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27Mar2011
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27Mar2011
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27Mar2011
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With Obama’s numbers high and the lack of a competent (I’m being nice here) republican candidate, I am with Bill Maher, “The election is not in the bag”. This write is more about what the title speaks, which I enjoyed reading. But I also like the side story on Obama and the election. And as you will read, Anonz is not the only one who knows that the majority of republican billionaires have contributed to the republican party via Super Pacs.
If you grow up in America, it’s pretty rare if you don’t love money. One of the first things I ever remember being punished for was stealing money. Five dollars, off my father’s dresser. I was so little, I don’t think I even knew it was wrong to take something that wasn’t specifically mine — I recall this being my introduction to the concept of “larceny is bad.” But somehow, I knew it was good to have cash.
After I left my middle class household at 18, standard of living took a real tumble for a while. At Cornell, I had no money, and boy did I look it. They called where I lived the last three years Collegetown, but Collegetown was really slums in a rural setting. Landlords did not have to work that hard in Ithaca, N.Y. — every year, there was fresh supply of eager tenants among the students who didn’t want to live in a sorority or fraternity. It was a sweet market for a slumlord.
But even that looked good compared to what was waiting for me as I began my illustrious career as a standup comedian in New York City in 1979. First year I lived on 99th Street in Spanish Harlem, a five-floor walk up, toilet down the hall. No shower — a tub that sat in the kitchen with a snake-like attachment that hooked up to the kitchen sink. Walked home every night from the comedy clubs on the tony Upper East Side, watching the neighborhoods become poorer and scarier as I made my way north, and I’m sure the only reason I was never robbed was, they took one look at me and knew it wasn’t worth the trouble. Sometimes, freedom really is just another word for nothing left to lose.
And yet, in a short 33 years, things had turned around enough so that I was able to give a million dollars to the super PAC of a certain mixed-race president who, I would like to remind all my overconfident progressive friends, does NOT have this election in the bag. And a lot of people this last week have said the same thing to me: “You’re not picking up the drinks tonight?”
The great thing about having been poor is how liberated it makes you if you eventually become rich. There’s nothing like the knowledge that you don’t need money to survive. That the money cushion you lie on every night doesn’t have to be three feet thick, and you can still get to sleep.
Other people seemed surprised I had a million dollars, which amused me. I’ve had a television show since 1993; television pays well — I may even have another million lying around somewhere. Every year when I visit my accountant in December to see how the year went, he always says I’m the best saver of all his clients, which amazes me, because I feel like I deprive myself of absolutely nothing. I once asked him, what do your other clients spend their money on? Because I know who some of his other clients are, and I know they make WAY more than I do. He said that what they spend their money on is always changing, and that’s not even the point — the point is, however much money they make that year, they always spend all of it! That’s how they think: have money, spend it, because the real tragedy would be to die and have money left over.
Me? I just don’t have expensive tastes I guess — I don’t collect cars or paintings or jewelry, and I gave up my heroin habit years ago. But I also know that, as I said when I presented that giant check to Priorities USA Action last Thursday at the end of my stand up special on Yahoo!, “This hurts!” I was trying to make the point that if I could do it, a lot of other people could do it a lot more easily than me. You know, the only place in America where the millionaires and billionaires are predominantly liberal is here in Hollywood — with the possible exception of Silicon Valley and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. There’s a reason that of the 16 billionaires that have contributed to super PACs this year, 14 have given to Republicans. It is generally the party of the rich. And in a post-Citizens United world, the party of the rich has an advantage like they’ve never had before. In 2008, the most you could give to a candidate was $2,300. Now it’s Infinity. No, the election is not in the bag.
*******
Al: You’re welcome. It seems Henry is a great testimonial that it works. I HOPE you have the same results. All I can say is that I wish I had kept up with drinking it. I don’t have any pain in my joints but I bet it is great for maintenance.
Kent: You certainly have created a popular thread on my blog, and my readers are no doubt enjoying it. Although I admit I smiled while reading the comments (thanks for all of the compliments), your story is amusing, only because it is made personal by copying the story lines given here, and by involving all of the characters/readers who comment here. How could I not be amused? -But…you do have gall. Let this be known…fun aside, I am in no way giving my okay, nor approving of the fact that you are not honoring my copyright, by basically stealing what is not yours.
