So “pro-life” they’re running out of tiny baby coffins

Ah, Mississippi. You are not an entirely unappealing state. You have a few things going for you, like drawling voices and a leisurely pace in life and some beautiful coastline. One thing you don’t have on your side?

You’re no longer part of the First World.

Mississippi now has the highest infant mortality rate in the nation: 11.4 out of 1000 births, compared to 6.9 per 1000 births nationwide (and the US as a whole is still coming in shamefully high compared to other nations like Norway, Sweden, Japan, etc.). Why does the state that, as Governor Haley Barbour says, is the safest for the unborn in the entire country, the state so ‘pro-life’ they make it next to impossible to get safe, legal abortion, have such a woefully high number of children dying before they see their first birthday?

The answer is damnably, diabolically simple: once the kid draws its first breath, they just don’t care. The proof is in the way they’ve slashed funding for both CHIP and Medicaid, making goddamn sure that their precious money isn’t going toward helping the sluts who can’t afford to take care of their own. You know, the ones they have because you forced them to? Yeah, them.

I think there’s another component to this debate, though - race. Think about it, who’s more likely to be on CHIP and Medicaid rolls but Mississippi’s large population of disadvantaged, disenfranchised people of color? Women who come from more privileged backgrounds can get in a car or on a plane and drive or fly to get an abortion if they need one, but poor women of color cannot, not to mention finding the money for an overnight hotel stay, someone to watch your (thanks to the kindness of MS, possibly hungry) already-born children, time off that job they forced you to take at Walmart because if you didn’t you’d lose what few benefits you have even though it means your kids, without your presence, are slipping farther through society’s cracks, because some patriarchal assholes in the government think you need to have 24 hours to ‘think it over’ after you go into the clinic once, as though this hasn’t consumed your every waking moment…it’s vicious.

Consider this: one of the groups expunged from MS’s CHIP rolls in 2005/2006 were legal resident alien children. Any wonder so many immigrants figure there’s nothing in it for them by playing by the rules? The poor are experts at the advanced calculus of risk/benefit analysis, and don’t you ever doubt it.

You starting to see how this works? It’s a domino effect, and I guarantee you that if we’re smart enough to see this trend, the government is, too. Now, since we know the moral conviction of the reichwing is the thinnest of veneers, the next logical question is really ‘What’s the big picture?’. What are they trying to accomplish? I can promise you that a blackhearted asshole like Rove or Cheney or Dobson or (insert airwaster here) doesn’t give two shits about the baybeeeez at the end of the day. ‘Life’ isn’t what matters to them. Wealth is.

Call me a kook, but what good comes of limiting abortion like this? Of withdrawing health care and assistance from hungry women and children? What could they possibly see as the advantage? What’s in it for them?

They are apparently unconcerned with the ability of the US to prosper in the new global economy, because to do that we have to have a competitive work force of highly educated people on the way, ones who can be the kind of knowledge workers who’ll be in highest demand. If they’re not aiming for that, then what will happen to all these children? The ones so poor they don’t get checkups, maybe get a free immunization or two when they’re required for school, the ones who only know how to take a tedious standardized test instead of thinking in grander, more complex terms because god forbid they be one of those children ‘left behind’*. What will they be good for?

Fueling a massive corporate and evangelical run feudal state, of course. They don’t need thinkers and dreamers - they produce those by homeschooling their precious white children and sending them to Regent University to make sure their thoughts and dreams are of an approved variety. They need workers. Workers who won’t think for themselves or buck the system out of abject fear of starving on the street.

*Ever wonder if it’s a coincidence that the super-fundy Bush cronies called this act No Child ‘LEFT BEHIND’? Since those books have been in the sweaty, fevered grip of every goddamned dominionist loony in the country, I don’t think it is.

Tomatoes and Cancer

Eating tomatoes regularly may reduce the risk of prostate and several other cancers. Published research from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard School of Public Health have shown that eating tomatoes and tomato products may help men reduce the risk of prostate cancer. Researchers carefully examined the full diet of 51,529 participants aged 40-75 years for more than 12 years. Men who consumed two-plus servings of tomato sauce per week had a 23% lower risk of total prostate cancer, and a 36% lower risk of metastatic prostate than participants who consumed less than one serving of tomato sauce per month. The findings appeared in the March 6, 2002 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The benefit of tomatoes in curbing prostate cancer and several other cancers have been reported by several researchers prior to the publication of this study. For example, both the Health Professional Follow-up Study and the Physicians' Health Study from Harvard University had shown that tomato consumption might cut significantly the risk of prostate cancer. Men who ate tomatoes 10 times a week reduced their risk for prostate cancer by almost half. All forms of tomato (raw, in ketchup, spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, soup, and salsa) had beneficial effect; however, tomatoes cooked in oil (such as in tomato sauce) appeared to be the most protective.

