Life By Design
Because Life Doesn't Come With An Owner's Manual
Life By Design

Do You Show Gratitude Everyday and Be Thankful?

Do you have gratitude everyday
         and give thanks for what you have?


        If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a
        roof overhead and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of
        this world. 

         If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and
        spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the world's
        wealthy
 
    If you woke up this morning with more health than illness.. You
    are more blessed than the many who will not even survive this     day.
 
        If you have never experienced the fear in battle, the
        loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs
        of starvation... You are ahead of 700 million people in the world.
 
 
        If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the
        norm, you're unique to all those in doubt and despair.

Komen vs. Planned Parenthood Internet Mess

You do realize the importance now, of Social Media, right? 

We have told clients for years, what a powerful medium this is growing into. As of this month, 800 MILLION people use Facebook! They had 600 million last year.  And Twitter has 200 Million users. That's a LOT OF CONVERSATION.

Social Media destroyed 3 decades of brand building in just 24 hours. Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been rebranded. In a bad way. 

Planned Parenthood made the announcement - and people around the world weighed in with anger, disgust, revolt and wrath! Within 24 hours, people dropped their support for Komen like a hot potato. They cut $900,000 out of their grant money and it will cost them MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars now.

Komen has faced a massive social media backlash since announcing the decision, with angry people flocking to its message boards and Facebook wall to announce that they will no longer donate to the breast cancer charity.

(FYI - After partnering with Planned Parenthood for the past five years to provide cancer screenings to low-income patients, Komen announced on Tuesday that it would sever ties with the family planning provider, and deny their $900,000 grant,  because it is under investigation in Congress. However, the Republican Senator and groups that prompted that investigation are anti-abortion advocacy organizations that have long criticized Planned Parenthood over the fact that some of its clinics offer abortions.)

Within minutes, both Facebook and Twitter were swamped with pro-Planned Parenthood, anti-Komen comments.  At one point last night, Kivi Miller  did a quick count and found the ratio of anti-Komen’s decision to pro-Komen’s decision to be about 80 to 1 on Twitter.

Their mission blow up aside, they completely failed to understand how the Internet works, how news spreads, how a news cycle works, and the political climate.

(That's another whole story!  The left side - Democrats - are using Social Media at high speed! Speaking out about the Republican's  hourly! You have to admit, the Republicans have no one solid this year!)

But back to our story -   Komen knew they planned to make this decision for almost 1 year.  Their first mistake was they didn’t break the news, Planned Parenthood did with a press release. So right from the beginning they were not in control of the story. The story contained within the press release spread like wildfire on twitter, Facebook, and on listservs of activists.

And there’s absolutely nothing Komen can do to stop the story now. Even if they were to announce that the people responsible for the decision had been fired and the funds were being restored there’s plenty to keep going. And a door has been opened for all sorts of activism that wouldn’t have made an impact just 72 hours ago. New dimensions to this story will surface on their own, or activists will take action to keep the story going.

At the end of  all this, whenever that comes, Komen will be a completely different organization. By changing their mission and stepping into a political debate unprepared, they will have had their future written for them by others.

We live in a transparent world people!


Business Blogging Consultants

Obama Promises - His Long Tail Game Will Work -If Given the Chance

GIVEN THE ENORMITY 
of what Obama inherited, and given what he explicitly promised, it remains simply a fact that Obama has delivered in a way that the unhinged right and purist left have yet to understand or absorb. Their short-term outbursts have missed Obama’s long game—and why his reelection remains, in my view, as essential for this country’s future as his original election in 2008.

Andrew Sullivan has written a  MUST READ piece called,

How Obama's Long Game 

                Will Outsmart His Critics

Former editor of The New Republic, weekly columnist for the Sunday Times of London, Andrew brought his hugely popular blog, The Dish, to the Daily Beast in 2011. He's the author of several books, including "Virtually Normal," "Love Undetectable," and "The Conservative Soul."

This is the best, most researched article, and everyone, Republicans too, should read it. A president in the last year of his first term will always get attacked mercilessly by his partisan opponents, and also, often, by the feistier members of his base.

FACT - When Obama took office, the United States was losing around 750,000 jobs a month. The last quarter of 2008 saw an annualized drop in growth approaching 9 percent. This was the most serious downturn since the 1930s.

