My cardiac issues.. the practitioner I saw last week said I may need an angiogram.. or actually, I need to get one.. I see the cardiologist on 6 Jan, and will decide then what to do.. feeling weak still, but I try to stay lying down for the most part.. I will not be working again until the New Year.. Maybe some rest will help..

If you are reading this, please go to my friend Julia's page, she is a freelance journalist that I am quite fond of.. @  NOTEBOOKS - LOS CUADERNOS DE JULIA and listen to her sing "It's a Heartache" my favorite...... 

Time?

      

   What is time? Is it merely the counting of moments? One conscious moment following another in a stream across the universe. And how is it determined? The length of moments it takes the Earth to turn 360° on it's journey around the Sun. Or is it just how many moments it takes to get from one place to another? Or is it the broken moments from birth to death of each consciousness we put on?Are we, each one of us, but a moment it time? Is time determined by all of us together, each of us a linear strand of what we perceive as time? All moving down in a linear line together.

What if we are not constricted by the spinning of the Earth around the Sun? How is time then measured?

Once we leave the the Earth.. Once we step onto a plane and we are conveyed above the Earth, does time change? Is the Earths gravity what locks each of us to time? When we go above the Earth, how is time affected? When we go the opposite direction of the spin of the Earth, at the same or greater speed of the Earth, do we then go back in time? If we move in the direction of spin, at the same speed as the spin of the Earth, does time then stand still? If we could surpass the speed of the spin of the Earth in the direction of spin, could we not then go forward in time?

When we as beings step on our Moon, are we not in a different time? We would then see time as the Moon revolving about the Earth, revolving around the Sun. Have we not then changed the dynamic? And then how would it change upon another world, or planet such as Mars, or Venus? Should we keep time as Earth time? Or change it to the mathematical parameters of that spinning  ball and it's relationship to the Sun?

May the Great Mother be with us should we leave this solar system for another.. then where would Time be......

My Life Today...

Sorry everyone.. still stuck in my cardiology issues.. over a week and nothing from cardiologist regarding my thallium stress test.. I have an appt. to see someone in her office on Tuesday.. and then another appt. with cardiologist in the first week in Jan..

I still feel really weak, and am unable to stay up on my feet for only short periods of time..

The inflammation in all my joints is worse in my right shoulder, only allowing me to raise my arm shoulder high..

This is eating at me and it really bothers me that I can not get thru to my internist, but he left me a voice mail saying my thallium stress test was positive, this doesn't put me at ease.. so my mind is focussed a little tightly on this.. I believe I will get through this, still it still bothers me......

Today in my life..

I wok up this morning really weak.. felt almost the same as I felt when I had pulmonary sarcoid, it was a year of hell.. a year of prednisone.. so my wife said to call the cardiologist to see if I could get in sooner.. 

NO.. go to ER.. told my wife.. she went to the ER Chief, and told him.. ganged up on by the Doc's I work with, and before I knew it, I was on a gurney in my own ER.. Chest Pain.. Right upper chest.. a lot of EKG's.. a CT scan with some kind of dye that lights up bad areas like christmas tree lights.. two triponins.. a couple of IV's.. 

Good news.. minor kidney problem.. no heart attack.. 

Still have to see cardiologist.. need to know why I get short of breath with minor exertion ... .. ..   and where does all this get me? Very tired.. .. ..

Scary Venting........

My Doctor gave me some news last week, regarding my Echo cardiogram.. I have to go soon to see a cardiologist.. to get all the details.. but it seems that the wall of my heart is too thick on the right side.. and is not able to pump all the blood from the bottom Right chamber, leaving some back each time.. 'does not empty all the way'.. Scary thought for me.. 

So that's my scary news.. has me a little worried.. OK, a lot worried.. it would explain why I feel weak all the time.. we have corrected the syncopal episodes that are now controlled by one med to make sure my blood pressure does not go to high, and another to make sure it does not drop too low..  

