What won in 2008--will it work in 2012?

I was looking at my November 3, 2008 blog entry about Obama. The technology thing probably won't work this time--the kids are on to him, and even grandpa's on twitter. We know he'll lower the price of gasoline, but it certainly won't be as low as November 2008; we know he'll pull something dirty in the middle east or Africa that will look like the U.S. is coming to someone's aid; we know he'll take credit for an ever so slowly recovering economy which primarily shows the will of the American people. Can you think of anything else? Since the $1 surcharge for abortion is already in the insurance policies of Americans, can the Catholic fight go anywhere?

Love him or hate him, admire or denigrate him, his minions and lackeys are masters of puppetry, show, fluff, alinskyized groups, speed and visual impact. He picks an old-time, aging liberal for a running mate and uses text messaging to announce it, and the kiddoes swoon from excitement, ignorning the fact that Democrats refused Biden several times. They get little old ladies to leave their home in Illinois and paint store fronts and make coffee in Wisconsin; they get honor scholars to come home from Europe and give false addresses in Ohio and live in a dump so they can bus in the homeless and confused who haven't voted in years, or maybe never. They build a Greek Temple for $5 million to announce what we all knew--he was going to be the candidate and then rip into Palin for her clothes; he prances around Europe posing with fascist imagery but the kids have never studied history, so still they swoon. His agents and organizers, managers and gurus understand that what matters is the feeling, the excitement of the moment, not the facts. Norma, Nov. 3, 2008

60% of pregnant black women in NYC abort

But a billboard that pointed out how dangerous a black womb can be? Rude, wrong, disgusting, inappropriate--the billboard not the statistics about the abortions of black babies. So they took the billboard down. Anti-life groups are very rich and have stunning political ties on the left. They are really going after life groups who place billboards that tell the truth. No one denied that this billboard told the truth.

New York abortions by zip code

Does a culture of contraception increase or decrease abortion?

At first it seems counter-intuitive. Look at the money we are shelling out for Title X (a Nixon program for family planning services for the poor). Unless you really think it through. Over half the abortions are for women who used birth control. Many birth control methods, unless used exactly as directed, like the patch or the ring, or when used in conjunction with certain medications fail. But easily available and heavily used contraception increases abortions.

From the proponents of the Sexual Revolution and the Abortion Industry:
“Sexologist” Alfred Kinsey, 1955: “At the risk of being repetitious, I would remind the group that we have found the highest frequency of induced abortions in the groups which, in general, most frequently uses contraception.”

Abortionist Malcolm Potts, the former director of Planned Parenthood of England, 1976: “As people turn to contraception, there will be a rise, not a fall, in the abortion rate…”

Alan Guttmacher Institute (Planned Parenthood’s Research Arm) researcher Stan E. Weed: “[F]or every 1000 teens between 15-19 years of age enrolled in family planning clinics, we can expect between 50 to 120 more pregnancies”

Abortionist Judith Bury, 1981: “There is overwhelming evidence that, contrary to what you might expect, the provision of contraception leads to an increase in the abortion rate.”

Now, a 10-year study, the largest of its kind (based in Spain), has concluded that increased levels of contraception increases sexual intercourse at a rate that drives up abortion rates by overcompensating for the decreased conception rate per sexual encounter. Contraception. 2011 Jan;83(1):82-7. Epub 2010 Jun 17. "Trends in the use of contraceptive methods and voluntary interruption of pregnancy in the Spanish population during 1997-2007."

RESULTS: During the study period, 1997 to 2007, the overall use of contraceptive methods increased from 49.1% to 79.9%. The most commonly used method was the condom (an increase from 21% to 38.8%), followed by the pill (an increase from 14.2% to 20.3%). Female sterilization and IUDs decreased slightly and were used by less than 5% of women in 2007. The elective abortion rate increased from 5.52 to 11.49 per 1000 women.

The Catholic Populist

She just loves this book!

Namaste's back. I've had a link to her for years, but she hadn't been blogging for awhile. Now she's returned refreshed because she read a book. Librarians love that.

So I read this book recently and I was like, HOLY CRAP!! I need to blog!

You know I love you readers, I do. But for the last few months of my blogging I had begun feeling outnumbered and overwhelmed by the leftist monopoly of the MSM. Yup, I confess, the liberal madness was under my skin, giving me a headache. It was beginning to feel as if I was seeing the liberal message in all things, screaming at me, everywhere I turned. Television, movies, books, magazines, newspapers!

If I went on-line to check the weather or get a little news, I had to first click past stupid yahoo or the idiot msn dot com with their slanted sucky headlines. Grrr! And then! If that wasn't enough, glassy-eyed black people who love Obama, were friggin surrounding me! Ugh! These glassy-eyed strangers would assume, because I happen to be black, that they could chat me up about their love for O-moron. Seriously. I needed a break.

But then! I never thought I'd say this, but thank God for Facebook! One of my friends started a discussion on his FB page that led me to discover The Content of Our Character by Shelby Steele, a must read for anyone who has spent any time living in our GREAT COUNTRY, AMERICA. The book, published over 20 years ago, takes an honest look at the effects of race relations on each of us and how it's evolved since the 1950s.

Steele, a conservative, advocates eliminating affirmative action in favor of rewarding individual performance based on merit. Here here! I will say more on my feelings about race in America today in later posts. But for now, let me say this. Having read this book, I feel like I found a long lost friend. Among Americans, I feel completely at home. That's a given. I LOVE my America. But it has also saddened me to feel so alienated from most black people. So many blacks are left-leaning and voted for Obama, not for his politics, but for the color of his skin. I did not. And I hope to see Obama booted out from my White House in November.

Five CME for this abortion workshop

It can be a good parenting decision to decide not to parent. p. 56 Early Abortion Trainers Workbook
"This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals (ARHP) and Advancing New Stanards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH). ARHP is accredited by ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians."

WHO HAS ABORTIONS
• 52% of U.S. women obtaining abortions are younger than 25. Women aged 20-24 obtain 33% of all abortions, and teenagers obtain 19%.
• 43% of women obtaining abortions identify themselves as Protestant, and 27% identify themselves as Catholic.
• 2/3 of all abortions are among never-married women.
• Over 60% of abortions are among women who have had 1 or more children.
• On average, women give at least 3 reasons for choosing abortion: 3/4 say that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities; about 2/3 say they cannot afford a child; and 1/2 say they do not want to be a single parent or are having problems with their husband or partner.
CONTRACEPTIVE USE
• 54% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users reported using the methods inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users reported correct use.
• 8% of women having abortions have never used a method of birth control.
• As much as 43% of the decline in abortion between 1994 and 2000 can be attributed to the use of emergency contraception (Wind 2002).

INCIDENCE OF ADOPTION
• 2% of unmarried women place their child for adoption (Moore 1995). This percentage has steadily decreased since the 1970s (National Adoption Information Clearinghouse 2000).

There are interesting "values clarification" exercises, and how to reword the question if the participant remains a reluctant student of abortion.

For patients who express fear that, “this is a sin and God will punish me,” you might respond: “This is a difficult decision. Many women from different religious backgrounds struggle with this decision, even though they know it is the right thing for them to do.” or, “In many religions, people are permitted to ask for and be granted forgiveness.”

Rather than, “Don’t have intercourse for the next week” try instead: “If you want to reduce the risk of infection, then you will want to avoid vaginal intercourse for the next several days. How will this work for you? [Does this sound like the doctor is suggesting oral or anal sex? Do you suppose she knows about HIV or oral HPV?]

These women are studying how to abort more babies

The original photo of four attractive, young white doctors sitting around a table discussing "Turnaways" has been removed at the request of the photographer. So I'm reposting this one of Obama working through the Bill of Rights as he tries to destroy the Catholic Church and all its social service agencies which help the needy.
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Sounds crazy, but read through the website. They are concerned about "Turnaways," or women who get to the clinic too late to abort their babies (legally, I guess). It says that abortions are notoriously under reported. I guess the 50 million plus that Guttmacher reports isn't enough (reporting arm of Planned Parenthood).

These attractive, young, well-educated women are from the University of California at San Francisco, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH), a collaborative research group and “think tank” at the University. Virtually all the websites I checked that were promoting abortion as a "health solution" showed attractive, vibrant, youthful white women (or so light and ethnically mixed you couldn't tell), talking to black women and children. I'm not sure to whom that message is going.

Ironically, on its history page, the founder of ANSIRH (now deceased) is referred to as the "mother" of the "reproductive health" movement, which as I've noted is code for "legal abortion and population attrition through contraception" the exact opposite of motherhood From her obituary, I see she also foster mothered Plan B, and there were eulogizing comments left from NARAL, National Abortion Federation, Reproductive Freedom Project ACLU, Population Council and Abortion Access Project as well as close associates and friends. My, what a proud legacy to take to Christ's throne--to have assisted with the deaths of thousands through research and advocacy.

