Posted by Admin on May 7th, 2012 — Posted in Uncategorized
There are plenty of odd places to visit in the world. In fact many people search specifically for strange or bizarre places. One such place that is popular among the strange travelers is the Mummy Museum of Guanajuato, Mexico. This museum features mummies that have been dug up from their graves and placed on display. Not for the faint of heart, but for those intrigued it’s definitely a great visit. All that’s needed to embark on this journey is a passport card or passport. The pass port expedite services are available especially if a passport renewal is needed. This site will not disappoint those akin to the macabre.
Passports
Passports are essential travel documents that allow for their holders to travel freely around the globe. When you are checking in for an international flight at the airport, you must be able to present a valid United States passport to customs officials. Without a passport, you will not be allowed to leave the country. Thankfully, getting a passport has never been easier or faster for American citizens. You can easily take care of all your passport needs online with the help of an internet passport agency.
Guanajuato Mummy Museum
The mummy museum features 122 naturally mummified corpses that were originally interred during a cholera epidemic that broke out in1833 near Guanajuato, Mexico. The mummies were disinterred between 1865 and 1958 due to a tax requirement. A special tax was ordered that required relatives to pay to keep their loved ones bodies in a cemetery. If the tax could not be paid the bodies were disinterred. That is how 99percent of the bodies wound up in the museum. In the early 1900’s the bodies began attracting tourists, so those in charge of the museum would allow visitors to view the bones for a few pesos. Later the El Museo De Las Momias was established.
Guanajuato
The city of Guanajuato not only features the Mummy Museum, but has a great history as well. It was declared an UNESCO site in 1988 and is also the site of the first battle in the Mexican War of Independence. There is now stable settlement date for the city due to the fact that it was a mining settlement for a while so settlers came and went. Other museums include the Don Quixote Museum, the Casa de las Leyendes, or house of the legends. Another popular museum is The Museo del la Inquisicion, which is a museum of the Holy Inquisition, this features many of the torture devices used in the inquisition. Just like the Museo De Las Momias, the Museo del la Inquisicion is a bit on the morbid side.
Mexico offers many great attractions, including many UNESCO sites. A unique attraction includes the Mummy Museum. This site may be a bit chilling but definitely offers insight into early 19th century life in Mexico. To venture to Guanajuato be sure your U.S. passport renewal is up to date and if a new passport is needed consider passport expedite services to allow for a passport to arrive in time.
Posted by Admin on April 27th, 2012 — Posted in Uncategorized
Many people struggle with alcoholism every day of their lives. Alcohol abuse affects millions of people in America every year. If someone is struggling with an addiction to alcohol, it is advised that they go to an alcohol detox treatment center as soon as they can. With proper care, a person will be able to rid their body of alcohol and take their lives back. Without a proper medical intervention, it is highly unlikely that an individual will be able to quit drinking on their own. This is why medical intervention is so incredibly important. By choosing to go to a residential rehab facility, a person who is struggling with a drinking problem will be able to get the help they need.
Wet Brain
Wernicke Korsakoffs is also known as wet brain, Korsakoffs psychosis, Wernicke’s disease and encephalopathy. This disease occurs due to a thiamine deficiency. Thiamine is vitamin B1 or beriberi. This is due to alcohol abuse as well as severe malnutrition. Wernicke Korsakoffs greatly affects the memory as well as vision. This condition is the conglomeration of both diseases.
Description
Wernicke-Korsakoffs is the syndrome that is the combination of both the Korsakoffs psychosis disorder and Wernicke’s encephalopathy. Wernicke’s encephalopathy is characterized as confusion, involuntary eye movement; impaired eye movement, ataxia, sluggish papillary reactions, coma and sudden death are possible if left untreated. Korsakoff’s psychosis is characterized by anterograde amnesia which is the inability to form new memories, the loss of existing memories which is retrograde amnesia, confabulation, or false perceptions or memories, as well as hallucinations.
Malnutrition
Wernicke Korsakoff syndrome is normally found in those who are classified as chronic alcoholics. It is a result of a thiamine deficiency. Wernicke’s occurs first and then Korsakoffs follows. It can also be brought about following severe malnutrition. When it occurs in alcoholics it is attributed to the infarction or atrophy of specific regions of the brain, most notably the mamillary bodies. Other effected areas include the thalamus which causes the amnesic symptoms, as well as the medial dorsal thalamus, the raphe nuclei, and the basal forebrain.
