Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. All of that rain wasn't snow. I'm not quite ready to be buried up to my knees in snow just yet.


2. Cuddling on the couch with the kids.


3. Bedtime peace and quiet.


4. Baby antics.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. Friends with whom I can disagree without having my sanity or salvation called into question.


2. The fall colour is ON this year. The yellows are more yellow, the reds redder, the golds more golden, the burgandys richer, the oranges more orange, the bronze and copper brighter and stronger. I love it!


3. Good neighbors, in the biblical and worldly sense.


4. Prayer.


5. Jobs for those who still have them or have just gotten new ones.


6. Patience (not that I have as much as I would like but I'm a work in progress).


7. Self control (see above).

Fear and Loathing of Vaccines

Kids have already died because people are afraid to vaccinate their children. A lot more are going to have to die before people put aside their paranoia about childhood vaccinations.

An Epidemic of Fear: How Panicked Parents Skipping Shots Endangers Us All
Consider: In certain parts of the US, vaccination rates have dropped so low that occurrences of some children’s diseases are approaching pre-vaccine levels for the first time ever. And the number of people who choose not to vaccinate their children (so-called philosophical exemptions are available in about 20 states, including Pennsylvania, Texas, and much of the West) continues to rise. In states where such opting out is allowed, 2.6 percent of parents did so last year, up from 1 percent in 1991, according to the CDC. In some communities, like California’s affluent Marin County, just north of San Francisco, non-vaccination rates are approaching 6 percent (counterintuitively, higher rates of non-vaccination often correspond with higher levels of education and wealth).

That may not sound like much, but a recent study by the Los Angeles Times indicates that the impact can be devastating. The Times found that even though only about 2 percent of California’s kindergartners are unvaccinated (10,000 kids, or about twice the number as in 1997), they tend to be clustered, disproportionately increasing the risk of an outbreak of such largely eradicated diseases as measles, mumps, and pertussis (whooping cough). The clustering means almost 10 percent of elementary schools statewide may already be at risk.

In May, The New England Journal of Medicine laid the blame for clusters of disease outbreaks throughout the US squarely at the feet of declining vaccination rates, while nonprofit health care provider Kaiser Permanente reported that unvaccinated children were 23 times more likely to get pertussis, a highly contagious bacterial disease that causes violent coughing and is potentially lethal to infants. In the June issue of the journal Pediatrics, Jason Glanz, an epidemiologist at Kaiser’s Institute for Health Research, revealed that the number of reported pertussis cases jumped from 1,000 in 1976 to 26,000 in 2004. A disease that vaccines made rare, in other words, is making a comeback. “This study helps dispel one of the commonly held beliefs among vaccine-refusing parents: that their children are not at risk for vaccine-preventable diseases,” Glanz says.

This is an issue that keeps me away from most "autism" groups. I put autism in quotes because too often those groups are actually about the evils of vaccines and how to fix the damage claimed to have been done by those vaccines. What use is any of that to me who does not fear or loathe vaccines and does not have "vaccine injured" children? I'm certainly not interested in the latest outrageously priced "cure" or "treatment" that "they" don't want you to know about. Every time I hear about some supposed autism advocacy group protesting about vaccines I want to scream that these people do not speak for me. But I get tired of having to repeat myself. This is a problem that they don't seem to have as they repeat their fear and loathing of vaccines every chance they get.

Please note that I received no compensation for this post but if someone from Big Pharma wants to turn me into a pharma shill by paying me for not being afraid of vaccines I will happily take a check. (Will this get me into trouble with new FTC rules?)

Lots of things are hard on children

A justice of the peace in Louisiana refused to marry an interracial couple because he thought life would be too difficult for any children they may have.

Interracial couple denied marriage license in La.
A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.

Bardwell said he has discussed the topic with blacks and whites, along with witnessing some interracial marriages. He came to the conclusion that most of black society does not readily accept offspring of such relationships, and neither does white society, he said.

"I don't do interracial marriages because I don't want to put children in a situation they didn't bring on themselves," Bardwell said. "In my heart, I feel the children will later suffer."

Lets set aside this gentleman's trust in his pre-cognizance about the futures of interracial marriages and individuals for a moment. First I find it highly amusing that this particular incident comes out of Louisiana where there is a history of an affluent and influential class of interracial individuals. Most know them as the Creoles.

There are plenty of factors that could make life difficult for the offspring of any given couple. Poverty can make life difficult for children so why not oppose the marriages of poor people for the sake of the children? Affluence can make life difficult for children so why not oppose the marriages of affluent people for the sake of the children? Living in a different culture is difficult for children so why not oppose the marriages of people who plan to travel abroad for the sake of the children? Being adopted can be difficult for children so why not oppose adoption and the marriages for those who plan to adopt for the sake of the children? Having parents serving in the military can be difficult for children so why not oppose the marriages of people in the military?

For that matter marriage has the potential to be difficult for children should the marriage end in divorce so why not oppose marriage all together? Interracial couples are easy targets because the perceived difference between the two individuals of different races or ethnic backgrounds is so easy for us to see. We assume that difference is all there is. We assume the difference is insurmountable. But the excuse that interracial marriages shouldn't happen for the sake of the children is a lousy excuse. It assumes that the one proffering this lame excuse knows how a family will raise its children. It presumes to know the character of people who do not yet exist. It presumes that the value of a life not yet conceived is not enough to allow it to be conceived within the protective confines of a marriage.

It is ironic that those opposed to interracial marriage for the sake of the children are opposed to the very thing that holds the greatest potential for a good life for interracial children, the marriage of their parents.

Thankful Thursday

I've got two weeks worth of thankfulness saved up. So today I am thankful for/that:

1. I had all of my sisters with me.


2. Fall foliage.


3. The sun came out in time for Little Big Girl's birthday party at the park.


4. One little kid smile and you suddenly feel like a super hero.


5. The message of salvation really is simple enough for a child to understand.


6. Girl talk.


7. Sunshine.


8. All of the men who invented labor saving devices for the sake of their women folk.


9. All of the women folk who inspired the fore mentioned men.


10. Nap time!


11. Even better, bed time! It has been going swimmingly the last couple of weeks.


12. The freedom to speak my mind.


13. The often put upon defenders of freedom, the ones who regularly get shot at and those who don't.


14. One person, one vote.


15. Central heating.


16. My shop vac. Wish I'd gotten one sooner.

What are you thankful for?

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for/that:

1. Forgiveness.


2. Starting over.


3. Joyful music.


4. Good food.


5. Good friends.


6. Sincere compliments from friends who don't know just how much they mean.


7. Patience. Someday I will have enough.


8. The kids reading to each other (after a whole year of drama over reading for homework).

What are you thankful for?