P!nk - Raise Your Glass

Okay, so I guess I like pretty much everything P!nk does. This song just really makes me feel good.

I Love This Song

"Perfect" by P!nk (This is the clean version!)

Made a wrong turn, once or twice
Dug my way out, blood and fire
Bad decisions, that's alright
Welcome to my silly life
Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstood
Miss 'No way, it's all good', it didn't slow me down
Mistaken, always second guessing, underestimated
Look, I'm still around

Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing
You are perfect to me!

You're so mean, when you talk about yourself, you were wrong
Change the voices in your head, make them like you instead
So complicated, look happy, you'll make it!
Filled with so much hatred... such a tired game
It's enough! I've done all I can think of
Chased down all my demons, I've seen you do the same

Oh, pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing

You are perfect to me

The whole world's scared so I swallow the fear
The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer
So cool in line, and we try try try, but we try too hard and it's a waste of my time
Done looking for the critics, cause they're everywhere
They don't like my jeans, they don't get my hair
Exchange ourselves, and we do it all the time
Why do we do that? Why do I do that?

Why do I do that... ?

Yeah, oh, oh baby, pretty baby... !

Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel
Like you're less than, less than perfect
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel
Like you're nothing, you are perfect to me
You are perfect, you are perfect!
Pretty pretty please, if you ever ever feel like you're nothing
You are perfect to me...

"Republicans Have Declared War on Women"

Some scary things are happening in politics. I received this email from MoveOn.org that really concerned me about women's rights and what the Republican party are doing to take them away.

Dear MoveOn member,

It might seem hyperbolic to say that Republicans have declared a war on women.

Sadly, it's not.

Just take a look at the top 10 shocking, crazy things Republicans have proposed in recent weeks. If you think this constitutes a war on women, please share this email far and wide—forward it, and post it on Facebook and Twitter.

I wish I could say these were the only examples of the Republican war on women. But it's just a sampling, and more is sure to come—unless we raise a ruckus and call them out. So please, share this email today.

Thanks,

Kat

Top 10 Shocking Attacks from the GOP War on Women

1) Republicans not only want to reduce women's access to abortion care, they're actually trying to redefine rape. After a major backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven't.

2) A state legislator in Georgia wants to change the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic violence to "accuser." But victims of other less gendered crimes, like burglary, would remain "victims."

3) In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abortion care. (Yep, for real.)

4) Republicans want to cut nearly a billion dollars of food and other aid to low-income pregnant women, mothers, babies, and kids.

5) In Congress, Republicans have proposed a bill that would let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform an abortion necessary to save her life.

6) Maryland Republicans ended all county money for a low-income kids' preschool program. Why? No need, they said. Women should really be home with the kids, not out working.

7) And at the federal level, Republicans want to cut that same program, Head Start, by $1 billion. That means over 200,000 kids could lose their spots in preschool.

8) Two-thirds of the elderly poor are women, and Republicans are taking aim at them too. A spending bill would cut funding for employment services, meals, and housing for senior citizens.

9) Congress voted yesterday on a Republican amendment to cut all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers, one of the most trusted providers of basic health care and family planning in our country.

10) And if that wasn't enough, Republicans are pushing to eliminate all funds for the only federal family planning program. (For humans. But Republican Dan Burton has a bill to provide contraception for wild horses. You can't make this stuff up).

Please share this email today. Just click the links to post on Facebook and Twitter.

Sources:

1. "'Forcible Rape' Language Remains In Bill To Restrict Abortion Funding," The Huffington Post, February 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206084&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=6

"Extreme Abortion Coverage Ban Introduced," Center for American Progress, January 20, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205961&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=7

2. "Georgia State Lawmaker Seeks To Redefine Rape Victims As 'Accusers,'" The Huffington Post, February 4, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206007&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=8

3. "South Dakota bill would legalize killing abortion doctors," Salon, February 15, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206102&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=9

4. "House GOP Proposes Cuts to Scores of Sacred Cows," National Journal, February 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206103&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=10

5. "New GOP Bill Would Allow Hospitals To Let Women Die Instead Of Having An Abortion," Talking Points Memo, February 4, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=205974&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=11

