Happy Herb Discoveries

This week has been a good week in many ways, but I feel like sharing the parts that I think you will benefit from hearing about: My local food discoveries!



Today a gardener at the Plant Science Lab, the greenhouse at Seattle Central Community College, just told me they now have Lovage!!! An exquisite herb, that taste of my childhood summers when it's wrapped around or stuffed into a chicken, served with (Danish, almost skinless) summer potatoes w butter and lovage. I have been missing that herb insanely during the three and a half years I have lived in the US - I'm a happy girl :-9




On top of that, this past Sunday I found what smelled and looked like elderflowers (before the elderberries on an elderbush) A MUST try for homemade lemonade. If you have a bush in your garden or some other place where car traffic isn't too intense, I'll give you the simple and ABSOLUTELY yummy recipe for elderflower lemonade :-D

Lemonbalm is another herb I haven't seen over here that I hope to come across at some point. It's so good w any type of ice cream, on top of most cakes, or as a fresh herbal tea (can be mixed w fresh mint leaves/stalks, too)

As usual I'm happy when people like my cakes, and it appears that especially the poppy seed cake made people happy at the STEM event at the Plant Science Lab/Greenhouse today :-)) Should I consider starting a baking company after all? ;-D

Egypt - a new member of the democratic club?

I get happy chills whenever I see a people rise for the sake of democracy. I felt the same when I saw the youth of America in 2008 and 2009 caring and daring to hope for the first time since the student revolutions in 1968. I couldn't believe for how long too many Americans sat idly when faced with so much injustice that would make any European take to the streets in anger!

NYT Egypt theme
P.S. Funny that the top hitter when searching on Egypt and Mubarak on Google is a Xinhua article. That can only mean tht China is loosening up its tight grip on the flow of free information, and that a huge amount of Chinese are following the democracy movement in Egypt with great interest: Egypt news article from Xinhua

Republican attempts to kill public media is a threat to US democracy

NPR and PBS are the only quality radio and tv stations left in the US that bring unbiased, relevant information to the US citizens. The commercial tv stations no longer bring relevant news or in depth information about issues that have an impact on the lives of American citizens. It's mostly reduced to chatter about celebrities and cooking now. A functioning democracy needs an informed population. I do acknowledge that with voting rights comes the duty to keeping yourself informed about the issues that the democratically elected representatives vote on, but it would be a much more difficult task for the average voter to do without the existence of PBS and NPR. Save public media - save democracy in the US!

Sign the petition

The Capitolist, Politics Daily: "Jim DeMint Introduces Bill to Defund NPR

The Leadership of NOW: Leading With Kindness

A tv -program on PBS about good leadership calls attention to companies of all sizes that succeed by practising good, human leadership. They prioritize openness, inclusion, encouragement and health for their employees, who in return are glad to reciprocate by giving all they've got for their workplace.

The most interesting example is the fashion company Eileen Ford. Instead of rewarding the staff with a raise, she gives them access to yoga, pilates and massage. This in turn leads to the employees being less stressed, healthier and thereby having less absence due to illness. I hope that this will be the norm at all work places in the very near future!

Another interesting example is Google. Here the employees are encouraged to take chances and risk failure, in contrast to the work principles of other big companies, such as Google's competitor Microsoft. This is not a principle uniquely used at Google, admittedly. The new and interesting element of Google's leadership methods is that they incite the staff to spend 20% of their work week on a project they are passionate about, and the rest of the time working on the tasks their boss tells them to work on. Not only does this boost motivation and loyalty; it also gives the management a higher quality of work and thereby a better return on investment on each employee.


The tv-program is based in the book "Leading With Kindness"

Obama's Presidency - Midways of His First term

As much as I'm disappointed in the depth of improvements the American's have gotten since January 2009, one should remember that he did also run on making compromises, reaching across the aisle (even though he's more to the left politically than Hillary). That's what he's doing. Or at least has been trying desperately to do. But the other side didn't wanna play, or in the few cases they do, they play so hard ball, that he should have stopped playing very early in each negotiation. He was trying to stay "kind/polite", because he was also running on not playing the old dog's game of angry partisanship. It's just really hard to succeed doing that, when the other side continues the rough partisanship. I imagine that he himself is bitter about some of the policy outcomes, and sometimes he probably wanna bang his head against the wall in frustration with the results and the political realities he's up against. Could he have done better? Yes. Would Hillary have been better in all matters? Under the current circumstances, with the dirty politics still being the norm in D.C., perhaps. But he ran on changing that game, and people voted for him by noticeable margins to get that chance. The fact that that wasn't enough to make the politicians make balanced compromises in respect for their opponents is just sad, seen from a democratic, idealist perspective. Maybe that just wasn't possible when the vast majority of the current Republicans holding office are much more extremist in their opinions than most Republicans before them. The moderate Republicans (and Democrats) have just about been rooted out of office. I don't understand why that happened, but nonetheless do I acknowledge that it's hard for anyone to make balanced compromises when the opinions are that far apart.

