I love my sleep. I have said so here many times.

Our tenant, who is a tad fearful of spiders had a spider problem a few weeks ago. When she started waking up with spiders in her bed, it understandably became more of an issue.  We had the exterior of our house sprayed with an environmentally safe pesticide. Remove their food, they go away – Okay, problem solved.

Many, many years ago while studying fashion design in la-la-land and living in Hollywood, I woke up twice with dead cockroaches underneath me in my bed. Yuch! I’ll take spiders any day. I never kill them.  I always gently scoop them up and put them outside. Okay, spider problem solved.

Cockroaches – that’s a different story. Let me just tell you, I do not scoop them up and take them outside. I complained to my landlord. Like in New York, Los Angeles has its share of roaming cockroaches. However New York has the biggest ones I have ever seen. And in Bangcock, they sell cockroaches, or at least critters that looks very much like cockroaches, on the street: A delicacy. Not my kind of delicacy, but the Thai seemed to covet them.

But I digressed –  my landlord in Hollywood, at that time sprayed the interior of my rental with this pesticide, that to this day if I ever smell it, I know exactly what it is that I am smelling. And if I ever do smell that smell and I can skidoo out of where I’m at ( hopefully it is not some restaurant I am about to dine at), believe me I will as quickly as I can. Reminders of waking up with cockroaches isn’t exactly something I want to remember.

Nor is the memory of being woken up in an old boyfriend’s bed with a potato bug trying to nestle up in a warm spot. ( I thought you’d like a picture just in case you’ve never seen one – this bug is about 2.5″ long. I even found a website for those of you who want to learn more.:) It took me a few seconds to realize it wasn’t my boyfriend trying to subtly fondle me and wake me up with a dose of pleasure.

I threw back the covers, flicked the critter off nestled in my pubic bed, and I screamed a scream that I am sure the neighbors to this day still remember. All I can ever think about is how lucky I am to be a light sleeper and that I didn’t fall into an erotic dream where I might have spread these thighs to invite my little friend in for some hot lovin’ with me. Got the visual? Sex with bugs – Hmm could be someone’s turn on. Not mine – Ugh! The thought!…

Evidently talking about bugs brings me back. And perhaps I’m giving TMI. (Too Much Information)

Ah yes, so here we are at the present moment…the topic at hand…Can you guess what it is?

This Bedbug’s Life

I had been a professor of entomology for 15 years before I saw my first live bedbug. It crawled out of a plastic film canister that had been mailed to me by a distraught student in the Boston area who had no idea what it was. I was so thrilled to see a live bedbug, I showed it off to every graduate student I ran into that day: Cimex lectularius – a small, flat, wingless, brown ectoparasite that hides in cracks and crevices in human dwellings and emerges under cover of darkness to feast on human blood.

That was in 1995, and none of my students had laid eyes on Cimex lectularius either. A century ago, bedbugs were ubiquitous in New York – so much so that their presence in an apartment wasn’t considered sufficient legal cause for withholding rent. Bedbugs, one judge remarked in an early 20th century lawsuit against a landlord, “can be dealt with by the tenant by processes known to all housewives.” But with the midcentury advent of synthetic organic insecticides, these insects all but vanished from urban landscapes (and pretty much every other kind of landscape) in North America.

My Bostonian bug turned out to be one of many on the forefront of an unprecedented resurgence. Global travelers now bring in a steady supply from around the world, inconspicuously undeclared in checked bags and carry-on luggage. Today, bedbugs have been found in all 50 states, as well as Guam, Puerto Rico and American Samoa, and bedbug-related calls to pest control operators are escalating at a fantastic rate. From June 2009 to June 2010, there were more than 31,000 calls in New York City alone.

Now, bedbug-related lawsuits can lead to thousands of dollars in punitive damages for mental anguish, embarrassment or humiliation.