Many "reproductive health" sites are pushing OTC contraceptives for underage women

Tylenol, Ampicillin, Coumadin, Lipitor, and Synthroid are really common medications. Millions of women use these medications for pain and headaches, sinus infections, heart rhythm problems, high cholesterol and thyroid deficiencies. Did you know they could mess with your birth control pill's effectiveness? No? Why the push for over the counter and underage use? Did you know the later a woman has her first pregnancy the higher her risk for breast cancer? No? Did you know that abortion increases a woman's risk for breast cancer? Well, then, just where did this "war on women" originate? It's certainly did not come from the Catholic Church or Rush Limbaugh (who would have been in grade school when this type of experimenting with women's hormones began). Remember the stats from the abortion workshop guidebook. . . ‎54% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users reported using the methods inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users reported correct use. Coumadin is a blood thinner, so is aspirin. An aspirin between the knees just might be an effective contraceptive.

Who is College Confidential to be grading U.S. News and World Report top anything schools

This morning I was reading at the OSU Today website about OSU placing in the top twenty of the various categories of U.S. News and World Report. There are so many categories, it would be difficult to not get listed for some reason. So while investigating the reliability of the USNWR rankings, I came across College Confidential--but who are they? At least USNWR has been around in some form since the 1940s (the magazine is now defunct, I believe).

College Confidential gives U.S. News and World Report a B- “for making a big splash at first, with little real, residual value in the final analysis” but an excellent source conveniently arranged for comparing a wealth of data. But who then is College Confidential? Not even Wikipedia seems to know much about it except it was created in 2001. The best information I could find about College Confidential which critiqued U.S. News and World Report was this blog by a Johns Hopkins admissions counselor. He begins with the addiction problem you have with any social networking site, and how he periodically had to withdraw from the forum where he tried to educate students about the process he understood and they didn't. Then he moves on to a frustration we all have who do e-mail, blogging, facebook or twitter.

Information is not knowledge and knowledge is not widsom. At a time when humans have more information available than at any other time in history, never have we been such poor stewards of it. It is a commodity, it is gossip, it is bought, sold, and hyped. There are gatekeepers who want no new studies published lest their own careers are threatened; and there are idiots spewing lies just for the fun of it. There's a Christian newsletter I continue to get (will remain nameless) to see if anyone but their own little group is ever right about anything--theology, politicians, food, diseases, etc. If I Snope, JunkScience or FactCheck something, I'll be criticized by someone who wants desperately to believe there is a plot to kill all Republicans. If I point out a dangerous program by President Obama, others call me racist--even if Bush had the same program and they railed against him. It's the nature of the beast.

"For me the most frustrating part of College Confidential is that for certain students it becomes the only source of information whatsoever. If one can’t find it on College Confidential than it must not be true. Why are people asking about a university’s standardized exam policy on College Confidential rather than going to that school’s Admissions site? Why are people asking what to do if all interview slots are filled on College Confidential rather than calling the Admissions office? Why are students asking about personal parts of their application and what they should do about something linked to them personally rather than sending an e-mail to the Admissions office? For Johns Hopkins, our Admissions site is easy to navigate and there is a ton of information at your fingertips. Our phone staff are polite, helpful, and available during normal business hours to help with any and all inquiries. And our e-mail account is cleared out on a daily basis with thorough responses even over the weekends and holidays. It just makes no sense that one has to turn to “CCFan326” to find out if Hopkins requires SAT scores, or ask “HopingforJHU” what the last date to request an alumni interview is for Hopkins."

Please go directly to the source--on anything--if you can.

Where is the real War on Women?

A recent study shows an increase in breast cancer with injectable and oral contraceptives and a decrease in others--but then, many studies have shown that. What surprises me is that the anti-life "reproductive health" industry (abortion/contraception) which is huge and probably more powerful than the tobacco industry even lets this stuff get in print. The link between abortion and breast cancer no one denies because it's so strong. Scroll down to see how I've been looking at the published warnings included with contraceptive chemicals and tools (which many women never read). It's enough to turn my gray hair brown again. Do you really want your teenage daughter or granddaughter starting this stuff, or having it available as over the counter medications with no input from doctor or parents?

Injectable and Oral Contraceptive Use and Cancers of the Breast, Cervix, Ovary, and Endometrium in Black South African Women: Case–Control Study
World Health Organization Data on Birth Control Pill and Estrogen Replacement Carcinogenicity
If you have a young woman in your life, and especially if you have breast cancer in your family or she has other risk factors like weight or smoking, please get this book into her hands. If you are her mom, she probably won't listen. But then, you should read it, or give it to her grandmother. They sometimes have avenues that moms don't.

Maybe it's protected speech

But it sure is poor taste--the Obama flag. Flying over Democrat headquarters, of course. Isn't this the guy who doesn't want to wear a flag pin?

About that Arab Spring --taking women back, way back

"Although the 1979 revolution in Iran is often called an Islamic revolution, it can actually be said to be a revolution of men against women. Before the revolution, women's rights were recognized to some extent. But the revolution led to the enactment of numerous discriminatory laws against women.

After the revolution—even before drafting a new constitution or establishing parliament—the revolutionary councils changed the laws. When I first read the Islamic Penal Code instituted after the revolution, I couldn't believe my eyes. The drafters of this document had effectively taken us back 1,400 years. . .

I hope that in the Arab countries where people have risen against dictatorships and overthrown them, they will reflect and learn from what happened to us in Iran. My recommendation to Arab women is to focus on strengthening civil-society institutions and to familiarize themselves with religious discourse, so they can demonstrate that leaders who rely on religious dogma that sets women's rights back are doing so to consolidate power."

At today's Wall Street Journal

The Obama Administration standards for military crime

When military doctor Major Nidal Malik Hasan killed 9 and wounded 30 at Ft. Hood the Obama administration called it "work place violence," ignoring his ties to extremist Islamists for years, and still haven't brought the guy to trial after 3 years. But when an obviously deranged soldier kills Afghan civilians, within 3 days Panetta and higher up Democrats are asking for the death penalty? Do they think that will make the pain go away for the families. Is that Islamic justice? It sure isn't what we've come to expect from either U.S. justice or military justice. Where are the liberals who hang around prisons singing with candles in the dark after 20 years of appeals for rapists and cop killers when you need them? "The US soldier who went berserk and killed 16 innocent Afghan civilians could face execution, according to the US Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta."

Terrible story of slaughter here.

I'll have no excuses not to walk

After a warm winter, we're getting a warm spring. I'm getting over a cold, probably am not dangerous anymore, but I'll try to get out and enjoy the warm weather and do some walking, which is the all-round best exercise there is for older people--it helps the brains, bones and balance.

And it all starts with one step and good shoes.

The hound of heaven snatched her -- guest blog

One of my high school friends was a Latter Day Saint (Mormon) - I went to camp with her when we were freshmen in high school... the leaders were very nice. We took pot with us and smoked out in the woods with a couple other campers, who later turned us in. The leaders tried to get us to confess, but we were happy stoners and didn't care. When they pulled out the book of Mormon to do a study, I laughed all the way through the stories about Jesus showing up in South America... like a good Catholic girl on weed...

To the point - the Mormon faith does not save souls - it teaches followers to be good citizens, i.e., they are non-judgmental, non-authoritarian, non-offending - they do also use the Bible on the side. . . but somehow miss the spot where Scripture says, "if you add one jot or tittle" - I suppose since the Book of Mormon IS a different tome, it isn't technically an addition to Scripture... but the practice is full of bad doctrine that directly contradicts the Hebrew revelation.

The LDS adults had no power to discipline, curb or guilt me into appropriate behavior - but then, by my senior year I was smoking pot in the school building. . . so go figure! - Remember, God had been removed from the schools (I'm a gen-Xer), so I had nothing to fear there... no one was in legitimate authority over me... at that point in time, my parents had swallowed the whole lie.

Remember the story of the gingerbread boy? He ran and ran as fast as he can? Got away from the little old man, the little old woman, the farmer, the duck, the pig, etc. But the fox got him when they crossed the river together... snip, snap... I am the gingerbread boy. I ran and ran till the fox got me! However, there is another version of the story where the gingerbread boy realized his error, and ran home as fast as he could! Me again! Only it was the hound of heaven who snip snapped me - and it was the Spirit of God that brought me under His ultimate authority! Praise and Glory to you, LORD!

Second point - unless the Spirit of God is Romney's ultimate authority, he is just another gingerbread boy running as fast as he can to be a good citizen for the sake of contributing to society - is that bad? No... civil duty is a great thing and pleases God. These leaders get things done - and our Constitution has plenty of room for Mormons.

