Flap Your Lips Friday
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 11th, 2012
Good morning!
First things first…
Robert, RT, Alycedale and PrP: I HOPE that you didn’t think that my not naming you yesterday in my list of “missing the regulars”, meant I didn’t consider you all “Regulars”. If I wasn’t clear, let me say now, that I was only addressing those who have not been here in awhile. You three have posted recently. Hence, the reason for me not bringing up your name. I am sure you all know how grateful and happy I am that you are here too!
That being said, how excited I was to read the comments and see some of the names of the people that I have been missing. I am pleasantly surprised that even though some of the “Regulars” haven’t been posting comments regularly, they are still reading. Wow.
Jorge H: So nice to hear from you! Thanks for continuing to read. Love that you have added a last initial for recognition – does that mean you are going to say a bit more here? HOPE so! Congratulations to you and Carla! How delightful that a baby is on the way. I am so excited for the both of you! Big hugs and kisses.
With respect to Al, yes he was quite the hoot, and he definitely had a way with words. Al and Howie know that they are always welcome here.
Carla: I wanted to personally congratulate you on the little one soon to come. I HOPE you’ll comment sometime too.
Galene: I too was happy about President Obama’s support of gay marriage. And with respect to Megan McCain, you said it all.
Helena: So nice to hear from you as well! Thanks for always reading. I understand what you mean. It can be a bit overwhelming with the comments. I used to get so excited when I saw so many. Now…when days are slow or people can’t get in, I give a sigh of relief and know that I have more time in my day. But don’t get me wrong…if I see more than a day of no comments, I feel alone here. :) It is a strange flip of emotions. Anyway, thank you for the kind words.
Mike: Nice to see you are still here as well! Thanks too for always taking a peak here. And I wish you luck in your undercover work, especially since it is uncovering the Right and trying to steal the coming election. Anything that can be told to keep the integrity of the election is so important, so I thank you for your work and look forward to hearing more as it is uncovered.
With respect to Howie, that is an interesting point. Perhaps he will be reading and that tidbit will inspire him to come back.
Eleanor: Nice.
I have more to say but it is already getting late. So here’s something that interested me when I saw it. Perhaps it will interest you as well. The “Halliburton Loophole” with respect to “Fracking”, and its affects on our health and the environment, has been in the news for the past couple of years. However, the other day listening to NPR, I was reminded.
Readers: Thoughts? Flap your lips…Blog me.
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 :)
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May 11th, 2012 at 10:32 am
WOW!! Michelle that was a powerful video. If more people were to see it Fracking would be a thing of the past.
This is just another example of why we need regulation of business.
May 11th, 2012 at 10:42 am
Sleeping Pills Are Just Plain Dangerous
It’s bad enough that people are so desperate for sleep that they resort to taking any of a long list of pharmaceuticals in an effort to help them get a good night’s rest.
Even worse is that these theoretical helpers come with a long list of associated dangers, including addiction. Well guess what? The list of dangers just got longer.
Research, conducted by physicians at the Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in San Diego and Jackson Hole Center for Preventive Medicine (JHCPM) in Wyoming, has shown that use of sleeping pills has been associated with an increased risk for cancer and death.
The most troubling part is that this study found that it’s not just daily users who are at risk—those who use them less than twice a month may even be at risk.
IT TAKES A WHILE FOR SIDE EFFECTS TO SURFACE
I called Robert Langer, MD, MPH, principal scientist and medical director at JHCPM, to learn more about these frightening findings.
He told me that most studies on the safety of sleeping pills last only six months or less. “That’s not enough time to examine the risk for many serious health consequences, such as cancer or death,” said Dr. Langer.
“Our research is more long-term, and we didn’t just look at whether or not people were taking sleeping pills. We also looked at which type they were using and how often they were taking the pills.”
The researchers looked at the electronic medical records of the population served by the Geisinger Health System (GHS) in Pennsylvania, the largest rural integrated health system in the US.
Subjects (mean age 54 years) were 10,529 male and female patients who received prescriptions of sleeping pills as sleep aids (on-label), and 23,676 matched controls with no prescriptions of sleeping pills. They were followed for an average of 2.5 years.
The researchers found that the more sleeping pills that subjects took, the greater their risk for death from all causes and, shockingly, even people who were taking them only sporadically were at higher risk for death.
For example, compared with those who did not take sleeping pills, people who took…
One to 18 sleeping pills a year were 3.6 times more likely to die within the 2.5-year follow-up period.
19 to 132 sleeping pills a year were 4.4 times more likely to die.
133 or more pills a year were 5.3 times more likely to die.
