‘Just Noticing’: Observations Of A Blogger
Posted by Michelle Moquin on March 21st, 2010
Good morning!
Just noticing…
- …That ever since non-fat and fat-free foods started to show up in the 70′s, more Americans are getting fatter and fatter.
- …No matter how bad the economy gets peet’s coffee is always packed with people. Is Starbucks the same? (Wouldn’t it be great if we could get people to quite coffee for a week and donate their week’s worth of coffee to a good cause?)
- ….After foreclosure, lenders sell the foreclosed home for far less than what was owed to them, yet they refuse to do any principal forgiveness that would allow the homeowner to keep their home.
- …That passing this health care bill is the single most important step in history since the passing of medicare, and not one of the 178 republicans are voting ‘yes’.
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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Marie: Ahahha!! Keep ‘em coming. We need humor here. Speaking of….
Readers: Our president, Barack Obama, just says it like it is, and delights us with his bits of humor too. It smoothes the edge of seriousness, with an issue that has some serious obstacles. I just love this guy – Let’s make history today!
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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March 21st, 2010 at 10:13 am
The right is now calling Obama a communist.
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How to Protect Your Wealth
from the “Obamunists”
Dear Fellow Conservative,
Good news! Despite recent setbacks, the free-market revolution unleashed by Ronald Reagan continues to make strides in country after country.
Unfortunately, those countries don’t include the United States.
Surprisingly, the latest country to show signs of new economic freedom is, of all places, Cuba — where, according to the Washington Post, “The Cuban government, in its most dramatic reform since [Raul] Castro took over for his ailing older brother Fidel three years ago, is offering private farmers… the use of fallow state lands to grow crops — for a profit.”
In fact, it’s working so well, they’re even thinking about renaming “The Bay of Pigs” to “The Bay of Capitalist Pigs”…
And it’s not just communist countries like Cuba, China and Vietnam noticing the benefits of the free market. Even godless, European social welfare states are throwing off the shackles of socialism. Despite incessant claims that the “rest of the world hates us,” Germany just elected a center-right coalition that promised to slash taxes, entitlements and regulatory burdens on businesses.
Gosh it seems like every country in the world is becoming more like America, except America, which is becoming more like Finland.
But don’t move to Cuba yet! At least wait until Nancy Pelosi’s husband buys property there — then you know it will prosper.
As Ronald Reagan said: You can always trust the American people. Sure, they make stupid mistakes now and then, but, if history is a guide, the backlash to the high tax/low growth policies of a Democratic House, Democratic Senate and Democratic President should be spectacular. It’s currently scheduled for November 2012, with spring training beginning in November 2010.
Then happy days will really be here again.
But in the meantime, what can we do to protect our money from the Obamunists?
Frankly, I don’t have the financial expertise to answer that. But fortunately, I know someone who does.
His name is Mark Skousen, Ph.D., editor of the investment newsletter Forecasts & Strategies — and he just might be the smartest financial advisor working today.
Skousen, after all, launched his career by predicting, during the 1980-82 recession — and to the derision of all the other so-called experts — that “Reaganomics will work.”
And that was just the start of his amazing 30-year — and counting — stretch of uncanny market forecasts. For instance:
• Just last March he called the exact bottom of the market, telling his subscribers that “stocks are a screaming buy.” In the four weeks following, the Dow soared a remarkable 24.5%. Then, in May, he predicted the Dow would hit 10,000 before the end of the year — which it did in October. ?
• In 2006 — more than two years before the financial meltdown — he warned subscribers that “we clearly are headed for fiscal disaster,” and showed them how to protect themselves. ?
• Just weeks before the NASDAQ collapsed in 2000, he warned his subscribers that tech stocks were dangerously overvalued. ?
• He told his subscribers in 1995 that the NASDAQ would double, and then double again — which is exactly what it did. ?
• He called the Gulf War of 1990 “a turning point for U.S. stocks” — and the Dow subsequently began a bull market that didn’t end for nearly ten years. ?
• And he issued a “sell everything” recommendation to his Forecasts & Strategies subscribers just 41 days before the stock market crash of 1987 — then told them to get fully invested again several weeks later, just in time for the recovery.