I really liked those soft LDS leaders... They contributed nicely to my narcissistic youth... That doesn't mean that I believe everything they believe - but then I rebelled against the Catholic church, too... and against just about every authority figure that ever tried to cross my path...

But then, what else would you expect from a cookie?!

What you should know about Ethinyl Estradiol and Norelgestromin Transdermal patch

There are so many do's and don'ts for this patch, I can't imagine it ever passed FDA approval. Read the list here. At a web site for teens it clearly says 8 out of 100 couples will get pregnant using this method.

Cigarette smoking increases the risk of serious side effects from the contraceptive patch, including heart attacks, blood clots, and strokes. This risk is higher for women over 35 years old and heavy smokers (15 or more cigarettes per day). If you use the contraceptive patch, you should not smoke.

Apply the contraceptive patch to a clean, dry, intact, healthy area of skin on the buttock, abdomen, upper outer arm, or upper torso, in a place where it will not be rubbed by tight clothing. Do not place the contraceptive patch on the breasts or on skin that is red, irritated, or cut. Do not apply makeup, creams, lotions, powders, or other topical products to the skin area where the contraceptive patch is placed. Each new patch should be applied to a new spot on the skin to help avoid irritation.

Do not cut, decorate, or change the patch in any way. Do not use extra tape, glue, or wraps to hold the patch in place.

•tell your doctor and pharmacist what prescription and nonprescription medications, vitamins, and nutritional supplements you are taking. Be sure to mention any of the following: acetaminophen (APAP, Tylenol); antibiotics such as ampicillin; anticoagulants ('blood thinners') such as warfarin (Coumadin); antifungals such as itraconazole (Sporanox) and ketoconazole (Nizoral); ascorbic acid (vitamin C); atorvastatin (Lipitor); clofibrate ; cyclosporine (Neoral, Sandimmune); griseofulvin (Fulvicin, Grifulvin, Grisactin); HIV protease inhibitors such as indinavir (Crixivan) and ritonavir (Norvir); medications for seizures such as carbamazepine (Tegretol), felbamate (Felbatol), phenobarbital (Luminal, Solfoton), oxcarbazepine (Trileptal), phenytoin (Dilantin), and topiramate (Topamax); morphine (Kadian, MS Contin, MSIR, others); oral steroids such as dexamethasone (Decadron, Dexone), methylprednisolone (Medrol), prednisone (Deltasone), and prednisolone (Prelone); rifampin (Rifadin, Rimactane); temazepam (Restoril); theophylline (Theobid, Theo-Dur); and thyroid medication such as levothyroxine (Levothroid, Levoxyl, Synthroid). Your doctor may need to change the doses of your medications or monitor you carefully for side effects.
•tell your doctor what herbal products you are taking, especially products containing St. John's wort.

What you should know about ethinyl estradiol and estonogestrel --NuvaRing

From the product warnings:

This medication can cause birth defects. Do not use if you are pregnant. Tell your doctor right away if you become pregnant.

Do not use this medication if you have any of the following conditions: a history of stroke or blood clot, circulation problems (especially if caused by diabetes), a hormone-related cancer such as breast or uterine cancer, abnormal vaginal bleeding, liver disease or liver cancer, severe high blood pressure, migraine headaches, a heart valve disorder, or a history of jaundice caused by birth control pills.

You may need to use back-up birth control, such as condoms or a spermicide, when you first start using this medication. Avoid using a diaphragm with the ethinyl estradiol and etonogestrel vaginal ring. Follow your doctor's instructions.

Taking hormones can increase your risk of blood clots, stroke, or heart attack, especially if you smoke and are older than 35.

The ethinyl estradiol and etonogestrel vaginal ring will not prevent pregnancy if you wear it only during intercourse. You must wear the ring for 3 full weeks, followed by 1 full week without a ring. The timing of ring insertion and removal is very important for this medicine to be effective as a form of birth control.

Some drugs can make ethinyl estradiol and etonogestrel less effective, which may result in pregnancy. Tell your doctor about all the prescription and over-the-counter medications you use, including vitamins, minerals and herbal products. Do not start using a new medication without telling your doctor.

Obama runs campaign ad against Palin--in 2012

He pitches like a girl, in my opinion . . . It's like the Democrats blaming her for Gifford's shooting--it's just ridiculous the hate they have for this woman. The same PR firm that is promoting the anti-Palin HBO movie is advising Sandra Fluke--Obama's former commie admiring staffer, Anita Dunn. From Sarah Palin's Facebook page:

Exhibit A in these diversionary tactics is an absurd new attack ad President Obama has released taking my comments out of context. I’m not running for any office, but I’m more than happy to accept the dubious honor of being Barack Obama’s “enemy of the week” if that includes the opportunity to debate him on the issues Americans are actually concerned about. (Remember when I said you don’t need a title to make a difference?)

Just off the top of my head, a few of these concerning issues include: a debt crisis that has us hurtling towards a Greek-style collapse, entitlement programs going bankrupt, a credit downgrade for the first time in our history, a government takeover of the health care industry that makes care more expensive and puts a rationing panel of faceless bureaucrats between you and your doctor (aka a “death panel”), $4 and $5 gas at the pump exacerbated by an anti-drilling agenda that rejects good paying energy sector jobs and makes us more dependent on dangerous foreign regimes, a war in Afghanistan that seems unfocused and unending, a global presidential apology tour that’s made us look feeble and ridiculous, a housing market in the tank, the longest streak of high unemployment since World War II, private-sector job creators and industry strangled by burdensome regulations and an out-of-control Obama EPA, an attack on the Constitutional protection of religious liberty, an attack on private industry in right-to-work states, crony capitalism run amok in an administration in bed with their favored cronies to the detriment of genuine free market capitalism, green energy pay-to-play kickbacks to Obama campaign donors, and a Justice Department still stonewalling on a bungled operation that armed violent Mexican drug lords and led to the deaths of hundreds of innocent people.

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I'm a better Catholic than Biden or Sebilius

and I'm a Lutheran. I can't imagine the Democrat Catholics that are backing this President. They can't even be called "cafeteria Catholics," not even "snack machine Catholics." I've never said a confession to a Catholic priest, or attended a Catholic Mass, but I believe the church has a right to decide whether or not it should pay for contraception and abortions. I think it's time for Biden, Sebilius, Kerry, and Kennedy, Jr. to start church shopping or "come home" to the Catholic church and start showing some respect for the values and teachings.

Where's the outrage?

I was just wondering if the MSM would have exploded with outrage and Bush Burning if this latest Afghanistan tragedy had happened under Bush. Doesn't killing 16 civilians, families with children, seem a tad more serious than escapades of bored servicemen guarding a prison? That went on for weeks, or maybe months. Congress (Democrats) were relentless, as was the media. The press seems to have yawned over this one and gone back to watch the president play golf. Here's another speculation from the left--Politico.

Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald, an icon of what the Obama White House famously dubbed “the professional left,” also sees a strange lack of interest toward some of Obama’s policies. Among them: his administration’s claim that the Constitution allows executive use of armed drones to kill U.S. citizens abroad deemed to be terrorist operatives.

“Virtually all the Democrats who were apoplectic about Bush and were constantly complaining about him ‘trampling on our values’ over eavesdropping and detention have been silent about assassination, even though it’s so much more severe,” Greenwald said. “It isn’t that Obama is necessarily any worse on civil liberties than Bush. The point is he’s able to get away with so much more.”

Eric Holder is going after pro-life sidewalk counselors, but waving off Fast and Furious. He shrugged at Black Panther intimidation of voters but seems to think showing an ID to vote, which is required here in Ohio, is discrimantory for Hispanics. Obama can take out American citizens--kill them--no trial, and he can have us arrested is we're walking near a federal building.

What's up Demicrats. Why do you still support him?

Carmen Capuzano

I was watching Spanish language TV and came across Carmen Capuzano. I'd never seen her before. "What a horrible nose job," was my first thought. So I googled her. Apparently I'm not the first or last to notice. She used to have a very different face.

Carmen Capuzano's former nose.

Diana Hortsch helps lawyers fight for abortions

"Since 2009, Diana Hortsch has been spearheading the effort to cultivate new reproductive rights allies and leverage the talents of legal academics as the very first Senior Director of the Center’s Law School Initiative (LSI). After teaching and directing a program at the NYU School of Law for experienced human rights lawyers, she was drawn to the Center’s unique structure as a global human rights organization."