6. "Republican Officials Cut Head Start Funding, Saying Women Should be Married and Home with Kids," Think Progress, February 16, 2011
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/16/gop-women-kids/

7. "Bye Bye, Big Bird. Hello, E. Coli," The New Republic, Feburary 12, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206104&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=12

8. "House GOP spending cuts will devastate women, families and economy," The Hill, February 16, 2011
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-a-budget/144585-house-gop-spending-cuts-will-devastate-women-families-and-economy-

9. "House passes measure stripping Planned Parenthood funding," MSNBC, February 18,2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206122&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=13

"GOP Spending Plan: X-ing Out Title X Family Planning Funds," Wall Street Journal, February 9, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206105&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=14

10. Ibid.

Birth Control for Horses, Not for Women," Blog for Choice, February 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=206106&id=26177-4057661-scqEjax&t=15

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

---

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to Danise Begnaud on February 19, 2011. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Chasing Cars [With Lyrics] - Snow Patrol

Unrelated to the song, which I find is a wonderful love song, my teenager is now driving with his learner's permit. For some reason this song came to mind when he was driving home from a gathering at our friends' house and a stream of cars were following us. He was going only slightly slower than the speed limit, and yet the cars were backing up. He's on his way to being an excellent driver.

The First Study Flawed

Whether or not you believe that autism can be linked to the MMR vaccines given at age 1-2, you need to read these articles. The original 1998 study has been under fire for a while now and I've been following the results. Seems that it was flawed after all, as I guessed. Too many children with autism had developmental problems before any vaccines were given. Mine included.

Here is an article posted on Yahoo's news page:

Study Linking Vaccine to Autism was Flawed

And here's another that was posted on my husband's cousin's husband's facebook page:

How the Case Against the MMR Vaccine Was Fixed

The paper was originally published February 1998. It was retracted 12 years later. My son was born in 1998 but I didn't hear about the case for the MMR vaccine causing autism until we suspected he was on the spectrum when he was about 4 years old. The paper sure caused an uproar but I believed that any link between the vaccine and autism was not all that there was. My son showed developmental delays and problems by the time he was one year old. Therapists began coming to our house when he was 15 months old. After all, early intervention is the key to success.

My family seems to have a strong genetic link to autism spectrum disorders, but it has only been an issue in the last generation. I believe it is something in our generation since it is 3/4 women roughly the same age with kids born near the same time. Was it something we did/did not do as children? Was it something our kids did/did not do? My cousin firmly believes it was the vaccines for her son but our other two boys showed symptoms before their vaccines (I don't know about our other cousin's daughter). I believe that our kids are extra sensitive to toxins out there in the world right now, whether it be vaccines, pollutants, or pesticides (for example).

The second article above shows what the doctors with anti-vaccine agendas did in order to gain fame and fortune. It does state that there is a difference between "regressive autism" such as a child that reached every milestone until around 2 years of age when they suddenly lost their skills and "classical autism" where a child has symptoms of autism from birth. They briefly mention other kinds of autism such as PDD-NOS or Asperger's where a child reaches milestones at a normal rate but has autistic traits that impact their learning and socialization throughout life.

In summary, the article states:

How the link was fixed

The Lancet paper was a case series of 12 child patients; it reported a proposed “new syndrome” of enterocolitis and regressive autism and associated this with MMR as an “apparent precipitating event.” But in fact:

• Three of nine children reported with regressive autism did not have autism diagnosed at all. Only one child clearly had regressive autism

• Despite the paper claiming that all 12 children were “previously normal,” five had documented pre-existing developmental concerns

• Some children were reported to have experienced first behavioural symptoms within days of MMR, but the records documented these as starting some months after vaccination

• In nine cases, unremarkable colonic histopathology results—noting no or minimal fluctuations in inflammatory cell populations—were changed after a medical school “research review” to “non-specific colitis”

• The parents of eight children were reported as blaming MMR, but 11 families made this allegation at the hospital. The exclusion of three allegations—all giving times to onset of problems in months—helped to create the appearance of a 14 day temporal link

• Patients were recruited through anti-MMR campaigners, and the study was commissioned and funded for planned litigation