Wolfy

Orange Grove Park Homeowners Association, www.ogphoa.blogspot.com

I am running AVG ISS with SpySweeper, all current versions, and they seem to protect me well. However, I heard that Karspesky Internet Security Suite is the most protective of all the top sellers. But, Karspesky, like Norton and others, will not run with SpySweeper installed, even if run in manual mode.

Do you think that I should continue with AVG ISS and Spysweeper or should I change to Karspersky ISS? Thanks.

My neighbor's golden-rain tree seedlings have taken over my azalea hedge. Rather than cutting it down and sodding the area, I'm thinking of growing the trees as a 5-ft hedge. It will look green but I doubt if it will bloom. Your comments please.

I live in Florida and have a small outdoor bed of lantana plants that is infested with mealy bugs. I killed a lot of them with Safer insecticidal soap and applied Di-Syston systemic granules around the plant root zones. I hope that I can get control this way, but I would like the opinions of expert gardeners. Thanks.

The Chinese stole our jobs and have poisoned us and our pets with their shoddy exports. Now, this nation of gangsters and communists is persecuting the Tibetan people who only want to be free of their Chinese slave-masters.

I think that we need to tell the Chinese that we are in solidarity with the Tibetans and that we are mad as heck about what the Chinese have been doing to us.

Do you agree that we should boycott Chinese exports and the Olympics? For my part, I am no longer buying my favorite treat, smoked oysters, which are only available in cans from China.

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The chain from my Hunter ceiling fan's motor switch broke inside the switch. I decided to have my handyman replace the switch rather than install a new fan so I could save a few bucks. After he installed the new switch, I found that the fan would not run on medium speed, only high, low and off works. He claims that he installed the switch properly and said there must be some other problem. The fan failed while on medium speed setting. Did he install the switch wrong or could the chain failure have caused a short in the motor or transformer? Now I wish I had just bought a new fan. Your comments please!

Let's not repeat the mistake we made in Viet Nam by abandoning an ally to an adversary. Do we want Iran to become another Red China or Soviet Russia?

Iran covets Iraq for its loyal Shi'ite majority, its bountiful harvests in

the Tigris and Euphrates valleys, and, more important than oil, its water.

Senator McCain has informed us that Iran has ambitions of launching another

Muslim empire similar to what the Ottoman Turks had which dominated Eastern Europe and the Mideast in the early Twentieth Century. If we retreat from Iraq and allow the Iranian Republican Guard to march into Baghdad, then who will protect the Sunni minority from being slaughtered and expelled from Iraq? It's vital that we not only ensure that the Iraqi infrastructure be rebuilt and that they can defend themselves, but we must acquire military bases there as a bulwark against Iranian expansionism.

Your opinions please!

Play Fair With Cuba

As a Viet Nam veteran and husband of a Cuban-American, I have no desire to further the interests of any Communist nation. However, I'm concerned that we are using a double-standard when it comes to Cuba. Former President Nixon began our trade relations with China even though we fought the Chinese during the Korean War. However, I don't see mobs of Korean-Americans and American war veterans on TV protesting our imports from the People's Republic of China.

President Bush stated that there will be no trade with Cuba until it allows free elections and permits free speech and other rights that we Americans enjoy. Interestingly, the Cuban government uses the embargo as an excuse as to why they have so many consumer shortages. But, China is the most repressive nation in the world, is so corrupt that their consumer goods have poisoned us and our pets, and uses slave labor to produce goods that undercut American-made products.

The Cuban embargo is a farce as Cuba imports most of what it needs from Canada, South America, and Europe. And, is it wise for us to enrich China like we did to pre-W.W.II Japan? It's time we stop allowing elderly Cubans in Miami to dictate our foreign and trade policies and encourage Cuba to become a U.S. ally.