Even though "reproductive rights" groups target minority and poor women for abortions, they love to present themselves as advocates for the poor--but not poor and unborn. Diana in her free time likes to paint and take care of her own children. ReproWrites

Words matter

"Reproductive health" means abortion. "Reproductive justice" means aborting black and poor women's pregnancies. This is a huge industry made up of pharmaceutical companies, non-profits, government agencies, and academic departments in university medical centers. This industry also has strong ties to the environmental and racialist movements. Follow the money. If all teen-age black and poor girls returned to the birth rate and marriage rate of the 1960s, entire empires of social workers, researchers and doctors would collapse, particularly women doctors, would have to close up shop and look for ways to save lives instead of taking them.

Non-profits are critical to this death industry. They are like ACORN--many different names. Ibis. Society of Family Planning. National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. Urban Initiative. National Institute for Reproductive Health. Boston Medical Center. Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health. National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Oregon Foundation for Reproductive Health. Ohio Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice. Akron Women's Medical Group. Charlotte Ellertson Social Science Postdoctoral Fellowship in Abortion and Reproductive Health. Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health (Columbia). The Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health. Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health (UCSF). Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (UCSF). Center for Reproductive Rights.

54% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. 76% of pill users and 49% of condom users reported using the methods inconsistently, while 13% of pill users and 14% of condom users reported correct use. (Early abortion training workbook) With statistics like that you would almost think that wider availability of contraceptives and more abortions are linked, wouldn't you?

Truly, it's a many headed serpent going after everything from including their training and anti-life mission in medical board certification to bringing down crisis pregnancy centers.

With an abortion friendly president, pro-abortion non-profits and medical centers find much cause to celebrate--"the end of the Global Gag rule, prospects for universal health insurance, and a reassertion of the importance of science in public policy formation." From one of their "reproduction health" websites.

Support the Thomas More Society

Over one third of abortions are black babies

And yet that's not enough for an abortion mill organization called the Urban Initiative, which is an arm of the National Institute for Reproductive Health and which wants to go national. There are code words in this field.

"Reproductive health" means abortion.
"Access to comprehensive reproductive health services" means access to abortion.
"Reduce unintended pregnancies" means killing babies in the womb.
"Pro-family planning" means pro-abortion.
"Urban reproductive health issues" means aborting black babies so they won't go on the welfare roles.
"Proactive policy agenda to reduce unintended pregnancy" means signing up public officials to support abortion.
"Funded, administered, or legislated at the municipal level" means taxpayer supported abortions.
"Improving the reproductive health of women and families" means killing babies.
"Reproductive health and justice trends" means they are fighting pro-life bill boards and crisis pregnancy centers as "racist," even though they are the ones killing black babies.

Here's its goal for the black community (ignore the sociological jargon--it still means death to babies):

THE CHALLENGE: In the United States, women living in urban centers are more likely to be in their reproductive years than their rural counterparts. For many reproductive health indicators, city residents experience worse reproductive health outcomes compared to the national average. Many poor reproductive health indicators are linked with some of the systemic problems affecting urban areas: poverty, racism, shortage of affordable housing, crime, lack of adequate public transportation, and the concentration of environmental pollutants and toxins.

The expansion of this organization is to be accomplished through "bootcamps," community roundtables to pull into their sphere of influence grass roots organizations, leadership institutes, establishing partnerships with other community organizations, regional and national summits. This is very much the Saul Alinsky model of working with the underclass and poor--never mind that the goal of the organization is the death of the smallest and weakest of that group.

The mission of Boston Medical Center

Sounds really cozy. Words like "respect," "empower" and "collaborate" abound.

Boston Medical Center ( 720 Harrison Avenue, 11th Floor, Boston, MA 02118) is an extraordinary community of health care providers devoted to the proposition that every person, regardless of his or her social or economic circumstances, deserves the best health care.

That concern and devotion doesn't apply to "every person" however, because the weakest and most abused, and most likely minority, is the unborn child, and look at the expansion of that mission.

Boston University and Boston Medical Center have a long history of providing family planning and reproductive health care services to the community as well as medical student and resident education in family planning. The Family Planning Fellowship at Boston University was established in 2001 under the leadership of Dr. Phillip Stubblefield and Dr. Lynn Borgatta. The program has graduated fellows who have become leaders in the field and has provided vital research in the areas of contraception, pregnancy termination and induction. Since the start of the fellowship, the clinical and research programs have continued to grow and inter-departmental collaboration has continued to develop. . . [pretty photos]

Consistent with the mission of community service, Boston Medical Center has provided abortion services since legalization. All services are provided at Boston Medical Center. The medical center is actively expanding, with both new buildings and renovations of historic buildings.

The medical campus includes the hospitals, the School of Medicine, biomedical research buildings, and the School of Public Health, which allows almost all activities to take place within a several block radius. . .

Within Boston Medical Center our program enjoys a strong collaborative relationship with the Department of Family Medicine. Family medicine residents rotate through family planning and abortion services.

Several midwives and nurse-practitioners are or have been medical abortion providers, and have collaborated on research projects concerning medical abortion and post-partum contraception. . .

Research projects include a broad range of topics, including all aspects of clinical contraceptive use, abortion techniques, behavioral assessments and assessment of decision-making, and evaluation of domestic or international family planning programs. Basic science research is also an option. Dr. Deborah Anderson leads the group of immunology researchers, and Dr. Wendy Kuohung in the Reproductive Endocrinology Division has moved her laboratory to BU. Other basic science liaisons are encouraged.

Research and Clinical Interests

• Preterm birth and prevention
• Fertility and women's health
• Techniques of surgical abortion
• Early medical abortion and treatment of pregnancy failure
• Technique of labor induction abortion
• Basic science: fetal cell transfer in early pregnancy
• On-contraceptive benefits of contraceptives
• Attitudes of women of different ethnic groups toward contraceptive use

Current Faculty Research Projects

• Clinical trial to assess the safety and contraceptive efficacy of two doses of the ultra low dose levonorgestrel contraceptive intrauterine systems
• Clinical trial to investigate the efficacy and safety of the transdermal contraceptive patch
• Trends in post-partum sterilization: delayed post-partum sterilization and use of Essure (permanent infertility, long term results on health unknown)
• Effect of expanded prenatal education of sterilization utilization
• Clinical trial of the use of Mifepristone prior to induction abortion
• Clinical trial of priming prior to induction abortion
• Continuation rates for Implanon started post-abortion and interval

And finally, "After the abortion you will have up to an hour to rest and recover."

Young teens used in contraceptive research

Postpartum teen mothers as young as 12 are used in experiments and product research for contraceptives, because after animal studies, you need real people, and the more vulnerable and ignorant the better. Since the girls are underage, and the "fathers" are usually adults in their 20s, do you suppose anyone 1) provides them counseling, or 2) brings their abuse to the attention of police, or 3) looks into sex trafficking in the area they found them? I haven't seen any lucrative grants for stopping sex abuse or slavery of young girls, but there's lots of money for contraceptive research.

Link

Would you drive a car or fly a plane with these failure rates?

“Polyurethane condoms are an option for those with latex allergy, although they are less effective, with a clinical failure rate of 8.4% vs 3.2% with latex condoms”; "silicone diaphragm approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a 20% failure rate"; SGIM report, 2003

Do you suppose these "postpartum" teens received any counseling after their abortions on self-worth, values of chastity or even basic hygiene and how STDs are transmitted? They most likely were underage. Was anything reported to police or their parents? Or were they just fodder for product research?

A prospective cohort study was conducted. Comparison groups were postpartum teenagers (12–18 years old) who self-selected Implanon (n=73), COCP/DMPA (n=40) and barrier/none (n=24). Questionnaires were used to gather data at recruitment and postpartum at 6 weeks and then 3 monthly intervals for 2 years.

Results

At 24 months postpartum, 48 (35%) teenagers had conceived. Implanon users became pregnant later than other contraceptive groups (p=.022), with mean time to first repeat pregnancy of 23.8 months [95% confidence interval (CI), 22.2–25.5], compared to 18.1 months (95% CI, 15.1–20.7) for COCP/DMPA and 17.6 months (95% CI, 14.0–21.3) for barrier/none. Implanon users were more likely to continue their use at 24 months than COCP/DMPA (p<.001) users. The mean duration for Implanon users was 18.7 months (95% CI, 17.0–20.3) compared to 11.9 months (95% CI, 9.5–14.3) for COCP/DMPA. Conclusion Teenagers who choose Implanon are significantly less likely to become pregnant and were found to continue with this method of contraception 24 months postpartum compared to those who choose COCP or DMPA and barrier methods or nothing. Link

Oops. H1N1.

Maybe this is old news, but I missed it. The vaccine for the H1N1 apparently really didn't prevent 5-10 million cases as we were told in May 2011--that was a computer error. Corrected figures are 713,000-1.5 million. (MMWR 2011;60:1321) These are the same guys who want all our personal health information computerized for reasons that have never been tested or proven to improve health or save money.

