As Physicians’ Jobs Change, So Do Their Politics

As Physicians’ Jobs Change, So Do Their Politics

Back to Basics: Parenting, the Divine Blueprint and the Boundaries of Free Will

Linda Steiner: Back to Basics in Parenting

Pre-scheduled release.

Back to Basics: Parenting, the Divine Blueprint and the Boundaries of Free-Will

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Dr. Linda Steiner
https://drlinsteiner.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/back-to-basics-parenting-the-divine-blueprint-and-the-boundaries-of-free-will/


We all come into the world with a divine blueprint – the unique guide to our spiritual evolution. And while we may all share this in common, our blueprints are customized and tailored to help us meet our own personal spiritual goals.


As parents, we certainly want what’s best for our children. But how parents relate to their children, in terms of expectations, is typically a function of what parents deem as “best”. Except in cases of abuse and neglect, most parents mean well when they prescribe or dictate certain goals, standards or aspirations for their children. But many parents may be shocked to learn that what they consider to be dedicated and responsible parenting, often constitutes a trespass across the boundaries of free will.


For example, I know a 12-year-old boy who has “professional” parents. His father is a lawyer and mother is a doctor. His parents want what’s best for their son, so they insist that he pull all “A’s” in the advanced-level classes where they insisted he be placed. Furthermore, they tell him that he must become either a doctor or lawyer when he grows up.


The boy, despite 3-4 hours of homework per night, does not get A’s, or even B’s. He is in over his head and stressed all the time. He’s unhappy and feels like a constant disappointment to his parents and dreads the prospect of following a career path that doesn’t serve his interests or resonate with his passion or gifts.


The boy has his heart set on working with aquatic mammals. But at the young age of 12, he spends his days under an oppressive parental cloud that not only over-shadows his childhood, but threatens to co-opt is future as well.


As parents, we simply haven’t the right to predetermine or confine the interests and pursuits of our children. We must keep them fed, housed, clothed, loved and cared for – but we mustn’t trespass on their free will.


We are each entitled to our one shot at a given lifetime. But many parents attempt to garnish the lives of their children either out of compulsion for control, or because they view their children’s lives as virtual second-chances as unrequited dreams.


To paraphrase from The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran, our children come to us and through us – but not from us. Parents are as bows – while children are as arrows. It is our job to maximize the ability of our arrows to fly as far and straight as possible – but in the direction of the arrow’schoice – not the bow’s.


While conscientious parenting is commendable, sometimes less is more. When we rein ourselves in a bit, we allow our children room to breathe and grow in the direction of the light.  Just as a flower turns its face toward the sun naturally, and without external guidance – so too, is our divine blue print self evident.


Too many restrictions on free will can lead to short and long terms effects of depleted self-confidence, lowered self-esteem, resentment, substance use or abuse and/or reactionary backlash. In extreme circumstances suicidal thought or tendencies may result. This is because free will is the soil that embeds the spirit. Restrict it – and you eliminate the sun, water and air supply.


True happiness can not be attained through material means. Occupations, money and status can not, in and of themselves, constitute the completion of one’s soul. Only those behaviors that resonate with the frequency of one’s vibrations can result in true happiness, and as parents, we have no greater responsibility than to shelter, support and facilitate our children’s spiritual growth.


So keep your child safe and well – but from a healthy distance.    Support them in the directions they choose and love them for who they are, unconditionally – with no strings attached. Allow them to explore what the world has to offer (both from within and without) and allow them to listen to the voice that speaks to them from their center. For it is their own inner voice – that speaks only to them – that holds the key to their Divine blueprint and the path that will ultimately maximize the potentialities of their spirit.

"The Price They Pay"

David Woodwoodwriter@
hotmail.com
Afghanistan War IEDs Cause Surge In Double Amputees Among U.S. War Wounded

First Posted: 05/30/11 08:43 AM ET Updated: 05/30/11 08:43 AM ET

American soldiers and Marines walking combat patrols in Afghanistan have suffered a surge of gruesome injuries, losing one or both legs and often their genitals to crude homemade bombs Taliban insurgents bury in dirt roads and pathways.

