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?