Vol. 1, No. 2

“To the world you might be one person,
but to one person you just might be the world"

This issue contains a special report on how the reader can control bed bugs without using toxic pesticides or an exterminating company.  As you will see, bed bugs are not difficult to control if you know something about their natural history and how they make a living.  This information will be valuable for hotel / motel management, apartment complex managers and anyone who has to deal with these insects in the public sector.  The bed bug column will start on page 4.

WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

"GOD is GOD. He made the heavens, earth, sun, animals and he saw it was good. He created all of the animals and then man to rule over the animals.

All things were put here for us to put under foot. We, as stated in the Old Testament are to subdue the earth and everything in it. Jesus' birth and ultimately his death was for the perfect sacrifice for mankind, not animal kind. HE was sacrificed, so if we are not to kill animals, does that mean that you are saying that my Lord is lower than the common sparrow, chicken or other animal? We shouldn't allow animals fight?

What are you saying? GOD is the same....alpha, omega.....the bible says to love thy GOD with all of thy heart.....not save the animals.....read the bible a little more carefully. I am over any animal as are all other human beings and I will continue to subdue ALL animals as I am commanded!"

Of course the cockfighters and other people prone to animal cruelty will claim this is Job talking and not God. If you read Proverbs 12:10, it says, "A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, wicked men are cruel to theirs". The cockfighters will say they 'love' their birds and treat them like royalty, right up until the time they strap razors on them and let them slice each other up. God help us if He loved us, His children, like the cockfighters presume to love their chickens!

Perhaps the most important passage is from Ecclesiastes 3:19-21: "Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

Cockfighters aren't the only people to misrepresent what the Bible really says in order to justify evil deeds. Anyone who enjoys or participates in abject animal cruelty, whether it is fighting animals or mistreating farm animals destined for the slaughterhouse, or who callously kills anything for pleasure is violating the precepts of the Bible and Christian doctrine. Can anyone imagine Jesus going to a cockfight? A dogfight? A bullfight? Can anyone imagine Jesus walking through the overcrowded pens of a factory farm where cattle, hogs or chickens are treated with unimaginable cruelty before they are slaughtered? Can anyone see Jesus on a horse chasing a fox with a pack of dogs? Can anyone visualize Jesus walking across the tundra in Canada and bashing in the heads of baby seals and skinning them alive?

We can't imagine Jesus doing any of those things, but we can certainly see Satan participating with glee, the same glee the cockfighters have when they watch two chickens slaughter each other for fun and profit. Luke 12:6 says: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God." The sparrows aren't forgotten, nor are the roosters. They share the same Breath of God as we all do. 

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“Of what use are all your sacrifices to Me? I have had enough of the roasted carcasses of rams and of the fat of fattened beasts. I take no pleasure in the blood of calves, lambs and goats . When you spread out your hands, I close My eyes to you; despite however much you pray, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before My eyes and stop doing evil”.--Isaiah 1:11, 1:15-16

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A GREAT DOG STORY

Mary and her husband Jim had a dog named 'Lucky.' Lucky was a real character. Whenever Mary and Jim had company come for a weekend visit they would warn their friends to not leave their luggage open because Lucky would help himself to whatever struck his fancy. Inevitably, someone would forget and something would come up missing.

Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in the basement and there the treasure would be, amid all of Lucky's other favorite toys. Lucky always stashed his finds in his toy box
And he was very particular that his toys stay in the box.

It happened that Mary found out she had breast cancer. Something told her she was going to die of this disease...in fact, she was just sure it was fatal. She scheduled the double
mastectomy, fear riding her shoulders.

The night before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with Lucky. A thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky? Although the three-year-old dog liked Jim, he was Mary's dog through and through. If I die, Lucky will be abandoned, Mary thought. He won't understand that I didn't want to leave him. The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own death.

The double mastectomy was harder on Mary than her doctors had anticipated and Mary was hospitalized for over two weeks. Jim took Lucky for his evening walk faithfully, but the little dog just drooped, whining and miserable.

Finally the day came for Mary to leave the hospital. When she arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even make it up the steps to her bedroom. Jim made his wife comfortable on the couch and left her to nap.

Lucky stood watching Mary but he didn't come to her when she called. It made Mary sad but sleep soon overcame her and she dozed.

When Mary woke for a second she couldn't understand what was wrong. She couldn't move her head and her body felt heavy and hot. But panic soon gave way to laughter when Mary realized the problem. She was covered, literally blanketed, with every treasure Lucky owned! While she had slept, the sorrowing dog had made trip after trip to the basement bringing his beloved mistress all his favorite things in life. He had covered her with his love.