But Obama did several things at once: he continued the bank bailout begun by George W. Bush, he initiated a bailout of the auto industry, and he worked to pass a huge stimulus package of $787 billion.

All these decisions deserve scrutiny. And in retrospect, they were far more successful than anyone has yet fully given Obama the credit for. The job collapse bottomed out at the beginning of 2010, as the stimulus took effect. Since then, the U.S. has added 2.4 million jobs. That’s not enough, but it’s far better than what Romney would have you believe, and more than the net jobs created under the entire Bush administration. In 2011 alone, 1.9 million private-sector jobs were created, while a net 280,000 government jobs were lost.


READ THE FULL ARTICLE OF FACTS AT THE DAILY BEAST


What I Have Learned This Year

The clock is ticking, the end of the year is just hours away...

and I ask myself, What did I learn this year


Each year I get older - and I hope wiser. I hope that I grow each year as a human. And evolve spiritually.

Gratitude. Be extremely appreciative of every opportunity, contact, relationship, bit of useful knowledge and helping hand.

Don't let others bring you down, surround yourself with positive people to see positive results.

Jennifer Weiner, (author,  Good in Bed )  said, "I learned that things don't always turn our the way you planned, or the way you think they should. And I've learned that there are things that go wrong that don't always get fixed or get put back together the way they were before.

I've learned that some broken things stay broken, and I've learned that you can get through bad times and keep looking for better ones, as long as you have people who love you
."

George Clooney said this year, "Everybody sort of has their own versions of what they think I am and what they think that is.

I'm just living my life and doing the best I can. The rest of those versions, there's not much I can do about. No matter what I do, I'm somehow upsetting someone in some way or making somebody happy. I can only live my own life and my version of it.

My life isn't focused on results.

 My life is really focused on the process of doing all the things I'm doing, from work to relationships to friendships to charitable work.

If I focused on results, if it's only about the ultimate results, I'd be a failure. I'd be a failure with my friendships, I'd be a failure in relationships. You have to view it  as an ongoing process.


And I would agree.

I must always  remind myself  of that great story The Station: A Reminder to Cherish the Journey . "The Station" brings a profound message that reminds one to embrace the journey of life. And not keep telling yourself, when this or that happens, I will have arrived.

Enjoy the journey - and the learning experience.




Zach Reger Wahls - Love Makes A Family




2011,  19 year old Zach Reger Wahls  showed the world  having gay parents DOES NOT MAKE YOU GAY!

This year, over 18 million people saw Zach Wahls defend marriage equality on behalf of his family in front of the Iowa Legislature.

This month, thousands of families submitted photos, joining Zach and his family in sending out this simple holiday greeting.....and creating this video and online campaign called "Love Makes a Family."



LOVE MAKES A FAMILY  video


*Video Produced & Edited by Laura Dawn of MoveOn.org & Dave Ambrose of ART NOT WAR
Original Song written by Laura Dawn
Performed by Inyang Bassey, backing vocals by Inyang Bassey & Laura Dawn



Vulnerability, Self, & Oneness - By Ronnie Kroell

Our dear friend Ronnie Kroell did an awesome post today that we wanted to share with you -  

" Perception is always reality, but perceptions are not always truth.

In other words, someone may perceive me and make a judgment based on how I walk, talk, or an action that I have taken; while that may be their truth, it may not be accurate.

For example: Many times people have made snap judgments (positive and negative) about me based on my appearance on Make Me a Supermodel, my Playgirl Magazine spread, or other projects. While these perceptions and judgments are valid to them – it does not make them truth. In fact, as a society we love to make snap judgments about people, especially those we see on TV, but unless we actually meet them to confirm our perceptions – with what evidence can we really ground our findings?



The following videos were shared with me by my friends – and they have truly changed my life. Thandie Newton & Brene Brown discuss the topics of vulnerability, self, and oneness with such clarity and soulfulness! In a world where we are born into “oneness” we quickly learn how to create “self” in order to navigate the social world – but that self is not necessarily who we are. Our “self” is shaped, for better or worse, by the people in our lives and experiences that we have. We develop a sense of “self” in order to survive/fit in, but more than that to escape having to think about the inevitable – death.

