A U.S. militia group will launch a month-long sweep for illegal immigrants along the border with Mexico this weekend, stepping up a campaign that has raised fears of violence.

Volunteers plan to gather at seven sites between San Diego, California, and Brownsville, Texas, throughout October to scour the deserts for illegal immigrants and report them to the U.S. Border Patrol so they can be arrested.

The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps began their controversial patrols in Arizona in April and spin-off groups later held similar operations in California.

Now, for the first time, the Minutemen are taking their protest to all four U.S. states along the porous 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border with Mexico beginning on Saturday.

I, for one, am glad to see the MinuteMen returning to the border. It’s high time someone started doing something pro-active to stop illegal immigration and secure our borders.

The United Nations health agency warned against “scaremongering” over an expected global flu pandemic, a day after one of its officials said it could claim 150 million lives.

Dick Thompson, spokesman for the World Health Organization’s (WHO) anti-flu operations, said it is nearly impossible to predict the death toll of a global crisis that experts fear could be fueled by Asia’s bird flu outbreak.

People should be wary of any figure they hear, because all are based on “guesswork,” he said.

…

Seasonal epidemics of flu in different regions of the world kill an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 people a year, according to the WHO.

But global pandemics, caused by new variants of the virus, claimed millions of lives in the last century.

Such outbreaks occur roughly every 40 years, and the last was in 1968, when the estimated toll was up to four million, Thompson said.

…

Although human-to-human transmission has been limited, experts fear that H5N1 could combine with common human flu viruses that spread easily.

Predicting exactly how to fight such a mutant strain is a tall order, Thompson said.

“We won’t know until this virus emerges,” he said.

When the next flu pandemic hits, will 5 million people die or will up to 150 million people die?

Like he said, we won’t know until this virus emerges.

Disclaimer: As a Mind & Media book reviewer, I received a complimentary copy of this e-book from Storm King Press, and have received no further compensation for writing this review.

Are you a budding writer who is looking for the perfect “how-to” handbook for your craft? Well, look no more, “How To Write” is the handbook for you.

In the beginning, I was quite hesitant to review this book, because I had visions of sitting in front of the computer for hours on end, and I do enough of that for the job. But I was delightfully suprised when I realized, after 20 minutes of reading, I was almost halfway through the e-book. Within in an hour I was finished, and I was delightfully surprised.

The Meyer’s do a wonderful job highlighting each phase of a writing project. From organizing and the first draft to the finished product, they do a masterful job, complete with their examples, guiding the reader through the journey of writing.

This book is filled with very helpful guidelines and examples which will benefit the established writer as well as the newbie.

As a blogger, I found it very interesting and have decided I need to refer back to it, from time to time, to help better my own writing skills.

As a homeschooling parent, I can think of no better “how-to” guide to help our children learn to write more effectively and efficiently.

I highly recommend “How To Write“, and since the publishers have made this best-selling handbook available to everyone (in e-book form) at the very affordable price of $1.99, how can you beat that?

It seems Mark Noonan, from Blogs For Bush posted an entry yesterday titled, Do the Democrats Want a Civil War?. It seems he struck a nerve among certain circles:

Well, boys and girls, it is time for me to hang my head in shame…I’ve upset the people over at Daily Kos with my piece Do the Democrats Want a Civil War?. I know, I know… we try so hard not to upset the leftwing fanatics…after all, they are a very edgy group of people who can’t take much more pressure…but, sometimes, you just have to write the truth…and the truth does hurt

And Mike Malloy (I know, you are asking “Who?”) from Air America recommended that his listeners physically assault Mark:

MALLOY: …but when they do make these sweeping uh… umm… statements about Democrats better watch out, I think they should be responded to, the way Hunter responded to Peggy Noonan’s little boy here… uh just beat the crap out of them. If you can do it with the pen, fine. If you need to do it with the sword, that’s ok, too… uhhh… you know it’s said that the pen is mightier than the sword. alright, alright, that’s fine.

What a nice group of people, these liberals. You would think, as violent as they are becoming, that they would be the ones supporting the War on Terror.

