08 November 2009
close to me... :(
Oil spill contaminates N.S. river...
2 hours, 11 minutes ago
An oil spill in Nova Scotia on Sunday has contaminated the Little Sackville River.
About 600 litres of pink furnace oil spilled out of an outdoor tank located behind a strip mall at 1053 Sackville Dr., in Lower Sackville, Halifax RCMP Cpl. Joe Taplin said.
It appears the copper line to the tank was deliberately cut, likely between 1 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. AT, Taplin said.
Oil was seeping into the earth and a nearby storm drain, traveling through an outfall and into the river behind Buddy's Billiards.
Police and firefighters were called to the scene about 9 a.m. after area residents noticed the sheen on the water, Taplin said.
Federal and provincial environment officials, members of the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and representatives of the Halifax Regional Water Commission also responded.
The spill has been contained and absorbent pads are being used to pick up some of the oil.
Backhoes were also used to dig up the contaminated soil around the tank.
Fisheries officials said the river is fast moving, which may help protect habitat.
The river is home to 13 species of fish, including trout and Atlantic salmon, as well as water fowl.
Police plan to review the building owner's surveillance tapes.
"To us, it's just a senseless act of vandalism right now that's caused quite a bit of damage from the sewer system all the way down to the Sackville River," Taplin said.
Meanwhile, members of the Sackville Rivers Association plan to inspect the damage to the already sensitive river on Monday.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the RCMP, Halifax Regional Police, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
Copyright © 2009 CBC
deaths up... :(
Hurricane Ida floods kill 91 in El Salvador...
2 hours, 2 minutes ago
SAN SALVADOR (AFP) - Torrential rains caused by a low pressure system in the Pacific and the tail-end of Hurricane Ida killed some 91 people, and left some 60 others missing in El Salvador, civil defense officials here said today.
"We have to mourn the deaths of 91 people because of the rains," Interior Minister Humberto Centeno told a reporters here.
Civil Defense chief Jorge Melendez added the rain and subsequent flooding was due to "low pressure ... and the remnants of Ida".
Hurricane Ida, which grew to a category two storm today, was meanwhile churning its way toward Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.
Forecasters at the Miami-based US National Hurricane Center said Ida was packing top wind speeds of 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour.
more filth found!
Mold, slime found at Listeria-stricken meat plant weeks after heavy cleaning: reports...
53 minutes ago
By Steve Rennie, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - A top-to-bottom scrubbing after a deadly listeriosis outbreak apparently didn't fully cleanse a Maple Leaf Foods plant of mould, slime, and meat debris, newly released documents show.
Inspectors found a troubling lack of hygiene at the company's Toronto facility, just weeks after it reopened last year, from a temporary shutdown for cleaning, according to inspection reports.
Maple Leaf says inspectors were looking more carefully at the plant after the listeriosis crisis, so naturally, they found more problems.
And the company's chief food-safety officer, Dr. Randy Huffman, said Maple Leaf put in place more than 200 new standard operating procedures after the listeriosis outbreak, but it took workers time to learn them.
He said through that learning process, the company has continuously improved its approach to food safety.
Huffman said there was never any reason to be worried about the safety of the food produced at the plant.
The head of the federal food inspectors union said, however, that some of what the inspectors reported seeing at the time were "things people should be concerned about".
Maple Leaf closed its Bartor Road deli-meat plant for nearly a month, last year, after its products tested positive for a bacteria called Listeria monocytogenes.
Twenty-two people died, and many more fell ill, after eating tainted meat from the plant.
During the plant's closure, the company invited television crews to film workers in what looked like hazardous-material suits, dismantling and sterilizing equipment, while the other areas were coated in a foamy disinfectant.
Hundreds of employees also spent hours in training sessions learning about cleanliness and the bacteria.
Company president, Michael McCain, held a news conference when the plant reopened on 18 Sept. 2008, and acknowledged the experts who worked tirelessly to sanitize the facility and its many meat slicers.
But during a checkup less than a month later, Canadian Food Inspection Agency staff found mold on the walls and floor, slime underneath a meat-trimming table, leftover meat on wheeled container bins and rusty equipment.