Tomatoes are also useful for those who are already diagnosed with the disease. Increased tomato consumption was found to be associated with a much less aggressive prostate cancer in men who were diagnosed with the disease. Tomatoes also reduced the risk for other types of cancers including lung, stomach, pancreatic, breast, cervical, colorectal, oral and esophageal cancers.

We do not know, for sure, how tomatoes ward off cancers. Many scientists believe that lycopenes, bioflavonoids that are closely related to beta carotene, present in tomatoes are natural cancer-fighting agents. Lycopenes give tomatoes its red color. Tomatoes are also rich in several nutrients including potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium and iron, in addition to lycopene. It is also possible that complex interactions among multiple components present in tomatoes contribute to its anticancer properties.

Tomatoes are one of the best sources for lycopine. Lycopine is an anti-oxidant that protects our body cells from oxidants that have been linked to cancer. Laboratory tests have shown that lycopene is twice as powerful as beta-carotene at neutralizing free radicals.

In a review published in the Feb 1999 issue of the Journal of National Cancer Institute, E Giovannucci M.D. (Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA) analyzed and compared the published studies regarding intake of tomatoes and tomato-based products and blood lycopene level in relation to the risk of various cancers. Out of 72 studies identified, 57 reported that tomato intake or blood lycopene level reduced the risk of cancer. 35 of these results were statistically significant.

Omer Kucuk, M.D., an oncologist from Wayne State University in Detroit, MI found that a lycopene supplement containing tomato extract may protect against prostate cancer. In a study presented in the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in 1999, Dr. Kucuk and colleagues followed 30 men with localized prostate cancer who were scheduled to undergo surgical removal of the prostate for three weeks. One group of patients was given an all-natural tomato lycopene supplement (a 15-milligram capsule twice daily), while another group was given dummy pills so researchers could compare results.

Following the surgical removal of their prostates, it was carefully analyzed to determine whether there were any differences between the two groups studied. Well, the results stunned many doctors.

A key marker for prostate cancer (PSA or prostate specific antigen) declined by 15 percent in patients taking the lycopene tomato extract. In the control group not taking lycopene, that marker increased by 15 percent. When surgeons removed the prostate glands, they found that patients taking lycopene had smaller tumors and that those tumors were more often confined to the prostate. (In other words, lycopene prevented the cancer from spreading to the surrounding tissue and organs.)

In analyzing the results, researchers observed that in the lycopene-treated group, 73 percent had organ-confined prostate cancer compared to only 18 percent in the control group. Eighty percent had tumors with a volume less than or equal to 4 cubic centimeters in the lycopene group compared to only 45 percent in the control group. This suggested that the group treated with lycopene had tumors that became less malignant.

This study may indicate that nutritional intervention can protect men against prostate cancer before it poses a threat to their lives, if it is detected early enough. Many scientists, however, pointed out to the small size of the sample involved in the study and advice caution.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago have conducted a similar study with 32 African American male patients on tomato regimen and seven others in the control, all diagnosed with prostate cancer awaiting surgery.
The test patients were given a daily dish of pasta and tomato sauce that delivered 30 milligrams of lycopene.

After three weeks in the tomato diet, the amount of lycopene in their prostate tissue tripled, their PSA dropped by 17.5 % and DNA damage was decreased in the men's white blood cells. The seven controls who did not eat tomato sauce had a higher oxidative damage in their prostates. Unlike Dr. Kucuk's trial, there was no reduction in the tumors.

The residents from southern Mediterranean countries, including Italy and Greece, have a low incidence of prostate cancer. Coincidentally, in these countries, the tomato consumption is high, another proof for the effectiveness of tomato in combating prostate cancer.

I recommend that you incorporate generous amounts of tomato in your diet. It is nutritious; it tastes good and it is good for you. You can also eat other fruits and vegetables high in lycopene such as pink grapefruit, guavas, and papayas. Lower the amount of fatty foods in your diet. A high-fat diet has been linked to a higher risk of contracting cancer. Exercise regularly. Studies have suggested that people who exercise regularly are at lower risk for cancer.

The Parliament of Fowls by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Parliament of Fowls is perhaps the first St. Valentine's Day poem
ever written. Brewer suggests that it was begun in May of 1382 and finished
for Valentine's day in 1383.

A gardyn saw I, ful of blosmy bowes
Upon a ryver, in a grene mede,
There as swetnesse everemore inow is,
With floures whyte, blewe, yelwe, and rede,
And colde welle-stremes, nothyng dede,
That swymmen ful of smale fishes lighte,
With fynnes rede and skales sylver bryghte.