Everywhere New Yorkers go – theaters, stores, offices, schools, trains, ships, hospitals – bedbugs go, too, hidden in folds of clothing, bags, backpacks and purses. Getting rid of them has become more than any housewife could ever be expected to handle. Even professional pest control operators are struggling to keep up, because bedbugs have become, for the most part, resistant to the old pesticides that once were so effective, and relatively few viable chemical alternatives exist.

We reserve a special kind of enmity for bedbugs because, though humans generally do not like being anywhere other than at the pinnacle of a food chain, there is a particular horror associated with being consumed while relatively helpless, asleep in what should be the security of one’s own bed (or chair or couch). With bedbugs, it’s personal – unlike cockroaches, ants, silverfish and other vermin that are attracted to our possessions, bedbugs are after us. And they’re remarkably adept at circumventing our defenses: They not only attack while we sleep, but they also inject anesthetics, so as not to awaken us, and anticoagulants, so that in every 10-minute feeding they can suck in two to three times their weight in clot-free blood.

Bedbugs win neither praise for their sophisticated technique, nor very much respect for the fact that they don’t carry diseases, as most bloodsucking human ectoparasites do. Although their bites can cause unrelieved itchiness, bedbugs take only blood and leave no pathogens behind. In contrast, lice spread typhus; mosquitoes carry the viruses that cause yellow fever, dengue, encephalitis and West Nile disease; ticks transmit the Lyme disease bacterium; and fleas can bring the bacterium that causes plague.

But lack of involvement in spreading disease is hardly an endearing attribute. In fact, precious few aspects of bedbug biology are endearing. They don’t build their own houses or care for their young, and their sexual practices are bizarre even by insect standards: Because the female bedbug has no genital opening, the male inseminates her by using his hardened, sharpened genitalia to punch a hole through her abdomen. With no elaborate courtship ritual, males in a frenzied pursuit of sexual congress often blunder into and puncture the bodies of other males, occasionally inflicting fatal wounds.

To top it off, almost every aspect of bedbug behavior is mediated by airborne odorants, almost all of which are, when detected, repulsive to humans.

What, if anything, is there to like about a bedbug? They certainly like us; we probably have no greater admirers in the insect world. They like the way we live, unlike most vertebrates, in permanent homes. (Bats and birds, which also build homes, are hosts to several of the bedbug’s close relatives.) Bedbugs do not discriminate among humans on the basis of race, creed or socioeconomic status, and they’re happy with almost any interior decorating style; they are as happy in a French provincial nook as they are in a contemporary cranny. The bugs’ climate preferences are essentially an exact match to our own, and a small wingless creature couldn’t ask for a better traveling companion – airlines have opened a world of possibilities for a species that can’t get very far on its own six legs.

Perhaps the one good thing about bedbugs is that they provide a rare point of agreement that transcends race, religion, culture, nationality, tax bracket and party. It may be one of the few remaining universal truths – urban or rural, red state or blue, everyone agrees it would be great if bedbugs would disappear once more.

May Berenbaum, the head of the entomology department at the University of Illinois, is the author of “The Earwig’s Tail: A Modern Bestiary of Multi-Legged Legends.”

By MAY BERENBAUM,

Published: August 7, 2010 – New York Times

Readers: I found this story fascinating.  Obviously I’ve had some intimate moments with bugs. Bedbugs are not on my list and I don’t plan on having any type of relationship with them intimate or otherwise. – How about you? Bothered by bugs in your bed (or just your mate?:) And spider stories you want to share? Have you been intimate with insects? Blog me.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the ‘Donate’ button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my ‘Donate’ page)

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I first heard about “Monkey Moms” and “Monkids” the other day while watching the Discovery Channel. I couldn’t pull myself away from the TV, because what I saw was so disturbing to me. People, mostly women who have a strong love for “babies”, shell out big bucks to buy a baby monkey so that they can care for the “baby” for the next 30 years.

