Bedsores, also known as Pressure sores, are areas of damaged skin and tissue that develop when sustained pressure cuts off circulation to vulnerable parts of your body, especially the skin on your buttocks, hips and heels. Without adequate blood flow, the affected tissue dies.
Although people living with paralysis are especially at risk, anyone who is bedridden, uses a wheelchair or is unable to change positions without help can develop bedsores.
Bedsores can develop quickly, progress rapidly and are often difficult to heal. Yet health experts say many of these wounds don't have to occur. Key preventive measures can maintain the skin's integrity and encourage healing of bedsores.
Standard treatments aren't usually effective and do little to alleviate the suffering to the patient. Until now.
From Tel Aviv University's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology comes this breakthrough:
Researchers at Tel Aviv University have developed a unique device, called Dermastream, which could heal bedsores and chronic ulcers in bedridden elderly and infirm.
"The problem is chronic," said Prof. Amihay Freeman of TAU's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology.
And thus, he developed Dermastream, that uses a solution to whisk away dead tissue, bathing the wound while keeping dangerous bacteria away.
The device provides an enzyme-based solution that flows continuously over the wound, offering an alternative treatment to combat a problem for which current treatments are costly and labour-intensive.
Freeman said that Dermastream has already passed clinical trials in Israeli hospitals and may be available in the U.S. within the next year.
Dermastream employs a special solution developed at Freeman's TAU laboratory, thus offering a new approach to chronic wound care- a specialty known as "continuous streaming therapy."
"Our basic idea is simple. We treat the wound by streaming a solution in a continuous manner. Traditional methods require wound scraping to remove necrotic tissue. That is expensive, painful and extremely uncomfortable to the patient. And while active ingredients applied with bandages on a wound may work for a couple of hours, after that the wound fights back. The bacteria build up again, creating a tedious and long battle," said Freeman.
Dermastream "flows" under a plastic cover that seals the wound, providing negative pressure that promotes faster healing.
The active biological ingredient, delivered in a hypertonic medium, works to heal hard-to-shake chronic wounds.
Freeman said that while traditional bandaging methods may take months to become fully effective, Dermastream can heal chronic wounds in weeks.
Dermastream is intended for use in hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient clinics and homecare.
Freeman has founded a company that is currently collaborating with a Veterans Association hospital in Tucson, AZ, to bring the technology to the U.S. market.
Another useful Medical Advance from the 100th smallest nation on the planet.
IQ tests should be used to stop the death penalty, but not to determine admission to AP classes.
The Ten Commandments in schools will hurt the children, but “Heather Has Two Mommies” won’t.
African-American, Queer and Women’s Studies prepare young people for good careers, but a biology major is an outdated relic of white, misogynist domination.
College students must protest the President (before Obama was elected), but never challenge anything the professor says.
Math tests are racist, but there is nothing racist about blacks being admitted over more qualified white applicants.
Spending 4 years – make that 5 years – repeating your professor’s liberal slogans is a solid education, but demanding that colleges present all view-points and actually teach the subject is “anti-intellectualism”.
McCarthyism was wrong, but black-listing “right-wingers” from ever teaching in college is just plain old common sense. A right-winger is anyone who doesn’t toe the line on all issues.
Education is about “feeling”, not knowing. Logic is the product of white male supremacy in our culture.
After spending 5 years in college, you still don’t know when the Civil War took place and you are absolutely certain it had nothing to do with freeing black slaves.
Meat is bad for you. So is milk. But marijuana gets you ready for your finals.
AIDS is caused by poverty. So is crime. And membership in the Republican party.
You march to raise awareness about breast cancer, but believe it’s caused by sexism and infant mortality is caused by racism.
You want to outlaw cigarettes and legalize marijuana.
Global Cooling for 10 years proves that there is global warming.
You fly on private jets, but feel free to tell others to use only one square of toilet paper to save the environment.
You think that using less toilet paper will be good for the air.
The best way to care about a disease is to wear a ribbon. You must also prevent pharmaceutical companies from making a profit.
People should be allowed to euthanize themselves, but not to eat in McDonald’s.
Career welfare recipients are fat because they can’t afford food.
You preach to everyone that diversity is our greatest strength, but you paid half a million dollars more for a house in an all-white suburb than you could’ve for the same house in a black neighborhood.
You see racist code-words in all media except in hip-hop singles such as “Kill The White People”.
You wonder out loud, “Why can’t we all just get along?”
You oppose all racial prejudice, but think all whites are racist, consciously or not.
IQ tests are completely invalid and there are no differences between people, except when an anonymous blogger posts that all the Red States have a borderline retarded IQ and all the Blue states are made up exclusively of intellectually gifted people. Then you feel the need to send the blog post to everyone you know as conclusive proof that voting for Democrats makes you smart.
You greet a black person with, “Yo Bro!”
Indians created the United States and Europe became great as a result of Islamic influences. On second thought, Europe isn’t great.
You can’t believe you were so racist as to say that there’s something great about Europe except their Social Democrat parties.
Black dominance in basketball is progress, but white dominance in swimming is an outrage.
Illegal Mexicans are real Americans. Descendants of our Founding Fathers aren’t.
Racial profiling is wrong, but all serial killers are white and all Mexicans are hard-working family men.
US wants to build a wall on the Mexican and not Canadian border because of racism, not because 20 million Mexicans and almost no Canadians cross into the U.S. illegally.
There is no correlation between Islamic immigration to Europe and increased anti-Semitic attacks against European Jews.
Prostitution empowers women, but having a man open the door for you is degrading.
You get out of bed, look at your naked body and at your wife’s, and then think: “gender is a social construct that has no basis in science”.
On second thought, you got married in Vermont and your wife’s name is Thomas.
Your dog is smaller than your cat.
You bought your son a doll and your daughter a toy truck just to prove that gender is a social construct.
You then gave your son a “time-out” for pretending that the doll is an enemy soldier. Such violence will not be accepted.
When your 2-year-old daughter turned the truck into a “tea party” table, your immediate thought was, “I got to her too late and she was already brainwashed by society to think she’s a little woman”.