Memory Loss
The symptoms of this syndrome will include muscular issues, involuntary eye movements, confabulation regarding questioning, memory issues, and an individual suffering from this co-morbid disorder may avoid sunlight. They may prefer to spend their time in dark rooms. In terms of memory, short term memory may be affected severely, and often only long term memory is recalled, however it depends on when the degeneration began. Some may really believe that the date is actually ten years off because that’s all they remember.
What To Do
Treatment for Wernicke Korsakoffs includes the cessation of alcohol intake. It also consists of reversing the thiamine deficiency that has caused the disorder. This is done by giving supplemental thiamine. This is more often than not done with an initial IV dose or an intramuscular dose which is then followed by oral doses. However, it is important to note that once amnesia and psychosis have developed a complete and full recovery is very unlikely.
Alcohol and alcohol abuse can have devastating effects on the afflicted as well as the family of friends of those suffering from an alcohol addiction. In addition to issues with the liver, there are also other severe conditions that can develop as a result of alcohol abuse. Wernicke Korsakoffs is one of these conditions. Although found in extremely malnourished alcoholics it can be found in anyone chronically abusing alcohol. This is why it is imperative that anyone suffering from an addiction to alcohol seek out an alcohol detox drug treatment center to get the help they need and prevent syndromes such as Wernicke-Korsakoffs.
Posted by Admin on April 13th, 2012 — Posted in Uncategorized
Methadone addiction is a health problem that affects thousands of people in America every year. Many people begin using methadone, ironically, to overcome an addiction to another type of drug. However, methadone addiction can have very serious consequences in its own right. If you know someone who is addicted to methadone, it is important that you convince them to undergo a methadone detox. This is the only way that a person can successfully get off of the drug. Remember that a detox should only be attempted with the supervision of medical professionals, as the side effects can be very painful.
What Is Methadone?
Methadone is classified as a synthetic opioid. Normally, it is used to treat other forms of drug addiction. Sadly, many individuals end up trading one addiction for another. Methadone has been known to help people get off of all types of different drugs. However, doctors are now starting to be more cautious in the way they administer methadone to a person with a methadone addiction. Methadone is a great tool to help us combat addiction if we use it in the correct way.
Withdrawal From Methadone
The psychological side effects of methadone include suicidal ideation, depression, exhaustion, fatigue, delirium, auditory hallucinations, agitation, anxiety, panic, paranoia, and delusions. This is why it’s necessary to go through methadone detox at a medically supervised facility. Usually as is common with any form of detox, an addict will be unable to handle the side effects of withdrawal and search for alternative methods for handling pain. This is one of the most dangerous aspects of detoxing from a drug. Side effects associated with Methadone are very similar to those of heroin withdrawal. It causes a lack of awareness regarding bodily needs such as hydration and nourishment. The physical symptoms associated with methadone withdrawal include light-headedness, nausea, fevers, chills, tremors, tachycardia, aches and pains, and elevated blood pressure just to name a few.
Recovery
Individuals are different and only a doctor can prescribe the best treatment for a person who has a drug addiction. This is why it is imperative to seek treatment at a detox facility. A medically supervised facility will offer the best suggestions for kicking and addiction the safe way and how to avoid an addiction to methadone. There has been much debate in the recovery community regarding methadone and other drugs that can help ease the pain of withdrawal. Methadone is normally viewed as the first step in the recovery and detox process from heroin; once a certain low dose is reached many suggest transitioning to suboxone.
Posted by Admin on April 9th, 2012 — Posted in Uncategorized
Boss rims are manufactured by the oldest private wheel company in the World. The name of the company is the Eagle Wheel Company and they are based out of California. However, the Eagle Wheel Company has manufacturing plants all around the country and in parts of the Caribbean. Adding aftermarket wheels to your car, truck or SUV is a fantastic way to give our ride style and great performance. Anyone interested in putting an aftermarket wheel package on their ride should take a look at what Boss has to offer.
Eagle Wheel Company
The two main plants that produce Boss rims are located in South Carolina and California. There, the company develops and produces some of the most popular aftermarket wheels in the industry. They use revolutionary programs to help them create and design very unique wheels. The programs they used to do this are called Pro E and Pro Mechanica.
