This Weeks Sound Off

Utah - No more renewing your driver license from the comfort of home.

Starting Jan. 1, Utahns accustomed to renewing their licenses every five years online or by mail will have to line up at Utah Driver License Division offices and prove anew their identity and legal presence in the United States to get a new license.

Undocumented immigrants still will have access to a driving-privilege card that does not work as identification for state benefits or access through federal airport security checkpoints.

SB40, meant partly to conform to future requirements of the federal Real ID Act, creates a third driver category -- the limited-term license -- sunsetting the driving privileges of legal immigrants at the same time that their permits to be in the country expire.

Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said he has received phone calls and e-mails from Utahns upset that the bill he sponsored will create an inconvenience. The changes were necessary, he said, because other states were starting to reject Utah licenses for lack of proof that their owners were in the country legally.

"It was being challenged," he said, especially in neighboring Nevada. "It made sense to make the changes."

In the new year, U.S. citizens renewing Utah driver licenses will have to present proof of identity and legal status, including a Social Security card and a birth certificate, naturalization papers or valid passport. They also will need state residency proof, such as a recent bank statement or utility bill.

The new requirements will last for five years. That's enough time for everyone with a current license to cycle back through the process, because Utah licenses last five years, said Nannette Rolfe, director of the Driver License Division. For Complete Story See The Salt Lake Tribune

My thoughts, good for Utah. Every state should do the same in order to take back our country of those who enter it illegally and prey on our generosity. If you don’t belong, GO HOME!

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NEW YORK (Fortune) -- For top executives, 'tis the season to get paid in company stock - unless you happen to work at Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

The taxpayer-backed mortgage giants disclosed Thursday that they could pay out as much as $40 million to their top 10 executives for work in 2009.

The CEOs - Fannie's (FNM, Fortune 500) Michael Williams and Freddie's (FRE, Fortune 500) Charles Haldeman - are in line to receive as much as $6 million apiece, on an annualized basis (though both will get less this year because they took their jobs midway through the year).

That's a nice chunk of change for running two companies that together lost $72 billion in the first nine months of 2009 and have received $112 billion in Treasury aid. –For Complete Story See CNN Money

Must be nice! Wonder if the little men and women of the company got any recognition for their hard labor which afforded such lavish pay outs to the top 10 executives? If companies can afford such lavish pay outs why not spread the wealth and give everyone a piece of the pie. After all, if it weren’t for the peon's the top executives wouldn’t be able to collect their year-end rewards.

Ragbag Headliners

A Delaware pediatrician is facing numerous charges in the alleged sexual abuse of his patients, authorities said Wednesday, and there may be "multiple victims."

Dr. Earl Bradley, 56, who has had a practice in Lewes, Delaware, for more than 10 years, is charged with eight counts of first-degree rape; four counts of second-degree rape; 14 counts of sexual exploitation of a child; and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden told CNN.

A prosecutor in Biden's office estimated that Bradley may have had as many as 100 victims. Biden stopped short of that, saying only authorities think there may have been multiple victims, and the investigation is ongoing.

As of Wednesday, seven victims had been identified, said Jason Miller, spokesman for the Delaware Department of Justice. CNN affiliate WBOC-TV reported Bradley is being held in lieu of $2.9 million bond. –For Complete Story See CNN

Christmas In & Around Myrtle Beach
Pics Courtesy of Sun News

Five Behaviors of Manipulative People

Many of us like to think the best of people. We like to think that they shoot straight and are forthright in their intentions. We also like to believe that they will ask for what they want and not resort to crazy tactics to get it. Unfortunately, however, there are times when we come across those who will do whatever it takes to get what they want…including manipulation. Being manipulated never feels good, but the worst part of manipulation is that often, we don’t even realize that it is happening. Here are a few ways to know if someone is trying to manipulate you:

1. Buttering You Up: To get their way, manipulators will often make you feel good so that they can then ask you to do something that they want. The person may first compliment you or tell you what a wonderful job you did on something. Making you feel good will, in their mind, make it difficult for you to say no…after all, you wouldn’t want to disappoint them or give them reason to think you didn’t deserve the compliment in the first place. What you can do: Return the compliments and the niceties before saying no.

