Why owning a cat could damage your SIGHT: Exposure 'to felines increases risk of glaucoma' - but having a dog guards against the disease

• People diagnosed with glaucoma found to have 'significantly higher levels' of an allergic antibody to cats and cockroaches 
• Raise possibility the immune system plays a role in the eye disease 
• Second-leading cause of blindness globally and is caused by a build-up of pressure in the eyeball, triggering damage to the optic nerve or retina 

By LIZZIE PARRY

(Daily Mail) Owning a cat can increase a person's risk of developing the eye disease glaucoma, experts have warned.

In contrast, however, having a pet dog could protect against the disease, which can cause blindness.

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, discovered those people diagnosed with glaucoma had 'significantly higher levels' of immunoglobulin E.

This is a type of allergic antibody produced by the body in response to cats and cockroaches.

Levels of the allergic antibody are elevated in those people who suffer hay fever and asthma.

Researchers said their findings raise the possibility that the immune system plays a role in glaucoma.

The condition is the second-leading cause of blindness across the world.

Often affecting both eyes, it develops when fluid, which is constantly produced by the eye, cannot drain properly and pressure builds up in the eyeball.

The pressure can cause damage to the optic nerve - which connects the eye to the brain - and the nerve fibres from the retina.

As part of the study, experts examined data from 1,678 people, aged in their 50s and 60s.

Each volunteer underwent an allergy test for dust mites, cats, dogs, cockroaches and rodents, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Around five per cent of those taking part were diagnosed as having the eye disease.

Of those, 14.3 per cent had significantly higher levels of immunoglobulin E, to cats and 19.1 per cent to cockroaches.

That was compared with 10 per cent in non-glaucoma patients.

Levels associated with dogs were elevated in just six per cent of glaucoma patients, compared with nine per cent of those without the eye disease.

The report stated: 'Participants with glaucoma had significantly higher odds of sensitisation to the cockroach and cat allergens compared to those without glaucoma.'

The authors suggest that the difference in cat and cockroach allergens and those of dogs may have different effects because dogs spend more time outdoors.

The study was published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Link:

• Why owning a cat could damage your SIGHT: Exposure 'to felines increases risk of glaucoma' - but having a dog guards against the disease

Dog Vomit Expansion

By Ann Barnhardt @ Barnhardt.biz

1.  I tickles me to no end that this dialogue is not only possible, but probable:

Person One:  So, what was it that finally convicted you of the truth and caused you to revert/convert to Catholicism?

Person Two:  Dog vomit.  The thing about the dogs eating their own vomit.  Totally.

2.  So I posted 2 Peter 2 in the post below, which ends with Peter recalling Proverbs 26:11:
As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so is the fool that repeateth his folly.

Sicut canis qui revertitur ad vomitum suum, sic imprudens qui iterat stultitiam suam.

Now, the story of how that came up is this: I am currently reading “Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori”, which I cannot recommend with sufficient strength, and I found myself earlier this week reading “Sermon XLI, On the Abuse of Divine Mercy”.  Ever so slightly relevant to the current goings-on, eh?  “Oooh.  This should be interesting,” I thought to myself.  Indeed.  Allow me to quote from Section 2, emphases mine:

“When you intend to commit sin, who, I ask, promises you mercy from God?  Certainly God does not promise it.  It is the devil that promises it, that you may lose God and be damned.  “Beware”, says St. John Chrysostom, “never to attend to that dog who promises the mercy of God.”  If, beloved sinners, you have hitherto offended God, hope and tremble: if you desire to give up sin, and if you detest it, hope; because God promises pardon to all who repent of the evil they have done.  But if you intend to continue in your sinful course, tremble lest God should wait no longer for you, but cast you into hell.  Why does God wait for sinners?  Is it that they may continue to insult Him?  No; He waits for them that they may renounce sin, and that He may thus have pity on them, and forgive them.  “Therefore the Lord waiteth, that He may have mercy on you” -Isaiah 30:18. But when He sees that the time which he gave them to weep over their past iniquities is spent in multiplying their sins, He begins to inflict chastisement, and He cuts them off in the state of sin, that, by dying, they may cease to offend Him.  Then He calls against them the very time He had given them for repentance. “He hath called against me the time” -Lamentations 1:15.  “The very time”, says St. Gregory, “comes to judge.”

It was pointed out to me that when Chrysostom uses the pejorative “that dog”, it is far from random name calling.  He is referencing the “dog that returneth to his vomit” from Proverbs 26 and 2 Peter 2.

The dog that eats his own vomit; the sow that was washed who returns to wallow in mud mingled with her own feces, that is “mire”, is the unrepentant sinner who has no intention of STOPPING THE SINFUL ACTIVITY.

One more block quote from section 5 of St. Alphonsus’ sermon:

St. Bernard says that the confidence which sinners have in God’s goodness, when they commit sin, procures for them not a blessing, but a malediction from the Lord.  O deceitful hope, which sends so many Christians to hell!  They do not hope for the pardon of sins of which they repent; but they hope that though they continue to sin, God will have mercy upon them; and thus they make the mercy of God serve as a motive for continuing to offend Him.

Pray the Rosary, most especially the Sorrowful Mysteries, the First Sorrowful Mystery being The Agony of Our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane.  The fruit of this mystery is SORROW FOR SIN, which is the utterly critical and essential prerequisite for His Mercy and forgiveness.  Beg Him to know what every single one of your sins are, and for you to feel a portion of the agony at your sins that He bore in the Garden, such that you may be animated to STOP DOING THE SINFUL ACTIVITY.

