3496 Brain aging--a test

The book Making a good brain great has a quiz for risk factors for diseases of brain aging. The number in parentheses indicates how significant the risk factor is.

1.____(3.5) One family member with Alzheimer's or other dementia.
2.____(7.5) More than one family member with Alzheimer's or other dementia.
3.____(2.0) A single head injury with loss of consciousness for more than a few minutes.
4.____(2.0) Several head injuries without lost of consciousness.
5.____(4.4) Alcohol dependence or drug dependence in past or present.
6.____(2.0) Major depression diagnosed by a physician in past or present.
7.____(10) Stroke
8.____(2.5) Heart disease or heart attack.
9.____(2.1) High cholesterol.
10.___(2.3) High blood pressure.
11.___(3.4) Diabetes
12.___(3.0) History of cancer or cancer treatment.
13.___(1.5) Seizures in past or present.
14.___(2.0) Limited exercise (less than twice a week).
15.___(2.0) Less than a high school education.
16.___(2.0) Jobs that do not require periodically learning new information.
17.___(2.3) Smoking cigarettes for 10 years or longer.
18.___(2.5) One apolipoprotein E4 gene (if known)
19.___(5.0) Two apolipoprotein E4 genes (if known)

_____ Total Score (Add up the numbers in parentheses for checked items)

Score 0,1,or 2, you have low risk factors for developing brain diseases of aging.
Score 3,4,5, or 6, moderate risk
Score greater than 6, then prevention strategies should be part of your life.

Book: Making a good brain great, by Daniel G. Amen, Harmony Books, 2005. p.180

Note: This author makes a BIG deal about keeping a journal (which if you're blogging, you're already doing), and taking supplements, and exercising regularly. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't bad. He also likes meditation, extra sleep, affection, salmon, and practicing gratitude.

There is a chart on p. 178 that shows what happens to the cerebral cortex over time, based on 4,000 people. Looks like the biggest drop in blood flow to the brain is during adolescence; about age 30 it bumps up again, then levels out. The author says that if you go to a party, have a little too much champagne, go home and sleep it off, several hundred thousand neurons have died from alcohol toxicity by the time you wake up. No wonder alcohol dependence scores right around Alzheimer's in the family!

Friday Family Photo

Yesterday I decided to banish some old, old warrantees and sales slips (there's not much else to do when the weather is this cold.) They really didn't need to be in the kitchen (prime real estate), but I had the cutest little red notebook that stored them. Most instructions for modern appliances, even a watch or a TV remote are so large and printed in multiple languages they won't fit in that little notebook. But it was fun looking through it. For instance, I found the warranty for "Counselor," my bathroom scale that weighs 3 lbs light. It is now almost 47 years old and I remember the couple who gave it to us--who were from Indianapolis, but it was made in Rockford, just up the road from where we were married. It even shows who printed the form.

I also found my Lifetime guarantee for my Community Silverplate, 52 pc. set, Coronation pattern, which the Bruce aunties and uncles gave us as a wedding gift. Aunt Marg, who never had children, made sure that her nieces and nephews always knew their roots, despite the many divorces in the family. The booklet that came with it reprinted endearing remarks from long-married couples probably from the 1940s and 1950s--none as long as us today however. So I e-mailed the company and let them know that although they no longer make my pattern, it still works great for family dinners. Who knows? I might appear in an advertisement some day! Only one piece is damaged--in 1986 we had a break-in and the burglar bent a fork to see if it was sterling (but he did steal my ugly high school class ring and some other gold jewelry).


Update: If you click on the label below "family photo A" you will find other photos of us. A means our little family of 4, B is for the larger Bruce family, and C is for all my relatives. I haven't gone back and relabeled every thing yet, but it really works well.

3494 Why we need dissenters in science

Global-warming predictions are currently hampered by uncertainties about the amount of heat and carbon dioxide that the southern ocean will take up according to a report in the Journal of Climate, v. 19, 2006:6382-6390. A computer model developed by Joellen Russell of the University of Arizona in Tucson suggests that the ocean will be able to absorb more than previously thought. How much more? No way to know, plus she has to bow before the warming throne to even get this much research published.