Capuchin baby Monkey are taken from their mothers, sometimes when they are only 3 days old. This is obviously not natural. Baby monkeys hang onto their mothers backs for months, bonding and growing. When they are taken away from their natural mothers and given to their human mothers, they innately want to bond, so they rock back and forth on a blanket. Depriving them of their natural mothers and this bonding process is cruel and inhumane.

Yet these soon-to-be “monkey moms” don’t seem to think of the feelings of these little creatures, they call “monkids”; they are only thinking of themselves and their need to have a “forever baby”. They dress their “forever babies” in human clothes and feed them human food. This is sick and cruel and obviously not healthy for the monkey.

Oh…but what happens when their “forever baby” naturally gets aggressive? Well then we’ll just remove the little ones teeth. Problem solved. Well what happens after years of this unnatural and abusive treatment of these “monkids”, and the “forever baby” gets older and just doesn’t feel like playing human baby anymore? Well, naturally they attack. Oops…time to get rid of the “forever baby”.

Monkeys as surrogate children

by Sandy Maple Jul 3rd 2008 10:03AM

Readers: Ya know, I don’t believe these “monkey moms” truly love their “monkids”. If they had any feelings and respect for these primates they would never even consider taking them away from their natural parents, siblings, and environment. Period. They are destroying these beautiful little creatures lives, all for their own happiness – Their desire to have a “forever baby”. This is not love – this is pure selfishness.

The Captive Primate Safety Act HR – 80 needs to pass. This practice of being able to sell primates to humans for their own selfish pleasure is just disgusting, cruel, inhumane, and it needs to be stopped. Websites such as Wild Animal World, sell exotic animals. Their tag line: “Captive Primate, Safety Act HR – 80 – We will fight for our rights and our primates.” “Our” primates. Since when is it okay to rip primates from the loving arms of its natural mother so that one can claim it as its “own”?

All I can say is I wish that all of these “monkey moms” could experience having their own human child ripped from their arms at 3 days old and sold. Maybe then they would understand what it feels like, and have a little compassion and respect for the creatures that we are blessed to share this planet with.

Comments?

Zen Lill: Perhaps having “Monkeys” in the back of my brain was the reasoning for my “visual” the other day. Ugh…gotta lose that visual!

ZL and Doug: I’m into pushing this “aXe” too. Here’s the official site. I’m not sure if they are for sale yet though.

Ruth: This article is just horrific. Just when I think that we are getting ahold of our food sources, and heading in the right direction, there are articles like this that remind me that big money would rather fleece the people than feed us healthy foods. I have more to say on this but I will add it to my write tomorrow.

As far as  ”aXe” “size”: I have no idea but that is a good question. Happy to hear that you are going to be purchasing them.

PS. I too hope that you hear from Anonz soon.

Mike: Nothing new there. The Repugs will do anything to win. Readers, Listen to Mike and listen to me. Get out and vote. I can’t express enough how we must go out to the polls when the time comes and vote. They are expecting many people to stay on the couch for these midterms. We can’t let that happen. Make sure you and everyone you know makes it to the polls.

Dana: Again, here is the official site.  Good luck.

Got to run. Peace out…

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the ‘Donate’ button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my ‘Donate’ page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

For archives dated before January 17, 2008 click on my Blogroll:

or click here: “A Day in the life of…”

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2010

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This one is for all my readers in Guam:

One of world’s most endangered species, Guam kingfishers live on in zoos in struggle to survive

Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo has two chicks being raised by different parents

A mated pair of Guam Micronesian kingfishers, one of the most severely endangered animal species in the world, laid two fertile eggs this spring deep inside a hollowed-out palm log in a special breeding room of the Lincoln Park Zoo bird house. Keepers promptly stole one of the eggs.

The parents incubated and hatched one egg in the hollow log June 3 and now rear the chick there. The other egg hatched June 5 inside an incubation machine in a lab, where the chick now lives, fed by keepers from tweezers protruding beneath the beak of an over-sized kingfisher hand puppet.

