J B Book's Blog

November 24th 2010

2010-11-22T21:04:00.000-08:00

Would you rather get a dangerous dose of radiation for no medical reason or be groped by someone you don't know and don't like.

If you've GOT to fly Wednesday know it's National Opt-Out Day.

Make them search you... feel free to pull a "When Harry Met Sally" fake orgasm while they're groping you palms down... Embarrass THEM and throw a colossal wrench in their unconstitutional actions (read the 4th Amendment lately?).

Make them search all your kids too... we're all such obvious criminals.

Ron Paul To The Rescue

2010-11-19T21:41:00.001-08:00

Christmas Lists

2010-11-12T01:31:00.000-08:00

Hi Folks,

to make holiday present buying easier (like what do you get Ben?) I'll post columns on the right here with family members requests....

requirements:

ya gotta be able to get it off Amazon.com ... but then you'd be AMAZED at what they sell via their sub-vendors.

you send it to me in an email with all the pertinent information... a cut and paste will do fine.

if multiples of an item are OK or even GOOD please note that and I'll note it... otherwise I'll try to delete items as people tell me they've been gotten... I could see this for gift certificates or stuff like china where you can get individual pieces.

I'll start mine first :-}

ttyl

It's Amazing....

2010-11-08T22:32:00.000-08:00

How similar the motivation can be to get me over here personally "venting".

Yea it's getting late...

I'm hurting.... upping the dose... and waiting for some relief .

I'm lucky now at a level...

I've got a good doc that gives me a more than reasonable amount of pain meds compared to others with no real grief.

but I'm almost guilty/worried about taking them... well really the acetaminophen (brand name Tylenol) that it's invariably compounded (mixed) with.

Opiates like hydrocodone or oxycodone (the drugs in the brand named drugs Vicodin and Percocette) are virtually always prescribed with varying amounts of acetaminophen.... and to much of IT (not the opiate) is really bad for you... specifically your liver.

"Well if it's bad for you why do they put it in it?" you ask?

It's a "deterrent to abuse" is what they say... take to many and your liver will fail.

Another problem is it's in everything in the cold/flu/cough types of meds... so take one for cough, one for flu and you're DOUBLING the maximum dose right there.

I guess that's why I get so many "muscle relaxers"...

They're not schedule but I won't take 1 and drive.

The nice thing is they're not mixed with acetaminophen or anything else.

I hope the pain backs out soon....

but I'm realistic... I've got another row already lined up.

Winter and Pain

2010-10-20T04:32:00.000-07:00

Winter gets to me... I'd bet there's a front going through tonight.

I've slept about 2 hours... 1 hour early to snuggle with my wife... then in bits and pieces over the next several hours.

I got up to find I'm being attacked in Evony (an online game I play) so I delt with that for a few minutes... and took a muscle relaxer and an antispasmotic (back seems as TIGHT as in high level pain) and will try again when they start kicking in.

I guess this is a reminder to go back to the DOC... supposed to go every 2 months and it's about 3... at least he'd give me a script for my STRONG pain meds.... it's been WELL over 30 days.

It's just winter setting in... more cold more aches more pain.

NO SURGERY

2010-09-03T22:25:00.000-07:00

Hi,

it was interesting... went to talk to the surgeon... he was all for a HEART TRANSPLANT... but it'd take a year plus to get a heart... and I'd have to get a lot sicker.... so he had me talk to the transplant folks.

I didn't like the idea at all... something was fishy.

Turns out he's the head of the transplant department... he just wants more transplants so it looks good on his resume'!

He actually suggested that if I wasn't moving up the list fast enough to put me in the hospital for a lot of totally unnecessary procedures JUST so I'd move up the list!

So after one cardiologist and one heart surgeon (did I mention that the surgeon/transplant-freak is ALSO an employee/associate of the cardiology practice that referred me!) I went back to my Internal Medicine guy.

We agreed that I didn't need a transplant (I -MIGHT- need a bypass at some point in the future but I'll see a different doc who's not scalpel happy) that a better route would be a new blood pressure med, Aspirin, Crestor at a moderately high dose, and niacin (yes the vitamin) to dramatically lower cholesterol and clear out the plaque in my arteries while keeping my blood pressure in a reasonable range.

It's true I won't have 100% heart output... but with my OTHER physical issues I'll NEVER use 100% output... I can't run and can just barely walk with a cane. I'm not going to be running a marathon or playing basketball... so I'll do fine with keeping my blood flowing well (it's far far better than I was doing in May) via a blood thinner (Aspirin), and clearing my arteries with niacin and Crestor.

So No Surgery For Me!

It's Getting Closer

2010-07-18T23:30:00.000-07:00

Well it's getting closer as the days go by.

I see the surgeon Tuesday and the Internist Wednesday.

I don't want to get discharged without adequate pain medications. Currently my internist takes care of that.... now the surgeon SHOULD take care of all additional pain meds I'd need (which will probably be substantial considering that for open heart surgery they crack your breastbone like a chicken and then wire (literally) you back together after they (hopefully) get you restarted and not leaking)...

but I kinda have my doubts... it's taken me literally decades to find a doc with a decent bedside manner who's also a competent physician AND will write schedule narcotics at a reasonable level for someone with my degree of damage.

so he SHOULD write me for enough to take care of all the post surgical pain AND my normal "vicodin" level pain....

i.e. dilaudid or morphine for example.

but we'll see... I'll query the surgeon about that and then tell the internist.

it's hell when you have to make sure your doc is giving you the right meds, and enough of the right meds... aren't they supposed to be the professionals?

Have YOU Read The US Constitution

2010-07-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

Hi,

it's amazing how few people have actually READ the US Constitution.

