…in the break room….(sorry…this reads too much like an Agatha Christie mystery)
One has to wonder at the nurse being poisoned, too, for her behavior. She was already being written up for her behavior, and over time she and the rest in the practice would be affected. Have I mentioned before that dentists have the highest suicide rate among the professions?
A lawsuit has been filed alleging that millions of dollars have been withheld from affordable housing funds.
More from Housing Authorities around the country:
New York. Okay, I’m a little confused, because the folks in Fort Wayne were having budget cuts even before sequestration….some forty percent was reported. It was supposed to be nationwide, so I’m wondering why NY wasn’t cut previously?
Seattle, Washington. This report is more in line with what Fort Wayne is going through–they have had to close the Section 8 (Voucher) program many times because they are just flooded every time they open it up. They have had as many as 4,000 people on the waiting list (If I recall correctly, that was for both Voucher and Public Housing).
From the report:
At the same time, the waiting list for Housing Choice Vouchers remains closed, and the agency is unable to issue new vouchers at all. Nearly all vouchers are in use (99.6 percent), and the 1,552 households still on the waiting list remain stuck there. Total waiting lists exceed 25,000, and 884 new households were added in January alone. At a time when need is growing dramatically, the Seattle Housing Authority is unable to expand to meet that need.
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Here’s a good article from The Nation on the stupidity and callousness of cutting a housing budget when there is so much need.
From the article:
Although housing assistance takes only one penny of every federal budget dollar, right-wing ideologues since at least the Reagan years have long used “deficit reduction” as a pretext for achieving their dream of eliminating government housing aid. Reagan infamously slashed the housing budget at a time of recession and the emergence of modern homelessness, while the deficit exploded. There’s no question that when it comes to housing assistance, the Reagan legacy lives on. This year the Cato Institute outlined a plan to tackle the budget deficit that would, among other things, “terminate” the Department of Housing and Urban Development. And Reagan’s Tea Party descendants in Congress promise further chops of the budget ax for housing and other safety net programs.
This is not good. It is just mindboggling that anyone could possibly think Nuclear energy is cost effective and SAFE. It is neither. It is the biggest energy scam ever. It is unsustainable.
Billions of dollars spent on this black hole could have been used to develop and promote solar energy. It could have been used to sponsor classes of off-grid energy for the public….but no…
common dreams has this link up on the octopus of GMO corn and the emerging super bugs that are resistant to the pesticides….
…and of course, their answer is to….throw more pesticides after them.
We all saw this coming, so why are Monsanto and Syngenta still allowed to market this monster?
Congress, can you hear the American public that you love to *quote* all the time? Can you hear us above the *clink* of money in your pocket? (Be sure to click on the media link and its pathetic and sometimes belittling coverage).
Vilsack, can you cut your ties with Monsanto and do what is right for the environment and our health?
Here’s a report about GMO’s in the waterways in my own backyard. This is a freaking nightmare.
As a side note, here’s an article on aerial spraying and untested chemicals. Gees-o-pete, does anyone stand up to the chemical industry??
Is what seems to be happening in the last few weeks of the “George Love In”….with the *cough* George W. Bush library that re-programs, er I mean, explains to the public how it really was when he was president…
This is such a hard subject for me, because I’ve been from one extreme to the other with my feelings on it. And feminists marginalize those women who believe in equality but have reservations about abortion. It’s probably one of the biggest reasons that the women’s movement lost steam in the 70s.
When I was younger, before I had my children, I thought abortion was okay. But when I had my children, I thought that it was wrong. But I have seen the horrible picture of the woman who was so desperate that she had her boyfriend use a coat hangar on her to abort her pregnancy. She died of an embolism. I don’t want us to go back to that, but at the same time, I feel that there needs to be restrictions. The heart starts beating at six weeks.
I learned something from Bill Moyers’ book published in the 80s–it stated that Europe is not as lenient about abortion as America is. This shocked me–thinking that Europe has always been more open and “liberal’ about stuff, I presumed that they were of the mind that a woman could have an abortion at any time. Nope. Here is a list of the countries and their abortion policy. Most of them cut off abortion at 12 weeks, even for rape. They only make exceptions for the physical and mental health of the mother, but even then, there are some cut-off dates. The book stressed that the Europeans have a much more supportive structure in that they educate women and men on contraceptives. And if a woman has the baby, she is supported the first five years of life. Amazing, isn’t it??