I am not a hopeful person.. OK OK, I am just plain scared.. I was thinking my memory loss was bad.. .. Sorry, venting.. .. ..

Saudi Women’s Activists launch the “Black Ribbons Campaign” on November 6th

Today I read on Jane Fonda's Blog about the brave women in Saudi Arabia, please read Ms. Fonda's Blog to see what she wrote. The following is what it said on www.metransparent.com...
   

Saudi Women’s Activists launch the “Black Ribbons Campaign” on November 6th

   

Wednesday 4 November 2009
   

On November 6. 1990, 40 brave Saudi women drove their cars publicly in the capitol of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, to demand their right to drive. They were subsequently detained, their passports were confiscated, and fired from their jobs.

On the 19th anniversary of this event, Saudi women’s activists, led by Wajeha al Huwaider, are launching the “Black Ribbons Campaign”, demanding that:

A) Saudi woman be treated as a citizen just like her male counterpart

B) Saudi woman enjoys her rights to marry, divorce, inherit, gain custody of children, travel, work, study, drive cars and live on an equal footing with man

C) Saudi woman gain the legal capacity to represent herself in official and government agencies without the need of a male guardian.

We, Saudi women activists appeal to all those who support Saudi women’s rights, inside and outside the Kingdom, to participate in the campaign by wearing a black ribbon on their wrists as a symbolic and peaceful gesture of their .advocacy to Saudi women’s rights.

This campaign is raising the motto: “we will not untie our ribbon until Saudi women enjoy their rights as adult citizens”.

Please make sure to wear a black ribbon on November 6th.

Wajeha al-Huwaider

This is a very serious issue that took a lot of courage, and all who believe in Freedom, should stand with them.. Thank you..

We love Opera

Another Opera weekend started on Saturday with Donizetti’s "Daughter of the Regiment" at War Memorial Opera House. With the great coloratura soprano Diana Damrau as Marie and Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez as Tonio. A romantic Comedy. 

On Sunday we went to see Salome..  one act but what a great opera.. the music.. Nadja Michael was incredible in her San Francisco Opera debut in the title role as Saline, opposite returning artists Kim Begley (Herod) and Greer Grimsley (Jokanaan).  It was really great.

Aw.. Today 10.24.09

Well, what a day it has been. I just spent literally hours in a 3’x3’x7’ room.. .. .. Ok, Ok, scrubbing the walls in the shower.. not my favorite thing.. too old for manual labor.. no strength.. had to spray the walls with the ever poisonous X14.. like Tilex, only different.. I think Tilex worked better.

Then sprayed the walls down with water.. had to do the rest sitting down on a stool, with an abrasive pad, and a chop stick. It worked, but I’m doing the rest of the night lying down.

I let it go too long.. then worked too hard.. now lying down, probably for the rest of the week end!

Started out the day moving my Mini, so my wife could pull out her car to go to the gym at 0630.. already having myself out, I went to Destination Bakery and got some wonderful fruit filled things, that I can’t find the name for.. then home to have coffee and said fruit filled things.

My wonderful sleep apnea has again removed the word that I need to use instead of ‘fruit filled things’. Sad, who would have known that my brain forgets to tell my body to breath, Hence, not giving oxygen to said brain, causing Memory loss.. now that I know that, I wear a mask over my face at night, so that I am forced to breath. Now that helps for some things, but does not get me back the vocabulary, that I once had.. Vary Frustrating! 

If only I could select the things I wish to forget.. HA! Fat chance!.. So many things too horrible to remember.. yet, there they are plaguing me day, after day..  

“Danish!!!!” there! HA! 

The ‘fruit filled things’ I could not find the word for in that morass that I have for a brain.. I can’t find ‘Danish’, but I can tell you what I wore 20 March 1788.. no problem remembering things from past lives.. I can make a fishing spear, an arrow, leather clothing, play the flute, do the most intricate bead work, and can’t remember the word to use in a sentence.. Frustrating...