You lived through ARRA, now compare it to FDR's programs

Are poor pregnant women paid to be in clinical trials for abortion procedures?

“We propose a randomized controlled non-inferiority trial of women undergoing first trimester surgical abortion to compare pain with dilation after receiving a PCB 20/4/3 versus a PCB with fewer injection sites and with no delay. The primary outcome is pain with cervical dilation. Secondary outcomes include pain at additional time points before, during, and after the procedure; satisfaction; side effects; and need for additional intraoperative and postoperative pain medication.” Paula Bednarek, Oregon Health and Science University, 2011

“In this study we would compare mifepristone and misoprostol use to osmotic dilator use, as both are administered the day before. Mifepristone would be given 24 hours prior to abortion, and misoprostol 400 mcg would be administered buccally 2 hours prior to abortion. Osmotic dilators are the method currently used in our institution, and are placed 24 hours prior to abortion.

The primary outcome will be the length of the procedure. Secondary outcomes will include amount of dilation achieved, ease of procedure, patient assessment of discomfort after mifepristone or dilators, discomfort during the abortion procedure, acceptability to patients, and acceptability to staff.” Lynn Borgatta, Boston Medical Center, 2011

Depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) is a progestin-only, hormonal contraceptive that is extremely effective and very appealing for the adolescent contraceptive user. But it causes weight gain and bone loss, so here in Columbus at Children's Hospital they are enrolling girls as young as 12 in research to try to make it less objectionable and less risky for young girls. Researcher is Andrea Bonny, 2011

“Building a career in abortion research to fight restrictive access in the US” is a research topic for Amanda Dennis which has provided her with $82,000 in grant money. She doesn’t seem to be a doctor--maybe she’s a librarian--but works for Ibis Reproductive Health, an abortion grinder non-profit, and is getting money to explain “how it did it good” after the fact. 2011

All these examples from grant descriptions of Society of Family Planning, and are only a selection of the 2011 grants. There are many others. I wonder who or what funds this death vehicle?

Carolyn Westhoff, MD, receives outstanding abortionist award

Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization which has been lobbying the government to require religious groups to cover contraception and abortion. In 2010 its outstanding award for abortion provider was Carolyn Westhoff and it was presented by late term abortionist LeRoy Carhart.

The Census and Poverty

The official measure of poverty in the U.S. Census completed in 2010 doesn't reflect the progress we've made over the years. 1) The Census does not count the benefits of anti-poverty programs, which have expanded sharply over the past 40 years [Earned Income Tax Credit, Medicaid, SCHIP, WIC, TANF, food stamps, and housing subsidies]. 2) It accounts for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, a benchmark that is slow to incorporate new consumer products (it took 15 years to include cell phones), misses changes in the quality of goods, and doesn't fully reflect the low prices at big-box stores such as Wal-Mart. CNN Opinion, Bruce D. Meyer and James X. Sullivan

"A better way to determine who is suffering from the current recession is to look at people's spending, which includes things like housing, food, and other goods they are able to enjoy. Preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for consumption in 2009, like the Census figures, also indicate a rise in poverty, but tell a very different story about who is suffering most from the current recession. . ." Census poverty figures show no change for the elderly, but consumption/spending figures do. Using those figures poverty has decreased since 1980.

If these poverty calculations are revised, I suspect it will be in time for the 2012 elections, so that Obama can show that instead of increasing poverty, his administration has decreased it.

Bad Karma, wasted tax dollars

Why did our tax money go to Finland to build the . . . Karma? How does this help American workers?

“With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.

Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department's $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the company's manufacturing jobs are still limited to the assembly of the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car in Finland.”
ABC News

In a test conducted Wednesday by Consumer Reports magazine, the niche-market $107,850 sports car conked out completely, after a short ride at 65 miles per hour on a Connecticut test track.

World history from a Conservative perspective--respect and hope

The following is from the first page of Conservapedia's article on World History. It's virtually inseparable from the World Civilization introduction I took at Manchester College, because then no one denied it was important to use the Bible as a source for history, and everyone used BC and AD in describing a time line. My instructor was Gladys Muir. She was in love with history and established the Peace Studies program at MC in 1948. There are now hundreds of peace studies programs in colleges, but I doubt there has ever been a less peaceful time, and the 20th century was the most violent in all of world history, especially for governments killing their own citizens.

"World history" is the true story of thought, ideas, culture, language, wars, governments, and economic systems throughout all of mankind's history. This includes billions of people over thousands of years. Every source is available to us, including the Bible. Everything mankind has ever written, invented, observed, conquered and destroyed is part of "World history." For example, we will study how Carthage was built into a power, and how it was then forever destroyed by its enemies from Rome.

Our course will place a special emphasis on aspects of World history that continue to be influential today, such as world religions and cultural conflicts; we will link what happened in ancient times to what is happening today. We are the product of our past. You can think about whether that is a good thing, or a bad thing. Perhaps the answer depends on what we make of it. We will make use of the Bible, which is the greatest history book ever written.

American history covers only about 400 years; World history concerns over 5000 years, going back to the first evidence of recorded events. Our class covers much of the material in a course on Western Civilization or European history, but we cover more too. We will learn about Islam and Hinduism and all the forces that continue to shape our world to this day. One cannot fully understand 9/11, violence in the Middle East, or hostility between India and Pakistan without learning World history.

We will consider how mankind progressed in understanding the unseen, such as truth and gravity and God. In mathematics, mankind progressed from the discovery of geometry (Greeks) to the concept of "zero" (Indians) to calculus (English). In economics, mankind progressed from wage and price controls (Romans) to the "invisible hand" of the free market (Scottish), which then unleashed tremendous prosperity. Government progressed from rulers who claimed to be gods (Egyptians), to monarchs (Middle Ages), to constitutional republics (United States). World history spans from pre-Christian to Christian. What are we progressing towards now? We will learn to use history to predict the future.

Do not be misled by thinking that ancient peoples were dumb or boring because they lacked the technology of modern society. The Egyptians, for example, cleverly built the massive pyramids using techniques that no one to this day can figure out or duplicate. In 2600 B.C., they constructed the pyramid of Khufu containing 6 million tons of stone extending to a height of 481 feet. The workmanship was superior to anything we do today: the rock base was virtually flat, not varying in elevation by more than a half-inch; its orientation is precisely aligned with the points of a compass; its stones were perfect fits. Inside was a chapel, a causeway, and a temple. It amazes architects to this day. We would not be able to duplicate it, and no one knows how the Egyptians were able to build these intricate structures 4600 years ago. Many other cultures, from Mesopotamia to Greece to Rome to India to China, invented things and discovered knowledge that no one today is smart enough to duplicate. Can you build a useful wheel, or make paper?

A word about terminology: "B.C" means "Before (the birth of) Christ" and "A.D." means Anno Domini (Latin for "in the year of our Lord") or simply "After (the birth of) Christ." The "1st century B.C." means the 1st century before Christ, counting backwards, which are the years 100-1 B.C. The "6th century B.C." is thus 600-501 B.C. The 20th century (A.D.) included the years A.D. 1901-2000. Because A.D. means "in the year of our Lord," the truly proper form is to put the date after the A.D., as in A.D. 2006. Dates are based on the birth of Christ, and it is wrong to erase Christ from the annotation, as school textbooks do with "BCE" for "Before the Common Era" and "CE" for "Common Era." To convert from a public school textbook, remember that BCE = B.C. and CE = A.D.

World history divides into four sections: Ancient History (Creation-A.D. 500), the Middle Ages (A.D. 500-1500), the Pre-Modern Era (A.D. 1500-1900), and the Modern Era (A.D. 1900-Current). The Renaissance (A.D. 1300-1600), including the Reformation, overlaps with the Middle Ages and Pre-Modern Era. Note that dates are not precise in this course: the further back in time we go, the less we know about the actual dates of key events. For events before about 1000 B.C., most estimated dates are actually plus or minus a few hundred years.

Let us begin."

She's obviously among the 1%

If the New York Times is hurting for subscribers how in the world does it afford a pay out like this?

(Reuters) - Former New York Times Co (NYT.N) Chief Executive Janet Robinson received a total payout of nearly $24 million after she left the newspaper publisher at the end of last year, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Robinson, a 28-year veteran with the company, has yet to be replaced by Chairman and Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr, who is temporarily acting in her place. Robinson's package includes a $4.5 million consulting fee that The Times had agreed to pay as part of her exit package, as well as pension benefits and performance-related payments.

