Right As Usual

OK, I'm a total Squish about mushy stuff - so much so, that I seldom express my feelings in words. But, THIS is an EPIC ODE TO LOVE!

Yeah, I know, there are ALWAYS atrocities from them. This one involves selling human body parts from abortions. 'Cause, ya know, you NEED to make your money back!  Plus some more! If you are not OUTRAGED, if you are not APPALLED, then move on.   And seriously question your humanity. Follow the logic. If children can be bought and sold, then what do we call that? It’s called slavery. So, when is the mainstream media going to find it important to talk about, write about, and urge Americans to protest it?  

However, unlike Otis Redding, I am NOT lonely. Just enjoying the sun - it's perfect.  Mostly dimmed by cloud cover, occasionally breaking through for a dazzling over-the-top light (I left my seat, briefly, to get a hat with a brim).  My newly-finished Adirondack chair is comfortable, the air is warmish, without inducing sweat. Perfect. So few moments in life are that.  We need to stop sometimes to enjoy God's creation.  Just sit in the sun.  Link to "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" lyrics. Link to the song. And, don't forget to sit and do NOTHING occasionally.

Donald Trump recently put himself into the news again when he expressed concern about Ebola making its way to the USA.  He, like many, favors quarantine of Ebola victims.  He is against letting victims, including medical personnel and Americans, into the USA. The question:  Is he right? The Washington Post thinks Trump is wrong , but their story is mixed: Ebola is contagious - which means that you have to be in direct contact with bodily fluids of the infected person "Amesh Adalja, a member of the public health committee of the  Infectious Disease Society of America  and an infectious disease doctor at the University of Pittsburgh" says that there is NO chance of infection for the general public.  This is in part due to the superior contagion-blocking capabilities of US medical establishment - hoods, masks, full-body suits, etc. However, the CDC reports that American hospitals do a poor job of controlling infection - "One in 25 patients in U.S. hospitals has an in...

I do get that, for some women, infertility is a major sorrow in their lives.  They want to be mothers, but, physically, it just isn't possible. For those women, and their husband, adoption is also not possible.  Unless they have a LOT of money to spend, legally adopting a child is hard.  It's made harder by social workers who oppose adoption if a parent is living, however ill-suited they are to raise that child.  Too often, that opposition keeps children in foster care for years.  Some have accused agencies of keeping kids in foster care for the money it brings in - I can't believe that.  I think it's an ideological position that is to blame. For those reasons, some women feel that they have no alternative to surrogacy.  Today's surrogacy has evolved into a multi-partner process, that splits the pregnancy action into parts: The male contribution - sometimes from the prospective adoptive father, other times from donors (the men are generally paid for their sperm). ...

Here's some information about IVF and the increase in surrogacy - rent-a-womb services. "For women under the age of 35, 40.7% of fertility treatment attempts resulted in a live birth. So did 31.3% of the attempts by women ages 35 to 37; 22.2% of the attempts by women ages 38 to 40; 11.8% of the attempts by women who were 41 or 42; and 3.9% for women who were 43 or older. http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-ivf-births-record-high-20140216,0,6799611.story#ixzz2vffq6eRC" So, because most older women do NOT experience a successful pregnancy, even with a "test-tube" conception, SOMEONE has to carry the child for 9 months. Enter the "womb-man" - the person who is thought of only as a disembodied uterus. She needn't be the same woman who donates the egg - in fact, for the purposes of wresting the baby from her at birth, it's MUCH better if she is not.  It's easier to deny her parental rights if she has no genetic connection to the ...

I've been thinking about this subject for some time. First, some admissions: Getting pregnant was NEVER a problem for me.  I had 3 kids in four years.  Coulda done more, but I was really getting tired of birthin' In my younger years, I did follow the crowd and use contraception.  Never had to consider an abortion, which I thank God for.  Some things, it was just a mercy I hadn't been in a position to have to decide upon - I don't know that I'd have decided in a good way. There have been days my kids drove me crazy.  Well, the same is true of my husband.  But, I never wished they hadn't been born. I never had to wrestle with the conflicts between a strong desire to have children, and the ethical problems that lay within that decision. In high school, we all read "Brave New World" and "1984" (funny, seldom do kids read either these days.  1984 is too uncomfortably close to the near-worship of our current leader. And, Brave New World, with...