Does time do this to us?.. is it time that ages us, or is it life, that ages us? How could I have used up so much of life and not known? My body feels used up.. weakened.. canes to stand, canes to walk.. to spend it sitting or lying down.. why? Why is it thus? What did I do to it, that I must be in pain always? Huh! Well maybe that’s it.. I see patients come to my window in the hospital each day, trying to get more pain meds. Maybe that is why I try to go without. So that I will not be trapped with in the medication. Is that not profound, or is it an  epiphany? 

I have tried many that my PMC Physician has given me.. they work for a little while, but never get all the pain.. just some here and there.. some joint pain goes, and some where else in my body gets worse.. fix that, and it moves somewhere else..

So, I try to ignore it.. to mask it.. and to walk and live with it.. cause it is going to be there regardless. But it is irritating!

But, other than that, I guess life is really good. I can still see.. I can still feel.. I can still hear.. Therefore, I can READ, enjoy the Opera, a Play, a Musical, Theatre, even a Movie..  and so, Am I Not Blessed?.. Yes! I am Blessed indeed...

Altered Photo Art

Trees

A touch of Red

Lonely Bee

Rainy Days and Rainy Nights

“Rainy Days and Rainy Nights” was the title of a post by the author of Blog It, a blog I like to read now and then, located at http://bloginsherry.blogspot.com/ It is one of many I try to read.. 

So.., it made me start to think of how much I love, “Rainy Days and Rainy Nights.” I always feel comfortable in the darkness.. it makes me feel secure, and safe.. and so do rainy days, and rainy nights... 

With the rain, comes peace and comfort.. as if the Goddess held me in Her arms, and to Her breast.. to suckle and be comforted.. as a child with it’s Mother... Everything is in the single act.. comfort, nourishment, security and peace.. No cares.. no worries.. 

The rain comes.. and cleanses the very air that we breath..  helps to sustain the plants and animals that give of themselves that we might live.. 

I have always found that rain at night, brings a peace to me that is hard to describe.. It comforts.. I like to sit on a porch.. and listen to the rain.. even better to be able to put my feet up and have enough light to read by.. sometimes to play my flute in the darkness..

Rain is such a blessing.. a gift of the Goddess.. it brings forth beauty and comforts my soul...

Manpulated Photo Art

Moss Covered Shale

Shale

I really enjoy finding and creating patterns, that turn an ordinary picture.. into Art.. 

Click pictures to enlarge...

A Day at The Opera

My wife got tickets for the Opera for today at two in the afternoon.. we went and had a wonderful time..  I prefer Puccini , but it was still great. Maybe just because I love Opera, altho I am not a real fan of German, but Italian Opera.  Today, it was an Opera by Mozart, “The Abduction from the Seraglio.”  The stars were: Mary Dunleavy, Anna Christy, Matthew Polenzani,Andrew Bidlack, and Peter rose. Our seats were in row D of the Grand Tier and were terrific. It was a great way to spend the day..

More Manipulated PhotoArt

I altered photographs to create this Quilt, I use it as wallpaper on my Mac

My Altered Photograph Art

so great to just be........

Gawd! My wife took me out to breakfast this morning, I outdid myself.. eggs over medium, bacon crisp, fried potatoes, and biscuits and sausage gravy..

Now I'm back lying  down with Mac, after a great shower.. and all is right with the world.. got at least three of the dogs with me.. it's sunny and cool out side.. fan is on me inside.. couldn't be better.. work tomorrow, but thats tomorrow.. Smidgen, our little red Italian greyhound just did a nostril check, thats where she peaks around my shoulder and tries unsuccessfully to stick her little pointy mussel up my nostril.. sniffing nothing good tries the other one.. very cute...