Men are bigger, stronger and faster than women because our society is sexist.
On second thought, it’s sexist to say that men are bigger, stronger and faster.
Western women suffer at the hands of men, but Islamic women are greatly respected.
The only time you’ve ever used the word “choice” was in reference to abortion. School choice or the choice to shop at Wal-Mart should be prevented at all costs.
If you are a man, your hair is longer than your girlfriend’s.
Women should stop listening to their husbands and start listening to you.
There’s never a reason to hit a woman, unless she’s Ann Coulter or another conservative, in which case, she had it coming for having a mind of her own and disagreeing with you.
People are born with a sexual orientation, but gender is a social construct and nobody is really born with male or female qualities.
You agree with your cross-dressing friend that “our society” is just “too focused” on genitals in determining a person’s sex instead of determining gender by looking at the person’s clothes. Just because she has a penis instead of a vagina, chest hair instead of breasts and a prostate instead of ovaries, doesn’t mean she’s any less of a woman.
Men who are aroused by breasts are abnormal freaks, but homosexuality is biologically normal.
Men stand in front of toilets only to promote male supremacy and should be forced by the government to sit.
Great spirituality is found in Voodoo, but nothing in the Bible.
Gay students should be allowed to publicly kiss in class, but Christians shouldn’t be allowed to quietly pray during a break.
The Christmas tree should be banned from public view, but that anyone objecting to pornography “only has to look the other way.”
When a Western woman travels to the Middle East, she should respect their traditions and cover up. When Muslim illegally infiltrate Europe, they have the right to expect the Westerners to adjust to them. If the Europeans don’t, Muslims have every right to riot.
Christianity is a threat. Islam is a religion of peace.
The Constitution allows desecration of the flag, but makes it strictly illegal to desecrate the Koran.
You found where the right to an abortion is written in the Constitution, but cannot find where the Constitution provides for a right to bear arms.
None of the Constitutional Rights you believe in are actually written in the U.S. Constitution.
Constitutional rights that are actually written in the Constitution are outdated and should be ignored.
The First Amendment’s Freedom of Speech must take a back seat to sensitivity.
You think that the Declaration of Independence is a legally-binding document, but the Constitution should be read any which way you want.
On second thought, the only thing binding about the Declaration of Independence is the sentence “all men are created equal”. You aren’t sure what else the declaration says, but you are sure that whitey had no right to declare independence on Indians’ land.
Child molesters can live anywhere and maintain their privacy, but Wal-Mart should be limited to far-away places where children can’t be exposed to it.
Teenagers can’t control their sexual urges no matter what we do, but child molesters and rapists can after counseling.
Counseling is the proper punishment for all crimes except sexual harassment and racism.
McDonald’s should be sued for selling dangerous products, but drug dealers should be released from prisons.
Mumia is a great American, but the Founding Fathers were brutal racists and we should ignore everything they said.
A five-year-old boy who pulls a girl’s hair should be punished, but gang bangers who are caught with guns should be let go because they didn’t do anything.
Affirmative action is the way to solve racial problems in America.
Quietly reading “The Bell Curve” on the bus is harassment, but keying someone’s car for disagreeing with you is activism.
When rape and murder statistics go up, you blame poverty.
Society should take responsibility for crime, but the criminals need more understanding.
We have too many police. If the cops backed off, the ghetto would be pristine.
America and Israel are the only problems in the Middle East.
Four year old babies should be frisked at the airport because focusing on nervous young Arabs would be discriminatory.
Hezbollah is a legitimate political party, but Republicans are just a bunch of racist haters who should never be exposed to kids or college students.
It is wrong to kill terror leaders without a trial, but blowing up buses and airplanes is legitimate resistance.
Your peace rally consists of supporters of Hamas, Hezbollah and Saddam Hussein.
You say, “Why do they hate us?” when America is attacked and “we’re just furthering the cycle of violence” when we retaliate.
You aren’t unpatriotic, but you just can’t remember the last time you sided with the United States … on anything… against any country.
If you support the United States, you are blind idiot who wraps himself in patriotism. If you support Israel, you fell for Zionist propaganda. If you side with Islamists, you truly understand international politics and your views are intricate and nuanced.
We had no business going to Afghanistan, but bombing Serbia in the 1990s on behalf of Islamic terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army was vital to our national interest.
Truth matters less than feelings.
You think Hamas and Robert Mugabe were fairly and democratically elected, but President Bush was not.
You tell anyone who’ll listen that our elections are fraudulent and then you fight tooth and nail to prevent states from requiring a photo ID to vote.
You are more proud of Obama’s race than of John McCain’s refusal to leave his buddies behind in Vietnamese prison.
Dan Quayle is the dumbest Vice-President ever because he believed a flash card that misspelled “potato,” but Obama is a genius despite the fact that he believes that we have more than 57 states.
You laugh at Dan Quayle, but you still can’t figure out the difference between “your” and “you’re”.
Governor Sarah Palin is unqualified, but Daughter Caroline Kennedy and Wife Hillary Clinton were great candidates for the U.S. Senate.
You are more concerned about a politician being endorsed by the NRA than al Qaeda and the Socialist Workers Party.
All recounts must continue until the Democrat takes the lead, and not a second longer.
You announce that you will move to Canada every time a Republican wins an election.
None of your friends ever voted for a Republican.
People who don’t chat, “Bush Lied, People Died” are all stupid.
Barbra Streisand knows more about politics than Newt Gingrich.
95% of blacks voting for a black guy is normal, but 55% of whites voting for the white candidate is a sign of how flawed our racist voting system is.
You call yourself ‘progressive’ but oppose all progress because somebody might get fired and replaced by a cheap and more efficient computer program.
Capitalism is the cause of poverty.
People aren’t successful, they are privileged.
People don’t earn. They deserve.
The Christian Right shouldn’t impose their morality on you, but you want to impose big government on everyone else because otherwise they won’t do the right thing.
You think that consenting adults can engage freely in every activity except capitalism.
