Labels: boquets, flowers

¶ 10:30 0 comments

In Haverhill, Massachusetts, a sewage pipe sustained damage as trees fell on a beaver dam, causing it to collapse. [Ron Trainor, KC8CEV, Photo]

Thanks to some deceptive emotionally based lobbying, anti-hunting activists have been pretty successful pushing to ban trapping, including prohibiting Conibear traps, which are not leghold traps. Presented with strong approval before the Connecticut Environmental committee Senate Bill No. 994 "An Act Concerning Leghold Traps." In essence, the bill effectively proposes to ban trapping altogether. If enacted, the ban would take effect on July 1, 2009. Banning trapping would have an almost immediate impact on the environment, especially where beaver populations build dams. A late entry to the discussion deals with adverse economic impact on state revenues and costs associated with varmint control. We cannot afford to have wildlife management tools banned because of ill-informed emotional appeals. It is vital you let legislators know what impact such a ban would have on good land conservation management practices.

Labels: anti-hunters, legislation, pest control, trapping

¶ 12:51 1 comments

     Tis' still nippy the airs that waft across our home
     But the sun brings promise for renewal

     we prepare the hearth for feasting
     and give thanks to the Great One
     much admired by Einstein and St Francis alike
     our thoughts are with you and yours

     Even if we cannot be together for our celebrations
     We are, in Spirit, right with you.

     Much joy for the return of the
     sparkle of Spring
     and Renewal

¶ 13:54 2 comments

Labels: activism, dance, performance art, public art, street theatre

¶ 22:54 0 comments

My travels take me all over; things seen disparate and apparently disconnected.
But they are all part of the composition of the day.
supplies

the day begins

interstate transport

mmm! fresh milk!

Not Close Enough

old house / new beginnings

Permanent Position

...th-th-that's all for today, folks!

Labels: architecturals, hairderssers, highways, industrial sites, New Britain, self portrait, soils

¶ 14:37 0 comments

If you have some suggestions about our products or our service, please tell us ,and we must accept and improve ,and appreciate you very much. hope sincerely that we can cooperate happily for a long time.

Labels: consumer alert, frauds, scams. topstrade, Shenzhen Kaisiter Electronics

¶ 20:23 1 comments

Labels: granite, maxfield parrish, photos, will brady

¶ 11:39 0 comments

Labels: lighting, photos, will brady

¶ 11:32 0 comments

City Lights Gallery in Bridgeport CT held the opening reception for its latest exhibit, "This and That". The works of twenty artists [yours truly included] who create art in collage / assemblage efforts / media are on display until 15th May 2009. It's a pretty exciting show, and I say this not just because I am in it. It was great to be able to compare one's personal style, the choice of media, the materials from which each of us worked, and the approaches to the theme.
     The formats and materials included photographs; kid's toys; bandages and masks; torn paper; kitchen utensils; stained glass; encaustic; light boxes; reclaimed cd's; as well as fabric and other found objects.
     The styles are quite varied, from a Louise Nevelson style piece, boxes reminiscent of Joseph Cornell, two dimensional photo collage, clean graphic design layouts, over to quilt/embroidery storytelling.
     The audience, a mix of artists and appreciators of art, were lively and animated. I'm proud to be in show of this quality.
     Since this is my weblog, I include a final picture of my own works most of which was hung in one corner.

Labels: artists, assemblages, bridgeport, city lights gallery, collage, connecticut, group shows, will brady

¶ 01:49 1 comments

Labels: churches, construction, technology

¶ 07:49 0 comments

Jonathan Radcliffe and Roger Smith reported an observational study of how patients spent their time on psychiatric wards in the UK, during working hours (0900–1700 h, weekdays).1 6% of the patients' time was spent in what might loosely be termed therapeutic interaction. Despite the intense enclosed nature of the ward, 84% of their time was spent interacting with no one at all.

