Early rising no good for the heart: study

I knew it!!!!!!!

Early rising no good for the heart: study

Generations have praised the wisdom of getting up early in the morning, but a Japanese study says early-risers are actually at a higher risk of developing heart problems.
The study, conducted by researchers from several universities and hospitals in the western Japanese city of Kyoto, revealed a link between wake-up times and a person's cardiovascular condition.
"Rising early to go to work or exercise might not be beneficial to health, but rather a risk for vascular diseases," said an abstract of the study.
The study, covering 3,017 healthy adults aged between 23 through 90, found that early risers had a greater risk of heart conditions including hypertension and of having strokes.
However, the study also noted that early risers were usually older.
The study is being presented this week at the World Congress of the World Federation of Sleep Research and Sleep Medicine Societies, being held in Cairns, Australia.
A separate study released in June by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania found that chronic sleep deprivation adds stress to the heart, putting a person at greater risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

Vindication!

CPO Heritage

Our Navy Core Values of Honor, Courage and Commitment aren't just about technical compliance, procedural exactitude, or superb mechanical performance. Honor, courage and commitment are about heart and soul - they are the inspiring, life generating words we have agreed to live our lives by. That is exactly why they are powerful and supremely important. These values are essential to our culture, and should be kept constantly in mind as we intentionally develop and communicate what culture means in our Navy.

The words above are from the Goat Locker and relate to the photos. During CPO Heritage Week on the USS Constitution, the Selects did more than explore the ship and learn about her fascinating history. They went to the New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans. Some served the meal as shown in the photo below, but most sat with the veterans. They were spread out so there was at least one Select per table.

I'm sure some went that day assuming this was all about community service, but I am equally sure that it ended up a learning experience for many. The older I get the more I find the lessons are not always where you expect to find them.

September 5, 1972

35 years ago Black September stole the Olympics from the world and murdered Israeli athletes. What should have been a joyous occasion became a senseless massacre. This was the first act of terrorism I was conscious of, I was 11.

How Much Longer!!!

*****UPDATE: I've done it again! Anthony, why aren't you watching? The link at the bottom now goes where it should (The Senate Armed Services Committee) as opposed to where it shouldn't (The House Armed Services Committee)!!!!! I got impatient, so I called. It is not scheduled yet, but the very nice nominations clerk, Leah, told me they were hoping for next week. She also said it would definitely be this month.********
He's been recommended.
He's been nominated.
His replacement is lined up.

Greenert tapped to head Fleet Forces Command
By Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Sep 4, 2007 17:27:34 EDT
By President Bush nominated Vice Adm. Jonathan Greenert on Friday for a fourth star and a new assignment as head of Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Va.
Greenert is deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources in the chief of naval operations’ office. Pending the Senate’s consent, Greenert will take current Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Gary Roughead’s job in Norfolk and Roughead will move north to replace Adm. Mike Mullen as chief of naval operations.
Mullen will become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff this fall.
Fleet Forces Command oversees naval air, surface and submarine forces, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, Naval Network Warfare Command, Military Sealift Command and other subcommands.
A former 7th Fleet commander, Greenert was the expected choice for the job, according to several defense analysts who follow the sea service.
In 1992, the admiral won the Vice Adm. Stockdale Award for inspirational leadership, an award Mullen won in 1987
Zachary M. Peterson - Staff writerPosted : Tuesday Sep 4, 2007 17:27:34 EDT

I keep checking and NOTHING!! How much longer?

About Time.....

....some people got back to keeping me entertained!

Firefighter Paul Cahill

Tomorrow, friends and family and people who never knew Paul Cahill will gather at Holy Name in West Roxbury to say goodbye and pay tribute to a life well lived.

The Boston Globe had an excellent article.

