Sinum Conservate! Preserve The Bay!

Brother Alex of the Order of St. Paul of the Settled and the Wild

Every time I come to Maryland, I try to visit the house of the order of St. Paul of the Oikumene (the settled and inhabited areas) and the Antioikumene (the wild areas). Their service is to conserve and keep clean the Chesapeake Bay. So far, they have been focused and successful as a non-profit that receives some State funding, but not directly, as that would violate Church-State separation.

Maryland and Virginia have found that a religious order, non-profit, seems to be more effective than the previous short term and cyclical efforts to clean and re-clean the Bay.

The House of St. Paul, The Settled and the Wild, Tilghman Island, MD

Maryland's Adultery Law

It is still a crime to commit adultery in Maryland. It is also difficult to get a divorce in Maryland; you need grounds and it takes about 2 years to accomplished fact. So if you are tarrying with friends of the opposite sex while you wait for your divorce, you may commit the crime of adultery.

All of which raised in my mind the question that if the State would define Marriage and the State would define Adultery, then how does the State define liaisons between people of the same sex?
I mean, if you had a same-sex marriage foundering on the rocks of discord, and the principals had a dalliance here and there, would that be adultery?
If so. the State would not only have re-defined marriage but also have re-defined adultery from ancient prescriptions of many years ago.

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The Relativity Of The Zika Virus

Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican


I had a post about Zika virus in which the Republican Party in control of the House and Senate had decided to drag their feet on any funding to combat the sickness under a lame-duck president.
http://fatherdaughtertalk.blogspot.com/2016/02/zika.html

As it has so far turned out, the Republican controlled Congress has managed to adjourn for 10 days without funding research to comb ate the disease.

The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/04/house-senate-zika-virus/480468/

...In early February, the Obama administration asked Congress to quickly pass nearly $1.9 billion in emergency funds. It trotted out public-health officials to explain what they knew about the virus’s potential effect in the Americas, and what they needed to develop: a vaccine, top-flight diagnostic tests, rapid-response teams for any Zika clusters that pop up in the United States, among other measures.

So far, Congress hasn’t allocated any new money. The White House grudgingly repurposed about $600 million in Ebola funds for Zika earlier this month, at House Republicans’ urging, but the administration and public-health officials maintain much more is needed. The number of cases in the continental United States and in the territories continues to grow. Scientists have confirmed the virus causes the birth defect microcephaly and the immune disorder Guillain-Barré, and are investigating a link between Zika and brain and spinal-cord infections. Officials are also concerned about the coming warmer months, particularly in warm-weather states. “Everything we look at with this virus seems to be a bit scarier than we initially thought,” said Anne Schuchat, the CDC’s principal deputy director, at a White House briefing two weeks ago.

Congressional Republicans have said for weeks now that their questions on Zika funding haven’t been answered—an allegation the White House and Senate Democrats have refuted. Specifically, Republicans say they need to know how much money is needed before the 2016 fiscal year ends in late September; how much is needed in fiscal year 2017; and, of course, how exactly it’ll be spent. John Cornyn, the Senate Majority Whip, cautioned Thursday against writing a “blank check” to the administration without hearing the Zika “plan of attack.”

Democrats have condemned the standstill. “Too many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle still don’t seem to see Zika as an emergency,” Senator Patty Murray, the ranking member on the Senate Labor/HHS subcommittee, said Thursday. Some Republicans think it can wait “weeks, or even months,” she added. “Republicans in Congress might be able to wait that long—but families across the country simply can’t.”
“We shouldn't be taking 10 days off as a dangerous virus threatens this nation,” Reid said.

Members of the House GOP have been especially, and predictably, hawkish about how money is doled out. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has said the administration has enough money for Zika as it is. Some have suggested more money can be gleaned from Ebola coffers, and House Speaker Paul Ryan has said the White House has “a bit of a track record of over-requesting what they need.” Representative Tom Cole seemed to push back Thursday on the notion that Republicans are unnecessarily blocking funds. “I want to remind the White House, it was a Republican Congress that appropriated everything and more to combat Ebola just last year,” said Cole, the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that finances public-health agencies, in a statement. “It was a Republican Congress that provided double the increase in funds for the National Institutes of Health requested by the White House. And it was a Republican Congress that appropriated more for the Centers for Disease Control than the White House requested.”

