PRO-LIFE HYPOCRISY

There might still be  few Christians who would ask, "What would Jesus do?' but there are others of us who are asking, "What would Mitt do?  The answer to this, with his views on anti-abortion, is very frightening to women who thought we had laws to protect us from religions to which we do not subscribe actually taking control of our lives.

Steve D of Daily Kos writes on what has been happening in Georgia lately.  It is beyond my comprehension why an American terrorist group is allowed to continue in the United States with such seeming immunity from justice.

How many women in America must be humiliated with vaginal probes, sickening routines to emotionally harass women before legal abortions can be accomplished, or suffer in areas where abortion clinics are forbidden to function even though abortion is legal by Federal law.

Most of us grew up with the belief that our government would prevent the 'bad' guy from winning for long. We do have an Attorney General, don't we?  Do local police just turn a blind eye to what is going on?  How many clinicians have to be wounded or killed before the hypocrisy of pro-life becomes evident to all?



If you did not watch the Rachel Maddow Show Friday evening 5-25-2012, please make sure to click here and watch the first segment of her show.
 

I CONFIRM: NAMES AND NOUNS, I'M TOLD, ARE THE FIRST TO GO.

Some people can remember proper names better than I can today.  I spent a morning at a Memorial Lecture with the tip of my tongue humming with no name resulting a roll off the tip.  Smiling and greeting everyone helps; listening carefully to what names others use is extremely effective; paying attention when people around you are being introduced also works to take the masks off.  I'm not sure my forgetting names is terribly relevant because I may never see any of them again yet at one time in my life we had a great deal of contact and their names seemed that they would be familiar to me forever.  Age makes one fickle as so much of the tide of life crashes over us and draws the remote past away in the undertow..

The only part that bothers me is that some people whom I have not seen for years recognize me immediately.  I used to wear my hair in a bun on the top of my head for many years and people used to say they had no difficulty recognizing me from it. Recently I had gotten lazy about my hair in the 'professional look' and have just been wearing my long, white, thinning hair in a pony tail.  It was startling to realize that people recognized me anyway.  I would not make a good spy since I don't do anonymous or fading into the woodwork well. Neither enfold me.

Many people commented that I haven't changed over the years.  How can I flatter them back when they have changed almost unrecognizably.  I mostly thanked them and changed the subject.  Most of the people there, whom I had known, are 20 to 25 years my junior.  They are talking retirement already.  At least it is something we have in common since I plan to retire later this year.  I really think most of them thought I had retired years ago.  Those who didn't were, I'm sure, wondering why I want to do it now.  They hoped I would 'enjoy life' was their most frequent comment   Since I always enjoy myself and am never bored, I could only hope the same for them when they get there, too.  I'm sure they will be much younger and physically far more fit than I when it  Remembering people and their names.happens to some more than others of us..

MICROSOFT/COMCAST/BBC CONSPIRE TO MAKE MY LIFE MORE DIFFICULT

Using Firefox as my browser is something I have had to defend frequently in the past.  It meets all my needs in a browser.  There were places where I could not shop, years ago, unless I used Internet Explorer.  I deplore monopolies and, thus, I do not like to use IE.  Online stores ought not to sell unless they have made it possible for all browser users to pay them.

I've had Comcast since the end of last October.  Every time I go online (I use the BBC News as my home page and have to wait until all the ad people finish raping my computer).  Sometimes it takes them so long to gather their stolen info that I just shut the browser request down and then call it again.  A friend told me how to get something on my computer that would not allow those ad info-thieves.  However, I could not get it to work on my computer and gave up the attempt when I ran out of time.

Having put up with a pop-up (though pop-ups are supposed to be disallowed by my settings) when I go to type something in the Google search bar.  It reads Comcast.net in small letters and is some sort of coupon for Radley, London. It comes on after I have typed a letter and. since I look at the keyboard as I continue to type, when I think I have finished it is blank after the first letter as the pop-up stops my typing.  I have a problem wasting time as I am convinced that, at my age, I have a limited life left.  Having put up with this for months I called Comcast and wasted more than a half hour on the phone maze, getting cut off when I pressed the wrong number since my problem didn't fit any of their categories, I finally got to a human who told me she was in billing and could not help me but would put me over to tech support.

