Transgendered in the Military

Diane McDermott writes at Facebook:  "Currently you can't JOIN the military if you have any medical conditions that require constant treatment or excessive accommodation. That's why people with asthma, diabetes, permanent STD's/STI's (like HIV), people with cancer or a recurring history of cancer and individuals with physical disabilities can't serve (except in very rare cases where a specific waiver is granted). Transgender individuals require hormone replacement therapy, they require psychiatric care during transition, and if they elect to get surgery it can take 2-4 years for them to recover to the point of being eligible to deploy. On top of that, after the surgery they are at a higher risk of infection for the rest of their life, which complicates any attempt at sending them to the field to train where hygiene isn't always able to be pristinely maintained or overseas. An overseas deployment also puts the individual at risk because they may not have steady access to their hormone replacement drugs, which leads to withdrawal and hormone imbalances as well as health problems. So, just like diabetics and cancer patients and individuals with physical or mental disabilities, it just isn't feasible to accommodate these people so that they can serve. President Trump makes right decisions for the best of all Americans and it isn't always easy politically, that's the difference between this President, the past presidents and the politicals, he makes the hard decisions regardless of the political fallout."

I do not question the patriotism of the individual men and women who identify as the other and want to serve their country.  I DO question the patriotism of the LGBTQ agenda and political motives. The less safe they make the rest of us, the better.

According to an advocacy website for trans, 19% have HIV (most are trans women, aka men) compared to 1% for the general population. Also, it's feelings not surgery and hormones that determines the status. Suicide attempts are at 41% compared to 4.6% in the general U.S. population. Of course, the blame and responsibility for those health problems are someone else's fault not the fault of the person with the disordered sense of gender.  https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/AFSP-Williams-Suicide-Report-Final.pdf

When the military uses sex instead of security for guidelines

What if the soldier believes she is NOT a woman, but just a man with large breasts and female genitalia, a man who has menstrual cycles and can bear children. She thinks surgery and hormones would be invasive and a violation of her body.   How far will the military go to accommodate her delusion?

What if the Marine says he want to marry a man, or declare him a domestic partner/civil union, but they are both heterosexuals who need the spousal benefits. . . special discounts, housing, access to resorts for vacations,  and healthcare. How far will the military go to accommodate their longing to be married for benefits, not love or sex? Will it demand to see fondling or anal sex?  If they were male and female would their motives be questioned?

What if the Airman wants a 13 day leave for his grandmother’s domestic partner’s funeral, but there’s no record he has a grandmother, in fact according to the records, he doesn’t even have parents. He insists this grandmother was his deceased grandfather’s domestic partner and her most recent partner has died.  How far will the Air Force stretch the definition of family for a man who insists this man is “family.”

What if a Coast guardsman demands to meet the physical fitness test for women because he is smaller and weighs less than the women in his unit. Should he be judged physically unfit just because he has no wish to be permanently a woman when men who’ve had a sex change or declared they are women can qualify under the lesser standards? 

A member of the Foreign Service lists his sister as a domestic partner to whom he is committed for life and they share a common residence. Their birth records have been changed through adoption so legally they are not siblings.

And there are so many other scenarios.There are existing rules, but rules about sex and behavior can be changed as we learned during the Obama years.   Polygamy and incest rules are “judgmental” and who is the government to pass judgment on relationships when changing society is more important than security?

Wednesday was a busy day at Lakeside

On Wednesday morning the ladies of the herb group met at the train station and carpooled to the Mulberry Creek Herb Farm on Bogart Road and had a lovely talk by owner Karen Langan.  She was raised on the farm next door, and after meeting her husband during her post graduate work in horticulture they began this organic herb farm 21 years ago.  What a delightful place just to soak in all the beauty.  There were also chickens (eggs for sale) and a peacock and an Eagle Scout troop dismantling one of the green houses to move to another area. After her talk we had a chance to browse until about noon.

Then three of us went to lunch at Manny's Sports Bar at Rt. 250 and Bogart Rd.  Great food and very pleasant surroundings. I rode with Susan, who lives in Texas and inherited her mother's Lakeside cottage about eight years ago. We had a wonderful time with girl talk and finding out who we knew in common.

Although it was picnic in the park night, we both had eaten late lunches at restaurants (Wednesday is Guys Club and they boat to local restaurants) and weren't in the mood for hot dogs and baked beans, so we just had tomato soup and rhubarb cobbler for dinner.  We're both enjoying reading novels (mine is a Debbie Macomber and he's reading Agatha Christie) on the porch, but also took a walk by the lake to see the craft show developing for tomorrow's tour of homes.

