FDA Advisory panels need to be an ally to parents. They really don't want their teens pregnant.

"Teens say that parents most influence their decisions about sex, love and relationships."  (click title to entry - thank you)

When a government agency comes out with recommendations as far reaching as allowing young teens to access over the counter emergency contraception it scares reasonable adults.

I raised two young men to adulthood while avoiding sexual trauma.  I remember an 17 year old woman actually chasing my 14 year old for attention.  She wanted to have sex, she wanted to be his girlfriend in every way.  He was very good looking and charasmatic and was a leader in his demeanor, but, when it came to having sex he ran the other way.  He didn't shrink from her approaches and would have allowed the abuse if I hadn't talked to him about his right to be sexually restrained.  His right to be innocent. 

Once by son and I came to terms of what was occurring I asked if he wanted me to speak to the woman's parents, would it help?  He said it would be helpful.  So, I did and much to my surprise the mother of this 17 year old women stated I was discriminating against her daughter because of age.  That she was married to her husband that was 5 years younger than she.  Never once did the mother appreciate the huge gap of emotional development existing between her daughter and my son.  My 14 year old was not ready for a relationship, he was ready for wrestling practice. 

The conversation with this mother was futile and I simply ended it by stating there would be criminal charges filed if this continued.  Those are all organic understandings about live and the character of a child.  That reality is overlooked by those that want to cerebralize the experience and provide better precedent.  Damn, the precedent if one can't protect children from abuse.

The FDA panel for Women is a bit antisepitc if they can't include growth and development as a priority.

Growth and development is more than physical development, it is emotional and psychological.  Certainly, the FDA Panel can see the folly of such decisions when exposing young teens to such adult concepts and emotional demands.

Children this age are suppose to have parents.  Those parents are suppose to be a real part of the picture included in growth and development.  A cardinal rule for treating a pediatric patient is recognizing the parent is as much a part of the treatment as the child and physician is.  Why then separate that dynamic when it comes to pre-mature sexual behavior? 

Why not just hand young teens birth control if there is going to be that much permission to allow over the counter access to emergency contraception?

Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Johnson & Johnson’s birth control patch (click title to entry - thyank you) won the backing of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the second time in two days the group endorsed a contraceptive linked to a higher risk of blood clots.

The benefits of the Ortho Evra patch outweigh the clot dangers, FDA reproductive and drug safety advisory panels said today in a 19-5 vote. The agency should change the information label to better reflect the risk, the panels said at a meeting today in Adelphi, Maryland. The agency doesn’t have to follow the recommendations....

Teenage Growth & Development: 11-14 Years

• body fat increases
• breasts begin to enlarge
• pubic hair grows
• height and weight increase
• first menstrual period occurs
• hips widen
• underarm hair grows
• skin and hair become more oily
• pimples may appear

Girls start to develop secondary sex characteristics earlier than boys, so to believe firls are allowing concentual sex between herself and a boy is a bit off the mark. 

The physical changes that take place during puberty are caused by hormones.

A girl will usually get her first period around the same age that her mother did.

Because teens want to fit in, most choose friends whose interests, activities, and values are similar to their own.

Talking on the phone is one way teens develop their social skills.

I would expect young teens can be influenced by demands of older teens or family without a great deal of difficulty.  They are very vulnerable and society is not suppose to leave them allow a greater victimization, but, provide for their safety in all aspects, physically, socially and psychologically.  I don't see this age group and their growth and development placed on the shelf because they are insulting women's rights due to a new precedent.  That is victimization.  Women's rights belongs in this fight and it is more than appropriate advocates treat the 'age appropriate' happiness accordingly.

Incest is a crime, not a manageable dynamic young women and girls.

Incest is defined as sexual contact between persons who are so closely related that their marriage is illegal (e.g., parents and children, uncles/aunts and nieces/nephews, etc.). This usually takes the form of an older family member sexually abusing a child or adolescent. (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, RAINN, 2008)....

An under reported crime against a child should not be faciliated by a emergency contraceptive medication.  It was stated 1% of all eleven year olds are having sex.  That should not be a call for empowerment, although I understand the focus.  The nation needs to address this very real aspect of life without further victimizing the child or faciliatating the abuse.  An eleven year old child is not engaging in sexual intercourse by consent, but, only by intimidation or incentive.

