Did You Know.....

[Warph]

I hadn't visited here for a spell, then watched these videos of Miss Upton.
What would Jarhead think ? Oh my !! Oh my !!! She has such a beautiful smile and a care free manner about her. I would like to take her home and play with her---you know--like pick-up sticks and paper dolls and maybe even cars and trucks in the sand pile. Oh my !! Can't believe I missed Vanna White on Wheel while watching these videos.

Come on.... is that the best response a Marine can come up with, Miss Pussy-Foot'en-Around???  And all the ol' Army Medic was worried about was his  Dogs reaction.  Here R.A.M.B.O., a picture you can hang on the bunker wall... Miss Fancy Nancy.  It would look good over the bar...




Man... you'se guys are getting OLD!

I bet you don't know what this is, do yeh.  You probably saw a many of them in Nam.




Well... you're WRONG. 


Its not, you know...


Sorry, wrong guess.


Would you believe me if I told you it was a Vietnamese gourd or pumpkin?

Here... have a couple.  Hell... take three







I like that double one... don't mess with that.  I call it "Marilyn."

[jarhead]

Warph,
I damn sure didn't see anything like that in Nam---but napalm has a way of changing how things looked. Wonder if them gourds could be hollowed out and made into a drinking vessel ?

[larryJ]

Dang it, Warph!!!!!!!  I asked you not to post any pictures of dogs and you went and did it anyway.  When I got home today, R.A.M.B.O. was sitting in my recliner, panting, all excited.  He had turned on the computer and was looking at the Forum and up pops this poodle.  It's gonna take me days to calm him down.  Sir Charles is nowhere to be found.  He has gone into hiding until this passes over. 

Thanks for nothing. 

Larryj

[Warph]

The Mysterious Death of Gen. George S. Patton

By Robert K. Wilcox

http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/11/the_mysterious_death_of_gen_george_s_patton.html#ixzz2DCY9ODUC


....that Sixty-seven years ago, on a cold December 9th in 1945 Germany, legendary American general George S. Patton was injured in a strange auto "accident" on a road outside Mannheim, near the Rhine River. The opinionated anticommunist died twelve days later. Today, the evidence that he was murdered -- the first in a line of postwar political assassinations including that of President John F. Kennedy -- is mounting.

My book about Patton's mysterious death, "Target: Patton", was published by Regnery with the core evidence, including:

● Patton was the only passenger hurt that cold day in what essentially was described as a "fender-bender." Two others in the car with him were uninjured, as were those in the truck that suddenly turned and caused the crash.
● The truck and its occupants were suspiciously waiting for the Patton car on the side of the road, according to a witness. It didn't start up until Patton's Cadillac was sighted. The truck's driver, a soldier and black marketeer who had stolen the army vehicle, did not signal when he suddenly wheeled the two-and-a-half-ton hauler into Patton's path. The truck's driver and his passengers mysteriously disappeared -- as did the sergeant in a jeep who was leading the Patton Cadillac.

● Numerous shadowy figures, including a general and other officers, quickly descended on the remote crash site, taking charge. It was a quiet Sunday morning. How were so many so high up alerted so fast? Where are the records of their visit -- and of the accident itself? All reports and investigations have inexplicably disappeared.

Patton, who suffered a broken neck and head wounds, wasn't taken to a nearby Mannheim hospital. Instead, although in need of immediate help, he was driven 20 miles to a hospital in Heidelberg, a half hour away. Gravely injured, he was expected to die. But a tough man, he unexpectedly rallied and was preparing to go home to the U.S. when he had a sudden embolism attack and died literally with his bags packed. Years later, a Soviet officer told a Patton family member that they had poisoned him.

At the time of his accident, Patton was the lone high-level Allied voice arguing to fight the Soviets, who had been American allies. He knew their treachery that would develop into the Cold War and was preparing to go back to the U.S. and campaign against them -- a move the American and Soviet governments feared. The U.S., in meetings with Soviet leader Stalin, had basically signed over Eastern Europe to the Russians in return for Stalin's help in establishing the United Nations, a dream of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had died in early 1945, and liberal Democrats who, under new President Harry Truman, were continuing Roosevelt's pro-Soviet policies.

I had always accepted the standard story of accident until my cousin, a private investigator with an international firm, told me he knew a former World War II clandestine who said Patton had been murdered. The clandestine was Douglas Bazata, a former OSS Jedburgh, the US's first special forces unit. I checked at the National Archives and Bazata's record was sterling. He had been an OSS assassin. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for valor behind German lines. He had stayed in Europe after the war as a clandestine working for various organizations, including the CIA.