Tech support had never heard of that problem but transferred me top another extension which would have cost me $40 for that contact.   I was back again with another tech support  who had me go to tools, and read the menu she saw on her machine.  I told her I was running a PC-XP.(the menu was on Firefox.)  When she finally believed that I was able to read and believed me, she insisted I go on IE.  There the menu allowed me to set a no pop-up option which cut that particular ad pop-up from showing itself.  She insisted that I could use IE or contact Firefox directly and gave me their number.  I thanked her for 'solving' one problem but let her know that since there seemed to be a collaboration between Microsoft and Comcast on this pop-up, I would urge her to let the higher ups know the problem because people can always change ISPs.  She finally started to be more mellow with, "I hear your problem but can do nothing about it."    I told her she was obviously not listening to me as I just told her something she could do about it and she clearly doesn't intend to do it.

Rant over, I may have to change my home page since it is clearly connected with the UK.  I will waste some more time playing with it before I call Firefox or reach out for more suggestions.  Life certainly wastes a lot of time, doesn't it?

GOVERNMENT IS NOT TOO BIG' MANY WORKERS ARE INEFFICIENT AND NOT DOING THEIR JOBS COMPETENTLY

It is a disgrace that Chins is selling us parts for our planes in our defense attempts.  Apparently they are using fake parts which could, if they fail as they are more likely to than the originally designed and made parts, cause humongous problems.  To read the whole article which first described this for me, click here.

The article writers:  "A year-long probe found 1,800 cases of fake parts in US military aircraft, the Senate Armed Services Committee said.
More than 70% of an estimated one million suspect parts were traced back to China, the report said."  Please be sure to click on this last link as it lists the chapters in the report which cover things like fake memory chips.  The lives of the pilots and those within the planes depend on quality assurance.  How can we guarantee this when acquisitions are not from within the United States and regulated in their manufacture?

A whistle blower, Qui Tam  Qui Tam claims:  It has been estimated that almost 10% of the United States annual budget is paid to companies or persons who are defrauding the government. Some of them overcharge the government for products sold to the government. Others submit vouchers billing the government for services which they never provided or over billing for services provided. And still others engage in government contract fraud, defense contractor fraud, Medicare fraud, Medicaid fraud, or other public benefit fraud. The False Claims Act covers a wide variety of situations in addition to overcharging or billing for property or services not delivered. Virtually any situation in which the government has been cheated should be closely scrutinized by experienced Qui Tam lawyers to determine whether it is covered under the False Claims Act.

The problem of being overcharged and double billed is now epidemic.  Even medical insurances have to maintain staff to do nothing but check all claims.  They are reimbursed in millions of dollars weekly which should illustrate the extent of the problem which has become ubiquitous.

How the Republicans can argue for fewer regulations should show people where to vote. But it won't touch the naivete of many for whom racial discrimination of our President (who must constantly be reminded he is as much Caucasian as Black) , allegiance to Grover Norquist and others with self interest not for the good of the country at large, and the easily lied to and convinced out there.

HOW QUICKLY YOUR BRAIN COMPENSATES

A few years ago I had cataract surgery, both eyes a month apart, successfully though it did not eliminate my need for correction as it does for some people.  I was told at that time that I had the beginning of macular degeneration as most all people my age had it.  I went five or more years with no problems until I noticed one day that the boxes around open programs were edged with wavy lines.  Checking out whether all lines were wavy, not just those on my computer, I noticed that telephone poles were wavy as were tree trunks.  The edges to door jambs were no straight.  I was amazed at how quickly my brain straightened out those lines in my head so that, after a while, I scarcely noticed the irregularities.That was a bout six months ago.

My optometrist and ophthalmologist and my optometrist separately confirmed that it was quite unlikely that the ruffles at the bottom of my retinas would ever straighten out. Five months later I noted a second change.  The lines did not just wave but as i read my computer, there was a spot that definitely dipped and made it difficult to read above it.  The TV screen also plays games with me.  If there is a familiar face, I can still recognize it easily.  If it is a new face, I cannot see it clearly as it distorts; the eyes, nose and mouth won't stay still.

My ophthalmologist says currently there is nothing that can be done to halt the degeneration or correct the retina to a full screen.  The retina cannot be smoothed over as some eyes have been able to be helped because the lumps that are cause the ruffles are underneath.  You can't smooth something over bumps.