If you read the Ninth & Fourteenth Amendment (probably the least understood of the lot) you'd realize that they cover just about anything that many people today want to call a "Basic Human Right".

Some jurists have asserted that the Ninth Amendment is relevant to interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Arthur Goldberg (joined by Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice William Brennan) expressed this view in a concurring opinion in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut (1965):

The Framers did not intend that the first eight amendments be construed to exhaust the basic and fundamental rights.... I do not mean to imply that the .... Ninth Amendment constitutes an independent source of rights protected from infringement by either the States or the Federal Government....While the Ninth Amendment - and indeed the entire Bill of Rights - originally concerned restrictions upon federal
power, the subsequently enacted Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the States as well from abridging fundamental personal liberties. And, the Ninth Amendment, in indicating that not all such liberties are specifically mentioned in the first eight amendments, is surely relevant in showing the existence of other fundamental personal rights, now protected from state, as well as federal, infringement.

the latest personal news

2010-07-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

well I guess most of you know what I initially thought was just my asthma/allergies kicking in for the spring is congestive heart failure...

going through all sorts of tests...3-4 EKGs, a 2 hour MRI (bring your own pain meds but they don't tell you that in advance so 2 hours of lvl 8/9 pain...when they pulled me out of the machine I had to get them to pull me up to a sitting position, I could no longer sit up.... the MRI tech missed my veins -3- times with a 20g (it resembled a 6p nail) needle) and now a 6-8 hour pet scan.... a nuclear scan that gives me 1.5 times the radiation dosage a full time aircrew gets in a year... also bring your own pain meds...

Dr. Salazar is some kinda nutcase.

He doesn't bother to check the side-effects (or primary effects) of the drugs he writes.... like 1 mild diuretic (what I was getting it for) also happens to be a powerful ANTI-androgen that if you keep taking it will give you gynocomastia (bitch tits) that would require surgery to correct.... mainly used my male to female transexuals....another med gives a high percentage of the people taking it a hard/painful non-productive cough... I was sitting there coughing in his office... yet I had to bring that one up to and get it replaced with something else.

I beat him to putting me on time release niacin by 2 weeks (a virtually no risk treatment for plaque in the arteries).

Luckily Martha is a personal friend of a nurse in my Internist's office and she intervened and got me a 2 day script for something to make it through the pet scan... don't know exactly what but I'll stack everything I've got up and make it through somehow.

Otherwise I feel OK now that I'm off the acetylcysteine.... 2 doses a day for a total of 3 2 day periods (2 days before the mri and 2 days after and 2 days because they screwed up the scheduling) resulting in me being sick as a dog for 10+ days (the days I have to take the stuff and at least 1 day after)... smells and tastes like rotten eggs... so bad they warn you that if you throw up within the hour you have to take it again...

It's so bad the pharmacist wished me "good luck" when he gave it to me.... you're sick/nauseous/weak for the duration.

The Great Escape

2010-06-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Jack Harrison on right in shorts.

LONDON - Jack Harrison, who survived the Great Escape plot by Allied prisoners in a German prison in World War II, has died at age 97, his family said.

Harrison died Friday at Erskine veterans' home in Bishopton, Scotland.

As one of the camp's gardeners, Harrison helped dispose of the dirt excavated from three escape tunnels. He was 98th on the list of some 200 inmates designated to make the escape on March 24, 1944, but only 76 got away before guards detected the breakout and raised the alarm.

The breakout was celebrated in the 1963 film "The Great Escape" starring Steve McQueen and James Garner.

Only three men managed to reach safety. Adolf Hitler ordered the execution of 50 recaptured escapers, and 23 others were returned to custody.

British news reports said Harrison was believed to be the last survivor of the plot, but this could not be confirmed. In addition to the 200 men who won places in the escape queue through a drawing, others were also involved in preparations.

"I guess it was a blessing in disguise I never made it through, as most were shot," Harrison said in an interview last year with the Scottish Sun newspaper. "But the main purpose wasn't just to escape. It was to outfox the Germans. It was a huge moral victory. It humiliated Hitler and gave the Nazis a bloody nose."

'I was to be a Hungarian electrician'Of the three tunnels dug by prisoners, two had been found by guards and closed before the escape attempt.

When the escape was detected, Harrison said he had to quickly burn his disguise as a Siemens engineer and get back into his prison uniform.

"I was to be a Hungarian electrician so I became Aleksander Regenyi, who was employed by a German firm," he recalled.

Harrison was a Royal Air Force pilot who was shot down and captured in November 1942 on his first mission, a raid on the Dutch port of Den Helder. He was taken to Stalag Luft III prison near Sagan in eastern Germany — now Zagan, Poland.

After the war, Harrison resumed his teaching career. He retired in 1975 as director of education for the isle of Bute.

"To others he was considered a war hero, but to us he was much more than that. He was a family man first and foremost as well as a church elder, Rotarian, scholar, traveler and athlete," his son Chris and daughter Jane said in a statement.

Show Business!

2010-05-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

Hi,

A few people know I used to be in "show business"... but more than a few wonder why.

You get to meet the most amazing people.

Like Link Shows had one of the last working Side Shows and the side show folks would come down to the Cook Tent after shows just like everybody else...

I toured next to Grady Stiles... aka Lobster Boy a couple of seasons (he was a HOOT).

and you get to meet people like this:

The One, The ONLY, Bello Nock

Steve Wozniak and Toyota Brakes

2010-03-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

Ever since computer controls were added to motorcycle braking systems in the 80s I've distrusted them and preferred an old fashioned "analog" braking system.