The debate in the Senate didn’t look so dire last week. After months of no movement, lawmakers appeared to have a modest breakthrough: Senate appropriators announced at a markup meeting that they were closing in on a Zika deal. But the chief negotiators, Murray and Missouri Republican Roy Blunt, still needed to accomplish two difficult tasks: settling on an exact dollar figure and determining how to get the funding through Congress...

Things to note:
(1)
In the second paragraph, there was re-purposing of $600 million in Ebola funds for Zika. What I would like to know at this point is where is the research at into the viability of the Ebola virus which was discovered within the past 5 months living in the eyeballs of people who had recovered from Ebola? Is the virus still alive anywhere else in the bodies of the people? What is the possibility of another epidemic arising from these sources, and would the extra Ebola funding have possibly helped to stop such a possibility?

(2)
Representative Tom Cole in paragraph 5 seems to think that what was done in the past against Ebola is a gold star for the Republicans for the present Zika.


After 10 days, they will be back to afflict us with as much venom as they afflict us with their absence.

10 days from the point of view of a Republican legislator is a wink of the eye, whereas from the viewpoint of a pregnant mother in her first trimester, it is an eternity.

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[Our Age of Irony!
Once again we see people that preach family values and the protection of children actively position themselves against the integrity of the family and the welfare of children!]

Big Ted Cruz Announcement !!

Ted Cruz announced that is he were to be elected president, he would put Carly Fiorina's face on the $20 bill. She is the only person I ever saw who looked more severe than Harriet Tubman.

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New Mommies' Exercise

I just walked a fretful Mary Olivia Adenike around the kitchen, front hall, and dining room for about 2 hours this morning. I was surprised I did not seem to have my usual aches and pains.

However, this marathon gave me an idea for a exercise manual for new parents, one exercise of which should be:

Pick up the 12-pound weights,
walk 100 feet,
do 10,000 reps.

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I Know For Whom I'm Voting

And it is not Hilary Clinton. I will write in Sanders name if I must, or I shall vote Green, but I cannot morally cast a vote for that atrocious person. She and her amoral husband will go down in infamy into history.

I mean, they are only amiable and friendly and supportable in their contrast to the viciously ignorant Republican crowd that has festered in the nation's capitol for so long... not all Republicans, just the know-nothings, the covert racists, the intellectually bankrupt.

I was reading about her debate with Bernie in New York back two weeks ago:

Defending Attack on Libya, Clinton Blames Obama—And Suggests Repeat for Syria
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/04/15/defending-attack-libya-clinton-blames-obama-and-suggests-repeat-syria

During a heated Democratic debate in New York on Thursday night, Hillary Clinton sought to both defend and deflect responsibility for her central role in destabilizing Libya—by blaming President Barack Obama.

"The decision was the president's," she said in response to criticism from rival Bernie Sanders over her leadership as then-Secretary of State during the 2011 military intervention to overthrow Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

"Did I do due diligence? Did I talk to everybody I could talk to? Did I visit every capitol and then report back to the president? Yes, I did. That's what every secretary of state does," Clinton said. "But at the end of the day, those are the decisions that are made by the president to in any way use American military power, and the president made that decision, and yes, we did try without success because of the Libyans' obstruction to our efforts, but we did try and will continue to try to help the Libyan people."

The remarks come just days after Obama admitted in an interview with Fox News that "failing to plan for the day after" Gaddafi's toppling was the "worst mistake" of his presidency.

In a previous debate, Clinton said the president had made "the right decision at the time" and blamed the instability that followed on the Arab Spring and "a lot of other things." ...

This is the same Hilary Clinton who in an interview laughingly said, "We came, we saw, he died."
The very same person.
Look at the video of her laughing:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-01-07/we-came-we-saw-he-died-%E2%80%93-revisiting-incredible-disaster-libya

Let's run a duelling videos selection of Gadhaffi's last minutes alive Hilary's laughter and do it over and over until we're sick of both of them. It won't tale long. Gadhaffi was a wretch who killed people and Hilary created Syria, although she is trying to pretend she did not.

