Lottie Moon, Missionary to China

The International Mission Board has announced that the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal for 2008 is $170,000,000.00. And to think I'd never heard of her, and it's one of the biggest Christmas fund events in Christendom. Lottie Moon died in 1912 on Christmas Eve on board a ship waiting to take her home to the United States, most likely from the effects of the severe famine she shared with her people in the P'ingtu church in China. She was a woman equipped with a fabulous education, having attended a private female academy receiving an M.A. and becoming an accomplished linguist. In addition to French, Latin, Italian, and Spanish she also knew Greek and Hebrew. After 10 years of teaching school in Georgia she was appointed a missionary to China in 1873, and she asked the Baptist women of Georgia to support her. With other missionaries she instructed women and children, with the men listening in. During China's war with Japan in 1895 she made evangelistic visits to 118 villages in three months. Then she changed her strategy and lived among the people in P'ingtu, even adopting Chinese dress. One of the male converts became an outstanding evangelist baptizing more than 10,000 converts. She truly had an inspiring life, and I enjoyed reading about her in "More than conquerors; portraits of believers from all walks of life," (Moody Press, 1992)

Books about Lottie Moon.

Web page with biography of Lottie Moon.

How are these pirates different

than our Congress which has been holding the US taxpayer hostage through their own failures to control their out of control GSEs and profligate spending? Muslim pirates have held 26 vessels and 537 crew members hostage for $18.30 million. Pikers! They need a green card to the beltway to learn from the experts like Barney, Nancy, Chris and Hank. Oh--I feel a poem coming on.



Barney, Nancy, Chris and Hank
threw us hostages in the tank
with bank terrorists taught by Acorn
just like bomber Bernadine Dohrn,
using minorities and the poor
with us as deals on the floor
of the House finance committee,
Oh Lordy, what a pity.

The Thrifty Food Plan

The Thrifty, Low-Cost, Moderate-Cost, and Liberal Food Plans each represent a nutritious diet at a different cost. The Thrifty Food Plan is the basis for food stamp allotments.

I would have no problem preparing good, nutritious meals with variety and even special treats or desserts using the cost allowed for a couple in our age group--$80.10 a week. Keep in mind when you check this plan that it is for food--not cigarettes, not alcohol, not laundry soap, not that cute seasonal dish towel or those table napkins, or health and beauty aids. I'm not sure it even includes soda, chewing gum or bottled water.

I did this experiment back in the early 80s when I had two teenagers--one a growing boy with a hollow leg, and I had no problem then either. The government is more than generous when figuring food stamp allotments.

The government also wants you to exercise, and this is a nice video for squats.

Half squat 1:20

Or diddly squat if you're lazy like me.

Why there were more hungry children in 2007

Hunger will never go away in the USA because the government keeps redefining and refining what that word means, and continues to meet other nanny state goals such as decreasing obesity or distributing healthy food, promoting environmental goals, safe neighborhoods and being step-daddy and sugar daddy for women making bad choices, holding both the taxpayer and low income families hostage to these ill-thought-out goals. Yes, big announcement by USDA this week:

Household Food Security in the United States, 2007—11.1 percent of U.S. households were food-insecure at some time during the year in 2007; 4.1 percent had very low food security. This report, based on data from the December 2007 food security survey, provides the most recent statistics on the food security of U.S. households as well as how much they spent for food and the extent to which food-insecure households participated in Federal and community food assistance programs.

The word HUNGER makes the headlines, but the government term is "food security." And that only has to happen once a year, maybe at the end of the month in which you went to Disney World or got new glasses for the kids, to be included in the report. For some people "food insecurity" is not being able to go to McDonald's regularly.

I know what food security is--I've seen it at the Food Pantry in 2007. It's a mother of 4 telling me that she doesn't need cereal (allowed 3 boxes that day) because the children get that at school breakfast (where they also get lunch and after school snacks too, and are fed in the summer when school isn't in session), or it's a grandmother raising her daughter's babies while she's in Marysville Reformatory for kiting checks saying no to applesauce or peanut butter because she has too much of that at home. I can tell from the brands that they were purchased in bulk from huge storage facilities that buy from companies that depend on government contracts to keep their business going. After years of misguided farm surplus to buoy up farmers, the government now supports food overproduction by agribusiness.