Taking the second egg is standard procedure in 20 American zoos that for 25 years have struggled to save the bird from extinction. Guam kingfisher pairs often lay two eggs. In nature the stronger of the two kingfisher chicks almost always kills its nest sibling, either by violence or simply by out-competing the other one for food, starving it to death.

When there are only 132 individuals of a bird species left in the world, biologists want to hatch every fertile egg laid. Lincoln Park’s successfully hatched Guam kingfisher chicks represent the 133rd and 134th living members of their species.

In 1985, a consortium of U.S. zoos went to Guam, the U.S.-owned Pacific island protectorate, to capture the island’s last 29 wild native kingfishers – brilliantly colored blue and orange, robin-sized birds – to start a captive breeding rescue effort.

Shortly after World War II, an invasive species of brown tree snakes crawled aboard an ocean freighter at some South Seas island port and crawled off in Guam. With no natural enemies, the snake soon established itself and ended up exterminating many of the island’s native bird species.

“Nobody had ever studied the life cycle of wild kingfishers on Guam before they began to disappear,” said Megan Ross, Lincoln Park’s vice president for animal collections, explaining the difficulty of trying to create optimal conditions for the birds to reproduce and thrive in captivity.

By the 1990s, the zoos had about 60 of the birds, but, despite a relatively rapid hatch rate, many mysteriously died as young adults in the 2- to 4-year-old age range. The population remained at that level until the last few years, when growing knowledge improved their care of the bird, said Beth Bahner, the American Zoo and Aquarium Association’s species survival coordinator for the Guam kingfisher.

Among the key improvements, she said, were realizing that the meat-eating kingfishers had to have lizards in their diet, not just insects and chopped-up mice, and perfecting hand-rearing processes.

“We keep a towel draped over the brooder machine to keep it dark inside and simulate the dark nest cavity the parent-reared chicks are raised in,” said Elizabeth Andersen, zoological manager at Lincoln Park’s bird house.

“When it comes time to feed it, we turn off the room lights and turn on one inside the machine so that the bird can’t see our faces and imprint on us. If the first animal it sees after opening its eyes is a human, it will think it is human and will have trouble the rest of its life identifying with other kingfishers.”

Several days ago the hand-reared chick was still too young to have opened its eyes. Keeper Giana Giffre opened the brooder door and found it sitting in a toilet-paper-padded cup as she reached in with a tweezerful of chopped mouse and lizard meat and bits of mealworm and crickets.

She tapped the chick’s closed bill with the tweezers, as a parent would with its bill, and the chick gulped the food.

“We feed it roughly half its body weight each day,” Giffre said. She used the hand puppet kingfisher head, which was sculpted by another keeper.

The chick will remain in the darkened brooder until it is about 35 days old and has all its feathers, said Andersen. That’s when they naturally leave their darkened nests, soon left alone as the parents go into a new breeding cycle.

Getting a male and female to breed is more complicated than simply putting them together, Ross said.

“Sometimes they just don’t like each other and become very aggressive,” she said. “Some are what we call ‘roommates.’ They get along beautifully, but their relationship never gets beyond friendship.”

Lincoln Park, which joined the zoo consortium in 1995, has had 40 fertilized Guam kingfisher eggs, Bahner said, a good record. Brookfield Zoo, which was in the consortium from the start, has had 64 fertilized eggs.

The goal is to put captive-bred birds back in the wild, though that may be impossible for the foreseeable future on Guam, where a few mating pairs are held in a well-protected captive breeding center. Millions of brown tree snakes still live on the island, defying all efforts to eradicate them.

“Releasing the Guam kingfishers on Guam will have to remain in the distant future,” Bahner said. “But in the meantime, we might find another suitable island to let them go wild.”

************

Your Government: I will get back to you in regards to the Mariana Trench.

Lara: Perhaps I can help. Not everyone who asks to go is necessarily taken immediately. From what you said in your comment a year ago, perhaps there is something that you are destined to do before you leave. As far as contact with your BFF’s, I can not say that I know where they are presently.