The infractions are listed on an inspection report dated 10 Oct. 2008.
They include:
-slime on part of the meat-trimming table in the curing room;
-meat debris on two steel container bins and unidentified debris on the brine tank in the curing room;
-a moist and moldy cardboard sheet on the base of a skid in the curing room that holds bags of salt;
-moldy caulking on the walls of the meat-defrosting room;
-a stack of dirty, moldy and broken skids left in the frozen packoff room during cleaning;
-food debris on knife holders, floor and meat containers in the formulation room; and,
-rust on equipment used to process mock chicken.
The Canadian Press obtained that inspection report and others under the Access to Information Act.
The food-inspection agency issued a corrective-action request during the 10 Oct. checkup.
Corrective-action requests state the nature of the problem and give the company up to 60 days to fix it.
When the inspector returned on 20 Oct., the moud was gone and many other problems had been fixed.
But another report says during visits on 21 and 22 Oct., an inspector watched as "an employee in a gray jacket lifted a floor broom over a finished food product conveyor belt during operation to sweep in between the conveyors."
Then on 22 Oct., the inspector saw a worker using a fork lift to move ready-to-eat link sausages from the cooler to a line for packaging.
The report notes the meat at the bottom part of the lift "was not protected for the potential wheel over spray or splash cross contamination."
The inspector deemed the lift "as being in unsanitary condition," and also noticed a "green chemical liquid" pooling on the floor in the area where the machine was stored.
In subsequent checkups that month, the inspector reported the rust had been sandblasted from the mock chicken equipment, and other problems had been fixed.
But more issues turned up during another visit on 12 Dec.
The inspector found small chunks of meat on a conveyor belt and on the buttons that operate it.
A worker struggled to clean the equipment as the inspector looked on.
"He cleaned it three times, to bring it to acceptable level, first two times he missed pieces of meat on the conveyor belt," the report says.
Pieces of meat were also found on the frame of a brine tank in the curing room, and meat and dirt were stuck to a broken stuffing machine in the kitchen.
Huffman, Maple Leaf's top food-safety officer, told The Canadian Press finding mold on the facility's walls after such a thorough scrubbing is "not acceptable", though he couldn't explain how the fungus escaped the cleaners' mops in the first place.
Huffman said the more than 200 new standard operating procedures put in place after the listeriosis outbreak were a "a lot for a company to take on all at once," but the objective "is to continuously improve and to implement best practices throughout our facilities."
"That's what we've been doing for that last 14 months.
"The issues you've been asking us about did occur approximately a year ago.
"We've continuously improved in that facility, and we've very proud of the track record and the progress made."
The federal food inspectors' union found some of the infractions troubling.
"We're talking about a broom being taken from being used on the floor and now sweeping over top of finished product.
"We're talking about wheels on carts used to move finished product that are exposed and are flinging contaminated moisture up onto finished product," said union head, Bob Kingston.
"Those are things people should be concerned about.
"And there's a fair amount of repetition here, too."
While not every infraction found at the Bartor Road plant posed an imminent food-safety threat, Kingston said, he's surprised a company that had been through a high-profile Listeria outbreak didn't hold itself to a higher standard of hygiene.
"In a normal operation that had not been through what they had been through, that might be a common occurence," he said.
"But in this facility, it's very surprising that that would still be there.
"Because you would expect it to be spotless."
The fallout of the listeriosis crisis touched governments and industry.
The outbreak prompted the federal government to strengthen its food-safety protocols.
It's now mandatory for companies to report all positive Listeria findings to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and facilities have to test more often for possible contamination.
The tainted-meat scandal also set off a flurry of probes.
Perhaps the most high profile was an arm's length investigation by former Edmonton health chief Sheila Weatherill.
Her team spoke to more than 100 people and amassed some five million pages of information during a six-month probe and still couldn't answer every question, like how many meat inspectors there are in Canada.
Other reports by Health Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Ontario government and a House of Commons subcommittee studying food safety identified other shortcomings.
Throughout the ordeal, Maple Leaf won plaudits for owning up to its error and making a heightened commitment to food safety its cause celebre.
