Not voting for Hillary Clinton doesn't mean I don't care about women!

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

I am astonished by the number of 20-, 30- and 40-something women who don't support Hillary Clinton for president. Have they forgotten (or never learned) that it took brave, strong women working hard to get us the rights we now have? Do they not see that electing a woman will help get us the pay equity we deserve, break the glass ceilings and dismantle the good ol' boy network? Electing a woman who shares our values will make tremendous strides in obtaining equal footing with the men who run this country.
Clinton is just that woman. She has worked hard for women and children during her entire career. She was instrumental in getting the Children's Health Insurance Program legislation passed. She has the best plan for universal health care. She is leading the effort in the U.S. Senate to get equal pay - women are still making 77 cents for every dollar of our male counterparts. From her days at the Children's Defense Fund, she has been an advocate for children with special needs. Her list of accomplishments is deep and important to me as a woman.
She'll be a great president, and it's our time.

Lisa Tzovolos Allcott
Salt Lake City

Lisa Allcott may be right on some points, but voting for HIllary Clinton just because she is a woman, doesn't cut it (for me). I'm supporting Obama because I think he's the better candidate and it bothers me that people think I ought to vote for Hillary Clinton because I am a woman and she is a woman. It has nothing to do with being loyal to my sex, or breaking through the glass ceiling. It has to do with voting for the PERSON who will do the best job. I'd love to see a woman president, but I don't currently see one that inspires me.

Another reason to not drink soda...

Drinking Cola Now Could Hurt Women Later
Visit The Health Section
Reporting
Molly Hughes
DENVER (CBS4) ― The cola you drink today could come back to haunt you decades from now. That's the message doctors are trying to get out to young women who confess to a cola compulsion.

Visit any mall food court on any given day and you will have no difficulty finding women who admit they drink more cola than they probably should. They call themselves cola fans, cola aficionados and cola addicts.

They like the taste, they like the fizz and they like the caffeine. And their habit can add up.

Drink four colas a day and by the end of the week, you will have tallied a grand total of 28 high phosphorous, high acid, caffeine-laden drinks.

But University of Colorado Medical School's Dr. Michael McDermott points out that all this cola could come back to haunt young drinkers.

"It very well might. And at that point," McDermott adds, "It's too late."

An estimated 10 million Americans have osteoporosis -- a disease where bones become fragile and break easily. Usually, we think of the disease as one afflicting elderly women, but it can begin decades earlier when we drink colas.

The phosphorous which makes the cola fizzy stimulates a hormone that pulls calcium out of bone. The cola is acidic and our bodies seek calcium to offset the acid. Finally, the caffeine in the cola takes that leached-out calcium and sends it out of our body in our urine.

"Sodas in excess probably promotes significant bone loss over a lifetime," warns McDermott.

But how do you define excess? A 2006 Tufts University Study showed that women who drank four or more colas a week had lower bone mineral density in their hips.

By the time today's young women hit middle age, they will find themselves at University Hospital getting a bone scan with Deborah Johnson.

"It's time to check these old bones out," said Deborah as the scanner quickly and painlessly passed over her body. And now that she knows more about the connection between cola an osteoporosis she's planning to cut out all cola from her diet.

"Not even one!" she laughs.

A-isms

Today I asked A if he was going to be my good helper unpacking boxes. I told him that I thought he was a good helper, and asked him if he was a good helper. He said, "I'll have to think about that one for a little while".

Wildlife at the new house

Our neighbors saw a deer a few weeks ago, and today I saw what I think was a zone tailed hawk. It was a little more brown looking than pictures of zone tailed hawks I've seen online, but it had the band across the tail and I can't find any other hawks with the same stripe. If anyone knows what else it could have been let me know, since it doesn't look like zone tailed hawks actually live in northern utah.

The Zone-tailed Hawk is a slender bodied buteo with long wings and tail. It is in appearance much like the Common Blackhawk and nests in the same habitat but is much different in habits.

The Zone-tail is 19-22 inches long and has a wingspan of 48-55 inches. The plumage is a dark black except for a gray ring around the eye, and the tail which is banded black and white alternately; tail ends with a broad black band and a narrow white tip. The undersides are black. Immatures are similar in appearance to the adults, but differs in color. The plumage overall is more brownish; the undersides are spotted white, as well as the upper sides, which are spotted more sparingly. The tail is brown striped with black.

Nests are built in deciduous and coniferous trees; often the nests are built in the highest tree around. The nests are build of sticks, loosely. The nests are reported to be reused from year to year. 1-3 white to bluish white eggs are laid, sparingly spotted with brown. The eggs are incubated primarily by the female for 35 days. The male hunts for food while the female tends the nestlings. The nestlings will fly in 6-7 weeks.

The Zone-tailed Hawk is at home near mountains, valleys or other "rugged" areas. Hunting usually takes place in open spaces such as desert grasslands or in sparse forests. The Zone-tail soars and glides in circles in search of food, which is primarily birds and lizards. It will also eat large insects and small mammals. The Zone-tail is very much in appearance and in flight similar to the Turkey Vulture, and some claim it uses this resemblance to come closer to prey and catch them unaware.

The Zone-tailed Hawk is found throughout Mexico and Central America, as well as southern and central Baja California, southern California, central and southern Arizona, much of New Mexico and southern Texas.

What is it really about?

I was talking to a friend about SB 267, which would do away with Ralph Becker's domestic registry. She said it's about defending marriage and standing up for families, because our families are failing, and are causing society to fail.

I agree that we have some real problems in our society, and I believe many of those problems come from homes where children are not getting all the things they need to become healthy, productive members of society*. There's just been something that didn't sit right with me and I couldn't figure out what until today.

"Standing up for marriage" and "Defending Marriage" are terms I associate with the LDS church. My church. I believe it was Elder Oaks who said that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is a sin. It doesn't matter if it is homosexual activity or heterosexual activity, it's the same seriousness sin-wise. The thing that gets me is that with SB 267, and anything else like it that I have ever heard talked about, the justification for it is that we can't allow homosexuals to have too many rights. Granted, this bill would affect unmarried heterosexual couples as well, but no one talks about that, leading me to think that the main reason the bill is brought up at all is because people are scared or grossed out or whatever by homosexuality.

If we're so concerned about legislating morality, lets at least be consistent.

Or we could follow Jesus' example of love and compassion. In our rush to deny rights to anyone different than ourselves, we're missing out on an opportunity to make sure that more families and more children are protected. From the Tribune article: Melanie Schertz, who insures her ailing mother under the city's adult-designee provision, said the Legislature should not have the right to determine what constitutes a "family."
"If they're going after this because a few gay people get benefits," she said, "they're not seeing the whole picture."

*I've heard that decent health coverage helps children become healthy productive members of society, regardless of the sexual preference of their parents...

Dear Friends.... A Message From Dave Matthews

Dear Friends,

I hope this finds you well.

A question, a reflection, and an endorsement.

Why is our country divided?
Why has this division been growing?

Can we not all agree that we are a country that supports its families, that protects its citizens and respects its neighbors?
A country that educates its children?
Are we not a country that can lead by example rather than by force?
Is ours a government of the people, by the people, for the people?

I would like to think so.
But I believe that corporate greed and its involvement in policy making, along with political cronyism have made it nearly impossible for the people to govern.
So we fight amongst ourselves over the spin of political slogans and half truths.
And so we are divided.

It is time for a change and that is why I support Barack Obama for President.

Respectfully,

Dave Matthews