And they've decided upon analyzing 580 million years old rock* that oxygen entered the deep oceans at the end of an ice age known as the Gaskiers glaciation. Fossil evidence indicates that large multicellular organisms appeared on the sea floor shortly after (i.e., 5 million years). End of an ice age? This was apparently some time before the industrial revolution and humankind messing everything up. Science: Vol. 314. no. 5805, p. 1529

Egyptologists have been arguing with materials scientists for about 20 years on whether the pyramids have blocks made up of a synthetic mix like concrete. Fifteen samples scanned by electron microscopes show calcium and magnesium which do not exist in nearby limestone. See? Scientists don't agree on a lot of things. The limestone guys probably are trying to shut down the synthetic mix guys with threats of "denial" charges. Journal of American Ceramics Society v.89, 2006:3788-3796.

Battle of the biofuels is heating up. Follow the money. Prairie grass will mop up more carbon than it produces, dwarfing the amount of carbon dioxide released during production and combustion. Look out corn and soybean growers. I still think the inputs will cost more than any benefit we get from this, so we REALLY need to encourage dissension in this field.

A 60 year old Somalian woman has had her IUD removed in Seattle. She continued to have children after it was inserted and (it) migrated after perforating her uterus. Seems they do that about 1-2 cases per 1000 insertions. Would you fly if 1-2 out of every 1000 jets disappeared? New England Journal of Medicine 356(2007);4:397

*I personally don't believe the earth is that old, but I can read and report it without having my mind all bent out of shape like the evolution people.

3493 WMD--Women, mothers, daughters

In 2003, the U.S. allocated $27 million dollars to support women's programs in Iraq. Under the guidance of the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S. and other foreign sources funded Iraqi women to organize a number of national women's conferences and to support newly formed local NGOs that focus on women's issues. Groups like The Iraqi Women's league, The Iraqi Higher Council for Women, and the Organization of Women's Freedom are actively working for women's full representation in the political process and to ensure that the women's rights agenda does not get marginalized in the country's road to democracy.

In the 1970s, Iraq had a quality health care system, which began to decline in the mid-1980s and by the 1990s, it was in crisis. This took the greatest toll on the elderly, women, and children. The Gulf War had a particularly drastic effect on the large and increasing number of widows in Iraq who are heads of households. . . by the late 1980s the government had stopped assistance to the widows of the Iraq-Iran war. There are many unmarried women in Iraq today due to the deteriorating conditions since the early 1980s.

There was no freedom during the Saddam regime, but Iraqi women are talking today like never before and they are concerned that fundamentalist Islamic groups, Sunni and Sh'ia alike will succeed in introducting legislation that will control and limit them again. When the U.S. military commander in Najaf appointed an Iraqi woman lawyer as the first female judge in Najaf, it drew protests and death threats, and she was forced to resign.

To win support of tribal and conservative religious factions after the Gulf War, Saddam reversed many of the advances women had made in the professions and universities in the 1970s--40% of teachers, 30% of doctors, 50% of dentists, etc. By 2003 they were found--if employed--primarily in the agricultural and service sector. When schools reopened in 2003 after the U.S. occupation, the women principals and teachers went back to classes and they are well represented in the media.

Source: Women's rights in the Middle East and North Africa, Freedom House, 2005, Chapter on Iraq written by Amal Rassam, co-author with Daniel Bates of Peoples and Cultures of the Middle East.

And all this will be lost if the Democrats have their way, because they really don't believe there are WMD in Iraq.

Being a bilious feminist

Apparently, that phrase doesn't appear in all the articles and blogs indexed on the internet. At least, Google didn't find it. Yet. I think it is quite handsome. I love a clever turn of phrase. Here's the context:

"Being a bilious feminist with a potty mouth doesn't much distinguish one in the blogosphere these days." That's in an article by Mary Eberstadt who writes about Democratic presidential candidates, closing their eyes and folding their hands in an appearance of prayer in order to woo Christians--and needing to fire their on-board bloggers of the liberal left who loathe Christians and can get really foul mouthed and nasty.

That--being a potty mouth--can get you banished from my links quickly. And unfortunately, it isn't limited to Christian bashers. I've also found some Christian bloggers who think you fight mud with mud. They throw in the occasional F word too, only it isn't Fascist.