Methods
The technique that is used to create Boss rims by the Eagle Wheel Company is known as “counter-pressure-casting”. This company is the only wheel manufacturing company with access to this revolutionary technology. It enables the company to produce custom designs that cannot be found anywhere else on the market. These unique manufacturing programs were first designed at the company’s research facility in Europe.
What To Consider
One of the most important things to remember when choosing a set of aftermarket wheels is the size your vehicle is able to properly handle. You do not want to get a pair of wheels for your car, truck or SUV that wind up being either too small or too large for your vehicle. It is a great idea to take your ride down to your local wheel shop so that you can get advice on what type of aftermarket wheel package best suits your needs. Also, you will have to decide on what type of style and finish you want your new wheels to have. There are many different options for you to choose from out of the Boss wheel catalogue.
Driving Conditions
Before you choose which set of aftermarket wheels to buy, think about what kinds of driving conditions they are likely to experience on a daily basis. If you do not properly clean and maintain your new wheels, they could develop problems performing rather quickly. By making sure your new wheels are always clean and in good working order, you will ensure that they will last for a very long time. Problems such as brake dust and damage from the road can ruin wheels in a matter of months. Make sure you are properly cleaning your wheels with warm soap and water weekly.
There are a number of things to consider when choosing a set of aftermarket tire & wheel packages for your ride. It is a great idea, before you decide, to take your vehicle down to your local wheel shop so you can find out what type of wheels would give your car the best performance. Too many times people order wheels online, only to find out that they do not conform to their vehicle. By choosing Boss rims, you will be getting a product from the oldest privately owned custom maker in the world. They will be able to guide you through the fitting process and will make sure you are happy with your purchase. Adding aftermarket wheels to your ride is one of the best ways to improve the performance and look of your car, truck or SUV.
Posted by Admin on April 6th, 2012 — Posted in Uncategorized
If you are trying to decide where to take an international vacation, consider visiting Great Britain. Britain is home to some of the most wonderful tourist attractions anywhere in the world. However, you must remember that if you are going to be doing any international travel that you will be required to have a valid United States passport. You can go online and find a passport agency that provides services such as United States passport name change and passport renewal. Once you have your new passport in hand, you will be ready for your overseas adventure to Great Britain. Once there, you can go and check out the mysterious attraction know as Stonehenge.
Passport Needs
Anyone who wishes to travel overseas must first obtain a valid United States passport. Without a passport you will not be allowed to leave the country, or reenter it when your trip is over. If you need to obtain a passport renewal application, there are now many places you can do so online. Unlike in the past, even infants must now present their own individual United States passport if they are going to be traveling overseas. In the past, people have been allowed to bring their young children with them on international vacations without needing a passport.
World Famous
Stonehenge is world famous for being one of the most interesting tourist attractions around. It is a series of large stone sculptures that scientists believe have been standing for thousands of years. It is widely regarded as one of the most mysterious and interesting tourist destinations on the planet. The incredible structures of Stonehenge are located in the English county of Wiltshire. If you are in England, you should consider stopping by Stonehenge.
Research
Archaeologists suggest that the monolith monument was constructed anywhere between 3000B.C.E to 2000B.C.E. However, some radiocarbon dating has implied that the first stones were actually put up in 2400-2200B.C.E. Stonehenge was constructed in three different phases, with the earliest phase being the circular earth bank and ditch that surrounds the monument, this dates to about 3100B.C.E. Scientists have also estimated that the total of all three construction phases entailed more than thirty million hours of hard labour.
Uncertainty
There has always been a great amount of debate when discussing what Stonehenge really is or was really built for. Many people believe that it was originally used as an ancient sun dial. Others think it may have been a burial ground for those who died back then. In the end, all we really know is that it was constructed by a culture that left no written record of their existence whatsoever. It is up to interpretation what Stonehenge really is or was meant to be.
Tickets
Although seeing the monoliths up close and personal is usually not permitted, special tickets can be purchased for up close and personal views. These tickets will provide you with your own tour guide and you will be allowed to walk within the circle. There are also special ceremonies that are conducted especially around the Solstice that allow for individuals to be within the amazing structure. Whether seen up close or not it is still an amazing view and you are a witness to ancient archaeology.
Posted by Admin on April 2nd, 2012 — Posted in Uncategorized
Ecstasy is a very popular drug that many young people use when they want to go out and have a goof time. However, what many of these young people fail to realize is that they are putting their health in jeopardy every time the use this dangerous drug. Ecstasy addiction is very serious problem that can have dangerous consequences. It can lead to very serious health problems, and when taken in excess, even death. If you know someone who is struggling with an addiction to this drug, it may be necessary for them to undergo an ecstasy detoxification before they check themselves into a rehabilitation center. A detox of this kind should only be done with the supervision of a medical professional.
