A TALK ABOUT PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

So... The misnamed Reverend Jackson wants to cut Obama's, er, jewels off for talking about male responsibility in the African-American community. Hits a little close to your walnuts, doesn't it Rev.?

The Rev. Jesse Jackson,according to his Wiki profile and news sources, had an affair that produced a young daughter. He pays child support but the whole purpose of Obama giving a speech on fatherhood and the duties that go with it was to prevent incidents like that of the Rev. Jackson.

I think, and it is only my opinion as someone of mixed Native People and Caucasian ancestry, that the Rev. Jesse Jackson should step down as a spokesperson in the Democratic Party. Leave the morality about fatherhood to those like Obama who walk the talk.

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A CANDIDATE FOR THE SHORT DROP

A federal jury gave Joseph Edward Duncan III a death penalty sentence for his murder of a Coeur d'Alene family. Duncan killed three members of the Groene family with a hammer. He had stalked the family from North Dakota to Idaho in order to kidnap the family's younger children to sexually abuse them. He kidnapped 9-year-old Dylan and 8-year-old Shasta Groene after the murder of their family. He killed Dylan with a shotgun and then burned the body.

If there is anyone who would benefit from Duncan getting a lethal injection, it would be the family's survivors. It would be a rest to the nightmares of the murderer some day gaining parole. Or knowing that taxpayers pay the bills to shelter, clothe, and feed this monster. There cannot be a quicker resolution to the horror but Duncan's swift trip to being strapped to a gurney.


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BARENAKED BAD YEAR

It seems like a million dollars can't keep BNL from the headlines.
Canadian rocker and BNL frontman Ed Robertson survived a plane crash in Ontario.

The musician's Cessna 206 crashed into some trees as he was trying to take off from Baptiste Lake near Bancroft Ontario.

Robertson and his passengers walked away from the crash with minor scratches.

Guys, life is telling you to take a break. First there was Steven Page's arrest for cocaine possession which might net him 5 1/2 years in gaol, now a plane crash. Does the phrase "slow down" have any meaning?

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NOW I FEEL DAMN SILLY....

.... and relieved. I got the results of the mammogram and I'm okay. However, I feel foolish. I did not realize that a woman with my,um, small assets can also have hard to read mammograms. The breast tissue of a woman with minimal chest area can be, well, compact and difficult to read in a standard mammogram. The second x-ray was a spot compression or cone view of the left breast where the tech presses just a little bit more on the area with the x-ray plates and takes more pictures to get a better look-see. This procedure is not more painful than a standard mammogram, if you aren't a 36 J-cup. I would hate to think of how painful those are under the big squeeze. I'm glad to be me. Furthermore, women who wear large bra sizes have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. It's good to be of modest means.

My doctor was pleased with the results but she told me to continue to monitor my breasts for lumps or other changes. This is wise advice for women of any size.


Keep well. Until next time, ta-tas!

UP FOR THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE

I am an ovo-vegetarian but a PETA campaign that uses the stabbing murder of Tim McLean to promote their vegan agenda is disgusting. A shrimp dinner is almost tempting as a way to give the finger to an organization that has compared meat eating to the Holocaust and promotes itself on the brutal slaying of an innocent man.

I, unlike the PETA eejits, am a sensible vegetarian. I think that limiting one's intake of meat is more healthy for the cardiovascular system. However, I abhor the fluffy bunny crowd that equates animal life with human life. I am not ungrateful or ashamed of my First People (Native American and Native Canadian) ancestors who ate salmon and venison for their survival. The First People ate what they needed to eat to continue their lives. Extreme veganism is the ideology of the dietary spoiled who can drive to the local grocery store and buy their tofu dogs. If it was necessary for me to survive on meat then I would have no trouble sitting down to a meal.

PETA followers need to pull their heads out of their beansides and see how luxurious veganism is compared to those who had or who have so little in terms of sustenance.


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MORE MAMMOGRAM INFO

I received this letter in the mail. It is a form letter that the British Columbia Cancer Agency sends out after a dubious mammogram. I scanned it and removed personal specifics such as address and care provider from the letter. I am posting it because it has more detailed information on mammograms and breast cancer.