I knew that if -I- controlled the brakes I'd be the one in control and not a programmer in a foreign land.

Why?

Because computers fail.

My livelihood for the last several decades has depended on computers failing... and as they take over more and more in the vehicles we drive we put ourselves at greater risk because of them failing.

Now I may just be a "paranoid" computer geek who likes old cars and motorcycles.

But Steve Wozniak invented the Apple Computer (Steve Jobs just sold it) and he's determined it's a software (actually firmware, it's software "burned" into a chip) that's the root cause of the runaway Toyotas.

SAN FRANCISCO – Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak on Friday held firm to his love for Prius cars despite what he suspects is a Toyota software problem behind sudden spikes in acceleration.

"I love my Prius," Wozniak said during on-stage banter with AT&T Tech Channel's Hugh Thompson during a geek talk show at the closing of an RSA computer security conference here.

"It's just like all the other gadgets we have... Everything today has a computer in it, so everything will fail."

Wozniak said he has bought nine Prius cars and even drove one from the Silicon Valley city of San Jose to San Francisco that day.

He said he conducted his own tests of Prius acceleration, taking his car to an open stretch of highway at dusk and then incrementally notching up the speed using the cruise control mechanism.

At "some number over 72" the car accelerated and kept picking up speed, Wozniak said.

"I wanted to see how high it would go," Wozniak said. "It wound up being unlimited so I hit the brake. The problem had to be in the software."

"How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?"

2010-02-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

LA SAVINAZ, France — The milk that Paulette Marmottan uses in her cheese comes fresh from her cows and goats, so warm that on cold mornings, a cloud of steam goes up as she pours it into a cauldron.

It's the first step in making persille de Tignes, which according to local lore, was a favorite of the mighty 9th century emperor Charlemagne.

But the Marmottans are the last family making it, and while most French people may be content with the mass-produced cheeses of their globalizing world, the disappearance of traditional varieties is seen by some as threatening the very essence of Frenchness.

The persille de Tignes is not alone on the list of endangered fromages. Dozens have been lost since World War II, and experts say another dozen or more are considered at risk of extinction. No one has a precise count of how many cheese types France produces, but the country has long prided itself on having a different one for every day of the year.
"The French have forgotten what real cheese is," said Veronique Richez-Lerouge, who heads the Association Fromages de Terroirs, a group aimed at protecting France's cheese culture.

Many blame the Americans, saying they habituated the French to pasteurization, to the detriment of raw-milk cheeses – an ironic claim, considering that the germ-killing process was invented by a French hero of science, Louis Pasteur.

Other big forces are also in play: the creeping homogenization of the global palate, food-safety regulations imposed by the European Union, and the increasing weight of the food industry, which churns out just a handful of blockbuster varieties.
Some small farms cannot cope with the new rules, and Big Food stands ready to buy them out.

There are plenty of cheeses that only exist as names in old books," said Stephane Blohorn, who owns Androuet, a famous 101-year-old chain of Paris cheese shops.

The French are still prodigious cheese consumers. They eat just under half a pound a week per person on average, according to the Eurostat statistics agency. That puts them just behind the 27-nation EU's champion cheese-eaters, the Greeks.

What has changed is the kind of cheeses the French eat.

Raw-milk cheeses, which until World War II and the arrival of the U.S. military accounted for nearly all French production, now make up only 7 percent of annual consumption, according to the cheese-boosters' group. Now most French people go for pasteurized, mass-produced, plastic-wrapped varieties like emmenthal, camembert and the orange-colored mimolette, and processed cheeses like the Laughing Cow brand.

"Buying cheese has become like buying a box of detergent," said Richez-Lerouge, whose association publishes a calendar featuring bikini-clad pinups straddling hunks of Saint-Nectaire, Savarin and Rocamadour from family farms.
In La Savinaz, a village perched on a snow-covered peak in the eastern French Alps, Marmottan trudges downstairs to the stable – on the ground floor of her Swiss-style house – to milk her 30 cows and 80 goats.

In the outsized cauldron, she blends the milks and adds yoghurt to kick-start fermentation. Several days later, she mixes and salts the curd, packing it into tall cylindrical molds that leak out any remaining whey before being dispatched to the cellar to age for a few weeks.

Local histories tell of Charlemagne tasting persille de Tignes tasting it during a visit and ordering a selection of the best wheels shipped back to the royal court.

Within recent memory there were dozens of families making persille de Tignes in this region of Savoie. Now Marmottan, 52, her husband and older brother are the last ones, making some 33,000 pounds a year.

"Little by little, the others got old and retired or decided it wasn't financially worth it to them," Marmottan told The Associated Press. "A farm has to be viable financially and the product we make has to interest people or we can't in good faith continue. It's too hard a job."

In the past two decades, the number of small family farms has plummeted, falling by 14 percent between 2000 and 2004 alone, to just over 100,000, according to an Agriculture Ministry study.

The shift away from raw milk cheeses began with the rise of pasteurization, which kills the occasionally deadly micro-organisms that can lurk in milk.

Then, in the 1960s and '70s, supermarkets moved in and the one-product store felt the squeeze. In 1979, France had some 20,000 fromageries, according to the National Federation of Milk Product Retailers. Today, there are about 3,300.
"Supermarkets have effectively squeezed out the small retailers," said Androuet's Blohorn. "Those who survived are really offering a superior product aimed at very discriminating consumers."

At Au Bon Fromage, a Paris store, persille de Tignes can retail for up to $16 a pound.

Marmottan follows a recipe passed down orally by her parents, who learned it from theirs. Marmottan taught it to her three children, but like many in the younger generation of the village and surrounding Alpine valleys, their interests appear to lie elsewhere.