These results did not differ whether the subjects were using older sleeping pills, such as temazepam (Restoril), or newer ones, such as zolpidem (Ambien), eszopiclone (Lunesta) and zaleplon (Sonata), which are marketed as being shorter-acting and safer.
Researchers also found an increased risk for all major cancers among moderate and heavy users of any sleeping pill.
There was a 20% increased risk among any users who took 19 to 132 pills a year and a 35% increased risk among any users who took more than 132 pills a year.
It’s important to note that none of these results prove cause and effect, but they certainly reveal an unsettling association.
UNDERSTANDING THE CONNECTION
I asked Dr. Langer whether the results could simply be due to the fact that patients who take sleeping pills are usually in worse health—for example, perhaps they don’t eat well or exercise as much as they should or maybe they’re more stressed.
His response was no. “We controlled for every possible variation, matching subjects and controls by age, gender and health history, yet the results remained the same,” Dr. Langer said.
So why the increased risk for death and cancer? The authors did not have adequate information to assess possible mechanisms.
However, based on prior studies, potential mechanisms include increases in sleep apnea, accidents related to sleep walking/driving, aspiration pneumonia and depression of respiratory function.
NOW WHAT?
This is a finding of major consequence, because 6% to 10% of American adults took a sleeping pill in 2010, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
But the complicating factor is that sleeping pills do provide health benefits.
In other words, not taking a sleeping pill and potentially not getting enough sleep comes with its own set of risks—for instance, insomnia can raise the risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, depression and other serious health conditions.
So if you’re taking sleeping pills, what do you do?
First, consult your prescribing physician, said Dr. Langer. “Don’t stop cold turkey, because that can cause withdrawal symptoms and agitation, as well as sleepless nights.
Figure out a plan with your doctor about how to taper off,” he said. And then ask your doctor about safer alternatives, such as melatonin or manipulating light exposure, he said.
You can also try cognitive behavioral therapy from an informed primary care doctor, behavioral therapist or sleep medicine physician, he added.
And check out these lifestyle tips on how to get a good night’s sleep from the February 1, 2011 issue of a Bottom Line sister publication Bottom Line/Health “Can’t Sleep? A Pill Is Not the Answer”.
Source: Robert Langer, MD, MPH, principal scientist and medical director, Jackson Hole Center for Preventive Medicine, Wyoming.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Those who are applauding obama’s endorsing the unnatural union of gays should be alarmed. They are claiming that polls show an acceptance of this abomination of nature.
I am not sure were the gallop pole numbers are correct. But I am sure that history has proven every time a culture legalizes same sex marriages it is on the verge of collapse.
The reason why every religion that has been around for more than a century denounces same sex unions is due to the fact it goes against the nature of life.
Kenneth
May 11th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
Now that our president has finally come out in full force to back the rights of gays and lesbians to marry in our great country, I anticipate a long and hearty dose of hypocrisy to arrive on the public scene.
Not all, but too many of those who consider themselves to be religious Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Muslims, along with too many whites, blacks, latinos and others of every racial and ethnic stripe, will ignore those moments in our nation’s history and in the history of the world when they or their ancestors were deprived of individual freedoms granted to the strongest and most powerful in their communities.
And having ignored their histories, they will feel quite comfortable arguing that while it might have been wrong to impose slavery and then segregation upon blacks, and while it might have been wrong to refuse to allow a white man or woman to marry a person of color, they will argue that this is different. That gays and lesbians are different.
How it is different, how they are different in a way that would validate their loss of the freedom that I have is beyond my comprehension which is why I see the height of hypocrisy looming on our horizon.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:13 pm
ACLU is so bias and shows hypocrisy at the highest level.
You are trying to justify abnormal peoples’ lifestyle.
When he took office as President, Obama sworn under oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution.
The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a United States federal law that defines marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. The law passed both houses of Congress by large majorities and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on September 21, 1996.
As OUR President, he has now come out to say:
I think same sex couples should be able to get married.
That is up to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide. The Office of the President is REQUIRED to uphold all laws until the law is overturned. In this regard he has failed in his responsibilities.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
I think it was kind of apparent what this President felt with the passing of the DADT and fairness act.
I think he really struggled with this as he said and so did I especially because of the word Marriage.
However, I saw a story on one of the news programs where an elderly couple (women) who had been together for over 25 years were trying to get a marriage license before one of them died and they were denied..I felt my sympathies going toward them and saying “why not?”
I guess the President was feeling the same thing and he decided for same sex marriage. We both evolved and I feel good about it.
Some will not vote for him because of this and others will anyway but I respect him for having the strength to make this difficult decision.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
You have to hand it to this President. And you have to admit there IS a difference between the first 43 white men and this Black man.
