What are you and your coworkers chatting about at the office these days?
Given that we’ve all just chosen a president for the next four years, your water cooler conversations aren’t likely to revolve solely around your weekend plans or the latest episode of Dancing with the Stars.

In fact, a survey this year from the human resources firm CareerBuilder showed that 36% of employees reported discussing politics at work and 8% of employees had had a fight or heated conversation with a coworker over their political views.

Interestingly, workers over the age of 45 were much more likely than younger employees to discuss politics at work.

What do you do if your coworker or even your boss starts sounding off on why a particular politician is either “the best” or “the worst”—but you hold the opposite opinion?

SHOULD YOU SPEAK UP?
Lots of people don’t want to be so brutally honest that they cause friction with coworkers or risk falling out of favor with their bosses. As a result, many choose to simply keep their mouths shut whenever politics comes up.

But staying quiet might cause both your mental and physical health to suffer. Stifling a strong opinion isn’t just an intellectual decision—it creates a negative emotional response within you. Keeping negative emotions bottled up can fill you with frustration and anger…make you lose sleep…depress your immune system…and even make you sick.

Plus, what if, after making a political statement, your boss or colleague turns to you, looks you in the eye and challenges you, saying, “What do you think?” Remaining silent isn’t always an option.

Don’t worry, because I learned some tricks that may help you navigate this type of sticky situation from Sharlyn Lauby, president of the human resources consulting firm ITM Group, Inc., and author of the popular blog HRBartender.com.

Here they are…
1. Take a balanced approach. If you’re bursting at the seams to reply to a coworker’s political comment that you don’t agree with, Lauby said, the best first step is to start your statement diplomatically by acknowledging the other person’s point of view, which will soften (but not weaken) your point.

For example, you might say, “I can totally understand why there are some people who are upset about the Affordable Care Act and the individual mandate. But I also see how being able to keep kids on their parents’ policies can be a real benefit.”

2. Resist a debate. You don’t want a substantive conversation to turn into mere verbal sparring, so keep your tone mellow, not aggressive. But if your colleague gets hostile with you and you begin to feel uncomfortable at how intense the discussion is becoming, there’s an easy way to bring the conversation to a close in a civil fashion.

After all, it’s not that politics is an unnatural topic to discuss, in general—it’s that it’s an unnatural topic to discuss in the workplace. So you can gently remind your colleague of the context and setting—why you’re in the room together in the first place.

Depending on your profession, you might say, “You know, this is a really interesting talk, but we are here today because we love architecture. We’re passionate about structure and design. And, according to our meeting agenda, we’re supposed to be talking about this upcoming project of ours. So is it OK if we go back to talking about these building plans?”

If neither of the above two tips work and the conversation continues to escalate, it’s time to unilaterally disengage from the conversation. You could do this by making a statement such as, “Well, maybe we can respectfully agree to disagree” or “I’m sorry, but I don’t feel comfortable talking about this topic anymore.”

These types of statements make it clear that you’re trying to politely end the discussion and may help prevent your colleague from provoking you further.

Source: Sharlyn Lauby, president, ITM Group, Inc., Weston, Florida, and author of the blog HRBartender.com.

If you look to the left of Achenar about the same distance above the horizon you will see a brilliant white star. That Star is Canopus. It is the second brightest star in your sky.

The L^L use it to vector to a Gate on earth that takes them to other worlds and Galaxies at incredible speeds. They have resisted sharing the location of those Gates on earth.

Perhaps you could ask your Carr for the location. Not for publication on the blog but for sharing it with me, Adam. I believe the Gates will bring us to places in the future that are so far away that even the light trails from those worlds have not reached this part of the Universe.

Adam

“You have cancer.”
“It’s Alzheimer’s.”
“The diagnosis is Parkinson’s Disease.”

No one is ever truly prepared to find out that he or she has a chronic and/or life-threatening disease.

But it happens all the time. So even if this information doesn’t apply to you right now, bookmark this article, because you never know when you—or a close friend or family member—might need it.

A serious diagnosis usually leads to a flood of emotions. In fact, some patients say that the mental aspect of dealing with a disease (coming to terms with it) can be even more challenging than the physical part (whether it’s managing pain, fatigue, memory loss or other symptoms).

So I spoke with an expert about how to handle what goes on in your head when your body breaks down.

OVERCOMING DENIAL
Most people experience disbelief when they first learn that they have a serious health condition.

They may be confident, intellectually, that the diagnosis is correct…and yet somehow, it just doesn’t seem real. “The healthier you feel at the time of diagnosis, the more you may be in denial,” said Walter Baile, MD, a professor in the departments of behavioral sciences and psychiatry at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston who counsels doctors on how to communicate delicately with patients who have cancer.