Why Ecstasy
Ecstasy is a euphoria inducing substance that contains MDMA. It gives users a feeling of intimacy with everything around them. The drug is commonly associated with night life and clubs. However, once a person becomes addicted to the drug, they begin to use it whenever and wherever they can. This is generally how ecstasy addiction works. A person thinks they have control over a substance, however, before they know it they do not feel right without taking it. Pretty soon they begin to feel awful if their body does not receive the effects of the drug that it has become accustomed to.
Effects
The most common side effects associated with the use of MDMA include an alteration of consciousness, inner peace and self acceptance, lessened aggression or hostility, euphoria, compassion, a love for others, decreased pain sensitivity and many other nice happy feelings associated with a euphoria. These effects occur within 30 to 60 minutes of use and tend to reach their peak about 90 minutes after ingestion.
Comedown
Some adverse effects of Ecstasy include, teeth grinding, loss of appetite, dry mouth. Once the drug has worn off, other after effects include anxiety and paranoia, depression, irritability, fatigue, inability to pay attention or focus, residual feelings of empathy or sensitivity. Dizziness as well as gastrointestinal disturbances occurs as well. The period of coming down from the euphoria that Ecstasy delivers is refered to as Tuesday Blues or “Suicide Tuesday” this low depressive mood is a result of depleted serotonin levels that follow the use of MDMA over the weekend.
Overdose And Withdrawal
Some of the physical effects of an Ecstasy overdose include muscle twitching, hyperflexia, rapid breathing, palpitations, chest pain, circulatory shock, haemorrhaging or stroke, syncope, brain damage, and can even lead to a coma or death. It doesn’t matter wither MDMA is used recreationally or not, the dangers associated with the use of this drug are severe and can lead to death, which is why it is so important to seek treatment
Posted by Admin on March 27th, 2012 — Posted in Democrat Party News
Tags: Athena, Jurists
Any astrologer worth her salt would tell you that there is not a lot of good that you can expect from a grand Supreme Court argument over the future of health care, held on a day when Mercury is retrograde, Saturn is retrograde, and Mars is retrograde. And, since, like global warming, astrology is easily refuted, except by observation, allow me to make this observation on the madness of the zeitgeist.
The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times conspired this weekend to deprive Socrates of his wits and reaffirm the verdict of Orestes:
There are numerous tales and stories associated with Pallas Athene, including her name, which was originally simply Athene. One day she was sparring with her foster sister, Pallas, daughter of a local sea-god and more than likely a cousin of hers, when Daddy Jupiter distracted her, causing her to accidentally kill her sister. As part of her grief, she set her name before her own.
She was seen as a protector of cities, a prophetess, and invincible in battle. Mythologically, she helped Hercules with his labors, assisted Odysseus in his voyage from Troy, and gave Perseus a hand disposing of Medusa. She also gave Athens the gift of the olive tree, beating out Poseidon’s gift of the horse. To appease him, the gods deprived Athenian women of their citizenship, their vote, and the right to give their children their surname. Thus, from that point on, women began to lose their rights and this was blamed on Athene.
This was further reinforced in the trial of Orestes, which boiled down to who the true parent of a child was, the mother or father. Since Pallas Athene was born of a man, she testified that it was the male parent who was most important. Apollo, who defended Orestes, also stated that the mother only provided a place for the seed implanted by the male to grow. Needless to say, this did not move feminism forward….
Which is, when you think about it, what we’re debating in the Forty-Nine states that have either passed or considered legislation that, in essence, enshrines that most important and sacred seed to the detriment of the physical choice of the women in whom said seed has been sprouted.
At least, the verdict of Orestes has been the template for the past few millennia — although it is now under siege by that absurd idea that women are people, too. The oogly-boogly and mumbo-jumbo have been roiling over Health Care, so-called, by Luntzian Strategem, “Obamacare” so successfully that people refer to it as the latter and not “The Affordable Health Care Act,” as they refer to the Estate Tax — originally meant to keep America from becoming balkanized by an hereditary oligarchy — as the “Death Tax,” thus enraging millions who will never possibly have the slightest chance to be subject to the estate tax, since their estates at death will be worth considerably less than two million dollars.