Eberstadt goes on to feature some unrestrained Christian bashing in recent titles, all of which I think I've mentioned here in posts about our public library's bias:

Theocons
Kingdom Coming
American Theocracy
Thy Kingdom come
Religion gone bad
American fascists

You get the drift. They make Ann Coulter's "Godless" seem mild by comparison, and I also wrote that she was over the edge. Eberstadt points out that the left doesn't reserve its hate for Islamofascists, but instead is blatantly anti-Christian, and these authors and bloggers are embedding themselves in the Democratic party and campaigns.

Speaking of which, we've had an interesting turn of events here in Ohio. Our new Democratic Governor Strickland ran on that warm, fuzzy, "I'm a Christian too" platform and won. I think he said he was a former Methodist minister--but don't quote me on that. He could have been blind, deaf, dumb and a pagan plumber, and still have won because of our former governor's miserable record (a Republican). But I digress. Yesterday I heard he doesn't want any Iraq refugees (who will inevitably need to be resettled if Democrats are successful in their cut and run strategy) coming to Ohio because he was against the war. I hope this is absolutely false or taken completely out of context. It will make Democrats and Christians look really bad.

Update: On Feb. 17, there were 4 entries on Google for "bilious feminist," mine and 3 others, so I wasn't the only one who thought it a descriptive phrase. Also I checked my public library for those 6 titles she mentioned, and there are 2 copies of each, except American Theocracy has seven copies--5 regular, 1 large print, and 1 audio for a total of 7--the cataloger assigned it the subject heading "George W. Bush." For every one conservative librarian, there are 223 liberals. Censorship begins with the purchase.

Update 2: Dr. Helen comments on the fired blogging potty mouths who are claiming sexism got them fired: "My guess is that Edwards hired these women to make the point that he was a "progressive feminist" who took women's views seriously. His mistake was to believe that the average woman, or man for that matter, would take the views of a bigot and a hater like Marcotte seriously regardless of sex. Sexism may have played a part in Marcotte and her fellow-hater getting hired but it certainly played no part in getting them fired--their unprofessional conduct and rantings did that for them all by itself."

Update 3: on Marcotte's writing a commenter at Cathy's blog says, "This is something that I've never been able to comprehend: Why are so many Liberals unable to acknowledge the obvious in this case? Aren't they supposed to be super-sensitive to bigotry? Is it really that hard for them to notice the elephant in the drawing room? That the empress has no clothes?"

Poetry Thursday #7

Truthfully, I have no idea what a prose poem is--today’s assignment for Poetry Thursday. Poetry Previews describes it: "Although the prose poem resembles a short piece of prose, its allegiance to poetry can be seen in the use of rhythms, figures of speech, rhyme, internal rhyme, assonance (repetition of similar vowel sounds), consonance (repetition of similar consonant sounds), and images."

I’ve read a lot of poems that I would rewrite as prose and think them a better use of words and sound, or prose so lovely when read aloud I’d swear there was a poet in there somewhere. So here’s the background for today's poem:

We had a mini-blizzard (really hit northwest and south of Columbus) with snow, then hours of sleet, and then more snow overnight. Most schools and many businesses closed. So going to the coffee shop Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. was a challenge just to back out of my drive-way; it was dark and cold and I had the streets to myself. I drafted this there, and rewrote and revised at home. The more I revised, the less prose-like it became. If you’re not a regular reader here, it’s just about a coffee shop on a snowy day. Now here’s the poem:

Come sit by the fire with me. Sit by the gas flames rising from fake logs. Warm us bright blaze in the dark by the pseudo-bricks as we tip Styrofoam cups with plastic lids, sip black brew browned with cream factory made. Animate brain cells, stir up stiff tongues tropical beans, red and bright when picked by dark hands, traveling on tankers guided by pale hands to bring us warmth and happy thoughts, brown after roasting in mills and bursting to dark beans, trucked by many hands along concrete interstates and asphalt by-ways to loading docks at dark coffee shops. Come sit by the fire with me in the dark, tasting warmth, watching the snow fall on icy lines--pity the bird toes--sending power to heat water piped and purified, dripping hot in the pot held by ethnic hands that fill my cup which warms my nose by the fire where we sit.