Anonz: Unfortunately, I know what you say is true. Let’s HOPE everyone else takes your words seriously. And I HOPE you are taking good care of yourself.
Ruth!: So great to see you here! I have missed seeing your comments. Paris, and you and everyone there, is still on my mind as you know. I HOPE you’ll stick around. I want to see your name here more often. Kisses and hugs to you and yours.
Now…I can see there are many more comments but my time is up. If you want to continue, the forum is open.
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
“Changing to a ‘Smart Meter’ is a dumb idea.” I know this statement sounds trite. But I don’t know a better way to express my thoughts. I have been fighting our local utilities company, proudly displaying a photo of a “Smart Meter” with a big “X” across it, in our front living room window. I think it expresses my thoughts clearly, and they get the picture. They’ve been going around, doing the switch but not here. Our home is probably the last home in our block that doesn’t have one.
About a month ago I got a phone call telling me that I could “opt out” – wonderful.
The other day I decided to opt out, only to find out that I have to pay to opt out. Are you kidding me? Nope. PG&E, our local gas and electric company, wants me to pay $75.00 + $10.00 every month to keep our analong meter. What a rip off. Now we have to pay for a meter we don’t want and more importantly for something that is not good for our health. Now some of you might not agree with me, but from all that I read here and on the net, I don’t want this new meter.
What do you think? Read this and start flapping your lips.
Dr. David Carpenter MD, a graduate of Harvard Medical School and a physician who has worked in the area of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and public health for over 18 years, has a few choice words for power companies that are forcing smart meters down the throats of their customers all over the United States.
Dr. Carpenter adamantly insists that there is no evidence whatsoever that smart meters are in any way safe for human beings. He goes on to say that there is, in fact, ample evidence that demonstrates “convincingly and consistently” that exposure to radiofrequency radiation (RFR) at elevated levels for long periods of time increases the risk of cancer, damages the nervous system, and adversely affects the reproductive organs.
Dr. Carpenter says that an informed person should demand that they be allowed to keep their analog meter.
The two minute video interview with Dr. Carpenter below is well worth watching.
If you are having smart meters forced upon you where you live, know that California power customers have recently won the battle to keep their analog meters. There is both an annual and monthly charge for this “inconvenience” to the power utilities, but at least customers now have a choice to opt out where they did not before.
This precedent for opting out in California should make it easier for others with smart meters who don’t want them in other areas of the United States to be able to get their analog meters back as well.
While smart meters reduce workload and increase profitability for the power companies, they do so at the expense of the health of their customers. Opting out is the only “smart” way to deal with this corporate incursion.
*P*G*&*E*R*I*P*O*F*F*I*
Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the ‘Donate’ button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my ‘Donate’ page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
The Republican march against adult Americans’ right to make their own decisions about really private matters remains so unbelievable that parody has become a legitimate legislative response. Oklahoma got the “Every Sperm Is Sacred” protest amendment. Virginia got ameasure to require prostate exams for Viagra prescriptions.
And now Georgia State Representative Yasmin Neal has a bill that would ban vasectomies. After a Republican lawmaker introduced a bill taking away women’s reproductive rights, Neal decided that fair is fair. I typed out what she says in her announcement video, because I think it’s worth reading the whole thing:
“Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation over vasectomies. It is patently unfair that men can avoid unwanted fatherhood by presuming that their judgment over such matters is more valid than the judgment of the General Assembly, while women’s ability to decide is constantly up for debate throughout the United States. Women, our bodies, and what we do with it are always up for debate.
“This bill has been drafted for all women who have the wherewithal to choose. The day has come where men should feel the same pressure and invasion of privacy that women have faced for years. I have introduced this legislation because it is the purpose of the General Assembly to assert an invasive state interest in the reproductive habits of the men of this state and substitute the will of the government over the will of adult men.