The Marmottans' eldest is a lawyer, and the youngest is a member of France's national ski team. The next, 28-year-old Francis, is a ski instructor and maintains the farm's equipment for half the year during the off-season.

So his mother has pinned her hopes on the next generation – Francis' 2-year-old boy and 6-month-old girl.

"I say my prayers every day that they'll turn into little cheesemakers," said Marmottan, her face crinkling in a little smile.

How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?: Charles De Gaulle, in "Les Mots du General", 1962

PAIN!

2010-01-30T02:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight is icy and snowy... it's cold, temps in the single digits... and I'm in agonizing pain as a front is hovering over me.

I swear everything analgesic should be over the counter.

I've got scripts for all this... but since 11pm (it's 4am now) I've taken 1 200 mg tramadol, 2 5mg vicodin, 5mg valium, 2 soma, 1 percocette, 1 15mg roxicodone, 1 10mg vicodin, tried heat, laying on the floor, heating pad, massage, and I'm still in agony... no sleep.

If I had dilaudid, morphine, or diacetyl morphine (heroin) I'd do it IM. I'd have NO PROBLEM sticking myself with a needle (I can't do IV injections, never learned)... and I don't like shots... but I'd do anything to get rid of the pain.

I just took the 10mg vicodin and the percocette and am am begging for relief.... I'm trying to fill every opiate/pain receptor I've got.

All because of being run over 30+ years ago. a legit injury, shows up on x-rays no problem. New doctors who I've never talked to look at the x-rays and ask "now when were you in this wreck?"

and I'm not even drowsy, no "buzz" at all.

luckily nights like this aren't common... but they happen often enough.

The Power That Is (some call it "god") put the poppy here for the benefit of man... the worst side effect of chronic opiate use is... constitpation... legally it's cheap as dirt.... most people who try it find they just don't have a "taste" for it... let those of it that need opiates get use them freely... to do so otherwise is cruel.

I just did a shot of rum to potentiate everything... dangerous I know but the straight (legal) narcotics aren't touching the pain tonight and it's said if you can't "feel" the drugs you're not nearing your "limit".

Opiates should be totally legal for adults to buy and use... the few that would become addicts could buy it cheap (and with legal stuff there's no infections, aids transmissions (legal needles for the inject-able stuff) , and no crime (it's cheap legally).

Those of us with severe but regular pain issues shouldn't have to suffer or after initial diagnosis and education on how to use their medicine.

I hope it works.

Haiti Charity Scams

2010-01-15T23:23:00.000-08:00

There are already several hundred scam websites being investigated surrounding the whole Haiti disaster.

One that is NOT is The Salvation Army... they don't preach, they don't milk the "charity" for million dollar salaries like the red x folks.... they just do good deeds.

To donate go to the official Salvation Army Website.

The Great War

2009-12-17T14:23:00.000-08:00

Some people wonder why they should go visit the little towns, the battlefields, the monuments from the Great War.

It only lasted a little while... but the great majority of the readers of this blog have ancestors who fought on one side or the other...

Britain's Tommys earned France's forgiveness and forged a bond between the Natural Allies (the US, France, and Britain) that survives to this day.

Sure like brothers we have out little arguments, but we're still brothers.

Visit History. See where it really happened. See where your life was made possible.

Click on the link above to go to Hackamore Travel.

CASUALTY FACTS

"The Real Face of War"
Chemin des Dames, France 1918

During the summer and fall of 1914, France lost as many men on the battlefield as the U.S.Army would lose in all of the 20th century!

The world's worst train accident occurred in France, in December 1917 with the deaths of over 600 soldiers.

During the course of the Great War 11% of France's entire population was killed or wounded.

The site of the Battle of Verdun is remembered as the battlefield with the highest density of dead per square yard.

Half of the dead of Great War have no known grave with over 10,000 British casualties from the Battle of Cambrai (first real tank battle) alone.

The 10 month Battle of Verdun, 1916 caused over a million casualties.

At the end of the war in France the 650,000 war widows became a powerful voting block.

For the American "Super-Patriots" here's a fact for you:

The U.S. was in the war in actual combat for only seven and a half months. During this time 116,000 were killed and 204,000 were wounded... in the greater scheme of things that's NOTHING. (Though I admire the volunteers who went when they didn't have to.)

In Flanders Fields

2009-11-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

In Flanders Fields

By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

House MD

2009-10-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

I watch House MD because I can relate to his constant pain.

People just don't realize that being in pretty severe pain 24/7 can kinda give you a shitty outlook on life and the world... and on tonight's show he found something that gave him relief... methadone (which is a DANDY and downright cheap narcotic painkiller for someone who needs 24/7 pain control, Oxycontin is just a way for Purdue Pharmaceutical to make a ridiculous profit)...

But everybody got so bent out of shape over it... it works! a pill every 12 hours and you're OUT OF PAIN.... and yes he chose to be out of pain, and a nice pleasant person to be around, for most of the show... of course if he's not miserable and gripey it blows the show so he goes back to the never ending pain, the cane, and the tortured genius by the end.

But if you know a person in chronic pain cut them some slack... their days are miserable at best and go down from there... most know they can't be pain free and just try to manage the misery... don't make it worse for them.

Gun Sales In The Obama Era

2009-10-10T00:23:00.000-07:00

Citizens increasingly ready to do their duty as militiamen!

In a encouraging trend, sales of all types of firearms have soared in recent months. People are arming themselves in preparation for the of their possible need to serve as militiamen as required by the Federal Militia Act of 1792.

