Coffee, as a beverage, has many faces. We know it comes from many parts of the world and can have an amazingly different taste depending on where it is grown. Check this site out: " Historical data actually suggests the true origin of the coffee plant lies on the plateaus of central Ethiopia, across the Red Sea from Yemen. Arabica coffee trees still grow wild in these parts. Legend also has it that once the Arabians became aware of the power of the coffee plant and its brew, they shunned the idea of sharing it with the rest of the world. For this reason they parched and boiled all coffee seeds or beans that left the country, rendering them sterile. This monopoly over the coffee trade, which was almost impossible to secure, collapsed around the 17th century (an exact date is not known) when a man named Baba Budan spirited seven beans bound to his belly out of Arabia and into his homeland of India. He planted them there and they grew plentifully."
Not only do coffees brewed have totally different flavors depending on the source, the treatment it gets and the amount of roasting are also factors. You can prepare it in innumerable ways to extract the bouquet from the beans.
Some restaurants are trendy and serve an espresso (highly roasted bean) so that it tastes like burned toast with boiling water forced through it to pull out the 'flavor'. Some 'acquire' a taste for it even though it is like drinking boiled and ground up, burned rubber tires. A real restaurant drawback is that the waitstaff can never describe their coffee. Asking if the coffee is dark or medium roast is like asking for them to name the table of elements.
In the Mediterranean countries, if you are asked whether you wish coffee or tea, you might want to ask the type of coffee. Turkish coffee is a bit darker roasted than typical Greek coffee, but they are both boiled to produce a demi-tasse of mud so thick that when the small amount of liquid is drained out, the cup is turned over and the sagging sludge is 'read' by fortune tellers.
Lessons learned, let someone else at the table order coffee first, smell it and decide whether you want to order some. At times, when hot is not pleasant, it is tolerable as iced coffee. My favorite way, however, is 5 ounces of medium roast Arabica, hot, with a tad over 1/2 ounce of good scotch added, 1/2 teaspoon maple sugar stirred in, topped with whipped cream. This works well after dinner though too much trouble to prepare for myself if am eating alone.
Lastly, should it be organic or coffee for the masses? Since no one is really concerned about the masses. Since I have never tasted the pesticides and other toxins that might be in my regular coffee, I must confess that I am unable to trust any farm product I haven't seen growing, I take my chances that n
'normal' coffee won't kill me since it doesn't seem to have had a negative effect through at least the 4/5th of my life already lived.
What I need is a source for restaurant quality coffee beans that I can grind for myself. After having traveled through Costa Rica, I'm quite convinced the good stuff does not get to American Supermarkets. It is bought by a few serious buyers and we only see it in big chains of coffee houses, hotels, or the best restaurants.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Saturday, May 30, 2009
SOME JUSTICE TAKES ITS OWN TIME
US fines Israeli agent in spy case
Ben-Ami Kadish was spared
a prison sentence[Reuters]
"A US court has fined an 85-year-old former army engineer $50,000 after he admitted passing classified documents to Israel.
Ben-Ami Kadish apologised on Friday, after pleading guilty in December to acting as an unregistered agent of Israel during the 1970s and 80s.
"It was a mistake. It was a misjudgment," he said during sentencing at the court in New York.
"I thought I was helping the state of Israel without harming the United States," he said.
Prosecutors had recommended Kadish be spared a prison sentence.
But US District Judge William Pauley raised questions over why the authorities had waited so long to bring charges.
"Why it took the government 23 years to charge Mr. Kadish is shrouded in mystery," Pauley said.
"It is clear the (US) government could have charged Mr. Kadish with far more serious crimes."
Kadish reported to Israeli agent Yosef Yagur, who has been linked in court documents to the case of Jonathan Pollard, a US citizen who is serving a life sentence for a 1985 charge of spying for Israel."
While I am sympathetic to the need to keep the Israelis as American allies, this article brings to question where allegiances have lain over the years. With all humanitarian intent, it has been wrong to deprive the Palestinian people of a spot of land to call their own. It is difficult for me to watch the rages and battling when the devastation it brings to each generation is unacceptable. A generation of children are being brought up with hatred, vengeance and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder)as they fight for life and some understanding as to why the world is being so cruel to them.
The mid-East has so many personal, political and hidden agendas amidst the pretended overt hypocritically, rational ones. What yet unborn generation will see the world in a more friendly, peaceful state? will it even be on our planet?
Friday, May 29, 2009
SONIA SOTOMAYOR
History has proven that there have been some great leaders of movements. However, when the leader goes, so often does the movement. Leaders are creative; followers are not. There have been some great Republican leaders. Unfortunately, there are none at this time. Rove led in the dirty tricks department and got his man into office. Those debasing lies about people shown on TV screens doesn't work any longer. There is just too much ability to pull up video to prove the lies too quickly now. The technique will only work with the few whose minds couldn't be changed with their eyes viewing reality.
From Washington Diary: Justice Sotomayor we read: "Presidents serve for eight at years at most. The nine justices serve for life, should they wish to. By placing someone on the bench, a commander-in-chief can try to make his influence felt well beyond his time in office."
Her greatest detractors are the uneducated bullies who fear intelligent, assertive women. On May 4th, an article in the New Republic states the case, in my mind, as to why she is an excellent selection. Another article in the New Republic on 5/27 gives a more complete picture of Sotomayor. The article is titled A Boring Bench?
Will we allow the xenophobic and misogynists to push her out? I certainly hope not. She may prove the country a winner rather than either party....if we will just give her the chance.
From Washington Diary: Justice Sotomayor we read: "Presidents serve for eight at years at most. The nine justices serve for life, should they wish to. By placing someone on the bench, a commander-in-chief can try to make his influence felt well beyond his time in office."
Her greatest detractors are the uneducated bullies who fear intelligent, assertive women. On May 4th, an article in the New Republic states the case, in my mind, as to why she is an excellent selection. Another article in the New Republic on 5/27 gives a more complete picture of Sotomayor. The article is titled A Boring Bench?
Will we allow the xenophobic and misogynists to push her out? I certainly hope not. She may prove the country a winner rather than either party....if we will just give her the chance.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
ROBOT REAL
Robotics is getting more and more interesting and efficient. It is like learning a new language in some ways, a language of movement.
"Researchers predict that one day, robotic companions will work, or assist humans in space, care and education. ... Peter Jaeckel, who works in artificial emotion, artificial empathy and humanoids at BRL, said: 'Realistic, life-like robot appearance is crucial for sophisticated face-to-face robot-human interaction.' "
Who knows, even the blow-up doll may come to real life after all!
"Researchers predict that one day, robotic companions will work, or assist humans in space, care and education. ... Peter Jaeckel, who works in artificial emotion, artificial empathy and humanoids at BRL, said: 'Realistic, life-like robot appearance is crucial for sophisticated face-to-face robot-human interaction.' "
Who knows, even the blow-up doll may come to real life after all!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
THE SUPREME COURT NOMINATION IS FINALLY MADE
Obama chooses a Supreme Court nominee...a woman and a Latino with an impressive background which suggests she is most suitable for the Supreme Court.
At last a decision is made. Amusingly, the Republicans have commented less on her suitability, but rather whether they will lose the Latino vote if they actively oppose her. "Many conservatives came out fiercely against Ms. Sotomayor as soon her name was announced, denouncing her as liberal and promising Mr. Obama a tough nomination fight."
Needless to say, the reaction by the Conservatives to her nomination makes it all the more apparent that they are not at all interested in the good for the country, but rather, whether they will will the political power struggle for total control
She worked as a prosecutor in New York before becoming a judge and later an appeals judge on the Second Circuit, covering New York and neighbouring states.
"Mr Obama highlighted the fact that she would be the only member of the Supreme Court to have had experience as a trial lawyer." was written in an article from the Scotsman. "However, her appointment will not change the political balance of the court, which is conservative, as she replaces another liberal, Judge David Souter, leaving the court with five conservatives and four liberals.
More intriguing is that she would bring to six the number of Catholics serving on the court, along with two Jewish members and one Protestant, possibly impacting on decisions on issues including abortion and gay marriage."
Stay tuned to watch and hear how this Catholic, "too liberal", Supreme Judicial Court nominee will handle her religion with the Constitutional demand that there be a separation of Church and State.
At last a decision is made. Amusingly, the Republicans have commented less on her suitability, but rather whether they will lose the Latino vote if they actively oppose her. "Many conservatives came out fiercely against Ms. Sotomayor as soon her name was announced, denouncing her as liberal and promising Mr. Obama a tough nomination fight."
Needless to say, the reaction by the Conservatives to her nomination makes it all the more apparent that they are not at all interested in the good for the country, but rather, whether they will will the political power struggle for total control
She worked as a prosecutor in New York before becoming a judge and later an appeals judge on the Second Circuit, covering New York and neighbouring states.
"Mr Obama highlighted the fact that she would be the only member of the Supreme Court to have had experience as a trial lawyer." was written in an article from the Scotsman. "However, her appointment will not change the political balance of the court, which is conservative, as she replaces another liberal, Judge David Souter, leaving the court with five conservatives and four liberals.
More intriguing is that she would bring to six the number of Catholics serving on the court, along with two Jewish members and one Protestant, possibly impacting on decisions on issues including abortion and gay marriage."
Stay tuned to watch and hear how this Catholic, "too liberal", Supreme Judicial Court nominee will handle her religion with the Constitutional demand that there be a separation of Church and State.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
YOU CAN'T AND EAT AND STAY HEALTHY TODAY
What else must we eliminate from our ingestions? A new article states: "Bisphenol A has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been tied to serious disease in humans."
"Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that polycarbonate containers release the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) into liquid stored in them.
BPA has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans."
As nearly as I can figure, there is nothing that is good for you, not even bread and water. If the bread is from white flour it is without nourishment and will hurry you along to obesity and diabetes and cause all the difficulties and discomfort of too much yeast. It may contain pesticide residues. The water may have come from a tainted water source or have chemicals put in it to purify which might be toxic to us though someone who could be wrong has decided it isn't. Now we are told, if we buy water, the plastic bottles it comes in will make us ill. We should also believe that much of the water we buy as pure spring water may not be. It may come out of a tap and be no different than the water our utilities supply us.
As someone who discovered my sensitivity to MSG (I get hives from it), I did a Google search on foods to avoid. The results were terrifying. I may never eat again! Certainly I should avoid all food I have not personally grown in my organic garden...that is, if I could have an organic garden. It would also require cooking, which I sometimes avoid equally as MSG. Since I neither wish to be fatter nor scratch myself to death, I am very careful about reading labels. I pull out a magnifying glass, read labels carefully, and later discover that I will have to spend hours looking up chemical names. I scratched for a very long time, thinking I had not had MSG, only to find that autolyzed yeast is the equivalent. Learning that Parmesan cheese is 1% MSG by weight was startling. At the end of a day, a little of this and a little of that adds up just like calories do to too much.
Even gnawing at the woodwork is no longer a choice. I may be ingesting lead paint particles! There is no hope, alas!!!
"Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that polycarbonate containers release the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) into liquid stored in them.
BPA has been shown to interfere with reproductive development in animals and has been linked with cardiovascular disease and diabetes in humans."
As nearly as I can figure, there is nothing that is good for you, not even bread and water. If the bread is from white flour it is without nourishment and will hurry you along to obesity and diabetes and cause all the difficulties and discomfort of too much yeast. It may contain pesticide residues. The water may have come from a tainted water source or have chemicals put in it to purify which might be toxic to us though someone who could be wrong has decided it isn't. Now we are told, if we buy water, the plastic bottles it comes in will make us ill. We should also believe that much of the water we buy as pure spring water may not be. It may come out of a tap and be no different than the water our utilities supply us.
