WONDERFUL-WORLD

Well, it is official.  Doug a/k/a MyTechGuy and I have something to celebrate.  It took nine months, but was well worth the effort.  It wasn't always easy, and it wasn't really planned, but I think I speak for both of us when I say it was well worth it and turned out to be a life-altering, wonderful decision.

What is this bundle of joy?  What has been building up to this day over the past 9 months??

Nine months ago I quit smoking.  I read one of Doug's site-of-the-day posts about a website (quitnet.com) aimed at helping people quit smoking. 

January 6th was my quit date.  Thanks Doug!!  Here's to another 9 months.  I can never thank you enough. What a Wonderful difference you made for me and my family.  Thank you!

If you've watched any news program over the past month, you've undoubtedly heard about the poor housing market.  Home values have decreased.  Sellers are throwing in all sorts of incentives for buyers, even cars.

For the first time, we protested our HCAD appraisal online.  Little did we know, protesting online would eliminate the "informal" hearing; the meeting with the HCAD representative for a discussion and, hopefully, agreement on the value.  We received a "settlement offer" from HCAD, which said if we didn't like it, we would be able to go to a hearing.  We didn't like the value  - the settlement offer was higher than the HCAD appraised value, which was higher than the HCAD market value.  Who's going to agree with that??

HCAD scheduled the hearing for today - a Saturday.  That's great as far as our schedule, but I think it makes for some irritated HCAD reps - the ones who have the power to reduce or increase your taxable values.  My husband did his homework, printed off our neighbors' values (all of which are much lower than ours) and went in armed.  After all was said and done (within about 10 minutes, most of which consisted of the reps saying their legal requirements on tape), HCAD came down by only $1,000 from their paper "settlement offer".  We have always been successful at lowering our value with HCAD, so this was quite a shock to us.  It will be more of a shock when the tax and insurance bills come in. 

While it might be nice to think that I have the most expensive home on my street (yea, right), I do not understand how HCAD can completely ignore the fact that the same amount of property and the same size houses up and down my street, in similar condition, do not have values that vary by $30k.  How can they ignore the fact that sellers are lowering their prices due to the market?  HCAD's own argument was that they compare our value only to comparable sales in the area, and not to my own neighbors' values.  They had only 2 sales on their comp list, both of which had more land, larger homes and newer pools, and were not on my street.  Interestingly, two homes have sold on my street in the past 12 months; however, they were no where to be found on the comp sales list. 

Our tax dollars are going to be used to bail out people who took out mortgages when they could not afford them in the first place.  WE get to help them stay in their homes while they and their lenders cry and say "oops!" and while WE get taxed to death.  Is it no wonder that many good people cannot buy a home? 

How did you do with HCAD this year?  Is this happening across Harris County, or was this year simply our turn over the barrel?

Since Diva wrote a blog about trying to kick a diet into gear, I decided to share my recent "diet" experience.

As I've said before, I quit smoking in January.  As I marked off the 6th month of my quit on the calendar, I started pondering other health issues that I should pay attention to.  One is that I am going to a dermatologist for a once-over on my sun freckles.  A bigger issue, though, that I decided to look at, is my diet.  I don't mean diet as in a dirty, four letter word.  I mean nutrition.

At the end of the week, I looked back at what I had eaten.  I'm terrible about only eating one meal a dinner; a late lunch/early dinner.  My menu for the week looked something like this:

BBQ (beef and chicken), potato salad (twice as there were leftovers),

eggs, sausage, toast and grits (are grits a grain or a veggie from corn?)

grilled chicken, mac & cheese, grean beans (twice due to leftovers)

homemade burgers with fixin's and chips

cheerios w/milk (midnight snack; dinner substitute)

take-out pizza

icecream

drinks were milk (a lot of milk), Coke and Caff-Free Diet Coke, and water (though not as much as a person should drink and usually increased above one or two glasses only on days that I was active outside, like when mowing).  I also had a few beers during our BBQ.

