Too Late for a Novena to Stop the Healthcare Bill?

I know I should pray when I first wake up.  The Good Sisters tried to pound that into our hearts and souls in grammar school.  Instead, I checked the weather and the news headlines.

The weather is the only good news.

There was a line about Sr. Carol Keehan of the Catholic Health Association supporting the Senate version of the Healthcare bill.  I had to search to find a complete article: Catholic Health Group Accepts Abortion Language in Reform Bill.

From the article:  "She "has a major concern on life issues" about the bill, she said, and believes they will require monitoring should the bill become law. But she believes the concerns are adequately addressed by the mechanism to keep abortion coverage apart from the government-regulated health care markets."


For Sr. Keehan, the imperative to provide health care coverage is greater than protecting the lives of fetuses.  She thinks this bill will do that--or at least start:  "As I watched our president present his plan to pass the health reform legislation, it was clear this is an historic opportunity to make great improvements in the lives of so many Americans," Keehan said in her statement. "Is it perfect? No. Does it cover everyone? No. But is it a major first step? Yes."


Sr. Keehan now gives cover to all the wavering pro-life Democrat Representatives.  "Look, a sister in the Catholic Church approves!  The bill must be okay!"


I'm concerned and worried and feeling powerless--what can I, a single individual do?  I can pray.  It may be too late for a novena, but it's never too  late for prayer and fasting.  I will be praying that Congress listen closely to their consciences and follow God's Will in their voting.  And I will pray that I can accept God's Will in my life as well.


"Not my will, but Thy Will be done."  


Who knew that Faith would be challenged in such a way?  Almost makes facing lions in the Colosseum in Rome seem easier.  :)

Faith & Politics

Hubs is really, truly worried about the direction the U.S. is taking, especially the Health Care Bill.

"Is the President stupid?" he fumes.  (About Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid, he has no doubt--they are stupid.)  "How can you not be upset about this?"

"Faith," I answer.  "I pray and I trust in God."

I'm not being flippant.  I lived through the 1970's and saw The Silent Majority being shouted down--by many of the same people who are bringing us the health care bill.  I heard the pundits proclaim the end of The American Dream, that the world would run out of food, potable water, fuel, and fauna.  The world was becoming Trantor--a completely built up world where the citizens never saw the open sky or grass or trees.

And I noticed it didn't happen.  Hubs and I were able to find jobs, buy our own house, raise our kids.  Our grocery stores and warehouse stores a full of food--and not just the foods of my childhood, but foods from other countries:  my children eat bread, naan, pitas, and tortillas and don't think it's unusual.  (On the other hand, I remember when I had my first souvlaki.  I was 19 and in Berkeley.)

Back in the 1970's, computers took up entire rooms and didn't have the processing power of the machine that sits on my lap.  My smartphone has more memory than my first computer.

I don't know what God has in store for us.  I'm not sure what lessons He wants us to learn.  Maybe the lesson is that we should appreciate the gifts we have received, that freedom and responsibility go hand-in-hand.  Or a very basic lesson:  people tend to value what they have paid a price for, whether it be in actual dollars or suffering, or personal effort (Churchill's "blood, toil, sweat, and tears").

Reviews, Movies and Otherwise

It has occurred to me that I haven't reviewed a movie or a book in a long while.

Right now we're in the pre-Oscar movie drought.  All the blockbuster and "important" films were released in December; now we have the studio backlog of films that will be forgotten by next year's Oscar season.  Hubs and I have caught up with some films at home On Demand, and a couple of them were good.

As for reading, I'm about a third of the way through a biography of Bruno Bettelheim, which covered his early life, including his incarceration in Auschwitz and Buchenwald.  He's divorced from his first wife, is establishing himself at the University of Chicago, and has married his second wife.  There's an interesting discussion of what it meant to be a secular Jew in Austria during the 1920's & 1930's that I found interesting because, of course, it affected Dr. Bettelheim's outlook on life and, therefore, his philosophy and methodology.  I'm also reading San Francisco Noir, a collection of short stories set in--where else?--San Francisco and the Bay Area.  Kind of Dashiell Hammett with dames, booze, and guns stuff.

