But Seriously

Mercury In Your Makeup Can Make You Sick

Mercury has been found in some skin creams, antiseptic soaps and lotions that are marketed as skin lighteners and anti-aging treatments, according to a report released by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

. . . Some symptoms of mercury poisoning include tremors, irritability, sudden shyness and memory problems, changes in vision or hearing, depression, and numbness and tingling in hands, feet or around mouth.

The FDA warns consumer to stop use that if words like “mercurous chloride,” “calomel,” “mercuric,” “mercurio,” or “mercury,” appear in the product labeling, and to immediately discard them in a plastic bad or leak proof container. The agency also warned that products labeled in languages other than English should also not be used.

via www.medicaldaily.com

I saw this article while browsing Quipster's blog recently. Mercury poisoning is a serious health issue. Ladies, check your make-up.

Do you know what else has mercury in it? Fluorescent light bulbs. If you use CFL bulbs in your house, be very careful when you dispose of them. If one breaks in your house, follow these clean-up procedures.

A Fluke of a Debate

Fluke:
noun
1.  an accidental advantage; stroke of good luck: He got the job by a fluke. 
2.  an accident or chance happening. 
3.  an accidentally successful stroke, as in billiards. 
Origin:
1855–60; of obscure origin; compare dial. fluke a guess

How did Sandra Fluke become the lead story on the news?  This woman and her issues are not worthy of reoccuring national headlines.  She is eclipsing tragic tornados in Tennesse.  She is  gathering more news coverage than unrest in the Middle East.  She has overtaken the Republican Primaries.

But her ascension to the national stage is no fluke.  She is an activist who was carefully picked to interrupt the national dialogue about the Governments active overreach into personal and religious liberty.  According to the Family Research Council:

Ever since her testimony about the hardships of buying $9 birth control, this Georgetown law student has become the contraception mandate's standard bearer. After some unfortunate comments from Rush Limbaugh, the debate has shifted away from religious liberty to Ms. Fluke's hurt feelings. It's been convenient controversy for the White House, which may have been at its most vulnerable point in the last three years when it decided that the pursuit of sex is more important than the protection of conscience rights. Once backed into a corner by members from both parties, the Left finally found a victim to rally around--and the media has been all too happy to oblige.

But these distractions, as helpful as they may have been to the President's cause, won't last forever. At its core, this shows the administration's pattern of trampling on religious freedom in its pursuit of a "fundamentally changed" America. What Sandra Fluke has done, in part, is draw attention back to the dangers of ObamaCare, which threatens not only our physical health but our moral well-being. Essentially, the President is demanding that religious people sacrifice their beliefs to benefit someone else's libido. Through this mandate, he suggests that unlimited sexual license is more important than faith.

via www.frc.org

 

 According to Bill O'Reilly, Fluke is a well played political pawn for the Democrats:

So, this whole deal comes back to the White House, at least indirectly. So, let's run down what we know. Sandra Fluke is a former head of the group "Georgetown University Law Students for Reproductive Justice." On February 9th, a group called "The Feminist Majority Foundation" arranged for Sandra to appear at press conference criticizing the Catholic bishops for objecting to President Obama's contraception mandate.

After that, Congressman Elijah Cummings, the former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, invited Sandra to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee. But she was turned down by the chair, Congressman Darrell Issa, because she had no expertise in the church/state subject matter.

Nevertheless, Ms. Fluke went to the hearing and afterward complained to ABC News that she had been denied. A week later, Nancy Pelosi staged a mock hearing starring Sandra. After which Rush Limbaugh made derogatory comments elevating her to left-wing martyrdom.

via www.foxnews.com

America is being played by the administration and the media.  We are being led like sheep to be sheared of our religious and individual liberties.  Sandra Fluke is not a crusader for women's rights, she is crusading to have someone else, anyone else, fund her sex habits no matter what the cost to our first amendment freedom of religion.

For more perspective, check out this article by Cathy Ruse of the Family Research Council.

Is Milk Really Healthy for You? - Men's Health

"Milk is a deadly poison," according to the Dairy Education Board. In fact, if you peruse this special interest group's Web site, notmilk.com, you'll find dozens of articles about the purported evils of this popular beverage. One claim, for example, is that milk from cows contains cancer-causing hormones and dairy industry dollars have kept that fact bottled up. All of which may leave you second-guessing your next sip.

However, as a nutritionist, I've found that most men thrive on milk, whether their goal is to lose fat or build muscle. So to be sure it's safe, I've investigated all the anti-milk claims, sifting through the research while also turning a critical eye to pro-milk propaganda. After all, the only agenda I have is my clients' health. The result: all your milk questions, answered.

via www.menshealth.com

Yesterday it was bad, today it is not bad, tomorrow it will be bad again . . . isn't it funny how science is constantly changing its mind? Nevertheless, I still like to drink milk.