============================
FROM President Barack Obama:
“It is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married.” With those words, President Obama made history as the first sitting president to support marriage equality for same-sex couples. It also means this will be the first presidential election with the major party candidates on opposite sides of this issue.
==============================
That would be one of them. If we had a white man in that office we would still be waiting for a President to declare that inequality for anyone is inequality for all on the issue of the right of anyone to marry anyone else.
Alycedale and I have pointed on numerous occasions that it is easy for whites to put off equality for minorities and OTWs because their USA Constitution was founded on just that the presentation of equality for a few as equality for all.
Even today their position is just LIE and that makes what we do okay. Hence the police, when they get caught on video, feel no shame in saying “don’t believe your lying eyes” believe the lie I am telling you.
Hence, the news anchors never call the obvious lies by white politicians lies. They look to find some way that the statement could be true. The Mental gymnastics that ensues can be arduous.
Most white men were and still are for the de facto members of Michelle Moquin’s “Lying Sack of Shits Club.” They even Lie to themselves. They refuse to acknowledge what history says they did to OTWs. They refuse accept the statistics that show the jUStice they practice every day. They Lie for profit as a principle.
The very founding of this nation was based on that premise. They even lied to their fellow white men to make them feel that they were sharing equally in the elitism and privilege that being a white male i”n this new country we are founding for us” would give them.
Notice that it was formed as a “Confederation of 13 States” first. This was because even those White men who were guaranteed to benefit from the lie didn’t trust each other so they formed the new country in a Confederation so that they could have their 13 fiefdoms to loot and control without restraint from a central body or any of the other 12 fiefs.
To this day they have kept a margin of that power by insisting on the claim that the 14th Amendment gives to the States all powers not expressly given to the Federal Government by the Constitution of the United States of America.
It is from that State fiefdom that they continue to deprive those they wish to dispossess of equal rights that would be guaranteed to them under the Federal Law of the USA Constitution.
They know that under State law one can be deprived of a civil right that would be guaranteed under Federal Law. This only works if the Federal judges refuse to recognize the right of the Federal Government to step in and protect that minority group or OTWs from having their civil rights voted away by a majority.
And this happens when Federal judges claim that the 14th Amendment gives the State that right.
The little lords are in their heaven when they can use “States Rights.” That’s why the STARK, the bought and paid for five crooks of SCOTUS, claim their belief in States Rights superseds Federal Rights when they decide cases.
Yes, folks it is as simple as that. Read and memorize the above paragraphs and you can argue with the best constitutional lawyers and scholars.
When they bring to the table all kinds of duplicitous, and Machiavellian arguments to justify why a judge would defer to the 14 Amendment, you need only ask WHY it was necessary to enact a State law to do something that could not legally be done to the minority group or OTWs on a Federal level.
Under State Law one can, by majority vote, or State legislative action, deprive a minority group or OTWs a civil right that could not be deprived under Federal Law.
It is like venue shopping on a perverse level so diabolical, that it borders on pure evil. They want to deprive someone or group of a Federally protected civil right so they enact it in a State legislature or put it to a vote in a State.
When someone tries to present the curtailment of a minority group or OTWs from benefiting or receiving something. Ask yourself if that something could be taken under Federal Law.
If it couldn’t you have your answer. No amount of mental gymnastics or crafty explanation will change that fact.
Believe YOUR eyes. It is a taking of that minority group or OTWs’ civil rights in an area, State Law, that would not be available in an area, Federal Law.
That makes the takers Lying Sacks Of Shits! They are bigots who are using a State venue to force those without the votes to accept their morals and likes. That may be okay EXCEPT when it deprives the minority group or OTWs of equality under the Constitution of the USA. Then it is EVIL!
Just fucking lie and that makes what we do okay. Hence the police, when they get caught on video, feel no shame in saying don’t believe your lying eyes believe the lie I am telling you.
Robert,rt
May 11th, 2012 at 12:17 pm
Yeah, and all the folks who were not going to vote for him anyway for all their reasons are going to try and scare people with this. And the religious fanatics are going to try and turn this into another victimization of religion.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:18 pm
“I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative, I support gay marriage because I am a Conservative.’’ David Cameron
The modern American right-wing/conservative/tp/Republicans are a disturbing group. They use conservatism as a bludgeon when it suits them. They do the same with religion and the Bible. They do the same with states rights. They do the same with the Constitution.
But ultimately, the modern right-wing has no core, no true beliefs except to win at all costs. They are full of hypocrisy, lies, fear-mongering and hatred. And it’s sad and scary how many votes they can drum up based on lies, hatred and fear-mongering.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Obama has done more for sexual minority rights than the past 4 presidents.
From signing the Sheppard law to refusing to defend DOMA, to the recent ruling from the EEOC that states that transgendered persons can sue under Title8 regarding gender discrimination to finally dumping DADT.