But, truly, I'm waiting for How to Train Your Dragon.  I mean, dragons and Vikings and 11th Century geeks--how cool is that?

Olympic Junkie

Hi, my name is March Hare and I'm an Olympic junkie.

I never watch ice skating, ice dancing, ski jumping, speed skating, aerials, or bobsledding during the regular winter season.  But put up five rings and a flame and I Am There.

While Al Michaels and Cris Collingsworth are not Jim McKay, I don't care.  I'll listen to them anyway.  I like hearing all the technical details about sports I know nothing about--what the judges are looking for, how the physics works, the strategies involved.  I love the human interest stories:  how the athletes got to the top of the mountain, the obstacles they overcame merely to compete on the ice, on the track, in the snow.

I enjoy cheering for my country.  But I also enjoy watching the underdog win (Go Canada!  Go Jamaica!  Go Finland!), watching how, in a split-second, hopes for a gold can turn into a major wipeout.

Fie, however, on NBC, who decided to show the Olympics on tape delay on the West Coast.  Vancouver is in the Pacific Time Zone, folks.  And it's disconcerting to watch competition happening in the sunshine when it's dark outside here.  Not to mention that I know the results of the events before watching the competition, thanks to the Internet.

No matter.  I'm glued to my set, staying up way past my bedtime just so I can watch.  Life will return to normal soon enough.

The Saints Came Marching In!

Okay, apparently for the second half.

On Friday, I trained customers located in Baton Rouge who said between Mardi Gras and the Saints just being in the Super Bowl, the area was nuts.  "Imagine if they win!" they said.  "The nation won't see anything like the party that will happen!"

So to those in Louisiana:  no, it's not a dream; yes, it is real; of course you drank too much; I imagine your boss will be calling in "sick," too.

(I'm sure glad training wasn't scheduled for today!)

Abstinence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Or something like that. Unless you believe that everyone has a right to free-fettered sex with anyone, anytime, no matter what the cost.

Not only did Pam Tebow chose not to abort her son, Tim; Tim is a virgin and proud of it.

Well, well, well. Lucky for him he's an outstanding football player. (Remember the time in the not so distant past when athletes were encouraged to abstain from sexual activity before a game on the theory that sex depleted their energy?)

Bookworm finds Tim's virginity refreshing and hopes that her daughter dates someone with the same values. At 23 and 16, my daughters are of dating age--and I hope they bring home someone like Tim, too! :)

So Time comes out as a virgin and respecter (respector?) of women and The Washington Post reluctantly reports that "Abstinence programs might work" in preventing teen pregnancies. Hmmm.

But mental and physical health aside, there's another reason to encourage teens and young adults to abstain from non-marital sexual intercourse: practice.

We encourage our children to practice a lot of things with the advice that they'll need it when they're older. Kids shoot hoops for hours, do wind sprints, throw footballs and baseballs at targets, write reports, do problems. Why shouldn't we use the same argument for abstinence? I don't know of many marriages where a partner has been available sexually 24/7/365. Life intereferes: business travel, pregnancy (and post-partum), serious illness. Had some famous men practiced sexual abstinence as teens and young adults, their marriages might not have fallen apart so spectacularly and so publicly.

In fact, John McCain admitted--and accepted responsibility for--the breakup of his first marriage due to his acting like a randy 25-year-old out to score rather than a mature husband and father. (One of the many things I admire about Senator McCain, BTW.)

Abstinence not only prevents unwanted pregnancies and STDs, it also keeps your name out of the front page when you're famous. Perhaps that's a message that's more understandable!

Technology and the Culture of Life

First it was Lennart Nilsson with his beautiful intrauterine photographs documenting the development of the fetus into a baby in A Child Is Born.

Now, 3D sonograms capture the fetus sucking its thumb, swimming, and even smiling.