In order to truly connect with others we must challenge our “selves” to be vulnerable, to live authentically, and to find oneness again! It is most important to realize that “we are enough” – just as we are. We must give up on the idea of who we are “supposed to be” or what others “want us to be” and acknowledge who we really are.


I was watching Oprah one day and I remember Kenny Rogers shared this really cool idea: “We are all three people – The person we think we are, the person others think we are, and the person we really are.” I have thought about this many times since watching the program and it makes such perfect sense now!!"


Stop by his site for the rest of the posting and the inspiring videos.



(Spiritual Angel Readings - If you are in the Los Angeles area, or catch Ronnie traveling, he offers personal one-on-one spiritual angel readings which are truly insightful and helpful.  Using Celestial Wisdom Cards (not Tarot Cards)  they do not tell your future, but rather they offer guidance and insight. It is a wonderful gift he has!  Find out more. )

Why are Republicans ANTI GAY?

Why do the current Republicans Hate Gay People?
And want to treat us like second class citizens??


YESTERDAY, both Hillary Clinton  (What an inspiring and well-articulated speech. She addresses a lot of the sensitive and challenging aspects of this subject. Deeply moving. )  and Barack Obama gave amazing speeches  for Human Rights Day....


(President Obama  issued a memorandum directing the heads of Executive Departments and Agencies abroad to advance the human rights of and ensure the safety of LGBT people.

ObamaWrites Obama in the memorandum, which you can read below:

The struggle to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons is a global challenge, and one that is central to the United States commitment to promoting human rights. I am deeply concerned by the violence and discrimination targeting LGBT persons around the world -- whether it is passing laws that criminalize LGBT status, beating citizens simply for joining peaceful LGBT pride celebrations, or killing men, women, and children for their perceived sexual orientation. That is why I declared before heads of state gathered at the United Nations, "no country should deny people their rights because of who they love, which is why we must stand up for the rights of gays and lesbians everywhere." Under my Administration, agencies engaged abroad have already begun taking action to promote the fundamental human rights of LGBT persons everywhere. Our deep commitment to advancing the human rights of all people is strengthened when we as the United States bring our tools to bear to vigorously advance this goal.

By this memorandum I am directing all agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons.

The memo directs agencies to combat the criminalization of homosexuality, protect vulnerable LGBT refugees and asylum seekers, enhance foreign aid to countries with respect to promoting LGBT rights, respond quickly to abuses of LGBT citizens abroad, and engage international organizations in the fight against LGBT discrimination.



*In recognition of Human Rights Day, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver a human rights policy speech on Tuesday, December 6, hosted by the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.)


I AM NOT LESS HUMAN, BECAUSE  I AM GAY!

Just say NO - to Republicans  in 2012.


So why are  Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Romney  and even NEWT (who has a lesbian daughter!) are all anti GAY??

Perry said  last night -

Just when you thought Barack Obama couldn’t get any more out of touch with America’s values, AP reports his administration wants to make foreign aid decisions based on gay rights.

This administration’s war on traditional American values must stop.
 

Promoting (promoting? you mean protecting right Rick?) special rights (?special?)  for gays in foreign countries is not in America’s interests and not worth a dime of taxpayers’ money.

But there is a troubling trend here beyond the national security nonsense inherent in this silly idea. This is just the most recent example of an administration at war with people of faith (?who's faith Rick?)  in this country. Investing tax dollars promoting a lifestyle many Americas of faith find so deeply objectionable is wrong.

President Obama has again mistaken America’s tolerance for different lifestyles with an endorsement of those lifestyles. I will not make that mistake.


AND GET THIS!  Mainstream news outlets ignored Obama's LGBT announcement.

I AM NOT LESS HUMAN, BECAUSE  I AM GAY!

Just say NO - to Republicans  in 2012.




PRICELESS - Michelle Bachmann Speechless



Out of the mouths of babes!

Video of Michele Bachmann trying to get her photo op in with an 8 year old. It's hard to hear but he leans in and tells her that his mom is gay and she doesn't need fixing.

GO ELIJAH! Love that look of shock she gets. WATCH.


"We were there for an Occupy Myrtle Beach event to mic check Michele Bachmann on another issue. The lgbt issue came up separately"   says  mom.  . #Occupymb

Jonah Mowry - Bullied Kid Does Not Commit Suicide - Luckily

Thank goodness for the Internet. It has flattened the world and connected us all -  at the speed of light!