As someone who discovered my sensitivity to MSG (I get hives from it), I did a Google search on foods to avoid. The results were terrifying. I may never eat again! Certainly I should avoid all food I have not personally grown in my organic garden...that is, if I could have an organic garden. It would also require cooking, which I sometimes avoid equally as MSG. Since I neither wish to be fatter nor scratch myself to death, I am very careful about reading labels. I pull out a magnifying glass, read labels carefully, and later discover that I will have to spend hours looking up chemical names. I scratched for a very long time, thinking I had not had MSG, only to find that autolyzed yeast is the equivalent. Learning that Parmesan cheese is 1% MSG by weight was startling. At the end of a day, a little of this and a little of that adds up just like calories do to too much.
Even gnawing at the woodwork is no longer a choice. I may be ingesting lead paint particles! There is no hope, alas!!!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
NEW LAWS
A new law was passed, signed by President Obama, to make the credit card companies more responsible to their subscriber's and borrowers. The sad part of it all is that the need for new letters, documents, forms, etc is still present and likely to continue for a fairly long time. In fact, it is unlikely that there will be much relief to the consumer in less than a year.
Euthanasia has always provided man a problem. We are kinder to animals than to people. When it is clear that continued living will soon lead a long, painful route to death after the worst possible quality of life, we have had this route forced on everyone for religious beliefs that are far from universal among us.
Oregon, a progressive state in their handling of medical expenditure priorities and offering euthanasia with legal support. The state of Washington has now had their first assisted suicide.
"Buried in a housing law signed this week by President Barack Obama are protections that will help thousands of renters stay in their homes — at least for awhile — after their landlord has been foreclosed on.
The law allows tenants to remain in their foreclosed rentals through the end of their lease and then 90 days after that before being forced to vacate by the lender. Renters without leases will have 90 days, a significant improvement over what most received before: almost no notice at all."
National Parks will allow visitors to carry a concealed, loaded firearm. The law will take effect next February. It is a grave disappointment to those of us who feel that those with neither need for that kind of self-protection not opportunity to harm others is necessary.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, Anti-Abortion
At last I find a kindred soul who can say all the things I think I have been saying for a long time...but he says them so articulately and tactfully!
Probably everyone is in one of the three categories, right? Oops, probably not so you would notice! It has always escaped me that so many6 people consider themselves Pro-Life but really mean they are pro-fertilized-ovum and no longer have interest after birth. Probably one with the least regard for life would be G W Bus, who for eight years allowed children to be conceived and born, only to have a very large per cent die before they reached their first birthday...long, painful, hungry short lives. I do not understand any religion in today's enlightened world that could allow this to happen...but it did.
Jeffrey Reel is no one I know or am apt to meet, judging from the paper in which he stated his views. However, he should have more people than are available in the small town in the Western part of the State hear his views. I wonder how long the hypocrites who call themselves Pro-Life, who 'talk the talk' but don't 'walk the walk' will be able to keep their blinders on and live in their world of denial.
Perhaps, one day being pro-life will include quality of life in that equation. I doubt I will live that long, sadly, to see it universally.
Probably everyone is in one of the three categories, right? Oops, probably not so you would notice! It has always escaped me that so many6 people consider themselves Pro-Life but really mean they are pro-fertilized-ovum and no longer have interest after birth. Probably one with the least regard for life would be G W Bus, who for eight years allowed children to be conceived and born, only to have a very large per cent die before they reached their first birthday...long, painful, hungry short lives. I do not understand any religion in today's enlightened world that could allow this to happen...but it did.
Jeffrey Reel is no one I know or am apt to meet, judging from the paper in which he stated his views. However, he should have more people than are available in the small town in the Western part of the State hear his views. I wonder how long the hypocrites who call themselves Pro-Life, who 'talk the talk' but don't 'walk the walk' will be able to keep their blinders on and live in their world of denial.
Perhaps, one day being pro-life will include quality of life in that equation. I doubt I will live that long, sadly, to see it universally.
Friday, May 22, 2009
WHAT DOES MEMORIAL DAY MEAN TO YOU?
Memorial Day has never been a time for me to visit graves because I don't believe anyone lives there (no pun intended). This certainly does not preclude my thinking of all the people who have been lost to me and the world. Fortunately I went through World War 2 with no serious losses though my oldest brother had had his back broken by a bomb landing too close to the jeep he was in at the time. My first husband had been in the European Theater and had been shot in the leg behind and below his knee. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) was not known then but the nightmares he suffered for so many years and his behavior would indicate that he experienced PTSD.
Many ex-servicemen did not die in the war but died later from cancer, most often from their continued use of alcohol and unfiltered cigarette smoking. So little was known then that we now know about what will kill you.
I guess the Poppy's worn started with WW 1 and Flanders Field...or is that Veteran's Day? To learn the origin of Memorial Day, click here. I can no longer keep track of holidays' meanings because they have mixed so many agendas. My grade school teachers wasted their time and mine forcing memorization of birth dates of important people because we now celebrate them on Mondays. Memorial Day this year will be on May 24th though it was traditionally on the 30th.
For we callous folk, it also means the day of the Indianapolis 500 race. It's a day off from work. It's a day to spend with your family...or to get away from your family (which ever you prefer). It's a day to work in the garden or not work at all. Your actions may have nothing to do with the memories you float through your head. But try though they may, I'll bet there are few on that day who don't spend some time remembering the people they have lost to the Grim Reaper, sometime and somewhere.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
ROMANCE NOVELS
Most women who choose to read romance novels are either doing it out of limited physical options or are totally falling for images on those pages. The women are always passionate in their responses because the men stir them up so that they are left panting and 'boneless' at the first kiss (which wouldn't exactly calm the sexual harassment cops today). The men are usually well endowed and I've never found a premature ejaculator nor the name Viagra in any of the too-many-books-to-mention that I have read in my dotage.
Men can hold back from their 'release' until the women have reached their peak (and passed it) several times. They delicately hold the throbbing woman until her shudders quiet, bring her to peak again and again, and when they are convinced she is sated, allow their own 'arousal' to take them to their 'release'. That is delightful pornography in text, allowing those who read the descriptions to form their own mental images. There are no dirty bare feet or long, greasy hair styles to spoil that image as there were in the first edition of the Joy of Sex. Regardless of the written description, all the men look handsome and virile to the reader though, if they were all to draw what they picture, I daresay they would look very different in each drawing.
The bar may not be the only thing raised by sexual expectations, but it is raised higher than that set by most of the couples I have treated in my many years as a therapist. When these books, great for sublimation and fantasy, are read it must make the average man and woman seem pretty dull by comparison, left to wonder how to get what they are clearly missing. The male version, more visual pornography, sets up totally different images...usually lacking the tenderness given the female by the male in the romance novel and more likely to expect activity most women find noxious rather than pleasurable. When partners' expectations are totally disparate, one hardly expects to see the relationship endure...and many of those I have seen definitely did not make it, especially if a man finds an extra-marital partner that slides willingly under the bar. Or, if a woman finds a man with more tasteful appetites and gentler goals.
Some of the writers, especially the most prolific ones, seem to have a sex scene template with four or five variations. It is easy to identify with these couplings, which certainly beat watching the news on TV in today's world, though the likelihood of ever in life experiencing what the written word describes is quite limited.
Nevertheless, the fact that romantic novels are such a booming industry suggests that they work for lots of people. Otherwise lonely lives who don't get the same consolation from pets, keep the book industry (new and used) busy even in our lowered economy.
George Gobel, at 50's comedian used to say, "Money does buy happiness. Stop on your way home and buy a fifth." I say, "Money does buy happiness (aka sublimation). Read a romance novel."
Men can hold back from their 'release' until the women have reached their peak (and passed it) several times. They delicately hold the throbbing woman until her shudders quiet, bring her to peak again and again, and when they are convinced she is sated, allow their own 'arousal' to take them to their 'release'. That is delightful pornography in text, allowing those who read the descriptions to form their own mental images. There are no dirty bare feet or long, greasy hair styles to spoil that image as there were in the first edition of the Joy of Sex. Regardless of the written description, all the men look handsome and virile to the reader though, if they were all to draw what they picture, I daresay they would look very different in each drawing.
The bar may not be the only thing raised by sexual expectations, but it is raised higher than that set by most of the couples I have treated in my many years as a therapist. When these books, great for sublimation and fantasy, are read it must make the average man and woman seem pretty dull by comparison, left to wonder how to get what they are clearly missing. The male version, more visual pornography, sets up totally different images...usually lacking the tenderness given the female by the male in the romance novel and more likely to expect activity most women find noxious rather than pleasurable. When partners' expectations are totally disparate, one hardly expects to see the relationship endure...and many of those I have seen definitely did not make it, especially if a man finds an extra-marital partner that slides willingly under the bar. Or, if a woman finds a man with more tasteful appetites and gentler goals.
Some of the writers, especially the most prolific ones, seem to have a sex scene template with four or five variations. It is easy to identify with these couplings, which certainly beat watching the news on TV in today's world, though the likelihood of ever in life experiencing what the written word describes is quite limited.
Nevertheless, the fact that romantic novels are such a booming industry suggests that they work for lots of people. Otherwise lonely lives who don't get the same consolation from pets, keep the book industry (new and used) busy even in our lowered economy.
George Gobel, at 50's comedian used to say, "Money does buy happiness. Stop on your way home and buy a fifth." I say, "Money does buy happiness (aka sublimation). Read a romance novel."
IF YOU MISSED 20/20 ON 5/17/09 ON AIG
Check this out.
The public still hasn't been told the entire story. Again, as I have written before, the public does not understand, for those who are not executives, a bonus is not a gift but salary earned. The bonus is on a par with tips for wait staff. The salary would never be a living wage. Neither Liddy nor the media, nor economists have ever made that point clear.
The public still hasn't been told the entire story. Again, as I have written before, the public does not understand, for those who are not executives, a bonus is not a gift but salary earned. The bonus is on a par with tips for wait staff. The salary would never be a living wage. Neither Liddy nor the media, nor economists have ever made that point clear.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
MEMORY TRIGGERS
Frightening is one word that comes to mind as I go through a stack of Greeting cards I found from 1989. Only 20 years ago and most of the senders are gone! A card from an aunt who died (when was it?...I can't keep track of deaths) and find that I date things to 'before or after' my parents and husband's deaths).
Fascinating are the cards just signed with a name, sometimes illegible since I apparently didn't save envelopes to tell me from whence they were sent. Some people sounded warm, some unemotional, as though they were signing a check. Some were signed with love and calligraphy; others are a history lesson by the letters they write. I chuckled at one couple who celebrated their faux fiftieth anniversary. With their fist and second marriages, that made the fifty years. They, too, have gone to wherever it is we go after this life....dust or otherwise. While, at the time, I was totally bored to learn what grades the kiddies were in and all about their childhood interests, knowing what has become of them twenty years later makes the previous boredom worth while. A baseline is always useful.
Fortunate am I that people my age were sending cards...most are gone now but I'm still here. Familiar signatures indelibly remain. Some cards made me sad, others were ho-hum. As I looked through this very large stack, the reason for which I saved them currently escapes me. What could I have been thinking? Then I remembered that I used to save pictures I liked and use them on Christmas gifts wrapped in colorful tissue, using rubber cement to stick the pictures on. Now, 20 years later, I don't need to wrap gifts because gift certificates come in envelopes. If I actually do buy a real gift with bulk, I put it in a bag amidst a bunch of scrunched up tissue...instant gratification Gone are those tedious hours of wrapping secretly (which the kids told me they usually found and unwrapped, carefully re-wrapping. Their surprised faces were those of the bride-to-be at her wedding shower.
