Happy Anniversary

Today is my 14th wedding anniversary. I've been married to a wonderful and difficult woman for a very long time. When I say wonderful and difficult, I mean it. She has overcome so many obstacles in her life that I'm amazed at her resilience. She is a wonderful stay at home mom who is very involved in church activities. She loves me and I'm not the easiest person to love, just ask her...or anyone who knows me for that matter. But, did I mention that she's difficult? You see she is what we in the biz call aggressive, passive aggressive to be exact. That's a problem when it comes to emotional intimacy. Combine that with her innate ability to communicate poorly and you run into a few arguments here and there. But, the problems over the years have been outweighed by the benefits. So, I think we'll stick with this. As a matter of fact, our stubbornness has probably been the greatest strength to our long marriage. We simply refuse to break our commitment no matter how pissy the other person may get. Now, I'm not sure what effect this has on our relationship (I'm sure it's not good) but it has led to a long marriage.

I really hope we can get past this silly bickering stage in our relationship. I'm not sure how to do it but I'm willing to try.

fetal pain laws

I found the following article on MSNBC's page. I can't believe this sentimental, nonscientific crap that our country is letting slide by these days...

Abortion politics twist facts in fetal pain laws
Proposed bills that address fetus suffering go beyond medical evidence

COMMENTARY
By Arthur Caplan, Ph.D.
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 1:10 p.m. ET Nov. 28, 2005

As it so often does in America, the drive to restrict abortion produces bad legislation. The Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act is no exception.
This fall the Wisconsin state Senate passed the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act. The bill has passed the key committee in the Wisconsin House and it seems likely to pass there before the end of the year as well.
Wisconsin is not alone. The states of Arkansas and Minnesota have passed versions of this law. And Congress is taking a hard look at the same legislation as well. The House of Representatives recently completed a committee hearing on the law.
The proposed law requires doctors to read a script to women who are considering having abortions telling them that Congress has determined that an unborn child feels pain by 20 weeks of age. The express purpose of the bill is to diminish the suffering that a fetus must endure as part of a post-20-week abortion. But, the real purpose of the bill is to discourage woman from choosing an abortion by stressing that a 20-week-old fetus feels pain.
The script that doctors are supposed to read tells every woman that Congress has determined that “…at least 20 weeks after fertilization, every unborn child has the physical structures necessary to experience pain.” The woman would also have to be told that there is substantial evidence that the abortion methods most commonly used 20 weeks after fertilization cause substantial pain to an unborn child.
Beyond medical scienceThose in the House who favor the bill, and there are many, want to be sure that women considering an abortion have the option of choosing to have anesthesia or other pain-reducing drugs administered directly to the “pain-capable unborn child.” The purpose of administering such drug or drugs would be to reduce or eliminate the capacity of the unborn child to experience pain during the abortion procedure.
The law warns that, “in some cases, there may be some additional risk to you associated with administering such a drug.”
Why is this such bad legislation? There are a lot of reasons. None of them are getting much attention because of abortion politics.
The bill insists on calling a fetus an unborn child, something medicine would never do. The bill goes far beyond what medical science believes to be true about when a fetus feels pain. The bill treats every fetus as the same in terms of capabilities if they reach 20 weeks of age or more, which they are not. And, most troubling, it reduces the process of informed consent to the reading of a fixed script created and mandated by politicians not doctors.
If, as this bill purports, Congress is concerned about what medicine believes to be true about the capacity to feel pain felt by a human fetus then why does it consistently refer to a fetus as an unborn child — a phrase never used in any medical textbook or medical school lecture?
The answer is simple — abortion politics.
Do doctors agree that fetuses have the ability to feel pain at 20 weeks in utero? Some doctors do. But, some do not. A quick search of the medical literature reveals no consensus at all among physicians and scientists about when a fetus can feel pain. Estimates range from 16 weeks to 28 weeks. How is it then that Congress can legislate a 20-week line in the sand as the date when a fetus can feel pain despite a lack of consensus on the part of actual doctors and scientists?
The answer is simple — abortion politics.
Oversimplified disclosureThe proposed law says that doctors can administer anesthesia or pain relieving drugs to the "pain-capable unborn child." It also says this sort of treatment may result in “some additional risk to you” meaning the mother.
How does Congress or a state legislator know whether doctors can truly relieve pain by in utero anesthesia? And how can an obviously inadequate disclosure of risk to a mother considering an abortion — "some additional risk to you" — pass legislative muster.
The answer is simple — abortion politics.
And how is it possible that Congress or a state legislature could decide that a one-size-fits-all script constitutes an acceptable way to achieve informed consent when they would never accept such oversimplified, rhetoric-laden boilerplate as adequate from their own doctors?
The answer is simple — abortion politics.
Abortion politics continues to rip at the social fabric of America. That is a fact. When abortion politics are permitted to twist, obscure and ignore the facts about fetal development, fetal pain and the nature of informed consent in medicine that is a fact that those who are pro-life and pro-choice should not tolerate.
© 2005 MSNBC Interactive

Free Ipod Nano

Now this is good stuff. You need to get on the ball. Only 33 more evalgelizing days left.

Free Ipod Nano

I love this.