Why are food pantries short right now? It's not just that more people are unemployed and running short a few days of the month. There's an actual food shortage worldwide due to our ill advised biofuels policies and environmental regulations, and our regulators of herbicides, pesticides and improved agricultural methods are actually causing real hunger, causing real children to starve, or causing riots in very poor countries. Food banks now need to be "green" with squirrely light bulbs and solar panels--imagine the retro-fitting just so you can store food for the poor. So American food companies can now make more shipping their taxpayer supported surplus abroad than they can selling it to American food banks which redistribute it to our "food insecure" citizens who also have become dependent on TEFAP, WIC and food stamps (SNAP). The Columbus Mid-Ohio Food Bank has an operating budget of about $8 million and distributes about $22 million in food annually and is in the midst of an $16 million capital campaign to expand and remodel.

Behind the food banks and food pantries there are teams of academics--entomologists, plant pathologists, crop managers, ag economists, horticulturalists, small business developer, food retail specialists, agronomists and soil scientists, community developers, nutritionists, registered dietitians, educators, and biosystems engineers all sifting data and publishing results to assure no child gets left behind, or no child gets a fat behind, or no child sits on his behind. There are banks set up to loan farmers money to focus on locally grown food (to help the poor make smart choices), and training programs to employ staff to teach staff of non-profits how to get more government grants for food for the "food insecure."

The government also props up a variety of non-profits such as Children's Hunger Alliance, which in the same year received about $10.5 million from the Ohio Department of Education, over half a million from Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, and over $36,000 in federal grants, with the remainder of its $13,762,098 coming from foundations and contributions. This is not to say that CHA, and others like it, don't do meaningful work, but that's a huge food chain of salaries, production and distribution that are totally dependant on "hunger," who would all be out of business if hunger miraculously ended next month. Of course, we know that won't happen. The definition of hunger will most certainly be expanded in the next administration as child care block grants are expanded, affordable housing grants are expanded (convenient access to food sources), health care is expanded to ensure low fat, or low cholesterol diets, services to children of imprisoned are expanded (already in the family services budget), and all the various senior programs expanded to be sure the elderly who are taking care of grandchildren are also well fed.

There are so many jobs dependent on the poor and "food insecure", that new poor must be recruited for each one who manages to slip through the barrier to the next quintile and into a good job, self-sufficiency and pride.

Do not blame the poor. They didn't set up this system. They are the victims.

How Atheists and Agnostics voted

According to the George Barna poll:

"The second largest faith group in America, trailing only the Christian segment, is atheists and agnostics. These religious skeptics represent about one out of every ten adults. About four out of ten skeptics were registered as Democrats, four out of ten as independents and just two out of ten as Republicans.

Three-fourths of atheists and agnostics (76%) gave their vote to Sen. Obama, while only 23% backed Sen. McCain. That is a step up from the level of support Democrats have previously received from skeptics. In 2004, 64% of atheists and agnostics voted for Democratic challenger John Kerry."

Does Retirement Kill You?

No.

Didn't think so. All the retirees I know are too busy to die. Now, retirement accounts. That's another matter.

Abstract:
The magnitude of the effect that health has on the retirement decision has long been studied. We examine the reverse relationship, whether or not retirement has a direct impact on later-life health. In order to identify the causal relationship, we use unexpected early retirement window offers to instrument for retirement behavior. They are legally required to be unrelated to the baseline health of the individual, and are significant predictors of retirement. We find that there is no negative effect of early retirement on men's health, and if anything, a temporary increase in self-reported health and improvements in health of highly educated workers. While this is consistent with previous literature using Social Security ages as instruments, we also find some evidence that anticipation of retirement might also be important, and might bias the previous estimates towards zero.

"Does Retirement Kill You? Evidence from Early Retirement Windows"
by Norma B. Coe, Maarten Lindeboom
(November 2008) IZA DP No. 3817

California fires

Today's WSJ included a story about a 1930s 2-bedroom home at 486 Conejo Road that had survived the Sycamore Canyon fire of 1977, the mudslide of 1984, the El Nino rain storm of 1998, the mudslides of 2005 and the fires last week. Or course, only one other house in the neighborhood was left standing. But the view of the ocean, they say, is worth it. I'm not sure where you could live in California where you'd be safe from disaster, but whether you've got an ocean view on the east coast, a forest setting in California, or you're enjoying the balmy breezes of Florida, and the gulf view in Texas, I suspect those of us in the plain vanilla midwest, fly-over country, are sharing the pain in our insurance bills and the government disaster insurance plans.