Well, this list just looked horrible to me.  There are no fruits at all, and only potato salad and green beans for veggies.  Since the potato salad was made with mayo, I don't think it should be considered to be a healthy veggie, so we're left with about a cup of green beans for the week.  Wow.  An entire week without fruit and only scant veggies.  Since my veggie garden is pretty much spent, my veggie intake dropped to virtually none.  It doesn't take a scientist to realize that this is a horrible diet.  No wonder my body is sluggish and puffy in appearance.  I decided to try something different.  I decided to look at my body as a machine, and food as the fuel that this wonderful machine needs in order to function.  Instead of looking at food as a necessary evil or merely a means by which to satisfy my taste buds or fill my stomach, I wanted to look at it as getting the most bang (nutrients) per bite.  Many people already think this way, but many more don't - or they only claim to.  Looking at food in this way was not some sort of sudden realization or understanding of a topic that somehow everyone else had already figured out.  It was recognizing a terrible, lazy pattern of eating.  We all learned the food groups in school.  We all know how to eat better.  I (we?) simply dropped the ball on properly fueling my body.

I started with fruits.  I love fruit, so there is absolutely no reason for me not to eat fruit daily.  Berries are in season, and they are some of the richest foods in antioxidants that our bodies need, along with vitamins, and low or zero fat.  With the exception of plums, the richer the color of most fruits and vegetables, the more antioxidants they contain.  In the past week, I've had major quantities of fresh blueberries and strawberries.  How nicely different it was to sit down with a bowl of berries (no topping) for a desert and/or snack.  I've had cantelope, yellow meat watermelon (a first for me...yum!), bananas, lemons and more berries this past week.

I also tackled the veggies, or lack thereof.  Sometimes I crave celery.  I don't know what vitamins it is rich in, but whatever it is, my body wants it.  In the past week, I've eaten an entire bunch of celery as snacks.  I've also had green beans, steamed yams (mashed, with a little butter - I love that!), brussel sprouts, carrots and salad - salad once a day, every day.  Instead of dressing, I use a bit of feta cheese for flavoring.  The veggies took up much more room on my plate than anything else.

As for meats, I had a salmon fillet, talapia (sp?) fillet, grilled chicken (three times), and the tender side of a porterhouse steak.  As for grains, I had a bowl of Cherrios (with more berries) on most days, and had brown rice one day.  I've made (and drank) more iced tea (no sugar) in the past week than I have in the past year, and increased my water intake considerably. 

So here we are, a week later.  I felt like all I did was eat, eat, eat last week, but the feeling in my body is WONDERFUL!  Even my teeth feel better!  I don't feel sluggish, the puffy appearance has subsided, and I have much more energy.  My memory seems to have improved as well.  I actually noticed that I wasn't hungry most of the time. I don't think I lost any weight - that wasn't my goal in the first place, but I'll take it if it happens.  There may just be some truth to the saying that you have to eat in order to lose weight.  There is certainly truth in saying that you have to EAT right to LIVE right.

I can't help but wonder when/why/how I, and probably many of you, fell away from nutrition in lieu of faster, easier, cheaper, larger meals.  I suppose we can blame it on working too many hours to take the time, being in a hurry to get the kids to their activities, or needing to spend more time on homework, baths and laundry than on menu planning.  Every day we instinctively know (or tell ourselves) that we need to take a shower and brush our teeth.  Why don't we also instinctively put nutritious foods in our bodies?  When we are raising our children, we (most of us anyway) try to make sure they are eating a balanced diet.  Why, when they aren't eating with us, do we eat whatever makes us full, without regard to nutrition?  For many, the only "nutrition" thoughts that cross our minds is whether or not something is fattening and, even then, we often don't give that much thought.  We take better care of our cars than we do our bodies.  We change the oil, balance and rotate the tires, replace worn batteries, belts and hoses.  We shiver at the thought of putting a watered-down fuel in the gas tank.  Why do we treat our bodies worse than we treat our cars?  I've talked with some friends and family members about our views on nutrition, and the only two people that actually paid attention to the nutrients in their foods are diabetic.