We are a house of dogs and a cat.. dogs are all Italian greyhounds.. and quite a little pack.. one tuxedo cat, who is very happy to be the only cat around now that Piewacket has passed.. She was the most beautiful Old World Siamese (her blue eyes were not crossed), she had, what I can only describe as banded whiskers.. they started out white 1/2" then black 1/2" then white, then black, alternating to about 4" in overall length.. with a lovely sable coat.. she was about seventeen.. we miss her, even Taddie, who used to torment her misses her.. he looked for her for days..

A three day weekend is such a pleasure.. I am going on HuLu shortly to catch up on "Warehouse 13" and "Dollhouse" two of my favorites.. I would really like to watch "Pride and Prejudice" with Collin Firth which is a real favorite of mine, but my wife gets tired of watching it. Aw Well...

Work tomorrow.. front desk, emergency room.. so I think one could see why I like a three day weekend.. A reprise, so great to just be........    

Healthcare

Progressive Democrats of America click HERE to sign the petition. We can not be silent. We must not go quietly into the night and not be heard. We have to speak out and support these legistlative action alerts. We are going to show those who are in doubt, that progressive ideals are not dead. And we will stand steadfast for the democratic legislative process. 

Death Is Painful For We Who Must Go On...

My friend and co-worker passed over.. beyond the veil that separates the light from darkness, time from eternity.. his name is Albert Serna.

Some years ago, Al had a very bad stroke. It left him in bed, unable to talk or walk. The hospital wanted to put him in a nursing home.. Al said No.. he wanted to return to work.. It took Al over a year to walk and speak, relearning everything. Al persevered.. .

Al tried to get disability.. the amount of money would not cover his apartment and expenses.. again Al said, “NO.. I can do this.. I will return to work at my job.” When he came back to work they wouldn’t take him back as a ward clerk.. so Al applied for and got a job in the admissions department. He hadn’t ever done admissions before, but picked it up real fast.

Every morning Al got up, got cleaned up, got dressed, walked around the small lake in town, (he called it his therapy) and took the bus to work. Al didn’t get back the use of his left hand, so he kept it in his jacket pocket. He had limited use of his left leg, so he had a terrible gait, it didn’t stop him. He had a desk very close to the Emergency Room front intake desk.. so we talked every day.. he and my co-worker talked sports all day, in between us checking in patients, and Al doing admissions.. he used the computer with one hand better than some did with two.. he did one hell of a job.. two people work in admissions.. but as often happens.. he worked there alone if he had to.. people are out sick, go on vacation.. so sometimes he would be doing all the admissions for the whole hospital with out help.

Al never complained.. never asking for help.. doing everything himself.. taking calls.. helping ward clerks in the hospital wing do things they didn’t know how to do, even thou it wasn’t his job.. all you had to do was ask.. Al got it done.

Always a good sense of humor.. always a smile on his face, always going the extra mile for everyone.

His sister needed help when she lost her job because of this recession, he took in her family.. into his apartment.

Where am I going with this story? Will every day Al pushed open the envelope a little further.. he would fall sometimes, wouldn’t take help to get on his feet.. he didn’t want any one to look at him any differently than they did before the stroke. The point is, Al was my HERO. Why, you ask? Because I don’t think I could have come out of a stroke the way he did.

Albert Serna was an incredible person.. an incredible human being.. He was my friend.. I don’t have many.. but he was. We loved him, he was an inspiration to every one who knew him.

So I put this note on his desk on Tuesday when I found he had passed, after I cried.

Dear Albert,

We Miss You..

We Wish You Good Journey..

Take The Second Star To The Right,

And Then Go Straight On Till Morning......

YOU WERE OUR BEST.............

J'nai

I was just given a wonderful gift.. this summer I was privileged to work with a vary gracious young woman who was a student working in our Emergency Room.. you know, a lot of times we get young college kids who really have no idea how the world turns.. and certainly not any idea how to deal with sick patients.. but not this time.. this lovely young black woman was amazing.. she jumped in with both feet.. did every thing that she was asked with a smile.. created all the reports she was asked to, with only minor direction and ideas from our manager and our director.. worked shoulder to shoulder with me at the front desk of the ER.. no complaints.. she greeted every patient with respect and dignity.

