Pancreatic Cancer Action Network: Take Action Now!

Pancreatic Cancer Action Network advocates are on the Hill today urging members of Congress to support the Pancreatic Cancer Research & Education Act (H.R. 745). Pancreatic cancer is the most deadly cancer and the five year survival rate has remained below 5% for the last 30 years.

Advocates are also asking Congress to commit to doubling the budget of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) over the next five years by increasing its funding to $6 billion in FY 2010.

Randy Pausch put the disease on people's radar screen as we all watched his courageous battle. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and actor Patrick Swayze are battling the disease, but the person who comes to mind for me is my good friend Jan Welch.

A year ago today we lost Jan to this terrible disease. Please take a moment today to call. Call-in information is available here. Take action now.

In Your Facebook

The New York Times askes: "Is Facebook Growing Up Too Fast?" At more than 200 million members the answer is probably maybe.

When Facebook signed up its 100 millionth member last August, its employees spread out in two parks in Palo Alto, Calif., for a huge barbecue. Sometime this week, this five-year-old start-up, born in a dorm room at Harvard, expects to register its 200 millionth user.

That staggering growth rate — doubling in size in just eight months — suggests Facebook is rapidly becoming the Web’s dominant social ecosystem and an essential personal and business networking tool in much of the wired world.

Yet Facebook executives say they aren’t planning to observe their latest milestone in any significant way. It is, perhaps, a poor time to celebrate. The company that has given users new ways to connect and speak truth to power now often finds itself as the target of that formidable grass-roots firepower — most recently over controversial changes it made to users’ home pages.

As Facebook expands, it’s also struggling to match the momentum of hot new start-ups like Twitter, the micro-blogging service, while managing the expectations of young, tech-savvy early adopters, attracting mainstream moms and dads, and justifying its hype-carbonated valuation.

Maybe this is an obvious question, but if 200 million joined to be part of Facebook, why do the founders feel compelled to change their creation to be more like Twitter? Why can't users have both?

Much of the discontent over changes to Facebook seem to revolve around changing the service to make it more like Twitter. Hey, I have a Twitter account -- who doesn't -- so why can't users like me enjoy what each service has to offer?

Unlike search engines, which ably track prominent Internet presences, Facebook reconnects regular folks with old friends and strengthens their bonds with new pals — even if the glue is nothing more than embarrassing old pictures or memories of their second-grade teacher.

And what's wrong with that? I like being able to reconnect with hometown friends, friends who have moved across the country, and like-minded new friends. I like being able to keep up with what celebrity "friends" are doing, and having them sometimes send messages back to me. And I like that Facebook can help organize people around causes I care about.

As Facebook stampedes along, it still has to get out of its own way to soothe the injured feelings of users like Liz Rabban.

Ms. Rabban, 40, a real estate agent and the mother of two from Livingston, N.J., joined the site in November 2007, quickly amassing 250 friends and spending hours on the site each day.

But these days, she spends less time on the site and posts caustic comments about Facebook’s new design, which turns a majority of every user’s home page into a long “stream” of recent, often trivial, Twitter-like updates from friends.

“The changes just feel very juvenile,” Ms. Rabban says. “It’s just not addressing the needs of my generation and my peers. In my circle, everyone is pretty devastated about it.”

Ms. Rabban is not alone. More than two and a half million dissenters have joined a group on Facebook’s own site called “Millions Against Facebook’s New Layout and Terms of Service.” Others are lambasting the changes in their own status updates, which are now, ironically, distributed much more visibly to all of their Facebook friends.

The changes, Facebook executives say, are intended to make the act of sharing — not just information about themselves but what people are doing now — easier, faster and more urgent. Chris Cox, 26, Facebook’s director of products and a confidant of Mr. Zuckerberg, envisions users announcing where they are going to lunch as they leave their computers so friends can see the updates and join them.

Hey, I can post that I'm heading out to lunch, but my former classmate who now lives a thousand miles away isn't going to be able to join me. And that's okay, because we recently had dinner together -- arranged using Facebook -- while I was on a work-related trip to his hometown!

So hey Facebook ... why not just be good at what you do, instead of trying to be all things to all people? There is room in the world for more than one way to connect.

Sunday Funnies

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz: An Amazing Woman

The first time I represented Americans United it was as part of a panel on taxpayer funded school vouchers that included then-Florida State Legislator Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She was impressive then, and she continues to be today. She is a strong feminist, supports separation of church and state, and is a great mentor. One thing I love about her is that when she is getting ready to run for a new office, she finds a woman to replace her in the seat she is vacating. She keeps women in the pipeline.

She is not one to back down from a fight, so it comes as no surprise to me that she would deal with a personal health challenge with the same intensity. For the past year Wasserman Schultz has battled breast cancer. On Monday she will introduce legislation that calls for a national education campaign targeting women between 15 and 39.

When Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz steps to the lectern at the Capitol on Monday to push for greater awareness of breast cancer risks in younger women, she'll be speaking from experience.

The Broward County Democrat and mother of three told The Miami Herald on Saturday that she successfully battled breast cancer for the past year and is going public with her story in the hope of alerting young women to its prevalence. She'll introduce legislation Monday that calls for a national education campaign targeting women between 15 and 39.