Today there is a story on AOL: Study Finds Traces of Thought in Vegetative Patients. Using the latest fMRI technology, five patients previously thought "vegetative" showed signs of thought and awareness. That's five out of 54--not terrific odds, unless that happens to be your kid, your spouse, your sibling.

No discussion about the quality of the lives of those five, although one of the researchers did acknowledge (in an article about the same study on The Fox News website:

Monti and Laureys said it is not clear whether such patients have the mental capacity to answer more important but complicated questions, such as whether they wish to go on living.

"I'm trying to figure out what is the best way to tackle this," Laureys said.

Both articles stress that the responsive patients suffered traumatic brain injury, rather than oxygen deprivation, which is what caused Terri Schiavo's brain injury.

Still, I see this as yet another argument for choosing life. And that maybe the Catholic Church might have learned a thing or two about the mysteries of life in the last 2000 years.

R.I.P., Kage Baker

I discovered her stories in the pages of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. My favorites were those of "The Company," a group of immortals sent back in the past charged with locating and hiding artifacts to be "discovered" in the future they could not return to.

The detail that won my heart, though, was that the transformation from human to immortal cyborg made the operatives especially sensitive to chocolate: hot chocolate made them drunk.

The Company stories became novels. And there were other short stories--I always looked forward to reading them in Asimov's.

Ms. Baker was my age, which is scary. She died of uterine cancer that metasticized to her brain.

Rest in peace, Ms. Baker. And may you continue to tell your stories.

(H/T: Julie D's sidebar over at Happy Catholic. Author photo from her website, www.kagebaker.com, by Den'Al Damron-McElhiney.)

Quakes and Corruption

In 2003, Thomas Sowell wrote an essay, Two Earthquakes and Their Results Under Different Social Systems. Dr. Sowell compared the results of two earthquakes of similar intensity in California (6.5) and in Iran (6.6). The death toll in California was minimal; the death toll in Iran was in the tens of thousands.

Dr. Sowell attributes this to the difference in wealth: wealthier nations have more resources, so can afford to build safer structures, especially for public buildings such as hospitals and schools. (One of the worst things about the earthquake in Haiti is the physical collapse of the few hospitals they have. I can't imagine being physically helpless and having the building collapse around me. A couple of months ago I was at the infusion clinic receiving treatment when they went through their disaster drill. I was very impressed--every nurse and clerk had a job and a responsibility. They knew it and knew what to do, whom to call, how to evacuate patients and where.) But one thing he doesn't mention is the importance of the rule of law and the lack of corruption.

One of the reasons the levee in New Orleans collapsed after Katrina was because the money that should have been spent reinforcing it was "redirected" to other purposes (casinos mostly). The newly-built City Hall collapsed during the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco because the contractor used an inferior concrete during construction and pocketed the difference in cost. Building inspectors knew this and were bought off. Strict building codes don't work if not enforced. Although corruption exists (there are several examples in Congress), Americans are generally honest and have a well-developed sense of fairness and fair play (do they have instant replay in World Cup soccer?). That sense of fairness is what makes many of us root for the underdog, sympathize with those struggling with personal demons, and inspire us to volunteer and contribute to charities.

And it's why many folks are upset with the current Congress and Administration.

I don't want my child attending a school where the contractor bought off an official. I want to know my hospital, my church, my fire station is built to withstand the next Big Quake. If I'm on BART in a tunnel, I want that tunnel to remain whole so I have a chance to get out. Technical failures, such as the collapse of a section of the Bay Bridge are one thing. Fraud is something else entirely.

Once people lose faith that the Government will protect them from that form of fraud--that those whose jobs are to keep us as safe as possible aren't doing their jobs--then the U.S. will become a Third World Country.

(H/T: The Anchoress, who also has links to many other articles as well as relief agencies.)

UPDATE: Looks like Michelle Malkin is on the same wavelength.

More Prayer Requests...