Mary forgot about dying. Instead she and Lucky began living again, walking further and further together every day.

It's been 12 years now and Mary is still cancer-free. Lucky? He still steals treasures and stashes them in his toy box but Mary remains his greatest treasure.

"Ever occur to you why some of us can be this much concerned with animals' suffering? Because government is not. why not? Animals don't vote”.—Paul Harvey

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GOOD NEWS FOR OLD HIPPIES

A new study by researchers at the Scripps Research Institute in California found that smoking pot may prevent Alzheimer’s disease.  The study shows that the active ingredient in marijuana, delta-9-tetrahydrocannibinol (THC, may prevent the progression of the disease by preserving levels of an important neurotransmitter, acetycholine, that permits the brain to function.  TCH is more effective at blocking clumps of protein that can inhibit memory and cognition in Alzheimer’s patients, the researchers reported in the journal, Molecular Pharmaceutics.

The researchers said their discovery could lead to more effective drug treatment for Alzheimer’s, the leading cause of dementia among the elderly. Those afflicted with Alzheimer’s suffer from memory loss, impaired decision-making, and diminished language and movement skills. The ultimate cause of the disease is unknown, though it is believed to be hereditary.  Marijuana is used to relieve glaucoma and can help reduce side effects from cancer and AIDS treatment as well as help in preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

HOW TO CONTROL BED BUGS WITHOUT TOXIC PESTICIDES AND WITHOUT HIRING AN EXTERMINATOR

Bed bugs are said to be making a comeback in the U. S.  This is not true.  Bed bugs have been with us since we crawled out of the caves or left the Garden of Eden, as you prefer.  There is much more media coverage of bed bug incidents then there were in the past, hence they are always in the news.  The notion that the bed bug resurgence is caused by our inability to use DDT is utter nonsense perpetuated by the pesticide industry.  Bed bugs are not hard to control in your home or business if you understand the habits of the pest.

Adult bed bugs are a about ¼ inch long and brown in color.  They have flattened, oval bodies and are often mistaken for ticks, which are similar in appearance.  The nymphs are much smaller and lighter in color.  Bed bugs are incapable of flight, but they can run rapidly across a mattress.  They prefer to hide in secluded areas when digesting a meal and while waiting for the next one.  Female bed bugs can lay up to 500 eggs in her lifetime.  She usually only deposits a few eggs a day.  The eggs are yellowish white and are found in small clumps, often stuck to a mattress or box spring.  They will lay their eggs as close to the food source as possible as the nymphs will want to feed upon hatching from the eggs.  Bed bugs will go through about five molts from egg to adult and a blood meal is required between each molt.  Under ideal conditions, it can take only about a month to for a bed bug to reach sexual maturity.

Bed bugs are very efficient hitchhikers and are usually brought into a home or hotel in luggage, but can also be introduced in clothing, bedding and furniture.  Because they are secretive, they often go unnoticed until a large population is present.  The introduction of secondhand beds, mattresses, couches, and furniture is another way that the bugs are transported into previously non-infested buildings.

Controlling bed bug infestations

It is best to use the information in this article in conjunction with our DVD, which demonstrates how to apply the products. 

It is not necessary to use highly toxic pesticides to control bed bugs.  I recommend using PT-565, Tri-Die and diatomaceous earth.  You can also kill the adults on contact with a solution of water (40%), alcohol (40%) and soap (20%).  PT-565 is a pyrethrin based aerosol product available online.  One source is www.ljdistributors.org.  Tri-Die is a aerosol powdered silica gel available from the same source.  When using diatomaceous earth, make sure you use natural grade and not swimming pool grade.  Diatomaceous earth is available in most garden shops or online from the above mentioned distributor.

When inspecting for bed bugs, it is necessary to take the bed apart and stand the components on edge so that the upper and lower surfaces can be  inspected.  Box springs are very good places for bed bugs to hide and should be inspected carefully.  Pay particular attention to the area where the fabric is stapled to the wooden frame.  Crevices in the bed frames are often hiding places for bed bugs and need to be carefully examined.  This is particularly important if the bed frame is made of wood.  If the headboard is secured to the wall, as is often the case in hotels, they need to be removed and inspected. These insects will also hide in boxes or other items stored under the bed.   Inspect the seams of the mattresses as well as around the buttons as these are favorite places for bed bugs to hide and deposit their eggs.

Bed bugs will also hide in furniture close to the bed such as nightstands and dressers and can also be found behind pictures and posters on the wall, in electrical appliances such as clocks, radios and even smoke detectors as well as along the baseboard, particularly if carpet is present.