I think I can give the folks in Iowa a pass for those terrible floods last summer. Who would have expected all that heavy snow (isn't there global warming?) and then the spring rains on top of that. But they've been fiddling with those California fires since the late 1700s, and although it is known that fire is essential to the healthy growth of the local trees and plants, residents, builders, environmentalists, forestry officials, local and state administrations and academics just keep dabbling and getting it wrong. See The burning wind, Los Angles Magazine, Nov. 2008.

Atop the Santa Monica Mountains and in Orange County, Santa Ana winds have been clocked at speeds above 110 mph—the force of a Category 3 hurricane like Katrina when it made landfall in Louisiana. . .
Usually wind blows into L.A. from the Pacific, a daytime airflow generated as the sun warms the desert and coastal plains. When in early October the year’s premier Santa Ana stirs, it wakes at night. The sun is no longer dominant, the desert is cooling, and the Santa Ana can begin its flight to the sea. . . If you look at just three years—2007, 2003, and 1993—more than 6,000 homes were destroyed by Santa Ana fires, housing loss that surpasses that of the Northridge earthquake. Given the annihilating potential of the Santa Ana winds, you’d think by now we’d be able to define them.

This web site with Santa Barbara Outdoors has many interesting accounts of the fires over the years beginning around 1955.

Colored people

That was an OK, acceptable term when I was young. Versions of it still are. I frequently see terms like "people of color" and "communities of color." Odd that you can use the noun in a round about way to modify, but not the adjective "colored." Then there was NOLA Mayor Nagin talking about his "chocolate city," as a way to send a message about who was going to be welcome in the rebuilding. Saturday I read in the paper that we in Columbus will be treated to "the Chocolate Nutcracker." Isn't this getting a bit silly?

Hearing about the tribal killings in Kenya last year instigated by the followers of Odinga, Obama's cousin, and the genocide in Rwanda based on tribe, you see that color isn't the great divide we think it is. The Germans and the Jews were the same color; the Irish Catholics and Protestants were the same color; the Hutus and Tutsis were the same color. In Darfur you have Arab Africans killing black Africans but they are the same religion. Trying to google this topic is slogging through a swamp that wants to blame everything from 19th century imperialism to Bill Clinton to ancient tribal practices. I think it proves even sane, well educated people who have been living side by side for years in cooperation and understanding can be whiplashed into a frenzy of hatred by clever leaders. And it starts with word games.

Led by Faith

Immaculee Ilbagiza has an amazing story. I've been watching her today on book TV. Her website. Her story of neighbor killing neighbor and friend murdering friend is chilling. She and 7 other women lived in the bathroom of a pastor for 91 days, hiding from the Hutus. But her story of forgiveness which she knew she had to do to survive is inspiring. It looks like she will be in Columbus in February; Clearwater, FL this coming week-end.

The Hoover-Roosevelt Redux

As I watch George Bush swing helplessly in the wind, abandoned by both his party and common sense, unable to control a Democratic congress and see Barack Obama and the Clinton Team already over the starting line, not even waiting for the bell, I am so reminded of the Great Depression, and the myths I was taught in school. But here's the truth:

"Hoover and Roosevelt administrations -- in disregarding market signals at every turn -- were jointly responsible for turning a panic into the worst depression of modern times. As late as 1938, after almost a decade of governmental "pump priming," almost one out of five workers remained unemployed. What the government gave with one hand, through increased spending, it took away with the other, through increased taxation. But that was not an even trade-off. As the root cause of a great deal of mismanagement and inefficiency, government was responsible for a lost decade of economic growth."

Roosevelt gave us 8 more years of bad economic policies, some of which we still live with; let's hope Obama doesn't go the same destructive route.

Obama's trifecta

Before I choose a title (about which I know little), I usually google it. Sure enough, this one has been used a number of times--concerning the primaries, concerning his relationships with shady characters, and his showing in the debates (his followers always thought he won). But I was referring to what has happened since he became the president elect, not even waiting for Joe Biden's threat which was supposed to come during his presidency, not before: 1) Continuing melt down of the stock market which gave us the biggest 2 day drop since 1987 after he was elected on a platform of higher taxes on business and investors; 2) Russia's deploying missiles near the Polish border before the votes were dry on November 5; 3) quickly increasing violence in Iraq after he was elected since Iran figures he won't do much, or will withdraw the troops. I'm not surprised that he's backing down or running for cover or from some of his most ardent leftist supporters and leaning so heavily on the Clinton team. The man must be scared sh witless with what he has rot wrought.