"We are the people who struggle with God—that is, who take God seriously enough to struggle with Him, to endure struggle for His sake. To accept this truth, and to know it better than we know our own names, is to find ourselves the recipient of God’s richest blessing. Classically there are two ways of soliciting the favor of God. One way is by trying really hard to be very good and hoping that God will take notice. The other way is to beg God for His blessing and to refuse to let Him off the hook until He comes through. This latter way, as inelegant and impious as it sounds, is the Biblical way. Mike Mason, The Gospel According to Job.

Thanksgiving

I'm so excited about Thanksgiving. I can't wait to start the cooking. We're going to spend the day with some friends but I'm going to cook pies, stuffing, and some other stuff.


Too excited.....

hurt.

Yesterday, I found out that a person who I considered a friend actually doesn't like me. Honestly, I was not aware of the way this person actually felt about me. I really thought we were friends. This is troublesome for two reasons: first, I feel like an idiot because I think I should know this...I feel socially unaware. Second, I can't beleive that this person could put on such an act for such a long time that was so convincing.

My first inclination is always to blame myself when something goes wrong (I’m plagued with guilt). So, when this occurred, I thought that I must be a boob not to recognize that someone doesn't really like me. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not some personal approval whore who goes around trying to get everyone to like me. Conversely, I like positive attention; I like to be liked. But, how did this slip by me?

I also feel like an idiot because I've confided in this person several times. I've told this person some very difficult to share and personal things. All the while, this person was sitting there smiling, taking it in, and, ostensibly, empathizing with me. I feel like such an idiot for spilling my guts to someone who could care less.

On the other hand, I also feel like I've been misled. I truly was under the impression that this person was my friend. This person was always kind, inviting, and open. I feel like I've been betrayed and it was by no fault of my own. How does a person behave in manner that completely makes others think something other than what their true feeling are? I understand acting. I understand pretending. Hell, I even understand lying. However, this person misled me for 3 years! How in the world does someone do that?

I've probably been giving this more of my attention than is necessary over the last 24 hours. I guess I'm just hurt and embarrassed.

This is how I felt yesterday

Do you ever feel like your just out of it? Like your life isn't really going anywhere? Like a failure? That's how I felt yesterday evening. I chalk it up to high frequency seasonal affective disorder, i.e., I get depressed on Sunday nights. I'm not sure what causes it but it's been going on for years. I can remember being in 5th or 6th grad and laying in bed on Sunday nights unable to sleep because I was thinking about the upcoming week, this caused anxiety and depressions for me.

Anyway, sorry to be a bummer on Monday morning...See if this cheers you up.

time wasting

Serious time wasting stuff. I'm not sure there is an optimal solution to these games but they are addictive. The cube is fun, I've only played it about 15 times. But this one is just crazy; it has taken about two hours of my life. Enjoy!

Happy Veteran's Day!

It's Veteran's day and I'm a veteran. I spent 6 years in the Navy doing some really cool stuff. I operated nuclear power plant and all of the systems associated with the plant. The really cool stuff, however, was not the technical aspects of my job. I learned a great deal about people in harsh situations.

You see, we'd spend months under water away from our families and friends. Needless to say, this tends to make one emotional and particularly irritable. Our favorite past time was simply pissing each other off. This might entail ridiculing one's physical appearance, rimming his coffee cup (details later), or planting the seeds of doubt in his head about his significant relationships. Given fertile soil, the seeds would sprout into all out neurosis. Ok, that would be sort of a backfire in the whole engine of hatertainment because it would mean that this newly crazy fucker would be pulled from duty and one of us would have to cover for him.

One time, while ridiculing each other, the conversation slipped into a deep theological discussion. As these often do, it became heated, ending with my Chief (the guy who was in charge of me) yelling at me and telling me to never talk about my faith again. I will remind you that there are no civil liberties for those defending them.

That's really the irony of the military; you are giving up your rights for the rights of others. I know that's very idealistic and naive given our current political state. But ultimately, it get's boiled down to this; you give something you have so that other's will have something they desire. Now that desire may be oil, power, or a legacy if you're resentful and peevish concerning our current state. However, in other situations this exchange is freedom for freedom and life for life. I find this honorable.

I don't miss being in the Navy. I think it was a good experience. I truly learned a great deal about myself. In fact, there was something simple about that life that was very attractive. However, it's now someone else's turn. Happy Veteran's Day.

Can you believe this crap?

So, I can barely stand most "church" stuff. Granted, I'm highly involved in the same crap but that's my problem to deal with. Anyway, this guy Steve Brown has a great radio show that I feel I can trust, no drivel.
On his site, which is great by the way, are discussion forums that tend to be a fighting ground between rabid right wing freaks and people who are equally rabid and potentially left wing. The bottom line is that the left wingers tend to be open to conversation and crap like that.
I'm cruzing the site and ran into this discussion. I can't believe this shit. Check it out yourself and tell me what you think.

Unfortunately, we aren't the only ones with these stupid ideas. Listen to this French offical as he states that imigrants are lazy and only want to sell drug....Boob

lost my old blog

I've lost my old blog due to inactivity, insert sad face. So, I've really revamped the whole idea. I hope this blog will be a deep delve into my mind. That's scary! So, expect a lot of relationship schtuff, Church folk schtuff, and bike schtuff. My goal is to post at least weekly, perhaps daily. We'll see.

Scott