This upswing has been attributed to 2 factors:

Gun owners are purchasing firearms in the last hours before President Obama passes stricter gun-control laws - despite the likelihood that he's not legally qualified to be president.

OR...the recession is engendering fear of crime and government oppression.

To be fair, it's more reasonable to assume the former is to blame. Still, handgun manufacturers and gun shops are reporting strong demand. Along with weapons, ammunition is also in short supply.

“Handguns are crazy right now,” Tammy Wilson, manager of Express Huntin’ N Fishin’ (a sportsman’s supply store in Sebastian, Florida) told a local newspaper. “A lot of them are on back order.”

It's no surprise that Florida and California, among other states, are seeing this demand firsthand. Their McMansion-scarred exurban communities are well on their way to becoming new American ghettos - deserted and lawless.

This isn't an exaggeration: In California’s Inland Empire -- as the landlocked southeastern region of the state is known -- foreclosures are close to 20% in some parts. Squatters are occupying vacant million-dollar houses and scrounging metal to sell to scrapyards.

In Florida, the state government has helped the surge in handgun sales to homeowners. A state legislative panel recently approved spending $3.8 million to expedite the processing of a huge backlog of concealed weapons-permit applications. Background checks for gun purchases in Florida more than doubled after the election, going from 32,381 in September to 63,936 in November, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The number dropped somewhat in January.

Nationally, the FBI completed more than 1.5 million background checks in November - a 41.6% increase over the same time last year.

The recent earnings report of handgun maker Sturm Ruger (RGR) suggests this is a national trend: Over the last year, the company saw its order book grow by almost 50%, from $156 million to over $233 million. Demand is hot: Out of the 776,000 units ordered, Sturm Ruger reported over 175,000 of them were on backorder.

Sturm Ruger’s stock, though incredibly volatile, is near its 52-week high (but still sharply lower than it was 2 years ago). Smith & Wesson (SWHC) has also seen its stock rise, as speculative fervor has built on the apocalyptic scenario.

Even Cabela’s (CAB), the outdoor-sports-and-equipment retailer, recently defied Wall Street expectations on the force of strong firearm and ammunition sales; its same-store sales rose 2.2% in the quarter.

On a positive note the inflated prices and extreme shortages that were encountered post-election through the spring have eased up a bit with firearms availability for popular models approaching demand and ammunition availability improving somewhat though still in short supply with reloading supplies (especially primers) still being hard to come by.

The Liberation of Paris

2009-09-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Hi,

The Liberation of Paris started UNDER my 1st cousin's neighborhood when Colonel Rol ordered the Resistance to mobilize...

The Resistance was headquartered in the Catacombs under the square.

There are lots of coincidences here...

My cousin's jewish neighbor somehow didn't get deported (he knew Antoine and Antoine could get things "fixed")...

My mother, a clerk in the finance ministry "somehow" got picked to go to DC as a translator and literally left France with a diplomatic passport on the first ship out (a former troop transport).

Within a few years Antoine was a member of Prime Minister Pinay's cabinet and later the equivalent of a Supreme Court Judge... quite a step up from a kid in a shoe shop...

My grandfather (a wounded WW-I veteran, a Poilu) in Vichy had 1 of the 500 radios distributed by the underground (possession of which was a crime punishable the same as owning a gun, execution)... the house was on a hill on the edge of town.

My mother maintains to this day these are all "coincidences".

Now you can SEE the REAL Liberation de Paris.

http://www.archive.org/details/LaLiberationdeParis1944

Tonight....

2009-09-09T21:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight is one of the nights where I curse the US Drug Laws...

I'm in just horrific pain, jolts down my leg, sciatica.... and because I'm not at home at the moment and left my medicine bottle at a relatives house over the holiday weekend and I'm just in agony.

In Paris I'd hobble down to the closest (they're really everywhere... I can think of 3 on Denfert-Rochereau alone) Pharmacy ask for Co-codamol Adult and I'd be walking out of the pharmacy with 32 tablets with 20mg of codeine plus tylenol... standard dose is 2 every 4 hours in 5 minutes... total cost less than 5$US and 10 minutes even as slow as I go... and I'd be OK in an hour... laying down flat but not in total agony.

If I go to the ER I'll end up waiting hours... it's about an hour's drive to where my medicine is at the moment (left a bag there from the holiday weekend)... I'm taking everything I can scrounge up which isn't much... like benadryl... it's the same stuff as in the OTC sleep aids, various non-narcotic pain killers like Aleve (hey every little bit helps) and I'm going to try a soaking bath so hot I come out looking like a Lobster.

But unless I just get lucky and can get the bones in my well broken back to magically pop back in line I'm just in HELL tonight...

if the US FDA would get it's head out of it's ass we could still have low dosage codeine OTC...like the rest of the civilized world... Canada, UK, EU plus everyplace in the third world countries that were once a colony of the UK or France... they just kept the same drug laws in most cases.

There is no -honest- reason to not do it.

Codeine just isn't very abusable... it's mixed with tylenol or aspirin so you can't shoot it if you wanted to... the body can only metabolize about 4 grains (4 pills) a day anyway (the rest you just flush away)... you just can't produce the enzyme to use it fast enough for more.

heck legalize it all... the US could just -buy- the whole Afghani opium crop for less than they spend on eradication... and we NEED opium to make the painkillers for the guys getting maimed over there.

That's a Win - Win situation if you ask me.

Another Commercial Appeal Article About The Family

2009-08-29T08:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a big year for the family and the Commercial Appeal.

First we get our anniversary trip to Paris article published.

Now my Step-Son and his Bride are featured in an article on their new house... and her twin sister and her new husband's new house less than a block away.