A poem based on Habakkuk*

Though the fig tree does not bud
and the 401K does not bloom
And there are no grapes on the vine
and I store food in a basement room,

Though the olive crop fails
and the internet goes blank
And the fields produce no food
and there’s no money in the bank,

Though there are no sheep in the pen
except the ones I count to sleep
And no cattle in the stalls
and war news makes me weep,

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord
I will be joyful in God my Savior.

* Habakkuk 3:17-18
From my blog archives

At the Rusty Bucket, our date spot, last night

Christmas is coming
now go out and spend
don't your nose be a thumbing
Jingle Bell's around the bend.

Your neighborhood retailer
needs your help right now;
save after Hank the bailer
makes you say oh wow.

Take your sweety to dinner
buy a book or a ring;
we'll all be the winner
when cash registers sing.

Housing and health hype

The non-profits, government agencies, and foundations are thoroughly invested in the housing/health/wealth gospel and it controls every aspect of funding from the seed grant to do the study from the foundation, to the energizing and funding and marketing of the non-profits, and the distribution of your tax money to rehab or create "affordable housing." There are huge holes in this idea, dream, nightmare, fantasy of upside down reasoning.

Housing generally represents an American family’s greatest single expenditure, and, for homeowners, their most significant source of wealth. Given its importance, it is not surprising that factors related to housing have the potential to help—or harm—our health in major ways.

The idea that a decent, affordable home not only builds families, strengthens neighborhoods, but improves health, provides access to better food, which makes people choose more fruits and vegetables, and loose weight, and want to use bike paths which are better in safe neighborhoods and go past good schools built according to green regulations which in turn improves the health and wealth and the neighborhood, yada, yada, it goes on and on and on. Reading through this gospel of faith in the partnerships of government, businesses, non-profits, church groups, and academe is enough to make a sane person scream STOP! So don't try to read too many annual reports of funding streams at one time.

You're not going to believe this, but the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation has actually done a study on the benefits of recess ($18 million)

In 2007, RWJF issued “Recess Rules,” a report that named school recess the single most effective strategy for increasing physical activity among children. Yet recess remains undervalued as little funding is dedicated to improving the quality of recess.

If this follows their other reports, there will be millions from the federal government shoveled into state coffers to study and support recess--but for obesity management, and green regulations, with a possible tie-in to housing if they can find one.

Occasionally there are major breakthroughs in legislation or public health that significantly affect vast numbers of people. The 1964 Civil Rights Act comes to mind. Or the polio vaccine. Fluoridation of water. Addition of various vitamins to milk and flour. Standard pure water and plumbing codes. The interstate highway system. USDA meat inspection standards. The Homestead Act. But even these all had negative consequences and didn't benefit everyone. I'm sure the Native Americans weren't thrilled with the homesteaders. The interstate highway system probably destroyed lots of prime farm land and made developers disgustingly rich in the cities as vast neighborhoods were condemned for public use.

No, I'm talking about our most recent boondoggle--the fueling of the housing boom between 1995-2006 to "empower" low and moderate income families and more minorities. According to USAToday 49% of the increase in homeowners were minority, and many were not ready financially for a mortgage. Many of the community leaders and government officials pushing this were quite wealthy themselves, never really stopping to realize that they weren't wealthy because of their home--stucco, brick or vinyl clad. Very few saw their dreams dashed because of predatory lending by banks or fraud (about 9%), but by their own judgement and poor managing skills. Then wealth investors got into the act through various loop holes.

And we still have neighborhoods with bad housing stock, boarded up houses, druggies and vagrants wandering the streets, women and children living without a husband and father in the home, poor schools, bad transportation, and sprawling suburbs. Trillions and trillions wasted, first in the programs, now stolen from our retirement accounts and failed businesses, all for a gospel that didn't save. Yes, people need safe, decent places to live but just as we learned with the public housing high rises built in the 1950s, then the low rise townhouse public housing of the 60s and 70s, and the voucher plans of the 80s and 90s, housing itself doesn't change the person--the person changes (downgrades or upgrades, destroys or improves) the housing.