“This bill states that vasectomies can be performed to avert the death of a man or to avert serious risk of substantial or irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function of the man. This bill mimics the abortion bills throughout the nation, and just like the abortion bills interfere with a woman’s right to choose, it’s only fair that the General Assembly debate the men’s right to choose, as well.”
Representative Neal is holding a hearing on her bill this afternoon.
*******
Readers: Thoughts? Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
One of the most frustrating characteristics of multi-national drug corporations is their commitment to the corporate mantra of maximizing profits for their shareholders at any cost, including that of human lives.
The testing of dangerous drugs and vaccines on children is an area that is particularly risk-filled…
The Nuremberg Codei provides ethical guidelines for medical researchers to protect human test subjects in scientific experiments from injury, disability or death.
The first principle of the Nuremberg Code—that doctors must obtain voluntary informed consent from the person about to be experimented on—appears to be frequently ignored, especially when it comes to clinical trials of experimental vaccines.
In recent news, the Argentinean Federation of Health Professionals accused GlaxoSmithKline of misleading participants and pressuring impoverished, disadvantaged families into enrolling their children in clinical trials of the experimental Synflorix pediatric pneumonia vaccine.
Fourteen of the children participating in the experimental vaccine trial died. Glaxo Smith Kline denies the charges and says it will appeal the nearly $240,000 fine imposed on the company and two doctors. According to CNNii:
“The deaths of 14 children, who reportedly died after participating in the trials, have drawn widespread attention in Argentinean media… GlaxoSmithKline categorically denies that the vaccine caused the deaths… But the health professional federation pointed to the children’s deaths in its call for increased regulations on drug testing.”
The death of 14 children in a vaccine trial SHOULD draw widespread attention, but while it’s a major news item in Argentina, the US approach seems coldly indifferent, to say the least. Why is this? Why are U.S. health officials expressing concern when children die from other causes but are turning a blind eye to the tragedy of children being killed by both experimental and licensed drugs and vaccines? That makes no sense at all!
Preying on the Poor and Illiterate
This certainly is not the first time children have died during drug company trials. It’s also not the first time a pharmaceutical company has been accused of being less than completely honest about experimental vaccine or drug risks, when they want to persuade poor, under-educated people into signing up for clinical trials.
For example, according to Nigerian authorities, Pfizer illegally tested an unapproved drug on children with brain infections at a field hospital in 1996. Eleven of the children died and dozens were disabled before the illegal activity was exposed.
Similarly, two years ago, the Indian government suspended Merck’s Gardasil study after they discovered that four of the young clinical trial participants had died after receiving Gardasil, and more than 120 girls suffered severe adverse reactions. A civil society-led investigation into the vaccine trial highlighted serious violations of ethical guidelines for clinical research and informed consent rights of study participants or their legal guardians.
Again and again we see how major drug companies scheme to enlist people, who do not have full information about experimental vaccine or drug risks and are effectively turned into human guinea pigs in scientific experiments. In fact, this almost seems to be more the rule than the exception.
Likewise, we see how conventional medicine, in general, downplays the inherent risks of drugs and vaccines. Fourteen children died in GSK’s pneumonia vaccine trial and, yet, we’re supposed to believe that every single one of those deaths was completely unrelated to the vaccine. Another case in point is the shocking lack of respect for individual human life in the approval of a pediatric anthrax vaccine trial by the National Biodefense Science Board!
Pediatric Anthrax Vaccine—A Disaster in the Making?
Last year, I interviewed Dr. Meryl Nass about anthrax, and she was the one who brought this terrible situation to my attention. The idea of public health officials promoting the testing of anthrax vaccine on children is truly unfathomable considering the fact that the military’s controversial mandatory anthrax vaccination program has already resulted in many reports of anthrax vaccine injuries and deaths in soldiers and civilian military personnel. Side effects occur in one to two percent of those given anthrax vaccine and 11 percent of all anthrax vaccine adverse event reports are considered serious.