An interesting little story.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/aug/29/sisterly-love/

"Socialised Health Care"

2009-08-12T01:03:00.000-07:00

Hi,

ever notice how when the nay-sayers want to talk about universal health care they always want to talk about Canada and the UK... they never want to talk about #1 France.

In France students are tested multiple times for proficiency and directed into skilled training.

My uncle was trained as a watchsmith, he could repair watches down to making the parts.

My mother trained as a lawyer, so I've been presumed guilty my whole life (Napoleonic Law).

and... 2 cousins were trained as Doctors... and since education is "free" (paid for by the taxpayer) these skilled tradesmen start without a mountain of "school loans etc" (which is a whole 'nother subject... I saw many a student living High on the Hog on student loans while in school for a near worthless degree and then complain upon graduation they couldn't find a high paying job in the field... how many philosophy majors does the world need...).

But... a new MD doesn't expect to make a quarter of a million a year right off the bat in France... he (or she) is a doctor because they tested well in those skills... and they get a job right off the bat at a good salary... live comfortably, 7 weeks minimum vacation, etc...

Since you're NOT having to pay outrageous salaries health care IS cheaper... and of course Pharmacists are trained more or less as "nurse practitioners" and can deal with minor problems right at the pharmacy counter giving you what would be prescription meds (or even narcotic meds) here plus the cost/time of a doctor's appointment.

More doctors per capita (at lower but still nice salaries), pharmacies virtually everywhere, and you can even get a house call... get sick in your hotel just call the front desk and ask for S.O.S. Medicine... they do house calls day or night... one cousin does just this in Paris. I think he just likes having a parking permit that lets him park ANYWHERE.

But the French medical system starts supporting people's health a lot earlier than that. Women with infant children get a "nanny" 2 half days a week to help in the home. Doctors will make housecalls for immunizations etc. so you don't have kids coming down with measles and to check general health.

So when the brainwashed far right (and I'm FAR FAR RIGHT) starts talking about "waiting lists" in Canada ask them about France... and why the French don't come here for medical care... why should they? They've got the best health care system in the world.

Willie's Resignation Letter

2009-07-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

It says it all in the first line.

On official city letterhead no less.

Seems like a binding contract to me!

Click Here To See Willie's Resignation Letter!

Preachers Aren't Always Wrong

2009-07-18T22:15:00.000-07:00

Now here's an interesting Kentucky Preacher.

You do know don't you that April 19th 1775 at the Battle of Lexington and Concord the British were moving to seize arms and ammunition being stored in a CHURCH don't you?!

PBS Isn't ALWAYS Wrong Politically!

2009-07-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

Here's NRA Board Member Ted Nugent on his local PBS station.

How YOU Can Help The Jobs Situation

2009-06-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

Hi,

with reported unemployment at around 10% and real unemployment 15+% it's a real problem in this country.

I'm sure a lot of you are thinking "but I can't do anything about it. I'm just a (luckily) working stiff."

But... there IS something you can do about it... YOU can help create jobs!

A few years ago when I was a young pup just putting some furniture in that first apartment I went to the Salvation Army (make a donation if you can) and picked out a rocking chair and was going to carry it to the register... and a polite man (apparently in a recovery program) told me "let me carry that, don't put me out of a job"...

We can all not put somebody out of a job.

At the grocery don't use the Self Checkout... that's a checker's job... let them earn their pay.

At the fast food place don't bus your table, the manager will have to detail the "new guy" to bus tables and that's another job for somebody.

If you're lucky enough to be taking a Summer Trip see your local or online travel agent and let them earn their commission instead of just booking a package on Orbitz. It doesn't cost you any more and their expertise will save you loads of hassle.

YES, YOU CAN HELP CREATE JOBS!

Vin Suprynowicz

2009-06-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

Hi,

If you read Shotgun News you've seen his columns... but he writes on a lot more than guns.

Here's a link to his articles in the Las Vegas Review Journal:

http://www.lvrj.com/columnists/Vin_Suprynowicz.html

The Declaration of Independence

2009-06-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

The unanimous Declaration of the free People of the Confederate States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all human beings are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of the citizens of these United States ; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

The history of the present governments of and within the United States is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the People. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

They have refused his Assent to just and equal Laws serving to continue the liberties of the People, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

They have forbidden the People to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till their Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, they have utterly neglected to attend to them.

They have refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish their divinely given rights.

They have called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the free and open knowledge of their actions, and have appointed other bodies not answerable to the People.

They have persecuted, jailed, kidnapped and killed repeatedly, those opposing with manly firmness their invasions on the rights of the people.

They have refused for a long time to allow others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise.

They have refused to enforce their own laws on protecting the People from invasion, allowing the States exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

They have endeavored to prevent the population of these States through private property and the rule of Law, prefering instead to force the People to succumb to the whims and fancies of their bureaucrats, and obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migration in an orderly fashion, encouraging Foreigners to violate our Laws for Naturalization by rewarding criminal conduct, and encouraging the holding of foreign slaves who supplant free workers.

They have obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers answerable to the People.

They have made Judges dependent on their Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries, not answerable to the People or the Rule of Law.

They have erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

They have kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures, and Peace Officers whose primary objective is not to keep the peace, but to suppress liberties.

They have affected to render the Military independent of and superior to Civil power.

They have combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops and ambassadors among us:

For protecting them, by immunity, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off the right of the People to engage Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond local jurisdictions to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of American Laws, establishing therein a Judicial and Barristerial Royalty, and allowing them absolute rule without recourse from the People in these united States:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing or making of none effect our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

They have abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of their Protection and waging War against us.