2. Guilt: This doesn’t only pertain to Catholics and Jewish Mothers; guilt trips have been a successful manipulation tactic for centuries. The saddest part of this strategy is that the victims of this tactic succumb to the manipulators’ demands because they feel they HAVE to, not because they WANT to. In personal relationships, this sets up a co-dependency that is extremely unhealthy. What you can do: Ask the individual if they want you to do something because you have to or because you want to. If they say they want you to want to do it, tell them that you don’t and that they are trying to force you into something you don’t feel comfortable with.

3. Broken Record: Probably the most obvious of formats is the broken record tactic. If a person asks you enough or pushes their agenda enough…constantly repeating the question or request over and over again…in slightly different ways, the victim will inevitably give in and give them what they want. Oye! What you can do: Ask the individual what they don’t understand about the word “no.” Tell them that asking you over and over again isn’t going to change anything and that they are inappropriately over-stepping boundaries.

4. Selective Memory: This one gets me the most. You swear you have a conversation about a plan and everyone is on the same page, and then one day, the manipulator pretends to remember the conversation completely differently, if at all. What you can do: Record your conversations…seriously! Okay, maybe not. At least have a witness that you can count on to back you up if the person pulls this shenanigan. Call them out on the fact that they conveniently change the game to fit their needs.

5. Bullying: If a person doesn’t get their way, they make you out to look or feel like the bad guy…like you are the wrong one. What you can do: Be firm and tell them that their bullying tactics are inappropriate and unacceptable.

Keep your eyes open for these behaviors and continue to stand your ground to ensure that you aren’t a victim of manipulation.

By Brett Blumenthal & Sheer Balance

“Auld Lang Syne” by John McDermott

THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG
LOOKING FORWARD TO ANOTHER YEAR
SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE

"Sing Noel"

Have A Safe,
Joyous
and Blessed Christmas!
Looking Forward To Seeing You On The Other Side
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Music by New Song

This Weeks Sound Off

China - For the first time, Chinese will buy more cars this year than Americans. Demand is so high that drivers put their names on long waiting lists for the most popular models.

“I’m disappointed, but what can I do?” asked Zhang Ge Lu, a 28-year-old interior designer. He came recently with two friends to a row of dealerships here in southeastern China to buy a black Toyota RAV4, only to be told that he would have to wait two months for delivery.

And it is not just cars. For more and more consumer goods, China is surpassing the United States as the world’s biggest market — from cars to refrigerators to washing machines, even desktop computers.

The Chinese market is “on full tilt — booming is an understatement these days,” said John Bonnell, the director of Asia vehicle forecasting at J.D. Power & Associates.

China is pulling ahead at this particular moment partly because Americans, debt-laden and worried about their jobs, are pulling back. After decades of gorging on consumption, Americans are saving. And the Chinese, whom economists thought were addicted to saving, are spending more. -For complete story see NY Times

This Christmas buy American made products. We already support the Arab’s by buying their oil. Course, we don’t have much of a choice since they pretty much monopolize the market. But when it comes to gifts under the tree, we do have a choice. By buying American made products we not only support our own people, but we also help our own economy … not the Chinese. Yeah, buying American made products we may have to spend a bit more, but so what? If it means one less gift so be it! After all, Christmas isn’t all about the gift under that tree. So this Christmas, shop smart ... shop American.

Locally Speaking

NORTH MYRTLE BEACH -- A new motorcycle rally could be on its way for Spring.

North Myrtle Beach is one of three cities Harley-Davidson is looking at to host a five-day motorcycle event for the Harley Owners Group in May.

That event would be in addition to the annual Spring motorcycle rally and to the Memorial Day bikefest in Atlantic Beach. –For complete story see Sun News

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COLUMBIA -- South Carolina lawmakers voted down a measure to impeach Gov. Mark Sanford on Wednesday, but recommended a formal rebuke that said his travels and trysts with an Argentine mistress brought the state "ridicule, dishonor, disgrace and shame."

Most of the seven legislative panel members said the Republican should resign, though his affair, use of state planes and a 2008 taxpayer-funded trip to Argentina were not serious misconduct that merited removal from office.