'I wanted to be able to not just stand up and say, `I'm a breast cancer survivor.' . . . I wanted to find a gap and try to fill it,'' said Wasserman Schultz, 42.

In the past year, she underwent seven major surgeries, including a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery, while balancing motherhood, Congress and her roles as a chief fundraiser for House Democrats and a political surrogate, first for Hillary Clinton and then for Barack Obama.

"I had a lot going on last year," she said with a laugh, sitting in the living room of the Capitol Hill town house she shares with two other members of Congress when she's in Washington. "I'm a very focused, methodical person, and I wasn't going to let this beat me. I wasn't going to let it interfere with my life."

And she didn't. She was very visible in the 2008 presidential campaign, and hearing this makes her involvement even more impressive.

Breast cancer in younger women can be particularly aggressive, but it can be more difficult to detect because of breast density. And physicians, Wasserman Schultz said, can be slow to recognize the threat to younger women.

"Young women go skipping along through their life, thinking they're invincible, not worrying about breast cancer because they think of it as an older woman's disease," Wasserman Schultz said, noting that the focus is often on a woman's first mammogram, typically at 40.

The death rate from breast cancer has declined for older women, but remains stable for younger women because they are often diagnosed at a later stage, she said.

"It just pains me to know that younger women, because they don't know and because they're blown off by physicians many times, and because they squeeze their eyes shut and hope that it's nothing, that their death rate is much higher," she said. [...]


Wasserman Schultz discovered a breast lump through a self-exam, two months after her first mammogram at 40. Although the cancer was detected at an early stage, she also learned that as an Ashkenazi Jew of Eastern European descent, she was at greater risk of carrying a gene mutation that makes Ashkenazi Jews predisposed to breast cancer and recurrance. She tested positive for this BRCA2 gene mutation, prompting her to have both breasts removed.

She was also at higher risk of ovarian cancer and had her ovaries removed -- the day after Election Day. Her final surgery was in December.

Because the cancer was caught so early, she didn't need chemotherapy or radiation but will take the cancer drug tamoxifen for five years.

She said she decided to keep her cancer private, concerned mostly that her young children (then 8-year-old twins and a 4-year-old daughter) would worry, particularly with a mother who was also constantly on the go. They knew she was undergoing surgery, but she didn't tell them the cause.

'I knew from my doctors that if I went through their recommended course of treatment that I would get through it and I'd be fine, that I could come out the other side and confidently tell my children, `Mommy's fine,' '' she said.

She scheduled her treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., during congressional recesses so she wouldn't miss votes in Congress.

I told you she is tough!

I'm so glad her cancer was diagnosed and treated early -- we NEED Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in Congress. The work she does there benefits us all.

Unexpected delights - add water

There's snow in Amarillo, TX this weekend. Snow! Fortunately, in the DFW area the wind is merely howling to remind us that March provokes reaction. Brrr - my feet froze into blocks of ice this morning as I helped with registration for the 2009 Fort Worth Walk - the Multiple Sclerosis Society - Join the Movement. What the heck - for a worthy cause, it's worth it to brave the cold. Now, last weekend (yes, it's a flashback - see all pictures), Ray and I wandered Clark Gardens, enjoyed balmy temperatures, and I contemplated action sequences.

Stroll garden grounds. One pictures flowers, green grass, and shrubbery. Quiet. Calm. Perhaps a butterfly wafts overhead and a bee gathers nectar. An impish cherub turns away.

Actually, add water and you've got action overload. Fountains spray, water features burble, creeks babble, and a lion trickles. You want to read ahead in the story or run ahead to see what's around the next corner.

Splendor on unexpected surfaces. That's a key to a story - underlying tones and action. (And today, let's add some warmth)

Joanne

In Memoriam - Dan Seals

For those of us over 50, who hasn't sung this to (or about) someone you've loved?

I'm not talking 'bout moving in,
And I don't want to change your life.
But there's a warm wind blowing,
The stars are out, and I'd really love to see you tonight.

Sadly Dan Seals, the man who first sang this so long ago has died.

Dan Seals, who performed as England Dan in the folk-pop duo England Dan and John Ford Coley and later returned to his roots as a country singer and songwriter, died Wednesday at his daughter’s home in Nashville. He was 61.

The cause was complications of the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma, said Tony Gottlieb, his friend and manager. [...]

Mr. Seals’s first widespread success as a performer came with the smooth-voiced harmonies of England Dan and John Ford Coley. Their first single, “I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” reached No. 2 on the pop charts in 1976. The duo had eight more light-rock hits over the next four years, including “Nights Are Forever Without You,” which also reached the Top 10 in 1976.

And with Facebook gaining popularity among older subscribers, who hasn't reconnected with someone special from their past?

Hello, yeah, it's been a while.
Not much, how 'bout you?
I'm not sure why I called,
I guess I really just wanted to talk to you.
And I was thinking maybe later on,
We could get together for a while.
It's been such a long time,
And I really do miss your smile.