Excluding the consulting fee, Robinson would have been paid the same amount whether she was terminated, resigned or retired, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Parents sue for wrongful birth

No test is perfect. Once back in 1963 I was told I was pregnant but I wasn't--it was another woman's test with a similar name. Some couples are told there's something wrong, they continue with the pregnancy and the baby is perfect. Some people refuse the test because they know the purpose--to kill the child if it isn't perfect. 93% of Down Syndrome babies are aborted based on tests developed for the sole purpose of killing them. Those scientists' mothers should be so proud. Then there's the Levys:

"A couple is suing a health center for 'wrongful birth' after a prenatal test intended to pick up whether a foetus has Down syndrome failed - and their daughter was born with the condition. Ariel and Deborah Levy, from Portland, Oregon, who have two other children, said in a lawsuit they would have aborted their daughter Kalanit - who is now four - if they had known."

Pre-natal test was wrong

Two more health laws to drain our tax dollars

There are two more buckets with holes in them for health tax dollars called, 1) The Plain Writing Act of 2010, and 2) National Action Plan to Improve Health Literacy. Supposedly, graduates of our government schools, plumped up with federal dollars and requirements for not falling behind (NCLB) or racing to the top (RttT), can't read instructions or understand basic health information so there will be more awarding of grants and contracts to entities to promote and teach "health literacy." Plain writing is defined as "clear, concise, well-organized and follows best practices. . . " Have you ever tried to read and understand PPACA (aka Obamacare law)? If you are in the ESL field, here's your next golden goose. If you're a teacher retiring at 55 with only a $70,000 pension for 30 years work and need to set up a non-profit to qualify for health insurance or to make more money, here's just the vehicle. Fill out the paper work, name your company, rent some space, and bring in the people the schools failed when you were teaching.

According to a recent study published in February 2012 Health Affairs, intended I think to point out that Americans don't understand basic health instructions, only 14% were below basic, the other 86% were either proficient, intermediate or basic. That's about the same percentage that didn't have health insurance or hadn't applied even though they were eligible, and therefore the government needed to take over the entire industry.

What is health literacy? Are there smokers who don't know they are at risk for lung cancer? Am I the only one who knows I should be exercising more, but instead sit here and blog? Are there sun lovers who don't know about skin cancer? Are there gay and bisexual men who don't know about HIV and oral HPV or how they transmit it to their partners? Are there apple shaped women with thick waists who ignore their doctors warnings about breast cancer and diabetes? Is there an alcoholic who hasn't tried to shut up the spouse, friend or employer when drinking came up for discussion? Is it really lack of knowledge? Or is it lack of willingness to do the changes necessary to be healthy?

Spanish language TV--Univision

Sometimes I watch Univision--the only Spanish language TV in our subscription plan. It's also the whitest TV I've ever seen. I'd say it takes me back to the 50s, except my parents didn't have TV. If it weren't for immigration stories or sports, I'd never see a brown person on Univision. Even the actors on the commercials are white. And have never seen a black or Asian in a feature or on staff. All newscasters and journalists are white. Novelas (soaps) actors are all white. Entertainment shows are white (although there are brown people in the audiences). I'm used to Fox News which has a good cross section of ethnicities--much more so than broadcast or other cable TV. Univision is billed as "the new American reality." Don't think so.

What is "Outreach and Engagement" other than a very well paid position?

Joyce Beatty, The Ohio State University Vice President of Outreach and Engagement, whose salary was $326,000, won the Democratic primary race for Ohio’s 3rd Congressional District on Tuesday March 6, so she’s left her position. So, just what is “Outreach and Engagement” that it pays so well, that one would leave it to make even more in Congress, I wondered? I looked at what other universities did with departments named this, and am still baffled and confused, but it’s definitely well paid.

After reading through the various descriptions of O & E, and particularly what's going on at Michigan State which seems to be the most active, I think it's a way to get scholarly credit for faculty who are busy with off campus activities and need credit for promotion and tenure. So O & E was created with lots of big, squishy and undefinable words. I could be wrong about this, but it is a hodge podge from library, to extension, to on-line courses, to partnerships with businesses in the community. There don't seem to be any departments of Outreach and Engagement at Harvard and Yale or Cornell, or they may have it under a different term. University of Michigan includes the word Sciences in its department. The vaguest definition seemed to be Ohio State's (at the bottom).

[Michigan State] University Outreach and Engagement (UOE) is a campus-wide resource dedicated to helping faculty and academic units construct more extensive and effective engagement with the communities of our state, nation, and world . . . It involves generating, transmitting, applying, and preserving knowledge for the direct benefit of external audiences in ways that are consistent with university and disciplinary missions.

[Oregon State University] Outreach and Engagement at Oregon State University enhances access to enrichment and problem solving through reciprocal relationships for the exchange of knowledge and resources in partnership with individuals, communities, businesses, industries, government, and educational institutions.

[University of Illinois] "The term 'public engagement' reflects the reality that so much of what we do takes the form of faculty members collaborating with communities, agencies, and organizations to address critical issues. When our faculty, staff or students become involved in a public engagement project, they are entering into a contract, in which both they and those they engage with, have much to gain through the sharing of and creating, new knowledge to the benefit of both campus and community." Chancellor Richard Herman, September 2004

[James Madison University] Outreach & Engagement serves as a catalyst by utilizing JMU resources to create mutually beneficial partnerships, advance educational opportunities, and empower individuals and our extended communities.

[University of Colorado Boulder] At CU-Boulder, we define outreach and engagement as the ways faculty, staff, and students collaborate with external groups in mutually beneficial partnerships that are grounded in scholarship and consistent with our role and mission as a comprehensive, public research university.

[University of Minnesota] As one of the very few land-grant research universities located in an urban setting in the United States, the University of Minnesota has made a priority of discovering solutions to the many complex issues facing urban communities. Reflecting that vision is the University of Minnesota Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC), housed in a renovated building in North Minneapolis in the heart of a highly diverse community. A new model for university-community engagement and urban problem solving, the center is home to a dozen University programs committed to research and problem-solving in authentic and engaged partnership with individuals and organizations in Northside communities.

[University of Southern Indiana] We serve individuals of all ages through noncredit programs, on-line learning opportunities, off-campus courses, dual credit programs for high school students, the Bachelor of General Studies program, certificate programs, continuing education for various professions, and more.

[University of Idaho] Through outreach, the University of Idaho develops engaged scholarship and student learning opportunities. Outreach adds value to our teaching and research activities by helping build partnerships with stakeholders in Idaho and beyond. Engagement at the University of Idaho involves two kinds of partnerships: internally, across colleges and disciplines and externally, with stakeholders in Idaho and beyond. Outreach occurs from every college on UI’s Moscow campus, the UI Library, and from each of the University’s physical locations around the state. Our outreach infrastructure includes 42 county Extension offices, UI Boise, UI Idaho Falls, UI Coeur d’Alene, multiple research and learning facilities, and the telecommunications infrastructure that bridges physical distance.

[The Ohio State University] Mutually beneficial partnerships and collaborations are central to both the definition of outreach and engagement and how the Office of Outreach and Engagement does its work. We exist to work in collaboration with faculty, staff, students, and units to enrich Ohio State’s partnerships with the community and to embed outreach and engagement into colleges and departments. We are pleased to work with the following affiliated program: Service-Learning Initiative supports the integration of outreach and engagement into teaching.

Obesity in children--big business

No pun. According to medical research overweight children are at higher risk for respiratory, metabolic and cardiovascular problems. (See MMWR 2011;60:1673-1678) They are also at risk for government inspection of their home made lunches and becoming a cause for the 2nd highest office in the land, the First Lady. Obesity in children has actually been decreasing since the late 90s, which puts millions in research grants to universities and industry from USDA and HHS at risk. Obesity in children is decreasing among all races, ethnicities and socio-economic groups, but faster among whites and Asians, which makes the decrease very unfair and it should probably be investigated by Congress.

Psalm 55: I'll fly away

David said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove. I would fly away and be at rest."

America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President

David Barton has a long list. Be prepared.

America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President

Perhaps you don't care, but I hope you do. Here's a selection--I think the full record runs over 10 pages if printed. I don't think it even mentions asking Georgetown to cover religious symbols when he gave his first speech as President there.

February 2009 – Obama announces plans to revoke conscience protection for health workers who refuse to participate in medical activities that go against their beliefs, and fully implements the plan in February 2011

March 2009 – The Obama administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White House-sponsored health care summit.

May 2009 – The White House budget eliminates all funding for abstinence-only education and replaces it with “comprehensive” sexual education, repeatedly proven to increase teen pregnancies and abortions. 31 He continues the deletion in subsequent budgets.