Better to Give: Christmas 2011

I recently moved to a new home.  In the process, I discovered that packing is the primary reason that people hate to move--the second reason is unpacking.

There is nothing like a move to show you that you have too much stuff.

We began packing about 6 weeks before our move date.  The process began at a slow and leisurely pace. We identified things we wanted to give away and we would take a trunk-load to Goodwill, the ARC, or the Springs Rescue Mission as we identified enough to drop off.  The process seemed to be going smoothly until we took a serious look at our basement--the black hole of the house where everything seemed to end up if it was not used daily.

We discovered that we not only had too much stuff, we had shamefully too much stuff and there was no way we would be able to take all of it with us to our new home. To relieve our overstuffed state, we had a garage sale.  We sold a garage full of items--a bed, a treadmill, clothes that no longer fit, books, toys, old video games and movies.  Afterwards, we looked at our belongings: still too much stuff.

We filled a dumpster.  We filled a moving truck.  We still left some stuff behind.

I never want to be owned by that much stuff again.   I have not completely unpacked and I can see that I took too much stuff with me.  Worse, I can see "International Stuff Day," I mean "Christmas" coming around the corner.

Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas.  I love the reason we celebrate--the gift of Salvation through Christ Jesus.  I love parties with friends and family.  I love seeing delight in the eyes of my loved ones.  Christmas isn't the problem, stuff is.

Taking seriously Jesus' exhortation that it is "more blessed to give than to receive," I have decided to celebrate Christmas differently this year.  I want to do something radical and counter-cultural--no, I am not going to protest outside a bank--I also want to do something relevant. Who knows, you may want to join me.

This year for Christmas, I have a single Christmas gift request.  I want my loved ones to donate my gift to Children's Hope Chest.  I want to raise $1,000.00 or more for this ministry.

Children's Hope Chest feeds orphans, and that's good, but that's not all they do.  Much like Compassion International, they have child sponsorships, whereby you can meet the needs of a child in poverty and communicate with the child via letters to instill a sense of hope, but Hopechest does something else that is amazing.  Their operation in Russia actively rescues girls from the sex trade industry.  Do you know what happens to an orphan when they age out of the system in Russia?  They go to the street to look for their own job and housing.  Some of the young girls who age out in Russia are met on the street by men and women who promise them grand jobs over seas, but sell them as sex slaves.  Hopechest not only provides guidance for orphans who age out, they also actually rescue girls from brothels.

Imagine waking up Christmas morning.  Under the tree, you have a few small boxes or envelopes.  Instead of receiving some new sweaters, PJ's, ties, and maybe an electric razor, you open an envelope.  Inside the envelope is a note that tells you that $30.00 was donated in your name to feed a child.  The small box contains a note that says $100.00 was given in your name to get a girl out of a brothel.  $50.00 to support a care-point in Swaziland, $25.00 toward feeding kids in India and on and on it goes.  That's what I want for Christmas this year.  I want to try to raise at least $1,000.00 to save lives--after all, saving people is the reason Jesus came over 2,000 years ago.  Saving people is the reason for Christmas.

 Maybe, this month, you will look around your house and see if you too are "overstuffed."  If so, maybe you want to make this a year where you are more blessed to give than to receive--can I encourage you to request your gifts be given to Hopechest.org like me?  Maybe you have another favorite ministry--how much would you like to raise for them?

Some of my family are concerned that I won't have anything to open that day.  Let me assure you, I will be thrilled to open notes telling me how someone else was helped on my behalf.  I have never celebrated Christmas this way, but I am really excited (more excited than ever as an adult) for Christmas day.  Please, if you plan on giving a gift to me this year, give it through Hopechest and know that you not only brought me joy, you brought joy to someone in poverty too.

How do you ask for a kidney?

Mohan is on the list for a kidney transplant, but he's not holding his breath. Last year, 114 Arizonans donated one or more organs upon their deaths, according to Kris Patterson of the Donor Network of Arizona. Meanwhile, 1,462 Arizonans are waiting for a kidney.

So Mohan has decided to go looking for one, not only for him but for others who like him aren't lucky enough to have a family member who can donate. The problem: Where do you look? And how do you ask?

"How do you go and say, 'Can I have your kidney?'" he says. "I've looked at friends and I say, 'I need a kidney.' . . . It's amazing how your popularity kind of droops down a little bit."

Mohan, whose blood is Type O, says it's one of the hardest things he's ever had to do but the alternative is to remain tethered to a machine that is both prolonging his life and diminishing it.

So he is forcing himself to do what in the past came so easily: to talk, to ask, to spread the word about the impact one person can have on another's life, by giving up something that they don't need.