I think it's becoming ridiculous what plumbers are charging today. Case in point: I live in Florida and I had a plumbing emergency at night last week when a sewer drain line in my yard backed up and flooded both my bathrooms. I got a plumber to come over and he snaked out the line and verified with a TV camera that my azaleas' roots had broken the line and plugged it up. Cost: $300. It was steep but what could I do with no way to flush my toilets and my bathrooms flooding? He came back the next day to dig up four feet of drain line, two feet deep and no tree roots over the line, and replaced the 4-foot section and repacked the sod. Cost: $690. I think that was way too much money for only 45 minutes work. I could hire a lawyer cheaper.

So, what have been your plumber experiences and do you think they charge too much?

If you, like myself, have your home insured by MetLife Property Insurance Company, and you live in Florida or any other Gulf state, then you either have or soon will receive a cancellation notice. MetLife, the friendly folks with the Snoopy dog commercial on TV, has decided that it doesn't want to take property risk anymore. Imagine that, an insurance company that is willing to abandon hundreds of thousands of policy-holders because another hurricane might strike Florida again.

After 24 years with MetLife, and only two previous small hurricane-related claims, I felt blind-sided and betrayed by them. While State Farm, Allstate, and other firms have also stopped writing policies, at least they didn't flee Florida with their tails between their legs like some whipped dog! Does MetLife even care that no A-rated firms are writing policies anymore, thus condemning their loyal customers to be thrown into the expensive, state-run Citizens Property Insurance Company?

At least those companies, unlike MetLife, notified the news media in advance to prepare the public for this shock. MetLife is going to lose my auto insurance also, and if I were you folks, I would have nothing to do with these back-stabbers.

If you, like myself, have your home insured by MetLife Property Insurance Company, and you live in Florida or any other Gulf state, then you either have or soon will receive a cancellation notice. MetLife, the friendly folks with the Snoopy dog commercial on TV, has decided that it doesn't want to take property risk anymore. Imagine that, an insurance company that is willing to abandon hundreds of thousands of policy-holders because another hurricane might strike Florida again.

After 24 years with MetLife, and only two previous small hurricane-related claims, I felt blind-sided and betrayed by them. While State Farm, Allstate, and other firms have also stopped writing policies, at least they didn't flee Florida with their tails between their legs like some whipped dog! Does MetLife even care that no A-rated firms are writing policies anymore, thus condemning their loyal customers to be thrown into the expensive, state-run Citizens Property Insurance Company?

At least those companies, unlike MetLife, notified the news media in advance to prepare the public for this shock. MetLife is going to lose my auto insurance also, and if I were you folks, I would have nothing to do with these back-stabbers.

The news release about the Navy's destruction of the NASA satellite mentioned that the missle hit the satellite at "22000 mph at an altitude of 130 miles producing a fireball".

However, I have trouble with this scenario. First of all, there is no signifcant oxygen above Earth at this altitude which would support a "fireball" from a hydrazine explosion. Then, although there is a small amount of N2O4 oxidizer on board, which would not explode the hyrazine, where is the igniter? The missle contained a kinetic-energy warhead, not an explosive, so what provided the trigger for the so-called fireball?

Was the photo doctored to mislead the public as the Navy either missed or the satelllite plopped into the ocean? Or did the missle hit a much lower altitude resulting in the fireball? Or, did the hydrazine tank vent due to the hit, and just released a vapor cloud?

Your thoughts please!

I'm a retired chemist who worked many years for a NASA contractor.

When it comes to the scientific education of our children, it's vital that

they be presented with facts, not fantasy or religious dogma. But, our kids are now being faced with a dilemma of whom to believe when it comes to the origin of man: their clerics or their teachers. However, the truth is that both evolution and creationism have faults that need to be presented during lectures.

The Book of Genesis teaches us that mankind arose when Adam and Eve begot Cain, who eliminated his competitive brother. Then, we learn that somehow Cain begat a whole slew of descendents. But, where did Cain's wife come from? Perhaps some pages are missing from this chapter of the Bible.