Instead, the lawmakers unanimously approved a resolution saying he has "brought ridicule, dishonor, disgrace, and shame not only upon Governor Sanford but upon this state and its citizens which rises to a level which requires a formal admonishment and censure." -For complete story see Sun News

Ragbag Headliners

Delaware - In a nondescript conference room tucked inside the library at the University of Delaware, a graduate student found a historian's equivalent to a needle in a haystack.

Amanda Daddona said she discovered a personal letter from Thomas Jefferson amid one of 200 boxes of legal documents, minutes from meetings and day-to-day correspondence of a prominent Delaware family.

"The first thing I recognized was his signature," said Daddona, 22, who is getting her master's degree in history. "It was really, really exciting. I just sat with it for a few minutes and looked it over and savored the moment."

Daddona found the letter last month in an unmarked folder among archives from the Rockwood Museum in Wilmington, Delaware. The archives, which the library received as a gift this year, contain the keepsakes and papers of the Bringhurst family, early members of Delaware's elite society.

Daddona and fellow grad student Matt Davis have been spending 10 hours a week processing the archives for future use.

The letter, dated February 24, 1808, is addressed to Dr. Joseph Bringhurst, who had informed Jefferson in an earlier correspondence about the death of their mutual friend John Dickinson. Dickinson, a notable Delaware politician in his own right, worked with Jefferson as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787.

Jefferson's letter is a tribute to Dickinson, whom he calls "among the first of the advocates for the rights of his country." Susan Brynteson, vice provost and director of libraries at the university, said the letter stood out to her because of the "extraordinary humility" Jefferson shows for Dickinson, who was 11 years older than the president.

In it, Jefferson "calls himself a 'junior companion' " of Dickinson's labors, Brynteson said. "It is such a humble letter from a great man."

Daddona said she is still marveling over her big find so early into the archiving process.

"For me, when I find a document, it's very much a personal connection to the person who wrote it or had it," she said. "Just to know that they had written it or had it in their desk -- it's incredible. This letter was like a link to Jefferson himself."

Historians had been aware of the existence of the letter, thanks to Jefferson's use of a portable copying press, one of his many inventions. But its physical whereabouts had been unknown.

The letter will be kept in a vault in the Special Collections Department of the university library.

Brynteson said it will be made available to academics, students and other library visitors.

"To hold it in your hands is really quite thrilling," she said. –CNN

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Have you ever felt cut off from other people, even if there are plenty around you? Maybe you felt all alone in the world, but you were making other people feel lonely without even realizing it.

New research suggests loneliness can actually travel from person to person, spreading up to three degrees of separation. That means if your neighbor's cousin's friend is lonely, you may have a good chance of being lonely, too.

The results, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, were also mentioned in the recent book "Connected" by Dr. Nicholas Christakis at Harvard University and James Fowler at the University of California, San Diego. The book explores how happiness, obesity, smoking and a slew of other behaviors and habits are contagious among groups of people who know one another. –For complete story see CNN

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As 2009 draws to a close, the Web's attention turns to the year ahead. What can we expect of the online realm in 2010?

While Web innovation is unpredictable, some clear trends are becoming apparent. Expect the following 10 themes to define the Web next year: -For complete story see CNN

Fred Loya House - El Paso, TX

Twas the month before Christmas

When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS,
not Happy Holiday !
Please, all Christians join together and
wish everyone you meet during the holidays a
MERRY CHRISTMAS
Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas Season!

Author Unknown

“A Christmas To Remember”
by Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton

Air Tran 297

One week ago, I went to Ohio on business and to see my father. On Tuesday, November the 17th, I returned home. If you read the papers the 18th you may have seen a blurb where a AirTran flight was cancelled from Atlanta to Houston due to a man who refused to get off of his cell phone before takeoff. It was on Fox.

This was NOT what happened.

I was in 1st class coming home. 11 Muslim men got on the plane in full attire. 2 sat in 1st class and the rest peppered themselves throughout the plane all the way to the back. As the plane taxied to the runway the stewardesses gave the safety spiel we are all so familiar with. At that time, one of the men got on his cell and called one of his companions in the back and proceeded to talk on the phone in Arabic very loudly and very aggressively. This took the 1st stewardess out of the picture for she repeatedly told the man that cell phones were not permitted at the time. He ignored her as if she was not there.