Fewer and fewer every day, in fact.
Although today, the radio leads me to understand, the issue at hand will be whether anyone has thus far been injured, thus rending the case moot for the moment, since the Supreme Court established long ago that it would not rule in hypothetical cases. Thus, the sophists will argue whether there has or has not been harm, and, given the astrological tenor, and the willingness of the Alter Boys to TAKE this case, the most spectacular of legal gymnastics ought to be forthcoming as the speechifyin’ ends and the deliberatin’ begins. Then, in their own sweet time, we shall learn if the case of the Angry Reaganauts Versus Health Care for All Americans (or nearly all) shall be adjudicated.
More fun that the lead plaintiff, the fellow tryin’ ter shove a stake through the black heart of Obamamamacare is Antonin Scalia’s former clerk, as is John Roberts, Jr., our Chief Justice, the former law clerk of the late William Rehnquist, he of the Golden Stripes, now residing in Hell in Roger Taney’s Circle. (Do not feel sorry for Wild Bill Rehnquist of Arizona, for, as Shaw said, the damned feel perfectly comfortable in hell; after all, it was made for them.)
But, to get to that, we should begin with this, from the New York Times:
… Drawing on ethnography, evolutionary theory and experimental psychology, [author of The Rightous Mind, Jonathan Haidt] sets out to trash the modern faith in reason. In Haidt’s retelling, all the fools, foils and villains of intellectual history are recast as heroes. David Hume, the Scottish philosopher who notoriously said reason was fit only to be “the slave of the passions,” was largely correct. E. O. Wilson, the ecologist who was branded a fascist for stressing the biological origins of human behavior, has been vindicated by the study of moral emotions. Even Glaucon, the cynic in Plato’s “Republic” who told Socrates that people would behave ethically only if they thought they were being watched, was “the guy who got it right.”
To the question many people ask about politics — Why doesn’t the other side listen to reason? — Haidt replies: We were never designed to listen to reason. When you ask people moral questions, time their responses and scan their brains, their answers and brain activation patterns indicate that they reach conclusions quickly and produce reasons later only to justify what they’ve decided…
Which is, if you think about it, oxymoronic: if reason cannot be trusted, is merely a rhetorical trick, then the technology and brain research being invoked cannot be trusted, ergo, his arguments are undermined by his own arguments. Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
But this is mere prologue. I will state here that I utterly oppose the chemical-mechanistic approach to human consciousness — the notion that we are merely survival machines, bearers of DNA, operating merely as a series of responses to environmental stimuli via complex chemical reactions. But the scientists’ conceit is, itself, oxymoronic. We return to Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am,” in the sense that the ONLY reality that any single human possesses is their individual, personal, subjective perception. “Objectivity,” is a paradigm, unless you can scare up an “objective being” which either takes us back to St. Anselm, or else into mysticism, and neither is the point here.
I only experience my own world, and you only ever experience your world. “Objectivity” is the bridge we build between them.
The “objective paradigm” of the scientists refutes human reality. You don’t really think or reason: you are merely chemical reactions. The “automotive” approach to the body as a machine, whose parts you can swap out — as Dick Cheney swapped his old blood pump for a new one — and the entire movement from the psychology of Freud and Jung — which attempts to understand consciousness from inside — to the rat psychology of B.F. Skinner, which is preferred in our Universities, because you can turn subjective reality into objective numbers.
Quantification. But how can you measure love?
The con here is the trick that “objective” reality trumps human, universal, irrefutable reality.
Thus do our jurists play with the “objective” reality of the Constitution, as governance and law eternally attempts to codify and describe reality, “objective” — that is to say, sensorially reproducible results, like a mile, or hot, or tall or deep. But, if you’ve spent any time with humans, you will realize that this is a consensus, and there will always be ONE contrarian who will maintain that day is night and up is down and will die in defense of their interpretation of “objective” reality.
You see, Clarence Thomas — surely the deepest thinker among the Alter Boys, that five-justice Catholic majority that has gifted us with so many 5-4 decisions. I do not mean any aspersion on the Church or its politics, but shared consensus on subtle religious values is going to tend to create subtle consensus on “secular” values, unless there’s a type of human being that I have not yet encountered and no one’s told me about. Birds of a feather actually DO tend to flock together.
