Steve's Blog Spot

The AP reports  that the World Heath Organization spends $200 million a year on travel, which includes business class air fares and swanky hotel rooms. Talk about waste! And we US taxpayers are a major funder! Compare WHO to others: WHO: UN-funded - 7,000 staffers and $200 million in travel UNICEF: UN funded - 13,000 staff and $140 million Doctors Without Borders: Not UN funded - 37,000 staffers and $43 million And WHO is complaining about not having enough money! Oh come on now!

All my ducks are pretty well in a row for my Camino Frances this year. The airfare's bought and paid for, and I have booked my first 5 nights of the trip. After that, I'll just wing it from night to night.  All I have left are my land routes from Madrid to St. Jean Pied de Port. I'll take a train from Madrid to Pamplona, spend the night, then bus to SJPdP, the start of my journey. When I am about 60 days out, I'll book them. Packing-wise, I am set. I have a 34 liter back pack which has a wrap-around waist belt designed to support the weight on my hips, rather than my shoulders. It's very comfortable, and the total packed weight will be about 18 lbs. Contents will include a sleeping bag, silk liner. a couple of changes of clothes, Crocs, my travel CPAP and battery, and a few toiletries and Rx's. Minimal! Still walking 25 miles a week, plus fitness classes and yoga for better strength and flexibility. I'm really looking forward to the whole

“If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.” Mark Twain

Harvard isn't exactly a bastion of political conservatism, yet a new report from Harvard's Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy confirms the extreme bias of the mainstream press. That's something many conservatives, and Donald Trump, have known all along. I don't mind the press going after Trump. That's their job, provided it is researched accurately and honestly. But with so much bias, you can't tell where the real truth lies, and it gets drowned out by all the noise. Bottom line: if you get your information from the mainstream media, how do you know your opinions are correct? Here are some interesting graphics, and Fox News does indeed appear to be fair and balanced!