Fervently I vow that now postage has gone up to $.44 a stamp, I will send very few cards. I stopped sending letters many years ago because I make it a point to stay regularly in touch with all my friends often, through phone, blog. Facebook and email so that an expensive redundancy is no longer an option. I regret the trees that were cut down for all these cards to be made and sent, but since it is a fait accomplis, into the trash they go to be quickly and totally forgotten...but it is not easily done for the givers. Most of them tramp around in my brain and will be there for my lifetime.
Fascinating are the cards just signed with a name, sometimes illegible since I apparently didn't save envelopes to tell me from whence they were sent. Some people sounded warm, some unemotional, as though they were signing a check. Some were signed with love and calligraphy; others are a history lesson by the letters they write. I chuckled at one couple who celebrated their faux fiftieth anniversary. With their fist and second marriages, that made the fifty years. They, too, have gone to wherever it is we go after this life....dust or otherwise. While, at the time, I was totally bored to learn what grades the kiddies were in and all about their childhood interests, knowing what has become of them twenty years later makes the previous boredom worth while. A baseline is always useful.
Fortunate am I that people my age were sending cards...most are gone now but I'm still here. Familiar signatures indelibly remain. Some cards made me sad, others were ho-hum. As I looked through this very large stack, the reason for which I saved them currently escapes me. What could I have been thinking? Then I remembered that I used to save pictures I liked and use them on Christmas gifts wrapped in colorful tissue, using rubber cement to stick the pictures on. Now, 20 years later, I don't need to wrap gifts because gift certificates come in envelopes. If I actually do buy a real gift with bulk, I put it in a bag amidst a bunch of scrunched up tissue...instant gratification Gone are those tedious hours of wrapping secretly (which the kids told me they usually found and unwrapped, carefully re-wrapping. Their surprised faces were those of the bride-to-be at her wedding shower.
Fervently I vow that now postage has gone up to $.44 a stamp, I will send very few cards. I stopped sending letters many years ago because I make it a point to stay regularly in touch with all my friends often, through phone, blog. Facebook and email so that an expensive redundancy is no longer an option. I regret the trees that were cut down for all these cards to be made and sent, but since it is a fait accomplis, into the trash they go to be quickly and totally forgotten...but it is not easily done for the givers. Most of them tramp around in my brain and will be there for my lifetime.
Monday, May 18, 2009
WHILE ON MY WAY TO A DIET.....
9 Weight Loss Secrets the Diet Industry Doesn't Want You to Know
By Brie Cadman, Divine Caroline. Posted May 11, 2009.
Even if you're not trying to lose weight, chances are you've seen some ideas on how to do so:
"Eat what you want and lose weight!"
"Lose thirty pounds in thirty days!"
"Finally, a diet that really works!"
"Lose one jean size every seven days!"
"Top three fat burners revealed"
"Ten minutes to a tighter tummy!"
But these claims are readily rebuked by anyone who's tried to lose five, ten, or one hundred pounds. Losing weight ain't that easy. It's not in a pill, it doesn't (usually) happen in thirty days, and judging from the myriad plans out there, there is no one diet that works for everyone.
Looking past the outrageous claims, there are a few hard truths the diet/food industry isn't going to tell you, but might just help you take a more realistic approach to sustained weight loss.
1. You have to exercise more than you think.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting at least thirty minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week; this includes things like shoveling snow and gardening. And while this is great for improving heart health and staying active, research indicates that those looking to lose weight or maintain weight loss have to do more -- about twice as much.
For instance, members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) -- a group of over 5,000 individuals who have lost an average of sixty-six pounds and kept it off for five and a half years -- exercise for about an hour, every day.
A study published in the July 28, 2008 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine supports this observational finding. The researchers enrolled 200 overweight and obese women on a diet and exercise regimen and followed them for two years. Compared with those that gained some of their weight back, the women who were able to sustain a weight loss of 10 percent of their initial weight for two years exercised consistently and regularly -- about 275 minutes a week, or fifty-five minutes of exercise at least five days a week.
In other words, things like taking the stairs, walking to the store, and gardening are great ways to boost activity level, but losing serious weight means exercising regularly for an hour or so. However, this doesn't mean you have to start running or kickboxing -- the most frequently reported form of activity in the NWCR group is walking.
2. A half-hour walk doesn't equal a brownie.
I remember going out to eat with some friends after a bike ride. Someone commented on how we deserved dessert because we had just spent the day exercising; in fact, we had taken a leisurely twenty-minute ride through the park. This probably burned the calories in a slice of our French bread, but definitely not those in the caramel fudge brownie dessert. Bummer.
And while it's easy to underestimate how many calories something has, it's also easy to overestimate how many calories we burn while exercising. Double bummer.
Even if you exercise a fair amount, it's not carte blanche to eat whatever you want. (Unless you exercise a ton, have the metabolism of a sixteen-year-old boy, and really can eat whatever you want). A report investigating the commonly-held beliefs about exercising, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, concludes that although exercise does burn calories during and after exercise, for overweight persons, "excessive caloric expenditure has limited implications for substantially reducing body weight independent of nutritional modifications." In other words, to lose weight, you have to cut calories and increase exercise.
3. You have time to exercise.
If you have time to check email, watch a sitcom or two, surf the internet, have drinks/coffee/dinner with friends, go clothes shopping, and on and on, then you have time to exercise. Yes, sometimes you have to sacrifice sleep, TV, or leisure time to fit it in. Yes, sometimes you have to prioritize your exercise time over other things. But your health and the feeling you get after having worked out is well worth it.
4. Eating more of something won't help you lose weight.
The food industry is keen to latch onto weight loss research and spin it for their sales purposes. A prime example is the widespread claim that eating more dairy products will help you lose weight. However, a recent review of forty-nine clinical trials from 1966 to 2007 showed that "neither dairy nor calcium supplements helped people lose weight."
This idea -- that eating more of a certain type of product will help you lose weight -- is constantly regurgitated on supermarket shelves (think low-fat cake, low-carb crackers, high in whole grain cookies, and trans fat-free chips), but is in direct opposition to the basic idea behind weight loss -- that we have to eat less, not more.
By Brie Cadman, Divine Caroline. Posted May 11, 2009.
Even if you're not trying to lose weight, chances are you've seen some ideas on how to do so:
"Eat what you want and lose weight!"
"Lose thirty pounds in thirty days!"
"Finally, a diet that really works!"
"Lose one jean size every seven days!"
"Top three fat burners revealed"
"Ten minutes to a tighter tummy!"
But these claims are readily rebuked by anyone who's tried to lose five, ten, or one hundred pounds. Losing weight ain't that easy. It's not in a pill, it doesn't (usually) happen in thirty days, and judging from the myriad plans out there, there is no one diet that works for everyone.
Looking past the outrageous claims, there are a few hard truths the diet/food industry isn't going to tell you, but might just help you take a more realistic approach to sustained weight loss.
1. You have to exercise more than you think.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends getting at least thirty minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week; this includes things like shoveling snow and gardening. And while this is great for improving heart health and staying active, research indicates that those looking to lose weight or maintain weight loss have to do more -- about twice as much.
For instance, members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) -- a group of over 5,000 individuals who have lost an average of sixty-six pounds and kept it off for five and a half years -- exercise for about an hour, every day.
A study published in the July 28, 2008 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine supports this observational finding. The researchers enrolled 200 overweight and obese women on a diet and exercise regimen and followed them for two years. Compared with those that gained some of their weight back, the women who were able to sustain a weight loss of 10 percent of their initial weight for two years exercised consistently and regularly -- about 275 minutes a week, or fifty-five minutes of exercise at least five days a week.
In other words, things like taking the stairs, walking to the store, and gardening are great ways to boost activity level, but losing serious weight means exercising regularly for an hour or so. However, this doesn't mean you have to start running or kickboxing -- the most frequently reported form of activity in the NWCR group is walking.
2. A half-hour walk doesn't equal a brownie.
I remember going out to eat with some friends after a bike ride. Someone commented on how we deserved dessert because we had just spent the day exercising; in fact, we had taken a leisurely twenty-minute ride through the park. This probably burned the calories in a slice of our French bread, but definitely not those in the caramel fudge brownie dessert. Bummer.
And while it's easy to underestimate how many calories something has, it's also easy to overestimate how many calories we burn while exercising. Double bummer.
Even if you exercise a fair amount, it's not carte blanche to eat whatever you want. (Unless you exercise a ton, have the metabolism of a sixteen-year-old boy, and really can eat whatever you want). A report investigating the commonly-held beliefs about exercising, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, concludes that although exercise does burn calories during and after exercise, for overweight persons, "excessive caloric expenditure has limited implications for substantially reducing body weight independent of nutritional modifications." In other words, to lose weight, you have to cut calories and increase exercise.
3. You have time to exercise.
If you have time to check email, watch a sitcom or two, surf the internet, have drinks/coffee/dinner with friends, go clothes shopping, and on and on, then you have time to exercise. Yes, sometimes you have to sacrifice sleep, TV, or leisure time to fit it in. Yes, sometimes you have to prioritize your exercise time over other things. But your health and the feeling you get after having worked out is well worth it.
4. Eating more of something won't help you lose weight.
The food industry is keen to latch onto weight loss research and spin it for their sales purposes. A prime example is the widespread claim that eating more dairy products will help you lose weight. However, a recent review of forty-nine clinical trials from 1966 to 2007 showed that "neither dairy nor calcium supplements helped people lose weight."
This idea -- that eating more of a certain type of product will help you lose weight -- is constantly regurgitated on supermarket shelves (think low-fat cake, low-carb crackers, high in whole grain cookies, and trans fat-free chips), but is in direct opposition to the basic idea behind weight loss -- that we have to eat less, not more.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
TIMING YOUR DAY OUT
I lived a very long time before it occurred to me how much of my day is a series of tasks and events that, if timed, make schedules much easier to follow a proper time allotment. As I crawl out of bed, having used time to go from deep sleep to wide awake, I assess how long it will take to perform morning ablutions and relieve myself (gauging from the message sent by the disposal unit of my body.)
Next, after splashing water on my face, running a comb through my hair, I calculate what I will do next as I brush my teeth. Realization sets in that my whole day is a series of little timers in my head. On my way to the kitchen to make coffee, I turn on the computer (I am hoarding savings of mille seconds of time by using Verizon FIOS). I pick up, put away things, not wasting time particles as it boots, while I got coffee started. As it boils and drips I shower, calculating the time as longer if I shampoo hair, below my waist that dries slowly.
In the bathroom, I visualize clothes for the day, use stuff that attends my body and, back to the kitchen, pick up the coffee I drink as I get dressed. Suddenly conscious that I would be wearing walking shoes that require a shoe horn and tying rather than slip-ons. I adjust this time frame. Keeping in mind that I have a 10:15 AM appointment at least 10 miles away, a quick run to the kitchen for coffee refill gives me time to skim my email and reply to anything of immediacy.
My need to be on time (I believe unnecessarily lateness is disrespectful to friends). Need gas I postponed getting it, conscious that my promptness is conditional on whether the stop light fairy works with me and whether there is much traffic.
Maybe I could simplify my day by timing all moves and tasks with a stop watch. It made sense to do that until I realized it was just another job added to my day that gravity will pull to the bottom of my priority list. And so the day goes on in those time bits...some longer than others...reading a book, covering up flatulence or cooking odors with aromas sprayed directly into the return vents of the hot air
system, watering plants more often when my world becomes an arid desert, answering the phone to strangers too willing to waste my time. The day becomes a forest of time usurpers and my mind is dizzied trying to fit everything I planned.
I'm struggling not to deal with the devil to make my day longer, give myself more energy, and figure how to get more done.
