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D.E.A.R.

Watched a really excellent program on Alzheimer's on EWTN. The segment I saw was using DEAR as an acronym and the R was for rest and relaxation and the importance of forgiveness in controlling stress, which increases the body's level of cortisol. The other letters were D for diet, E for exercise, A for something like brain aerobics. Dr. Fortanasce and Dr. Landry hosted. I did find some YouTube presentations by Fortanasce, but the entire 13 week program is on EWTN.

The D.E.A.R program goal is to prevent Alzheimer's disease is those with no genetic pre-disposition and to delay it 10 to 15 years in those with a genetic pre-disposition. The four month clinic program is based on a 4-step medically-proven plan from The Anti-Alzheimer's Prescription, by Dr. Vincent Fortanasce.

While the primary focus of the D.E.A.R program is Alzheimer's prevention; following these simple lifestyle and dietary modifications can also prevent or lesson the symptoms of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, joint and spine disease and many other health issues. Our program is not just about living longer, it is about living better.

http://www.healthybrainmd.com/the-dear-program.html

Bashir and MSNBC and Palin

I'm not going to sign the petition to fire Bashir, the creep on MSNBC who thought Sarah Palin should be tortured because she used the word slavery in talking about our debt. No, let MSNBC go down with him. Just don't watch them. Vote with your remote!  He's entitled to be stupid and MSNBC should pay the price for not setting better journalism guidelines.

And more

PEPFAR and sex workers with U.S. money

In 2003, when signing the legislation passed to create the program "President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief" President Bush called PEPFAR "a medical version of the Marshall Plan." And it was. From 100,000 victims receiving anti-retroviral drugs, about 2 million were receiving them 5 years later, half of whom were babies. 21 billion was spent in over 80 countries from 2004-2011. It was so successful in saving lives, that it had bi-partisan support in 2008 for expansion.

As of September 2012, PEPFAR reports that it has supported antiretroviral treatment for more than 5.1 million, care for 15 million, including 4.5 million orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), and in FY 2012, by providing antiretroviral prophylaxis to 750,000 HIV positive pregnant women, enabled 230,000 babies to be born HIV-free. Numbers sound great, so does success rate, right? Other than the small pox and polio campaigns to vaccinate millions of children back in the 40s and 50s, I can't think of too many health efforts this successful.

Hold on to your hats. The Supreme Court has ruled that the anti-prostitution pledge (required of partners in PEPFAR to get the grant money) violates the First Amendment by requiring recipients to adopt and espouse, as their own, our government's view of moral disapproval of commercial sex work. So grant recipients can promote and condone prostitution. The idea is that sex workers need services, too. Yes, I'm sure they do. But I think this is outrageous, especially considering what is happening to OUR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS, and our tax money is used to assure that African sex workers have free speech. JAMA, Sept. 18, 2013 pp. 1127-28

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleID=1733774

http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2012/jul/24/prostitution-us-aids-funding-sex

http://www.amfar.org/pepfar-receives-glowing-report-but-funding-at-risk/

"Nearly 60% of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa occur among women."  How to fog up the issue.  These women are getting HIV from men who have sex with men and men who have sex with prostitutes who get it from men who have sex with men. FGM contributes to the transmission of HIV, but I don’t see any discussion of that. http://www.pepfar.gov/press/strategy_briefs/138405.htm

http://womensenews.org/story/genital-mutilation/070810/health-activists-link-spread-hiv-aids-fgm

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/africa1203/6.htm

http://www.ednahospital.org/hospital-mission/female-genital-mutilation/

Typo, but you get the idea

Rhymes with hemorrhoid.

November 19, 1863, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

President Obama is just not doing well with this Gettysburg Address thing. First he bails on attending the 150th event in Pennsylvania, offending even some of his strongest supporters (he had a meeting with some Wall St. CEOs scheduled for today, although he'd been invited over a year ago), then it comes out when he recorded the speech for Ken Burns to "mash" with other Presidents and celebs (a really odd collection including some of my least favorite TV reporters), he does so without the "under God" phrase, so Jimmy Carter got that part. Really, what is wrong with this man, who literally spoke from Lincoln's grave to get elected in 2008? It's like he carries a stick to poke us in the eye regularly.