Lynn Closway, a spokeswoman for the Mayo Clinic's Transplant Center where Mohan is a patient, says friends, co-workers and strangers have donated kidneys. Half of Mayo's 163 kidney transplants this year have been from living donors, and half of those were from non-relatives.

Last year, a Phoenix taxi driver made international news when he offered his kidney to a woman he drove to dialysis three times a week. Unfortunately, medical issues disqualified him.

Closway says Mayo does extensive testing to ensure that a person who is a blood and tissue match is physically and emotionally able to donate. For information, call Mayo's Transplant Center at 480-342-0904.

Know that people like Mohan are waiting.

"I don't want to die yet," he says. "I've got things I want to do. I want to live. I want to go places, do things. I want to see my grandkids go to college and graduate. I want to go trout fishing. I'm teaching my grandson how to tie flies so that we can go fishing. There are great places in Montana I'd like to take him.

"I just hope there's somebody out there."

via www.azcentral.com

Organ donation awareness is an important part of our curriculum. We address organ donation to every driver education student we enroll. My Uncle Bob now finds himself in need of a kidney, so he is advocating for others, like himself, who will benefit from an organ transplant.

Some organs, like the kidney, can be given from live donors. Others can only come from deceased donors. Organ donation is compatible with every major religion. It does not disfigure the donor, and it does not cost money to be a donor. Organ donation is truly a gift of life.

If you are interested in registering to be an organ donor but you don't know how, visit OrganDonor.gov

Aside: I am saddened by the vitriolic attacks against Uncle Bob in the comments section after the above linked article. Once again, pro-government progressive liberals (ArizonaJoe) who preach "tolerance" act to kick a man when he is down.

Obamacare Lies Get Bolder

The Heritage Foundation has led the charge against Obamacare since the first facts and figures became available last year. Now that Democrat leaders in congress have bribed their own party members to pass it and they got absolutely no support from conservatives, President Obama is trying to frame the health insurance reform package as a "centrist" approach to legislation. He has gone so far as to imply that the Heritage Foundation supports this horrible legislation. Today, Heritage President Ed Feulner responded to Obama's claims.  If the video below does not load for you, click here to got to the Heritage Foundation website.

Political Theater at it's Worst

“We’re not campaigning anymore,” the president told his Republican opponent in the 2008 election. “The election is over.”

But the day did seem to be mostly about campaigning as lawmakers lobbied viewers regarding the best way to move forward in this yearlong debate.

Early on, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, largely silent to this point, interrupted Obama to inform him that Republicans so far had spoken for 24 minutes while Democrats had taken 52 minutes. Obama relented he had forgotten to count himself on the Democratic side because he is the president.

Well, Republicans kept a time track of the entire roughly 7-hour day and here is the final tally:

• Republicans: 110 minutes
• Democrats: 114 minutes
• President Obama: 119 minutes

Obama and Democrats spent their minutes trying to tell America that the two parties really aren’t that far apart when it comes to healthcare. Republicans countered with repeatedly using the phrase “start over” in unsuccessful attempts to get the Democrats to scrap the current bills in favor of a clean sheet of paper. Translation: the two sides really are deeply divided on this issue.

Still, Obama, in his final lecture at the end of the session, warned that Democrats are willing to go at it alone when it comes to healthcare. He said ultimately voters would decide if this is the best course of action.

via online.worldmag.com

If the 6 hour passion(less) play were not bad enough, the president's comments before the health care summit indicate it was just a show. When asked if he has a plan B, the president told a reporter before the event that he "always has a plan." Not that having a plan is bad, but I would have expected something along the lines of, "My plan is to use this summit to make a better health care plan."

I think any objective viewer could see that the real plan was to cast the Republicans as "the party of No" and then shove his bloated healthcare disaster down the throats of Americans who clearly do not want his kind of big-government reform.

All along, both parties have been grasping for power. Most politicians seem to forgotten that they are public servants. The progressive politicians in both parties continue to move America in the direction of European socialism, not because it works so well, but because they will gain power over others. As though spitting in the face of the TEA Party activists, they have forgotten that America was built on the idea of individual liberty and they have abandoned our shared history.

Sadly, this health care initiative is less about providing healthcare to those who need it and more about advancing a political ideology that rewards elitists and enslaves everyone else.  This will herald a loss of power for the Democrats.  Hopefully it will also inspire vigilance on the part of citizens to watch the Republicans and keep them in check too.

The Medical Marijuana Joke

After my recent court date with a fellow who uses marijuana for "medicinal" purposes, I thought I would do a tiny bit of research. What conditions qualify a person for marijuana?  The guy I saw sure didn't have cataracts.