Next, after splashing water on my face, running a comb through my hair, I calculate what I will do next as I brush my teeth. Realization sets in that my whole day is a series of little timers in my head. On my way to the kitchen to make coffee, I turn on the computer (I am hoarding savings of mille seconds of time by using Verizon FIOS). I pick up, put away things, not wasting time particles as it boots, while I got coffee started. As it boils and drips I shower, calculating the time as longer if I shampoo hair, below my waist that dries slowly.
In the bathroom, I visualize clothes for the day, use stuff that attends my body and, back to the kitchen, pick up the coffee I drink as I get dressed. Suddenly conscious that I would be wearing walking shoes that require a shoe horn and tying rather than slip-ons. I adjust this time frame. Keeping in mind that I have a 10:15 AM appointment at least 10 miles away, a quick run to the kitchen for coffee refill gives me time to skim my email and reply to anything of immediacy.
My need to be on time (I believe unnecessarily lateness is disrespectful to friends). Need gas I postponed getting it, conscious that my promptness is conditional on whether the stop light fairy works with me and whether there is much traffic.
Maybe I could simplify my day by timing all moves and tasks with a stop watch. It made sense to do that until I realized it was just another job added to my day that gravity will pull to the bottom of my priority list. And so the day goes on in those time bits...some longer than others...reading a book, covering up flatulence or cooking odors with aromas sprayed directly into the return vents of the hot air
system, watering plants more often when my world becomes an arid desert, answering the phone to strangers too willing to waste my time. The day becomes a forest of time usurpers and my mind is dizzied trying to fit everything I planned.
I'm struggling not to deal with the devil to make my day longer, give myself more energy, and figure how to get more done.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
BEING MISLED ON THE INTERNET
Have you noticed how many misleading sites are appearing on the Internet lately? Lots of things are being offered free until you try to order and then find out they are free if you pay to join the group,
oddly never mentioned until you go to purchase what you want.
Another scam I encountered is being sold what is normally a free. When you order the item, falling for the line, you get billed for two other programs which quadruple your original purchase charge. When you finally can reach the company to complain you are informed that you should have read the entire page because the information was there telling you that you were purchasing these extra items as part of a special package...which you clearly did not see and can't find the same site again.
It seems that more and more merchants are, in essence, stealing from customers with little fees tucked in where least expected, draining as much as they can from the consumers. When a utility with 2 or more million customers adds a penny on every bill...for whatever their rationalized explanation may be, that gives them a free $20,000 extra that month. Most people don't phone in to make a fuss about that penny because they are unaware that they are one in 2 million who are being cheated.
For information on the Internet scams, go to the FBI site. Found there is: "Internet auction fraud was by far the most reported offense, comprising 44.9% of referred complaints. Non-delivered merchandise and/or payment accounted for 19.0% of complaints. Check fraud made up 4.9% of complaints. Credit/debit card fraud, computer fraud, confidence fraud, and financial institutions fraud round out the top seven categories of complaints referred to law enforcement during the year."
The Cybercrimes Most Wanted site has a wonderful listing , by categories, of these internet scams and illegalities. Some of the dangers are less direct to the individual Internet user. For example, foreign hackers who have broken into our National Grid ele4ctrical system may not show visible current damage but we have no way of how they would use the mapping they have to the entire system which, if sabotaged and shut down, would crush a great part of the activity of our people.
The moral of the story is that there are a lot of bad people out there who, with their anonymity, can do great damage to our country and to each of us individually. We cannot worry as non-professional computer people about saving the country but it is within our own power to protect ourselves with diligence, vigilance, and staying current in the ways to do this.
oddly never mentioned until you go to purchase what you want.
Another scam I encountered is being sold what is normally a free. When you order the item, falling for the line, you get billed for two other programs which quadruple your original purchase charge. When you finally can reach the company to complain you are informed that you should have read the entire page because the information was there telling you that you were purchasing these extra items as part of a special package...which you clearly did not see and can't find the same site again.
It seems that more and more merchants are, in essence, stealing from customers with little fees tucked in where least expected, draining as much as they can from the consumers. When a utility with 2 or more million customers adds a penny on every bill...for whatever their rationalized explanation may be, that gives them a free $20,000 extra that month. Most people don't phone in to make a fuss about that penny because they are unaware that they are one in 2 million who are being cheated.
For information on the Internet scams, go to the FBI site. Found there is: "Internet auction fraud was by far the most reported offense, comprising 44.9% of referred complaints. Non-delivered merchandise and/or payment accounted for 19.0% of complaints. Check fraud made up 4.9% of complaints. Credit/debit card fraud, computer fraud, confidence fraud, and financial institutions fraud round out the top seven categories of complaints referred to law enforcement during the year."
The Cybercrimes Most Wanted site has a wonderful listing , by categories, of these internet scams and illegalities. Some of the dangers are less direct to the individual Internet user. For example, foreign hackers who have broken into our National Grid ele4ctrical system may not show visible current damage but we have no way of how they would use the mapping they have to the entire system which, if sabotaged and shut down, would crush a great part of the activity of our people.
The moral of the story is that there are a lot of bad people out there who, with their anonymity, can do great damage to our country and to each of us individually. We cannot worry as non-professional computer people about saving the country but it is within our own power to protect ourselves with diligence, vigilance, and staying current in the ways to do this.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
THE VARIETY OF NATURE
BBC 
There is a plant that takes care of watering itself, found in Israel. In the deserts of Israel, there is a plant that waters itself.
"The plant, a type of rhubarb, has specially designed leaves that channel rain water to its roots It is the only known plant in the world able to self-irrigate. The adaptation allows the rhubarb to flourish in extreme arid conditions by collecting up to 16 times more water than other plants in the region, say the scientists who published details of the discovery in Naturwissenschaften."
The Skunk Cabbage heats itself. If you are in New England in March, look at swampy
areas and you will spoit them Generally, if you look at the base of the plant in the snow, you will see that it has knocked off a few pounds himself
From 1993, Scientific Magazine comes: Some species of underwater plants, such as the Zostera marina species of eelgrass, produce blossoms and pollen and reproduce by underwater pollination. Pollination occurs when the noodle-like pollen structures stick together and come in contact with stigmas of female plants in shallow pools.
From what I hear, I'd rather be a pig!
A problem with self-pollination is like incest...fear being that gene errors will just get worse as they get strengthened by the loading.
Orchids have peculiarities
Some can grow above ground and some below.
Let's raise a toast to Nature daring us to be different.
There is a plant that takes care of watering itself, found in Israel. In the deserts of Israel, there is a plant that waters itself.
"The plant, a type of rhubarb, has specially designed leaves that channel rain water to its roots It is the only known plant in the world able to self-irrigate. The adaptation allows the rhubarb to flourish in extreme arid conditions by collecting up to 16 times more water than other plants in the region, say the scientists who published details of the discovery in Naturwissenschaften."
The Skunk Cabbage heats itself. If you are in New England in March, look at swampy
areas and you will spoit them Generally, if you look at the base of the plant in the snow, you will see that it has knocked off a few pounds himself
From 1993, Scientific Magazine comes: Some species of underwater plants, such as the Zostera marina species of eelgrass, produce blossoms and pollen and reproduce by underwater pollination. Pollination occurs when the noodle-like pollen structures stick together and come in contact with stigmas of female plants in shallow pools.
From what I hear, I'd rather be a pig!
A problem with self-pollination is like incest...fear being that gene errors will just get worse as they get strengthened by the loading.
Orchids have peculiarities
Some can grow above ground and some below.
Let's raise a toast to Nature daring us to be different.
WHEN PARENTS ARE KILLED BY AMERICANS, WE ARE SEEN AS THE TERRORISTS
"About a half-hour north of Jalalabad, the children along the road change. No waving. No smiling. No thumbs up. No screaming for candy. Only serious stares and empty eyes!
I have seen this in Iraq, and it's deeply uncomfortable until you get used to it -- if you get used to it. Children by nature are friendly, when they're unfriendly it's because their parents, possibly their extended family, maybe their whole community is worse than unfriendly. And the change can be fast, in the next village, yet most of the time the change comes slow. But you have to be looking. Otherwise you look up and the smiling and enthusiastic little ones are suddenly frosty and distant little ones." -- Embedded journalist in Farah Afghanistan, March 2009
Just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, terrorism is in the eyes of children whose parents were killed by Americans. What would it take for them to feel otherwise? What would our explanation be....."Oops, sorry!" I somehow don't think that words will work. These children have lots of years of poverty, living without love, lack of proper medical care and comfort, through which to clearly visualize their enemy. They will also have lots of Al Qaeda recruiters to help them get vengeance.
(CBS) CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reported exclusively this year on the rescue of 24 starving orphans by the 82nd Airborne Division and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad.
"The boys were discovered emaciated, wounded and tied to beds. Troops brought the boys to safety, and they are were being nursed back to health.
Since, Logan has checked up on them in their new orphanage, and found them more comfortable, but still trapped in a life very different than that an American special needs child would live."
She also reported, sadly, that on July 23, 2007, one of the boys, young Saddam Ali Abbas, died from his many health problems."
That is lovely and 24...sorry that went down to 23...is better than none but barely makes a dent in the 500,000 others.
Read this article for more details.
Lest we forget, we have also created many fatherless children in our own country. They are growing and hearing that the war was chosen by our leaders at the time, not warranted for our safety. How will they grow up having respect for leaders and authority?
Meanwhile, in the US, many people prefer saving eggs that are about to be tossed away rather than putting their energies into saving these many lives already alive and in desperate need of help in so many ways. Will anything reach them?
I have seen this in Iraq, and it's deeply uncomfortable until you get used to it -- if you get used to it. Children by nature are friendly, when they're unfriendly it's because their parents, possibly their extended family, maybe their whole community is worse than unfriendly. And the change can be fast, in the next village, yet most of the time the change comes slow. But you have to be looking. Otherwise you look up and the smiling and enthusiastic little ones are suddenly frosty and distant little ones." -- Embedded journalist in Farah Afghanistan, March 2009
Just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, terrorism is in the eyes of children whose parents were killed by Americans. What would it take for them to feel otherwise? What would our explanation be....."Oops, sorry!" I somehow don't think that words will work. These children have lots of years of poverty, living without love, lack of proper medical care and comfort, through which to clearly visualize their enemy. They will also have lots of Al Qaeda recruiters to help them get vengeance.
(CBS) CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reported exclusively this year on the rescue of 24 starving orphans by the 82nd Airborne Division and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad.
"The boys were discovered emaciated, wounded and tied to beds. Troops brought the boys to safety, and they are were being nursed back to health.
Since, Logan has checked up on them in their new orphanage, and found them more comfortable, but still trapped in a life very different than that an American special needs child would live."
She also reported, sadly, that on July 23, 2007, one of the boys, young Saddam Ali Abbas, died from his many health problems."
That is lovely and 24...sorry that went down to 23...is better than none but barely makes a dent in the 500,000 others.
Read this article for more details.
Lest we forget, we have also created many fatherless children in our own country. They are growing and hearing that the war was chosen by our leaders at the time, not warranted for our safety. How will they grow up having respect for leaders and authority?
Meanwhile, in the US, many people prefer saving eggs that are about to be tossed away rather than putting their energies into saving these many lives already alive and in desperate need of help in so many ways. Will anything reach them?
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
LOSING A FRIEND
There is nothing like the death of a friend to make me aware of my own mortality. Given survival of open heart surgery, a perfectly healthy looking person is diagnosed with a very rare kind of cancer. Eighteen hours or so of surgery later, she is tenuously clinging to life where she remains for over a month, in excruciating pain, clinging to that horrible place between life and death.
Today, blessedly, the committee beyond human control, in charge of these decisions, determined she could be set free since she wasn't going to be her former self again. The phone call to begin the chain of announcements began, turning the grieving process on in a myriad of relatives, each left full of memories and sense of loss.