The 2nd man who answered the phone did the same and this took out the 2nd stewardess. In the back of the plane at this time, 2 younger Muslims, one in the back aisle, and one in front of him, window, began to show footage of a porno they had taped the night before, and were very loud about it. Now they are only permitted to do this prior to Jihad. If a Muslim man goes into a strip club, he has to view the woman via mirror with his back to her. (don't ask me, I don't make the rules, but I've studied) The 3rd stewardess informed them that they were not to have electronic devices on at this time. To which one of the men said "shut up infidel dog!" She went to take the camcorder and he began to scream in her face in Arabic. At that exact moment, all 11 of them got up and started to walk the cabin. This is where I had had enough! I got up and started to the back where I heard a voice behind me from another Texan twice my size say "I got your back." I grabbed the man who had been on the phone by the arm and said "you WILL go sit down or you Will be thrown from this plane!" As I "led" him around me to take his seat, the fellow Texan grabbed him by the back of his neck and his waist and headed out with him. I then grabbed the 2nd man and said, "You WILL do the same!" He protested but adrenaline was flowing now and he was going to go. As I escorted him forward the plane doors open and 3 TSA agents and 4 police officers entered. Me and my new Texan friend were told to cease and desist for they had this under control. I was happy to oblige actually. There was some commotion in the back, but within moments, all 11 were escorted off the plane. They then unloaded their luggage.

We talked about the occurrence and were in disbelief that it had happen, when suddenly, the door open again and on walked all 11!! Stone faced, eyes front and robotic (the only way I can describe it). The stewardess from the back had been in tears and when she saw this, she was having NONE of it! Being that I was up front, I heard and saw the whole ordeal. She told the TSA agent there was NO WAY she was staying on the plane with these men. The agent told her they had searched them and were going to go through their luggage with a fine tooth comb and that they were allowed to proceed to Houston. The captain and co-captain came out and told the agent "we and our crew will not fly this plane!" After a word or two, the entire crew, luggage in tow, left the plane. 5 minutes later, the cabin door opened again and a whole new crew walked on.

Again...this is where I had had enough!!! I got up and asked "What the hell is going on!?!?" I was told to take my seat. They were sorry for the delay and I would be home shortly. I said "I'm getting off this plane". The stewardess sternly told me that she could not allow me to get off. (Now I'm mad!) I said "I am a grown man who bought this ticket, whose time is mine, with a family at home, and I am going through that door, or I'm going through that door with you under my arm!! But I am going through that door!!" And I heard a voice behind me say "so am I". Then everyone behind us started to get up and say the same. Within 2 minutes, I was walking off that plane where I was met with more agents who asked me to write a statement. I had 5 hours to kill at this point so why the hell not. Due to the amount of people who got off that flight, it was cancelled. I was supposed to be in Houston at 6pm. I got here at 12:30am.

Look up the date. Flight #297 Atlanta to Houston.

If this wasn't a dry run, I don't know what one is. The terrorists wanted to see how TSA would handle it, how the crew would handle it, and how the passengers would handle it.

I'm telling this to you because I want you to know ... The threat is real. I saw it with my own eyes.

By Tedd Petruna

Remembering Our Troops this Christmas

The Greatest Christmas Decoration

"Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down.

First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.

Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.

“Christmas in Dixie” by Alabama

Interesting Facts

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee. (Hardly seems worth it.)

If you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb. (Now that's more like it!)

The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out of the body to squirt blood 30 feet. (O.M.G.!)

A pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes. (In my next life, I want to be a pig.)

A cockroach will live nine days without its head before it starves to death. (Creepy.)
(I'm still not over the pig.)

Banging your head against a wall uses 150 calories an hour. (Don't try this at home; maybe at work)

The male praying mantis cannot copulate while its head is attached to its body. The female initiates sex by ripping the male's head off. (Honey, I'm home. WTF...?!)

The flea can jump 350 times its body length. It's like a human jumping the length of a football field. (30 minutes..lucky pig! Can you imagine?)

The catfish has over 27,000 taste buds. (What could be so tasty on the bottom of a filthy pond?)

Some lions mate over 50 times a day. (Ok, I'm going off the 'pig' idea, but just a tiny bit)

Butterflies taste with their feet. (Something I always wanted to know.)