The program at Hoover was Ciaran Sheehan who with his friend Sarah Pfisterer and a wonderful pianist (don't remember her name) performed a beautiful selection of Broadway tunes.  They had both been in Phantom of the Opera, and he also performed for us "Bring him Home" which he sang at the funeral of Vice President Biden's son.  He was born in Ireland, and the publicity says he began singing in high school and toured with a heavy metal band. He went on to study acting and voice, and made his debut as Babet in Les Miserales. He's also been a producer and has done 3 PBS specials.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4591397/ciaran-sheehan

There are no goats in heaven

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus explained who will be in heaven, who enters the kingdom, who gets the inheritance; no goats, only sheep the shepherd recognizes. How will the shepherd know the sheep? It's not about who voted for a poverty program or closed down the bad prisons, or who marched for open borders while keeping locks on their homes and passwords on their computers. It's not even about mega churches and fabulous musicians to bring in the crowds. In fact, it's a huge challenge because he demands personal responsibility for changing our own lives, not society. These are the opportunities to meet Jesus face to face. "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’"

Again, help where you can; be compassionate and kind. Maybe that's volunteering at the food pantry, but it could be inviting the new widow for dinner. It could be not coddling your adult children so they can learn to be sheep also. It could be picking up someone else's trash. You will definitely NOT change the world or even transform a life, but it will make you a better person because you've met Jesus.

Orthophobic Christians marginalize others

I was listening to Lionel spout off about Minneapolis kindergarten children are no longer to be called boys and girls, but scholars.  Who is pushing this biological nonsense that children should choose their own gender?  The orthophobic bigots.

"Orthophobic animosity and outright discrimination—some have even lost jobs after publicly coming out as QTBGL.  “QTBGL” stands for “Quietly Totally Believing God’s Law” and is sometimes referred to more simply as “TBGL” (just Totally Believing God’s Law).  The Church needs to do a better job ministering to the QTBGL Catholic in the pew, not to mention QTBGL clergy in the Church, like me."
http://www.crisismagazine.com/2017/orthophobia-marginalized-qtbgl-catholic

Together we can change the world

Isn’t that just about the dumbest slogan?  I’ve heard it or seen it many times in many phrases, and it isn’t true, of course.  Get three people in a room with a white board and marker and you have a case for an argument even to state which world you’re referring to. This invitation to change the world just happened to come in an alumni pitch from the University of Illinois. They want my money.  If Illinois graduates were going to change the world, we certainly would have done so by now.

I’ve seen similar slogans about education, about poverty, about child abuse, about suicide, about the opioid epidemic, about trash in the ocean, about trafficking in persons, about friendships with Muslims, about political parties right and left, and any societal or religious problem out there. 

Our church is doing a “launch out” campaign.  Our summer home at Lakeside is non-stop fund raising—sometimes we go to a dinner, sometimes we’re invited to a really nice cottage to listen to a pitch, sometimes they just pass the plate. Right now it’s $3 million for the new swimming pool and wellness center.

UALC—our church--is calling members to celebrate “how God has moved through the last 60 years of our church’s history, give our thanks as He continues to bless and use our church today, and praise Him for the vision He has revealed to us for the future.”  I don’t know what that vision is. In the late 20th century the vision was to expand to the west of the river and have multiple campuses plus a school, but then that didn’t look like a good idea, so the extra land was sold to pay the mortgage. I thought Peter and Paul and the church fathers had the church’s vision pretty well outlined. 

And the U. of I. wants alumni to “come together for our signature event to celebrate the launch of our most ambitious philanthropic campaign ever.” Claims it has a storied past and bold future.  Sounds a lot like my church launch and vision.

Soon I’ll be getting appeals in my e-mail to change a child’s life by buying a backpack with school supplies for a kindergarten student.  Oh, that it were so easy!

Help where you can; be compassionate and kind.  You will definitely not change the world or transform a life, but it will make you a better person.  And that glorifies God.

Brothers, Sisters, and Technology

A relatively recent development that psychological scientists must account for is the role of technology in helping siblings stay in contact years after they leave the family nest. . .

 

Sixty-three percent of siblings in the study said they were friends on Facebook, according to Conger, and those siblings reported more frequency in sibling contact, greater levels of advice-seeking behavior, and higher ratings of relationship satisfaction compared with siblings who had no Facebook contact. Siblings participating in the study also used other forms of technology to keep in touch, including phone calls (51%), texting (20%), and email (9%). Compared with other modes of communication, phone contact between siblings was associated with greater advice-seeking and better psychological adjustment and overall health outcomes.

“Siblings matter, and they are in a unique, lifelong, dynamic relationship,” Conger said.

 

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-many-flavors-of-relationships

My site meter has disappeared

I have no idea where it went, and don't recall the numbers.  Blogspot does some tracking, but I don't remember when it started.  As of July 23, 2017 it was thus:

Lancet report on Alzheimer's stresses modifiable behavior

Read the full Lancet Dementia 2017 Commission:
The Lancet: Dementia prevention, intervention, and care

Take away:  Invite an old lady to lunch today. Improve her social contacts.