...The study of a nationally representative sample of state prisoners serving time for violent crime in 1991 revealed that 20 percent (20%) of their crimes were committed against children, and three out of four prisoners who victimized a child reported the crime took place in their own home or in the victim's home (Greenfeld, 1996).

Estimates of the number of incest victims in the United States vary. These discrepancies can be attributed to the fact that incest remains an extremely under-reported crime. All too often, pressure from family members -- in addition to threats or pressure from the abuser -- results in extreme reluctance to reveal abuse and to subsequently obtain help (Matsakis, 1991).

Incest has been cited as the most common form of child abuse. Studies conclude that 43 percent (43%) of the children who are abused are abused by family members, 33 percent (33%) are abused by someone they know, and the remaining 24 percent (24%) are sexually abused by strangers (Hayes, 1990). Other research indicates that over 10 million Americans have been victims of incest....

7.6% of all child abuse is sexual. Another 7.6% is psychological maltreatment.

Children (click title to entry - thank you) are suffering from a hidden epidemic of child abuse and neglect. Over 3 million reports of child abuse are made every year in the United States; however, those reports can include multiple children. In 2009, approximately 3.3 million child abuse reports and allegations were made involving an estimated 6 million children.

I am fully aware of how the female gender at any age is a second class citizen in the USA, however, to empower the victimized is not a valid venue in the USA.  Allowing emergency birth control for young girls and young women is a form of abuse. 


As an ethical issue alone there has to be authority involved with such activity in a society.  I would rather see the Secretary of Health and Human Services along with the Justice Department start to shape protections for young women and girls with an understanding that rape and/or incest is a very viable reality when such pregnancies occur.  Providing 'an out' for the abuser is not a moral venue.

Morality when it comes to intimacy is important.

I was quite surprised to hear highly regarded women advocates actually compare this to children's aspirin.  There is a huge difference and the analogy does not carry weight.

I don't approve of the price of the product, it is prohibitive. but until there is a generic people are stuck with the high price.

The idea that young women of the age of 11 years old should actually be able to access emergency contraception is irresponsible.  Not that it isn't safe, the FDA has already stated it would be safe enough for younger women/girls to take the medication.  The idea a society would consent to allow an eleven year old girl become pregnant without intervening is the issue.  These girls should not be pregnant, providing an emergency contraceptive without a perscription from a licensed medical doctor or a planned parenthood clinic should be illegal. 

While I value the women advocates for all they do there is a stark reality no one is facing.  The intervention by the Secretary of Health and Human Services is not a precedent that cannot be overcome when it is about women 'of age' or 'majority.'  This prohibition of "Plan B" for young girls/women carries a 'criminal' content.  To allow young women to believe they can and have to protect themselves from exploitation by using Plan B without supervision or knowledge is only a very viable venue for child abuse.

The Democrats, Liberals and Progressives don't use organic content in their appeal to the electorate.

Much of what can be organic content can be offensive, knowing the electorate and what they are looking for as people that understand them is important.  The word is important.  It is only right and moral that people can rely on others to care enough about their culture and/or their point of view to have it relayed to them in ways that matter. 

Politics is organic.  It also demands the best a populous has to give to insure the USA is on its best offensive both in achieving goals such as peace and nuclear disarmament, but, also to be able to direct activities of the government without devisive debate.  There is a healthy balance of organic content in politics and I wish those that participate would find it.

The electorate wants to be understood and their candidates should reflect the fact they do understand them and can relate to them.

This Rick Perry ad is named 'Strong.'

It has a great deal of organic content. The cowboy roughness, relating to God and physical movement. He is walking uphill and not downhill. Uphill is a struggle, a climb and it relates what a strong man he is.

This ad by Cain's campaign is organic. It is pure juice and nothing more.

It's Monday Night

Red Hot Chili Peppers (click title to entry - thank you) - Organic Anti-Beat Box Band (Buenos Aires 1999-10...

Welcome friends to my thoughts of when
the fax city 4 were four young men
time has come, now we jam
with the uplift mofo party plan
we're the organic anti-beat box band

One comes from the holy land
another was born an australian
me i'm from michigan
but hollywood is the land of lands
it's a hollywood jam

We represent the hollywood kids
hollywood is where we live
we represent the hollywood kids
organic anti-beat box band

Life is grand in the land of lands
the mind does boggle the mind expands
the anarchy 4 have manned their craft
get on your knees and shake your ass
to the jam that is, thats right

We don't ask we demand
that you and your clan
listem now to this jam
to the power of the drummers bad
it's a hollywood jam

Let's rock!