The strongest muscle in the body is the tongue.(Hmmmmmm.......)

Right-handed people live, on average, nine years longer than left-handed people. (If you're ambidextrous, do you split the difference?)

Elephants are the only animals that cannot jump. (Okay, so that would be a good thing)

A cat's urine glows under a black light. (I wonder who was paid to figure that out?)

An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that.)

Starfish have no brains. (I know another bunch of people like that too.)

Polar bears are left-handed. (If they switch, they'll live a lot longer)

Humans and dolphins are the only species that have sex for pleasure. (What about THAT PIG??)

Now that you've smiled at least once, it's your turn to spread these crazy facts and send this to someone you want to bring a smile to, maybe even a chuckle. In other words, send it to everyone! (And God love that pig!)

”God Bless Everyone” by Andrea Bocelli

This Weeks Sound Off

For those of you who have profiles on dating and hookups for sex sites be ware! It is being reported that at any given time some 12,567 men sit at working cruising these sites. If this isn’t bad enough, at any given time some 2,501 guys have seen their boss’s profile on line.

The majority of those cruseing the dating and hookup sites are married men and bisexuals … yeah, one in the same! Safe to say that cheating has become a favorite pass time, as well as big business.

It amazes me as to why so many want to maintain the sanctity of marriage when many so called "straights" and "bisexuals" can’t keep their pants up and zipped. Talk about a double standard coming from a population of cheaters. Sick!

Ragbag Headliners

Health officials tackling the global AIDS epidemic will meet in the U.S. for the first time in 22 years after President Barack Obama lifted the ban on travel by people infected with HIV.

The International AIDS Society will hold its biennial conference of scientists, policy makers and patients in Washington from July 22-July 27, 2012, Robin Gorna, the society’s executive director, said today. The Geneva-based group is the world’s leading independent association of HIV professionals, with more than 14,000 members from 190 countries.

An estimated 33.4 million people around the world have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, and 2.7 million new infections and 2 million deaths occurred last year, according to the United Nations. The AIDS Society aims to highlight U.S. research and help end discrimination caused by the travel ban by returning the conference to the country for the first time since 1990.

“This is a real moment in history to put an end to the AIDS crisis and we can only do that if we learn from each other,” Gorna said in a phone interview today, the eve of World AIDS Day, an international observance established by the World Health Organization in 1988.

End Travel Ban

Obama said on Oct. 30 that he would let HIV patients enter the U.S. in an effort to remove the stigma from the disease and encourage more testing. The AIDS Society had already settled on Washington as the 2012 conference site in anticipation of the White House repealing the travel ban, Gorna said.

The conference is expected to draw 25,000 people, she said. It was last held in Washington in 1987, two years after the inaugural event in Atlanta. The 1990 meeting was held in San Francisco.

Twelve nations ban travel by people infected with HIV including China, which is reconsidering its policies as a result of the U.S. decision, Gorna said. Others include Malaysia, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.

The ban “tore apart families” and “didn’t reflect America’s leadership in fighting this disease around the world,” Health and Human Services Department Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today in Washington. –Bloomberg

By Catherine Larkin

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(California) - Lawyers for two gay couples told a federal appeals court Tuesday that they need access to internal communications from last year's Proposition 8 campaign to show that the measure banning same-sex marriage was designed to sow "discriminatory animus" toward gays and lesbians.

Supporters of the measure that ended a five-month period when gay marriage was legal in California argued before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that their 1st Amendment rights would be infringed and future political discussions "chilled" if they were forced to reveal the thousands of e-mails sent out to campaign associates.

The battle over access to the sponsors' internal strategy is part of a broader national debate over what is private and what is public in the world of politics, especially on hot-button issues such as gay rights and abortion. –For complete story see LA Times

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(China) - Two dogs were reported yesterday to be infected with the H1N1 influenza virus, according to the China Daily news. The dogs were both located in Beijing, China.

H1N1 influenza virus likely passed from person to pet

While not confirmed, it is likely that the dogs became infected with the H1N1 influenza virus through contact with infected people.