The company apologized and agreed to pay up to $27 million to settle class-action lawsuits. Maple Leaf has also instituted more rigorous testing for the Listeria bacteria in plants producing ready-to-eat meat.
Copyright © 2009 Canadian Press
scams... :(
Beware of online swine-flu remedies: Health Canada...
05 Nov '09
As flu activity picks up across the country, federal authorities are warning Canadians not to buy unauthorized products from the internet, or other sources, that claim to fight the H1N1 virus.
The Competition Bureau, and Health Canada, issued a joint statement Wednesday, saying only three products are authorized for use against the virus: the vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline, called Arepanrix, which is available at flu clinics and doctors' offices, and the antiviral drugs Tamiflu and Relenza.
However, a quick tour around the internet found lots of sites offering remedies and potions that promise to kill the swine flu virus, or protect you from getting it in the first place.
Other websites attached incorrect messages and labels to otherwise legal products or homeopathic remedies, that, on their own, did not claim to kill the H1N1 virus.
"These people look for opportunity, and they look for anxiety and fear in the marketplace," said Lynda Pasacreta, head of the Better Business Bureau for mainland B.C.
For instance, herbalcureindia.com touted several swine-flu cures, as well as products for breast and penis enlargement.
It described one herbal product, Tinospora, as "a drug with bitter properties, which is again helpful in preventing swine flu."
Another website, squidoo.com, claimed the cure for swine flu could be found right in your kitchen.
And so easy to make: Just mix two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, one tablespoon of honey, and one cup of warm water each morning.
"This may prevent and kill microbes trying to infect your body," the description claims.
The website touted garlic, vitamin C, and zinc lozenges, as products that would ward off swine flu.
It also posted links to several homeopathic medicines, including Sprayology Cold + Flu, which could be purchased at Amazon.com, for prices in the $20 US range.
To be fair to the makers of Sprayology Cold + Flu, the product's own description made no swine-flu claim.
It bills itself as a way to ease general cold and flu symptoms.
On many websites, the term swine flu was the clickable word to access product information, even if that product made no claim to cure swine flu.
For instance, a Google ad on squidoo.com was sponsored by Tylenol.ca.
To get to this product, the clickable term was "swine flu".
Nowhere in the Tylenol description was there a mention of swine flu.
Other websites offer even more dubious advice.
At homemademedicine.com, you can find recipes for potions to cure everything from swine flu and hair loss to snoring and stretch marks.
The mangled English description for its nine "remedies for Swine Flu" were the first tip-off these remedies were of dubious value.
"Home remedies for Swine Flu #7: Take arsenicum album if thirsty, but feel better drinking warm fluids, lack of appetite, body aches, and feel worse during the night", read one description.
Health Canada says it will monitor the internet, and take action against websites selling unauthorized products for the treatment or prevention of the H1N1 flu virus, or any other health condition.
The agency warned vaccines should only come from a qualified health-care provider, and antivirals should only be purchased with a prescription from a health-care practitioner who has examined the patient.
While there are legitimate Canadian internet pharmacies, consumers were warned to be aware of the risks associated with buying drugs online.
Copyright © 2009 CBC
ft.hood [redux]
Fort Hood investigators see suspect as lone gunman...
43 minutes ago
FORT HOOD, Texas (AFP) - Investigators probing the massacre of 13 people at a Texas army base are today trying to piece together the motive behind the shooting believed to be the act of a lone army gunman.
As US President Barack Obama prepared to attend a memorial Tuesday, 200-plus investigators worked round-the-clock to uncover how and why 39-year-old army psychiatrist, Nidal Hasan, allegedly went on the rampage at Fort Hood military base.
"All evidence at this point indicates the suspect allegedly acted alone," said army investigation spokesman, Chris Grey, appearing to strike down any theories Hasan was part of a radical Islamist sleeper-cell.
As religious services were held in and around the base Sunday, the army's Criminal Investigation Command formally called for witnesses to come forward.
They also asked for clothes or other personal effects that may contain gunshot residue, or any items to help put together a ballistic portrait of Thursday's fateful events at building 42003, a troop processing center.