An artist with a social conscience, Seals addressed racism:

In the video for his 1989 single “They Rage On,” Mr. Seals, whose Bahai faith taught tolerance and unity, addressed prejudice by depicting an interracial relationship.

I would substitute "respect" for "tolerance". May you rest in peace Dan Seals -- my thoughts are with your family.

Friday Night Nibble!

Playboy.

Bunny.

At your service.

Rove Epitomizes Republican Hypocrisy

Where've I been?

Sick in bed, that's where. With a bad cold.

(I refuse to call it a "flu" because I've never had the flu before. I've never had anything where I've been throw-uppy and diarrhea-y, so I've. never. had. the. flu. So no, I'm not getting a flu shot, so quit asking me.)

(But I have had pneumonia.)

(And bronchitis.)

I think the worst part of being sick AND a curmudgeon, like I am, is that now all those people who were coughing around my cubicle last week are all whispering about ME --"why doesn't she just go home and quit spreading her germs!?" Which is what I was saying about THEM last week. Big jerks. If they'd stayed home when I'd grumbled/asked them, I wouldn't be sick!

Hmph!

No time for blogging today ...

Dr. Zaius, this was for you!

Manufactured Contempt ...

or, how I duped conservatives for fame and fortune!


Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham have made demonizing liberals a cottage industry. Their rants are so transparent it's surprising the neocons still hang on their every word. Oh, wait ... we are talking about neocons ... ha!

Limbaugh was an early critic of the first President Bush, until Poppy invited him to sleep over in the Lincoln Bedroom. From that moment on they were BFF's!

Coulter and Ingraham woke up one morning to the realization they had no talent other than deceiving people. They quickly found their base in the 23 percent of the population that stuck with GWB to the bitter end. And now the neocon-wanna-be Tammy Bruce is trying to break into the big league.

Bruce, during a guest host stint on The Laura Ingraham Show, recently referred to the Obama's as "trash." Her exact quote: "We've got trash in the White House." She's certainly getting a lot of mileage out of it!

BRUCE: But here's Michelle Obama explaining to some kids what it was like for her growing up because she sounded like a white person, whatever that means.

OBAMA [audio clip]: I did do my best, getting good grades was always important to me, and it wasn't because my parents were -

BRUCE: It's all about her.

OBAMA [audio clip]: -- hounding me or that they had the expectation, it was just something that I wanted for myself. I wanted an A. And I didn't care whether it was cool, ‘cause I remember there were kids around my neighborhood who would say, "Ooh, you talk funny, you talk like a white girl." I heard that growing up my whole life, and I was like I don't even know what that means, but you know what? I'm still getting my A.

BRUCE: What? What? What -- what is that? And then she devolves into that weird fake accent, like Hillary did when talking to black people. What? What is that? That's, that -- you know what that is.

DAVID AFTER DENTIST [audio clip]: Is this going to be forever?

BRUCE: Yeah, that - remember nitrous oxide kid, on You Tube. No it's not going to be forever, nitrous oxide kid. It's not. Can you -- can you believe that?

OBAMA [audio clip]: So do I need to introduce myself?

BRUCE: What a shame. That must've just ruined her damn day. "I wanted the A for myself, and I wanted to do it, and ooh, they said you sounded like a white person, I don't know what that means, but uhh." Huh?

Man, oh, man. That's who he's married to, what does that tell you? This is what we've got -- you know what we've got? We've got trash in the White House. Trash is a, is a thing that is color blind, it can cross all eco -- ecosocionomic kind of categories, you can work on Wall Street or work at the Wal-Mart. Trash are people who use other people to get things, who patronize others, who consider you bitter and clingy.

Hummmm ... let's dissect the section I emphasised above.

"Trash are people who use other people to get things" -- like the way you and your ilk use demonizing liberals to earn a living? Or, "[Trash are people] who patronize others" ... patronize: to behave in an offensively condescending manner toward someone -- kind of like what you are doing to Michelle Obama?

There was a time when Tammy and I were friends. We've actually had dinner together. But I doubt that Tammy would have dinner with me today!

When I knew Tammy she was a chapter leader and eventual national board member in NOW. And then came the OJ trial. Who knows why this sent Tammy over the edge, but it was definitely a turning point for her. She began making statements that were rife with racism -- which could be why she is on the attack now against the Obama's.

She parted ways with NOW, and began a steep dive into the dark side.

I was critical of the way NOW leaders dealt with the Nicole Brown tragedy, and said so to them directly. But what I don't understand is if you think a person (or in this case an organization) is not acting in the best interest of women, or in a "feminist" manner, why would you think an appropriate response be to throw your support behind groups (or people) that demonize women?

Folks like Tammy Bruce, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh have an agenda -- demonizing for dollars.

I think if they thought they could make big bucks trashing conservatives they'd do it in a heartbeat. The challenge to this is that getting liberals to do anything as a group is like herding cats! We don't all buy the same book or listen to the same radio program. It's hard to make money off us.

Rachel Maddow seems to be holding the attention of liberals these days. Keith Olbermann had us for awhile -- until his sexist side kicked in and he lost his feminist audience. Tammy does have one thing in common with Maddow -- they're both lesbians.