Dogs are susceptible to their own form of influenza virus, called canine influenza. However, these are the first documented cases of the H1N1 virus strain infecting the canine species. The canine influenza virus is not known to be transmissible to people but can be passed easily from dog to dog. It appears that the H1N1 virus can be passed from people to dogs and likely from dogs to people as well.

Health officials in China assure that infected dogs are "no risk to humans"

Chinese health officials are trying to reassure people that their dogs are not a threat to them. They say that because the virus has been found in so many species (pigs, ferrets, cats and people), it is not surprising that that it has been found in dogs as well.

Officials stated that the virus isolated from the infected dogs was 99% identical to that isolated from infected people, indicating that the virus has not mutated significantly at this point. They stress that the virus will become a new threat to people only if the virus does mutate.

What pet owners can do to protect against H1N1 viral infection

This information will likely cause alarm for pet owners. However, there are a few things that can be done to protect pets from the H1N1 virus. –For complete story see Examiner.com

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(New York) - HIV prevention efforts - and the promise of antiretroviral therapy as prevention - are being undermined by punitive laws targeting those infected with and at risk of HIV, Human Rights Watch said today on the eve of World AIDS Day.

In early November, Human Rights Watch released a 10-page critique of a proposed Ugandan HIV/AIDS law, which includes mandatory HIV testing, forced disclosure, and criminal penalties for the "attempted transmission" of HIV to another person. The Ugandan Parliament is also considering a bill that allows for a seven year prison term for any person or organization who supports or promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender people's rights. It would jail for up to three years anyone who fails to report a person they suspect of being lesbian or gay. A person living with HIV who has consensual homosexual sex would face the death penalty, regardless of risk of HIV transmission and even if their partner is also HIV-positive. –For complete story see Human Rights Watch

Pink Glove Dance
Our employees put together this video to generate
breast cancer awareness throughout our hospital system.
We had a ton of fun putting this together and hope it
inspires others to join in the cause.

Ann Wortham

The following article written by Anne Wortham shortly after Obama's election as US President in November 2008 was recently forwarded [re-forwarded] to me by an email friend. The article has actually gone around the e-mail circuit and the blogsphere a few times, but is worth re-reading, especially as the end of Obama's first year in office approaches.

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Who is Anne Wortham? She is associate professor of sociology at Illinois State University and a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institute in Stanford University. She is a member of the American Sociological Association and the American Philosophical Association. She has been a John M. Olin Foundation Faculty Fellow, and had been honored as a Distinguished Alumna of the Year by the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

In fall 1988, she was one of a select group of intellectuals who was featured in Bill Moyer's television series, A World of Ideas. The transcript of her conversation with Moyers has been published in his book by the same title [A World of Ideas].

Dr. Wortham is author of "The Other Side of Racism: A Philosophical Study of Black Race Consciousness" which analyzes how race consciousness is transformed into political strategies and policy issues. She has also published numerous articles on the implications of individual rights on civil rights policy, and is currently writing another book on theories of social and cultural marginality. Recently, she published articles on the significance of multiculturalism and Afrocentricism in education, the politics of victimization, and the social and political impact of political correctness.

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Fellow Americans, please know that I am black; I grew up in the segregated South. I did not vote for Barack Obama; I wrote in Ron Paul's name as my choice for president. Most importantly, I am not race conscious. I do not require a black president to know that I am a person of worth, and that life is worth living. I do not require a black president to love the ideals of America.

I cannot join you in your celebration. I feel no elation. There is no smile on my face. I am not jumping with joy. There are no tears of triumph in my eyes.

For such emotions and behavior to come from me, I would have to deny all that I know about the requirements of human flourishing and survival - all that I know about the history of the United States of America , all that I know about American race relations, and all that I know about Barack Obama as a politician. I would have to deny the nature of the "change" that Obama asserts has come to America.

Most importantly, I would have to abnegate my certain understanding that you have chosen to sprint down the road to serfdom that we have been on for over a century. I would have to pretend that individual liberty has no value for the success of a human life. I would have to evade your rejection of the slender reed of capitalism on which your success and mine depend. I would have to think it somehow rational that 94 percent of the 12 million blacks in this country voted for a man because he looks like them (that blacks are permitted to play the race card), and that they were joined by self-declared "progressive" whites who voted for him because he doesn't look like them.