For the repose of the soul of Mr. K., the father of my BFF, and for the solace of his family. Unlike some of the others who have passed, Mr. K. lived a long and full life. I spent a lot of time during my junior high and high school years at the K's house and he was always gracious and funny in a way much different than my father--which gave me the important insight that not all men were like my dad. :)

For my neighbor, M., who is going through a very rough patch. He will probably lose his house and his business and he's had both for at least 20 years. His son is a good friend of DS#2 and is over so often I jokingly call him DS#3. M. is not handling the setbacks well. May he learn faith and trust in God.

For the people of Haiti, who have suffered through a devastating earthquake--some of the aftershocks are as severe as any 'quakes we've had in the Bay Area. The difference, of course, is here there are building codes, especially for public buildings. In Haiti, if there are codes, they are ignored. The people are so poor and so beaten, with many struggling to survive. God give them strength in their time of trial. (I really don't know what else to say...)

Abortion, Taxes, and Civil Disobedience

An interesting discussion is going on between two of my favorite bloggers: The Anchoress and Bookworm Room. Book noted earlier how she came to change her views on abortion and how we, as a nation and a society, need to have an honest discussion about abortion.

There must be something in the air because I recently got into a debate with a young man I've known for awhile about this issue. He is pro-abortion and doesn't like the fact that the opposition uses the term "pro-life." He thought they should be "anti-choice."

I pointed out that I'm not "anti-choice": men and women have the choice not to have sex or to use birth control. He then went into the usual tirade about unwanted babies and rape and destroying the lives of young women and overpopulation and not being judgmental about someone else's decisions about their sex life. I tried to point out some of the fallacies of his arguments, but he wasn't having any of it.

It seems that there is a right to have sex, any time, any where, with anyone, with no consequences. And that attitude is what bothers me the most. I

The Wonders of Modern Technology

The other night, DS#2 made dinner. I had pulled boneless, skinless chicken thigh fillets out of the freezer and he made a rub of taco seasoning and red pepper, sprinkled shredded cheese on top, popped the pan in the oven and then... realized he had no idea of how long to bake them.

Unable to get in touch with me, he called DD#1 (the family cook) in San Diego. She was more than happy to give him the directions. Since she's on our cell phone plan, the cost of the call is $0.00.

I was impressed. Of course, since DD#1's cell phone is on our plan, the cost of the call is $0.00. We may not have personal jet packs or flying cars, but the cost of communicating has radically decreased!

Meanwhile, computing technology is becoming smaller, faster, and cheaper. My smart phone (a Palm Centro) has more computing power than my first computer. If you have an autistic child and ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) inhibits your ability to talk or write, well, "there's an app for that" on the iPod Touch which will help you out: iPod Would Cut Medical Waste. (H/T: Neal Boortz).

American ingenuity is not dead. It's buried under layers of bureaucratic red tape.

San Francisco

Bookworm has an article about San Francisco and, unfortunately, some of her comments are too true. But the clip from the 1940's is fun: San Francisco as it once was.

From my perspective, things have improved somewhat over the last twenty years. I'll have to share my reminiscences soon...

Resolutions, I Have a Few...

One thing I have learned this year is to lower my sights, to scale back on my expectations of myself. I was able to finish the stationery sets my family has come to depend on receiving, but I didn't decorate the envelopes to coordinate. Sis#2 noticed in a kind of off-handed "Huh, the envelopes aren't stamped" way.

I spent a lot of 2009 on the couch (or in bed), especially after coming home from work, letting my brain veg. From talking with the nurses in the oncology unit, it will be at least six months before I feel completely "like myself." My brain has gone blank, withholding information I know I know. I blame "chemo brain" and find that I can often recall names or faces but not always both (embarrassing when I'm doing introductions, either socially or for business).

All this is in explanation of why I am trying to temper my Resolutions this year. I always feel like I should be doing more: more praying, more nurturing my family, more volunteering for my community, more responsibility at work, more writing, more exercising, more eating healthy, more "personal growth." My Resolutions traditionally run along those lines.