And Happy First Birthday, Poetry Thursday.

3490 Does this smoker bear responsibility

for his lung cancer? Was it his pack a day habit that caused his disease, or was it his employer's fault, or his post 9/11 work environment, or the government? Story here at Overlawyered.

"New York City police officer Cesar Borja died tragically young of lung disease last month. Advocacy groups (including a website that regularly accuses tort reformers of using oversimplified "pop" anecdotes) and Senator Clinton pushed his story to the media to promote a multi-billion-dollar taxpayer giveaway program (that, not incidentally, would provide contingent fees for attorneys) by claiming that Borja was sickened as a hero working "fourteen-hour days in the smoldering pit", and was killed by alleged government lies about the safety of the air (though the government did call for respirators that they admitted Borja didn't wear) and the media bought it in front-page tabloid stories."

We all want to blame someone else when we mess up. It's human. But if you smoke, accept that you will probably die at a younger age, and in much more pain, than if you didn't; don't finger point at your employer who allowed it, or your government which legalized it, or your military unit that supplied it, or your buddies who thought it was cool. You bought them, you lit them, you smoked them. You will suffer.

Valentine greeting from Haiti

My husband called tonight to wish me Happy Valentine's Day. He's in Haiti on a mission trip and it's 90 degrees! It's very cold and snowy here, so he picked a great week to be gone. My daughter trudged through the snow today about noon to deliver his card (and one from the cat). He says he's got lots of photos and a thousand stories to tell. Here is the story of the director of the school in Ouanaminthe where the team is working this week. He told me to imagine the worst possible poverty, and it was way beyond that. They have beans and rice and rice and beans for lunch, but supper has a little more variety.

Happy Valentine's Day

This is a valentine my mother received when she was in Pine View school in Lee County, Illinois, from a schoolmate named Belva. From what mother said, they did not make a big deal about Christmas, but obviously from her collection of valentines (which included some belonging to her older brother) that she saved over 80 years, this was a time of great fun for the children. The inside message:
Here's a little valentine
For you, little friend of
mine,
You were first to win my
heart,
And will always hold the
larger part

The card is made of embossed paper with a cut-out edge by Whitney Made of Worcester, Mass.

I commented on the value of paper collectibles here, and show two others from her collection.

I selected this one today because of the snow scene, and because it is contemporary realism for the era. Most of her valentines depict 19th and 18th century scenes with a lot of lace, or are sort of cartoonish.

Enjoy the day!

3487 My agenda for the green groups

In June, I outlined the changes I'd like to see so we could have a cleaner, healthier, more productive environment. Now that the green groups are going to invest in the global warming bandwagon at the expense of their usual causes, I thought I'd rerun my list. I particularly liked #13, allowing squatters to have gardens on the estates of celebrities.

1. Cleaner burning coal and safer mines.
2. Drilling for oil in Alaska, which is what Alaskans want.
3. Don't allow western and southern states to drain the Great Lakes so they can farm non-agricultural land.
4. Rebuild the barrier islands while restricting coast-line communities--even for the rich. Or the poor.
5. Don't allow mega-Casinos by Indians or Cajuns or Hispanics or the Mafia or people of any special interest in coastal-tourist areas. Work on developing "real" jobs that produce something.
6. Restore the fence rows in the Midwest so the birds can eat the bugs and less pesticide will be needed, plus it is just prettier and more colorful. Encourage living snow fences to protect soil from erosion in winter.
7. Get rid of welfare for farmers (price supports) which encourages mismanagement and misuse of the land and creates ever larger farms.
8. Strict enforcement of keeping out agricultural and waterway pests. (Actually we do a better job of restricting harmful bugs that hurt our economy than we do illegal people who do it by stealth.)
9. More solar power; forget wind turbines--looks ridiculous, kills birds and changes air currents which will have long term bad effects on agriculture.
10. More bicycle paths and set asides for parks. More sidewalks for walking. Discourage culs-de-sac to reduce congestion on feeder roads.
11. Give small, efficient cars a tax break instead of trucks, or eliminate it all together.
12. Reduce the government's dependence on oil by cutting gasoline taxes at the pump.
13. Have Hollywood's falling stars let squatters use their land for gardens for the poor.