NOTE: Please click on the jpeg to see the letter's text.

I hope that this will give more assurance to women dreading a second procedure and a realistic perspective on diagnostic mammogram.


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WE MOURN

Whatever confronts me in my personal life, there cannot be the same devastation that is in Arkansas. A gunman shot and killed state Democratic Party chairman Bill Gwatney on Wednesday.

Police shot and killed murderer Timothy Dale Johnson after a high-speed chase. Earlier, Johnson had painted obscene graffiti on the Target store where he worked.

Officers later found a Post-It note with the chairman's name and keys from one of Gwatney's car dealerships at the killer's home.

This is the second attack on those of the liberal persuasion in less than two months. Underlying the attacks are work-related fears, anxieties, and paranoias. The American economy is stressed to its limits and so are those who are unemployed or underemployed. I know the strain of not being sure when the next paycheque will arrive or if my writing career will ever get past piecemeal stage. I've gone through ill health and no money. Health I hopefully retain at this point but there were times in the past where it has been touch and go. Life is sometimes difficult.

However, there is no reason to hurt or kill out of the pain and fear of a down-turned economy. The victims of wage rage are, in a shooter's mind, symbols of the financial devastation in America. These deaths don't touch the core of what is wrong in the United States. The fatalities won't change the mismanagement of the real estate market, nor the human and monetary cost of the Iraq war, or the country's failing infrastructure. Only each person's constructive and patient work will create a difference to solve these problems.

We are all neighbours in the same tough situation. We stick together or fall individually apart.

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GETTING ANOTHER DAMN...

...MAMMOGRAM. This time it is a diagnostic test because the tech found a shadow on the film which is "abnormal, of low suspicion."

No, the preceding quote does not represent my state of mind unless you're a John Bircher conservative or Fundie Christian who stumbles across my blog. Crazy liberals. I'm fine (really!) but was at first a little panicked when I initially talked to the person who called me while I was on the way out to breakfast with my family. She said that there was "an area of concern" which left me confused because that usually refers to my brain. I had some time with my family, then returned home and called the clinic again. It seems that they aren't ready, yet, to strap me to a gurney and start pit mining in my chest. The diagnostic mammogram is a precautionary measure because of my family history of breast cancer.

There are two types of mammogram, screening and diagnostic. The initial x-rays are a general sweep of the chest area to see if a lump exists. If there is something awry then a secondary diagnostic with more focused x-rays or ultrasound is necessary to ensure that the object warrants surgery.

I have a diagnostic follow-up on Monday, August 18th. Yes, I am a bit scared and afraid to go to the appointment. I want to crawl under the bed with my teddy bear and a blankie. However, ignorance is more harmful than knowledge. That's why I'm not a John Bircher or Fundie Evangelical.

Don't be afraid to find out a hard and painful truth. I know my life, and the lives of other women who are terrified with the spectre of cancer can be saved with taking just one extra step.

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GOT THE DAMN....

....MAMMOGRAM

I get the results in about a week.

Yes, it was kind of like pressed flowers but the tech, bless her, was as careful as could be when she had to squish my baby feeders in two x-ray plates. Fortunately, as I have written elsewhere, my greatest assets are between my ears and not my shoulders or I would be in hurt city and lugging an ice pack out of the clinic. Take that you wanna be porn stars, fashion models, and trophy wives (including my ex-brother-in-law's new hootchy who went the sandbag route for her buried treasures). I was only uncomfortable but I will never feel your pain.

That's all there is until I know more. For now, ta-tas!

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BAD PUPPY, NO SPEECH

John Edwards, with the revelation about an affair with Rielle Hunter, should not speak at the Democratic National Convention.

He lied about not having the affair to the media. He hurt his wife who was later diagnosed with breast cancer. John Edwards is not fit for any public office. Mr. Edwards should take the honourable route and recuse himself from participation in the Democratic Party. He is a liability who should hang his sorry, cheating tail between his legs (and not someone else's) and stay away from the DNC.



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