Memorial Day...

...is not about the beginning of summer or a time for barbeques. It is a time set apart to 'remember' something worth remembering; to reflect and to honor the memories of those who laid down their lives for people they never met, indeed for those not yet born.

Today we honored those who gave their lives for liberty in town after town across the United States. Our town had a parade which we try to see each year after which we visit some of the memorial sites set up throughout the town of which we have quite a few. It seems that Washington and the Continental Army had quite a few battles in and around my town of Union here in New Jersey. I do believe he even had a headquarters in nearby Morristown.

I myself think more of those who fought in WWII mainly I guess because my dad fought in that war. He was in Italy, a very muddy Italy, loading those big guns with mortar. He suffered a profound hearing loss in one ear from the sound of those guns. Nowadays the military gives headphones of some kind to the men, I suppose, though I am not sure.

I think probably that many of us here at the Gap, when we think of war, wish there were none, wish there were peace and wish there was a way that the problems that we face from the newest and most deadly enemy we have ever faced in our history known as terrorism, would just go away. But it isn't going to unless we fight it and defeat it.

I remember when I was in high school and learning about the War and most importantly about the Holocaust which was more horrific of an occurence than the invasions of European countries at the time of Hitler's dominance. Even though it happened before I was even born I can still remember getting angry at the leaderships of different countries, especially my own, for not doing something about what Germany was doing to the Jewish people as a whole and some others for whatever reason they so desired to do away with them for.

But then, I saw, as now, there are always those who say don't get involved for one reason or another, and of course Pearl Harbor brougt us into it big time. A direct attack did it, but this time a direct attack wasn't enough to stir so many of us out of our inward thinking and short memories.

Now here we are fighting a war on foreign soil with an all volunteer army. Dispite what some newspapers report, there are men, and women, from all walks of life ready to take their place to fight the enemy that has a creed that is 'Death to America'.

My heartfelt and deep thanks go out all of you brave, courageous and selfless people. Now and for the rest of my life I will remember and honor all of you. Your willingness to be on the frontlines of a war where the enemy is not clearly defined, and where your decision to do so keeps the enemy more on the defensive than the offensive makes every one of you a hero in my eyes and in the eyes of so very many of your fellow Americans.

And today we remember those who went before you and we honor their memory as well.

Why I Will Continue to Vote Republican:

A recent letter to the editor:

I am voting Republican because I believe that at its core it represents those things that I value most; less government control over my life, lower taxes (though many individual Republican representatives seem to wimp out come voting time, especially with 'pork barrel' spending) and respect for the unborn. The latter is the most important reason, you see, because I believe that when you respect life right at its beginnings, your heart is a little more alive than those who don't; and I want people with the right heart in government places. It is also the main reason why I respect our current president, even though I don't agree with some of his decisions.

I hope too, that there are many people like myself who will hang on and in with the Republican Party because the alternative is, with the exception of the few pro-life representatives in the Democrat camp, a party that has embraced a platform of death.

I know it sounds so terribly dramatic and all, but consider that abortion rights (at all costs and caution to the wind as far as regulating the clinics or restrictions on minor children availing themselves of the surgical procedure that abortion is) are about the end for someone; an innocent someone, and maybe then what I said isn't quite dramatic enough.

Have the Republicans failed to live up to the promises they made to the Values Voters upon whose wave they rode on into the seats of Congress? Yes, they have! But is it time to wash our hands of the party and/or politics totally? A resounding NO! We have to hang in there because there are many Republicans who do care about the unborn, about fiscal responsibility, and about their constituency whom they are supposed to represent. We, the Values Voters, must let those who have failed us (and are failing us) know what we think and where we stand; firmly and often! And if we are praying people, we pray that their hearts will not fail them, that they will not be swayed by the influence of the power that comes with politics, and that ultimately they will do the right thing; in most cases the right thing being what the people have elected them to do.

Truth...

..is always there for us to see if only we are willing to see it. If we don't want to face it, deal with it, admit, or otherwise acknowledge its existence on any given subject or issue we can simply cling to the lie and memorize all the pat and pet phrases that deny the truth and solidfy our love affair with said lie.

RU486 is an abortion drug, a two part drug, that chemically kills the unborn baby and then causes the woman's body to go into contractions to expell the dead baby. You see, I could use the term 'fetus' which is the medical term used for the unborn and developing human being at a certain stage in its development, but since fetus has become one of the pet and pat things to say in order to deny the humanity of the fetus, I choose to say baby.

In any case, RU486 didn't do so well in its trials but was fast tracked by the FDA and put on the market quite quickly. The so called 'fast track' is (or was until RU486) was only used for drugs that were to be used for life threatening conditions like some cancers and AIDS related illnesses. The FDA was obviously cowtowing to the pressure of abortion rights activists with vast amounts of political clout via money made from aborting babies as well as my tax dollars given to them via Title X appropriated funds.

The decision, however, was wrong, because when the drug was in the testing stage there were red flag problems that were minimized and in some cases it seems like they were ignored, in order to push this drug into public availability.

Seven, count them, seven deaths can be attributed to RU486, and still it remains on the market. The connection between these deaths (poor Holly Patterson) and RU486 is as strong, if not stronger, than the connection between the drug Vioxx and heart attacks! I think too, (though don't quote me on this one) that there weren't as many deaths via the Vioxx as there have been with RU486. Even if I am wrong and there are more or about the same, isn't just the loss of one person, and in such a horribly painful way as the deaths from RU486 were, worth pulling a drug, any drug, from the market so that it can ben checked out further?!? Not, it seems, when it comes to anything related to abortion being promoted and embraced.

The chant of pro-abortion groups 'pro-lfe it's a lie/you don't care if women die' falls flat in the face of the deaths of these women. IF pro-abortion people were so concerned with women's lives, shouldn't they be at the head of the pack of those calling for the recall of this dangerous and deadly drug??