On every bow the bryddes herde I synge,
With voys of aungel in here armonye;
Some busied hem hir bryddes forth to brynge;
The litel conyes to here pley gonne hye.
And ferther al aboute I gan espye
The dredful ro, the buk, the hert and hynde,
Squyrels, and bestes smale of gentil kynde.

Of instruments of strenges in acord
Herde I so pleye a ravyshyng swetnesse,
That God, that makere is of al and lord,
Ne herde nevere beter, as I gesse.
Therwith a wynd, unnethe it myghte be lesse,
Made in the leves grene a noyse softe
Acordaunt to the foules songe alofte.

Th'air of that place so attempre was
That nevere was grevaunce of hot ne cold.
Ther wex ek every holsom spice and gras;
No man may there waxe sek ne old;
Yit was there joye more a thousandfold
Than man can telle; ne nevere wolde it nyghte,
But ay cler day to any mannes syghte.

The Salmon Of Knowledge

There once lived a young man by the name of Demne, who was the son of Cumhail Mac Art. His father was slain while Demne was still in his mothers womb. Fearing for the boy's life his mother sent him away to be trained by a Druid on the isle of Skye. If you did not know, I'll share it with you now, the name Druid, translates to "Oak Wise", if one was to believe the old scholars of Greece and Rome. They were said to be great philosophers striving to understand the elements of nature, curious seekers of truth. They often gathered in groves and taught lessons or shared tales in the shade of Oak trees, and maybe that is where they get their name. Knowing that no one would harm a druid, his mother felt he was safe from the same fate as his father. But that wouldn't make for a good story, now would it?

So it was that Demne stayed on the Isle of Skye until he had come of age, and much lore did he learn in those years. Not only could he name the trees in all the woods, or know which herbs help what affliction - he also was a fine poet and harper. But he was not content with the the simple life of a Druid, especially one on the isle of Skye, so he decided to seek adventure.

Demne had heard that there was a sacred well, which was the primary source of inspiration to be found in Ireland. From where all inspiration flowed... If there was anything he would need, to suit him best on any adventure, it was unfettered access to the knowledge the well could bestow on someone. So he set himself on the task of finding it. He followed the river Boyne, which was named after Boann, of the Tuatha De Dannan, the people of Danu. The Tuatha De Dannan, a legendary race of people that were said to have arrived on Ireland with the mists. They came from four great cities that had perished due to some natural disaster or another. They were a regal people and holders of a great amount of knowledge. Boann was married to the harper of the great Dagda himself, so the bards relate.

[Extend this to include husbands name, and a brief about their children]


But it is not the story of the Tuatha De Dannan, but a story of a young man's adventures, I am relating for you this day. So as our hero followed the Boyne further and further upstream and into the mountains and glades of wild Ireland, the river became smaller and smaller until it resembled a stream. Finally he came to a well from which the stream poured. Nine old and purpled hazel trees encircled the well and it is said that there is a certain time when one of the trees will drop a hazelnut that, if caught by a salmon before it reaches the water, and said salmon is caught by a Druid before the fish gets back into the water, eating that salmon will bestow great wisdom and inspiration. Demne was not familiar with that tale, though his nose was familiar with the smell of fish over a fire.


Demne followed his nose a short distance away, passed by a couple of Oak trees, where he came to clearing at the center of which a fire was blazing and over the fire was a salmon cooking on a spit. There was no one to be seen, and the woods were quiet, as they often are when a stranger approaches. Demne cried out, "Hello?". He heard no answer. He cried out again, a little louder "Hello, is there anyone here?", still no answer. He cried out a third time in his booming voice, "Hello, is anyone going to eat this here fish?". Demne was hungry, the fish smelled good and maybe the one that left it would not mind him tasting a wee bit...


So he reached down to taste a small piece of the salmon and in doing so he burned his thumb on the hot flesh. Immediately he stuck his thumb in his mouth to cool it. Just then he heard a soft voice, "Hello, I see someone warming themselves by my fire". Demne turned around to see a wise old Druid come into the clearing. They exchanged the warmest of courtesies as they did in the old days. The Druid asked Fionn if he tasted the fish. Demne, being an honorable man confessed he had. So the Druid, with a sigh, handed the fish over to the young man and said "I suppose this is for you then". Demne accepted the Druid's hospitality and while Demne was enjoying his meal, the wise man told Demne the story of the Salmon of Knowledge, and that the proper conditions to produce such a fish only happens but once every seven years. Demne, embarrassed by his hasty hunger he apologized for any inconvenience. The old Druid, smiling, explained that his patience will persevere for the next Salmon of Knowledge.