So Tammy, come back from the dark side! There's still time for you to redeem yourself and make your mentor proud. Do it for Toni.

Woo with Words

Strolling the grounds of the Clark Gardens, Weatherford Texas, we watched this peacock strut. He sensed the white feathered female nearby but she ignored him, so he worked harder to get attention.

Whipped up the razzle dazzle. Still no luck. I think she yawned, if that's possible.

Finally, he unveiled the show. Spectacular color, massive plummage, he tapdanced his heart out. Alas, she scurried away.

If only he'd written her a poem, wooed her with words - well chosen words. Rid himself of unnecessary adjectives or adverbs, and honed in on action verbs. He thought about the video production, but didn't have the right script.

It's all about word choice.

Joanne

Reproductive Justice for Young Women

A federal judge has ordered the FDA to rethink the age restriction for Plan B -- the morning after pill. The decision recognizes that during the Bush administration politics influenced policy.

A federal judge ordered the Food and Drug Administration yesterday to reconsider its 2006 decision to deny girls younger than 18 access to the morning-after pill Plan B without a prescription.

U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman in New York instructed the agency to make Plan B available to 17-year-olds within 30 days and to review whether to make the emergency contraceptive available to all ages without a doctor's order.

In his 52-page decision, Korman repeatedly criticized the FDA's handling of the issue, agreeing with allegations in a lawsuit that the decision was "arbitrary and capricious" and influenced by "political and ideological" considerations imposed by the Bush administration.

"These political considerations, delays and implausible justifications for decision-making are not the only evidence of a lack of good faith and reasoned agency decision-making," he wrote. "Indeed, the record is clear that the FDA's course of conduct regarding Plan B departed in significant ways from the agency's normal procedures regarding similar applications to switch a drug from prescription to non-prescription use." [...]

"We're very excited," said Suzanne Novak, a senior staff lawyer for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit. "The message is clear: The FDA has to put science first and leave politics at the door."

The slow return to sanity continues.

Sunday Funnies

Love means never having to say you're sorry

Bill Posey Alligator Rumors

Let people know it probably isn't true.

Vatican Official Defends Abortion

Don't look now, but I think hell just froze over -- or there is a crack in the Vatican's armor.

The Vatican's top bioethics official said the two Brazilian doctors who performed an abortion on a 9-year-old rape victim do not merit excommunication, because they acted to save her life.

The statement, by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, appeared as the lead article in last Sunday's issue of the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

"There are others who deserve excommunication and our forgiveness," Fisichella wrote, addressing the unidentified rape victim, "not those who permitted you to live and who will help you to regain hope and faith."

The case drew international attention earlier this month after the local Catholic archbishop excommunicated the doctors who aborted the girl's twin fetuses, as well as the girl's mother.

The child was 15 weeks pregnant, allegedly after being raped by her stepfather. Weighing only 80 pounds, she might have died if forced to carry the pregnancy to term, the doctors said.

What I liked about this report is the acknowledgement that 1) abortion CAN be the best decision for women and girls; and 2) decisions about reproductive health should be left to the woman (or in this case girl) and her physician.

Even when doing the right thing, the Vatican couldn't resist taking a swipe at women having the right to safe and legal abortion.

While reiterating Catholic teaching that abortion is an "intrinsically wicked act," Fisichella suggested that under the circumstances, it might have been the lesser evil.

There are a myriad of reasons why women choose abortion. This report indicates why it's so important that women, in consultation with their physicians, be allowed to make this decision for themselves.

It's surprising to me that the Vatican would allow this pubic discussion.

Vatican officials rarely air their differences in public, let alone on the front page of the pope's newspaper.

According to respected Vatican journalist Sandro Magister, Fisichella's article was probably approved in advance by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who as secretary of state is considered the Vatican's No. 2 official, after Pope Benedict XVI.

After nearly two months of international controversy over the pope's decision to readmit a Holocaust-denying bishop to the church in late January, Magister called this case of crossed signals the latest indication of confusion at the highest levels of the Holy See.

"It is yet another sign of the disorder that reigns in the Curia," Magister said, referring to the church's international governing bureaucracy. "It shows that Benedict XVI is paying the price for refusing to reform the Curia."

My good friend Fran at FranIAm is going to have to explain this to me. One good thing that I've learned from my day job is that there are some pretty terrific people of faith out there -- and Fran is definitely one of them.

Prayers and hopes are answered!

I went into the vet's office last night expecting the worst. It's kinda in my nature to be a pessimist; it's only when I'm outside among the birds and trees, or when I'm with my dear friends like The Flock or my Matty McMatterson, or when I think about our wonderful new president, that I'm upbeat and happy and hopeful.

And so it was with heavy heart that I walked with my little Son, Moon, and Stars™ in Ellen Scholz's All Creatures Veterinary Care Clinic. I knew we had an uphill battle, fighting an infection that had affected Niblet's skull, so I was prepared to hear bad news.

Boy, was I wrong.