The FDA’s definition of a “serious adverse reaction” to a vaccine includes a reaction that leads to:
Hospitalization
Permanent disability
Life-threatening event
Death
Anthrax vaccine was mandated by DOD for all soldiers deployed in the Gulf War to theoretically protect them against a bioterrorism attack using weaponized, inhalation anthrax. Since then, the anthrax vaccine has been implicated in the development of so-called Gulf War syndrome, and Dr. Nass believes it’s a viable candidate as one of the contributing factors. Meanwhile, animal studies have shown the vaccine to be rather ineffective against anthrax infection… So, what might the ramifications of giving anthrax vaccine to infants be? I shudder to even consider it! The very idea of subjecting infants to such a hazardous vaccine seems, quite frankly, unconscionable.
“It’s completely crazy, and it’s illegal. It can only be done because the Department of Health and Human Services is denying that there are serious adverse reactions. They have their National Biodefense Science Board, which by the way has two people who were very important in running the anthrax vaccine program in the military on that board, and their job is to protect the good name of the anthrax vaccine.
One is John Grabenstein. He ran the military vaccine program and ran the anthrax vaccine program first. He was instrumental in creating a whole series of scientific studies that were misrepresented and poorly done to try to show that the vaccine was safe when it wasn’t safe. He’s a very unethical researcher. He is a pharmacist with a PhD, and of course where did he go after he left the military? He went to Merck and works as a so-called scientist in their vaccine division… Merck knew that this guy was unethical; that he was cooking the books on the research, and they hired him anyway.”
Unethical Drug Trials Overseas: A Growing Problem
According to a 2011 investigative report published by Vanity Fairiii, 6,485 clinical drug trials were conducted overseas in 2008, up from just 271 overseas trials in 1990. And tracking of these trials is virtually non-existent. This can be a very serious problem when you consider that about 80 percent of the applications submitted to the US FDA for new drugs contain data from these foreign trials… Worse yet, drug companies are not required to report studies conducted overseas, which leaves the door wide open for studies with negative results to simply disappear.
There’s also very little accountability in terms of the accuracy of these trials because many of them are not performed by academic researchers but by independent contractors, who do everything from devising and performing the trial, to reporting on the results, ghostwriting technical articles and creating promotional campaigns for the drug. There can be no doubt that scientific experiments and clinical trials that do not contain adequate informed consent protections puts innocent human participants at risk for injury and death and is a violation of our most basic freedoms and human rights.
Is a Pneumonia Vaccine Even Necessary?
Getting back to GlaxoSmithKline’s pneumonia vaccine trial—in which 14 children died—a big question that really deserves an honest answer is whether such a vaccine is necessary. It is true that pneumonia, which is a severe form of acute lower respiratory infection that specifically affects your lungs, can have serious, life-threatening complications. According to the 2006 UNICEF report, Pneumonia: The Forgotten Killer of Childreniv, complications from pneumonia kills more children than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.
An estimated 2 million children die from pneumonia each year, accounting for almost 1 in 5 deaths of children under the age of five, worldwide, with South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa bearing the burden of more than half of the total number of pneumonia cases. That said, the debate is not about whether pneumonia is a serious infection or not—it is.
However, UNICEF has also detailed the most effective forms of prevention of pneumonia, which include:
Exclusive breast feeding
Promoting adequate nutrition and zinc supplementation
Reducing indoor air pollution
Expanding vaccine coverage
While vaccination is on the list, it’s by no means the most important prevention strategy. To highlight the effectiveness of simple and inexpensive nutritional intervention, consider this: After reviewing a total of 10 studies, investigators at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that zinc supplementation alone reduces the risk of pneumonia by 41 percent!
Some people, who prefer to use more natural holistic health approach to staying well, have used essential oils to help prevent respiratory infections like pneumonia. Some essential oils — oregano, thyme and rosewood oils in particular – appear to create an autolytic reaction in organisms, including Streptococcus pneumonia. One researcher found that spraying these essential oils on S. pneumonia cells in the laboratory setting prompted the cells to fall apart!
How to Reduce Your Risk of Infectious Disease Without a Vaccine …
Most people, who have become educated about vaccination and health, would be quite skeptical about voluntarily enrolling their child into a vaccine clinical trial. But, as discussed, many of these trials are conducted overseas, in underdeveloped countries, where families do not have the education to understand the risks they are taking or the means to protest being used as human guinea pigs in drug company sponsored scientific experiments. Some of these unsuspecting research subjects die and others are left with permanent health problems that can destroy their lives and their families.