An very emotional video showed up this past August on YouTube - but somehow, has recently gained  world attention.

A teenage student’s distress after years of homophobic bullying has prompted hundreds of messages of global concern and support for him. He is a brave kid, and he bared his soul to all of YouTube. THESE KIDS  ARE CRYING OUT FOR HELP!

You are loved.”

We do  support you.” 

It gets better.”

Stay strong.”

These are just a few of the encouraging comments flooding in for Jonah Mowry.

As word spreads about the video this week, out gay ex-Star Trek actor George Takei and American author Anne Rice – who is the mother of a gay son – have been among several notables urging people to take a look and spread the word.

The original Jonah  video -

Jonah  is  THANKFUL  for all of the support - and issued a brief statement  


Michael Moore Meets with Occupy Wall Street


Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here? ...a proposal from Michael Moore

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Friends,

This past weekend I participated in a four-hour meeting of Occupy Wall Street activists whose job it is to come up with the vision and goals of the movement. It was attended by 40+ people and the discussion was both inspiring and invigorating. Here is what we ended up proposing as the movement's "vision statement" to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:

We Envision: [1] a truly free, democratic, and just society; [2] where we, the people, come together and solve our problems by consensus; [3] where people are encouraged to take personal and collective responsibility and participate in decision making; [4] where we learn to live in harmony and embrace principles of toleration and respect for diversity and the differing views of others; [5] where we secure the civil and human rights of all from violation by tyrannical forces and unjust governments; [6] where political and economic institutions work to benefit all, not just the privileged few; [7] where we provide full and free education to everyone, not merely to get jobs but to grow and flourish as human beings; [8] where we value human needs over monetary gain, to ensure decent standards of living without which effective democracy is impossible; [9] where we work together to protect the global environment to ensure that future generations will have safe and clean air, water and food supplies, and will be able to enjoy the beauty and bounty of nature that past generations have enjoyed.


The next step will be to develop a specific list of goals and demands. As one of the millions of people who are participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement, I would like to respectfully offer my suggestions of what we can all get behind now to wrestle the control of our country out of the hands of the 1% and place it squarely with the 99% majority.




Here is what I will propose to the General Assembly of Occupy Wall Street:

10 Things We Want
A Proposal for Occupy Wall Street
Submitted by Michael Moore

1. Eradicate the Bush tax cuts for the rich and institute new taxes on the wealthiest Americans and on corporations, including a tax on all trading on Wall Street (where they currently pay 0%).

2. Assess a penalty tax on any corporation that moves American jobs to other countries when that company is already making profits in America. Our jobs are the most important national treasure and they cannot be removed from the country simply because someone wants to make more money.

3. Require that all Americans pay the same Social Security tax on all of their earnings (normally, the middle class pays about 6% of their income to Social Security; someone making $1 million a year pays about 0.6% (or 90% less than the average person). This law would simply make the rich pay what everyone else pays.

4. Reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act, placing serious regulations on how business is conducted by Wall Street and the banks.

5. Investigate the Crash of 2008, and bring to justice those who committed any crimes.

6. Reorder our nation's spending priorities (including the ending of all foreign wars and their cost of over $2 billion a week). This will re-open libraries, reinstate band and art and civics classes in our schools, fix our roads and bridges and infrastructure, wire the entire country for 21st century internet, and support scientific research that improves our lives.

7. Join the rest of the free world and create a single-payer, free and universal health care system that covers all Americans all of the time.

8. Immediately reduce carbon emissions that are destroying the planet and discover ways to live without the oil that will be depleted and gone by the end of this century.

9. Require corporations with more than 10,000 employees to restructure their board of directors so that 50% of its members are elected by the company’s workers. We can never have a real democracy as long as most people have no say in what happens at the place they spend most of their time: their job. (For any U.S. businesspeople freaking out at this idea because you think workers can't run a successful company: Germany has a law like this and it has helped to make Germany the world’s leading manufacturing exporter.)