Militias brewing in the US

Scary stuff!! What else is out there?

Washington State Militia


From Craigslist

"Tri City Militia Forming in 2011 (apply within) (Badger Mtn (?))
Date: 2010-11-24, 10:09AM PST
Reply to: comm-6qhcg-2077882748@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]


Fellow Tri Citians:

I have the same resolution each and every New Year that always seems to go by the wayside by months end due to various commitments in my life. However, this year I find myself jobless and womanless—no better time to rally support for a Tri-City paramilitary group. It is our constitutional right, nay, our duty, to form an arms bearing militia to defend our great, God given land.

I’m thinking that we should set up a fort somewhere on Badger Canyon (due to its advantageous view of all the cities) and start by meeting once a week to secure an arsenal of weapons and food (canned, freeze dried, etc). Our militia will be progressive and all enduring. One need only be Christian and American (or ¾ through the process of naturalization) and be willing to contribute a weapon capable of substantial bodily harm. I currently don’t have a gun due to some past legal issues but I do have a crossbow and some arrows I fashioned myself and a bowie knife that I will contribute to our caché. I have some extra wool socks that can be used as socks or hand warmers during these colder months. I can also probably get my mother to sign over the title to my late grandmothers Kia Sephia which can be utilized as a group car for rideshares, and left on site at the fort for runs into town.

Essentially what I’m looking for right now at this early stage is some people to commit some time to getting the fort and arsenal secured. And to also contribute some items that may help in getting things rolling, like:

Toilet paper
Am fm radio
(oh ill bring my gateway laptop too)
ladder
hammer and nails
wood
those hand warmers that activate by squeezing ( I have poor circulation)
cigarettes
distilled water
and anything else you can think of

Gun control is unconstitutional and we have a right to gather and defend our land. I’m especially concerned about what’s going on over there in Korea which hits to close to home because they are on the Pacific. Mostly, though we’ll gather to tell stories and do some target practice and walk through hand to hand combat. I wrestled in junior high so if anyone can bring knowledge of another martial arts to the group that would be good.

I’d like to get things up and running by Jan 3rd so please email me with questions and ill send sign up sheets to those interested.

Thank you for your time fellow Americans and Tri Citians,
C.M.

* Location: Badger Mtn (?)
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 2077882748"

(Source Craigslist)

Other links
Ghost Army Tactical Store

The US Two-party system and "Big Government"

I just saw a note on Facebook where an American guy complains about the two-party system in the US. Among other things he wants to boykot the two parties and replace all current politicians with Main Street people. This, goes his logic, will result in "No union block votes, no quid pro quo, no back room double dealing. Just actual representation of the voting American".

I don't agree. There are policies and there's politics. Since the Greeks invented democracy 2000 years ago there has been back room dealings and quid pro quo's. And that's an acceptable part of the game of politics, I think. Slander and lying is not. I, too, think that two parties is not enough for a healthy democracy. Denmark, where I'm from, has had between 8 and 11 parties in the Parliament (+ small local parties in the municipalities) => Denmark has mostly had minority coalition governments that had to strike compromises with the majority in the parliament. That construction keeps a democracy vibrant, I think, and I wish the American constitution could be changed so that not only parties, but also coalition governments could be allowed.

On another note, being from a country that's founded on Socialdemocratic principles (socialism mixed with capitalism, flexicurity = easy to hire & fire & and a welfare state to clean up after the firing rounds so we don't have too much homelessness and crime messing up our streets), I don't consider Obama a socialist. And even if he's a proponent of "Big Government", I assure you that all countries in Western Europe have by far more positive than negative experiences with a relatively big welfare state/public sector. In return for some of the highest taxes in the world, a Danish citizen gets:

- free health care where a broken arm gets fixed right away. Unlike mine. My husband and I are insured via Microsoft, supposedly one of the best insurances in the country. Still they sent me home from the ER last night in a temporary wrapping, telling me to make my own appointment with a specialist to get a cast or an operation! The place I was told to call, said I could get it fixed on FRIDAY!!!! WTF!?

