CDC: Heath Data shows Abortions fall 5%, largest drop in a decade

CDC: Abortions fall 5%, largest drop in a decade

By Michael Muskal
November 21, 2012, 1:41 p.m.

The rate of abortions in the United States fell by 5%, the largest single-year decrease in a decade, researchers for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The decline is outlined in the annual abortion surveillance data for the year 2009, the latest available. It was published on Wednesday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

About 18% of all pregnancies in the United States end in abortion, the CDC noted. Factors from the availability of abortion providers, state laws, the general economy and access to health services including contraception, can

Finally! Alabama is Top in the Nation in something other than football.

The only problem is, that – true to form – it’s in something bad.

The reader will recall that Alabama is the state where Lilly Ledbetter was screwed over by a bunch of men where she worked for Goodyear Tire and Rubber in Gadsden, by not being paid the same amount of money for doing the same amount of work, and then was denied her day before the United States Supreme Court, which then gave rise to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

Of her case, United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote:

Lilly Ledbetter was a supervisor at Goodyear Tire and Rubber’s plant in Gadsden, Alabama, from 1979 until her retirement in 1998. For most of those years, she worked as an area manager, a position largely occupied by men. Initially, Ledbetter’s salary was in line with the salaries of men performing substantially similar work. Over time, however, her pay slipped in comparison to the pay of male area managers with equal or less seniority. By the end of 1997, Ledbetter was the only woman working as an area manager and the pay discrepancy between Ledbetter and her 15 male counterparts was stark: Ledbetter was paid $3,727 per month; the lowest paid male area manager received $4,286 per month, the highest paid, $5,236.

Face it: Alabama has a poor track record when it comes to equality.

Voted NO on Civil Rights.

The infamous Alabama HB-56, aka the “Hammon-Beason Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act,” which virtually makes being an Hispanic illegal.

Voted NO on Equal Pay for Equal Work.

What is Alabama’s major malfunction?

—

Alabama‘s pay gap between men and women among largest in nation, study says

Published: Thursday, October 25, 2012, 2:09 PM Updated: Thursday, October 25, 2012, 2:11 PM

By Alex Walsh | awalsh@al.com

National Women’s Law Center

Alabama is home to the eighth-largest gap between what men and women earn, according to the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC).To compile its rankings, the NWLC looked at two figures for each state: the median annual wage for all male workers in a state, and the same figure for females. In Alabama, the median salary is $42,951 for male workers, and $31,862 for female workers, a difference of 25.8 percent.

Across the U.S., the median annual wage is $48,202 for men, and $37,118 for women, a 23 percent difference.

This research suggests that, across the state and nation, women have less economic opportunity overall, says Kate Gallagher Robbins, a senior policy analyst for the NWLC. The data is

The Theory of Everything

I’m elated to learn that there is a “Theory of Everything.”

As I delved further into it, I found that

Yahoo! Marissa Mayer, employee #20 at Google, to be new Yahoo! CEO

Congratulations to both!

Now, perhaps Yahoo! can move ahead.

Here’s hoping!

—

July 16, 2012, 4:00 pm

Google’s Marissa Mayer Tapped as Yahoo’s Chief

By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and EVELYN M. RUSLI

Marissa Mayer, New CEO of Yahoo!

Marissa Mayer, one of the top executives at Google, will be the next C.E.O. of Yahoo, making her one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley and corporate America.

The appointment of Ms. Mayer, who was employee No. 20 at Google and was one of the few public faces of the company, is considered a surprising coup for Yahoo, which has struggled in recent years to attract top flight talent in its battle with competitors like Google and Facebook.

Ms. Mayer, 37, had for years been responsible for the look and feel of Google’s most popular products: the famously unadorned white search homepage, Gmail, Google News and Google Images. More recently, Ms. Mayer, an engineer by training whose first job at Google included computer programming, was put in charge of the company’s location and local services, including Google Maps, overseeing more than 1,000 product managers. She also sat on Google’s operating committee, part of a small circle of senior executives who had the ear of Google’s co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

With her appointment as the president and chief executive of Yahoo, Ms. Mayer joins a short list of women in Silicon Valley to hold the top spot. The elite club includes

At first glance, it’s shallow. Then, you realize… you’re in over your head.

You can’t go it alone.

We weren’t meant to go it alone.

We all need help.

So, here’s some help.

—

I Thought I Understood About Men But I Didn’t

By Shaunti Feldhahn

Have you ever been totally confused by something the man in your life has said or done? Have you ever wondered, looking at his rapidly departing back, “Why did that make him so angry?”

Have you ever been perplexed by your husband‘s defensiveness when you ask him to stop working so much? Yeah? Me too.

But now, after conducting spoken and written interviews with more than one thousand men, I can tell you that the answers to those and dozens of other common perplexities are all related to what is going on in your man’s inner life.