They have plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burned our towns and our homes, and destroyed the lives of our people.

They are at this time organizing and training large Armies of paid Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. They are sending same across the globe to practise this Cruelty, causing the world to seek to destroy the People of the United States.

They have constrained our fellow Citizens to bear Arms against the People, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

They have excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and foreign invasions and attacks against us, and have endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers foreign intruders having no regard for our Laws.

They have subverted the Constitution to which they are sworn, at every turn, and in every manner possible.

They have forced upon us an unlawful exchange of money, supplanting the money described in the Constitution they swore to uphold.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble and peaceful terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince and a company of Princes, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attention to our brethren in government service. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislatures to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the free Citizens and People of the Confederate States of America, in General Congress, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these united States, solemnly publish and declare, That these United States are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to any current tyrannical rulership, and that all political connection between them and the federal government of the United States of America, and the inferior governments which do their bidding, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States crafted to serve the People and not the ruling class, they have full power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States and free People may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

US Opens National Parks To Guns

2009-05-20T21:14:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Today legislation to restore the Second Amendment rights of US Citizens in national parks and wildlife refuges passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of 279-147, including 105 democrats.

This was a major repudiation of the gun control community's anti self-defense agenda.

The current Department of Interior regulations were amended by the Bush Administration in 2008, allowing citizens to legally carry a firearm in national parks and wildlife refuges. However, early this year, a federal district court in Washington, D.C. granted anti-gun plaintiffs a preliminary injunction against implementation of the new rule.

“It has been an NRA priority to change the old, outdated rule, and we are pleased that Congress passed this critical legislation,” said Chris W. Cox, NRA’s chief lobbyist. “This step brings clarity and uniformity for law-abiding gun owners visiting our national parks and wildlife refuges. NRA will continue to pursue every avenue to defend the American people’s right of self-defense.”

The National Park Service’s recent report revealed that 11 murders, 35 rapes, 61 robberies and 261 aggravated assaults occurred on parklands in 2006. In addition to the dangers and potential attacks from human predators, park visitors have to consider attacks from animal predators.

Between April and December 2007 there were at least a dozen grizzly bear attacks reported by park visitors. Today, 31 states allow the carrying of firearms in state parks – all with safe and satisfactory results.

This bill provides consistency across our nation’s federal lands and puts an end to the patchwork of regulations that govern different lands managed by different federal agencies. In the past, only Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands allowed the carrying of firearms, while National Parks and Wildlife Refuges did not.

Currently, 48 states have some process in place for issuing licenses or permits to allow law-abiding citizens to carry firearms.

This new legislation restores the rights of gun owners who wish to transport and carry firearms for lawful purposes on most DOI lands and makes federal law consistent with the state law in which these lands are located.

“This common-sense measure, offered by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), gives law-abiding gun owners the option of protecting themselves in our federal parks and refuges. We appreciate the efforts and leadership of Senators Max Baucus (D-MT), Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Representative Doc Hastings (R-WA) in ensuring a legislative remedy to amend out-of-date regulations and restore the Second Amendment rights of American gun owners,” concluded Cox.

Montana Strikes Back!

2009-05-05T09:49:00.001-07:00

MONTANA GOVERNOR SIGNS NEW GUN LAW

Executive Summary - The USA state of Montana has signed into power a revolutionary gun law. I mean REVOLUTIONARY. The State of Montana has defied the federal government and their gun laws. This will prompt a showdown between the federal government and the State of Montana. The federal government fears citizens owning guns. They try to curtail what types of guns they can own. The gun control laws all have one common goal confiscation of privately owned firearms.

Montana has gone beyond drawing a line in the sand. They have challenged the Federal Government. The fed now either takes them on and risks them saying the federal agents have no right to violate their state gun laws and arrest the federal agents that try to enforce the federal firearms acts. This will be a world-class event to watch. Montana could go to voting for secession from the union, which is really throwing the gauntlet in Obama's face. If the federal government does nothing they lose face. Gotta love it.

Important Points If guns and ammunition are manufactured inside the State of Montana for sale and use inside that state then the federal firearms laws have no applicability since the federal government only has the power to control commerce across state lines. Montana has the law on their side. Since when did the USA start following their own laws especially the constitution of the USA, the very document that empowers the USA.

Silencers made in Montana and sold in Montana would be fully legal and not registered. As a note silencers were first used before the 007 movies as a device to enable one to hunt without disturbing neighbors and scaring game. They were also useful as devices to control noise when practicing so as to not disturb the neighbors.

Silencers work best with a bolt-action rifle. There is a long barrel and the chamber is closed tight so as to direct all the gases though the silencer at the tip of the barrel. Semi-auto pistols and revolvers do not really muffle the sound very well except on the silver screen. The revolvers bleed gas out with the sound all over the place. The semi-auto pistols bleed the gases out when the slide recoils back.

Silencers are maybe nice for snipers picking off enemy soldiers even though they reduce velocity but not very practical for hit men shooting pistols in crowded places. Silencers were useful tools for gun enthusiasts and hunters.

There would be no firearm registration, serial numbers, criminal records check, waiting periods or paperwork required. So in a short period of time there would be millions and millions of unregistered untraceable guns in Montana. Way to go Montana!

Discussion Let us see what Obama does. If he hits Montana hard they will probably vote to secede from the USA. The governor of Texas has already been refusing Federal money because he does not want to agree to the conditions that go with it and he has been saying secession is a right they have as sort of a threat. Things are no longer the same with the USA. Do not be deceived by Obama acting as if all is the same, it is not.