In some cases, American military surgeons tell The Huffington Post, these traumatic amputations occur so close to soldiers’ hips that it is difficult to fit prosthetic legs, severely limiting the patients’ future mobility and rehabilitation. In addition, the loss of sexual function for formerly healthy young men in their early 20s causes severe anxiety and depression and can wreck new marriages.

The latest wave of severe injuries comes after Gen. David Petraeus ordered U.S. troops in Afghanistan last year to get out of their protective armored vehicles and start walking. "Patrol on foot whenever possible and engage the population," he directed in guidance to his troops last August.

The order was hailed as an essential counterinsurgency tactic used to get closer to the people, pick up intelligence more effectively and demonstrate American resolve to protect local villagers from Taliban insurgents.

But the enemy -- as Petraeus himself is fond of saying -- gets a vote, and the insurgents have attacked the dismounted patrols with a vengeance, planting lethal bombs inches beneath the dusty soil where a footstep can detonate them in blinding flashes.

Insurgents often make the bombs using a plastic bucket packed with explosive ammonium nitrite fertilizer and a simple "trigger" made with two sticks of wood or a discarded plastic bottle that completes a circuit and detonates when crushed. The crude components make the bombs more difficult to detect than those once made with metal parts.

Improvised explosive device (IED) attacks against dismounted troops have skyrocketed, from five in April 2009 to 210 in April 2010 to 376 this past April, according to data gathered and analyzed by the Pentagon’s counter-IED agency, the Joint IED Defeat Organization. JIEDDO counts "attacks" as IEDs detected before they explode, ones that detonate without causing casualties and ones that kill and maim.

Because dismounted troops walk with their weapons held out in front of them, an IED detonation often blows off the extended arm as well as both legs, according to Army medical staff.

That was the case with Marine Cpl. Tyler Southern of Jacksonville, Fla. He was 20 when he stepped on a IED that detonated with 10 pounds of homemade explosive in a village near Musa Qala, southern Afghanistan, in July 2010. The explosion was so big "it should have left me in pieces," he told The Huffington Post.

It almost did, tearing off both of his legs and most of his right arm and severely lacerating his left. During subsequent medical care he flat-lined twice, with medics each time managing to bring him back to life before he reached the Bethesda Naval Medical Center four days after the attack.

The number of dead and badly wounded IED survivors like Southern grew so rapidly that when Lt. Gen. MIchael Barbero took over JIEDDO in March, his operations research chief, Dr. Caryl Brzymialkiewicz, got in to see him promptly. "Boss, we got a problem," she told him.

The good news, she reported, is that American troops are adept at finding the buried IEDs. In April 2009, American and allied troops discovered only one out of every five IEDs before they detonated; the rest blew up harmlessly or killed or wounded troops. This past April, thanks to better training and improved detectors, the troops found and disarmed 79 percent of known IEDs, leaving only four percent to cause American or allied casualties, according to JIEDDO data.

Yet the sheer number of IED attacks means that even as troops find more of the bombs, casualties still skyrocket because of all of the devices left undiscovered. IED attacks caused casualties to dismounted U.S. and allied troops to rise from 93 recorded in the first nine months of 2009 to 368 in the same period last year, according to JIEDDO data released exclusively to The Huffington Post.

Among those casualties was Marine Sgt. Johnny Jones, 24. A bomb disposal expert, he was on a foot patrol in southern Afghanistan last summer when he stepped on an IED. The blast threw him into the air and he landed on his back in a deathly silence. Both his legs were gone and his right hand was nearly severed. The Marine next to him, Cpl. Daniel Greer, was alive but barely breathing, and later died.

As the attacks increased, surgeons at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Facility in Germany, where casualties are first brought from Afghanistan, tracked a growing number of severe wounds among patients arriving from the battlefield. Those with traumatic amputations -- in which one or more limbs has been blown off in combat -- increased from seven percent of all casualties in 2007 to almost 11 percent last year. Wounds to the genitals and urinary tract rose from 91 patients in 2007 to 142 last year.