- free education from 0 grade to university + money to live for while studying AND access to VERY cheap student loans

- plenty and cheap access to child care for all 0-6 year-olds, partly paid by the municipality, partly paid by the parent. In Sweden, it's considered a child's right to be raised/developed by a professional pedagogue when your parents are at work, so they keep the price even lower than Denmark, at a mere $180 a month - including meals and diapers

- public elderly care and protected housing for more independent elders and handicapped

- all kinds of economic support for unemployed single parents, since Denmark values its future - the children - highly and therefore invests in them

- Effective, fast and clean public transport and wide, well-maintained bikelanes, so I don't have to remember where I parked and worry about parking rules :-) i MISS not needing a car!

So all in all, even though the Obama administration has managed to make some improvements in the rights of the majority of the American people, I think there's still a loooong way to go before Americans are fairly protected by strong consumer rights and the freedom to not having to lie awake at night worrying about going bankrupt if a family member gets ill, or if a parent gets unemployed.

Links
http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com
nprnews: Reich Blames Economy's Woes On Income Disparity
Johann Hari: America is now officially for sale

US a county of free competition?

Not to the extent I had expected!

Comcast
Just getting something as basic as an internet/tv package turned out to be a frustrating endeavor when I moved to Seattle, WA, a couple of years ago. When I came here, my husband had already made a deal with Comcast which gave us fast and relatively stable internet, a possibility of getting an email account and a relatively big tv package where we can record tv programs - a great service, despite the high price.

I might never had noticed that my husband and I had locked ourselves into a monopoly if it wasn't because we kept on having problems with our tv, not being able to watch the channels we paid for. Three times we had a Comcast cable guy come buy to try to fix the cable problems, each time it ended in failure. So I looked into our options on Google.

At first I was filled with optimism seeing the many hits that came up when I searched for 'internet and tv providers'. But my smile quickly changed into a frown when I realized that the long hit list didn't do anything for me since all the providers in the US have neatly divided and conquered the nation between them so there remains only one (!) - 1 - cable provider in each urban area!! I though America was the country of free competition? And aren't cartels illegal in the US?

Being stubborn, I called the only 'alternatives' to cable we've got in Seattle, two dish networks providers - an anachronistic solution from the 1980's that no one in Denmark uses anymore - unless they are from another country and want to be able to watch all the channels from their home country. I swallowed my pride, deciding to go for the obsolete option in order to not allow myself to fall victim of a monopoly and made an appointment with Quest Dish Network to install a dish for us. When the guy came, he carried not just one, but two (!) dishes, one bigger than the other. Both were supposed to be installed on the railing on our balcony, facing south - thus keeping the sun away from our balcony. My husband and I couldn't stand that thought, so we apologized to the guy, helped him carry down his stuff and sent him home. Back to Comcast, head down.

After the 4th Comcast cable guy left our place being unable to help us, we decided to just scratch the up-to-date solution with the recording box and change to the minimum package of purportedly 26 tv stations (de facto about 10 that are in any way watch-able). If Comcast had competition I imagine we would have at least one other cable option, and maybe even a change to pick the tv stations we want - even if we only want 10 tv stations, say, CNN (Europe - which has much better world coverage than the US equivalent), MSNBC, KCTS9, TV5, C-SPAN, CBC, BBC World, HGTV, Comedy Central & SciFi. But somehow you're forced to pay for a load of @#$%^&* you don't want if you want to get most of these channels I just mentioned. And since we refused to pay a ton of money for a huge package of stuff we'd only use a tiny fraction of, we decided it's just not worth it. So we almost never watch tv anymore - which is probably for the better anyway. Instead we use podcasts, pbs.com, Netflix & Hulu (thank you PBS, Netflix & Hulu!), and I know an increasing amount of people are doing the same. You would think that that trend would at least make the cable monopolies CONSIDER upping their service a bit...

Ticketmaster
Same goes for buying concert tickets or other tickets. It seems that most concert places and theaters have made a deal with Ticketmaster that you can only get tickets via Ticketmaster's website - and pay the exorbitant fee to Ticketmaster for doing so. That, too, enraged me so much, that I have boycotted any event that require you buy your ticket via Ticketmaster. If I can in any way walk to the location and buy a ticket there, I do that. Fortunately I see one alternative to Ticketmaster ever more frequently, http://www.brownpapertickets.com/ So there's light at the end of the tunnel in the ticket purchasing market at least.

iPhone & AT&T
I know that AT&T is the old state monopoly, we have them too in Europe. But never have I seen such a clear case of monopoly for a phone company AFTER the official fall of the state owned phone companies as I have with AT&T and the iPhone! How can the American competition authorities possibly allow one company to sit on one specific phone brand - and that's one that happens to be the most popular and fastest growing?