I feel so much better with the simple addition of more (much more) fruits and vegetables into my diet!  Who knows - maybe during the past week I happened to eat the right amount to thwart off a disease that was on the verge of activating in my body.  I've found myself looking up nutritional values on many fruits and veggies, and then deciding what to buy at the store.  I hope to keep up with paying attention to my nutrition, especially when the cooler months arrive.  It seems easy to eat lots of fruits and veggies during the hot summer, but pasta dishes in the fall and winter tend to call my name.

I know we have some bloggers that are very conscious of their nutrition.  I am curious as to their eating habits, but also those of the other bloggers who were eating similar to how I was, and their reasons why.  Be honest - you will not convince me that I'm the only person here that had terrible eating habits.

What a wonderful date in our country's history!

Declaration of Independence



In Congress, July 4, 1776. The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776.
THE UNANIMOUS
DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

WHEN, in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's GOD entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the Causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their CREATOR, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that Governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

HE has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

HE has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

HE has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People, unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyranny only.

HE has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

HE has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

HE has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the mean Time, exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.

HE has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

HE has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

HE has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

HE has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harrass our People, and eat out their Substance.

HE has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the Consent of our Legislatures.

HE has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

HE has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

FOR quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:

FOR protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

FOR cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

FOR imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

FOR depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

FOR transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

FOR abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:

FOR taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

FOR suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

HE has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection, and waging War against us.

HE has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

HE is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with Circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

HE has constrained our Fellow-Citizens, taken Captive on the high Seas, to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

HE has excited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes, and Conditions.

IN every Stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every Act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

NOR have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them, from Time to Time, of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our Connexions and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of Consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the Rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

WE, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connexion between them and the State of Great-Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of Right do. And for the Support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honour.

John Hancock.
GEORGIA, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, Geo. Walton.
NORTH-CAROLINA, Wm. Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn.
SOUTH-CAROLINA, Edward Rutledge, Thos Heyward, junr. Thomas Lynch, junr. Arthur Middleton.
MARYLAND, Samuel Chase, Wm. Paca, Thos. Stone, Charles Carroll, of Carrollton.
VIRGINIA, George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Ths. Jefferson, Benja. Harrison, Thos. Nelson, jr. Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton.
PENNSYLVANIA, Robt. Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benja. Franklin, John Morton, Geo. Clymer, Jas. Smith, Geo. Taylor, James Wilson, Geo. Ross.
DELAWARE, Caesar Rodney, Geo. Read.
NEW-YORK, Wm. Floyd, Phil. Livingston, Frank Lewis, Lewis Morris.
NEW-JERSEY, Richd. Stockton, Jno. Witherspoon, Fras. Hopkinson, John Hart, Abra. Clark.
NEW-HAMPSHIRE, Josiah Bartlett, Wm. Whipple, Matthew Thornton.
MASSACHUSETTS-BAY, Saml. Adams, John Adams, Robt. Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry.
RHODE-ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE, &c. Step. Hopkins, William Ellery.
CONNECTICUT, Roger Sherman, Saml. Huntington, Wm. Williams, Oliver Wolcott.

Kind of makes you wonder why the number 13 is considered unlucky!  Many Americans view this day as an opportunity to have the day off from work, BBQ, drink beer, and watch/light fireworks.  That, to me, is likened to the Easter Bunny stealing Easter, and Santa stealing Christmas. 

What, if anything, are you doing in an effort to appreciate the significance of this day? 

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) — A Long Island man convicted of helping his wife keep two Indonesian housekeepers as virtual slaves was sentenced on Friday to three years and four months in prison, ending a trial that shed light on the often little-seen exploitation and abuse of domestic workers.