In the not too distant past, women were not informed on how to prevent a pregnancy (Comstock laws) . They were having five and six kids and desperate not to have another when they became pregnant again. They were too poor and uneducated to provide for the children they did have….what were they to do?
We’ve had politicians who want to deny women the means to prevent pregnancy, but then they also want to deny them abortion. It makes absolutely no sense. And when those children arrive, they will deny them food stamps and decent housing.
Educating women and men is key.
Providing safe contraceptives is also key. (Despite the popular idea that birth control pills are safe, there are many, many problems with them. I have read that gluten intolerance is linked to them, but now can’t find the reference. )
Spermicidal foam had been found to have mercury in it. More here on other issues with it. As far as I know, sponges are safe, but since they also contain N-9 there are issues.
Some women use the natural sea sponge for menstruation as well as a contraceptive. I had heard that the ladies of days past used the sea sponges.
Here’s a report from a lady who had issues with chemically treated sponges. On another site, a poster said she had heard that honey was a natural spermicide. Interesting. Here’s another site that had a brand of spermicide that is non-chemical. It’s made in the UK, however, and I don’t know whether it’s available here. I looked on their website, and it says there is an extra charge for shipping outside of Europe. If one is interested, probably best to contact them and ask.
So…a complicated subject with emotions running high and no quick, easy answers.
It’s not easy for women to prevent a pregnancy in a safe way. Why is that?
…grows in the dark….is what passed in my head while reading this.
I just can’t wrap my brain around this. The hubris is just beyond me. What gives us the right?
…for spacious skies…
It was a wonderful summer morning for a bike ride here in Hoosierville…
Peaceful….not too many cars.
Several SUV’s pass me with canoes attached. …every single one of them was in a hurry to go….canoeing. Something of an oxymoron, isn’t it? I mean, canoeing is about the most peaceful, slow-paced thing you can do, and here they were speeding around this bicyclist to get where they can take a lazy ride on the wonderful river….(if you have never been canoeing, I highly recommend it. It will blow you away.)
Biologists say that if you see many different species within a certain area, it’s an indication of the health of that area–the more diverse, the better the ability to sustain life. For instance, I’ve seen many cranes flying overhead, in addition to the usual Blue Jays, Robins, Turtle Doves, Redwing Blackbirds, buzzards, deer, ground hogs, coyotes, etc. Today, I got to see two beautiful birds that must be related by their similar black wings…but they had different colored bellies–one had a striking yellow, and the other had a striking blue. They flew the same, too, with quick flutters. They reminded me of finches, but when I tried to find them, the stupid search engine was showing blue birds from the search words of “yellow bellied birds”. (Um, yeah, computer geeks, your search engine sucks.)
I got to see an old spot that I loved when here last—a quiet spot over the river, with a small country bridge spanning it. I hopped off my bike and just stood there, watching the river flow quietly. I see a leaf from a tree slowly follow the river currants. Birds sing in the overhanging trees.
After awhile, I switch to the other side of the bridge, and there a huge tree has fallen from the bank and hangs there on an improvised mini-island where mud and branches and leaves have gathered. I noticed something on the mini-island….is it a snake? Yes, it is, coiled up to get warm in the sun. I think this may be it–hard to tell since I was twenty feet above, but it looks very similar. I continue to survey the island and see two more snakes close by, sunning themselves. As my eyes follow the fallen tree, I notice it has become a host for renewal, as plants have begun to sprout from its decaying trunk….out of death, comes life….I looked more closely at the plants and see yet another snake hidden among the greenery. I look back at the first snake, and…it’s gone. I keep looking in the area, thinking I missed it….but no snake. It had silently slipped into the water…
As I ride along the country road, I see where three poor baby frogs have met their demise. Gees–o-pete, they have deer crossing signs, and duck crossing signs….why not frog crossing signs? Yeah, I know, people aren’t likely to slow down for them, either….but at least you can see deer coming at you….froggies…eh, not so much.