Amen to that!

Do you need a reasonably priced small gift for Christmas, a book maybe?  For someone who is a word nerd, and just a little bit religious?  I’m suggesting “Amen to that! The amazing way the Bible influences our everyday language,” by Ferdie Addis, Reader’s Digest, 2014. 165 pp. (5 x 7 inches, hard cover) $14.99.

I just received it today for review, and am having such fun browsing. Each familiar saying (that perhaps you didn't know came from the King James Bible) includes the appropriate verse reference and several paragraphs of explanation, history and how it is used today. There is also a nice bibliography and index, which are the heart's desire for most librarians (Romans 10:1), even those who are 3 score and 10 (Psalm 90:10).

So for that special someone who is “the apple of your eye,” or “the salt of the earth” for whom there’s “nothing new under the sun,” try this one.

Before and after the tornado

Washington, Illinois.  Between 250 and 500 buildings were damaged or destroyed and about 120 people were injured in Washington, where winds reached an estimated 170 to 190 miles per hour on Sunday, November 17.

Ten things I miss about being a kid—Monday Memories

I’m not one of those people who looks back in nostalgia about childhood—I always wanted to be an adult, as long as I can remember.  Obviously, children are naïve about adulthood—believe they’ll have more freedom and control.  And that’s the truth—it’s just not as they imagine.  Here’s a few things I do miss as I age.

1.  I miss being able to run up and down stairs, taking them two at a time. As a child, I don’t think I ever walked when I used stairs, and I’ve always lived in a house that had stairs. I could also put my leg over my head and around my neck—not a particularly useful talent, but no one else could do it.

2.  I miss horses—the smell, touch and feel.  As a child that was my obsession.  I would hang out at the Ranz barn sitting on them and grooming them, I would ride friends’ horses, I would draw pictures of horses, I collected little horse statues, and I pretended my bicycle was a horse named “Red.” The bicycle was blue.

3.  I miss being the best artist in my age group and among my friends. My mother made sure I had plenty of paper, and 65 years later I still have some of the art supplies she gave me (dried up, but I don’t throw them away).

4.  I miss being able to eat all I wanted.  My mother really didn’t keep a lot of extra food in the house, and snacking was so sensible it would make a 21st century child weep—sliced raw potatoes, raw cabbage, or a slice of bread sprinkled with sugar.  But I never worried about putting on weight, which after age 18 was always on my mind. 

5.  I miss the sound of my mother’s voice as she read to my brother and me—Little House series (some published in the 1930s),  My Book House, or other quality books—even the Little Engine that Could, and Chicken Little.  Mother was great with accents and dialog, and always made the stories vivid. I already knew how to read, but it was more fun when she did it.

6.  I miss Christmas excitement—lying on the floor shaking packages to see if I could guess what was in them.  Hoping for new doll clothes made by my mother from left over fabric of my clothes.  Knowing some things would be practical clothing items didn’t dull the thrill. Traveling to relatives for a big dinner and seeing cousins was part of it, and I’ve forgotten all the squabbles about who would sit where and how long we had to wait. Looking forward to Grandma’s check each year (all year) and planning how to spend it came after she stopped buying us individual gifts like art supplies and magazine subscriptions.

7.  I miss winning the races.  Although I was never athletic and didn’t like to sweat, there was a time, around age 8 when I could outrun everyone in my class, even the boys.  Then I learned it’s not a good idea to outrun the boys, but OK to be ahead of the girls.

8.  To this day, I’m not competitive and don’t care much for games, because someone always loses, but I miss playing cards, jacks, racing around outside at night with the neighborhood kids playing King of the Hill, Mother may I, and Hide and Seek. We had a big yard, and other the kids came to our house—I don’t think I ever went elsewhere at night.