The Defense Department does not release precise data on the effectiveness of IED blasts, because such information would be valuable to Taliban bomb-makers. But the Pentagon’s public accountingof Afghanistan war casualties shows that American battle deaths from IEDs rose from 152 in 2008 to 275 in 2009 to 368 last year. Since late 2001, IEDs in Afghanistan have taken the lives of 683 Americans and severely wounded 6,670.

"We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of service members who have not only amputations above the knee but what we call hip disarticulation, meaning they have no femur at all," Dr. Paul Pasquina, chief of orthopedics and rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., told The Huffington Post.

"So not only are they losing their legs, but half of their pelvis. And we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of casualties returning with testicular injuries or genital loss, and that has severe life-long implications" for these wounded troops, Pasquina added. Today, the patients at Walter Reed include at least four quadriplegics.

Soldiers and Marines arriving at Walter Reed with both legs blown off usually suffer other extensive injuries. Shrapnel perforates the abdomen, dirt and filth are driven deep into wounds and soft tissue; in some cases, the explosion tears away large patches of skin in an injury called "de-gloving." Heterotopic ossification, or bone growth in fleshy areas, can severely hamper the use of artificial limbs. Infections set in; blood clots can form. And in most cases, the patient arrives with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, which can hamper rehabilitation.

"There’s just challenge after challenge, sad story after sad story," said Pasquina. "But at the same time we have had remarkable success, and pretty much 90 percent of it is attributed to the courage our service members have, their determination to recover and reintegrate back into society."

But the loss of sexual function can be "devastating," said Bo Bergeron, chief of physical therapy at Walter Reed. "It’s a pretty big issue when a guy finds out he can’t have any more kids -- and the spouse is sitting there," she told The Huffington Post. In common cases where a young wife has quit her job and flown with the kids a thousand miles to sit at the bedside of her now-disabled husband, "the family situation already is pretty tenuous. It’s just very very difficult," she said. The divorce rate among married patients is above 50 percent.

Despite such challenges, the amputees at Walter Reed tackle their rehabilitation with aggressive cheer. Many wear T-shirts emblazoned with a fiery explosion and the phrase, "I had a blast," designed and distributed by Tyler Southern and his father. High-tech, powered prostheses help many of them regain athletic prowess. It’s not uncommon to see amputees sprinting down the hallways; several who once played ice hockey have been fitted with artificial legs with skates attached.

But in Afghanistan, the problem -- and the danger -- remain unabated. Much of the money the United States has spent to counter IEDs in Afghanistan has gone to a dizzying array of high-tech devices, ranging from miniature robots to sensors mounted on aerostats and on unmanned drones. Dismounted patrols work with hand-held detectors like the Vallon, which uses ground-penetrating radar to hunt for non-metallic bombs, and with trained sniffer dogs.

But JIEDDO found that while it had saturated U.S. ground combat units with detectors and other devices, training had fallen behind.

"We have focused on pushing these equipments and enablers and detectors out to the theater -- and that’s the right answer," Barbero told The Huffington Post. "But that creates a challenge of training."

In some cases, he said, the first time soldiers and Marines see the new equipment is when they show up for duty in Afghanistan.

JIEDDO is accelerating training for troops bound for Afghanistan, with focused pre-deployment exercises at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., and the nearby Marine training base at Twentynine Palms, Calif. "There’s a lot of forward momentum on this," said Brzymialkiewicz. "We know what drives early detection is visual: a well trained soldier."

But in the struggle with IEDs, she added, "there is, of course, no silver bullet.
"

"In the Arms of An Angel" - Tribute to the American Soldiers

DNA, Autism, UFO's,and Crop Cycles

This is a post where I will abandon my intent of making few comments, if any.  On a professional and personal level, after having worked with many children and teens with autism and Asperger's (in the autistic spectrum), I was always captivated with their minds, and what they brought forth in language. Add that to the concept of Indigo children (okay...a label, but becoming more and more evident with the present cycle of children being born in all nations)....well, I can say that my response to this video was visceral, and my mind flew back in time to so many of the kids I had worked with.  


