Senate Talk of De-Funding Iraq War is Hurting Soldiers Morale

But that is all part of the plan. The Democrats are committed to losing the war now. If the war was won it would be a boon for Republicans and President Bush and hurt the Democrats in the 2008 elections. We can’t have that now, can we.

Watch this video and see the reaction of the troops:

Hat Tip Instapundit and Wizbang

AMBER ALERT in Arizona for Missing 1 Year Old Isidro Ramirez & his mother Noemi Ramirez

An AMBER ALERT has been issued for missing one year old Isidro Ramirez and his mother, Noemi Ramirez, who were allegedly abducted by two men. Get the full story HERE.

Tribute to Barbaro, Kentucky Derby Winner Euthanized … A Horses Struggle Showed Our Humanity, Rest in Peace

 Tribute to Barbaro … The Horse, the Champion that brought out the best in our humanity

How we face adversity, whether if we win or lose is how we are remembered.

Barbaro, the horse who reminded us what it meant to be human

Usually its a horses victories and accomplishments that draws our attention to them. The media over-hyping a young thoroughbred or its un-defeated record. Never has the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat been played out in horse racing as Barbaro’s eight month struggle to survive. It captured the hearts and minds of many who have never watched horse racing because it symbolized a greater picture. It was not Barbaro’s invincibility that captured people’s hearts, it was his vulnerability. People prayed for Barbaro to recover. Alas, the fight became too much to bear for both horse and humans Monday morning when Barbaro was humanely euthanized.

Barbaro’s struggle to mend itself and the positive and negative setbacks along the way was a metaphor for our own person struggles in everyday life whether it be with work, family or our own person tragedies that we deal with. Barbaro brought forth something to us that horse racing and sports could never do and was the reason why so many followed and cared that he get well. Barbaro brought forth our humanity.

There have been many articles written that have stated he will be remember as the 2006 Kentucky Derby winner and potential Triple crown winner. The truth of the matter is Barbaro’s career ending injury in The Preakness made him more endeared than any Triple Crown winner could have ever been. His struggle and recent death gave Barbaro a human quality not seen even by present day baseball, football and basketball athletes.

Scholarship Started in Barbaro’s Name

Major events in Barbaro’s racing life, recovery Time line

It is being discussed that Barbaro’s final resting place may be the sight of his greatest victory, Churchill Downs.

The fight that Barbaro and those that tended to him could teach us all a lesson. No matter how dominating one may be, it all could end in a fleeting moment. The struggle to survive and the problems we face and how we face them define us. How we face adversity, whether if we win or lose is how we are remembered. Barbaro reminded us of that very special quality. Rest in Peace.

Aruban Tourism … Different Month … Same Results … Tourism Down Again for 2006 … When will it End?

Try as they might, Aruba has spent millions on tourism marketing, lowered rates, and provided other incentives to have tourists come to Aruba. All to no avail, its just not working. The Central Bank of Aruba is reporting that tourism is at best stagnant and at worst, still in decline for October and November, 2006.

Aruba’s efforts are not working because they are attempting to put a Band-Aid on a broken leg. They refuse to deal with the underlying issue. Until they do, Aruba can expect for increases of 0.9 and decreases of 5 to 6% per month. Aruba may never learn; however, eventually they are going to have to do something.

Watch the Video of Aruban Tourism.

The number of sojourns and their number of nights spent dropped with respectively 7.7 and 5.7 percent in the first 10 months of 2006, while the numbers for September of that same year increased with respectively 0.9 and 0.1 percent, and dropped in October with respectively 3.1 and 4.4 percent.

Compare the tourism rates over the past 2 years since Natalee Holloway has gone missing and Aruba officials took part in a concerted effort to obstruct an investigation. See if an increase of 0.9% means anything after the losses that have already been experienced.

(Vanderbilt – ‘06)

September 2004 (Pre-Natalee Holloway): The number of stay-over visitors and their nights spent on the island went up, respectively, by 15.7 percent and 12.7 percent during the month of September 2004 compared to September 2003. Stay-over visitors from the United States and Venezuela rose by 18.8 percent and 14.5 percent, respectively. In contrast, the Dutch market fell by 3.3 percent. The average hotel occupancy rate registered a 6.5 percentage points increase to 73 percent. On a year-to-date basis, stay-over visitors surged by 14.6 percent against a 2.3 percent decline a year earlier, while visitor nights increased by 11.4 percent compared to a 3.9 percent increase in the corresponding period in 2003.

Sept 2005: The Aruba Tourism Authority has not yet published information on stay-over visitors and their nights spent for July, August, and September 2005. Data on the average occupancy rate of the hotels for September 2005 show a decrease of 6.2 percentage points to 69.3 percent, compared to the corresponding period a year earlier. In September 2005, cruise passenger arrivals fell by 35.4 percent, despite a 16.7 percent increase in the number of ship calls.

October 2005: The Aruba Tourism Authority has not yet published information on stay-over visitors and their nights spent on the island for July, August, September and October 2005. Data on the average occupancy rate of the hotels for October 2005 show a decrease of 4.9 percentage points to 77.8 percent, compared to the corresponding period a year earlier. In October 2005, the number of cruise passenger arrivals and ship calls both fell sharply by 38.9 percent.

Another interesting development is the decrease in cruise line passengers to Aruba. Although there have been more ships docked in Aruba, the end result is a decline in cruise passengers to Aruba.

Data on the occupancy rate for November 2006 has also not yet been published. In the month under review, the number of cruise passenger arrivals decreased by 1.8 percent, despite a 28.6 percent increase in the number of ship calls.

A drop in cruise line passengers and it doesn’t even count the loss of the ones from the Carnival Cruise ship Destiny that docked for the last time in Aruba in December 2006.

“Cruise passengers on ships of the caliber of Carnival Destiny spend an average of one-hundred dollars when they are in Aruba.  This cruise ship accommodates an average of 2000 passengers, which means a source of income of about 200.000 dollars per week years after years.”

Read more

Having Radiation Treatments? Be Ready To Explain So When Going Through Security Check Points

If you are planning on travelling or going into a high security location, such as the Superbowl, and having any sort of radiation treatment, be ready to explain yourself to the security people. Since 9/11 the tools that security companies are using have improved significantly. They now pick up the trace radioactive particles used in medical proceedures for up to 30 days.

With the rising use of radioisotopes in medicine and the growing use of radiation detectors in a security-conscious nation, patients are triggering alarms in places where they may not even realize they’re being scanned, doctors and security officials say.
Nearly 60,000 people a day in the United States undergo treatment or tests that leave tiny amounts of radioactive material in their bodies, according to the Society of Nuclear Medicine. It is not enough to hurt them or anyone else, but it is enough to trigger radiation alarms for up to three months. via Yahoo! News.

My recommendation, if you are having any sort of radioactive treatment done and planning on traveling, have the doctor give you a letter explaining the proceedure and what radioactive material is being used. This may make your trip through security go much smoother.