9.  I miss riding my bicycle to the next town in the summer for a five cent ice cream cone because they were ten cents in our town, and riding into the country to collect tadpoles in the creek with my brother.  Not sure what we did with them or how long they lived.

10.  I miss bringing dogs home or finding puppies and bringing them home, “Can I keep him, Mom?” There was Lassie 1 and 2, Jerry, Pretty, Curly, and Lady.

Colorado Obamacare ads

Advertisements for the ACA commissioned by Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado Education target the younger generation to join the Affordable Care Act's healthcare exchanges by depicting women as sex hungry floozies and men as beer drinking, partying idiots.  But it was the President and all the Democrats who didn’t read the bill who misinformed and lied; perhaps the ads were closer to the truth?

Amy Runyon-Harms, executive director of ProgressNow Colorado, defended the advertisements.

“The whole intention of these ads is to raise awareness, and that’s what we’re doing. It’s great that more and more people are talking about it,” said Runyon-Harms, who notes the ads only appear on social media and will not, for example, be displayed on billboards or buses. http://www.news-herald.com/general-news/20131113/aca-ad-lets-hope-hes-as-easy-to-get-as-this-birth-control

Bashir on Palin

Paula Priesse comments on the ugly outburst allowed on MSNBC by a liberal that would get a conservative fired if the tables were turned.

“. . . imagine if Sean Hannity said someone should defecate or urinate in Nancy Pelosi’s mouth? Martin Bashir suggested on MSNBC Friday that this be done to Sarah Palin. And yet again total silence from NOW. This is our world today, Paula Deen gets crucified and loses her cooking show for saying the N word years ago, but filth like Bashir still has a job. Palin’s crime? Depicting the massive federal debt as a form of slavery. Bashir also called Sarah “America’s resident dunce” and a “world-class idiot,” as compared to Mensa members Pelosi, Boxer, Jackson Lee & Wasserman Schultz. What drives lib bottom feeders like Bashir berserk is that far more often than not “America’s resident dunce” has been proven correct. Obamacare anyone? So let little Marty throw his tantrums, conservatives like Palin & Cruz will continue living rent-free in his head by being right on the issues. P”

I just can’t imagine why some liberals are so ignorant that the word “slavery” to them means what happened to Africans in the United States, instead of what happened to Indians in Brazil, or English sailors in North Africa, or Europeans that the Romans conquered, or people who are in debt to China, or to their credit cards, or their emotions,  or even the millions of sex slaves and labor slaves included in the trafficking in persons laws in the United States, a figure that outnumbers anything that happened in the 18th century.

If it weren’t for inflammatory, evil, ugly and uninformed statements, Bashir wouldn’t have any reputation at all—I’d never heard of him until he proposed someone defecate in Palin’s mouth so she would understand the world slavery.  Has he ever heard of a dictionary?  It doesn’t have to be about what just happened in this country. I had to Google him to even find out who he was.  Rush Limbaugh called a loose woman a slut, and the left tried to get him fired.  But they love Bashir who has made disgusting remarks about many Conservative women.

Our State Department defines bondage  due to debt as a form of slavery.  This is from the 2013 report published under John Kerry’s signature .  Perhaps Bashir has a treat for him, too?

“One form of coercion is the use of a bond or debt. U.S. law prohibits the use of a debt or other threats of financial harm as a form of coercion and the Palermo Protocol requires its criminalization as a form of trafficking in persons. Some workers inherit debt; for example, in South Asia it is estimated that there are millions of trafficking victims working to pay off their ancestors’ debts. Others fall victim to traffickers or recruiters who unlawfully exploit an initial debt assumed as a term of employment.

Debt bondage of migrant laborers in their countries of origin, often with the support of labor agencies and employers in the destination country, can also contribute to a situation of debt bondage. Such circumstances may occur in the context of employment-based temporary work programs when a worker’s legal status in the country is tied to the employer and workers fear seeking redress.”