If bed bugs are found around the seams and other open areas, I recommend vacuuming them up.  This prevents them from falling to the floor and escaping treatment.  For best results, scrape the end of the suction wand along infested areas such as the seams, around buttons, the edges of the bedding and along the wall where the carpet joins the baseboard.  After you are finished, dispose of the vacuum contents in a sealed trash bag. Any infested bedding or clothing needs to be washed in hot water (minimally 120 degrees).

Treatment entails using the products listed above where you find the bed bugs.  All of those areas should be treated with PT-565 initially.  That product will kill any bed bugs it comes in contact with.  Tri-Die can be injected into crevices in the bed frames and diatomaceous earth mixed with water can be sprayed inside the box spring.  It may be necessary to make a small incision in the fabric of the box spring to insert the nozzle of the sprayer.  Diatomaceous earth (DE) can be mixed at the rate of 1 cup of DE to a gallon of water.  When the water dries, the DE will remain and kill the insects over a long period of time.

If mattresses or box springs are in very bad shape, they should be replaced rather than treated.  Zippered encasements around new mattresses will deny bed bugs access to inner areas and will entrap any bugs already present.

You can hire a pest control professional to treat the beds if you prefer, but they will use insecticides.  Keep in mind that bed bugs are not known to carry any diseases, and are therefore harmless, albeit a nuisance.  Pesticides on the other hand can be extremely hazardous to your health.

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E-MAIL EXCHANGE

Hog-dog rodeos are a despicable so-called sport put on by brain dead nitwits who allow dogs to rip a hog to shreds for their own enjoyment.  Read more about this on the website under “Children under 12 Admitted Free”.  Holly had a dialog with a hog-dog fighter.  Here is the unedited version of her chat

Hog-dog fighter:
“How can you say the catch trials are the same as dog fighting and cockfighting when the hog catches only last a few seconds and the hog is released quickly??”

Holly:
“Easy! In cockfighting, dogfighting, and in hog-dog fights the animals still share the same fear and pain. A cockfight as well can at times only last for a short time. I honestly don't understand how you can get your kicks out of such a "sport"? How can you see something so horrible as a pig squealing and call it entertainment? Don't you have anything better to do with your lives? You are no better then the cockfighters.  Stop kidding yourselves.”

Hog-dog fighter:
“Yes they squell, but not from pain, I can stick my finger in a hogs side and he will jump and squell!  Does that mean he is injured??  Hell no.  That means these wild animals are just easily excitable.”

Holly:
“Well of course she will. She is afraid and she has every right to be. Set her free. It is cruel and evil to keep her locked up. She also knows that you plan to hurt her. Why can't you understand that they have emotions just like you and I do”?

Hog-dog fighter:
“How is catching a tuff wild boar as cruell as deer hunting, fox hunting or duck hunting
or coon hunting when all those animals are slaughtered?

Holly:
“All are equally cruel”.

Hog-dog fighter:
“Why do we have our bulldogs on heavy chains??  That the only way your going to keep these bulldogs safe from one another, they will chew thur most chainlink, these are game bred dogs you cannot let them run together, I can tell by the elementary questions you ask and the silly statements you make that you have never owned a true bulldog are you would already know why these dogs are on heavy chains, you need to stick with your lapmutts amd leave real dogs to real dogmen!”  (That is one long sentence)

Holly:
“They will not attack each other if you treat them correctly. You have bred and raised  them to be aggressive and to kill. Just like the dogfighter’s do. Chaining dogs will make them crazy! Like I said they are by nature social animals. You think you are really something special by having "such a big brave dogs?" Well I got news for you; you are nothing more than a coward. The way I see it is these dogs give you a power trip, and you don't care about them, you only care about yourselves. People like you should never be permitted to have animals!”

This dialog speaks for itself and doesn’t require any comments.

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“The beef industry has contributed to more American deaths than all the wars of this century, all natural disasters, and all automobile accidents combined. If beef is your idea of 'real food for real people,' you'd better live real close to a real good hospital”.--Neal D. Barnard, M.D., President Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
MOVIE REVIEW
We are not movie critics but we have to report a couple of incidents that took place while filming the movie, “My Friend Flicka”.  This movie is a remake of a horse story from a couple of decades ago and a TV show from many years ago.  While the premise of the movie is admiral, the fact that two horses died while making the film is not.

The death of the first horse occurred at Big Sky Ranch in Simi Valley, California.  According to a report by the American Humane Association, a horse broke its leg “after a misstep” and suffered a “very rare injury requiring the animal be euthanized.”