You think the case for global warming is proven without a shadow of a doubt, but that we need another century or two worth of evidence to figure out if capitalism and free markets work better than socialism.
It’s obscene that oil companies are allowed to make 8.3 cents per gallon in profit with gas prices this high, but it’s OK for the government to make several times more than that in taxes.
McDonald’s gives people an option to super-size their meal because it is purposely trying to kill black people by giving them heart disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke.
You are steeped in compassion, but never gave money to charity or donated blood.
Your favorite sport is soccer. You pronounce it “foot-bowl”. You can’t name a single player or when was the last World Cup. You never actually watched a soccer match, but saying “foot-bowl” seems like a good answer to give when you are drinking your caramel latte with scones.
Your other interests are Ballet, Opera and Gangsta Rap.
You favor games where you don’t keep score, run or in any way risk bruising yourself.
You really wish to go to India to study spiritualism there, but you wouldn’t be caught dead in a church.
Your car has 8 bumper stickers calling Republicans morons and saying that Bush is a murderer, but that “McCain/Palin” bumper stick you just saw is really offensive so you just had to scratch that car with your key.
You wear a Yasser Arafat head scarf, but laugh at those who wear formal ties.
Playing competitive sports could do permanent harm to teenagers, but smoking weed daily and occasionally trying hard drugs is just something all college students do.
Fox News is biased, but Al Jazeera isn’t. In fact, Fox News invented media bias.
Rush Limbaugh and Michael Reagan are mean-spirited racists and promote hate crime, but Maxine Waters, John Conyers and Louis Farrakhan aren’t and don’t.
Rush Limbaugh’s listeners are mindless “dittoheads,” but you have never doubted anything that you heard from Michael Moore.
Assaulting the President by throwing shoes at him is free speech, but political cartoons about Muhammad aren’t.
Freedom of speech means the right to scream when a conservative tries to speak in order to prevent anyone from hearing his views.
Freedom of speech applies to terrorists, not conservative radio talk show hosts.
Everyone who disagrees with you must be reported for racism to your employer, university dean and the police.
After making the report, you are shocked that racism is not a crime and that the offender won’t won’t be locked up.
If you answered yes to over 10 of these, you are a liberal. Start drinking the Kool-Aid!
There is new hope for those of us who suffer from Insomnia. Neurim Pharmaceuticals has developed a new drug, Circadin, which works with the body's natural processes gradually releasing melatonin to induce sleep and restore the sleep cycle.
Traditional sleeping pills have many side effects. Now an Israeli company is introducing a new drug that works with the body's natural processes to induce restful, restorative sleep.
When that good night's sleep becomes elusive, sometimes the only option is medication. But the sleeping pills now on the market often come with risks that may outweigh the benefits, inducing dependency, withdrawal symptoms, and occasionally even cognitive impairments such as short-term amnesia.
Not so with Circadin, a new drug produced by Neurim Pharmaceuticals and based on the research of company founder and chief scientific officer Professor Nava Zisapel at Tel Aviv University (TAU).
Unlike other sleep medications which suppress brain activity, Neurim says that Circadin works with the body's natural processes to induce a restful, restorative sleep. It does so by gradually releasing melatonin in the body - the hormone that prepares the body for sleep.
Possibly the worst aspect of insomnia is its deleterious effect on daytime functioning. That's where Circadin has an additional edge over its competitors.
"Circadin not only improves the onset of sleep, but also the quality of sleep," Zisapel, a neuroscientist, tells ISRAEL21c. "People who take the drug have reported that they have better daytime functioning and an improved quality of life."
The drug is already being distributed in Israel and some countries in Europe by Neurim, which was set up in 1991 by Zisapel and her husband, entrepreneur Yehuda Zisapel (founder of the RAD Group), to develop treatments for age-related disorders. It is now in the process of obtaining approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Hizbullah needs allies. Not many nations want to openly support Hizbullah and it goal of ruling Lebanon for the Iranians. So the world created the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
These brave boys gangsters in the blue beret are suppose to enforce UN Resolultion 1701. For those of you who don't know or remember what 1701 does, I'll refresh your memories.
1701 was to suppose to stop all hostilities between Israel and Hizbullah after the 2006 war. It was to stop the rearming of Hizbullah. And keep the peace.
From the text of 1701:
11. Decides, in order to supplement and enhance the force in numbers, equipment, mandate and scope of operations, to authorize an increase in the force strength of Unifil to a maximum of 15,000 troops, and that the force shall, in addition to carrying out its mandate under resolutions 425 and 426 (1978):
a. Monitor the cessation of hostilities;
15. Decides further that all states shall take the necessary measures to prevent, by their nationals or from their territories or using their flag vessels or aircraft;
a. the sale or supply to any entity or individual in Lebanon of arms and related materiel of all types, including weapons and ammunition, military vehicles and equipment, paramilitary equipment, and spare parts for the aforementioned, whether or not originating in their territories, and;
b. the provision to any entity or individual in Lebanon of any technical training or assistance related to the provision, manufacture, maintenance or use of the items listed in subparagraph (a) above, except that these prohibitions shall not apply to arms, related material, training or assistance authorized by the government of Lebanon or by Unifil as authorised in paragraph 11;
Let us just say that UNIFIL hasn't done a good job. Corruption, scandal and the usual mismanagement that just accompanies any UN project. UNIFIL troops know to run when Hizbullah fighters thugs come into an area. Or to ignore the occasional explosions when the homes storing explosives and arms mysteriously go boom.
Yet the UN doesn't ever address these problems. Instead it pats UNIFIL on the back and renews its charter.
The United Nation's Security Council voted Thursday to renew the mandate of UN troops in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL). The normally routine vote became the background for controversy this year as allegations surfaced regarding UNIFIL's enforcement – or lack thereof – of UN resolution 1701.
Resolution 1701, which ended the Second Lebanon War, forbids the presence of Hizbullah or other non-governmental armed forces between the Israel-Lebanon border and the Litani River.