Blizzard Warning for Ohio

Central Ohio isn't getting it as bad as a bit north and west of us, but so far at 5:15, there are 305 "closings," that's schools, businesses, and malls. We've had about 5" of snow, and then about 3 p.m. it started to sleet, and sometime tonight the snow will return. Nasty! I think I heard that Hancock County [Findlay] had some 5' snow drifts. Some counties have level three conditions (means don't drive or you'll get a ticket). Unless the ice causes a break in the electricity from downed lines, it's warm and cozy here. Two years ago an ice storm around Christmas caused power outages for some of our neighborhoods for two weeks or more.

3485 This little piggy

This is definitely not on my weight loss plan. And I'm not sure where I would wear that nose.

HT Geoff.

3484 Environmental Groups

I'm all for taking care of the planet. I wish more people would treat the planet with the respect my mother had. She used to say, and then lived her beliefs, "I can't save the world, but I can clean up four acres." I get so irritated at people who throw trash from their cars along the highway and build homes along the coasts, expecting the rest of us to clean up their mess or bail them out when a hurricane blows through. The January 27, 2007 issue of National Journal reports that groups like National Audubon Society and Sierra Club are all putting their tithes, offerings, and investments into the Greenhouse Gas Church of Global Warming. The article lists the priorities of the environmental groups now that they believe they can get in bed with the Democrats. And they're playing footsie with some outside their usual group. My comments in brackets.

1) Regulate carbon dioxide. [More jobs will say good-bye. And it won't even help global warming, if it exists.]
2) Broaden alliances with other groups, some are not known to be friendly, but politics as usual.
3) Make cozy cooing noises with religious groups. [See what I mean?]
4) Work with the Democrats. [No surprises here.]
5) Promote clean energy technology. [There will be a lot of opportunity for businesses and investment here unless Pelosi kills it with higher taxes.]
6) Expand farm bill's conservation. [Farmers are already on the receiving end of government aid and bail outs. Do they need more?]
7) Protect more federal lands. [Probably just from ordinary folks like us--celebrities will still be able to have their multi-million dollar vacation lodges.]
8) Shift priorities in EPA, Interior and Forest Service. [Whatever Bush has been doing, do it differently and charge the taxpayer more.]
9) Cheer for Pelosi no matter what. [See #4]
10) Cut subsidies for "big oil." [So do they plan to increase exploration and refineries or just punish American interests by making us more dependent on foreign owned oil?]
11) Force electric utilities to use wind power. [Ever driven through a central Illinois wind farm and watched what looks like robotic giant chickens? Not a pretty picture, but celebrities won't be building there.]
12) Require automakers to produce more efficient vehicles. [We did that in the 70s--now we have more cars than ever on the road. My van gets 26 mpg--would a celebrity drive a mini-van?]
13) Revamp farm subsidies. [I'm all for this--how about a free market and no welfare for farmers? What about putting back the fence rows and not planting right up to the highways? Frences are homes for birds that eat bugs and wildlife and cuts down on erosion.]
14) Open ranch and farm land for hunting and fishing. [Whoa! They're going to talk to the NRA?]
15) Revitalize the Endangered Species Act. [Yes, good idea. Let's remove the species that aren't endangered and start worrying about endangered people.]
16) Tax incentives for property owners who provide habitats for wildlife. [Does Oprah really need this for her California coast ranch? We've got gobs of these tax credits now, and the small holder can't use them.]
17) Review the Army Corps of Engineers projects. [Yes, and while we're at it, let's look at all the environmental protection lawsuits that kept those levees from getting built in NOLA because of impact statements.]
18] Wilderness legislation to protect federal land. [Do you suppose the Forestry folks and home owners in western states could be allowed to cut down and remove diseased and dying trees? Might help with those expensive forest fires and bring back tourism.]
19) Legislation to protect coastal areas. [Here's a thought. Let's stop bailing out millionaires and factory farms who build close to the coast. That should do more than any new legislation which will only protect contributors to the green causes and the lawyers.]
20) Reinstate Superfund Tax on oil and chemical industries to pay for cleanup. [You mean actually fund legislation? Will you stop telling gas station owners to close up and then give them no money to get the oil out of the underground tanks? Will that be on all laws and regulations, or will you be selective? You do know when you tax oil companies that we pay more at the pump, don't you?]
21) Rewrite the 1872 Mining Act. [Anything that old, fat and lazy should definitely be looked at for its usefulness--I've got a few eastern Senators in mind.]
22) Fight the coal and oil industries at all levels of government, including state and local. [Fine. My investments in energy are in Canada shale. The machines to extract the oil were probably built in Japan because you've made them too expensive to build on our soil. You'll be sending more American dollars and jobs abroad with this tactic.]