Indeed, Dr. Scholz was surprised at how fast and how well Nibble's incision has been healing! She then cleaned out the fake-ear opening she made, pulling some hair and some scabby stuff out of the site. Then she flushed the wound: NO PUS! Niblet's beating the infection! Everything came out clear, and we're on the road to a full recovery!

I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear this; I became giddy, joking with the doctor about how strong my little man is, how he can poop more poops per hour than any other bunny known to man! How he can eat a carrot faster than a speeding bunny! How he can put a hole in my shirt lickety-split with one nibble! I was so happy.

So here's my sweet bun, back home from the vet's office, having a little treat because he was such a brave boy:He didn't have to be put under anesthesia or anything for the stitch removal; they just held him and he was very brave about it, barely even flinching. That's my tough little guy!

This morning, I squirted his antibiotics onto his pellets and he ate them up like a good boy:So you can see where he's bald still, the affected area from the surgery. And the little red spot is where he has his fake-ear opening. I asked Dr. Scholz about what the goal is, and she said we'll keep him on his Baytril for another week, plus there's this steroidal ointment I have to squirt into his fake-ear opening once a day for a while, and then we have to go back for another check-up in two weeks (and she'll file down his molars--more on this later). Ideally, everything will still be clean, and the hole will be there to release any kind of drainage from his inner ear etc., and then he'll be a normal little bunny! (or as normal as a cute-as-a-button earless bunny can be)

The molars thing: His front teeth are actually fine--he's been eating his hay and his fruit-wood sticks and stuff, and he's fine. But apparently, bunnies' molars don't meet flush and so where there's no meeting (and thus grinding down), the molars tend to get a little "peak" on them. This must be filed down from time to time. So that's what she'll do in two weeks.

The best thing is that I finally had a night where I didn't suffer from the reflux I've been having for the last two weeks or so. I'm weird with stress; my mind and my emotional well-being are rarely affected by stress. My body, on the other hand, shows stress like a badge of honor, with searing pain in my neck or shoulders, or the old standby gastro-esophageal reflux. That's always fun. I actually threw up the night before the appointment, it was so bad. But last night, happy and with Nibble munching his hay contentedly, I slept well and without too much pain.

We still have our check-up in a fortnight, but I'm confident that things will be fine. Niblet and I will take good care of his little fake-ear opening, and we'll watch Buffy on DVD, and we'll welcome the coming spring together while we listen to the Ella Fitzgerald CD that Lynne, that sweetie and lover of turkey vultures everywhere, sent us to show she was thinking of us:It even has one of our favorite songs, "It's Only a Paper Moon!" Once again, all is right with the world.

Well, except for the fact that we had snow flurries this morning....

When do you have too many flower pics?

Can you ever really have too many flower pictures? Here's more shots from last weekend's trek to the Dallas arboretum. So much material to work with, it's flowers on steroids.

I liked these two hardy souls.

The Arboretum theme is Storybooks. Hmmm - Dr.Seuss "One Fish, Two Fish..." I've read this a thousand times to Abigail and she never tires of the rhyme, nor do I. It becomes almost pathological.

Gotta root for the cactus. Hardy and almost belligerent. Domineering in its environment.

Are you tired of haiku? I'm not, though I might wear out my fingers counting syllables.

should learn flower names
bask in bountiful purple
bell shaped loveliness

Joanne

P.S. I'm still jacking with the tile contractor and the pool's still green. The zen of the arboretum keeps me from being crazy. I need to return when the azaleas go berserk.

AIG: We're Mad as Hell ...

Paying out millions of dollars in bonuses, and spending millions remodeling executive suites is absolutely unacceptable in these tough times. Let your Senators know what you think.

Niblet update on an important day

Today's important because he's getting his stitches removed. The appointment is this evening at 6:15, and I'm vaguely remembering from his surgery appt that Dr. Scholz said he'd need to be anesthetized again for the stitch removal, as well as for a tooth check. Seems I haven't been giving Niblet enough apple and pear wood sticks to chew, and his teeth are just a hair (heh) too long. So she'll be taking care of that tonight as well -- at least I think I remember that. I really was pretty wacked out on the day of his surgery. I wouldn't be surprised to find out I'd forgotten to wear pants that day, but I don't recall any screams or stares.

I don't recall them, anyway.

I hope I'm not right about the anesthesia, because it's really traumatic to see him go under and then have to wake up and stuff. His little soft body goes so limp, and it makes me scared and sad.

This morning, I tried to look closely at the incision site because it seemed a little puffy to me, but I touched it and he ran away. Now I'm really worried that underneath, he's developed more pus and stuff, hence the puffiness. Let's hope not.

Full report tomorrow, probably with new pictures (I'm hoping she'll clean him up a bit and he won't be all bloody and stuff). Think of my little Son, Moon, and Stars™ tonight, friends.

In Memoriam - Natasha Richardson

On Monday I posted about the loss of my mother, and how she was too young to die. I think that is why news of the death of Natasha Richardson has touched me so. Her two young sons will experience what I have experienced -- living more of your life without your mother than you lived with her.