According to the Lebanese Daily Star, the draft mentions “deep concern over violations relating to Resolution 1701, especially the latest dangerous violations,” but does not explicitly cite incidents such as the arms cache blast in July in southern Lebanon. The explosion was seen as a sign of Hizbullah activity in the area.
Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, made it clear during Thursday's vote that Israel sees UNIFIL as responsible for enforcing the resolution. The renewed mandate will allow UNIFIL troops to make “increased efforts” to clear the region they patrol as required by 1701, she said. Her remarks were not incorporated into the resolution.
Recent events in southern Lebanon, including the blasts heard in July, show that non-governmental forces remain active in the area, Shalev warned. “A terrorist organization, Hizbullah, continues to deploy its assets and operates actively both north and south of the Litani river,” she told the council.
In addition to voting to extend the UN mandate, council members voted to review the UNIFIL structure. The UN may decide to increase UNIFIL's naval capabilities. UNIFIL was created in 1978. It's numbers were brought to 12,000 following the 2006 war.
Ever wonder who is funding this horse and pony show? You guess it! The American Taxpayer! Feel cheated yet? Just wait. President Obama wants to increase funding to the UN. Feel sickened?
UNIFIL spending your tax dollars wisely as they round up Israeli cows instead of stopping the flow of arms to Hizbullah.
Friday is Gilad Shalit's 23rd birthday. He should be spending it with friends and family, instead he is imprisoned by barbarians who flaunt the rule of International Law in Gaza.
It is time that Gilad is returned to Israel safe, unharmed and alive!
It is time that the International Red Cross fulfill their mandate given to them under the Geneva Conventions of War and demand that they get immediate access to him!
And I ask you to get involved. I ask you to sign the petition to the International Red Cross to do the job they are suppose to do. You can find the petition here.
If you Tweet, I ask you to Tweet for Gilad on this his 23rd Birthday!
The goal is simple: On the Wednesday before Gilad Shalit's birthday (Friday, August 28th), we hope to have thousands of Twitter users sign on and tweet Gilad Shalit's name (using the #GiladShalit hashtag) as often as possible, so that he becomes a top ten 'Trending topic on the popular networking site.
If you blog, please spread this message to others.
If enough people scream out, the Main Stream Media will have to take notice.
Earlier this month the Swedish newspaper tabloid rag Aftonbladet published a story with no basis of fact. Nor will the Swedish government condemn this sorry excuse for a newspaper claiming Freedom of the Press. Yet this same abomination of a government pulled and condemned the publication of the Muhammad Cartoons.
Sweden is becoming the most anti-Semitic nation in Europe.
For years the Arabs have told strings of lies by print, and by video hoping that some idiotic media in the West would carry the lie and bring credence to the lie. Time and time again the media obliges them NEVER CHECKING THE FACTS!!!!!!!
Blood Libel In Sweden
Sign the petition and let your voice be added to the choir shouting:
Silence is golden whether it is a parent trying to get the children to sleep, a librarian trying to quiet down a bunch of rowdy teenagers, or a Prime Minister keeping the details of negotiations a secret.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sat in front of the Israeli press for 45 minutes here on Wednesday, just a few hours after meeting US envoy George Mitchell in London and deflected with great acumen the journalists' repeated attempts to pry out of him any real piece of information about what happened during their four-hour meeting.
One journalist after the next asked the prime minister the same question, but from a slightly different angle: What was agreed upon regarding a settlements freeze?
But try as the journalists may, Netanyahu would say nothing - nothing - about the agreement that is apparently being stitched together.
Much has been written about the purported agreement, with one paper saying that the settlement freeze was linked to a tougher American position on Iran, and another paper saying Netanyahu agreed to a nine-month freeze.
But these reports were largely based on speculation, or on third- and fourth-hand information, because the principles are simply not talking.
The reason for the silence, sources in the Prime Minister's Office explain, is because the negotiations are at such a delicate and sensitive stage that one leak could bring the whole agreement down.
And while there is undoubtedly something to this, there is certainly much more to the prolonged silence - the veritable drought of information on the US-Israeli discussions - and it has to do with Israeli domestic politics.
Netanyahu, a former commando in Sayeret Matkal, wants to capture the hill without those defending it knowing that he has even arrived.
The less that comes out about the duration of a settlement freeze, or what exactly it will entail, the better it is for Netanyahu from a tactical political standpoint.
There is American phrase that comes to mind: Holding one's cards close to the chest.
Netanyahu is a shrewd man. He can't give Obama and the Arabs what they want, but doesn't want to appear wanting to destroy the "Peace Process". He has to keep the hardliners in his party happy, while preparing an ambush for his political enemies.
Is he bluffing with a pair of deuces, or is he holding a Royal Flush? His opponents can only wonder and guess, while he just sits with his silence.
At a certain point, however, Netanyahu will have to unveil the agreement, and when he does he will certainly face blistering criticism from the Right both in his party, the coalition, and outside of it.
But he will unveil the plan when he sees fit, highlighting what he sees fit, and couching it in terms that will certainly win over much of the public.
And by that time he will be standing squarely on the hill, and his detractors will be able to do little but scream - noise that he will easily deflect.
Netanyahu and his team spoke with Mitchell and his team for four hours on Wednesday. Major diplomatic moves are afoot, with the public knowing little about the details.
And this suits Netanyahu just fine. His hope is that when the details emerge, and his political opponents begin to organize, it will by then be too late: the hill will already be in his hands.
When the smoke clears we can hope and pray that Netanyahu will pull off the Royal Flush or will have capitulated under the pressure from Obama.
Or he just might pull off the greatest bluff of all time.
...in fact Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi might not even have Prostate Cancer.
JUSTICE secretary Kenny MacAskill was last night under pressure to reveal more details of the medical evidence that led to the release of the Lockerbie bomber, after it emerged that only one doctor was willing to say Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi had less than three months to live.
Labour and Conservative politicians have demanded the Scottish Government publish details of the doctor's expertise and qualifications, amid suggestions he or she may not have been a prostate cancer expert.
The parties have also raised questions over whether the doctor was employed by the Libyan government or Megrahi's legal team, which could have influenced the judgment.