10. We, the people, must pass three constitutional amendments that will go a long way toward fixing the core problems we now have. These include:

a) A constitutional amendment that fixes our broken electoral system by 1) completely removing campaign contributions from the political process; 2) requiring all elections to be publicly financed; 3) moving election day to the weekend to increase voter turnout; 4) making all Americans registered voters at the moment of their birth; 5) banning computerized voting and requiring that all elections take place on paper ballots.

b) A constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are not people and do not have the constitutional rights of citizens. This amendment should also state that the interests of the general public and society must always come before the interests of corporations.

c) A constitutional amendment that will act as a "second bill of rights" as proposed by President Frankin D. Roosevelt: that every American has a human right to employment, to health care, to a free and full education, to breathe clean air, drink clean water and eat safe food, and to be cared for with dignity and respect in their old age.

Let me know what you think. Occupy Wall Street enjoys the support of millions. It is a movement that cannot be stopped. Become part of it by sharing your thoughts with me or online (at OccupyWallSt.org). Get involved in (or start!) your own local Occupy movement. Make some noise. You don't have to pitch a tent in lower Manhattan to be an Occupier. You are one just by saying you are. This movement has no singular leader or spokesperson; every participant is a leader in their neighborhood, their school, their place of work. Each of you is a spokesperson to those whom you encounter. There are no dues to pay, no permission to seek in order to create an action.

We are but ten weeks old, yet we have already changed the national conversation. This is our moment, the one we've been hoping for, waiting for. If it's going to happen it has to happen now. Don't sit this one out. This is the real deal. This is it.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@MichaelMoore.com
@MMFlint
MichaelMoore.com

Occupy All Streets - We are the 99.99%

IN THE LAST 40 years, the rich, executives,  have seen an increase in earnings. Their pay has quadrupled. From $900 to $5 Million. Meanwhile, most non-supervisory workers have seen a DROP in wages of 10%, over that same period.

The saying the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, has never been more true.

The Guardian did a great
 video you should watch
!

And if you have not seen it yet, watch  INSIDE  JOB A Must See Movie About Corruption and the Downfall of our Economy.


Sometimes the Thing you Most Want, Doesn't Happen.

I love Netflix, because I can watch all the movies I want, that I missed at the theater.  So last night I watched  Love & Other Drugs .  A 2010 romantic comedy film co-written and directed by Edward Zwick and based on the non-fiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman by Jamie Reidy. Stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway.

The plotline centers around a  woman suffering from Parkinson's, who  befriends a drug rep working for Pfizer against 1990s Pittsburgh backdrop. She feel's unworthy of a close relationship because of her disease, which is in stage 1. She feels broken. She knows  someone will have to care for her one day. Dress her; feed her; deal with her dementia; and change her under garments. She wishes that on no one. So she avoids relationships.  But true  love conquers all!

And beyond that, I am reminded of that great story The Station: A Reminder to Cherish the Journey . "The Station" brings a profound message that reminds one to embrace the journey of life. And not keep telling yourself, when this or that happens, I will have arrived.

TUCKED AWAY in our subconscious minds is an idyllic vision in which we see ourselves
on a long journey that spans an entire continent. 

    But uppermost in our conscious minds is our final destination--for at a certain hour and on a
given day, our train will finally pull into the station with bells ringing, flags waving, and bands
playing. And once that day comes, so many wonderful dreams will come true. So restlessly, we
pace the aisles and count the miles, peering ahead, waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.

    "Yes, when we reach the station, that will be it!" we promise ourselves. "When we're
eighteen. . . win that promotion. . . put the last kid through college. . . buy that 450SL
Mercedes-Benz. . . have a nest egg for retirement!"

    From that day on we will all live happily ever after.

    Sooner or later, however, we must realize
there is no station in this life, no one earthly
place to arrive at once and for all. The journey is the joy. The station is an illusion--it
constantly outdistances us. Yesterday's a memory, tomorrow's a dream. Yesterday belongs to a
history, tomorrow belongs to God. Yesterday's a fading sunset, tomorrow's a faint sunrise. Only
today is there light enough to love and live.


At the closing of the Love and Other Drugs, Jake says,

" I used to worry a lot about where I would be when I grew up....
like how much money I would make...or that someday I would become some big deal.

Sometimes the thing you most want,  doesn't happen.

And sometimes the thing you'd never expect to happen, does.

In life you meet thousands of people and none of them really touch you.

