Sally Kern’s comments- a worse threat to the U.S. than “terrorists or Islam” March 15, 2008
Posted by makingyourdashcount in bigotry, politics, sally Kern.5 comments
I am glad that Representative Sally Kern’s (R- OK) hate filled remarks about homosexuals to a republican constituent group became public, because it outs the hatred and intolerance that so many hide behind closed doors. This us versus the anonymous them mentality underlying her comments is the fuel of ignorant blind hate.
We live in a country that is more racially, religiously and otherwise diverse than anytime in our history. I would venture to say that the bigotry shown in her comments and the xenophobia that underlies them is the real threat.
It is the fuel that killed an innocent 14 year old Lawrence King last month; it is the fuel that keeps people who are different in some way from their peers (whatever their differences) to stay quiet about who they are. It is the fuel of fear.
I just do not get how people are insecure enough to hate each other because he or she is Jewish, gay, Hispanic or Muslim or brown haired or blue eyed or living with something else they just don’t understand. What I find so frightening is that Kern won her seat representing Oklahoma City in the OK legislature with 70% of the vote. What I find refreshing are Oklahoma newspapers calling for her removal from office. Yes, do it.
Life is too busy for conspiracies. It is 2008. It’s time to live and let live. We are ALL different. It’s time to embrace our differences.
Antibiotics & the Water Supply March 11, 2008
Posted by makingyourdashcount in antibiotics, EPA, evolution, pathogens, water supply.1 comment so far
Our pill popping society has infected our water supply with the same antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones that our doctors carefully prescribe to their patients. Bodily discharges combined with unused pills flushed through the system, have filtered into our water supply with alarming test results. AP found containments in our local Ohio water supply, as well as the water supply of 40 million other Americans. “Tests in Columbus found 5 pharmaceuticals or byproducts in treated drinking water and 15 in the city’s watersheds,” according the AP report.
So why is this important?
Our daughter, Sarah, died 3.5 years ago after suddenly going into septic shock. Although under a microscope for an entire year, the “why” she died was never conclusive. Whether it was a systemic problem or a pathogen was never proven. What I do know, is that Children’s Hospital pulled out the big antibiotic guns to try and kill whatever it was that was attacking her. They did not work.
As antibiotics infiltrate society and now water supplies, the pathogens that antibiotics used to kill have evolve to survival. In the meat and eggs we eat to the water we drink, our society’s antibiotics are losing their effectiveness, because we consume them regularly as well as take them, as prescribed. The pathogens they used to easily kill are mutating to superbugs, as seen in this CBS Report.
So what is a society to do?
As doctors have become more prudent in their prescribing of these medications, patients need to take all medication prescribe, as directed.
We need to dispose of left over, unused pills in our landfills, (experts suggest mixing them with coffee grounds,) where they will leach more slowly into the land rather than directly flushing them into our water supply.
Consumers need to be more prudent in the eggs, meat and milk we buy supporting farmers who do not depend on drugs to deliver their products to market.
These steps may seem small, but they may protect the next generation from losing to the antibiotics of last resort.
Making your Dash Count 