Anonymous: Thanks for the article. Now that summer is here, these are good things to know.

From the Desk of Nancy Pelosi: Thanks. Good info for my readers that are on unemployment.

Yamamoto: Thanks for the addition.

Emily: Funny. Maybe for some but not for this girl. :)

Evelyn: Thanks for checking in. Happy that you and Harris had a lovely time. How was the night club? I love a good club – I HOPE the music and the dancing was fantastic. Can Harris get down with it? Do tell…were those sweet lips kissed?

Hey Zen Lill: Have a great Sunday!

That goes to all of my readers too!

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the ‘Donate’ button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my ‘Donate’ page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

For archives dated before January 17, 2008 click on my Blogroll:

or click here: “A Day in the life of…”

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2010

John Curley Photography

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

So…how is everyone this morning?

I’ve been perusing the news; something I haven’t leisurely done in awhile. Usually I am so focused on finding something interesting and enticing to write about. Today I just clicked through and through wherever I felt and wherever it lead me. Kinda nice…

Elena Kagan is close to being confirmed. Today the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Elena Kagan to be the next Supreme Court Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of America. If confirmed, and I have no doubt she will be,  she will be the fourth female justice in the history of the Supreme Court. She even got a “yes” vote from a Republican Senator: Lindsay Graham. Surprisingly, Graham was the one and only Republican Senator who broke from his party to vote yes. I’m looking forward to seeing 3 females on the bench. I won’t congratulate her yet, but silently I am already giddy. :)

Hmm…what else? Oh yeah…Courtney Love. She says that her life changed when she received a gift of a Birkin Bag. Let me remind you, in case you’re not in the know…one of these bags cost around 7 grand. Now hey, if you can afford one, or afford to give someone one and it changes their life…wow, that’s a powerful bag.

Oh…so how did Love’s life change?

In the last half-year her decorum has entirely changed due to the handbag: “Having a Birkin even makes you read every part of the Emily Post etiquette book.”

Uh huh. Do you think the book helped?

Love remarked, “I got my first Birkin at age 45. It’s kind of tragic when you think about it. Next Birkin I’ll go to Paris and order it myself….It’s sort of like diamonds, though. Do you buy it yourself or do you let someone buy it for you?”

My response: “No the book didn’t help. If getting a Birkin Bag at age 45 is tragic, you need to wake up and see what is going on in this world. The BP spill is tragic. Dealing with daily atrocities in Darfur is tragic. Murder, rape and Racial violence is tragic. Unemployed and Losing your house is tragic. Get a life Love. Oh…and keep reading…perhaps pick up a newspaper every now and then.” I won’t even comment about the diamonds.

And something for our “four feet of happiness”: Leave it up to California to introduce a Pet Health Care Reform Bill:

Many feline and canine companions face health care challenges similar to those that confront humans. Veterinary care costs are skyrocketing as pet owners are offered a sophisticated menu of potentially lifesaving services, including kidney dialysis, sonograms and chemotherapy.

U.S. consumers spent more than $12 billion on veterinary care in 2009, according to The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Yet only about 1 percent of pet owners have health insurance for their animals. Those who do often don’t understand what the policy covers and what it excludes in an industry that has faced little regulation or even attention – at least until now.

Democratic state Assemblyman Dave Jones, who is running for state insurance commissioner in the November election, said some of the same practices being corrected by the recently enacted federal health care overhaul are used by pet insurance companies, including denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

Jones has introduced a bill that would make pet insurers post detailed information on their websites so consumers can see exactly what is covered and what is not. They could then compare options, just as if they were buying insurance for themselves in a post-health reform world.

“A number of pet owners have complained to me that they bought a policy, and they weren’t told about pre-existing conditions,” said Jones, who has two cats, Dragon and Blanca. He said others have attempted to buy policies but were told that because of pre-existing conditions in their pet, they couldn’t get pet insurance.