Having consumer organization like Consumer Reports and Consumer Watchdog is a good thing, but it's not enough. The american citizens also need a strong federal or state authority that ensures that the citizens can act in a market with real options, free competition and absence of cartels.

Illogic food pricing in the US, Part II

I guess I should just stop shopping at super markets over here since it seems to be bad for my blood pressure. Reaching for the yeast (yes, the fresh) in anticipation of baking some buns, I was shocked to see the price: $1.79 for 17 grams - 17 GRAMS! In Denmark they throw it at you, 50 grams for $0.20-0.50. So since I need min 2 US packages of yeast to make a full portion of buns (yes, Danish recipe), I end up paying more for going through the trouble (and the electricity for heating the oven) of making my own bread than buying a so-called quality bread in the same super market! Now where's the logic in that!?!? In Denmark it used to cost me $2 to make my own bread and $4 to buy a good bread, see THAT's logic.

Also sad to see that of the few words that are highlighted in the baking isle sign is NEITHER flour nor sugar (anymore, it used to be sugar), but cake mix!! No wonder America is struggling w overweight and bad health when it's so expensive (and therefore uncommon) to make your own dishes. How sad though.

Mixed bag on politics

In Denmark where I'm from, you earn less when you work in the public sector, but it's true that you have the best pension deals, typically around 8 weeks of vacation and good parental leave and sabbath deals. Nonetheless most Danes still aim for a job in the private sector because the salaries are much higher and there's the possibility to get stocks/bonuses/stock options while all still have minimum 6 weeks of vacation. Women more often than men choose to work in the public sector because of the parental leave deal, the possibility for flexible work hours and there's a smaller risk of over time work so it's easier to pick up the children after school or daycare.

I don't know if Americans in the public sector earns more than people in an equivalent job in the private sector, but I'd be surprised if it was so.

As I understood based on the FRONTLINE tv documentaries and articles on the housing implosion it was not laws or the government that forced banks to make bad loans and rub them off to others that thought they were buying secure loan packages. But the lack of laws to prevent the banks from doing it. As far as I remember these preventive laws were made in the aftermath of the 1929 depression and removed by President Clinton in the happy 1990s. Economists were repeatedly warning that it was a problem that the law that demanded banks to have a certain amount of money saved up as a buffer, was gone. But no one i power seemed to listen.

As for retirement age, I think it's the same problem all over the developed world: The elderly burden is rising because the young/elder balance is tipping = fewer people in the working age to generate money to take care of the retired => retirement age rise, private saving is encouraged/rewarded by the government if not outright enforced. I don't necessarily think Boehner's idea on this issue is a bad idea. But there has to be a possibility for early retirement for people of weak health that are unable to work until they're 70. I expect to work till I'm 70, and that's what I want - if I stay healthy. And I'm gonna do all I can to stay healthy. In Europe people are saying that the 30s are the new 20's and the 80s are the new 70s and so on. People in their 80s being so healthy that they lead quite active lives, traveling, doing sports, having an active sexual life etc. That's what I hope will be the case for the majority of people in the world in a few decades.

As for the oil spill, I, too, like JK, have seen other oil companies presenting themselves as "green" companies, especially Shell

See the full debate here

American bank-customer rules like the Wild West

I just stumbled upon a status from a Facebook friend complaining over the service from Bank of America to a degree that he left the bank and encourage others to follow suit. Some of his friends commented and all comments agreed with him.

That made me add this comment, which has been brewing inside me for as long as I've lived in the US:

I just can't believe how weak the competition is in the US bank sector & how weak the consumers are!?!? How can the banks demand as high interest rates over here?!?? It's a mystery to me. The interests rates over here would be illegal in Denmark, and somehow our banks (in DK) are still doing quite well (and so are their stock holders) with decent profits even though Danish banks usually demand 8-12% interest rate on your credit card and 7-8% on home loans (the expensive 2nd mortgage). The institution that loans you the max 80% value of your home typically takes 5% interest rate for a fixed loan or lower if you're willing to renew your loan and accept a floating interest rate - for good or bad - 1 a year or every 3 years. Student loans cost the student 1% a year while they are studying and until 1 year after they graduate. Then it's time to pay back, and that at a rate of 3-5% I wish the Americans would have the same rules!

Checking Bank of America's website, I can't even find the rates they take for credit cards and student loans, not even under Frequently Asked Questions! But they make it very easy to open an account, of course. Not pretty.