Continuing the nice ride, I go past houses that have been torn down. I wonder what happened to the former owners. One is just a crawl space…..a shell of what once was. Another is a platform that formerly housed a mobile home. A hibiscus still stands as a testament of someone whom once lived there that loved flowers.
Dogs bark, but fortunately are tethered….well, except a pair of huge hounds that barked at me and started to come towards me as I peddled past, but stopped at the property line.
I figured I was safe….must have one of those electric fences.
Ha.
When I turned around to go past again, this time I had two things against me—I was getting tired and I had to pedal up a small hill to get past the dogs.
First rule of bike riding–never get so tired that you can’t out pedal a fast dog.
So….I’m only slightly apprehensive as I’m beginning to pedal faster to get up the hill and not antagonize the dogs.
They were waiting for me on the porch this time….
And, yeah, they weren’t as restrained…as one came out of the yard and barked and got right next to my exposed leg….I’m waiting for it to try to take a bite…
Fortunately, today wasn’t my day to see how good their homeowners insurance was…:p
He got right up to me, but didn’t take that fateful bite.
Whew.
The nice thing about being on a bike versus walking or jogging past is that you can reasonably pedal fast enough to get away. I did this with a white german shepherd once, too. Talk about your heart in your throat….
Wonderful morning. I feel closer to the Great One when I’m out riding bikes or just walking…connecting to something bigger than me…
Hope you’re all having a good day, too.
PRWatch has this up on the behind-the-scenes work of the Bradley Foundation.
From the article:
In advance of the 2012 elections, Bradley was revealed as the secret funder that had bankrolled giant billboard ads, exclusively in neighborhoods of color, stating “Voter Fraud is a Felony” during a period when voter ID was on hold in Wisconsin and many were confused as to its status. It funded groups that employed James O’Keefe, whose heavily-edited undercover videos hyped voter fraud allegations and helped take down ACORN, which had helped millions of low-income people register to vote. It also funded the legal advocacy group that represented O’Keefe.
Both Bradley and Searle have funded the American Legislative Exchange Council, which promoted voter ID laws in states across the country. And in the wake of Shelby County, ALEC-inspired voter ID bills and other restrictions will likely take effect across the South. As many as eleven percent of registered voters don’t have government-issued photo ID and would be unable to vote under the laws, with those percentages even higher among communities of color and students.
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(In case you missed it, James O’Keefe has crawled out from the rock he was under (after pleading guilty to misrepresenting himself as a telephone employee at Mary Landrieu’s office) and is now proclaiming to be a journalist who was victimized. Bwahahahahahahaha….seriously….bwahahahahaha. Let’s hope that his *cough* journalism efforts land him in jail for a looong time this go around…)
Be sure to click on the link explaining the Bradley foundation and its links to none other than….the Kochs and the John Birch Society. Also, the link for “group that brought both challenges” is very informative. Truly, their motives are to go back to “separate but equal” status of education. Yeah, we all know how that worked out. And the Searle connection…you know, one has to consider all the possibilities of drug companies that are behind racist overtures. Kind of scary, isn’t it?
Good God, these people are control freaks. And evil.
From the last post, Center for Media and Democracy has this up on filing suit for Ethics investigation of unreported gifts.
I really wanted to get access to the Financial Times article that includes John Kerry’s dirty fingers in the pie, but I don’t have a subscription….can Kerry get any farther from the Vietnam protester that he once was? What the hell happened to him?
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Here is a group fighting back against the privatization of public interests. What bothers me about this is that I don’t see language here that expressly denies privatization, but rather, it seeks to make more stringent rules. Making rules is good, don’t get me wrong, but to me, privatization should be illegal when taxpayers have already foot the bill for building roads (and keeping them maintained with paving and such); when taxpayers paid for parking meters; when taxpayers built huge water reservoirs, when taxpayers paid for library books that are now being dumped and then sold by so-called ‘friends of the library”…and on….
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Eagle 
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