I honestly don’t know what to think of liberals anyway. There was a time when you knew what liberals were all about. Oh sure, you can still recognize them, no matter what gutter platform they stand on, but lately we have to wait until they open their mouths to find out what they are really against. Yes, against.

It seems they are always speaking out against something or someone. They’re against tax cuts, they’re against President Bush, they’re against Tom Delay, they’re against this, they’re against that, and now they’re against Mark Noonan.

What exactly do they support? Seriously. If liberals were not allowed to mention the President, conservatives, or members of the opposing party, I doubt they could form complete sentences, let alone make statements supporting anything.

Kudos to Mark! He must have hit the nail on the head, else it would not be possible for them to be so vocal.

As Coretta Scott King struggles to recover from a debilitating stroke, her sons are feuding over control of the center she created to carry on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, people familiar with the strife say.

Nearly two years after Dexter Scott King announced that he would step down as head of the King Center, it has become evident in recent weeks that the move to shift authority to his older brother Martin Luther King III has unraveled.

Martin King officially took control of the center Aug. 22 after its board of directors voted to oust Dexter King, who has managed the center from his home in California. After the vote, Martin King announced to the staff that he had taken charge and immediately ordered the locks to the center changed, said people who are familiar with the dispute but asked not to be identified.

…

Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, the only non-family member on the center’s board, expressed surprise over the depth of the dispute between the brothers. “I was aware there was a disagreement, but I was not aware it was to this extent,” Young said. “Martin is the CEO and has been going to the center just about every day for the past six months and doing the work.

“There’s some question about Dexter. There’s a tension and they are not cooperating with each other. They don’t seem to be communicating with each other.”

What a wonderful legacy to be leaving their father. It seems to me they would rather bicker between themselves than honor the dream of their father, and the life-work of their mother. Good job, guys.

I happened across Kathryn’s blog many, many moons ago, and have made her site a regular stop in my daily travels in the blogosphere. No matter your faith, please take a moment and think of David this weekend.

My husband is sitting downstairs in a recliner, talking with his parents, and they are all giving as good as they get. This would be neither here nor there except that since the middle of the month David was dying in front of my eyes, day by day, sometimes hour by hour, even minute by minute.

…

We’re not out of the woods, necessarily. We may never be. We’re dealing with heart failure and damaged lungs on top of MS and scoliosis. He’s got tubes here and there and I’ve become accustomed to the constant, unevenly-cycling sound of the oxygen concentrator he has to have with him at all times. He’s still quite sick and weak, and we’re told he’s permanently disabled. The hospital has lined us up with home nursing services; they’ll be here Monday. I’ve been thrown into a world of acronyms and odd phrases and government workers and pills and forms to sign and sometimes-scary vigils.

…

So I’m off for now. But I wanted to let you know that things are still upside down and not so good, but on the other hand they don’t seem so bad as they were.

I have been praying for David, and I am sure your prayers would be appreciated as well.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today is issuing a Public Health Advisory to alert physicians of reports of suicidal thinking in children and adolescents associated with Strattera, a drug approved to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). FDA has also directed Eli Lilly and Company, manufacturer of Strattera, to develop a Medication Guide for patients and caregivers.

FDA is advising health care providers and caregivers that children and adolescents being treated with Strattera should be closely monitored for clinical worsening, as well as agitation, irritability, suicidal thinking or behaviors, and unusual changes in behavior, especially during the initial few months of therapy or when the dose is changed (either increased or decreased). Patients and caregivers who have concerns or questions about these symptoms should contact their healthcare provider.

“FDA’s action today is another example of the agency acting swiftly to alert the public to significant drug safety information needed to use a drug in a safe manner,” said Dr. Steven Galson, Director for the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA.