THEN,  ...... add that to the notion of remote viewing and telepathy through the eyes of our Department of Defense ... and you might want to connect with this article about Paul Mitchell, retired Army intel:
http://watsoncommonthreads.blogspot.com/2011/05/paul-h-smith-as-referred-by-rhine.html


I grant that if you are unable at this time to "tap into" the changes with this new dimension and evolutionary period, this could sound "out there".  As these topics rapidly become substantiated empirically, I confess that I do have thoughts that run through my mind about people in my own life who have castigated such beliefs ....... I truly grin with an internal "And that's what I'm talkin' about, silly!"


Many of the "mainstream" beliefs (especially by teachers) about autism are now becoming obsolete ... those who deal with them breathe a sigh of relief because the real and phenomenal gifts of these children are finally becoming known.


This is a 10-minute-video, and I heartily recommend viewing it when you make a choice to take that time ... just for your own experience.


You don't have to believe in crop circles as an event that is produced by the mind.  At the same time, they are real ... and that begs the question about the mind that allegedly produces them.

Aired Only Once....Budweiser Tribute to Our Armed Forces

"If I Die Before You Wake"

The True Meaning of Memorial Day

(Especially dedicated to our Mark...we will always remember.......your integrity, your bravery, your depth as a man. See you on the Other side......)

"Coming Home" ~ Tribute to, and Memoriam for....Our Troops

Tell the FCC: AT&T's takeover of T-Mobile must be stopped

AT&T's $39 billion proposal to take over T-Mobile is bad news for consumers, and a perfect example of what our anti-trust laws are supposed to prevent.

If it's corporate influence as usual at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), you can bet AT&T will emerge the winner and cell phone users will lose big time.

Tell the FCC: Stop the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile. It's bad for consumers, and it's even worse for our democracy.

The FCC is the only federal agency with jurisdiction over the takeover that accepts public comments on the record. It's crucial that we use the FCC's official comment period to demonstrate just how much public opposition there is to this deal.

There have already been an unprecedented number of comments filed by consumers opposing AT&T. But we'll need your help to make the response so huge that even the FCC can't ignore us.

Take action now and submit an official comment to the FCC before May 31st. We make it easy for you to file a protest against the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile.

If approved, there will be a virtual duopoly for mobile phone service -- with AT&T and Verizon controlling 80% of the market. It's one of the largest proposed "mergers" in years -- and the biggest potential anti-trust case of the Obama administration.¹

Make no mistake, AT&T taking over T-Mobile would be a disaster for all mobile phone users -- not just T-Mobile customers. AT&T has a history censoring content and blocking phone features it doesn't like. The proposed takeover would lead to higher prices and stifle choice and innovation in the marketplace.²

Submit an official comment to the FCC: We make it easy for you to file a protest against the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile.

AT&T couldn't be better positioned for success. On issues like media consolidation and net neutrality, the FCC consistently sides with Big Telecom. And it's not just the commissioners it lobbies. AT&T's attention to the FCC is so fierce that it even delivered 1,524 cupcakes to FCC employees in 63 separate offices and departments at Christmas last year.³ In addition, AT&T is the top corporate contributor to Congress,⁴ and the company boasts an intimate and longstanding relationship with White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley.⁵

AT&T, which bitterly opposed net neutrality and succeeded in convincing the FCC to refrain from banning discrimination on the wireless web,⁶ would have even more control over the wireless Internet should the takeover be allowed to go through. The company has a long history of blocking competing services -- like Skype, Google Voice and Slingbox. And has in the past simply crippled mobile phones that can do more than what the company wants to allow its customers to do on the wireless Web.⁷

Tell the FCC: Stop the AT&T takeover of T-Mobile. It's bad for consumers, and it's even worse for our democracy.

The White House, FCC and the Department of Justice have a track record of caving to the major telecom companies -- supporting retroactive immunity for telecom companies that illegally spied on Americans, invoking state secrets to defend telecom companies against lawsuits on illegal practices, and failing to support strong net neutrality regulations at the FCC.