Hasan's family grapple motives
From their work, and the testimony of those who met Hasan, a picture has emerged of a deeply religious American, of Palestinian parents, who opposed Anerican prosecution of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Hasan was to be deployed to Afghanistan later this month, army officials said.
Garrison chaplain, Colonel Frank Jackson, described having an amiable chat with Hasan a few months ago, when the pair discussed the purchase of Muslim prayer rugs.
"He just happened to be in our office area, and like I do when I see somebody who doesn't work for me, I said 'hi'," Jackson told AFP.
"I asked him if there was anything I could do to assist the Muslim congregation.
"He said it was a great service, everything was doing great.
"I told him we needed to buy prayer rugs, I asked him where to go, and he gave me a name of some place."
An initial search of Hasan's computer revealed no direct exchanges with known extremists, but US Army and FBI officials have yet to rule out, completely, possible links to terrorist groups, US media reported.
Earlier this year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation learned of Internet postings, by a man calling himself Nidal Hasan, that expressed support for suicide bombings.
Witnesses reportedly heard Hasan, who investigators believe fired more than 100 rounds during the incident, shout "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest) before opening fire.
Thirty more people were also injured in the carnage.
US commanders, fearing a backlash against Muslim troops -- prized for their cultural and linguistic knowledge, warned against jumping to any conclusions about the shooter's motivation.
Army chief of staff, George Casey, warned deadly shootings at Fort Hood could prompt a backlash against the estimated 3,500 Muslims serving in the US military.
[Related article: US general warns of Muslim 'backlash'.]
"I worry the speculation could cause something we don't want to see happen."
Seventeen of the 30 people wounded by volleys from the semi-automatic, and the handgun, allegedly wielded by Hasan, remain in hospital today, as doctors warn many will be permanently scared by their injuries.
The suspect himself, who was shot by a female civilian police officer, being hailed as a heroine, was taken off a ventilator, but is still in intensive care.
Meanwhile, details were released of each of those killed.
The victims included a 21-year-old mother-to-be, Private Francheska Velez, who was due to return home to Chicago for maternity leave, after a tour in Iraq, and 56-year-old John Gaffaney, a psychiatric nurse, who had just persuaded the military to let him return to active duty for deployment in Iraq.
Private First Class, Kham Xiong, 23, was a father of three, whose own father had fought communist forces in Laos, during the Vietnam war.
Specialist Ryan Hill, 28, came to the base with his young daughter, Emma, to put flowers and candles at the main gates, as a mark of respect to the victims.
"It makes me mad.
"I don't know how somebody can commit an act like that," Hill told AFP.
"Those soldiers were ready to take off and deploy, and they won't even get to do that."
US Army Specialist, Ryn Hill, and his daughter, Emma, 3, place flowers and a candle for victims of the shooting at Fort Hood, at the main gate.
Investigators Saturday worked to uncover the motives of an American Muslim Army doctor, suspected of killing 13 people, and wounding 30 others in a shooting rampage at the US military base. Photo:Paul J. Richards/AFP
ida kills :(
Hurricane Ida strengthens, 42 dead in El Salvador...
1 hour, 25 minutes ago
By Michael O'Boyle
CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Ida intensified off the Mexican resort of Cancun, today, and aimed for the Gulf of Mexico as the storm's heavy rains killed at least 42 people in El Salvador.
El Salvador's interior minister said more victims were expected to be found as rescue workers moved into areas cut off by flooding and mudslides in the Central American nation.
Ida reached hurricane status again late Saturday, with sustained winds of near 90 mph, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its 9 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) advisory.
The storm was poised to swing past Cancun and enter the Gulf of Mexico later today.
Ida could strengthen to Category 2 status, on the five step Safir-Simpson intensity scale, before starting to weaken on Monday as it churns toward oil and gas production facilities in the central Gulf of Mexico, the Miami-based hurricane center said.
The Mexican government urged people to avoid unnecessary travel in the Yucatan Peninsula and imposed restrictions on coastal shipping.
Approximately 1,000 people were evacuated from Holbox island northwest of Cancun, an isolated fishing community and sanctuary for thousands of flamingos and other exotic birds.