This is a travesty. I long for the day our medical system will stop violating the informed consent rights of human subjects participating in clinical trials and drug companies will stop treating the people, who die and are injured in clinical trials, as the cost of doing business. Unfortunately, I don’t think the system will change on its own. It will only change once enough people see through it, and refuse to buy into the false promise that a pill will cure every ill and a vaccine will prevent every disease…
It’s so important to understand that, overall, your best defense against any disease is a robust immune system. Vaccines can actually compromise healthy immune function and this is true, regardless of your age. Two of the most important factors influencing the health of your immune system are:
Your gut flora, and
Your vitamin D status
About 80 percent of your immune system resides in your gut, so maintaining a healthy gut flora is imperative for a fully functioning immune system. Also, if your child’s gut is populated with too many pathogens, he or she is likely to be more prone to vaccine damage. For more information about this, I highly recommend listening to my interview with Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride.
Vitamin D is another crucial component for maintaining optimal health, so I urge you to get your children’s vitamin D levels tested, and, if found deficient, to follow my recommendations for optimizing their levels.
Artificially manipulating your immune system with a vaccine does not produce the same kind of immunity and sought after disease-fighting results that a healthy lifestyle can. It may actually make you less healthy in the long run. For more information, the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) is a good place to start to do research and obtain information that you need to make intelligent, informed decisions about vaccination.
Share Your Story with the Media and People You Know
The media is quick to warn about the dangers of infectious diseases but rarely discuss the dangers of the vaccines against those diseases. This has created a very lopsided view of the safety of vaccines. So please, if you or a family member has suffered a serious vaccine reaction, injury or death, talk about it. If we don’t share information and experiences with each other, everybody feels alone and afraid to speak up. Write a letter to the editor if you have a different perspective on a vaccine story that appears in your local newspaper, or make a call in to a radio talk show that is only presenting one side of the vaccine story.
I must be frank with you; you have to be brave because you might be strongly criticized for daring to talk about the “other side” of the vaccine story. Be prepared for it and have the courage to not back down. Only by sharing our perspective and what we know to be true about vaccination will the public conversation about vaccination open up so people are not afraid to talk about it.
We cannot allow the drug companies and medical trade associations funded by drug companies to dominate the conversation about vaccination. The vaccine injured cannot be swept under the carpet and treated like nothing more than “statistically acceptable collateral damage” of national one-size-fits-all mass vaccination policies that put way too many people at risk for injury and death. We shouldn’t be treating people like guinea pigs instead of human beings.
Internet Resources Where You Can Learn More
To learn more about informed consent, the six principles for protecting your vaccine choices, and a summary of the U.S. law pertaining to vaccine exemptions, please review the article, STOP! Read This Before Vaccinating for Anything.
I encourage you to visit the following web pages on the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) website at www.NVIC.org:
NVIC Advocacy Portal: Protect vaccine exemptions in YOUR state. Sign up to use the free online Advocacy Portal and stay informed about threats to your legal right to make voluntary vaccine choices so you can take immediate action by contacting your state legislators with the click of a mouse or touch on your SmartPhone screen.
NVIC Memorial for Vaccine Victims: View descriptions and photos of children and adults, who have suffered vaccine reactions, injuries and deaths. If you or your child experiences an adverse vaccine event, please consider posting and sharing your story here.
Vaccine Freedom Wall: View or post descriptions of harassment by doctors or government officials for making independent vaccine choices.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
*S*I*C*K*O*S*
Thoughts? Rants? Blog me.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
He is young, he is gifted and he is Black. At the age of 14, Tony Hansberry II certainly holds grounded status in the league of exceptional youth.
“Tony Hansberry II isn’t waiting to finish medical school to contribute to improved medicalcare. He has already developed a stitching technique that can be used to reduce surgical complications, as well as the chance of error among less experienced surgeons,” writes Jackie Jones in BlackAmericaWeb.com on June 16, 2009.