Labels: bedside manner, comets, news, physicians, psychiatry

¶ 07:25 0 comments

LUG

Industry

Star Formation

Labels: art, assemblages, collage

¶ 22:57 0 comments

     In today's mad world, underpaid workers are bailing out banks and corporations run by overpaid, undertaxed bosses who milked their companies and our country like cash cows.
     While workers across America were losing jobs, homes and health insurance, Merrill Lynch paid nearly 700 employees more than $1 million each in bonuses last year, amounting to a $3.6 billion bonus bonanza as Merrill lost $27 billion.
     Workers have been sacrificing for years. Average worker paychecks are worth less now than in 1973, but CEOs and other rich Americans not only make much more, they pay less in taxes.
     Average full-time workers made $41,198 in 1973 and $37,606 in 2008, adjusted for inflation.
     CEOs made 45 times as much as workers in 1973 and more than 300 times as much as workers now. The top tax rate was 70 percent in 1973 and it's just 35 percent now; taxpayers pay the top rate on the portion of taxable income that falls within the highest bracket and pay lower rates on income below that. The top rate for capital gains on the sale of stock and other assets was 36.5 percent in 1973 and 15 percent now.
     Irrational pay and tax cuts have generated a massive redistribution of income and wealth — from everyday workers to CEOs, hedge fund managers and others in the richest 1 percent.
     By 2006, the richest 1 percent had increased their share of the nation's income to the second-highest level on record. The only year higher was 1928 — the eve of the Great Depression.

---

There are some who think, regarding the rich,
that maybe the French had the right idea

---

     According to the latest IRS data, excluding tax-exempt interest income from state and local government bonds, the richest 400 taxpayers had an average adjusted gross income of $263 million each on their federal income tax returns in 2006 — up from $221 million in 2005 and $67 million in 1992, all adjusted for inflation.
     Remember, that's annual income, not accumulated wealth — $263 million comes to more than $5 million a week.
     In 2006, the 400 ultra rich were taxed at an average rate of 17 percent — down from 26 percent in 1992. The ultra rich get most of their income from capital gains. The capital gains tax was cut from 28 percent in 1992 to 20 percent in 1997 and cut again to 15 percent in 2003.
     To make matters worse, the rich cheat more on their taxes. Forbes recently reported on a study using IRS data showing that taxpayers with income between $500,000 and $1 million a year understated their adjusted gross incomes by 21 percent in 2001, compared to 8 percent for those earning $50,000 to $100,000, and even lower rates for those earning less.
     We should raise taxes at the top so the nation's richest bosses no longer pay lower effective rates than workers and we can start reversing the obscene rise in inequality rather than reinforcing it. President Barack Obama's plan to cap CEO cash pay at $500,000 for senior executives at companies on the government dole sounds better than it is, affecting few firms and being full of loopholes.
     At the very least, Obama should not delay restoring the top tax rate to the 39.6 percent that prevailed in 2000. The Bush tax cuts saved the top 1 percent nearly half a trillion dollars between 2001 and 2008, reports Citizens for Tax Justice.
     The $79.5 billion in tax cuts for the top 1 percent in 2008 was more than the budgets of the Department of Education and Environmental Protection Agency combined. In 2008, it took an annual income greater than $462,000 just to get into the top 1 percent.
     Even better, we should add a top rate of 50 percent on income above $1 million, as advocated by Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, among others.
     People for whom $1 million and above is an annual paycheck should pay more so people for whom $1 million is an unattainable lifetime fortune don't have to.
     If we don't start taxing the wealthy more now, then you can be sure that the mountain of debt created by tax cuts and the bailout will be used to drive "entitlement reform." Workers' last forms of security — Social Security and Medicare — will be on the chopping block to pay for the wreck the truly entitled made of our economy.
     Holly Sklar is co-author of "A Just Minimum Wage: Good for Workers, Business and Our Future" and "Raise the Floor: Wages and Policies That Work for All of Us." She can be reached at hsklar@aol.com or P.O. Box 301045, Boston, Mass. 02130.

Labels: charity, social justice, super-rich, tax disparities, wealth disparities

¶ 06:03 0 comments

The suitcases and their contents bear witness to the rich, complex lives their owners lived prior to being committed to Willard.  They speak about aspirations, accomplishments, community connections, but also about loss and isolation. From the clothing and personal objects left behind, we can gain some understanding of who these people were before they disappeared behind hospital walls.  We can picture their jobs and careers, see them driving cars, playing sports, studying, writing, and traveling the world.  We can imagine their families and friends.  But we can also see their lives coming apart due to unemployment, the death of a loved one, loneliness, poverty, or some other catastrophic event.
     The suitcases and the life stories of the people who owned them raise questions that are difficult to confront.  Why were these people committed to this institution, and why did so many stay for so long?  How were they treated?  What was it like to spend years in a mental institution, shut away from a society that wanted to distance itself from people it considered insane?  Why did most of these suitcase owners live out their days at Willard?  What about their friends and families?  Are the circumstances today any better than they were for psychiatric patients during the first half of the 20th century?

Labels: abandonment, abuse, anonymity, bearing witness, mental hospitals, psychiatric survivors, warehousing

¶ 09:40 0 comments