We represent the hollywood kids
hollywood is where we live
we represent the hollywood kids
organic anti-beat box band

There's a party in my town at 12:00
there's a party that's rockin down to the rock
I've got nothin' against hip hop
but there's a party in my town
and no beat box jam that is

The party's got girls the girls got hot
the party's got boys and the boys got socks
something popped the doors unlocked
house got up ran around the block
sit down house
take off your blouse

We represent the hollywood kids
hollywood is where we live
any good friend of the lollypop kids
over the rainbow with the wiz
we represent the hollywood kids
organic anti-beat box band

With the organic anti-beat box band
you just might slam dance that is
it's a hollywood jam

Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream have announced they are an ally of #Occupy.

They are planning a campaign against corporate donations in politics called, "Get the Dough (Cookie Dough) Out" of Politics.

They plan the beginning of this campaign in 2012 and recognize the need for an Constitutional Amendment to completely end the idea that a corporation is a person.

They have changed their corporate structure to reflect these values before this announcement and have spent time with the #Occupy movement to know there are wonderful people affiliated with it.

This is a major accomplishment for #Occupy and their success is gaining ground on venues the longer they continue.  The Co-Founders of Ben and Jerry's spent time at the encampments scooping ice cream to the protesters.   They stated it was then they were able to come to understand the people involved, their purpose, their vision and mission.  The encampments have been a vital link to growing a concensus for the movement.  It brought 'community' to the reality.

Unitil Tomorrow...

Thank you.


The cable line to the house was cut by a competitive cable compamy.  North State has been laying cable and the crew literally cut the cable line for a competitor.  That's okay they cut the neighbor's water line.  But, it seems to be better now at 9:48 pm.


Tomorrow.

The Affordable Care Act has reduced Co-pays and Monthly Premiums by up to 80%

A pleasant surprise occured this week for subscribers to "Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Medicare HMO Subscribers;" their out of pocket costs were cut dramatically beginning January 2012.

The monthly subscriber fee was reduced by 80% and the co-pay for doctor visits was reduced by 60%.

The average monthly subscription rate was $80.90.  As of January 1, 2012 the monthly subscription rate will now be $16.40.

The co-pay for physician visits was $15.00.  As of January 1, 2012 the monthly co-pay will now be $5.00.

Depending on the plan (click title to entry - thank you) the monthly fee costs nothing.  There are now options to be enrolled in a Medicare Supplemental Plan without cost which makes seeking health care affordable.  It will allow all those on Medicare to have their annual physical examinations with preventive care regardless of income. 

The Medicare recipient will now have more disposable income to help with other costs now. For those on fixed incomes it will help increase quality of life.

For all those breathing a sigh of relief for the holidays, "Thank you, America."

A Challenge for #Occupy - Voter Registration that is otherwise impossible.

Jim Crow has returned to some states in the USA in the way of a poll tax. The states are making a legitimate run as inhibiting people that usually vote Democratic to vote in 2012. There are a variety of venues for the alienation of voters from their BIRTH RIGHT, but, one of the most egregious states is Georgia. Literally, the Georgia legislature has made it nearly impossible to register unless the voter does so in person and even then they will obligated to bring photocopies of themselves.

In Georgia, the new laws state a photo identification has to accompany the voter registration. So, how does an organization attempting to register voters without taking them to a city or county building do that?
It seems to me if #Occupy wants to accelerate their cause and make their footprint count registering voters is a good idea. If I was faced with such a challenge, a non-profit status would be good, seeking funding, taking donations and then planning a way to carry out the voting registration requirements as the new laws dictate as expeditiously as possible.

Above is an iPhone or cell phone or digital camera that took a picture of a check. With a vehicle that is carrying a portable printer or photo processor a voter registration in Georgia could be taken along with a picture of the required photo ID of the voter and processed to attach it to the registration form. I hesitate to believe the digital photos could wait until they could be processed and then attached to the registration because there is a greater chance of error. But, if the printer of the photograph were at the place where the registration was being taken, all the requirements could be completed at once.

I believe voter registration, especially on college campuses, is consistent with the #Occupy vision, purpose and mission. It solves the problem of human rights violations in the USA as it defeats the return of Jim Crow. The states attempting to disenfranchise voters have passed hideous laws, but, they can be served if they aren't overturned before November 2012.