Consolidation of telecom and media hurts our ability to access the information we need as citizens to fully participate in our democracy and hold our government accountable. Corporate control of media, and increasing consolidation of that control of media by the country's largest corporate political contributor, is something that affects all Americans, regardless of who their cellphone carrier happens to be.

It's up to us to fight on every front, and especially at the FCC, to stop President Obama's administration from rubberstamping this terrible deal. With a May 31st deadline on public comments, the FCC must hear a resounding roar from the masses of people who oppose this deal.

Please, submit an official comment now to the FCC. We make it easy to protest AT&Ts's terrible proposed takeover of T-Mobile.

Notes:¹ AT&T-Mobile: Would Merger Put Ma Bell Back Together Again? Huffington Post, May 11, 2011² Five Things Wrong with AT&T's Mega-Merger, Free Press, March 24, 2011 ³ AT&T to FCC: Let Them Eat Cupcakes, Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2010⁴The 10 Biggest Corporate Campaign Contributors in U.S. Politics, Daily Finance, October, 13, 2010.
⁵ AT&T's Man in the White House Free Press, January 8, 2011⁶ AT&T ramps up lobbying effort against net neutrality at FCC, Washington Post, November 29, 2010⁷ AT&T's Backflip A Backward Step For Android, Information Week, March 8, 2010

Republican Judge Strikes Down Ban on Corporate Contributions Directly to Candidates......What Is Your View?

BREAKING: Republican Judge Strikes Down Ban On Corporate Contributions Directly To Candidates

Reagan-appointed federal Judge James Cacheris just ruled that corporations have a constitutional right to contribute money directly to political candidates:

In a ruling issued late Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Cacheris tossed out part of the indictment against two men accused of illegally reimbursing donors to Hillary Clinton’s Senate and presidential campaigns.

Cacheris says that under last year’s Citizens United Supreme Court case, corporations enjoy the same right as people to contribute to campaigns.

The ruling is the first of its kind. The Citizens United case had applied only to independent corporate expenditures, not to actual campaign contributions.

Today’s decision extends beyond the egregious Citizen United decision because Citizens United only permits corporations to run their own ads supporting a candidate or otherwise act independently of a candidate’s campaign. Cacheris’ opinion would also allow the Chamber of Commerce and Koch Industries, for instance, to contribute directly to political campaigns.

If today’s decision is upheld on appeal, it could be the end of any meaningful restrictions on campaign finance — including limits on the amount of money wealthy individuals and corporations can give to a candidate. In most states, all that is necessary to form a new corporation is to file the right paperwork in the appropriate government office. Moreover, nothing prevents one corporation from owning another corporation. Thus, under Cacheris’ decision, a cap on overall contributions becomes meaningless, because corporate donors can simply create a series of shell corporations for the purpose of evading such caps.

Social Security Cuts Put Vets Back in Line of Fire | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

Social Security Cuts Put Vets Back in Line of Fire | AFL-CIO NOW BLOG

Nutrition’s New Design – Science and Technology – Utne Reader

Nutrition’s New Design – Science and Technology – Utne Reader

"Do You Cry?" "Is It Normal to Cry?" ~ Eckhart Tolle

The Day Before Disclosure: A Movie....A Must See!

The Day Before Disclosure

"Tantrums" from Brain Rules for Baby

DR. JOHN J. MEDINA, a developmental molecular biologist, has a lifelong fascination with how the mind reacts to and organizes information. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller "Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School" -- a provocative book that takes on the way our schools and work environments are designed. His latest book is a must-read for parents and early-childhood educators: "Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five."

Medina is an affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University. Medina lives in Seattle, Washington, with his wife and two boys.

"Talk to Your Children" from Brain Rules for Baby

In the event that you have not heard of John Medina:

DR. JOHN J. MEDINA, a developmental molecular biologist, has a lifelong fascination with how the mind reacts to and organizes information. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller "Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School" -- a provocative book that takes on the way our schools and work environments are designed. His latest book is a must-read for parents and early-childhood educators: "Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five."

Medina is an affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University. Medina lives in Seattle, Washington, with his wife and two boys.