As it turned out Bazata, who had suffered a stroke and was, after a professional lifetime of silence, willing to talk, told me to my surprise that it was he who had been ordered to kill Patton. The order had come from OSS head, "Wild Bill" Donovan, and he had set up the accident with an NKVD agent, the Soviet spy agency. Since, Patton had not died at the scene, the NKVD finished the job in the hospital. Donovan gave the order? OSS collusion with the NKVD? It seemed outlandish until more research revealed the following:

Early in the war, Donovan had flown to Moscow and solicited cooperation with the NKVD. The Russians had close proximity to Germany and had already penetrated its intelligence services. The collusion could help the OSS.

Another clandestine, Stephen J. Skubik, a Counter Intelligence Corp (CIC) agent attached to Patton's armies, independently found out about the plot on the NKVD side. Right after the war ended, Skubik was sent to liaison with Ukrainian agents to spy on the Soviets. Ukraine favored the Allies and the top level Ukrainians Skubik talked with told him Patton was on the NKVD hit list to be murdered. He informed Donovan who, instead of acting on the intelligence, threw him in jail as a Soviet spy.

Skubik, who later became an Eastern European advisor to US presidents from Eisenhower to Reagan, feared for his life for many years and finally wrote a private book titled The Murder of General Patton. It detailed his unsuccessful effort to save the general just prior to the "accident." Bazata went on to become an aide to Secretary of the Navy John Lehman, who served under Reagan. He and Skubik are, very credible witnesses.

Now a third credible witness has emerged.

Bert C. Roosen, a former German and today a naturalized Canadian businessman, says as a youth in war-torn Germany working for Eisenhower he heard the general and his aides discussing Patton's elimination. "I lived with this all my life," says Roosen of Vancouver. Eighty-three now, he was barely 17 and an interpreter for Eisenhower on the general's special train in Germany during the occupation. One day, Patton came to see Eisenhower at the train station, testifies Roosen. He watched from a train window. "I could see them arguing. They were on the platform in heated debate."

Finally, Patton, obviously frustrated, abruptly left. Eisenhower entered the train car Roosen was in. "He [Eisenhower] was very mad. He said, 'That guy is going to screw things up.'" The general went into a portion of the car set up for meetings. Several high-ranking American officers were waiting for him. Roosen isn't positive who they were, but believes among them were Gen. Omar Bradley and General Bedell "Beatle" Smith, Eisenhower's aide. The area where they were sitting had a light partition for privacy. But Roosen, whose duties included cleaning the car, stayed nearby and could hear everything. "Ike said, 'We've got to stop him' [meaning Patton]. Another said, 'How? We can't shoot him.' A third said, 'Don't worry. I'll take care of it.'"

Three weeks later, said Roosen, he was shocked to see Patton brought to the train in a casket. "They killed him!" he remembers shockingly thinking.

In fact, Patton's body, after his death at Heidelberg was taken to Luxembourg in Eisenhower's train where he was buried in a cemetery among his fallen men. "The train was full of dignitaries for the funeral," recalls Roosen, but Eisenhower did not attend, which Roosen, at the time, thought was very strange and, in his mind, proof that the conversation he'd overheard had resulted in Patton's death.

Roosen, a founder and cofounder of several prosperous Canadian companies and former president of the Vancouver Kiwanis Club, said he was "scared to death" after the train experience and "never said a word about it" for fear he would be killed. He worked in Germany with the U.S. Army until 1952 when he immigrated to Canada and began a new life. "Everyone is dead now so I no longer have that fear."

Roosen's witness is among other new pieces of information and leads that have come to me in the growing mystery of Patton's death. Motives to kill Patton are numerous. He wanted to start World War III by fighting the Russians. He knew secrets about the conduct of the war that would have stifled post-war careers -- such as Eisenhower's. Several times during the war, Eisenhower had made decisions that in Patton's opinion prolonged the war and cost American lives. Patton was going to tell how the Soviets, contrary to Allied agreements, had slaughtered Allied-returned Russian prisoners and was still secretly holding American POWs. It infuriated Patton but that Allied leaders knew this yet did nothing. Gold caches and German technological and scientific secrets, both of which Patton was involved with, are also possible motives.

And there are still other indications of foul play:

There appear to have been at least three other attempts to kill him -- twice in vehicles and once while he was flying in a light plane. In the air attempt, Spitfires under Russian control "mistook" his Piper Cub-like aircraft for a German fighter and tried to shoot it down.