I'm off work, due to snow (it's a laughable amount to a Yankee transplant, but it causes serious problems for a part of the country that doesn't have the materials, equipment, or expertise to deal with it).   I've decided to get back in the saddle, and add my voice to those that are passionate about changing our country BACK to: Less government - not just BETTER government, but LESS Better schools - I'm strongly of the belief that Conservatives need to start writing alternative curriculum, with the state standards in mind (although they need to get embedded in the State Boards of Education, to be able to influence the standards, as well). TRUE civility in public life - which ALSO includes the freedom to get into the dirt, if attacked by a pig.  No holding to a higher standard Conservatives, while allowing Leftists to go for the gonads. Creation/Expansion of HONEST media.  There needs to be Conservative channels on TV/Cable, as well as Conservative Packages. ...

I added a page for that last post, rather than on this page.  I did it accidentally, but I think I'll leave it, because I'm planning to come back to this topic. The link is here: NOT Having a LARC

...and PP SWORE (pinky finger swear!) that they would INCREASE the number of mammograms they offered? Yeah. That happened...NOT!

There's a link to a story about a man who was presumed to be comatose for 23 years.   When a state-of-the-art PET scanner was used, doctors found that the man's brain was functioning normally. But, he was paralyzed and unable to speak. He lived in a nightmare of inability to communicate with the rest of the world.  Thankfully, he has been hooked up to a device by which he can "talk" to others. My big objection to the euthanasia of Terry Shiavo was the fierce determination of her husband NOT to determine whether or not she had any consciousness left.  In other words, he WANTED to think of her as "non-human", so he could put her down like a dog. Scratch that.  Dogs are better treated than Terry was.  She was slowly starved and dehydrated over a period of weeks.

This year, I have 2 vets to remember. The first, my dad, was in WWII.  He served in the artillery, which likely contributed to the major hearing loss he suffered from in his senior years.  Even when younger, he consistently turned the TV to a fairly loud setting. I've spent some time looking into his service - apparently, his unit was moved around a bit, and the command changed several times.  He did serve in the Battle of the Bulge.  He told my mother (she later told me) that he had seen some of the survivors of the concentration camps; it so haunted him that he buried the memory for years. He mostly told funny stories of his time in the war: Cutting across a minefield to avoid being late for dinner Coming across a barn with SS uniforms left behind.  He and his buddy tried them on, and admired their panache.  He almost got shot by another soldier who saw the uniform - fortunately, the other soldier fooling around was his buddy, Red, and the hair made the soldier hesitate in pu...

In my life, I have been blessed: I have a roof over my head.  True, it did come with a big mortgage, but I am sleeping warm at night. Along with the above, my neighbors are great, and watch out for the neighborhood. I have enough to eat - so much so, that I am having to spend energy on dieting. I have money from my job to pay for that mortgage and other things.  True, I was unemployed for almost 7 months this year, and had to dip into retirement savings, but I had savings to dip into. The job I have now is the best I've ever had - great co-workers, good kids, excellent administration.  I have to pinch myself to make sure that it's not a dream. I have good kids and wonderful grandkids (yes, I DID notice that the adjectives changed, but that's due to the fact that I don't HAVE to discipline my grandkids).  They're working and making lives for themselves. I have a husband who has stuck by me for many years.  He is supportive of my endeavors (in general), ...

This was a shocker! At first, when another teacher said that Pope Benedict would resign at the end of the month, I thought it was an Onion spoof. But, I checked - it's really happening. Go to the Vatican site , and see for yourself. I'm flabbergasted. I never expected this. But, I'm going to think of it as an opportunity. It's a chance for a new breeze to blow through the Church walls. Several things occurred to me: Compared to the Cardinals from the JPII era, the Cardinals have been through intensive scrutiny re: the Child Abuse Scandals. Those that stayed, have been vetted. The Church has retired many of the most egregious "Vatican-Lite" personnel. Those that remain are, generally, committed to upholding Church teachings, even against opposition. The retirement will bring in new blood at a time when the Church needs to stand firm, opposing the US Government's intrusion into the policies of its hospitals and other charitable organizations. It...