Here is my recording of the Sorrowful Mysteries in Latin with the Litany of Loreto and the text file, specifically for the crushing of and in reparation for the Heresy of Modernism. 

I hope this helps.

Link:

• Dog Vomit Expansion

Related:

• Starting Wednesday Off Right: Dogs Returning to Their Vomit Edition
• Latin Rosary

Mickey Rourke Prepared for Moscow Fight With Images of Saints and Sign of the Cross

From The Eponymous Flower:

MOSCOW -- We're always encouraging fellow Catholics to keep physically fit and militant. Mickey Rourke isn't an exemplary Catholic, but he seems sincere, and he is setting an example.

Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke returned to the boxing ring Friday at the age of 62, defeating a fighter less than half his age in an exhibition bout.

Rourke sent 29-year-old Pasadena, California, native Elliot Seymour to the canvas twice in the second round before the referee stopped the fight.

Rourke prepared in a dressing room in front of a shrine featuring candles, images of saints, and photographs of his dogs. He said he had been in mourning for his recently deceased Chihuahua.

He took to the ring in a Stetson hat, a red-and-gold robe and shiny gold gloves, repeatedly crossing himself.

Link to ESPN...

Link:

• Mickey Rourke Prepares With Images of Saints and Sign of the Cross Before Moscow Fight 

Related:

• Mickey Rourke thanks God and Catholic faith for 'second chance'

Monkeys Riding Dogs and Herding Goats

Priests for Life Mascots

Father Frank Pavone:  "Our Priests for Life mascots are hard at work today. Georgio and Gianni say hello to all of our social media family here on facebook. Blessings to everyone! — at Priestsforlife.org."

Link:

• Father Frank Pavone Facebook Page

Related:

• Pope Benedict and Monsignor Ganswein With Dogs

Pope Benedict and Monsignor Ganswein With Dogs

L'Osservatore Romano

Pets With Newt

Inspired by the many supporters and volunteers “with Newt” who bring their pets to our campaign rallies and events, we’ve launched “Pets with Newt”!

Are you a pet owner with Newt? Share a picture of you and your “pet with Newt” today...

See Pets With Newt

• Pets With Newt 2012
• Newt Gingrich Facebook Page

Fur starts to fly as Pet Airways takes to the skies

Updated Thu. Jul. 9 2009 1:47 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

The fur is really starting to fly, now that the first pet-only airline in the U.S. is taking to the skies.

Pet Airways, which will fly from airports in five American cities starting next week -- with plans to expand into Canada next year -- is focused entirely on pet "pawsengers."

In fact, human passengers aren't even allowed on the planes, said CTV's travel expert Loren Christie.

"It's actually an airline only for pets," Christie told CTV's Canada AM.

"It's not just pet friendly, you actually can't fly on this airline unless you're an animal. The only humans allowed on are the pet attendants."

An estimated one million animals fly each year in America, and Pet Airways' goal is to capitalize on that traffic.

Flights begin at US$149, and come with the promise to "transport your pet with lots of love, care, safety, and comfort in the main cabin," according to the company's website.

Planes have no overhead baggage compartments, no seats, and are designed entirely with animals in mind, the site states.

The airline also offers a "lounge" where pets can be checked in up to 72 hours prior to take-off.

Dan Wiesel, president and CEO of Pet Airways, said most pets travelling by air are transported in the cargo hold and "handled as baggage."

"The experience is frightening to the pets, and can cause severe emotional and physical harm, even death. This is not what most pet owners want to subject their pets to, but they have had no other choice, until now," Wiesel said in a release.

When it begins operations on July 14, the airline will fly between Baltimore, New York, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles, with plans to expand to Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver in 2010.

There is some competition here in Canada, however. While their mandates aren't as pet-centric as Pet Airways, major carriers West Jet and Air Canada both offer pet travel options, Christie said.

Both allow passengers to fly with their pets with some restrictions.

On both airlines, only animals that weigh less than 22 kg, including their carrier, are allowed to stay in the cabin. Those that weigh above the limit are transported in the baggage hold.

And, Air Canada allows no animals to travel in the hold during peak season between June 20 and Sept. 10.

While West Jet allows cats, dogs, birds and rabbits to travel, Air Canada only allows dogs and cats.

Both airlines charge a $50 fee for pets that travel in the cabin, but Air Canada ups the fee to $105 for pets that are transported in the baggage compartment.

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Making a Mockery of Being Green

The creator of ‘Beavis and Butt-Head’ and ‘King of the Hill’ has a new target: environmentalists



By JAMIN BROPHY-WARREN

Director Mike Judge’s new animated television series “The Goode Family” is a send-up of a clan of environmentalists who live by the words “What would Al Gore do?” Gerald and Helen Goode want nothing more than to minimize their carbon footprint. They feed their dog, Che, only veggies (much to the pet’s dismay) and Mr. Goode dutifully separates sheets of toilet paper when his wife accidentally buys two-ply. And, of course, the family drives a hybrid...

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Put the Lime in the Coconut

Beijing takes dog off the menu for Olympics

Fri Jul 11, 12:40 AM ET

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing has asked hotels and restaurants in the city to take dog meat off the menu for the duration of next month's Olympics and September's Paralympics.

Dog is eaten not only by the large Korean community in China's capital but is also popular in Yunnan and Guizhou restaurants.

A directive from the Beijing Food Safety Office issued last month ordered Olympic contractor hotels not to provide any dishes made with dog meat and said any canine material used in traditional medicated diets must be clearly labeled...

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