The car advertised by the Patton Museum as that in which Patton was injured turns out to be a fake. In other words, the car which could give a modern-day investigator, like myself, scene-of-the-crime information can't. I don't think the museum was aware of this until I and a Cadillac specialist from Detroit examined the car and proved it was a different year model than the one Patton was injured in. The real car has vanished, probably, I believe, as part of an effort to hide clues.

It's becoming increasingly clear that the truth about Patton's death has been covered up. Until what really happened is investigated by official bodies with unlimited access, the rumors about his accident and death will continue, crucial American history may be lost, and an enormous crime may go unpunished. Patton, who more than any other fighting general was responsible for victory in World War II Europe, deserves better.

[Warph]

....that "Deadly Superbugs" are invading U.S. health care facilities across the USA... Deadly bacteria that defy drugs of 'last resort.'

A new family of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, known as CRE, is raising concerns across the medical community because of its ability to cause infections that defy even the strongest antibiotics. The antibiotic resistance is spread by mobile pieces of DNA that can move between different species of bacteria, creating new, drug-defying bugs.




Source: University of Virginia Health System
By Frank Pompa, USA TODAY

A USA TODAY review finds that deadly CRE bacteria are showing up in hospitals and other health care facilities across the country and there is virtually nothing to stop these "superbugs" at this point.

• CRE infections already are endemic in several major U.S. population centers, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, which account for hundreds of confirmed cases. Smaller pockets of cases have been reported across much of the country, including Oregon, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina.

• There is no reliable national data on the scope of the CRE problem. The CDC has urged states to track cases, but only a handful do so -- and they're just getting going. "We don't have enough ... data to tell what the trend looks like," says Stephen Ostroff, director of epidemiology at the Pennsylvania Department of Health. "All we know is that it is here."

• There is little chance that an effective drug to kill CRE bacteria will be produced in the coming years. Manufacturers have no new antibiotics in development that show promise, according to federal officials and industry experts, and there's little financial incentive because the bacteria adapt quickly to resist new drugs.

• Many hospitals -- and an even greater percentage of nursing homes -- lack the capacity, such as lab capability, to identify CRE, or the resources to effectively screen and isolate patients carrying the bacteria. And even when screening is possible, there's a lack of consensus on whom to target.


Rest of story at:   http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/29/bacteria-deadly-hospital-infection/1727667/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomNation-TopStories+%28News+-+Nation+-+Top+Stories%29

[Diane Amberg]

Thank you for posting this. CRE really could be bad news, much like SARS is/was. Most hospitals are  cracking down on visitor hand washing before and after visiting ,wearing disposable gowns while visiting patients and being very careful about patients who already have compromised immune systems. Some people can be carriers with no symptoms at all, and it can be fatal once it gets into a susceptible person's body. Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae. This situation bears close watching.

[Warph]

....that there's a video about our history?  It was done by a high school student and it only takes a couple of minutes to watch.

                         

[sixdogsmom]

Now that was interesting; thanks Warph.

[Diane Amberg]

Good one. Thank goodness for the wonderful artists, photographers and animators without whom these records wouldn't be possible.

[Warph]

....that the "12 Days of Christmas" list is for the birds?  Shopping online for all the birds in the classic "The 12 Days of Christmas" can be an exercise in patience and frustration.  Plus it can be darned expensive.

We're sure you heard the big news: It now costs over $107,000 if you were to buy all the items listed in the "12 Days of Christmas" song, according to PNC Wealth Management's annual "Christmas Price Index," or "CPI" as it's so very cleverly referred to. But that's not the whole story, because six of the items in the list are birds. 

What if you really want to buy all those birds for your "true love," and you wanted to buy them them online?

PNC got their numbers for the birds from the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, and they, of course, don't have an online retail store. And where do you get a "French Hen," or a "Calling Bird," let alone four of them?

Shopping for all the birds in the song online is a real budget buster, especially when you consider shipping. After all, you can't exactly get the supplies for shipping a live goose "a-laying" at Kinko's.

Many of the providers are small farms that have their own websites, and are listed here for example, and for humorous purposes. OK, mainly the latter. Another big caveat is that most hatcheries require you to place your order in advance for the next round of breeding and are already sold out for 2012. It's also a lot easier and cheaper to buy birds as chicks or eggs, and then grow them to size, rather than trying to buy and then having breeders ship an adult bird. For that you're better off driving up to a few farms to fill your order. So, start planning ahead for Christmas 2013!