Text of the New Law:

HOUSE BILL NO. 246

INTRODUCED BY J. BONIEK, BENNETT, BUTCHER, CURTISS, RANDALL, WARBURTON

AN ACT EXEMPTING FROM FEDERAL REGULATION UNDER THE COMMERCE CLAUSE OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES A FIREARM, A FIREARM ACCESSORY, OR AMMUNITION MANUFACTURED AND RETAINED IN MONTANA; AND PROVIDING AN APPLICABILITY DATE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

Section 1. Short title. [Sections 1 through 6] may be cited as the "Montana Firearms Freedom Act".

Section 2. Legislative declarations of authority. The legislature declares that the authority for [sections 1 through 6] is the following:

(1) The 10th amendment to the United States constitution guarantees to the states and their people all powers not granted to the federal government elsewhere in the constitution and reserves to the state and people of Montana certain powers as they were understood at the time that Montana was admitted to statehood in 1889. The guaranty of those powers is a matter of contract between the state and people of Montana and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Montana and the United States in 1889.

(2) The ninth amendment to the United States constitution guarantees to the people rights not granted in the constitution and reserves to the people of Montana certain rights as they were understood at the time that Montana was admitted to statehood in 1889. The guaranty of those rights is a matter of contract between the state and people of Montana and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Montana and the United States in 1889.

(3) The regulation of intrastate commerce is vested in the states under the 9th and 10th amendments to the United States constitution, particularly if not expressly preempted by federal law. Congress has not expressly preempted state regulation of intrastate commerce pertaining to the manufacture on an intrastate basis of firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition.

(4) The second amendment to the United States constitution reserves to the people the right to keep and bear arms as that right was understood at the time that Montana was admitted to statehood in 1889, and the guaranty of the right is a matter of contract between the state and people of Montana and the United States as of the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Montana and the United States in 1889.

(5) Article II, section 12, of the Montana constitution clearly secures to Montana citizens, and prohibits government interference with, the right of individual Montana citizens to keep and bear arms. This constitutional protection is unchanged from the 1889 Montana constitution, which was approved by congress and the people of Montana, and the right exists as it was understood at the time that the compact with the United States was agreed upon and adopted by Montana and the United States in 1889.

Section 3. Definitions. As used in [sections 1 through 6], the following definitions apply:

(1) "Borders of Montana" means the boundaries of Montana described in Article I, section 1, of the 1889 Montana constitution.

(2) "Firearms accessories" means items that are used in conjunction with or mounted upon a firearm but are not essential to the basic function of a firearm, including but not limited to telescopic or laser sights, magazines, flash or sound suppressors, folding or aftermarket stocks and grips, speedloaders, ammunition carriers, and lights for target illumination.

(3) "Generic and insignificant parts" includes but is not limited to springs, screws, nuts, and pins.

(4) "Manufactured" means that a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition has been created from basic materials for functional usefulness, including but not limited to forging, casting, machining, or other processes for working materials.

Section 4. Prohibitions. A personal firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured commercially or privately in Montana and that remains within the borders of Montana is not subject to federal law or federal regulation, including registration, under the authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce. It is declared by the legislature that those items have not traveled in interstate commerce. This section applies to a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition that is manufactured in Montana from basic materials and that can be manufactured without the inclusion of any significant parts imported from another state. Generic and insignificant parts that have other manufacturing or consumer product applications are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition, and their importation into Montana and incorporation into a firearm, a firearm accessory, or ammunition manufactured in Montana does not subject the firearm, firearm accessory, or ammunition to federal regulation. It is declared by the legislature that basic materials, such as unmachined steel and unshaped wood, are not firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition and are not subject to congressional authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition under interstate commerce as if they were actually firearms, firearms accessories, or ammunition. The authority of congress to regulate interstate commerce in basic materials does not include authority to regulate firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition made in Montana from those materials. Firearms accessories that are imported into Montana from another state and that are subject to federal regulation as being in interstate commerce do not subject a firearm to federal regulation under interstate commerce because they are attached to or used in conjunction with a firearm in Montana.

Section 5. Exceptions. [Section 4] does not apply to:

(1) a firearm that cannot be carried and used by one person;

(2) a firearm that has a bore diameter greater than 1 1/2 inches and that uses smokeless powder, not black powder, as a propellant;

(3) ammunition with a projectile that explodes using an explosion of chemical energy after the projectile leaves the firearm; or

(4) a firearm that discharges two or more projectiles with one activation of the trigger or other firing device.

Section 6. Marketing of firearms. A firearm manufactured or sold in Montana under [sections 1 through 6] must have the words "Made in Montana" clearly stamped on a central metallic part, such as the receiver or frame.

Section 7. Codification instruction. [Sections 1 through 6] are intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 30, and the provisions of Title 30 apply to [sections 1 through 6].

Section 8. Applicability. [This act] applies to firearms, firearms accessories, and ammunition that are manufactured, as defined in [section 3], and retained in Montana after October 1, 2009.

UPDATE: Tennessee has passed a similar law... but nobody has challenged it yet to my knowledge.
You have to have the perfect defendant... like a retired USMC Marine with and of like MOS 9991 or something... squeaky clean... deacon at the baptist church, and coaches their state champion rifle team using guns he made according to State Law and never enter into interstate commerce.

The First Post

2009-04-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Folks,

This is going to be the family and friends personal blog...

the old one at http://360.yahoo.com/jbbooks1901 will just die a slow death with fewer and fewer posts, blogger is just much fuller featured and lets me separate my Amazon.com personal friends and family book and stuff requests from the Travel Stuff over on http://www.hackamoretravel.com which I want to keep pretty much 100% travel.