The #Occupy organizations that already have their 501(c)3 have a better start then the organizations that have achieved that standard yet, but, I am confident there is funding available. I wish everyone luck. It might be interesting to check in at local election headquarters to say hello and be sure everything is in place to facilitate voting including 'free rides' to the polling places. OR. Absentee ballots delivered to residents that are unable to travel and want to vote. There is a lot be done before November 2011.
...Despite the real progress (click titel to entry - thank you) that has been made in the United States towards eliminating the legacy of Jim Crow, as the ACLU and other civil rights/human rights organizations have documented, racial and ethnic minorities -- and especially peoples of African descent (i.e., black Americans) -- "continue to face intentional, structural, and de facto forms of discrimination which manifest in unequal access to quality education, housing, health services, and employment, as well as electoral disfranchisement and discrimination in the criminal justice system." For example, recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics show that 36 percent of black children are living in poverty, the highest rates of any racial group (by comparison, 33 percent of Hispanic children and 12 percent of white children are living in poverty)....

The methane is also the problem with fracking.

It is easy for the petroleum industry to point at its fracking fluid as a means of distraction from the ENTIRE problem.  I am quite confident the petroleum industry will pander to the EPA and attempt to change the content of the fracking fluid to satisfy the legitimate dangers these chemicals cause to human health, but, that fracking fluid alone is not the problem.  The fracking operation and its products and by-products are as much the problem.

The fracking fluid is only the beginning of the problem.  When the fracking fluid enters the ground and contaminates ground water and aquifers it also is melting rock and soil.  The COMPONENTS of the MELTED rock and soils also become fluid and enter the ground water, too. 

Then the fracking operation reaches the methane there is a rush of the gas to the surface.  Methane will travel as a gas along the path of least resistance.  The methane released from hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is under pressure and it is a lot of pressure.  The land above the methane is over a mile and a half deep, that provides a lot of pressure to force the gas out of the deep earth chamber where it was contained.  So what occurs is what is noted in this video.  As a flow of methane is released through an open garden hose the volume of the methane increases as time goes by because the path of least resistance is under growing pressure from previously blocked routes. 

The man in this video states at the end he can't even put the flame out.  That is due to the ever increasing volume of methane finding its path out of containment.  If he let this burning go on long enough the flame would increase until it reached its capacity to discharge at the end of the garden hose.  Then the garden hose would explode either under pressure due to the increased volume of methane it contained or becaue the volume of gas would become so great it would then be inside the hose opening of the hose itself melting the metal and the hose and causing failure of the integrity of the garden hose.  As far as I am concerned this gentleman was lucky the ignited methane didn't travel back into the hose and into the well head to really cause some damage to both he, his land and his home and all those he loves in it.

This is ridiculous.  No one should have to live with this kind of danger in their water supply, cistern or no cistern.

When large volumes of ice melt off glaciers and icefield the land under it rebounds upward.

This is confirmation there is global warming that is causing huge shifts in Earth's climate.

In case the word 'confirmation' is alien, then the word PROOF should mean something!


SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- A 2010 spike (click here) in the melting of ice cover in Greenland caused a large part of the island's bedrock to lift almost an inch, a U.S. researcher says.

A network of 50 GPS stations measured the uplift as the ice loss was accelerated in southern Greenland by 100 billion tons, Ohio State University researcher Michael Bevis said....

I would not take any of this lightly.  Ice sheets, glaciers and ice fields all contribute to a cooler troposphere.  As fresh water melts into the North Atlantic the ocean circulations change. 

Why Does the Greenland Ice Sheet Matter? (click title to entry - thank you)
The Greenland Ice Sheet blankets 81 percent of Greenland Island. This monstrous ice slab stretches 2,480 kilometers (1,540 miles) long and up to 750 kilometers (465 miles) wide. The ice sheet is so big it would stretch from Key West, Florida, to 100 miles beyond Portland, Maine, covering a swath as wide as from Washington, D.C., to Indianapolis, Indiana. It’s 80 percent as big as the entire United States east of the Mississippi River. It’s not only huge, it’s also thick—an average of 2.3 kilometers (1.6 miles) thick. It contains roughly 8 percent of all of Earth’s fresh water….

At any point in time does the Petroleum Industry have a conscience?

Endangered species, a country trying to fight a drug war and the lousy petroleum industry makes it easier for the cartels to travel through the jungle. 