Natasha Richardson, a Tony Award-winning actress whose career melded glamorous celebrity with the bloodline of theater royalty, died Wednesday in a Manhattan hospital, where she had been flown suffering from head injuries after a skiing accident on Monday north of Montreal. She was 45 and lived in Manhattan and Millbrook, N.Y.

"Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha,” said a statement from the family. “They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time." [...]

Ms. Richardson was an intense and absorbing actress who was unafraid of taking on demanding and emotionally raw roles. Classically trained, she was admired on both sides of the Atlantic for upholding the traditions of one of the great acting families of the modern age. [...]

Ms. Richardson came to critical prominence in England in 1985 as Nina, Chekhov’s naïve and vulnerable ingénue in “The Seagull,” a role her mother had played to great acclaim in 1964. It was a road production, and when it reached London, Vanessa Redgrave joined the cast as the narcissistic actress Arkadina. The production became legendary, but working with her mother intimidated her.

“She rehearsed like a tornado,” Ms. Richardson recalled in a 1993 interview with The New York Times Magazine. “It was completely crazy. She rolled on the floor in some scenes. I was terrified of being on stage with her.”

But almost no one doubts that Ms. Redgrave inspired her daughter as well. Like her mother, Ms. Richardson was known for disappearing into a role, for not capitalizing on her looks and for being drawn to characters under duress.

In the performance that made her a star in the United States, she played the title role on Broadway in a 1993 revival of “Anna Christie,” Eugene O’Neill’s grueling portrait of a waterfront slattern in confrontation with the abusive men in her life. Embracing the emotional wreckage that showed in her character’s face, she modeled her makeup each night on Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream.”

Her performance, nominated for a Tony Award, was vibrantly sensual, and her scenes with her co-star, Mr. Neeson, were acclaimed as sizzling and electric. The chemistry between them extended offstage as well; shortly after the run, Ms. Richardson separated from her husband, the producer Robert Fox. She and Mr. Neeson married in 1994.

Besides her husband, Ms. Richardson is survived by their two sons, Micheal Richard Antonio, 13, and Daniel Jack, 12, as well as her mother, her sister and a half-sister, Katherine Grimond.

Natasha Richardson was a wonderful actor, wife and mother, and my heart goes out to her family tonight.

Pastor Wiley Drake on a Rampage Once Again!

You have just watched Pastor Wiley Drake make a fool of himself in action at the Orange County (CA) Board of Supervisors meeting on March 10. Orange County Supervisors want to pull education money from Planned Parenthood and instead fund an anti-abortion abstinence only group. That doesn't sound like a good idea to me, or to Yvette Cabrera at The Orange County Register.

It was the spring of 1965, the same year the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that married women had the right to use contraceptives.

That spring a committee of physicians and community volunteers organized themselves with the hope of opening a family planning clinic. Not only did they achieve their goal on May 29, 1965 when they opened this clinic in the outpatient department of the county's hospital, but they received $30,000 in government funds to support the clinic.

Who exactly approved this funding? The Orange County's board of supervisors, according to historical documents from Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties' archives, which outline how this same committee applied for affiliate status with the Planned Parenthood Federation of America that year as well.

This particular clinic did not provide medical services at the time, but it offered educational services about birth control from 1965 to 1968, according to Stephanie Kight, Planned Parenthood's vice president of community affairs.

"So back in 1965 our county supervisors understood the need for these services because they allowed us to operate our first clinic at the county hospital," says Kight.

Let's flash forward to 2009. Last week, the county board of supervisors unanimously voted to suspend a $300,000 contract with Planned Parenthood – money that pays for five certified health educators who provide comprehensive reproductive education throughout the county. They give live presentations at schools and after-school programs, and they help run toll-free and online hotlines.

None of this funding, which is allocated from tobacco settlement revenue, is used to provide abortion services, a fact well documented in data submitted to the county, according to Planned Parenthood. The nonprofit is part of the Orange County Coalition of Community Clinics, which shares this funding with other member clinics.

Still, abortions was the reason given when county supervisors explained why they cut the funding. They don't believe the county should fund abortions, and they are morally opposed to abortions.

It was a move that shocked, among others, Dr. Thomas C. Bent, medical director and chief operating officer of the Laguna Beach Community Clinic, which is also a member of the coalition and receives tobacco settlement funds.

"Focusing their energy on punishing somebody who offers a legal service to women in need, as Planned Parenthood does, is so wrong," says Bent. "The irony is that the money that's going specifically to (Planned Parenthood's) program is educational so that women won't get themselves in a situation where they need an abortion..."

Nut cases like Wiley Drake want to impose their beliefs on everyone -- but Drake seems to forget we have separation of church and state in this country.

As Bent put it, part of his job as a doctor is to avoid making judgments. Instead, he's supposed to make sure his patients understand the full scope of the medical options available to them. He believes the same should apply to politicians.

"There has to be a separation of church and state," says Bent. "I don't proselytize in my exam room. (The board of supervisors) shouldn't proselytize with the power of their office."

Well said, Dr. Bent!

Have You No Shame, Sir

Congress is moving as quickly as it can to recoup some, or all, of the $165 million paid out in bonuses to AIG executives. The behavior of these individuals is truly shameless.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.) would unveil a proposal by tomorrow that would tax up to 98 percent of the bonus money. "That will certainly send a message to the people at AIG and all others who try to benefit from the hardships the American people face," Reid said.