(He also guessed Al Gore’s weight and won a large stuffed animal from the top shelf… nothing to do with finance, but still, pretty impressive.)
Bottom line: The best investment advice I know of, bar none, can be found in Mark Skousen’s Forecasts & Strategies. Now more than ever, I urge you to give it a try.
Click here to learn more.
Sincerely,
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There seems to be no limit to what these racists will do in the name of political differences.
March 21st, 2010 at 11:02 am
Michelle
I am bringing attention to the fashion show being brought to Guam by Inno Sotto from the Philippines. I would like to implore you to bring a fashion show of yours to Guam. I have seen some of your stuff. I love them.
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Philippine fashion icon coming to Guam: Inno Sotto to host charity fashion show
BY ERIN THOMPSON • BAYANIHAN • MARCH 21, 2010
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He’s known as the prince of Philippine fashion. His classically styled outfits have graced runways around the world and been worn by stars, politicians and trendsetters. And next month, legendary Filipino fashion designer Inno Sotto bring his latest designs to Guam, for a one-day only fashion show event organized by the Guam Chapter of the American Red Cross and the University of Guam Endowment Foundation.
The show, titled Twenty Ten, will premier designs from Sotto’s latest collection, and bring an entourage of 28, including international models, make-up artist Michael Rosas, and a production crew.
Now heading into his 30th year as a top Manila designer, Sotto, a graduate of the Parsons School of Design in New York City, got his start making customized looks for Manila’s high society in the 1980s. In 1980, he beat out industry veterans to win his first grand prize in the Most Outstanding Designers Competition, and in 1988 was given an Outstanding Filipino Designer award from the city of Manila. In 2005, he was identified as one of the 100 most interesting people in Asia by the Philippine Tatler Society — and was recently the subject of an award-winning documentary.
As a designer, Sotto says he takes inspiration from all artist mediums, but says he finds film and theatricality of opera particularly inspiring.
“I like the grandness of opera,” says Sotto.
His latest collection, however, will cleave to modern styles, and leave the theatricality aside.
“In this collection, I’m not doing Filipino-inspired costumes,” says Sotto. “It’s very contemporary.”
Sotto says the collection emphasizes modernity and clothes that are wearable, with lots of natural tones like beige and black. He says many of the pieces feature knee and mid-thigh cuts, with a belted look.
“There’s a lot of draping,” says Sotto. “Lots of waist.”
As a designer, Sotto says his interest lies in capturing the present through clothes, and says his biggest challenge is to keep the interest of clients and trendsetters.
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Hafa adai
March 21st, 2010 at 11:34 am
Isn’t interesting how the Office of the Presidency has lost it respect in the eyes of certain white folk now that the office is occupied by a black man. I suspect that it will lose about the same respect when a woman gets to occupy the office.
The way I look at it blacks became citizens 160 years ago, women got the right to vote 90 years ago. It will take a black man as President and a woman as head of the House to give All Americans the right to vote.
What that says to me is that white men wanted to keep the country a place of Affirmative Action for themselves. They used every tactic imaginable to divide and conquer the OTWs. They implored the same tactics to keep women from uniting.
They use black Uncle Toms like Clarence Thomas and anti ERA attorney like Phyllis Schlafly to be the blind for their racism and misogyny.
This is a despicable country for OTWs and women who want to share in the opportunities that white men enjoy as a birthright.
Robert
March 21st, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Hafa adeai
It seems that the people of Guam are getting anxious about the military buildup.
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U.S. military buildup angers Guam
Guam residents eye U.S. military buildup
Many residents, concerned about the effects of a planned increase in U.S. military assets, hope more federal funds will be allocated for the infrastructure needed to support them.
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, March 22, 2010
HAGATNA, Guam — This remote Pacific island is home to U.S. citizens who are fervent supporters of the military, as measured by their record of fighting and dying in America’s recent wars.
But they are angry about a major military buildup here, which the government of Guam and many residents say is being grossly underfunded. They fear the construction of a new U.S. Marine Corps base will overwhelm the island’s already inadequate water and sewage systems, as well as its port, power grid, hospital, highways and social services.