The man, Mahender Sabhnani, 52, an international perfume maker, was also fined $12,500. He was convicted in December on a 12-count federal indictment that included charges of forced labor, conspiracy, involuntary servitude and harboring aliens.

The victims testified that they were beaten with brooms and umbrellas, slashed with knives and forced to climb stairs and to take freezing showers for misdeeds that included sleeping late or stealing food from the trash because they were poorly fed.

On Thursday, Mr. Sabhnani tearfully watched as his wife, Varsha, was sentenced to 11 years in prison. On Friday, she dabbed her eyes as she watched her husband meet his own fate in Federal District Court.

Prosecutors contended that Varsha Sabhnani was primarily responsible for inflicting years of abuse on the poorly educated servants.

Her husband, they said, allowed the abuse and benefited from the work the women performed in the couple’s $2 million Muttontown home.

Do you think the fine and amount of jail time fits the crime?

Would we have known anything at all about the two Pasadena children if their mother hadn't called the police to report them missing?  Think about it.  The family were Katrina transplants.  If the monster and the mother had not said a word, and simply moved away, nobody would have thought anything of it and we probably would never have known the kids were missing, let alone murdered by their father.  Who knows how long their bodies would have gone undiscovered, and then unidentified. 

It's very disturbing to realize that this guy very well may have gotten away with murder, if not for the mother's call to police.  It's even more disturbing to wonder what the other Katrina criminals/criminal minds are up to.

Do you think he could have gotten away with it had the mother not called police to report the kids missing?

Ok folks, I need some ideas!  On June 25th, my husband and I will be celebrating our 25th anniversary since we first said "I do" to each other.  Can you imagine a guy that has been able to put up with me that long?  I have a hard time with that one, too.  He's a wonderful man.

We will be at a lakehouse, with our grandson, next week.  I need gift ideas!!!  We had already discussed not getting each other anything, when yesterday he gave me the most beautiful diamond ring I've ever seen.  While I'm wearing the boat I would have liked to have given him on my left hand, I have no idea as to what to give him.  Time is so limited now, with trying to get packed for our vacation.  I did find a bakery in the area, and I've thought to have them make a cake for us, but we really don't need the poundage.  I've made reservations for a restaurant in the area we will be in, but it's nothing fancy.  For years we have taken our vacation during our anniversary week, and we usually just go to a restaurant - the vacation being our gift to each other.  But this is the 25 year mark and I want to make it special.

PLEASE!  I need some ideas! 

It's that time again when the dreaded hurricane season is upon us.  The Hurricane Briefing today says we are to expect an above average year of hurricanes.  With the memory of the evacuation mess during Rita still fresh in many of our minds, my question is:

Will you stay or will you go?  What will you do differently than you did during the Rita evacuation?

I am honestly not sure if we would evacuate again or not.  My 75 year old father has declared he would never do it again.  Rita was the first time anyone in my family ran from a storm.  My husband, daughter and I survived tornados, flooding and storms during Hurricane Alicia - the roof of our apartment was torn off and we had to relocate.  I don't want to experience either one - another hurricane or another evacuation.  What are your thoughts?

Everybody hurts from time to time.  I always feel better after a good cry - not better about what made me cry, but better for the release valve effect that crying tends to bring.

What was the last thing that made you cry?  I mean real, gut wrenching crying?  Was it sadness, hurt feelings, betrayal, anger?

Since at least 2005, various politicians have taken the position that abortion is directly related to illegal immigrants in the U.S.  The "reasoning" is that America's work force is limited due to so many abortions being performed since 1973.   These same people also blame abortions for the under-funded social security system, reasoning that the system expected more workers, not aborted workers.  (Nevermind that Congress robbed that bank long ago). Another school of thought that I have read is that illegal immigrants, with real or fake social security numbers, are paying into social security, but it unlikely they will ever collect.  Therefore, an illegal worker paying into the system is more valuable to Congress than an immigrant who obtains legal status, because legal status brings social security liabilities for the legal worker.