Speaking of usury, just saw an ad for a company called peachtree, which looks like something equivalent to lendingtree/moneytree or whatever they're all called. All these pay day loan companies shocked a Danish friend and journalist of mine so much when she visited me here in the US that she took a picture of one of these companies. These kinds of companies are not legal in Denmark and haven't been for decades because they're considered to be taking advantage of desperate people in need.

Hilarious! Bank of America Chairman, Charles Holiday, just said on C SPAN that US banks shouldn't be restricted in size because then they would be weaker compared to their European competitors! As if any European bank is allowed to be as big as, say Bank of America. Has he 'forgotten' that it is EU that keep suing Microsoft for quenching free competition?!

Make Strides Walkathon 2010 - help children & adults walk again

Join my team at the very first Prosthetics Outreach Foundation 2 mile Walkathon Saturday July 10, 9-11:30AM @ Seward Park, 5895 Lake Washington Blvd. S Seattle, WA 98118

Or skip the walk and join the other volunteers, eat, drink enjoy the music and other entertainment, all in order to help children and adults in the developed world walk again. Have fun and do good at the same time!

If you happen to be out of town that day, you'd still make my day if you donate to my cause!

POF Make Strides Walkathon 2010 - Prosthetics Outreach Foundation

My Wishing List for Earth Day 40th Anniversary

On this 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I hope the American representatives in the House and Senate will make America greener by:

* Giving the Americans effective public transport,
* Re-teach them to hand dry their their clothes instead of tumble dry it,
* Teach the Americans to eat un-produced food (=> less trash & pollution),
* Give the Americans incentives to walk & take the bike instead of the car whenever at all possible,
* Make building laws that have green requirements (recycle water, 3 layer isolation windows that manage heat/cold, lasting or biodegradable building materials, half & full flush water closets, water saver on shower head and water taps, warm water pipe heating either in the floor or via radiators, solar cells on roofs etc),
* Improve recycling possibilities, e.g. make bins for used batteries next to the garbage cans by apartment buildings and on street corners or outside drug stores and supermarkets,
* Make Round-up and other unnecessary chemicals ILLEGAL- at least for private consumers (as they have been in Europe for years!),
* Make the leaf and snow blowers illegal!! Give people a good old rake/broom and snow plow = free exercise :-)


Links
Earth Day on Wiki
White House Honors Earth Day 40th Anniversary
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Earth Day History by Envirolink

Somebody's Watching You - an eternal fight to protect yourself on the web

Just found this useful piece of advise on a Facebook friend's wall:

"Read the snopes article. It just makes the email available for purchase and the places where they got all that info still have it all. If you're going to go and try to remove yourself from this site (near impossible as far as I can tell) there are MANY other sites that have the same info. This is just the only one you've heard about. Check out whitepages.com sometime. I searched for my name and found old listings all over the country. Even to places I'd never lived because my ex husband kept the phone number we'd gotten when I was still with him.



Information on the net doesn't die. Don't give these people another piece of yourself. Just ignore it. Personally I stopped trying to stop or block spam to my email. Stopped trying to "unsubscribe" (in reality it just proves you're really there and it's a good email). I went from getting 500+ spam emails a week to about 2-5 a week. Food for thought...."

and

"from wikipedia - Email address harvesting
While Spokeo has a privacy link that provides a process for removal of a name from Public Listing, what it also does is harvest a legitimate e-mail address. The legitimate e-mail address is then available for purchase, potentially opening up the email address to spam"

http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/spokeo.asp
http://www.spokeo.com/
http://www.whitepages.com/ cooperaters with
http://www.peoplefinder.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spokeo

Technical equality

Maybe it's just me, but I get irritated every time I'm fighting off the cable of the iron when I'm ironing. I constantly have to throw it back to the far end of the iron board in order to avoid it from making new, unintended folds in the shirts I'm trying to REMOVE folds from.

And that's when it hit me:
How come the cordless electric drill was already invented in 1961 and the cordless electric hedge trimmer was invented in as early as in 1962 (according to Black & Decker), and that the cordless electric screw driver was invented more more than two decades ago when I still have to battle that blasted iron cord?















I can't help thinking that it is a question of gender inequality - or maybe just a lack of female inventors in the realm of electronic devices. Sadly, it might also be a sign that few men iron their own shirts, STILL in 2010! If they did, I'm sure the cordless iron would have been invented ages ago!