July 2009 – The Obama administration illegally extends federal benefits to same-sex partners of Foreign Service and Executive Branch employees, in direction violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

October 19, 2010 – Obama begins deliberately omitting the phrase about “the Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence – an omission he has made on no less than seven occasions.

April 2011 – For the first time in American history, Obama urges passage of a non-discrimination law that does not contain hiring protections for religious groups, forcing religious organizations to hire according to federal mandates without regard to the dictates of their own faith, thus eliminating conscience protection in hiring

August 2011 – The Air Force stops teaching the Just War theory to officers in California because the course is taught by chaplains and is based on a philosophy introduced by St. Augustine in the third century AD – a theory long taught by civilized nations across the world (except America).

September 2011 – The Pentagon directs that military chaplains may perform same-sex marriages at military facilities in violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

February 2012 – The Obama administration forgives student loans in exchange for public service, but announces it will no longer forgive student loans if the public service is related to religion.

February 2012 – The Air Force removes “God” from the patch of Rapid Capabilities Office (the word on the patch was in Latin: Dei).

Breitbart Harvard tape of Obama

I'm puzzled that people are so excited with the tape of the Harvard student era Barack Obama speaking on behalf of Derrick Bell, radical racist professor (nice to see he could speak without a teleprompter, though). I'm more concerned about Obama's behavior today. When word got out the tape was going to run at Breitbart.com, it was then edited by another source and sanitized, taking out Obama and Bell hugging. Would it have made a difference in 2008? He sat in the pew at Jeremiah Wright's church for a decade and ignored the hate and racism there, so this doesn't look too outlandish. Other than the massive cover-up the media did in not vetting him, what's new here? And didn't we know already that the media had his back?

The Thought Police from the Left

When have you heard Rush Limbaugh, or Sean Hannity or Bill O'Reilly or Laura Ingraham call for a leftist entertainer to lose his job? Even someone as disgusting as Bill Maher or Dave Letterman when ridiculing Sarah Palin or her children?

March 8, 2008

It was this day in 2008 that Columbus got 20.4" of snow. It broke a number of records.



What I blogged that day: "I shoveled a path behind my van this morning, thinking things didn't look too bad, but once I got out on a main street, I discovered that although it had been plowed by the city crews, I couldn't see anything, nor could I turn around. So I continued driving until I got to Panera's and pulled in. I struggled up to the door only to see a sign that said, Sorry, but due to the weather, we aren't opening until 8 a.m. A staffer took pity on me and let me in, turned on the fireplace, and brought me a cup of coffee and a newspaper. Wasn't that sweet? Now that is customer service! I asked him if he'd like to be my grandson. I didn't stay long, and when I went back to my van, it took about 10 minutes to scrape and clean enough to see the road I couldn't really see. Two good things. No one but me and the snow plows were out there. Also, I'd replaced my tires in the fall--and they really came through for me."

Occupy this--Gabe Newell billionaire

I know nothing about video games, but noticed at Forbes that Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of Valve Corporation, is one of the richest people on the planet at 49. With an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion dollars, he ranks 854th out of 1,226 global billionaires. He's also a college drop out, married, and overweight (judging from his photos). He used to work for Microsoft and took his money in 1996 and invested in his own idea for video gaming. See how that works, Occupiers, Whiners and Lefties? Also after browsing a few minutes, I get the impression he's not too popular with the competition. I even saw some YouTube videos where he is portrayed as a monster.

Forbes story

How safe are oral contraceptives over the long term?

HRT--hormone replacement therapy--is estrogen and progestin. The published results of two studies on HRT a decade ago raised concerns regarding its safety. Women had a higher risk of breast cancer and heart disease--and about 15 million post-menopausal women stopped taking them immediately, after having been assured for years that they lowered breast cancer risk, osteoporosis and heart disease. My own GP is quite conservative and he believed back then that 10 years were enough for HRT to be messing with a woman's hormones and had already switched me to another medication for osteoporsis protection by the time those studies came out.

The same hormones in HRT are in birth control pills and those are being given to ever younger women, even teenagers whose bodies are still developing, and for more years than my generation. Breast cancer, stroke and heart disease are increasing among younger women. At Planned Parenthood young girls are given oral contraceptives after abortions while also being given antibiotics, which interfers with the effectiveness of the hormones. Thus the girls often return within a year for another abortion. Oral contraceptives increase the risk of breast cancer, but not as much as abortion does.

Progesterone
Ditch the pill
Health warnings on oral contraceptives
Menopause and perimenopause

My health insurance

My health insurer is the largest in the nation--CMS. Haven't heard of them? It has been in the news a lot--often with scandals, over charges, out of control costs, and incompetency. Its owners are constantly in hot water for unexplained cost increases. Just last week I got a "This is not a bill" for my 2010 flu shot. Its owner is seeking a massive expansion through it's other health plans so it can put the competition out of business by first cutting costs and expanding coverage, then by raising costs when there are no options left. Here's it's full name in case you don't recognize the acronym. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

In a 2009 study by Kaiser Family Foundation , the average household on Medicare spent 14.1% of its income on health care, compared to 4.3% spent by non-Medicare households. Of this amount, 62.9% went to premiums for Part B, Part D, and Medigap, 18.1% goes to prescription drugs, 15.3% to medical services, and 3.8% to medical supplies. Out-of-pocket spending for Medicare beneficiaries grew from 11.9% of income in 1997 to 16.1% in 2005, in spite of the advent of Medicare Part D.
Medicaid and CHIP Provide Health Coverage to nearly 60 million Americans
Fraud and Abuse in Medicare
"In the latest effort to enlist seniors in the fight against Medicare fraud, federal officials have overhauled Medicare billing statements to make it easier to find bogus charges without a magnifying glass." Washington Post, March 6, 2012

Retiree confidence levels change since the Bush years

Some people forget that G W Bush also inherited a recession. The percent of retirees in 2001 who felt very confident or somewhat confident that they had saved and invested sufficiently for retirement ranged from 74% in 2001 to 79% in 2007. In 2008, that dropped to 64% and then to 60% in 2011 as the recession ground on despite a massive influx of federal funding. Link to Research. The gloom and doom in the business community is palpable as they are hit by more and more taxes and uncertainty about health care. Expansion is mostly out of the question, unless you're a petroleum driller in North Dakota. This affects those of us who live on retirement incomes whether Social Security, or defined benefit plans or our own savings/investments. Obviously, two things jump out about those years--the current recession that started in 2007 changed the investing mix and caused retirees to reevaluate their retirement plans and spending, and the baby boomers began entering the retirement demographic.

Those of us who were born before or during WWII whose fathers fought in that war and whose parents were teen-agers or young adults during the Great Depression have a different attitude than baby boomers about saving and sufficiency. We also have benefited from stronger family safety nets and we know the difference between “wants vs. needs." The value gap will expand for Gen-Xers who were accustomed to even more “stuff” replacing spiritual and familial values. In the 1940s and 1950s even children whose parents never took them to church heard Biblical admonitions on values and thrift in school before the Supreme Court ended it in the 1960s. "Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.” Matt 6:19-20

Herbert Marcuse and "Repressive Tolerance"

In searching for the intellectual foundations of the anti-free speech movement, it is necessary to look back as far as the 1960s, and possibly before. Clearly, one of the most blatant intellectual attacks on free speech is the infamous essay “Repressive Tolerance”, written in 1965 by the well-known German Marxist, Herbert Marcuse. “Repressive Tolerance” is nothing less than the definitive blueprint for the “political correctness” movement that ails us to this very day.

Link

Where's Dana's phone call from the President?

"Ed Schultz called Laura Ingraham a "talk slut" and Laura Ingraham didn't receive a Presidential phone call. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann was called a "bitch" by way of Fishbone's "Lyin' Ass Bitch" intro song on Jimmy Fallon's show and didn't receive a Presidential phone call. Michelle Malkin was called a "mashed-up bag of meat" by Keith Olbermann and she didn't receive a Presidental phone call. Sarah Palin was called a "c*nt" by Bill Maher and she didn't receive a Presidential phone call. Countless other conservative women, like myself, have over the past several days been threatened with death and rape on Twitter and in email if we ask why we should pay for another woman's contraception. We didn't get Presidential phone calls. Why? Because Barack Obama can't use us to make an argument for birth control to hide his attack on the First Amendment."

Dana Loesch

"In the midst of all the media outrage over Rush Limbaugh calling Georgetown University law student and women's rights activist Sandra Fluke a slut, one would think political figures would shy away from using such words against their opponents, at least in public. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. clearly doesn't think so for moments ago he sent a note via Twitter calling Sen. James Inhofe (R-Ok.) a "prostitute" and a "call girl":

So, a radio host shouldn't use the word "slut," but RFK, Jr. should feel free to throw around words like "call girl" and "prostitute" at a sitting Senator?"

