold Congress accountable, and they can't do it without us!. Stand with the ACLU today sending Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi a wake up call that is past due."
Source: All " ", ACLU email I received today, August 8th, 2007
Below, are the links to read the articles, sign the petition, and get others in the know as well. We cannot allow this continue, or the basic premises that the United States of America was founded on, will cease to exist.
I recently found out that there are two snakes that "growl" just like many mammals do. Believe it, the two snakes are, the King Cobra and the Rat Snake!
I gained this knowledge by watching National Geographic as well as Animal Planet, and the Discovery Channel, all of, who, excel in their own productions on the subject.
There was a lot of information on the King Cobra and how it's able to growl. Unfortunately, there wasn't a lot of information on the Rat Snake, just the stating of them growling as well as the King Cobra using the same parts within their bodies.
The reason why these two snakes do growl:
The King Cobra and the Rat Snake would fill air into it's lungs and then will constrict it's body quickly. This move would force air into it's "glottis" which is between it's vocal cords. What comes out is a long, growl, which sounds like a dogs growl! And it really does sound like a dog, and who would think that the growl was coming from a snake. The growl lets you know that the King and the Rat Snake are upset, angry ands just about to pounce on whatever is bothering them or prey. Remember, that the King Cobra is also a venomous snake and can grow up to 18 feet. The Rat Snake doesn't grow as long nor are they venomous. Rat Snakes are basically, constrictors.
Animal Planet states about the King Cobra, "A special resonating chamber in the snake's tracheal (tracheal diverticula) lung may give the sound its characteristic low pitch, which is unique among snakes. (The tracheal lung is an enlarged throat that wraps around the windpipe, allowing the king cobra to breathe while it's swallowing prey.)"
There are many different Rat Snakes all over the world similar in size, the longest, 7 feet and varying in colors. I wasn't able to find anything more about them, if they all growled or just a special few. And I searched many websites about the Rat Snakes and still wasn't able to find enough info on the subject.
And that's their story! If anybody has found any information about which Rat Snake does growl [or if they all do], please leave a comment and list the website where you found the info, so that I can update my article, here.
I am pretty creative in writing poetry, and I also use several different mediums to draw landscapes, abstracts, and the like. I saw my youngest daughter, making a "render", a "sig", and thought, I would like to give this try (placing an image on a background I made) as well!
After several tries over the months, I have finally gotten down the gist (the understanding) of how to do this. The word, "sig" means signature. And using Adobe Photoshop is how I did the background as well as placing the images exactly where I wanted them.
I took the image from one of the anime shows I watch, called "Claymore" and also took a "goth-type" image as well and placed them together on the background I made. Hope you like!
There are several sources that you can use to learn how to do this as well or just trying different things yourself. I asked my daughter a few questions and took it from there and I used one source [which is listed below].
I will be trying my hand at moving animated characters as well, and am working on this little by little, daily [in between everything else I am doing]!
You never think it will happen so far up the East Coast, but it did...a tornado! The tornado was an F0-F1 [on the Fujita Scale] (depending on the news networks), hit outside of Islip Terrace, NY on Long Island dated, July 18th, 2007 due to severe thunderstorms in the area. Bet that surprised everybody!
Power was out for over 50,000 customers in the Nassau and Suffolk areas. I was checking this out on the CBS-early morning news, while I was up earlier than usual.
I decided to check if this was "news worthy" to many in the area and was pleasantly surprised that this did make some of the major papers last week along with several online news networks including USA Today, and The NY Times. From what I heard and read, there was damage and no injuries, which is always a good thing!
Like the forecasters from The Weather Channel have said, "tornado's can show up anywhere"!
