Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Fortune magazine piece on Operation Fast and Furious is problematic in several respects.   Sen. Chuck Grassley began investigating the circumstances of the death of border patrol agent Brian Terry 18 months ago after whistleblowers came to him with concerns.  The following statement is from Grassley's office.  Supporting documents are available here.

"The Fortune piece conspicuously ignores the most important fact in this case: ATF encouraged cooperating dealers to sell guns to known traffickers.  That fact is key to understanding how ATF made a strategic choice to track the guns instead of stop them.  The central claim of the article, that there was nothing ATF could have done to stop the illegal sales, is simply incompatible with the evidence.  If it is true that ATF could not interdict and seize weapons due to legal hurdles beyond its control, then ATF had no business telling gun dealers to go ahead with the sales.

"The Fortune article asks the reader to believe that sworn statements by whistleblowers who put their careers on the line to expose the truth for Brian Terry's family are merely conspiratorial fabrications for the sole purpose of getting back at their boss.  It asks the reader to believe that the ATF Director, the Attorney General, the White House, and Congress all fell victim to the fabrication and completely misinterpreted or misunderstood the thousands of pages of documents that corroborate the whistleblower allegations. The Justice Department retracted its previous denials of those allegations last December 2.  If the Fortune article is accurate, the Justice Department's December 2 retraction would itself be a false capitulation under political pressure aimed at protecting senior DOJ officials at the expense of ATF field office personnel in Arizona.

"The Fortune article inexplicably credits the self-serving statements of the supervisors in Arizona responsible for overseeing Fast and Furious.  There is no explanation as to why, given their obvious motive to claim there was no gun-walking to save themselves from criticism and punishment.  That's why the written records, the interviews on the record, and obtaining and weighing all evidence is so important.  We can only draw fair, informed conclusions from the facts."

A Journey of Hope to Enhance the Quality of Life

 

 

DAVENPORT, IA- On Thursday, July 12, a team of cyclists participating in the 25th Journey of Hope, presented by KRG Capital, will arrive in Davenport as part of a nine-week, 4,000-mile cycling event across the country to raise funds and awareness for people with disabilities.

That evening, the team will have dinner and a Friendship Visit with the City of Davenport Parks and Recreation at 6:00 p.m. location TBD.

Journey of Hope is a program of Push America, the national philanthropy of Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity, which raises funds and awareness for people with disabilities. The Journey of Hope team consists of men from Pi Kappa Phi chapters across the country. The team will cycle an average of 75 miles per day, beginning in San Francisco and Seattle and ending in Washington, D.C. on August 5.

At stops across the country, the three routes (North, South and TransAmerica) will distribute grants directly to assist organizations in serving people with disabilities. For the team, the real journey will not be on a bike, but spending time with the people for whom they are riding. The Journey of Hope team members will spend every afternoon with people with disabilities in many different community events and activities. These men are striving for community inclusion of people with disabilities and are helping to break the barriers of society that keep people of all abilities from living life to the fullest.

This year marks Push America's 35th anniversary and Journey of Hope's 25th. The organization was founded in 1977 with the hope of committing its members to enhance the lives of people with disabilities. With the combined efforts of sponsors and individual team members, this year's Journey of Hope will raise more than $600,000 on behalf of people with disabilities. Push America and Pi Kappa Phi have raised over $15 million to date and continue to be on the cutting edge of the disability movement.

 

For more information about this event or more on Push America's summer programs, please contact Paul Willar at (704) 504-2400 ext. 234 or log on to www.pushamerica.org

by gardening expert, TV/radio host & author Melinda Myers

Add a little extra color and motion to your summer garden with containers designed to attract birds and butterflies. Many garden centers continue to sell annuals throughout the summer and many of these mid-season annuals are a bit bigger, providing instant impact.

It's easier than you think to attract birds and butterflies and the good news is you don't need a lot of space to do it.  Container gardens give you the ability to attract wildlife to your backyard, patio, deck or even balcony. Simply follow these four steps and your garden will be filled with color, motion and a season of wildlife.

1-      Provide food for birds and butterflies.  Include plants with flat daisy-like flowers like pentas, zinnias, and cosmos to attract butterflies. For hummingbirds, include some plants with tubular flowers including nicotiana, cuphea, salvia, and fuchsia. And don't forget about the hungry caterpillars that will soon turn into beautiful butterflies. Parsley, bronze fennel, and licorice vines are a few favorites that make great additions to container gardens. You can even create containers that will attract seed-eating birds. Purple Majesty millet, coneflower, coreopsis, and Rudbeckias will keep many of the birds returning to your landscape.

2-      Include water for both the birds and butterflies.  It's a key ingredient and a decorative small shallow container filled with water can be included in a large container.  Or include a free-standing birdbath within your container collection.  I used a bronzed leaf birdbath in just this way.  It created a great vertical accent, added interest to a blank wall and provided a water supply for the birds.

3-      Give them a place to live and raise their young. Add a few evergreens, ornamental grasses, and perennials to your container garden.  Use weather resistant containers that can tolerate the extreme heat and cold in your garden.  Then fill with plants that are at least one zone hardier.  Or add a few birdhouses.  These can be included in the container or mounted on a fence, post, or nearby tree.

4-      Skip the pesticides, please.  Nature, including the birds you invite into your landscape, will devour many garden pests.  Plus, the chemicals designed to kill the bad guys can also kill the good bugs and wildlife you are trying to attract.  And, if pests get out of hand, use more eco-friendly products like soaps, Neem, and horticulture oil as a control mechanism.  And, as always, read and follow label directions carefully.

And to conserve time and energy, try using one of the self-watering containers or hanging baskets that are on the market.  This helps to make it both easy and convenient when time constraints and vacations get in the way of providing ideal care.  I recently tried using one of the Gardener's Supply Easy Roller self-watering containers.  I filled one with wildlife-friendly petunias along with papyrus and golden moneywort.  After a five-day trip during hot dry weather I returned to find my container garden in great shape and hummingbirds visiting the flowers.

So gather your family and get started planting your wildlife container garden today.

Nationally known gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has more than 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Can't Miss Small Space Gardening. She hosts the nationally syndicated Melinda's Garden Moment segments which air on over 115 TV and radio stations throughout the U.S. and Canada. She is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and writes the twice monthly "Gardeners' Questions" newspaper column. Melinda also has a column in Gardening How-to magazine.  Melinda hosted "The Plant Doctor" radio program for over 20 years as well as seven seasons of Great Lakes Gardener on PBS. She has written articles for Better Homes and Gardens and Fine Gardening and was a columnist and contributing editor for Backyard Living magazine.  Melinda has a master's degree in horticulture, is a certified arborist and was a horticulture instructor with tenure.  Her web site is www.melindamyers.com

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