[The Druid renames him Fionn, for the glow of inspiration.]


Now, since Fionn's first taste of the fish was when he burnt his thumb upon it, whenever he found himself faced with a perplexing problem all he had to do was put his thumb in his mouth and think for a while. Soon the answer would come to him. This is how Fionn came onto the great knowledge he is said to have possessed. It served him well. Later he went on to be a King and the leader of an incredible band of exceptionally skilled men, known as the fianna. I'll save that story for another time.

Becase of that knowledge Fionn became so famous in his day, that it was said if ever a day went by that his name was not mentioned, at least once - the world would come to an end. So it is good fortune for the world that I picked his story to tell and so goes the story of Fionn Mac Cumhail and the Salmon of Knowledge.

The Three Beauties from Criminal minds Show up some Wannabe

Thomas Beatie, a married man who used to be a woman, is pregnant with a baby girl

A married man who used to be a woman says that he is pregnant and will give birth to a baby girl in July.

“How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible,” wrote Thomas Beatie, 34, from the Pacific North West of the United States, in the latest issue of the gay magazine The Advocate.

“Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am.”

Mr Beatie was born female, named Tracy Lagondino, but had gender reassignment surgery and is now legally male and married to a woman.

He decided to carry a baby for his wife, Nancy, because she had a hysterectomy years ago. He was able to get pregnant because he kept his female organs when he switched genders.

“Sterilisation is not a requirement for sex reassignment, so I decided to have chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy but kept my reproductive rights,” he writes. “Wanting to have a biological child is neither a male nor female desire but a human desire.” The couple, who have been together for ten years, run a custom screenprinting business in Bend, Oregon, where neighbours do not know that Mr Beatie was once a woman.

“Our desire to work hard, buy our first home and start a family was nothing out of the ordinary. That is, until we decided that I would carry our child,” he wrote.

Before becoming pregnant, Mr Beatie stopped the testosterone injections he was receiving as part of his gender reassignment. “It had been roughly eight years since I had my last menstrual cycle so this wasn’t a decision that I took lightly. My body regulated itself after about four months and I didn’t have to take any exogenous oestrogen, progesterone or fertility drugs to aid my pregnancy,” he wrote.

The couple bought donor vials from a cryogenic sperm bank and, facing resistance and prejudice from doctors, resorted to home insemination. “Doctors have discriminated against us, turning us away due to their religious beliefs. Healthcare professionals have refused to call me by a male pronoun or recognise Nancy as my wife. Receptionists have laughed at us. Friends and family have been unsupportive; most of Nancy’s family doesn’t even know I’m transgender,” he said.

Mr Beatie’s first successful insemination ended in a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy with triplets that required surgery, resulting in the loss of all his embryos and his right Fallopian tube. “When my brother found out about my loss, he said, ‘It’s a good thing that happened. Who knows what kind of monster it would have been?’,” he wrote.

The second pregnancy resulted in a baby girl who is due to be born on July 3. “I will be my daughter’s father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family,” he wrote.

Mr Beatie would not be the first transgender man to give birth, according to Lisa Masterson, an obstetrician at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles.

“A transgender man can be pregnant because he has the same organs as a woman,” Dr Masterson said on the ABC Good Morning America show.

Dr Masterson said, however, that transgendered men face special health risks resulting from their sex change. “It’s really important that he doesn’t take any testosterone early on in the pregnancy and later on,” she said. “That can cause male-type characteristics in the female baby.”

Some of the Beaties’ neighbours in Bend voiced scepticism about the pregnancy claim. One resident, Josh Love, told ABC: “I couldn’t say that he looks pregnant. I can stick my stomach out and almost make it look like that. I think it’s kind of bizarre. I don’t know if I believe it or not.”

The Advocate said it had confirmed the story with Mr Beatie’s doctor.

Gay Unions Sanctioned in Medieval Europe

Civil unions between male couples existed around 600 years ago in medieval Europe, a historian now says.

Historical evidence, including legal documents and gravesites, can be interpreted as supporting the prevalence of homosexual relationships hundreds of years ago, said Allan Tulchin of Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.

If accurate, the results indicate socially sanctioned same-sex unions are nothing new, nor were they taboo in the past.

Western family structures have been much more varied than many people today seem to realize," Tulchin writes in the September issue of the Journal of Modern History. "And Western legal systems have in the past made provisions for a variety of household structures."

For example, he found legal contracts from late medieval France that referred to the term "affr�rement," roughly translated as brotherment. Similar contracts existed elsewhere in Mediterranean Europe, Tulchin said.