 

The oil derricks don't belong there.  I wish the American petroleum industry would respect the sovereignty of countries like Belize.  Their jungles and species protections are vital to their tourism industry.  Belize is just beginning to recover from the 2008 economic crash.  This year saw better tourism than any year since 2008 and now this.  The country doesn't need it !

 

This article is appearing in "Mongobay.com" a travel sight that promotes tourism. 

 

...These are seismic lines, (click title to entry - thank you) cut on the orders of US Capital Energy, and the normally silent Temash and Sarstoon rivers are buzzing with river traffic as their workers are transported to cut new lines. The comfra palms are protected as their fruit provide food for the large, cow-like peccary, but they, in their herds of 50-60, have deserted the area since the oil company commenced its explorations.

We trek through the jungle for several hours, crossing the only known low-lying sphagnum moss bog in Central America, before arriving at our rendezvous on the Temash River. The seismic lines are cut clear to the river’s edge – this is another infringement of the regulations which mandated leaving a ‘buffer’ of rainforest, but makes our departure far easier – the mangroves abutting the river present a major barrier to those seeking to enter or leave the rainforest, particularly those in possession of illegal rosewood.

Making the dense, frequently impassable jungle into a network of straight paths with access to the rivers poses a danger that has already been borne out on the lines where cutting work has been completed and which now lie silent; the previous patrol discovered new trails branching off these seismic lines to newly felled hardwood stumps. Many lines lead directly to the Guatemalan border – the home of the many armed gangs who enter the park to poach resources, and equipped as they are with radios, can now escape more easily from the Belizean authorities....

I believe the young man stated he is from Iowa.

The environmental assessment of the Keystone Pipeline was corrupt. The GOP actually believes corruption is good and this is more proof.

Alberta Oil Sands 1984

...The department allowed TransCanada, the company seeking permission to build the 1,700-mile pipeline from the oil sands of northern Alberta to the Gulf Coast in Texas, to solicit and screen bids for the environmental study. At TransCanada’s recommendation, the department hired Cardno Entrix, an environmental contractor based in Houston, even though it had previously worked on projects with TransCanada and describes the pipeline company as a “major client” in its marketing materials....

TransCanada also stated, in compliance with Canadian environmental standards, they were restoring the areas where the open pit mining was occurring after the sand was removed.  There was a 60 minutes program about it.  They lied.  NASA has a complete set of pictures of the site in Alberta and there is absolutely no restoration.  If that is what TransCanada called restoration, then they speak a different language then I do.

TransCanada is also having troubles already, but, hey they ain't nothing to worry about.  The Republicans are remiss, they don't have 'environment' in their vocabulary when it comes to safeguarding the nation's farmland, any conservation concerns or health.

Alberta Oil Sands 2011, where is there restoration that returns the region back to its origianal state?  There is none!

TransCanada Shuts Pipeline After Troubles With Power (click here)

By DAN FROSCH

Published: November 10, 2011

The company proposing a controversial oil pipeline that would stretch from Canada to the Gulf Coast had a related pipeline shut down twice this week after it experienced power problems. The company, TransCanada, said that its Keystone pipeline, which runs from Alberta to Cushing, Okla., went down for three hours on Tuesday after a Canadian utility that powers the pipeline dealt with shortages....

I can see it now, this thick sludge is moving through a huge pipeline and the entire system loses power.  The sludge turns to glue and is backed up into Canada.  Then what has to be done?  Dismantling of the pipeline, millions of dollars of expense, destruction of land surrounding the pipeline as the entire length has to be opened and the thick and probably hardened sludge has to be removed with heavy equipment.  Is that oil we need?  No, for a lot more reasons than that.  But, do Repubicans care?  No.  They simply see it as a crony issue and they demand it is moved along so they get more money for their political ambitions.

...Because it takes energy to mine and separate oil from the sands, (click here) oil sands extraction releases more greenhouse gases than other forms of oil production. The mines shown in the image emitted more than 20 million tons of greenhouse gases in 2008— a product of both oil production and electricity production for the mining operation. The effort produced the equivalent of 86 to 103 kilograms of carbon dioxide for every barrel of crude oil produced. By comparison, 27 to 58 kilograms of carbon dioxide are emitted in the conventional production of a barrel of crude oil....

Republicans are corrupt to the core and if this doesn't illustrate that than I don't know what will.  They don't care about people, they care about money!