It really annoys me that some have accused him of just jumping on the marrige fad, and that he somehow isn’t supporting sexual minority rights.
Name another President that has made any statement close to what he has done?
Paula
May 11th, 2012 at 12:24 pm
The way I see it the vote in 32 of the 33 states are saying we as a country are not ready. This is an idea whose time culturally has far from come.
Howard
May 11th, 2012 at 12:25 pm
The President can say whatever he wants, but I don’t think he will change minds about his presidency. Those who support him applaud and say how “brave” he is, those who don’t support him yawn.
And those who aren’t sure wonder what impact this is going to have on their lives. The conclusion is it is still about the economy.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Howard, maybe like the decision to support Civil Rights in the South before it was politically convenient, it is the right thing to do.
As Robert,rt so nicely pointed out, no one should have the right to vote on the deprivation of a civil right of another. If this country had waited on States to vote yes on interracial marriage, most of the children of those marriages would not be here today, including the President of the United States.
Imagine the state this country would be in from every area, science, war, politics, etc without the contributions of those born from those unions?
Cornell
May 11th, 2012 at 12:34 pm
Yes, EM-1 it is still about the economy. May I remind you that when Obama took office we were losing over 700,000 jobs PER MONTH.
In the first ten months of Obama’s first term, we lost nearly 5 MILLION jobs. We have now had 25 consecutive months of jobs gains.
Corporations are reaping record profits.
The ACA will help American corporations compete overseas and will help small businesses provide health insurance to their employees, making them more competitive with large corporations.
It will also make it less risky for individuals to start their own business without the fear of losing health insurance for them or their family.
Financial reform helps prevent the abuses of Wall Street, if even a tiny bit.
President Obama has made significant progress in the direction of recovery and away from the policies and fiscally reckless behavior of Republicans.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Without meaning to disparage those for whom same sex marriage is important, I’d have to say that this is certainly not a turning point in presidential anything.
There are issues before us that involve the survival of life on the planet and the very existence of the United States as a democracy.
Meanwhile, the very special interests that have the most to gain in the short term by ignoring these problems succeed by encouraging topics like gay marriage and the like.
My hypothesis is that if the tax code were made truly equitable, the topic of same sex marriage would disappear as a political issue, although it would remain a religious one.
To the degree that we uphold the constitutional separation of church and state, it would then become politically irrelevant.
Ask yourself: Why should two people (same sex or otherwise) who have joined themselves via a religious or civil ceremony be entitled to or suffer different tax, insurance and inheritance treatment than two people equally committed to each other who are not so involved?
Why should a married couple and an unmarried one pay different tax rates? The tax code, inheritance law and insurance law should be marriage agnostic. That would be fair, and – surprise – would actually benefit “traditional” married families in which there is a single major breadwinner.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
I agree with the sentiment, but it goes way beyond the tax code. It applies to any number of perqs, privileges and responsibilities.
As a practical matter, it would be very difficult (if ultimately desirable) to repeal the state’s role in marriage altogether.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
JF-, I agree with everything you say except I don’t think changing the tax code will make one bit of difference.
Gays want to be recognized in society as being legitimate couples. Also they want to adopt children–thus their push for gay marriage.
They won’t stop their push for marriage just because the tax code changes.
May 11th, 2012 at 12:50 pm
Michelle, don’t you think your blog is beginning to attract way too many political “experts?” I mean either it is the political presidential race climate that is drawing them or they think they have found a place to settle in to argue or persuade others to their political point of view.
I came here to hear Howie talk about extraterrestrials or Jorge H excite me with his erotic writings or Ellen with her bon mots, or Zen Lill with her daily escapades or Social Butterfly with her gift for finding the deserving cause or Prism Princess for just being herself.
Now I have to read through miles of political rhetoric to find a gem or two. And Howie has just abandoned us. Al is nowhere to be found(I hope you are getting better).
Geez, what’s a fellow to do?
How about editing out some of the Political garbage? I’m almost a 4 year veteran here.
Scott
May 11th, 2012 at 12:56 pm
Michelle, you have to do an article on Kanye West. I met him at a pool party a year ago you have to see the thing he carries in his swim trunks to understand what am talking about.
If he is exploring Kim Kardashian’s pleasure holes with that monster, she will not be entertaining any other options anytime soon.
I have a few pictures of my girlfriend with him. He wasn’t aware that we were taking pictures of his entering her that evening, but he has nothing to be ashamed of. That man is oh so HUNG!
I can email them to you if you are interested.
Beth
May 11th, 2012 at 1:00 pm
Sex was originally meant for multiplying in number, two men do not multiply, nor do two women. people have perverted sex to a lustful sickness.