The bill also would mandate that an insurer disclose whether it will reduce coverage or increase premiums based on claims filed in the preceding policy period.

According to pet insurance companies and animal advocacy groups, Jones’ effort is the first of its kind in the nation. The bill passed the state Assembly and a Senate insurance committee. It currently awaits hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

(To read the rest of the article, click here.)

Oh, you know how I feel about my furry friends! I applaud Assemblyman Dave Jones.

*********

Harris: I love my readers. I learn so much here. You are right about Evelyn, she is one intelligent girl, and I am sure so much more. And Evelyn: I HOPE both you and Harris enjoy yourselves immensely! Not to pry or get into your personal business, but I HOPE you’ll share the details of at least who won the chess match. :)

Zen Lill: Happy to help. Looking forward to connecting with you.

Rene:  Not exactly what I was thinking :),  but hey I am open to anything good that comes from looking for a job. I HOPE you and your love are happy. And congrats to the both of you for finding work.

Aston: Interesting comment. I am waiting for Karine to chime in a response.

Doug: Wow, that is quite the answer. Inspiring. You know me, I am big on the power of attraction and intention. That being said, I look forward to the actions you will take to make it happen.

Readers: That’s it for me today. If you have anything to say, It is whatever is on the table today. So speak your speak. Blog this BABE.

Peace & Love: “Live it, Give it!”

xoxo

PS. Yes, you’re seeing some messed up formatting. Not intentional on my part. Please be patient. My blog is acting as if it has its own mind, and quite possibly it might. I have yet to understand it.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the ‘Donate’ button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my ‘Donate’ page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

For archives dated before January 17, 2008 click on my Blogroll:

or click here: “A Day in the life of…”

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2010

John Curley Photography

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Check out David’s revised poster for Shannon’s Missing Cat, Missy:

From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.42pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

____________________________________________________
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.51pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Can you just please take the reward bit off altogether? I have to leave in ten minutes and I still have to make photocopies of it.

____________________________________________________
From: David Thorne
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 12.56pm
To: Shannon Walkley
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

____________________________________________________
From: Shannon Walkley
Date: Monday 21 June 2010 1.03pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Awww

Fine. That will have to do.

************

Readers: Cute huh? I liked it. How are you? Thoughts? Feelings? Flap your lips…it’s Friday. By the way, my computer is back so I am back in touch. Blog me.

On another note, I rarely mix it up here but I just have to talk about the latest here in Oakland. Maybe you are familiar, maybe not, but we had a shooting here at the BART station about a year and a half ago. The police officer, Johannes Mehserle was white. The man, Oscar Grant, he shot point blank in the back while he was down on the ground, was black. He killed Grant.

The trail was moved to LA, California because they felt that the  Mehserle would not get a fair trial. Bt what about a fair trial for Grant? There was not one black person on the jury. After a little over 6 hours of deliberation, Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, a huge disappointment, and I agree.  Mehserle should’ve gotten 2nd degree murder.

BART officers are not even supposed to use their guns. Why they even have them, I don’t know. Mehserle said tat he meant to pull out his taser. I don’t believe him. I believe he knew exactly what he was doing when he pulled out his gun instead of his taser.  Minutes before he killed Grant, he was shouting racial slurs.

This, in my opinion, was a racist killing. How does one hold a person face down on the ground, with their knee in the back of an individual, pull a gun and shoot them point blank, and not say that they meant to kill him? This was a racist killing, and I have no problem saying so. FYI: This was all caught on video.

The fact that a white police officer got any type of sentence for shooting and killing a black man is how some people justify this sentence, but that doesn’t mean that the officer got what he deserved, and that should be recognized too.

Mehserle Convicted of Involuntary Manslaughter

A jury found former BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle guilty Thursday of involuntary manslaughter, concluding that he did not intend to kill train rider Oscar Grant when he shot him in the back on New Year’s Day 2009 but acted so recklessly that he showed a disregard for Grant’s life.