Do you subscribe to this reasoning?

Another question - are illegal immigrants receiving "free" abortions themselves?  Is that covered under all of the other health services they receive free?  If not, who is paying for it?

Would any of the above, if found to be fact, change your opinion on abortion?  Would it change your opinion on illegal immigrants?

That's right! I just received a gift card for $50 for gas (or anything else they sell) for Shell.  How?  I subscribe to a website that sends me tons of emails.  I get points for reading the emails, and more points for shopping certain vendors by first going through the website, and also for completing questionaires.  It took a while to build up enough points, and I have the emails sent to an account that I use only for that purpose, but with today's gas prices, it's worth it.  Clicking through their site first, then going to the retailers' sites to shop earns points from a large variety of vendors you may already shop online with, such as Avon, Office Depot, NetFlix, and many others.  The points you earn can be converted to gift cards from a ton of vendors; from Shell to Target to Barnes & Noble to Blockbuster.  The points can also be converted to dollar values to be donated to the Red Cross and other charities.  By completing surveys, you determine what type of emails/offers you will receive.  There is never any obligation to buy anything; if you do respond to an offer, you get more points.  You will always get points just for clicking the link in the email and going to the website to view the offer.  I've converted points over the years for gift cards for Christmas presents, then decided to let them build up to enough for the gasoline card.

Check it out and let me know what you think!  Also let me know if you are aware of similar sites!  www.mypoints.com

Talks aimed at halting a strike by drivers who deliver fuel to Shell petrol stations have broken down.

Talks over Shell driver pay fail

The union says its members deserve the extra pay

The Unite union rejected an offer by the drivers' employers, Hoyer UK and Suckling Transport, to up pay by 6.8%.

Unite says it does not meet its demand for minimum pay of £36,000 a year. Hoyer said staff earned more than that.

Unite has said 641 drivers will go on strike for four days from 13 June but added it was willing to hold talks with managers at conciliation service Acas.

The union said it had already won a mandate from its members to take industrial action.

Hoyer's Bernie Holloway called Unite's decision to reject their improved pay offer "a great disappointment".

"We believe this is a very good offer, and combines with previous pay awards to produce an overall increase in average earnings over the last four years totalling 27% - double the rate of inflation," he said.

"However the union have responded by re-enforcing their demand for a 13% increase."

He said the firms would continue to "explore all possible options to resolve what is clearly a very difficult situation".

Disagreement

Hoyer UK, which is leading the negotiations, argues the drivers already earn more than £36,000 in average pay, and this would rise to about £38,500 with the wage increase.

But Unite argue that the drivers earned £32,000 for working a basic 48-hour week - about the same as they did 15 years ago in real terms not adjusting for inflation.

Officials say Hoyer UK is most likely factoring in overtime into their figures, which the union is not.

"Our members' dedication helps Shell make vast profits," said Unite national officer Ron Webb.

"All they are asking for in return is a living wage - one that reflects their skills, their heavy working week and helps make ends meet at a time when every worker in the country is being hit hard by rising fuel and food prices."

In January, Shell reported annual profits of £14.2bn for 2007, a record for a UK-listed company, helped by the surge in oil prices.

Record oil prices have had a knock-on effect on petrol prices.

In the UK, average prices for unleaded petrol have now reached 112.6p per litre and diesel prices have risen to 124.2p, according to figures calculated in May by the AA.

If you haven't already seen this, it's thought provoking.  You don't have to be a Rush Limbaugh fan to appreciate the message.  In fact, forget that it's Limbaugh.  If you heard this from anyone else, or read it in a newspaper, what are your thoughts on the content?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHPm_TEQ0PA

The tragic death of a South Carolina 10-year-old more than an hour after he had gone swimming has focused a spotlight on the little-known phenomenon called “dry drowning” — and warning signs that every parent should be aware of.

