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Bird populations in steep decline

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Rachel Carson could have written the headline herself, as she predicted this decades ago after the beginning of the chemical age.  Note that neonicotinoids have also been indicated in declining bee populations.

Cornell University has this up on the decline of birds.  Farmer’s Almanac has a forum for us bird watchers, and the news is not good.

Although we have  an active bird feeder here, I think it is an anomaly.  We’re near a river and lots of trees, and I think that makes a huge difference.  I spotted a red-tailed hawk and also a blackhawk coming around for food.  I had the feeder outside my window so I could watch the birds at close range.  However, it also made them easier targets for the hawks, so I moved the feeder closer to evergreens that provided a shelter for them.  It meant that I didn’t get to watch them as closely, but it gave them a chance against being a hawk’s dinner.

Although I have seen black-capped chickadees, apparently they are among the birds in decline.  😦

Ojibwa and Cree women healers **edited

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(This post is about spirituality and healing, so if it is not your thing….)

You know, ever since attending university, I’ve had such a craving for academic papers, and this one is just what the doctor ordered. Pun intended. 🙂

As I’m reading the first few pages, I think about my Dad as a healer and how that runs in families, it seems.  I think about how my Dad used to tell people to eat burnt toast and drink scalded milk for diarrhea and the simplicity makes me smile.  Of course, I don’t think that this remedy helped everyone — causes for dire-of-the-rear are many and this folk remedy is just one.  Besides, knowing what I know now about gluten, GMO’s, and how the diet affects health, I probably would not recommend this now.

Anyway, I love the author’s premise that healing medicine is about mind, body, and soul.  And it has been since the beginning of time.  I can see my own father’s recommendation change from burnt toast to Kaopectate.  (And after reading that the original ingredients have changed, one has to wonder *why* when salicylates are not to be given during flu, when there is a likelihood of dire-of-the-rear.  )  It’s a testament to medicine becoming more *cough* modern, using chemicals to heal, instead of natural plants and asking Creator to help heal one.

I was struck by Golden Eagle Woman’s quote that one “should believe a doctor is going to help you.”   I guess it struck me as odd because cookie cutter U.S. medicine is not based on healing, but “managing symptoms”.  Big Pharma has become too, too powerful in forcing doctors/nurses/hospitals to subscribe to the idea that illness and disease are curable/manageable with popping pills.  The healing aspect of U.S. medicine is gone, as far as I’m concerned.  It’s all about the $$$.  So it just struck me as odd that a Native American healer would say something about having faith in doctors.  I lost my faith in them and in the system long ago when no one diagnosed correctly what was wrong AND not only that, but harmed me in several ways (please see the Seldane/Synarel episode).

The faith aspect is also missing from U.S. medicine, but here I have misgivings because the mindset here is “my religion is the only TRUE religion, therefore it is the only valid way to worship God/Creator”.  Thus, when someone of a different spiritual path does not believe the same way, it would be a block to healing, instead of helping, in my opinion.  The arguments over religion are not healthy and not positive.  It’s okay if someone believes differently — it’s their path to take.

Because faith is intricately involved in healing, the physician and patient would have to believe that no matter their paths and ways of worship, that they are still asking for help from the same God/Creator.  Tough to do, if not impossible, for some folks.