3483 What I know about women and money

It's a bit tedious relabeling old blogs, but I really like this feature in the new Blogger template. Now I'll be able to sort and print only the ones I really like. It is really useful for the memory and family photo blogs. This morning I'm reviewing (all cozy and warm during our latest Ohio snow storm) what I've written about women. I liked this one enough to give it a rerun in case you missed it. These points are all common sense, so you might not see them anywhere but here.

I haven't read the [census] report. But here's what I know for a fact going in.

• Married people are wealthier than unmarried;
• children of divorce are poorer than children of in tact families;
• divorced and unmarried fathers are less likely to provide a college education for their children than fathers married to the children's mother;
• people who work have more money than people who don't work;
• government programs often encourage people not to work, or at least reward them for working less, so they have the unintended consequence of creating a poor class;
• people in the bottom quintile usually don't stay there because their age, education or marital status changes;
• inexpensive leisure activities and entertainment lull people into not doing their best but create great wealth for a small number;
• millions of destitute people sneak into our country every year and are added to the poverty rolls;
• marijuana and alcohol keep a lot of people poor and dysfunctional while making a small number rich;
• for 30+ years schools have encouraged students to seek non-monetary satisfactions and rewards in life and liberals shouldn't complain if it is working.

Women (of certain types and political thought) have been leading the charge that keep families poor for over 30 years. Wake up and smell the coffee, ladies.

3482 Can you believe Scripture and be a scientist?

Sure. But it makes the academics awfully mad if Christians are more liberal (in the true sense of the word) than they are, that Christians will study and discuss and write about ideas and theories that are in conflict with their own, but academics can't.

This young man's research is impeccable. But some find these concepts "imponderable." He is able to describe events that happened 10 million years ago, but personally believes the earth is 10,000 years old. So do you have to believe in warlocks and witches to read Harry Potter?

"May a secular university deny otherwise qualified students a degree because of their religion? Can a student produce intellectually honest work that contradicts deeply held beliefs? Should it be obligatory (or forbidden) for universities to consider how students will use the degrees they earn?"

And they claim it isn't discrimination. Can you believe they're debating whether to even admit committed Christians who don't follow the party line to advanced degree programs? "Graduate admissions committees were entitled to consider the difficulties that would arise from admitting a doctoral candidate with views "so at variance with what we consider standard science." She [Eugenie C. Scott] said such students "would require so much remedial instruction it would not be worth my time." Remedial instruction? What makes her think she has to brainwash graduate students? Will religious questions be part of the college interview now? She's right up there with the "some of my best friends are black" folk who want Christians in the back of the academic bus.

The rhetoric of activism

Whether you've marched in an anti-war protest or bombed a research lab, the rhetoric undergirding the action is pretty much the same. This template came from an animal rights magazine in the 90s, but you can add your politics of choice: bilingualism, environmentalism, ageism, racism, genderism, feminism, etc. You will recognize many of the points from reading this list, even if you've never heard of animal rights. This was originally about chickens and their rights--but could just as easily be about white tailed deer who have a right to eat your garden or illegal aliens who have a right to cross the border and use your benefits. My asides are in brackets. Upon reading it, you'll see the futility of arguing with these people. Move on.