At the time, Hansberry was a high school freshman at the Darnell-Cookman Middle/HighSchool of the Medical Arts in Jacksonville, Florida, a special medical magnet school that allows its students to take advanced classes in medicine. Informational documents cite that students at the school are able to master suturing in eighth grade. Suturing is the surgical stitching of a wound.
The son of a registered nurse and an African Methodist Episcopal church pastor, the Darnell-Cookman student said that “I just want to help people and be respected, knowing that I can save lives.” His goal is to become a neurosurgeon.
Jones reports that the idea for his unique procedure was conceived during the summer of 2008 while enrolled as an intern at the University of Florida ’s Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville.
It was noted that Hansberry responded to a challenge to improve a procedure called the “endo stitch” used in hysterectomies that could not be clamped down properly to close the tube where the patient’s uterus had been. Using a medical dummy, the 14-year-old devised a vertical way to apply the endo stitch, completing the stitching in a third of the time of traditional surgery.
“It took me a day or two to come up with the concept,” Hansberry said in the Jones interview.
He was supervised by urogynecologist Dr. Brent Siebel and Bruce Nappi, administrative director of the Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research. Hansberry’s accomplishment, it is reported, won second place in the medical category regional science fair in February 2009.
“Education experts say that youngsters as young as 10 can experience great achievement at an early age if their thirst for knowledge is encouraged and they are given opportunities to shadow professionals and get internships,” as quoted by Jones.
In April of 2009, Hansberry presented his findings at a medical conference at the University of Florida before an audience of doctors and board-certified surgeons. Medical lead teacher Angela Tenbroeck is quoted noting that in many ways, Hansberry is a typical student, but that he is way ahead of his classmates when it comes to surgical skills.
“I would put him up against a first-year med student. He’s an outstanding young man and I am proud to have him representing us,” she says. As an 11th- grader at the age of 16, the January 25, 2011 Jacksonville.com blog reports that Hansberry was one of nine youth who were selected to travel to Washington that February to present the Boy Scouts of America Report to the Nation to President Barack Obama.
District director for the Boy Scouts of America Lawrence Norman in the Jacksonville report said that when district leaders were asked to recommend an exemplary Scout, “Tony’s name kept coming up.”
Hansberry was also introduced at the annual meeting of the North Florida Council of The Boy Scouts at the University of North Florida on January 25, 2011.
According to Jacksonville writer Justin Sacharoff, the Boy Scouts of America Report to the Nation features the year’s achievements including national service, conservation, healthy living and community involvement.
The Darnell-Cookman Middle/ High School of the Medical Arts is a school within the Duval County Public Schools system in Jacksonville. It is a National Blue Ribbon School and also an “A” school in the State of Florida school grading system.
The school had its beginnings nearly 200 years ago when Methodist minister Reverend S.B. Darnell moved to Jacksonville to serve as pastor of Ebenezer Methodist- Episcopal Church. In the late 1800s, he founded the Cookman Institute. It was the first school of highereducation for African Americans in the state of Florida specializing in the religious and academic preparation of teachers.
Under the leadership of Darnell, the school served thousands of young Black men and women until it was destroyed in the Great Jacksonville Fire of 1901. The Reverend Alfred Cookman, a close friend of Reverend Darnell, helped raise the money to rebuild the school. Today, Darnell-Cookman School of the Medical Arts has an enrollment upwards of 1,100 students in grades 6-12. The first graduating class will receive their diplomas in the spring of 2012.
This “Young, Gifted and Black” series is proud to present its first writing during this 2012 February Black History Month by sharing the exemplary modeled accomplishment of Tony Hansberry II. But in reality, Hansberry’s achievement historically in our communities is really not unusual or extraordinary for our African American students when they are taught, groomed and culturally inspired in an academically supportive instructional environment unique to how we learn, grow, and develop mentally, socially, emotionally, and even psychologically as Black youth in today’s challenging diverse society.
And added to this point in his words, our young neurosurgeon to be says that, “It’s not really hard if you have a passion for it.”
*G*I*F*T*E*D*
Howie,David, Al: Thank you all for your concern. I do get stressed out when I am posting late, or not able to post. I have to say that yesterday was my fault.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog.If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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