Descending Mist feels a state of wellness exists when there is equal
balance between the spirit, the mind, and the body. She believes if one
of those components is not well, it will be manifested physically. Spirit
in the Rock agrees with this and says, “If your spirit is hurting, it’s
going to be manifested in the body. We need to look after the whole,
the spirit, the intellect, the body.” Descending Mist states that to be
balanced and healthy “is a beautiful state of being.”
~~~~~~~~
I agree with this, but I also think it is two-way, in that if the body is unwell, one cannot connect with the Creator, either.  As with anything that blocks or dulls the senses.  I have noticed this in my own journey — with heavy metal poisoning, one’s senses are dulled.  The heavier the poisoning, the more dull one’s senses are.  This blocks one’s connection to the Creator., in my experience. As those blockages are lifted, and I detox from the heavy metals, my connectedness with the Creator and with my surroundings are becoming more acute.  So I think it is a two-way street where one must take care of one’s body — not pollute it with chemicals or bad food — in order to nourish the spirit and connect with God.  Sweat is mentioned, and it is known that sweating is the body’s way of detoxing, too.  Fasting, too, is a way to connect, but there again, if one’s body is not healthy enough to fast, one cannot withstand it, so that would also block the connectedness to the Creator.
I looove that the women stated that cultural differences are to be celebrated, not feared.  Instinct and intuition will tell you if something is wrong and of course, one should avoid it.  But the fear of something different gets in the way of listening to intuition.  The Native American tradition is non-judgmental at its base.  It’s an acceptance of different paths and trust in the Creator.
Faith in the Creator, how the healing process works, unwavering
trust, and an intimate connection with the spirit world exists for the
aboriginal woman healers. To work trustingly from the heart center, and to accept the wondrous, seemingly impossible, magical, and mystical aspects of healing without doubt or question is required.
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This means to let go of the physical world and trust that the Creator is guiding you.  It’s the culture vs. nature argument where culture looks at making money off of medicine, and nature simply wants to fix that which needs fixing, without payment, without judgment, without attachment — and recognizing that the healing is done by the Creator, not by the person being used as the communicator.
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It’s a very powerful gift that we’ve been given…. I am not a healer….I am only an instrument in that whole process. I am the helper and the worker, the preparer, and the doer. The healing ultimately comes from the Creator.
——————
Finally, the male/female aspect must be addressed.  Women were healers throughout history, and were killed for it.  Gah, even now, men healers are being killed for it.  Makes one wonder why anyone would want to be a healer.  And the double standard of a healer also causing illness is beyond me.
  If one believes that healers are just the means by which the Creator heals people, then they cannot by definition cause harm.  The Creator would not cause harm.  The person doing the healing would not be able to because their abilities come from the Creator. ** edited to add:  the Creator would not use someone to heal if that someone would also do work for the Dark Side, that’s what I’m clumsily trying to say.
We all know the story of the Salem witch trials where the accusers made stuff up to make it appear that their chosen victims were witches when they were not.  The hysteria was phenomenal.
And let’s not forget the greed factor here — the women targeted by their accusers were the women who were different.  These women owned property in times when they were not allowed to own property (their fathers gave them the land or their late husbands bequeathed the land to them), so they were independent.  This most likely caused jealousy among the women who were married with no rights of their own and fear among men who saw these independent women as a threat. Another aspect of the financial was the women who were poor — they did not own land and they had no means to escape, and they were the ones whom were hanged.  Married women of means could escape the accusations by moving away, but the poor could not.  The trials only stopped when a man was accused of witchcraft, and he refused to “admit” he was a witch, therefore, the judge ordered him crushed to death by laying stones on him until he died.  Then the judge took the man’s land.  Yep.  It was pure greed and the one who held himself up as righteous was actually the dark one.
So what do you think?  Is healing through pills? Or is it through nature and the Creator?

Governor Rauner doesn’t believe $10 an hour is good for the people of Illinois…

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Yes, he seriously said that it was not in the best interest of Illinois citizens to be paid a decent wage above poverty level…

That includes an executive order that called for Rauner to release all of his tax information as well as one that increased the minimum wage for state contracts from $8.25 an hour to $10 an hour. Both of the issues were sticking points in a bruising campaign between the two men in 2014.
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…and it’s none of your damn bidness about his income and if he has any accounts in the Cayman Islands…meanwhile, *everything* you do will be under the watchful eye…what with your bank accounts and tax returns, etc., being open to being scrutinized. Hmmmm….

The stolen bike

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Jessica Ciencin Henriquez has written a story on her stolen bike…and the unexpected turn of events when she caught up with the persons whom had stolen it.

The policeman’s attitude was the same that I experienced when my stuff was stolen out of the storage unit.  I asked the same question of whether it would be found.  He had the same dismissive attitude that it was unlikely that it would be found,I even gave him the names of two high school students whom helped me move everything to the unit.    My sister and my son were the only ones outside of the h.s. students who knew the unit number.  The way that I was cleaned out HAD to have been by someone who knew what was there and what they were looking for– my $1200 Gateway computer and $800 Pioneer stereo, plus other stuff they thought they could sell, apparently.

Like Jessica, I went around trying to get the word out — pawn shops within a 40-mile radius.  I even put an ad in the local newspaper asking for information and naming a few of the items taken.  I didn’t have the good luck she did in finding my stuff.  I’m a little naive in that Craig’s list didn’t even cross my mind.  I’m not sure that it was even in existence at that time.