Bad weather November 17

Also the 49th anniversary of the birth and death of Patrick Howard Bruce, Urbana, Illinois, November 17, 1964.

Comparing lies and their results

If abortion doctors understand and admit it, why don’t you?

“Abortionists admit they’re killing babies, that older babies are still alive when drawn-and-quartered, and that late-term abortions are dangerous to mothers, etc., etc., etc. Why do pro-choicers ignore, deny, or minimize what their very own medical professionals say about abortion?”

Link, but look out, it’s gruesome.

The T word vs. the B word

"On Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2013, the United States Department of State announced the designation of Boko Haram and Ansaru as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs). Boko Haram first carried out terrorist attacks in 2009, and Ansaru splintered from Boko Haram in 2012. The Department of State’s announcement of the official designation notes several highly lethal recent attacks carried out by Boko Haram and Ansaru against both domestic and international targets in Nigeria."  (START)

So it's OK to use the T word again. As far as I know, the Ft. Hood shootings by Major Nidal Hasan are still workplace violence, denying the victims important benefits. Because we all, rightly so, assumed the government would be taking care of them and their families, there wasn't even special fund raising on their behalf. It's the B word. Betrayal.

Muslims doing good

In Your Fatwa Does Not Belong Here (2013), the Algerian law professor Karima Bennoune of UC Davis collects the untold stories of Muslims who are speaking out against the violence and terror propagated in the name of Islam.

People often ask, "Why don't Muslims speak out against the violence perpetrated by their religion?" After all, the overwhelming majority of victims of Muslim violence are Muslims. Bennoune's oral history collects the stories of Muslims who are repudiating violence, almost always at great risk to their personal safety. Her book is based upon interviews with 286 Muslims from 26 countries.

"Finding a principled position in this political universe," Bennoune admits, "is not easy." Some people work within Islam to reinvigorate its history as a life-affirming religion. Others appeal to universal human rights that transcend all religions. They often find themselves stuck between two bad alternatives — secular autocracy with dictator-thugs like Mubarak, and political theocracy with violent extremists like the Taliban.

These brave Muslims have resisted the temptation to give up. They have not stopped doing and speaking good.

From the blog Journey with Jesus

Available at Amazon

Who’s the wacko bird now, John?*

“(Reuters) - UnitedHealth Group (UNH.N) dropped thousands of doctors from its networks in recent weeks, leaving many elderly patients unsure whether they need to switch plans to continue seeing their doctors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

The insurer said in October that underfunding of Medicare Advantage plans for the elderly could not be fully offset by the company's other healthcare business. The company also reported spending more healthcare premiums on medical claims in the third quarter, due mainly to government cuts to payments for Medicare Advantage services.

The Journal report said that doctors in at least 10 states were notified of being laid off the plans, some citing "significant changes and pressures in the healthcare environment." According to the notices, the terminations can be appealed within 30 days.”

* John McCain referred to Senator Rand Paul, Senator Ted Cruz and Rep. Justin Amash (all Republicans) as “wacko birds” back in March 2013.

Some colleges also dropping student health coverage

Obamacare's new regulations would force the cost of the insurance at Bowie State in Maryland to rise from $50 to $900 a semester. Officials at one one of the nation's oldest and most elite historically black colleges are citing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as the reason they have cancelled a school-wide affordable health care plan they had offered students. International students will also lose their insurance, and they are not eligible for the exchanges.

http://www.bowiestate.edu/campus-life/henry-wise-wellness-center/student-health-insurance-plan-/

The faux fix

Allowing people to "keep" plans that no longer exist in a state where the insurance company no longer offers the product whether for a year or 10 years sounds pretty foolish to me whether Obama is offering the fix or the House Republicans are. The way our politicians flip flop, who would trust them when they say it is OK on Thursday to buy something already illegal on Wednesday?