...Clinton responded with both another seeming criticism of Obama—and by suggesting regime change in Syria.

"Yes, when I was secretary of state, I did urge along with the Department of Defense and the CIA that we seek out, vet, and train, and arm Syrian opposition figures so that they could defend themselves against [President Bashar al] Assad. The president said no."

"I think it's only fair to look at where we are in Syria today and yes, I do still support a no-fly zone because I think we need to put in safe havens for those poor Syrians who are fleeing both Assad and ISIS and so they have some place they can be safe," she said. "Nobody stood up to Assad and removed him, and we have a far greater disaster in Syria than we are currently dealing with right now in Libya."

 She admits her role in the disaster.
And President Obama in the first quote admits that he and his administration - which therefore includes Hilary Clinton - did not plan for Libya after Gadhaffi, even though they have the 10 year plus horrible example of an Iraq War which did not plan for life after Saddam Hussein!!

Even if President Obama could run for a third term, I do not think I would vote for him.
We need something else.

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Hiatus

I have gotten tired of the word "hiatus".
I mean, all the blogs I view whose authors have neglected their postings usually have a self-serving notice that they've been busy or they've been on hiatus or are soon gonna be on hiatus or are fixin' to go on hiatus.

I've been on hiatus for a bit merely because I have lost interest in my thoughts and ideas. If they do not interest me, I certainly am not going to serve my Peloponnesian ideas up to you like some ghastly feast of Tantalus....

Mangia!

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note:

Why is "Peloponnesian" spelled with a double "n"?
 I mean, "Pelops: is the guy's name, and "nesos" for "island" has but one single "n".

I thought maybe the genitive of Pelops might have an "n" and I'll have to look it up, but most -ops words don't have an "n" pop up in the genitive... I think.

It Takes A Village To ...

PBS NewsHour:
‘Sesame Street’ moves to HBO, with re-airs on PBS
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/sesame-street-will-now-premiere-hbo-fall/

After calling PBS home for 45 years, HBO is now how you first get to “Sesame Street.”

Sesame Workshop, the non-profit group that produces the show, announced Thursday that the next five seasons of the popular educational children’s show will start premiering this fall on the premium cable network, famous for adult dramas such as “The Sopranos” and “Game of Thrones,” and made available to all its streaming services.

The five-year deal allows HBO to widen its programming to include a long-running and prestigious children’s show, while Sesame Workshop will be able to produce twice as much content each year.

The deal doesn’t mean “Sesame Street” has abandoned its PBS roots. The new episodes will be available to PBS and its member stations, free of charge, after a nine-month delay...

It takes a whole village to PAY to raise a child...

Premium channel HBO? If you can afford premium HBO, you can afford an au pair to nanny and tutor your child.
As far as the re-airings on PBS after 9 months, I guess we'll see about that.

I do not think my sour grapes on this news is just being a curmudgeon; I think our society lacks the imagination and drive to provide essential services for child upbringing at no cost for all people for the long term. This includes not only education, but also such things as paid 6 month leave for new parents, and a real commitment to eliminate child abuse.

Oh, we are committed to eliminating child abuse?!

I'm sorry. I guess I got a different idea from looking at all those Syrian kids washing up on the shores of the Mediterranean, and NATO's thinking that things will improve by paying off the nouveau tyrant Erdogan, who will probably apply a variant of the Armenian Solution to this problem.

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Family Values In Republican Florida

“They are Man's,” said the Spirit, looking down upon them. “And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree

Florida pledges better health care for poor children to settle lawsuit
Wednesday, April 6, 2016 Reuters
http://newsdaily.com/2016/04/florida-pledges-better-health-care-for-poor-children-to-settle-lawsuit/

(Reuters) – Florida officials will boost access to health and dental care for poor children in settlement of an 11-year-old class-action lawsuit, the groups behind the legal action said on Tuesday.

The lawsuit, filed in 2005, accused Florida officials of failing to pay doctors enough for treating 2 million children with government-supported health coverage, adding that this discouraged physicians from providing their services.