Note: my husband just returned from a meeting at the Westerville Community Center. He was raving about the facilities--swimming pools, indoor tracks, lounges, art studios, aerobics room, gymnasiums, magnificent installed art and sculpture--you name it, they had it--and a full parking lot. Are the people in Westerville wealthier, happier, or healthier than the people in Upper Arlington or Worthington? I doubt it. But the gap between their facility and ours (we don't have one) is just as big as the housing gaps between UA and Hilltop.

Mayor Coleman's budget cuts

Tough times. Not so tough cuts. They will primarily affect programs aimed at the poor, in my opinion. All the better to plead for or demand new revenue. "It's for the [low income] children." It's a game they play. And if the program is eliminated, the employee can be shifted (if liked and a faithful in the party) or dropped (if not doing a good job or is not supportive of the party).

Mayor Michael B. Coleman proposed a 2009 budget yesterday that slashes services and lays off more city workers, he used the word sacrifice nine times and said "it is clear we're going to need new revenue. Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 15, 2008

Here's how it shakes out, although there were proposals in August and September also. Here are the cuts:

1. Community crime patrol funding, 54%
   
2. Neighborhood Pride Centers, 38%
   
3. Downtown Development, 60%
   
4. Neighborhood Health Centers, 18.5%
   
5. Alcohol & drug services eliminated
   
6. Public health reduced to $22.1 million from $26.3 in 2008
   
7. reduce waste collection to once every 2 weeks from once a week
   
8. less bulk (sofas, etc. at the curb or yard) collection
   
9. close 10-12 recreation centers
   
10. close 3 swimming pools
    
11. no funding for Jazz & Rib Fest or Festival Latino
    
12. reduce summer jobs for kids
    
13. after school programming cut 18%

Congratulations--50 years

Today is Richard and Janet's 50th wedding anniversary. He's one of my blogger links. Stop by and say hello or amazing or fantastic.

If you work for a non-profit

you are fronting for the government--either federal, state or local. That's the conclusion I've come to after days of looking bleary-eyed through hundreds of websites on housing and nutrition. I've learned that we have thousands and thousands of these organizations, mostly mushrooming in the 80s and 90s, but now growing like black mold (excuse the mixed fungal metaphors). These organizations look my like genealogy charts with cousins, funny uncles, great-great aunties, and step-children of your sister-in-law's third marriage. Before the Johnson Great Society era, I think non-profits were pretty insignificant, although I can't be sure. What seems to really have grown under the last three presidents, is the public-private partnership concept where private business is thrown into the mix of tax games and government grants. Foundations have a huge role too--they often get the ball rolling with small grants to hire researchers who find a bigger problem, then get government grants to hire staff, to find more money, to hire more staff, etc. etc.

I've learned we don't really worry much anymore about the homeless (lack of housing is the least of their problems); now it's "affordable" housing. And hunger seems to be yesterday's news; it's now food security.

Yes, the government is much, much bigger than I thought. And you are probably working for the government and didn't realize it thinking that of course the USDA should be pushing "culturally appropriate food," and housing for low income people should now be "green" in addition to building wealth, reducing obesity and sending children to college.

I was a librarian. I always knew I worked for the government. I just didn't know you did!

Men: are you depressed?

And I don't mean about a serious international incident as Joe Biden promised us if we elected Obama. No, this is the depression we were told about in the Surgeon General's report in 1999: About 20 percent of adults will experience depression during their lifetime. Within this 20 percent, an estimated 6.4 million American men will suffer from depression each year. So you see, you are already a minority in this problem, just by being a male, because women have cornered this health problem.

But there's no money in studying depressed white men even though they would be the majority of this minority--German Americans, Irish Americans or descendants of Swiss Mennonites. So "disparity" is the necessary key word to get funding just as it is in many lucrative health grants. If you can't find it in the lab with real research and cure it, or develop a drug to treat it, then find it in the data, graphs, charts or neighborhood anecdotes and put people into race based studies. On November 6, 2008 there was a conference, Symposium on Health Disparities in Male Depression, supported by a $25,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to alert the various professional organizations, non-profits, insurance companies and government officials of the cultural barriers, stigma and treatment minority men suffer with depression. When wealthy foundations provide this kind of money to launch something, it is the signal that prevention and policy money from the government will be forthcoming for this problem. Oink, oink. Come to the trough, for all is ready.