I stumbled across an interview with a pothead.  Although I did not find a list of qualifying conditions, the interview answered my question about the standard for a prescription.  The quotes below are straight from the horse's mouth. The kid who was interviewed is a loadie and he knows he is exploiting the system, but at least he is honest.  Here are my favorite quotes:

Most doctors don't care if you are "sick" or not. Besides, some of the legitimate reasons a person CAN be prescribed Medical Marijuana are as vague as, "Pain". So, the Doctors are trying to help sick people feel better AND they are trying to help healthy people feel better! Its a win, win. I first got my prescription about 7 years ago from a Dr. E##. He was recommended by a friend and was very professional. I had to fill out normal Doctor's Office forms and write about how I needed Cannabis for whatever medical reason I chose (They were listed on the form in case I wanted to choose one on the spot). I chose pain because of my many sk8boarding injuries and proceeded to pay his secretary $250.00 for a one year prescription for Medical Marijuana. . .

. . . I think alcohol should be illegal and weed should be legal for recreational use. As far as other drugs- keep um illegal but don't spend any money enforcing those laws. I don't know, maybe acid should be legal. Maybe acid should be mandatory, like Jury Duty.

via laist.com

Pot-heads will argue that marijuana is healthy and good.  You can almost see the rainbows and butterflies that they see when they talk about it.  Let's suppose they are right.  Listen to Tommy Chong in this interview with Giraldo Rivera:

Sounds "healthy," doesn't he?  No brain damage at all.  Well, at least not that he would notice.

How long do we have to put up with the farce of "medical" marijuana?  Do our legislators really think they are doing a good thing by legitimizing pot?  Are these same legislators on pot when they write laws?

So-called "progressive" liberals view drug use as a minor crime that should not be heavily prosecuted.  When jail populations are bloated, they release drug offenders--failing to recognize that drugs are related to some of our most heinous crimes like home invasions, burglary, assault, and rape.  Putting these addicts back on the street (even worse, legalizing their addictions) does not serve to create a more peaceful and orderly society.

Medical Marijuana is a joke.  The dealers and the addicts are the only ones who find it funny.

Newsmax: Franken Falters

Liberal blogs are buzzing about Al Franken's performance on the U.S. Senate floor, claiming that he "destroyed" Republican Sen. John Thune's contention that the Senate health bill triggers taxes before significant benefits. But the video shows a different story. During Franken's Senate floor speech, the Minnesota Democrat appears to be rambling, confused and shocked when Thune interrupts him to "yield for a question." Franken agrees to Thune's request and seems befuddled about Thune's point: The Democratic plan kicks in significant taxes almost immediately, with MOST of the Democratic healthcare plan "benefits" starting after 2013. Franken's performance was so dismal that the acting president of the Senate had to interrupt his rambling to remind him that he actually held the Senate floor. Other Democratic senators clearly wanted to assist the blustering Franken, with Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown leading the charge. Brown deflected Thune's critical point to discuss Medicare. The Franken performance suggests that "Saturday Night Live" finally has found its way on to the U.S. Senate floor. © Newsmax. All rights reserved.

via newsmax.com

After all the effort Franken spent to cheat his way into the senate, one would think he would have been prepared to answer a simple question.

Real Clear Politics: The Climate Change Travesty

WASHINGTON -- With 20,000 delegates, advocates and journalists jetting to Copenhagen for planet Earth's last chance, the carbon footprint of the global warming summit will be the only impressive consequence of the climate change meeting. Its organizers had hoped it would produce binding caps on emissions, global taxation to redistribute trillions of dollars, and micromanagement of everyone's choices. . . .

. . . Were their science as unassailable as they insist it is, and were the consensus as broad as they say it is, and were they as brave as they claim to be, they would not be "goaded" into intellectual corruption. Nor would they meretriciously bandy the word "deniers" to disparage skepticism that shocks communicants in the faith-based global warming community.

Skeptics about the shrill certitudes concerning catastrophic man made warming are skeptical because climate change is constant: From millennia before the Medieval Warm Period (800 to 1300), through the Little Ice Age (1500 to 1850), and for millennia hence, climate change is always a 100 percent certainty. Skeptics doubt that the scientists' models, which cannot explain the present, infallibly map the distant future.

via www.realclearpolitics.com

I spent years studying natural sciences and I have a degree in biology. From the time Al Gore came out with his inconvenient "documentary" I have been skeptical of his claims because the only thing constant about our climate is change. George Will of Real Clear Politics does a fantastic job of expressing what I, and many other scientifically minded individual, have been thinking. 

On the political front, his article is clear and concise. On the scientific front, one can find an abundance of evidence that global warming is not occurring at an alarming rate to include articles by the New York Times about stable temperatures and evidence that polar bears, the global warming mascot, are increasing in numbers.  One could correctly argue that the New York Times is not politically neutral, but the NYT's political bias is generally in favor of the global warming alarmist, so an NYT article that publish facts that contradict the hysteria of global warming should spur thought even among GW adherents.

Image sourced from ClimateProgress.org