I've learned that just as one can read a paragraph in which the first letter of each word stays the same but the rest are scrambled, our brains are much smarter than our eyes.  Even though the letters on the page may look a bit like the letters floating in alphabet soup, knowing the context of a few words in a sentence makes the task of filling in the blanks much easier.   Since I often follow my own advice, I do not worry about things which I cannot change and over which I have no control.  I will go for regular checkups but am told the only thing that I can really expect to happen will be that my dry macular degeneration may turn wet  which necessitates monthly shots.   Wet means there is either some blood or fluid in the eye, helped by the shots but it doesn't clear up the macular. 

Scientists are working on a synthetic retina.  For details, click here.  It makes me wonder if I will live long enough to get to use one.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING LOST WHEN WE DIE IS THE MEMORY WE CAN NO LONGER SHARE WITH OTHERS

If you have ever lost someone you loved, you will quickly know what I mean.  How many times after my parents died did I wish they were there to ask them to identify a picture in my mind or a photograph.  There were so many things they knew that I had not yet learned.  When my husband died, all his engineering and mechanical knowledge went with him as did all that he had learned about tying knots he had learned in the Navy and so very much more i wish we could have shared..

One of my daughters and I have been scanning photographs and clearly marking about whom and when and where they were taken.  It is time consuming but we both remember my urging my father-in-law to show his slides as I marked and dated them before he became legally blind.  Somehow we never have enough time for all the the things we want to do and I definitely do not wish to spend my remaining years on this earth preparing for my death, yet it is important to this daughter that she carry family history for the next generation and I want to help her as much as I am able.

Kay 18 months

Debbie, 4, Kay, newborn

The greater benefit of this project is that we talk as she gets the family history with each picture we scan; I get to relive the time and she gets to share in the two generations before her.  To get a perspective on this tiny little girl in 1958 reaching up to the piano, it is important to realize that the piano was a studio (tom thumb-55 key) piano, not full sized.  On the right, her sister, now a grandmother, holds her little sister.These are family treasures which many people do not take the time to value.  I once visited someone who was showing me her family album in which pictures were unmarked and undated.  When I mentioned she might want to do that I was told, "Oh, I know who they all are an when they were taken."  My sarcasm which seems rarely to fail me in moments like these replied, "Oh, I am so relieved you plan to live forever."

With software that shows slide shows, we can put pictures into a folder and do an ersatz time lapse.The dresser behind her is the standard height, which shows this tiny little girl who, her pediatrician told me, was the tiniest normal child in his 5000 patient practice.  She is a middle aged adult now, slightly over five feet tall, but we can never forget her as a diminutive child.

Take some time out of your life now to save having to do a crash save later.  It is so much easier, as you will have so much more to remember and no one to ask about the past as you near your own absence and availability to your loved ones.

Most people do not keep the ridiculous hours I keep but, apparently enough do so that PBS, WGBH has started to put on shows that haven't been seen for many years after midnight on Sunday , at least.  Tonight I watched a very old cooking show by Julia Childs; it was followed by a new opera, Baroque, titled The Enchanted Island.by the Metropolitan Opera Company.

Today was a beautiful, sunny, warm day    There was a time in my past when I loved to work in the yard.  That time has past but the yard doesn't stop needed just because I stop wanting.  Now is the time, right after blossoming, that one should prune bushes.  It became imperative as I have procrastinated for several years.  It is like a man not going to the barber for a year or more.  The world would quickly notice. It is not that I really mind overgrown bushes but when the city sends me notices that they can't get in to read the water meter and will start billing me on an estimated basis, it is time for me to take action.  Today I trimmed an azalea working carefully.  The end result?  The bush looks much smaller but does not reveal the yard barber was sat it.

The world is full of discovery whether it is on TV, in my yard, or in my basement.  Each gives up treasures.  I saw a humming bird on my feeder, heard a mother bird chatter at me for going too near her nest as I was pruning the bush nearby, and found the small, George Foreman grille that was hidden in my basement for the least eight years.  Using Greased Lightning, it now looks brand new.  If you've ever had to wash something out like a noxious smelling and nauseating recyclable bin, a greasy pan or oven shelf, I know of no better product.  Spray it on, wipe it off and then wash it.

Saturday chores were even pleasant.  Gas has become cheaper since the last time I filled up my czar...always a pleasant surprise. I've decided I'm just feeling like an optimistic person.  For those of you who wonder about optimism, listen to the TED; watch the talk by Teli Sharot here.