Darwin's Theory of Evolution asserts that mankind and chimps both evolved

from a common ancestor. However, this missing link has yet to be found.

Maybe all that kids really need to learn is that all plants and animals must

adapt to biological, and social change, or become extinct.

Your opinions please!

If we evacuate our forces from Iraq, like Obama and Clinton want to do before Iraq can defend itself, we are giving Iran a gift. What will happen is that the Maliki government will invite Iran's army to march right in, all 2 million of them. The Sunni's in Iraq will last about 2 weeks before they are all dead or deported. Then, Iraq will belong to Iran. Next, Iran knocks over Kuwait, Abu Dubai and Bahrain. Finally, the Saudi king and all his shieks flee to the US and we are faced with a new Persian Empire. Your thoughts please!

Now that Fidel Castro has retired, is it time for the US to lift its trade embargo against Cuba and resume diplomatic relations? After 40 years, the embargo has failed to topple the Communists as Latin America, the EU, and China all trade with Cuba. Cuban tourism is at an all-time high and Venezuela is providing Cuba with oil. The embargo, thus, provides the Cuban government with an excuse as to why their economy has so many shortages. Also, many Cuban exiles want to visit their families in Cuba and send money there. Since we trade with China, and now Viet Nam, it only seems fair that we resume relations with Cuba and call a halt to this senseless embargo.

Gen. Patton often said that "All real Americans love a good war". So, if "old blood and guts" was the theater commander in Iraq and Afganistan, how do you think he would subdue the insurgents, pacify the countries, and restore their infrastructure?

Here's my input: 1) he would use the Army to secure all borders and let the Marines rout the insurgents 2) he would NOT have disbanded the Iraqi Army 3) He would have employed former Baathists to run the country 4) he would not use a Cuban prison camp, but instead, interrogate any captured insurgents and then shoot them beside the road as they aren't real soldiers.

I don't like salt, butter, or additives in my popcorn so I avoid prepackaged microwave popcorn. Instead, I use Orville Redenbocker White Popcorn, large jar, in a Nordicware 12 cup microwave corn popper placed in a 1100 watt microwave oven. I find that 1/4 cup of popcorn popped on high heat for exactly 2.25 minutes makes a batch with no burned kernels and few unpopped. I just want to add that Nordicware is USA made and appears to be of very high quality, unlike that Chinese junk. I also found that Orville's corn popped with big kernels that tasted like what popcorn should taste like.

As a cat lover, I have no use for dogs as they kill cats. But, here are other reasons for disliking dogs so, if you are a cat person, please add your comments:

1) Cats don't chase cars or their tails. They are far too intelligent to waste their time on such useless behaviour.

2) Cats don't need to be walked as they are smart enough to use a litter box.

3) Cats don't hump your leg or eat their feces as they have too much self-respect.

4) Cats don't growl at you or try to jump up on you, as they know you are their master and don't need to challenge you.

5) Cats aren't suck ups like dogs and require you to earn their affection.

Cats rule and dogs drool!

Using my trusty Homedics home blood pressure machine, I've discovered I have prehypertension (135/68). I take my readings monthly in the morning. I know that I have to lose weight and reduce my sodium and am over 60 years old but I excercise daily for 30 minutes by walking.

Anyway, there is controversy as to whether prehypertension is a real problem or a scam by the drug makers to make more of us take yet another pill. Please read this article before commenting: http://www.westonaprice.org/moderndiseases/prehype...

My wife is taking 680 mg per day of strontium (strontium citrate from Drs. Best Bone Maker), and she would like to hear from women who are taking it also. She had horrible side effects from Fosamax, and is now trying a safer method. Strontium is being used now in Europe in the from of strontium renelate and the results are quite remarkable, with few side effects. She would like to know if you are using it, has your DexaScan results improved, how much and what form strontium you use, and any side effects. Thanks.