The world lost a mother, grandmother, sibling, mentor, friend, and many more titles this lovely human wore. It lost a witty, talented, thoughtful, intelligent person whose death also takes away her music.
Grieving is a different process for each person who travels that road. Some do a fairly quick inventory as to how their lives will be affected while others take forever to grasp and deal with the reality. No two people feel the same, share the same memories, nor sense the same vacuum in their lives. She will be remembered in many places and in many ways as those of us who knew her play our own short personal videos of ways she touched our lives. It was time for her physical pain to disappear and our psychic pain to begin. As humans, between then and later, this process will be repeated many times, in many degrees, until we no longer have life left within us. We depart the world and leave grief to others.
Today, blessedly, the committee beyond human control, in charge of these decisions, determined she could be set free since she wasn't going to be her former self again. The phone call to begin the chain of announcements began, turning the grieving process on in a myriad of relatives, each left full of memories and sense of loss.
The world lost a mother, grandmother, sibling, mentor, friend, and many more titles this lovely human wore. It lost a witty, talented, thoughtful, intelligent person whose death also takes away her music.
Grieving is a different process for each person who travels that road. Some do a fairly quick inventory as to how their lives will be affected while others take forever to grasp and deal with the reality. No two people feel the same, share the same memories, nor sense the same vacuum in their lives. She will be remembered in many places and in many ways as those of us who knew her play our own short personal videos of ways she touched our lives. It was time for her physical pain to disappear and our psychic pain to begin. As humans, between then and later, this process will be repeated many times, in many degrees, until we no longer have life left within us. We depart the world and leave grief to others.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
DON'T ASK; DON'T TELL
Ex-Secretary of the Army, Alexander, spoke tonight on the Rachel Maddow show. He was very frank about how undemocratic the policy of 'Don't ask; Don't Tell' and destructive to the Armed Forces as well as the entire country. On CNN,
updated 10:57 p.m. EST, Mon November 17, 2008 104 retired military brass against 'don't ask-don't tell. "The center points out that Larson, a four-star admiral who supported the measure in 1993, has changed his view on the policy. "There were a lot of witch hunts and a lot of people were turned out on that basis," he is quoted as saying in a Palm Center release."
A few years into the war in Iraq, media reported that the translators of Iraq language program was in jeopardy because many of them were gay and had to leave the service. Today, many believe the policy is hurting the country because of losing so many talented and trained people.
Now the military is finding it difficult to recruit. Standards have been lowered dreadfully to make up for the 13,000 that have been discharged for their sexual preference since 1993 as well as that there is no end in sight. The impetus to give one's life to keep our country safe is really not what is seen by most as a goal in Iraq. As it was during the Viet Nam war, many face will prison time for there illegal behaviors if they don't sign up for military duty. Does no one consider the value systems or judgment of those making that choice?
Unfortunately, discrimination based on ignorance should not be determining life and death issues for so many people.
updated 10:57 p.m. EST, Mon November 17, 2008 104 retired military brass against 'don't ask-don't tell. "The center points out that Larson, a four-star admiral who supported the measure in 1993, has changed his view on the policy. "There were a lot of witch hunts and a lot of people were turned out on that basis," he is quoted as saying in a Palm Center release."
A few years into the war in Iraq, media reported that the translators of Iraq language program was in jeopardy because many of them were gay and had to leave the service. Today, many believe the policy is hurting the country because of losing so many talented and trained people.
Now the military is finding it difficult to recruit. Standards have been lowered dreadfully to make up for the 13,000 that have been discharged for their sexual preference since 1993 as well as that there is no end in sight. The impetus to give one's life to keep our country safe is really not what is seen by most as a goal in Iraq. As it was during the Viet Nam war, many face will prison time for there illegal behaviors if they don't sign up for military duty. Does no one consider the value systems or judgment of those making that choice?
Unfortunately, discrimination based on ignorance should not be determining life and death issues for so many people.
Monday, May 11, 2009
DAD'S IN THE US; MOM'S IN PAKISTAN
A Washington Post article lets us know how lucky most of us in the US are. Pakistani emigres must email and text to find out what is going on at home and whether family members are still alive. The Taliban is indiscriminately rocketing, and has laid down land mines. "Combat between government forces and Taliban fighters is tearing up the remote valley where Khan was born. Hundreds of thousands of residents are fleeing, and hospitals are filled with the injured. Yet journalists and most outsiders have been prevented from entering Swat. News accounts have relied on army briefings.
About 7,000 miles away, here in Brooklyn, amid pizzerias, ice-cream trucks and the clatter of the subway, the biggest Pakistani community in the United States has an ear to the battleground."
To be far from home must be reminiscent of the influx of immigrants from the Mediterranean countries and other Europeans between the mid 1890s up to WW1. During that period, many male heads of households came to America to work to be able to send money back home. There was no instant communication then...only months between letters sent and replies received. It was a period when few had control of much in their lives, unlike today when there are many services available for education, medical and employment...though employment opportunities may have seriously lessened with the recession.
We worry about our service men and women but not their underage children with them at war. Families of people working very risky life or death jobs know how constant anxiety feels.
All jobs are dangerous, some statistically more than others
About 7,000 miles away, here in Brooklyn, amid pizzerias, ice-cream trucks and the clatter of the subway, the biggest Pakistani community in the United States has an ear to the battleground."
To be far from home must be reminiscent of the influx of immigrants from the Mediterranean countries and other Europeans between the mid 1890s up to WW1. During that period, many male heads of households came to America to work to be able to send money back home. There was no instant communication then...only months between letters sent and replies received. It was a period when few had control of much in their lives, unlike today when there are many services available for education, medical and employment...though employment opportunities may have seriously lessened with the recession.
We worry about our service men and women but not their underage children with them at war. Families of people working very risky life or death jobs know how constant anxiety feels.
All jobs are dangerous, some statistically more than others
Sunday, May 10, 2009
OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH
Like all else in this world and life, there is always another side to most things. Free speech must always be our right as our forefathers wished it for a free country, but they hadn't counted on the modern age of instant world communication available to everyone.
Today many confused, ignorant, paranoid or psychotic fools can talk their way into a seat in the Legislature and other important places. They can write or speak their hallucinations and impress everyone with their 'truth'...even that the world came directly to them from God. They can play into people's worst fears. They can tarnish the reputations of the righteous with their fantasies and lies.
In 2006, CRIMEDOG45 wrote an excellent essay on the subject. However, I, as a therapist, have always encouraged my patients to make a distinction between speech and action. Too often people take actions that are violent or destructive in other ways and define those as their right to free speech. It is time some scholars bring the free speech portion of our Constitution to our modern technological society. While it may be verbal, and technically speech, it should not be acceptable to plot the overthrow of our government or assassination of elected officials as part of the right to free speech. I believe it was originally intended for opinions and initially most town Commons had a covered grandstand of sorts to accommodate these speakers. When it didn't, people used soapboxes or anything to elevate them above the heads of the audiences that would gather, thus the expression standing on or speaking from a soapbox.
Laws, like most other things are never without overlap to other conditions. While there is 'free speech' we have made some curbs to public lewdness in speech as well as action. Laws governing what is permissible for children limit some of the programming on television. Another is the law prohibiting defamation of character. Suits are costly and many just don't bother to file them though it is likely that shock jocks, media journalists who take liberties to explain the thoughts, goals and emotions of people to whom they have never spoken and about whom they know little, fall in this category all too frequently. Some, like loose cannons, have shot off their mouths and rarely even lost their jobs over what they said...as Don Imus did in 2007 over a racial slur.
Keith Olbermann on MSNBC touches this subject recently when he discussed the worst person in the world that day. Watch this video.
Some would have those who speak out against religion as going beyond the right to free speech. However, it should remain uppermost that this country was founded by many who had fled England for their right to believe in that which might not have been universally shared with those who ruled religion there at the time. Atheists, for example, are as sincere in their beliefs as those who profess to follow the word of God or Jesus, though no living person really knows exactly what that might be. "Beliefs which are true and valid cannot be harmed by criticism, even by unfair and incorrect criticism. Beliefs which are not true or valid will only be revealed through criticism. What this means is that if we care about the truth, we should welcome criticism of even our most treasured beliefs: if they are true then this will strengthen us; if they are wrong, then we will know and be free to follow new beliefs. Attacks on free speech have most recently come primarily from Muslims. Some threaten violence if ideas, images, or words which they find offensive are given public expression. Others deplore both threats and actual violence, but they are perfectly willing to benefit from them and are no less eager to insist that criticisms of their religion are offensive and should not be permitted under the cover of "free speech." They don't seem to realize that the free speech which protects their critics protects them as well."
During the last Administration, our free speech on telephone and, it is said, email was violated and no longer free in the sense that records were kept on what people were saying what and to whom in some fashion which still has not been clarified to the public. Is there anyone who can clearly define what is acceptable to all in free speech. I rather doubt it. Laws may be interpreted by courts but they should not be so unclear that the common man has to figure out what the law covers.
Today many confused, ignorant, paranoid or psychotic fools can talk their way into a seat in the Legislature and other important places. They can write or speak their hallucinations and impress everyone with their 'truth'...even that the world came directly to them from God. They can play into people's worst fears. They can tarnish the reputations of the righteous with their fantasies and lies.
In 2006, CRIMEDOG45 wrote an excellent essay on the subject. However, I, as a therapist, have always encouraged my patients to make a distinction between speech and action. Too often people take actions that are violent or destructive in other ways and define those as their right to free speech. It is time some scholars bring the free speech portion of our Constitution to our modern technological society. While it may be verbal, and technically speech, it should not be acceptable to plot the overthrow of our government or assassination of elected officials as part of the right to free speech. I believe it was originally intended for opinions and initially most town Commons had a covered grandstand of sorts to accommodate these speakers. When it didn't, people used soapboxes or anything to elevate them above the heads of the audiences that would gather, thus the expression standing on or speaking from a soapbox.
Laws, like most other things are never without overlap to other conditions. While there is 'free speech' we have made some curbs to public lewdness in speech as well as action. Laws governing what is permissible for children limit some of the programming on television. Another is the law prohibiting defamation of character. Suits are costly and many just don't bother to file them though it is likely that shock jocks, media journalists who take liberties to explain the thoughts, goals and emotions of people to whom they have never spoken and about whom they know little, fall in this category all too frequently. Some, like loose cannons, have shot off their mouths and rarely even lost their jobs over what they said...as Don Imus did in 2007 over a racial slur.
Keith Olbermann on MSNBC touches this subject recently when he discussed the worst person in the world that day. Watch this video.
Some would have those who speak out against religion as going beyond the right to free speech. However, it should remain uppermost that this country was founded by many who had fled England for their right to believe in that which might not have been universally shared with those who ruled religion there at the time. Atheists, for example, are as sincere in their beliefs as those who profess to follow the word of God or Jesus, though no living person really knows exactly what that might be. "Beliefs which are true and valid cannot be harmed by criticism, even by unfair and incorrect criticism. Beliefs which are not true or valid will only be revealed through criticism. What this means is that if we care about the truth, we should welcome criticism of even our most treasured beliefs: if they are true then this will strengthen us; if they are wrong, then we will know and be free to follow new beliefs. Attacks on free speech have most recently come primarily from Muslims. Some threaten violence if ideas, images, or words which they find offensive are given public expression. Others deplore both threats and actual violence, but they are perfectly willing to benefit from them and are no less eager to insist that criticisms of their religion are offensive and should not be permitted under the cover of "free speech." They don't seem to realize that the free speech which protects their critics protects them as well."