You don’t find this very often.. this is a situation where some would freeze up, and not be able to face it, and some were only able to do it one day.. she was very quick to pick up the process of getting the patient checked in, and depending on the need.. instantly working with me without being asked, so that one of us would get the patient right to the nurse, and the other would get the paper work completed.. so that patients that were in dire need (heart attack, shortness of breath, etc.) did not wait, but got care right away.. it was like she had worked their beside me for years, not days.

This is a normal process for me and my other coworkers.. she picked it up the second day.. she had our programs down cold.. she was not put off by the assault to her senses, that one gets in emergency room situations.. working hand and hand with myself, our nurses, our nurse manager, and our emergency room director, she was incredible.

I am only writing this because this is usually not the case.. we get some great students during the summer, but not that fit so well into the team.

This young twenty-one year old is now a senior at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, doing her last year, majoring in journalism, with a minor in Spanish. She will be truly missed by all of our staff.. sometimes you get kids that just sit and surf the net.. putting in time and getting a small check.

Not J’nai, she worked right beside us, went the extra mile every day.. we will not forget..

Tears From The Stone

Sometimes the day is just too hard.. sometimes being the rock to lean on is almost beyond what I feel capable of.. after being the rock, yet again, where do I get what I need to go on...

The rock can never cry.. the rock can never show weakness.. the rock must always be solid and strong.. but how long can the rock go on before it cracks, splits and breaks.. no longer strong.. no longer solid.. no longer able to hold back the tears..

Tears From The Stone..

Love is painful...

Circles

Circles within circles.. Safe Places, within Chaos.. It has been many years since I belonged to a Circle. It is very difficult to live without the companionship and comfort of a Circle to stand with me.. to hold me..

I seek those who believe as I do.. I need them.. I need them more now that I am much older.. Time is passing.. I need the strength, and comfort of those who follow the Goddess as I do. It may be that I am asking for more than I can have, it seems so.. yet still, I seek it.. I am old, lonely, and tired, tired of most men and their macho attitudes.. I want to belong to a Circle without men.. I need the comfort and peace and companionship that I have known, but have been missing for so many years..

A Circle can bring peace.. created and enclosing a person or a group, as a safe space to worship.. It can bind a couple together in love.. a Circle is like a wedding ring, without beginning or end..

Yes, Circles within circles.. Safe Places, within Chaos..

Just Thinking

Where does time go?

Just a question.. Because if I go to work, time goes by just the same as the day before, or the last day I worked.

If I stay home sick.. I blink my eyes and it's Noon. One more blink, and my wife is home from work and it's five o'clock.

So, what happens.. time moves fairly slow at work and speeds up if I stay home?

What's up with that? Just how does that work? I stay home, and at Noon, I look at myself and say, "I could have gone to work.. was I really too sick to go to work?" Then I stand up and almost fall down.. as the world spins.. and I go, "Maybe not."

But, ninety percent of the time.. I go to work. I just can't stay home, and feel OK about it.

I only got two things from the father that raised me: first, my love of various music.. and second, my work ethic.

So, on the dark side of my humor.. What's the difference between a duck?

One Leg Is Both The Same...

See, told you.. dark humor...

And, Just something to think about..

If feet is the plural of foot, (meaning 2) If you have 2 feet.. Do you have 4 foots??? Think About It...

Rein Has Returned

Grandmother Moon has risen above me in the darkness..

And she sheds Her silver light around me..

And my tears shine as diamonds in her light...

Her Tears fall in the mists of evening...

Cleansing the wounds of my heart..

She brings some peace to my soul...

She holds me against Her breast..

And suckles me..

And my heart that was torn is mended...

Out of the darkness..

She brings my Brother back to me..

I had lost him along the path..

Now that part of me that was torn away..

She has returned..

The pain in my heart is but memory...