As I was saying, Clarence Thomas is on record as wanting to seriously modify the Commerce Clause, the Federal Government’s authority to regulate interstate commerce, the reason that Washington and Madison and Mason sat on Washington’s porch and contacted those who would eventually call for, get, write, campaign for and ratify a constitution.
This is an ideological point. It is a point of belief about the words in the Constitution and not the practice of the Constitution by actual human beings upon whose contractual basis pretty much all economic and human activity is based. The interpretation of those words is quite literally the foundation of the government, the bedrock on which all other laws are based or in conformity WITH.
And it is like unto the scientist who sneers at all subjectivity — for no slur in science is more cutting than “but that’s subjective!” when there is naught BUT subjectivity. And yet there is no perfectly “objective” world — unless you have mistaken the certitude of numbers for the uncertainty of subjective reality.
That paradigm of objectivity is what allows our civilization to function, just as money lubricates the gears of trade and commerce, when NEITHER exists. Money is sometimes paper, more often just numbers transliterated into the ones and zeros of binary code. And objectivity exists nowhere. It is, as well, a comforting fiction, that allows us to discuss the Great Issues of the Day which we, in our objectivity, “witness” via electronic and printed media.
The mile is experienced differently by every single human who experiences it, even if it is the same mile though the same valley on the same path.
And I fear that the Affordable Health Care Decision will be the Dred Scott of our age, and that tragedy will ensue. I don’t know what kind of tragedy, but it is in the air. To tinker with the interpretation of the Sacred Words of the “objective” Constitution, Clarence Thomas’ view might well push us off a cliff. There is no question that at least four Justices were chomping at the bit to hear this case, and I can make an educated guess as to which four.
In this case, the baby may literally be thrown out with the bathwater. Actual human lives will be irrevocably affected by whatever decision is effected. Things is bad.
As outside the courtroom the age-old question is being debated:
the trial of Orestes … boiled down to who the true parent of a child was[:] the mother or father. Since Pallas Athene was born of a man, she testified that it was the male parent who was most important. Apollo, who defended Orestes, also stated that the mother only provided a place for the seed implanted by the male to grow.
In this case, the seed is termed “a baby,” thus the contraception debate, the planned parenthood debate, et al and etcetera.
And that has to color the strange Gladiatorial (and, for the first time, sort of live on radio) reality show as four angry male Justices, specificially appointed to be “safe” votes to overturn Roe v. Wade in its latest iteration or any iteration to come, one swing vote — Anthony Kennedy of California — three female Justices — probably anti-ditto — and my favorite Justice, Steven Breyer – Breyer’s pragmatic approach to the law “will tend to make the law more sensible” — of San Francisco.
The theater of the proceedings will be magnified thereby, and one wonders what effect this newfangled media circus will have on the mysterious and secretive workings of the Court. Either way the coin comes up, there’ll be hell to pay out here in subjective realityland. They’re already screaming about how their last shreds of freedom are being stripped from them (which is, frankly, immoderate and frightening language virtually guaranteed to overamp some poor lost soul who treasures his Second Amendment rights.)
On the other side, lips are bit, as are fingernails, and pundits gravely assure us that the Supreme Court will behave rationally, and, as they all PROMISED, would abide by stare decis – “let it stand”– and respect precedent.
Them what did done lied before and I am not comforted in the assurance that them what lied before will not lie agin.
The aegis of Athena with Medusa’s head
Just as I do not believe that Plato’s Socrates sockpuppet was wrong, nor do I read tea leaves, as seems to be the pundit class’ singular pursuit this evening. And the circus is in town. Let’s see how it plays, but I do not believe that it will be objective.
This is the first time that the Supreme Court has tried a case using the Reality Show concept.
Let us devoutly hope that our Supreme trial is under that aegis of Athena.
Or maybe not.
And as the Learned Nine emerge,
robed in black and primly trussed;
we’ll hear their wisdom on display
and measure if they’re truly Just.
Courage.
======================
A writer, published author, novelist, literary critic and political observer for a quarter of a quarter-century more than a quarter-century, Hart Williams has lived in the American West for his entire life. Having grown up in Wyoming, Kansas and New Mexico, a survivor of Texas and a veteran of Hollywood, Mr. Williams currently lives in Oregon, along with an astonishing amount of pollen. He has a lively blog His Vorpal Sword. This is cross-posted from his blog.