May 11th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Procreation has been the normal progression of a marriage between 1 man and 1 women, children of the union in question are not of that union so in some perverted situations they are allowed to”adopt” a child who has nothing to gain but a lifetime of repulsive embarassment.
May 11th, 2012 at 1:06 pm
Same sex marriage is NOT a civil rights issue. Under the Constitution, state governments have always had the power o regulate marriage by imposing age requirements (i.e. 18 or older)…or to prohibit marriage between related individuals (i.e. father and daughter)…so it certainly has the power to define marriage as between one man and one woman..
May 11th, 2012 at 1:08 pm
Rick Santorum’s comment was that Obama is trying to impose “radical social engineering” on us.
How is it radical social engineering if you are allowing someone to have a CHOICE of whom to marry?
Isn’t it social engineering when you tell people that they do NOT have a choice in this matter and that they can only marry whom the government tells them to marry?
May 11th, 2012 at 1:14 pm
JM-1, you are so far wrong it isn’t even funny. Unless of course, as Robert,RT suggested you know that you are lying and your motive is to confuse those who don’t.
In Loving VS Virginia in 1967 the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that marriage is BOTH a constitutional right and that the states could not restrict marriage based on race.
So the ability of the states to regulate marriage is not unrestricted.
They may regulate marriage only so far as it does not violate the rights spelled out in the U.S. constitution. That includes the 14th amendment guarantee of equality under the law. That MAKES marriage a CIVIL RIGHTS issue.
Read: Robert,RT Says:
May 11th, 2012 at 12:15 pm
It may prevent you from making that error. Or at the very least it will alert you to the fact that those of us who do will check the facts as Robert,RT suggested before we accept you and your kind’s deceptive practices.
HELLO!
Brittany
May 11th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
I am pro marriage. I don’t know what two men or two women do together, don’t care either, but it is no more a marriage than my sitting in the sun is photosynthesis.
I only wish they would not insult the rest of us by calling it marriage. Next thing you know they’ll want to call the religion which believes sexual activity between two men or two women is NOT a sin Christianity.
Cats are dogs, slavery is freedom, war is peace, murder is birth control; in a debate over ideas, I guess they have adopted the philosophy: If you can’t beat them, redefine them.
May 11th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
It wasn’t too long ago that marriage between a white woman and a black man (or vice versa) was illegal in many states. Think about that while you discriminate, why don’t you?
May 11th, 2012 at 1:21 pm
Because that is still between a man and a woman. I am not racists so I have no issue there. My sister in law is interracial marriage. Marriage id for Man and Woman. period
May 11th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
I post but nothing shows up.
May 11th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Scott, this is “Flap Your Lips Friday”. So please let them flap their lips.
May 11th, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Obama’s statement simply concedes that equality is not the political third-rail that conventional wisdom always insisted it was.
The conventional wisdom had always been wrong anyway. Here’s the proof: in 1996, several Congressmen facing elections voted a principled “no” on DOMA. All of them were re-elected. Every one. That was sixteen years ago.
Obama’s statement made me party like it’s 1999.
What I need is a president who not only doesn’t just believe the neo-Jim Crow laws are right, but who also will not tolerate that they have any legal force for a day longer than they absolutely must.
I want the Democratic Party to say “we will put equality among our top legislative priorities.”
It’s just equality. It’s not radical.
May 11th, 2012 at 1:44 pm
How’s this for a change of pace? Here in Britain I saw a BBC programme that claims that OJ is innocent and that he was framed by a crooked LAPD.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service said i would have rejected the evidence summited by the LAPD.
Danny
May 11th, 2012 at 1:50 pm
I checked out the latest on the OJ murder case I found this to be interested.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/compelling-documentary-argues-that-oj-simpson-was-not-the-killer-151047495.html
================
Compelling documentary argues that OJ Simpson was not the killer
LOS ANGELES, May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ — The OJ Simpson trial has long been a part of the pop culture lexicon. He may have been acquitted over sixteen years ago, but even today everyone has an opinion as to his guilt or innocence.
An award-winning documentary that has its Los Angeles premiere this weekend makes a strong argument that OJ Simpson did not murder his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman.
Producers of “Overlooked Suspect-What IF OJ Simpson Didn’t Do It?” have distilled thousands of hours of research from acclaimed private investigator William C. Dear along with a team of internationally recognized forensic and psychiatric experts into a one-hour, thought-provoking, documentary that builds a strong case that there was an overlooked suspect in the murder. The film also provides a backdrop into high-level communication between the LAPD and agencies responsible for the original trial.
The evidence is so compelling that it leads investigator Dear to ask; why was this ‘overlooked suspect’ not more vigorously pursued?