What I don't understand is why the producers of irons haven't seen the huge potential for profit in inventing it, male inventor and owners or not. It was after all a man that invented the washing machine, the dryer, the dish washer, and the vacuum cleaner, all tools which existence I'm grateful for every time I press that start button - ok, except for the vacuum cleaner. I'm still waiting for the day someone invents a light AND effective vacuum cleaner that doesn't cost a fortune, although I have high hopes for the further development of the Roomba!

So all you technical inventors, take a break from your current drafts of technical devices primarily targeted for men's entertainment and take a good look at how you can take the remaining cord enslaved technical devices for tedious house work a step into the 21st century!

No comments:

Volunteer auction donations needed for Prosthetics Outreach Foundation Gala Dinner

2010 PROSTHETICS OUTREACH FOUNDATION
DINNER GALA & AUCTION
March 27th, 2010
Meydenbauer Center Bellevue, WA

VOLUNTEER HELP NEEDED!!!!

We are low on Silent Auction Donations this year and we need YOUR help!

Tell your friends, family, co-workers, all of your Facebook friends, your barista,
pizza delivery man/woman, your hair stylist or nail salon,
your accountant & gardener about the amazing work POF does
& ask them to make a donation to our auction today!

Some of the items on our wish list include:

*2010 Sounders, Seahawks, Mariners Tickets
*Salon Gift Certificates
*Restaurant Certificates ($50+)
*Cooking Classes
*Unique Hand-Made Jewelry
*Hotel Overnight Stays
*Gaming Systems (Xbox, WII, PS3)
*Coffee & Specialty Item Baskets
*Services (landscaping, home decoration, design work)
*Wine

Donations are 100% tax-deductible, and all donors will be recognized in our event catalog, on our website, and on display materials at the event!

You can donate by filling out the attached form or by going directly to- http://pofsea.org/auction10 and click on "Donation an Item Online"


Prosthetics Outreach Foundation is a catalyst for change in developing countries.

Our goal is ensuring that children and adults suffering from limb loss & deformity have lifetime access to high-quality orthopedic and rehabilitation services.

Over 20 years, POF has helped more than 15,000 children and adults to walk again.

A few dollars worth of metal and plastic can restore mobility, independence, and hope to amputees and others with severe orthopedic disabilities.



For more information of the 2010 Dinner Gala & Auction, contact Auction Coordinator Charla Ojala at Auction@pofsea.org

Links:
Prosthetics Outreach Foundation (POF)
Facebook Causes: POF
POF on Facebook

Female Bodies and Gender Equality

Just read this article that a friend of mine posted on Facebook, and it made me jump to the keyboard. Yes, you don't need to be a Britney Spears fan to think it was sad to see her fall apart. And I'm not a fan of The Gossip or her message of "be fat, be happy", which is unhealthy and self-restricting, since having a healthy, reasonably slim body gives you the joys of physical freedom!

But nonetheless, I understand her message of women's need to disobey the cultural suppressions/expectations on women and their appearance. One way to disobey was burning our bras as the women of the late 1960's and 1970's did. Another is the punk movement, shaving your head or, I guess, refusing to be slim (healthy).

What I don't get is, why would you want to do harm to yourself as a protest to society's expectations? Not wearing a bra might be pleasant (or not, depending on your taste), and shaving your head or spending hours every day in front of the mirror striving to make that perfect mohawk might make you feel powerful (or whatever drives you to do it). But at least neither is putting your health at risk. The funny thing is, at as much as the whole punk style is a protest against the established fashion and society, getting the perfect punk look takes at LEAST as much time in front of the mirror (and the sowing machine) as any main stream look. Even though I do admire beauty and beautiful things, and that I do care whether I'm wearing matching stockings or not, I don't spend a lot of time in front of the mirror or the closet, even less sowing the perfect outfit. So in my opinion, the punkers are at least as enslaved by their quest for the perfect appearance as anyone else, as puzzling as it may seem.

That leads me to the the conclusion that the naturalists, the bra free, non shaved women are the ones that enjoy the most freedom from society's current beauty expectations on women.

But choosing to be overweight is just sad. It doesn't take any effort. Anyone can eat unhealthy "food" and drink sweetened drinks while doing other things, and choose to not exercise. Just as it takes no effort to not put on a bra, not shave your legs and not put on make-up. The non actions of the naturalists are not unhealthy - if anything they are actually healthier than us that wear make-up because most make-up, at least in the US, is still filled with led, hormones and other things that are really bad for us.