The Democratic Daily
Posted by Admin on March 26th, 2012 — Posted in Democrat Party News
Tags: Martin, Trayvon
I’m a white woman from a small town in Massachusetts, but I spent 19 years living in Los Angeles. I raised my only child, my white daughter in inner city L.A. schools where she was a minority. Many of her school friends were black, many of my friends in L.A. are black with black sons, and every time I read another piece on Trayvon Martin, my heart breaks a little more.
We lived in L.A. during the Rodney King riots… I’ve seen up close and personal the way black men were targeted in the inner city by white cops. I abhore racism. I abhore gun violence. And I abhore laws that allow guns in the hands of the wrong people. I get the whole 2nd amendment argument, but I don’t get organizations pushing laws like Stand Your Ground, in states like Florida and other states pushing for similar legislation. Where does it stop?
Charles Pierce said in Esquire:
We executed children in this country until long after the rest of the world — except Iran — thought that was a good idea. Almost six million children live in poverty in this country. Almost six million of them are without health insurance of any kind, and that’s reckoned to be an improvement. None of this is accidental. These children are expendable because the people we elect make policy decisions of which we approve — or, at least, of which we do not disapprove. The Republicans in Congress — behind the “leadership” of zombie-eyed granny-starver Paul Ryan — would like to zero out the SCHIP children’s health-care program. If they do that, it will not be done by accident. The Florida legislature, behind the leadership of the National Rifle Association, passed the “stand your ground” law, despite the fact that even police and prosecutors were warning that it amounted to a hunting license for anyone who had both a gun, and the ability to concoct a good story. Trayvon Martin is not dead by accident.
Charles Pierce is right, “Trayvon Martin is not dead by accident,” and by now everyone should know that. The outrage that Zimmerman has not been charged with a crime is beyond palable, yet we wait to see if he will be charged. And in the meantime so many of us feel the pain, the frustration, the heart break and the sick feeling in our guts that things are so dreafully wrong in our country:
I am sick to death of people who celebrate “the family” making excuses about why other people’s children are expendable. I am sick to death of politicians who are more concerned about protecting zygotes than about the teenagers on whom they seek to balance their budgets and advance their careers. (Barney Frank’s line about conservatives’s believing that life “begins at conception and ends at birth” was not entirely a joke, although it’s always been treated as one.) I am sick to death of opportunistic yahoos who can look at this country’s unhealthy attachment to firearms and declare that the actions of George Zimmerman, while unfortunate, were pretty much what the Founders had in mind. I am sick to death of the steady drip-drip-drip of all the topical anesthetics we mix up whenever something like this happens. Had Emmett Till been killed in 2012, there’d be at least three people sitting in the CNN Green Room right now — and probably 15 of them sitting offstage at Fox — waiting to explain how unfortunate it was that the lad so transgressed against local custom that circumstances dictated that he be beaten to a pulp and tossed into the river tied to a cotton-gin fan. I am sick to death about how we can argue about anything simply to argue about it, and then move along to the next argument, as though anything at all has been settled.
Trayvon’s tragic death has become a political football in the midst of election season that clearly draws lines in the sand showing the racial discord in America. Our President speaks out and says, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” and shortly after, Republican Newt Gingrich is verbally assaulting Obama calling his comments “disgraceful.”
Disgraceful? What is “disgraceful,” is Newt Gingrich’s lack of respect, respect for our president and respect for Trayvon’s family.
I am sick to death, as Charles Pierce is, that this country does nothing but argue and those agruments somehow lead to the death of innocent children.
When will it end.
The Democratic Daily
Posted by Admin on March 26th, 2012 — Posted in Democrat Party News
Tags: Affordable, Anniversary, care, Chairman, Forrester
Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Chip Forrester today released the following statement on the two year anniversary of President Obama’s signing of the Affordable Care Act – which to date has helped millions of middle class families, seniors, and young people receive quality affordable health care:
“Two years ago with the stroke of a pen, [...]
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Posted by Admin on March 25th, 2012 — Posted in Democrat Party News
Tags: care, Cuts, Draconian, health, Over, Quits, Rally, Speaks, staffer, Texas, Women's
RH Reality Check by Jodi Jacobson, Editor in Chief, RH Reality Check
Rallies were held in Texas yesterday on the eve of the elimination of funding to the Women’s Health Program through the state, and subsequently to all Planned Parenthood clinics because… well, because the far right apparently doesn’t like women to have health care.