With out Him i was but shadow..

Now there is a peace..

Now Rein has returned...

A New Priestess for Quaia

I woke up as usual this morning.. it didn’t seem any different than any other morning. I was happy for another day wondering in the forrest. I put on my normal clothes and sandals and looked for my mothers. They were together holding the palest dress I had ever seen.. “Good morning mother Kincia, Good morning mother Quaona” I said. “What are you doing with that dress?”

“Well Naukee, we are getting it ready for you,” said mother Kincia.

“Yes dear one,” said mother Quaona, “today the Priestess comes from the temple, looking for new young ones. We have been preparing for a long time for this day.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because we believe you have the gifts.”

“What gifts?”

“The gifts to become a Priestess.”

“Why? I don’t want to leave you, I want to stay with you always.”

“And we would have you stay, if we had not seen the signs.”

“What signs mothers?”

“Do you remember several Moons ago, you found a feather in the forest?” said mother Quaona.

“Yes, I remember the feather.. it was the most incredible feather I had ever seen. In the shade of the trees, it was modeled grey and almost brown. But when we took it into the Sun light, it changed and looked like fire. It looked as if it were burning with light, showing every color of the rainbow. You were both afraid.. I didn’t understand.. I was unharmed. You took it to the temple didn’t you?”

“Yes dear one, you remember well”, said mother Kincia. “We were afraid, because the last child that found a feather of the Goddess Quaia burned to death when she touched the feather. Only a chosen one can touch the feather of Quaia. She is a Fire Elemental.”

“But mother Quaona you touched that same feather, and nothing happened to you.”

“You are right again, and that is because I am of the line of Priestess as well. I became to old for the temple, where we need young pure minds. So I left the temple to find Kincia and we became one and were blessed with you.”

“One day if the Priestess Xantia picks you, you will leave to find the other half of your soul. Now let’s get you to the river to wash, then we will braid your hair and you will wear this dress we made for you.”

So this was to be an extraordinary day for me. We went straight away and I washed in the river. My mothers washed and braided my hair. Then I was allowed to put on the beautiful dress.. We waited for the Priestess to come to our village.

The Sun was about half way across the sky when she finally arrived. Several other maidens awaited her with their mothers. My mothers had brought me there early so we were the first to greet the Priestess.

Priestess Xantia was vary beautiful.. I could not believe it, I had never seen someone so lovely and so beautifully dressed.

My mothers and I each gave a slight bow to her and the women of her Court, then she asked that I come to her.

I went to her without fear, for I knew inside that I, of the six that were there, was the only one who knew what was to happen if one other than the chosen one were to touch the feather.. You see that was the test.. life if you were the one.. and a firry death, if you were not. It was no accident that I found the feather in the forest.

I smiled up at her, and held out my hands. She looked at my mothers, and smiled at them, then she placed the feather in my hands. It burst into flames in my hands as if it were set fire. I just stood and held it as it burned, then took it by it’s point, and handed it back to the Priestess. She just smiled and said, “Don’t worry child, your mothers will come with you to the temple to care for you there.”

Then she turned and bowed to the others that were there and we turned and left with them.

Outrage With Our Health Care System

Why can't people get it? We need health care reform.. we need to come together, and make things happen.. I am almost 65, and I want to be able to get health care, and be able to pay for it for myself and my wife.. I think I will be able to pay for our health care with what retirement I receive.. but that means that my wife will have to cover food and taxes.. and we are the lucky ones.. there are so many people throughout our country with no health care.. what about them.. what if they require meds to just survive? We as a people can't just not see their need..

It is well established that the countries with health care for everyone live longer.. We need to let our Senators and Congressmen looking it this most important issue.. no matter which side of the Isle they sit on.. Republican or Democrat... How often do we need to see people die, because they don't have health care? How do we turn a blind eye to that? The time is NOW!!