All is does to choosing to be overweight is making you unhealthy, with all the negative side-effects and increased risk of illness that comes along: higher cholesterol, higher blood pressure, joint pain, higher risk of heart attack and less mobility. And for especially this last reason I dare to claim that being overweight is giving you less happiness and less freedom of movement. How can anyone honestly claim that being so overweight that you can't dance all night or skip and jump and make summersaults or play catch or football with your kids is a positive choice?



Sadly, it actually takes quite an effort to starve yourself as some women strive to match the skinny idols from the fashion magazines: an unhealthy fear of food, of calories, and usually paired with excessive exercise. They might have their freedom of movement intact, but they still put their health at risk. According to Korea Times undernourished women have higher risk of osteoporosis and breast cancer.

Of all the protests against the beauty myth I think choosing to be overweight or unhealthily underweight are the saddest. Free yourselves, don't enslave yourselves to unhealthy living. It IS possible to both be a hedonist and healthy, beauty myth or not!

Rufus Wainwright still sings you dizzy

Just back from my third concert with Rufus Wainwright (the first in Seattle, however, since the two former concerts with him since I moved here sold out). Was a bit nervous if he could still control the many octaves. But not only did he do that (except from one single tone in one song), he also increased his piano talent several degrees!!! Goose bumps as always listening to Hallelujah, this time as a duet with Joan As Police Woman. Beautiful! But nothing beats the Cohen original!

Rufus Wainwright on last.fm

The Americans deserve a better and cheaper health care system

Not knowing any members of Congress personally, I don't have any proof as to whether the members of Congress in general have sufficient knowledge on health care issues. But i certainly hope they do!!!

Health care reform is by far the most important issue the Congress will have voted on since FDR tried to rebuild the US after the 1929 financial crash and ensuing depression.



An example: in Denmark, where I am from, we have "free" health care:
- That means that we pay nothing for seeing a general practitioner or a hospital of our choice, whether we're having surgery or are giving birth.
- The state negotiates with the drug companies to press down the price (for buying in bulk) and pays a part of the citizens' medicine bill when they go to the pharmacy. This means that as soon as you have spent the limit of a few hundred dollars on medicine out of your own wallet each year, the state pays all later medicine bills for the rest of the year in order to protect people with health care problems that require expensive medicine (often elderly people with pension as their only steady income). For a woman in the fertile age, that means that your birth control pills are kept at a very affordable price (in fact, the price has actually FALLEN the last 15 years!!!). And that means that I pay 3 times - THREE TIMES! - as much for a little birth control pill over here than I did in Denmark!

So yes, the state pays. The citizens don't spend any time worrying about paper work or health care bills. The GP, specialist or hospital has had electronic patient journals since 1994 (nationally co-ordinated since 1996) and passes on the bill for their work directly to the state that covers the expenses with one of the highest tax rates in the world. But the Danes do also get a lot for their tax money. They never worry about their or their family's health, they get free education from first day of elementary school through university AND money to pay for books and rent while they study. State supported nursery care and kindergarten, high minimum wages, lots of vacation and parental rights.

And yes, there are waiting lists: 1 month for non lethal conditions which don't prevent people from working and don't get worse if they wait. You can chose any doctor (General Practitioner as well as specialists) and any hospital, public or private, even hospitals in Germany and Sweden. The state pays no matter what. People with rare illnesses are better off being treated in hospitals in Sweden and Germany because the Danish population is too small to give the doctors enough experience with rare operation and cancer cases. That is why the Danish state still pays when you get surgery abroad.


To me that proves that the Americans get too little for their health care money.



It's not all free though.
A visit to the dentist is free until you're 18. After that it gets expensive because the state illogically does not cover your dentist bill. This is why many Danes above 18 years of age get their complex dentist work done in Sweden and Poland, where they pay about half of what the Danish dentists want for the same procedure. But at least the free child dental care is the reason why almost no Danes in their 30's and younger have any fillings, and no one in the same age range need braces.
Same goes for psychology: it's free until you're 18. And as illogical as the dental care that you have to pay for it afterwards.

Nonetheless, some Danes do get private health insurance. About 10% of people in the work force, typically the top ten percent (CEOs and other people that have special value to a company) get private health insurance via their job, so that they can be treated immediately at a hospital if they need surgery. Some companies offer this to employees whose job can't easily be taken over by someone else if they get ill. E.g. all professional sports people have it.

The problem in Denmark is that it is slowly developing into the American system:
The number of private hospitals is increasing in an evil spiral because doctors and nurses flee to the private sector to avoid the busy work conditions and working overtime at the public hospitals. And there's the wage difference. So the more private hospitals Denmark allows to open, the worse the situation at the public hospitals get, and the contrast between private and public gets starker. Which again forces the government to pay for letting ever more people being treated at the private hospitals to fulfill the promise of getting surgery within a month.