So 130,000 more women in Texas will be without health care tomorrow, a state in which access to primary reproductive health care has already been made scarce since the legislature cut funds dramatically last year as well. The cuts will take place because Governor Perry is refusing federal funding that otherwise would go to these clinics. Perry, and other opponents of women’s health care in Texas, claim there are “lots of alternatives” to the clinics now providing low-income women–mothers, students, employees–with health services, but as Andrea Grimes reported for us last year, those alternatives just don’t exist.
And as Grimes reported, the 2011 state family planning cuts left 180,000 women without access to contraception and reproductive health services like pap smears and breast cancer screenings.
“The Women’s Health Program serves an additional 130,000 women, bringing the total number of women without access to basic reproductive health care to 310,000,” writes Grimes. “Some estimates put the number closer to 400,000. The Texas Legislative Budget Board has estimated that this will result in up to 21,000 additional births in the state–children born to families who are already in need of government assistance and who would otherwise have sought to avoid an unintended and unwanted pregnancy.
But the anger at these cuts in Texas and across the country is building and even women on the right are fed up. Today, according to the Austin Chronicle, GOP legislative aide, Allison Catalano, who began working for Texas state legislator Myra Crownover last summer, resigned her post, citing Crownover’s support for the cuts to women’s health funding.
In a letter to Crownover, Catalano wrote that she decided to resign her position because of “recent decisions made by you, Representative Crownover, along with other legislators” related to the draconian cuts to the women’s health budget.
According to the Chronicle, in 2010, Planned Parenthood clinics, which make up only 2 percent of all WHP-funded clinics across the state, served 46 percent of the roughly 183,000 program enrollees.
Although the program had always been designed to exclude abortion providers from participation, lawmakers in 2011 directed the Health and Human Services Commission to come up with a new definition for affiliate that would define PP clinics that do not provide abortion care, and were already participating in the WHP, as affiliates of other PP clinics that do provide legally-protected abortion care, but that weren’t actually serving as WHP providers. The feds have said this tinkering in order to exclude an otherwise qualified provider is prohibited by federal law (Title XIX, to be specific).
Hundreds of supporters of women’s health funding rallied tonight in the Texas state capitol to protest the cuts.
“Whether tonight in Austin, or earlier this week in Midland, or in Fort Worth in the pouring rain, women’s health supporters throughout the state are saying loud and clear that Governor Rick Perry needs to stop playing politics with women’s health and women’s lives,” said Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and native Texan, at the rally. “Women don’t come to Planned Parenthood health centers to make a political statement, they come because they need health care, and it’s time for Governor Perry to stop taking health care away from Texas women.”
Carole Belver, Executive Director and Health Services Director of Community Action, a local Medicaid Women’s Health Program provider, reminded attendees that Governor Perry already slashed the family planning budget by more than two-thirds, which will take health care from another 160,000 women per year. These cuts also affect services including Pap tests, clinical breast exams, and birth control.
State Representative Dawnna Dukes, member of the Texas House Appropriations Committee, articulated the skepticism shared by Texas political commentators, editorial boards and government officials about Governor Perry’s fiscally questionable recent comments that he would reject the federal contribution to Medicaid Women’s Health Program – a contribution that covers 90 percent of the cost – and expend an additional million of state funds to create a new program in order to exclude the largest single provider of women’s health care.
“Governor Perry wants us to pay more for less health care. Governor Perry is slashing education — laying off 25,000 teachers, administrators and other school staff due to a ‘fiscal emergency’ – but suddenly says he can find ‘flexibility’ to score political points,” said Representative Dukes.
Julisa McCoy, a college student from the Rio Grande Valley who currently relies on Planned Parenthood and the Medicaid Women’s Health Program to access preventive health care, also spoke at the rally.
“In my county alone, four clinics were forced to shut down, several employees were laid off, and 15,000 women were displaced from their health care provider: Planned Parenthood,” said McCoy. “The Texas Medicaid Women’s Health Program plays a vital role in the health and livelihoods of women in this state, as does Planned Parenthood. Governor Perry’s ideology has no place in my health care, or the health care of more than 130,000 other women like me in this state.”
This is, perhaps, the answer sought by Beverly McPhail, a provider at the Houston Women’s Resource Center, who asks, “What will it take for Texas women to rise up?”
Read the full story as published @ RH Reality Check.
Related: Don’t LET Them Mess With the Women of Texas: It’s Time to Rise Up!!
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