Paul J. Cahill
By David Abel and Ryan Haggerty, Globe Staff And Globe Correspondent August 31, 2007
A decade ago, with flames ripping through a hallway in an apartment building on Huntington Avenue, Paul J. Cahill proved his mettle.
Manning the nozzle of a fully pressured hose, the firefighter from Scituate charged toward the blaze, pushing it back as it threatened to engulf him and the building. On his own, he beat the flames into a small room, confining them there while others helped extinguish what remained.
"He was really aggressive," said Captain Pat Nichols, who worked with Cahill for years. "He was the kind of guy you wanted at the front."
On Wednesday night, Paul J. Cahill, 55, a father of three, was one of two firefighters who died when a roof collapsed during the fire they fought in a West Roxbury restaurant. They were assigned to the firehouse on Centre Street, home to Engine 30 and Ladder 25.
Cahill, his wife, Anne, and two of their three children had driven to Maine Saturday for a vacation on Chebeague Island in Casco Bay, Anne Cahill said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Cahill went bike riding and fishing with his daughter, Shauna, 19, and son, Adam, 21, before returning to Boston on Monday morning so he could work that night, Anne Cahill said. He was due to return to Maine yesterday morning, after his shift ended at 8 a.m., she said. Instead, one of Cahill's sisters called Anne shortly after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday to tell her that her husband had been injured in the fire. A short time later, Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser told her that Cahill had died.
The Boston Fire Department arranged for a ferry to take Anne and her children to their car on the mainland, Anne Cahill said. Three Boston police cruisers, accompanied by a firefighter who knew Cahill, escorted the family back to the city.
Memories of the vacation have given Cahill's family some comfort, she said.
"We had an awesome time, just the four of us," she said. "It's going to be great for us to remember this. It was a great trip, and he had a ball."
Their oldest son, Brendan, 28, a former Marine, was in San Diego, where he lives. He was en route to Boston yesterday.
Born in Boston, Paul Cahill grew up in Dedham, the oldest of six. He and Anne began dating when he was 19 and she was 17, and they married in 1973, she said.
After graduating from Dedham High School, Cahill joined the Navy, serving on a tugboat in Newport, R.I., his wife said. After leaving the Navy, he became an electrician.
Cahill joined the Boston Fire Department in May 1993, following in a family tradition of public service. Cahill's father, Patrick, and uncle, George Lotti, both worked as detectives for the Boston Police Department, Anne said. His sister is retired from the State Police, she said.
"He loved firefighting," Anne Cahill said of her husband. "He didn't join until he was 40, and he wished he had done it earlier. He loved the camaraderie, and he was always ready to help someone. He was a real team player."
Cahill enjoyed fishing, taking vacations, walking along the beach, and gardening, his wife said. "He was a simple man," she said. "He had to work two jobs to support his family, and we spent a lot of time in the house with the kids and the kids' friends. He was truly a good person, and a wonderful father."
"He was a hero," she said.
At the station, firefighters looked to Cahill for everything from help with all things electrical to fixing dinner. "He was always there to do something for you," Nichols said.

This one at the Roslindale/West Roxbury Transcript was very good as well.

Happy Birthday 3rd Infantry Division

I have been terribly remiss. Thank goodness Matty at Blackfive put this up!

I am a few days late, but you know I wish you and your men the very, very best!

My Bad Boyfriend Sent Me A Video

John McCain: "Courageous Service". He's trying to woo me and I am so weak. You know how bad I want him back.

Somebody Get Pia Red Sox Tickets!

Pia of Fatekisminy was in Boston for the weekend. She and her fiance, Chris, were in town for a Red Sox weekend. Pia is a devoted Red Sox fan and she couldn't marry Chris until he had been to Fenway. So the first night they watched Clay Buchholz pitch his no-hitter from a local restaurant. Then Sunday they went to Fenway and watched the Red Sox win over the Orioles.

Clearly, we need to get Pia season tickets.

She also reports that every time she has gone to Yankee Stadium to see the Yankees play......they lose.

It's all good!