In the House, Reps. Steve Israel (N.Y.) and Tim Ryan (Ohio) introduced the "Bailout Bonus Tax Bracket Act" to create a 100 percent tax on bonuses over $100,000 that are distributed to employees of financial firms receiving federal bailout funds. Currently, the IRS withholds 25 percent from bonuses less than $1 million and 35 percent for bonuses more than $1 million dollars. The Israel-Ryan proposal would apply to all bonuses to government-supported firms such as AIG that have been given since Jan. 1.

The congressional efforts come as New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo announced that at least 73 employees of AIG's Financial Products unit -- the London-based division of the insurance giant that sold the high-risk derivatives blamed for the company's near-collapse -- got bonuses of at least $1 million. He sent AIG subpoenas yesterday seeking data on who received the bonuses and the justification for them.

I like the House plan. Why not tax at 100% BONUS money going to incompetent executives? If they want to receive their bonuses, then get off the Corporate Welfare train. Many of these same individuals have no problem attacking the truly poor who receive benefits.

The bonuses, guaranteed through employment contracts that had been made public to the government earlier and paid out on Friday, were offered as a way to lure or keep top talent to help sort out the financial situation at AIG, officials there said. But when news of the payments surfaced in recent days, lawmakers turned to the Obama administration, demanding that the U.S. Treasury attempt to claw back some of the money.

WHAT "top talent"?? You mean the people who got their company INTO this mess? It's time to clean house.

On Monday Sen. Charles Grassley had a suggestion for top AIG executives:

A prominent U.S. senator gibed that executives of the troubled insurer American International Group Inc might consider suicide, adopting what he called a Japanese approach to taking responsibility for their actions.

Senator Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, made the comments Monday in an interview with a radio station in his home state of Iowa.

"The first thing that would make me feel a little bit better toward them (is) if they'd follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide," Grassley said.

That might be a bit drastic, but I can certainly appreciate Grassley's anger.

Backtracking on his earlier comments, Grassley had this to say today:

"What I'm expressing here, obviously, is not that I want people to commit suicide," Grassley said on Tuesday. "But I do feel very strongly that we have not had statements of apology, statements of remorse, statements of contrition on the part of CEOs of manufacturing companies or banks or financial services or insurance companies that are asking for bailouts, that they understand that they are responsible for running their corporation into the ground."

Barnegat Light ordeal--close to home!

This morning, one of the more prolific commenters on the PA birding listserv informed us that HE was the one who fell between the rocks on the Barnegat Light jetty! He got some spectacular images, but oh, at what a cost!

If you're interested in his account (and photos), visit his site. At least he retained his sense of humor!

Unfinished

For the past 34 years I've had the same ritual. At around 9:30 pm I sit quietly for a moment and remember my mom. She was 56 when she died ... the age I am now.

Looking at the unfinished graphic above, I wonder how my life might have been different had she lived. Would I be living in DC, or would I have stayed in Indiana? What career path would I have followed? How would my life be different?

I'll never know.

What I do know is that she was my best friend, and I still miss her dearly.

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Blog Surfing

These posts are NOT TO BE MISSED!!

Dear AIG, I've Solved Your Bonus Problem!
by PunditMom

PunditMom's "Kiss My Fat Ass" Campaign!

Your Resident Humorless Feminist Strikes Again
by Melissa McEwan at Shakesville

Little Timmy: pwn’d
by Tengrain at Mock, Paper, Scissors

And coming soon to a blog near you, Blog Against Theocracy! Blue Gal kicks things off with:

Blog Against Theocracy Promo Spots part 1
Blog Against Theocracy Promo Spots part 2

And here is an example of what you can post:

All Kryptonite Issue: The Negative Effects of Red Kryptonite
by Dr. Zaius at ZaiusNation

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I wasn't going to write a thing.........

A friend, Linda T., and I succumbed to the beauty of the Dallas Arboretum. It was a tad gray outside, but it wasn't windy. Hence, tulips were not flying off the stems as we strolled the property. Glorious color, fabulous fields of 450,000 bulbs. These folks are insane in their plantings. It is poetry.

So, I wasn't going to write a thing......but here's a haiku I wrote a few weeks ago. Must share with the world.

fleeting harsh march winds
morose keen and winter pale
single yellow tulip

AIG: Rewarding Incompetence

Hard working Americans understand that if you don't perform up to expectations, or are just plain incompetent, you not only won't get a bonus, but you'll probably get fired! Small business owners know that if they don't make their bottom line, they will be out of business. So why is it so hard for Wall Street firms to get this simple principle?

Rep. Barney Frank charged Monday that a decision by financially strapped insurance giant AIG to pay millions in executive bonuses amounts to "rewarding incompetence."

Echoing outrage expressed on both sides of the political aisle in the wake of revelations that American International Group will pay roughly $165 million in bonuses, Frank said he believes it's time to shake up the company.