Most are things he wishes you knew but doesn’t know how to tell you. In some cases, they’re things he has no idea you don’t know.

Light bulb On!

It turned out that these men shared some surprisingly common inner wiring. At their secret inner core, many had

FDA Announces Food Recalls

To ensure public health and safety, the United States Food and Drug Administration has recently announced recalls of certain food items.

And, if you can imagine it – believe it or else – there are politicians and people who say the FDA should be eliminated. Hint: They’re “TEA Party,” Libertarian or Republican. And you know what their argument is? It’s not in Constitution.

Honestly, that stupefies me. It boggles my imagination.

Following are the two most recent recall announcements.

Relationship Maintenance and the Importance of “Honey do’s”

I can hear it now: “Take out the papers and the trash, or you don’t get no spending cash…”

But that once-popular song was addressing the parental role to the child. This issue deals with the nature of the marital relationship. And yet, the perspective of maintenance is one which remains the common denominator in both.

It’s often said that the single most important job in all the world – and one which is most unfortunately overlooked, even maligned – is maintenance.

For example, we maintain our bodies by and with food, bathing and exercise. We similarly maintain our clothing by washing, drying and properly folding or putting away each item. We maintain our dishes, cups, plates and flatware, as well. We maintain everything in life… including our relationships. Maintenance is the solitary unifying and common job in all the world. There is nothing we do not maintain.

Knowing then, that our relationships are myriad, it should come as no surprise that we must consider their various component elements and how they jointly fit together to comprise the thing that is our marriage.

A Woman’s Self-Esteem Is Tied To The House

 By Chuck Snyder

Because my self-esteem is not tied to how our house looks, I sometimes don’t get around to making repairs as quickly as my wife, Barb, would like.

It would be simple to

For the Men: Sexual Tips, Tricks and Hints Guaranteed to Make Her Happy!

Yeah.

Sex.

Okay.

Never thought you’d ever read about that here, now did you?

Read on.

#1: WET HANDS
Yep, it is the wet hands technique. Certainly one of the most popular among most women polled for this article. So simple. So exciting. You will leave her breathless.

Marriage Relationship Tips: For the women

Often, it has seemed that in popular culture we are told one thing by the many self-proclaimed “authorities” on the teevee (aka “boob tube”) whom daily parade their guests and others as know-it-alls, while unbeknown to the viewers, there may be an ‘agenda’ behind the show – that ‘agenda’ being the promotion of the host, and their ideas, exclusively for the purpose of making money, rather than promoting something that works – for the benefit of another, regardless of whether or not it enjoys popularity in media or culture.

Also, some authors whom have risen to popularity have promoted themselves as having educational or other professional licensing credentials, when in fact, they do not – or if they do possess educational credentials, they are questionable at best. And then, others have been promoted to popularity because of

The Last Fair Deal Gone Down: Robert Johnson, Racism and Abortion

Late American Blues guitarist/singer/songwriter Robert Johnson, a Negro, died at the tender young age of 27, in 1938. There are less than 50 recordings of his, of which historians are aware. Among musicologists, researchers and others, his performances are considered treasures and remain the subject of great debate, even today.

If Robert Johnson’s mother were alive today, living in New York City and in the prime of her childbearing years, the flower of her youth, and were to become pregnant with him today…

Marriage Tips: Love Boosters for Women

From the beginning of time, marriage of a man and a woman, and the children that naturally result from that union, has created family, and continues to form the foundation of all societies the world over. We learn about relationships and how to treat others from our family. And it is to the benefit of every society to enrich the health of those foundations. Sometimes, it’s not the BIG THINGS that spoil love in marriage, as much as it is vitally important to “catch all the foxes, those little foxes, before they ruin the vineyard of love,” of our marriage relationship.

As I have written previously,

What a Great Day!

Wow!

You’d have thought it was my birthday or something!

Today was one the best days!

I started out to work, but after my arrival was notified that I could take the day off. Not too bad so far, eh?

Then, I went to a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts shop, ordered a dozen glazed on the half shell with coffee, and read the newspaper, checked in on FaceBook, and swapped messages with friends locally and abroad.

Then, I went to the

Chocoloate… once evil, now good!

Since it seems we’re on a roll with this food thing, ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce to you…

Schizophrenic science!

That’s how I describe the “don’t eat this, that or the other foods” crowd.

First, eggs were evil, because it was discovered they had cholesterol! Then, we discovered there were two kinds of cholesterol. Then, eggs were okay. But afterward, those researchers never revealed they didn’t have all the information to begin with.