1) Don't use apologetic or non-offensive statements, it deprecates your views.
2) Don't accept defeatist views; it shows self doubt.
3) Human victims often collaborate unconsciously with their oppressor; don't affirm anything the destroyer is doing. You have the moral imperative; this is not a matter of simple choice.
4) Animals [or insert the cause of your choice] are not underlings but "other nations." They should not be compared to humans with diminished capacities such as babies or the mentally defective. This is arrogant [Note: "arrogant" is a common word in activist lingo.]
5) Why even suggest that conventional views have merit? It plants doubt in people's minds about your efforts.
6) As a spokesperson, you must establish your identity. Do not ever let the other side define you or what you are about [i.e., in a GQ article or a TV ad that suggests a viable alternative to your viewpoint].
7) The combination of western science, capitalism and homocentricity can be thrown up to you in expressions like "science reports" or "it is known that," or "studies show" this is sheer epistemological deficiency, cynicism and intimidation. Do not stand for it! [Note: This is an essential point: most activist groups HATE Western Culture, especially capitalism even if they using computer technology at state supported institutions, including our system of caring for children, our textbooks, our churches, etc. Christians and Jews are particularly targeted for abuse if they cite a higher morality. Their actions are much more about capitalism and western culture than saving an animal habitat or stopping a war.]
8) Only oppressors deny the importance of suffering to the individuals who suffer (keeping a bird in a cage, or a dog as a pet, or riding a horse). [Note: Militant pro life activists would point out that a fetus feels pain and suffers; militant CUBs would stress the suffering of birthmothers. Both groups might condone stalking or picketing, but only for their group, because of the righteousness of their cause.]
9) You can't do everything. If others accuse you of not caring about people, stop explaining and take a proactive stance. You must focus your attention on this one issue.
10) The abuse of animals ["abuse" includes owning pets--it's a very broad definition] is as serious as any other abuse. Apologize TO the animals, not FOR them.

3480 What is Love?

It's the count down to Valentine's Day. Cha-Ching. I've heard some pretty sappy things on the radio today--like buy her a naked bear. Schools that have had to stop delivery of flowers and balloons because it has gotten out of hand and they can't deliver to classrooms. "Live, Love, Laugh" is a mom and grandma who works with juvenile offenders. She has a great post on love.

3479 Butterscotch

At coffee this morning my friend AZ asked if I was planning anything different this week while my husband is in Haiti on a mission trip. Couldn't really think of anything, but did decide on one thing. Butterscotch pudding. My husband gags at the thought of butterscotch, caramel or toffee (which all taste very similar) flavored anything. Anyway, I made some butterscotch pudding and it was quite yummy--hadn't had any in years. Here's what I did--it's loaded with not so good stuff, but it's quick and easy.

Mix small pkg. of butterscotch sugar-free, fat free pudding mix with 1 cup cold milk.
Quickly (because it sets up fast) mix that with 8 oz. of low fat or fat free cream cheese that has been at room temperature for a bit.
Stir into that mixture, 1/2 cartoon (4 oz.) sugar-free Cool-Whip.
Put into individual serving cups (makes 6) and top with the rest of the Cool-Whip.
I haven't a clue how many calories or grams of fat.

This would probably work for a butterscotch pie if you were using a graham cracker crust.

What I don't understand about Republicans

Why are they considered the "social conservatives," when the only three guys who are getting any notice for 2008 from the party faithful all were unfaithful to their wives? Maybe more than one? I'd put McCain as #1 crumb-bum for leaving the wife who stood by him all the time he was in prison working for his release. By the time he got home she was disabled and no longer a babe, so he dumped her for one who had money and could fund his political ambitions. And Newt? Aren't he and Rudy both with wife #3, or did Rudy just not bother to get married this time? Then if you bring up Romney, who is squeeky clean, they back off because he's a Mormon (about the only group left in the country who take family responsibilities seriously).

You can beat your chest all you want about women and gays, and how our morals are collapsing, yada, yada, but fellas, the only people getting advice in the Bible about sex is heterosexual men. And there's bunches of it. Go look.

Are government officials blocking your mail?

Pat in NC says sending an e-mail from outside the congressperson's district is a hopeless task. She can't even get Nancy Pelosi to take her message.

"As I watch CSPAN, see news clips on TV news or read article quoting legislators, they speak of "the majority of citizens " feeling a certain way about an issue. How do they know this when they ignore or actually block opinions of the majority."

It's our tax money paying for their offices, staff, franking privileges, special jet planes with expensive staff, trips to foreign countries, etc., etc. The least they can do is accept an e-mail from out of district.