Ogle County storms July 22

As we watched the weather reports here in Ohio, I could see that northern Illinois was being slammed by storms. Photos and story by Jerry Stouffer of Mt. Morris.

"The overnight storm on Friday night into Saturday morning July 22 turned the mild mannered Pine Creek into a roaring out of control wild river in a mater of a few hours as the unusual storm that hit the Ogle County area with up to 6.5 inches of rain.  The entire lower portion of the White Pines State Park located just south of Mt. Morris was turned into a massive river.  Water was also flowing across the Pines Road at the entrance to the park closing the Pines Road until mid morning.  By late morning the creek had receded back into its banks leaving much clean up to be done in the park before it can be reopened.  Several large trees were uprooted and picnic tables were swept away in the torrent flood waters."

 

This is the area of Illinois (Pine Creek) where my father grew up, and where as a child and teen I attended many school and church functions.

 

 

Friday on the porch and around Lakeside

I'm reading my third Fannie Flagg novel this summer. Great porch reading. Funny. The four books I brought with me, "Why I don't call myself gay; how I reclaimed my sexual reality and found peace," "Ipad for Seniors (for dummies)," "The creed; professing the faith through the ages," and "Rethinking possible; a memoir of resilience," made it out of the book bag onto the end table, but no further.

I believe O.J. was guilty as sin of those murders, and probably over-punished for the minor crimes. I'm sorry he'll be released, but he did the time on those charges. And I'd never heard of the that band Linkin Park or the guy who committed suicide.  I wonder what the rate is for that profession? Suicide is highest among older white men--at least in this country. https://psychcentral.com/news/2016/01/07/why-older-white-men-have-highest-suicide-rate-in-us/97289.html

The author of this Imprimus article was listening to her three children argue. "It was at this moment that I had one of those sudden insights as a parent. I realized that my oldest was a constitutional conservative, my middle child a libertarian, and my youngest a socialist with totalitarian tendencies." We have a Democrat party full of socialists with totalitarian goals in this country. They hate free speech.  It's not the 60s anymore.  https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/lefts-war-free-speech/

Black men who in their private lives love white women, pretend to be anti-white and racist to blacks in their own community says this black man in a Tucker interview. He loves the fruit, hates the tree. NYT should have dumped that race baiting article on white women on sidewalks (which I didn't read). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYTNEjKTxFA

Although I only attended three of this week's offerings on Russia, they were all interesting, especially the film that was premiered here on the Lakeside grounds. Russia is the world's largest country by landmass, beating out runner-up Canada by around 2.8 million square miles. It includes nine different time zones and shares land borders with 14 neighboring countries. 1/4 is in Europe and 3/4 in Asia. It's rich in resources. It has a dictator, but the USA spent years coddling other dictators. Remember Fidel? It would have been a great ally and trading partner but something went very wrong during the last three years of Obama's reign's and Clinton's stint as Secretary of State. What are the Democrats trying to cover up by blaming everything on Trump, who wasn't even a candidate in those years?

Until after the 2012 campaign, Obama and Putin were close. What did Obama do to change this, and why blame Trump who wasn't even on the radar as a politician. This is a rhetorical question, of course.

Home Free, a "vocal band" put on a fabulous show Friday night at the Hoover in Lakeside. Pretty much a packed house--lots of covers of Oak Ridge Boys, Statler Brothers, Alabama, etc. Loved Elvira. Nice Johnny Cash Ring of Fire, too. A few of the hip hop genre I thought were inappropriate for our regular audience, but they are a quality, fabulous group. Don't miss them if they are performing near you. I think the next 2 are in Canada. Amazing sound--all vocal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXQpDDcrN-w

Almost every morning I've been having grilled fresh vegetables for breakfast.  Then I'm good for the rest of the day in case indiscretions like chocolate chip cookies or rhubarb cobbler suddenly appear. Every day is different, but I always add some brown mustard, and that really helps the blandness. Today (Saturday) is onions, yellow peppers, zucchini, broccoli, but others times it's cabbage, mushrooms, celery, green peppers and carrots.

A very good list

 

I use too many adverbs--especially this one.

Plastic trash--clean it up

I don't know which came first, the plastic water bottle or the misinformation that we need 8 glasses of water a day, but they are ubiquitous.  I see those bottles everywhere.

"Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit that organizes an annual cleanup event in more than 150 countries worldwide, said plastic debris makes up around 85 percent of all the trash collected from beaches, waterways and oceans ― and that’s just the stuff we can see." (HuffPo) Some sources report plastic trash in the oceans would cover an area 24x the size of Manhattan. If I could find a non-profit that isn't a front for Soros or a climate scam that wants to redistribute my income into their pockets, I'd contribute to the clean up--makes more sense than sending our tax dollars to Europe for a bureaucrat to spend. And we can start by not drinking water from plastic bottles and then throwing them in the trash. Today I vow to carry my cloth grocery bag to the Farmer's Market in Lakeside.