Also, yes, PNC provides an index showing the online cost of buying these items that's costlier than the main index that gets reported. But it doesn't receive as much attention and we wanted to go check out the online prices ourselves and compare them to the central Christmas Price Index.

Last, owning another living creature is a right and a privilege and you shouldn't place any real orders, let alone as a joke, unless the recipient can truly care for it as long as they own it.

That said, ho ho ho and fa la la la la, let's dive in.

7 Swans-a-Swimming
Swans mate for life, so to get seven you're going to need to buy eight. Maybe you can use the extra as backup in case one of the swans is a poor swimmer. Purelypoultry.com is a site for a small farm in Fremont, Wis., that also subcontracts orders to other hatcheries and breeders. It's like drop shipping for cygnets instead of cellphones. They sell pairs of black-necked swans directly online for $4,500, with a $400 shipping cost. Not to your doorstep, however, but to your local post office. It's not exactly the kind of item you can leave next to the newspaper and stable boy statue.

Let's not forget either that the swans are supposed to be "a-swimming." For that, you can get four kiddie pools on Amazon for $79.96. You need four because swans are very territorial. The National Aviary quoted $7,000, an 11.1 percent increase from last year, but our online shopping cart total came to $19,679.96.

The cost of this one item alone means you'll be well over $107,000 if you were to buy up all the items in the "12 days of Christmas" song.


6 Geese-A-Laying
There's a big problem with this part of the tune. Geese usually lay their eggs in the spring, and Christmas is usually in December. And by usually I mean always. So tell your true love that these geese will be "a-laying" in a few months from now.

Another note of discord is that in order to get six geese making goslings, you'll need a dozen geese in all. Six females, and six male partners, as geese are monogamous. At metzerfarms.com, they're sold out for 2012, so you might as well place an order for twelve goslings and grow them to size in time for the next holiday season. Prices for 2013 aren't set yet, but in 2012 it was twelve Roman Tufted goslings for $16.09 each, plus free shipping! That beats the National Aviary quoted price of $210 -- a 29.6 percent increase from last year, by the way, reflecting this year's drought and the ensuing skyrocketing price of grain. Total: $193.08


4 Calling Birds
What the heck is a "calling bird?" In the oldest extant written version of the song, the items in this verse were listed as "canary birds." Later versions switched it to "colly birds," "colly" being a term for "coal-covered," i.e. "blackbirds." That's sort of a weird holiday gift, so let's stick with those cute little chirpers.

It was hard to find a reputable-looking online store selling canaries but there are a slew of private breeders. Caveat emptor in this dodgy world full of shady characters, so check out their selling history and ask for references. The cost range was $60-$100 per bird, plus around $40 shipping. Total: $280-$560, which means the National Aviary's price of $519.96 came in at the high end.
Their price was the same last year, perhaps reflecting stability and low costs in the domestic coal market.


3 French Hens
Hens? We got those. What makes a French hen? Does it wear a beret? Well how about the "Houdan," a breed of hen native to France, boasting an eye-catching mottled plumage, a large crest that makes it look like it's going to a masquerade ball, and five toes instead of the usual four. The French, always on the avante-garde of fashion.

Billing itself as "The Web's Source for Waterfowl, Chickens, and Game Birds," eFowl.com sells a minimum order of fifteen chicks for $2.59 each, plus a $9.99 small order charge for being under 26 chicks. Like the geese, you'll need to acquire these for the spring and raise them for your true love's holiday package by winter. Rearing them yourself and absorbing the corn costs handily saves you $116.16 off the Christmas Price Index. Total: $48.44


2 Turtle Doves
Turtle doves are a bit harder to come by. Strombergschickens.com listed pairs for $215 shipped, a bit pricier than the CPI listing of $125, but their farm isn't selling them anymore. However, a nationwide search of Craigslist turned up a guy in Michigan selling the deuce for $12. He didn't respond to inquiries about shipping, so we're left to assume you have to pick them up yourself. Total: $12, plus cost of plane ticket and car rental.


And a partridge...
If you want to order partridges online, you'll have to get them as a chick or an egg, and you can't get just one. Every site we saw had a minimum of 30-50 partridges. Cacklehatchery had 30 at $2.67 each for $80.10, plus $23.10 shipped at 1 day of age and a guaranteed 2-3 day delivery. Total: $103.20, a bit more dear than the the CPI's $15.


...in a pear tree.
One 6-7 ft Ayers Pear Tree, large enough to support the weight of a partridge, could be had at The Nursery at Ty Ty for $59.75 plus $20 shipping. The CPI's cost listing was $189.99. Our Total: $79.75.