If you truly doubt your doctor and need extra confirmation about your diagnosis, get a second opinion, he recommended. But beyond that, he said, the best thing that you can do is give yourself some time for the diagnosis to sink in—as it will. “This could take anywhere from moments to days,” he said.

GETTING PAST YOUR FEARS
Once the disbelief has worn off, you may feel fearful and/or anxious. A lot of times, people are frightened and worried because they feel lost and out of control—they don’t know what’s going to happen next, said Dr. Baile.

So the best way to reduce any panic or fright is by learning everything you can about your disorder or disease. Read any pamphlets your doctor gives you…check out books from the library on the topic…and search for information on legitimate medical Web sites, such as http://www.MedlinePlus.gov, the site for the National Institutes of Health.

The more you know about your condition and what’s ahead, the fewer surprises there will be and the more you will feel in control, said Dr. Baile.

STAYING POSITIVE
At this point, patients often become demoralized and can even feel grief.

“Even though nobody has died, you can still experience a sense of loss,” said Dr. Baile. After all, a serious illness can cause you to lose not only your health but also your job and/or financial stability—and you may worry about how it might negatively affect relationships with your loved ones and friends.

At this stage, it’s usually helpful to speak with a trained mental health counselor, such as a social worker, psychologist or psychiatrist, he said, because a counselor can help you manage stress and maintain optimism.

LETTING OTHERS IN
As you start to develop a more positive state of mind, follow this last piece of advice.

You might feel embarrassed at first to tell relatives and friends about your diagnosis, but keeping it hidden from the outside world may only make you feel lonely.

“Remember that there is nothing to feel ashamed of, and the effect of holding feelings in is much more damaging than getting them on the table,” said Dr. Baile. “You can’t deal with your emotions when they’re all locked inside.” Plus, when more people are aware of your diagnosis, more people can help you cope with it.

If you’re too tired of telling people the story of your diagnosis or if you’re too busy going to medical appointments to share the news, appoint a close friend or family member to spread the word for you, he recommended. Or you could tell people via a single mass e-mail or Facebook status update or by using a Web site such as http://www.CaringBridge.org.

And join a support group full of people who have your condition—either a group that meets in person, an online group or both, said Dr. Baile. You can find one by talking to your doctor or by entering the phrase “support group” and then the name of your condition into any Web search engine.

If talking with an entire group feels overwhelming, some hospitals have patient-to-patient programs that can match you one-on-one with someone who has (or had) your condition, so your ask doctor about that.

The supportive voicemails, e-mails, cards and baskets of fruit that you will likely get from people who hear about your plight are bound to make you smile and realize how much you’re loved—and this will help you continue to stay positive.

Plus, these loyal and compassionate friends and family members may offer to help you—and you should let them, said Dr. Baile. When people offer to bring you dinner or groceries…clean your house…or accompany you to a medical checkup or procedure, say “yes.”

Don’t feel as though you are putting them out—most people don’t offer to help if they don’t want to help. Instead, when you accept help, see it as a win-win—a good deed that makes your life easier and makes the other person feel good about himself, too.

Source: Walter Baile, MD, professor of behavioral science and psychiatry, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.

Then the police set the cabin on fire and made no effort to put the fire out. This to me means they did not want him coming out alive. It would make it a lot simpler for the police if he was shut up. Then they could control the investigation of his death and the reinvestigation of the wrongs done against him by the LAPD.

But to insure that we know that it was Dorner, they completely fabricate a story that Dorner’s wallet was recovered at the scene. However, a previous article stated that on Feb. 7 his wallet was turned over to authorities by a bus driver.

We can therefore deduce that unless he stopped by the DMV during his crime spree and presented all of the necessary documents to obtain a new ID without an existing one, that was an incredibly bold lie.

I believe if his body was burned the wallet, license and everything else would have completely burned up. Evidently this idea never occurred to the press. Neither were they concerned about the recorded tapes between the police ordering the burning of the cabin Dorner was in.

They also put a million dollar bounty on him. They forced the media to shut down their cameras,with the claim that he might see their broadcasts. That was another bold faced lie. They knew at the time that there was no television or computer access available in the cabin.

So free to act without the scrutiny of live news cameras they set fire to the cabin and took an armored vehicle and pushed in all 4 sides of it to insure he could not escape being burned alive. Let’s just tar and feather the “N” without the tar.

Have you ever heard of demolishing a home like that to get to a suspect or offering that much money for his capture? I sure have not. I am very sorry for his family. May his family have support, comfort, and peace. He should not have killed anyone but he was entitled to his day in court.