And then you meet one person and your life is changed FOREVER."







Occupy Wall Street Movement Spreading World Wide

 

OCCUPY  WALL STREET  Is  all over the news  today.   The movement which started in New York City -  is spreading  world wide!

 

Occupy Wall Street is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park, formerly "Liberty Plaza Park". The protest was originally called for by the Canadian activist group Adbusters. The action has been compared to the Arab Spring movement (particularly the Tahrir Square protests in Cairo, which initiated the 2011 Egyptian revolution) and the Spanish Indignants.

The participants of the event, who have called themselves the "99 percenters",are mainly protesting against social and economic inequality, corporate greed, and the influence of corporate money and lobbyists on government, among other concerns. By October 9, similar demonstrations had been held or were ongoing in 70 major cities and more than 600 communities.

HUNDREDS have been camping out in the park in NYC for 30 days now.  Today is a stand off with Police.   There is also a huge march happening in Times Square later today then hundreds will  march to JP Morgan CHASE  and  withdraw their money and close their accounts.



Protests are planned in solidarity from Europe to Australia in what is being called an "International Day of Action" this weekend.

In Tokyo, protesters are fighting inequality and about 300 Australians chanted the cry that started on Wall Street, "We are the 99%!"

In the Philippines, protesters marched in Manila, where they announced their support for the movement and denounced "U.S.-led wars and aggression," the Associated Press reported.




Elsewhere in the country, protesters like Larry Coleman in Flint, Mich., say they're in solidarity with similar protests against corporate greed and economic injustice.

"There's a lot of things wrong in our county that need to be corrected and the only way to get them corrected is to start with a grassroots movement," Coleman said.

Great news clips  on ABC

Jack Mackenroth Calendar for Charity

 

New Yorker Jack Mackenroth competed in the fourth season of  Project Runway. Mackenroth was the first openly HIV-positive contestant in the show's history.

This month he  launches his 2012 Calendar with 100% of

Proceeds Benefiting amfAR --
The American Foundation for AIDS Research


As the first television personality since Pedro Zamora to be vocal about his HIV status, Jack Mackenroth has quickly become the most visible, out HIV+ advocate and educator in the country. . . if not the world. With the release of his 2012 calendar, he hopes to raise both money and awareness for AIDS research, and to show through his photographs that a person living with HIV can be in top physical form, healthy and sexy. All proceeds from the calendar will go to amfAR (Amfar.org) to help find a cure for AIDS. Mackenroth has been living with the disease for 22 years.

Designer, athlete and HIV/AIDS activist and educator Jack Mackenroth has had the priveledge of shooting with some of the best photographers in the business. Each month of the 15 month calendar will feature a different photographer with a very different style. Jack is a role model to many people in the HIV community and a fitness model that many aspire to emulate.



Jack has been a vocal and visible advocate of the HIV community, touring the country through numerous speaking engagements and special appearances at events. He continues to speak around the country and will be planning calendar signing events in the upcoming months. His memoir, “Making Lemonaids” will be released this winter.

The autographed calendar will be available for pre-sale NOW, with shipping starting Sept. 15, 2011. All proceeds benefit amfAR—The American Foundation for AIDS Research. (Amfar.org) The calendar’s dimensions are 8.5 x 11 inches, and are available through (ONLINE NOW) for $14.95 (plus tax and shipping).



For additional information, please visit Jackmackenroth.com.



Call 911 - Before It's Too Late - Don’t Be Embarrassed to Death!

The good news about heart attacks:

Advances in technology over the past decade or so have dramatically lowered the death rate from acute heart attacks (myocardial infarction, or MI).

The bad news:

Many people never get to the hospital in time to take advantage of these life-saving advances. In fact, about 40% of the 1.1 million heart attacks that occur annually in the U.S. are fatal. That’s about 460,000 deaths from heart attack. Many more patients who survive their heart attacks do so with chronically damaged hearts.

Why timing is everything

When an acute MI occurs, there is a limited amount of time before significant and long-lasting damage is done to the muscle of your heart. If a large area of the heart is injured during the heart attack, full recovery becomes much more difficult. To obtain the greatest benefits of emergency care, anyone who thinks they are having a heart attack should get to the hospital within one hour of the onset of symptoms. The sooner you get to the emergency room, the sooner the appropriate treatment can begin, meaning the lesser the chances of permanent damage.