Each year we read stories like this one. And each year we wonder how can a parent forget that their kids are in the car.
Now an enterprising Israeli inventor has invented a device to alert parents that they have left the child or children in the car.
Trying to prevent the next tragedy. Two Israeli innovators recently developed a new system for preventing parents from accidentally locking their kids in the car. The invention has already been registered as an international patent. The principle is fairly simple. If you have opened the doors and have left the child in the car seat, a verbal warning will remind you to take the child out of the car.
The system is very sensitive to any weight, such that even if you left a milk carton in the seat, it will give you a warning.
"This is a very inexpensive system that is compatible with any car seat and can be installed yourself," explained engineer, Idan Nahami, 26, who developed the new invention together with his brother-in-law, Moshe Attias. "Unfortunately, we need a device like this in Israel. Our patent includes a special light bulb that must be screwed into the car's light fixture instead of the regular bulb. This light bulb, in addition to acting like a regular light bulb, sends out an infrared signal as soon as the door is open and the internal illumination is automatically activated.
"The second part of the system includes a cushion installed underneath the car seat or booster seat the child sits on, or on the back of the seat. This cushion is activated as soon it detects that something is sitting on it, and initiates a 'dialogue' with the infrared light. The cushion also has a buzzer that goes off as long as the door is open and the child is sitting in the seat."
Nahami, a communications engineer who works at Cisco Israel, started thinking about developing such a system two years ago. Even though he is a bachelor and doesn't have any children, he was horrified when he heard about the one-and-a-half-year-old toddler, Ophir Balilti, who was accidentally left in the car by her father.
"I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was a painful, unnecessary death and a trauma that will follow the parent for the rest of his life. A test that I did revealed that the temperature in a car left in the sun for 20 minutes increases from 37 C (98 F) to more than 47 C (116 F). After 40 minutes, the temperature can reach more than 58 C (136 F). These figures aren't etched strongly enough in the minds of parents who forget their kids in the car, or worse, who knowingly leave them in the car 'for just a minute.'"
On 27, August 1979 at 1640 (4:40 PM), a 500 pounds (227 kg) fertilizer bomb hidden in a lorry loaded with bales of straw, parked close to Narrow Water Castle, was detonated by remote control as an army convoy of a Land-Rover and two four-ton trucks drove past on the A2 road. The explosion caught the rear truck in the convoy killing six members of 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment.
After the first explosion the British soldiers, believing that they had come under attack from the IRA, began firing across the narrow maritime border with the Republic of Ireland, a distance of only 57 m (187 feet). An uninvolved civilian, Michael Hudson, an Englishman whose father was a coachman at Buckingham Palace was killed by British forces during the shooting, and his cousin Barry Hudson injured. According to RUC researchers, the soldiers may have mistaken the sound of ammunition cooking off from the Land-Rover destroyed in the original explosion for enemy fire from across the border.[11] However the hands of two IRA members arrested by the Gardaà and suspected of being behind the attack, Brendan Burns and Joe Brennan, showed traces of firearms,[12] while author Peter Taylor asserts that there was sniper fire on the soldiers after the first bomb ripped through the truck.[13]
On hearing the first explosion a Royal Marine unit alerted the British Army of an explosion on the road and reinforcements from the Parachute Regiment were dispatched to the scene by road. A rapid reaction unit consisting of medical staff and a senior commander Lieutenant-Colonel David Blair, the commanding officer of the Queen's Own Highlanders, together with his signaller Lance Corporal Victor MacLeod, were sent by Wessex helicopter. Col. Blair assumed command once at the site.
At 17.12, thirty two minutes after the first explosion, a second device concealed in milk pails exploded against the gate lodge on the opposite side of the road, completely destroying it. The IRA had been studying how the British Army acted after a bombing and correctly assessed that the soldiers would set up an Incident Command Point (ICP) in the nearby gate house.
The second explosion, caused by an 800 pounds (363 kg) fertilizer home-made bomb, killed twelve soldiers - ten from the Parachute Regiment died along with the two Queen's Own Highlanders soldiers. Mike Jackson, then a Major in the Parachute Regiment was at the scene soon after the second explosion and later described seeing pieces of human remains over the area and the face of his friend, Major Peter Fursman, still recognizable after it has been torn by the explosion from his head. Only one of Colonel Blair's epaulets remained to identify him.
Until the 1990's, Ireland and Great Britain was under terrorist attack from the Irish Republican Army.
Role of Honour
MacLEOD - Lance Corporal Victor - 27th August 1979 - Aged 24 - Queen's own Highlanders
BLAIR - Lieutenant Colonel David - 27th August 1979 - Aged 40 - Queen's own Highlanders - Married with two children
ANDREWS - Corporal Nicholas J. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 24 (2 Para) Married
BARNES - Private Gary I. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 18 (2 Para) Single
DUNN - Private Raymond - 27th August 1979 - Aged 20 (2 Para) Single
WOOD - Private Anthony G. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 19 (2 Para) Single
WOODS - Private Michael - 27th August 1979 - Aged 18 (2 Para) Single
GILES - Corporal John C. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 22 (2 Para) Married
ROGERS - Sergeant Ian A. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 31 (2 Para) Married
BEARD - Warrant Officer Walter - 27th August 1979 - Aged 31 (2 Para)
VANCE - Private Thomas R. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 23 (2 Para)
ENGLAND - Private Robert N. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 23 (2 Para) Married with one child
JONES - Private Jeffrey A. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 18 (2 Para)
JONES - Corporal Leonard - 27th August 1979 - Aged 26 (2 Para) Married with one child 18 month old daughter
JONES - Private Robert D.V. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 18 (Para) Single
IRELAND - Lance Corporal Chris G. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 25 (2 Para) Married with one child
FURSMAN - Officer Peter - 27th August 1979 - Aged 35 (Para)
BLAIR - Private Donald F. - 27th August 1979 - Aged 23 (2 Para)
Today Assoluta Tranquillita has a moving tribute to these men. Please visit it, and remind yourself the price that freedom and liberty truly costs.