Rolled over 255,000

Yesterday at some point my site meter logged 255,000 hits. It would be nice if that meant everyone read something, but they don't. Some of those are "pings" sort of like waving from an airplane instead of stopping by to chat. I think someone fell asleep, staying 14 hours 38 mins 8 secs. I mean, I'm fascinating, but no one would read this blog for close to 15 hours. Just like the economy and employment, my stats are down. Here's the October 2007 to October 2008 chart.



The low point June is understandable. I was out of the country or ill for almost two weeks and didn't blog. And then everyone else was on vacation in July and August and not checking in. In January, the high point, I was still doing Thursday Thirteen and the Poetry sites fairly regularly. Those are sort of participation blogs, where bloggers visit each other and leave comments, but after awhile I just had nothing to say to 13 favorite movies, or game shows, or 13 favorite photos of my babies. And the time I wrote 13 things about illegal immigration, well, I got some really unhappy readers who said they didn't want to read anything political--ever. Then came the run up to the election, and even my close friends and relatives were voting for Obama, so they sure dropped me. Now I'm digging through government and non-profit acronyms that are costing us millions, so that bores people too.

One thing I've noticed about statistics is that if you leave a comment, even anonymously, the next reader is more likely to spend more time, or leave a comment. I do that myself. It's a bit more like a conversation. That's also how I find new blogs to read. I read a blogger I like, look at the comments, then track back to that person. It's really easy. Click on comment, when the window comes up, type something, then go down and poke that little button for anonymous (or leave your initials if you think I know you), then publish, or submit, or what ever they call it. Or you can create a blogger dot com account with any name you choose but not actually have a blog. You'd just be a niche in the wall of cyberspace that goes no where.

Friday Family Photo

This photo is from November 1992 and we had gathered to celebrate birthdays. This was probably the first family event to which our future son-in-law was invited, as they had only been dating about two months. We really liked him and were hoping for the best. Down in the lower left I see a photograph album, so I'd probably shown our Lakeside album (saving the adorable baby photos for later in the relationship), because his parents who lived in Cleveland had also vacationed there, stopping around the time we began going there. We seem to be dressed for church, and the future SIL was also a Lutheran. We were afraid to let her know how much we liked and approved of this guy!

Our daughter had her first short hair cut in years--and it would grow out before the wedding to about shoulder length. I had one of those curly wash and wear and scrunch perms, but I had straightened it for that day--must have had some extra time. I'm holding reading glasses in my left hand--I didn't yet wear them all the time. I remember practicing walking with trifocals the next summer, but still took them off for the wedding photos (September 1993).

The furniture was all replaced before the wedding--I think we gave it to someone, but I don't remember who. There was a pull-out queen size mattress inside that couch--truly the most uncomfortable bed in the world, and I apologize to any relative reading this who may have spent a night or two on it. The blue chair on the right was purchased in 1963 and the couch around 1979, so they had done their time. The painting in the upper right is an old truck on a farm between Mt. Morris and Oregon, Illinois. My husband had stopped to photograph a barn, and when he got closer he realized there was a truck that had so blended with the weeds and trees, we hadn't seen it from the road. I think it is hanging at our son's house--at least I haven't seen it for awhile.

What you don't see here, and we had no way of knowing what was ahead, is our daughter's health was potentially fragile. We couldn't see that her thyroid was slowing down because she had Hashimoto's Disease, a form of hypothyroidism that usually appears in 50-somethings, not in women so young. Also, in her neck a goiter was growing downward which would eventually become so large it would impair her breathing and swallowing. The inflammation of the thyroid from Hashimoto's (an auto-immune disease) also causes constriction. Within a few years her weight would balloon, her thick curly hair would become brittle and thin, her personality would start changing and she would always be exhausted, sleeping for 18 hours if no one disturbed her. The weight gain hid the growing bulge in her neck. And, she was in the early stages of thyroid cancer. All lab tests put her within the "normal" range for thyroid function. Fortunately, both her employer (a doctor) and her hair dresser noticed, and she consulted an endocrinologist. But even then, the cancer wasn't found until the surgery to remove the goiter. So you might say it was a blessing in disguise. At the time, there wasn't conclusive evidence that the cancer and the Hashimoto's were related, but newer research seems to be pointing that way. (Repplinger, Daniel et. al. "Is Hashimoto's Thyroiditis a Risk Factor for Papillary Thyroid Cancer?" Journal of Surgical Research, Volume 150, Issue 1, Pages 49-52 (November 2008)).