“Our nation knows how to find us when it comes to war and fighting for war,” said Michael W. Cruz, lieutenant governor of Guam and an Army National Guard colonel who recently returned from a four-month tour as a surgeon in Afghanistan. “But when it comes to war preparations — which is what the military buildup essentially is — nobody seems to know where Guam is.”
The federal government has given powerful reasons to worry to the 180,000 residents of Guam, a balmy tropical island whose military importance derives from its location as by far the closest U.S. territory to China and North Korea.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said last month that the military buildup, as described in Pentagon documents, could trigger island-wide water shortages that “fall dispropotionately on a low income medically underserved population.” It also said the buildup would overload sewage treatment in a way that “may result in significant public health impacts.”
President Obama had planned to visit Guam Monday as the brief first stop of an Asian trip that has been delayed because of Sunday’s health-care vote in the House. Obama is aware of the problems here and had planned to promise some federal help, White House officials said.
“We’re trying to identify and understand the current conditions on Guam and the potential impact of the relocation,” said Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, who on Tuesday will lead a delegation to the island. “There’s no question that the environmental conditions on Guam are not ideal.”
Besides a new Marine base and airfield, the buildup includes port dredging for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, which would cause what the EPA describes as “unacceptable” impact on 71 acres of a vibrant coral reef. The military, which already owns 27 percent of the island, also wants to build a Marine firing range on land that includes one of the last undeveloped beachfront forests on Guam.
In a highly unusual move, the EPA graded the buildup plan as “environmentally unsatisfactory” and said it “should not proceed as proposed.”
“The government of Guam and the Guam Waterworks cannot by themselves accommodate the military expansion,” said Nancy Woo, associate director of the EPA’s water division. She said Guam needs about $550 million to upgrade its water and sewage systems. White House officials said EPA findings are preliminary.
Guam government officials put the total direct and indirect costs of coping with the buildup at about $3 billion, including $1.7 billion to improve roads and $100 million to expand the already overburdened public hospital. On this island — where a third of the population is on food stamps and 25 percent lives below the U.S. poverty level — that price tag cannot be paid with local tax revenues.
“It is not possible and it is not fair that the island bear the cost,” said Woo.
March 21st, 2010 at 4:11 pm
When I read this I thought of you and all the work you do with and for others.
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Seniors get mental boost by tutoring kids
Seniors looking to stay sharp and ward off conditions like dementia might just need a little tutoring.
Don’t worry–I’m not sending anyone back to school. Not as a student anyway.
New research shows that seniors who tutor children may actually improve their cognitive function and even reverse mental decline. And all you need is enough patience and tolerance to help a kid with reading and math.
A new program called Experience Corps pairs seniors with elementary school students in low-income districts. Studies have shown that kids tutored by these seniors have better reading skills than those who aren’t tutored.
But according to a recent study, the kids aren’t the only ones experience good results.
Researchers followed eight Experience Corps volunteers who had done poorly on cognitive tests and were considered to have a high risk of cognitive impairment. But after six months of reading and math tutoring, MRIs revealed improvement in the areas of the brain used for “executive function,” according to a study published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.
Those are the regions used for thinking–and, more importantly, the areas that give us the ability to juggle multiple tasks. Lose function there, and you lose your independence. Improve it, on the other hand, and you could lower your risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
The key here isn’t just tutoring youngsters (although this study suggests it certainly could help)… but remaining constructive and engaged in your golden years.
Many seniors withdraw when they hit some of life’s sand traps… from retirement and learning to live on a fixed income, to downsizing and moving to a place far from friends and family, to the loss of a spouse.
And once they start pulling back, many seniors end up on the decline… leading to poor health and a quicker onset of age-related diseases like dementia.
Programs like Experience Corps offer a great way to stay involved and avoid those pitfalls… but they’re not the only option. Social clubs, library groups, volunteer activities and sports can all help keep seniors engaged.
And of course, there’s those grandkids and the other young lads and lasses in our lives… you can benefit from their presence, and they can learn from your lifetime of experience.
That’s a win-win in my book.
On a mission for your health,
Ed Martin
Editor, House Calls
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Ursla
March 21st, 2010 at 4:15 pm
I am a court reporter. I thought you would like to hear just how stupid those lawyers you hire and put so much trust in are.