Then after all that excitement there was one more fun thing. I went into Champions at the Marriott Copley and met them for a drink. She was exactly like she is in her blog. Happy, funny and a pleasure to be with. I also enjoyed meeting her non-blogger fiance, who graciously put up with our blogger nonsense.

Major Pain Requests

When Major Pain requests, attention must be paid.

He sent this video in an email to remind me to fly my flag on September 11th. There was also a request that I forward it to at least eleven people. So I will do that. But for good measure, to catch another one or two, I will post it here as well.

I have had the distinct pleasure of meeting Major Pain and I will tell you that he is the "real deal" like my SB and he can count on me.

For more good gouge you should check his blog http://www.onemarinesview.com/one_marines_view/

And Now I Have Heartburn

It's a beautiful day here in New England. I've had a great breakfast with Jen & Tom. Ran a few quick errands. I'm off to work for a little bit and then hopefully into Boston for a mini-blog meet. I'm here for a moment to check my bank balance......but my ADD is so bad of course I cruise a few blogs while the bank site is loading (I can't sit still for thirty seconds). I peek at The Corner and they send me to The Weekly Standard to read this:

Hollywood Hates the Troops
"We've killed over 400,000 of their citizens." That's what actor Tim Robbins thinks U.S. troops have been doing in Iraq. He made the claim last week in an appearance on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.
He's wrong, of course. American soldiers have not been slaughtering 300 Iraqis a day for the last four years. Even for one of Hollywood's most feculent personalities, this is an appalling slander of U.S. troops.

Asshat. I'm going to the dump now, it smells better than the shit coming out of Tim Robbins mouth.

Speaking of Darfur

And I was, here. On our way to a party last night, Jen and I picked up another friend at her house. At the end of the driveway was a signI said "Nick put that there, didn't he?" I was right of course. Nick is the most amazing person. While I sit here in the comfort of my living room and rail against people that won't recognize the full horror of Darfur, Nick is out there, really doing stuff. While I was attending lectures and reading books and scholarly article and Foreign Policy magazine, Nick was in Africa.There is tragedy and want all over Africa. But fortunately there are very special people who respond. One of those people is Nick Rizzo. I've known Nick for ten years or so and he has grown into the most incredible man. There is a wonderful article about Nick which was published in his hometown newspaper, The Kingston Reporter.
Nick Rizzo puts himself into his brother’s shoes
By Kelly Stever/Correspondent
GateHouse News Service
Thu Aug 30, 2007, 01:02 PM EDT
The hills are alive
“Baba, baba, baba.”
Four babies, no more than 2 years old each, stood on a bench outside Nick Rizzo’s window at the St. Jude Orphanage in Northern Uganda, peeking in between the bars.
“Baba, baba, baba.”
Nick sat up. Slapped a mosquito. Smiled. The babies went wild, squealing with joy, stomping their feet, clapping their hands. “Baba,” daddy, was up. He was coming to play with them.
It was so easy to give those babies the one thing they so desperately needed above all else, Nick recalls. So easy to fill that void. And so hard to walk away. But Nick wasn’t their father. He was just a volunteer.
A year earlier, he had been a Harvard undergraduate, well on his way to becoming a doctor. But then, inspired by a classmate, he decided to take a year off. A year to broaden his horizons, shift his perspective. He had no idea what he was in for.
Last September, Nick began his travels in Rwanda. Through dogged persistence and a stroke of luck, he landed a position with the American Refugee Committee. When he arrived in Kigali, he was overcome by the beauty of the landscape. Dirt roads carved through rolling hills, dotted by little houses. But the idyllic countryside was a stark contrast to the Nyabiheke Refugee Camp, where Nick was charged with implementing an HIV awareness and prevention program.
Read the rest here.
You can also read the archives of Nick's blog, "Gulu News" from his time in Rwanda and Uganda. It won't take long because, unlike some of us, Nick was "doing", not "writing".
There is another great article in the Boston Globe about the soccer field Nick built in his brother's memory.
Nick, I am so very lucky to know you. Mike & Mary, great, great job.