I would have to wipe my mind clean of all that I know about the kind of people who have advised and taught Barack Obama, and will fill posts in his administration --- political intellectuals like my former colleagues at the Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

I would have to believe that "fairness" is equivalent of justice. I would have to believe that a man who asks me to "go forward in a new spirit of service, in a new service of sacrifice" is speaking in my interest. I would have to accept the premise of a man that economic prosperity comes from the "bottom up," and who arrogantly believes that he can will it into existence by the use of government force. I would have to admire a man who thinks the standard of living of the masses can be improved by destroying the most productive and the generators of wealth.

Finally, Americans, I would have to erase from my consciousness the scene of 125,000 screaming, crying, cheering people in Grant Park, Chicago irrationally chanting "Yes We Can!" Finally, I would have to wipe all memory of all the times I have heard politicians, pundits, journalists, editorialists, bloggers and intellectuals declare that capitalism is dead - and no one, including especially Alan Greenspan, objected to their assumption that the particular version of the anti-capitalistic mentality that they want to replace with their own version of anti-capitalism is anything remotely equivalent to capitalism.

So you have made history, Americans. You and your children have elected a black man to the office of the President of the United States, the wounded giant of the world. The battle between John Wayne and Jane Fonda is over --- and that Fonda won. Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern must be very happy men. Jimmie Carter, too. And the Kennedys have at last gotten their Kennedy look-a-like. The self-righteous welfare statists in the suburbs can feel warm moments of satisfaction for having elected a black person.

So, toast yourselves: 60's countercultural radicals, 80's yuppies, and 90's bourgeois bohemians. Toast yourselves, black America. Shout your glee Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Duke, Stanford, and Berkeley. You have elected an individual who is not qualified to be President, but a black man who, like the pragmatist Franklin Roosevelt, promises to do something. You now have someone who has picked up the baton of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. But you have also foolishly traded your freedom and mine--what little there is left--for the chance to feel good.
There is nothing in me that can share your happy obliviousness. God help us all.

<><><><><><>

Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not. -Thomas Jefferson

America is at that awkward stage when it is too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards. -Anonymous

Everyone Needs Someone To Stand By Them

Football

A fellow took his girlfriend to her very first football game. They had great seats right behind the bench of the guy's favorite team. After the game, he asked her what she thought of and how she felt about the experience.

"Oh, I really liked it, especially the tight pants and all the big muscles, but I just couldn't understand why they were killing each other over 25 cents," she replied.

Completely confused, he asked her, "What do you mean?"

"Well, they flipped a coin, one team got it, and then for the rest of the game, I heard screams of: 'Get the quarterback!' I'm like … Helloooooo? It's only 25 cents!"

[You figure out the girl's hair color!]

Author Unknown

Christmas Lights Music Sync

Could This Be The Problem?

Could lawyers be a major cause of America's problems? For instance, when one compares the two ruling political parties in the United States, the Democrats and the Republicans, it is quite interesting to note that the Democratic Party is a party of lawyers. Barack Obama is a lawyer. Michelle Obama is a lawyer. Hillary Clinton is a lawyer. Bill Clinton is a lawyer. John Edwards is a lawyer. Elizabeth Edwards is a lawyer. The Kennedy brothers--Edward, John, Robert---were all lawyers.

Every Democrat presidential nominee since 1984 went to law school, although Gore did not graduate. Every Democrat vice presidential nominee since 1976, except for Lloyd Bentsen, went to law school. The current US Congress is controlled and dominated by Democrats, the vast majority of whom are lawyers. The present congressional leaders: Harry Reid is a lawyer and Nancy Pelosi is a lawyer.

On the other hand, the Republican Party has been led by a variety of professionals. George W. Bush is a businessman. Dick Cheney is a businessman. The leaders of the "Republican Revolution of the 1990s" included Newt Gingrich, a history professor; Tom Delay, an exterminator; Dick Armey, an economist. The present House Minority Leader Boehner is a plastic manufacturer. The former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is a heart surgeon. The last Republican president who was a lawyer was Gerald Ford, who left office 31 years ago, and who barely won the Republican nomination as a sitting president, running against Ronald Reagan in 1976. The Republican Party is made up of people work, who are often the targets of lawyers.