And, as always, 2010 will bring changes. Some I know about: my office is moving from its current location conveniently around the corner from the "Y" to further out in the SoMa. Other changes will be unexpected. Many will be beyond my control, although I will be affected.

So my goal this year to find the balance that works for me, which is a bit like standing on a ball. A great phrase I learned in biology is "dynamic equilibrium," which means that an organism constantly reacts to its environment, trying to maintain the optimum point. So I will be trying to find and maintain my "dynamic equilibrium." I need to let my body continue to heal, which means I must practice patience with myself.

Along with that, I need to continue to work on living my faith, of following Mary's example of saying "Yes."

I think that's quite enough for one year!

Okay, one more. Sis#2, one of my cousins, and I are discussing participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. It's a 2-day walk, 26 miles in all (I think) and it's held over my birthday weekend in July. I'm not in shape for it now; I don't know if I will be in 7 months. I'm nervous about committing myself to doing it, although I know other women who have participated and found it an awesome experience.

But, if not now, then when?

Happy New Year!

We have a lot to celebrate, Hubs & I, about 2009. DS#2 graduated from high school; DD#1 was accepted to UC San Diego, then rejected, then wrote (with considerable help from her friend) a letter explaining why she should be readmitted--and she was; DS#1 is being challenged by his senior project and learning about life choices; and DD#2 is learning some hard lessons that will benefit her later. So I wanted to celebrate the end of the year in style, perhaps by the 1940's era dinner dance on board the U.S.S. Hornet, or a gathering with friends.

So, of course, we both got sick: stuffy noses, sore throats, coughs, fevers, sinus headaches. We stayed at home with DD#2, who was glued to the computer, and Hubs and I watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Master and Commander. We hadn't seen either of them in awhile (and we've done the Twilight Zone marathon). Epic stories, rousing scores, significant eye-candy, stunning visuals--and I didn't have to get dressed up.

This morning we watched the Rose Parade. It's 72 deg F. and clear in Pasadena, CA, but here in the Bay Area it's foggy and in the 50's. I'm still in my pjs and robe, waiting for the Rose Bowl to begin in about an hour (Go Ducks!).

DS#1 and DD#1 are back in their college homes. DS#2 is sleeping; DD#2 is probably watching TV in her room, enjoying having it all to herself again. Hubs is in bed, alternately watching football and sleeping off his cold. I'm sufficiently drugged, so I can function. (We need at least one quasi-functioning adult around.)

Wow--I'm not sure where the Capitol One Bowl is played, but it's been raining throughout the game and the turf is natural, so this game is turning into a regular mud bowl. Which is not a bad thing. Mud adds an extra dimension to the game.

Oh--signs of life from DS#2! (Turns out he got home around 5:00 a.m.)

Here's to a blessed and safe 2010 for all of my friends, IRL and on the Internet.

Personal Update

I've finished radiation--yay! And my skin is only slightly pink, which may be due to the aloe vera I slathered on three times a day.

The results of my MUGA test, which checks how efficiently my heart pumps blood, came back with excellent results, so I can still have Herceptin treatments (Herceptin targets a specific protein on the cancer cells). And I just started taking Tamoxifen (a daily pill).

Now I have to wait for the results of my mammogram. I can't believe it's been a year since the lump was discovered.

And my hairstyle has morphed from "Golem" in LOTR to "M" (think Dame Judy Dench) in Casino Royale. And, yes, that's an improvement! Now I only wear hats or caps when I'm cold. :)

Irony--AGW Edition

The Bay Area has a "Mediterranean Climate," according to what I was taught many years ago. Basically, summers are cool and winters are cooler, without getting really cold. Summers are also dry, for the most part, with rain coming between November and April.

So what was this stuff I saw on December 7?
Yep. Snow. On the cars that had been parked overnight at the BART station.

And on the hills across the street.

The forecast was for the snow level to reach down as low as 1300'. So I expected to see white tops on Mt. Diablo (3849'), Mt. Tamalpais (2571'), and Mt. Hamilton (4200'). The hill pictured is much lower; probably around 1100 or less.