During the last Administration, our free speech on telephone and, it is said, email was violated and no longer free in the sense that records were kept on what people were saying what and to whom in some fashion which still has not been clarified to the public. Is there anyone who can clearly define what is acceptable to all in free speech. I rather doubt it. Laws may be interpreted by courts but they should not be so unclear that the common man has to figure out what the law covers.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
ODDS AND TIDBITS: MORE ON ABUSE OF FREE SPEECH
Bill O'Reilly, Sexist and Proud of It Posted by ZP Heller, Brave New Films at 3:00 PM on May 7, 2009. It will always puzzle me how so many people are unable to see through the lies and nastiness that people like Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, among others, get rich on while poor people stay poor and misinformed by listening to them. Limbaugh can enjoy his 24,000 sq foot house while he makes the common man's life more of a problem, having done so much to support the terrible choices the past Administration made in the last eight years.
Another One Bites the Dust: Joe the Plumber Is Quitting the GOP Posted by Staff, Huffington Post at 11:12 AM on May 7, 2009. Time Magazine is reporting - burying rather - the news that Joe the Plumber, also known as Samuel Wurzelbacher, is quitting the GOP.
The Secret Right-Wing Strategy on Health Care—Exposed! Posted by Bernie Horn at 10:13 AM on May 7, 2009. If conservatives make the debate about what is good and bad in the Obama plan - they will win.
While Cheney goes around bragging that we have not had a terrorist attack since he and Bush used torture and kept us all safe. Well, I for onr, do not consider us safe at all. We may have not been attacked from the outside, but the dangers within the country still persist. When a sports announcer talks about about shooting Nancy Pelosi twice and strangling Harry Reid and Osama ben Laden, Olbermann's term 'abuse of free speech' says it all for me.
Another One Bites the Dust: Joe the Plumber Is Quitting the GOP Posted by Staff, Huffington Post at 11:12 AM on May 7, 2009. Time Magazine is reporting - burying rather - the news that Joe the Plumber, also known as Samuel Wurzelbacher, is quitting the GOP.
The Secret Right-Wing Strategy on Health Care—Exposed! Posted by Bernie Horn at 10:13 AM on May 7, 2009. If conservatives make the debate about what is good and bad in the Obama plan - they will win.
While Cheney goes around bragging that we have not had a terrorist attack since he and Bush used torture and kept us all safe. Well, I for onr, do not consider us safe at all. We may have not been attacked from the outside, but the dangers within the country still persist. When a sports announcer talks about about shooting Nancy Pelosi twice and strangling Harry Reid and Osama ben Laden, Olbermann's term 'abuse of free speech' says it all for me.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
WHO DECIDED VIRGINITY WAS IMPORTANT?
Virginity Fetish: How Our Obsession With "Sexual Purity" Hurts Women. The term sounds like a name for a young woman in a Victorian novel. It is, in fact, an article:
By Jessica Valenti, Seal Press. Posted May 4, 2009. Her main thesis is Boys are taught that the things that make them good are universally accepted ethical ideals; women are told our worth lies between our legs.
As a marital therapist, some of the greatest tragedies, years ago I saw all too often, were those marriages in which there had been no pre-marital sex and after the ceremony the couple discovered there was absolutely no sexual compatibility. Apparently the pheromones repelled rather than attracted. Those who chose to tough it out in long marriages felt something missing but also felt trapped. Some guiltily had affairs and found out what was missing, others did not ever learn what might have been. Others, like a hit of the lottery, lucked out and had a long and passionate union.
Before all the hormones were introduced into our food supply causing girls to become fertile much earlier, as well as marrying in their mid-teens, young people didn't have the opportunities they have today for the privacy and opportunity to succumb to their instinctive drive to engage in sexual relationships and procreate. Those who assume abstinence will be practiced by all young men and women are ignoring Nature and history's statistics.
As the standard that has been double for so long is slowly superimposing closer to a single standard in so much of America and the world, both men and women are becoming more adjusted to the fact that good sex is a mutual happening. Consideration for the enjoyment in your partner became a new concept when Masters and Johnson made the biology of sexual pleasure and climaxing more vivid for all to understand. The importance of foreplay to ready the male erection and the females secretions for lubrication and receptiveness was not previously really understood.
One author claims that Sex was More Fun in the 1970s. Katherine Forsythe, National Sexuality Resource Center. Posted April 27, 2009.
"The original "Joy of Sex" emphasized pleasure. The new version of the book seems like one more manual on how to perform and impress." The article illuminates what the liberation of being able to be in control of whether they got pregnant or not made all the difference to young women. Ignorance of STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases)beyond syphilis and gonorrhea were not really understood or feared. HIV began to terrify, however, when it showed up on the sexual doorstep.
China is close to finding an injected form of male contraceptive from testosterone. It is currently being tested to see its efficacy for humans. "The contraceptive is a combination of testosterone in tea seed oil. Chinese researchers conducted a study of 1,045 Chinese men between the ages of 20 and 45, in which each man had fathered at least one child. Each of the men had sexual partners between the ages of 18 and 38 years old.
The men were injected monthly with the formula for 30 months. At the end of the study, only one out of 100 men impregnated their partners. There were no serious side effects reported and reproductive function returned to normal levels in all but two participants, according to an Endocrine Society press release."
It was contraception that allowed the sexual revolution to take place in the 70s. It was religion, fear of STDs and HIV and AIDS that slowed it down in the 90s. Naturally that is an oversimplification and does not touch the myriad elements that actually are at play, but a few paragraphs would hardly do justice or pretend to cover the subject. Especially, to pretend the real issue is that a woman's virginity and purity is the most important factor is really ludicrous for most in today's society.
By Jessica Valenti, Seal Press. Posted May 4, 2009. Her main thesis is Boys are taught that the things that make them good are universally accepted ethical ideals; women are told our worth lies between our legs.
As a marital therapist, some of the greatest tragedies, years ago I saw all too often, were those marriages in which there had been no pre-marital sex and after the ceremony the couple discovered there was absolutely no sexual compatibility. Apparently the pheromones repelled rather than attracted. Those who chose to tough it out in long marriages felt something missing but also felt trapped. Some guiltily had affairs and found out what was missing, others did not ever learn what might have been. Others, like a hit of the lottery, lucked out and had a long and passionate union.
Before all the hormones were introduced into our food supply causing girls to become fertile much earlier, as well as marrying in their mid-teens, young people didn't have the opportunities they have today for the privacy and opportunity to succumb to their instinctive drive to engage in sexual relationships and procreate. Those who assume abstinence will be practiced by all young men and women are ignoring Nature and history's statistics.
As the standard that has been double for so long is slowly superimposing closer to a single standard in so much of America and the world, both men and women are becoming more adjusted to the fact that good sex is a mutual happening. Consideration for the enjoyment in your partner became a new concept when Masters and Johnson made the biology of sexual pleasure and climaxing more vivid for all to understand. The importance of foreplay to ready the male erection and the females secretions for lubrication and receptiveness was not previously really understood.
One author claims that Sex was More Fun in the 1970s. Katherine Forsythe, National Sexuality Resource Center. Posted April 27, 2009.
"The original "Joy of Sex" emphasized pleasure. The new version of the book seems like one more manual on how to perform and impress." The article illuminates what the liberation of being able to be in control of whether they got pregnant or not made all the difference to young women. Ignorance of STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases)beyond syphilis and gonorrhea were not really understood or feared. HIV began to terrify, however, when it showed up on the sexual doorstep.
China is close to finding an injected form of male contraceptive from testosterone. It is currently being tested to see its efficacy for humans. "The contraceptive is a combination of testosterone in tea seed oil. Chinese researchers conducted a study of 1,045 Chinese men between the ages of 20 and 45, in which each man had fathered at least one child. Each of the men had sexual partners between the ages of 18 and 38 years old.
The men were injected monthly with the formula for 30 months. At the end of the study, only one out of 100 men impregnated their partners. There were no serious side effects reported and reproductive function returned to normal levels in all but two participants, according to an Endocrine Society press release."
It was contraception that allowed the sexual revolution to take place in the 70s. It was religion, fear of STDs and HIV and AIDS that slowed it down in the 90s. Naturally that is an oversimplification and does not touch the myriad elements that actually are at play, but a few paragraphs would hardly do justice or pretend to cover the subject. Especially, to pretend the real issue is that a woman's virginity and purity is the most important factor is really ludicrous for most in today's society.
HOW TO HAVE A VOICE IN POLITICS
Realizing that politics are like beauty...in the eyes of their beholder. First, do lots of introspection to decide to which party you should pledge allegiance. If you are above average intelligence and not running for office, you should have quickly realized that is a trick question. You should pledge allegiance to the flag of America, not to any single party. To be true to yourself, you should figure out what you believe in and follow that trail. However, if you are weak and without substance, fall in line with the radio host of your choice...the one that shouts the loudest,looks strong and lies when he has to make the most people get riled up to whatever his 'cause du jour' may be, Don't question truth. If it is said on television it must be true, right?
As a voter, you can decide which issues are most important to you. If you don't like to march alone, pick the candidate who promises the most things that appeal to you and never question what it will take for that person to deliver them. 'Campaign promises' is a meaningless phrase made up to belittle someone who might offer you, a stranger, the Brooklyn Bridge, cheap, out of the goodness of his heart just because he likes you on sight. You can't knock that sort of kindness. Because he makes good eye contact and has a pleasant voice and a kind face, you immediately know you can trust him.
When you hear today's Republicans say they are the party of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, do not hurt their feelings and remind them that both those great presidents have died and the party's objectives are now to provide a better place for all, providing they all become Fundamental Christians, re-elect the candidate saying this, and remain silent as the country crumbles around them.
If you feel inclined to vote as a Democrat, be prepared to be defined as a liberal, even if you are not. You may have to put up with party leaders who will follow the Constitution even when you don't want them to do so, rather than deviate from it when it allows them to call their own misinformed shots, according to the other party. Be prepared to hear why decisions are being made and thus take on the worries of the Administration as if they were your own. Transparency is a ploy to keep you involved and caring about what is going on in Washington, to mislead you into thinking you can influence your own future.
Once you have picked your side, remember that in this game you can change partners any time you want to dance to a different tune. That is why they are called political parties. You can join the sore losers or the party elected by the majority of the population who are looking for change. In the spirit of 'fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong', keep your eye on the changes for which they are hoping. The current President has already been in office 100 days and not yet met all his campaign promises, so beware. Any gains in those 100 days might just have been beginner's luck and those betting on his now being a loser, might yet win, even if it means the collapse of the country. After all, winning is the goal, isn't it...even if winning means the country loses? After all, top political minds like Rush Limbaugh are counting on it.
Lastly, in order to avoid becoming hopelessly confused, listen to only one party. That way you can assure yourself the truth at all times. After all, since all parties think differently, pick one and just go with it...it will all average out in the end (which might be nearer than you imagine, depending on which one you pick).
As a voter, you can decide which issues are most important to you. If you don't like to march alone, pick the candidate who promises the most things that appeal to you and never question what it will take for that person to deliver them. 'Campaign promises' is a meaningless phrase made up to belittle someone who might offer you, a stranger, the Brooklyn Bridge, cheap, out of the goodness of his heart just because he likes you on sight. You can't knock that sort of kindness. Because he makes good eye contact and has a pleasant voice and a kind face, you immediately know you can trust him.
When you hear today's Republicans say they are the party of Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, do not hurt their feelings and remind them that both those great presidents have died and the party's objectives are now to provide a better place for all, providing they all become Fundamental Christians, re-elect the candidate saying this, and remain silent as the country crumbles around them.