Sgt. 1st Class Donald Johnson, the electronic warfare officer of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Multi-National Division-Baghdad, talks with local Iraqi kids while on a patrol.
Photo courtesy of United States Army Taken by Pfc. Evan Loyd
These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived
This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Last night Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts succumbed to a brain tumor at his home in Hyannis Port. Senator Kennedy was 77.
Ted Kennedy was the youngest of the Kennedy children. His was a checkered past. He was expelled from Harvard for cheating but later reinstated. He graduated from the University of Virginia School of Law.
While he didn't have an official role in the Kennedy Administration, he did run his brother John's Senate re-election campaign (1958).
He was elected to the US Senate in 1962, filling the seat his brother John vacated when he became President. And was presiding over the Senate on Nov. 22, 1963 when his broth John was assassinated.
Ted Kennedy married Virginia Joan Bennett in 1958. They had 3 children Kara, Edward Jr. and Patrick. They divorced over his womanizing in 1981.
On July 18, 1969 he drove off of Dike Bridge into the Poucha Pond inlet. With him was 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, as his passenger. Senator Kennedy imerged unharmed and Miss Kopechne was killed. This incident followed him and contributed to his failed bid to win the Democratic Nomination in 1980.
In 1992 he married Victoria Anne Reggie. They remained together until his death.
Senator Ted Kennedy was a voice for seniors, the poor, unions, and Public Health Care. He was the most Liberal member of the Senate (a title he wore proudly). Yet he could and did work with members of both parties, Conservatives and Liberals alike.
“Edward M. Kennedy – the husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle we loved so deeply – died late Tuesday night at home in Hyannis Port. We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism, and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever. We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all. He loved this country and devoted his life to serving it. He always believed that our best days were still ahead, but it’s hard to imagine any of them without him.”
Along side the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Pensacola, roils a web of deception that is close to unbelievable. All the answers are not yet known, but details are slowly becoming known – and some pertinent details may date back to December 2007. I will be following and posting on the murders, and the Pensacola auto and used-auto industry and try to make some sense out of it. For now, it may be just Pensacola, but in the future it could be Cincinnati, or Ft. Worth or…just pick a town anywhere. Is it possible greedy and corrupt prosecutors can ruin lives, steal and destroy documents, ignore evidence, and jail innocents? I’m on the trail to see if this is happening in the Pensacola area. If you need background, please visit some of the 26 posts now available about the Billings at Maggie’s Notebook. If you have comments or information, please leave them in the comment section or send an email. (maggiesnotebookatblogspotdotcom.)
Here are my first ideas in a possible tie to the Billings’ murders and the attempted “hit” on another Pensacola dealer, Mark Turner:
The murders of Byrd “Bud” Billings and his wife Melanie have tentacles reaching deep into Pensacola, Florida, surrounding communities and the massive web of the auto industry. Enter another name, Mark Turner, who was also in the auto industry, in the Pensacola area and knew Bud Billings.
Mark Turner knew Bud Billings, had done business with him in the auto industry, and the two may have one more thing in common: the Billings’ accused killer, Leonard Patrick Poff Gonzalez, Jr. Turner believes Gonzalez tried to kill him in 2007, and he believes it was intended to be a hit directed withing the auto industry. Here’s the story:
On December 16, 2007, Turner said someone tried to break into his Gulf Breeze home. His wife and children were home at the time. Mrs. Turner heard the garage door open and thought someone was in the garage. Mark, armed with a glass bottle, greeted the intruder at the door leading from his house into his garage. As Turner jerked the door open, the intruder was standing directly in front of him and his wife. He was startled and ran for his car – which was pointed out of the driveway, still running and had the driver’s door standing wide open. The truck was a blue Ford Explorer.
Turner chased the man to the truck and as the intruder ran, he was yelling “wrong house!” Turner hit the truck window with the bottle, but the bottle broke, not the truck window. The intruder got away. He said he got a good look at the man – for two or three minutes. He knew he would never forget the face.
Turner filed a police report but had no idea “who this clean cut white man was,” until Leonard Patrick Poff Gonzalez, Jr.’s photo flashed on the television in connection with the Billings murders.
That is the first part of this story. There is nothing to prove that Gonzalez is the same man that tried to break into Turner’s home, but Mr. and Mrs. Turner both believe it is definitely the same man, and he believes that Gonzalez was there to kill him.
Here’s more of the story:
Mark Turner is a former car wholesaler. He said Bud Billings was a “jolly fellow” and was “fun to run into in the business.” The two met at Pete Moore Chevrolet.
According to Turner, this is the hierarchy of their local auto conglomerate: there is Pete Moore, the owner; under Moore is Rick Hamilton, the General Manager. Hamilton works for Moore. Both Mark Turner and Bud Billings worked for Pete Moore, but worked through Rick Hamilton. According to Turner, Hamilton’s job is to make certain that Pete Moore makes money distributing cars.
Another player is Henry Cab Tice, known as Cab. Cab is currently under arrest for Grand Theft in a civil suit between Bud Billing and Cab Tice. Tice owned Billings money and the lawsuit was working its way through the courts when Billings died.
Tice worked for Billings. Turner assumes that Cab Tice “sold the cars in Mexico.” Billings evidently had not received money for the cars Tice sold – thus the lawsuit. There is more coming on the relationship between Billings and Tice.
Pete Moore’s “comptroller,” Roxanne,” told Pete that “Cabs cars have not been paid for.” Moore goes to Rick Hamilton, Rick Hamilton goes to Bud Billings because Billings “backs” or guarantees payment for the cars Tice gets from Moore.
Billings tells Hamilton that Cab sold the cars in Mexico but Billings has not been able to get the money out of Cab. Hamilton says he can’t wait any longer. He has to get the money to Pete Moore, so Hamilton gives Billings a loan and Billings pays Pete Moore to close the debt. This leaves Cab Tice owing Billings, and Billings owing Hamilton.
Mark Turner says there is a long history of similar transactions within the industry:
Through the years, anytime we got into a tight [situation] in paying Moore, we could get the money from Rick [Hamilton]. Rick [Hamilton] charged me 12% annually. There was no paperwork, our deal was a handshake.