In Cancun, the sky was cloudy and a light rain fell but the airport remained open and there were no plans to evacuate the approximately 12,000 people visiting the famous resort popular with American tourists.
The hurricane center set a hurricane watch from Grand Isle, Louisiana, to the border between Mississippi and Alabama.
The watch did not include the city of New Orleans.
A hurricane watch means hurricane conditions are expected in the area within 36 hours.
Energy companies active in the Gulf of Mexico, including Mexico's state oil monopoly, Pemex, are actively monitoring the storm but have not yet evacuated any production platforms or curtailed output of oil and gas.
The Gulf of Mexico accounts for a quarter of U.S. domestic oil production and 15 percent of natural gas output.
The Gulf Coast is also home to 40 percent of the nation's refining capacity.
As of 9 a.m. EST (1500 GMT), the center of Ida was 75 miles northeast of the Caribbean resort island of Cozumel, Mexico, and about 80 miles west-southwest of the western tip of Cuba, the hurricane center said.
It was moving northwest near 10 mph and was forecast to turn toward the north over the next two days.
Ida first became a hurricane on Thursday off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua before weakening over that country.
It strengthened again on Saturday.
The storm's heavy rains forced more than 5,000 people into shelters in Nicaragua but there were no reports of fatalities.
The country's coffee crop was not directly affected by the storm, according to the local coffee council.
(Reporting by Michael O'Boyle and Jose Cortazar in Cancun, Nelson Renteria in San Salvador and Ivan Castro in Managua; Writing by Robert Campbell; Editing by Will Dunham and Chris Wilson)
A man reacts while standing next to a destroyed house in Barra del Rio Grande, Nicaragua, 06 November 2009.
Hurricane Ida had weakened to a tropical storm after churning through eastern Nicaragua on Thursday, cutting power and ripping roofs on little-developed Caribbean islands.
Ida should break into the northwest Caribbean on Saturday and reach the Gulf of Mexico early Monday, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center forecasts.
Once over open water, the NHC expects Ida to regain tropical storm strength. REUTERS/Stringer (NICARAGUA ENVIRONMENT DISASTER)
one step left...
Obstacles awaiting health care bill in Senate after close House passage of landmark plan...
19 minutes ago
By Erica Werner, The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed far-reaching health care legislation, handing President Barack Obama a hard-won victory on his chief domestic priority, though the road ahead, in the Senate, promises to be tougher.
The 220-215 House vote, late Saturday, cleared the way for the Senate to begin a long-delayed debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress.
House Republicans were nearly unanimous in opposing the plan that would expand coverage to tens of millions of Americans who lack it, and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry.
In the Senate, more than a simple majority is needed for passage, and several centrist Democrats still have reservations, particularly about establishing a government-sponsored insurance program, or public option, to compete with private insurers.
"The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Sunday.
"It was a bill written by liberals for liberals."
A Democratic colleague, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, predicted an overhaul would pass the Senate, because "it's essential" to the country's economic success and people's quality of life.
"It will take time," he added.
Obama, who went to Capitol Hill earlier on Saturday to lobby wavering Democrats, praised the House in a statement and said he is "absolutely confident" the Senate will pass its version of the legislation.
"I look forward to signing it into law by the end of the year," he said.
The House bill is projected to expand coverage to 36 million uninsured.
The United States is the ONLY developed nation that does not have a comprehensive national health care plan.
"It provides coverage for 96 per cent of Americans.
"It offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable health care when they need it," said Rep. John Dingell, the 83-year-old Michigan lawmaker who has introduced national health insurance in every Congress since succeeding his father in 1955.
A triumphant House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, likened the legislation to the passage of the government's Social Security pension program in 1935 and Medicare health insurance for the elderly 30 years later.
Republicans detailed their objections across hours of debate on the 1,990-page, 10-year $1.2 trillion legislation.
"We are going to have a complete government takeover of our health care system faster than you can say, 'this is making me sick,"' said Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan.
She added, Democrats were intent on passing "a jobs-killing, tax-hiking, deficit-exploding" bill.