The producers are confident that after presenting the evidence, viewers of the film will be able to decide for themselves, stating “You Be The Judge”.
Overlooked Suspect premieres Saturday May 12th at 7pm, at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Tickets are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/245443
To view the film’s trailer and learn more about the investigation, visit http://www.overlookedsuspect.com.
Media Contact: Melissa Weller Jewish Journal, 213-368-1661, melissaw@jewishjournal.com
News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com
SOURCE Jewish Journal
====================
This is fantastic.
Annie
May 11th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Again I find the dems the greatest source of cheap entertainment the world has to offer.
They want to use the bible to condemn the GOP, but, support the killing of millions and millions of defenseless babies through abortion by supporting a party of dems that want to make it against the law to even be christian.
The democrat president has spoke in defense of a lifestyle that God says is an abomination in his eyes. So who are the hypocrites?
May 11th, 2012 at 1:57 pm
Nothing in the bible about abortion. Try again.
No one has even remotely suggested outlawing Christianity. Thanks for the paranoia though. Have you tried treating that with lithium or thorazine?
In fact the Catholic Church, through its bishops, said that this Ryan’s budget is completely out of touch with their values This in response to Ryan trying to justify it by claiming that it was a reflection of Catholic values.
Who are the hypocrites again?
May 11th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
The military actually SAID they don’t need any extra money. The US Army has about 6 times more funding than China’s army, which is the second most prosperous army. They don’t need to starve people for something the military doesn’t need.
May 11th, 2012 at 1:58 pm
You don’t want to miss John Hayward’s story about The Washington Post’s embarrassing story about Mitt Romney’s high school pranks. It’s completely and utterly embarrassing. Make sure to follow it as it develops. Also — Michelle Malkin’s column, along with choice picks from around the web. Have a great Friday!
-Adam
May 11th, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Retrain Your Brain—and Break Fee from the Patterns that are Holding You Back
Habits are hard to break because of the way the brain is wired. Each time you repeat a harmful behavior—overeating, overspending, procrastinating or something else—the brain circuits involved in that action become stronger.
The brain associates the action with the situation that gave rise to it, such as being under stress. Over time, the brain becomes hardwired to choose that behavior automatically any time a similar situation arises.
Example: If you reach for a sugary snack whenever you are worried about a project at work, after a while, you may crave sugar the moment that you start feeling anxious about anything anywhere.
That’s the bad news. The good news: You can rewire your brain to choose constructive habits…
STEP 1: RELABEL
Negative habits are triggered by deceptive brain messages—thoughts, beliefs and impulses that run counter to your positive, healthy intentions.
These thoughts and urges are accompanied by unpleasant emotions or physical sensations such as anger, sadness, anxiety or fatigue.
Because the discomfort is so intense, you are driven to get rid of it as fast as you can, usually by indulging in an unhealthy habit.
This brings temporary relief but in reality makes the situation worse—each time you give in, you further strengthen the brain pathways that connect the thought or urge with the bad habit.
Relabeling means recognizing your impulses and negative thoughts as deceptive brain messages and calling them what they are.
It means simply noting to yourself what is happening, such as, I am having a craving even though I just ate 30 minutes ago or My boss just yelled at me, and because of that, now I need some chocolate.
The more you are aware of these habits, the more opportunities you have to stop acting on them.
Becoming aware of these messages can be challenging at first. To develop your ability to relabel…
Practice making mental notes. Any time you feel “off” or uneasy in some way, notice what is going on in your body or mind, and pick a simple word or phrase to describe it.
For example, if you notice that you are thinking about a conversation with a friend that went awry—when you really need to be working—say to yourself, Mind wandering.
If you are having physical symptoms, such as heart pounding, shakiness, feeling a pit in your stomach, note this as anxiety.
The key is to snap yourself back into awareness—which is the first step toward doing something about the situation in a healthy, productive way.
Focus on your breathing. One way to enhance your ability to notice what’s happening in a moment-to-moment way is by focusing on your breath.
For five minutes, sit in a quiet place, close your eyes and simply pay attention to your breath as you inhale and exhale. What you will find as you try to do this is that your brain is constantly running, thinking about plans for later in the week or stressing about what you have to do today.
Whenever you realize that you have become lost in thought in these ways, say to yourself, Thinking or Planning or Wandering, then gently turn your focus back to your breathing.
Do this focused breathing exercise once a day, and gradually extend the length of time to 20 or 30 minutes.
STEP 2: REFRAME
As you become aware of deceptive brain messages, you can begin changing your perception of their importance. You do this by reframing—challenging your default response.
Reframing does not mean denying the existence of a thought or impulse or judging yourself for having it.