If you feel inclined to vote as a Democrat, be prepared to be defined as a liberal, even if you are not. You may have to put up with party leaders who will follow the Constitution even when you don't want them to do so, rather than deviate from it when it allows them to call their own misinformed shots, according to the other party. Be prepared to hear why decisions are being made and thus take on the worries of the Administration as if they were your own. Transparency is a ploy to keep you involved and caring about what is going on in Washington, to mislead you into thinking you can influence your own future.
Once you have picked your side, remember that in this game you can change partners any time you want to dance to a different tune. That is why they are called political parties. You can join the sore losers or the party elected by the majority of the population who are looking for change. In the spirit of 'fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong', keep your eye on the changes for which they are hoping. The current President has already been in office 100 days and not yet met all his campaign promises, so beware. Any gains in those 100 days might just have been beginner's luck and those betting on his now being a loser, might yet win, even if it means the collapse of the country. After all, winning is the goal, isn't it...even if winning means the country loses? After all, top political minds like Rush Limbaugh are counting on it.
Lastly, in order to avoid becoming hopelessly confused, listen to only one party. That way you can assure yourself the truth at all times. After all, since all parties think differently, pick one and just go with it...it will all average out in the end (which might be nearer than you imagine, depending on which one you pick).
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
NY TIMES ARTICLE ON BAILOUT JUSTICE
John Ashcroft wrote and Op-Ed article for the NY Times titled 'Bailout Justice'. I consider to be one of the most educative articles I have read on the subject by his eminently readable style. He writes: "I CAN imagine the Treasury secretary’s face turning pale as he is told by the attorney general that one of the financial institutions on government life support has been indicted by a grand jury. Worse, I can imagine the attorney general facing not too subtle pressure from the president’s economic team to go easy on such companies.
This situation is hypothetical, of course, but in March, the F.B.I. director, Robert Mueller, warned Congress that “the unprecedented level of financial resources committed by the federal government to combat the economic downturn will lead to an inevitable increase in economic crime and public corruption cases.” Yet no one has discussed the inherent conflict of interest that the government created when it infused large sums of money into these companies.
The government now has an extraordinarily high fiduciary duty to safeguard the stability and health of companies that received hundreds of billions of bailout money. At the same time, the Justice Department has the duty to indict a corporation if the evidence dictates such severe action — and an indictment is often a death sentence for a corporation. The quandary is obvious. How, then, does the Justice Department bring charges against a corporation that is now owned by the government?
The tsunami of corporate scandals that shook our economy in 2001 — Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia and others — provides us with an instructive example. The Justice Department moved swiftly to bring corporate wrongdoers to justice. But we also learned that when dealing with major companies or industries, we had to carefully consider the collateral consequences of our prosecutions.
Would there be unintended human carnage in the form of thousands of lost jobs? Would shareholders, some of whom had already suffered a great deal, lose more of their investment? What impact would our actions have on the economy? We realized that we had an obligation to minimize the harm to innocent citizens.
Among the options we pursued were deferred prosecution agreements. These court-authorized agreements were not new but under certain circumstances offered more appropriate methods of providing justice in the best interests of the public as well as a company’s employees and shareholders. They avoid the destructiveness of indictments and allow companies to remain in business while operating under the increased scrutiny of federally appointed monitors.
In September 2007, for instance, the Justice Department and the nation’s five largest manufacturers of prosthetic hips and knees reached agreements over allegations that they gave kickbacks to orthopedic surgeons who used a particular company’s artificial hip and knee reconstruction replacement products. The allegations meant that the companies faced indictment, prosecution and a potential end to their businesses.
Think of the effect on the community if these companies had been shuttered: employees would have lost their jobs, shareholders and pensioners would have lost their savings and countless people in need of hip and knee replacement would have been out of luck, as these five companies accounted for 95 percent of the market. The Justice Department could have wiped out an entire industry that has a vital role in American health care.
Instead, the companies paid settlements to the government totaling $311 million. They agreed to be monitored by private sector individuals and firms with reputations for integrity and public service, with the necessary legal and business expertise and the institutional capacity to do the job. The monitoring costs were borne exclusively by the companies, saving taxpayers tens of millions of dollars that could be then used for other investigations and law-enforcement priorities. (I was a paid monitor for one of these companies, Zimmer Holdings.) In these types of circumstances, a deferred prosecution agreement is clearly better for everyone.
The government must hold accountable any individuals who acted illegally in this financial meltdown, while preserving the viability of the companies that received bailout funds or stimulus money. Certainly, we should demand justice. But we must all remember that justice is a value, the adherence to which includes seeking the best outcome for the American people. In some cases it will be the punishing of bad actors. In other cases it may involve heavy corporate fines or operating under a carefully tailored agreement.
In 2001, we did not know the extent of the corporate fraud scandals. Every day seemed to bring news of another betrayal of trust by top executives of another company. But we learned that there was often a better solution than closing those companies. I believe that if we apply to this current crisis the lessons learned a few short years ago, we can achieve the restoration of trust in the financial system and the long-term vitality of the American economy."
John Ashcroft was the United States attorney general from 2001 to 2005.
The simple lessons he repeats is that decisions to bring justice may have 'collateral' damage that he explains with the prosthetic hips and knees. Each of the saved giants presented this problem but the media never made it clear to the public. Rather, they allowed them to focus on a distraction such as the bonuses...for whom it was the entire years salary and far from the millions of dollars being bandied out, at least for the majority of employees.
The loudest people are often the ones who have thought about and understood the least of the whole situation. They are the impulsive ones who look for someone to blame and think that punishment will solve all problems. Why are these so often the folk chosen to represent the common man by the media? They are far from the majority.
It really seems time to let the man we elected as President to have the opportunity to run the country. Transparency is just that, it does not mean I will ask your opinion before I make any decisions. It also does not mean we will run this country by a committee of all citizens.
This situation is hypothetical, of course, but in March, the F.B.I. director, Robert Mueller, warned Congress that “the unprecedented level of financial resources committed by the federal government to combat the economic downturn will lead to an inevitable increase in economic crime and public corruption cases.” Yet no one has discussed the inherent conflict of interest that the government created when it infused large sums of money into these companies.
The government now has an extraordinarily high fiduciary duty to safeguard the stability and health of companies that received hundreds of billions of bailout money. At the same time, the Justice Department has the duty to indict a corporation if the evidence dictates such severe action — and an indictment is often a death sentence for a corporation. The quandary is obvious. How, then, does the Justice Department bring charges against a corporation that is now owned by the government?
The tsunami of corporate scandals that shook our economy in 2001 — Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia and others — provides us with an instructive example. The Justice Department moved swiftly to bring corporate wrongdoers to justice. But we also learned that when dealing with major companies or industries, we had to carefully consider the collateral consequences of our prosecutions.
Would there be unintended human carnage in the form of thousands of lost jobs? Would shareholders, some of whom had already suffered a great deal, lose more of their investment? What impact would our actions have on the economy? We realized that we had an obligation to minimize the harm to innocent citizens.
Among the options we pursued were deferred prosecution agreements. These court-authorized agreements were not new but under certain circumstances offered more appropriate methods of providing justice in the best interests of the public as well as a company’s employees and shareholders. They avoid the destructiveness of indictments and allow companies to remain in business while operating under the increased scrutiny of federally appointed monitors.
In September 2007, for instance, the Justice Department and the nation’s five largest manufacturers of prosthetic hips and knees reached agreements over allegations that they gave kickbacks to orthopedic surgeons who used a particular company’s artificial hip and knee reconstruction replacement products. The allegations meant that the companies faced indictment, prosecution and a potential end to their businesses.
Think of the effect on the community if these companies had been shuttered: employees would have lost their jobs, shareholders and pensioners would have lost their savings and countless people in need of hip and knee replacement would have been out of luck, as these five companies accounted for 95 percent of the market. The Justice Department could have wiped out an entire industry that has a vital role in American health care.
Instead, the companies paid settlements to the government totaling $311 million. They agreed to be monitored by private sector individuals and firms with reputations for integrity and public service, with the necessary legal and business expertise and the institutional capacity to do the job. The monitoring costs were borne exclusively by the companies, saving taxpayers tens of millions of dollars that could be then used for other investigations and law-enforcement priorities. (I was a paid monitor for one of these companies, Zimmer Holdings.) In these types of circumstances, a deferred prosecution agreement is clearly better for everyone.
The government must hold accountable any individuals who acted illegally in this financial meltdown, while preserving the viability of the companies that received bailout funds or stimulus money. Certainly, we should demand justice. But we must all remember that justice is a value, the adherence to which includes seeking the best outcome for the American people. In some cases it will be the punishing of bad actors. In other cases it may involve heavy corporate fines or operating under a carefully tailored agreement.
In 2001, we did not know the extent of the corporate fraud scandals. Every day seemed to bring news of another betrayal of trust by top executives of another company. But we learned that there was often a better solution than closing those companies. I believe that if we apply to this current crisis the lessons learned a few short years ago, we can achieve the restoration of trust in the financial system and the long-term vitality of the American economy."
John Ashcroft was the United States attorney general from 2001 to 2005.
The simple lessons he repeats is that decisions to bring justice may have 'collateral' damage that he explains with the prosthetic hips and knees. Each of the saved giants presented this problem but the media never made it clear to the public. Rather, they allowed them to focus on a distraction such as the bonuses...for whom it was the entire years salary and far from the millions of dollars being bandied out, at least for the majority of employees.
The loudest people are often the ones who have thought about and understood the least of the whole situation. They are the impulsive ones who look for someone to blame and think that punishment will solve all problems. Why are these so often the folk chosen to represent the common man by the media? They are far from the majority.
It really seems time to let the man we elected as President to have the opportunity to run the country. Transparency is just that, it does not mean I will ask your opinion before I make any decisions. It also does not mean we will run this country by a committee of all citizens.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
THE TWO FACES OF FREE SPEECH
Free speech is important in our democracy yet there are boundaries to everything. We have already adopted the rule (law?) that you may no longer falsely yell fire in a crowded theater. I know little of laws that aren't beaten into us daily, like not going through a red light, not cheating on income taxes, not breaking and entering, stealing and all those obvious to us through daily living. However, it is less clear to me what we do with radical media who are inciting revolution, death to Obama, overthrow of the government they believe is fearful to their beliefs, even plan revolution.
Max Blumenthal wrote for the Daily Beast on 5/1/09 "Armed Revolt in the Obama Era? Right-Wing Gun Nuts Share Their Paranoid Worldview. Read his highlighted report and you will see immediately the 'slippery slope' thinking that is being fostered by a few hateful media gurus making money off spreading lies and fear.
Is it not time that the FCC, or some agency which can legally monitor these public broadcasts, do something about the actual lies being spread? MoveOn.org is calling for impeachment of Judge Bybee. His crime is interpreting too freely the use of torture. One has to ask the question 'where does misinterpretation of laws and outright lying begin and end?'.
Sean Hannity on radio:: "On the March 18 broadcast of his radio show, Sean Hannity blamed congressional Democrats for the AIG bonuses, falsely asserting that they voted for the bonuses when they voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Hannity stated, "Now, if you're upset about this, you need to understand something, that there's a reason this happened. Every single Senate Democrat voted for those bonuses. Every -- almost every Democrat in the House voted for those, because they voted for the stimulus bill. And by the way, Republicans did not." In fact, as Media Matters for America has documented, the economic recovery act did not require that AIG pay bonuses. Rather, the relevant provision in the act, which was based on an amendment by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), restricted the ability of companies receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to award bonuses in the future."
The American Politics Journal reports on Rush Limbaugh's 20 years of lies and hate. I see that there is a strong line to be drawn between the right to freely express an opinion and calling disciples to illegal action. At the height of the war against abortion, there was a call to kill doctors performing them. The doctors houses were picketed and families and children suffered greatly. Something is wrong with that picture. The group even killed some doctors in the name of saving lives!! It goes beyond the ability to express, verbally, an opinion when innocent people are killed.