Dan Riehl

Love Song of Saul Alinsky

According to Breitbart.com, Pam Dickler, director of the 1998 production of The Love Song of Saul Alinsky in Chicago that included a panel discussion featuring then-State Sen. Barack Obama, has a video tape of the play. And she won’t release it.

More details here.

Sandra Fluke and the feminist war against Rush Limbaugh

The rush to bash Rush Limbaugh for his comments about Sandra Fluke is another attempt to get him off the air--the left hates him because he tells the truth about them. They are going after Clear Channel and his sponsors.

This door of insults only swings one direction--to the right. The left was merciless toward Sarah Palin and Obama just laughed--and made fun of special needs children. They ridicule any woman conservative, and call her terrible names. Our Mr. President Obama chuckled when Tea Party members were smeared for doing nothing more than gathering and learning about their rights, which he continues to trample. "Despite President Obama’s repeated claims to change the tone in Washington, the White House had no comment this afternoon after Teamsters Union leader James Hoffa, speaking at an event before President Obama, said of Tea Party activists that, come November, Democrats should “take these sons of bitch..." For Sandra Fluke he gives a phone call and high praise.

But with Rush, there is a different standard. President Obama shreds the first amendment freedom of religion guarantees with the HHS Mandate; Rush Limbaugh calls a 30 year old radical feminist who wants us to pay for her contraceptives which cost $9/mo, a slut. Which is a bigger threat to America? And by the way, Sandra Fluke's demand for us to all pay for sexual reassignment surgeries will cost a bit more than $9/mo. .

Truly, this woman has an agenda, and I think it's a lot bigger than Limbaugh's.

Moses and the Bill of Rights

Last night at Faith of our Founders group (we study and discuss the Christian faith and actions of the founders) we sort of chuckled when we heard that tour guides tell people that the statue in the Supreme Court building is Moses with the Bill of Rights. I checked this on Google, and found another account of this from Religious News Service which gives some background. Of course, rather than seeing what is plainly the message of the sculpture, the guides use information that is unattributed. It’s like the Jefferson fathering children with a slave story—there are no male descendants of Jefferson from which to get a DNA sample, but the lie of a scoundrel and convict is used as a source, and a modern writer (Ellis) who lied even about his own history as a war veteran. Whether witnessing about the truth of the cross and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ or the truth of the faith of the founders, some of us will meet people who chose darkness and misinformation. Don’t be discouraged, continue with the truth.

When the Supreme Court justices consider whether the Ten Commandments should be displayed on government property, they will do so under the watchful eyes of Moses.

The Jewish lawgiver is depicted several times in the stone and marble edifice that is the Supreme Court building, and so are the Ten Commandments. In sculpture, Moses sits as the prominent figure atop the building's east side, holding two tablets representing the Ten Commandments. And on the wall directly behind the chief justice's chair, an allegorical "Majesty of Law" places his muscular left arm on a tablet depicting the Roman numerals I through X.

Believers are convinced those are indeed the commandments given to Moses as described in the biblical Book of Exodus. Others [including staff] say the 10 numbers represent the Bill of Rights.

Link

New taxes under Obamacare (as known a year ago)

Increase Hospital Insurance (HI) portion of the payroll tax from 2.9 percent to 3.8 percent for couples earning more than $250,000 a year ($200,000 for single filers). 2013, $210 billion

Apply the 3.8 percent HI tax to investment income for couples earning more than $250,000 a year $200,000 for single filers) for the first time. 2013, Included in the above $210 billion

Mandate for individuals to buy health insurance and employers to offer it to their workers. 2014, $65 billion

Annual fee on health insurance providers based on each individual company’s share of the total market. 2014, $60 billion

40 percent excise tax on “Cadillac” health insurance for plans costing more than $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families. 2018, $32 billion

Impose an annual fee on manufacturers and importers of branded drugs based on each individual company’s share of the total market. 2011, $27 billion

Exclusion of unprocessed fuels from the existing cellulosic biofuel producer credit. 2010, $24 billion

2.3 percent excise tax on manufacturers and importers of certain medical devices. 2013, $20 billion

Higher corporate taxes through stricter enforcement by requiring them to report more information on their business activities. 2012, $17 billion

Raise the 7.5 percent AGI floor on medical expenses deduction to 10 percent. 2013, $15 billion

Limit the amount taxpayers can deposit in fl exible spending accounts (FSAs) to $2,500 a year. 2014, $13 billion

Reduce the number of medical products taxpayers can purchase using funds they put aside in health savings accounts (HSAs) and FSAs. 2011, $5 billion

Eliminate the corporate deduction for prescription expenses for retirees. 2013, $4.5 billion

Increase corporate taxes by making it more diffi cult for businesses to engage in business activities that reduce their tax liability. 2010, $4.5 billion

10 percent excise tax on indoor tanning services. 2010, $2.7 billion

Increased penalty for purchasing disallowed products with HSAs to 20 percent. 2011, $1.4 billion

Increase taxes on health insurance companies by limiting the amount of compensation paid to certain
employees they can deduct from their taxes. 2013, $0.6 billion

Repeal special deduction for Blue Cross/Blue Shield organizations. 2010, $0.4 billion

TOTAL REVENUE RAISED $503 billion

Table 1, Web Memo, Heritage

But stay tuned. New things come out every day as people read the bill.

Why is Fluke paying $3,000 for birth control? She isn't.

Why would a 30 year old Georgetown university (Jesuit school) law student spend $3,000 a year for birth control pills*? Here's a list of pharmacies where she can get it for $9/mo. 2 lattes. Obviously, she is a plant and a hoax selected by radicals, put out there by Democrat cafeteria Catholics like Pelosi and Biden who are more loyal to Obama's statism than they are to the values and morals they profess to believe and the Constitution they are supposed to uphold.

Here's the list.

*Oral contraceptives are hormonal preparations that may contain combinations of the hormones estrogen and progestin or progestin alone. Combinations of estrogen and progestin prevent pregnancy by inhibiting the release of the hormones luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) from the pituitary gland in the brain. LH and FSH play key roles in the development of the egg and preparation of the lining of the uterus for implantation of the embryo. Progestin also makes the uterine mucus that surrounds the egg more difficult for sperm to penetrate and, therefore, for fertilization to take place. In some women, progestin inhibits ovulation (release of the egg).

The combination estrogen-progestin is, or was before 2002, given to older menopausal women as "hormone replacement therapy." When health problems turned up, most women were taken off HRT. Why is it OK for younger women, even teen-agers, but dangerous for older?

The Case Against Obamacare

In November 2011, The Heritage Foundation Web Memo 3053 by Nina Owcharenko outlined the case against Obamacare, in Repealing Obamacare and Getting Health Care Right . In summary, without the most recent February disaster known as the HHS Mandate which hits at the First Amendment rights to religious freedom:

Individual Mandate: Obamacare includes a requirement that everyone buy government-approved health insurance or face a penalty. This mandate is unconstitutional and violates personal liberty.

Employer Mandate: Obamacare includes a requirement that employers with 50 or more employees provide government-approved health insurance or face a fine. This mandate will hit workers through lower wages and fewer jobs, shareholders through lower profits, and consumers through higher prices.

Health Care Subsidies: Obamacare spends more than $400 billion in the first 10 years to subsidize health insurance offered through government-designed exchanges. The design of these subsidies reinforces the current inequities in the tax code and creates new ones that will discourage work and encourage employers to discontinue offering health insurance.

Medicaid Expansion: Obamacare requires states to expand an already broken Medicaid program that is squeezing state budgets and providing poor-quality care. More than half of the reduction in uninsured under Obamacare comes from expanding this failing welfare program.

Medicare Cuts: Obamacare cuts more than $500 billion from Medicare—not to shore up Medicare’s long-term solvency, but to pay for new spending in Medicaid and new health care subsidies. These payment cuts are unsustainable and will jeopardize seniors’ access to care and services.

Independent Payment Advisory Board: Obamacare puts in place an unelected board to reduce payments to Medicare providers. These major payment decisions will ultimately impact seniors’ ability to access care and services.

CLASS Act: Obamacare creates a new long-term care entitlement program for all Americans. The program is actuarially unsound and fiscally irresponsible. Its flawed design has led the Administration to put its implementation on hold.

New Taxes: Obamacare includes more than $500 billion in new taxes. Many of these new taxes will be passed on to consumers in higher prices, while others will lead to higher tax rates on work and investment and discourage economic growth.

Government Regulation and Benefit Mandates: Obamacare adds layers of regulation and benefit mandates on insurers and the insurance market and on employer health plans. Together, these provisions will increase costs, destabilize the market, and reduce consumer choice.

Summary with hot links