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This is from a book called Disorder in the American Courts, and are supposedly things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters.
______________________________ ______________
ATTORNEY: Can you describe the individual?
WITNESS: He was about 20, medium height, and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I’m going with male.
March 21st, 2010 at 5:16 pm
How to Calm an Angry Person
Redford Williams, MD
Duke University Medical Center
When someone is angry, our instinctive reaction typically is to get defensive (if the person is angry at us) or to give advice (if he/she is angry at someone else). These responses are not useful — they do not resolve the situation and even may inflame him further. More effective…
WHEN YOU ARE NOT THE TARGET
The best way to calm someone who is angry at someone else is to let him vent. Don’t interrupt or tell him why he shouldn’t be angry or that he should let it go. Don’t talk about the time you got mad about the same thing — this implies that your reaction is more important than his.
When he has talked himself out, acknowledge his feelings — whether or not you agree with his views.
Example: “Wow, you’re really angry with your boss. I can see how upset you are.”
After listening and acknowledging, ask if there is any way you can help. In many cases, the other person will say that you have helped just by listening. You also might be able to assist with brainstorming and problem solving. But if you try to solve the problem before hearing the person out or without his approval, he most likely will feel angrier.
WHEN THE ANGER IS DIRECTED AT YOU
When someone lashes out at you, the primitive part of your brain is activated. This creates the impulse to defend yourself from attack by telling the other person he is wrong or irrational or by getting angry yourself.
Instead, before responding, pause for a few moments and silently ask yourself four questions…
1. Is this situation important?
2. Is my reaction appropriate?
3. Is the situation modifiable?
4. If so, is taking action worth it?
To remember the four questions when you are under stress, use the partial acronym I AM WORTH IT.
I stands for Important… AM stands for Appropriate and Modifiable… WORTH IT, of course, stands for the last question.
If the answer to all four questions is “yes,” then assert yourself by telling the person…
1. Exactly what he is doing.
2. How it makes you feel.
3. What, specifically, you would like him to do differently.
Keep your voice fairly quiet and your tone neutral.
Describe behavior, not motives or personal characteristics.
Example: My wife used this technique when I came home in a bad mood at the end of a tough day.
Virginia was preparing dinner. On the kitchen counter was a big stack of mail-order catalogs that she had promised to look through a few days earlier.
I snapped, “What are these damn catalogs doing here?”
Virginia didn’t say a word for about 20 seconds. Then she replied calmly, “Redford, you just walked into the kitchen and said,
‘What are these damn catalogs doing here?’’ (She told me what I had done.)
I came home early to make dinner, and now, I am feeling hurt, unappreciated and, frankly, angry at you. (She told me how it made her feel.)
Would it be possible for you to come home at the end of the day and not have the first words out of your mouth be something critical?” (What she would like me to do.)
I turned around, walked out of the kitchen, came back in and said, “Mmm, smells good. What’s for supper?”
When I first arrived home, Virginia could have fueled an argument by snapping back, “What’s the matter with you, coming home and criticizing me?” Instead, during those 20 seconds of silence, she asked herself the four questions. Then she made a specific observation and a request for change.
If you need to respond to an angry outburst in a setting where expressing personal feelings is not appropriate — for example, at work — use a results-oriented word, such as “helpful.”
Example: “Bill, you just told me that my marketing idea for the new product is the stupidest thing you ever heard. I need to let you know that calling my suggestion stupid isn’t helpful. If you could give me some of the reasons you think it won’t work, I’d appreciate it.”
If your answer to any of the four I AM WORTH IT questions gets a “no” — focus on controlling your reaction.
Don’t say anything to the person.
Instead, if the situation isn’t important or can’t be changed, say to yourself, “Hey, it’s not that important,” or “There’s nothing I can do to change this guy.”
If requesting change isn’t appropriate or worth it, you can distract yourself by thinking about something pleasant or doing something else… or by taking a few deep breaths and thinking the word “calm” as you inhale and “down” as you exhale.