The snow didn't stick around, but Tuesday and Wednesday brought freezing temperatures, which meant frozen windshields and black ice on the roads. We generally don't see this kind of cold weather until January and February.

Today it's raining, so it's warmer. And we need the rain around these parts, so I'm not complaining!

Thank You to Veterans

The September after my dad died, I accompanied my mom to a Reunion of my dad's shipmates (the WWII destroyer, U.S.S. Fraser, DD-607). Like many veterans of WWII, my dad didn't talk much about his experiences, so this was my chance to discover more of what made my dad the man he was. He was one of the "babies"--not quite 19 when he was assigned--and he had been somewhat spoiled and pampered before entering the Navy. He was a gunner's mate, in charge of handing up ammunition from the hold to the gun operators. The work was physically hard, especially in the hot, humid climate of the Pacific.

Later, the Fraser did "clean up" in the Philippines and in Japan (specifically in Yokohama) before being decommissioned in the Boston Naval Yard.

The men my dad served with went back home and became farmers or lawyers or businessmen or blue-collar workers like my dad. One returned to his medical practice. They returned to their wives or married and raised families.

The women I met were pretty interesting as well. Long before my generation decided women needed "liberating," these women were working the family farm, managing the family business, raising kids during a time of rationing (two pairs of shoes per person per year!), and generally doing the work necessary to "keep the home fires burning." They are survivors--and are funny, intelligent, and engaged in life and current events. They are also self-effacing, claiming that what they did was unexceptional and boring. They just lived ordinary lives during extraordinary times.

To me, they are every bit the heroes as their husbands and brothers were.

So, to all Veterans, to all Active Military, and to their families: Thank you, especially for your willingness to fight for the ideals of America even when many seem to doubt them.

And, props to Hubs, a Vietnam-Era Marine. Hoo-rah!

Annoying Ad Award for EFCA

The California Nurses Association (CNA--a union) has been running an ad over and over on my favorite radio station and, frankly, it's bugging the heck outta me.

The ad first talks about the important work nurses do. That they do. But then the ad talks about "silencing" nurses and not allowing them to speak up on behalf of their patients. The announcer--a female--urges Senator Feinstein to co-sponsor the "Employee Free Choice Act" because "You are either on the side of the angels... or you're not."

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is also known as the Card Check Bill--if enough employees sign a card stating they would like union representation, then there is no secret ballot. The union is in.

I'm not sure why the CNA feels that they need the EFCA; I thought the nurses were unionized in most of the hospitals in the state, if not all of them. And how will EFCA enhance the ability of nurses to advocate for patients? The only way I can think of is by insisting on certain nurse-to-patient ratios, which they already do.

But what I really find offensive is the line about being "on the side of the angels." WTF? This sounds like emotional blackmail to me. And the ad is definitely not making more sympathetic towards the CNA.

In fact, I wonder how many nurses actually support the CNA using their dues this way?

Uplifting Story of the Morning

Let's start the day with a positive story, shall we? A story about one suburban woman, with an idea, making a difference in her local community.

Meet Anna Chan, also known as "The Lemon Lady." Because her daughter prefers to nap in the family SUV, Mrs. Chan drives all over her neighborhood and noticed fruit trees in the yards with unharvested fruit. So she knocked on the door of the houses and asked if she could pick some. Most of the homeowners agreed. After Mrs. Chan picks the fruit (mostly lemons when she started--lemon trees are very popular out here), she donates them to the Salvation Army pantry and the local SHARE pantry at the First Christian Church.

She's also been working with adults and children in a low-income neighborhood to establish a community garden. Mrs. Chan donated the starts from her backyard garden. Apparently the children in the neighborhood love watering it and keeping it alive, although they might not like eating the vegetables.

Mrs. Chan has set up a blog site with ideas on how to help in your local community: www.thelemonlady.blogspot.com. If you're a gardener or have a fruit tree, check it out!