Sadly, only one in five patients actually gets to the hospital within this time frame. Therefore, many people who survive the MI are unnecessarily left with large portions of the heart scarred by the heart attack. This decreases the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively. Such patients may experience lifelong problems such as shortness of breath and angina (chest discomfort). Patients are also at an increased risk of developing heart failure, in which the heart weakens progressively over time.

Call 911 – not a friend

Calling 911 is almost always the fastest way to get lifesaving treatment. Emergency medical services (EMS) staff can begin treatment when they reach you. And they are trained to revive someone whose heart has stopped. Also, you’re likelier to get treated faster at the hospital if you arrive by ambulance.

If you are having symptoms of a heart attack, do not drive yourself.

What are the warning signs of a heart attack?

  • Sudden chest pain or pressure (also called angina) that worsens. This may be felt as discomfort, heaviness, or pain. May also be felt in the back, jaw, throat, arm or below the breastbone.
  • Feeling as if a belt is being tightened around your chest
  • Pain that spreads from the center of the chest to your arms, shoulders, neck or jaw
  • Sweating
  • Feeling sick to your stomach, nausea, vomiting
  • Dizziness
  • Shortness of breath
  • A fullness, indigestion or choking feeling (may feel like "heartburn")
  • Rapid or irregular heartbeats
  • Extreme weakness, anxiety


Use of Aspirin with unstable chest pain: After you call 9-1-1, if you do not have a history of aspirin allergy or bleeding, emergency personnel may advise that you chew one full (325 mg) aspirin slowly. It's especially effective if taken within 30 minutes of the onset of symptoms.

Why do people delay?

Many people don’t recognize the symptoms of a heart attack (see list). The image we get from TV and movies is that a heart attack is a dramatic, chest-clutching event, yet this is rarely the case. Arm pain may signal a heart attack. Or shortness of breath. Or even an awareness of sweating.

Some people mistake heart attack symptoms for heartburn, take an antacid and wait for it to work. Many people will call 911 for someone else, but not for themselves.

Many people feel they will be embarrassed if they call 911 and they are not in fact having a heart attack. But don’t be embarrassed to death – heart attacks are the leading cause of death in both men and women.

My father just went through this, and luckily family was nearby to get him to the hospital in time. And he was able to chew an asprin, while waiting for the ambulance.

One of our blogging buddies, Lyndon Evans, shares his recent brush a heart condition.




Homophobic Anti Gay Right Wingers Lining up to Run for President

I really do not enjoy talking politics.

But these - holier than thou - Christian(?) - right wingers, that are crawling out from every nook and cranny are really starting to bug me!

With gay marriage legal now in six states, more and more right-wingers are trying keep DOMA in place, while OBAMA is trying to get it repealed.

Why are gays and lesbians treated like second class citizens?

Michele Bachmann is the current nutwing trying to "take the country back". Take it back into the George Bush era??

Her and husband have that nifty little brain washing network of clinics you know, where they PRAY THE GAY right out of people!  And they recieve over $150,000, annually, in goverment funding to do so.

Why don't these canidates go after the Jews!  Or how about the blacks?  

The  Christians can not get into office  and cloud politics with their religious beliefs.

Will gay people ever be accepted? 
I am surprised they have not taken away our right to vote!






How Do You CATCH a Cold...How To Cure A Cold


Each year around one billion colds affect the lives of Americans making it the most common infectious disease in the U.S.  The biggest misconception about the common cold is that contact with bacteria is the main cause when in fact the cause is contact with a virus, which makes the run to get antibiotics almost pointless.

The most common ways colds are spread are NOT from being around coughing and sneezing people - but from hand to hand contact. Touching germ infected keyboards,  and ink pens is a great way to catch a cold!

Though there is no cure for the common cold, but check this out!  one little trick,  when you begin to feel sick,  is a few drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide into each ear.  Once the bubbling and slight stinging subside (around 5-10 minutes), drain onto a tissue.

If you have a cold or flu, try 3% hydrogen peroxide. It’s easy, it’s inexpensive, and you can find it at almost any drug store.