Just this week hearings were held in Congress by the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Human Resources at which hard evidence was presented of the dangers of this drug. In addition to that the FDA continued to maintain their position (even in light of the evidence against their position) of their not being 'sure' of any connection between the drug and the deaths! Their representative testified at the same hearings this week giving evidence to those present (and to those interested in this subject-llike me) that they have no intention of pulling this drug from the market!!

The truth, however, will continue to march on and perhaps, who knows, maybe one person a day will come face to face with it, admit it, and move from the position of a blind supporter of abortion, to a truly informed person on what 'choice' really means. In the meantime, unfortunately, more young women will have their lives changed forever via this horrible abortion method, and some will die a horribly painful death from massive infection and hemmoragic bleeding caused by RU486.

RU486...RU Crazy??

Abortion Breast Cancer Link

How often do we pick up the newspaper or tune into a news station and hear about a supposed link between a behavior and a disease or risk of something life threatening happening to one who indulges in the things reported? I would say pretty regularly. From cell phone use causing brain cancer to the consumption of peanut butter causing some kind of cancer if you make little kids eat it for lunch when they are growing up; there are countless reported links to diseases being suggested and reported.

Some of these reported links are credible and by credible I mean there are studies that have been made that are quite legitimate and we, the consumer, should take heed to give our attention to the reports, especially if they are backed up by research. "As of October 2000, twenty-eight out of the thirty-seven studies in the world-wide literature indicate an increased risk of breast cancer associated with induced abortion". The Planned Parenthood Federation is also on record with this statement made in 1994: " "Interruption during the first trimester of a first pregnancy causes a cessation of cell differentiation, which may result in a subsequent increase in the risk of cancerous growth in these tissues." Indeed, consider this statement made by the lead author of the only study on the breast cancer abortion link commissioned by the National Cancer Institute: "Dr. Janet Daling, lead author of the only published study specifically commissioned by to investigate the link between abortion and breast cancer reports highest risks (more than double) were observed when the abortion was done at ages younger than 18 years, or 30 years of age or older.
Daling, who is believed to be a strong supporter of abortion says, "I have three sisters with breast cancer and I resent people messing with the scientific data to further their own agenda, be they pro-choice or pro-life. I would have loved to have found no association between breast cancer and abortion, but our research is rock solid and our data is accurate."

When it comes to women's health you would think that women's advocates and breast cancer research centers as well as physicians groups would broadcast an alert and alarm with regard to this information. Instead it is stone cold silent. It should give women pause, I think, to wonder why there would be this wall of silence from those who profess to be concerned with the threat that breast cancer is to women!

Let's cut to the heart of the matter. Having abortion remain legal is of paramount importance to quite a few groups of great influence in the matter of a link between abortion and breast cancer; so important that this information is surpressed and hidden. The leaders of this great evil of information shut down (and denied) are those who are supposed to care to women (and children)!! They also have the Big Media on their side, because if our BM was the objective news reporters that they are supposed to be, they would be reporting the news of this link and the many studies done to prove it out and let people decide for themselves.

But there we have it, right? Because we are not talking about a tiny little possible maybe link and we need more studies to prove it out, but we are talking knowledge about this link dating back as far as (at least) 1986! It seems a tragedy that so many people are willing to turn a blind eye to the truth so that they can continue to champion abortion as some kind of women's right of passage into modern times, denying that there is a price to pay for such a sin against our own unborn children.

http://www.bcpinstitute.org/home.htm

http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/start/

Randomness and Generalization

Just in general I realize that I haven't posted a dang there here in my blog in close to a month. It is odd when one considers wha a wordy person I happen to me. I have thoughts and opinions on a wide range of topics that I hardly take the time to write down anymore. Part of the reason for that I think is how stupidly sensitive I suddenly seem to be about almost everything. I spent a chunk of years not really caring if anyone agreed with me or not, so I know that is probably all tied into this menopausal stuff. And somehow knowing that doesn't make me feel any better, well, it does a little, but not enough to let it roll off my back like I used to be able to. I just hate this crying stuff cause it makes me all like things bother me when they don't. I also spent many years being considerate of others feelings when I knew that my opinions might hurt or offend someone else. I am a firm believer in the truth, but not in shoving it down someone's throat. There is a time and a place for everything. In the meantime, I hate that I have negleced m blog like I have and I wish I could make a promise that I will do better, but I can't.

Almost all my days are tainted with pain that creeps into all my pleasureable moments. It helps somewhat to know that some of the mood swing/sad feelings are part of my body and mind dealing with this menopause, so that is a good thing. But I so much enjoy working with the soil and my plants and that pain, it just creeps into my mind, kind of like a slow growing vine that winds itself around a healthy tree and slowing sucks the life out of it. Now put that vine on film that you can speed up and you get a semi idea of what it is like for me to deal with pain in my life as I try to enjoy those things I used to love to do at what seems like such a long time ago. I mean, I feel like I am getting some of my life back, in bits and pieces I think, but there is still so much I cannot or haven't tried to do again and I get impatient for those things, which threatens depression if I linger my thoughts on it too long. So there I am transplanting my plants, moving soil to a pot, pulling out the plant out and tapping the root system before placing into the new pot. By easy estimate that takes maybe twenty minutes or so, but multiply that five plants and before you know it the aching pain in my legs is intensifying to the point where I am reminded that I need to site dwon. All this on medication too, which is another reason why depression is crouching at my door looking to have me. I used to mentally acknowledge that there is a certain amount of pain in ones life to help balance, but when this happened to, I had to redefine what exactly that meant to someone who dealt with pain all day and most nights. I actually give myself a little credit for having come this far, but I really wish to get farther than this. Won't someone help me please?