When I called the police officer and asked if he had followed up on my lead with the h.s. students, he said that he had called one of the boys’ fathers and asked if “any of this stuff turned up at your place.”  He couldn’t even be bothered to go check it out himself…he just called and asked politely.  Unbelievable.   And I strongly suspect that my Gateway ended up in a computer resell place…located a block away from the police station.  Pfft.

I’m glad things worked out for Jessica and that she heard the other side of the story.  For me, however, I suspect that drugs were the reason my stuff was stolen and probably re-sold.  Meth is a huge problem here.

In Newark, Cami Anderson Again Demonstrates Contempt for Democracy

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janresseger's avatarjanresseger

You will remember New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s description of his role as the most recent caretaker in the 20-year state takeover of the Newark Public Schools: “And I don’t care about the community criticism. We run the school district in Newark — not them.”

It is a troubling take on the meaning of public education when a state runs a school district against the will of the people whose children are served by the schools, especially when the guy in charge makes no attempt at all to disguise his disdain for the people whose lives are affected.

The arrogance of the Christie administration’s management erupted again last week when Governor Christie’s appointed superintendent, Cami Anderson finally consented to go before a state legislative committee that is tasked with oversight of state operated school districts.  John Mooney of New Jersey Spotlightnotes that this was the first time Cami…

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Daughter shaken while infant, dies at 15

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What an unnecessary tragedy.  My first question is…why was the father walking around free?  The next question is…in the comments, a mother of a daughter that was also violently shaken by her father commented that her daughter was able to recover somewhat, by surgery.  Is this surgery not available to all shaken babies?  Is it a matter of who has money or insurance?

And while reading the comments, there was this poignant one:

  • Juliana 

    I worked at a state facility for over six years one of the teenage boys I took care of was there due to being shaken when he was three months old. I took care of him daily understanding we would never know what if anything he was able to understand. His beautiful blue eyes held so much promise; his smiles would light up a room. When he turned 16 a man showed up on our dorm and requested to see him; in all the years working with this child no one had ever so much as called to inquire as to his well being. This man was let on the dorm after identifying himself as a family member I found it odd that he would only say he was family and since they had the same last name I think it was assumed he was an uncle or cousin. He sat next to this gorgeous young man and stared at him with a lost look in his eye and eventually we witnessed him crying. I finally got up the courage to inquire as to how he was related and why he had never been to see him before. This man admitted to having just got out of prison after serving 13 years; it did not take long to figure out that this was the same man who put this child here. He quietly got up and decided to leave before he left he told us he would not be returning as he felt once law enforcement found out he had visited this child he may be in trouble. My sweet young man did not recognize him or seem too interested in this person; I have always wondered what happened to this man I know he realized the extent of his crime when he saw what his shaking this child had done. I like to think that this man straightened his life out and perhaps is helping others somewhere. As for this gorgeous young man we lost him at the age of 18 due to health complications; he left me with a sense of meaning and I was proud to have been one of the people in his short life who got to see the beauty of this child. I have three boys of my own and could not imagine hurting them. Prayers for this family and the journey they will take now to heal.

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Perhaps every high school boy should be taken to a facility where they can see the results of shaking a baby to help them understand just how forceful it is and the damage it can do?
And as a side note ~ she is an example of the kind and compassionate folks who staff state hospitals and other care facilities…just wanted to point that out since there are so many who paint all staff as Nurse Ratchetts.  There are bad apples in every profession, for sure, but from my own experience, it was just a handful, while the majority were there because they cared.

NY Times: The lower your wages, the higher your tax burden

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Yep.  And, of course, Indiana is among the top ten of charging the poor more in taxes than the rich.  Well, let’s see now, we are No. 4 in ranking of toxic states, and we are in the top ten states that pay the lowest wages.

In the institute’s “Terrible 10” states, the bottom 20 percent of earners pay up to seven times as much of their income in taxes as the top 1 percenters, the report says. These include Washington, where the poorest residents pay 16.8 percent of their income in taxes while the wealthiest sliver pays just 2.4 percent, followed by Florida, Texas, South Dakota, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arizona, Kansas and Indiana.

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Conservatives, since Ronald Reagan, have spouted the “trickle-down economics” schtick for decades…while the economy continues to get worse.  It doesn’t work.  In addition to that, during the 60s, when nearly everyone had a job that paid decent wages, the corporations were being taxed at about 60-70%.  Imagine that.

Campbell Brown: The Great Mother speaks

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raginghorseblog has this up on Campbell Brown’s continued assault on public education, via false accusations against public school teachers.  Note the connection to the Koch brothers.

Campbell, we are meant to believe, is motivated by love. Love of children. Love of justice. Love of all things excepting due process which, once removed, somehow will place a great teacher in every classroom in the land. Campbell is moved to action by the “extreme inequality” she perceives in New York public schools — but not at all at the ever more extreme inequality of wealth and income — even as her own children attend private schools. Somehow Campbell sees no link between a “failing school “ and a third world economy worsened by insane rents, non-existing jobs and an average wage that has been frozen for 30 some years. And you can rest assured no employee of the Koch brothers is going to remind her of any of that.

Campbell lies as sweetly and sincerely about teachers and is as selective with her anecdotes as she did when she was fronting the Parent Transparency Group.

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I seriously don’t know how she sleeps at night.  Only a sociopath would be able to lie through the teeth to destroy teachers and public education…for money.