Instead, you look at the thought from a new perspective and diminish its importance so that you do not automatically react in your habitual way.
Example: I feel upset right now, but that doesn’t mean I have to have a cigarette (or that I am a bad person because I am craving one).
To change your perspective…
Use distancing phrases. When you notice a deceptive brain message, say to yourself, That’s not me, it’s just my brain…or Oh, that’s just mental chatter…or I’m having a bad brain day.
Look for thinking errors. We often make inaccurate assumptions about difficult situations and painful feelings. To uncover these erroneous, unhelpful thoughts, ask yourself nonjudgmental questions, such as, What is it about this situation that is upsetting me?
What am I telling myself about what is happening? What are some other interpretations?
Common thinking errors include…
All-or-nothing thinking: Seeing situations and people in extremes, such as perfect or hopeless, all good or all bad.
Worst-case thinking: Assuming that something terrible inevitably is going to happen.
Discounting the positive: Ignoring your good qualities and failing to notice or take seriously other people’s positive reactions toward you.
Be compassionate with yourself. Write down the deceptive brain message—the thought, sensation or impulse—that is bothering you. Then ask yourself what a kindhearted friend would advise or think.
Use the 15-minute rule. When you experience an especially powerful impulse, try to wait 15 minutes before you act.
Then if you still cannot resist the urge, slowly and mindfully engage in the activity that your deceptive brain message is insisting upon.
Important: Do not try to talk yourself out of an uncomfortable feeling. Simply examine it. You are training yourself to be less frightened of discomfort, to learn that it will pass and that it is not such a big deal.
STEP 3: REFOCUS
Once you have relabeled and reframed a deceptive brain message, you may find it surprisingly easy to actively shift your attention to a healthy, constructive activity—even as your deceptive thoughts are urging you to act in your old, habitual way.
By refocusing repeatedly, you weaken the brain circuits associated with your cravings and retrain your brain to choose healthier responses when you are stressed or sad.
The best refocusing activities are ones that engage and interest you. If they require strategy or learning something new, they will be even more effective, but any wholesome activity that you enjoy is fine.
Examples: Do a crossword puzzle… read…exercise…call a friend…play with a pet…sing a song…pursue a hobby…cook a healthy recipe.
If you are at work, refocus on a task that you can accomplish quickly or that is less demanding.
What makes this step powerful is that you allow uncomfortable sensations and impulses to be present…but then you act constructively anyway.
You are learning that the messages do not have to dominate your attention or control your actions. You are training your brain to create new associations between thoughts and healthy actions. This takes patience.
STEP 4: REVALUE
The final step is really about gaining perspective and the strength to believe in yourself.
Each person gets there at his/her own pace, and when you do, you can look at the deceptive brain message and unhelpful impulses and simply say to yourself, This is nothing more than the feeling of a deceptive brain message. I do not have to act on it, and it does not define me.
The more you are able to relabel, reframe and refocus, the more empowered you will be to dismiss those deceptive brain messages and move on with your life in a positive direction—one that you define. That’s the essence of revalue and the goal of the four steps.
Source: Rebecca Gladding, MD, staff psychiatrist with the Veterans Administration California Healthcare System.
She recently served as a clinical instructor and medical director of the UCLA Adult Inpatient Eating Disorders Program.
She is coauthor of You Are Not Your Brain: The 4-Step Solution for Changing Bad Habits, Ending Unhealthy Thinking, and Taking Control of Your Life (Avery).
May 11th, 2012 at 2:16 pm
Once again House Republican lead by Paul Ryan prove they are guilty of treason against the American People by protecting welfare for Big Oil companies and loopholes for the Top 1% by cutting programs for poorer Americans.
Republicans started two wars without paying for them, cut taxes on the Top one % without paying for them, Caused the biggest recession since the great depression.
Cost middleclass Americans over 7million jobs and the biggest lost of homes in American history.
Now Republicans are expecting Americans to set back while they repeat the same mistake again. I don’t see that happening boys.
Austerity didn’t work in Europe and it want work here. Voters in France and Greece kicked out their government officials who supported austerity measures that supports the wealthy while taking from average citzens. American votes will do the same in November.
The Republicans in Congress have ignored the voice of the majority of Americans for the past three years, but in November the will no longer be able to ignore as they are voted out of office.
Maybe then President Obama will get a Congress who will work with him to do what is best for the country and the American People.
Then we can move forward for an America for the all people, not just the Top 1%. Republicans will have no one to blame be but Paul Ryan and his Tea Party buddies.
May 11th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Corporations have become mindless machines who no interests other than quarterly profits. Our government is bought and orchestrated by those in power behind the machines who do not have the interests of ordinary people at heart.
