We have Moved

This will be my last post on this site. I have moved over to Wordpress.  This site will remain up so that those who seek to read any of my archived posts can do so.

This will be the  Griper's new home.

Here is How They Fish for the Big Ones in Alaska

I've heard of salmon jumping into boats but . . Four were pulled from the icy waters of Stephens Passage, Alaska , by a group of locals on Tom Satre's 62-foot charter vessel. Four juvenile Sitka black- tailed deer swam directly toward the boat.

Once the deer reached the boat, the four began to circle the boat, looking

directly at the humans on board. Clearly, the bucks were distressed. With

help, the typically skittish and absolutely wild animals came willingly onto the boat. Once onboard, they collapsed with exhaustion, shivering.

Here the rescued bucks rest on the back of Tom Satre's boat, the Alaska

Quest.

All four deer were transported to Taku Harbour . Once the group

reached the dock, the first buck that had been pulled from the water hopped

onto the dock, looked back, then leapt into the harbour, swam to shore, and

disappeared into the forest. After a bit of prodding and assistance from the humans, two others followed suit, but one deer needed more help.

Here he is being transported by Tom Satre:;

Tom, Anna and Tim Satre help the last of the "button" bucks to its feet.

They did not know how long the deer had been in the icy waters or if there had been others who did not survive.

The good Samaritans (humans) describe their experience as "one of those defining moments in life."

I'm sure it was for the deer, as well.

a h/t to "Tom" from my hometown for this story

A School District That Considers the Recession as a God Send or An Example of Local Control Over Central Control?

Here is an example of a "Can do" attitude on an individual level when the norm is a "Can't do" attitude on a collective level which only results in whining and complaining about the lack of government funds.



I say no more. What say you?

Muslims Oppose Anti-Sharia Laws

Dave Agema, a state lawmaker, wants Michigan to join the trend of states banning "foreign laws," but Muslim activists say the effort is a thinly veiled attack on Islam.

Critics fear Sharia could supersede civil law and have an impact on divorce and child custody cases, and similar legislation has been introduced in 25 states.

"Agema … is a reflection of a segment of the GOP that is openly xenophobic and Islamophobic," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Michigan chapter

More Here

More arguments here by a Democrat and the NAACP

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To me a law like this is no more anti-Islamic than the laws of divorce is anti-Catholic since they do not recognize divorce in their religion or the laws on bigamy is being anti-Mormon.

In fact laws such as these could be interpreted as a pro-life stance that every American should support. By pro-life I mean anti-honor killing as practiced by some Muslim believers.

One more thought; if being anti-sharia is a segment of the GOP being islamphobic as the Dir. of CAIR has explicitly declared then he must also implicitly be declaring that a segment of the Demoocrats are pro-sharia law.  I wonder how many Democrats will openly admit to that?

what say you?

The Princess of Beauty

Another Union Fight With Government Looming?

The financially strapped U.S. Postal Service is considering cutting as many as 120,000 jobs.

Facing a second year of losses totaling $8 billion or more, the agency also wants to pull its workers out of the retirement and health benefits plans covering federal workers and set up its own benefit systems.

Congressional approval would be needed for either step, and both could be expected to face severe opposition from postal unions which have contracts that ban layoffs.

The post office has cut 110,000 jobs over the last four years and is currently engaged in eliminating 7,500 administrative staff. In its 2010 annual report, the agency said it had 583,908 career employees.

Postal officials have said they will be unable to make a $5.5 billion payment to cover future employee health care costs due Sept. 30. It is the only federal agency required to make such a payment but, because of the complex way government finances are counted, eliminating it would make the federal budget deficit appear $5.5 billion larger.
More Here

Question:  Is this an example of the future of Obamacare?  Why don't they just raise the cost of mail to raise revenues like Obama wants to raise taxes to raise revenues instead of cutting expenses? If it works for Obama then it should work for the Postal Service, no? At least Keynesian Economics says so.

MMMMM, Are We Born to be Certain Types of Persons?

We accept that some people are born with a talent for music or art or athletics. But what about mathematics? Do some of us just arrive in the world with better math skills than others?

It seems we do, at least according to the results of a study by a team of Johns Hopkins University psychologists. Led by Melissa Libertus, a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, the study -- published online in a recent issue of Developmental Science -- indicates that math ability in preschool children is strongly linked to their inborn and primitive "number sense," called an "Approximate Number System" or ANS.

More here

Would it not follow from this that some of us are born to be more logical than others also? But, then again, what do psychologists really know as we pointed out here?

From Moses to Roosevelt to Obama

Moses

‎5000 Years Ago, Moses Said To Israel, "Pick Up Your Shovels, Mount Your Asses And Camels, And I Will Lead You To The Promised Land."

When Welfare Was Introduced, Roosevelt Said, "Lay Down Your Shovels, Sit On Your Asses, And Light Up A Camel, This Is The Promised Land."

Today The Government Has Stolen Your Shovel, Taxed Your Asses, Raised The Price Of Camels And Mortgaged The Promised Land To China. Welcome to the United States of America.

a h/t to my niece, Lea