In the run-up to a final vote, conservatives from the two political parties joined forces to impose tough, new restrictions on abortion coverage, in insurance policies, to be sold to many individuals and small groups.
Ironically, that only solidified support for the legislation, clearing the way for conservative Democrats to vote for it.
The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide federal subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it.
Large companies would have to offer coverage to their employees.
Both consumers and companies would be slapped with penalties if they defied the government's mandates.
Insurance industry practices such as denying coverage because of medical conditions would be banned, and insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender or medical history.
The industry would also lose its exemption from federal antitrust restrictions on price fixing and market allocation.
At its core, the measure would create a federally regulated marketplace where consumers could shop for coverage.
In the bill's most controversial provision, the government would sell insurance, although the Congressional Budget Office forecasts premiums for it would be more expensive than for policies sold by private companies.
Graham said he thinks the government option "will destroy private health care.
"Nobody in this country in the insurance business can compete with a government-sponsored plan, where the government writes the benefits and politicians will never raise the premiums."
Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said "if the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote, because I believe the debt can break America, and send us into a recession worse than the one we're fighting our way out of today."
The House bill drew the votes of 219 Democrats and Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican, who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans.
Opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats, mostly moderates from Republican-leaning states.
Over all, the bill envisioned the most sweeping set of changes to the U.S. health care system in more than a generation, and Democrats said it marked the culmination of a campaign Harry Truman began when he sat in the White House, 60 years ago.
To pay for the expansion of coverage, the bill cuts Medicare's projected spending by more than $400 billion, over a decade.
It also imposes a tax surcharge of 5.4 per cent on income over $500,000 in the case of individuals and $1 million for families.
A Republican alternative to the Democrats' House bill was rejected on a near party line vote of 258-176.
From the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement saying, "We realize the strong will for reform that exists, and we are energized that we stand, closer than ever, to reforming our broken health insurance system."
Senate Democrats will need 60 out of 100 votes to end debate, and bring legislation to a final vote.
If the Senate does pass the bill, it would have to be reconciled with the House version by a panel of lawmakers from both chambers before the legislation is put up for final approval.
The U.S. government provides coverage for the poor, elderly and military veterans, but most Americans rely on private insurance, usually provided through their employers.
But with unemployment climbing above 10 per cent, many Americans are losing their health insurance when they lose their jobs.
At the same time, the deepening budget deficit has made it difficult for lawmakers to support costly new programs.
Graham and Reed were on CBS television's "Face the Nation".
Lieberman appeared on "Fox News Sunday".
-
Associated Press writers David Espo, Phil Elliott and Alan Fram contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2009 Canadian Press
08 Nov '09
Democrats braced for the next battle in pushing the most sweeping US health care overhaul in a half-century through Congress, after handing President Barack Obama, seen here, a narrow House victory.
Photo:Saul Loeb/AFP
wolf/hunter...
Wolf and Hunter [*]
You lust of gain,—foul fiend, whose evil eyes
Regard as nothing the blessings of the skies,
Must I for ever battle you in vain?
How long demandest you to gain
The meaning of my lessons plain?
Will constant getting never cloy?
Will man never slacken to enjoy?
Haste, friend; you have not long to live:
Let me the precious word repeat,
And listen to it, I entreat;
A richer lesson none can give—
The sovereign antidote for sorrow—
ENJOY!—'I will."—But when?—'Tomorrow.—"
Ah! death may take you on the way,
Why not enjoy, I ask, today?
Lest envious fate your hopes ingulf,
As once it served the hunter and the wolf.
You lust of gain,—foul fiend, whose evil eyes
Regard as nothing the blessings of the skies,
Must I for ever battle you in vain?
How long demandest you to gain
The meaning of my lessons plain?
Will constant getting never cloy?
Will man never slacken to enjoy?
Haste, friend; you have not long to live:
Let me the precious word repeat,
And listen to it, I entreat;
A richer lesson none can give—
The sovereign antidote for sorrow—
ENJOY!—'I will."—But when?—'Tomorrow.—"
Ah! death may take you on the way,
Why not enjoy, I ask, today?