Turner gives this example of how Billings might have run his business and how he might have interacted with Rick Hamilton:
If a car cost $10,000 and BB [Bud Billings] had 5 car lots with 50 cars on them each, then that would be $2.5 Million. So if a dealer wanted to borrow $100,000 from WorldCo/[Bud Billings' loan company] but Billings’ cash flow was down, he would just borrow it from Rick [Hamilton].
Turner addresses rumors that Billings owned money to Moore and Hamilton and may have been murdered for that reason, which some think might have been a contract murder…and maybe ordered by someone in the industry:
Now to the fact of the money in the safe. I was told $160,000 wouldn’t make a dent in what was owed to Rick and Moore at the time of the Billings Killings.
Billings became partners with the dealers or have them borrow from his finance companies/car lots. Cab would take them to Alabama to order duplicate titles and take the cars into Mexico.
Remember, clearly I am not telling you this is what happened with the business between BB, Cab, Rick and Moore. I am telling you that this is what I was told happened.
I am not saying who killed who. I am telling you that Bud Billings and I [Mark Turner] had a relationship with more than one of the same lenders. We were in the same business, distributing cars for a profit. There are $36 Million reasons why those involved would want me dead. I don’t know how many reasons those involved had against Bud Billings.
Summarizing Mark Turner’s position in this part of the story, Mr. Turner filed a lawsuit against Pete Moore for $36 million. Turner accuses Moore of stealing an internet car sales business which Turner developed. Turner says he is fighting for his life:
In the early 1980’s, my job was to dispose of unwanted franchise car dealer inventory, which means trade-ins and over-age cars.
In the late 1990’s, I developed a system using the internet, which grew to a multi-million dollar business by the following decade. This system was stolen from me by people I had a 20 year relationship with.
I sued them and when I refused their settlement offer, they had me arrested. When I refused to take a plea they had my wife arrested. I am now facing 90 years in prison.
Update 8-22-09: “Cab” Tice reportedly told authorities that Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. was like a son to him, and then clarified that it was “like the wayward child that you always want to try to be a good influence on his life.” Patrick Gonzalez told authorities that Cab Tice asked him to “whack” Bud Billings. It gets more appalling every day.
Tice said that his Hispanic American Auto Sales business was failing and he borrowed $20,000 from an employee, who in returned borrowed money to give to Tice from the Mexican Mafia. Tice claims he was unaware the funds came from the Mafia source. Tice owned Bud Billings thousands of dollars, borrowed through Billings’ WorldCo Financial. It seems Tice wrote “worthless” checks to Billings totaling more than $10,000 to Billings.
When Hispanic American closed, Tice said the man inferred he had gotten the money from cousins in Atlanta in the Mexican restaurant business who were “members of the Mexican mafia.”
Tice said the man told him that the mafia members “won’t kill you, but they’ll kill your family and we’ve got to get them this money.”
Also, Tice said, the employee told Byrd Billings and Tice’s ex-wife that Tice was in debt to the Mexican mafia in an effort to get those people to reinforce to Tice that he needed to pay back the money.
“Bud said, you know, ‘I can’t believe you got in such a bind you borrowed money from the Mexican mafia and you know how dangerous these people are and you know what they’ll do,’ ” Tice said.
Tice said he still owes the “employee” $1500 and he has missed two payments this month. Byrd Billings’ civil lawsuit against Tice is still pending.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 6, 2009
Mr. SERRANO introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:
‘Article--
‘The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.’.
I wonder how fast the Democrats will push this through the House and Senate. And how many States will ratify it fast.
Today on the news, the "Veteran Death Book" dominates. The Wall Street Journal put the information out there, with an article by Jim Towey. In the video below, you will hear a full discussion of the Death Book between Towey and Chris Wallace, and then Veterans Administration Secretary Tammy Duckworth and Wallace.
Tammy Duckworth - Veteran End of Life Questions
The controversy revolves around the book Your Life Your Choices. At one point it asks the question "What makes your life worth living?" You'll see the questions below but if you fit a certain category, you are referred to the Hemlock Society, with it's newly renamed moniker, Compassion and Choices. It is the only organization Veterans are referred to.
Along with the excellent discussion below, and Towey'sWSJarticle, Kimberly Morin of the Boston Conservative Independent Examiner has some of the best commentary I've seen today. Cutting to the chase before you watch the video, Morin downloaded 'Your Life, Your Choices' (the Veteran's Death Book) and here is a portion from from her article:
...there is a check list in the middle of the document that specifically asks questions about "What makes your life worth living?”. It is a checklist that doesn’t just include needing a feeding tube or being on permanent life support, the questions are absolutely, in my opinion, insane. These questions are being asked to all Veterans receiving treatment, including 20 year olds who have been severely wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan. I have listed all of the questions below so you can see for yourself:
a. I can no longer walk but get around in a wheelchair. b. I can no longer get outside—I spend all day at home. c. I can no longer contribute to my family's well being. d. I am in severe pain most of the time. e. I have severe discomfort most of the time (such as nausea, diarrhea, or shortness of breath). f. I rely on a feeding tube to keep me alive. g. I rely on a kidney dialysis machine to keep me alive. h. I rely on a breathing machine to keep me alive. i. I need someone to help take care of me all of time. j. I can no longer control my bladder. k. I can no longer control my bowels. l. I live in a nursing home. m. I can no longer think clearly-I am confused all the time. n. I can no longer recognize family/friends o. I can no longer talk and be understood by others. p. My situation causes severe emotional burden for my family (such as feeling worried or stressed all the time). q. I am a severe financial burden on my family. r. I cannot seem to “shake the blues.”
These questions are followed by the questions below:
“If you checked "worth living, but just barely" for more than one factor, would a combination of these factors make your life "not worth living?" If so, which factors?
If you checked "not worth living," does this mean that you would rather die than be kept alive?
If you checked "can't answer now," what information or people do you need to help you decide?”