We need to take responsibility and stop giving over everything from our health care to our food to our banking and housing…over to these whirring corporate machines who are destroying both our economy and our planet.
May 11th, 2012 at 2:26 pm
I found this to be a bit humorous.
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“Exactly right,” Limbaugh said of Baier’s remarks. “What do you want to look at, Shep? You want to look at the polls? Or do you want to look at the votes.” Even though Obama endorsed same-sex marriage, Limbaugh pressed, nothing has changed. “It’s still up to the hicks and the hay seeds in the state,” he said.
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“Hicks and hayseeds” – Rush does know his audience.
May 11th, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Whats the fear? How does two people in love affect the Right?
So, the issue doesnt win votes. I imagine had civil rights been put to a vote, it would not have done well by state. How about womens suffrage?
Think the fellas would have voted for that? Come on people, if you believe that same sex couples shouldnt marry, then dont marry someone who is your same sex. Yeesh.
May 11th, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Social Butterfly where are you? You have even missed a couple of meets.
May 11th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
If it were left up to the “Voting majority of any given state” at any given point in our history, different races would not be allowed to intermarry. There would be severe restrictions on African-Americans. There would be separate schools for African-Americans and Caucasians. Women would not be allowed to vote. Of course, former slaves would not be allowed to vote, in fact, would still be slaves in the 11 states that allowed it.
And LASTLY, we’d still be BRITISH, because the “majority” generally “Votes” at least one generation behind what is RIGHT–and sometimes, they just got to be pulled along kicking and screaming.
Move the goal posts and eventually the Majority will catch up—you don’t always have to let them vote on where the goal line should be, because IT’LL NEVER GET MOVED.
May 11th, 2012 at 2:36 pm
Time to break up the big banks. No bank should be allowed to control more than 1% of the money supply.
Bring back the Glass-Steagall Act and modify it to have “more teeth in it”. Left alone, the banks will destroy this country! Its only a matter of time.
For starters, JP Morgan should be broken up into 50 different companies. No bank should ever be allowed to become too big to fail!
May 11th, 2012 at 2:37 pm
“Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledg¬ing no responsibi¬lity to the people. To destroy this invisible government¬, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmans¬hip of today.” — Theodore Roosevelt
Only a fool would try to deprive working men and working women of their right to join the union of their choice.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower¬ 1953
May 11th, 2012 at 5:54 pm
Ok, all initialed ones, forget which one and I’m not going back t look, get a name, but anyway, there is nothing sick about sex in and of itself it’s only human perversion and depravity that has taken it out of it’s beautiful nature and function, whether that is just sensual pleasure or for making babies is not for me (or you or anyone) to say.
I think Jesus, the original hippie, would be appalled at all the hoopla man has made mockery of: sex, same sex marriage and the ridiculous rules regarding the institution of ‘regular’ marriage included. He likely would’ve had a live and let live attitude towards what someone decided to organize as a money making machine bc all religions make tons of $’s and hide behind their deities to protect them from taxes, brilliant really. So, that whole moral high horse bs is just mocking a prophet who didn’t seem to live out any of this, he was clearly all about the love not the money, not the control, so why not just live it and give it: love that is. Moralizing is insane, why should anyone care or have a say in who marries who? I’m shocked people still want to do it at all : )
Scott, I’m checking my other email now to see if Howie or Al responded yet bc I hear ya, they are missed here.
Luv, Zen Lill
May 11th, 2012 at 9:02 pm
It is not clear that the Emperor will allow you to erupt a volcano in the area of Guam. You may not be aware that your presence as heat generating beings has opened a wider path from the earths center through the volcano you have chosen to occupy.
True you were not discouraged from selecting that abandoned island as your home. True the humans have agreed not to interfere with your occupation. But not true that the Emperor will accept their level of acceptance.
Since the Princess is on the Island of Guam, and fumes and ash from that volcano can reach Guam, it may be considered a threat to Her safety. Any warning you may expect to receive from the Emperor before he strikes could be a fatal mistake.
Advice: switch immediately to the second volcano on the island. Due not burrow as deep into that one. Second see to it that the winds carry the emissions from the smoking one downwind of Guam until it subsides.
Best: leave the Island and take up residence on an Island the other side of Japan. They have destroyed their area with radioactive emissions so they will hardly notice the eruptions beings from your part of the Universe bring to this part.
6k/7-23
May 11th, 2012 at 9:08 pm
We need sulfur dioxide to survive. It cannot be obtained in sufficient quantities without burrowing deed into the earth. Volcanos enable us to do this unnoticed.
The resulting emissions are mostly collected and used for our survival. We hardly see the need for the Emperor to become alarmed with the small amount that escapes.
Thank you for your concern. Advisement taken.
UlQp