At least when it comes to the criminal justice system. How do I know I’m a free thinker? Simple.  All free thinkers agree with Lowell. And I agree with Lowell on this. 

Solutions please, Lowell.

I think less prison time and more public service is in order.

I’m thinking that maybe non-violent offenders could maintain the rest stops. This would allow the rest stops to reopen and give the convicts something constructive to do.

I can’t find my spam on gmail. Anyone know where it went?

A neighbor reportedly saw a man named Henry Louis Gates Jr force a door open and called police. Police showed up at Gates house to investigate and Gates wasn’t cooperative. He was arrested for disorderly conduct .

Obama says the cops acted "stupidly" and turned it into a racial incident.

What are police supposed to do when a burglary report is called in? Check to see if the suspect is a minority and forget the whole thing if they are?  When a suspect won’t cooperate should the police just throw their hands in the air and walk off?

This wasn’t about race until Gates and Obama made it that way.

Sadly, there are people of every color that prevent race relations from moving in a positive direction.

The new liberal environmental champion….   ::trumpet blast::  WALMART !!!!!

Wal-Mart, the country’s largest retailer, announced July 15 that it willinstitute a new policy requiring all of its product suppliers to calculate the environmental costs of their products. These costs will then be tabulated into an easy-to-understand green rating. Wal-Mart plans to post these ratings next to the price tags on products.

I like the new labeling policy but wonder if anyone else is bothered by the fact that Walmart has accomplished what the environmentalists have failed to do?

Never fear! Walmart Man is here!

Lowell recently had a post up that I thought was meant to address infant mortality and taxes. He wasn’t very clear in his original post what the connection is between taxes and babies dying, so I’m going to have to make a few assumptions.

1. I must assume that when Lowell refers to taxes he is means the taxes involved with socializing health care.

2. I must also assume that Lowell believes that by socializing health care, infant mortality rates in the United States will drop.

As Lowell pointed out in his post, we already spend a lot of money on health care here in the United States. I believe it is also worth mentioning that we have great hospitals where medical miracles happen every day. Babies that wouldn’t have any chance of living a decade ago are living. So then, why is our infant mortality so high compared to other nations?

I think we need to look at the way infant mortality is defined and the causes of infant mortality for the answers.

We’ll start with the causes. Here’s a list of top ten reasons infants die.
1. Congenital malformation, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities These conditions are caused by genetics or environmental factors. I don’t believe government run health care will help either of these.  Well, actually, more women may opt for tests that could identify these conditions before the baby is born and abort. This would artificially lower the infant mortality rate, because the aborted baby would not count as a real baby. It would still be dead, it just wouldn’t count. When it comes to environmental factors, socialized health care wouldn’t help. Getting free or low cost doctor visits will not protect you from asbestos, pollution, cat poop, or chemical laden water. Or what ever it is in the environment that affects your pregnancy.
2. Disorders relating to short gestation and low birth weight And what causes, low birth weight and premature birth? Having babies too young (as in 15 or younger), multiple births, drug and alcohol use (including cigarettes), and the mother not gaining enough weight or eating a poor diet. Social care may lead to more teens having abortions, but still you have a dead baby. It will not prevent mothers from drinking, smoking, abusing drugs, or eating like crap. Those are decisions individuals must make.

3. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) No one really knows what causes this, but again Social Care isn’t the answer. People must take responsibility to do things to lower the risk to their own babies.

4. Maternal complications These are problems with a pregnancy or delivery that affect the mother. Most births in the United States happen in a hospital in a clean to sterile environment with medical equipment standing by and a neonatal unit not far away. Again I think a better answer is to make choices to decrease your risk. Keep you body healthy and practice good hygiene.

5. Newborn affected by complications of placenta, cord and membranes Look back at sentence two of number 4. Again Social Care isn’t the answer.

6. Accidents (unintentional injuries) Social Care won’t prevent accidents.
7. Respiratory distress of newborn The risk of this seems to increase when babies are born prematurely. See number two and second sentence of number 4.
8. Bacterial sepsis of newborn Premature babies are at higher risk. See number two and second sentence of number 4..
9. Neonatal hemorrhage Look at sentence two of number 4.
10. Diseases of the circulatory system Look at sentence two of number 4.

Not that I don’t think there are problems with the current state of our health care; I just don’t think raising taxes and Social Care will dramatically fix our infant mortality rate. Good decisions would go a lot farther: eat healthier, don’t drink and smoke and definitely lay off the drugs, try to live in the cleanest environment possible and properly care for your baby. And that is not to be taken to mean that I think all infant mortality is the fault of the mother or  could have been prevented by eating more vegetables and less McBurgers. It means that as a nation we embrace some very unhealthy lifestyles that taxes won’t fix. We have to make the changes ourselves.

This should also be considered when comparing our rate to other countries.