My mother cried with despair when she was treated at a private hospital some years ago. Not because she was treated horribly at the private hospital. But because it was SO different than the way her old, dying mother was treated at the public hospital a few years earlier. The treatment she got at the private hospital was how she remembered the public hospitals used to be back when there were no private hospitals in Denmark (the first private hospital opened in 1990, but according to Ugeskrift for Læger (Weekly Publication for Doctors) they lost money until 2002, the right wing government took office in November 2001.


That leads me to the point:
The US needs to invest in the health of its citizens in order to have productive people that can generate income for decades while at the same time being as little a burden to the public health care system as possible. America can save a ton of money if it invests in the health of its people. Prevention is always way cheaper than repair. Imagine what all the money the state will save in the mid to long run can do to further develop this country: increase the average education level, improve the environment and free money to research and investment in green technology so that US can be on top of the list instead of somewhere behind Denmark, Germany and Spain, at least when it comes to wind technology.

The Danish government apparently can't see that it is destroying something very valuable while trying to copy a failed American health care system! Learn from Denmark's successes and mistakes!

Links
Health Action Now
HHS's healthcare reform site
CNN on Obama's health care reform
OECD Health Data 2009, Denmark compared
Boston Globe: Plenty of countries get health care right

Crossing Fingers for Obama's Health Care Reform

If carried out, Obama's health care reform might not make a big difference for me right here and now, but what matters is that it would make a huge positive difference for the majority of the people living in this country! I got irritated when hearing one of the CNN anchors mentioning that it's only relevant for the 47 million Americans who don't have health care insurance today--it certainly is very important for the huge amount of Americans who are UNDERinsured--which sadly turns out to be a huge group too.

And it certainly is relevant for all the companies that are bearing an ever increasing burden of paying their employees' health care insurance bills. By making health care a federal/state matter like it is in all other Western countries, the companies can concentrate on doing their business, which would free up money to R&D (and education of their staff) so the companies can improve their competitiveness.

It also makes me angry to see the Conservative ads on tv about how "some bureaucrat from DC will come between you and your doctor"--it's the exact OPPOSITE!!!! = Right NOW, an insurance company IS between you and your doctor. This fact costs some people their health and in worst cases their lives. Remember the guy in "Sicko" who had to choose which of his 2 fingers he would save when his middle finger and ring finger were cut off in a work accident? He had to choose the ring finger because he couldn't afford the more important and therefore more expensive index finger, even less to get both fingers back--THAT is not an acceptable way for a rich country like the US to treats it's tax-paying citizens!!!! No other Western country treat its citizens like that!!! I know, being Danish and having lived in three other European countries, among them Belgium (Brussels, the EU capital). From a doctor's perspective, I can only imagine that it will be equally easy/difficult to save the index finger as saving the ring finger, so this sad ending of the story can only be happening because a greedy insurance company wants to sqeeze as much money out of sick people as they possibly can--their profits mist be outrageous!!!...and ever-increasing it seems, seeing that the burden of health care bills grows on both companies and the states/federal authorities.

I know the economy in this country is under immense strains right now (again due to excessive greed in the financial sector), but as Obama says, the country will go bankrupt if nothing is done to change the current system. And the best investment this country can make is in its citizens: keep them healthy and educated so that they won't be a burden on society, but a steadily increasing income generator.

(Source: The Economist)

I know Denmark is a tiny country compared to the US, Canada, Japan or Germany. But nonetheless, Denmark topped the Economist's hitlist in both 2007 and 2008 for being the best country to do business in. And during this current economic crisis, Denmark has been the least affected of all the EU countries, probably because its economy already is one of the strongest in the EU and has been so for years. In the 1990's, Chirac and Schröder looked to Denmark's flexicurity society that makes it easy to hire and fire while at the same time making sure no one would be left behind homeless if they lose their job. Thanks to some of the highest taxes in the world (together with Sweden) the Danes are protected by a huge welfare state that not only gives them free health care, but also free universities and money to live for while they study. I'd say the Danish model has proven its strength!

Links
Obama's health care plan
Wonkroom on Conservative Patient Rights Group
Conservatives for Patients Rights themselves
Politico on the Conservative add
Michael Moore on his scary documentary Sicko
HealthReform.gov
whitehouse.gov on health care
World Bank: Denmark no 5 in the world to do business in
The Economist: Denmark the best place to do business in