Two weeks later the second horse died during filming of a dangerous rodeo event called the “Wild Horse Race”.   An extra on the set reported that “the horse were absolutely terrified and were running for their lives.  In the process, the horse tripped on its own rope, and fell down and another horse kicked him in the head, and that horse was in a spasm and died a horrible death.”  The extra quoted above was subsequently fired for reporting this incident by Fox Productions.

We would ask all readers to boycott this film because of the reprehensible way it treated the animals while making the film.

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PESTICIDES

Pesticides are a mixture of chemicals used to kill, repel or otherwise control various organisms, including insects, mites, rodents, birds, fish, weeds, fungi and other perceived pests.  Pesticides are comprised of a number of different compounds, including the “active ingredient” and “inert ingredients” as well as other contaminants and possible pollutants.

The inert ingredients are additives in the pesticide and may include solvents, stabilizers, surfactants, preservatives, sticking agents, spreading agents or defoamers, depending on the need of the product.  Some inert ingredients are more toxic than the active ingredient in the product and often make up the largest percentage of ingredients in a pesticide product.  Because inert ingredients are considered “trade secrets”, they do not have to be disclosed on the pesticide label.

It is a commonly believed that if the EPA registers a pesticide, it is safe.  That is not at all the case.  If the EPA registers a pesticide, it is legal to use, but it may not be safe.  In fact, it is illegal for a manufacturer or a pesticide applicator to imply that a pesticide is safe, harmless or non-toxic to humans and pets, even if used according to label directions.  The next time someone spraying your home tells you that the pesticide is so safe you can drink it, offer him a glass.

The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to analyze the cost-benefit of different pesticides and register them according to those criteria.  They may register extremely dangerous pesticides if they believe the potential economic benefits of the pesticides outweigh the potential human or environmental hazards.

To illustrated just how “safe” pesticides are, in 2000, the American Association of Poison Control Centers recorded 88,880 incidents of human pesticide exposure.  Nearly ¼ of these complaints involved pesticide applications at health-care facilities

Furthermore, a nationwide report has found that pesticide use in or near U.S. schools have sickened more than 2,500 children and school employees over a five-year period.  The pesticide poisoning has resulted from pesticides being sprayed in schools or on nearby properties, and includes both insecticides and herbicides.

Children are more at risk than adults when it comes to pesticide exposure.  There are several reasons for this.  Children put their toys and other objects in their mouth and they often crawl on the ground and come in contact with pesticides.   Children often wear fewer clothes resulting in dermal poisoning by many toxic pesticides.  Children breathe differently than adults.  A one-year old child will breath 50% more air each minute relative to their body weight than adults do.  This, of course, gives them the opportunity to inhale more pesticides. Children will pick up pesticides at home, at school, from their food and from being around pets that have been treated for fleas or ticks. 

Businesses should be very careful about the use of pesticides on their property.  The pesticides that are used may be more dangerous to customers, workers and visitors than any of the perceived pests that are being controlled.  Anyone who uses pesticides in a public place should notify the public prior to applying the pesticides.  The notification should be at least 24 hours prior to the spraying and should contain the name and EPA Registration number of the pesticide being used as well as the name and phone number of the person / company applying it.  There are thousands of people who suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) and they should be warned before going into a building that uses pesticides or an area that has been sprayed with herbicides.  Additionally there are many more people who may not know they suffer from chemical sensitivities until they are unknowingly exposed to pesticides.

Lets look at a commonly used synthetic pyrethroid with the active ingredient, deltamethrin. The pest control industry would have you believe these products are safe.  You can decide if this is something you want in your home.  According to Beyond Pesticides, “Deltamethrin produces different signs of poisoning than other pyrethroids. The sequence of the signs of poisoning in laboratory rodents is clearly defined, progressing from chewing, salivation, and pawing to rolling convulsions, tonic seizures, and death. In humans, symptoms of poisoning include ataxia, convulsions leading to muscle fibrillation and paralysis, dermatitis, edema, diarrhea, dyspnea, headache, hepatic microsomal enzyme induction, irritability, peripheral vascular collapse, rhinorrhea, serum alkaline phosphatase elevation, tremors, vomiting and death due to respiratory failure.  Deltamethrin is also toxic to fish, aquatic organisms, amphibians and bees.”  Is this a product you want in your home?  We certainly don’t.

You can find more information about the abuse and misuse of pesticides in our society by going to www.beyondpesticides.org.

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If any kid ever realized what was involved in factory farming they would never touch meat again.  I was so moved by the intelligence, sense of fun and personalities of the animals I worked with on “Babe” that by the end of the film I was a vegetarian.--James Cromwell

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FINAL NOTE……………
As of this writing, 2,814 American servicemen and women have had their lives taken from them in Iraq.  21,077 servicemen and women have been wounded in this war.

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See you next month.