We have heard for a long time that there are armed militia ready to revolt. Is this what we wish to develop, American citizen terrorists killing our own people?
Max Blumenthal wrote for the Daily Beast on 5/1/09 "Armed Revolt in the Obama Era? Right-Wing Gun Nuts Share Their Paranoid Worldview. Read his highlighted report and you will see immediately the 'slippery slope' thinking that is being fostered by a few hateful media gurus making money off spreading lies and fear.
Is it not time that the FCC, or some agency which can legally monitor these public broadcasts, do something about the actual lies being spread? MoveOn.org is calling for impeachment of Judge Bybee. His crime is interpreting too freely the use of torture. One has to ask the question 'where does misinterpretation of laws and outright lying begin and end?'.
Sean Hannity on radio:: "On the March 18 broadcast of his radio show, Sean Hannity blamed congressional Democrats for the AIG bonuses, falsely asserting that they voted for the bonuses when they voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Hannity stated, "Now, if you're upset about this, you need to understand something, that there's a reason this happened. Every single Senate Democrat voted for those bonuses. Every -- almost every Democrat in the House voted for those, because they voted for the stimulus bill. And by the way, Republicans did not." In fact, as Media Matters for America has documented, the economic recovery act did not require that AIG pay bonuses. Rather, the relevant provision in the act, which was based on an amendment by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), restricted the ability of companies receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to award bonuses in the future."
The American Politics Journal reports on Rush Limbaugh's 20 years of lies and hate. I see that there is a strong line to be drawn between the right to freely express an opinion and calling disciples to illegal action. At the height of the war against abortion, there was a call to kill doctors performing them. The doctors houses were picketed and families and children suffered greatly. Something is wrong with that picture. The group even killed some doctors in the name of saving lives!! It goes beyond the ability to express, verbally, an opinion when innocent people are killed.
We have heard for a long time that there are armed militia ready to revolt. Is this what we wish to develop, American citizen terrorists killing our own people?
Monday, May 4, 2009
STOP WHINING, OLD PEOPLE
Irritation attacks me when I hear old people whine about how it is Hell to get old. I'm old and it is just another change in life to get used to, as so many other changes. I've done all the things I wanted to do when I was young...well maybe not everything I might have done if I could have fitted it in...but I have lived a VERY full life. All memories worth retaining are stored in my brain; pictures, videos, and many in the minds of others who keep telling me about 'the good old days' and who constantly remind me of details I might have forgotten.
Indeed, my body is not as strong as it used to be, but do I need it to be? I no longer need to sling a wiggly child on my hip while holding a baby in my arms while trying to secure the hand of a 6 year old. Then is when I needed strength, while I was young. I didn't need a gym...I exercised carrying kids, groceries, mountains of laundry, while bending to pick up toys that always had a million parts always to be found by my bare feet, before computer games came in and rescued parents. My body doesn't need to grow a baby to term only to find out at the end of nine months and three weeks I have given birth to an 8# 14 oz., overcooked infant who plotted to walk out of my womb feet first(aka footling breach).
Arthritic pain has become a companion to rival all the figurative pains in the neck and butt I've managed to endure over the work years while I was young. Actually, the arthritis is easier to bear and my livelihood does not depend on my sucking in my opinions when I knew the bosses were wrong.
It is easy to laugh at old people who claim to be bored while I am wishing to be doing any of the ten things I could be happily doing at the moment, all at the tips of my fingers, so to speak. It annoys me to hear old people say they are lonely. They either have been around the wrong people all their lives or are bored because they are boring themselves. In this day of chats, senior centers, computers and the Internet, volunteer work, hobbies, and everything else that is available, my mind is boggled as to how someone can be bored. Then again, I can be bored when I am forced to sit waiting or listening to boring people; or when someone is trying to tell me how to live my life and how I should feel. Sermons of any sort bore me with rare exception.
My answer to people who tell me I do not act my age is, "My birth manual was missing the later life chapters". I don't mind listening to the physical ailments of my friends as long as the information is new both from and about them. When it is all they have to talk about, I stop listening and turn them off by discussing religion and politics until they are driven to suddenly remember a doctor's appointment. Above all, I have learned to avoid suffering fools. In fact, I avoid suffering anything about which I have a choice.
So, if you have to whine, whine about illness...(that's your bad luck) less than great genes, or not taking good care of your body. Some illnesses in old age could have been prevented and maybe you didn't try. If it is something you could not have prevented then accept the inevitable, try to get the best medical care within your reach, and accept the reality...ill health is not necessarily part of old age. Babies can even be born ill, and illness can come at any point in life.
And, before I forget, belly laughs kick in your endorphins...get lots of them!
Indeed, my body is not as strong as it used to be, but do I need it to be? I no longer need to sling a wiggly child on my hip while holding a baby in my arms while trying to secure the hand of a 6 year old. Then is when I needed strength, while I was young. I didn't need a gym...I exercised carrying kids, groceries, mountains of laundry, while bending to pick up toys that always had a million parts always to be found by my bare feet, before computer games came in and rescued parents. My body doesn't need to grow a baby to term only to find out at the end of nine months and three weeks I have given birth to an 8# 14 oz., overcooked infant who plotted to walk out of my womb feet first(aka footling breach).
Arthritic pain has become a companion to rival all the figurative pains in the neck and butt I've managed to endure over the work years while I was young. Actually, the arthritis is easier to bear and my livelihood does not depend on my sucking in my opinions when I knew the bosses were wrong.
It is easy to laugh at old people who claim to be bored while I am wishing to be doing any of the ten things I could be happily doing at the moment, all at the tips of my fingers, so to speak. It annoys me to hear old people say they are lonely. They either have been around the wrong people all their lives or are bored because they are boring themselves. In this day of chats, senior centers, computers and the Internet, volunteer work, hobbies, and everything else that is available, my mind is boggled as to how someone can be bored. Then again, I can be bored when I am forced to sit waiting or listening to boring people; or when someone is trying to tell me how to live my life and how I should feel. Sermons of any sort bore me with rare exception.
My answer to people who tell me I do not act my age is, "My birth manual was missing the later life chapters". I don't mind listening to the physical ailments of my friends as long as the information is new both from and about them. When it is all they have to talk about, I stop listening and turn them off by discussing religion and politics until they are driven to suddenly remember a doctor's appointment. Above all, I have learned to avoid suffering fools. In fact, I avoid suffering anything about which I have a choice.
So, if you have to whine, whine about illness...(that's your bad luck) less than great genes, or not taking good care of your body. Some illnesses in old age could have been prevented and maybe you didn't try. If it is something you could not have prevented then accept the inevitable, try to get the best medical care within your reach, and accept the reality...ill health is not necessarily part of old age. Babies can even be born ill, and illness can come at any point in life.
And, before I forget, belly laughs kick in your endorphins...get lots of them!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
THE ELUSIVE 'IT'
Bill Maher, Los Angeles Times. Posted April 25, 2009 wrote: " The conservative base is absolutely apoplectic because, because ... well, nobody knows. They're mad as hell, and they're not going to take it anymore. Even though they're not quite sure what "it" is. But they know they're fed up with "it," and that "it" has got to stop."
Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune.com. Posted April 25, 2009 explains the 'it'. Jonathan Haidt explains it. "He views the demonization that has marred American political debate in recent decades as a massive failure in moral imagination. We assume everyone's ethical compass points in the same direction and label those whose views don't align with our sense of right and wrong as either misguided or evil. In fact, he argues, there are multiple due norths.
"I think of liberals as colorblind," he says in a hushed tone that conveys the quiet intensity of a low-key crusader. "We have finely tuned sensors for harm and injustice but are blind to other moral dimensions. Look at the way the word 'wall' is used in liberal discourse. It's almost always related to the idea that we have to knock them down."
Since Jonathan Haidt is a psychologist, he misses that minds are not equal, nor are brains. There is evidence that some brains find it harder to accept change, thus cling to that with which they are familiar. It would appear that more people, given the teabagger protests, fall in this category. While the majority of the country voted for hope and change with great expectation and enthusiasm, some voters want to keep everything as it was, forgetting that seeing 'it' unchanged, would mean the destruction of the country, financially and otherwise, in a few years if not sooner.
To be convinced that the brain controls the amount of change a person can tolerate, it would be helpful to know someone on the autistic scale. It is likely that there is much yet to be learned about the brain that would help us understand why people on polar ends of an issue can be so convinced that they are right and others must, therefore, be wrong. They leave no room for more than one 'right', whereas many of us realize that there are many 'rights' for many solutions to problems and value systems.
Tom Jacobs, Miller-McCune.com. Posted April 25, 2009 explains the 'it'. Jonathan Haidt explains it. "He views the demonization that has marred American political debate in recent decades as a massive failure in moral imagination. We assume everyone's ethical compass points in the same direction and label those whose views don't align with our sense of right and wrong as either misguided or evil. In fact, he argues, there are multiple due norths.
"I think of liberals as colorblind," he says in a hushed tone that conveys the quiet intensity of a low-key crusader. "We have finely tuned sensors for harm and injustice but are blind to other moral dimensions. Look at the way the word 'wall' is used in liberal discourse. It's almost always related to the idea that we have to knock them down."
Since Jonathan Haidt is a psychologist, he misses that minds are not equal, nor are brains. There is evidence that some brains find it harder to accept change, thus cling to that with which they are familiar. It would appear that more people, given the teabagger protests, fall in this category. While the majority of the country voted for hope and change with great expectation and enthusiasm, some voters want to keep everything as it was, forgetting that seeing 'it' unchanged, would mean the destruction of the country, financially and otherwise, in a few years if not sooner.
To be convinced that the brain controls the amount of change a person can tolerate, it would be helpful to know someone on the autistic scale. It is likely that there is much yet to be learned about the brain that would help us understand why people on polar ends of an issue can be so convinced that they are right and others must, therefore, be wrong. They leave no room for more than one 'right', whereas many of us realize that there are many 'rights' for many solutions to problems and value systems.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT
Tiny bride wows Sierra Leone."Thousands of people have thronged the streets of the Sierra Leone capital, Freetown, to see one of the country's shortest people get married.....Ms Kamara said they met when her future husband called out to her on the street. "I was not sure of his intentions, since we looked so different," she said."He told me he loved me... A few months later, he proposed to marry me and of course I accepted," she said."
Most of us have accepted the stereotype that fat girls are jovial with good senses of humor. However, the cartoon humor shifts when she is married to a thin man...she becomes dragon lady married to Casper Milquetoast.
Racial opposites also may produce some spectacular offspring, as in Tiger Woods and, more recently to the forefront, Barack Obama. (see below)
Friday, May 1, 2009
DON'T LAUGH, HARRY POTTER
At last engineers and scientists are nearing creating a true invisible cloak. "Getting the best material (not metal) to refract the light properly has been difficult."
"One of the research teams describes its miniature "carpet cloak" in the journal Nature Materials.
This "carpet" design was based on a theory first described by John Pendry, from Imperial College London, in 2008.
Michal Lipson and her team at Cornell University demonstrated a cloak based on the concept.
Xiang Zhang, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, led the other team.
"Essentially, we are transforming a straight line of light into a curved line around the cloak, so you don't perceive any change in its pathway," he explained."
Daniel Sieberg, CBS News, offers this explanation of the future.
Of course, I am left wondering how the future will get around several obstacles I foresee. Pheromones cannot be obscured by light waves, can they? What about the after-breath of a heavily seasoned garlic meal? The flatulent, anxious, tense individual who wants to be hidden? Clearly, the scenario cannot be a one-size-fits-all. One day, when all those alive today are long gone, a visitor from the future might not be so quickly impressed, but the facts will be there to be viewed....won't they?
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