"These people may have a right to their bonuses. They don't have a right to their jobs forever," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Appearing on NBC's "Today" show, Frank noted that the Federal Reserve Board, using a Depression-era statute, was the institution that gave AIG its initial government bailout, before Congress passed legislation providing for additional assistance. He said he did not think sufficient safeguards were built into that initial bailout by the Fed.

The $165 million was payable to executives by Sunday and was part of a larger total payout reportedly valued at $450 million. The company has benefited from more than $170 billion in a federal rescue. [...]

On ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday, Sen. Richard Shelby said Congress must do everything it can to make sure the government money going to AIG is handled appropriately.

"We ought to explore everything that we can through the government to make sure that this money is not wasted," the Alabama Republican said. "These people brought this on themselves. Now you're rewarding failure. A lot of these people should be fired, not awarded bonuses. This is horrible. It's outrageous."

These jerks PROFIT while many of us are losing our jobs, or struggling to keep them. Conservatives in Congress like to point the finger of blame at unions, but the REAL culprit in this mess are Wall Street companies who have so far bilked nearly a trillion dollars of our tax dollars.

Indoor birding with bun

Thanks again for all your prayers and positive thoughts for me and my wee bun. I still haven't been able to bring myself to post a photo of him post-surgery, but I did want to give you an idea of the situation, so I've modified this little photo:So the red area is all shaved now, with some dried blood and such. (calming breaths) The little blue area is approximately where Dr. Scholz created a new opening to Niblet's inner ear. She had some difficulty, as normally she would've stitched the opening to his ear canal; however, as Niblet had no ear canal left, thanks to the infection, she couldn't do that. Still, the little hole is there, and we're due at Dr. Scholz's office on Thursday evening to get Niblet's stitches removed. At that point, I'm hoping to learn whether the infection is being minimized by the antibiotics and how Niblet's treatment will proceed.
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I don't know if there are any documented cases of sleeping sickness in Bellefonte PA, but I honestly believe I was bitten by a tsetse fly this weekend. I slept and slept, Niblet right beside me, and when I wasn't sleeping, I was obsessively making bird lists and thumbing through bird guides.

During the sleep-intensive weekend, Niblet and I aired out the house some, what with our temps being in the 50s. Niblet is back to his usual eating and drinking habits, which is a big relief. At first he wasn't too keen on the medicine smell in his pellets, but he's gotten used to it. He's eating his greens, accepting with relish the bits of strawberry I've taken to giving him, and nibbling up the small amount of pellets (with meds squirted on them) I give him in the morning and the evening. At night, when I get in bed and settle in to read or do a crossword, he jumps up there with me and that's when I squirt chloramphenicol ointment into his newly created ear hole. He's so brave, not even flinching when I do this. What a good little boy!

Meanwhile, Gretchen and I have decided to do our camping trip in Cape May instead of a state park in PA. Same price, and with the two of us splitting gas and costs, it'll be an affordable and fun way to get a great birding trip in before I leave for the West Coast!

All of my Flock friends will be in West Virginia, whooping it up with BT3 and Zick and Chet Baker -- which I will miss intensely! -- but this way, costs are kept down and I'm not away from Niblet for quite as long. The official dog of beginningtobird will be with us as well:
This is Domino wearing Laurie's winter hat. Gretchen and I have taken to calling this photo "Driving Miss Nommy." "That's not the way to the Piggly-Wiggly!"

I asked Niblet if he wanted to come camping with us, but he said there was no way we'd catch HIM camping out in a tent among the common cottontails and such. He has his standards. So his Auntie Anne will be coming over to take care of him while I'm gone.

When we weren't napping, Niblet and I were watching Buffy on DVD and making a list of potential lifers I'll have a good chance of seeing in Cape May. According to my Cape May checklist, there are 40 birds that are common or fairly common at that time of year that would also be lifers for me. It'll be harder to ID some of the peeps and such, without a real field trip leader with us, but I'm also going to be studying my copy of BT3's Identify Yourself to make sure I'm as prepared as possible to tell the difference between a Semipalmated Sandpiper and a Least Sandpiper or whatever.

Most of the birds on my list of 40 are peeps and other such shore and marsh birds. There are also a couple of warblers, some sparrows, and six or seven songbirds I'll be looking to see. I can't wait to go to my favorite spots on the cape--the Beanery, that marshy area owned by the Nature Conservancy? maybe? (I think it's called the Migratory Bird Refuge now), the big pond at Cape May Point, and of course the beaches at Cape May Point and Sunset Beach. We might also take the ferry over to Lewes and back for a "mini-pelagic," though I'm not sure we'll be able to squeeze that in. I wonder if Liz and Jeff Gordon will be home; I'll have to check. (How lucky am I to have gone to high school (and been in a children's theatre production of The Frog Prince) with Liz Gordon back when she was Liz Fleming? She played the wicked queen; I played a sprite named Spree. Ah, memories!)

Gretchen and her family used to go to Cape May every summer, so it'll be old home weekend for her too. We're both so excited about the prospect of doing some heavy-duty birding together, especially since she got a pair of Vortex binocs!

Sunday Funnies

Sorry these are so late ... I was traveling this weekend.