Then, wine, liquor, beer and other spiritous beverage was gonna’ kill you. Then researchers said it was some stuff in the skins of grapes, which made red wine okay to drink. Then, it was proanthocyanidins (commonly called Pycnogenol® – see? They have something they wanna’ sell to you! Please refer to my previous entry entitled “Eat me… Drink me… It’ll cure what ails you! (But by law, I can’t guarantee that.)“), which was found in the seeds, later found in pine bark. Then… they later learned it was simply the alcohol itself that was beneficial. So now, it’s okay to have a beer, glass of wine, or mixed drink. “But only in moderation!,” they emphasize.

Next thing, coffee was bad for you. Now, it’s good.

Fatty fish, such as salmon, mackerel, and sardines were next up. Matter of fact, all fat was “evil!” Ban fat! Fat free this, that and the other. “No-cal,” “lo-cal,” all became the bywords of a gullible public. “All the flavor and zero calories!,” boasted some food and drink products. Lite (and less flavorful) beers followed suit. Then SMASH – Salmon, Mackerel, Anchovies, Sardines, Herring – were found to contain omega 3, 6, 9 fatty acids… which are “good for your heart/ heart healthy.” So it was okay to eat fish again.

Then carbs were evil. But it was later discovered that

Sex, Drugs & Rock-n-Roll, “I want my MTV,” and… the end of Titty Bars.

Ever been to a strip club?

It’s almost a “who hasn’t?” response.

We see them on teevee and in the movies, so if one has never been, it’s almost as if they have, even if they haven’t been physically.

Even Huntsville, Alabama – a conservative, strongly religious, Republican-leaning state, and Huntsville, it’s most highly educated city – has strip clubs.

Otherwise and sometimes known as titty bars, and a variety of other pseudonyms, the venues are typically bars or lounges where alcohol is served to predominately male patrons by female employees, and whom quaff their brews while seated together in a dark room watching a female dancer gyrate to various popular musical tunes, accompanied by various stages of disrobing.

Sometimes, depending upon locale and local or state law, the female dancers may be required to wear “pasties” which are opaque adhesive coverings which cover their areolae and nipples. Sometimes also – again, depending upon state and/or local law – alcohol may or may not be served, though it frequently is consumed on premises.

Typically, the dancers will be

Black Children are an Endangered Species – the Face of Modern American Genocide

The majority of abortions

are performed in

ethnic minority communities.

The majority of abortions performed in America are upon ethnic minority women. Would that be called "ethnic cleansing," or "genocide"?

The Centers for Disease Control define abortion as a procedure “…that was intended to terminate a suspected or known intrauterine pregnancy and to produce a nonviable fetus at any gestational age.”

At ANY gestational age?

What about during labor? That’s any gestational age.

But then… would it be murder, instead?

A 30-year study by the pro-abortion Alan Guttmacher Institute revealed that

Stereophonic Headphone Types

In today’s Huntsville Times, under the “Law & Order” section, subhead “The police beat,” on page A4, a brief article enumerated the names and ages of 17 women arrested “Wednesday in a citywide prostitution sting.” Police Public Information Officer Sergeant Mark Roberts shared the area of concentration and locations of the arrests. The article stated that “all the women have been booked in the Madison County Jail,” and “charged with soliciting prostitution.”

From a social perspective, I can’t help but imagine the women probably have histories of physical, sexual and drug abuse. I further conjecture – based upon historical sociological data – that they were probably seeking to support a drug habit.

What interested me, however, were their names.

The women ranged in age from 20-49, and no pictures were published, and no data concerning their ethnicity was made, though the authorities doubtless photographed and documented it.

Here, for your perusal are the names and ages of the women arrested.

Readers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions.

Mandie Darlene Anderson – 24
Dawn Pruitt Collins – 49
Tanisha Kachelle Johnson – 29
Stephanie Ineke Salters Rahim – 24
Tanisha Wrenet Page – 34
Rachel York Morehouse – 23
Amber Sue Pearson – 24
Vickie Marie Brown – 35
Crystal Renee Kemper – 33
Kymberly Ellis Clinard – 38
Teresa Gail Stevenson – 35
Mary Shanna Williams – 30
Nichole Ross Barnett – 26
Chasity Michelle Skipworth – 35
Latasha Lashun James – 33
Bethani Amber Hosch – 20
Sue Ann Kinney Branch – 45

Now that you’ve hopefully drawn your own conclusions, see if you were right!

Tattooed Ladies & Trader Joe’s

I just got back from a brief rendezvous with Trader Joe’s. It’s a grocery store chain out of Monrovia, CA. That would be California for those unfamiliar with the Postal Service abbreviations for the 50 states. (I still haven’t figured out why the newspapers continue to abbreviate Alabama “Ala.,” Massachusetts “Mass,” or Vermont “Ver.”)

Anyway, I wanted some sourdough bread, brie and a bottle of wine. Eat and relax, you see. Because by this time, of course, I was already off work and back in Santa Rosa.

Before I arrived home,