Lest envious fate your hopes ingulf,
As once it served the hunter and the wolf.
The former, with his fatal bow,
A noble deer had laid full low:
A fawn approached, and quickly lay
Companion of the dead,
For side by side they bled.
Could one have wished a richer prey?
Such luck had been enough to sate
A hunter wise and moderate.
Meantime a boar, as big as ever was taken,
Our archer tempted, proud, and fond of bacon.
Another candidate for Styx,
Struck by his arrow, foams and kicks.
But strangely do the shears of Fate
To cut his cable hesitate.
Alive, yet dying, there he lies,
A glorious and a dangerous prize.
And was not this enough? Not quite,
To fill a conqueror's appetite;
For, before the boar was dead, he spied
A partridge by a furrow's side—
A trifle to his other game.
Once more his bow he drew;
The desperate boar on him came,
And in his dying vengeance slew:
The partridge thanked him as she flew.
Thus much is to the covetous addressed;
The miserly shall have the rest.
A wolf, in passing, saw that woeful sight.
"O Fortune," cried the savage, with delight,
"A fane to you I'll build outright!
"Four carcasses! how rich! But spare—
"I'll make them last—such luck is rare,"
(The miser's everlasting plea.)
"They'll last a month for—let me see—
One, two, three, four—the weeks are four
If I can count—and some days more.
Well, two days from now
And I'll commence.
Meantime, the string on this bow
I'll stint myself to eat;
For by its mutton-smell I know
It's made of entrails sweet."
His entrails rued the fatal weapon,
Which, while he heedlessly did step on,
The arrow pierced his bowels deep,
And laid him lifeless on the heap.
Hark, stingy souls! insatiate leeches!
Our text this solemn duty teaches,—
Enjoy the present; do not wait
To share the wolf's or hunter's fate.
[*] Bidpai; and the Hitopadesa.
See extract from Sir William Jones's translation in the Introduction
~Jean de la Fontaine
07 November 2009
horses shot! GRRRRRRRRRRR
Change deer hunt laws: N.S. horse owners...
07 Nov '09
Some horse owners in Nova Scotia are calling for changes to deer hunting laws after two horse shooting incidents this week.
They say they're worried about the safety of their animals and themselves.
Police are investigating after two horses were shot, one of them fatally, at a farm in South Maitland, Thursday night.
A 2½-year-old mare, named Bailey, died from the bullet to her upper body.
The other, named Genes, is recovering after a bullet seared through the back of her neck.
Carla Mullins discovered her horses Friday morning.
She is angry and grief-striken at the loss, and believes careless hunters are to blame.
"Why?
"How could you be so stupid?
"She's not even small like a deer.
"Like ... why?
"It makes no sense to me," she said Saturday, after burying Bailey.
Officers found shell casings near the pasture where the horses were grazing, and fresh ATV tracks nearby, said RCMP Sgt., Chris Bewsher.
It appears the horses were shot with a high-calibre weapon, he said.
Earlier this week, a hunter fired a shot that narrowly missed Pat Cummings's horses at her horse arena, in Lunenburg County.
Cummings called the police, but the man with the gun got away.
"They intercepted as many people as they could who were hunting in the area behind our farm," she said.
"And basically, they told us, 'Don't go near the woods, even with orange clothing on', because there were so many hunters behind our farm right now."
Cummings said deer hunters flock to her neighbor's property, and often end up near her back yard, before sunrise and after dark.
She worries it's only a matter of time before one of her horses, or loved ones, gets shot.
Cummings thinks the province should change the rules so hunters can only shoot in remote areas.
"I'm very upset because I have children, teenagers, who come here to ride, and it costs me hundreds of dollars to keep my horses in and feed them hay, when they could be on the grass.
"I have done that all along.
"However, the safety factor now is getting really crazy," she said.
"We were told by the authorities a gun that size, at that range, would go right through this riding arena, so I have no place to put my horses, or my children or grandchildren, where it's safe right now."
She used to have No Hunting signs on her property, but someone shot them up.
"We always keep our horses in as much as we can, this time of year."
Nova Scotia's deer hunting season lasts until the first week of December.
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