20:58 on 07.23.09

I like the dark.. it is where I am most comfortable.. I am so tired all the time now.. it makes it hard on me.. I want to be awake when it is quite and peaceful.. and sleep during the hated sun light. I feel so old.. always in pain.. can't stand for any length of time.. I had a knee replacement.. yet I still have pain from the surgery in my calf.. if I twist the wrong way.. sit with my left leg over my right.. the calf pain comes.. it will go away fairly quickly, but it is an irritant that I just don't need.

It is hard to get up and move.. some times the pain doesn't go away immediately and I am afraid I will fall. The right leg is stronger now than the left.. but there is still pain...

Sometimes I don't think my legs will hold my weight.. You know, I keep on going to work, even though I am in pain.. it is the way I have always done it.. just try to ignore the pain.. People look at you and don't know you are in pain.. unless you step wrong and show some outward sign.. I have hidden pain so long that people don't even know its there. But it is still there.

I would like to have just one day without pain.. I guess that is asking a lot.. there is a lot of pain. Every socket joint.. (wrists, ankles, knees, shoulders, elbows, and sometimes a hip) I just keep going.. I live with pain, as if it were a brother.. Just ignore it and eventually you won't feel it anymore.. RIGHT?..

Gawd... I can't even lie down and have one leg over the other, and get up and not feel all my strength flow out through my legs and out the soles of my feet.

When does it stop? When does the pain stop? Now the newest thing.. put pressure on say an elbow.. it goes to sleep, and I have to use vigorous movement to get the dead feeling to go away... What next? Now my eyes are crossing, and I can barely see to type.. so I'll stop for tonight... I didn't think I would ever say it, but I love my Mac.. well now the sleep meds, so I don't stare at the walls all night.. oh and the sleep apnea mask so i keep breathing..... what a life....

International Literacy Day

Objective:

On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally.

September 8 was proclaimed International Literacy Day by UNESCO on November 17, 1965. It was first celebrated in 1966. Its aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. On International Literacy Day each year, UNESCO reminds the international community of the status of literacy and adult learning globally. Celebrations take place around the world.

Some 774 million adults lack minimum literacy skills; one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women; 72.1 million children are out-of-school and many more attend irregularly or drop out.

The

Huffington

Post

Arianna Huffington

Posted: July 20, 2009 07:06 PM

Why Visiting Pompeii Has Me Thinking About the Smoke Billowing Out of Our Economic Mt. Vesuvius

POMPEII -- I was in Pompeii a couple of days ago. Walking around the ancient city, reading up on its history, and thinking of its people -- wiped out in 79 A.D. by a volcanic eruption -- has me thinking a lot about warning signs.

Warning signs fall into two categories: those that are recognized while there is still time to heed the warning, and those that are acknowledged as "warning signs" only after the fact, when it's too late to do anything but sift through the ashes and wonder why we didn't do something when we had the chance.

I really liked this artical so I thoutht I would pass it along Click Here to read more..

Did Anyone Survive the War?

I read in Tom Sebourns BLOG an article:

"Did Anyone Survive the War?"

By Richard Klass at the Huffington Post . This is a must read for anyone who really wants to understand what happens to those who Serve. Thanks Tom.. for posting this most insightful article.. i served 4 years in the service during the Vietnam conflict.. I was never in country.. but some of my friends now were.. HERO's ALL.. we are not just touched by the war itself.. but by the aftermath. I now serve all those who served in all our conflicts.. the most incredible men and women were from WWII.. their spirits are beautiful.. Men and Women returned from Vietnam, but as Charlie Daniels sings they are 'STILL IN SAIGON'.. I see them every day at my job.. some cope.. others are too broken.. they take drugs to forget or they drink to forget.. but the demons still come.. now to the horror of it all... when a 23 year old girl comes to me to check in for Psych.. after coming home from a tour in Iraq.. it brings the tears.. our children.. are torn, broken, and bleeding.. and it's not just their bodies.. we can fix some of their bodies.. we can't take away the dreams.. the haunted eyes..