While the United States reports every case of infant mortality, it has been suggested that some other developed countries do not. A 2006 article in U.S. News & World Report claims that "First, it’s shaky ground to compare U.S. infant mortality with reports from other countries. The United States counts all births as live if they show any sign of life, regardless of prematurity or size. This includes what many other countries report as stillbirths.

Another seemingly paradoxical finding is that when countries with poor medical services introduce new medical centers and services, instead of declining the reported IMRs often increase for a time. The main cause of this is that improvement in access to medical care is often accompanied by improvement in the registration of births and deaths. Deaths that might have occurred in a remote or rural area and not been reported to the government might now be reported by the new medical personnel or facilities. Thus, even if the new health services reduce the actual IMR, the reported IMR may increase.

Lowell is vindicated by… google?

People aren’t googleing “ecomomic depression” as often as they had been. Therefore the economic free fall has ended and the stimulus is working. Google says so. So does Lowell (I think).

It couldn’t possible mean that people have already searched the term and understand it and don’t need to keep looking at it. And it couldn’t mean that people are too busy working or looking for work to spend time googling what they can see around them every day.

I think most parents are aware that this is the time to stock up on pencils, crayons, paper and all the other school related items since they are on sale   This means it is also the perfect time to stock up on items to send in an Operation Christmas Child box. By purchasing now you can get so much more and be a blessing to more impoverished children.

I wish I could claim ownership to this idea, but I can’t. I got it off a homeschooling board . Go have a look. About half way down the first page a woman shares how much a gift like these boxes meant to her father when he was a child living in a third world country.

Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.

“And folks look, AARP knows and the people with me here today know, the president knows, and I know, that the status quo is simply not acceptable,” Biden said at the event on Thursday in Alexandria, Va. “It’s totally unacceptable. And it’s completely unsustainable. Even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now. It can’t do it financially.”

“We’re going to go bankrupt as a nation,” Biden said.

“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt ?’” Biden said. “The answer is yes, that’s what I’m telling you.”

Must be the "new" math they’re teaching in school.

N= nation

L=liberal health care

B= bankrupt

D=debt

N-L= B

N+L+D^10 ≠B

Come again?

There has been an exchange going on on Republitarian between Lindsay Howerton, Erik Curren’s fiancee, and Myron. The post originally addressed Erik’s religious affiliation and Lindsay quickly turned the focus off Erik and onto herself–good move by the way, and very effective.

Lindsay brought up the fact that she is a trained lay speaker and would consider(after a time of discernment) going in to the ministry.

As you can imagine it didn’t take long for Myron to question this as there are several scriptures relating to the role of women in the church that seem at odds with what is often practiced today. Myron writes:

I’ve always been somewhat conflicted on the theological issue of a woman’s role in the church. The below passage has always clouded the issue for me. I’d be interested in your understanding of the scripture?

I Corinthians 14:

34The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.

35If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.

36Was it from you that the word of God first went forth? Or has it come to you only?

I was a little surprised by Lindsay’s answer, which wasn’t an answer at all. It’s too long to paste here so I’ll provide a link . She never does offer her understanding of the above passage, just suggests that Myron read, pray, and contemplate "before ever speaking outwardly on the matter."  WHAT!?

When someone asked me why *I* wear a covering and what it means to *me* do you think I should say, "Well if you are really interested in that topic I suggest you read your  Bible over and over, pray a lot, but don’t speak on the issue until then. Oh and for good measure you could google it or read a few other books on the topic." Not that there is anything wrong with suggesting reading the Bible and praying, in fact it’s good advice, but it doesn’t address my understanding of the scripture in question or the convictions that shaped my thinking and actions. It’s more of a blow off than anything.

Who better to ask about a prayer covering and the reasons for it than a woman wearing one? You would think that they would have studied the topic and could give some insight on the issue. Likewise, who better to ask about the topic of women in ministry than one on her way there?

I don’t intend this post to turn into an argument about women’s roles in the church (which I have definite opinions on -based on the scriptures) but rather a post about knowing what you believe and why, being able to back it up with scripture and help others gain insight with issues they struggle with.  I can hardly believe the United Methodist Church trains people to respond with, read the Bible, pray and until then keep quiet.

I don’t think it’s wrong to ask opinions and understanding from others. I do think it’s wrong to turn them away.

A 17 year old girl left a kitten to die in an oven after trashing an apartment and stealing.

Under the agreement, Cherry pleaded guilty to two charges in a six-count indictment. She waived her right to appeal and agreed not to keep a pet for the next three years. Cherry, jailed on a probation violation, faces formal sentencing July 31.

…

Cherry is not new to animal crimes.

She was busted last year for using a BB gun to dog-nap a teacup Yorkie with her boyfriend. She was also arrested for robbing a man of his iPod at gunpoint.

I don’t think pet ownership should be anywhere in her future.