The settlement calls for Florida to increase payments to physicians who treat poor children and sets benchmarks for preventative and dental treatment to be met over five years, according to the Philadelphia-based Public Interest Law Center, which represented the plaintiffs.

Florida health officials and attorneys for the plaintiffs, among them the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, were ordered to negotiate a settlement after a U.S. district judge in December 2014 found Florida fell short of federal standards for providing healthcare to poor children.

Nearly 80 percent of children with government-supported healthcare in Florida were never able to see a dentist, the judge said in his ruling.

The agreement marks a “significant step forward in improving access to medical care” for poor children in Florida, Tommy Schechtman, president of the Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement.

An official of the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration could not be reached for comment late on Tuesday.

Humbug!
"Are there no prisons?"
"And the Union workhouses... Are they still in operation?"
"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?"

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Labyrinthine Ways

 Bonnie Blue Butler

Irregular, twisting, and convoluted ways they are...
I believe this was intended to the title of Graham Greene's novel The Power And The Glory, but there was a sea change from the inscrutable workings of the divine to the potency and awesomeness of those workings. Interesting.

There was a story that was similarly interesting:
The Guardian
‘Disgusting’ trolls target family of girl, 9, killed on Cotswold hunt
Horseriders unite in support of family of Bonnie Armitage, whose accidental death was called ‘karma’ by anti-bloodsports activist
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/05/trolls-target-family-of-girl-9-killed-cotswold-hunt-bonnie-armitage

Horseriders have criticised comments on a hunt saboteur Facebook group about the death of a nine-year-old girl in a riding accident.

Online trolls claimed Bonnie Armitage’s death on Saturday was “karma” because she was riding with the Cotswold hunt.

Bonnie died in hospital after the accident in Miserden, near Stroud, Gloucestershire, when she was kicked by a horse as she rode her pony.

Her death has hit the equestrian community hard. Fellow riders are showing their support for her family by posting photographs on Facebook of themselves wearing something blue, Bonnie’s favourite colour.

Lucy Barnett posted a picture of her horse and wrote: “Such a tragedy to hear we’ve lost another devoted young rider. Bonnie was just nine years old and was killed by a fateful kick whilst out hunting doing what she loved the most.

“It’s heartbreaking to hear, such sad news. My condolences to her friends and family.”

Stacey Williamson wrote on Twitter: “#blueforbonnie lets show Bonnie’s parents there is so much more support behind them than there is vile trolls.”

Williamson was responding to posts on a Facebook page for hunt saboteurs, where one person said: “Karma. Hopefully the parents don’t indulge in such a disgusting vile pass time any more [sic].”

Another wrote: “Fox 1 - 0 Murderous parents.”

And a third post said: “Tragic and unnecessary but nothing good comes from bloodlust how different it would be if her parents hadn’t put her at risk.”,,,

First, come down angel band, come and around her stand and bear her away on snow white wings to her immortal home.  That is what I said when I read this.

Then, this whole nonsense about SOCIAL media is more technological claptrap. There is nothing social about it. There is no society with people who are so obsessed with their own beliefs that they celebrate the death of an innocent.
Back before computers, to regale ourselves with such misanthropic trolls and their words, we would need to have gone to bars and pubs in the absolutely sketchiest parts of the metropolis. Now, in our Brave New World, we have them right in our studies and bedrooms and living rooms on the computer.

The Bar Room into the Living Room...
Is there any wonder that the USA Republican Party's primary has on live TV and Twitter engorged itself in discussions about sexuality in all its forms?!
If you don't know what I'm talking about, I remind you that Mr. Trump led the charge by referring to Ms. Kelly's time of the month.

This led to comparing male body parts and then to aspersions about the wives...........

However, the most ghastly thread that runs through it all is the fact that Scarlett O'Hara's and Rhett Butler's  child was Bonnie Blue Butler, and the names Bonnie are the same and their loves of Blue are comparable. Then they were both killed in accidents while riding horses.

Bonnie Armitage

The Universe is smaller than you think. We run in tight circles to our fate.

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