The verdict was an all-but-unprecedented instance of a police officer being convicted for an on-duty shooting. But it deeply disappointed Grant’s relatives, who said the video-recorded shooting was a murder and that Mehserle deserved a sentence years longer than the one he is likely to receive.

“My son was murdered,” said Wanda Johnson, Grant’s mother, outside the downtown Los Angeles courthouse where the trial was moved to escape heavy publicity in the Bay Area. “He was murdered and the law has not held the officer accountable.”

The jury also found that Mehserle, 28, had used a gun during the crime. In all, he could be sentenced to five to 14 years in prison.

The jury took 6 1/2 hours over two days to decide that Mehserle was guilty of a crime, but not guilty of the other options it had been given – second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.

Their verdict suggests they believed Mehserle when he testified that he had mistaken his pistol for his Taser as he sought to subdue the 22-year-old Grant at Fruitvale Station in Oakland following a fight on a BART train, a shooting that was captured on video by five other riders as well as a platform camera.

‘I love you guys’

Mehserle, who had been free on $3 million bail, was remanded into custody and led away in handcuffs after the verdict was read. Dressed in a gray suit and blue shirt, he turned to his sobbing parents and sister in the front row of the gallery and said softly, “I love you guys.”

His attorney, Michael Rains, did not comment outside court. But the president of the Peace Officers Research Association of California – whose legal fund is paying for Mehserle’s defense – said he had mixed feelings.

“This whole thing is such a tragedy and such a waste. There’s been a life lost and a life ruined,” Ron Cottingham said. “I’ve had a chance to meet Johannes Mehserle and I know the type of person he is. It was an accident, and Mehserle is paying dearly for that accident.”

John Burris, an Oakland attorney representing Grant’s family, decried “a true compromise verdict.”

“The system is rarely fair when a police officer shoots an African American male,” Burris said. “No true justice has been given.” Grant was African American and Mehserle is white.

Grant’s uncle, Cephus “Bobby” Johnson, said “we knew from the beginning that we were at war with the system. … We have been slapped in the face by this system that has denied us true justice.”

D.A. disappointed

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, speaking at a news conference in Oakland, said she was disappointed and frustrated by the verdict.

“We believe Johannes Mehserle was guilty of the crime of murder,” she said. “We presented the case that way, we presented the evidence that way, and the jury found otherwise.”

Jurors left the courthouse without commenting.

Mehserle’s possible sentence for involuntary manslaughter is two, three or four years, plus three, four or 10 years for using a gun. That means the minimum total sentence that Judge Robert Perry could impose would be five years, and the maximum would be 14 years.

Sentencing was set for Aug. 6. O’Malley would not say what sentence she will seek.

It is possible that there could be further criminal proceedings against Mehserle.

The U.S. Justice Department issued a statement saying its civil rights division, the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI “have an open investigation into the fatal shooting and, at the conclusion of the state prosecution, will conduct an independent review of the facts and circumstances to determine whether the evidence warrants federal prosecution.”

If you would like th read the rest of the article, click here.

Lance: Did you like the ending? I had fun with this – It was a nice break from all of the seriousness, and something I needed. Thanks for continuing to try and post.

Anna: Hmm..I don’t think I’ve mastered my body yet, but I am trying… :)

Dwayne: I liked my cat story, but I loved your video post. Too cool.

Hey Emily: This one was one of my faves.

Lois: Oh yeah…all girls have a chance. So…even if you aren’t serious, you just might be brought up. This is why, ‘be careful what you ask for,’ is a good thing to heed, ‘because you just may get it’. See you in the big sky!

Troy: I believe Zen Lill answered your question.

AH: Nice to hear from you. Happy to know that you and Bita are still a HOT item. So give us the scoop on Dillinger.  Please say hello to Adam for me.

Readers: I have an early meeting. I will address more comments tomorrow. Start flapping…

xoxo

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2010

John Curley Photography

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"