This is not the same as passively giving in. You are evaluating the situation and making a rational decision.
interviewed Redford Williams, MD, director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina. He is author of numerous books, including In Control (Rodale), and coauthor of the video-learning program Williams Lifeskills — Managing Stress & Anger System, available at http://www.williamslifeskills.com.
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:12 am
Aloha and Hafa adai
I love diving. I have the best job. It allows me to travel between Hawaii and Guam 2 to 3 times a month. Therefore i get to enjoy my love of dividing in both place. I was born in Guam so I am a little prejudiced toward Guam.
Guam has the most beautiful water. It is so clear and there are so many places to go.
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Diving in Guam
Heading to Guam because you’ve heard it has some great diving? Then you’ve heard correctly.
Guam is widely known for its superb diving and shipwrecks.
Cindy Hanson, representative of the Convention & Visitor’s Bureau, says “The SMS Cormoran from WWI and the Tokai Maru from WWII lie side by side creating the only place in the world where divers can touch shipwrecks from two world wars at the same time. Guam is home to the rarest kind of shipwreck dive.”
Not surprisingly, with all that’s going on, the coral reef and its inhabitants (including sea turtles) have been protected from pollution and over-fishing.
The water is crystal clear and has 200ft of visibility so you can see into the coral gardens teeming with fish life. There are several wrecks to be explored too.
Aquarium
For those who want to stay dry while still admiring the sea life, a visit to the aquarium at Underwater World is highly recommended. Walk through a winding plexi-glass tunnel and be in awe of the huge sharks, rays, coral and countless sea-life on view. No diving required. It’s also a learning experience while you’re there (what fish makes its own bed, for instance?
The answer is there and no, I am not telling you – you will have to visit for yourself). Time it right and you can see divers in the water doing all sorts of antics. Note that Underwater World on Guam is the world’s largest tunnel aquarium. (Tel: 1-671-649-9191)
For more information, visit the Guam Visitors Bureau website
Guam is one place you will just want to dive into, in all senses of the word.
Re travel: San Francisco residents can fly to Guam using Continental Airlines. Their website is: http://www.continental.com. Deals can be checked online at http://www.kayak.com. Prices vary according to the date you wish to travel. San Francisco residents will fly through Honolulu in Hawaii.
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So my advice is that if you have a choice and you love diving, good food and a people who are just the most cordial ever. Try Guam.
Hafa adai
Lelan
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:28 am
Eat to Beat Jet Lag
Bradley Connor, MD
International Society of Travel Medicine
When traveling from one time zone to another, eat pasta the night before your flight — carbohydrates boost your brain’s supply of the sleep-inducing neurotransmitter serotonin.
Skip in-flight meals. Eating is one of the ways your body sets its internal clock, and airlines generally serve meals according to the time zone from which you took off, not the one where you will land.
After you land, order steak or eggs — foods that are rich in protein prompt your brain to produce neurochemicals that increase alertness.
interviewed Bradley Connor, MD, past president, International Society of Travel Medicine, New York City.
March 22nd, 2010 at 7:42 am
All the news casters are talking about the “baby killer” being yelled at Rep Stupak. This is so terrible. But the same news casters don’t cross examine people they interview who say that the people in the Tea party movement that yelled racial and sexual epithets to black and gay representatives as they headed into the House.
They allow the Tea party representatives to get away with those insults were a “ridiculous side issue.” Once again we are being made aware of the white boy philosophy which is the only sensitivity that is import is the angst of the white man.
Robert
March 22nd, 2010 at 9:09 am
Hi Robert, welcome back and what’s your suggestion for women like Mischa (and me and lots of others here) to get women who are totally indoctrinated through religion into the ‘stand BEHIND your man’ (even though it smells rank back there, tee hee, just came up with that spontaneaously) insanity, bc without getting them to ‘woman up’ women will continue to be set back in terms of equality for a long long time…
…and btw, repugs raiil on anything they want to, I listened to an old Bill Maher commmentary on youtibe the other night, he reeled off dozens of rethug ‘predictions’ that would occur if we didn’t do things their way, all were total made up nonsense, and yet, the general American public buys it all, hook, line and sinker.
I hate to say it, but I’m ready to live elsewhere.
Caio, Zen Lill