“I’ve never known a child could walk around, talk, speak and their lungs be filled with water,” Cassandra Jackson told NBC News in a story broadcast Thursday on TODAY.

On Sunday, Jackson had taken her son, Johnny, to a pool near their home in Goose Creek, S.C. It was the first time he’d ever gone swimming — and, tragically, it would be his last.

“We physically walked home. He walked with me,” Jackson said, still trying to understand how her son could have died. “I bathed him, and he told me that he was sleepy.”

Spongy material
Later, she went into his room to check on him. “I walked over to the bed, and his face was literally covered with this spongy white material,” she said. “And I screamed.”

A family friend, Christine Meekins, was visiting and went to see what was wrong. “I pulled his arm and said, ‘Johnny! Johnny!’ ” Meekins told NBC. “There was no response. I opened one of his eyes and I just knew inside my heart that it was something really bad.”

Johnny was rushed to a local hospital, but it was too late. Johnny had drowned, long after he got out of the swimming pool.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, some 3,600 people drowned in 2005, the most recent year for which there are statistics. Some 10 to 15 percent of those deaths was classified as “dry drowning,” which can occur up to 24 hours after a small amount of water gets into the lungs. In children, that can happen during a bath.

The three important signs, he said, are difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness and changes in behavior. All are the result of reduced oxygen flow to the brain.

Johnny had two of those signs — he was very tired when he got home, and he had had the accident in the pool. But like most parents, Cassandra Jackson had no idea this could be related to water in his lungs.

Delayed reaction
Rauch said that the phenomenon of dry drowning is not completely understood. But medical researchers say that in some people, a small amount of inhaled water can have a delayed-reaction effect.

“It can take a while for the process to occur and to set in and cause difficulties,” Rauch said. “Because it is a lung process, difficulty breathing is the first sign that you would be worried about.”

The second sign is extreme fatigue, which isn’t always easy to spot. “It’s very difficult to tell when your child is abnormally tired versus normal tired after a hot day and running around in the pool,” Rauch said. “The job of the lungs is to get oxygen into the blood and your brain needs oxygen to keep working, so when your brain isn’t getting oxygen, it can start doing funny things. One of them is becoming excessively tired, losing consciousness and the inability to be aroused appropriately.”

Finally, there are changes in behavior, Rauch said — another tough call when dealing with very small children, whose moods and behavior can change from one minute to the next.

“Another response of the brain to not getting oxygen is to do different things,” Rauch explained, saying parents should be concerned “if your child’s abnormally cranky, abnormally combative — any dramatic change from their normal pattern.”

He admitted, “It is very difficult to pick this up sometimes.” But spotting the warning signs and getting a suspected victim to an emergency room can save a life, he added.

Victims of dry drowning are treated by having a breathing tube inserted so that oxygen can be supplied under pressure to the lungs. “Then we just wait for the lung to heal itself,” he said.

But for Cassandra Jackson, it’s knowledge gained too late. She and Meekins sat in her home, looking at pictures of the bright and happy son who was no more.

“He was very loving, full of life,” the grieving mother said. “That was my little man.”

As a pool owner with a  grandson approaching 7 years old, this story scared me to death.  Have you ever heard of such a thing as dry drowing?  Will you be more cautious and, if so, what precautions will you take?

Fox recently reported on Houston's free lunch program for children through the summer.  The report indicated that there are 400 sites where Houston children can obtain a free lunch.  The report also indicated that taking your child to receive the free meal would not affect any person's immigration status, i.e., illegal immigrant children will be fed for free without their parents worrying about being deported or detain for being here illegally.

Children are our nation's most precious resorce.  They are the future and need to be taken care of. 

My question is whether or not you believe that the city and its social services, both public and privately funded, should be given to illegal families.  Where would you draw the line, for standing in line for free services? Are rules meant to be bent or broken because children are involved?  What incentive is there for the parents to get a job and feed their families if they know they can rely on a handout instead?  Do you think that all children are equal when it comes to a food line?