I wish he had escaped and killed a few more of those thugs with badges as he made his escape. Only then would we ever know the true story of what happened to him at the hands of the LAPD while he was an officer in training.

Sure it is a bit callous. But no more so than the thousands of citizens and OTW cops that have to suffer at the hands of those thugs with badges. They have killed, maimed, framed and sent to prison tens of thousands of innocent citizens. A few dead cops hardly makes up for it.

Cops get paid to take the risk they do. Citizens are the unsuspecting victims of these thugs with badges and a license to kill, frame, maim and abuse them at will.

I am not advocating that ALL police are thugs with badges or even all that bad. But like the white race itself, the ranks of police are made up of a percent that coldblooded thugs with badges, most of the rest are aid and abettors of those thugs with badges.

Are we supposed to give a pass to those cops who do practice the criminal behavior of the thugs with badges just because they only keep quiet about what they see?

I say “HELL NO!” On the contrary they are the reason the rapists, murders, racists, sadist and criminals join the police department. They do it precisely because of those gutless wonders who they know will look the other way and allow the to practice their cruelty upon the public.

Christopher Dorner was a man who lived to be a cop. For him to risk that by violating the “code of silence” cops live by shows a degree of integrity that should be respected, no Honored. His being an officer in the Military and believing in the Code of Honor that the Uniform represents, told the truth.

He risked his life’s desire to be a cop by reporting the abuse of a handcuffed citizen by his training officer who he new could retaliate by getting him fired.

He was also aware that the entire power of the LAPD would come down on him to protect the “code of silence” and protect their “thin blue line. So we are led to believe that he just decided to make some shit up against a cop whose arrest record is riddled with accounts of her abusing arrestees.

But even he couldn’t have known she was a cop whose connections would allow the board of enquiry to be stocked with her ex boyfriend, boss and ex partner. And a review board that couldn’t find that having those three be the ones to decide his fate was unfair.

The ass-kissing white media suck up to the police by calling them “heros” because they are cops. I repeat cops are NOT like soldiers, SERVING their country. They are public employees WORKING for the public who get a very generous salary for someone with only a high school diploma.

Unlike soldiers, they can quit ANY TIME it gets too hot for them on the job. They do not “serve” as a soldier does without the option to quit in the face of being put in harms way. They “work” for the public the exact same as any other public employee.

NO, that is not true. They work for the public with WAY MORE privileges than the average public employee. They get to hide their employment record, and to abuse the people they are supposed to “serve,” in most cases with only a token bit of oversight.

So what does your gut instinct say about who you think was lying? Dorner or the LAPD? But, now we will never know. The LAPD is going to keep the case open just long enough to gouge the citizens of LA for all the overtime they can and then quietly shut the case down.

Another day, same shit.

Alycedale

I imagine he’s stepping down bc how much BS can a high priest want to pretend to handle in any meaningful way? I’m not criticizing, I’m giving you the facts, Dude, the fact that you don’t like them (does anyone? How about all those molested children at the hands of priests who present themselves as human conduits to God?) doesn’t make them any less true.

Small minds is when you judge based on just your own viewpoint, nothing like lots of cash to make things very real to see, follow the money, Nate, follow the money…
Churches, and their leaders, unfortunately tend to bury a multitudes of sins and then stand behind God as if to take cover from all their blatant wrong doings (to other humans w/very little say in the matter).

All I can say is: If a leader of any kind wants respect then act like someone I can respect, otherwise, step off…and that is the only thing I CAN respect about the pope’s handling of such heinous acts and of such heinous magnitude, he’s stepping off.

Al, thanks for the links, you’re making my life easier, it would be nice if most men would follow suit and do things to make a woman’s life easier, that’d be a nice change : )

I, myself, have been called lazy, uncaring, etc…for not behaving as other women do in terms of doing things ‘for my man’ and my only comment ever is, uh-huh and where is Mz ‘I’ll do anything for you to make your life easier’ now? Probably off hanging out with her cat or a friend-with-bene’s bc it’s less hassle, I do nothing special for anyone unless I’m really feeling it to do it, it always works out best that way… whoever is reaping the receiving knows what they’re getting is done with humanity love and maybe some other special type of luvin’ as well ; )

I say this all on the eve of V Day, when those who wanted to be married so badly did so on the sly, wow, can’t really fathom that one : ) but I know some of you love marriage so who am I to judge, after all – we all know the heart wants what the heart wants, and maybe someday my heart may want that again…(doubt it) I do admire the thought that anyone loves so much and so dearly that they want to love (and annoy, hahaha : ) each other till death parts you, to those of you that feel that way, may I be the first to wish you a very Happy Valentine’s Day <3

Luv, Zen Lill