Today’s actions follow a review and analysis of 12 clinical trials conducted in children with ADHD and one trial in children with enuresis (bedwetting) that identified an increased risk of suicidal thinking for Strattera. There was one suicide attempt by a patient who received Strattera among the approximately 2,200 patients in the trial. As part of a larger evaluation of psychiatric drugs and suicidality, FDA had requested that the manufacturer conduct a review of its database and clinical trials, which included more than 2200 patients–1350 patients receiving Strattera (atomoxetine) and 851 receiving a placebo. The analysis showed that 0.4% of children treated with Strattera reported suicidal thinking compared to no cases in children treated with the placebo.

Strattera, manufactured by Eli Lilly, has been on the market since 2002 and has been used in more than two million patients.

Health care professionals are encouraged to report any unexpected adverse events associated with Strattera directly to Eli Lilly, Indianapolis, Ind. at 1-800-LillyRx or to the FDA MedWatch program at 1-800-FDA-1088; by FAX at 1-800-FDA-0178; by mail to MedWatch, Food and Drug Administration, HFD-410, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD, 20857-9787; or online at www.fda.gov/medwatch/report.htm.

Many species of bats found across China are infected with viruses similar to the
SARS virus, an international team of researchers reported on Thursday.

Zhengli Shi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and colleagues sampled more than 400 bats of various species across China and found up to 70 percent of some species showed evidence of infection with SARS-like viruses.

This would support the idea that bats are the reservoir — the natural host — of the virus. Animals that act as reservoirs carry and spread a virus without themselves becoming ill.

…

Earlier this month a team of Hong Kong researchers reported that bats found in Hong Kong carried a virus very similar to the SARS virus.

They said the horseshoe bats, used both as food and in Chinese medicine, should be handled with great care.

Shi, Wendong Li and colleagues studied other bats found in four different parts of China. They found that anywhere between 28 percent and 71 percent of the bats, depending on the species and location, had evidence of infection with a SARS-like coronavirus. Theirs was different from the virus found by the Hong Kong researchers, they said.

“A plausible mechanism for emergence from a natural bat reservoir can be readily envisaged,” they wrote in their report, published in the journal Science.

They said an infected bat could have been kept in a cage next to a civet in a market with the civet becoming infected and passing the virus to humans.

[Source: Reuters via Yahoo! News]

Items seized in a search of the apartment belonging to a man under investigation in the disappearance of Virginia Commonwealth University freshman Taylor Marie Behl include fabric from a mattress that might be stained with blood, a cell phone that might belong to Taylor, women’s clothes and a .32-caliber gun cartridge, court documents released yesterday show.

Police refused to comment on the seized items, citing the ongoing investigation.

“We cannot comment on that at all,” said Detective Ron Brown with the Richmond Police Department.

Ben Fawley, 38, was formally considered a “person of interest” in Taylor’s disappearance, a title that was dropped this week after police concluded their interviews with him.

“We are not using the term because we are interested in all persons who may have information,” said Kirsten Nelson, a spokeswoman for the Richmond Police Department. “We are not calling him a person of interest because he is not a suspect, but we are still looking at him very seriously.”

Other items seized in the Sept. 23 search include videotapes, bags of clothes, a hatchet, a hammer and three pairs of underwear from an outdoor garbage can; a beaded necklace with a cross and a watch from an outdoor supercan; a black brassiere, white panties, tissues and tampon wrappers, several VCU student IDs — which might include one belonging to Taylor, copies of student IDs, a box of bones and five skateboards from inside Mr. Fawley’s apartment.

Also seized were several fitted bedsheets, a futon cover, a bra and hat and a vacuum cleaner bag.

Richmond police yesterday asked the public to help locate a car with a personalized Virginia license plate that may have a possible connection to Taylor Marie Behl’s disappearance 24 days ago: “GRN ERTH.”

Police said the plate was stolen from a vehicle around the time the 17-year-old Virginia Commonwealth University freshman vanished Sept. 5.

A law-enforcement source familiar with the case said the plate may have been in the possession of Ben Fawley, a 38-year-old amateur photographer and acquaintance of Behl’s who was one of the last people to see her.

Police spokeswoman Cynthia Price yesterday described Fawley as one of several persons whom “police are talking with in connection with the investigation into Taylor’s disappearance.”