It's over 1 week into the last term of Obama (if you don't believe that it's possible that he may try a power grab near the end of his term). Many people looked at their paychecks, and said "What!" It's difficult to believe that they, somehow, thought that the tax increases would just pass them by. I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying "I TOLD you so" in a smarmy voice. It's just the beginning - we'll be facing WAY more in Ooops, Surprise! from the administration. To give the public everything they asked for without raising taxes is simply not possible. The part of this all that I am beginning to truly fear is this summer. I live in a city, as does most of my family. If sequestration does take effect, expect the "poor" (I put it in quotes to distinguish them from the truly impoverished - most of the former are making more, if you count their access to EBT, heat subsidies, rent subsidies, and all the rest, than the peopl...

I've been out of town for the holidays (I left a few days earlier, due to a death in the family). I basically haven't looked at news on TV or on the Internet for the last 3 days. It's kind of refreshing. I tend to obsessively watch current events, looking at the interconnections and working my way through the original documents (I use Thomas.gov for the original text of legislation). I find that the news does a poor job of getting the information out. Too often, they rely on press releases and quick conversations with legislators that favor their pre-set biases. As a result, the public is often in the dark about the "pork stuffing", hidden costs, and full implications of pending legislation. They use the sound-bites of their favored party's arguments, and fail to get the true story out. But, for the last few days, I've concentrated on dealing with the items that I had to - family, shopping, time spent with my husband (not that I HAD to), and other imm...

It's been a rough week. On Tuesday, I received a call from my sister that my elder brother, Mike, had been found dead in his apartment. He likely was there for days before being noticed. Mike had been battling alcoholism for years. Due to it, he lost his job, his home, and nearly all his friends and family. Periodically, he'd surface, needing to shower or clean his clothing, and my sister or brother would take pity on him and let him in long enough to clear up. I was spared much of this; by the time he hit the streets, I was living in SC. I was only occasionally present when he surfaced. In 10 years, I doubt I saw him more than 10 times. He couldn't get along with others at the shelters. He claimed that they "messed with" him, but I suspect that he irritated them quite a bit - he was smart, and could use his intellect to put people down. His smart mouth, even in his youth, got him in a bit of trouble. When he was in his 20s, he started a science fiction no...

I've long enjoyed Right Wing News' John Hawkins' work.  He is thoughtful and pays attention to the personal motivations underlying the political strife. This post, on 20 Observations About Human Nature That Liberals Would Disagree With , is quite insightful.  I noted several of them, 2) The more a behavior is rewarded with attention, fame, sympathy or money, the more of it we'll see. We recognize this almost instinctively when it comes to good behaviors, but we also tend to almost habitually block it out when it comes to behaviors we don't want to encourage. and 19) Greed isn't about wanting to keep what you've earned; it's about wanting goods, products or services that you aren't paying for or haven't earned. which were some of my favorites. Note that most of the listed observations have to do with the culture, not politics or religion.

I've long said that the culture is what drives the politics, not the reverse.  Unfortunately, I've acted as though the political part of life was the important part. With that in mind, I've decided to focus on The Culture, and WHY it has to be resisted.  Naturally, much of my thinking will come out of my Catholic Heritage. Like Nancy Pelosi and Joy Behar, I was raised Catholic. That's where we differ.  I still attend church every Sunday, and am currently also spending one evening a week (and some spare time online) learning more about my faith. Unlike many cultural Catholics, I don't ignore the "inconveniently illiberal" parts of the church. To that purpose, I've been checking out some Catholic blogs that stand firmly on the side of The Church in the HHS fight. Among them, Bad Catholic , who writes about specific ways that The Church stands up to the Standard American Culture. Bad Catholic also writes about nudity - and how the Culture has made men (a...

The central thesis of this is disheartening. ...baseball is a game taught by fathers, while basketball and football are more often taught by peers in pickup games. Gerald Hall Jr., the director of a youth-baseball program in Washington, D.C., told Milloy: “If you did a survey, I believe you’d find that the one thing average and above-average players have in common is a father. Baseball is, at heart, a father-and-son sport. And if you’re a kid that has nobody to throw to, nobody to talk to, nobody to discipline you in the way that baseball demands, you’re not likely to play the game. How unbearably sad.