September 2, 1945

Japan signed an unconditional surrender aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay, formally ending World War II.

Doesn't Get Any Better Than This, Does It SB?

Boston's Clay Buchholz is hoisted by catcher Jason Varitek as teammates run out to celebrate Buchholz's no-hitter against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday. It was the rookie pitcher's second major league start. (Associated Press Photo / Winslow Townson)

Father Daniel J. Mahoney, BFD

Anyone who reads this blog knows how much I love and admire Father Mahoney. He has been an important part of my life since he came to St. Francis in 1968.

He's had a roller coaster of a summer.

First there was good news.
Chief Chaplain Father Daniel J. Mahoney Honored
The Boston Fire Department’s Chief Chaplain Father Daniel J. Mahoney has been honored with the prestigious Mychal Judge Award by the Massachusetts Corps of Fire Chaplains.
Read the rest here.

Then there was the bad.
"Chief Chaplain Discusses Firefighter's Grief"
This was an interview filmed with Father in the wake of the tragic deaths of Firefighters Cahill and Payne. If you click on the link there is a video.

Lieutenant (j.g.) Thomas J. Hudner, USN

The CPO selects had the great honor of being addressed by Medal of Honor recipient Captain Thomas J. Hudner, Jr., USN (ret). I would have killed to crash this event!

HUDNER, THOMAS JEROME, JR.
Rank and organization: Lieutenant (j.g.) U.S. Navy, pilot in Fighter Squadron 32, attached to U.S.S. Leyte. Place and date: Chosin Reservoir area of Korea, 4 December 1950. Entered service at: Fall River, Mass. Born: 31 August 1924, Fall River, Mass.
Citation.
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as a pilot in Fighter Squadron 32, while attempting to rescue a squadron mate whose plane struck by antiaircraft fire and trailing smoke, was forced down behind enemy lines. Quickly maneuvering to circle the downed pilot and protect him from enemy troops infesting the area, Lt. (j.g.) Hudner risked his life to save the injured flier who was trapped alive in the burning wreckage. Fully aware of the extreme danger in landing on the rough mountainous terrain and the scant hope of escape or survival in subzero temperature, he put his plane down skillfully in a deliberate wheels-up landing in the presence of enemy troops. With his bare hands, he packed the fuselage with snow to keep the flames away from the pilot and struggled to pull him free. Unsuccessful in this, he returned to his crashed aircraft and radioed other airborne planes, requesting that a helicopter be dispatched with an ax and fire extinguisher. He then remained on the spot despite the continuing danger from enemy action and, with the assistance of the rescue pilot, renewed a desperate but unavailing battle against time, cold, and flames. Lt. (j.g.) Hudner's exceptionally valiant action and selfless devotion to a shipmate sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.

Thomas Hudner's story is fascinating! The pilot he was attempting to rescue the Navy's first African-American aviator, Jesse L. Brown.

Hudner's words in an interview:
"I knew what I had to do," said Hudner in an interview by Frank Geary, for Jax Air News, the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., base newspaper. "I was not going to leave him down there for the Chinese. Besides, it was 30 degrees below zero on that slope, and he was a fellow aviator. My association with the Marines had rubbed off on me. They don't leave wounded Marines behind." Hudner tightened his harness and, with his wheels up, set his Corsair down onto the snow and rocks some 100 yards from Brown's smoking aircraft. "He was alive, but barely, when I got onto his wing and tried to lift him out of the cockpit. But his right leg was crushed and entangled in metal and instruments. I hurried back and requested a rescue helo, making sure it would bring an ax and a fire extinguisher. When I got back to Brown, I began packing snow around the smoking cowling. "When a two-man Marine helicopter arrived with only its pilot, the ax he carried proved useless in our efforts to hack away the metal entrapping Brown's leg. He was going in and out of consciousness and losing blood. "The helo pilot and I, in our emotion and panic, and with the light of day fading, discussed using a knife to cut off Jesse's entrapped leg. Neither of us really could have done it, and it was obvious Jesse was dying. He was beyond help at that point. The helo pilot said we had to leave. Darkness was setting in and we'd never get out after dark," said Hudner. "We had no choice but to leave him. I was devastated emotionally. In those seconds of our indecision, Jesse died."
It's cliche, but that is grace under fire.