What the hell kind of questions are these to be asking Veterans who have just risked their lives to keep America safe from terrorists? What kind of person would ask a 20 year old quadriplegic if they would rather die than be in a wheelchair or a burden to his/her family or if they have the blues? Of course they would have the blues in this case and of course no one wants to be in a wheelchair and of course no one wants to be a burden on their family but to suggest to a Veteran that these answers possibly mean they would ‘rather die than be kept alive’ is atrocious, outrageous, disgusting, immoral, unethical and one of the most un-American things I have ever read in my entire life.
Tammy Duckworth, Assistant Secretary of Veterans Affairs appears in the second half of the video. Duckworth, a severly injured Iraq war aviator, tells Wallace the book is not available to veterans. Wallace points out that it has been available until this week. She denies it. Wallace has a screen grab to prove it. Wallace reads the following to Duckworth as content currently on the VA website:
In the VHA directive of July 2nd, 2009, it says the following on page 8, "Primary care practitioners are responsible for giving patients pertinent educational materials, e.g. refer patients to the 'Your Life, Your Choices' module." I mean, it's just there in black and white on the VHA directive of July 2nd.
LONDON, Aug 23 (Reuters) - "Scotland, unaccustomed to the hot spotlight of international diplomacy, fought to justify its release of the Lockerbie bomber on Sunday, after a U.S. official angrily accused the country of rewarding terrorism.
Scotland, which is part of the United Kingdom but has its own devolved powers, including its own parliament and a separate legal system, has been under assault since deciding on Thursday to free Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, the Libyan who carried out the Lockerbie airline bombing, on compassionate grounds.
The head of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Mueller, wrote to Scotland's justice minister on Saturday accusing him of making a mockery of the rule of law and saying his much-criticised decision "rewards a terrorist"."
Conventional Wisdom says that al-Megrahi doesn't actually have Prostate Cancer. That it is a ruse to release him. I am beginning to agree with that.
Only time will tell if this was a ruse to release al-Megrahi. We should expect to hear of his death in 3-6 months. Let us hope that it will come sooner.
David Hedrick is a Marine Vet who had an important lesson for Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA) at his recent Townhall gathering. This is the lesson for politicians of both parties. See video below.
Brian Baird
God bless David Hedrick for serving our country and explaining the commitment to the U.S. Constitution to those privileged to serve us in Congress, in this case, Brian Baird.
Watch as Conservatives cheer, but many, many Liberals remain seated. What is it that they did not get from David's message. How ignorant can a voter be?
For an explanation of Brian Baird's "brown shirt" comment, see below the video.
David Hedrick, Marine Vet at Brian Baird Townhall (Video)
Articles in multiple news sources today quote Baird’s expression of fear as he states, “extremists would have the chance to shout and make YouTube videos.”
In that regard, Baird then said, “What we’re seeing right now is close to Brown Shirt tactics. I mean that very seriously.”
Brown shirts, I’m sure you recall were a paramilitary organization of Germany’s Nazi Party that played a key role in Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s.
Instead of addressing constituents real and honest concerns over the proposed healthcare reform, he labels us Nazi’s, then ducks and hides.
Did we elect him for this? No!
In announcing a “secret schedule” for a telephone conference in lieu of a Town hall, should you be fortunate enough to be invited and actually be by your phone if called, Baird said, “There is this national movement in blogs and on the Internet to go to town hall meetings solely to attack people. One colleague of mine recently was hung in effigy at a town hall meeting. Others needed police escorts.”
Seems I recall no concerns over protesters who disrupted Town halls of Republicans around the country and liberals even applauded an Iraqi throwing a shoe at President Bush at a news conference there.
Brian, if it didn’t cross your mind, voters can hang you in effigy any time. We don’t need a town hall for that. That is what effigy is, an expression of opposition without causing any harm to the individual.
Then again, wasn’t hanging Sarah Palin in effigy during last years campaign an “expression of free speech?”
by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook Saifal-Islam is the son of MuammarGhaddafi, the leader of the Libyan people and head of the welcome wagon for convicted Libyan terrorist, known as the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi.
Locker Bomber Release Deal?
Saifal-Islam is praising the Brits for making an energy deal that allowed 57-year old Megrahi to come home to Tripoli. Colonel Gaddafi is praising Queen Elizabeth. The UK is a tad upset.
Pan Am flight 103 exploded over the town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people, including 11 on the ground. Megrahi is reported to have lived in relative luxury for a few of his short 8 years in prison, while housed in the Barlinnie prison in Glasgow:
Megrahi was segregated in a high-security area dubbed "Gaddafi's Cafe", where there was said to be a "sitting room" and kitchen where Halal food was specially prepared.
His wife and children are said to have moved to the "outskirts of Glasgow so they could visit him. Makes one wonder how they got back to Tripoli. We saw Meghrai in his Nike hat and jog suit walk the stairs to board Ghaddafi's personal airplane, but no family was in sight. The Lockerbie victims arrived home in caskets.
Saif is the second oldest of Ghaddafi's seven sons. He is fluent in English, German and French. This report says he has a PhD:
"in governance and international relations from the London School of Economics and is also said to be an architect with his own agency in Tripoli, having studied architecture in Vienna.
UK Business Secretary Lord Mandelson is in the spotlight. Sources say he met with Saifal-Islam one week before Megrahi was released. Mendelson says there was only a "fleeting conversation about the prisoner," but Ghaddafi upped the tension:
Mr Gaddafi told Libyan TV his case was raised during talks over oil and gas and reportedly claimed that the issue had been raised repeatedly by Britain's former prime minister Tony Blair.
"In all commercial contracts, for oil and gas with Britain, (Megrahi) was always on the negotiating table," Mr Gaddafi told Libya's Al Mutawassit channel.
The U.S. was very quiet about Megrahi, the Lockerbie bomber's release. There were no strong statements from the Oval Office until the deed was done and the celebrations began - the hugs, the hand kissing, the cheering crowds. President Obama was "disturbed." It would be unbearable to find that America cut a deal of any kind.
As Jihad Watch points out, this is one more reason for the urgent need for energy independence.