The Rich get Richer and the Middle Class continues to Vanish

 Last month we told you
about INSIDE JOB

This month, something along the same lines - 

Did you know MOST big box stores (Home Depot, Target, WalMart  etc)  in the US only pay their employees about $8-9 a hour?  Shocking, right? 

I made $8 an hour, 25 years ago.  I paid my employyes $12 a hour in the nineties!  What is wrong with our country?  Why are wages NOT increasing like they should be.  If a car or house doubled in price over the last 30 years -  why haven't wages???

In Sweden, IKEA's factory workers are paid $19 per hour and get five weeks of paid vacation every year. In America? Not so much.

IKEA's Swedwood plant in Danville, Virginia is the most dangerous plant in the wood furniture industry -- workers there have suffered more than 1,536 days of lost work due to accidents on the job in a 30-month period. According to the LA Times, IKEA's Danville workers are paid as little as $8 an hour and face racial discrimination from their managers. Workers often find out on Friday night that they'll be forced to work for the entire weekend -- and if they can't make it, they face disciplinary action.

In Sweden, IKEA's factory workers are unionized, which is one reason they receive better wages and have a safer workplace -- but the company is going all out to prevent American workers from receiving those same rights and protections. And so are many other companies.

What is happening to our country???






Betty White Releases 6th book of Wit and Wisdom

89 year old BETTY WHITE has had an amazing career and just released her 6th book, If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won't)

She looks at life through the lens of her time in show business. White shares her thoughts on life's most important topics with her customary humor.

"I 'M EIGHTY-NINE?

One thing they don't tell you about growing old— you don't feel old, you just feel like yourself. And it's true. I don't feel eighty-nine years old. I simply am eighty-nine years old.

If I didn't feel so well, I might have a different philosophy altogether.

But I don't get depressed as the number climbs. Perhaps because I don't fear death. To some it is such a bête noire that it ruins some of the good time they have left. "



This is Betty White at her best. Wise, funny, irreverent and engaging. Drawing on a lifetime of lessons learned and observations made, she applies her wit and wisdom to a broad range of topics while mixing in her best stories from her extraordinary career.

People also get a kick out of a sweet, 89-year-old-lady with a naughty mind, but White doesn't see it that way.

"I don't think of it as naughty," she says. "I don't like dirty humor. I like double entendre, because then the people who get it, enjoy it — and the people who don't get it, don't know about it.

"The people who drive me crazy are the ones who say something with a double meaning, and then they poke you in the ribs with their elbow and say, 'Didja hear what I said, didja get it?'" she adds. "I want to go home at that point."



BUY  THE BOOK
If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won't)

INSIDE JOB - A Must See Movie About Corruption and the Downfall of our Economy

I just saw this last night.  

WOW.

Every person in America needs to watch this.


From Academy Award® nominated filmmaker, Charles Ferguson ("No End in Sight"), comes "Inside Job " the first film to expose the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008.

The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs.

Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, "Inside Job" traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

This film will make  you SO ANGRY. All the financial "experts"  keep making the rich richer and the poor, poorer. And they answer to NO ONE. 

This film attempts to provide a comprehensive portrayal of an extremely important and timely subject: the worst financial crisis since the Depression, which continues to haunt us via Europe’s debt problems and global financial instability. It was a completely avoidable crisis; indeed for 40 years after the reforms following the Great Depression, the United States did not have a single financial crisis.

However, the progressive deregulation of the financial sector since the 1980s gave rise to an increasingly criminal industry, whose “innovations” have produced a succession of financial crises. Each crisis has been worse than the last; and yet, due to the industry’s increasing wealth and power, each crisis has seen few people go to prison. In the case of this crisis, nobody has gone to prison, despite fraud that caused trillions of dollars in losses.
 
I hope that the film, in less than two hours, will enable everyone to understand the fundamental nature and causes of this problem. It is also my hope that, whatever political opinions individual viewers may have, that after seeing this film we can all agree on the importance of restoring honesty and stability to our financial system, and of holding accountable those to destroyed it.

Our world will NEVER be the same - unless someone is held accountable.


Narrated by Academy Award® winner Matt Damon, "Inside Job" was made on location in the United States, Iceland, England, France, Singapore, and China.


Buy it on DV for under $14   Inside Job

Visit  Inside Job - The Site