Boston Weeps

2 firefighters die, 12 hurt in West Roxbury blaze
Responders trapped as flames engulf West Roxbury restaurant, spread to adjacent businesses
By John C. Drake and Donovan Slack, Globe Staff August 30, 2007
Two Boston firefighters were killed and at least 12 others were injured Wednesday night as flames rushed through a restaurant in West Roxbury, collapsing the roof and trapping crews inside, public safety officials said.
The two veteran firefighters who died, Paul J. Cahill, 55, of Scituate and Warren J. Payne, 53, of Canton, were identified by the officials and a firefighter on the scene. They were the first deaths of firefighters in a fire since 1994.
Cahill and Payne both were assigned to the West Roxbury fire house on Centre Street, headquarters of Engine 30, Ladder 25.

More at Universal Hub.

Guess it's off to Mass for me. If you would like to do something, go here. The flowers people leave at the scene of an incident such as this are nice and all. However, if you really want to do something concrete, help the Massachusetts Fallen Firefighters Memorial.

What Is Happening In Darfur Is Genocide.

What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.
What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.
What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.
What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.
Say it with me, boys and girls.
What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.
What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.
Are we clear on this?
What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.
What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.
Is everyone on the same page?
What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.
What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE.

We must never lose sight of this. We must focus. We must call it what it is. We must not shy away from it. When someone tries to make it seem less than the horrifying, calamitous thing that it is...........when someone tries to make it less than the crime against all humanity that it is.....we must stand up and roundly, loudly reject that person/persons.

This is a statement on Sudan that was adopted last month by the Africa Taskforce of the GPUS Peace Action Committee. This statement is an updated version of the GRP Statement
"We reject the racist mischaracterization of the situation in Darfur as "genocide" being perpetrated by “Arabs.” Only the government of the United States has labeled the conflict in Darfur as "genocide."

I am standing here, on my soapbox, here at my nonsense blog and saying "NO. NO. NO."

The information on the Green Rainbow Party and much, much more was brought to my attention by Solomonia Blog. You should go and you should read it.
You need to look. You can not turn away. Many people quote Sir Edmund Burke "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." This is what he's talking about.

What is happening in Darfur is GENOCIDE. Save Darfur.

With Friends Like These!

Pranksters wrap Rove's car
Karl Rove, your car is ready.

White House pranksters wrapped Rove's Jaguar in plastic wrap on the private driveway next to the West Wing. Rove's car is easily recognizable because of its "I love Barack Obama" bumper sticker and the twin stuffed-animal eagles on the trunk. Oh, and there's a stuffed-animal elephant on the hood.

Rove, the top White House political strategist who recently announced his resignation, left his car on the driveway while visiting Texas and traveling with President Bush. He was due back in Washington Wednesday evening.

"I Love Obama"!!!! Nice!

Video here.

Poverty In America

Chuck at North Shore Journal has some interesting thoughts. He passed along this one in an email and there are more in this post at his place.

Did you know what the average poverty rate was for the first six years of this President and the last two that served two terms?
Reagan: 14.5%
Clinton: 14.1%
Bush 43: 12.3%

This is the New York Times editorial after reading the same data.

A Sobering Census Report: Americans’ Meager Income Gains
The economic party is winding down and most working Americans never even got near the punch bowl.

Can't let there be any good news over there at NYT, huh? Good thing we have our own ways of accessing data now-a-days.