The Democrat Party is made up of lawyers, who mock and scorn men who create wealth [Bush and Cheney], heal the sick [Frist], help educate the public [Gingrich]. The Democrats or the Lawyers' Party see people, who provide goods and services which people need and want, as "America's enemies". And, the procession of official enemies in the eyes of the Lawyers' Party has grown. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama rail at pharmaceutical companies, oil companies, hospitals, manufacturers, fast food restaurant chains, large retail businesses, bankers, and anyone who produces anything of value to the USA.

This is the natural consequence of viewing everything through the eyes of lawyers. Lawyers solve problems by representing clients, and in the present case, the Democrats claim to represent the American people. Lawyers seek to win lawsuits. They press appellate courts to overturn a precedent, and lawyers parse language to favor their side. Lawyers seek to have new laws passed because that is one of the main things which they are taught in law school.

Confined to the narrow practice of law is an awful way to govern a nation. When politicians as lawyers begin to view certain Americans as clients and other Americans as opposing parties, then the role of the legal system becomes all-consuming. Some Americans become "adverse parties" of the government. Yet, majority of Americans are not litigants in some vast class action suit. Americans are citizens of a republic which promises a great deal of freedom from laws, from courts, and from lawyers who like to twist facts just to win a case but not necessarily to mete genuine justice. The unfortunate truth is, lawyers' mindset is more conducive to creating adversarial situations, instead of promoting harmony. To win the case at all cost is what is paramount in a lawyer's mind. While lawyers claim to try to resolve problems, they, in reality, create more problems; otherwise, if everything is peaceful and harmonious, who needs to file a lawsuit and who needs a lawyer?

Today, America is drowning in laws and America is contorted by judicial decisions. America is driven to distraction by omnipresent lawyers in all parts of America's once-upon-a-time peaceful and private existence.

America has a place for laws and lawyers, but that place should be modest and reasonable, not vast and unchecked as is the case today in America. When one of the most important decisions for the U.S. president is who to appoint to the Supreme Court, the role of lawyers and the law in America has become too big, invasive and too encroaching on privacy.

When lawyers use criminal prosecution as a continuation of politics-by-other-means, as in the lynching of Scooter Libby and Tom Delay, then the power of lawyers in America has become mainly one of abuse. When House Democrats sue and demonize America in order to hamstring military efforts to extract from the enemy of America what it is planning to do against American and her allies, then the role of litigation in America has become ridiculous and unreasonable.

The way things have turned out, Americans can not expect the Lawyers' Party---the Democrats---to provide real change, real reform or real hope in America Most Americans know that a republic in which every major government action must be blessed by nine unelected judges is not what Washington intended in 1789. America cannot fight a war when ACLU lawsuits snap at the heels of America's defenders. Most Americans realize that more lawyers and judges will not restore declining moral values or spark the spirit of enterprise in the U.S. economy, especially since the lawyers and judges themselves have demonstrated questionable moral values.

Americans must understand that change cannot be brought to America by lawyers who largely dictate to American society and business. America's hope does not come from the mouths of lawyers but from personal dreams nourished by hard work. Americans must realize the truth that more lawyers with more power will only make America's problems worse.

The United States has 5% of the world's population but 66% of the world's lawyers!

Tort (legal) reform legislation has been introduced in Congress several times in the last several years to limit punitive damages in ridiculous and frivolous lawsuits such as 'spilling hot coffee on one's self and suing the establishment that sold it' and to limit punitive damages in huge medical malpractice lawsuits. For some reason, this legislation has been continually blocked by the Democratic Party, the lawyers' party.

When one sees that 97% of the political contributions from the American Trial Lawyers Association goes to the Democratic Party, the lawyers' party, then one finally realizes who is responsible for the skyrocketing costs of medical care and other products and services in America! It has been proven that when the lawyers got their fingers into the American health care and other industries, the costs escalated greatly because of the tremendous increase in frivolous malpractice suits fueled by lawyers' and their clients' greed and desire for easy money and get-rich-quick schemes.

Author Unknown

Hallum's House Of Lights
Computerized Christmas Lights Display

World AIDS Day

Let us Remember those we have lost, those who
continue to fight for survival and look to a future
without HIV/AIDS.